Why I Wrote Detective Stories

(With an OD Consultant as Protagonist)

As a young girl growing up in the middle of the country, in the middle of the 20th century, my role models for powerful women were limited to Eleanor Roosevelt, Wonder Woman, and Nancy Drew. Of course, there could have been many others – the suffragists, the abolitionists, the pioneering doctors and lawyers – but I didn’t know about them yet. In school, history was still all about white men. Of the three, I considered Nancy’s role to be the most attainable – those magic bullet-repelling bracelets were hard to find, let alone a husband who was presidential material! Though I was lacking the roadster-providing sort of father and was a bit young for boyfriends, dull as a brick or no (i.e., Ned Nickerson), I could see no reason why my curiosity, instincts, and initiative shouldn’t enable me to solve mysteries, break cases that adults were baffled by, and save the good people in the community from tricksters or evildoers.

A decade or two later, after a brief, so-so career as a second-grade school teacher, I was offered a job in my field of study, special education, working with bright middle-school kids with learning problems. My detective instincts kicked in – each child was a mystery waiting to be solved. Why did this boy write from right to left? Why could this girl sing lyrics perfectly, but stuttered when she tried to speak? And how could I go about helping each of them?

More years passed and I moved on to a career helping other teacher solve their classroom mysteries through workshops, consulting, and coaching. Eventually this led me to organization and leadership development in the corporate world (where I spotted a few smart kids with learning difficulties who had become entrepreneurs and corporate executives). Once again, I found it useful to call on my “inner Nancy Drew” to figure out what was really going on behind the scenes in organizations. My general approach was informed by Nancy – who never assumed that the first answer was the whole truth, who knew there were secrets hidden in old clocks (or, in my case, in file cabinets – actual or virtual). Nancy was skeptical, logical, and above all – curious. Her curiosity got her into trouble at some point in each volume – and I soon learned that could happen in the world of organizations, too.

A number of years ago, after publishing several business books, I decided to make an honest woman of myself and start writing fiction – loosely based on my own and others’ experiences as “corporate detectives.” Murder on the 33rd Floor was published in 2012 and Murder on Retreat was published in 2014. I thought I might write more, but that seemed to complete my career as an author of fiction (though you never know…)

Most organizations, while rarely the backdrop for actual backstabbing, are full of opportunities to question, to follow a trail of clues, and to get to the bottom of mysteries that get in the way of productivity, quality, teamwork, leadership, or innovation. As the Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes of your business unit or corporation, you may be in a position to "save the day" through smart and thorough investigation, remaining objective and trustworthy, and finally bringing things to a successful conclusion that moves the business forward while you step quietly away to your next case.

#writing #mystery #nancydrew