Familiar faces, old haunts and a long list of Concord slang find its way into Jewel Deane Love Suddath’s novel, "Murder in Harmony: A Southern Mystery."

Harmony is a fictional North Carolina town, but Suddath evokes the people and imagery of 1956 Concord as inspiration for her first novel.

Suddath is a native of Concord herself, having lived in the city until she went to college in the late 1950s. She now lives in Raleigh but has several family members back home in Concord, she said.

The novel is a murder mystery with three main characters and several secondary characters based on real-life Concordians.

As the story goes, the controversial choir director at Deliverance Tabernacle Faith is murdered and stuffed into the trunk of her Plymouth.

Lawyer Wilkie, one of the three sleuths trying to solve the mystery, is modeled after a former Concord attorney named Robert Irvin. Suddath describes Wilkie in the novel as a lawyer who was "always fair and his fees are always right."

Suddath writes herself into her novel as girl named Jonnie Sparks, named for her father, John, in the book.

"Concord slang" as Suddath describes it and plenty of colorful southern vernacular, play a big role in evoking the spirit of the city and it’s textile-rich history.

For 15 years, Suddath has kept a six-page notebook of the unique turn of phrase her parents used to tell stories.

"As I wrote the book, I kept the list write there beside me," she said.

"Crack the winder" and "that house never seen a lick of paint" are just a couple of phrases Suddath reads from her notebook.

Suddath grew up in the Gibson Mill community on Harris Street, just on the other side of the train tracks that cross McGill Avenue.

Both of her parents were mill workers who didn’t always "string proper sentences together" but had a penchant for storytelling.

Suddath, 62, is a retired English teacher schooled in the finer points of the "Queen’s English" that most rules of language evolved from.

But Suddath prides herself on her ability to talk like the working class people she writes about.

"I think our language has become almost too homogeneous," Suddath said. "Everybody talks the same and I think that’s because of T.V. Our language has become so colorless."

Suddath’s real high school English teacher has a small role in the book as Mr. White.

The character is based on Dwight Blackwelder, now 77, who taught Suddath senior English at Concord High School. He retired in 1983 as a school administrator.

Blackwelder said Suddath was always known by her first two names, Jewell Deane, which he still refers to her as.

"Back then, many girls had two names," he said, laughing. "It added to her persona."

Suddath was a diligent student, who loved writing, Blackwelder said.

"I’m just highly pleased with her book," he said. "It’s well written and has the language of the community. It’s just right. The story is very well-done and the suspense builds throughout the novel."

Other local institutions appear in the novel. An entire chapter is dedicated to "Mabel’s Red Pig," an obvious tribute to the Red Pig Cafè on Corban Avenue.

"Mabel’s Red Pig is the closest thing to a pub we have in Harmony," Suddath writes. "Not that you can get a beer there. You go to Hub’s on the outskirts of town for that. What Mabel serves you is a 10-ounce glass of ice tea and a plate of the best barbecue in North Carolina."