The Truth About Odd Job Annie
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
The truth about odd-job Annie, the sleuth in the cozy mystery of the same name, is that in real life Annie is Monteagle author Beth Riner. “There is a lot of me in Annie,” Riner confessed. She modeled the mystery series “Odd Job Annie” after herself and her home, crafting tales where the reader joins Annie prowling the Assembly and Mountain Goat Trail searching out clues.
Like Annie, Riner lives in a 600 square foot tiny home just off Summerfield Road. She retired and moved to the Plateau two years ago. When the career her degree prepared her for, journalism, failed to earn her a living, Riner tried marketing, then public relations, and ultimately found herself teaching English in Rutherford County for 23 years. Riner and a high school friend from Chattanooga, Jim Smith, would meet in Monteagle to hike and have lunch. “I joked, I should retire here,” Riner said. “The first year back to teaching after COVID was the worst teaching year of my life. It was so scary and stressful and miserable. I came up here and bought a lot.” Soon after she moved, Smith pointed her to a Messenger ad saying the paper was looking for a writer. Riner got the job. “Writing for the Messenger reminded me how much I loved writing. At the core, I was a writer,” Riner insisted, the passion in her voice chiming truth. “I was 64 years old. I’d lost track of me.”
Smith suggested she try her hand at a novel. “I love cozy mysteries,” Riner observed. “They say, ‘You write what you know.’” The main character she crafted was a retiree who moved to Monteagle, lived in a tiny home, and did odd jobs. “The story just spiraled from there.”
Riner responded to a Facebook post that urged writers to send the first 10 pages of their novel. “I’m different up here, more daring,” Riner admitted. She panicked, though, when the publisher asked to see the entire manuscript. “I only had 13 chapters. The book wasn’t finished.” She spent the next week glued to her computer screen writing. “In late June, I got a very nice rejection letter. They loved the book and main character, but said I cheated the reader out of the big climax. They were dead on,” Riner acknowledged. She rewrote the ending. On a Saturday evening in September, she went out to sit on the porch to check email. A message popped into her inbox from Golden Bridges Publishing: “We’d like to offer you a book contract.”
“It’s been an amazing adventure,” Riner said. “And I’ve had so much fun with the character Annie.”
Odd-job Annie is particular about what she will and will not do: no weeding, cleaning houses, or giving dogs baths. But Annie is fine with walking dogs, grocery shopping for her clients, and tutoring them in online shopping. Things take a dark turn, though, when a favorite client, a feisty octogenarian who lives in the Assembly, is brutally attacked and left for dead.
Riner has nothing but praise for her editor. “’Odd Job Annie’ is a much better book because of her,” Riner said. She is well on her way with the next book in the series where a character Riner describes as “a skeevy developer” is murdered. Her former students have rallied in her support on Facebook. At the suggestion of a student, a “tat pack” formed whose members will join Riner in getting a tattoo if “Odd Job Annie” makes the top 10 on any Amazon list. “When I was growing up, tattoos were for bad girls,” Riner said laughing. “You only live once.”
Riner left her job at The Messenger to focus on her novel, although she still writes feature stories for the Grundy County Herald. Scheduled for release on Feb. 11, “Odd Job Annie” is available for advance purchase at Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format.
What is the truth about Beth Riner? “I love it here. Everywhere I go I meet the most interesting and talented people. I always knew I’d write a novel. I’ve never been happier in my life.”