Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "female-sleuth"
Somebody Doesn't Like Sarah Leigh
My cozy mystery, SOMEBODY DOESN'T LIKE SARAH LEIGH, is available for Kindle and will come in other formats in the spring of 2012. Set in northern Lower Michigan, it’s an intriguing mystery and more than that. It's also about what can happen to friendships between women.
We've all seen movies and read books about those lifelong, girl-to-woman relationships, and they are wonderful. But what we often don't consider is that some of those friendships go wrong over time. It's hard to say which ones will, but when a friendship dies, it's usually because one, the other, or both of the people in it changed.
We admit that it happens in marriages. We say, "They grew apart." It happens in friendships, too, and if the two parties are lucky, they only grow apart. What happens in this story is worse than that.
Carolyn and Sarah have been friends since childhood, but in recent years, things changed. Sarah became cold and distant, even hostile. Hurt, Carolyn backs away, unaware of what she’s done wrong. Their rift becomes public when Sarah betrays Carolyn in a way she would never have imagined. Now more angry than hurt, Carolyn confronts Sarah, much to the town’s surprise and...well, delight, at least for the gossips.
When Sarah disappears, Carolyn is suspected of drowning her. And when the people responsible for what happened to Sarah come after Carolyn, things go from embarrassing to life-threatening, all because she was once the best friend of the saintly Sarah Leigh.
Get it for 99 cents! Such a deal!
http://www.amazon.com/Somebody-Doesnt...
We've all seen movies and read books about those lifelong, girl-to-woman relationships, and they are wonderful. But what we often don't consider is that some of those friendships go wrong over time. It's hard to say which ones will, but when a friendship dies, it's usually because one, the other, or both of the people in it changed.
We admit that it happens in marriages. We say, "They grew apart." It happens in friendships, too, and if the two parties are lucky, they only grow apart. What happens in this story is worse than that.
Carolyn and Sarah have been friends since childhood, but in recent years, things changed. Sarah became cold and distant, even hostile. Hurt, Carolyn backs away, unaware of what she’s done wrong. Their rift becomes public when Sarah betrays Carolyn in a way she would never have imagined. Now more angry than hurt, Carolyn confronts Sarah, much to the town’s surprise and...well, delight, at least for the gossips.
When Sarah disappears, Carolyn is suspected of drowning her. And when the people responsible for what happened to Sarah come after Carolyn, things go from embarrassing to life-threatening, all because she was once the best friend of the saintly Sarah Leigh.
Get it for 99 cents! Such a deal!
http://www.amazon.com/Somebody-Doesnt...
Getting a Kindle for Christmas
If the gifts under your tree include a Kindle, or even if you already have one, this story is for you, because I'm giving away my book, GO HOME AND DIE, at the Kindle store from December 25-29th.
People sometimes ask why authors would do such a thing (and why Amazon would let them!). Here are my two reasons, one of which Amazon shares.
The big reason is exposure. If someone reads a book and likes it, the hope is they'll read more by that author making both Amazon and the author money. You might have noticed that a lot of freebie books are the first of a series. We clever authors get you hooked and then charge you for the next installment. Hey, all's fair in apparently everything these days.
The other reason I'm giving away GO HOME AND DIE (and my big one) is that it's a second edition. I didn't like the way it was done the first time, so I got the rights back and had it re-edited, re-formatted, and even re-covered. I'm very happy, and I felt I owed those who bought the original version a chance to see what it should have been like to begin with.
So what is GO HOME AND DIE about? It's a '60s era mystery set in Flint, Michigan. I have a fondness for the story because I lived in Flint in the late '60s, because Carrie is a lot like I was then--naive, and because John helped with the flashbacks to Vietnam.
If you have a Kindle, give it a try. (If you have a different e-reader, it will take a while, but it will eventually appear there, too.)
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Home-and-Die...
People sometimes ask why authors would do such a thing (and why Amazon would let them!). Here are my two reasons, one of which Amazon shares.
The big reason is exposure. If someone reads a book and likes it, the hope is they'll read more by that author making both Amazon and the author money. You might have noticed that a lot of freebie books are the first of a series. We clever authors get you hooked and then charge you for the next installment. Hey, all's fair in apparently everything these days.
The other reason I'm giving away GO HOME AND DIE (and my big one) is that it's a second edition. I didn't like the way it was done the first time, so I got the rights back and had it re-edited, re-formatted, and even re-covered. I'm very happy, and I felt I owed those who bought the original version a chance to see what it should have been like to begin with.
So what is GO HOME AND DIE about? It's a '60s era mystery set in Flint, Michigan. I have a fondness for the story because I lived in Flint in the late '60s, because Carrie is a lot like I was then--naive, and because John helped with the flashbacks to Vietnam.
If you have a Kindle, give it a try. (If you have a different e-reader, it will take a while, but it will eventually appear there, too.)
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Home-and-Die...
That Good End Note We're All Looking For
In general, people like endings, summations, wrap-ups. This time of year, we listen to radio and TV tell us the best and worst of 2012, no matter how silly the list or how shoddy the science behind it. It's all relative, of course. Though I'm dimly aware of the Korean rapper who dances silly, I wouldn't put him on any list of things that interested me in 2012.
But someone put my book on their Best of 2012 list, and that interests me. (Like I said, it's all relative!) A reviewer I've never met who isn't acquainted or related to me by marriage or blood wrote a great review of KILLING SILENCE (see it at http://www.cncbooks.com/blog/). Another reviewer, also unknown and unrelated, was just as nice (see that one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Silence...).
Those who know me realize that 2012 was a pretty devastating year for us, but there are things that help us see hope for 2013: good friends, new opportunities, and the kindness of strangers.
But someone put my book on their Best of 2012 list, and that interests me. (Like I said, it's all relative!) A reviewer I've never met who isn't acquainted or related to me by marriage or blood wrote a great review of KILLING SILENCE (see it at http://www.cncbooks.com/blog/). Another reviewer, also unknown and unrelated, was just as nice (see that one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Silence...).
Those who know me realize that 2012 was a pretty devastating year for us, but there are things that help us see hope for 2013: good friends, new opportunities, and the kindness of strangers.
Malice Domestic, Invisible Sleuths, and Me
I got my panel assignment this morning for Malice Domestic, May's mystery conference in Bethesda, Maryland, . (One year we had a gentleman stop some female participants and congratulate them for banding together to fight spousal abuse, but that ain't it, kid!)
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
