I’m a novelist now, but it wasn’t always that way. Growing up, writing wasn’t my first choice for leisure. Reading yes, but writing no. I was a painter. I was going to be the next Rembrandt or Picasso or dare to be different like Andy Warhol. I was very comfortable with a paint brush, an artist’s palette and a color-splattered easel. I spent summers sketching the beaches, cottages and light houses throughout Cape Cod. Unfortunately, only a few of my paintings ever hung on walls outside the homes of my relatives.
I did a short stint in Vermont at Green Mountain Junior College, but soon found I wasn’t cut out for an all-girls school in the middle of nowhere. Many years and lots of classes later, I realized my dream and walked across the stage to accept my college degree. By that time, I shared something in common with several of my teachers … we were the same age.
For a while I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. Later, I worked as general manager and treasurer of my family’s metal stamping business. Eventually, I retired from the County Sheriff’s Office in Barnstable, Massachusetts as an Assistant Deputy Superintendent. I shared many professions with the years leading up to my first serious attempt to write a novel.
I started out dabbling in poetry and short stories, along with community and organization based newsletters. Then came Casey. After two years of getting to know her, the Casey Quinby Mystery Series hit the shelves. It’s always a writer’s challenge to create characters readers can relate to … fall in love with … sometimes hate … cry with … laugh with … and most of all, reach out and touch.
Casey’s stories take the reader from Cape Cod, into Boston and back to the place I spent lots of years learning to love … the Cape. Sometimes I close my eyes and I’m back scooping clams for dinner, meeting the fishing boats at the docks, sitting in Row E, seats 107 and 108 at the Cape Cod Playhouse or walking around Provincetown. Then, Casey ventures to Boston and I introduce her to things I’ve done and places I’ve frequented. First stop, Fenway Park, then to the North End and Pagliuca’s Ristorante Italiano … finishing at Mike’s Pastry. I could go on forever. And I will, as long as Casey Quinby, private investigator remains on the case.
Judi Ciance 