From Sugar’s Point of View

When I wrote 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 On a Mission

After seeing Lily-Rose find peace and contentment in her life, and Fiona put to bed the emptiness and unanswered questions from her past, I realized I wanted to watch Sugar fully embrace her life as well. These three 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 On a Mission. It gave the ladies a reason–ten years after their lives took them in different directions–to come together again as only best friends would.

It was clear from the beginning that the challenges Lily-Rose faced in Ladies of the Fire were specific to her. Then 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, they would all need to stretch to meet Sugar where she was to fill her needs. That’s the beauty I hope you find in Sugar’s story.

I wanted to do it right

Several people and sources help form Ladies On a Mission. To write from Sugar’s point of view, the voice needed to be clear and authentic. I took a trip to Hazard Kentucky with my husband and took in what the community could offer. We visited a few diners (ate Fried bologna sandwiches), drove through a few “Hollars” (small protected valleys between two mountain or hills), read several books on Appalachian living (Thank you, Cindy Sproles) and watched movies about the Kentucky Appalachian Mountain area. I worked hard to say Ap·​pa·​LA·​chian instead of Ap·​pa·​A·​chian. I did my best to get into Sugar’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. But I didn’t have any experience with hill folk. I hope you like what you read.

Drop me a note, leave a review

I’m excited to hear what you find after reading Ladies On a Mission. Let me know your thoughts on Sugar’s discoveries and how the friendship between these three women gave her strength. And let me know how you feel about Granny. Her position in the story takes a new twist. After you finally put the book down, maybe go out and chop some wood, bake some cookies, or whatever you need to do to bask in the presence of the three friends.

Something only found here

When I finished my first draft of Ladies On a Mission, I thought I had told all the stories I had for these three ladies and their lives together. It was bittersweet, but as a big girl, I figured there were other stories to tell.

After I received the draft back from my editor, I came across a phrase she highlighted then added a note in the margin, This is the title of your next book. Is it true? Am I finished with the three gals? Are we staying in Trotter or coming back to Applegate?

After hitting my head on my desk a few times, I stopped and looked out the window, trying to see the special and secluded view that Burl had at the end of Ladies On a Mission. Then I smiled because my editor was right. There’s more to come.

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.