Murder, mystery and the mafia: Audible hit uses 1980's Providence to tell thrilling story
Novelist Vanessa Lillie had the idea to write a mystery with three colleagues, set in Providence in 1985.
She was inspired not just by the era, but by "Crimetown," a serial documentary which in 2016 focused on Providence. The podcast brought organized criminals to life in full color. You can still find it online.
It made an impression on Lillie, who has lived in Providence for the last 11 years but arrived too late to live through the world depicted in "Crimetown."
She couldn't imagine there was a drug smuggler who had wolves for pets and lived in what was called "Dracula's Castle" in East Greenwich. These were the kind of details that fueled her interest to pen a fictional story with almost unimaginable characters.
The result is "Young Rich Widows," an Audible original that is free to subscribers of the audio book service and for sale to others.
I'm a huge fan of audio books. I love having someone read to me, especially talented actors. I subscribe to Amazon's Audible and pay a monthly fee to download my choice of audio books on an app. The originals are free and often riveting productions. Recent ones included a play by Billy Crystal in which he played an angel of death and an entertaining short play about Babe Ruth.
When I saw a book set in Providence, and written by Lillie, who has penned other novels in my library (and wrote a pandemic column for The Journal in 2020), I couldn't wait to listen.
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I was hooked immediately, and before I was even halfway through the book, I was on the phone with Lillie to learn how it all came about.
"It was still pretty early on in pandemic and I talked to my agent about what to work on and one idea was to put an audio book together," she said.
Lillie had not missed all the creative things going on with Audible.
"What if I put a full-length novel together and engaged other writers?" she thought.
How Vanessa Lillie created the Audible book
Not only does she love collaborating, she was lonely. Gone were all the conferences, book signings and other social opportunities to be with other writers.
She engaged three in her concept: Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo and Cate Holahan. Amazon was in, too.
Lillie created the premise of the story with four points of view in loose character sketches and with the 1980s as the setting.
They had all listened to "Crimetown," and all wanted the book to be fun and campy.
It is.
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The book opens as four Providence attorneys go down in a plane crash leaving four rich widows.
The four writers each wrote as their own widow character. They'd finish a chapter a week and share for editing.
"We built off each other. Even though we outlined it, things changed."
Every week they connected on a Zoom call and discussed what would happen next.
Lillie also provided them with Providence settings and details.
There's a lot of '80s fashion front and center, including chinchilla coats.
Hemenway's had just opened in 1985 and it becomes the place where one of the book's first mysteries unfolds.
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The Turk's Head Building in downtown Providence is home to the law firm. It's also where their Christmas party is held. It is at that party that tension among the wives, not yet widows, begins. One wife wants the Caserta pizza replaced by a trendy new pizzeria. A compromise is struck by keeping the cannoli order from LaSalle.
"I will not murder this person over pizza," is one of the many campy lines spoken by Krystle, the character written by Lillie.
"Young Rich Widows" was No. 1 on Audible for 10 days after its April release and more than 4,000 listeners have reviewed it.
It is a stunning success in a fun format that includes four actors playing the widows. The story is fast-moving with many twists and turns to keep the ending a surprise.
Lillie hopes that three more books will come from the project, meaning each widow would get the biggest story arc in each of four books. She's waiting on the greenlight from Amazon.
Lillie promises the next novel will include even more 1980s nostalgia, including fashion. She believes it's a winning combination, just like the team of four writers who wove a yarn together, yet apart, during COVID.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Audible original is murder mystery book set in Providence
