Crossovers on Country Roads

by Phillipa Nefri Clark

I’m a country girl at heart. Give me a wild ocean beach or a twisting mountain track and I’m happy. I write mystery romance in those settings, which become as much a character as the humans. River’s End, with its misty cliffs and long summers spawned six stories in a series about lost love.

In one of these books, an unsolicited character forced her way in. Charlotte appeared as a minor player and I had no idea why she was there. I tried to remove her but the local police officer refused to let her go. The next book began and there she was again, this time bringing enough of her past along to drive a sub-plot. This time I found a way for her to leave at the end. I thought it was clever to send her to work for the police officer’s mum in a town far away.

With a full slate of books to write – specifically stand-alone crime suspense – I was pleased to see her go. The police officer from River’s End had something to say about it though in the last in the series and before I knew what was going on, I’d commissioned three covers for Charlotte’s own story in Kingfisher Falls.

We all have characters who demand a bit, or a lot more attention. The comic relief who makes us see things in a different light or best friend with a strong backstory. How do we know when a minor character has what it takes to make them a lead character?

I enjoy writing strong female main characters. They don’t start off with obvious strength but have enough conflict and problems to deal with by the end of the book or series to show who they truly are. Charlotte was already a tough cookie. How to find her heart? Challenge accepted.

If Charlotte was important enough to make me spend money on three covers before writing a word, she had a story to tell. One I’d unknowingly begun in River’s End. I’d thought she was a distraction for Trev, the police officer. Instead, she was running from a difficult past and terrified of her future. There were hints and breadcrumbs already in place. She needed her story told. If I ignored her, the likelihood of writing anything else was small.





How to craft this new series? I began by rereading every scene involving Charlotte in the River’s End series. I studied Trev and his needs. Wrote notes about Charlotte’s background. I sketched Kingfisher Falls township and Charlotte’s home. As a panster, that’s as plotted as it gets for me.

Weaving the elements of both series together came naturally. I included enough of River’s End to make sense of Charlotte and Trev to new readers. The gorgeous valley setting and atmospheric waterfall is its own character. Although these are small town whodunits, they are also slow burn romances with an arc leading to happiness.

Buy link

Deadly Secrets: Book 3 releases 31 May 2020

A trail of purple flowers guides psychiatrist Charlotte to an old shallow grave in bushland behind her home. Her instincts lead her to who she believes is the killer but when a missing person reappears, Charlotte's mistake puts those she loves at deadly risk.



Do you have favourite crossover books?

Love to love following my lifelong dream to write.

Love to laugh with my family as we spend more time together than ever.

Love to learn how other people think and feel.

Bio: Phillipa Nefri Clark lives just outside a beautiful town in country Victoria. She also lives in the many worlds of her imagination and stockpiles stories beside her laptop. She adores mysteries of any kind and always manages to include a puzzle in every book. From the fifty-year-old mystery of lost love in The Stationmaster's Cottage to the puzzling case of The Christmas Tree Thief, Phillipa loves keeping her characters - and her readers - guessing. With a passion for music, the ocean, nature and writing, she is often found in the vegetable garden pondering a new story.

http://www.phillipaclark.com/