When you’re trained to be a journalist, the world becomes third person narrative. You’re the peeping tom looking through the window, the observer at a crowd scene, the listener — the book columnist writing about other peoples’ books.
So, it’s difficult for me to toot my own horn when my books are published. It’s up there with forcing myself to do selfies on social media when I’m wearing my travel writer hat.
But, today I’m launching a book that’s dear to my heart. In fact, the whole series has been a corner turner for me.
In addition to my day job as a journalist, I wrote screenplays in Hollywood and moved to romance novels when my kids were small. I had success with six books I published at Kensington.
In addition to my day job as a journalist, I wrote screenplays in Hollywood and moved to romance novels when my kids were small. I had success with six books I published at Kensington.
Then Katrina hit.
I wasn’t alone in feeling that writing love stories seemed insignificant after such a disaster, many authors I knew agreed. It’s hard dreaming up love scenes when you’re faced with unspeakable horrors. I knew that a happy ending was just what the world needed in 2005 (and now!) but it wasn’t in my heart.
Instead, I turned toward mysteries.
Here’s the funny part. My mother had been saying I should write mysteries for years, mostly because she preferred reading mysteries to romance. But, I never saw myself writing mysteries.
They say there are blessings from Katrina. — A Ghost of a Chance
When Katrina hit my hometown of New Orleans, I left the newspaper business and worked for the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge doing hurricane recovery, and on the side, freelance writing. After two years and our grant ran out, I shifted to full-time freelance travel and food writing.
Wearing my travel writer hat, however, meant touring cities and being wined and dined by tourism peeps. The experience gave me an idea for a new series because…
1. The cities I visited were not destroyed by a hurricane, which made me sad in a way I had a hard time explaining to others,
2. I was living WAY better on those press trips than back home where I struggled on a freelance writer’s salary and
3. I brought home all kinds of swag.
In my Viola Valentine mystery series, Viola loses everything in Katrina, sees it as an epiphany of sorts and starts a new life. She moves into a mother-in-law unit in the neighboring city of Lafayette and furnishes it with swag from her trips. Like me, visiting places not destroyed by a hurricane was a surreal experience, plus she ate very well and then returned home to mac and cheese.
The series also allowed me to work through my grief. My father had died the year before Katrina hit so I lost a parent, then my hometown. Viola loses her daughter two years before the storm, then her marriage breaks apart and her job ends, the latter of which she doesn’t mind. Since Katrina opens a psychic door and now Viola sees ghosts who have died by water, she hopes to reach her sweet Lillye but that’s not possible since Lillye died by cancer. Each book, however, sees Viola expanding her “gift,” not to mention learning about the gifts of those around her. And each book in the first five novels is a stage of grief.
Book One – A Ghost of a Chance (denial)
Book Two — Ghost Town (anger)
Book Three — Trace of a Ghost (bargaining)
Book Four — Ghost Trippin’ (depression)
Today, the fourth book in the series, “Ghost Trippin,’” comes out but don’t worry, it’s not depressing. Sad at times, maybe, but I think you’ll love the ending.
Here’s the book description:
John Valentine left home for a science conference and never returned, his family chalking it up to the divorced father’s mid-life crisis. But when a body is found on the old family homestead, his daughter Viola must piece together the clues her father left behind. Along for the ride are her witchy Aunt Mimi, her uptight lawyer sister Portia and her sometimes ex-husband Thibault Boudreaux, otherwise known as TB. What they discover on this crazy ghost trip through Texas will be much more than they anticipated.
“Ghost Trippin’” continues the story of Viola Valentine, who changes her life after Hurricane Katrina and follows her dream of being a travel writer. But the storm also blew open a psychic door and now she sees ghosts who have died by water. As she travels the South in her new career she must also solve mysteries that appear with apparitions. But the one person she hopes to speak to — her daughter who died of leukemia years before — continues to elude her. Or does she?
Book five of the Viola Valentine series, “Give Up the Ghost,” comes out this fall. And yes, like me, it’s all about acceptance.
To find bookstore links to all of my books, visit https://www.cherieclaire.net/.
Cherie Claire writes Louisiana Book News under her birth name of Chere Dastugue Coen. Her other books include The Cajuns series of historical romance, the Cajun Embassy of contemporary romance and several non-fiction books about Louisiana. Write to her at cajunromances@yahoo.com.
