S.H. Livernois of Moira types on the deck of her home in Moira Wednesday. (Provided photo — Trevor Buchanan, Malone Telegram)

MOIRA — The latest novel in a supernatural mystery series, penned by North Country author S.H. Livernois, features a setting that might be familiar to local fantasy fans, Dungeons and Dragons players, and LARPers (live action role players) alike — the Sterling Renaissance Festival near Oswego — according to a press release from the writer’s publisher.

“Black at Night,” the fifth installment in “The Frontenac Sisters: Supernatural Sleuths & Monster Hunters” mystery series, will be released on July 26. The series follows the bizarre investigations of two 30-something sisters — based loosely on Livernois and her sister. Both characters live in Franklin County: the eldest in the Adirondack woods and the youngest among the dairy farms of the St. Lawrence Valley.

“The sisters, Lizeth and Hyla, are neither all me or all my sister, Tricia. They’re both a combination of us,” Livernois said in the release. “The series was inspired by these little trips we’d take in the summer, just around the area. And at the same time, I had all these weird story ideas floating around, so I decided to put all that together. With the fifth book done, I have three more to go to finish the series.”

The Telegram had a chance to catch up with Livernois at her Moira home Wednesday to talk about the evolution of her writing over the years and where she finds inspiration for her work. She said that writing has always been a part of her life, but only began taking her fiction seriously during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When I interview people, I take notes on how they talk,” Livernois said. “Any interactions with people, whether it’s through stories or my job, I’m always making notes of how people act. How they talk is usually a big thing.”

She went on to say that writing has been a part of her life since she was young.

“I remember writing a book when I was 5, about a rooster,” she said. “I bound it myself with cardboard and wrapping paper. And when I was in maybe third grade my teacher told my mom that my sentences were better than anybody’s.”

She said the pressures of school and expectations delayed her development as a fiction writer, but her time as a reporter with the Telegram and later freelance work helped build her confidence.

“The thing is, when you’re in high school the narrative is always, go to college and get a serious job,” Livernois explained. “But no one’s ever saying, ‘Oh, you want to be a writer? Here’s a path. Make your own way. Here’s the tools.’ I only started taking myself seriously during COVID.”

Livernois went on to say that the support of her husband and family, who own the store and restaurant where she works, has been integral to her acceptance of her passion.

“If I didn’t have this job at the store, I couldn’t do what I do,” she said. “Without him and my in-laws, I couldn’t do what I do.”

Books one through three in the Frontenac Sisters series — “Wicked Innocents,” “Severed Souls” and “Death Knell” — were all published in 2019. The fourth, “The Shadow Mind,” was released in 2020. Each book follows a single strange supernatural case, and though they can be read as stand-alones, the sisters’ emotional journeys evolve through each installment; therefore they should be read in order. Settings are both far-flung and local, from coastal Maine and the Smoky Mountains to one inspired by Owls Head during the 1998 ice storm.

“Case No. 5” is the first book in the series to take place in exclusively regional settings, featuring the Sterling Renaissance Festival, the nearby village of Fair Haven and the city of Oswego.

“Black at Night” is, at its heart, about the power and purpose of storytelling. The book’s villain, August Shelley, is a storyteller who, after performing at a school assembly and evidently hypnotizing a group of children, travels to the Renaissance festival to perform. There, he traps his audience inside his signature story, “The Beast of Beaudry Hall,” and gives them horrific nightmares. The book also explores the role of family, both biological family and the one we create from the people around us, and the nature of motherhood, particularly for women who don’t bear their own children.

“It’s important for me to represent two things in my books,” Livernois said. “Women who choose not to have children — a much-maligned, misunderstood and taboo group which deserves exploring in a more positive and thoughtful way — and rural places. Most fiction, whether it’s movies or books or TV shows, explore such places from an outsider’s — and often urban — perspective, not an insider’s. The ‘country’ deserves a more realistic depiction. And I love the North Country. It’s a beautiful place.”

The Frontenac Sisters books are independently published, but it has always been Livernois’ goal to make her books indistinguishable from their traditionally published counterparts. To that end, she has worked with professional editors on all five books; her longtime editor, Crystal Watanabe, got her start working with indie author Hugh Howey, who penned the “Wool” series that has been adapted into the Apple TV show “Silo.”

Livernois said her efforts have been recognized. In 2021, all four books in the series were dubbed Indie Author Project Select titles, recognized as the best of the best among indie books. The titles are vetted and chosen by Library Journal, library editorial boards, editors and librarians. Livernois will seek this distinction for “Black at Night” after its publication, she said.

Livernois — which is the pen name of Shelley Hazen — lives in Moira with her husband Jourdan and her redbone coonhound Violet. She works in food service at Mad Joe’s Store with her family. For five years in her 20s, she was a reporter at the Malone Telegram. In 2013, she started writing fiction and continues newspaper work in the Lake Champlain Weekly.

According to the release, Livernois will host a handful of local events to promote her newest book. On Aug. 17 she will do an author talk at the Badenhausen Public Library on Main Street in Brasher Falls. On Sept. 21 she will participate in an ArtWalk in downtown Saranac Lake. On Oct. 28, she will be in Plattsburgh at the Strand Center Theatre, selling her books at its Halloween Artisan Market.

The electronic versions of her books can be purchased on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo and other online retailers. Paperbacks can be purchased locally at Mad Joe’s Store or online at Bookshop.org. “Black at Night,” as an e-book, will be published on July 26; the print version will be available sometime in August, the release stated.