Elena Hartwell's Blog, page 42
February 7, 2023
Who Killed Jerusalem: Spotlight
Who Killed Jerusalem by George Albert Brown
Spotlight: Book & Author InfoDon’t miss any new books! Click the link here.Who Killed Jerusalem
A seamless melding of the intricate plotting of Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose; the side-splitting humor of John Kennedy Toole in A Confederacy of Dunces; and the fabulous world of William Blake.
In 1977, Ickey Jerusalem, San Francisco’s golden-boy poet laureate, is found dead in a locked, first-class toilet on an arriving red-eye flight.
Ded Smith, a desperately unhappy, intelligent philistine with a highly developed philosophy to match, is called in to investigate the poet’s death. Thus begins a series of hilarious encounters with the members of Jerusalem’s coterie.
Ded soon realizes that to find out what happened, he must not only collect his usual detective’s clues but also, despite his own poetically challenged outlook, get into the dead poet’s mind. Fighting his way through blasphemous funerals, drug-induced dreams, poetry-charged love-making, offbeat philosophical discussions, and much, much more, he begins to piece together Jerusalem’s seductive, all-encompassing metaphysics.
But by then, the attempts to kill Ded and the others have begun.
Before Ded’s death-dodging luck runs out, will he be able to solve the case, and perhaps in the process, develop a new way of looking at the world that might allow him to replace his unhappiness with joy?
To purchase Who Killed Jerusalem, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble & IndieBoundPraise for Who Killed Jerusalem“A zany, inventive, and multilayered fever dream of murder and mayhem” —Kirkus Reviews
“…a big, joyous book, worth reading simply for the fun of it.” —Blue Ink Reviews
“Graphic and comedic…the narrative’s primary problematiques—the state of beauty, the creation of the universe, and the nature of reality—are ably revealed through the artistry of Jerusalem’s life and Ded’s surreal experiences.” —Foreword Review
George Albert Brown — Author of Who Killed Jerusalem
by City Headshots DublinGeorge Albert Brown, a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law, started as a hippie in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury and retired at age 40 after having co-founded a successful international finance company.
Following stints thereafter as a humorous author (The Airline Passenger’s Guerrilla Handbook) and an angel investor in over a score of high-tech university spinouts, he built a catamaran in Chile and for more than a decade, cruised it across the globe with his significant other.
Today, as a father of three grown children, a grandfather of four not-yet-grown children, and an involuntary lover of stray cats, he continues his peripatetic lifestyle by other means.
Who Killed Jerusalem? is the book that George, a life-long devotee of William Blake, had always wanted to write.
Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell
All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. Amazon #1 bestseller
Header image from Pixabay.
The post Who Killed Jerusalem: Spotlight appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
February 6, 2023
When the House Burns: Author Guest Post
When the House Burns by Priscilla Paton
Guest Post + Book & Author InfoDon’t miss any new books! Click the link here.When the House Burns
When death comes home, is nowhere safe?
The quest for love and home becomes deadly when Detectives Erik Jansson and Deb Metzger search for the killer of an adulterous real estate agent.
A volatile real estate market, unrest in a homeless encampment, jealousies among would-be lovers, a case of arson—these circumstances thwart G-Met detectives Erik Jansson and Deb Metzger as they investigate the murder of an adulterous woman. The victim’s estranged husband has holes in his alibi. A property developer grieves too much over the death of the woman while his wife shuts him out. The developer’s assistant resents his boss and suspects that the developer was not only involved with the victim but is being scammed by the arsonist. A sexy young widow, friend of the victim, has past traumas triggered by the case and turns to the developer for protection. A homeless man stalked the dead woman and now stalks the young widow. All may hold secrets about the past burning of an apartment complex and the man who died there.
Before the clues come together, Erik Jansson is trapped in an abandoned house as Deb Metzger hunts for a sharpshooter at a remote construction site. The case will burn down around them unless they can scheme their way out of lethal surroundings.
To purchase When the House Burns, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble & IndieBoundGuest Post When the House Burns by Priscilla PatonThe Serious, The Fun, and Detectives Off LeashDetectives Deb Metzger and Erik Jansson work for the fictional public investigative unit, Great Metro or “G-Met” in the greater Twin Cities area. They’re both tall and athletic, both white and middle class, both in their thirties, and both attracted to women. Their author, Priscilla Paton, asked them to speak freely on the serious and the funny in the forthcoming mystery, When The House Burns.
Deb: “It’s been tough, Partner, since our last case made it into a book—the one that had Fail and Grace in the title. Double sicknesses—a global pandemic and nasty politicking. I mean, it got me down. Then there was the call volume increase about domestic violence and abuse, my territory. Cramp people who aren’t good for each other in a small space, and it becomes a disaster. And you, you lost weight.”
Erik: “Muscle mass.”
Deb: “Yeah, no fat on you, Runner Boy.”
Erik: “I’ve built it back. The pandemic was cruel enough. Then there was the murder of George Floyd, on our home turf, by fellow law enforcement. That was. . .” (He clears his throat).
Deb: “Spit it out—it’ll be good for you.”
Erik: “Soul killing, racist, a global shame undermining everything we believe in. It’s hard for me to admit, but I was devastated. Months of hate, fear, destruction, sorrow . . .”
Deb: “Whoa whoa, you’re digging yourself a despair pit.”
