WHO IS NORA BRADY?

Nora Brady is the star character in The Nurse Detective Mysteries, a series I have been writing for going on twenty years. If you haven't had a chance to meet her, let me tell you a little more about her. Nora entered the scene as a student nurse when I sought to update the student nurse mysteries of the 50s and 60s. After taking her through a nursing home, a hospital, and an experience as a student abroad, she told me it was time for her to grow up. (Our characters do talk to us!) Given all her experiences with law enforcement while she was a student, I applauded her decision to become a law enforcement officer herself, while continuing to work part-time at the local hospital.

I got some flak for the above decision, but primarily from people who never lived in a small, rural community, where people often worked any number or combination of jobs. For taking Nora there, I was able to draw on my own love of mysteries and my experiences as an RN. I like to point out that nurses are taught to utilize the scientific method when working with patients. This process consists of identifying a problem, developing hypotheses, testing them, analyzing the results, drawing conclusions, and then applying what was learned---all skills transferable to law enforcement.

Nora comes from a supportive family who once lived in Jacobsport, a coastal town in northern California (loosely based on the town of Eureka). The family was forced to move back to the Berkshires of western Massachusetts when the lumber industry declined in redwood country. Her father now runs a hardware store, and her mother is the director of nursing in a skilled nursing facility. Nora eventually returned to Jacobsport to continue her education and never left. I, too, have lived and worked everywhere I send Nora! So, where have I sent her?

• To the streets of San Francisco in Mystery at Marian Manor, after student nurse Nora discovers ruthless characters in the Jacobsport nursing home where she's been assigned.

• To Dublin, Ireland in The Ghost of Gresham Green, where Nora is assigned as part of a work-study program, in a pediatric hospital with a well-known history of a ghost.

• To Boston, in  Fire for Hire, where she is working undercover to unmask an arson squad among the Boston firefighters.

• The remaining four novels are set in her hometown of Jacobsport, where, as a student, she is assigned to a hospital, and as both an RN and sheriff's detective, she and her friends are working locally in that beautiful coastal town, beset with many of the same problems found across the country.

• In book #8, Nora will remain in California, but in the attempt to take down a woman who appears to be a black widow (after having killed the father of a friend), members of Nora's team will travel to South Africa.

• Nora's novels do share space with two stand-alone, historical novels: Toots and Bigamy.

Writing continues to be a great way to put into words much of what I've felt being a nurse---in describing some of the colorful characters, both good and ... not so good. Is Nora like me? Of course she is in some ways, and in other ways, it's what I would like to be. She is outspoken and committed to whatever she undertakes. She likes being outdoors, but she's not what you would call an "outdoors" person. She likes exercise, but only at her own pace. She has many good friends, and she tries to be one herself. But she also has her flaws. I hope you get a chance to meet her!