Mystery Author Elaine Viets Is "Summer Celebrity"

Elaine Viets distinctly remembers when her love affair with mysteries began. She was 9, and her mother passed along her childhood copies of the Nancy Drew mystery series.

“Not only was Nancy Drew a sleuth,” Viets recalled with a touch of envy during a phone interview from her home in Fort Lauderdale. “She had her own roadster and a convenient boyfriend who showed up when she needed him.”

Later, as an adult, Viets began reading Agatha Christie mysteries. “I was hooked after that,” the author said.

Viets is the author of two national bestselling mystery series that take place in two different areas of the country, St. Louis in the Midwest and Ft. Lauderdale in south Florida.

As ’s “Annual Summer Celebrity,” Viets will appear at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 17, in the Parkland High School auditorium.

Viets, 61, will discuss her experiences in the mystery-writing business and answer audience questions. She also will sign copies of her books, which will be available to purchase.

Viets began writing books in 1997. However, she said she got the idea for her “Dead End Job Mystery Series” while working as a bookstore clerk in 2001.

“When you’ve got a low-paying job, you don’t get treated the same” as people who work in the corporate world, Viets said. Customers who are having a bad day “come in and yell at the clerk.” That got her to thinking.

The protagonist in the series, Helen Hawthorne, is on the run from the court and so she works dead-end jobs for cash under the table – with a different low-paying job in each novel set in south Florida.

Viets explained that Hawthorne came home early from work one day and found her husband with another woman. Hawthorne went after her husband with a crowbar and later divorced him.

Because of the assault, a judge ordered Hawthorne to give half of her future income to her ex-husband. But she swore that would never happen, so she set out to do a series of jobs for cash under the table, even as her ex-husband tries to track her down in all the mystery books.

Viets also writes the “Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper Series,” set in St. Louis. Josie is a single mother and a member of the “sandwich generation,” caring for both her mother and her daughter.

Viets said she chose St. Louis and Fort Lauderdale as the locations for her two series because she has ties to each location. She spent most of her life in St. Louis and still goes back there to visit friends and family. But she has lived in Fort Lauderdale the past 12 years.

The two distinct areas of the country add to the flavor of her books, Viets said. St. Louis is “more like Pennsylvania with a sense of values and community,” she said, while south Florida is “a little wackier and a lot more fun.”

Fans of the author’s mysteries will be glad to know she has contracts for two more books in each of the two series.

This is the fifth year the Parkland Community Library has hosted a “summer celebrity,” said Maryellen Kanarr, adult services librarian. Previous guest authors were Anna Quindlan, J.A. Jance, Andrew Gross and Carol Higgins Clark.

The Details:

When/Where: 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 17, in the auditorium of

Reservations are requested. Call 610-398-1361, ext. 13.