Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

The things that you know more about than you want to know are very useful.

–          Robert Stone

Bast Overture stays in 2013 and will have his hands full with the next few interviews as he will be talking to members of the wacky Clarke family who appear in “For the Love of Wills” in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). When a body turns up in their Rosedale home (ritzy area of Toronto, Canada) each member tries not to get arrested for the crime. Bast will start with the main character, Clara Clarke.

Bast: Clara, it’s not every day that a body is found in the family home. How did you react when you and your mother found the body in the attic den?

Clara: Sounds like an old Agathie Christie mystery when you put it that way.

Bast: But it’s not. It’s present day.

Clara: Right. Well, I did wonder if Dad was involved somehow. I mean he did find the body.

Bast: But didn’t you feel a little bit glad? The main reason your mother was kicked out of the family home was now dead?

Clara: I don’t think so because like I said, I was worried about Dad.

Bast: What about your mother? She had the most to gain from the murder?

Clara: No way. Mother was with me.

Bast: When the body was found, but before?

Clara: You forget that Dad changed the locks so Mother’s house key didn’t work.

Bast: Aw, come on, she could have knocked on the door earlier and your dad could have let her in.

Clara: No way. Mother didn’t want to even confront Dad.

Bast: Very well. Now you and your mother made a rather unconventional entrance. Was this your idea?

Clara. No. Mother’s. Even though I did rock climbing at the gym, Mother, whose only previous climbing experience was stairs, suggested we climb the walls of the house to the balcony and then sneak in.

Bast:  In this story by Sharon A. Crawford, your mother and you discuss why the two of you have to get into the house.

We’ve got to see his will.” [Mother said]

“His will? What the hell for?”[Clara said]

“I need to see that he’s still leaving me everything and hasn’t changed it to the Bimbo.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just ask William, Jr.? He is the family lawyer?”

She’d smirked and muttered something about keeping her ideas close to her mind. (Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford)

So, Clara, why didn’t you persuade your mother to talk to William Jr.?

Clara: Well, because she is Mother. Once she makes her mind up about something, nobody can change it.

(Heidi Anastasia Clarke – Mother –  stomps into the room): And I had my reasons. It had to be done this way and only this way.

Bast: Mrs. Clarke, please, this is Clara’s interview. Your turn will be next week.

Heidi (waggling a finger at Bast): Now, listen here young man, it was my husband who cheated on me, who kicked me out of our home after 40 years of marriage. I think I…”

Clara: Mother, shut up.

Heidi: Now, listen, Clara…

The two continue arguing. Bast throws up his hands in disgust, covers his ears with his hands and walks out of the room.

You can read more about the Clarke family in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

The video link to my thatchannel.com interview and reading from Beyond the Tripping Point on You Tube can now be accessed via the new page “Video” at the top of this blog.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford