A Closer Look at Trailer Trash
Jimmie Ruth Evans’ trailer park mystery series featuring Wanda Nell Culpepper in "Best Served Cold" is a Tart favorite. We knew Jimmie Ruth would be exactly the right person to dish on trailer trash. A Closer Look at Trailer Trash By Jimmie Ruth Evans
When you tell people you live in a trailer park, you know they’re probably going to be thinking two things. The first one is that you’re "trailer trash" – and that means somebody with no education, numerous missing teeth, and a family tree that has suspiciously few limbs on it. The second thing they think is that it won’t be long before they see you on the news – one of those stories about how a tornado ripped through the trailer park and basically destroyed everything you own. Or it might be a story about how some bubba got drunk at a bar and came home and killed his girlfriend because he caught her in bed with another bubba who was probably her cousin. The fact that the trailer park is in Mississippi makes it even worse, with all the negative thoughts people sometimes have about the deep South.
Where a person lives may say a lot about her income level, but it doesn’t totally define the woman. The heroine of my trailer park mystery series, Wanda Nell Culpepper, may not have a lot of money, but she’s not trash. Not by a long shot. She has to work two jobs to make ends meet, and she never went further than a high school education. Stupid she’s not, however. She made some mistakes in the past, like getting involved with Bobby Ray Culpepper in high school, getting pregnant, and having to marry the no-good sonofagun.
Wanda Nell isn’t the kind of woman to look back on the past and waste a lot of time on what might have been, though. She has too much to do in the here and now. She has her two daughters and a grandson living with her, and lately she’s been getting involved in some pretty unpleasant business. First, it was her ex-husband, Bobby Ray, who turned up dead in the woods near her trailer park, with the steel legs of one of her lawn flamingos stuck through his neck. She had to work pretty hard to convince the sheriff’s department that someone else killed Bobby Ray, plus protect her family from some pretty nasty characters. After that, somehow dead bodies seem to keep coming her way.
Some people might look at these characters and this set-up and still say they’re "trailer trash." No matter what you do, you can’t change some people’s minds. But you know what I see when I look at these characters?
I see family. These are the people I grew up with, the people I love and respect. They’re hard-working, they do what they have to in order to look after their own, and they’ll do anything they can to help a friend.
I see people who are down-to-earth, people who don’t put on airs to impress anybody. There may be people around them who are better educated, but it doesn’t mean those people are any smarter about living life and coping with all its little messes.
That’s what I hope my readers are seeing too.
Hey, I resemble those remarks!!!:) I live in a trailer park and when my daughter still lived at home, she was known as the one girl you DIDN'T mess with! Not a bad place to live though, some of the parks are kinda nice.
Posted by: Lynn | March 18, 2007 at 05:25 AM
i grew up in a town with lots of trailer parks, so I have lots of friends who lived in them.
You know who they thought was kinda dumb? The people who rented an apartment instead of making payments on a trailer. Simple balance sheet decision.
One of my favorite characters in mysteries - Sierra Lavotini - lived in a trailer park.
Thanks for visiting TLC!
Posted by: Kathy Sweeney | March 18, 2007 at 07:47 AM
Count me among the readers who love Jimmie Ruth! This is a great series, Dean. The characters are rich (no pun intended!)and your way with words is delightful. I'm always recommending your books to other writers for the plotting and the language.
Thanks for guest blogging for us!
Posted by: Nancy Martin | March 18, 2007 at 08:00 AM
Well, Jimmie Ruth, I don't know what else to say, other than I'd love to have lunch WITH Wanda Nell, rather than have her serve it to me.
Posted by: ramona | March 18, 2007 at 08:06 AM
Another fan here! I love the books and I cant wait to hear what Wanda Nell and the rest of the good folks are up to.
Posted by: Cindy | March 18, 2007 at 08:34 AM
Hey Dean! Welcome to the show that never ends....:)
Posted by: William Simon | March 18, 2007 at 08:52 AM
Thanks for visiting, Jimmie Ruth. We love having our eyes opened and our biases challenged at TLC, and we love to be entertained, so your books are PERFECT.
Posted by: michele martinez | March 18, 2007 at 09:08 AM
Thanks for your series, Jimmie Ruth. I have a friend who lives in a trailer park in Illinois, and she loves you. You paint a great picture of that life.
