Jefferson County author Nancy Mehl doesn’t lead as exciting a life as you might expect for someone who’s published dozens of novels filled with mystery and suspense.
“I’m really kind of a homebody,” she said with a laugh. “Our living room has a sliding glass door looking out onto the deck, with the woods at the back, and I sit in the recliner and write and watch the birds and the squirrels. It’s very peaceful.”
Mehl’s latest novel, “Cold Vengeance.”
Mehl’s latest novel, “Cold Vengeance,” comes out July 16 on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, Kindle ebook and audiobook. Her 52nd book, it is the third in a series that features a pair of former FBI behavioral analysts turned private investigators.
A lifelong Christian, Mehl attends Crosspoint Church in St. Louis County. Like most of her books, she draws on her Christian faith in this one.
“I use my faith in my books, but I try not to beat anybody over the head with it,” she said. “I don’t make it a fundamental part of the story – I mean, I don’t put getting saved or going to hell in there, but I have my characters grapple with fundamental questions.
“When I write, I think about one person who might read it and how I can incorporate what I want to say to them into the story,” she said. “Everybody struggles with something, and it’s more about the way people can find help from God when they’re struggling. I want to tell a good story, but also give them hope.”
Finding her place
Mehl, 71, of Arnold grew up in Kansas and enjoyed writing from a young age.
“Then, in high school, a teacher accused me of plagiarism, and it broke my heart,” she said. “I stopped writing for a while. Later on, I looked back and wondered if it was because what I wrote was better than what a kid might do, and I started thinking differently.”
For the next few years, Mehl said she did lots of exploring and learning.
“I never went to college. Oh, I enrolled, but didn’t go,” she said. “I was searching for the things I was supposed to do.”
She worked at a bank, then at a radio station before working for the Salvation Army in social services.
“I was asked to write a food program for the Wichita HUD program, for people in these apartment complexes. I wrote a program to get them groceries, and then I started my own homebound outreach. We’d come in every month and give them a meal, play some games. It was a way to get them out of their apartments and interacting with the community.”
Mehl says she took some time off to learn the craft of writing, and later did book reviews.
“Every type of writing is different,” she said. “You have to study and learn.”
Her first contract was with a small-press Christian publisher.
“They had an author who wrote Amish mysteries, and she had exclusivity; no one else could write those,” Mehl explained. “So they asked me to write Old-Order Mennonite mysteries. I did a lot of research, and I did several for them.”
Soon Mehl got an offer from another, larger publisher called Bethany House.
“There was kind of a bidding war,” she laughed. “And they won. I’ve been with them ever since.”
Crafting the story
Mehl and her husband of 51 years, Norman, moved to Jefferson County to be closer to family.
“My son moved here and we started having grandchildren, so we relocated here about 10 years ago,” she said. “I love Missouri. We’re very happy here.”
She said her goal is to get about 2,000 words a day into the computer.
“Coming off a project, I may take a few weeks off, but I generally write steadily throughout the year,” she said. “I’ve gotten offers to do other work, but I’ve gotten to where I don’t want to put myself under pressure. I’m just happy working with one publisher.”
Mehl continues to enjoy writing in the mystery/suspense genre.
“At heart I’m a mystery writer,” she said. “In mysteries, you give clues that give the reader a chance to solve it. In suspense, something happens that causes the story to propel itself forward. I do try to put in a few little clues for the reader.”
She said she is fascinated by the idea of getting inside her characters’ heads.
“Well, nobody loves serial killers, but I love the psychopathy behind it – how it affects both the antagonist and protagonist,” she said. “I have such great respect for law enforcement and what they go through. I do like to explore that, what’s happening behind the scenes.”
Mehl said she puts a lot of thought into both plot and character.
“I think, when you are writing a plot-driven story, if you don’t understand your characters, you can’t make them real,” she said. “They (readers) have to care about your protagonist and understand where they’re coming from. They can’t just be a one-dimensional character.
“Same with the bad guy. You have to let people understand your character.”
Mehl’s books over the last few years have been based on the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.
“I have a friend who is a veteran of the unit, one of the early analysts,” she said. “She is great. There’s no way I could write these without her.
“The first one I did, called ‘Mind Games,’ I showed her and she said, ‘OK, let’s start over.’ I’m writing this new series with her input. The first one comes out this month, and I’m writing the second. It’s bringing back a character from the earlier books, and adding a new character.”
Mehl and several other authors started their “Suspense Sisters” blog about 12 years ago.
“There are nine of us,” she said. “Everyone is assigned a day to post, and they can write about anything – promos for their books, announcements of upcoming projects and new releases, the writing life itself. On Tuesdays we do ‘What’s Hot.’ We have a monthly contest for our subscribers.”
Mehl has racked up a number of awards for her writing, including a Daphne Du Maurier Award, an ACFW Mystery Book of the Year Award and a Carol award. She was a finalist for the prestigious Christy award for Christian fiction.
“I am very grateful for these awards, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “But that’s not why I do it. I’d rather have an email from a reader saying they felt a connection to a character, that they were going through something similar and my book helped them.”
She said she hears often from people who are confident they, too, can write a novel (or a series).
“I think they just don’t understand how much there is to it,” she said. “What it takes to keep the reader engaged, to keep a plot going through to a satisfying conclusion.”
Her advice to would-be authors?
“Study and learn writing. Get a writing book. Join a writers group where you share critiques,” she said. “Learn the craft or no agent will sign you. But above all, you’ve got to love it. You have to love what you do to do it well.”