Novelist returns to scene of fictional crime: Thousand Islands in winter

David Madden has never spent more than a few days in the Thousand Islands, but you couldn't tell that from his novels.

A reviewer for the Washington Post called Mr. Madden's 1978 book, "The Suicide's Wife," "one of the most enthralling books I have read in some time ... I can't recall ever being on a more shocking and intimate basis with a character."

Novelist Stephen King also enjoyed the book, according to a blurb inside its 1979 paperback edition: "One of the books I admire most in the world," Mr. King wrote.

"The Suicide's Wife" was set partially in Alexandria Bay, including the key scene the plot revolves around. It was made into a CBS television movie starring Angie Dickinson in 1979, although without the Thousand Islands setting.

More than 30 years later, Mr. Madden has returned to the Thousand Islands for his latest book, and he's set the whole tale here.

"Abducted By Circumstance," published in April, is set in the north country winter, and Mr. Madden captures the stark landscape of the region's frigid months.

"The bleakness of winter is expressive of her situation," Mr. Madden said from his home in Black Mountain, N.C.

He was referring to the main character in "Abducted," who during a visit to Tibbets Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent witnesses the abduction of a woman in her 50s, apparently by a serial rapist and killer stalking the region. The book's cover photo features the lighthouse.

Unlike research for "The Suicide's Wife," Mr. Madden took a trip to the north country to take in its landscape and communities. Local scenes are dotted throughout "Abducted," from Jefferson Community College and Flower Memorial Library to Shorty's Diner on Coffeen Street, as well as communities from Oxbow to Ogdensburg.

Mr. Madden, 77, was director of the creative writing program at Louisiana State University from 1968 to 1994. He is now LSU's Robert Penn Warren professor emeritus of creative writing. His stories have been reprinted in numerous college textbooks and twice in "Best American Short Stories." He's also the topic of "David Madden: A Writer for All Genres," consisting of original essays by scholars on his writings.

Mr. Madden is a veteran of the Merchant Marine and the Army. Besides writing fiction and literary criticism, he's a Civil War expert and founded the United States Civil War Center at LSU to provide a forum for research and discussion among Civil War researchers.

Mr. Madden said he first became aware of the Thousand Islands area in the 1960s when he and his wife were driving to Nova Scotia and crossed the Thousand Islands bridge at Collins Landing.

"We crossed the international bridge and I looked down and out," he said.

He said he relied on books to create the Thousand Island scenes from "The Suicide's Wife." He had started "Abducted by Circumstance" with no firm setting in mind when he decided to set it in the Thousand Islands.

So in the winter of 2007, he took a trip to the area, battling a snow storm as he came up I-81 for his stay at Hart House on Wellesley Island.

He said the person who checked him in was surprised to see him. "I was told nobody in their right mind would be out on the roads," Mr. Madden said.

He spent a week here, driving around communities. When he stopped at Tibbets Point, he decided to start the tale there with the abduction.

The abduction is witnessed by Carol Seaborg, the main character in "Abducted by Circumstance." Carol projects her own emotions into the abductee's experiences. Carol speaks directly, sometimes out loud, to the woman, Glenda, the wife of a local doctor, as she imagines her ordeal, giving her encouragement and advice. Meanwhile, Carol must settle issues with her own family, all one week before her second surgery for breast cancer.

Mr. Madden said he isn't aware of any other novel that uses the technique he used in "Abducted."

"No character has been that totally empathetic for somebody they only glanced," Mr. Madden said. "The technique is unique in the way I use it."

Mr. Madden traveled Route 12 to get to Watertown from Alexandria Bay and Wellesley Island.

"Everywhere that Carol goes in Watertown, I was there," Mr. Madden said.

One almost comic scene that found its way into the novel occurred after Mr. Madden had a craving for ice cream, bought a pint and ate it as he drove around. In the book, the abductee and her kidnapper stop at the "Oxbow Country Store" for a pint of Hershey's cherry-vanilla ice cream, Glenda's favorite. They share it as the kidnapper drives down the road to an uncertain future for both of them.

Mr. Madden will return to the Thousand Islands to give a reading from "Abducted By Circumstance" Aug. 7. Macsherry Library in Alexandria Bay is planning a presentation by a handful of authors — all nonfiction writers except for Mr. Madden — on topics relating to the river that afternoon. Library Director Ceil A. Cunningham invited Mr. Madden to present his fiction, and on Thursday he accepted. Details will be announced later.