Behind the Book

Scraps of Paper

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Kathryn Meyer Griffith's small-town mystery begins with grief, a hidden past, and a house that won't stay quiet.

For readers who like mystery with atmosphere, human loss, and a steadily unfolding investigation, this story opens a long-running series rooted in secrets, place, and connection.

foggy curious unsettling hopeful small-town
Explore the story
Scraps of Paper book cover
The old house is not just a setting here. It is where the mystery starts to speak.
Author conversation

With Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Kathryn Meyer Griffith answers our questions about Scraps of Paper

We asked about the book’s origin, cover, writing process, atmosphere, and intended reader experience — then shaped those answers into this feature.

Origin

Why this book exists

Kathryn Meyer Griffith shares that Scraps of Paper was the starting point for her Spookie Town Murder Mystery series, a world she began building around 2002. In the author's own words, it grew from her affection for a quirky little town called Spookie, a name that also nods to her horror-writing roots. But the real engine of the book is more intimate: a woman living with the aftermath of disappearance and loss, then finding herself drawn toward another family's unanswered vanishing. Griffith points to that emotional link between past grief and present investigation as the reason this mystery takes hold so quickly.
On why this book exists

“I originally began writing this Spookie Town Murder Mystery series, set in a quirky little town I called Spookie.”

On why this book exists

“A tip of my hat to my horror roots.”

Behind the book

The human story behind it

On courage

“With her history of a missing husband she develops the overpowering urge to find out what happened to them.”

There is a long writing life behind this novel. Griffith describes more than 55 years of writing across horror, science fiction, romance, apocalyptic fiction, mysteries, and dinosaur novels, and Scraps of Paper carries some of that range with it. It has the pull of a murder mystery, but also the lived-in feeling of a writer interested in place, memory, and the people who stay in town long enough to know its shadows. Details shared with IndieBookStories also place the novel close to home: she wrote it at home and set it in a small town very much like the Illinois town where she lives. That helps explain why the setting feels less invented than observed.
Foggy woods behind a house with a narrow path disappearing into the trees.
Behind the house, the landscape holds what the town chose not to see.
On preserving the human story

“A widow moving to a new town for a fresh start.”

Behind the house, the landscape holds what the town chose not to see.

Reader experience

What kind of journey is this?

This is a mystery built less on speed than on discovery. The author describes a story full of fog, quirky townspeople, hidden scraps of paper, buried graves, and a growing partnership between Abigail and ex-homicide detective Frank Lester. Griffith also shares that she relies heavily on dialogue to reveal character and motivation, using the points of view of a few main people and shifting across chapters. That suggests a reading experience shaped by conversation, suspicion, and gradual assembling of truth. Readers can expect a small-town story where renovation becomes investigation, grief becomes momentum, and danger quietly closes in as Abigail and Frank keep asking questions.
Inspired by the story world

A visual glimpse into the book’s atmosphere

The images around Scraps of Paper draw from details Kathryn Meyer Griffith shared with IndieBookStories: a fog-bound small town, an old fixer-upper house, woods hiding long-buried truth, and a mystery shaped by grief, persistence, and the quiet hope of beginning again.

A woman arriving at an older house in a quiet foggy small town.

A New Town, A Fresh Start

Griffith describes a widow moving to a new town for a fresh start, and that emotional reset shapes everything that follows.

An old house interior with baseboards removed and hidden paper scraps revealed.

Clues Hidden in the House

The mystery unfolds through small discoveries: scraps hidden where only renovation would uncover them.

Two people walking together along a wooded path in the evening mist.

Two People Following the Past

At the center of the book is not only a case, but a growing partnership formed through asking difficult questions.

Reader response

How readers may feel

On how readers may feel

“I hope they will feel uplifted...good does win out.”

Griffith says she hopes readers will feel uplifted, because good does win out, and that hope matters here. Even with murder, buried secrets, and a house holding onto the past, the emotional direction seems to lean toward reassurance rather than bleakness. Readers may come away with the feeling of having spent time in a town where sorrow is real but not final, and where connection, persistence, and decency still matter. If you like mysteries that balance unease with warmth, this may offer that kind of experience.
Reader fit

Who this book is for

This book is likely to suit readers who enjoy small-town mysteries with a strong sense of place, a central amateur investigation, and an emotional reason for solving the crime. If you like stories where houses hold clues, old disappearances still haunt the present, and relationships grow alongside the case, Scraps of Paper may fit well. It may also appeal to readers who enjoy series fiction and want a first book that opens a wider world. Griffith's own description of eccentric, lovable townspeople and a blossoming romance suggests a mystery that values company as much as suspense.
A useful note

Who this may not be for

If you prefer very fast, high-body-count crime fiction or sharply procedural detective work, this may not be the right mystery for you. The appeal here seems to be atmosphere, dialogue, community, and old secrets unfolding over time. Readers looking for hard-edged realism without any hint of eerie small-town mood may also find that Scraps of Paper leans in a different direction.
Scraps of Paper book cover
Scraps of Paper
Cover story

Behind the cover

On the cover

“Where she finds the three graces deep in the woods behind her house.”

The cover image comes directly from the heart of the story. Griffith shares that it centers on the old house Abigail buys and remodels, the place where the mystery begins to surface. She also points to the woods behind the house, where Abigail finds the graves that confirm her suspicions. That choice keeps the visual focus exactly where the novel lives: in a home being remade, a past refusing to stay buried, and a landscape quietly holding evidence.
Kathryn Meyer Griffith
Author

Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Profile details supplied to IndieBookStories.

Writing room

From the author’s desk

Griffith shares that Scraps of Paper may have taken about a year to write originally, but it has remained with her for far longer. Over 26 years, she has rewritten and updated it several times as the first book in what became an 11-book series. She wrote it at home and set it in a small town much like her own in Illinois. That long relationship with the book gives it the feeling of a story returned to, lived with, and expanded over time rather than simply left behind after publication.
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