Erik: “Our G-Met colleague who’s Black, Jimmy Bond Smalls, couldn’t even talk to me for a while. And with the shutdown I was cut off for a time from Ben, my son, who was with his mother. Juggling being an essential worker with quarantine so we could reunite—”
“None of that’s in the book, Partner, the new one on sex, death, and real estate, When The House Burns.”
Erik: “We’re going strictly by the book? A first for us. It is in the new book that Jimmy Bond Smalls and his wife had a baby, a pandemic blessing, and Ben got a scene-stealing puppy.”
Deb: “You’re forgetting the most important thing.”
Erik: “The murder of the real estate agent, the ‘inciting’ incident?”
Deb: “You mean it’s not ‘exciting’ or ‘incendiary’?—there certainly are incendiary incidents in the book. I’m talking about my own up-close and personal housing crisis. I was evicted from my sublet, and it’s been bleeping impossible to find a rental. I was outbid on condos, ayeyiyi. I was going bed-hopping crazy—always alone in that bed, mind you. Speaking of crazy, did you know cases of anxiety and depression went up? Not crazy, exactly, but still. Then there’s homelessness. When I can’t find a domicile in the new book, I’m invited to join a homeless encampment where a murderer may be lurking. Don’t laugh—you encouraged that suggestion. Sure, some of the unhomed people had spirit and generosity, but wow, what a tough place to be. Thank my lucky stars, I have you to take it out on, Partner.”
Erik: “You overdo it.”
Deb: “Sor-ry, but you go off into a dark space in your head.”
Erik: “Are you sure it isn’t the dark space in our Author’s head?”
Deb: “Wait, we have an Author? Oh, the one who had trouble eating like you did. She couldn’t handle the truth. She stopped writing about us. When she did write, it was irritable crap.”
Erik: “In isolation she confronted the awful the only way she could, by writing into it. As my mom’s favorite poet Robert Frost says, The best way out is always through.”
Deb: “How weird, writers confront reality by escaping into a room. I get that she was researching eviction, displaced families, and crime and addiction in encampments. But compared that to me or my real-life counterparts, I have to talk to kids whose mother has been murdered. She ate chocolate through that and then watched a Netflix bodice-ripper.”
Erik: “Didn’t you?”
Deb: “Maybe, but that’s not in the book, and my almost girlfriend was stuck in Paris during the shutdown. I can outswim an informant—that’s in the book—but Skype-dating is not in my skill set. This so-called Author never lets us get it on.”
Erik: “She doesn’t know everything. She’s not omniscient.”
Deb: “Wait, during the dark time, did you hook up with your ex-wife?”
Erik: “Nothing like that’s in the book.”
Deb: “Uh-huh, so we’re by the book again.”
Erik: “Adultery’s an issue in it. There’s a jealous man keen on guns, and I interview these women—another character, not me, calls them sexy—and it’s frustrating. One of them taunted me by obsessing about flings.”
Deb: “So the Author is raising your hopes. I sure hope she finds me a place to live instead of trying to kill me off. I’m shaking in my socks here and don’t have a drawer to put them in.”
Erik: “She tries to terrify me, too, and succeeds. She puts you into embarrassing situations to keep it light for the rest of us.”
Deb: “Yeah, I’m homeless just to amuse you. But you fall flat on your face with one of your women. A good thing because I’m desperate for comic relief.”
Erik: “Even Shakespeare’s Hamlet has snark. It’s in our nature to seek lightness even if, or especially if, we’re daunted.”
Deb: “I’ve never seen a daunt Are you implying I can’t stay serious?”
Erik: “No, or yes, hmm. She makes us suffering fools, in the Shakespearean sense, to clear her head.”
Deb: “I know that look—you’re seeing how long I’ll buy your philosophizing bull. I hear our Author is on committees where she sees statistics about the marginalized. Speaking of committees, she put me on one to improve equity in law-enforcement.”
Erik: “Necessary work, hopeful.”
Deb: “Easy for you to say, you’re not on the committee. Meanwhile, I’m emotionally naked and alone with the stupidity and prejudice that people won’t admit they have. Some clown came up with Social Justice Monopoly.”
Erik: “What would that even look like?”
Deb: “Everybody wins, and we all end up in a commune?”
Erik: “If that’s the win, I’m not playing. You do realize, the Author’s doing this not just to confront what’s out there and clear her head. She’s doing it for the readers.”
Deb: “Readers watch me squirm into my swimsuit? I’m out.”
Erik: “Until the next case, with its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows.”
Deb: (a dramatic sigh) “Until the next case.”
Priscilla Paton
Priscilla Paton writes mysteries set in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Priscilla grew up on a dairy farm in Maine.
She received a B.A. from Bowdoin College, a Ph.D. in English Literature from Boston College, was a college professor and taught in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Minnesota.
She has previously published a children’s book, Howard and the Sitter Surprise, and a book on Robert Frost and Andrew Wyeth, Abandoned New England.
She married into the Midwest and lives with her husband in Northfield, Minnesota. When not writing, she participates in community advocacy and literacy programs, takes photos of birds, and contemplates (fictional) murder.
