Summary: Imagine finding 100-year-old butter that's still salty and white in, of all places, an Irish bog. Then imagine discovering a centuries-old perfectly preserved body in that same bog. Believe it or not, a bog can harbor archaeological treasures. And leave it to mystery writer Erin Hart to dive right in, well, dig right in, and dredge up something else: murder. Before straying serendipitously into crime fiction, Erin Hart trained to become a theater director, and has been variously employed as a stage manager, propmaster, editor and copywriter, writing teacher, journalist and theater critic. Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, Erin was educated at Saint Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. While visiting friends in Ireland one summer, Erin heard an intriguing tale about a beautiful red-haired girl whose perfectly preserved severed head was discovered in a desolate Irish bog. That true story was the inspiration for her debut novel, Haunted Ground, the first in a planned series of crime novels set mostly in Ireland, revolving around archaeology, forensics, history, traditional music and folklore. Haunted Ground has been translated into ten foreign languages; the second novel in the series, Lake of Sorrows, was published in October 2004. Join guest host Mick Halpin and Erin as they explore bogs, mystery writing, and things Irish, including: * Where she came up with the idea of writing a bog mystery * How she feels about writing dark characters * How she approaches research * How she ties together the ancient past and the present and entices the reader to care about both * What's going on in bog-based archaeology * How she weaves music and culture into her stories * What she learned from writing her first book that helped her with her second * Why the mystery "formula" remains popular.
