I’ve been looking up Hilton Head, South Carolina, trolling for authors. I’ve already found two, without expanding my search beyond Hilton Head Island itself:
Patricia Cornwell has multiple websites, including some scary-looking promo videos for her mysteries. Great fun. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed was fairly contentious when it came out. It accuses a painter named Walter Sickert of being the murderer.
Carnwell also wrote Body of Evidence and other series-type mysteries. I haven’t read any and judging by the bloody video clips on the website, they might not be to my taste. The Jack the Ripper novel, however, intrigues. I’m always a sucker for a good theory.
John William Jakes is another Hilton Head writer, specializing in all sorts of genres, including fantasy and speculative fiction. He is best known lately for American historical fiction, including the North and South trilogy. I don’t normally go in for American historical fiction. Perhaps it’s time to ask myself: Why not?
And so the search continues for appropriate poolside reading. Such difficult decisions…