What happens when family history, local lore, and imagination collide on the page? For many authors, writing about fictional towns in real places allows them to honor the past while asking timeless “what if” questions. In this reflective post, Regina Rudd Merrick shares how her deep roots in western Kentucky, a long-lost town that never quite came to be, and a love of everyday stories shaped the setting of her RenoVations Inc. series—blending real history, fictional suspense, and faith-filled storytelling into a world that feels both imagined and deeply true.
Sitting at my grandparents’ feet, listening to them talk to their peers about family stories I had probably heard a hundred times, I developed a love of family history and the ordinary, everyday events of life that connect the past and the future.
For instance, when you move into a community entirely new to you and discover you have a significant long-ago familial connection to that place. One that stretches back to the first of your branch of the family to arrive in Kentucky from their home in the Carolinas … in the early 1800s.
When I started the RenoVations Inc. series, I dove into my love of all things “home reno entertainment.” I thought I’d write a romantic comedy about a family of contractors named “Reno.” In the first story, Heart Restoration, Lisa Reno has moved home after a successful stint working behind the scenes on a show similar to “Fixer-Upper.” A clutzy redhead, her brother and partner, Del Reno, is way more laid back than she is comfortable with.
Take one part fun name ripe for puns, and add a small fictional town in the area I know best: Western Kentucky. The best romances happen in small towns, don’t they?
As the story gelled, I learned that Crittenden County, Kentucky, would have been a much different place if Isham Clement – who, in the early 1800s, married the sister of my ancestor, Sarah Rudd Clement – had his way. He built a sawmill along the Ohio River, fully intending that to be the first business in what he would call “Clementsburg.” Unfortunately, when he was in his 40s, he was killed in the same sawmill. The dream of Clementsburg died with him.
I saw this as an opportunity to build a world within what, after thirty years, has become our home community. Living in Marion (population 3,300), the county seat of rural Crittenden County (population 9,000-ish), in Kentucky, I’ve spent many years discovering different parts of the county. It was fun to write about aspects of our area, including the Amish population (no, these are not Amish books; they live in the area), landmarks, stores, streets, and local history.
Other intriguing local lore includes the Fords Ferry Gang, outlaws who lived on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, and secretly ran a river pirate operation from Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, directly across the Ohio River, all within sight of what would have been Clementsburg, and my fictional Clementville.
Then came the question every writer loves: What if?
What if there were tunnels and caves underneath the Kentucky side of the area, leading out to the river, giving bad guys an easy way to move their spoils?
Sorry, there are no known caves on the Kentucky side, but that didn’t deter me from creating a fictional system of naturally occurring caves and man-made connecting tunnels where all sorts of nefarious deeds could have been committed. In the 5-book series, I connect the fictional tunnels to everything from the Civil War “Reverse Underground Railroad” to a Prohibition-era distillery and, later, to counterfeiting, drug-running, and murder.
Soon, the rom-com I planned to write became a romantic suspense. In book one, Heart Restoration, Lisa Reno and Nick Woodward discover tunnels beneath a house they’re renovating. The reader will learn more and meet more Reno family members in the additional four volumes of the series, which wrap up in book five, Reframing Trust, as Eli Reno and FBI Special Agent Julia Rossi solve the mystery.
While writing a romantic suspense in a fictional setting located in a real place is fun, I wonder what Sarah (“Sally”) Rudd Clement would think about someone—a descendant of her brother, no less—writing a love story in a place that took such grit and courage to survive. Or, would she think, “I just did the next right thing?”
This series is about regular people who are normal, everyday folks, but as with many of us, in their lives, they’ve struggled with trust. Trusting God, trusting others, trusting their hearts in the area of love. I hope that throughout the continuing story, I’ve pointed the reader toward placing their trust where it counts the most – with God.
Multi-published author Regina Rudd Merrick writes Southern stories of faith and romance. Beyond writing, Regina is the director of the local library, a church musician, wife, mother, lover of all things fun, beachy, and chocolate, and a grateful follower of Jesus Christ. Married to her husband of 40-plus years, she is a new grandmother, the mother of two grown daughters, and lives in the small town of Marion, KY. Connect with Regina on Facebook, Instagram, or her website at https://www.reginaruddmerrick.com
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FBI Special Agent Julia Rossi returns to Clementville to investigate signs of criminal activity linked to a case she’s struggling to leave behind. After losing her fiancé to infidelity and her partner to prison, trust has become a foreign concept. Can she trust her job, her instincts, or even her faith?
Carpenter Eli Reno isn’t thrilled when his exploration of the tunnels underneath Clementville not only uncovers evidence of recent criminal activity but also forces him to work alongside the woman who broke his friend’s heart.
As the two explore the dark tunnels, Eli battles his anger over his friend’s betrayal, while Julia fights to regain her footing in a world full of broken trust. But in the depths below, can they learn to rely on one another—and on God—to uncover the truth and find healing in each other’s hearts?
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