Nancy Cole Silverman asks: "To bee or not to bee?"

HALLIE EPHRON: One of my favorite questions is: Where did you get the idea for your book? Because the answer is never the same and it's almost always something you'd least expect. And when we get a new series from a beloved author, I'm even more fascinated to know where the ideas came from.

Today we're welcoming Nancy Cole Silverman, author of the radio reporter Carol Childs mysteries, with her second novel featuring  Misty Dawn, former psychic to the stars.

So where did the idea come from? To get there, she sought the answers to some very unusual questions, like: How do you milk a bee? 

NANCY COLE SILVERMAN: I never imagined when I began to think about a topic for my next book, THE HOUSE THAT VANITY BUILT, that a bee sting would inspire me. But it was the result of such an accident that led me to research bees and ultimately to the realization that nature had just handed me a most unsual modus operandi.

To start, however, I needed to do a little research. For instance, did you know that for bees to make one pound of honey, they must gather nectar from two million flowers? That’s a lot of flowers, and while the average honey bee can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour, SHE-- because it’s the female bee that does all the work—can only visit 50 to 100 flowers per trip. Male bees are just around for mating purposes until the Queen Bee is done with them and kicks them from the hive. The clincher, however, had less to do with honey and more to do with that nasty stinger in my swollen finger. Bee venom is today’s new Botox!

Bingo!

The idea that bee venom is one of the go-to products used in cosmetics today grabbed me, and my writer’s mind suddenly lit up with ideas.

But first, I needed to know, how would someone—for lack of better term—milk a bee? I had to assume there was a safe way to extract a bee’s venom without killing the bee or getting stung. I’m an environmentalist and hated to think, despite my swollen finger, that some poor bee had to give up its life for the sake of a few wrinkles.

I needn’t have worried. There is a safe way for beekeepers to extract venom without harming the bees, and if I wanted, I could download a simple step-by-step guide that would show me how to build one. I took a pass on building the trap, but the idea of how easy it would be to make one got this writer’s overactive imagination to wander. If bee venom could be extracted for cosmetics, might it also be used as a lethal weapon? Various studies indicate 5 percent of our population is allergic to bee venom and may be extremely sensitive to bee stings or life-threatening issues if stung. It didn’t take much to put together a scenario whereby someone with access to bees would target my victim. Before I knew it, my story was coming together, and I was plotting yet another murder for my aging, heroine psychic Misty Dawn and her sidekick shade Wilson Thorne.

Research can take writers down some unusual paths. When I first began the Misty Dawn series, I interviewed several psychics. I wasn’t looking for a reading—I remain very much on the fence when it comes to psychics— but because I wanted a better understanding of who they are and what types of people visited them, I asked a lot of questions. In return, I got a lot of surprising and unexpected answers about psychics and their clients, including some shady information about visitations from the other side of the veil!

How about you, Reds, has your research led you down a few rabbit holes you didn’t expect? And readers, have you ever wondered just how far some writers are willing to go to test a theory? Let’s dish. I’ve told you mine, tell me yours.

HALLIE: Such a fascinating thought process. Thanks for sharing, Nancy. 

My research has taken me... to a brain bank (did you know FedEx ships human brains?)  and an MRI lab (I needed to know how noisy IS IT inside one of those things) and a doll hospital and a meeting of professional organizers... 

What's the weirdest research you've done to answer your own pressing questions?? (And Nancy, I hope you'll also share where Misty came from... psychic to the stars?? I'm intrigued!)