For anyone who wants to write stories about animals, please do so with caution and care for the animals.
New Mexico is a land of amazing sunrises and sunsets with a sky constantly changing color and form, mountains framing the background, and a desert that stretches across the mesa often giving the land a mystical feeling. Known as the land of enchantment, it still has its share of mysteries, ancient and new. As a writer, I find it intriguing and exciting to involve this land as an important character in a recent mystery I wrote.
But at a zoo? Well, yes. Please don’t worry about the animals in my stories. They are well-cared-for and loved. In Murder at the Zoo, two lion cubs are born: Imani (meaning faith) and Sabrina. They are “adorable and not the least bit camera shy.” A baby zebra is born and there is a contest to name him. In fact, the two main characters in the book, the veterinarian and the detective, watch the foal being born. Miranda tells Bryan with a grin, “We just had a baby.” The poor guy is a bit freaked at that comment. Miranda and Bryan alternate between flirting and fighting off romantic feelings. Unfortunately, murder keeps getting in their way.
Again, why would I choose a zoo as a place for a murder mystery? Why would anyone? Well really, why murder anyone, anywhere for that matter? Even when the murders take place at a zoo, you want to get the bad guys to talk or confess or have someone give them up. Along the way, you are also on the chase with your characters through conflict, danger, and mystery.
In Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock & Me: Murder at the Zoo, these characters are often telling the veterinarian what to think or do. Sherlock Holmes and the London Zoo Mystery is an entertaining story that recaptures the atmosphere of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes’ tales and includes the familiar figures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Inspector Lestrade. The book also features several real-life characters, including Abraham Bartlett (Superintendent of London Zoo, 1859–1897), the famous African elephant Jumbo, Matthew Scott (Jumbo’s keeper), and P.T. Barnum.
Ultimately, you want to be able to explain your characters’ motivations for their criminal behavior such as anger, hate, power, money and, of course, the ugly hatred of revenge. Revealing the truths, secrets, and lies in stories of betrayal and vengeance and surprise endings can leave readers wanting more. If you’re a writer, remember, your first sentence and your first paragraph, should grab your reader . . . maybe even by the throat, like a good murder!
Many years ago, we had a lassie collie who thought he was a lap dog, and my son, Jory and he adored each other. It’s good for children to grow up with pets and to learn to care for them. It’s also wonderful for adults to have the love of an animal who doesn’t judge them. Right?
Marcia Rosen
The Public Relations and Book Marketing Expert
Marcia Rosen (aka M. Glenda Rosen) is an award-winning author of twelve books including her newest one, An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo plus The Senior Sleuths, Dying To Be Beautiful Mystery Series, and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (menus by her son Jory Rosen). She is also author of The Woman’s Business Therapist and award-winning My Memoir Workbook and has given memoir writing presentations and classes for close to 20 years. Marcia has assisted many authors in developing, writing, publishing, and promoting their books. For 25 years, she was the owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency. Marcia has frequently been a speaker or program moderator at organization meetings and conferences, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom programs. Topics she has taught and presented over the past 20 years include Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery, Writing Your Memoir, and recently Anatomy of Writing a Murder. Many articles on these topics have been published on mystery reader blogs and in newsletters and magazines and her newest articles include Location, Location, Location: Murders Have Their Places; Hearing Voices of Past Famous Detectives: Their Impact and Influences; and Writing Mysteries at a Zoo: With Caution. Marcia is a member of Sisters in Crime National and New Mexico (Croak & Dagger), Southwest Writers, New Mexico Book Association, Women Writing the West, Public Safety Writer’s Association, Women’s National Book Association, and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.
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