Hi Wickeds. Tell me, what is your main series characters’ most fervent wish throughout the series? She’s searching for murderers, but what else is she searching for? If you have two main characters, either dual protagonists in one series or two series, feel free to tell us about both.
I’m giving away mass market paperback copies of Eggnog Murder, Yule Log Murder, and Haunted House Murder to one lucky commenter who answers the question below.
Edith/Maddie: That’s a deep question, Barb! I’d say Quaker midwife Rose Carroll is on a true quest for justice. Robbie Jordan wants her country store to succeed, which includes keeping her staff, her loved ones, and the community safe. I’m still figuring out Mac Almeida’s fervent wish, but I know it involves family.
Jessie: Barb, I love your questions this month! In my Beryl and Edwina series, Edwina most wants to be valued for more than doing her duty as defined by others. To that end she has started a private enquiry agency with Beryl and has also started writing a novel. Beryl has been surprised to realise that the thing she wants most is to belong somewhere and to have a feeling of connection with others that lasts longer than the length of a daring adventure.
Liz: For Violet, my Full Moon Mysteries protagonist, her biggest wish is to feel like she belongs somewhere. In my Cat Cafe series, Maddie’s wish is to be successful but also feel fulfilled. It’s something she’s struggled with before returning to the island–always looking for the next thing that will make her feel successful, but it’s always just out of reach.
Sherry: I pondered this question for a long time. I think Sarah and Chloe have a lot in common even though Chloe is ten years younger than Sarah. Both want to be strong, independent women but for very different reasons. Getting divorced after marrying at eighteen shattered Sarah’s world and sense of self. Chloe on the other hand had a successful career as a children’s librarian until her life was upended by a friends last request and she finds herself working in a bar. And both wouldn’t mind a second chance at love.
Barb: Like Cate’s Violet, in the Maine Clambake Mysteries, Julia Snowden’s greatest wish is to belong. She has always felt like an outsider–as a kid because her parents’ marriage–a summer person and a local–left her feeling like she belonged to neither group. At prep school, she was the weird kid who lived on an island. A lot of this is internal to Julia, as her sister, Livvie, who had the same parents and never felt that way, points out. Julia’s insides and her outsides have to find a place where she belongs. For Jane Darrowfield, her greatest wish is for reconciliation, or even contact, with her estranged son. She’s self-aware enough to know that she runs around fixing everyone else’s problems in part because she can’t put this one thing in her life right.
Julie: As I’m working on book #5, this is an interesting question that may seep into the book. Lilly Jayne, at the beginning of the series, wished order to be restored. Now, I think that Lilly wishes to fall back in love with life. She lost her mother and husband in short order, and her world was roiled. While she’s coming back to life–gardening and sleuthing–she’s beginning to miss the spark she felt for enjoying and exploring new experiences. Especially now, she’s wrestling with how to move forward while honoring those no longer with her.
Readers: Tell us about your hopes and dreams for one of the characters above. What do you want for her? One randomly chosen commenter will receive one copy of Eggnog Murder, Yule Log Murder, and Haunted House Murder.
Julia to get what she wants.
I wish this, too!
My wish for all of them (and all of us) is that they appreciate the here and now. Even the worst of moments has some good in it, even if it is only that we are still alive.
That is lovely.
It is imperitive all of the characters in the books continue to grow. I love watching the author’s development of their main character and how it fits within the plot. Rose Carroll’s role in Edith Maxwell’s Quaker Midwife series is a favorite of mine. Her fight for women’s, as well as all people’s, rights is amazing for this time period. What I wish is for Rose to eventually have a child, hopefully a daughter, and raise him or her to understand and continue her fight for equality.
Thank you so much!
For Edith’s Robbie Jordan, I agree with her creator. Successful business and keeping her employees and community safe.
If we are going for the metaphysical kind of answer, I hope that someday Robbie gets to cook me breakfast and dinner while I peruse the shelves of cookware for sale inside of Pans N’ Pancakes.
I want Robbie to cook my breakfast, too, Jay!
My wish is for Julia Snowden to realize that Busman’s Harbor and it’s inhabitants are so deeply ingrained in her life and heart that of corse she belongs.. she’d be a fish (clam?!) out of water anywhere else!
What a lovely wish for Julia. I hope it comes true.
A really great question, and one that just folded itself into my WIP, adding a whole new dimension (and a lot more work!) Thanks, Barb.
I think it is a great thing to know about your character, especially if you are writing a series.
My wish for Violet is that she embrace and integrate all aspects of herself.
Yes! I want that for Violet, too.
For Julia to find a boyfriend who’s worthy of her
Interesting…
Betty Ahern in the Homefront Mysteries wishes for an end to the war so her fiancé can come home.
Sally Castle wishes for a job that lets her do what she wants to – and a relationship with a man who will support her. Jim Duncan wishes for a family (wife and kids) he can love and protect.
These are powerful wishes.
I enjoy Sarah’s relationship with Seth and hope Chloe can find some companionship/relationship, too. And, Lilly with her Garden Squad members are all so loving to one another. I hope they all find the right person if they don’t have him/her already. What joy these books bring me…thank you each one. Please don’t enter me in the contest as I have read and enjoyed your books, thanks Barb!
These are wonderful wishes.
Great question and really thoughtful answers.
Thank you.
I hope Lilly Jane can really be happy, again. It’s a long journey, but she’s made a lot of the right moves. I hope she can stop having to work so hard to find that happiness and just let it come to her.
I want this for Lilly, too.
I would like to see Jane Darrowfield reconcile with her son but I fear that may be the end of the series if it happens.
Me, too! But not the end of the series part.
Rose Carroll to be settled into her own home with her beloved David and starting a family.
Stay tuned!
I’m always rooting for the characters in books I read (and shows I watch) to be happy and fulfilled. That includes in a great romantic relationship. I do usually cling to the first love interest presented, so it throws me when a series switches love interests after a couple of books, but Edith has proved on more than one occasion that it can be done and be done well.
Thank you, Mark!
I also hope that Jane can reconnect with her son.
Me, too!
I wish for Julia Snowden to find that one person that makes her feel comfortable in her own self.
I hope so, too.
I would like for Maddie to find lasting happiness in the love department, feel like she was where she belonged back home and be able to get funding for the feral cat program.
I’d like for Chloe to see she actually belongs helping her late best friends Aunt run the Sea glass bar and that her true love lives there as well.
There will never be an end to the fight for justice in the Quaker Midwife’s life because there’s always someone in need of it.
That’s my limit, 3. LOL
I wish that Julia would understand how important she is in the lives of her friends, family, and community.
That is lovely.
I would love to have the feeling of belonging. I can feel for the character’s who struggle with this feeling. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
A second chance at love for Sarah and Chloe!
I’m hoping Lilly Lane can find happiness again.
Truth and the American way!
I would hope Julia in the Clambake series would marry and have children but still keep her sleuthing going.
The midwife, Rose Carroll, is most intriguing of the characters. I’ve read a few books about midwives and how important they were long ago and even for some today. As a nurse, I know that those in the health field have compassionate souls and tend to be good listeners even to what isn’t said.