Nancy Martin felt she'd done all she could with cozies, the quaint mystery/romance genre that had served her so well for nearly 50 books. Since her previous series featuring the Blackbird sisters was set in Philadelphia, she also wanted to start anew with stories set in her hometown of Pittsburgh.
Thus, she created Roxy Abruzzo, a salvage operator who, for better or worse, embodies Martin's idea of Pittsburgh -- young, attractive, sometimes loud and intemperate, sometimes politically incorrect, but most importantly, possessing a huge heart.
"People here work hard and play hard," says Martin, a native of Brookville, Jefferson County, who lives in Highland Park. "We have sort of a chip on our shoulder about things. Sometimes, we're not terribly sophisticated about things, but when the going gets tough, nobody gets down and dirty like Pittsburghers do. I decided that was my character all over."
A book release party is planned Friday for the new novel, "Our Lady of Immaculate Deception," at Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont.
"Our Lady ... " is part mystery, part thriller, part soap opera. Roxy finds a Greek statue that may be worth a fortune, but its ownership and provenance are tied up in the fortunes of a rich, idiosyncratic Pittsburgh family. There are murders, a fair amount of violence and some provocative, adult scenes.
Martin admits she's already received feedback from a few loyal readers who are disappointed in her decision to abandon the romance genre. (She won the Romantic Times' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009). But the novelist felt she'd exhausted the possibilities of romance novels, in terms of situations, storylines and characters.
"Mystery has been a great place for me to land," she says.
Roxy also has been a great find for Martin although she may get under the skin of mystery readers who are not used to a woman who is light years away from Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, and is grittier and more sexual than Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan.
Which is precisely Martin's point.
"I'm thoroughly sick and tired of reading about the male detective who's got an alcohol problem and is estranged from his family," says Martin, noting she read one book where the male character's gastrointestinal distress was portrayed in great detail. "If this were a woman character, you couldn't have sold this book to a soul. So it was sort of a challenge for me to come up with a character who is every bit as dynamic as a man and yet deals with some female-centric issues."
The author took the same approach to "Our Lady ..." as she did with her other novels. Martin draws a road map with all the twists and turns embedded in the layout. Of course, there are always chances to take detours, but being prepared allows her a route to the end of the story "if I need it," she says.
More likely is that Martin now has a character who will serve her well in a long-running series. While "Our Lady ..." solves a few murders, there are still many dangling threads. Notably, will Roxy, because of financial concerns, start working for an uncle who has ties to organized crimeâ¢
There's more than enough personal distress to sort through in future volumes.
"It will hit her over the head a few times before she figures it out," Martin says. "I think that's (part of) a literary novel, too. The characters don't know where they are going until they get there. They're not saying they just discovered the meaning of life."
Additional Information:
Nancy Martin book release
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Admission: Free
Where: Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont
Details: 412-828-4877 or online
Additional Information:'Our Lady of Immaculate Deception'
Author: Nancy Martin
Publisher: Minotaur, $24.99, 310 pages
Capsule review
Nancy Martin's 'Our Lady of Immaculate Deception' is a mystery novel where the characters overshadow the plot. Not that Martin's story is flimsy by any means. But a strong premise, sturdy plotting and deft handling of some tricky scenes are overshadowed by the protagonist, Roxy Abruzzo, a brassy, brazen salvage operator who just might be the Pittsburgh equivalent of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum.
