Saturday, December 7, 2013

Who is Nikolai Gorodish?


Here I am, wrapping up the second draft of my novel, and I can’t resolve a key detail.  It all started last year as I began penning book four of my Henry Grave mystery series.  I had the plot worked out.  The arc was arced.  The characters were down, and the murder was resolved.  Only one problem remained.  I had given the cruise ship a clever name, and it was my plan to end the story by revealing who the ship was named after.  But I can’t for the life of me figure it out.  

Here’s a sneak preview - the first two paragraphs of Aleutian Grave:


I met Brice Laird about twenty years ago, shortly after he killed his first wife, not after he killed his second wife as he remembers it.  So when I heard about the murdered girl on the cruise ship, and I saw Brice’s name on the passenger list, I put two and two together and figured I had already solved the case.   As it turns out, I was wrong.
A twenty-four year-old cabaret dancer by the name of Rose LaFontaine was stabbed to death onboard the arctic cruise ship Nikolai Gorodish.  292 passengers midway through their Bering Sea voyage had all been notified.  Security was tightened, counseling provided, free liquor poured, and one top-notch investigator brought in – me.


So who can help me out here?  I need a snappy spine-tingling, toe-curling, humorous, poignant, clever, or otherwise interesting answer to this question: who is Nikolai Gorodish?

Any and all help will be appreciated.  I’m hoping to wrap the book over the winter break.  Thanks for reading!





6 comments:

Liane Spicer said...

A fourth Henry Grave! Sweet!

I can't think of anything spine-tingling, or even interesting right now. Will let my subconscious mull on it for a while.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm afraid I'm coming up blank as well. A toughy!

Liane Spicer said...

"Nicolai Gorodish was a Polish environmental activist who spent much of his short life campaigning against whaling in the Arctic. He was "accidentally" harpooned by a Japanese whaler while camped on an ice floe with two scientists who were studying whale movements in the Bering Strait. Gorodish is considered a martyr for his cause."
Taken from the Greenpeace Who's Who in Radical Environmentalism

William Doonan said...

I love it, Liane. Are you saying that this is a real person? I thought I made up the name. But if this isn't a real person, this is great stuff. I might have to use this.

Liane Spicer said...

Of course he's real, William. You made him up yourself! :D

As for that Greenpeace tome... I don't know if they have one, but if they don't, they should!

Jewel Amethyst said...

Wow Liane! you're good. Good luck William. After reading Liane's post everything I came up with sounds lame.