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By Joe C. Ellis

When I walked into Buxton Village Books on the southern Outer Banks 15 years ago, I never expected to see copies of my novel on a prominent display shelf. I introduced myself to the owner, Gee Gee Rosell, and told her I was the author of Murder at Whalehead. “That’s my bestseller,” she responded. That surprised me because the story was set on the northern Outer Banks. It had become a bestseller in the stores in Kitty Hawk, Duck and Corolla, but I figured vacationers who headed south after crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge wouldn’t be interested.

Then Gee Gee said, “You need to write a novel set right here on Hatteras Island.” I was impressed by her energy and enthusiasm. I soon learned that she opened her bookstore in the mid 1980s after working various jobs on the Outer Banks. Year after year her business grew despite the challenges of frequent hurricanes and her health battles with breast cancer.

Realizing this woman was not only a successful entrepreneur but also a local legend, I decided to base a fictional character on her who would appear in my next novel, Murder at Hatteras. I named the character Mee Mee Roberts, and she teamed up with a Dare County deputy to capture a serial killer who was terrorizing the villages on the island. That novel went on to become a bestseller in all the Outer Banks bookstores.

I’ve written eight more Outer Banks murder mysteries since the publication of those first two novels, and Gee Gee’s character (Mee Mee) has appeared in all of them. Readers can’t wait to see what their favorite local bookstore owner is up to next.

How does Gee Gee feel about it? When I asked her, she sent me these thoughts: “So when Joe started this crazy adventure and asked me for my input on various story lines, I enjoyed the process right from the beginning. In my first appearance I had ‘sandy blond hair’ and seemingly boundless energy for hiking the dunes with a long stick. Back then I certainly did have heaps of energy, and I still use the same long, stout oak branch when I wander the interdunal trails. So, my agreement with Joe was, in his books, my hair would never turn from sandy blond to salt and pepper, and that I would always be a hero and never a murder suspect. So far so good. He’s a heck of a storyteller. And his books are still some of the top sellers in my store.”

Four miles south of Buxton Village Books grows the most famous tree on the Outer Banks – the Cora Tree. According to legend, in the early 1700s the townspeople of Frisco tied a witch by the name of Cora to this old live oak and tried to burn her. Before they could light the fire, lightning struck the tree leaving a huge heart-shaped hole. Cora disappeared.

In my latest novel, The Cora Tree Murder, a woman who calls herself Cora shows up in modern day Frisco. When the body of a teenage girl is found near Cora’s cabin in the Buxton Woods, the authorities assume Cora is the prime suspect. Gee Gee (I mean Mee Mee) teams up with Detective Angie Stallone to prove Cora’s innocence and uncover a more diabolical conglomerate which casts its shadow of terror and death on the Outer Banks.

When I visited Gee Gee for a book signing this past June, she said, “Do you know what I like about being in your novels?” I shrugged. She said, “I never grow old.” Supposedly, Ponce de León discovered the Fountain of Youth in Florida. Gee Gee Rosell found hers on the murder mystery shelves in her store in Buxton, North Carolina.

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