One of my favorite authors is Robert B. Parker, who wrote the original Spenser mystery novels, among other series. A technique Parker used for his Spenser books was to create fictional towns for his private detective to visit when he was investigating various cases, and I decided to use that same technique because of the storytelling flexibility it provides.
My two Jeff Tribe novels are set in the fictional town of Spicket Falls, Massachusetts. It’s an amalgamation of my hometown of Methuen, Massachusetts, and the surrounding mill towns of Lawrence, Haverhill, and Lowell.
The Spicket River is real and runs through Methuen. There is a small, man-made waterfall—check out the photo I took earlier this year—in the center of town behind the fire station.
If you’d like to visit Spicket Falls, please read my novels Late Justice and Intentional Take. My third mystery novel, which I’m currently in the middle of writing, features a different lead character but is also set in Spicket Falls.