To learn more about Priscilla, click on any of the following links: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & InstagramElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. Amazon #1 bestseller
Header image from Pixabay
The post When the House Burns: Author Guest Post appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
February 1, 2023
Dark of Night: Romantic Suspense
Dark of Night by Colleen Coble
Guest Post + Book & Author Info + Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.Dark of Night
The law is about justice—not grace. But perhaps ranger Annie Pederson can find a way to have both.As if the last few months haven’t been hard enough—complete with threats on her life and the return of her first love, Jon—Annie has to figure out whether or not to believe a woman who claims to be her sister, Sarah, who was abducted twenty-four years ago at age five. Annie’s eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, has plenty of questions about what’s going on in her mother’s life—but there are some stones Annie doesn’t want uncovered.
As Annie grapples with how to heal the gulf between her and her would-be sister and make room in her daughter’s life for Jon, she’s professionally distracted by the case of yet another missing hiker in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A woman named Michelle Fraser has now been abducted, and though the woman’s estranged husband is at the top of their suspect list, Annie and her colleagues will need to dig deeper and determine whether these recent mysteries are truly as unrelated as they seem.
In this second novel of bestselling author Colleen Coble’s latest romantic-suspense series, Annie and Jon must fight for the future—and the family—that could once more be theirs.Genre: Romantic Suspense
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 2023
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 0785253742 (ISBN13: 9780785253747)
Series: Annie Pederson #2
Research is a super important part of the writing process. I always want to make sure I get the details right. Seems simple, right? Just ask the right people. Ahem.
My first experience of how challenging this might be was when I needed to find out how to down a small plane in my first Rock Harbor novel, Without a Trace. Now ordinarily this shouldn’t have been difficult. A friend of my husband owned a small plane. But here was the problem: it was the week after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. No one wanted to answer such a question, not even Dave’s friend.
I finally found a plane forum and explained what I needed. I listed my website and assured them it was for a book. Finally, one brave soul told me what I needed to know, and I was ready to bow down and kiss his feet.
My next major foray into this research was for Alaska Twilight. One of the pharmacists at my local Walgreens had been a good source for me so I went to see her. I asked what drug would leave my victim unable to fight if someone threw her into the water. As my friend was giving me the information, the other pharmacist on duty came flying around the shelves with a horrified expression on her face. I held up my hands and assured her it was for a book. I’m not completely sure she believed me!
The research for Rosemary Cottage seemed straightforward, but I had to research something that was a little out of my comfort zone—cold water surfing.
A little background first. I’m a health nut. I’d been hearing about the benefits of cold thermogenesis. That’s immersion in cold water for those who don’t know. And bonus! I’d heard it would help sculpt your body, so I tried getting in my daughter’s pool in the winter to see if it would help me lose weight in my thighs. Oh what we women will do for vanity!
Now before you faint, let me assure you this was Arizona so the water temperature was about forty-five to fifty, not freezing. But it was still mighty cold. After a few minutes, it was rather comfortable though. Unfortunately it didn’t shrink my thighs. But that health research led me to an article about cold water surfing. Did you know brave souls in the Upper Peninsula surf at Lake Superior in the winter (I wrote about that in Rock Harbor Search and Rescue too) and also in Maine in the winter? Now that’s cold!
I got a book about cold water surfing, and I decided Edith, one of the supporting characters in Rosemary Cottage would be a cold water surfer. I had to figure out lots of things about that too, like what kind of wetsuit and other gear. By the way, Edith is based on my real Aunt Edith. You should have seen Ede’s face when I told her I had her surfing the North Carolina shore in November. I don’t think she was totally onboard with the idea. . .
For my newest book, Dark of Night, we go back to my popular setting of Rock Harbor, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. The setting didn’t take much research because I know it so well, but I’ve been immersed in learning about law enforcement rangers which is a fascinating subject.
Research is what keeps writing fun and fresh. And the really terrific thing about it is how one snippet of information can take you in a completely new direction. Research is what drives the idea for me.
Hope you enjoy Dark of Night!
Colleen
Colleen Coble — Author of Dark of Night
Colleen Coble is a USA TODAY bestselling author best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels, including The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, and the Lavender Tides, Sunset Cove, Hope Beach, and Rock Harbor series.
Goodreads
BookBub: @colleencoble
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Twitter: @colleencoble
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All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. Amazon #1 bestseller
Header image by Pexels on Pixabay
The post Dark of Night: Romantic Suspense appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 26, 2023
The Man Who Screams at Nightfall
The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories
Spotlight + Book & Author Info + Excerpt + Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories
Thailand. The Congo. Greece. Spain. America…
Four continents and 40+ years in the making.
The Man Who Screams At Nightfall is a landmark collection of short stories depicting a young man on a classic voyage of self-discovery, scouring the earth in search of some purpose in life.
From childhood to parenthood and everything in between—these tales are at times raw and unflinching, at other times poignant and moving.
Get ready for a literary journey unlike any you’ve experienced before.
WARNING: Some of these stories contain strong language, depictions of graphic violence, and sexual situations.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Published by: Bridgewood Publishing
Publication Date: November 2022
Number of Pages: 150
ISBN: 0999745670 (ISBN-13: 9780999745670)
…I could see the glow of a fire up ahead of us, and as we reached the mango tree, Pumbu motioned for me to stay low and follow him along a small wall of honeysuckle bushes. We crouched down, and from our hiding place, I saw Kachamba furiously pacing back and forth in his yard in front of a small bonfire. He swung his arms wildly in the air as if he was fighting off something that was falling on him. He dropped to his knees and then suddenly sprang three feet off the ground. Then he began to dance, swaying and spinning his body so close to the fire that I was certain he was going to fall in. All the while he screamed and shouted deep into the empty black night.
