Cape Hatteras Series by Nikki Leigh

Creating a Multi Dimensional Character

2009-05-02T17:49:00.001-07:00

I've been working with a husband and wife team who are psychologists on a book promotion campaign - their names are Judith and Jim. Today I decided to ask Jim if he would be willing to talk with me about this character. We had a great talk about her personality, what drives her, how she will behave, what led to the actions she takes in the book, various resolutions to her behavior and much more. He also gave me some great ideas for terms and conditions to research to understand her better.

I am looking forward to putting her character together and getting into her mind. If I can get her on paper like I have in mind - readers will be torn in their reactions to her. Should be interesting for all of us...

Nikki Leigh

--
Book Promo 201 - Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing (May 2009)
Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Promotional Services - www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Along the water, disasters waiting for their moment

2009-04-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

While not directly related to my book - this will provide some insights into the area and the conditions. The setting for Lilah and the Locket is along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I spent a lot of time to get the atmosphere and setting of the book "right" so that readers could get a feel for the area :) For more detail about that book and the Outer Banks - you can visit my website - www.nikkileigh.com/lilah.htm

Along the water, disasters waiting for their moment

By Gilbert M. Gaul
and Anthony R. Wood
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Thirty-eight years ago this week, the most devastating coastal storm in New Jersey history inundated Long Beach Island, drowning seven people, uprooting 600 houses, and tearing the slender barrier island into six pieces.

Along the Eastern Seaboard, from North Carolina to New York, the great Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 killed 22 people, pounded 50,000 houses, and left $1.3 billion in damage.

So shocking was the destruction that state and federal officials suggested the unthinkable: restoring the vulnerable shoreline to its natural state - a buffer zone off-limits to risky development.

But no one listened.

Aided by generous disaster dollars, federal loans, and a grab bag of other taxpayer subsidies, beach towns built back bigger and closer than ever before.

Instead of a natural buffer, a barricade of pricey real estate now lines the nation's endangered coasts.

Today, Long Beach Island is crowded from dune to bay with vacation homes and investment properties worth nearly $5 billion. It is one piece of a building boom that has transformed the nation's shoreline from seaside hamlets to exclusive resorts worth an estimated $2 trillion.

The unchecked development of America's fragile coasts in the last half-century, a frenzy of building with little national forethought, has come at a hefty price.

The American dream of a house at the beach has turned into a taxpayer nightmare: billions of federal dollars to repair resorts damaged again and again. Billions more to monitor and fix environmental problems - water pollution, unchecked runoff, leaky sewers, vanishing wetlands. And still billions more in decades to come in an endless struggle to guard beachfront real estate from rising seas and inevitable storms.

"These are not random acts of God," said Gregory E. van der Vink, who teaches a course on disasters at Princeton University. "It's only when people build in dangerous places that it becomes a natural disaster."

To accommodate this risky development, the government has been forced into odd and costly roles: The nation's disaster agency sells flood insurance. The Army pumps sand on beaches. Through such policies, Washington lawmakers have painted themselves and the nation's taxpayers into an increasingly costly corner.

In New Jersey, where $34 billion of property lines the eroding coast from Sea Bright to Cape May Point, some state officials concede that efforts to control building have failed. "We had sprawl, sprawl, sprawl all over the place. There was no planning, really," said Judy Jengo, deputy commissioner for the Department of Environmental Protection.

To defend all this investment, state and local officials have erected a Maginot Line of seawalls, groins, jetties, sandbags and underwater reefs extending the entire 109 miles of developed coast. It is the state's counterattack against erosion and the natural migration of barrier islands. Before development took hold, these vulnerable sandbars were reshaped and re-formed by storms and rising seas, without economic consequence.

New Jersey also is home to the nation's most expensive beachfill, a $1.5 billion federally funded project - and officials in New Jersey and other states are lobbying for billions more for other shore projects.

Despite these costly and extraordinary efforts, taxpayer-funded disaster spending in coastal states is increasing dramatically. In the 1990s alone, more than $9 billion in federal disaster aid went to coastal areas, along with billions more in taxpayer-subsidized loans, flood payments and other assistance.

Often, the beneficiaries are seasonal vacation resorts where storms and flooding are as common as snow in Buffalo. Yet under the government's generous rules, man-made disasters are treated the same as natural disasters such as Hurricane Floyd that devastate inland towns where people live and work year-round.

Even modest storms can unleash a flood tide of taxpayer relief. The government has committed billions for roads, utilities, water systems, business loans, landscaping, ball fields, golf courses, marinas and Christmas decorations. It also picks up part of the bill when coastal resorts are forced to evacuate - whether a storm hits or not.

More than ever, the densely developed U.S. coastline stands at risk from rising sea levels, eroding beaches, and a growing number of destructive hurricanes and coastal storms.

For as busy as the 1999 hurricane season was, it did not produce the cataclysmic storm that weather experts say is all but inevitable. A major hurricane striking Miami or New Orleans would cost upward of $100 billion, with taxpayers shouldering much of the cost.

Over the next six days, The Inquirer will examine how government policies have encouraged and subsidized hazardous development at the coast, insulating resorts from the consequences of their risky building, and exposing the U.S. Treasury to huge losses for decades to come.

Item: An unparalleled building boom has placed billions in coastal property in harm's way.

Florida is especially vulnerable, with more than a half-trillion dollars of property and a population that has increased fivefold since 1950 - adding 4,000 people a week. All of this building occurred in one of the quietest hurricane periods in history. Florida has not suffered a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane in 64 years.

"We've got a policy in the state that says we won't encourage development in hazardous areas," says Ralph Cantral, director of Florida's coastal management program. "There's obviously a problem with the nomenclature, because most of the coast of Florida is a hazard."

Item: The United States has spent $140 billion on all forms of disaster assistance since 1950. Disaster spending by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone has jumped 72-fold since the 1950s, adjusted for inflation. One hurricane, Georges in 1998, has cost taxpayers $2 billion. In the previous four decades, only one hurricane cost $500 million. Often, aid goes for cosmetic repairs, from street signs to tennis courts.

Item: The government's grab bag of subsidies has fostered an entitlement mentality among many beachfront investors, who often want the government off their backs - except when disaster strikes. The National Flood Insurance Program subsidizes the riskiest beachfront properties. Yet Congress has stopped the program from charging the owners of those properties a fair premium or building adequate reserves, relying instead on the U.S. Treasury.

Item: Investors building along vulnerable coastlines benefit from generous tax breaks. Heading the list: property-tax and mortgage-interest deductions for vacation homes. Owners of rental properties may deduct up to $25,000 in business expenses, from painting to landscaping to utility bills. And if they drive to the beach to check on their property, that's deductible, too.

By comparison, families paying college tuition bills or raising chronically ill children are allowed only modest deductions, with strict income limits. And if you drive to visit a prospective college, sorry, no deduction.

Item: These subsidies help prop up towns dominated by vacation homes, not towns where people live and work year-round. Many beach towns in New Jersey are empty eight months of the year, ghost towns that turn off the traffic lights after Labor Day.

In some towns, the already-tiny year-round populations are being driven out by soaring land values and larger and more lavish resorts. This trend toward upscale building is transforming the character and landscape of the coast from Nantucket to Key West to Seattle, pricing out middle-class Americans.

Competing interests

Many coastal-management agencies, issuing thousands of building permits, are virtually powerless to stop risky building and overdevelopment. That's because land-use decisions are made locally, and that authority is jealously guarded.

