Writing Fiction About True Events

I live in Orange County, California and there is always a ready supply of current events to draw upon when writing my mysteries.  As a couple of examples: I knew a young woman who lived across the street from me who was later murdered by "The Bedroom Basher".  I also knew a teenage hood who liked to hang around with me who later turned into the notorious "Hammer-Murderer." Both of these characters show up in my writing (with their names changed, of course).

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery takes place in Orange County and draws upon current events.  St. Michael's Abbey--where the priest in the book is murdered--is embroiled in a running battle with environmentalists and anti-development groups because the abbey has just purchased land to expand their facilities and environmentalists believe that if the abbey's plans go through, it will threaten the habitat of a endangered toad.  The Catholic Church got into further hot water when it purchased the famous "Crystal Cathedral" and removed some commemorative stones that donors had earlier purchased for their loved ones, with the reassurance from the former pastor that they'd always be there.  With so many people mad at the abbey and the church, it's easy to imagine that some unhinged person might resort to murder--perfect fodder for a mystery writer.

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

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Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

I talked my co-writer into going to hear vespers at St. Michael's Abbey. On the way there, we drove by some of the places we remembered from our wild youth and got nostalgic. The result: this murder mystery about a priest getting killed at the abbey after some nasty disputes with anti-developers and eco-terrorists who didn't like the fact that the abbey wants to expand on the diminishing wilderness of Orange County, California. Based on some real events in the news here.

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#Environmentalists against the #CatholicChurch

Here is Southern California, an ongoing protest movement against the building expansion plans for St. Michael's Abbey is a story that just won't go away.  There are very few open spaces left in Orange County and some people think that the priests shouldn't be allowed to build a nunnery, a cemetery, and a vineyard on their property in Silverado Canyon.  I would love to live next door to them any day.  I've lived here all my life, and have realized that the County is going to keep on developing more homes as long as people continue wanting to live here. You can't stop progress here in "The OC". More protests about the abbey's plans were scheduled for today.

Here's an interesting article about it:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/09/norbertine_silverado_canyon.php

We wrote about this controversy in our murder mystery novel entitled Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery.  It's available as an eBook or paperback at your favorite on-line bookstores.