What do murder, intrigue and Crimson Tide football have in common? They are all at the heart of local author Carolyn Ezell’s new murder mystery novel “Tuscaloosa Moon,” in which she weaves mystery throughout the city of Tuscaloosa.
In “Tuscaloosa Moon,” when Dr. Priscilla Beatty, an avid Crimson Tide football fan, mother of two sons and elementary school principal with a list of lovers almost as long as her list of enemies is murdered, it is up to detective Addie Bramson to untangle the web of passion that weaves its way through the city and find out who is responsible. While she tries to solve this mystery, several others arise, which Ezell said she did to reflect the way many different things go on in real life.
“This particular book has three or four different mysteries running concurrently in it. It isn’t just one question of who did it,” she said. “I did this because none of us in life has just one thing going on at one time.”
Ezell, a longtime Tuscaloosa resident, has strong ties to both The University of Alabama and the Tuscaloosa community. Both of her parents and her grandmother attended the University as well as most of her aunts and uncles. Ezell moved off to school in 1968 and has lived in Tuscaloosa ever since, working for the University in the mental health section of the Student Health Center and later becoming a clinical social worker and teaching courses in the UA School of Social Work as an adjunct instructor.
Ezell’s ties to the community are shown in the novel as Tuscaloosa locations, such as the River Walk, are featured in the story. A well-known Tuscaloosa landmark that plays an important role in the book is the sign for the Moon Winx Lodge – the “Tuscaloosa moon” to which the book’s title refers – located on University Boulevard.
Ezell’s husband Jim, along with their son, designed the book’s cover, which features a design based on the Moon Winx Lodge sign and a dog that plays into the story. Jim Ezell said the cover is a play on the “Hey Diddle Diddle” nursery rhyme. He said he likes the way the book ties together many different aspects of the Tuscaloosa area.
“I think it’s a fascinating tale that weaves together all these different themes about the area,” he said. “Carolyn talks about the physical beauty a lot, but it’s also football culture and the history of the area. It links all that together.”
Setting the novel in Tuscaloosa, she said, was a way to share the beauty of the area and give readers from outside of Tuscaloosa a look at the city.
“The city itself has a lot of cultural opportunities,” she said. “Why not let people [around the world] take a free tour of our city and get to know us a little bit? A lot of people, I think, have real misconceptions about what the area is like so part of [the setting] was just to showcase it and let people know there’s a lot that’s really fun to do here and a lot of cultural things going on.”
Ezell said she aimed to provide more than local color in “Tuscaloosa Moon.” She said she also wanted to share the message in the book that it is important to mentor local youth and that one person can greatly impact a child’s life.
“Because I’m a clinical social worker by trade, I tried to shed some light just to help people think a little bit more about some of those issues as well as to underline the importance of unsung heroes and the importance of people doing what they can to make the world a better place,” she said.
Tuscaloosa residents Ruth McKinzey and Dolores Royal were among the first to read “Tuscaloosa Moon.” Both Royal and McKinzey said the book was well-written and that it was interesting to read a book set in their home city.
“The way in which it was written, the characters, the locations, they’re so alive. It’s like you’re in that book,” Royal said.
“Tuscaloosa Moon” is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and is also available as an eBook. It is the first book in Ezell’s new series, which continues to follow Bramson and her husband Luke as they solve mysteries in Tuscaloosa. Ezell said she hopes to publish the sequel within the next year. She currently plans on writing at least three books for the series.
“Originally I had conceived of three [books], but I’m really enjoying my little community. I’ve got a lot of the same characters in the second novel, and I’ve added some more,” she said. “I think it’s fun to have a little community of people living out their lives and solving mysteries and doing strange, odd things, and I enjoy the whole idea of writing about our city.”
