Travel

AMERICAN ODYSSEY REVISITED

In the summer of 2007, my girlfriend Karen and I embarked upon a 12,726 kilometre road trip which took us from Picton, Ontario, to Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana — via the Colorado Rockies and the Grand Canyon and Route 66, etc. — and back. The purpose of our journey, which lasted 34 days and covered 20 American states, was to research the next book in my Campbell Young series of murder mysteries.

A year and a half later, I am happy to report that the book is finished. The title is Black Tupelo, and the story follows Campbell Young and his friend Priam Harvey as they attempt to catch up to a man named Wendell Honey in order to a) save his life, and b) extract from him certain information which will help them solve a murder. Complicating their search is the fact that another man, Oscar Lima, is also interested in finding Wendell.

During our travels, I maintained a blog called American Odyssey on the definingcanada webpage and received so much support from readers that I thought now would be a good time to take a break from fiction-writing and resume blogging, maybe write a little bit about how the trip informed Black Tupelo and, as well, write about my next project, which will most likely be one of the following: 1) the resurrection and revision of a novel I wrote 27 years ago and which Doubleday came “this close” to publishing in 1983; 2) a second look at a novel about teaching which I wrote 20 years ago and abandoned; 3) a new novel set in Prince Edward County about the murder of a vintner.

Next Installment: How our American Odyssey helped me write Black Tupelo.

Tags: American Odyssey, Black Tupelo, Campbell Young, crime, J.D. Carpenter, mystery, Priam Harvey

About the author

J.D. Carpenter's Campbell Young novels have been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award, appeared on national bestseller lists (The Globe & Mail), and received critical acclaim (The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, Maclean's, Quill & Quire).