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Little did I know that Maupin had a serial killer who got his start on the Deschutes River... ISRAEL KEYES Israel Keyes is considered one of the most prolific serial killers in the U.S. He lived in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. By studying other serial killers and learning from them, he stashed kill-kits all over the U.S, murdering people in at least ten different states. The F.B.I believes he killed at least eleven people between 2001 and 2012. He also traveled to Canada, Belize, and Mexico, where he could have committed more crimes. KEYES' CONNECTION TO MAUPIN In the summer of1997 or 1998, Israel Keyes lived in Maupin, Oregon. He stalked and abducted a young girl between fourteen and eighteen years old who was tubing down the Deschutes River near Maupin. After kidnapping and sexually assaulting her, he let her go and sent her back down the river on her tube. The assault was never reported to law enforcement and is believed to be the beginning of his violent attacks. MY CONNECTION TO MAUPIN I frequently visit Maupin to fly fish, go whitewater rafting, or take a writing retreat. I initially came up with the idea for DEAD DRIFT while on a trip to Maupin. At the time, I was working on historical fiction, not thrillers. For some reason, the idea of a thriller with a serial killer centered around whitewater rafting and fly fishing came to me. I didn't want to curse Maupin with a serial killer, so I created the fictional town of Lodell. One day after my first draft was already written, I went to the fly fishing shop in Maupin for some tying materials. Of course, I was talking about my book when the man working there told me that a real serial killer lived in Maupin. I was surprised I hadn't found that through my research, but I never did a specific search for that. Since the town is so small, what are the odds? Both Israel Keyes and the serial killer in my novel got their start on the Deschutes River. Maybe instead of me cursing Maupin, Maupin cursed me... MORE ON ISRAEL KEYES Dark Minds, Season 3 Episode 1 & 2 Signs of a Psychopath, Season 2, Episode 6 BOOKS ABOUT ISRAEL KEYES An Amazon “Best Book of 2019” A Washington Post “10 Books To Read in July” A Los Angeles Times “Seven Highly Anticipated Books for Summer Reading” A USA Today “20 of the Season’s Hottest New Books” A New York Post “25 Best Beach Reads of 2019 You Need to Pre-Order Now” A Bustle “The Best New True Crime Books You Can Read Right Now” “Maureen Callahan’s deft reporting and stylish writing have created one of the all-time-great serial-killer books: sensitive, chilling, and completely impossible to put down.” —Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead He was a hard-working small business owner, an Army veteran, an attentive lover, and a doting father. But he was also something more, something sinister. A master of deception, he was a rapist, arsonist, bank robber, and a new breed of serial killer, one who studied other killers to perfect his craft. In multiple states, he methodically buried kill-kits containing his tools of murder years before returning and putting them to use. Viewing the entire country as his hunting grounds, he often flew to distant locations where he rented cars and randomly selected his victims. Such were the methods and madness of serial killer Israel Keyes. Such were the demands of the Devil in the Darkness. This book is the first detailed account ever published about Israel Keyes. It contains exclusive personal information about this frightening serial killer gleaned from extensive interviews with his former fiancee.

