Wild and Wonderful Weather, a guest blog by Paula Munier

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Let's just get this out of the way first: Paula Munier's Mercy Carr series is like me. With dogs.

Now, obviously, this isn't something I would write in a blurb. Which I have had two unsuccessful shots at, I might add. Paula's editor sent me a copy of the first Mercy Carr mystery, A BORROWING OF BONES. I thought I would blurb it. But I was just three months past Ross's death and had way overestimated my ability to focus. Missed the deadline. 

Then, this past summer, I bumped into Paula at Thrillerfest. I told her how much I loved A BORROWING OF BONES and asked if she could use a quote for BLIND SEARCH. (Ever polite, Paula didn't mention she already had raves from Lee Child and Lisa Gardner.)  But when I asked her editor for an ARC, I was told it was too late for a blurb. (I did, however, get a copy. Yay!)

Which may be just as well, because every time I recommend this series to someone, I wind up saying, "It's me. With dogs." Of course, it's not exactly like my books. Paula has her own unique voice and edge. But there's a damaged army vet and a handsome local lawman. There's action and suspense and a bittersweet romance. And perhaps most of all, there's the setting: the beautiful, singular, dangerous, half-settled and half wild Northeast. Which is what Paula is going to talk about today.

Thank you, Julia, and all you lovely Jungle Reds for inviting me for tea. For that is how I think of dropping by here, not as the usual blog check-in, but rather as tea time with some of the most talented, fun, and funny writers and readers I know.

As I sit here in my comfy armchair in my study, all cozy with my tea (English Breakfast, milk and sugar), a nor’easter howls outside, high winds tumbling flower pots and tossing tree limbs and scattering leaves. The windows rattle as the rain pelts the panes and the walls creak, but we figure our old Colonial has been surviving these storms for 269 years (and we put a new roof on last year), so we’re safe enough.

After living in Northern California for nearly twenty years, where there is little actual weather but lots of natural disasters, I learned the hard way that the ever-changing New England climate demands preparation, planning, and patience.

I DEFINITELY want tea with Paula!

Mud rooms are a necessity, for, well, mud. And rain and snow and sleet and leaves and acorns and even ladybugs (who knew). You need ready access to boots, umbrellas, shovels, scrapers, sand, blankets, a first aid kit, water, a whistle, bug spray, and sunscreen—and if you’re smart you’ve got all that in your four-wheel drive vehicle as well. That’s how variable the weather is.

As Mark Twain said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” This is why—contrary to our xenophobic reputation—talking to New Englanders is so easy. You can always talk about the weather, sports (the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, or the Bruins, not necessarily in that order), and/or the route you took to get wherever you now find yourself.

This is also why I set my Mercy Carr series in New England. Weather makes a great character, and here it’s as much a part of the setting as quaint villages and back country roads and deep, dark forests. Especially in the second book of the series, BLIND SEARCH, which debuts this week.

On the opening day of hunting season—autumn to the rest of us—a small boy wanders off into the Vermont woods and gets lost. It’s a splendid sunny October day and the foliage is at its peak but this being New England you can count on a bomb cyclone—superbad blizzard to the rest of us—hitting and that lost boy witnessing a murder. It’s up to former Army MP Mercy and her retired bomb sniffer dog Elvis—heroes to the rest of us—to solve the crime, apprehend the murderer, and keep the boy safe until the snowplows get through.

Now that I’m a seasoned New Englander (at least in my own mind), weather plays a key role in my stories, just as it plays in my life. What role does weather play in your life, real or imagined? Which of your best/worst weather stories are you willing to share?

Pour yourself a cup of tea, and let’s talk about the weather….

PAULA MUNIER is a senior agent with Talcott Notch Literary, specializing in commercial fiction and nonfiction, and the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. The second, Blind Search, pubs this month. She’s written three popular books on writing: Plot Perfect, TheWriter’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with QuietHands, as well as Fixing Freddie and HappierEvery Day.