He spoke in a dialect that I couldn’t understand, so I had to ask Pumbu to tell me what he was saying. I asked him many questions: Why was he doing this? Who was he speaking to? Was he drunk? What was going on? Pumbu patiently explained to me that no, he was not drunk, and that he really didn’t know who he was speaking to, but that Kachamba’s wife had left him a few years ago, run off with another man and taken their children, and that ever since, he had not been right in the head. He was not from this village and had been kicked out of all the other places he had lived. He came here only because Kachamba’s father, the chief of Kitengo’s uncle, had once saved the life of the chief’s father (Kachamba’s uncle) and so the chief had to let him stay to repay that old favor. It was all very complicated, Pumbu said, and he didn’t fully understand it himself.
I was hardly listening, instead transfixed and horrified by what I saw. Spinning, swirling, shouting, and screaming—Kachamba’s face, so calm and happy as I had seen it earlier that day, was now knotted and twisted like a grotesque carnival mask, like some gargoyle sprung from the lowest depths of hell. The glow of the fire cut fierce shadows and gorges in his face, adding to the haunting vision that I saw.
For a long while, Pumbu and I hid behind the honeysuckle bushes and watched Kachamba shriek and wail and try to push back the night, until suddenly, all at once, he just stopped. Suddenly, he just stood still and quiet and stared at the sky. I followed his gaze and saw another shooting star. When I looked back, Kachamba had disappeared.
“Is that it?” I asked.
“That’s it,” said Pumbu. “He usually only does this for an hour or so.”
“And he does this every night?”
“Almost,” said Pumbu and yawned. “Mmm. I’m tired. I think I am going to go home.”
We left the bushes, went past the mango tree, and said good night. I walked home alone, both exhilarated and troubled by what I had seen.
I entered my room and prepared for bed, but long after I had extinguished my petrol lantern, I lay there staring into the darkness. I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned. It wasn’t that unusual—I noticed that it had been happening a lot lately, that I couldn’t sleep. I got up and found the bottle of Johnnie Walker and knocked back a tall glass until at last I was floating, and at last, my eyes did shut…
Rush Leaming — Author of The Man Who Screams at Nightfall
RUSH LEAMING has done many things including spending 15+ years in film/video production working on such projects as The Lord of the Rings films.
His first novel, Don’t Go, Ramanya, a political thriller set in Thailand, was published in the fall of 2016. His second novel followed suit in the summer of 2018, entitled The Whole of the Moon, set in the Congo at the end of the Cold War.
2021 saw the 5-star reception of his crime thriller Dead Tree Tales. His short stories have appeared in Notations, 67 Press, Lightwave, 5k Fiction, and The Electric Eclectic.
He has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Zaire, Thailand, Spain, Greece, South Carolina, England, and Kenya.
To learn more about Rush, click on any of the following links: LeamingRush.wixsite.com/Nightfall, Goodreads, BookBub – @RushLeaming, Instagram – @RushLeaming, Twitter – @LeamingRush & Facebook – @RushLeamingStoriesVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
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All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. Amazon #1 Bestseller
The post The Man Who Screams at Nightfall appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 22, 2023
Murder of Pearl: Author Guest Post
Murder of Pearl by Nellie H. Steele
Guest Post + Book & Author InfoDon’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.Murder of Pearl
The world’s her oyster…until someone is stabbed with her shucking knife.
With a struggling pearl party business, sisters Kelly and Jodi Silverman are thrilled to land a weekend long jewelry party at a large estate. But the gothic house, complete with its weeping woman fountain, gives Kelly a bad vibe.
A nasty storm strands them at the spooky mansion. And when the birthday gal is found with Kelly’s shucking knife poking from her chest, they’re not only stuck in the creepy house with a murderer roaming the halls but Kelly’s accused of the crime.
Can Kelly and Jodi piece together the limited clues, prove their innocence and stay alive? Or will this pearl party be their last?
If you love comedy mystery a la Clue, you’ll love Murder of Pearl, Book 1 in the Pearl Party Cozy Mystery series!
Murder of Pearl: A Silverman Sisters Cozy Mystery (Pearl Party Cozy Mysteries)
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Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Fictional estate of Willow Lake Estate
A Novel Idea Publishing, LLC (October 21, 2022)
Hardcover : 182 pages
ISBN-10 : 1951582780
ISBN-13 : 978-1951582784
Paperback : 202 pages
ISBN-10 : 1951582675
ISBN-13 : 978-1951582678
Digital ASIN : B0B5Y497HD
What’s the most important thing in a book? Some people will say plot. Others will say characters. Still others will say the writing itself.
But somewhere in there is the setting. It sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Setting isn’t at the top of most people’s lists but it’s often what draws people to a book whether they realize it or not.
A small town with a hidden secret sets the stage for an intriguing mystery. A stormy island where guests are trapped with a murderer is a classic set up for a gripping tale.
And how fun is a creepy castle with secrets lurking around every corner? Or maybe a huge gothic mansion with odd rooms and mysteries at every turn.
That’s just the location I envisioned when I started penning Kelly and Jodi’s first pearl party mystery. There’s nothing spookier (especially for Kelly) than a creepy mansion filled with odd people. It’s a great setting for a murder.
And I turned to a few places for inspiration. Specifically, I turned to the imagery used in the 1999 film The Haunting of Hill House.