"I can tell you without a doubt that several developments we approved make no sense whatsoever," said Courtney Hackney, a member of North Carolina's Coastal Resources Commission, a rule-making body.

North Carolina and New Jersey have issued tens of thousands of coastal building permits since the mid-1970s, yet still cannot say how many beachfront houses line their shores, let alone the effect of all that building. "It would be something that would be useful to know," said Jengo of the Environmental Protection Department.

Regulators struggling to manage coastal development are hamstrung by weak and contradictory rules, legal decisions favoring property owners, and a nearly total breakdown in oversight. The federal Coastal Zone Management program, for example, has spent $1.2 billion since 1972 to help states, yet officials who run it say they have no data to measure its effect.

Today, many coastal programs are stalled in a regulatory gridlock of competing interests among local politicians, developers, environmentalists and state bureaucrats.

South Carolina adopted strict controls on beachfront building in 1988. A developer sued, contending that the rules prevented him from selling two lots on Isle of Palms, a resort near Charleston. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed, and the state had to pay the developer $1.6 million for the lots. The regulators then sold the same lots to builders to recoup their costs - in effect becoming developers.

A loophole in New Jersey's coastal management act allowed thousands of beach houses to be built without permits. In 1993, legislators narrowed the loophole, which had allowed developments of 24 or fewer units to escape scrutiny. However, they added a loophole: exempting storm-damaged houses from review if owners rebuilt.

That year, legislators ordered the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt stricter controls over coastal development. Seven years later, the agency introduced its rules, which were immediately attacked both by builders and environmentalists.

Jengo said rules eventually should do a better job of checking growth along the back bays. As for the barrier islands? It's too late. "They're already built out," she said.

New Jersey has a policy that it will not force property owners to move back as its beaches erode. "It's too late to retreat," says James Mancini, mayor of Long Beach Township for 35 years, and a former developer. "It's a pipe dream of these pseudo-environmentalists."

The coast has been built out, and is too valuable an investment to abandon. The government is stuck. Policies that helped spur development now serve to protect it.

To retreat, or rebuild?

The 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm was a defining moment in the history of coastal development. The nation had a unique opportunity to pull back from the dangerous shoreline. But instead of retreating, beach towns rebuilt. Ironically, storms offered a form of urban renewal, a pattern that was repeated with Hurricane Frederic in 1979; Hugo in 1989; Andrew in 1992; Opal in 1995; and Georges in 1998.

"The building and construction industry loves it," said Miles Lawrence, a 33-year veteran of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Let the hurricane tear it up. We'll rebuild it."

On Long Beach Island, the Ash Wednesday Storm did kill the real estate market - for all of three months.

"We wondered how we would sell another house on the island," recalled Herbert Shapiro, one of the island's pioneer developers. But by June of that year, speculators and prospective homeowners returned, looking for bargains.

Today, Long Beach Island is one of the country's most densely developed barrier islands, with shoulder-to-shoulder beach crowds and weekend traffic jams. Most of the $5 billion worth of property is owned by out-of-towners, many of whom were not around for the Ash Wednesday nor'easter.

One who was there was Joe Veitch, a 27-year-old first aid volunteer in 1962. On the morning of March 7, he watched as surging waves severed the island, trapping and drowning two elderly couples. "If we ever got another one like that, I don't think this island could take it," he said.

In the tightly packed village of Harvey Cedars, where the ocean poured into the bay in four places, the front line of 112 beach houses alone is now worth $59 million. That's more than the value of the entire town in 1962, adjusted for inflation.

In 1962, 18-mile Long Beach Island had $136 million of resort property. Today, the 1,064 houses lining the beach alone are worth $566 million. Long Beach Township had property worth $335 million in 1962; today, it's worth $2.2 billion. That's a gain of $944,000 a week for the last 38 years.

"These are just getting to be numbers anymore," says Janet Ford, who works in the Long Beach Township tax office. "It's not real."

Rising land values have made the Beach Haven bungalow owned by Joe Sprague, who has lived on Long Beach Island most of his 98 years, an endangered species - and also quite an investment.

Sprague bought his cottage a half-century ago for $350. Today, if a buyer were to erect a house on the land, the property would be worth at least $400,000 - a 1,143-fold increase.

Stunning recoveries

Like Long Beach Island, Sea Isle City was decimated by the Ash Wednesday Storm. It took out 30 blocks of beachfront homes and 10 percent of the tax base.

Like Long Beach Island, Sea Isle recovered. And then some.

In 1999, the town's assessed value was $1 billion - 42 times as much as in 1962.

The whine of circular saws and pounding hammers fills the air as the island reshapes itself from modest beach town to increasingly pricey resort.

"Sea Isle is hot," boasts Mayor Leonard Desiderio. "Sea Isle is on a roll."

That's a refrain heard again and again traveling the nation's fragile shoreline, as the equivalent of an economic trifecta - a surging economy, a robust stock market, and a tide of disposable income - combine to fuel an extraordinary building boom.

It is a remarkable, if uncharted, shift that takes many forms:

Nags Head, N.C.: In a town hammered by Tropical Storm Dennis in August, Malcolm Fearing, a developer, talks about a new generation of cottage. "I had one cottage that I rented for $600 a week. We tore it down and are building a new house with 5,200 square [foot] space, nine bedrooms, and we will rent it for $5,500 to $6,000 a week." He whistles for emphasis. "I don't know why they call it a cottage. It's a damn motel. It's just a pure, doggone investment."

Wrightsville Beach, N.C.: Real estate in the once-quaint family retreat there is worth $1.4 billion, more than double its value only eight years ago. "Wrightsville used to be a working-class beach town; people actually lived there," said North Carolina's Hackney. "Now [houses in] developments cost $500,000 to $1 million and nobody can afford to live there."

Folly Beach, S.C.: Property owners say Hurricane Hugo was the best thing that ever happened to the slender barrier island. The 1989 hurricane tore apart old homes and freed up disaster aid, sparking an economic rally. Says town building inspector Tom Hall: "Now it's almost impossible to find a vacant beachfront lot."

Destin, Fla.: Property values are rising so quickly that city employees cannot afford to live there anymore. Only a decade ago, Destin was a fishing village best known for pompano, mackerel, and the cobia run in the spring. Now, millionaire investors jet into a local airport and stay in gated villas. "Here, there are no architectural guidelines," says Robert P. Franke, the city's planner. "You have Federalist, Mediterranean and Cracker. … The state's mandate to cut back on sprawl, it's not taking hold here."

In Florida, coastal towns have to submit land-use plans to the state, but they are not models of restraint, said Cantral, the state coastal management director. Were all the planned development to occur, the coastal population would swell tenfold - to 90 million people, Cantral said.

Some resort towns now are as densely built as the nation's largest cities. Census data show that Wildwood is more densely developed than Baltimore; Margate than Newark; Surf City than Camden.

Houses are getting bigger, gobbling up more square feet than ever before and rising higher into the air. In many shore towns, it is nearly impossible to see the ocean, beach or bay because of the walls of buildings.

"Ocean City used to be a family resort," said Tom Cleary, who has lived on a modest rancher on Mariana Lane for 22 years. "People could come down here and buy a small home."

Now, developers are tearing down those homes and putting up duplexes, he said. Now, it's noisier and more crowded. Cars jam the streets. There's no place to park.

