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It started with an idea. A random thought, really. What would happen if a detective retired without being able to solve a cold case? That ponderance, taking place over three years ago, has evolved today into a book titled Where Are They? The Missing Men of Marlowe Mansion, authored by church member, neighbor, and our good friend, Dave Cochran.

As the title suggests, the book is a mystery that will keep you guess-ing. The humorous incidents and comedic dialogue will keep you laughing. The antics and banter of the two main characters, retired detective and now private investigator, Harvey Hawkshaw, and his side-kick, metal collector and former mattress salesperson, Flywheel (no known last name) as they work together to solve the case of the three missing men from the small town of Stillwell, are delightful. Dave’s wry humor is evident with the turn of each page.

Dave says this about his style when writing: “In writing jargon, I’m more of a ‘pantser’ than a ‘plotter’. I may jot some notes down, but it’s seldom that I actually develop an outline be-fore I start to write. Writers call this writing by the seat of your pants, hence pantser.”

He tells us more about the writing of this book: “I used software called Papyrus Author to write much of the book. This software has a word processing area with a place to take notes right next to it. I started taking a lot of random notes and then started writing Chapter One. The more I wrote, the better I knew the characters and the story. I did not know the ending of the whodunit until I wrote it. It was almost as though it wrote itself!”

Dave continues, “Many writers say that the real writing is in the editing. Both Barb Reid, my editor, and I edited each version. Perhaps the hardest part was to have the characters remain ‘in character’ throughout the book. The good part was that keeping them in character got eas-ier toward the end of the book. I knew them much better than when I began. It took 12 drafts to get to a finished product,”

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