Dial 'R' for real estate mysteries

By LESLIE MLADINICH

For all Realtors who've sworn they could write a book on some of their more colorful clients and transactions, Nancy Lynn Jarvis, owner of HomeScape Realty in Santa Cruz, Calif., is on her third.

"Readers get a look at how real estate works. Sometimes it's a tough business and sometimes some pretty funny stuff happens," says Jarvis, author of "The Death Contingency" and "Backyard Bones," and founder of the publishing company selling her titles on Amazon.com and through her Web site, www.goodreadmysteries.com.

The tough part of the business is what led Jarvis to writing. She's been a Realtor for more than 20 years and recently founded HomeScape Realty with her husband when he became a broker. She's an Accredited Buyer's Representative and built a strong business on repeat customers.

But the housing meltdown in 2007 gave her pause.

"I took a timeout and didn't actively work. As a game to keep from being bored, I thought I would write a mystery. I had so much material to work with and not a clue on how to organize," she said from her home office.

What she did know, or at least she thought she knew, were her characters. Initially, she put herself in the shoes of Regan McHenry, the intrepid Realtor/protagonist Jarvis's Santa Cruz-area-based mysteries are built around. Many of the scenes Jarvis creates are based on actual experiences.

On a "goodwill, how's the new house coming along" drop-in, McHenry finds her client's children digging for bones in their new backyard to find what they think is a long-deceased Great Dane. On another escapade, McHenry shows the house of a seller who has an ax to grind with his soon-to-be ex-wife. ...CONTINUED

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