Named as a Character in a Book for the Second Time

 By Linda Thorne

 

The first time this happened, I was named as a character in Marilyn Meredith’s book, Not As It Seems. She does book tours for each book she publishes and often offers a choice of prizes to whomever leaves a comment on the most blogs. I won the prize on an earlier book tour and chose to be named as a character in a later book. When that book was published she stopped by my blog on her tour with a post called, The Character Named Linda Thorne.

This was a fun blog post (September 17, 2015). We got a surprise visit from Hank Phillippi Ryan who dropped in and commented on the complexities of using real people’s names as characters. Another commenter told us she’d never want to be named after a dead body or an evil person. Marilyn’s response was that she’d never kill off a character named after a real person or make them too awful unless, of course, they didn’t mind. I ended up in Not As It Seems as a not-so-nice, tall, redheaded woman. For me, it made the book more fun to read.

Last February, a few members of the Middle Tennessee Sisters in Crime organization met with Carolyn Haines in Mobile, Alabama. She'd joined us in Nashville a few years earlier, but was unable to make another trip in 2016, so we went to her. We had dinner with her one night, got to speak at the Mobile Writers Guild she belongs to, and have lunch with her college students. Carolyn had been teaching creative writing at the University of South Alabama for a very long time. At some point during all this, Carolyn Haines said she was going to name a character after me. I was all for it.

So I am a crotchety insurance sales woman in Sticks and Bones coming out May 17th. I can’t wait. It's part of her Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. I saw it online and will pre-order it.
Buy Link: Buy Sticks and Stones 

Author Carolyn Haines

She told me that she has one friend, Aleta, who has been a dead whore twice in her books. In The House of Memory (I think also available for pre-order) coming out in June, she has four friends who are dead, lobotomized whores. She joked about not being so good to her friends, but hey, I know they all agreed and are happy to be included, dead or alive.

Buy link for the House of Memory: House of Memory

I have loved each and every one of Carolyn Haines Sarah Booth Delaney bone series mystery books. The newest coming out is in mid March and can be pre-ordered now. It is Guru Bones. I guarantee you'll love it. Here's the buy link: Buy link for Guru Bones - A Sarah Booth Delaney mystery

Being named for a character in an author's book is a different experience -- a fun one for me.