"Basically, it ceases to be a family town," he said. "It becomes a greed town. It's strictly greed, greed, greed."

Building bigger

One of the first things Dave Owens did when he went to work for North Carolina as a coastal regulator 20 years ago was take a ride on the beach. Owens, a lawyer and planner, was assigned to sort out development plans for the Currituck Outer Banks, then one of the country's most coveted stretches of virgin barrier island.

For more than a century, the unspoiled stretch of wild dunes, maritime forest and salt marshes had dodged development pressures that had overwhelmed such nearby towns as Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head. As recently as 1980, only a hundred or so people lived on the 23-mile barrier strip.

Owens faced a unique challenge: How to preserve the distinctive character of the Currituck Banks without closing the door on development for the cash-starved rural county that extends across the shallow sound.

On the makeshift beach road from Virginia to the Dare County border, Owens recalls, "I could drive at 30 m.p.h. and count every house."

Today, there are more than 2,500 houses on the Currituck Banks, 83 times the number two decades ago. Almost all are rental properties and second homes, some worth millions. The barrier island accounts for 62 percent - or more than $1 billion - of Dare County's tax base, but less than 5 percent of its full-time population. At 65 cents per $100 of assessed value, the county has one of the country's lower tax rates.

In summer, the population swells to 30,000 from 500 - even though developers, under pressure from environmentalists and state regulators, agreed to scale back densities. And Route 12, a winding, two-lane blacktop, can barely contain all the Range Rovers, Volvos and minivans carrying vacationers from a half-dozen states.

The county projects that by 2020 the number of houses on the Currituck Banks will more than double, to 6,000. The summer population is projected to swell to 70,000.

Developments such as Pine Island, an old hunting club on an isolated strip of wild dunes, now offer massive oceanfront houses that sleep up to five families and rent for $12,000 a week. Catalogs tout them as perfect for wedding receptions and corporate meetings.

"It used to be people would put a cottage down on the beach, even a nice one," said Currituck County Tax Assessor Tracy Sample. "Now they put down a mansion costing $1 million. It's crazy."

With land prices soaring, owners feel compelled to build bigger to justify their investments, especially if it's a rental property. And, says Bill Hollan, a Pine Island developer, "Part of it is just keeping up with the Joneses."

For planners, the boom has created a new wave of pressures. Route 12 is choked with traffic, as are rural highways carrying vacationers from the Virginia line to the Outer Banks' Wright Memorial Bridge.

In August 1998, when the county ordered an evacuation for Hurricane Bonnie, it took vacationers five hours to drive 12 miles from the county line to the bridge. "People were getting frustrated and driving on the shoulder. People were throwing rocks at them," says Jack Simoneau, the county planning director.

Rapid development may also be outstripping the area's water supply, a thin lens of freshwater that sits atop a lake of salt.water. Some private wells in the older Whalehead Division already have run dry or have suffered saltwater intrusion. The county plans to spend millions to build a desalinization plant, similar to one in the nearby Nags Head area.

Norris Austin, a lifelong resident, watches the breakneck development with a sense of irony. "They come from New York, New Jersey, and they say they like the remoteness of the area," he says. "But then they want to put a 7-Eleven on every corner."

Growing battle-weary

As development has exploded up and down North Carolina's barrier islands, from Currituck to Calabash, so has the toll of storm damage. In August, Tropical Storm Dennis tore up Hatteras Island, Nags Head, and other towns on the Outer Banks, undermining or destroying scores of houses and causing millions in losses.

Two weeks later, Hurricane Floyd damaged 600 homes on Emerald Isle, where property values had more than doubled in a decade. It took out 100 beach homes worth $27 million on Oak Island. And it exposed septic tanks and the stench of raw sewage at Holden Beach.

For battle-weary officials of North Topsail Beach, Floyd was yet another reminder of their vulnerability. The barrier island is a veritable punching bag for hurricanes, and is viewed by some as a national symbol of the futile fight against nature.

In 1996, it was slammed by Hurricanes Bertha and Fran, which washed away half the town's dunes, eroded 50 feet of shoreline, rendered 350 beachfront lots unbuildable, and erased $72 million of the resort's tax base.

More than $6 million in federal disaster aid poured in to rebuild dunes, roads, sewers, and damaged public buildings. The town spent $127,000 planting beach grass in an effort to reestablish its building line.

Two years later, Hurricane Bonnie washed away half of the rebuilt dune and beach grass. Last summer, Floyd finished the job. The storm surge overwhelmed the remaining dunes, cut channels across the island, sent waves crashing into condominiums, toppled mobile homes, and crumpled foundations of beachfront properties.

For town officials, the timing could not have been worse. That August they had informed owners of 30 oceanfront properties that they could rebuild on lots taken by the earlier storms. "Now they're probably unbuildable again," said Town Manager Charles A. Hammond.

In a Sisyphean effort, the town is rebuilding its dunes, and looking to the federal government for financial help. The locals vigorously defend the effort.

"This is a great place," said Scott Murray, a developer in North Topsail. "We just had a little setback."

Gilbert M. Gaul's e-mail address is ggaul@philly.com; Anthony R. Wood's is twood@philly.com

Inquirer researcher Frank Donahue contributed to this article.

http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/education/COAST05.htm

Developing A Character With an Assist from Diane Fanning

2009-04-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

I've blogged several times about the complex character that I'm developing for Footprints in the Sand and I got a great idea -

Last year I read a book by Diane Fanning - it was about the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. You probably remember the young pregnant woman who was killed and the murderer literally her baby from her body and kidnapped the child. That's not what I have planned for my book - but the mentality of the kidnapper is great research for my book.

So, I contacted Diane to see if we could toss around some thoughts. Who better to ask than someone who researched this woman and the condition that led her to commit these horrible crimes? We exchanged some emails and she gave me some great input -- thank you very much Diane.

About 3 years ago I met Dianne Fanning when I moderated a true crime panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book and she was on the panel. I've always enjoyed true crime books and if you enjoy true crime - you HAVE to give her books a read.

These are some of her true crime books and you can find reviews for a number of these on my review blog - I have read just about every one.

2007 - Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case that Shocked America

2007 - Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Deranged Doctor, and a Shocking Murder

2006 - Baby Be Mine : The Shocking True Story of a Woman Who Murdered a Pregnant Mother to Steal Her Child

2006 - Gone Forever : A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder

2005 - Written in Blood

2004 - Into the Water

2003 - Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells

The Pastor's Wife: The True Story of a Minister and the Shocking Death that Divided a Family

Novels by Diane Fanning
Punish the Deed (Lucinda Pierce)
The Trophy Exchange: A Lucinda Pierce Mystery (Lucinda Pierce)
Bite the Moon (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series)
The Windwalkers

You should take a look :)

Nikki Leigh

Diane Fanning
Author of PUNISH THE DEED, the second Lucinda Pierce novel from Severn House
www.dianefanning.com
www.myspace.com/dianefanning
www.womenincrimeink.blogspot.com

Book Promo 201 is Off to the Printer

2009-04-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Just had to post a quick note to say that Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing is officially off to the printer. More info to come - as soon as I have an update :) We also made a small change to the cover - but I think it will make a big difference...

Planning Details For Footprints in the Sand

2009-04-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

The galleys for Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing are coming along very nice and I have the updated galleys to work on today. Love when the book gets this close to be complete and ready to go to the printer :)

But, I wanted to post an update about Footprints....

