BLIND SEARCH is the newest in Paula Munier's series featuring former MP Mercy Carr and her sniffer dog. She's answering our questions about writing and the story.
Writers usually hate writing book summaries. Will you share with us your real book blurb or one you wish you could have used?
Book Blurb for BLIND SEARCH (since I’m an agent by day, I pitch books for a living and so I tend to like my own blurbs best)
It’s hunting season in Vermont. When Henry, a nine-year-old boy with autism, wanders off into the woods and witnesses a murder, former MP Mercy Carr and her sniffer dog Elvis must team up with game warden Troy Warner and his search-and-rescue dog Susie Bear to find the killer—before the killer finds Henry. When an early season blizzard hits the mountains, cutting them off from the rest of the world, the race is on to solve the crime, apprehend the murderer, and keep Henry safe until the snowplows get through. Inspired by a true story.
What was the a-ha moment that made you write this story?
I heard a true story about a boy with autism who wandered off into the Vermont woods and got lost. Note: It is a scary fact that children with autism and elderly people with dementia wander off into the woods all too often and need rescuing.
Thanks to the efforts of the search-and-rescue folks, the boy was found safe and sound before it was too late. As a crime writer, I thought, “what if the boy witnessed a murder?” and I was off and running.
Who is your favorite character and why?
Of course, I am very fond of my crime-fighting duos, former MP Mercy Carr and her sniffer dog Elvis, and game warden Troy Warner and his search-and-rescue dog Susie Bear. But in writing BLIND SEARCH, I fell in love Henry, the nine-year-old boy who gets lost.
Henry is very smart—he can recite the number pi to 250 digits—but he has trouble communicating with people, especially adults. But he’s all boy, and he loves the dogs. I raised two boys of my own; writing about Henry allowed me to revisit that lovely, lively time of my life.
What meal and drink do you think would pair well with your book?
This series is set in Vermont, my happy place. You’ve got spectacular scenery, quaint villages with quirky little shops and galleries, good hiking and skiing and antiquing—and great food and drink. With all its fine produce, grass-fed beef and free-range poultry, bakeries and delis and dairies, wineries and micro-breweries, not to mention ice cream makers, Vermont is a haven for foodies. I can’t help but write about the state’s amazing food and drink in the books, so much so that my editor, Pete Wolverton at Minotaur, complained to me, “Does everything from Vermont have to be the best?”
My heroine Mercy drinks Big Barn Red wine, while Troy prefers the IPA Heady Topper. They’ll drink their respective favorites with most anything Mercy’s grandmother Patience serves up, most notably her Yankee Pot Roast and/or Chicken and Dumplings. Readers have asked me for the recipes for these classic dishes, which I have yet to wheedle out of my mother.
Were there indispensable people without whom you couldn’t have written the book?
I owe so much to the smart and generous people who’ve helped me as I’ve written this series—game wardens and law enforcement officers, search-and-rescue volunteers and dog trainers, explosive experts and military personnel, among others.
But for BLIND SEARCH, I am particularly indebted to Vermont State Game Warden Rob Sterling and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Bear Project Leader Andrew Timmins. The story takes place during hunting season, and their expertise proved invaluable.
Let’s just say that I’ve learned a lot about bears.
Paula Munier is an agent and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Blind Search pubs in November. She’s written three popular writing books: Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands.