Utterly Baffled Tag

"Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he.

Rachel of The Inkpen Authoress is hosting an Utterly Baffled party! She could not have better timing for this party, as I am expecting to write my first mystery for NaNo this year. 

Yes, you read that right, peoples. Kiri Liz is placing aside her beloved Dragon Tamer (and that means all things CoaL and RoaL) to work on something entirely new. Exciting, treacherous, I know. I can't wait to get started. *grins*

But back to the party. Technically, I shouldn't be filling Rachel's tag out as I have so much other stuff to work on right now (NaNo prep, 30 Day MEC posts, other posts, as well as Christmas music -- I wrote a violin-violin-flute-clarinet arrangement of See Amid the Winter's Snow with In the Bleak Mid-Winter this afternoon for our instrumental group to play for Christmas), but everyone knows that I cannot resist a good tag. And wowsers, is this a good one.

Ready?

1.) You are writing a mystery novel and decide to base the detective off of one of your writing friends: who do you choose? No brainer, there. I'd choose my wonderful CBC, Kathryn, because she'd be the best sleuth... sensible enough to bring Watson to the case, yet not so perfect that she'd be a Nancy-Drew-drive-you-nuts. (And Kathryn -- I hope you're reading this, because your large heart cannot help but smile at my description of your fine self.)

2.) If you and the best of your writing-blog friends were living out a mystery, which of you would be most likely to end up as the victim? *quickly gathers writing buddies, takes a head count, and then contemplates* Uh... the victim? Probably me. I'm obnoxious in public (just ask my sisters), and the murderer would see that as a threat if I knew something juicy (which I usually do), so I'd be the one to die. Please mourn me considerately. Lauriloth, Melody, think up a good epitaph for my tombstone.

3.) If you decided to write a mystery (or if, on the other hand, you do write mysteries) would your style fall under thriller, terror, literary, historical or cozy? Either literary or historical. Cozy wouldn't be awful, but I prefer whoa-this-could-happen-and-see-who's-in-it mysteries to make-you-feel-good mysteries.

4.) Who is your favorite mystery-author? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Hands down.

5.) What is the best mystery you've ever read? Probably The Hound of the Baskervilles. OR Christmas at the Tittletons. Yes, I had to put that in here because it belongs here.

6.) If you were going to be in charge of solving a mystery, where would you want it to be set and what would the circumstances be? Ooh... New England, in the mountains, during the fall so I could have breathtaking views while I sleuthed (never mind the allergies; we're making things ideal). The old architecture of the colonial/pioneer homes would be agreeably suited to hidden passageways and the like, and the mountainous regions would offer great crevices and valleys just begging to be explored. The mystery wouldn't start out with a murder, but rather a theft of great importance which would then lead to a murder to thicken the plot. 

7.) You walk into a library and find a body on the floor. Your first reaction: "Is it the mean Declaration Lady?" And yes, we have her at our library. Believe me.

8.) Your second reaction: Ignoring the body, I'd walk around it, try to find the book I came for, all the while trying to get rid of the little, nagging voice in my head jumping from one thing to the next a hundred miles a minute. I can never shush him anyway, but it'd be ten times worse after seeing that body. Then I would get the shivers and rush out to call the police. After I found a phone, of course.

9.) What do you say when the policeman tells you that you are the prime suspect in the murder? After seeing the dead body... sputtering, followed by "No!" Hopefully, my dad would be there as well, in which case he would calmly take over the situation and explain that I'm a silly homeschooler that plays the piano and burns boiled water. 

10.) How does your answer effect the powers that be? My dad's a well-known pastor in the area. They'd believe him, though I would live the next week thinking that they still suspected me.

11.) Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle walk into one of those Solve the Murder Dinner Theatres and sit down and start to spoil the fun by solving all the mysteries before anyone else and shouting the answers to the crowd: do you retaliate and if so, how? If I could muster enough guts, I'd yell at them to leave the simple questions to the idiots (referring mostly to myself, of course), or I'd say nothing, and inconspicuously find a table near them so I could hear their conversation. Not to make notes, or anything. Why would you even think that?

12.) Post a quote from your favorite mystery//mystery author: "You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion." ~ Sherlock Holmes

God bless!