I remember seeing this movie in the theater with my mom as a teen and it really made an impact. Not only was the story great, but the imagery used made the house a character in and of itself. The house became alive and played as large a role as Catherine Zeta Jones or Liam Neeson.
I still vividly recall sitting in the dark movie theater and studying the gothic architecture (while a storm raged outside, making it even creepier!). From the grand sweeping staircase with its odd statues at the bottom to the elaborate woodwork that would play a role in Nell’s haunting, the design lent so much to the story.
And that is what I aimed to do when I created Willow Lake Estate. Heavily based on Hugh Crane’s house (there’s even a Hugh Crane reference in the text), I built fantastical images, rooms, and details that would truly set the scene for a really creepy weekend. And with a storm raging outside, I don’t think anyone can blame Kelly for being less than enthused by the whole thing.
From the roaring lion statues at the foot of the stairs (a bit of a change from the inspiration for the stairway!) to the lion’s head doorknobs, every detail is designed to set the stage.
If you read Murder of Pearl, I hope you’ll find the setting immersive and the mystery intriguing!
Nellie H. Steele — Author of Murder of Pearl
Award-winning author Nellie H. Steele writes in as many genres as she reads.
Addicted to books since she could read, Nellie escaped to fictional worlds like the ones created by Carolyn Keene or Victoria Holt long before she decided to put pen to paper and create her own realities.
When she’s not spinning a cozy mystery tale, building a new realm in a contemporary fantasy, or writing another action-adventure car chase, you can find her shuffling through her Noah’s Ark of rescue animals or enjoying a hot cuppa (that’s tea for most Americans.)
Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, Bookbub, Pinterest and Tiktok.
Check out all Nellie’s offers at www.anovelideapublishing.com/novels or at her blog, Nellie’s Book Nook, available at www.nelliesbooknook.com!
To learn more about Nellie, click on any of the following links: Webpage, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads & Instagrama Rafflecopter giveawayVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
January 16 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
January 16 – Lady Hawkeye – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
January 16 – Mythical Books – REVIEW
January 17 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
January 17 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
January 17 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
January 18 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 18 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
January 18 – Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
January 19 – Novels Alive – REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
January 20 – Rebecca M. Douglass, Author – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
January 20 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
January 20 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 21 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 21 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT
January 21 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
January 22 – The Mystery of Writing – AUTHOR GUEST POST
January 22 – Diana’s Book Journal – SPOTLIGHT
Elena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. Amazon #1 bestseller
The post Murder of Pearl: Author Guest Post appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 20, 2023
Art Meets Murder in What Meets the Eye
Art Meets Murder in Alex Kenna’s Debut Novel, What Meets the Eye
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!I had the honor of interviewing Alex twice, once as a member of the International Thriller Writers Debut Author Program, then again here for the Partners in Crime Book Tour.
I have worked with the ITW Debut Author Program for over six years, and try to interview every author when their book launches.
To read our first interview (with a completely different set of questions!) click the link here.Art Meets Murder — What Meets the Eye
From debut author Alex Kenna comes a pulse-pounding tapestry of secrets, retribution, and greed for fans of Jeffrey Archer.Kate Myles was a promising Los Angeles police detective, until an accident and opioid addiction blew up her family and destroyed her career. Struggling to rebuild her life, Kate decides to try her hand at private detective work—but she gets much more than she bargained for when she takes on the case of a celebrated painter found dead in a downtown loft.
When Margot Starling’s body was found, the cause of death was assumed to be suicide. Despite her beauty, talent, and fame, she struggled with a host of demons. But as Kate digs deeper, she learns that Margot had a growing list of powerful enemies—among them a shady art dealer who had been selling forged works by Margot. Kate soon uncovers a dirty trail that leads straight into the heart of the city’s deadly underworld.
Margot died for her art—and if Kate doesn’t tread lightly, she could be the next to get brushed out.Genre: Mystery
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: December 2022
Number of Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781639101849 (ISBN10: 1639101845)
Someone I know very well has struggled with drug addiction for years, so it is a topic that is frequently on my mind. I’m currently working on a sequel that explores addiction in a different context. I also worked as a DA for five years and saw the heartbreaking effects of addiction in court.
For Kate, who suffers from addiction, I was very interested in writing about someone who has already hit rock bottom and is on the mend but is not there yet. She is making progress towards her recovery, but it’s not a linear path and she’s still struggling. It’s also particularly hard for her because she’s an ex-cop and doesn’t have the most progressive view of addiction.
When I was writing Kate, I wanted to develop a character who had suffered through a set of experiences that fundamentally changed her identity. She lost her family, her job, and her sense of being in control of her life. Kate starts to heal a bit during the book. It’s a process that continues in the sequel.
What Meets the Eye is your debut novel. How has that experience been? Anything unexpected?The experience has been really positive. I’ve been truly amazed by how much support I’ve gotten from readers, writers, booksellers, and complete strangers. The reading/writing community has been quite wonderful, and the trolls have been few and far between.
Personality wise, book marketing has been a bit of an adjustment. I tend to be modest and introverted, so self-promotion doesn’t come naturally to me. I think it’s a common challenge for authors—may of us write because we’re basically hermits. But at some point, you have to come out of the cave, or no one will know the book exists.
