Character development

Richard Widmark. Now, what could Mr. Widmark have to do with my mystery novel, Smoked? A lot, actually. He is the inspiration for Sam Terwillager, Deputy Sheriff of Six Rivers County. I have this picture up on my bulletin board, and when I think of Sam, I look up and there he is. Now, of course, you have to picture him with thicker, redder hair and a stronger chin, but otherwise, this is Sam.

Mr. Widmark has played some hard-boiled detectives in his day. Sam, however, is more Zen. (Not the new Italian detective, but the Buddhist kind of Zen.) Sam spouts haikus. Some his own and some from old Basho, the ancient haiku master of old Japan. He has an eye for nature and sees every flower and tree along his patrol routes. Like any literary detective, he has his darker side. He is a widower who can't forget his late wife who died of cancer and he feels he let his military father down by not joining the Air Force. But, he studies his koans and meditates. He is a loyal friend to Mary Fletcher. Together they make the poetry scene around the county, but they never foresaw solving a murder with one another. And this is only the first of many to come down the pike, because Randy Galvan's descendant is still lurking in the underbrush of crime in Six Rivers County.

Of course, there's a lot more to Sam and I'm continuing to work on him. I've become more systematic in doing so, identifying his space, his 'things' and his goals, how he is related to the victim as well as the killer--but the killer is not the only bad guy in the county. The real bad guy would never personally do an enemy in. He has to keep his hands 'clean.' He may look like a legitimate business man, but watch your back. He has his eyes on the pulse of El Gordo Bay and beyond. Don't cross him.

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