NOT YOUR AVERAGE PI

Although I’d much rather be sipping an ice-cold Negroni on the aft deck of my converted tugboat, the boss (I refuse to call him a creator) says I have to spill my story so you readers will want to buy books and stories about my eventful life. I’m used to racking up info about other folks. However, offering up my own details doesn’t come easy.

Anyway, here we go.

I entered this world 44-years-ago, born to a beautiful woman named, Elizabeth Rooney. Now, those of you with an eye for details already notice the different last name. For two years, I was a Rooney as well. We were the typical American family, except that none of us were above 4’6”. Like my boss already noted, I’ve got achondroplasia dwarfism. I got a full genetic dose from both parents.

After two years of tumultuous bliss, my actor birth father got a gig out in Hollywood and never came back. Being a single young mother is hard enough. Add to it, having to raise a child with special needs while you, yourself, are challenged by a world made for taller folks, and my mother should have been awarded sainthood. However, she did it for three more years.

By the time I blew out five candles on my birthday cake, our lives took a turn for the better. My mother was working on her first novel and tending bar at a local Irish Pub in Pensacola, Florida called, McGuire’s. She met a dashing young Navy pilot named, Benjamin Larson. The six-foot pilot and four-foot little beauty turned quite a few heads. However, any snigger of laughter died a quick death when Ben stared down the offender and offered to go outside. One year later, a had a new step-father and my mom a new house with an office for her writing.

The next several years were a dream. Ben moved from flying to Naval Intelligence, while my mom’s first three cozy mystery novels garnered her respectable spots on the New York Times Bestseller list, and an Edgar Award for best debut novel.

Meanwhile, inheriting my mom’s love of learning, I excelled at school, especially in English and Debate. I guess that I inherited my birth father’s knack for theatrics, since I had a talent for making friends with ease. My dwarfism was rarely an issue. When it was, Ben taught me to master control of my emotions through meditation and martial arts. The later skill also helped deal with the few bullies that quickly learned the lesson that size doesn’t matter.

My perfect world came to a crushing halt during my senior year in high school. While on vacation in Majorca, Spain, my mother and Ben died when their car was blind-sided by a large truck, loaded with almonds. Their car tumbled down a cliff and into the Mediterranean below. It took several hours for divers to reach the wreckage. No bodies were ever recovered.

Alright, that’s it for now. I’m doing this as a favor and it’s bumming me out. Maybe I’ll continue later and tell you all how I came to be a private investigator. Then again, maybe I’ll tell the boss to go to hell.

Later.

MEET BUTCH "FIX" LARSON

A few years back, I was brainstorming ideas for a private detective story. I wanted him to be different than the stereotypical PI. Having been born in Northwest Florida, I decided to place my detective in an area I was intimately familiar with and not generally well known to the readership of detective novels. I chose the rural community of Santa Rosa County, a county just east of the city of Pensacola. The county runs from the sugar white sands of the Gulf of Mexico to the pine covered border with Alabama.

As for the cast of characters, I’ve been a fan of the quirky and sometimes outrageous inhabitants of the works of Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey, and Elmore Leonard. I wanted my stories to tackle serious topics while maintaining an atmosphere where some crazy stuff could happen at any moment. I also believe there needs to be a little humor to temper the edge of serious crimes. I knew all sorts of real whacky people in Northwest Florida. Hell, how many news stories have you seen that start with the tag line, “A man in Florida…”?

When it came to my detective, he had to be unique. I wanted readers to see him, and like his adversaries, underestimate him by his appearance. Having read Game of Thrones and saw the TV series, I knew the character of Tyrion, played wonderfully by Peter Dinklage, was my model. So, he’s 4’4” and has achondroplasia dwarfism.

My initial step was to research the condition of achondroplasia and how a person with the condition would adapt the world around them to suit their needs. My first outreach was to the former President of the Little Persons of New Zealand, Angela Muir Van Etten. Her books were invaluable in learning about the lives of people with dwarfism. Additionally, she put me in touch with members of the LP community who became my beta and sensitivity readers. I started following blogs, podcasts, and social media accounts of people with dwarfism. Their words and experience opened my world to this wonderful community. I was determined to make my detective someone they could be proud of and a positive representation.

Armed with loads of research, I was ready to bring Fix Larson alive. In my next post, I’ll introduce you to Fix as well as his family and the cast of characters that inhabit his world.