Guest Post, Mysteries

Guest Chick: Wendy Tyson/Liv Andersson

Kathy here, and so excited to welcome Wendy Tyson (a.k.a. Liv Andersson, a.k.a. great writer and human person) to Chicks! Wendy is multitalented and multi-series’ed. Today, she talks about the paths we follow and the progress that can be made when following the Wright–or write–way on our journeys. Take it away, Wendy!

The Wright Way

Thank you for having me here today, Kathi! I’m thrilled to be a guest on Chicks on the Case!

When my son was a sophomore in high school, he attended his school’s mountain campus. The mountain campus is a small, self-contained, eco-friendly satellite school tucked in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont where students spend a semester studying an integrated curriculum that combines academic subjects with the social, political, economic, and environmental issues affecting our local area and their global implications. Sounds ambitious, right? It was, and in order to have the students begin each day with the right mindset, when they arrived, they needed to walk a mile through the woods to their building along what is called The Wright Way.

At first, my son rebelled. Chronically late, he frequently found himself running down the trail and asking why he couldn’t just be dropped off at the front door “like a normal kid.” But over time, he learned to adjust his morning schedule so he’d arrive in time to hike along the wooded path with his friends. By mid-way through the semester, he’d come to love his morning routine. A walk through the woods did get him in the right mindset to learn about the local ecosystem, and when he slowed down, he left the outside world behind and noticed things he wouldn’t have otherwise. His daily hike down the Wright Way taught him discipline, time management, and an appreciation for, and better understanding of, his environment.

I thought a lot about The Wright Way when I was writing my latest Liv Andersson thriller, LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON. Set in coastal Maine in a fictional town near Portland, LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON features a main character who is trying to turn an old asylum on a small island into an artists’ retreat. Much of the tension and suspense comes from the interplay between the unforgiving environment and the character’s ambitions, and I knew if I wanted to craft an atmospheric thriller, I had to nail the details. What better way to do that than to submerge myself in similar surroundings?

There’s no way to rush this process. Over the course of the year, I visited Maine many times, opting to stay in locations that were similar to my book’s setting. I walked deserted beaches, took photos of uninhabited islands, and sat by the ocean at night, listening to the waves crashing and the sometimes-frightening noises of animals slinking around in the dunes. I even stayed at a well-known New England inn purported to be haunted and roamed the halls alone after dark. As my son discovered along The Wright Way, slowing down and embracing the journey was the answer—and I think the story is better for it.

Readers, what’s your favorite way to slow things down?

LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON, Released October 17th!

Cape Morgan, Maine, is the utopian ideal for a charmed life, and Beatrice Wicker knows it. The multi-million-dollar house on the sea coast. The joint bank accounts. The safety and security that go along with being married to an esteemed architect and community leader. The scenic coastline, perfect for her ambitious plan to turn an abandoned asylum into an artists’ retreat. So what if her husband sneaks off to see his second family now and again? Beatrice is willing to look the other way. It’s simply the price she must pay to keep their life together.

Josh doesn’t realize that Beatrice knows about his other life. That’s just one of Beatrice’s secrets. And now, that truth—along with a deadly host of other secrets from the past—is about to upend their false paradise.

When there’s an explosion at the local elementary school playground, and a two-year-old boy is abducted, it doesn’t take Beatrice long to make the connection between the missing boy and her husband. It was the son from Josh’s other life who was kidnapped, and Josh can’t do anything about it without revealing the truth.

Helping Josh find his son would destroy the façade of her perfect marriage and could put more children’s lives in danger. But that’s not all. It would reveal her deeper secret: Beatrice Wicker is not who she claims to be.

About Wendy

Wendy Tyson is an author, lawyer, and former therapist whose background has inspired her thrillers and mysteries. As Liv Andersson, she writes thrillers, including Leave the Lights On and Little Red House. As Wendy Tyson, she is the author of several mystery series, including the Amazon bestselling Greenhouse Mystery Series, and as Ayla Rose she writes the Hummingbird Hollow Mystery Series, including Beyond Devil’s Mountain (07/24). Wendy’s short fiction has appeared in literary journals and crime anthologies, and she has written for The Big Thrill and The Thrill Begins, International Thriller Writers’ online magazines. Wendy is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. She and her husband live in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont with their sons and three dogs.

25 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Wendy Tyson/Liv Andersson”

  2. Excellent premise, Wendy. For me, intense research not only slows things down, but often proves enjoyable when all the dots connect. Thanks for sharing the story of your son’s school and the lessons he learned!

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    1. I love the changes your son made as the semester progressed. I slow down with walks and yoga. Work for my 6th Alexa Glock forensics mystery has me researching beautiful precious glaciers and ways we can slow their retreat. Your book is now on my TBR!

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  4. Congratulations on the new release, Wendy! To slow down, I will often sit on the patio and enjoy my surroundings. With the colorful fall foliage, this is a fabulous time to do it. Cheers!

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    1. Thank you–I love that! I live in the woods, and I love long, slow walks in the morning. Colorful fall foliage is a great reminder to slow down.

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    1. Hi Mark! Thank you! I have the same issue–I have to force myself to slow it down. Coastal Maine was a good place to do that.

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  7. Hi Wendy, thanks so much for visiting us at Chicks today! What an amazing story setup–I shivered just reading the blurb. You can bet I’ll add LIGHTS to my TBR (and I will read it with the lights on, you may also be sure). Loved the story about your son and the Wright Way as well. I may not be the right person to to talk about slowing down–I usually need to speed myself up, lol.

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    1. Thanks, Lisa! The Wright Way is a beautiful walk. The mountain campus is fairly close to my home, so I occasionally walk the path when the kids aren’t in school and I want to clear my mind.

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  8. Congratulations on the new book, Wendy! I would’ve thought hiking would be a perfect way to start the day when I was in high school. My senior year of college, I lived on the far side of campus so I had to walk what we called the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which wound through a wooded copse. We frequently shared the trail with the local wildlife. It was lovely, although a little cold in the winter. LOL

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    1. Thanks, Liz! Your trail sounds very similar–and beautiful! I think my son would have enjoyed the Wright Way more initially had it not been for his chronic lateness. Winters can be severe here in Vermont, so cold was definitely an issue, too. The mountain campus requires multiple multi-day hiking trips as part of the curriculum, and the “final exam” is a 3-day solo trek into the Green Mountains in late fall. The year he did it, the temps were below zero. Brrr.

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  9. I agree that walking (or cycling) is a great way to slow down and take in your surroundings, and it’s during such sojourns that I tend to brainstorm ideas for my books. (Having a dog who stares at you until you reach for the leash really helps in this regard.)

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Wendy, and congrats on the new book–it looks terrific!

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    1. Thanks, Leslie! Hikes, walks, and–for me–kayaking are great ways to generate ideas. Very true. Another benefit of the “wright way” is all that creative freedom that comes from slowing it down.

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  10. Wendy, apologies for the late response. This sounds wonderful! I know this book is set in Maine butyou live in one of my favorite states -Vermont! A friend’s son went to a HS called the Mountain School there. Is it the same as your son’s school?

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    1. Hi Ellen! Thank you. Which Mountain School? There’s a semester-long school that is similar to the mountain campus my son did (in Vershire, VT), and there’s also the K-8 Mountain School in Winhall, which is near me. My son’s was actually the satellite program/campus of a school in Manchester, VT–but it looks similar to the Vershire program.

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