Minnesota writer Judith Guest says the true story of the 1968 murder of a family at their Michigan lake home inspired her to write her latest book "The Tarnished Eye." Sheriff Hugh DeWitt is the central character in the novel. He's still grieving the sudden death of his baby son and dealing with the pressure to solve a high-profile murder. The mystery story is a departure for Guest, who is perhaps best known for books focusing on family dynamics. Robert Redford made her novel "Ordinary People" into an Academy award-winning movie starring Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland. Judith Guest told Minnesota Public Radio's Greta Cunningham that she's been thinking about writing a mystery book for a long time.