Cozy Up With Kathy: Setting as Character - A Gore in the Garden Guest Post & Giveaway

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Setting as Character - A Gore in the Garden Guest Post & Giveaway

I'm happy to turn the blog over to Colleen J. Shogan today. Colleen pens the Washington Whodunit Mystery series. Gore in the Garden is the fifth book in the series and was released earlier this month.

Setting as Character
By Colleen J. Shogan

Authors often discuss the prominence of setting in their stories, even elevating its status as commensurate with plot and character development. While “setting as character” is a catchy phrase, what does it actually mean in practice?

Readers know intuitively that setting is important within the “traditional” or “cozy” mystery genre. Whether it’s a pizza parlor, a bake shop, or a yoga studio, the location determines the nature of the protagonist and her supporting cast. The concept of “setting as character” is even stronger than this, however.

For example, the murders in my novels occur in memorable, noteworthy locations throughout Washington, D.C. When I begin work on a new book, the first decisions I make concern the setting. All of the other aspects of the story, including the supporting characters and the plot of the mystery itself, flow from those initial choices. The titles of my books (such as Stabbing in the Senate and K Street Killing) are derived from the featured location.

My latest book, Gore in the Garden, takes place in the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) on Capitol Hill. The USBG is an understated treasure, situated at the southwestern corner of the United States Capitol, directly across the street from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The Botanic Garden is a national cultural institution in its own right - a living museum devoted to the beauty, appreciation, and utility of plant life. Currently under the purview of the Architect of the Capitol, the USBG has been open to the public since 1850.

I’ve visited the USBG many times in my career, always finding it a delight to visit. Rarely overcrowded despite free admission, the Botanic Garden provides a quiet oasis within the stressful environment of Capitol Hill. Its canopy of plants and lush greenery infuses the main tropical solarium with a spooky sense of foreboding. Nonetheless, I still didn’t know exactly how a murder might take place at the Botanic Garden that would prove unique to its setting.

One day, I visited the USBG during my lunch break. As I walked along the main path, I noticed the marker for a plant: Ficus Aurea. It wasn’t the Latin that caught my eye. Instead, it was the English translation next to it: Strangler Fig. From that moment, I knew that I’d found the setting for my next novel. The story of murder and intrigue practically wrote itself!

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Gore in the Garden (A Washington Whodunit) by Colleen Shogan

About the Book

Gore in the Garden (A Washington Whodunit)

Cozy Mystery 5th in Series

Camel Press (July 16, 2019)

Paperback: 224 pages

After her boss narrowly escaped political defeat, Kit Marshall is settling into life as a busy congressional staffer. While attending an evening reception at the United States Botanic Garden, Kit’s best friend stumbles upon the body of a high-ranking government official. The chairwoman of a congressional committee asks Kit to investigate, and she finds herself once again in the thick of a murder investigation. The complications keep coming with the unexpected arrival of Kit’s younger brother Sebastian, a hippie protestor who seems more concerned about corporate greed than the professional problems he causes for his sister. To make matters even worse, the romantic lives of Kit’s closest friends are driving her crazy, diverting her attention from the mystery she’s been tasked to solve. The search for the killer requires her to tussle with an investigative journalist right out of a noir novel, a congresswoman fixated on getting a statue of James Madison installed on the Capitol grounds and a bossy botanist who would do anything to protect the plants he loves. When the murderer sends a threatening message to Kit via a highly unusual delivery mechanism, Kit knows she must find the killer or risk the lives of her friends and loved ones.

About the Author

Colleen J. Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. She conceived of the plot of her first mystery, "Stabbing in the Senate," one morning while taking a walk in her suburban Washington, D.C. neighborhood. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at Yale, George Mason University, Georgetown, and Penn. She previously worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate and as the Deputy Director of the Congressional Research Service. She is currently a senior executive at the Library of Congress who works on great initiatives such as the National Book Festival. Colleen lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Rob and their beagle mutt Conan. Colleen’s first book won the Next Generation Indie Prize for Best Mystery. Her books have been RONE and Killer Nashville finalists in the mystery category.