Hadley Twp.- Imagine a large state park, full of towering pine and oak trees, picnic tables, dirt trails, horseback riders, a sign that says ‘Equestrian campground,? and information pamphlets that identify the park as the Ortonville Recreation Area.
It may not be that hard to imagine, as the location is real and located off Hadley Road.
What may be harder to imagine is discovering a body there, with a serial killer’s clues nearby in a tree, but this is what happens to Hadley resident Karen’s Wilson’s fictional heroine, Carol Ward, in Wilson’s new mystery novel, ‘Coyote Kill.?
?’Coyote Kill? has a lot of plot twists,? says Wilson. ‘The serial killer is really bizarre. You’ll be kept wondering (who did it) up until the end.?
Wilson chose the Hadley Hills equestrian trails as the setting for both this novel and her first novel, ‘For Just Claws,? which is also a Carol Ward mystery.
‘I’ve ridden at Hadley Hills,? said Wilson, who owns two horses. ‘I prefer outdoor settings and I like being comfortable with what I’m writing about.?
Wilson, who writes in first person, says that unlike her setting, her characters are not modeled after anyone she knows, but there are parts of people she knows in each character.
A lifelong mystery fan, Wilson, 52, reads authors such as Mary Stewart, Rita Mae Brown, and Elmore Leonard. Somewhere along the line she thought, ‘I could write this.?
In 1998, lacking a word processor, she picked up a pen and started writing.
During her lunch hour as a full-time legal secretary in Troy, she would type what she had written in longhand.
Writing, she says, is like the Nike ad: ‘Just do it.?
‘You have to be disciplined and have perseverance,? she said. ‘Make a goal and stick to it. TV is the worst time waster of anything. I hardly watch any of it. Pick up a pen or sit down and start typing.?
Wilson didn’t use outlines and her first draft for the 152-page first novel took six months. She used an on-demand publisher and sold about a thousand copies of ‘For Just Claws.?
She began writing ‘Coyote Kill? in 2001 and the 254-page book took four years to write, and five drafts. She writes about one page a day during the winter, or five pages per week, often at Starbucks.
‘Writing does not feel like work,? she said. ‘I’ve grown a lot as a writer. I’m hitting my stride? ‘Coyote Kill? is longer, with a more in-depth plot and detailed characters. It’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller.?
What Wilson does not like is finding a distributor for her books.
‘My dream is that my third book will get picked up by a traditional publisher, and the whole series, too,? says Wilson, who is currently working on the third novel, which has parts set in the village of Ortonville.
However, as one of 200 books (out of 20,000) named as ‘Publisher’s Choice? by i.Universe Author Solutions, ‘Coyote Kill? will be available in Barnes & Noble next month and will be featured there on Oct. 9. The novel is also available online. For details visit www.karenrwilson.com.