People have asked me what gave me the idea for the story of Lies Agreed Upon and why I chose a New Orleans setting. Like Tess, the main character in Lies Agreed Upon, I first encountered New Orleans as a tourist. In my visits to the city, I loved its historic architecture, its culture and, of course, its rich culinary heritage. But I chose New Orleans as the setting for a mystery about an inheritance and a family feud because of a real event in my own family. My maternal grandparents came from Louisiana, but I knew little about them except that they had once been well-to-do landowners and businesspeople. One day my mother and her siblings, who had grown up in very modest circumstances in Texas, were surprised to learn of inherited land near New Orleans. A legal dispute over ownership ensued between my mother's family and relatives still living in Louisiana. Eventually, the Louisiana courts ruled that the property belonged to all descendants of the original owner: a Spanish immigrant who arrived in Louisiana in 1838, like Antonio Cabrera in the novel. None of his many heirs benefited from the disputed property as far as I know. The life stories of the real people in my maternal family tree bear no resemblance to the events in my novel, but the surprise inheritance, its hidden history and its family feud inspired my mystery tale. For more detail, see my website at www.authorkatherinesharma.com.
