Mystery writer finds a beloved character: Kansas

By DORMAN T. SHINDLER
Special to The Star -- 4/16/2006

Why didn’t she write about her home state before?

"It took me a long time to admit that I really love Kansas. I think I had sort of that feeling that (her character) Mitch had: It sort of galls to admit it. Plus we get so much bad P.R.!" Pickard adds with a laugh.

And yet, along with the well-drawn characters Pickard manages to make the Sunflower State a supporting character.

"Kansas’ appearance, the feeling of Kansas, lends itself to drama," Pickard says. "Out there in the Flint Hills — all that beauty contrasted with the sense of isolation — that’s a wonderful, dramatic hinge. You’re in the middle of something very beautiful and something very terrifying. … And the book I’m working on now is set up in the far, northwest corner of Kansas, which a lot people may not have seen. It has … huge, monument rocks. It’s a wonderful sort of setting for all sorts of dramatic things."

Read more of the Kansas City Star interview with Nancy Pickard

Small Miracles

PW Talks with Nancy Pickard
by Melissa Mia Hall -- 3/27/2006

Nancy Pickard, known for her Jenny Cain mystery series, ventures into suspense territory with The Virgin of Small Plains, a stand-alone novel set in Kansas in which the grave of an unknown murder victim, a teenage girl, becomes a shrine for people seeking miracles.

Why did you write The Virgin of Small Plains?

I've always wanted to write a stand-alone novel that has a full, novelistic feel. I wanted mystery, romance and a deep feeling of setting, to spend time with characters that had known each other for generations, to write a book with a little touch of magic.

Read more of the Publisher's Weekly interview with Nancy Pickard