What would you like to be asked about What Meets the Eye that no one has asked yet?I haven’t gotten a lot of questions about the art side of my book. Margot, the victim, is a celebrated artist and I put a lot of thought into creating her artistic world. It was important to me that her influences and references would feel authentic. I studied art and art history in college. Then when I graduated, I worked as an art critic and did a stint in a gallery.
I drew on all of those experiences when I wrote her. I tried to really think about what types of projects Margot would develop. Margot does a lot of work that blurs the line between art and real life. Some of the artists I mention as her influences, like Tracy Emin and Sophie Calle were very good at that. For Margot, I really wanted to take it a step further and blur the line between art and crime. Her art plays an important role in the book, but I don’t want to say more without giving too much away.
What does a typical work/writing day look like for you?I wrote this book while pregnant with my son during the pandemic. I had nausea and gestational diabetes, and was semi-house ridden for months. On the plus side, my writing schedule was great because I had few distractions. Writing was an escape and a way to keep my brain engaged. In my real life, I was pricking myself five times a day and surviving on hardboiled eggs and cheese. But then I could turn to my book and write about killers and glamorous artists, and occasionally slip in the cocktail I wished I was able to drink.
Now a days, things are very different. I work full time and have a toddler. So writing is pretty much relegated to when he’s asleep, and on weekends when my husband or my mother-in-law can watch him. I don’t get a lot of sleep these days, but luckily, I’m a night owl by nature.
How far ahead are you thinking in terms of your writing? One project or several books down the road?I get glimpses of other books, but I really try to keep focused because writing time is so scarce right now. By nature, my brain tends to pinball around from idea to idea. But if you work that way, nothing ever gets finished. I have an idea for book three that I’m pretty excited about, but I’m forcing myself to put it on ice until I finish the sequel. I also have the glimmer of an idea for a psychological thriller and a short story that are going to have to take a backseat for now.
When you prowl the flea markets, what kinds of items do you love to find?My weakness is vintage jewelry, especially necklaces, since I don’t have my ears pierced. But I also love vintage furniture. My husband and I were completely broke when after buying our house, which was the definition of a fixer upper. We had a giant hole in the floor and a bathroom with a toilet but no sink. So, we completely furnished our house from flea markets and estate sales. In my book, Kate has a chair in her office that’s actually a disguised antique toilet. That is based on a hideous antique commode that my husband almost bought, but I drew the line at putting bathroom fixtures in my living room.
Final words of wisdom for aspiring writers:Almost no one succeeds on their first try, whether that be your first submission to an agent, or the first book you complete. Believe in yourself and don’t give up.
Also, most of us are hypersensitive about our work and the thought of someone pointing out the flaws is terrifying. But that’s how you’re going to get your work to where it needs to be. Find a person or two who’s opinion you trust, ask them to be brutal, and mean it. Then take that advice and make your work even better.
At the same time, when you have the imposter syndrome, “my book is terrible” moments, remember that we all have those. Think about all the good things about your work and keep going.
Lastly, think about the market. You’re not writing in a vacuum. Think about what existing books are like yours, who your potential readers are, and how you can link your book to what already exists while showing how it’s different.
Author Pet Corner!
Zelda!Alex Kenna
Alex Kenna is a lawyer, writer, and amateur painter based in Los Angeles.
Before law school, Alex studied painting and art history. She also worked as a freelance culture writer and sold art in a gallery.
Originally from Washington DC, Alex lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and giant schnauzer, Zelda.
When she’s not writing Alex can be found exploring Southern California, toddler-wrangling, and playing string instruments badly. Alex’s debut novel, What Meets The Eye, was released December 6, 2022.
To learn more about Alex, click on her name, photo, or the following links: Goodreads, Twitter & FacebookVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
01/11 Showcase @ Mythical Books
01/12 Review @ read_betweenthecovers
01/14 Showcase @ The Book Divas Reads
01/16 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
01/16 Showcase @ Quirky Cats Fat Stacks
01/17 Showcase @ Celticladys Reviews
01/18 Showcase @ 411 ON BOOKS, AUTHORS, AND PUBLISHING NEWS
01/20 Interview @ The Mystery of Writing
01/23 Review @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews
01/24 Review @ Paws. Read. Repeat
01/24 Showcase @ The Mystery Section
01/26 Review @ Sharon Beyond The Books
01/27 Showcase @ Silvers Reviews
01/31 Review @ Review Thick And Thin
02/02 Review @ Eat. pray. decorate
02/03 Review @ Melissa As Blog
Elena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post Art Meets Murder in What Meets the Eye appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 14, 2023
Rivalry Gone Wrong: Cozy Series
Rivalry Gone Wrong
These cheer moms are not content to sit on the sidelines.
Abby Winters is not your typical cheer mom. She doesn’t have time to micromanage her daughter’s competitive cheer group.
She’s got her business, Scoops Ice Cream Shop, to run.
But when a rival team’s coach turns up dead and all signs point to murder, Abby wants to make sure her daughter is safe.
Can she catch the killer before they strike again or is the culprit going to murder the competition?
Rivalry Gone Wrong: A Cheer Moms Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Seris
Setting – Southern Illinois
Independently Published (January 10, 2023)
Print length : 105 pages
ASIN : B0BNQWW6LM
As a child, L.C. thought she would either be a truck driver (thanks to Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit) or work at Taco Bell (her favorite restaurant as a child). As she grew older, she realized her talents lay in other areas, and for the last several years has been a college professor teaching business and English.
