Upon This Rock is a genre-bending mystery that follows a gay American couple in Italy, as their vacation unravels into a gripping chase through ancient secrets, Vatican conspiracies, and personal reckonings. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

In 2014, my husband, Alfredo, and I went to Orvieto – sight unseen – having done a house-swap with a couple who had an apartment there. Alfredo and I had just lost our four best friends in less than 2 years. We were their caregivers, and were exhausted. We turned over our clients to a colleague for 4 months and took, what we thought, would be a sabbatical. On our first day in Orvieto, we were taken to dinner by an Orvietani who told us the true story of a young local deacon who had committed suicide after having been denied the priesthood on the rumor that he was gay. We arrived on the actual anniversary of his suicide, and the entire town, still, was talking about it. As someone who in my youth had seriously considered religious orders, I became both angry and obsessed by the story.  At the same time, we heard of a local scandal involving a Catholic bishop who had granted use of one of Orvieto’s chuches to a woman Episcopal priest for her mainly expat congregation. When I found out that 500 years earlier Orvieto was where Medici Pope Clement VII fled following the Sack of Rome, and it was here that he received the emissaries from England’s King Henry VIII asking for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, something “clicked” in my brain. The idea of a centuries-spanning mystery involving the Church came in an instant. I started writing like crazy – and doing a lot of research. The historical instances mentioned in the book – Etruscan, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and WWII – are all accurate. Orvieto has seen a lot, and it still mesmerizes me. We visit annually now. Alfredo said to me once that actually “Orvieto itself is a character in your book.”

How did you approach balancing humor and grief in Lee’s character without losing emotional depth?

Grief is not linear, nor does any one person grieve the same way.  Like all couples, Lee and Adriano share their own secret “language” and humor. So, it seemed natural to me, that even when speaking of serious subjects, they would still speak as they always did. Sometimes, humor entered in. Also, as a literary device, any story dealing with murder, political intrigue and suicide needs to have a bit of leavening.  One of my favorite characters to write was “Lady Peg.” Just her appearance in any scene, I hoped, would induce a chuckle.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Ultimately, I think Upon This Rock is about redemption, and forgiveness. Without giving away the plot, every character in the book that is from Orvieto, feels guilt or responsibility for the apparent suicide of Andrea. Also, the protagonists have their own demons. Lee feels guilt over the loss of his family. Adriano feels guilt at the estrangement from his family. Every character in the book – including a couple of popes – has to face their own human frailty and ego. Everyone needs to forgive someone, and in turn, forgive themselves.  Additionally, as someone who has friends who are suicide survivors, and also knows people who have taken their own lives, the idea of finding hope during despair is important. At one point in the novel, the number for a local suicide help line is given. It’s a real number – not  a fiction.

What kind of research did you do to weave historical papal intrigue into a modern-day thriller?

The short answer is – a lot. I love history, all history, and I have a mind for remembering dates and characters. I spent countless hours reading, digging through Orvieto’s library; taking the train to Rome to go through the Vatican museum, and frankly, just talking to lots of people – historians, other writers, locals who remembered Orvieto’s WWII history – that was, and is, the most fun. It’s also the greatest challenge: stopping research and actually getting down to writing. There was a good deal of history that got left on the cutting room floor. If I’m totally honest with myself, some of the book is over-written because I just wanted to paint as accurate a picture of each period I described as possible. My new book, “Thorns of the 15 Roses”, is likewise inspired by a real event: a massacre during the early days of the Spanish Civil War in the small Andalusian town of Grazalema. It takes place exactly ten years following the events in “Upon This Rock”, and once again finds Lee and Adriano – now in his home country, Spain – dealing with a centuries-spanning mystery, and a current day crime.

Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website