4S Ranch woman writes murder mystery novel

A 4S Ranch resident’s debut novel, “Death by Diploma,” is the first in her planned Chalkboard Outlines murder mystery series.

Kelley Gusich, who writes under the pen name Kelley Kaye, said the series will focus on new English teacher Emma Lovett and fellow teacher Leslie Parker. As in the first novel, the duo will try to solve a murder in Pinewood, Colorado.

“It will be the same characters, but different mysteries,” Gusich said. “Poor Pinewood, it will be like Cabot Cove (a reference to the TV show ‘Murder, She Wrote’).”

Gusich said her two-decades-long career as a high school English teacher, mostly in Colorado, inspired her series and the characters. None are a direct correlation to anyone she worked with, but inspired by them.

“You cannot match one character to one (person) I knew, but certain aspects have been combined,” she said. “Their idiosyncrasies or habits.”

Emma and Leslie are a combination of Gusich and two or three of her close English teacher friends, she said. While one had the ability to quote Shakespeare a lot, even that friend’s talents were not close to those of Leslie, who on the spot comes up with the perfect Shakespeare quote for the situation at any moment.

“That is why I like fiction,” she said. “I can make (Leslie) do whatever I want her to do.”

In “Death by Diploma” — released last month — the reader is introduced to the characters. The recently divorced Emma has left her Southern hometown for a fresh start. The new college graduate is not settled into her classroom more than a few days before an early morning arrival on campus has her discovering the body of a school janitor, murdered in the administration office.

Upon learning from Leslie that the policeman in charge of the investigation is not too bright and is bumbling the investigation, the women decide to launch an investigation of their own. What they undercover is potentially tied to a scandal involving the school’s athletics department and inflated grades.

Gusich said she created the characters in the late 1990s for a sitcom contest in Denver. But after reading a murder mystery book by Harlan Coben that her father — a bookstore owner — suggested, using her characters in a book became more appealing.

“(Coben’s book) was so funny, a good story and moved so fast that (I decided) I wanted to write one of those,” she said. “So I emailed (Coben), asking him how to start. He gave me ideas … but his main advice was just to do it.”

She added, “I have always loved mysteries.”

Even though Gusich created her main characters years ago, she did not focus on writing the novel until fall 2013, after her youngest son entered kindergarten. She and husband, Jim Gusich (a Del Norte High teacher), are the parents of Grey, 9, and Griffen, 7.

Under her maiden name, Kelley Kay Bowles, she wrote a young adult fiction book that was available online. Under her married name she wrote a not-published non-fiction book on education. She is finishing her humorous, self-help styled memoir before writing her next Chalkboard Outlines novel. It will continue character storylines, but be a standalone so anyone can enjoy it without reading its predecessor.

Those she worked with at Red Adept Publishing suggested she write under a pen name, opting for her first and middle names, but adding an “e” to the latter.

“It is more traditional than self-publishing, but not as traditional as other (companies),” she said. “At the big (publishing) houses I could not get a look (without an agent).”

Gusich will hold a book signing, reading and answer questions at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 in the 4S Ranch Library. A portion of proceeds from books sold at the event will be donated to the library.

“Death by Diploma” can be purchased online through any major bookseller, priced at $11.99 for a paperback and $5.99 for a Kindle version.