I Usually Know Who Did It. Keeping Quiet Is the Hard Part.
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People who visit our house sometimes make assumptions about what we’re watching.
If the Hallmark Channel is on, they assume it’s mine.
If it’s CSI or Criminal Minds, they assume it’s my husband’s.
They have that completely backward.
My husband enjoys the romance. I’m generally more interested in figuring out who committed the murder.
Our children have found this hilarious for years. Now the grandchildren are in on it, too. Apparently, Grandma’s viewing preferences require a small explanation.
I do occasionally want something quieter. Then I watch a Hallmark mystery.
Still a murder. Just a little less stressful getting there.
The trouble is that I tend to figure things out before the story reveals them.
Sometimes quite a bit before.
The other night, I picked out the murderer before there had even been a murder. That felt a little unfair to the detective, who hadn’t been given a case yet.
I didn’t announce it to anyone. My husband was watching football, so there was nobody available to appreciate my discovery.
Or object to it.
That is not always how it goes.
Sometimes a detail clicks into place, I suddenly understand what happened, and the answer comes out of my mouth before I have considered whether my husband would prefer to hear it from the television.
He would.
I understand that in theory.
In practice, the distance between my brain and my mouth can be very short.
I think a lot of it comes from recognizing patterns. Numbers, motives, inconsistencies, the little detail that doesn’t quite belong. I start wondering why it’s there.
Was that a clue?
Was that person answering a different question from the one they were asked?
Why did we need to see that particular moment?
Of course, sometimes a detail is simply a detail. Not every suspicious glance means someone has a body in the garage.
But it’s worth considering.
Writing lets me work from the other side of that process. Instead of trying to solve the mystery, I get to decide what readers know, what the characters misunderstand, and what might look different once another piece falls into place.
That’s one of the things I enjoy about Brothers of Odin.
There are relationships to unravel, supernatural complications to understand, and people who know considerably more than they’re explaining.
Piper certainly has questions.
Vin is not always inclined to answer them in the order she would prefer.
And sometimes an answer creates an entirely new problem.
I enjoy romance. I simply like it with a few mysteries attached.
My husband can have the happy couple in the charming little town.
I’ll be over here wondering what the neighbor is hiding.
You can begin Vegas Viking on Substack, or explore the Brothers of Odin books in my store.