When P.J. Allen began writing in her off hours, she quickly went from considering it a “nice pastime” to a calling. Her fourth novel, Dead Reckoning in Frederick, the first of a captivating new suspense series, features the Dulany Paranormal Team, a group of investigators who look into otherworldly occurrences—in this case, unexplained happenings in a house in Frederick County, Maryland.
The Dulany Paranormal Team’s investigation of possible ghosts in one of the city’s historic buildings intersects with a very real murder, and team members must cope with its impact on a community in which even prominent citizens might be involved in unsavory activities. Kirkus Reviews calls Dead Reckoning in Frederick “an engaging fusion of ghost story and thriller.”
Allen’s work in communications for nonprofits has taken her and her husband around the world—Nepal, Georgia, Ghana, Russia—but when they aren’t on assignment, they live in Maryland. That in-depth knowledge of Maryland brings the setting of Dead Reckoning in Frederick to life:
It was still not quite dawn, and the fog was thick, shrouding the entire surroundings. Across the large lighted lampposts lining the sidewalk, she could see tiny droplets from the fog swirling downward. She felt the cool dampness caress her cheeks. It was quite simply magical. She noticed that the ducks were sound asleep, curled up along the grassy shore by the creek, teal heads cushioned among their chocolate brown feathers.
Allen’s writing is driven by her passion for the issues at the hearts of her stories. Each novel tackles a topic that captures her attention, and the plot and characters coalesce around it. Previous books have dealt with depleted uranium and the unchecked power of lobbyists.
As for Dead Reckoning in Frederick, Allen resists giving too much away, but she hints that readers will find the investigators unraveling a case of human trafficking, which is “a much bigger problem than most people recognize,” one that might feel ripped from the headlines yet also perhaps too close to home. “The people that you party with may be involved in smuggling,” Allen says.
Allen sees fiction as an effective method for considering current political and ethical hot-button topics. “I think that there are certain issues that aren’t very well explained,” she says, referring to a lack of in-depth reporting by the media in some cases. She set out to remedy that within the context of a gripping thriller and without being “preachy.” That means beginning with a substantial amount of background reading, developing what Allen calls “a whole library” of research that goes into each book. “I really enjoy the research tremendously, and I try to make sure that my sources are credible.”
Sometimes her team members are the experts—“I have characters who have certain bits of knowledge”—and other times, they learn alongside the reader. But Allen stays focused on the plot and is careful to keep her message from overwhelming the story. “The information isn’t that weighty in terms of the entire novel,” she says. One key to putting the story first? “I always try to make my beginnings and endings very exciting.” And ghosts are very real in Allen’s novels, with tension remaining high throughout the book.
She also relies on dynamic settings to draw in readers. The weather, in particular, plays a big role. “All of my books have the outdoors in them,” she says. “You can’t control the elements.”
The author sees parallels between her fiction and the nonprofit communications work she did throughout her career in developing countries across the globe. “You have to figure out who your audiences are,” she says, and how to present information in an appealing way. Earlier in her career, that meant explaining public health issues to remote populations with limited literacy, such as when she promoted family planning in rural Nepal. These days, Allen’s audience is the general public, so intriguing mysteries are her tool of choice. “I can get more across in fiction than I can writing to a scholarly audience that already knows the information.”
While writing the novel, Allen enjoyed her characters Kayla Dunn, Parker Troxell, and Henry Marfoh so much that she decided to make it a series. The sequel, A Thai Haunting at Harvard Square, is already in the works and will bring the Dulany Paranormal Team to a new location in the United States. “They were very successful in Frederick, and they got noticed nationally,” is how Allen explains the trio’s growing fame.
Readers can expect more from the Dulany Paranormal Team in the near future. Visitors to her website (www.pjallen.com) will find a gallery of her worldwide travels, which she also uses to add depth and detail to her stories’ settings and characters. “I really try to think of it from the perspectives of my characters,” she says. “I try to make my characters as real as I imagine them to be.”
Sarah Rettger is a bookseller and writer in the Boston area.