Over the weekend I had a little time to start getting some of my plot ideas on paper. So many great ideas floating around in my mind, but I've started writing them on index cards and that will give me a chance to organize all these ideas. Its also amazing to me how many additional ideas come to me as I'm arranging my thoughts.

I wrote one book with no plan and learned a HUGE lesson. While I love spontaneity in my writing - having only a vague idea wastes a lot of time. My first novel was started that way and I ended up tossing out over 50,000 words (200 pages) of content because I started the story in the "wrong" place. With the schedule I have and with business I don't have time to waste like that. So, I plan the basic things that I definitely want to include and especially with a mystery to keep the story on track.

BUT that does NOT mean that my characters aren't "allowed" to take control of the story and that does NOT mean that I don't change course if needed. That is all a big part of the fun of writing :) My first book took over a year to write - almost every book after that took less than half that time and my business books were each written in about 3 months. For a couple of years, I was a full time freelance writer and when the bills need to be paid - there isn't a year to play with a book idea :)

So, once the galleys are finished, I look forward to finding time to keep brainstorming the story. Hopefully I can also find time to head to the Outer Banks to do some research about the Ash Wednesday Storm which is the backdrop for this kidnapping mystery........

Nikki

Working on Book Promo 201 Galleys - Getting Back to Footprints in the Sand

2009-03-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to work on Footprints in the Sand lately, but I'm hoping to get a chance to work on it some this weekend. Last weekend I was at the Virginia Festival of the Book and the weekend before that -- we were working on the virtual tour for Maureen G Mulvaney's Amazon campaign for her new best seller -- The Women's Millionaire Club. Several weeks before that - I was working on other projects - but Footprints needs my attention and I really want to do some story brainstorming.

So, I called a local psychologist to see if we can talk about one of the characters. I work hard to maintain authenticity in characters, setting etc so I need to talk with a professional about some ideas I have for this character. Hopefully she can point me in the right direction. More updates soon -- I hope. I'll also let you know when Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing is available :)

Nikki

Additional Character and the Book Dedication

2009-01-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not revealing any huge secrets, but I planned to base a character in Footprints in the Sand on someone who has always been very important to me, but I needed someone's approval to do this. I got that approval a few days ago - so JD will be in the book. He's going to be a great friend to Nathan (the hero) and I think he will play an important part in helping Nathan solve the mystery of the kidnapping. The character will be his own "person", but there will be parts of his personality and behavior that will be familiar to people who knew the person he is based on.

I've also decided who to dedicate the book to, but now I will have to craft a great written dedication. Thankfully, I have all kind of time to figure that out :)

I also found some awesome resources and tips for parents to help them prevent kidnappings - and I'm planning to include those in the back of the book along with internet links for much more information.

Several other projects are taking up my writing time right now, but ideas for this book are simmering :) I've also got post it notes with ideas all over the covers of a couple of notebooks.

I read How to Write a Damn Good Mystery and all kinds of interesting story ideas cme to me while I was reading, so I jotted the notes down and stuck them to the front of the book. It looks really funny, but there is only one idea that I might not use :)

Time to get back to work for a client - hoping to share more soon :)

Nikki Leigh

Kidnapping Information Research

2009-01-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

In between working, I've been on a search for kidnapping investigation information. At an author event in October I met a local author who is retired from the FBI, so I emailed him and he sent me a great list of the things that need to be done when a kidnapping is reported. I printed that out and will definitely use it while I'm plotting the story.

Tonight I got an idea about a keyword combination for Google and it got me into a section of the www.missingkids.org website that I hadn't found before. There is a wealth of info on their site and especially if you click on the "resource" links. I found this PDF which is a training manual for police officers which should be helpful and they have a couple of checklists. This is the link -
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/ResourceServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=643 and click on Missing and Abducted Children (English)

I also located some tips for parents etc that I'll include in a special section in the back of the book. In any of my mysteries, I want to find a way to share information I find that can be helpful to readers. This should be some great information for parents and others :) I work hard to have authenticity in my novels, but this will go a step beyond what my readers are used to.

I'm also reading "How to Write a Damn Good Mystery" and making all kinds of notes. You should see the front of the book, I keep adding post it notes with story ideas that pop into my head while I'm reading :)

Nikki Leigh

Footprints in the Sand - Villain is Taking Shape

2008-12-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

With Footprints in the Sand, the main characters are fleshed out from Lilah and the Locket - so I need to focus on the area of the Outer Banks where most of the action will take place. I also wanted to get my head around the villain and figuring out the "who", "what", "when", "why" and "how" of the crime.

I like this clipart - so I used it, but I'm not ready to reveal whether the villain is a man or a woman. Actually, you won't know that answer until you read the book :)

I got all that under control yesterday and even determined where the crime will take place along the Outer Banks. I had about 200 miles of coast to work with - but I wanted to use a section where I had details about the storm - so it will be near Whalebone Junction.

This is an aerial shot of the Outer Banks. That little narrow white strip on the picture in the land known as the Outer Banks. the green/blue to the right is the Atlantic Ocean and the green/brown area to the left of that strip is Pamlico Sound -- lots of water and so, you may understand why I'll write the story around a time when one of the worst storms of the century hit the area.

One of my goals is to have the reader feel that they were in the storm on Ash Wednesday 1962. This nor'easter hit the east coast and stalled for over 2 days. That time of the year is the spring solstice, so the tide is higher than normal, there was a new mooon - so the tide was even higher than normal --- add to that, three weather events that created a storm that sat on the coast for over 2 days and 5 tides cycles and you have high winds and a lot of water. Now, add to that a horrible crime the evening before this unexpected storm hits to coast - and I hope to reel you into this story.

Fan favorites, Kristie, Nathan and Lilah will be back. i got a number of comments from readers that they wanted to see Kristie and Nathan get together. In Footprints in the Sand, Nathan and Kristie are married and expecting their first child.

More soon...

Nikki Leigh

Sequel to Lilah and the Locket

2008-12-25T10:20:00.001-08:00

For a year and a half, I've been thinking about a sequel to Lilah and the Locket. For people who are familiar with the book - the three main characters, a man, a woman and a dog - are all based on real people and a dog :) So, to write a sequel, I needed their approval to include them in a story. February 2008, Kristie and Nathan (the real Kristie and Nathan) became the proud parents of Walker.

A couple of months before Walker was born, I was speaking with Kristie on the phone - her parents were in town and wanted to get copies of Lilah and the Locket from me. During the call Nathan mentioned in the background, that we need a book that includes Walker. That was the opening I needed - so I emailed a release to Kristie and in the back of my mind I was thinking about possibilities for the book.

But, first I had to finish a book I started in November 2007. That book - Book Promo 201: Learn to Promote on the Internet and With Web 2.0 - is finished and in the hands of my publisher. Now, I can start working on the next Lilah book - the tentative title is Footprints in the Sand and take place around the time of the Ash Wednesday Storm on the Outer Banks.

Footprints in the Sand will be a crime novel set on the Outer Banks and Kristie will be pregnant. I'm not ready to divulge any more details at the moment, but to get a very real sense of the storm that will be in this book - I highly recommend The Ash Wednesday Storm by David Stick.

