Around half of my books are contemporary romantic suspense titles set in the West.
I think I started my general research when I was six years old, after my dad bought me an elderly mare and bridle for $75. From then on, I was on horseback constantly unless I had to be in school or my parents had other plans.
I grew up riding bareback through our part of the county with my horse-owning friends. We were little girls in pigtails, racing across meadows, following every gravel road we could find, and swimming our horses in the nearby lake.
It was before the time when parents became afraid to let their kids out of sight, and what a magical world that was. But now I look back and can only be thankful that my guardian angel must have been working overtime.
I grew up to raise, train, and show my own horses, and many of our relatives raised cattle--even more accidental research for the novels I've set on ranches out West.
Some of my childhood horses have even appeared in my books.
Cherokee, for instance. He was a lanky 17-hand Clydesdale/thoroughbred cross. But tall as he was, he would lie down and shimmy under the pasture fence to escape at night, and he did that on a regular basis, despite my dad's efforts to improve the fence. He apparently liked to go sightseeing, and he was particularly fascinated by houses and the people he could spy inside.
One night, a couple looked out their window and saw an eerie white form with glowing eyes floating just outside. Sure they were seeing an alien (these were the days of Twilight Zone on TV), they called the sheriff. Several patrol cars soon arrived to find Cherokee standing on their rosebushes and staring at them through the window. Given his other escapades, the officers knew exactly who to call. Some of Cherry's adventures appeared in one of my books.
But beyond life experiences, deeper research is so much fun. People are often delighted to talk about their lives and careers, and there's nothing like those interviews for adding personality to a fictional character. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, doctors, private investigators, attorneys, rodeo contractors, and ranchers in a particular part of the country have all been helpful.
And then there's the Internet, where a writer can find all sorts of classes on crime, forensics, firearms, and the court system--to name just a few.
I do love setting books in the small towns of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. But each time I start a romantic suspense involving a ranch and a hero wearing a Stetson, I feel like I've come home again!
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Happy trails to all of you!
Roxanne Rustand.
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