Margaret Fenton's "Little Lamb Lost"

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Margaret Fenton is the planning coordinator of Murder in the Magic City, a one-day, one-track annual mystery fan conference in Homewood, Alabama. She is President of the Birmingham Chapter of Sisters in Crime and a member of the Mystery Writers of America.

Here she shares some casting ideas for a film adaptation of her new novel, Little Lamb Lost:

I love the challenge of figuring out who would play my characters! But I have a little confession to make: I’m not a movie fan.

I know, it’s a shame, right? I can’t even remember the last movie I saw. Maybe one of the earlier Harry Potters. I’m not sure why I don’t get into them. I prefer my stories on paper, I guess. So I hope the theater-buffs out there will forgive me.

Okay, having said that, who would play the characters in Little Lamb Lost? Good question. Not being a big movie fan, I’m not terribly familiar with all the actors out there, but here goes.

Claire Conover is my main character. She’s 29, and she’s a child-welfare social worker at the Department of Human Services. Claire has seen a lot of misery in her five years there, but somehow has managed to hold on to her optimistic belief that the world is a decent place. That belief may become a casualty when one of her clients is killed. I’m picturing Scarlett Johannson as Claire. She’s a great actress, for one, and she resembles Claire physically, I think, when she has blonde hair, and blue eyes. She possesses the ability to emote innocence and optimism, which fits Claire.

Grant Summerville is Claire’s current romantic interest. Claire’s best friend refers to him as the “Geek God”. He’s really good with computers and owns a computer store. He’s tall, six five or so, thin, and has gorgeous green eyes and glasses. Jon Hamm would be perfect to play Grant. His eyes…oh, I could swim in them. Grant’s hair is a little curlier than Jon’s, but I bet I could overlook it!

Kirk Mahoney is the next major character. He’s a newspaper reporter who’s hassling Claire about her case. I am totally stumped as to who should play him. No idea. He’s about six feet tall, around thirty years old, with spiky black hair and bright blue eyes. He’s got a real cocky attitude, too, that drives Claire nuts. I cannot come up with a single actor who looks like him. Thoughts, anyone?

And finally, there’s Claire’s dad, Dr. Christopher Conover. He’s an activist, and has been since the sixties. He’s got long blond hair, going gray, and a scar on his cheek from his experiences as a Freedom Rider in the Civil Rights Era. He’s based on my own dad, in a lot of ways, and the book is dedicated to him. Just for fun, I called my father and asked who should play Claire’s dad. He votes for Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford. Interesting. Both really different actors. My vote is for Michael Douglas. I love his movies. Or at least I did when I watched movies in the eighties and nineties. My father said he’d never heard of him. At least I’m not the only one out of the loop.

Read more about Little Lamb Lost and its author at Margaret Fenton's website.

--Marshal Zeringue