Westborough Author Creates Mysteries

“You don’t want to kill me,” I said.

“Of course I don’t, Clare. But I have to.”

So begins the mystery in the novel Clarity by Westborough author Kim Harrington. The book, which is aimed at teens, came out a year ago and Harrington released a sequel called Perception on March 1.

To celebrate the release of Perception, the local author held a book reading and signing March 3 at . Those who missed it needn’t worry: Harrington will appear at the Uxbridge Public Library on March 22 to speak about her young adult novels and to sign books.

Perception is about a family in which each member has paranormal abilities, Harrington explained, and when a tourist is murdered in the Cape Cod town in which they live, the family gets pulled into the case. On top of that, there is a stalker who has set sights on Clare, the main character. If that’s not enough, a local girl has disappeared.

Harrington said she has always been attracted to mysteries and “the darker books.”

“It’s what I enjoy to read,” she said between signing books at Tatnuck. “It just comes natural to me.”

The 37-year-old said she has been writing her whole life, but started taking it more seriously in recent years.

There were three books before Clarity which didn’t get published. She said she wrote her first book “just because I wanted to see if I could do it,” admitting that it wasn’t very good, but taught her that she could accomplish the task.

Each book that followed got a little better, she said. Then, her fourth book, Clarity, sold to Scholastic and it seems Harrington was off and running — quickly. (Clarity has also been optioned by Warner Brothers Television, but it's unclear at this point what will happen next in that regard.)

The Westborough resident writes books for teens as well as younger children. Her Sleuth or Dare series, aimed at ages 8 through 12, will come out this summer with the first book releasing in May, a second in June, and the third in July.

A launch party for Sleuth or Dare #2: Sleepover Stakeout will be held at Tatnuck Booksellers from 4 to 6 p.m. on June 9, and Harrington writes on her website that she will sign any of her books during the event. Another teen novel, The Dead and Buried, will come out next year.

“It’s a really good creative outlet,” Harrington said of writing.

Everyone needs a creative outlet, she said, whether it be singing, dancing or cooking. Even if she wasn’t being published, Harrington said she would continue to write.

“I sort of just got hooked,” said Harrington, who has lived in Westborough the past 15 years.

Harrington said she thinks her “voice lends itself well to a teen audience” and that maybe, someday, she would write for adults. While her books are aimed at a younger audience, she finds that about half of the people reading them are adults. Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games have created that trend, she said.

Besides writing, the married mother of a 9-year-old son is an avid reader, reading two to three books per week.

“It really helps me wind down from the day,” she said, adding that she enjoys getting “lost in someone else’s story.”

For more information, visit Harrington's website, her Facebook page, or Twitter.