The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword

Rain! Yellow leaves on the ground, the brown grass. The remnants of summer flowers are soaking it up, relishing the feel of water. It’s a perfect day for writing that third Ned McNeil cozy mystery. What would you do if you were ready to settle in for a snug time at home (like today or maybe with snow keeping you in and everyone else out) and, without warning, a van load of stranded strangers knocked on your door, needing shelter and food? What do you think Ned did? And what if there was, among them, a murderer? That is the mystery that makes the book.

I got an invitation to the Thompson House Victorian Christmas Craft Fair last week. If I put my books in the fair this year, I’m going to have to call and let them know, get my books together, tag them, and take them to Tahlequah. There’s something special about the Thompson House. I can’t think of it without a warm glow in my heart. You know why? I do believe I had some small part in saving its life!

Tahlequah has many beautiful homes built in the nineteenth century. The Thompson House is one of them. It was built by an early day doctor and it sits on a spacious corner lot surrounded by trees that are older than the house. Through the years, the house went from one owner to the next, and, sad to say, it was neglected and changed. Used as a health clinic, a boarding house (I believe that’s accurate) until it was just a shadow of its former self. 

This was back in the days when I was writing feature stories for The Daily Press. I heard that plans were afoot to tear down that lovely house and put a parking lot in its place. My heart contracted. No way! So, with my little nephew in hand (I had picked him up from school), I climbed in through a broken window, toured the shambles, and wrote a story about it for our town newspaper.

Civic minded citizens read the story, became concerned, formed a committee, and began the arduous task of restoring the Thompson House to its former beauty. With a lot of work and money and donations and dedication, the Thompson House is magnificent once again. And that’s where the yearly craft fair is held and that’s why I feel a sense of proud ownership (although all I did was write about it.)

And, you know what? That house is going to live forever in Moonlight Can Be Murder, By the Fright of the Silvery Moon and The Ghost of Moonlight Past. Ned McNeil’s house is patterned largely, though not completely, after the Thompson House.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” ( Edward Bulwer-Lytton) or, in this case, than bulldozers and cement mixers.

But, getting back to my former statement. It’s raining! And, though I have no Victorian houses to save, there is a story that is begging to be written.