Bernadette Calonego's Blog: Eventful - Posts Tagged "personal-tragedy"

When I read mystery thrillers, I tend to gravitate towards stories in which long buried family secrets are revealed. I suspect that you have read many of these books, too.
It isn't rare that I find myself in a situation where people disclose their own dark family secrets to me. Maybe because I'm a mystery writer or because I'm a good listener. Sometimes a person says: "You could write a book about it."
But I am reluctant to use such a family secret in my crime novels after somebody has confided in me. These are usually very painful personal tragedies and if feels wrong to exploit them for a book. They might not even be credible in a novel. Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction. It really is. Recently, an acquaintance told me of an episode in her life that impacted her marriage and her family and of course herself in a terrible way. I would never have thought that such an ordeal could have happened to this very nice person.
The mystery writer in me, however, was intrigued by these very unusual events. There was passion involved, betrayal, murder (the murderer was eventually prosecuted), revenge, dispair - and the question how people get over such an experience. It seemed to me that in this case, they were not able to move on.
I'm sure that you have heard of one or more family secrets, too, maybe just hints, maybe an entire revelation. It can be oddly fascinating, but at the same time you want to protect the people involved and you keep the secret forever.
For me, these real life dark secrets are confirmation that mystery thrillers don't always exaggerate and even my vivid imagination is sometimes surpassed by true stories. I think I better leave them untouched. At least for a long while.