We’re happy to welcome Melissa to the blog! The Abbey and its cozy community is such a great setting!

Community Matters in Dropped Like a Bad Habit

A favorite cozy mystery trope of mine is a close-knit setting where everyone knows each other. I feel like I’m right in the mix when watching a sleuth work their way through familiar territory to solve whatever crime that disrupted their community. The Nun the Wiser Mysteries features amateur sleuth Sister Bernadette Ohlson AKA Bernie, a retired nun who lives in Eugene, Oregon’s second-largest city. To keep a cozy vibe in a place much larger than say, Three Pines or Midsomer, I centered Old Habits Die Hard inside The Abbey: Senior Living, a former Catholic parish and school converted to senior apartments. The Abbey’s a tight-knit community of residents and visitors bound by their address and the myriad of ways they daily interact with one another. I can’t keep killing people in the same building, however, so in Dropped Like a Bad Habit I set the action one block down Chestnut Street.

The Abbey sits on the corner of a quirky working-class neighborhood in a fictional rendition of the Jefferson Westside neighborhood that really exists in Eugene. Between Chestnut and Spruce Streets people go about their daily lives on foot because pedestrians create tighter relationships with their neighborhood than drivers do. (Urban sprawl and strip malls aren’t conducive to cozies.) Residents from the houses, apartments, and The Abbey eat at Scilla’s Subs, drink beer and watch sports at the Corner Bar, buy groceries at the Corner Market, join crafting groups at In Stitches, and get prescriptions filled at the Pharmer’s Market. This insulated world also includes a public library, a florist, and a tattoo parlor (which Bernie’s never visited). Dropped Like a Bad Habit opens with Bernie running errands along the block, a scene that vividly connects The Abbey to Chestnut Street and establishes the important relationship businesses and residents share with each other. Every sustainable, healthy ecosystem depends on diversity and each element giving and receiving in ways that benefit the other elements. Bernie’s neighborhood in the Nun the Wiser Mysteries is no different.

When a mysterious developer promotes a plan to tear down a block of Chestnut Street and replace it with luxury condominiums, the locals are horrifed—and ready to fight to protect their turf. They don’t want to lose the convenience of the local businesses they frequent; the proposed development promises gentrification that threatens more than their daily convenience. Bernie and her neighbors know the high-rent businesses accompanying luxury condos won’t benefit them. Can you honestly picture the tenants who’d move into those fancy, high-rent properties drinking tap beer at the Corner Bar? Or joining one of Carly Hermsen’s knitting groups at In Stitches?

I’m lucky to live among some wonderful people in my neck of the woods in Northeast Wisconsin, but it’s a very rural area. My neighborhood’s on the corner of two county highways, surrounded by farms and woods and out here deer, raccoons, turkeys, and woodchucks outnumber people by a huge margin. I enjoy writing stories in a more urban setting because I dream of relocating back “to town” someday. Before we moved here, my partner and I lived in a cute neighborhood in a small city. I was steps away from delightful neighbors, within an easy bike ride or walk to run all my errands. Living in the country requires more effort, meeting up with neighbors means walking the equivalent of a city block! When we lived in town I’d see most of my neighbors daily. Yes, the view is beautiful through my window, but it sure would be nice to see more people. To satisfy my desire, I play pretend on the corner of Chestnut and Jefferson with Bernie and Co.

Do tell, dear reader! Are you a city or a country dweller? And what’s your favorite cozy trope?

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DROPPED LIKE A BAD HABIT

The bodies keep piling up along Chestnut Street…

When Sister Bernadette hears from the local pharmacist about plans to redevelop and gentrify their small community on Chestnut Street, she rallies her neighbors at The Abbey: Senior Living to help stop it. Chestnut Street is home to local mom-and-pop businesses that The Abbey’s residents frequently access. But when the healthy pharmacist mysteriously drops dead with no discernable reason, Detective AJ Lewis is stumped. Then another, younger, business owner dies with no explanation, and AJ is suspicious and starts to dig.

Sister Bernie, investigating small, seemingly nonsensical thefts, is intrigued and positions herself to collaborate with the police for what she hopes will be her second murder investigation. Who’s behind the shadowy Vision Corporation? Each question leads to a dead end or another question. And then there’s an unexpected death at The Abbey. Coincidence or Connection?

Murder’s becoming a bad habit Sister Bernie and AJ are determined to break.

BUY LINK

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ABOUT MELISSA

Melissa Westemeier is a Sister in Crime and teacher from Wisconsin. She uses humor to explore serious subjects, and her published books include the Nun the Wiser Mysteries, rom-coms, and a trilogy loosely based on her years tending bar on the Wolf River. She likes her coffee and protagonists strong and prefers to work barefoot with natural lighting.

Melissa’s Website: https://www.melwestemeier.com/

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