A Dark Modern Plot was Born in… a Peat Bog?

By: Melinda Leigh

Congratulations to "Jaclyn L." the winner of Melinda's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

People often ask me how I come up with the ideas for my stories.  They generally just pop into my head, often at odd times.  Anything can spark an idea.  For example, the main plot of Midnight Exposure germinated while I was watching a documentary on the ancient Druids. 

Commander-pirx at de.wikipedia

No, I don’t write historical fiction. My romantic suspense is 100% contemporary.  But I’m a hopeless geek. I’m fascinated by archeological finds and the stories behind them. 

Bodies have been discovered in European peat bogs since the nineteenth century. Some date as far back as the Iron Age, when Celtic tribes occupied this region. The properties of the marshes act as an excellent preservative, and many interesting facets of Celtic life have been gleaned from studying the remains.

Such as the fact that it’s likely the Celts practiced human sacrifice, and they did so in a variety of interesting ways, depending on the particular god(s) they wanted to appease. Immolation, drowning, throat slitting, and blunt force trauma were all used in ritual killings.

One evening, as I sat enthralled by a documentary on the ancient Druids, I wondered if there were any Druids still practicing today. The answer is yes. Obviously, sacrifices are no longer part of these rituals, but plenty of modern pagans exist. I even watched a video on YouTube of the summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge.  It was quite beautiful. It would be hard not to be moved by the sight of the sun rising over those great stones.

My story has no reflection on modern Druids. They are peaceful, nature-loving people. But my brain always twists things into something dark.  Modern, harmless pagans would not work for the dark romantic suspense that I love and write.  For my story, I would have to go old school, back to the time before science, when things that couldn’t be explained were blamed on the gods and elaborate rituals were performed to gain their favor. From this point on, my plot wheels started turning, and Midnight Exposure was born.

I will be giving away a print copy of  Midnight Exposure  to one lucky commenter.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST Sep. 23rd. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@justromanticsuspense.com with a subject title of JRS GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.