We’re closing out our month of expressed gratitudes (we’re grateful twelve months a year) by telling what our main characters are grateful for in 2022.
Wickeds, pick ONE of your main characters from ONE series and tell us, from a novel, novella, or short story published in 2022, what person or event or place or thing made that character feel grateful for this year. (For you historical writers, in a book published this year, not the character transporting to 2022.)
Julie: The Plot Thickets takes place, in book time, a year after Pruning the Dead, so Lilly Jayne spends some time in the book reflecting on the changes in her life over the past year. While she was always grateful for her friends, she’s especially grateful to Roddy, her handsome next door neighbor. He’s helped her get out of her own way a bit, and added a lot to her life.
Edith/Maddie: My vote has to go for Mac Almeida for Murder in a Cape Cottage. In a five-day period, she manages to not only solve the cold case of the antique skeleton-bride she and Tim found imprisoned behind a wall but also fend off a modern-day would-be killer. Mac gets a last fitting for her wedding dress, meets Tim’s parents for the first time, and, at last, marries her beloved. It’s been a journey for her to arrive at this point, and she is grateful.
Liz: I think Violet Mooney in the upcoming Witch Way Out has a lot to be thankful for. She has a whole new family thanks to her mother Fiona and her sister Zoe coming to town, and they’re really growing on her. She’s leaning into her powers and coming into her own personal power, and she’s super grateful for this unexpected plot twist in her life.
Sherry: Chloe Jackson in Three Shots to the Wind is grateful that she’s coming into her own in Emerald Cove, Florida. She’s learning to trust her instincts and the people around her and they are beginning to trust her. Although all of this is rattled when someone from her past shows up–someone she thought she knew. But as Chloe delves into the past everything she thought she knew is upended.
Barb: Julia Snowden, of the Maine Clambake Mysteries, is grateful that after a tumultuous period in her personal life, things are settling down, even becoming enjoyable. She’s still living at her mom’s house and hasn’t solved the problem of finding winter work that can keep her in Busman’s Harbor. But she does have a tight cohort of single friends in Jamie and Zoey, who are keeping her busy and entertained. And that’s made all the difference.
Jessie: Everyone has such heartwarming gratitudes! Mine would be for my protagonist, WPC Billie Harkness who is grateful to be doing her bit for the war effort in 1940 Hull, UK. She has wanted to make a meaningful contribution since WWII was declared and is finally fulfilling that desire!
Readers: What do you think one or more of our characters have to be grateful for? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Or tell us about the feelings of another character you are currently devoted to.
Fun article! Thanks all! My protagonist, Lily Scott, is grateful that her author has nearly finished the 1st draft of her second adventure. Lily’s tired of all the mayhem. It’s been a long haul, and she needs time for her wounds to heal and normal life to return–for a while.
A character being grateful for an adventure taking shape. I love this!
I enjoy reading about Julia Snowden of the Maine Clambake Mysteries. She is always so busy and takes on so much but still has time to solve the murder. Plus the location, I love reading about the Maine coast.
Thank you so much, queen!
But get her back with her boyfriend.
One of my favorite sleuths is Maisie Dobbs. She is eternally grateful for her father and that she was in service at a young age with a family that saw her potential and helped her achieve it.
Lots of Wickeds love this sleuth.
What a unique perspective this post has instore for us đŸ˜€ Really enjoyed reading this!
Thank you, Damyanti.
I’m grateful for books, safe companions in less-safe times. <3
So true! Me, too.
I think all of your characters are grateful to survive their latest run ins with killers alive. đŸ˜‰
Laughing. Funny because it’s true.
I think Mark has a great point. Any protagonist in any murder mystery is probably grateful to survive their latest adventure!
I agree!
I agree with Mark and Liz. The protagonists should be, and are, grateful for the lives they live and the fact that they stay alive to enjoy them. I’m certainly grateful to all of them for staying alive to keep us entertained. đŸ™‚
You are so right about survival. I’m not sure how not one of us missed this obvious choice!
I’m grateful for the stories your characters are featured in and like Mark said, survive.
Survival is such an obvious choice, I’m not sure how all of us missed it. I think it’s maybe because between books when our characters are “off stage” we picture them living their “normal lives.”
I think that they are thankful for their friends and families that we come to know and love.