Books start with an idea. In my case, I wanted to write a mystery with a female protagonist that’s set in a rural area. She wasn’t going to be a sweet, young thing, but a woman with some good miles on her — what the French call une femme d’un certain âge. Thus, Isabel Long was created. And once I wrote the first book, I kept going with others because I so enjoy solving crimes with her.

By the way, the first three books, Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps, have been re-released Nov. 15 by their new publisher Bloodhound Books.

First, Isabel Long had a long career as a journalist — starting as a reporter covering the fictional hilltown in Western Massachusetts where she lives, population 1,000, and then clawed her way up to being the editor in chief of a newspaper until it went corporate. When the new owner said the staff had to reapply for their jobs, Isabel said, “To hell with that.”

Yeah, Isabel is a bit on the sassy side. She doesn’t take crap from anybody. She’s also savvy. The skills she learned as a journalist come in handy as a private investigator. Other transferable skills: Keeping an open mind and being able to talk with anybody. Oh, yeah, being relentless until she gets her story — or the culprit.

Losing her job was part of Isabel’s bad year. Her husband died of a heart attack. But after a year of properly grieving for him, she was ready to reinvent herself — as a private investigator and as a single woman. She also takes a part-time job tending bar at the Rooster, the town’s only watering hole, which is a great place to find clues for her cases. She also develops a relationship with its owner, Jack, which has its ups and a big down. But I’m not going to spoil what happens for readers.

I wrote Chasing the Case during the winter of 2017, when I lived in Taos, New Mexico, and finished it in the spring. Her first case turns out to be also her first big story as a rookie reporter — the disappearance of a woman 28 years earlier.

By the way, Isabel has an interesting sidekick — her 92-year-old mother who came to live with her. Maria is one sharp woman who loves reading mysteries and smutty romances.

I enjoyed writing Chasing the Case so much, I wrote a sequel — Redneck’s Revenge — while moving back to rural Western Massachusetts, where this mystery series is set. Many of the same characters make it into the second book along with new ones.

I was having too good of a time solving crimes with Isabel, so I kept going with Checking the Traps. (By the way, she and I are working on the eighth case.)

So, how much of me is in Isabel? I’d like to say the sassy and savvy part, especially since I wrote these books in first person. I, too, was a journalist who started in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts, where I’ve lived twice. Like Isabel, I moved there from Boston to enjoy rural life. But unlike Isabel, I didn’t become a P.I. Instead I write about one, and that’s fine with me. I wouldn’t want the danger she attracts.

Here are the links to Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps.