Author lets his characters guide his latest mystery

<p>The story could go in any direction.</p><p>Even as David Carlson is writing a mystery novel, he’s learned to trust his main characters to steer the plot. Control is in the hands of Detroit detective Christopher Worthy and Father Nicholas Fortis, a Greek Orthodox monk, as they solve crime and ponder philosophical questions.</p><p>Giving up control can be unnerving, but Carlson has found the process to be exhilarating as an author.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“It is pure joy,” he said. “I figure out a crime scenario, and I bring those characters in, and I really let them tell me how they’re going to proceed. I don’t know how it’s going to end when I start a mystery. I trust the mystery will get more exciting the more time I spend with them.”</p><p>Carlson has returned with a new mystery, continuing the story of Fortis and Worthy as they work together to solve a murder. “Wrapped in Darkness” takes the pair to a formerly peaceful monastery in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Carlson mines his own experiences in a similar monastery to craft a book where the setting is as important as the characters and plot.</p><p>“It was a pleasure to write this one, because in my mind I got to spend some time up there, imagining everything that happened,” Carlson said.</p><p>Carlson, a professor emeritus of religion and philosophy at Franklin College, has written seven books, including five mystery novels centered around Fortis and Worthy. He tries to publish one of the mysteries each year, and he is already working ahead on the next few books.</p><p>“Wrapped in Darkness” brings the mystery to the northernmost shores of Michigan. Fortis and Worthy find themselves at a remote monastery, where the body of a woman — part of a local skinhead group — is found. Evidence points to the youngest monk at the monastery, and as the investigation deepens, the monastic community starts to tear apart with the attention stemming from the murder.</p><p>Carlson based his setting on an actual place that he had visited years before, a Russian Orthodox monastery on the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula.</p><p>“It’s a very magical setting in some ways. I was really impressed by the beauty of the place. You really feel like you’re in some other world,” he said. “I try to set my mysteries in places I know, so that I’m remembering visual aspects of it.”</p><p>Recalling that setting laid the foundation for the mystery. But as Carlson was writing, something else emerged — an unusual character that makes “Wrapped in Darkness” unique from previous mysteries.</p><p>Brother Malchus is a hermit monk with an increasingly debilitating skin condition. He had a rope tied to one of his ankles, which is constantly connected to an altar in his solitary home. As more is revealed about him, readers learn that he was a trainer of Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p><p>“I found him to be fascinating,” Carlson said. “He’s serving a penance for what he’s done. He has his own secrets that the detectives need to figure out.”</p><p>As the fifth book in the Fortis/Worthy series, Carlson is comfortable going through the writing process without an end in mind. He calls himself the “first reader” — he’s just as surprised when the story goes in a particular direction as he hopes his readers are.</p><p>“Very much two sleuths slowly unraveling a mystery, I’m just with them. Possibilities then emerge, in terms of twists and turns in the plot. I just trust those opportunities for twists and turns, follow the trail and see where it leads,” he said. “Of course, it’s always to another twist or another revelation or another clue.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="At a glance" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><strong>&quot;Wrapped in Darkness&quot;</strong></p><p>Author: David Carlson</p><p>What: The fifth in the Christopher Worthy/Father Fortis mystery series</p><p>Pages: 224</p><p>Synopsis: A woman’s body is found at the gate of an Orthodox Monastery in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The police arrest a young monk with a violent past, while Father Fortis and Christopher Worthy are convinced that the killer hides in the shadows and is ready to kill again.</p><p>Information and to purchase: <a href="http://davidccarlson.net/bookwrappeddarkness">davidccarlson.net/bookwrappeddarkness</a></p>[sc:pullout-text-end]