Today I’m
pleased to be hosting Lesley Diehl, a retired professor of psychology and
author of several murder mysteries: Dumpster Dying, Grilled, Chilled and Killed, A Deadly Draught, Poisoned Pairing, and Angel Sleuth. I asked her about two
topics on which she is an expert: murder mysteries and the psychology of family
relations. Now that’s a killer blog!
Family
and Murder
In the programs I do for libraries, literary groups and
others, I often comment on the downside of being a psychologist. Many assume that if you chose to go
into the mental health field it was because of family issues. So I say in defense, “No one assumes
that Mary became a mathematician because she couldn’t add a column of
numbers. Sadly, however, there is
much truth to the assumption that many psychologists choose the field because
of family history. In my case, I
can safely say it was because my mother was more than a little odd. Okay, she was crazy I guess. My father, however, was about as sane
and normal as a guy can be.
Me? I carry some of Mom’s
kookiness, but I knew when I was about three that she wasn’t like other mothers
and by my teenage years, I knew better than to blame
myself. Goes to show you how one
normal parent can help.
My family background coupled with my training can’t help but
influence my writing. I think its impact is not as direct as one would suspect.
I don’t dwell on the mentally unstable adults and their impact on their children;
rather I focus on the family broadly defined and weave that together with my
background in developmental psychology specifically with the issue of
individual identity. Identity seems to me to be the major developmental hurdle
for all of us, and it is one we confront again and again, redefining who we are
when confronted with challenges in our lives.
Murder constitutes a perfect challenge to use as a way of
viewing a protagonist’s change and growth. Like other developmentalists, I
believe we leap forward in making ourselves emotionally, socially and
intellectually stronger when confronted by life change events. Certainly
finding a dead body can be construed as one of them! And events requiring adjustment can shake the identity we’ve
so carefully constructed, even positive happenings.
In the case of my protagonist Hera in the microbrewing
series (i.e. Deadly Draught and Poisoned Pairing), she has defined herself as a microbrewer
with a love for her art. But what about when she stumbles over the dead body of
her closest competitor? And what happens when she falls back in love with her old
college flame? Who is she now? I answer that in the book by forcing her to find
the killer to save her business. She’s suddenly an amateur sleuth. And her passion
for her old lover? It opens her
heart to the possibility of love again, of taking emotional chances.
In my other work set in rural Florida (i.e. Dumpster Dying, Grilled and Chilled and Killed), I
focus on family by examining what happens to both my protagonist and her friend
when they keep family secrets. In this case I do so with humor, yet the message
that change is necessary when confronted by murder and the truth influences
both of their lives.
Only in my stand alone work, Angel Sleuth do I explore the impact of bad parenting upon the
adult child, and, in this case, the mother is not so much mentally unhealthy as
simply confused and in need of some identity work of her own.
In all my work, I enjoy writing about the family and
identity and making murder the vehicle for my protagonist’s journey in the
book. What issues do you like to explore in your protagonists’ lives to propel
them toward change? A man, a parent, a child, emotional damage, money, career
issues, marriage, children?
Learn more about Leslie at her website: www.lesleydiehl.com and her blog http://anotherdraught.blogspot.com.
