Stony Place delves into the aftermath of a catastrophic event in the harmonious community of Cadence, forcing its citizens to confront the limits of peace and the persistent specter of racism in a transformed world. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I get my inspiration from what’s going on in the world, from past and current events. The great world leader, Winston Churchill, once wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” And that is what the characters in Stony Place learn. The tragic massacre that occurred in 1921 forced the community into hiding for 100 years—The Rightful Future (A Cadence Mystery, Book 1) is the foundation book of this series and tells the origin story of the fictional town. The survivors thought the country would evolve and equality would be the norm by the time 100 years had passed. Unlike the way this country has never truly acknowledged its racial history, the people of Cadence are forced to confront the community’s tragic past. They learn the past still has the power to affect and define current events and people’s lives.

How did you navigate the challenge of balancing an extensive cast of characters while maintaining a cohesive narrative?​

Lots of notes and keeping track of details! And getting to know my characters so intimately they appeared in my dreams. But the underlying theme of A Cadence Mystery series is the concept of community and the greater good, and even though this community is small, even small towns have a diversity of individuals who interact regularly. Like Louise Penny who has a rather large cast of characters in her Gamache/Three Pines books, some characters are in most scenes and the story is largely about them, and then other characters may come into focus and be part of the story then fade into the everyday life of the community, so you may see them again in another book in the series.

Can you discuss the significance of the 1921 massacre in the United States and why you chose to incorporate it into the story?​

It’s important to understand that our racial history shaped and molded who we are as a country today. The transgressions of hatred, oppression, and violence committed over hundreds of years by powerful men, who were often motivated by their greed and self-interest, were codified into law and an economic model that benefitted only some and disadvantaged others. The systems they created still exist systemically and institutionally through inequities like voter suppression, red lining of real estate, unequal distribution of resources, the justice system, and gentrification. And like the characters who live in the fictional world of Cadence discover in the last chapter, we must accept how the past still influences the present and future, especially if we’ve practiced turning a blind eye to certain painful aspects of our history.

I endeavor to study the history of race relations—and sometimes finding the truth is difficult because the ones in power shape and control the historical narrative. A lot of people may not know that the Tulsa massacre was just one of many racially motivated massacres that took place across the United States after the Civil War and during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan after World War I. Black soldiers fought in the war, but when they came home in their uniforms, many were beaten or killed just for wearing the uniform and that didn’t only happen in the segregated South. The months of April through September 1919 are known as the Red Summer because white supremacist race riots, mass murder, and acts of terror happened in thirteen cities and one rural area in Arkansas over those months. Tulsa was not the only place with a thriving Black community that was decimated by race massacres in the history of this country: Colfax, Louisiana; Atlanta, Georgia; Elaine, Arkansas; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Rosewood, Florida were other areas where Black communities were viciously attacked and destroyed.

Currently, the FBI has named domestic terrorism as the biggest threat to homeland security, and many racially motivated mass shootings are still occurring today. Recall the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and El Paso, Texas and at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the historically significant Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

As the community of Cadence discovers, history can and does repeat itself.

What do you hope readers will take away from the thought-provoking dialogues and ethical dilemmas presented in the book?​

We watch coverage of mass shootings on the news and social media sites—the repeated video clips, the number of emergency vehicles called to the scene, the count of lives lost and those injured, the interviews with community members who are often suffering from shock and post-traumatic stress, and the even more difficult interviews with family members who lost loved ones. But what conversations take place inside the homes and communities of those who suffer that kind of large-scale devastation and loss? How do individuals and communities put their lives back together? Is there a path to healing, and what does it look like? How does an event like this change individuals and communities? That’s the personal world I wanted to open for readers.

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