Author Q & A

Q: A good story always centers on great location(s). What techniques did you use to cover the depth of your characters’ travels? How important were these locations to your story? (Carol Henry, author of Amazon Connection)

TW: The locations—especially Castine, Maine, and Rome, Italy—became important players in The Last Will.

I read a lot about Castine, and then I traveled there to get a feel for the place, talk with the people who live there, ride on the Penobscot, and more. Castine is an interesting town with a rich history, and changed hands I don’t know how many times between the French, Brits and Danes throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It was highly prized for its waterways and later became known for the care its townsfolk took over its elm trees. I liked this history, some of it for thematic reasons, but I felt truly inspired by the story of the drummer boy ghost. (You can read more about the ghost of Castine HERE.)

Rome was even more critical to the story, because specific aspects of the city shaped key moments in the plot and revealed character. I didn’t travel to Rome, though I learned a lot about it by reading guidebooks and speaking to someone with intimate knowledge—Adam Nixon at RomeBuddy.com. I devoured his site, then emailed him directly. Adam was terrific, explaining things I’d never read in a travel guide and describing the types of happenings you’d find in Rome around the holidays.

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