Through all her career choices, she has continued to have a passion for writing stemming from childhood, where, as an only child, she developed a vivid imagination.
She is proud of her vast experiences in life from barrel racing, to being on the dance team for a semi-pro basketball team, to being a mom of 2 amazing kids.
She decided to follow her dream as an author in 2009 and has worked her way up to having 5 fans (maybe 6 now). She often tells her family and friends that no one is safe from his or her ventures slipping into her books. She lives in Indiana with her husband, kids and two very spoiled dogs.
To learn more about L.C., click on any of the following links: Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Instagram & WebsiteVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
January 10 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW
January 11 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
January 11 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW
January 12 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
January 12 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 13 – Lady Hawkeye – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
January 13 – Novels Alive – REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
January 14 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT
January 14 – The Mystery of Writing – SPOTLIGHT
January 15 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW
January 16 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 17 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
January 18 – Diana’s Book Journal – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
Elena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post Rivalry Gone Wrong: Cozy Series appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 13, 2023
The Bootmaker’s Wife: Historical Fiction
The Bootmaker’s Wife, historical fiction based on the author’s family history.
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any author interviews, click the link here.The Bootmaker’s Wife
The harsh and rugged Sand Hills of Nebraska in 1875 wasn’t the environment most young ladies brought up in a Victorian home in Illinois aspired to. But when Elizabeth Schultz receives a marriage proposal from Charles Horn, a bootmaker twenty years her senior, she readily accepts. A year later, she’s walking behind a covered wagon along the Oregon Trail as she makes her way to Nebraska to meet her fiancé and start a new life filled with, what she hopes will be, adventure and an opportunity to be her own person.
Elizabeth soon discovers, however, that life on the trail and in a sod house on the prairie is far more difficult than she imagined. Can she cope with the extreme weather, isolation, food insecurity, health challenges, and her husband’s dark side? Will her physical and emotional strength be enough to sustain her or will she give up and return to the comfortable life to which she’s accustomed?
Not only does Mershon Niesner give the reader the opportunity to spend fourteen months in the boots of a woman who has barely left girlhood behind, she immerses them in a startling vivid world where the heroine discovers the importance of caring about the environment, those who came before her, and friendship in a time and place where rugged individualism is revered.
The Bootmaker’s Wife is historical fiction based on the life of the author’s great grandparents.
To purchase The Bootmaker’s Wife, click the following link: AmazonThe Bootmaker’s Wife — The InterviewThe Bootmaker’s Wife is set in various locations, but primarily the Sand Hills of Nebraska in 1875. What drew you to that geography for your debut novel?I grew up as a “free-range” kid in Nebraska and many of the details I wrote about such as mushroom hunting, target shooting, using an outhouse, cooking over an open fire, walking to school in a blinding blizzard, were part of my experience. My home town of Grand Island is where the main characters, Elizabeth and Charles Horn, were married.
I lived my pre-retirement life in the Chicago area and have (sort of) retired to Florida but I still consider myself a Nebraska Girl and wanted readers to have the opportunity to get off of Interstate 80 and “see” the real Nebraska.
Mostly, I wanted to relive and share stories my dad told of his grandparents forging a life in a sod house in the Sand Hills. His grandfather was a boot maker for soldiers at Fort Hartsuff and had a shop in the nearby town of Calamus. The Jesse James true story was one of my favorites.
How did you go about researching the era and the places for The Bootmaker’s Wife?The original manuscript for The Bootmaker’s Wife was written during Covid isolation so I was unable to visit the location in person. The following summer, however, I traveled West and stayed at a farm house, a cattle ranch, stepped inside an authentic sod house, and toured Fort Hartsuff, a restored fort in the region of their house. I took the book cover photo near where they actually lived in 1875 and ’76.
James Domeier, Superintendent of Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park, provided me with historical records as well as an extensive tour of the grounds and buildings of the restored fort. He also suggested I read The Trail of the Loup, a documentary written by H.W. Foght and originally published in 1906. Many of the true stories in the book were told to Foght first-hand. It was a wonderful resource for scenes like the grasshoppers and the disappearance of the two children (both true stories).
I also received information from my great aunt, Audrey Linderkamp, who, after the death of her parents, was raised by Charles and Elizabeth. She sent me their photo and old newspaper clippings.
Tell us about Elizabeth Schultz:Much of what I wrote about Elizabeth is fictional. Her birthdate, wedding date and other facts are historically accurate but her personality and the kind of person she was came from my imagination. Elizabeth is just one of the brave and hardy women I portray in the book.
As a social worker and Certified Life Coach, I have spent much of my life championing women and encouraging them to be strong. Portraying women in The Bootmaker’s Wife was another opportunity to send a similar message and revere the women who cleared the way for us today.
Elizabeth was not quite fifteen when she married Charles who was twenty years her senior. It might seem unrealistic to many readers that a girl that young could run a household, especially in the difficult times of 1875. I was a motherless, only child at eight so, by age fifteen I had many of the homemaking skills Elizabeth displayed—without the challenges of 1875, of course. So, to me, her life seemed plausible plus her age is historically accurate.
You are also the author of Mom’s Gone, Now What? Ten Steps to Help Daughters Move Forward After Mother Loss. Tell us about that project:
Click the cover to purchaseAs I mentioned above, my mother died when I was eight and her mother died when she was three. I was raised by my dad. My life has been, mostly, joy-filled and productive. I wanted to tell my story to help other daughters of loss move forward. I also interviewed over fifty motherless daughters. Their stories, along with my own experience, helped me shape the ten steps I wrote about.
