|
|
|
|
|
Baby Boom Novelist
Mystery Writer Kathleen Taylor Talks About James Taylor's Music In Her Books
Like many Boomers, I’m now in my mid-forties, with graying hair and an expanding waistline and grandchildren on the way. Along with the rest of my generation, I can remember when James Taylor’s music provided a haven of musical sanity in the glitter-ball disco craze that took over the world in the mid-70’s.
I remember when JT was a staple on the Top 40 radio stations. And I remember when Disco died, and the music of James Taylor continued on. And like everyone reading this newsletter, I count JT’s music as one of the blessings in my life. I listened to him when my children were small. I listened to him when those children were adolescents, in college, and getting married. I listened to him through good times and bad.
I listened to him as I whined to my husband, with no evidence to support the notion, that I thought that I could write. And not just write, but write fiction. Novels. Mysteries to be exact -- mysteries with a Midwestern middle-aged sensibility and reference points that fellow members of my generation would immediately recognize.
Since my husband wasn’t the only one I whined to, neither he, nor my friends and relatives, were surprised to discover, when I finally did start writing mysteries about 7 years ago, that the middle-aged, less-than-svelte, South Dakotan widowed waitress who happens to narrate my books, also happens to be a James Taylor fan.
I’m delighted that Tory Bauer loves JT, though as odd as it may seem to those who don’t write, it wasn’t a sure bet. Tory, along with the rest of the natives of sleepy little Delphi, South Dakota, popped into my head complete. They came to me with their likes and dislikes firmly fixed, and no amount of coaxing from me gets any of them to change their minds about musical preference, or anything else.
And believe me, in a small rural community in the middle of The Big Empty, the musical tastes run much closer to the Garth Brooks/Wynonna end of the spectrum.
Like most South Dakotans, the adults who frequent Aphrodite Ferguson’s Delphi Cafe would certainly rather listen to Merle Haggard than Sweet Baby James as they rehash old gossip and complain about the weather. The teenagers in town listen to the same music that appeals to teenagers all over the country, as they drive aimlessly up and down the main drag. But Tory, and her good friend Neil Pascoe who runs the library, have had a subtle influence on the listening taste of their fellow Delphi residents.
In Sex And Salmonella (Avon, mass market paperback original, published in August 1996), Tory and Neil have the responsibility of selecting four slots for the new jukebox at Jackson’s Hole, the only bar in Delphi. Pretending as though the selection were the proverbial “4 albums on a desert island,” Tory and Neil choose “Graceland” by Paul Simon, “Tapestry” by Carole King, “Songs You Know By Heart” by Jimmy Buffet. And of course, they chose "James Taylor’s Greatest Hits."
Later in that same book, Tory overhears Delphine Bauer’s twelve year old son, Presley, singing both parts of the JT and Carly Simon rendition of “Mockingbird” in the shower. In The Hotel South Dakota (Avon, mass market paperback original, published in March 1997), JT’s music shows up again when Stu McKee, Tory’s married boyfriend, gives her a selection of JT tapes. Later in the story, when the relationship seems to be faltering, Tory is afraid that Stu is preparing to break up with her as “Fire and Rain” plays on the car stereo. Further along, Stu proves that not everyone in Delphi shares Tory’s love for The Man and his music during a loud and nasty fight that seemed to be about a certain nasal quality in some of JT’s work (I believe Stu's exact words were “…even his f***ing guitar is nasal…”).
Funeral Food (to be published as a mass market paperback reprint in February 1998, also by Avon), features JT’s music even more prominently. After a long and trying day at the cafe, Tory comes home, fixes herself a hefty glass of gin and Diet Squirt (a homemade Tom Collins) and goes to “The Church of James Taylor,” where his sweet nasal (there’s that word again) voice soothes her soul and brightens her darkest night.
In the newest Delphi installment, Mourning Shift (just finished, scheduled for publication by Avon, in late 1998), JT’s music again plays a part. Without giving away any of the plot, I can say that during a particularly sad and trying night, Tory and Neil listen to “Hourglass” over and over as they come to terms with a terrible loss.
I don’t want readers to think that my small-town mysteries are actually “about” James Taylor, or that only his music is featured. Music is the background noise in all of my books, and the musical selections run the gamut from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, to The Monkees, to Patsy Cline, to Van Morrison, to Sade, and even Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus.
But JT’s music seems to pervade the stories. When I was interviewed about my mysteries for “Voice of America” by Greg Flakus, he asked specifically about the use of (and complimented me for including) the Taylor oeuvre. I had to admit that though I have no conscious control over the musical selections of the people in my books, I do put in a good word for my favorite singer/songwriter whenever I can.
I will be starting Book number five soon, and I think I can count on Tory and the crew to be listening to, and commenting on, James Taylor as they solve the latest mystery in Delphi.
Kathleen Taylor’s Tory Bauer Mysteries are a series of humorous adult mysteries set in the small fictional town of Delphi, South Dakota. Sex And Salmonella, The Hotel South Dakota, and Funeral Food are available now. Mourning Shift is scheduled for a late 1998 release.