This picture is in the specific area where I plan to focus a good amount of the book - you will learn more about that later :)

These pictures are from the book - which shows pictures during the storm and 25 years later. The pictures that were taken in the same locations 25 years later show how much the area changed and in some cases - how little has changed. These pictures are also featured on this website - http://www.gresham-photography.com/book.html

Lilah and the Locket

2007-12-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Lilah and the Locket (Cape Hatteras Series - 1954)

Book is now available. Click to purchase.

The first morning of Kristie’s vacation she jogs along the beach with her German shepherd, Lilah. At the base of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, Lilah finds a human bone below the sand dune. Kristie’s plans for a quiet week are forgotten as she joins in the investigation. Ocean breezes blow across the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Kristie uncovers a personal connection to the murder victim and her locket.

She meets a handsome government worker named Nathan who is working to complete the National Seashore project in 1954. Do his co-workers know something about the crime? Will Kristie and the Deputy find the guilty party? Join Kristie on the rugged shores of Hatteras in the search for a murderer.

Description	ISBN #	Price	Availability Date
E-Book Download	1-59431-475-6	$4.50	Available NOW
Trade Paperback	978-1-59431-452-5	$16.95	Available NOW

Author's Note and Prologue

2007-11-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

Author's Note

The Civilian Conservation Corps work mentioned in this story actually took place. In the 1950's, this work was completed and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore opened to the public. Multitudes of people vacation along the Outer Banks of North Carolina each year.

The characteristics the Outer Banks make it difficult to protect the area from nature. They are basically a chain of sand bars along the east coast of North Carolina. The Atlantic Ocean lies on the east and Pamlico Sound lies to the west. At times the ocean water washes into the sound and back to the ocean. This makes the area very vulnerable to bad weather and hurricanes.

The beating surf and fierce undertow cause serious erosion which threatens the coastline. Local inlets shift from south to north with each passing season. Over the years, especially fierce hurricanes have closed some existing inlets while they create new inlets. Hatteras Inlet and Oregon Inlet are the most notable examples.

People and events from real life and my imagination inhabit this story. It offers a glimpse into the rugged coastal experience people enjoy when they visit the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It also illustrates the changes in this stretch of coastline in the last fifty years.

Prologue

Anyone who has read much non-fiction or history about the Outer Banks of North Carolina should be familiar with David Stick. He has written numerous books about the region. These books tell us why this stretch of the eastern seaboard is called the graveyard of the Atlantic. The reader learns about various events and people over several hundred years along with his personal experiences living in this picturesque area.

He is best known as an Outer Banks historian. Many documentary specials about the area contain at least one interview with David Stick. In addition to being a renowned historian, he was also the first licensed real estate broker on the Outer Banks. His company, Southern Shores Realty, was instrumental in developing the town of Southern Shores between 1956 and 1970. This is the same town where he served as mayor.

But, was David Stick the only person in his family to assist in the development of the Outer Banks? If we research back a little further we learn about his father. David Stick followed in the footsteps of his father Frank Stick. In 1929, Frank moved to the Outer Banks. He was an artist and became an entrepreneur on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

In the 1930's Frank Stick knew Dare County was on the brink of bankruptcy. He wasn't the kind of man to stand back and watch the area go belly up. Love for the area prompted his desire to discover a way to regenerate the Outer Banks in addition to finding a way to protect and preserve the natural beauty of the area. Was there a way to bring in tourism revenue while still being able to preserve the things he loved about the area?

One of the biggest problems on the Outer Banks was transportation and the difficulty in getting from one area to another. To remedy this immediate problem, better roads and more bridges were needed. In truth, any paved roads would be a big improvement. Travelers were met by sandy paths which led in all directions and many went in circles. Many areas along the lower Outer Banks were isolated from the upper Outer Banks and the mainland. Bridges were a more effective way to connect the barrier islands which make up the Outer Banks. Sporadic and slow ferry service could only transport a limited number of people per day.

The barrier islands presented various difficulties. These flat and low-lying sandy islands had no protection from the rough surf that eroded the sand and would wash out any new roads.

Frank Stick worked with Washington Baum and they made some progress. Mr. Baum chaired the Dare County Commission and could help the project. In 1928 a toll bridge linked Manteo and Nags Head. This allowed people to travel from the mainland to the beach. Soon, a toll bridge connected lower Currituck County and Kitty Hawk. This provided two routes for tourist to reach the upper portions of the Outer Banks. Although, there was still no good way to access the lower section around Buxton, Hatteras and Ocracoke.

In 1933, Frank Stick unveiled his plan. Cape Hatteras would be the focal point of a National Seashore that would extend over 100 miles. It would begin just south of the Virginia state line and extend past Cape Lookout, NC. The small villages scattered along the coastline would remain separate from the National Seashore. Several wildlife refuges were located throughout the area.

The first paved highway would extend the full-length of the seashore and bridges would link the islands in order for tourists to experience everything the area had to offer. Large sand dunes could provide protection for a paved road and would be aesthetically pleasing. Bridges would provide a better way to link the islands. The plan offered a chance to increase tourism and provide thousands of jobs.

What better time to promote this idea, than in the middle of a nationwide economic depression? The government saw the plan as a wonderful way to provide employment for thousands and they bought existing bridges in the area and removed the tolls. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore Commission bought land needed for the project. There was some animosity about how this was handled by people who owned property in the area which would become the National Seashore.

Frank Stick headed various projects on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. One of the first priorities was to build 115 miles of sand dunes to protect the islands and future roads. The project required 600 miles of fence, 140 million square feet of grass, with two and a half million small bushes and shrubs to build the dunes and anchor them against the forces of nature that would assault them. When the dune line was complete, they built paved roads.

During this time, the United States was experiencing a major economic depression. Untold numbers of people were unemployed in 1932. The people of the United States were desperate for some relief and they needed to find work.

New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt planned to protect the environment, by putting the masses of unemployed people to work. He called an emergency session of the 73rd Congress to announce his plan. Thousands of unemployed young men joined the peacetime army to fight the destruction of our natural treasures. Over three million men worked on the various projects.

Work camps were set up and myriads of young men traveled to areas of the country for specific types of work. The Civilian Conservation Corps were born. This story focuses on one project: the creation of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina.

I've been reading a lot about how the seashore came into being and it was a fascinating time with a wide variety of people who were involved. There were different reasons why these people worked to help the seashore be formed. But, I think that is a story for another time.

Before the project could be completed, World War II broke out in Europe. The war forced the United States government to shift its focus. One of the many projects they abandoned was the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The government workers returned to complete the project in the 1950's.

Chapter 1 - August 31, 1954

2007-11-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1

(August 31, 1954 _ Early Morning)

Sunshine glimmered across the top of the powerful waves that pounded the coastline. Storm clouds scattered across the rough sky. Lilah, my German shepherd and constant companion, accompanied me down my creaking steps which led to the beach. Patches of sea foam mingled with seaweed and crushed shells, collected along the surf line. Some broken branches littered the beach to the north and the south. Lilah raced along the ocean's edge and splashed in the churning water.

I jogged beside her, salt water soaking my legs. The stiff morning breeze was a contrast to the gale force winds from the night before. Hurricane Carol moved without hurry toward the North Carolina coast, then blasted past Cape Hatteras overnight. News reports earlier that morning stated the winds could top 100 miles per hour at the height of the storm when it reached New England.