Posted by: Elaine Viets | March 18, 2007 at 09:27 AM
Thanks, everyone, for such a warm welcome.
Kathy, excellent point. Why waste money on an apartment when you can own your own home? (Even if it is on wheels!)
Ramona, thanks. I think Wanda Nell would like that, too. She enjoys a chance to sit down and talk.
I'm currently working on the fourth book in the series, which is supposed to be out in January 2008. The working title is BRING YOUR OWN POISON. I get a kick out of using poison, especially since I know next to nothing about guns. (My father is now spinning in his grave...)
Posted by: Dean James | March 18, 2007 at 09:51 AM
I adore the trailer park mysteries, and Wanda Nell is a heroine to root for. As a native Mississippi, I want to thank you, Jimmie Ruth, for giving a more balanced view of my homestate while also delivering a fantastic read. Keep the books coming! I can't wait for the next one.
Carolyn
Posted by: Carolyn Haines | March 18, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Dean- I just learned that you have an affiliation with Murder By the Book in Houston. Terrific!
Are you still in Houston?
Posted by: Rebecca the Bookseller | March 18, 2007 at 10:43 AM
Thanks, Carolyn. We Mississippians have to stick up for our state. Your "Bones" series is wonderful, too, and one of these days Wanda Nell may have to wander through Zinnia and say howdy to Sarah Booth.
Rebecca, I worked at Murder by the Book in Houston for over 21 years, but I've gone back to being a librarian in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. I help out occasionally at the store still, but I'm not there on a regular basis.
Posted by: Dean James | March 18, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Here's where I have to put in my plug for the TLA "Men of Texas Libraries" calendar. It's just about the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Dean, you're so adorable, why isn't your naked butt in there? Also, can you give people a link to buy one?
Posted by: michele martinez | March 18, 2007 at 11:50 AM
Thanks, Michele. They didn't ask me, that's why. I guess my old Playgirl centerfold shots didn't arrive at the offices in time. Maybe for the next one...
In the meantime, anyone who's interested in learning more about the calendar, here's the link:
http://www.txla.org/temp/TLAmen.html
Posted by: Dean James | March 18, 2007 at 12:03 PM
Hey, Jimmie Ruth, around here we have trailers, and we also have entire neighborhoods with identical multi-million-dollar mansions, behind gates, with 24-hour guards. My brother refers to the latter as "the projects."
Welcome to TLC!
Posted by: Harley | March 18, 2007 at 12:52 PM
Hooray for librarians!
Posted by: Abby | March 18, 2007 at 03:13 PM
I definitely need to read this. Sounds right up my alley, or more accurately, my dirt road.
Posted by: J.D. Rhoades | March 18, 2007 at 04:24 PM
Hey, Harley. We have some of those McMansions here in Houston, too. People building huge houses on postage-stamp lots. You can lean out the window and touch the house next door.
At least in a trailer park you get a little space between you and your neighbor!
Posted by: Dean James | March 18, 2007 at 04:26 PM
Is it sad that I went to the TLA store, saw the "Radical Militant Librarian" button and immediately thought of 5 people to buy one for?
Posted by: ramona | March 18, 2007 at 09:43 PM
This looks like good old fashioned stereotype smashing, I have to look into your series Jimmie Ruth Evans.
In the rural south, a trailer is a nice piece of property. Yet on the mainstream network television run by urban elitist critics, the worst stereotypes of trailer life is presented.
Posted by: Cinema Dave | March 19, 2007 at 07:02 AM
I enjoyed reading 'Flamingo Fatale". Wanda Nell is definitely a feisty broad!
Posted by: beachfla | March 19, 2007 at 08:06 AM
Thanks, everyone. Wanda Nell is actually based, to some extent, on my late mother. She was pretty feisty, and she had a temper, too. Both these traits make for some interesting conflicts, I'd like to think.
Posted by: Dean James | March 19, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Just wanted to let you know more and more people are living in trailers, motor homes and 5th wheels now especially after they retire. I don't consider myself trailer trash and I'm tired of hearing that term even on TV. My husband is a logger and we go where ever the work is in our 36 foot 5th wheel with 3 slide outs. I sold my condo in S. California, quite my job after 15 years and married a timber faller which I met on a dating site for this life. A very interesting life and a chance to meet so many people and enjoy what some never do nature.
Posted by: Heidi | April 14, 2007 at 11:44 AM