The man, the myth, the citrus. WHEN SORROW TAKES WING and Farmer Tony When I needed help with my research on the citrus industry, Farmer Tony came to my rescue. My novel opens on a citrus ranch in Southern California, where Mariana's father is the foreman. Her brother and cousins are pickers, and she just got a job in a packinghouse. I exhausted my research and still needed help, so I went online. I found Farmer Tony's blog, so I reached out to him. He quickly responded and answered all my questions over many emails as I wrote. I learned that most of the activity on a citrus ranch is during spring, bloom, and harvest. He explained petal fall, smudge pots, pruning, pests, red scale, and cottony cushion scale. With Tony's help, I pulled off a full-fledged citrus ranch--which will also be in my next historical fiction novel. It is a companion novel to WHEN SORROW TAKES WING. For those of you who have read it, it is Jenny's story. Tony was friendly and open to any and all of my questions. He even sent me a shipment of oranges over Christmas. I highly recommend them! They were like little orbs of sunshine in the cold and dreary Oregon weather. If you are looking for some fresh hand-packed citrus straight from the ranch to your home, check out their website. http://www.pearsonranch.com. About Farmer Tony... Tony Marquez certainly has farming in his blood. His grandparents having immigrated from Mexico in the early 1930s, worked side by side with their children in the field labor camps as "campesinos" up and down the San Joaquin Valley of California. Tony (having taken his name from his grandfather Antonio) originally had other interests outside of farming, having been an"on-air" radio personality and voice-over artist, as well as having been a licensed insurance agent, finally saw his career path return to his roots of farming. In 1996 he had the opportunity to learn the citrus business and eventually take the reins of Pearson Ranch. In 1998, Pearson Ranch became one of the first (if not the first) online retailers of citrus when they launched their first website! Skip ahead to the year 2022, and you will find that Pearson Ranch continues to be a leader in the world of online citrus sales, and has branched out to include sales of not only their early and late maturing variety of California Navel Oranges and Pomelos, but has crafted partnerships with other local citrus farmers in order to sell highly prized specialty citrus-like Yuzu, Buddha Hand Citron, Meyer Lemons and a lengthy list of other unique citrus varieties. You can find "Farmer Tony" and Pearson Ranch at http://www.pearsonranch.com, Facebook, and Instagram. And "Farmer Tony's" accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Don't mess with a lady's religion. 500 years after the death of Joan of Arc, a brigade of women fighting for their religion called themselves The Joan of Arc Women's Brigade. HOW I CAME TO WRITE WHEN SORROW TAKES WING While writing my female aviator story (almost done), I had two alternating points of view with Jenny and Mariana. Jenny is the daughter of an orange grower, and Mariana's father is a foreman on the citrus ranch. Mariana's brother is murdered, and her family is deported to Mexico to cover things up. During my research, I discovered the people of Mexico were in the middle of a religious war against the government. THE CRISTERO WAR It is still a little-known war that has been covered up by both Mexico's government and the Catholic Church for a very long time. After the Mexican Revolution, the government wanted to ensure that no foreigners had influence in Mexico, especially since the priests and Catholic Church helped the people during the revolution. Because of this, the government banned the Catholic religion. When all the boycotts failed, the people defied the government by still going to church, having their baptisms, weddings, and holy communions. One day, the government sent federal soldiers into a church to clear people out by force. The churches were closed, and federal troops looted and defaced them. Priests were shot in town squares and hung from the rafters of their churches. The women were not having it. They encouraged their husbands and sons to fight for their religious freedom. It is estimated that 25,000 women were part of the Joan of Arc Women’s Brigade between 1926 and 1929, without a single recorded defection. The network of women stretched from Guadalajara to Mexico City, including fifty-four villages and surrounding hamlets who all provided monthly reports. They were professional women and rural women who fought for their religion and encouraged their husbands and sons to fight. A majority of the women were between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. The women and girls were recruited from all social classes but were mostly working girls and peasant girls from the country. The brigades were organized in a military hierarchy with generals, colonels, majors, lieutenants, captains, sergeants, and soldiers. The women smuggled food, supplies, and ammunition to the Cristeros. They not only transmitted information but they obtained it by setting up dances in the villages for the federal officers. The women were spies and resorted to violence, kidnapping, and executions in order to protect the combatants. They also set up field hospitals and an underground hospital in Guadalajara, where many of the Catholic nuns were in hiding as nurses. They worked with the Unión Popular, publishing propaganda and running an underground press. TWO NOVELS INSTEAD OF ONE As I kept writing Jenny and Mariana's stories, the longer and longer my novel became. My agent kept telling me it was too long, but both stories were so compelling that I had to do them justice. My editor believed as I did and encouraged me to keep going. It got to the point that I knew my agent was right, and I had to do something. I decided to pull the stories apart and have two separate novels. They are complete stand-alone books but are what some might call "companion novels." They both start with the same beginning scenes, but from two separate points of view, then they diverge. That was when WHEN SORROW TAKES WING took off. Jenny's story still does not have a final title, but it is almost finished. I'm going to see if I can get it done this summer when I am on summer break. MORE ON THE CRISTERO WAR If you find the Cristero War interesting, here are a couple of places you can find out more. FOR GREATER GLORY, a movie with Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, and Peter O'Toole. It is available on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBO Max, YouTube, GooglePlay Movies, and Vudu. La Cristada: The Mexican People's War for Religious Liberty by Jean Meyer Saints and Sinners in the Cristero War: Stories of Martyrdom from Mexico by James Murphy

I am excited to share the cover of my new thriller, DEAD DRIFT. Now it feels real! Another exciting aspect is that my daughter, Brittany, designed it. She is a full-time, professional graphic designer. Here is a link to Brittany Romo Design if you want to see what else she creates.

Which came first? The fly fishing or the thriller? And how I came up with the title. THE FIRST SPARK I came up with the idea for DEAD DRIFT while on a fly fishing/hiking/sightseeing road trip. The first little spark happened while driving through a little railroad town along the Columbia River called Wishram. It is on the Washington side of the river and only has a population of about 350. I have no idea why it came to me in Wishram or why I remember it so vividly, but it did, and I do. The setting and ideas developed as we continued on into Maupin, Oregon, a whitewater rafting town where we watched rafts going through rapids on the Deschutes River. I describe my two characters, Emmy and Amber, driving through the town of Maupin in my novel. My fictional town of Lodell is based on Maupin, but I didn't want to bring any bad juju on Maupin by setting it there. Who needs waders when you have short shorts and rubber boots? THE TITLE Titles are tough for me. At one point, DEAD DRIFT had the working titles of DROWNING TOWN and DROWN ME LIKE A RIVER. I liked DROWN ME LIKE A RIVER because it reminds me of the Bishop Briggs song, RIVER. I never felt good about DROWNING TOWN, but it served its purpose while writing. I ended up going with DEAD DRIFT. I like how it sounds, plus it is a fly fishing term. The serial killer in my novel is a fly fisherman. The term "dead drift" in fly fishing is where your fly floats down the river naturally without any artificial drag from your line or tippet. It is incredibly challenging to do. If there is any tension, it is not a true dead drift and does not appear natural to the fish. I thought that fit perfectly since the serial killer in my novel is a fly fisherman. He also drowns, then releases his victims into the river (that is not a spoiler since the prologue and occasional chapters are from the killer's point of view). Fishing with a lab isn't all it's cracked up to be. THE ANSWER The answer to my riddle is: The fly fishing came before the thriller. Although...learning to tie my own flies came after I decided to have my serial killer tie a single strand of his victims' hair into each of his flies.

