The Holy Land Revisited - by Characters

By Chester Campbell

It's been almost twelve years since my tour of the Holy Land that led to the writing of my first published mystery, Secret of the Scroll. I sent my characters Greg and Jill McKenzie on a similar trip, though I didn't detail all of the places they visited. A few stood out, however, and merited a mention in the story.


It began with the old biblical seaport of Jaffa, also known as Joppa and Yafo. Like most of the old towns in Israel, there are various spellings derived from transliteration of Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Greek, and no telling what else. Located on the southern edge of modern Tel Aviv, Jaffa is a colorful place. Tourists are drawn to its open plaza paved in pale stone and surrounded by restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues.

Leading off the square is the Artists' Quarter, a warren of colorful Turkish style buildings reached by narrow lanes that wander around the area. Down a flight of stone steps at one point you find the supposed home of Simon the tanner, where the Bible describes Saint Peter as staying at one point. When I was there, you couldn't go into the house because of a lawsuit over its ownership.

Tour buses park near the square, and this is where Greg is talked into buying a souvenir Dead Sea scroll that is the key event around which I built the plot of the book. My group was besieged by Palestinian souvenir sellers similar to the one the McKenzie's encounter.

A spot I found particularly interesting and used it in the story was the Jordan River crossing between Israel and Jordan. Our Israeli tour bus unloaded us and our luggage at the Israeli customs and immigration facility, where we went through a cursory check on leaving the country. Then we boarded a Jordanian bus for the ride across the Allenby Bridge (Israeli designation after the British general) or King Hussein Bridge, as it's called in Jordan. It's a heavily fortified crossing and provided a good place to get a plot point across.

Other intriguing sites Greg visits when he returns to Israel later in the book include the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu, which occupies the supposed spot where St. Peter denied knowing Christ three times before the cock crowed. It is also reputed to be the location of the home of Caiphas, the high priest, where Jesus was held after his arrest. I used it as a meeting place for Greg and Colonel Jarvis, his Air Force attache friend who shows up again in the fourth book.

Another spot I found most interesting was the Church of All Nations, next to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It was built with alabaster windows. Made of translucent stone, the windows have something of the look of stained glass. This location provided the backdrop for Greg to meet the man responsible for Jill's abduction.

The final area I visited that served as a backdrop for the story was the seaport town of Caesarea, the headquarters of Herod the Great and an important city in Roman and Byzantine eras. Caesarea was the site chosen for a swap of Jill for the scroll. You'll have to read the book to find out what happened.

Using unique sites you've visited for key sites in a mystery is a good way to liven up your fiction. Tell us how you've used this technique.

Mystery Mania

Plot Ideas: Where They Lead

Authors are fond of saying, in answer to the inevitable question, that ideas for stories can be found anywhere. In an interview here the other day, Michelle Gagnon said she got the inspiration for her book Boneyard while doing research on Ted Bundy. I came up with the idea for my first published mystery on a trip to the Holy Land.

True, the world is a cornfield of plot kernels, but what happens after we pick a few? As Bobby Burns put it so aptly many years ago, the best laid plans "gang aft agley." Or often go askew. My colleague here, Ben Small, started working on his latest mystery by setting it in southern Arizona near the Mexican border. But before he got too far along, he took a trip to the Dalmation Coast and changed gears.

What makes us choose one subject over another? For me, part of it is probably laziness. I normally do research as the story unfolds in the computer. When I got into Secret of the Scroll, I found myself doing a prodigious amount of research in libraries and bookstores, online and elsewhere. The second book in the series involved a high-rise condo, which required delving into construction techniques, as well as pursuing information relating to the murder.

By the third book, I looked for more familiar themes that wouldn't require so much digging. I chose to stay close to Nashville, where I had grown up, worked as a newspaper reporter, and spent most of my life. I chose a plot that blended a lot of my experiences, such as an involvement in rental properties and a military background. I used the Opryland Hotel for the murder scene since I had been there many times and my son had worked there and knew a lot of inside stuff.