Lilah stopped ahead of me and batted a sand crab with her paw. They danced along the water's edge and I lowered myself beside a piece of driftwood to watch them play. Lilah's tail whipped back and forth as she pranced in one direction and then the other. Her bark blended with the roar of the waves crashing onto the shore. The crab raced past her and disappeared into the sand. Terns and gulls performed their own dance overhead. The caw of the birds mixed with the pounding waves.

"Come on girl." I called to her, before I stood and resumed my jog.

Soon she splashed beside me and we journeyed closer to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. A man stood in the distance, but I couldn't see who it was. As we got closer, he bent over and poked around the base of a sand dune.

Lilah barked and ran toward him. He straightened and turned away. When we got closer, I recognized Ben Mallory from the Park Service project. He was probably checking the sheet pile groins and the dunes behind the lighthouse. The area was prone to erosion even though his crews worked to get it under control.

"Mr. Mallory." I called out, but his stocky body moved further away.

Lilah ran toward him and reached his side. She nudged his hand with her nose, but he ignored her. Lilah barked and continued her attempts to play.

"Leave me alone." His voice was impatient.

"Lilah, come." Patting my leg, I called to her. "Come." She returned to me and rubbed her cool nose on my hand. I turned my attention to Ben. "Mr. Mallory, how are you this morning?"

His shoulders sank and he stood still. "Morning, Miss Connelly."

"Did you have any damage at your camp?"

He looked toward the work camp and shook his head. "Our main concern was flooding."

"Was that what brought you to the dunes?" I reached for the branch Lilah carried in her mouth and tossed it toward the water.

"You're mistaken." His tone was gruff.

Maybe I'd been too far away to see what he was doing. "I'm sorry. I thought you were checking the dunes."

"We all make mistakes." He started to walk away.

"Mr. Mallory, it was good to see you."

He lowered his head and mumbled. "Good_bye, Miss Connelly."

Sunshine shone through the remaining gray storm clouds. An early morning news report said the storm was moving toward New England at forty miles an hour and would make landfall that evening. Damage around Hatteras was minimal, but the report predicted New England would have more damage.

Lilah dug furiously in the sand. "Lilah, what are you after?"

I didn't see anything at first, but then something caught my eye and a scream escaped from my throat. I regained my composure and shooed Lilah away with my hand.

I tugged at her collar. "Lilah, sit." She usually obeyed me, but not that time.

It would be accurate to say she was like a dog with a bone, but that was too literal for me. She held a long bone between her teeth.

Lilah lay in the sand and played with it. It would be good to mark the spot where she found the bone and run home to call the deputy. I tried to get the bone from her, but she held fast to it and ran down the beach. Her tail wagged from side to side and she ran back toward me. Lilah dropped the bone at my feet and started to run along the water's edge.

I latched a finger under Lilah's collar. "We need to go home." She tilted her head at me and I patted her head. "We'll come back, but you will have to stay out of the deputy's way." She hung her head and her big brown eyes drooped. Did everyone talk to their dogs like they were human?

We raced to the house and ran up the rickety steps with care. Lilah climbed through her doggie door before I reached the screen door. I went straight to the phone. One ring, two rings, three rings. Where was the deputy when I needed him? He could be checking for damage around the island after the storm. Four rings.

"Hatteras deputy's office." A familiar voice said.

"Morning Zeb, is the Deputy Basnett there?" I grabbed orange juice from the fridge.

"Morning, Kristie. Deputy Raymond Basnett headed to the mainland for a couple of weeks. But, Deputy Tucker is having breakfast in the back." He enjoyed putting me off.

"I wish Deputy Basnett was here, but I need to talk with Deputy Tucker." I gulped the juice, sat the glass in the sink and filled it with water.

"Hold on." That was all he said before the receiver hit the desk with a clatter.

Lilah stood by her bowl, tilted her head to one side and then the other. She made that familiar noise that was between a whimper and a growl to indicate she was hungry.

The phone cord kept me on the other side of the room. "In a minute, Lilah."

"What's important enough to disturb my breakfast, Kristie?" His words sounded abrupt, but his tone was playful.

"Sorry to interrupt, deputy. Lilah and I ran along the beach this morning and she found something."

"Was it something interesting?" He prompted.

"I'm not sure, but it may be a human femur." I twisted the phone cord around my finger.

"Are you sure it's a human femur?" He sounded intrigued but skeptical.

"That's what it looks like, but I'm not sure. I marked the spot where Lilah found the bone and called you."

"Where should I meet you?" The excitement in his voice was obvious.

"Meet me at the foot of the dunes behind the lighthouse."

"I'll be there. Don't let Lilah dig around the area." With that, the phone went dead and I placed the receiver in the cradle.

I grabbed Lilah's leash, walked behind her and attached it to her collar. She shook her head and clawed at the collar with her paw. "This is the only way you can go. You wear the leash or you stay home."

The struggling stopped and Lilah sat with her back straight and still. She craned her neck to peer out the door. People had started to mill around on the beach and she barked at them. Several neighbors glanced toward my door and waved.

"Come on, Lilah." I held my supply bag in one hand, shoved my floppy straw hat on my head and held her leash in the hand. I grabbed a small bag of dog food on my way out the door and shoved it into my bag along with a bowl.

We jogged up the beach until we reached the spot where Lilah found the bone. After we looked around, we might need to call Sheriff Frank Cahoon, but that was up to the deputy. Whenever Deputy Basnett took any time off, Deputy Tucker was sent to us. The Cape had very little crime so it wasn't a big deal, but I'm glad the deputy was around that morning.

While I waited for the deputy, I considered Lilah's discovery. The bone looked like a human femur. If I were right, a dead body might be buried in the sand. It could be the biggest news to hit Cape Hatteras and Buxton since the crews returned to finish the work they abandoned almost fifteen years ago.

It could be a victim from any of the 1,600 shipwrecks off the coast. The Graveyard of the Atlantic often washed parts of human skeletons onto our shores. It was more common up the coast in Salvo, but The Cape got some of the remains. But, I had a feeling this was different. What an exciting way to start my vacation.

There were also a lot of shallow graves on Hatteras Island. How many times had people found parts of skeletons in their garden or flower beds? It could be something totally innocent, or it could be a mystery. I'd read some books about identifying a person from their bones. This would be a wonderful chance to use that information. Was it a man or a woman? Was the person old or young when they died? The skeleton might be an Indian, or a foreigner. There were so many possibilities and hopefully we would know soon. But, first we had to find the skeleton _ if there was one.

The drone of the deputy's truck engine interrupted my thoughts. He drove along the sandy path that led to the lighthouse. His face reflected a determination born from years of driving along our horse and cart trails. These paths were usually no more than a set of ruts. People on the Outer Banks learned to drive with a purpose and not to slow down until you reached a safe spot. Deputy Tucker parked with his front tires on a grassy area near the lighthouse. He climbed down from the truck and sauntered toward us, the familiar weather_beaten hat perched atop his head.

"What do we have here?" He said in his no_nonsense way.

I lowered my voice because several people walked toward us when they saw Deputy Tucker arrive. "I think there's a body in the sand." Reaching into my satchel, I withdrew the bone. "This is what Lilah found."

At the sound of her name, my shepherd raised her head and barked. I smiled at her, but turned my attention back to the deputy.

He turned the bone over and rolled it between his hands. His brows furrowed. "Did you find anything else?"

