Meet the Author

Bessie Barr

Bessie Barr is the author of the best selling, Pelican Shores Mystery Series featuring Finn Dockrey, her friend Birdie, her dog, Beau, and Queen Bean her intelligent cat.

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What inspired you to write amateur sleuth mysteries?

“ I love ALL mysteries.  The twists and turns.  The whodunit. The red herrings.  Everything about mysteries is my happy place.  But cozy mysteries…they hold a spot deep down in my heart.  I love the idea of the amateur sleuth who stumbles into the mystery and feels obligated to help solve it.  I LOVE the quirky characters that happen into and out of the story.  I love the light-heartedness and the happily-ever-after.  The world is full of tough stuff. And day by day, have to climb through all the tough stuff.  So cozy mysteries are just fun alternatives to everyday life.  The bad guys get caught, the good guys win in the end. So…I guess all of that.  Plus, the first real library chapter book that I remember reading as a child was a cozy mystery.  I sat for hours in the quiet of my baby brother's room on a particularly rainy day, reading the story of a brother-and-sister team who had to climb a wet, moss-covered stone wall to reach a property so they could solve a mystery.  I have no idea about anything else in the story.  All I know is that day of reading was sheer joy!”

What do you like about this genre of mysteries?

“Well, kind of in line with what I said in our previous question, I just love the ease of this type of story.  Villain vs Good Guy/Gal, and the Good Guy/Gal gets to win. No bedroom scenes. No graphic gore. I always tell people it's the Hallmark Christmas movie in book form…but for mysteries. “

How did you develop the concept for your Pelican Shores Mystery Series?

“ So, after 30 years of living in the same place in north Texas, my husband and I decided to uproot and plunk down at the beach.  We chose a lovely little town in the Coastal Bend region of Texas.  And that's an interesting thing to do.  No connections. New town. New community.  New neighbors.  New inspiration!!  Pelican Shores is (very) loosely based on this little town of ours.  We do the Sandfest; Pelican Shores does the Sand Spectacular.  We have a local sea turtle release following a particularly cold jaunt that resulted in cold-stunned turtles; Pelican Shores has a Death, Turmoil, and Turtles release.  All my plots and subplots (well… except the actual murders) have loose ties to events around me.  It's so much fun to take something like "gold" flecks found in the sand and turn that into Death, Sand, and Pirate's Plunder.”

What makes Finn Dockrey a good amateur sleuth?

“She's clever.  She's bold.  She seeks justice.  And she's not afraid to get her hands dirty.  Plus, she has a great dog sidekick, Beau, and a boon-docking BFF, Birdie.  It's easy to be an excellent sleuth when you have a team behind you!”

What are you working on for your next novel?

“Don't get me started! LOL!  My mind races with "next series" ideas.  Pelican Shores will continue, but I've been in the plotting and outlining phase for a new series set at the turn of the century, and I'm so excited about it. Dreaming up a whole cast of characters is one of my favorite parts. So, that has snagged much of my free time (and dreamtime) lately. (And really, yes, I do dream my characters.  It's like they jump to life in my head and live there rent-free until I'm able to get them onto paper.)  I'm also tossing around the idea of a 3-book limited series.  This one is still forming in my head. But I know it has secret passageways and underground tunnels. So, we'll see how and when that comes to fruition. It's just an exciting path of plotting, outlining and writing.  I feel so fortunate that this gets to be my full-time job!”