My story entitled “A Matter of Trust” was published in Black Cat Weekly #110 on October 8, 2023, via editor Michael Bracken. The story features genetic genealogy private investigator Maya Laster who first appeared in “Disappearance of a Serial Spouse” in Black Cat Weekly #79 in March 2023. In this, her second published case, Maya is working to help her client, Bob Rolland, prove that he’s an heir to a forgotten trust fund, when violence ensues. With Bob’s life hanging in the balance, Maya races to discover who might want to stop him from claiming his inheritance.
“A Matter of Trust” is my first story inspired by a click-bait title that I didn’t click. The article was something about a dead billionaire leaving everything in trust for his reincarnated self to inherit. I imagined a vast fortune sitting forever, waiting for an heir to step forward. I thought, what if someone left everything in trust for possible future grandchildren? And what if the only link to the information about the trust died without telling anyone? From those seeds grew a story of lost family relationships requiring a genetic genealogist to reconnect the missing pieces.
So, for those who always ask: yes, story ideas really do come from everywhere.