Swamps, Spirits, and Southern Suspense

PASSPORT2PLOTLINES: Louisiana

Louisiana will always hold a special place in my heart. I lived there from 4th grade through high school graduation, and later returned for paramedic school, spending two years immersed once again in the culture, rhythm, and spirit of the Deep South. It’s a state that imprints on you—lush, humid, fragrant, musical, mysterious, and endlessly alive.

Between rural southern Louisiana with its Creole flair and the energetic sprawl of Baton Rouge—a city built on grit, tradition, and good cheer (especially when LSU is winning!)—I grew up surrounded by stories begging to be told.

So when I wrote Allison’s Alibi, it felt only natural to return to the bayous, the French Quarter, and the Cajun countryside for inspiration. Louisiana’s rich flavors and shadows made the perfect backdrop for a romantic suspense with a paranormal twist.

Here’s the real-life Louisiana that helped build the fictional world of Allison’s Alibi.

🐊 Swamps, Spirits & Alligators: The Rural Heart of Louisiana
Living in rural southern Louisiana meant experiencing life closer to nature—and closer to mystery.

• I rowed a boat through alligator-infested waters, the surface rippling with quiet danger.
• I tasted the heat and sweetness of fresh crawfish boils surrounded by laughter, music, and the spice of Cajun cooking.
• I visited the Tabasco factory on Avery Island, where barrels of pepper mash ferment into the iconic Louisiana staple.
  I even toured the old leper colony in Carville, a historical site both heartbreaking and profoundly human.
  
  

These places shaped my understanding of Louisiana as a land where stories cling to every moss-draped branch and muddy bank. That eerie beauty and lived memory became the atmospheric backbone of Allison’s Alibi—a place where danger and destiny meet in equal measure.

🎭 The Magic & Mystery of New Orleans
Some of my favorite memories come from the city where history and celebration dance together:

• Beignets at Café du Monde, warm and powdered-sugar perfect
• Jackson Square, bursting with local artists, fortune tellers, and vibrant creativity
• The French Quarter, a maze of wrought iron balconies, ghost stories, jazz clubs, and secrets
  
  

New Orleans doesn’t just entertain—it enchants. And that enchantment flows straight into the book.

In Allison’s Alibi, the French Quarter’s haunting charm echoes through the psychic detective’s gifts, the ghost of Allison’s father, and the whispers of danger around every corner.

💜 Baton Rouge: Home of Grit, Gumbo, and Tiger Pride
Baton Rouge has personality. Big personality.
I spent years there for paramedic school, absorbing the energy of a city where:

• football ties the community together
• food brings families to the table
• and hospitality softens even the hardest days

The city’s atmosphere influenced the sharper edges of Allison’s Alibi—the police procedural elements, the academic world Allison inhabits as a researcher, and the simmering tension beneath the surface of everyday life.

🔮 How Louisiana Became the Soul of Allison’s Alibi
The story follows Allison, a researcher whose colleague is murdered—leaving her with no alibi and mounting evidence pointing her way. Louisiana’s mystique offered the perfect setting for a suspense story tinged with paranormal threads.
Enter: 
1) A psychic detective with seductive Southern flair Inspired by the charm and depth I saw in many Louisianans—equal parts easygoing and inscrutable.
2) The ghost of Allison’s father, a spectral presence shaped by Louisiana’s long tradition of reverence for the dead, spiritual storytelling, and the blurred line between this world and the next.
3) A killer hiding beneath Southern politeness. Because Louisiana hospitality is legendary… but its shadows are deep.

In this book, Louisiana is more than a location—it’s a character. It’s the humidity clinging to each scene, the heat fueling tension, the music vibrating beneath fear, the flavors woven into emotional beats, and the mystery rising from the swamp like morning fog.

​Writing Allison’s Alibi allowed me to relive the Louisiana I loved, feared, explored, and grew up in. It felt like coming home—but with a fictional twist and a dead body.

​Allison's Alibi

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