The Trail to Lost Lake House

It’s not always easy for me to pinpoint the exact moment of inspiration for a story, or to remember what initially inspired it. More often than not I find myself with a partially-formed idea in my hands and a feeling of “Where did this come from, anyway?” But Lost Lake House is one of the exceptions—I can actually trace the little trail of influences and ideas that eventually came together in my mind to inspire the setting for the story. After recently enjoying K.M. Weiland’s fun post on 14 things that inspired her latest novel, I thought I’d do a little inspiration-backtracking of my own.

The oldest seed of an idea came from the Crooked Lake House in Averill Park, New York. I’ve never been there myself, but I’d heard various accounts of its history—according to local news articles, it began as a stagecoach stop in 1780 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1840; in its heyday it hosted famous guests such as Theodore Roosevelt and gangster Legs Diamond; and NBC broadcast live big-band concerts from it on radio during the swing era. And at some point, although I can’t trace this story now, I heard or was told that it had housed a speakeasy during Prohibition, possibly in a secret room. That idea stuck in my mind; it seemed to hold fascinating possibilities for a story. In fact, I was recently cleaning out some old notebooks and binders when I came across a scribbled note from years back suggesting the use of the Crooked Lake House speakeasy or one like it as the setting for a mystery short story. That story never happened, but the speakeasy was evidently meant to be.

I think it was somewhere around the same time that I read A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness – and a Trove of Letters – Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression by Ted Gup. The setting was Canton, Ohio, and a few times in passing the book mentioned the Meyers Lake Amusement Park, a popular attraction for Canton residents from the 1920s onward (click here to see some vintage postcards of the park). One amusing incident that stuck in my mind was the park owner’s “accidentally” letting loose the monkeys kept on an island in the lake, in what turned out to be a highly successful publicity stunt. The idea of a colorful attraction on an island in a lake lodged in my mind, and at some point it clicked with those ideas already brewing. A hidden speakeasy on an island in a lake…it dovetailed perfectly with the plot of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and made the Jazz-Age setting a perfect choice.

And finally, another location that contributed to my imagining of the setting was the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway. I’d once caught a few minutes of a travel program about the islands on TV, and was captivated by the shots of beautiful old villas and castles (yes, castles) built by wealthy summer residents during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when the area was a popular summer resort. In a bit of serendipity, the photo of the house that ended up being part of Lost Lake House‘s cover is actually what is now known as Singer Castle on Dark Island!