P.J. MacLayne

Nov 13, 2023

Do you have an ‘origin’ story for any of your stories? Where do your ideas come from?

I’ve told this story many times. The Marquesa’s Necklace, the first book in my Harmony Duprie mysteries, started off as a paranormal romance called The Ghost Who Loved Me. It was a take on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a TV series from the late 1960s. I don’t remember ever following the show, but I must have caught bits and pieces of an episode or two. That may have been during a period when the family didn’t have a working TV. (Not because my parents couldn’t afford one, they just didn’t think we needed one.)

But back to The Ghost Who Loved Me. . . Harmony was created as a librarian in a small town library who encounters a ghost in the stacks. Eli. Of course, it takes her a bit to figure out he’s a ghost. You can still see throwbacks to that plot in the book.

It was difficult to judge because I was sitting on the floor, but I guessed him to be taller than me. His wavy sand-brown hair was the perfect length to run my fingers through, although I had no expectation of that ever happening. His clothes—white shirt, brown slacks and brown blazer with elbow patches—reminded me of a college professor out of a movie from the 1970s. As he turned and I could see his eyes, the cell phone is my jeans pocket vibrated. By the time I looked back up from the screen, he’d disappeared.

and:
That’s when I ran into him the second time. I was doing my normal thing of walking through the 940s with my nose in a book and I almost bumped into him. A sudden rush of cold air made me stop in my tracks and look up into a pair of eyes such a light blue they were almost gray.

“Oops, sorry about that.” I reached out to stop myself from falling, but he backed away. I managed to latch onto a shelf instead, so I didn’t end up with my face on the floor. My book did fall, and he bent over and picked it up. Without so much as a smile, he handed it to me and walked away without a word. Annoyed, I stood there with my mouth open and watched him turn the corner and vanish from my view. As I returned to my book, I smelled the most unusual thing. I don’t know if it was his aftershave or what, but it made me think of freshly-turned dirt.

Anyway, Harmony and Eli wouldn’t stand for it, and they let me know in no uncertain terms that Eli was flesh and blood. He had reasons for his elusive nature, which were revealed by the end of the story. The plot also went from romance to mystery, although a romantic subplot remained. As a tribute to the beginnings, I often added in a touch of paranormal to the mysteries. The house that Harmony renovated had a ghost that inhabited the third floor. Or was that just the old house creaking in the wind?

I still love the original title. Maybe I’ll use it for another book.

Bonus story: But in that first book, I also introduced Jake Hennessey, Eli’s cousin and Harmony’s ex. He was meant to be a throwaway character. One and done.

And what did he do? Turn up in book two, Her Ladyship’s Ring. He invited himself in, grabbed a beer, took a seat, and hung out for the rest of the series, getting in my way. I tried to write him out numerous times. but he kept coming back.

For example, in The Baron’s Cufflinks:

“Call me when you get there.” I leaned into the Charger planning to kiss Jake on the cheek. His trunk and back seat were stuffed with suitcases, boxes, and bags of his clothes and belongings, and I worried he’d have a hard time seeing traffic around him.

He turned his head at just the wrong moment and I ended up kissing his nose. Jake being Jake, couldn’t resist the opportunity. He pulled my head down farther and planted a big, juicy kiss on my lips. “If you ever get tired of Eli, you know how to reach me,” he said, grinning. “Chicago isn’t that far away.”

But later in the story

Still mapping out my plans for the morning—where would I park? Did I need to buy a pair of binoculars first?—I pulled into the parking lot of the bar I’d chosen for a drink. Just one, to get the lay of the land. It looked like the kind of place where cheaters would go. A little on the trashy side, but not taken over by meth-heads. A place where a private eye might hang out to catch a straying spouse in the act.

And there, holding court at the bar, was the last person I expected to see.

Jake.

That wasn’t what I’d planned. Not even close. But it worked and I went with it.

When I finished The Ranger’s Dog Tags, the last book in the Harmony series, I was ready to move on. I had two different stories I was toying with. I even started one. Then Jake happened. He popped into my head and informed me I was going to write his tale. I told him he’d lost his turn when he refused to talk to me several years earlier, when I tried to figure out his origin. He just grinned and told me nope, I wouldn’t be able to shove him aside. What’s a writer supposed to do? So, I wrote The Fall Of Jake Hennessy, followed by The Rise of Jake Hennessey. 

Check out the origin stories from the other authors on this hop by following the links below.

As always, please stay safe until next time.