A year into writing my novel, I discovered that one of the priests martyred during the Cristero War, and later canonized into a saint, may be related to my sons... Sometimes my writing takes on a life of its own and takes me down a path I never expected. WHEN SORROW TAKES WING is a novel I never intended to write. I was working on a novel based on a female aviator who flew into the 1935 world fair, setting a world record by flying upside down over an international border. In that novel, Mariana was a secondary character whose story blossomed. My editor said Mariana's story was so compelling that I should develop it more. In my story, Mariana becomes involved in the Cristero War in Mexico (1926-1929) when the government banned the Catholic religion and murdered priests and anyone who attempted to worship. The people rose up in rebellion against the government, including an entire underground network of 25,000 women called the Joan of Arc Women's Brigade. As I dove deeper into Mariana's story, the novel became so big that I had to separate Jenny's story from Mariana's. Jenny's story is mostly finished and will be released as soon as I can. A year after focusing on Mariana's story, I discovered that one of the martyred priests had the last name of Romo. When I started researching him, I immediately noticed a family resemblance to my sons. My sons' ancestors are from Mexico, so it is a distinct possibility. Maybe one day, they will do further research into their genealogy to find out if they are indeed related. Wouldn't that be something? Saint Toribio Romo González is the patron saint of immigrants and has a shrine in the chapel where he was a parish priest in Santa Ana de Guadalupe, Jalisco. If you would like to know a little more about Santo Toribio Romo González, here is a story from the Texas Monthly.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea. I made many research trips to San Diego while writing WHISTLING WOMEN. As a single mom, I did not have the money to make the trips, so a friend suggested that I say in a youth hostel. Given the fact it had the word "youth" in it, I didn't think that was an option. I went online, found the Banana Bungalow, and called. They said as long as I was "young at heart," I could stay there. The Banana Bungalow has changed its name and is now called The Beach Bungalow. It is a beachfront hostel located on Pacific Beach and within walking distance to Belmont Park amusement center. They have dorm rooms and individual rooms. On my first visit, I stayed in a dorm room, and on other visits, I stayed in one of the individual rooms. The single rooms offer privacy, but I met more people, and it was more memorable when I stayed in the dorm room. The top bunk with the "Free Naked Surf Lessons" sign was mine when I stayed in the dorm room. The surf instructor slept in the bottom bunk. I met wonderful people from all around the world. These girls talked me into joining them at a party on their last night at the hostel, and it was a blast. The two men on the right are firefighters from New York. They kept talking about how easy it would be to fight fires in San Diego since most buildings are only one or two stories tall. A young man from Israel cooked us one of his family's traditional breakfasts. On one trip, I went on an ocean kayaking adventure with the hostel. Two "lifeguards" from Australia were with us, and they bragged about their superior swimming and kayaking skills. They had trouble getting beyond the waves, and one of them got seasick. The other young man jumped out of his kayak for a swim and could not get back in. It was hilarious. I got a lot of research and writing done while staying at the Banana Bungalow. I spent most of my time on the beach or taking the bus to Balboa Park, where WHISTLING WOMEN is set. If you are young at heart and have a budget to match, give a youth hostel a try.

My fictional town, Lodell, is loosely based on the town of Maupin, Oregon. While writing DEAD DRIFT, my kids and I stayed in one of the historic railroad cabins at Oasis Cabin Resort and we rafted with High Desert River Outfitters. Brennan reluctantly agreed to come. He thought rafting would be nothing more than a boring float down the river. Little did he know, it was one big party with water gun fights, class III and IV rapids, and a fun night out at a bar...with his mother. Lol! We went to The Rainbow Tavern and I ended up basing the bar in my book, Buckskin Mary's, on it. We had a great time on the river blasting people with water, 'riding the bull' on the front of the raft, and stopping for a barbecue lunch. Unfortunately, Brittany rode one of the rapids in her life jacket. I also ended up in the water, taking one for my writing. What better way to learn? If you've never been whitewater rafting, I highly recommend it! Ryan with his paddle in the air as we enter Oak Springs Rapid. Our raft "taco-ing" and folding us into the center.