with S. W. Hubbard
We are delighted to welcome author S. W. Hubbard to Omnimystery News.
Susan's second romantic thriller to feature estate sale agent Audrey Nealon is Treasure of Darkness (January 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats) and today she tells us more about "The Mystery of Hoarding".
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Photo provided courtesy of
S. W. Hubbard
Have you ever watched Hoarders on TV?
My husband, a man who recycles Christmas cards before I'm done reading them, doesn't understand the appeal. But most of us experience a chilling shiver of recognition when we see the stories of people who can't let go … of anything. That's because we all have certain items we simply can't bear to part with, even if we know we'll never use them or look at them again. The 20-year-old party dress, the lopsided pottery vase, the tower of Tupperware, the shelves full of books — they represent memories gone by, good intentions run amok, commitments never fulfilled. When I watch Hoarders, the horror stories of people whose lives have been overrun by their stuff make me murmur, "at least I'm not that bad."
I often write to exorcise my own demons. And I suspected hoarding — a little or a lot — was a demon many of my readers might share. So, since hoarding is such a universal experience, I decided to turn it into the centerpiece of a mystery. Luckily, Audrey Nealon, heroine of my Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series, was ready for the challenge, and Treasure of Darkness began to take shape. Audrey would have to search through a hoarder's house to find the one buried gem of treasure. And she would find much, much more than she bargained for.
Although my writing method often involves making stuff up, then backtracking to verify if I have my facts straight, in this case, I did some research on hoarding before I began writing. I discovered that true hoarding is a mental illness, closely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. And, there are different types of hoarders. I decided to make Harold, the hoarder in my novel, a highly intelligent engineer who can see the usefulness of every conceivable item, from a broken washing machine agitator to a collection of stuffed owls. In Harold's fevered mind, everything has value and nothing can be discarded, only recycled or repurposed.
I worked hard to make Harold scary, infuriating and yet oddly sympathetic. He operates on a logic only he can understand, and that makes him unpredictable. Audrey and her assistant, Jill, want to believe that Harold is odd but harmless, but they're never entirely sure. So the hunt for treasure continues, and the clues to terrible secrets house's past are slowly revealed. The deeper Audrey digs, the more danger she finds herself in.
You can read the first chapter of Treasure of Darkness on my website.
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S.W. Hubbard is the author of the Audrey Nealon estate sale mysteries as well as three Police Chief Frank Bennett mystery novels set in the Adirondack Mountains. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and the anthologies Crimes by Moonlight, The Mystery Box, and Adirondack Mysteries. She lives in Morristown, NJ, where she teaches creative writing to enthusiastic teens and adults, and expository writing to reluctant college freshmen.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at SWHubbard.net and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Treasure of Darkness
S. W. Hubbard
A Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery
What lies buried in a hoarder's house — precious treasure or ghastly secrets?
One moment of misguided generosity throws estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon's life into turmoil. She loses a client's money, cripples her budding romance, and witnesses a murder.
Strapped for cash, she accepts a questionable project: clearing out the home of a mentally ill hoarder who may have hidden valuable Civil War letters. What really lies at the bottom of twenty years' worth of collected buttons and antique dolls and stuffed owls and atlases? As Audrey digs through the hoarder's obsessions, she unleashes a vengeful response from all sides — the hoarder's angry neighbors, his alienated family, and the police. The house has destroyed lives in the past.
Will Audrey and those she loves — her friends, her father, and even her dog — be its next victims? As the final twist reveals, secrets can remain buried, but they never disappear.
