From Fiona’s Point of View

While writing Ladies of the Fire, I fell completely in love with Lily-Rose, Fiona, and Sugar. On those pages, I watched Lily-Rose come into her own. While these three women built a friendship, they acknowledged and respected how they each loved life differently. And I was right there with them. Basking by the flickering flames. Passing cookies or chips to Sugar. Breaking up arguments between the possum eater and the northerner. I carried wood to the fire to keep the flames burning so the evenings would not end. I loved every minute I spent in Applegate.

Why I wrote Ladies Uncover a Secret

After seeing Lily-Rose find peace and contentment in her life, I realized I wanted to watch Fiona and Sugar fully embrace their lives as well. These friends were going to always be connected, and I needed to see how their worlds moved forward. Their unbreakable bond is what brought me to write Ladies Uncover a Secret. It gave the ladies a reason to come together again as only the best of friends would.

It was clear from the beginning that the challenges Lily-Rose faced in Ladies of the Fire were specific to her. In Ladies Uncover a Secret, the challenges Fiona faced in the 1970s were different than anything Sugar or Lily-Rose would ever know. But as friends, these women wanted to be what Fiona needed. That’s the beauty I hope you find in Fiona’s story.

In Ladies Uncover a Secret, the challenges Fiona faced in the 1970s were different than anything Sugar or Lily-Rose would ever know.

I wanted to do it right

Several people and sources help form Ladies Uncover a Secret. To write from Fiona’s point of view, the voice needed to be clear and authentic. I read books written with diverse points of view … watched movies by diverse writers and directors. I did my best to get into Fiona’s head. Feel what I imagined her to experience. Learn what I could only guess she knew.

I did my best to get into Fiona’s head. Feel what I imagined her to experience. Learn what I could only guess she knew.

Growing up, I lived in a small community in Ohio, smaller than Applegate. My world was surrounded by farm country and factories. And close to my corner of the world were other small communities. One was where several African American families lived. The kids from the surrounding area—from different ethnic and racial backgrounds—all went to school together and were connected in many ways. Some of the dynamics you read about were ones I either witnessed or experienced.

Drop me a note, leave a review

I’m excited to hear what you find after reading Ladies Uncover a Secret. Let me know your thoughts on Fiona’s discoveries and how the friendship between these three women gave her strength. After you finally put the book down, maybe go out and chop some wood, bake some cookies, or whatever you need to do to prepare yourself for the third installment of the Ladies trilogy, Ladies on a Mission when Fiona and Lily-Rose travel to the hills of eastern Kentucky to be with their beloved possum eater when tragedy erupts in the Bowersox home.

Want to see how The Ladies mystery series began?

Can a woman on the run find herself again?

Ladies of the Fire brought us to the late 1960s as we met the newly-widowed Lily-Rose Pembrick reeling as she fled Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children. Only taking the cash from the house safe and what she could get her hands on at the family bank, she left the recently-inherited and successful Pembrick Transportation company behind. Exhausted from driving all night, she stopped in Applegate, Ohio, and decided to start a new life on Norwood Street. There, she met Fiona Kasey, an African-American no-nonsense housekeeper/companion to an elderly white woman, and Sugar Bowersox, a Southern spitfire who has lost herself in motherhood.

Together, they enjoyed Lily-Rose’s backyard fire pit, where dreams were spoken and secrets revealed. As they embraced a kinship they never would have sought, Lily-Rose began thinking her past could finally be laid to rest—until someone ended up dead.