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Writing Crime

Origin Stories: Michele Dorsey
By Tessa Wegert
Posted: 2021-11-09T04:02:00Z

Inspiration for the stories we write can come from just about anywhere. It struck unexpectedly for Michele Dorsey, author of the Sabrina Salter series of mysteries, years ago when she served a term as the first woman elected to the Planning Board in her town. “The first book (unpublished) I wrote was called Who Killed the Board of Selectmen,” Michele explains. “I changed the board from Planning to Selectmen so no one thought I was considering murder, which most people who serve on municipal boards do.”

 

Granted, Michele had always wanted to write fiction, but she never thought of it as a potential career until she was a busy attorney practicing family law. While this may not have been the most convenient timing, Michele – now semi-retired – has certainly made it work.

 

It doesn’t hurt that her profession and crime fiction go together like the sand and the sea.

 

In addition to exploring issues like fraud, identity theft, and conspiracy in her novels, which to date include No Virgin Island, Permanent Sunset, and the recently published Tropical Depression, Michele incorporates lawyers into most of her books. “Neil Perry is a character in the Sabrina Salter mystery series I write. He gave up a lucrative practice in L.A. to own a bar in St. John in the US Virgin Islands. Not surprisingly, my legal colleagues think of him as a hero.”

 

Michele has also found that a career in law has enhanced her writing skills. “I have spent hours in courtrooms over the years listening to the plight of litigants and the blustering of their lawyers,” she says. “The conflict was more than inspiring and the material endless. My colleagues were bored waiting for their turn to argue their case before the judge. I was mesmerized and kept a separate notebook where I jotted down my observations.”

 

It’s a similar story with her past careers. By working as an adjunct faculty member at a law school for thirty years, Michele found that teaching young people was “invaluable” to her as a writer. “In one of my last classes during a break, I asked them to write what they would consider an ideal first date in Boston. I never would have imagined their answers.” Likewise, her time as a registered nurse working with children and their families allowed her to “understand how people experience pain” and “incorporate family conflict within my stories.”

 

But Michele’s books also draw from her travel experience. Visits to destinations like St. John and San Pancho, Mexico have enabled her to capture the carefree, sun-soaked atmosphere of life in the tropics. In her series, Boston meteorologist Sabrina Salter leaves her job in favor of working as an innkeeper on St. John, where she discovers paradise has a dark side.

 

Fans of the Sabrina Salter series will be excited to learn that Michele’s hard at work on a fourth book. She has also written two standalone mysteries, one of which features a female law student. The second is about a couple who pose as bride and groom on a fake honeymoon. “Divorce, custody, parental kidnapping…it’s not just about murder,” Michele says of her books. With her breadth of knowledge, there’s no telling where her writing will take her next.

 

How does inspiration strike for you? Share your thoughts below!

 

C. “Michele” Dorsey is the author of TROPICAL DEPRESSION, the third in the Sabrina Salter series. NO VIRGIN ISLAND, the first in the series is set on of St. John in the US Virgin Islands. The second in the series, PERMANENT SUNSET, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Michele has been a lawyer, mediator, adjunct professor of law, and a yoga instructor. She finds inspiration and serenity on St. John, Cape Cod, and San Pancho, Mexico. Visit Michele’s website at www.cmicheledorsey.com.

 

Tessa Wegert is the author of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries, which includes DEATH IN THE FAMILY, THE DEAD SEASON, and DEAD WIND (2022). A former freelance journalist, Tessa’s work has appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, and The Economist. She grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut. Visit her website at www.tessawegert.com, find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and sign up for her monthly newsletter.

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