Book Trailer

Secrets In The Ice

Characters

Mystery Books

Paul – Lisa’s husband, on vacation to relax, have fun with his wife, and enjoy the winter scenery/activities – short sandy blonde hair, six foot, engineer, not a handyman.

Lisa – Paul’s wife, a romantic, chocoholic, loves history, is intrigued by the recent murders and a possible connection to an unsolved 24 year old murder – tall, long straight blonde hair, beautiful.

Dave – Long-haired handyman, drives a beat-up rusty truck, expert ice-fisherman, Martha’s boyfriend, great sense of humor but some people don’t like his fun-loving attitude, good friend of Michael.

Martha – Young, introverted, librarian, very attractive and dresses sharp yet very conservative, intrigued by Lisa and her research into the local murders.

Abigail – older librarian, eventually comes forward with knowledge about the 24 year old double murder, light brown hair in grandma style, also dresses very sharp for an older lady.

Jake – young police officer, ex-military, short hair, muscular build, serious at work but has a good sense of humor, frustrated with rude attitudes of many locals, spends a lot of time at local pub, good friend of Tim.

Tim – young carpenter who is renting a cabin on the lake where the double murder happened, has nightmares, is honest and liked by many of the locals, spends time at local pub, good friends with Jake.

Michael – older Native American who faces prejudice of many locals, owns the souvenir shop, has a pet wolf, six foot six, 250 pounds of muscle, can be intimidating but friendly, good friend of Dave.

Rick’s Inspiration

Always Enjoyed Mystery Books

I have always enjoyed reading good mystery books, and when I was younger, I read all kinds of books (from The Hardy Boys to Edgar Allen Poe to Agatha Christie). A few years ago, I decided I would like to write a mystery, and since I enjoy Upper Michigan’s scenery so much, that area became my setting. Winter up there is so different from Florida, that I selected this time of year, and coming up with the types of murders I would write about was easy – the UP has ice-covered lakes in the winter, and putting someone in the lake so people could see their frozen faces looking up through the ice intrigued me.

Characters in Mystery Books

I based some of the characters on people I know, specifically Paul and Lisa (me and my wife), and expanded on some of our adventures together. My wife loves chocolate, so I had to put something in about that. I am the opposite of a handyman, and I have a difficult time following my wife’s train of thought sometimes, so I wanted to include a little about those items as well. The wildlife in the UP is awesome, so I put some scenes in with wolves and a story about a beaver (both of which are true), and one about a moose (which I wish was true, but has not really happened to us yet).

Prejudice is an unacceptable evil, so I wanted to include some examples and character reactions to prejudice. I decided to make a couple of the characters experience something different when this evil was present in certain situations, making them go through some scary moments. Although these scenes are nothing like feeling real prejudice, it’s just a tiny hint of how terrible it really is to anyone who has experienced it.

Initially, I ended the story differently, but decided to change it to the way the book ends now. I added the epilogue, it’s a little different from the other books you may have read, so I hope you like the way it turns out.