LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Author Elizabeth A. Wilson is a lifelong resident of Lancaster County, but her books take on organized crime in the big city.
April’s FOX43 Book Club pick finds FBI agent Zachary Taylor trying to unravel a case of mistaken identity that threatens the life of civilian Cassie Alexander.
“Double Deception” is the first novel in a five-book series titled "Mission: Justice." Each novel focuses on a different federal agent as they take on cases and solve crimes.
“It’s funny—and again, I don’t know if other authors have said this to you or not—but these characters are really personal," Wilson shared. "I mean, they’re almost like children that I’ve given birth to, I guess you could say in a way. And so it’s really difficult to let them go out into the world and you’re wondering, are people going to like these characters? And what if they don’t like them? And you just sort of have to say, 'okay, some people are going to like them and some people aren’t.' And you have to resign yourself to that.”
Her second series, "A Thornton Investigation," follows Gary Thornton, one of the agents featured in "Mission: Justice," as he retires from the FBI and starts his own private investigation firm.
“My favorite character is Gary, and he actually was supposed to be a bad guy when I first created his character… characters have a way of taking on a life of their own, and this guy just took off," Wilson laughed. "He was going to be a minor character in the first book, and he was going to be a bad guy. And there was just no way he was going to let me make him a bad guy.”
The phenomenon of characters coming to life also works in reverse—Wilson says her characters are often inspired by real-life friends and foes.
“...some of the people I’ve met over the years that have worked their way—either good guy or bad guy—into my books one way or another,” she admitted.
Her ideas aren't just motived by humans, either. A K-9 officer in Dallas often answers police-related questions for Wilson when she's doing research for her novels, and both the K-9 and Wilson's dog Jake can be found in her books.
“So between her dog’s actual experiences and my German Shepherd's comical character personality, that’s how my canines come off in the book,” she smiled.
Wilson chose to write in the crime genre because those are the stories she stocks her own shelves with.
“It’s really hard to get your foot in the door with [crime novels], and after several rejection letters, I guess I got hardened to it, and I was like, ‘you know what, people are telling me that these are good stories and that I ought to do something with them, but I can’t get anyone to even look at them from a publishing point of view,’ and so I opted to go with Amazon,” she said.
While most of her novels center on crime, she also has written one science fiction book about time and space travel, titled "Homecoming." The crew of a space ship that had been out exploring the galaxies must fight against nature and the clock to return to Earth safely.
Wilson wrote articles for the newspaper and posted fanfiction stories online before deciding to pursue publishing.
“It was really fun being able to express myself and then have feedback from people I actually didn’t know," the author said. "When coworkers started to tell me that the stories were good and I should do something with them, it gave me enough courage to do it.”
She officially became a published author of novels in 2019.
“I guess the first book, ‘Double Deception,’ I started that a long time before it ever saw the light of day, you know, for people to read it," Wilson reminisced. "And again, it developed, it changed over the course of the life of the story, and finally I found one that I liked.”
Wilson worked in more traditional jobs, including at a bank, owning her father's company with her brother and executive secretary at Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Company, for many years before truly pursuing writing after she retired.
“I have enjoyed writing for ages, and I've dabbled in both nonfiction and in fiction, but I had never tried to get anything published… Now, the ideas for stories come a lot easier than they did originally,” Wilson said.
She says she has a history degree that she never used, but it can come in handy with her writing. She sometimes gets story ideas from news headlines, and a robbery at the bank Wilson worked at—which she escaped involvement in—became the plot for one of her novels.
Even though Wilson did not focus on her writing until later in life, she says she has always had an overactive imagination. The author started writing to get the stories she came up with out of her own head.
"Because I’d go out to Park City or someplace, and I just love to watch people," Wilson shared. "And I can come up with a whole story in my head about what’s actually going on over there. [My mom] would tease me about that, and I guess part of my writing was that these plots would form and it was like, you know, I’m going to try writing some of this down and just see what happens with it.”
She advocates for other aspiring writers to put aside their fears, and instead put pen to paper.
“So my advice would be, don’t let anybody discourage you," Wilson urged. "Get the stories out, put them down, and if you want them to see the light of day, there are sources out there that will let you do that.”
“Don’t give up, and don’t let publishers discourage you.”
She primarily sells her books at yard sales and on Amazon, which is also where she gets them published.
Wilson recently finished her 10th book and is working on more, including a story about an Alaskan cruise that goes horribly wrong and a novel that takes on the issue of human trafficking. She says she often works on more than one book at a time, especially when a plot is giving her trouble.
In the future, the author plans to write a book that centers on her home of Lancaster County. She talks more about her life, stories and writing journey in the full interview below.
Those interested can see FOX43 digital content producer Kayleigh Johnson and meteorologist Bradon Long discuss "Double Deception" on Facebook Live.
Those interested can follow along with Wilson on her website.