Guest Blog: Tanya Anne Crosby (Speak No Evil)

  
Today I welcome Tanya Ann Crosby, author of See No Evil, an e-original from Kensington, which I'm currently reading and enjoying while on vacation with my family.  I will be posting my review hopefully later this week, but for today, please grab your favorite cuppa and sit and learn a little more about Tanya Ann Crosby and See No Evil.  

For me, the seeds of a story come from anything and everything—a newspaper headline,
a dream, something my husband said. For Speak No Evil, it began with the concept that
every event in a person’s life is connected. Every small decision we make leads to a cascade
of events we can’t predict: A moment of indiscretion may plant the seed for villainy; an
inattentive moment on the beach may lead to a never-ending search along the shore for a
missing child. The state of our lives, at any given time, is the sum total of everything we have
done and everywhere we have been ... and our next decision determines, not merely where
our lives end, but who we become along the way.

But there’s a certain “woo woo” factor that goes into the creation of a story as well. For
Speak No Evil, some of that “woo woo” has to do with the setting itself. Although I grew
up in Charleston, S.C., I had never been to the Secessionville Creek area on James Island—
a historic location that saw one of Charleston’s—and in fact the entire Civil War’s—most
pivotal battles. If the Secessionville Creek Battle had been lost by the South it might have
meant an end to the war nearly two years sooner. But I first stumbled upon that pinpoint
on the map after a game of eeny meeny miny mo . . . or just maybe, if you believe in
providence . . . it chose me.

My first look at the area was through Google Earth—just to be sure the layout of the land
was close to what I had in mind. But I was shocked to find there was already a historic
plantation sitting right where I planned to place the fictional Oyster Point Plantation. The
Stiles-Hinson house dates back to 1741 and was a vital working plantation through the 18th
and 19th Centuries. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

SPEAK NO EVIL is just the second of my books to be set in Charleston, S.C. where I grew
up. I very much love the city and still have family there and visit often, and I felt Charleston
was the perfect place to set this story of a perfect family (at least on the surface) living in an
idyllic setting. But Charleston also has its super creepy factor. It’s full of alleys, old buildings,
ruins, swamps and old cemeteries. It has a very genteel image that serves as a wonderful
juxtaposition for a darker story—and lots of woo woo for a great story! As for the setting—
Charleston, with all its secrets—is a character in itself.

To see some of the places that inspired SPEAK NO EVIL, visit my Facebook at http://on.fb.me/164M9sg


About the book:

Lifting the veil of secrecy on a grand Southern family in decline, author Tanya Anne Crosby explores the lives of Caroline, Augusta, and Savannah Aldridge, three sisters who share a dark past and an uncertain future...Caroline Aldridge was surprised by the number of mourners at her mother's funeral. Evidently the newspaper heiress who had caused her children so much pain was well-loved by everyone else in Charleston. Now she was gone, leaving behind countless secrets--and a few demands: Caroline and her sisters must live together for one year or lose their inheritance. And Caroline must take over "The Tribune." But a killer is making headlines, and Caroline may have unwittingly stepped into the crosshairs...

A series of kidnappings and murders resurrect the sisters' memories of their brother's disappearance as a child--and Caroline fears she may be next. Yet in the midst of her turmoil, she may be rekindling a romance she'd extinguished long ago. With Jack back in her life and the tattered bonds of sisterhood slowly mending, Caroline hopes the family can restore its position in Charleston society--unless a sinister force beyond their control tears them apart forever. . .


About the Author:

Put a menu in front of me and I immediately don't know what I want. Fried green tomatoes with grits? Yep, OK. Fish? Sounds good, too. OK, so what are you having? I'll do that too. When it comes to shoes--forget it. I end up buying nothing because I can't make up my mind. Thank God I have a husband who has great tastes, or my closet might be empty. I'm one of those people who suffers from acute ambivalence given too many choices, but when it comes to what I wanted to do with my life, I've known that decidedly since the age of 12--and probably long before that. It all began once upon a time after a tonsillectomy, when the doc advised mom and dad they should reward me with anything I wanted (the key word here being anything). All I wanted was dad's typewriter. I got it, of course--a black, sporty Olympia I immediately set out to wearing the letters off the keys. So here I am all these years later, with sixteen books under my belt and a new one on the way ... still wearing the letters off keyboards ... and loving every minute



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