On Location with R.J. Harlick

The Location sets the Colour

As you may have noticed colour plays a key role in the titles of my Meg Harris mystery series. I have always been attracted to the vibrant hues that define our world. I won’t say that I am the first author to use colour in their titles. John D. MacDonald, one of my favourite mystery authors, employed it in his.

When it came time to come up with a colour for my next mystery, the fifth in the series, I immediately honed in on green. Taking place in summer, it seemed fitting that the colour chosen should be what most defines my Quebec wilderness setting at that time of year. There are so many shades, from a light airy lime green, to a rich emboldened emerald green and ultimately flowing into the dark end of the spectrum with a deep shadowy forest green.

In my mind I saw death lying sprawled in the living greens of feathery ferns or on a lush carpet of moss. Perhaps it is caught up in the tangled grasses of a beaver swamp. Or better yet lurking deep within the forest where the greens are so dark they are almost black. And so the title A Green Place for Dying was born.

The covers for my previous books have used a photo that I have taken either of my Quebec wilderness or as in the case of Arctic Blue Death, a photo from Baffin Island, namely the cemetery in Iqaluit. So last summer with camera in hand I wandered around the woods that surround my log cabin, snapping pictures I thought captured the myriad of greens that abound. I wanted to share some of these with you. The one my publisher chose has a sense of mystery to it, a secret destination. You, the reader must walk along its path to find out what lies just over the brow.

 

RJ Harlick is an escapee from the high tech jungle.Originally from Toronto, she, with her husband, Jim, and giant poodle, DeMontigny, now bides her time between her home in Ottawa and a log cabin in West Quebec. A lover of the outdoors, she spends much of her time roaming the forests of the Outaouais. Because of this love for the untamed wilds, she decided that she would bring its seductive allure alive in her writings. This she has done in the Meg Harris mystery series where the wilderness setting plays almost as large a role as her protagonist Meg Harris.