Mystery Series Books: Why I Chose to Write Stories About Family Mysteries

People often ask me where the idea for Mason's Lake came from. The answer is simple.

It began with my own family history, and this led me to writing mystery series books and family mysteries.

For years, I immersed myself in genealogy, tracing branches of my family tree across oceans and centuries. What started as curiosity became an adventure filled with remarkable discoveries, unanswered questions, and stories that seemed almost too extraordinary to be true.

I discovered that my family's roots stretch back to England and Ireland, as well as Denmark. While I've uncovered many fascinating stories from my English ancestors, I know there is still so much waiting to be discovered on my Irish side. That sense of unfinished exploration keeps my curiosity alive and keeps me searching for any new bit of information that I can find. Every new record feels like another piece of a puzzle that has been scattered across generations, and it takes imagination to try to figure out the stories that go with those records.

One story, in particular, captured my imagination. One of my ancestors, James Morris, was a blacksmith in England during the early 1800s. Historical records show that he was arrested and tried in 1820 for making and selling pike heads that authorities believed were intended to support a movement for parliamentary reform. The trial documents still exist today, offering a remarkable glimpse into that turbulent period of English history.

According to our family history, James eventually agreed to leave England rather than remain imprisoned, and that decision ultimately brought his family to Pennsylvania.

Imagine that. One choice made more than two hundred years ago changed the course of every generation that followed, including mine.

Another family story has always fascinated me. It has been passed down that James Morris's wife, Lady Ann Azlean (or Aglwen), was a friend of the family of Queen Victoria. While I haven't been able to fully document that connection, it is one of those treasured family stories that sparks the imagination and reminds me that history often blends documented facts with stories that have been handed down from one generation to the next. This particular story passed through several generations, and struck true with one ancestral family in particular. My great-grandmother was named Queena Victoria Morris after that story continued to be shared down the family line.

As my research continued, I made another discovery that made history feel incredibly personal. Some of my English ancestors who came to America helped build a road between two Pennsylvania towns where I live. For thirty years, I drove that very road to work as a teacher, completely unaware that members of my own family had helped construct it generations before. Once I discovered this piece of information, every time I took that drive to work, it made me smile inside. Just knowing that my family had been kicked out of England, yet still strove to put down strong roots here in America, is incredible to me. The roots were strong enough that they became involved in tasks that needed to be completed in their new home in order for movement and growth of the area.

Those ancestors taught me that history wasn't just something I studied. I was traveling across it every single day. And those discoveries changed the way I looked at my ancestors. They stopped being names on paper and became real people who faced hardships, made impossible decisions, and unknowingly shaped the lives of future generations.

My interest in family mysteries isn't only rooted in the distant past. I also know that somewhere in the world I have a brother, my father's son, who was placed for adoption. I've often wondered what his life has been like. What experiences shaped him? Does he ever wonder about the family he never knew? Those questions remind me that family mysteries don't only exist in history books. Sometimes they're living stories still waiting to be told.

Those experiences became the inspiration for Mason's Lake. While Jake's story is fictional, the emotions behind his journey are very real. Like many of us, he searches for answers about where he came from. He uncovers forgotten stories, hidden family connections, and long-buried secrets that shape his understanding of who he is.

Perhaps that's why I enjoy writing haunted family mysteries. They aren't simply about ghosts or unexplained events. They're about identity. They're about discovering that the lives of our ancestors continue to echo through our own, often in ways we never expect.

The more I uncover about my own family, the more I realize that every family tree has empty branches waiting to be filled, unanswered questions waiting to be explored, and stories waiting for someone to tell them. For me, that's where every great mystery begins.

As my research continued, another family story sparked an entirely new direction for my writing. It has long been rumored in my family that my triple great-grandmother on my father's side was a Seneca Indian. While I haven't been able to document that connection conclusively, the possibility ignited a deep curiosity about Native American history, traditions, and the importance of honoring one's ancestors.

That curiosity eventually found its way into Mason's Lake. Although Jake's Native heritage is central to his journey, I made a conscious decision not to portray or speak for any one specific tribe in my second book Echoes of Mason's Lake. Instead, I created a fictional spiritual journey inspired by the universal themes of ancestry, respect for nature, family, and the enduring connection between generations.

In Echoes of Mason's Lake, Jake explores that side of his heritage more deeply. His training isn't simply about learning spiritual practices. It's about understanding responsibility, honoring those who came before him, and discovering that the greatest strength often comes from knowing where you belong.

Writing this part of the series has been one of the most rewarding experiences because it grew from genuine curiosity. I wanted to imagine what it would feel like to uncover a piece of yourself that had been hidden for generations. Perhaps that's what fascinates me most about genealogy. Every document, every old photograph, every family story, and every unanswered question is an invitation to ask, Who were these people? But eventually, those questions become even more personal. Who am I because they lived?

That question is woven throughout the Mason's Lake series. While the mysteries, ghosts, and supernatural events are fiction, the search for identity is completely real. It's the same search that led me through old records, across centuries of family history, and ultimately to the stories I love to tell. They grew from my own years of asking questions about my family, our history, and the people whose lives made mine possible.