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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>Author Linda Lovely says her decision to write an HOA Mystery series, set in the South Carolina Lowcountry, was easy, given her own experiences in four homeowner associations and her fondness for mysteries set in small towns and villages.</p>
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<p>“Consider the appeal of novels by Agatha Christie and Louise Penny, not to mention TV’s ‘Murder, She Wrote’ episodes,” she says in a news release. “Today’s homeowner associations are the modern equivalents of Miss Marple’s village of St. Mary Mead.”</p>
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<p>The author points out that people in small communities often know about each other even if they’ve never met.</p>
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<p>“The gossip network, reliable or not, provides a rich array of suspects. While few of us hang with spies, billionaires, or professional hitmen, we’re acquainted with neighbors we think of as unsung heroes, self-serving loudmouths, arrogant bullies or timid victims” she said. “Familiar characters and passions make it easy for readers to relate to the stories.”</p>
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<p>During a Monday, Feb. 13 and 15 visit, Lovely will teach a two-day “Paths To Publishing” class at the Osher Lifelong Learning Center (OLLI) in Beaufort.</p>
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<p>The author, who lived in the Lowcountry for a dozen years, regularly visits to catch up with friends and family and gain inspiration for where to set scenes. Her new series features a retired Coast Guard investigator heroine, who works as a security consultant for an HOA management company.</p>
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<p>Since the fictional firm manages more than a dozen homeowner association clients scattered around Beaufort County, there are unlimited opportunities for entertaining characters, conflicts and murders to solve.</p>
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