Halloween-y

I don't typically choose a season for setting a book, usually the setting chooses me. In ONE book, Across the River, I deliberately chose a season (spring because that's when the white bass and walleye run on the Wolf River). I randomly set Old Habits Die Hard in September because that's when I began writing it. Not very creative at all, right? I slotted the third Nun the Wiser Mystery, A Fatal Habit (coming February 2026, yo!) in March to correlate with a Comic Con event featured in the plot. Long-time fans and friends (and strangers to whom I've told this tale) know A Fatal Habit was supposed to be the sequel, but my agent urged me to write a different second book, so I arbitrarily chose October because:

a) it comes after September

b) I didn't want to write a Christmas-themed book (joke's on me though, that one's coming next year, too!)

c) it comes before March

Thus, Dropped Like a Bad Habit takes place in October and I plugged in all the markers of autumn, as evidenced by the first paragraph: Sister Bernadette Ohlson paused outside the main entrance of The Abbey: Senior Living to inhale the earthy smell of autumn. Pleasantly mild weather replaced the oppressive heat of summertime. Trees along the street bloomed in magnificent bouquets of orange, red, yellow, and rust brown. By this point in October, the frantic chaos of students moving into the University of Oregon and starting classes had settled into an easy routine while town and gown adjusted to each other. A short stack of hay bales sat outside the heavy wooden doors, artfully arranged with pumpkins and gourds harvested from Jorge Garcia’s garden in The Abbey’s courtyard.

Cooler weather? Check.

Gourds? Check.

Pumpkins? Check.

Leaves turning colors? Check.

Hay bales? Check.

Overkill? You betcha.

It wasn't enough to place Dropped Like a Bad Habit in fall, however. You see, I truly enjoy Halloween. I know this is a controversial statement coming from a Christian, but hear me out. It's the most wonderful communal holiday on the calendar. Yeah, Thanksgiving's great, but it's sort of exclusive to families, right? Halloween is FUN and COMMUNAL because kids get to dress up and show their creativity and walk around their neighborhoods and all the neighbors (except the mean ones) open their doors to greet them and share goodies and everyone's out and about and the vibe is super friendly and happy. There's no safer night for children to run around town, pillowcase or shopping bag in hand as they beg for sugar. As a Christian, I appreciate how easy this holiday makes it to meet my neighbors and give them a treat. Yes, Halloween has pagan and satanic rituals in its past, but the modern iteration is mostly about costumes, candy, decorations, and neighborly fun. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but lots of Christmas traditions have pagan origins...so, whatever.)

I always looked forward to bringing Team Testosterone around Little Chute on Halloween when they were younger. We'd see familiar faces and meet new neighbors, we'd stop and chat on front stoops and catch up on the latest news, we'd admire cute offspring and cool costumes, and we'd get some exercise as we roamed around on foot. Halloween always made my town feel safer as I experienced it at the ground level, and that's important--more than ever these days. You want to build community and bridge the distance between people? Participate in community life. Buy a couple bags of fun-sized candy bars and turn on your damn porch light and say Happy Halloween as people show up. It's not difficult, people!

Team Testosterone went as the Men in Black one year for Halloween. A lot of people mistook them for the Blues Brothers.

Team Testosterone trick-or-treating with their Grandma, who REALLY gets into this holiday!

Team Testosterone and friends, ready to hit the streets of Little Chute on Halloween night.

And this underscores the problem central to the plot in Dropped Like a Bad Habit: a developer threatens to tear apart the neighborhood near The Abbey: Senior Living. Bernie and the gang rally to fend it off and protect their turf, including the Pharmers Market and In Stitches and the Corner Market. A couple of deaths occur on Chestnut Street, and people get worried. Meadow Jackson, the building manager at The Abbey has an idea to host an open house so the neighborhood can gather, the kids can trick-or-treat, the community can feel united.

Decorating ensues, most of the residents participate by dressing up to hand out candy and play games with the visitors, and Cliff Warneke even rigs up a witch on a broomstick to swoop across the lobby from the vaulted ceiling. I didn't think about it until recently, but gosh darn it, Dropped Like a Bad Habit IS a Halloween book!

Even Sister B has fun with it, dressing up and sitting in the lobby with a huge bowl of candy to pass out to every miniature vampire and zombie and princess and superhero walking through the building's entrance.

Have I tempted you to snuggle in with your favorite pumpkin-spiced-whatever and start reading?

Spill it, reader! Tell me YOUR favorite part about Halloween! Or share a favorite Halloween memory!