I believe stories reveal to us truths about our humanity. Every scene, every line of dialogue, every silence between characters carries something back our souls and spirits that we need as we do our daily walk on this planet.
My characters have strong perspectives. Often they delight me. Sometimes they surprise me. Always, they show me how to cling to human dignity and hope while exploring the darkest corners of humanity.
As I wrap up the year, I find myself thinking about hundreds of pages I’ve written and about lessons I’ve learned from the characters who’ve walked beside me on the page: Dr. Emily Hartford from The Coroner’s Daughter series, the haunted survivors of Frozen Lives, and the quiet victims of What Darkness Does.
They reminded me what it means to be human in a fragmented world. They encourage me to keep walking in hope and light.
Dr. Emily Hartford — Courage in the Face of Chaos
Dr. Emily Hartford has lived in my head for a long time now (since 2002!). She’s the beating heart of The Coroner’s Daughter series, the daughter of a small-town medical examiner who returns to take up her father’s baton and fight for justice and truth.
I love sitting down to spend time with Emily. She’s smart, curious, and driven, but she’s also deeply human, which means she makes mistakes, doubts herself, and occasionally breaks under pressure. She is relentless in getting answers for the big questions of justice for the murdered. And to be a comfort and help to those left behind.
She is a walking example to all of us about courage. Emily walks into chaos for a living. Her world is filled with bloodstains, broken lives, and moral gray zones. Yet she always shows up. She asks the next question. She seeks justice, even when the truth hurts.
Courage isn’t loud. It’s not about running into burning buildings. It’s about pressing forward to get the answers someone else needs, and standing your ground when silence would be easier.
What Darkness Does — Listening To A Killer
When I began writing What Darkness Does, I set out to tell a heroic story about crime and justice. And I did that. But along the way, I listened harder and deeper to the undercurrents. Everyone has a story, even the killer.
The book was inspired by one of those true crime tragedies that defies neat conclusions. As I dug into it, I found myself very drawn to the killer’s life. But not in a voyeuristic way. Years before he became a killer he was a victim of all sorts of neglect and abuse from his family. Who treats a young child this way? And then, why are we surprised when that person turns to violence and committing evil?
Yes, there are monsters who walk among us. What Darkness Does caused me to look deeper into the complexity of a killer’s upbringing. What are we to think and do about a killer whose own mother and family bred him into evil?
Growing up as a coroner’s daughter, I watched my parents, who ran the M.E. office together, handle the deceased, from all walks of life, with dignity and reverence. They were people with storied lives, with birthdays, habits, childhoods. Writing What Darkness Does allowed me to carry that part of my witness into fiction.
Compassion, not crime, moves readers. We find it in heroines, like Emily, who enter into those dark places and ache to bring light.
Frozen Lives — The Cost of Secrets
If What Darkness Does was about listening, Frozen Lives was about speaking.
That novel began with a simple question: What happens when the truth you’ve buried finally starts to surface?
As I reflect on this book, the same question echoes through my own life.
What truths have I kept quiet because they were inconvenient or uncomfortable? What stories, personal or professional, have I avoided because I didn’t want to out myself or be embarrassed or rejected?
How can I live more courageously? Write more courageously? How do I write my truth into my stories? I will continue to ponder these questions as they carry me into 2026 and the projects that are still blank pages.
The Supporting Cast — How Side Characters Keep Us Human
We talk a lot about protagonists in writing, but it’s often the side characters who surprise us most.
In The Coroner’s Daughter series, Delia, Nick, Addison, Anna and her girls… fill the story with humor, heart, and humanity. They test Emily. They soften her. They make her laugh. They remind her she’s not alone and she doesn’t have to be.
This year, those secondary voices reinforced something profound: supporting characters are the glue of any good story.
They don’t always have the spotlight, but they hold the emotional architecture together.
The same is true in life. Our “supporting cast” friends, readers, colleagues, mentors, shape us in ways we often don’t notice until much later.
It reminded me that although I love my writing live, my personal supporting characters that are the glue that holds me together and bolsters my spirit on this journey.
Gratitude for the Stories That Shape Us
Every December, I like to take time to remember and give thanks for what the year gave me, the pages written, the events attended, the readers met. This year, my gratitude list includes many lessons from the written pages.
I’m grateful to Emily Hartford, who keeps teaching me that courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it whispers, “Keep going.”
I’m grateful to severe lessons of What Darkness Does, that remind me that everyone has a story, everyone is in need of grace and healing.
I’m grateful to the souls of Frozen Lives, who show me that truth can not stay buried if one expects to thrive.
And I’m grateful for every side character, on the page and off, who reminds me that no act of kindness is ever wasted.
But most of all, I’m grateful to you, my readers. Your readership is my reward.
We often think of fiction as escape, and it is. But it’s more. It’s food to our souls.
Every story gives us the space and time to comprehend our humanity deeper. And to make the lived world a better place.
A Note to Readers
Which character, from my books or your favorite reads this year, taught you something unexpected?
I’d love to hear your reflections in the comments or over on Instagram. Let’s end this year by celebrating the stories that shaped us and the lessons we’ll carry into the next one.
Thank you for walking beside me through another year of mystery, forensics, and faith in humanity. I can’t wait to share what’s coming next.
Here’s to courage, curiosity, and stories that keep us searching for hope, even in the dark.
