SETTING BASED ON REAL LIFE by Valerie (V. M.) Burns

People often ask me where I get my ideas for my books. A lot of my ideas come from real life. Yes, I write murder mysteries, but that doesn’t mean that I have been involved with murders. Sometimes a building or a house will spark my imagination. One of those buildings is a stone mansion from my hometown in Indiana. It’s a massive stone structure that is the perfect setting for a murder mystery.

In 2018 my niece, Jillian, got married. She didn’t want a big wedding, and she and her fiancé were flexible. No bridezilla tactics. No drama. Both she and her fiancé are also financially responsible. Neither of them wanted to spend a lot of money on an elaborate wedding and reception. In fact, they initially discussed going to the Justice of the Peace and skipping the whole wedding experience entirely. Fortunately for their families, my nephew convinced them of the importance of making this life-changing event memorable. He and his wife had gotten married earlier that same year at the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn. Their wedding was small, but lovely. Afterall, marriage is forever, right? God willing, my niece would only get married once. So, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they had secured one of the nicest venues in town, Tippecanoe Place, the former home of the Studebaker Family. Yep. The car manufacturers.

Tippecanoe Place is a large stone 26,000 sq. ft mansion. It was built in 1889 by Clement Studebaker, one of the founders of the Studebaker vehicle manufacturers. With over forty rooms, the mansion is massive. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977. The home was later turned into a restaurant and museum.

My niece is the queen of discounts. Because they were married in November, during the off-season, they got a big discount. Plus, the mansion was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season, so  no additional decorations were needed. They got married on a weekday instead of the more popular weekend date, big discount. They got married at an off-peak time of day (early evening) which resulted in another discount. It turned out to be a lovely wedding and reception. Tippecanoe Place is a restaurant, so the reception was there, too.

So, when I imagined Madison Montgomery and Michael Portman’s wedding, I envisioned a similar setting. Unlike my niece, Maddy isn’t as concerned about the budget. Fortunately for Maddy, she is a good friend of Carson Law, the owner of The Carson Law Inn. Carson gives the couple the venue for free. So, Maddy and Michael have rooms for their guests, and a lovely location for their reception. Unlike my niece’s wedding, Maddy’s wedding is fraught with drama. There are unexpected guests, and a couple of murders. To ensure her Happily Ever After, Maddy and the Baker Street Irregulars must catch a killer. Murder at First Slice is the fifth book in the Baker Street Mystery series. The book releases on July 29, 2026.

MURDER AT FIRST SLICE

As Maddy’s wedding day approaches, friends and family descend on the little town of New Bison, Michigan, to celebrate—so much so that Maddy wonders if there might be another happily-ever-after in store for her widowed father and innkeeper Mrs. Law. Unfortunately, she also has to deal with an unhappy couple: feuding cousins Hannah and Dorothy, who haven’t spoken in decades. Maddy can only hope the spectacular wedding cake crafted by her head baker doesn’t wind up as ammunition in a food fight.

But she doesn’t have to wait long for a wedding disaster to strike. When the imperious Dorothy crashes the rehearsal dinner—with several uninvited guests in tow—and starts battering everyone with constant complaints, the drama reaches reality-show levels. And the next day, Dorothy is dead . . . with Hannah standing over the body, bloody rolling pin in hand.

Nobody in town believes Miss Hannah could commit murder. But a detective newly relocated from New York doesn’t know the sweet, memory-challenged Hannah the way the locals do—and the evidence seems open-and-shut as an oven. Now, with her sous-sleuths the Baker Street Irregulars, the bride-to-be is busy digging into Dorothy’s past to catch a killer before she cuts the cake . . .

BUY LINK

Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award finalist. Writing as V. M. Burns, she is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, and the RJ Franklin mystery series. Writing as Kallie E. Benjamin, she is the author of the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. And writing as Valerie Burns, she is the author of the Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Color, Dog Writers of America,, and the International Thriller Writers Association. She is an adjunct professor in Seton Hill’s WPF MFA program. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.