A modest amount of research was still required, of course. I had to bone up on the Federal Reserve chairman (who I killed off in the book), and a brief interview with a restaurant manager provided all I needed to know about waiters handling dinner checks. A ride-along with a homicide detective filled in some blanks for a key character in the book.

For the fourth book, I chose a subject that was easily covered by a couple of visits to the restored Marathon Motor Works buildings just beyond downtown Nashville. Most of the other details came from my long experience in working around the city. One fun part was researching Trousdale County, a small county to the northeast, and visiting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation headquarters in preparation for including a TBI agent in the story.

By the fifth book, I had pretty well honed my plot choice style and picked up a  ready-made story from a PI friend who told me about a case she had worked. It worked for me. Except for a couple of visits to a small town nearby, where a key element of the plot (a massive toxic chemical dump) was set, I did most of my research on the Internet. I practically Googled the book.

With number six, I'm pulling most of it out of my head. I've used the Internet a lot and pursued only one interview. Since the other books had occured in spring, summer, and fall, I wanted this one set around Christmas. I wasn't sure how to work that in, but it came along when I needed it.

To me, the fun part of writing is watching the story pour out with hardly any idea of where it's coming from. I guess I'll keep doing it as long as it remains fun to do.

Once Upon a Time...

By Chester Campbell


That's the way stories are supposed to begin, isn't it? I think I remember. I used to be a mystery writer once upon a time. I created colorful characters and exciting scenes where breathtaking actions occurred. I dreamed up plots that could get the old ticker pounding away. It was a lot of fun.

With my first published book, I sat down to write after spending two weeks roaming the Holy Land with a group of wide-eyed tourists. At times it was hot and sweaty, but never dull. Gazing out across the Dead Sea from the Herod's mountain fortress at Masada was awesome. Back home I relived those moments through the eyes of my characters as they took the same routes.

The second book involved a balcony collapse at a high-rise condo on the beach at Perdido Key, Florida. I wrote part of it while sitting with my laptop in my brother's condo on the beach at Perdido Key. That's the kind of roughing it a writer should be forced to do. The research also involved a side trip to a casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. What I call going all out for your craft.

For the third book, I took on a stay-at-home assignment. The story was set around Nashville, though I did a lot of nosing in areas I hadn't visited in years. I also did a ride-along with a Metro Nashville homicide detective. I learned such interesting things as their fascination with racing through the streets whether in an emergency or not, and doing U-turns just because they could. I delved a bit into Scottish heritage to fill out Greg McKenzie's family background in the military. That was fun.

Book four was particularly fascinating because it involved a restored 1914 auto factory. I nosed around the area where I lived for a year after serving in the Korean War. And for this one I also brought in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. That required a revealing tour of the TBI facility, where I made some good contacts. I also visited a small town not too far away several times, checking locations where I busily committed several murders. A writer's work is never done.

The fifth book brought a new character and new challenges. He's a single guy with an entirely different background. Plus I wanted to switch from first person to third, putting a different perspective on the writing. On this project, I mostly indulged my habit of working on my laptop in the living room instead of on the PC up in the office. It got me away from the distraction of email, though with wireless internet I still had Google at my fingertips.

As I said at the beginning, I used to be a mystery writer. However, lately I have become a blogger and a Twitterer, a newsletter writer and a website designer. My mailbox fills with hundreds of emails daily from 19 different Yahoo groups and countless others from who-knows-where. I Google my name and book titles to see who's writing about them, and I check my Amazon rankings for clues on whether I'm selling.

I guess I've become a promoter and a marketer. I don't expect to get rich. Heck, I'd be happy to break even for a change. But I crave the feeling that people are reading and enjoying what I write. That means I've got to sell. And nobody's going to do it but me.

I've about reached the point, though, where I'm ready to chuck it all, grab my laptop, head back down to the living room, and become a writer again. Wouldn't that be fun! (But first I've got to get this post up on the blogsite.)