On my blog this week, I’m welcoming author, Radine Trees Nehring.
For more than twenty years, Radine Trees Nehring’s magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about the people, places, events, and natural world near her Arkansas home.
In 2002, Radine’s first mystery novel, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, was published and, in 2003 became a Macavity Award Nominee. Since that time she has continued to earn writing awards as she enthralls her original fans and attracts new ones with her signature blend of down-home Arkansas sightseeing and cozy amateur sleuthing by active retirees Henry King and Carrie McCrite King.
What is it about the Ozarks?
When John and I bought acres of Ozarks hills and hollows in 1978, there were no houses along our road. We wanted a country location and this was definitely it. Camping in wooded areas in New England, Oregon, and across Canada during our August vacations had awakened something amazing inside both of us. We were a city-dwelling-career-oriented couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who had fallen in love with sparsely populated country locations. The city? Careers? We wanted out!
In 1988 we left the city and moved to our Ozarks land and the weekend cabin we had built there. John and friends went to work expanding the cabin into a full-time home while I discovered an interest in writing about what I had fallen in love with–the Arkansas Ozarks. In a surprisingly short time my essays and articles featuring the natural world where we now lived began selling to newspapers and magazines in the United States and some other countries. The Ozarks area, it seemed, was peculiar enough that stories arising there were of interest in many places.
Therefore, you know me to be honest when I say that my love for the Arkansas Ozarks can be credited for the development of my writing career.
After my non-fiction book, “Dear Earth: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow,” was published in 1995, I decided to try writing the type of fiction I enjoyed reading–the cozy mystery novel.
This month “A Portrait to Die For,” the newest novel in my on-going mystery series featuring Carrie McCrite, Henry King, and their unique family and friends, will appear.
Have I left the Ozarks to write these stories?
Not on your life. Every Carrie and Henry adventure is set in a well-known and loved Arkansas location. Together, readers and I have attended a wedding in a haunted hotel in Eureka Springs, been prisoners in a historic bathhouse in Hot Springs National Park, explored collapsing abandoned mines along Buffalo National River, and “enjoyed” many other special places popular with Arkansans and tourists.
This year we’re visiting a location that combines my love of art and of the Ozarks. “A Portrait to Die For” is set in and around Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Art Crime? Yes. A cast of characters pulled into danger after Carrie McCrite discovers peculiarities in a pair of paintings on loan to Crystal Bridges? Oh, yes. Add family troubles, an agitated Iraq vet, inept hit men, and a talented forger, and you’ve got high adventure in one more exciting and real Ozarks location.
Okay, Crystal Bridges is not in the country. But it is set in a large, mostly untouched park.
Join me there?
A Portrait to Die For
Carrie discovers two versions of a supposedly original portrait in a loan exhibition at Crystal Bridges of American Art, where she does volunteer work. When the reporter who interviewed Carrie at the museum is abducted, Carrie must choose between honoring her promise to stop crime-solving–or work to find the woman who was her son’s college friend.
Website URL: www.RadinesBooks.com
Blog URL: http://radine.wordpress.com
Facebook URL: www.facebook.com/RadineTreesNehring
Twitter: @RTNehring
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/radine-trees-nehring
Buy link for Portrait to Die For
Nadine and I would enjoy hearing from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.
About Evelyn Cullet
I write mystery romance and romantic suspense novels. I'm an avid organic gardener, and I play the piano. I have a spoiled Black Lab mix., Bailey, whom I adore. Visit my blog every Monday to discover new authors and their novels at: https://evelyncullet.com/blog/
Speaking of Buffalo National River–Arkansas Dept. of Environmental Quality (cough) allowed a hog farm to be located on a tributary to the Buffalo, only 8 miles from the river itself. 6500 hogs, millions of gallons of hog waste spread on nearby fields. National Park Service and many environmental organizations are trying to get this hog farm shut down. No luck so far. (We were talking about my novel set there, “A River to Die For.” The Buffalo was the nation’s first National River, partly because of its purity and beauty.
Gee, forgot to say that A River to Die For is set along Buffalo National River. How could I leave that out? R.
Nice round up on your career and the places you love, Radine. Enjoyed the read.
Thanks John, Nancy, and all. It is very nice to know that my love for this area is easy for readers to “catch.” Any of the places covered in my novels are worth a visit. Ummm, let’s see. You could begin in Bentonville with a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum. Then a short highway trip takes you to Hobbs State Park, War Eagle Mill (and, in October and May) War Eagle Craft Fairs. (A Fair to Die For, beautiful color in the Fall.) On to Eureka Springs, (A Wedding to Die For), passing Pea Ridge National Military Park (short story). In Eureka Springs, after shopping and eating downtown, (unique restaurants, crafts, art, jewelry and, of course tourist ‘junk,’ ) you might spend the night in the 1886 Crescent Hotel and enjoy their ghost tour. (Or choose another hotel/motel/bed and breakfast.) Next morning, another short highway drive to Buffalo National River (stretches through three counties in AR. So much to enjoy, from an Elk Herd to a ghost mining town to the magnificent river and many beautiful high bluff and cave settings along the river, assuming you don’t choose to rent a canoe or kayak and see it from the water. Hiking and horseback rides also available. Then, circling around, you could choose to take the historic train ride (restored vintage passenger cars) from Springdale, AR to Van Buren, AR (one of the oldest towns in the state), and walk along Main Street, Van Buren, seeing its shops and, standing on the banks of the Arkansas River for a time before boarding the train for a return visit. (Journey to Die For.) And . . . Well, you get the picture, right?
The Ozarks have been on my to-visit list for years. You just moved them to the top, and I look forward to experiencing them in your fiction in the meantime.
Thanks so much for being a guest author on my blog, again. Your novel was a delight to read.
Thanks so much, Marja, and thank you, Evelyn, for hosting me!
Great post, Radine! I’ve got to add your latest to my TBR list. It sounds like a book I’d really enjoy! Plus, I have to admit that the Ozarks fascinate me. Love your settings.