You often hear people say, “Write what you know.” But what if what you want to write are murder mysteries? Unless you are a homicidal serial killer, writing what you know will be challenging, if not down-right impossible. But murder mysteries don’t take place in a vacuum. Mysteries are stories about people and setting. For me, an African-American woman, what I know is growing up in a middle-class family in a small, mid-western town. I know what it’s like to grow up in the church; singing in the choir, going to Sunday school, and eating soul food. So when I decided to write my first mystery, that’s what I did. I wrote what I know.
My first mystery is entitled TRAVELLIN’ SHOES and is, what I call, a multicultural cozy mystery. According to Wikipedia, “Multiculturalism is the cultural diversity of communities within a given society and the policies that promote this diversity.” The history of discrimination and separatism in the United States has led to the creation of parallel societies which exist within the broader community. Black churches, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), black fraternities and sororities, etc., have all contributed to the creation of multicultural communities similar to the one where I grew up, all over the country.
My goal when I started this series was to combine my love of cozy mysteries with the African-American community that I know and love; but where to start? It wasn’t enough to simply write a cozy mystery with an African-American protagonist. Even though that would be something rare in the genre, but I wanted more. I wanted to expose mystery readers to all aspects of the African-American culture and reach as many sensory areas as possible.
TRAVELLIN’ SHOES is the first book in a series where all of the titles come from Negro spirituals. Music remains an important aspect of African American history and culture. From the work songs slaves sang in the fields to the spirituals they sang in their churches; these songs were even used to relay coded messages about impending escapes. In this series, readers will be able to read the lyrics in the book and hear the music on this site. Another important aspect of the culture is food. Any gathering of people almost always includes food. Including recipes in cozy mysteries is nothing new or unique. The uniqueness is in the types of recipes included — soul food recipes with fried corn, collard greens and hot water corn bread. Finally, through the development of the mystery, the reader will get exposure to the people. People like Mama B, who wouldn’t dream of going to church without a hat, who sits on her front porch on warm summer days watching basketball games at the neighborhood recreation center and who supply people from all walks of life, sweet potato pie and sweet tea.
After spending several days on revisions and edits, I have eliminated over 10,000 words from the manuscript. If I’m honest with myself, many of those words needed to go. But, words are what a writer uses to paint a picture. Hopefully the words that remain are sufficient to paint the picture of a multicultural world with cozy mysteries. Only time will tell if there is a place within the broader culture for a multicultural cozy mystery.