I motioned to the marker. "This is the spot, but I wanted to wait for you." Should I mention that I wanted to help him? "I brought my supply kit to help you dig up the body, if there is one. I'm off from work at the restaurant this week and would like to help." I raised my eyes to his face. "Especially since Lilah and I found the body."

He chuckled and clapped my shoulder. "All right Kristie. We need to cordon off the area and start digging. Remember, that bone might be the only item we find."

I reminded him, "Or, there might be a body."

What People Are Saying...

2007-10-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Lilah and the Locket - Reviews

What people are saying about Lilah & the Locket

Reviewed by Anne K. Edwards, New Mystery Reader

If you are a mystery fan who likes sand in their shoes and the sound of waves and the scudding of clouds just offshore, you should definitely join Kristie Connelly and her dog, Lilah, as they stroll along the beach. Of course, your walk would be interrupted when Lilah turns up a human bone.

Thus begins the hunt for the identity of the body buried beneath the sand dunes put up to protect the island fifteen years ago. And for the identity of the murderer.

The unexpected involves Kristie on a level she hadn't expected when the body is identified by a tarnished locket found buried with it. Old memories bestir themselves and form links in a chain that leads to the killer.

Could Lilah's new friend be involved? Why does she find him so irresistible? What does Kristie think of him? Why does he suddenly appear just at this time?

These and many other questions will pull you along as the tension builds. The motive for murder will take you by surprise and look out for red herrings dragged across the path.

A cleverly plotted tale by talented author Nikki Leigh that provides a pleasant and satisfying read. Enjoy. I did.

http://www.newmysteryreader.com/small_press_mystery.htm#lilah%20and%20the%20locket

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On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, an Oceanside region subject to hurricanes and tidal waves, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore construction commenced in 1932 under the auspices of the Civilian Conservation Corps to preserve the area's topography and wildlife. World War II interfered, but in the 1950's postwar climate the project was resumed. In August 1954, the Outer Banks have been fortunately passed over by Hurricane Carol on her way to inflict damage on the New England coastline. Kristie Connelley, walking her German Shepherd Lilah near the lighthouse, sees Ben Mallory of the Park Service sifting in the dunes, but he tries to avoid her.

Then Lilah scents a bone and pulls it out. It could be merely a bone from one of the 1600 shipwrecks nearby, or it could be evidence in a murder investigation, one of the few in which the presiding investigator is assisted by a vacationing waitress and her canine. The primary question is the identity, and whether the skeleton was placed there recently, or as long as fifteen years ago, before the CCC renovation work was abandoned. As Kristie works hand-in-hand with the Deputy and the local doctor, evidence is uncovered which brings the situation very close to home for Kristie and her family.

Nikki Leigh provides a fascinating story with a tremendous amount of historical insight. She had me racing along to discover the identity of the skeleton and to learn how it happened to rest under the dunes. Her inclusion of a heroine who is self-educated, determined, and curious made the story that much more exciting. Another true heroine in this story is the Shepherd, Lilah, for the case would neither have been instigated, nor completed, without her capable aid. I look forward to more Outer Banks historical mysteries by this intriguing author.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Mildly sensual

Reviewer: Annie - May 29, 2007

http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/lilahlocketleigh.htm

She meets a handsome government worker named Nathan who is working to complete the National Seashore project in 1954. Do his co-workers know something about the crime? Will Kristie and the Deputy find the guilty party? Join Kristie on the rugged shores of Hatteras in the search for a murderer.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Nikiki Leigh’s new release, LILAH AND THE LOCKET, is a mystery set in the beautiful coast of North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras. I especially loved the location of the story, vacationing there myself, as I found Cape Hatteras to be a beautiful beach rich in history and bathed in charm.

Although LILAH AND THE LOCKET is a rather short read, it accomplishes what Leigh wanted it to do—tell a good mystery story with interesting characters. While Kristie Connelly was out jogging along the beach, her dog, Lilah, found a human bone. The discovery of this bone is going to unravel a fifteen-year missing woman mystery, with an ending that will surprise you.

I would recommend reading Nikiki Leigh’s LILAH AND THE LOCKET. It’s a short read with interesting characters and it takes place in a beautiful location. There’s even a touch of romance added to this story, making it just perfect for the romance reader!

Julie Kornhausl

http://romancereaderatheart.com/pubsandpromos/2006/oct06/LL_NL.html

****

Nikki Leigh has penned another beautifully written story. Lilah and the Locket has it all: delightful characters, a setting so real I could taste the salt in the air and an intriguing mystery that kept me captivated to the end. Even if I wasn't a fool for anything on four legs, I'd love Lilah and the Locket.

Nora Peterson

http://www.norapeterson.com/books4sale.htm

Past Imperfect - Available now at www.ebooksonthe.net

Retire Rich With Your Self-Directed IRA - May 2006 –

Pre- order now at Amazon.com

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The last thing Kristie Connelly expected on her first day of vacation was for her dog to find a human bone buried beneath a Cape Hatteras sand dune. Even more unexpected - that it would reopen a twenty-year old family mystery surrounding her father’s sister Marilyn.

As amateur sleuth Kristie begins to investigate, she discovers some people aren’t too willing to discuss Marilyn. What is Janet Jennings hiding? Does Mallory know more than he’s letting on? How does Nathan fit into the puzzle?

Join Kristie and her four-legged sidekick Lilah as they find new friends, unearth old betrayals, and discover the truth that’s lain beneath the sand for two decades.

Patty Lunt

****************

This was an interesting story that painted a colorful picture of Cape Hatteras and the inhabitants. Lilah and Kristie are quite a pair and I can see them solving future crimes. Mystery, romance and suspense are all included in the story.

Officer Mark Kearney, Crime Prevention Officer

Waynesboro (Virginia) Police Department

President, Book 'Em Foundation - www.bookemfoundation.org

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Kristie Connelly thought a week off of work would be relaxing. That was until her dog, Lilah, found a human bone on the beach. Now Kristie is knee deep in a murder mystery that involves a long lost family member.

Lilah and the Locket was a quick read with vivid scenery and a wonderful story backed by true events. I liked Kristie's ambition for being a woman of the 50's even though there wasn't much [leeway for women] of the 50's lifestyle. Although a satisfying ending, I craved a bit more of the budding relationship between Kristie and Nathan.

Courtney E. Michel - www.michelfiction.com - Romantic Suspense For Every Day Of The Week

Idle Tuesday - Now Available! (09/05)
Month of Sundays, Book One: Time of Tragedy - Available 12/06
Month of Sundays, Book Two: Hour of Healing - Coming Soon!
All on a Saturday Night - Work in Progress

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Lilah and the Locket is the heartwarming story of a young woman, Kristie, and her canine companion. She is working with the help of local law officials to solve the twenty year old mystery of her aunt’s disappearance, after Lilah digs up a human bone from beneath the sand dunes. In the course of discovery, Kristie meets a man who might share her future, one who might also provide clues to solving the crime.

As the story begins, I was drawn into the words, which disappear from the page to play a movie in my mind. I walked the warm sands along the Outer Banks of North Carolina of the 1950s, exploring with Kristie and her German shepherd, Lilah, as she fought to solve the crime and bring the guilty to justice.

Reviewed by: P. June Diehl - Editor, Virtual Tales: http://www.virtualtales.com/

THE MAGIC & THE MUNDANE: A Guide for the Writer's Journey

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Kristie Connelly frequently walks Lilah along the beautiful North Carolina beach, but on this particular day, as they stroll toward Cape Hatteras, her German Shepard unearths something shocking. After marking the spot where the grisly find was made, Kristie hurries to contact the local police to report the incident.

