Not everyone gets a 240-page love story for Christmas. But not everyone is married to local violin and viola teacher Dr. Cynthia Morrow.
The former psychologist and string player from Los Angeles started with a strong musical background. At 14 she was in an all-girl rock band with Columbia Records. In California she played professionally, in ensembles and many concert symphonies. In her 40s, she trained to become a psychologist. Then she met Gary Hattal, a federal mediator. The couple decided to marry and relocate to Kirkland to be closer to Hattal’s daughter.
“It was scary,” said Morrow of the move. In the process, she gave up being a psychologist and a concert violist, essentially starting over in their new home. But the pair fell in love with the Pacific Northwest, and they have remained here since 2001.
It was on Christmas several years ago when Morrow and her husband were amid piles of wrapping paper that they decided to write a book for one another. Hattal ended up giving Morrow jewelry the next Christmas. Morrow, however, handed him “Unstrung: A Blanchard House Mystery.”
“She’s always been a good writer in a variety of ways,” Hattal said. In her career, Morrow has written psychological papers, and has been a composer, lyricist, and has even written musicals. The pair’s relationship also started in written form, with a year of exchanged letters as he traveled for work.
On her writing a mystery novel, Morrow’s husband said, “I had no doubt that she could. What I didn’t know was just how interestingly her mind worked, in that she came up with interesting plots and twists and characterizations.”
In Unstrung, violist Althea Stewart leaves behind the dog-eat-dog world of Hollywood to move with her best friend to Kirkland. Together, they turn the Blanchard House, based on Kirkland’s historic Shumway Mansion, into a music studio for lessons and lively get-togethers.
The fun is cut short, however, when someone is murdered at their first holiday party. With local settings such as the former Kahili Coffee and Parkplace Books, the characters try to figure out what is happening as more people get killed, all while dealing with the ups and downs of love.
The book is not your typical mystery. Thanks to Morrow’s background as a psychologist, her characters work through the mystery with observation and human psychology, rather than the active sleuthing expected in many books of the genre. As a violist, Althea can also catch the nuances of classical musicians that are weaved into the story.
“They tell you to write what you know,” Morrow said on why she decided to write Unstrung. For her, Althea’s love story is for her husband, and the book is a love story to Kirkland. And, as a violinist and violist, she could not leave her music behind.
“I have never not been a musician,” she said, adding that she believes musician society is a kind of subculture. “Musicians live among us, but they are not part of us.” It is a feature she hoped to convey in her book.
Aelish Wright has been Morrow’s viola student for the past two years, and describes her teacher as a mentor and friend. During their lessons, Morrow shares the aspects of musicians that Wright would be able to recognize.
“I would show up early to my lessons, maybe 15 minutes early, and I’d just sit there waiting in the car,” Wright said. “She would tell me, ‘Oh, that’s just like in my book!’” As musicians, the passion was something that they were able to understand.
Now, Morrow is diligently working on the next book of the Blanchard House series. Though Unstrung is her first novel, she is sure that we can expect more from her in the future.
Kristine Kim is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communications News Laboratory.
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