Secret Sand by Hank Roma

Thanks very much to Michele who writes the subjecttochange blog

Title: The Secret Sand

Author: Hank Roman

Publisher: not known 

Source: TV series Mystery Woman S2 E4 ‘Redemption’

Samantha Kinsey, proprietor of the mysteriously customer-free Mystery Woman bookshop, discusses the Ray Creekwater series of detective novels with a new acquaintance, Vietnam veteran Jim Carter.

Jim says no one writes the South West like Hank Roman (at least I think that’s the author’s name - John Ratzenburger as Jim really does mumble), and he has read all his books. We learn that Ray Creekwater drives a red pickup, and he whistles, and he thinks of France. We don’t know why.

Samantha asks if Jim has read Secret Sand, perhaps that’s the most recent in the series? He says yes, great characters, great mystery, the way the clues are coded in the Shaman’s sand painting (more mumbling)…

I find it really interesting that this Hallmark series, which gets fairly poor reviews on IMDb, should put such effort into creating a genuinely genuine-sounding series of books just for one episode. Samantha talks about Ray Creekwater as though she has read and enjoyed the books more than once. We get the impression Jim knows these books very well too. 

The way Samantha and Jim talk about the books makes them sound so real I looked them up online. Because I would have read at least one if I could. A bit different from your average country house cut off by a snowstorm murder mystery. And I found that lots of other people had searched for them too. Sadly without success because they don’t exist. 

I have been thinking about fictional books that don’t really exist since I was about 7 years old. I know. That is a bit nerdy. But honestly, I think this Ray Creekwater series of fictional books has a much more realistic feel to it than many of the fictional books I have written about.

Also mentioned in this episode is The Bell Tower Murders by Jeremy Fletcher which Samantha and Philby say is their most valuable book, worth $3000-$4000. And it’s gone missing. Police Chief Connors is not impressed when Samantha calls him out to investigate. We get to see the book. It’s very fat and looks old (old paper does tend to be thicker than the modern stuff).

I know some people can’t see the point in rereading a book, but I know a lot more people who reread their favourite books over and over again. Doesn’t matter if it’s Jane Austen or Agatha Christie, or indeed the Ray Creekwater books.

Also grateful thanks to Michele from the subjecttochange blog