At the site, Deputy Tucker and Kristie cordon off the area and carefully continue digging where Lilah dug up the human leg bone. When they are done, they have recovered a complete human skeleton. There is no evidence to identify the remains, but the location clearlyindicates the person was buried years before. The only piece of evidence is a locket Kristie finds nestled beneath the human rib. It strikes a familiar cord and brings the mystery way too close to home.

Lilah and the Locket by Nikki Leigh is a captivating short mystery that will keep you reading until the end. Ms. Leigh has penned her novella in ‘first person’ and I found it extremely well-written with descriptive phrases that pulled me into the story and made me feel as though I was walking on the beach right alongside the characters. I haven’t been a fan of novels written in this style, but I believe Ms. Leigh has changed that for me. If you are looking for a little mystery based on a location rich in historical value, then Lilah and the Locket will fit the bill. The secondary characters lend color to the story, personalize the plot and make for a satisfying read. The possibility of a budding romance between Nathan and Kristie make me hopeful that there will be a continuation on the horizon. (Hint, hintJ)

Reviewed by Ginger Simpson - http://www.gingersimpson.com

Spice of your life with Ginger

Historical, Suspense, Time-Travel, Humor… Ginger does it all

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Little did Kristie know that her vacation would be such an adventure. When her dog, Lilah, finds a human bone while cavorting on the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, it is just the start. When detective work discovers that the body is that of a female killed fifteen years ago, Kristie joins forces with the local sheriff to find the guilty party. Along the way, she finds romance in the guise of Nathan, who is working with a crew to complete the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Who committed the murder? And why? And exactly who is the murder victim?

This is a light mystery in the vein of Nancy Drew that moves quickly but resolutely from digging up the bone to finding the answer. Nikki Leigh has invented a character who, since the title says Book 1 of the "Outer Bank Chronicles", we might hear from again. A short but satisfying read.

Reviewed by Alice Klein

http://www.simegen.com/reviews/list/30781.html

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A historical note: In the early 1930’s Dare County was about to go bankrupt. However, artist and entrepreneur, Frank Stick masterminds a plan to bring tourism without altering the majestic coastal landscape. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina was a part of the preservation of eastern shorelines; starting at the Virginia stateline descending down towards Cape Lookout, North Carolina. This project is handled by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which employs many workers that help Mr. Stick’s vision become a reality. Now, in 1954, the National Seashore Project continues.

Published by Write Word, Inc., Lilah and the Locket: The Outer Bank Chronicles, Book 1 is a pleasant romantic mystery although, I am quickly caught up in the imagery of the North Carolina coast line; Kristie notes the sea foam “collecting along the surf line”, and then watches “terns and gulls” flying overhead. The mystery is fast paced as the suspense moves smoothly forward. Deputy Tucker and Kristie’s deductive reasoning is plausible while following leads, which steers them toward dead ends or provides a critical piece in the criminal puzzle. Though late in the story, Kristie and Nathan’s romance burns bright; sweet and charming. The characters are all amiable, whereas Kristie is convincing as an amateur forensic scientist; supported by her extensive reading and research into archeology. Nathan is caring and obviously values family; bringing his quilted blanket along on the job that his grandmother made for him, long ago. Even the dog, Lilah is enchanting, licking Kristie’s toes as they relax with Nathan on their first outing, together. A native Marylander, I can’t wait for the next book in this ongoing series.

A dedicated reader, Pamela Jenewein

http://romanceatheart.com/review/lilahlocket.html

An Interview With (the real) Kristie

2007-02-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

Lilah and the Locket

An Interview with (the real) Kristie

I thought readers might like to get a behind the scenes look and insider information about Kristie from Lilah and the Locket. Kristie and Nathan are real people and Lilah is their dog. I used information about each of them to create the main characters in Lilah and the Locket.

Kristie agreed to answer some questions for you and I want to share them. I hope it will give you some additional information about the story and the main characters in the story.

Kristie, Nathan and Lilah live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and they vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Rachel Deragon, the artist, who painted the picture for the cover also vacations there. We all have ties to the area and I feel that makes the story more special to each of us.

Feel free to drop me a note with your thoughts.

1 - You may not know this, but I had an idea for a murder mystery set at Cape Hatteras for a long time and I thought of that the moment I opened your entry envelope. This all started because you entered some pictures of your Shepherd Lilah in a fundraising event that I organized for the Charlottesville/ Albemarle SPCA. Why did you choose the picture of her at the ocean?

We chose the photo at the ocean because she just loves the beach and water. She goes everywhere with us and this was a picture of her first trip to the beach. She loves playing in the ocean and digging in the sand.

2 - I remember the day when I called to tell you that your picture was chosen for the story. But, I never got to ask what you thought when your family was chosen for the story.

We were thrilled. Our dog is like a child to us and to have a story written that included all of us was very special. What a great item to have on our bookshelf. And the way the book is written, with detailed about the things we do and the ways that Lilah acts, it just adds to how special it is to us. It's something we can always read and use to remember our special bond with Lilah even long after she leaves this earth.

3 - In order to make the details about the characters more "true to life", I asked you to fill out character worksheets for each of you. Can you tell us about filling out the character worksheets for yourself, your husband and Lilah?

We just tried to be as detailed an honest as possible. We really wanted the story to be true to who we are and how we act and react to different situations. It's not often you get to have a story written about you, so we wanted it to be a true reflection of us and our relationships.

4 - In what ways do the characters remind you of your family? Are there any aspects of the story that are more special to you and Nathan?

Well, you really took our personalities and put them on paper and that in it self reminds me of our family. Even down to the things that Lilah does on a daily basis, that fact that Lilah really does go to work with us, and my husband does work in construction. The interaction between the myself and Lilah in the beginning of the story is great. You really captured the true relationship she has with both my husband and I. I also really liked the way you incorporated Nathan and Lilah meeting and the relationship that develops between Nathan and I from his friendship with Lilah.

5 - Are you happy with the setting of the story? If so, why or why not?

Yes, we love the setting of the story. One of our favorite places to spend time is at the beach. We are there as often as possible fishing, playing in the surf with Lilah, and walking the beach.

6 - How do you think you will feel the first time you see the story about you, Nathan and Lilah in print?

I can't wait for that day! We'll have a lot of feelings... what you've done by writting this story about us is very special and something we'll always cherish. I can't wait to buy copies for my whole family for the following Christmas. I'm already getting requests for copies.

7 - Did you learn anything about the writing process from this experience?

I learned how important it was to give as much detail as possible in order to make the story really have a true impact and hold a special place within us.

8 - What do you think when you hear that several reviewers were captivated by the romance between Kristie and Nathan in the story?

It's very exciting. I've never had anything like this done for me or my family before and to hear that people love the idea, story, and the relationships that developed make the experience even more special. I love that people are interested in the romance between myself and Nathan. The way that the relationship falls together in the book is really cool because Lilah is a very important part of our lives and our romance very well could have developed in the way it is portrayed in the book. It shows what a strong bond the three of us have with each other. We are ecstatic!

I hope that you enjoyed getting to learn more about how this story came about and more about the real Nathan, Kristie and Lilah.

Nikki

Outer Banks Pictures

2007-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00