Mid May of ’17 I was at a doctor’s office and browsed through a local magazine. For whatever reason, I tend to start at the back and look at the ads and classifieds. I read an interesting personals ad for a dominatrix, but what really caught my mind was the line “provides erudite, loving conversation.” My mind latched onto the idea of a dominatrix beating the hell out of a guy, while having deep philosophical conversations. Somehow, my mind migrated to the idea of her being interviewed by a detective about a murder, and how she might very well seem guilty and hiding information simply because of the way she talked.
By the time I got home, I convinced myself I wanted to write a murder mystery with a dominatrix as the main suspect. Before my mind could organize itself to record ideas, it wanted to get a copy of the ad, for posterity, but I couldn’t find it online anywhere I searched. I first tried a book store (one of the few bricks-and-mortar ones left), but the ad wasn’t in the latest edition of the magazine. We went to the local library, but it was shut down for renovations. We went to another library, when I’m sure I saw on the web site it was open until 9 PM, but it closed at 6. We happened upon another, small one, but it was for kids only. Finally, the next day, we went back to the one that was closed. The ad wasn’t in any of the ones in the box they handed us, but we noted it was missing May. We asked about May, but the guy didn’t have any idea where it would be. Oh wait! Here it is, next to where it belongs. Finally I got a copy of the ad, and saw how much I had romanticized it in my memory. Nonetheless, here’s what got “The Dominatrix Wore Red” started:
