I love Idaho. This may not come through in the first of my Wild Crime books, to be released later this year.
In Crime and Paradise, Meredith experiences a culture shock when she moves from urban California to rural Idaho. She hates her new home. She misses the sounds of the city, the deli on the corner, the fact that neighbors mind their own business.
I get it. I moved from an urban California area 17 years ago to live in Boise and there was a period of adjustment. I missed the restaurants, the ocean, and the energy intrinsic in big cities.
A new job took us to Boise. In this northwestern city, people look you in the eye and say hello at the grocery store and on the streets. They ask how you are and wait for an answer. Sometimes they’re folksy and sometimes they’re from a big city too.
Boise isn’t small, with about 700,000 people in its broader metropolitan area. There’s traffic and sirens, a restaurant scene and theater, along with an urban university (Boise State) and growing suburbs. Despite the growth and bustle, it’s tough to be anonymous here. Neighbors look out for one another.
Crime and Paradise is set a few hours down the road, in the fictional Hay City, where things look quite different. Mountains are taller, winters are harsher and there are miles between houses.
It seems like a great place for a murder. Except out there, in fictional Hay City, it’s certain that someone is always watching.
