Let me tell you a little about who inspired me to write Oceano Beach Bedlam. The year is 2019, Spring. I’m taking a class entitled “So You Want to Write a Novel” through the Institute for Continued Learning at Utah Tech University. Dr. Warren Stucki, local novelist, and author of the Dr. Cooper Mystery Series and six standalone novels is teaching the class. He challenges us to write a novel and gives us an assignment: Write a one-page summary of your novel’s setting. Then write a one or two-page setting scene. I had already completed the draft of my debut mystery All That Glisters and wondered if a sequel made sense, especially given the ending. In Book One, after protagonist Thad Hanlon suffers a devastating personal loss in pursuit of the truth, I hint that he is considering rebuilding his life by becoming a private investigator. With that in mind, I sketch out Book Two and the scene where Hanlon lands his first client. In the final draft of Oceano Beach Bedlam, the original plot line is a little different from what I wrote for Dr. Stucki’s class, but Thad Hanlon as a newly licensed PI is there, as is the character of Mrs. Dudamel searching for her missing son. What I learned in Warren Stucki’s class? Take the dare. It might lead to a series—in this case the Thad Hanlon & Bri de la Guerra Mysteries.