It
is with the greatest of pleasures that I welcome Historical Mystery author, Diane Rapp on to the blog today. Diane
is going to tell us all about the inspiration behind her fabulous book, Golden
Legacy. Let’s take a quick look at the book!!
Golden Legacy
GOLDEN LEGACY blends historical
adventure with modern-day mystery in an exciting novel available in e-book and
print. Readers follow the stories of two
daring heroines as they tackle the hazards of gold country over a century
apart.
Ginny is an English gentlewoman
traveling alone in the year 1888. Having
reached the age of twenty-five, she deems herself a spinster, admitting that the
circumstance stems from personal choice.
Ginny’s travel plans drastically alter when a telegram arrives—her
brother Johnny was shot by bandits. Rushing by train from San Francisco to
Colorado takes less than a week. After
tending to Johnny’s comfort, the plucky woman strikes out to deliver supplies
to Nick. He is a family friend, and
Johnny’s business partner, who remains stranded at a secret gold mine. Packing one mule with supplies and riding
another, Ginny dodges miscreants to escape from town. She follows a hand-drawn
map through perilous terrain armed with courage, a fountain pen, and two sharp
hatpins.
In the modern story, Kayla learns
that she must find the family gold mine to inherit a family legacy. Ginny’s
journal, along with clever clues hidden by other ancestors, guides Kayla and
her friends into hazardous mountains. These puzzles were designed to prove an
heir’s courage, ingenuity, and honesty. Dangers conjure nightmares that terrify Kayla
and test her mettle. Can she conquer old
fears to unlock a golden legacy and launch her new life with Steven?
Author’s Inspiration
A seed for
the idea of GOLDEN LEGACY was planted in my mind when our family moved to
Ridgway, Colorado years ago. The
spectacular San Juan Mountain range surrounds the mining towns of Telluride and
Ouray. Small towns sprang up to support intrepid miners who searched for gold,
silver, and other minerals in treacherous granite cliffs of Colorado.
The area’s rich
history prompted me to read real-life accounts like TOMBOY BRIDE and FATHER
STRUCK IT RICH. But the roots for the
book idea germinated when I read A LADY’S LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. This was a journal written by Isabella Lucy
Bird about her travels through Colorado.
Miss Bird was an English gentlewoman who traveled alone during the 1800s,
a rough-and-tumble time in Colorado history. In the mountains Miss Bird
encountered an English ex-patriot, a ruggedly handsome man with a reputation
for violence and hard drinking. However, his English manners emerged when he
interacted with Miss Bird. As I read the account, I detected a romance between
them but the relationship failed. Unfortunately
real-life accounts are bound by actual events. As an unsatisfied reader, I
wondered how I might tell such a story and include a romance.
Roots for my
book idea spread as I developed characters to inhabit the story during modern
times. After completing my High Seas
Mystery trilogy, I thought it might be “fun” to transport familiar characters
into the magnificent mountains of Colorado.
They’d search for a family gold mine, following clues from a journal
written by a plucky ancestor. Lots of fun?
It was a year’s worth of hard work!
The project
sprouted tender young leaves, but I didn’t realize how much research was needed
to write an historical novel. History
demands accuracy. I confirmed railroad
routes to Colorado in the 1880s, learned how sleeping accommodations on those trains
worked, researched inventions of the period, and viewed pictures of fashions. To
immerse myself in the proper language I read historical novels set during the period.
I built a “family tree” from Ginny down
to Kayla, using approximated life-cycles to decide how many women had completed
the family quest before Kayla. By establishing
names, dates, and histories, I built a back story for an entire family who left
clues for later heirs.
Leaves on
the project grew broader as I established Ginny’s personality. I wrote her entire journal (in the first
person) to keep my mind focused on the correct language. While living near Ouray, we toured the Bachelor
Mine and drove terrifying trails through surrounding mountains in a 4-wheel
drive vehicle. I imagined how scary it could be to ride a mule over the same
terrain. Of course miscreants provided
another sort of peril for Ginny!
After I
finished the journal, the project started to produce tiny buds. I changed mental gears and wrote the modern-day
account, filled with different dangers and problems, including potential bad
guys. How could I merge the two
narratives in a believable manner? I
decided that the modern characters could read episodes from the journal to slowly
reveal Ginny’s story as they tackled puzzles about the mine.
Perhaps an
ancestor, who learned photography, left framed pictures behind as clues. The
beautiful Beaumont Hotel is an important landmark in both stories. This hotel was recently renovated, so I
contacted the current owners to request photos.
Jennifer Leaver was kind enough to supply me with a treasure-trove of
photos to use in the book. I “colorized”
old-time photos to make them more vivid for Kindle Fire e-readers. I also bought other photos that are displayed
inside the book. To see how the idea for
this book burst into colorful blossoms, visit the “Golden Legacy” tab at my
website and view a slide show and video.
The front cover of my novel shows
the two heroines near Mount Sneffels, and the back cover of the print edition
shows Lake Como. This real-life lake is
a sparkling turquoise gem high in the mountains near my fictional gold mine. Photographer
Rose
Krohn Epps provided me with a license to use her vivid photo of Lake Como for
the cover, interior, advertising, and articles about the book.
Links for Purchase
About the author
Diane Rapp
became an entrepreneur when she started a dog grooming salon in Santa Barbara,
California. She spent the next thirty years as a small business owner; she sold
real estate, owned an office supply/copy center, and performed free-lance
advertising design. During those hectic years Diane wrote stories as a cure for
insomnia. After onsite research and writing a Caribbean tour
guide with her daughter, Diane decided to write a mystery series set on cruise
ships. Each book is a stand-alone novel
with enough information to satisfy new readers.
MURDER
CARIBBEAN-STYLE is the first book in the High Seas Mystery series. Readers meet the main characters and learn
about life aboard a ship while solving the murder of Kayla’s ex-lover,
Patrick. He made plenty of enemies on
the entire cruise line. Kayla needs to
learn what caused Patrick’s personality change—after a visit home he abruptly
turned into a womanizer and thief. She
doesn’t want her friends accused of the murder. When she teams up with Steven
Young, a handsome British magician working undercover for Interpol, danger and
romance are mixed with the action.
MURDER ON A
GHOST SHIP is book two of the series. Cruise
line Chairman, Emily Schultz recently bought a new ship but there is a very unhappy
ghost aboard, causing trouble. Kayla and
Natalia are summoned back to work. They
must get rid of the ghost before the pesky phantom sinks Emily’s career. When Steven joins the team, angry smugglers track
him down with deadly intentions. 
The third book
in the series, MURDER FOR GLACIER BLUE takes readers on a wedding cruise to
Alaska. Kayla and friends gather
together preparing for her wedding on Glacier Bay but an art heist and
murder threaten to ruin the wedding. The
security team must guard valuable paintings displayed next to authorized copies. The copies are due to be auctioned for
charity, but valuable originals give thieves targets to steal. Wedding plans hit a snag when Steven’s
ex-wife arrives on the arm of his childhood friend. She’s intent on creating
trouble. Photos of actual Alaskan attractions are mixed into the narrative as
readers take a virtual cruise, solve an art heist, and arrest a killer.
Useful Links
Thank you so much for featuring my historical/modern mystery on your blog. Readers seldom get a glimpse into the methods an author uses to produce a novel and this opportunity is priceless to me.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! I love reading about how author's inspiration!!
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