From Holden to Outer Banks — writer crafts a mystery around a small-town murder

HOLDEN — Alicia Bessette may be writing about murder and mystery on a North Carolina beach, but she carries her Holden background with her. 

“‘Smile Beach Murder’ takes place on a fictional island in the Outer Banks called Cattail. It’s Southern in character, but a bit of small-town New England charm might be detectable. How could it not, given where I grew up?” Bessette said recently. 

Bessette and her husband, Matthew Quick, author of "The Silver Linings Playbook," will be at Holden’s Gale Free Library at 6 p.m. May 19 for a program titled "Alicia Bessette in Conversation with Matthew Quick."

Bessette says she has been a writer since childhood. 

“On my eighth birthday, I received a lined blank journal: soft red cover decorated with hearts and teddy bears. I don’t recall having the impulse to write before my parents gave me this blank journal. But holding it in my hands, I didn’t need to be told what to do. It wasn’t long before I filled those pages with poems, stories and diary entries.” 

Then she got encouragement from a teacher at Dawson. 

“I had an extraordinary teacher, Mr. Bob Moran, who was a great encourager of reading and writing. I wrote my first complete short story (five paragraphs) to fulfill an assignment for Mr. Moran’s class. ‘Goldie’ was about a girl, her palomino, and a magic portal on a beach that sucked the poor horse into an alternate reality. I’d been on a big ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ kick." 

Attending Dawson, Mountview and Wachusett Regional High School, Bessette went to college in Philadelphia. After graduation she married, and she and Quick lived there for a while. But they returned to Holden for a couple of three-year stints before moving to the Outer Banks on St. Patrick’s Day in 2014. 

Bessette worked at the Landmark newspaper between 2005 and 2007, writing news and features. Some of that newspaper background follows her character in the book. 

“The heroine of ‘Smile Beach Murder,’ Callie Padget, is freshly laid off from her newspaper gig at a Charlotte daily. So, she and I share a print journalism background, although her work at a large urban paper was more intense than what I experienced at a suburban weekly or at quarterly magazines.” 

Summers on the Cape with a friend’s family also helped inspire Bessette. 

“I visited a few times and have wonderful teenage memories of sneaking out at night, walking to the National Seashore, and lying in the sand. We managed to stargaze even with the beam of Nauset Light swinging around and around. Lighthouses have fascinated me ever since,” Bessette said. 

“The Outer Banks boasts a few beautifully preserved lighthouses, most a lot taller than Nauset Light. I got the idea for ‘Smile Beach Murder’ after touring Bodie Island Lighthouse in South Nags Head. I climbed all the way to the top, and it occurred to me that 200 feet was a long way to tumble should something go wrong up there. Perfect fodder for a murder mystery.” 

Writing engages her entirely. 

“When I’m writing, I feel fully engaged, as if both sides of my brain are firing together: the left side, which wants everything organized and analyzed, and the right side, which prefers emotions and flights of fancy. Whether I’m writing in my journal or writing a poem, or writing about someone else, putting words to paper brings order, calm, and discovery. 

“And, if I’m lucky enough to get something published, writing brings connection. Don’t you feel a little more connected after you read something that makes you go, ‘yeah, me too,’ or that entertains you for a while, or that helps you believe that, despite all the many problems in the world, there are people striving to do the right thing? I know I do." 

Her key for crafting a story: “Multiple drafts.” 

Bessette said that “novelists identify as plotters or pantsers — that is, they either plan out their books, or they fly by the seat of their pants, forgoing an outline. I’m an avowed plotter. With each book, I spend about two months thinking, sketching and creating story scaffolding. When I begin the actual writing, I have a thorough sense of where I’m headed and where the characters are headed. But, if I need to veer off course, I do. Working from an outline doesn’t mean there’s no room for diversions or surprises. That’s a paradox we plotters need to embrace, I think. 

“Even when working from a detailed outline, many drafts are required. And that’s before it’s ready to show to Beta-readers, who will give you their two cents. And then you show it to your agent, who might want to see changes. And then your editor will have suggestions. All told, each of my published books represents six or seven drafts. Most traditionally published books have a similar evolution,” she said. 

“My current unpublished manuscript tally stands at three, in addition to two unpublished partial manuscripts, both around 100 pages, and countless other abandoned efforts. I had a modest early success in the women’s fiction realm, a novel published in 2010. 

“‘Smile Beach Murder,’ a cozy mystery from Berkley Prime Crime, will be my first published novel since then. The second book in the series, ‘Murder on Mustang Beach,’ is under contract with Berkley and will come out in spring 2023. I just turned the manuscript in to my editor." 

She tallied her completed books: “Six — but only three have been/will be read by anyone other than me, Matthew, and a handful of rejecting literary agents.” 

“It’s been 12 years since I’ve promoted a book, so I’m excited for the ‘Smile Beach Murder’ tour. We’ve never done a book event together. He’s refusing to tell me what questions he’s going to ask, so it will be an extemporaneous evening. Expect to laugh,” Bessette said. 

Though she and Quick are both writers, “We’re a team. We’re each other’s biggest fans and best Beta-readers. The last thing we are to each other is competitors.”