A corpse and a killer on a peninsula

Thus, enclosed by water, Annisquam provides a great setting for a mystery story. The Sum of Her Parts, in fact, is a spin-off from the locked in a room murder riddle Edgar Allan Poe invented. 

Cape Ann's Annisquam

One of many things making Annisquam unique is the way the ocean grips the peninsula. Seawater from Ipswich Bay flows along the Annisquam River, wraps the peninsular tip, and fills Lobster Cove. Its grasp changes with the tide, but it never lets go. This satellite image from Google Earth shows this physical relationship well.

Cape Ann Mystery

I bit the bullet and am running this small ad a few times in the local newspaper, the Gloucester Daily Times, hoping to kick-start some interest in the book for Christmas. Although I recognize writing a novel is an ego trip, I’m not comfortable with marketing, so I justify it as a necessary part of a new author’s education...

Beware: Big brother is watching you.

Webcams are everywhere. For example, here in Gloucester out on Cape Ann there are more than 20 webcams up and running, most of them 24 hours a day. Even the little village of Annisquam has one focused on the wooden footbridge crossing over Lobster Cove. (Ironically, this is one village icon I elected to omit from my mystery novel.) To check out the scene, got to http://gloucesterwebcam.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to Annisquam Village Realty. Should I be reassured or unsettled to realize someone might be watching me walk my dog night and day?   

Eleven and counting...

Eleven feet have surfaced on shores around Vancouver in the past four years. None of them bare, the feet included two pairs that turned up separately and three with identifiable owners. No one has been able to explain a single appearance so far. http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-31/news/29949886_1_human-foot-washes-shoe

Another foot find...

With Halloween approaching, you might find this experience interesting:  a boy was fishing in a lake and hooked but then lost what appeared to be a human foot. An eight-hour search revealed the big one that got away was only a Halloween prop. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/severed-foot-found-in-lak_n_924430.html

Stranger than fiction

Lord Byron gets credit for the origin of this concept ("'Tis strange — but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction."), but I like one of Mark Twain’s rewordings better (“Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.”).

Stranger than fiction

The comment "I do wonder what lies at the bottom of the ocean!" makes me think of Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea is an example of how he anticipated truths stranger than fiction in many of his novels.

David Simmons

Stranger than fiction

A woman snagged a body part while fishing in a lake this summer and returned the prosthetic leg to its owner by means of some clever sleuthing. http://ksax.com/article/stories/s2252212.shtml

Reminded of how truth can be stranger than fiction, I sent copies of The Sum of Her Parts to both players in this dramatic reconnection. How many others have wondered about reeling in a “dead body” when they have something really heavy on the line?

David Simmons