The Church Hill Train Disaster and VIRGINIA IS FOR MYSTERIES 3

My story, “Derailed,” appears in the third edition of Virginia is for Mysteries. In it, sassy, private investigator, Delanie Fitzgerald, gets more than she bargains for when sleezy strip club owner and her best, cash-paying client, Chaz Smith, hires her to find out who’s blackmailing him and his buddies. She and her partner, Duncan Reynolds, have to find out what happened one summer evening twenty years ago and what it has to do with the Church Hill Tunnel cave-in. While trying to figure out the connection to the spooky, abandoned site where the train and several victims lie buried beneath a busy Richmond neighborhood, Delanie discovers the origin of Chaz’s mysterious teardrop face tattoo.

I have been fascinated with the Church Hill Disaster for years. The train and several of the crew were walled inside the tunnel when it became too dangerous to continue recovery efforts. It lies beneath the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. Both ends of the tunnel have been sealed, and you could drive by them and not ever realize what lies within. Today, one end is in the courtyard of an upscale condominium community, and the other, several miles away, is in an overgrown, forgotten area covered in weeds, debris, and standing water.

The events of 1925 have spawned all kinds of ghost stories, legends, and theories. People who live atop the hill talk about the characteristic “Church Hill Lean” that some of the structures have because of shifts in the tunnel below, and there have been cases of building collapses through the years.

In my story, I added another body to the tragic memorial. In my fictious account, readers learn how sleezy strip club owner, Chaz Wellington Smith, III acquired his infamous, teardrop tattoo.

Virginia is for Mysteries III launches February 16, 2022. It is available for preorder in paperback, hardback, or ebook.

The Stuff I Research

Recently, I’ve done a lot of interviews for blogs and promotions for my latest Delanie Fitzgerald mystery, Glitter, Glam, and Contraband. One question that I’m asked a lot is how much research do you do for fiction Surprisingly, it’s a lot. (And I love the research quest part of the writing journey.)

For this book, I did a lot of research on the care and feeding of poisonous reptiles (enough to give myself the heebie jeebies — And now snakes keep appearing in pop-up ads on my social media sites.) I also did a lot of research of banned species in Virginia. Many thanks to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. They have a wealth of information on their site. I interviewed several people who raise snakes or exotic fish.

I had never been to a drag show, so I went with my writer pals, Rosemary Shomaker, Fiona Quinn, and Tina Glasneck. We went to Godfrey’s in Richmond, VA for a fabulous brunch. The entertainers were very helpful when they found out we were mystery writers.

There is also a time capsule/corner stone in the story, and I did a lot of research on what goes into these and what happens to them. So what happens if someone puts something in one that shouldn’t be there?

Right now, I’m working on a short story set around the Church Hill neighborhood in Richmond. In the 1920s, the railroad was repairing and expanding a tunnel in the neighborhood when there was a cave-in. It killed several workers. They and the train were trapped inside. After several days of failed rescue/recovery attempts, the railroad sealed the tunnel. And to this day, it’s still sealed as the final resting place of the workers and the train. There are lots of local legends and stories about the tragedy. Some are even tied to the Richmond Vampire. I’ve driven past the site hundreds of times, and I didn’t realize it was there. I’m fascinated with the lore around the history of the event. Reporter Mark Holmberg has done many stories on the site through the years, and I spent hours reading articles and posts and watching videos.

My story in the newest Mutt Mystery, “The Fast and Furious” (March 2020) takes place at a fictional racetrack. I had to do some research on cars, car parts, and NASCAR short track races. My husband rebuilds classic cars, and I got the idea for the murder weapon when he dragged me to the auto parts store. The newest story, “Strut Your Mutt,” is a dog show caper. I had to do a lot of research on the dog show world, pet chipping, and social media influencers.

So even though the stories and characters are fictional, a lot of research goes into making the story believable and real. I want to get the details correct and make the mystery/murder plausible. If you’re a writer, check out Fiona Quinn’s blog, Thrill Writing. She helps writers get it right.