The Authorized Version

 I’m not sure how accurate the old saw about criminals revisiting the scene of their crime is, but I can testify to the truth of it for crime writers. Last month I had the delight of revisiting the scene of a murder I committed many years ago at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland.  Well, at least, my villain in A Midsummer Eve’s Nightmare did.

                                                                 We never missed a season at Ashland for years and years, and then life got even busier—as it seems to do— and we hadn’t been back for perhaps 15 years. And what a delight it was! We saw three great productions: the perennial favorite “Much Ado About Nothing”, The seldom-produced “Pericles” and the smash hit from China “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land.”

Elizabeth and Richard, hero and heroine of my literary suspense series, visited Ashland in June on their honeymoon— what more natural choice for college literature professors? This year Stan and I had something of a second (or third or fourth) honeymoon in late April and found it an optimum time to enjoy the beauties of Lithia Park, reveling in the ponds, rushing stream, and flowering trees. We strolled up the path where Elizabeth puts her own life at risk racing a murderer to save a friend. Fortunately, Stan and I took it all at a more sedate pace and didn’t encounter any dead bodies. 

Elizabeth and Richard want nothing more than a quiet, romantic honeymoon— with a touch of literary charm. So they have chosen the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. Perfection. Until they find that Desdemona's brilliantly acted death scene wasn't acted and Elizabeth's costume designer sister and her actress roommate are terrified that they are slated to be the next victims.