One of the questions I get asked sometimes is, “Where did the idea for your book come from?” People often imagine authors having grand moments of inspiration — maybe gleaned from exotic travels or profound life experiences.
I’d love to say that was the case for An Irish Mystery — perhaps that I’d just returned from a whirlwind tour of Ireland…
But the truth is a little less glamorous, and a lot more locked down.
📚 The Pandemic Spark
Picture this: it's the height of the COVID pandemic. Like many, I had unexpected time on my hands. I’d just finished one of Clive Cussler’s Fargo Adventure novels. I looked at my bookshelf... empty. Nothing left to read.
And then the thought hit me:
"Well, maybe I’ll write my own."
So, I did.
This was the very first paragraph I wrote:
"It was the dawn of a new day for Hans. At last, he was getting out of this dump he had called home. The six feet by eight-foot space that has been his home for seven years is in Safford, Arizona. FCI Safford is the building his room was in."
That was it. The seed was planted.
(That opening has since evolved into this:
"The razor wire glinted under the Arizona sun, a stark reminder of the seven years Hans had spent behind the walls of FCI Safford. Seven years in a six-by-eight cell. Seven years… Sieben Jahre.")
✍️ Writing in an Empty School
At the time, I was working one day a week at a school for the children of essential workers. Every Tuesday from 8 AM to 5 PM, I’d open the building, stay present, and… that was about it. Nine hours of quiet time. What better time to write?
So I did. I continued Hans’s story — a German man leaving prison.
But then I hit a wall. Why was he in jail? What now?
I had characters, but I didn’t yet have a plot.
💎 Then Came the Crown Jewels
I’ve always loved stories about treasure hunts and lost artefacts. One day, while browsing online lists of famous unsolved mysteries, I stumbled upon the disappearance of the Irish Crown Jewels.
That was it — the spark.
I dove into research. Articles, archives, theories. How they went missing. What was going on in Dublin at the time. And just like that, I had the historical thread that would become the Prologue of the book.
Meanwhile, that original paragraph about Hans?
It became Chapter One — the start of the present-day story.
🧭 From Boredom to Book
So that’s how it all began — not with a grand moment of inspiration, but a combination of lockdown boredom, an empty bookshelf, a random paragraph, and a historical mystery that captured my imagination.
That moment led to An Irish Mystery, and what I hope will become an entire Newman Adventure series.
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