After a day at the beach, I was pink—well, to tell the truth close to sunburned—so we decided to visit Englishman’s River Falls and Little Qualicum River Falls. A big reason for this vacation is to do site visits and seek out places for action that takes place in 9 Lives book 5. I already had a vague idea of using Englishman’s River Falls for something—perhaps as the site of a murder—so I wanted to see if there was a location that would work, exactly where I could set finding the body, and what kind of murder it would be.
The temperature was 26 degrees plus (30 with the humidex), and we hiked at least a couple of klicks. Our route took us from the parking area down to the upper falls and the swimming hole above them, then down to the lower falls, where people were jumping off the cliff into a deep pool below. Then back up again to the parking lot. A lot of walking in really hot weather!
On the same afternoon we also visited Little Qualicum Falls. Though this is a beautiful park, I found the location was less promising than Englishman’s River Falls. I did find a couple of places that had potential. If not for a nefarious deed, then perhaps for something else.
Having looked at each site, the next stage is to figure out a reason why the murder victim would be there. Good question! Who goes to a park to get themselves killed? Plotting problem! Then there’s the issue of arranging to have my characters on site to find the body or see it being found. Or even hearing about it while they are on vacation. Of course, plotting questions like this become circular: how the body was found leads to when the person was killed which leads to why she or he was murdered.
It is possible that having my victim (or a victim—there’s usually more than one!) die in a rural park won’t work. That doesn’t mean the site visit isn’t worthwhile. There are lots of other reasons the Jamiesons, Armstrongs and their friends might end up at any of the beautiful locations around Parksville.
After dinner we went down to the Sandcastle Competition Exhibit in Parksville. Amazing work! And a lovely sunset.
