By Debbie Gardner
dgardner@thereminder.com
I’ve interviewed many authors for Prime over the years, and every one has alluded to a situation that sparked the idea for their novel. For some, it’s been digging through old family photos. For others, a visit to familiar places. One, I recall, found her inspiration in historical research she was doing for her job.
For Hampden, Massachusetts-based author Sandra Howell, her latest inspiration hit while driving.
Already an established young adult novelist – her horse-centric Angel Club series of books has received awards from the local nonprofit, Unify Against Bullying, and other organizations for its focus on that topic – as well as an adult mystery writer with an avid following for her Samantha Steel series – Howell was struck with a new concept, she said, while out running errands.
“One day, I was three-quarters through the latest Samantha Steel book and I’m in the car, and I have time to think,” Howell told Prime. Though she loves her younger heroine Samantha – a woman she’s shepherded through raising her two children to college age while solving myriad horse-related mysteries – Howell was suddenly hit with an idea. “I said [to myself] ‘someone needs to see that women are still viable at 60 years old and older, so yeah, change it up a bit.’”
She decided her next novel would be about “a woman who is 69 years old, a widow, who lives in a bubble and writes children’s books” until her friend is caught in an online romance scam.
With that, “Izzy, the Reluctant Spy,” was born.
A heroine of a certain age
Howell, who spent over 20 years working in and teaching respiratory therapy both in hospitals and at the college level before she took up the pen, explained that she felt it was “time for women to understand that there’s life after retirement. There’s a second life, sometimes a third life, that was my thoughts” in creating the character of Izzy – whose full name is Isadora Rose Franklin. “
“Her name just popped into my head, like all the names [in my books], they just come up instantly,” Howell explained matter-of-factly.
Izzy, Howell further explained, is a woman “who goes to the gym every day, has friends, has two horses and a dog and her husband just died. She has three grown children who look at her like most children look at their mother – not realizing she has a life, too. But Izzy is funny. Her friends are funny.”
“Everyone knows someone like Izzy,” Howell added.
Most everyone, Howel noted, also has a friend like Izzy’s damsel-in-distress plot foil, Merle. She’s the archetype for that friend – or sometimes, family member – who seems to always show up in a panic when she’s got a problem or is in trouble and pleads for help bailing her out.
Most women also have a friend like Millie – the calm, centering voice in one’s life – and a chorus of more advice-givers, like Izzy’s book club friends. Not everyone, however, has acquaintances like former FBI guys Gus and Bob, or seasoned reporter, Foxy.
Add in some funny, yet character-revealing cellphone ringtones for certain characters – ‘the ringtones are really funny depending on who she’s talking to,” Howell admitted – and “Izzy, the Reluctant Spy” becomes a very relatable, yet exciting, read.
“So many readers have said [to me] ‘this should be a movie’ and started guessing who they wanted to play Izzy,” Howell said of the reactions she’s received as reader feedback.
A real-world plot
“We all know someone who’s been caught in a dating scam,” Howell said of the incident that kicks off Izzy’s plunge into the world of online dating.
As an author, Howell chose a very hot-button issue, especially for elders. According to information supplied by AARP, “the FTC says people aged 40-69 have been the most likely to report losing money to a romance scam, and people 70 and over report the highest median losses – $9,475 in 2020 alone.”
And that’s exactly what happens to Izzy’s 70-something friend Merle, who gets conned out of a hefty portion of her savings by the guy she met online, whom Izzy immediately dubs “Krappy Karl.”
But there’s more to the story than just the hunt for the man that bamboozled Merle.
Izzy, Howell said, is living a very comfortable, cocooned life “until she was ripped out of it, and she was dragged and kicked into trying to find Karl.”
“Izzy finds herself a Mata Hari,” Howell continued, alluding to the dangers Izzy faces to bring Karl to justice. “There are all kinds of twists and turns to find that ‘Krappy Karl.’ There’s a little bit of romance in the end, too, [with a character named Gus]. She’s thinking about it for the first time since her husband died.”
More than just a cautionary tale
Howell said “Izzy” is at one level, a warning to fellow women of a certain age.
“We are living longer, we are doing more things, but we need to stay out of trouble,” she quipped. But the warning wasn’t the only reason Howell decided it was time for a book like “Izzy.” “When I wrote ‘Izzy’ it was for two reasons, no, three reasons,” Howell said. “I wanted to show that retired women are still vibrant, that they can still think, that they can still have a whole life.”
“The second reason was to show how these scams happen,” Howel continued. “The third reason was I wanted to show a story of how you can change; that we can keep changing, it doesn’t matter your age or what’s happening in our life. We can’t get stuck.”
In Izzy’s case, she finds out she’s “really good at the undercover stuff, and even ends up working with the FBI to crack what ends up being a romance scam ring,” Howell said.
Readers love “Izzy”
Howell said she tested the waters with this new heroine by running the initial chapters past a few select friends. Admitting her late husband had been “her best cheerleader” when it came to her writing, Howell said she sought advice from a cousin when she started working on her new book.
“I sent two chapters to my cousin and said, ‘Tell me what you think,’” Howell said. Her cousin’s reaction was “It’s so funny, you’ve got to keep going. I’m loving it so much,” Howell shared. “So, I did, I kept writing and I passed it out to like, four readers.” Howell said a friend who spends part of her time in a condo in Florida insisted she send her chapters so she could “know what was going on with Izzy.” When she finished the book, that friend bought 10 copies for her book club.
But her friends weren’t the only readers who gave “Izzy” rave reviews.
Howell said when she visited a book club in Middlefield, Massachusetts, that had read “Izzy,” an older woman jokingly complained, “I go to bed at 8 o’clock, and you kept me up to read one more chapter.”
At another book club, a woman told Howell her husband asked her, “Why are you laughing out loud while you’re reading that book?”
She’s even gotten questions about the location of the restaurant in Boston where Izzy finally confronts Krappy Karl’s cousin and co-conspirator, Gerald. Sadly, Howell said, she’s had to tell readers the restaurant doesn’t really exist.
She’s also been asked what her plans are for Izzy.
“A woman texted me [and] wanted to know when the sequel is coming out; she wanted to know what happens to Gus,” Howell said.
More ‘Izzy” in the works
“I already started pushing myself and seeing how it goes [with Izzy],” Howell shared. “I started writing another book only because people keep saying they want to know what happens.”
Howell said in this new book, Izzy discovers that she’s got a knack for investigative work and opens her own private investigator business instead of writing children’s books. “A friend said [to Izzy] ‘Why not write adult books?’ so she starts a new book, and it becomes a new case. She thinks it should be easy, and that’s how it all started.”
“The new book will have the same characters … and I’ll bring Gus back in and someone will have another ringtone in the book,” Howell continued. “You see [In Izzy], all the ringtones when people call, and the ringtones are really funny depending on who she’s talking to.”
Howell noted that the original “Izzy” book “started in late winter and went into the spring.” This new book “starts in the spring and goes into summer,” she said.
“Izzy, the Reluctant Spy,” is available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and at the Scantic River Artisans shows.
