GLOUCESTER, Mass. - s4story -- The Mystery Writers of America has taken to qualifying almost any story—novel, play, movie—as a mystery as long as a solution to some sort of riddle is pursued.

"Personally, I think that may be stretching the field much too broadly," says author John Dandola.

There are also just as many ways in which authors approach concocting mystery stories. Some authors go to intricate lengths to fabricate methods for death or tangling business and legalities with imaginative complexities. Dandola's choice follows the more realistic pattern: a simple unknown to the detective and to the reader is what supplies motive.

"I visualize how my characters behave with one another within the landscape I've selected. They talk. They interact. They move about. It comes from my movie-making background. My writing is like I'm filming scenes. I know where the story is going but never precisely. I always find it surprising how those scenes and puzzle pieces fit together."

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In Dead in Certain Circles, his Patty Drury character goes to college. "She's grown up a lot having gone from tomboy to young lady. It's interesting exploring the dynamic between her and my protagonist, Tony Del Plato."

For Patty's choice of college, Dandola invented one and located it near one of his favorite places, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

"I'm from the northeast and when I myself went to college, the vast number of school choices were in either Pennsylvania or New England if you wanted to be a day's travel from home. Since Patty hails from my New Jersey hometown, those were her choices and it wound up with me once again using Massachusetts as a setting."

The synopsis:

In September of 1944, Patty Drury begins classes at Belcrest College in Massachusetts. Tony Del Plato delivers her but on the day of their arrival, he is urgently summoned to investigate a blackmail case at nearby Hammond Castle. When blackmail turns to murder, Patty gets herself embroiled in things while she adjusts to college courses, dormitory life, and field hockey practice. After all, isn't crime-solving a much more interesting and exciting pursuit?

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The blackmail angle is a rather touchy subject over which recurring character, real life millionaire inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., could be targeted. Dandola is also the inventor's biographer so he knows the person and his foibles very well.

Dead in Certain Circles is 252 pages and priced at $17.95. Following the lead of so many other small  publishing houses, it is not available at Amazon.com. For easy and secure publisher-direct sales go to https://www.quincannongroup.com/DelPlatoMysteries.html