Worth Your Weight In Pie Field notes from Christopher about the Silas Lopez mysteries ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
Newsletter — January 2026
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Why I Wrote the Heart of My First Novel Backwards (And Why It Saved the Book)
The Writing I Did Before Chapter One // Before I typed a single line of the first chapter of The Washashore, I wrote all twenty-three scenes featuring Wren and Silas. Not an outline. Not notes. The actual scenes—drafted, revised, and polished—before I touched anything...
Washashore Excerpt—Wren’s Upbringing
Introduction Once people learn a bit about Silas (e.g. why his character was created, and what his upbringing was like), they invariably want to know why this calloused, plainspoken horseman picked the daughter of one of New England’s oldest and wealthiest...
Washashore Excerpt—Silas’s Upbringing
Introduction Everyone I speak to about the books is fascinated by the background of this mystery cowboy Silas Lopez. Nobody explains it better than Silas himself, so I am sharing an excerpt from book one, The Washashore, in which Wren Bradfrord manages to draw a...
Meet Silas, Former Rancher Turned Cape Cod Crime Fighter
Where did I get the idea for my main character Silas Lopez, a former-ranch-hand-turned-police-chief who ends up on the outermost tip of Cape Cod? Well, this man of few words was born of my experiences and daydreams during thousands of miles spent exploring and camping...