Author writes 3 Seacoast-based mysteries in 8 months, on her phone
PORTSMOUTH — Sandra Wells wrote three murder mystery books, all set in the Seacoast, since she decided to become a writer in March.
The three books written in eight months, all now published, were written on her Samsung smartphone, 929 miles away in Saint Clair, Tennessee.
"Murder, mayhem and crooks gone wild," Wells said are the themes.
Locations include Portsmouth, Dover, Hampton, Exeter and "all around" the Seacoast, said Wells, who has lived around the world, including four years in Barrington in the early 1990s. Portsmouth, she said, is featured "a lot," some by memory, other by online research.
"Oh Lord, I remember everything about Portsmouth," said Wells, 59, who worked at Foster's Daily Democrat while in New Hampshire.
A native of the South, Wells said she loved New Hampshire and decided to make it the setting for her debut trio of mystery books.
A career graphic designer, she always liked writing but never had the time. While exchanging online messages with a friend from grade school, she mentioned some day wanting to be a best-selling author. Her friend dared her to get started and, with no prior writing experience, Wells began writing parts of her stories on her phone, then emailing them to herself.
She said she just starts writing and three-quarters of the way through a book, "I still don't know what the ending is going to be." Finding "cool ways" to kill off characters is part of her craft and she ordered herself a T-shirt that says, "Be careful because I'm thinking about killing you off in my next novel."
When Breaking Rules Publishing offered to get her books to print, Wells thought to herself, "Hee haw."
Her first novel "Just Like That" is described as about two Portsmouth police detectives investigating the murder of parents by their own children, while one also has "an insane stalker."
Her second book "Nothing Else Matters" has the two Portsmouth detectives investigating a murder, kidnapping and sex slavery on the dark web.
"Two rogue cops working with a heartless local drug dealer who doesn't blink an eye at killing his own drug runners complicate the search," the publisher summarizes. "Deceit, murder and corruption run rampant."
"Fatal Prediction" is her third in the "New Hampshire Series" starring the Portsmouth detectives. Characters include a recently released inmate "with a grudge," children left alone in the New Hampshire wilderness, a psychic and stolen babies sold for adoption.
"Each book has two stories going on," said Wells.
Wells' fourth book in the series, "Before Dawn," is in progress. She said she can now write a book in less than two months and finds herself thinking about "how I'm going to kill everyone off."
Wells' Seacoast-themed books can be purchased through the publisher at breakingrulespublishing.com. She can be reached through her author profile at https://allauthor.com/author/pookybear1961/.