I didn’t choose the subject, I believe it chose me. It was another way to honor extraordinary women.
What can we find you doing when you aren’t writing?Although we don’t see them often, my husband and I have a combined family of six children, 19 grandchildren, and 11 great-grands. Just tracking birthdays and anniversaries keeps me busy. In the summer months and at Christmas, we return to Illinois where we see most of our family.
As an author I read a lot but I also love to entertain. I’m in a cooking club and have attended cooking schools in Italy, France, and Spain. I belong to the Marco Island Writers and a writers’ critique group, an international organization that supports scholarships for women, a weekly group called Girl Talk God Talk, Marco Island Women Democrats, and I’m active in my church. I write a column titled Ask the Life Coach for my local newspaper. At 77, it’s especially important for me to stay fit so I work out three days a week.
What are you working on now?I’m writing a sequel to The Bookmaker’s Wife with a working title of THE BEE LADY. Angie is a mysterious and interesting character in my first novel so I decided to back-track and tell her story from the time she was ten and became separated from her family as their wagon train crossed Nebraska.
Final words of wisdom for aspiring writers:Just do it! Although I’d had experience writing business materials (adoptive case studies, newsletters, brochures, video scripts), I published my first book on my 75th birthday; my second at 77-1/2. It’s never too late, you’re never too old, too young, or too inexperienced.
Find yourself a good editor! I would never put a book out for the public to read without Elena’s amazing editing. Seriously! (Awwww, shucks … it was my pleasure to work with your wonderful manuscript!)
Author Pet Corner!
Although I’ve had pets most of my life, I personally no longer have one. However, my daughter, Katie, fosters rabbits.
Bunnies don’t do well in shelters due to barking dogs, etc. so she keeps them (one or two at a time) in her home, turns them into cuddly family pets, then helps them find forever homes.
Her husband and three kids have allergies so they can’t have dogs or cats but bunnies work for them.
If Katie had her way, she’d live like Elena, with animals all around.
Mershon Niesner — Author of The Bootmaker’s Wife
Mershon Niesner has a background as a Certified Life Coach, child welfare social worker, marketing/communications entrepreneur, freelance writer, and author. Between them, Mershon and her husband have six children, nineteen grandchildren, and eleven great-grands.
In her first book, Mom’s Gone, Now What? Ten Steps to Help Daughters Move Forward After Mother Loss, Mershon writes about losing her mother at eight-years-old. In addition to her own experience, Mershon interviewed over fifty motherless daughters and uses their stories to illustrate the ten steps. Her mission is to help other women who have experienced loss move forward in a healthy way.
Growing up in Nebraska cemented the author’s love of the a 360 degree view of the horizon, the constant wind, the majestic sunsets, and the rolling hills of the northern prairie. Later, as a Florida transplant, she wanted to relive and share stories her father told of his grandparents forging a life in a sod house in the Sand Hills of Nebraska in 1875 so she wrote The Bootmaker’s Wife, a historical fiction incorporating some aspects of her great grandparent’s life.
To learn more about Mershon, click on any of the following links: Website, Blog, Twitter & InstagramElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. #1 Amazon bestseller
Header image by Falkenpost on Pixabay.
The post The Bootmaker’s Wife: Historical Fiction appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 11, 2023
City Under One Roof: Debut Mystery
City Under One Roof by screenwriter Iris Yamashita
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any Debut Author Interviews! Click the link here.City Under One Roof
A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita.
When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.
After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.
Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?
To purchase City Under One Roof, click on any of the following links: BOOKSHOP.ORG AMAZON APPLE BOOKS BARNES & NOBLE BOOKS-A-MILLION GOOGLE PLAY KOBO WALMART AUDIBLEThe Interview — City Under One Roof City Under One Roof is set in Point Mettier, Alaska, a very small town. What drew you to that as the place to set your debut?I remember having watched a documentary over twenty years ago about the real city of Whittier, Alaska, back when the only way in was by boat or a train through a tunnel.
Today, the town is accessible by car, albeit through the same single-lane tunnel that is still shared with the train. One of the most fascinating aspects about the town is that most of the full-time residents of Whittier live in a single high-rise condo. (When I started writing the book there were about 205 residents, but the number has since gone up to 272 in the last census.) It seemed like a perfect setting for a story, but it took a long time before I thought of a story to go along with the place.
The book is told in three voices. What would you like readers to know about them?Cara Kennedy is a detective from Anchorage who has suffered a tragic personal loss. She has her own secrets and motives for being in Point Mettier.
Amy Lin is a resident teen who discovers dismembered body parts washed up on the cove and whose mother runs the local Chinese restaurant.
Lonnie Mercer is a resident suffering from a mental disability who wears a different colored beret everyday and keeps a pet moose named Denny.
City Under One Roof is full of secrets. What inspired these characters that have things to hide about themselves and their pasts?I had imagined that if you chose to live in a very isolated place, there might be a reason, such as running away from something or someone, or having a secret to hide.
Also, driving through the 2.5 mile narrow tunnel that leads to Whittier felt like falling through a rabbit hole that would lead to a strange Wonderland full of odd and quirky characters. That became a jumping off point and there are a number of references to Wonderland or Lewis Carroll peppered throughout. For instance, using Wonderland analogies, I thought of Cara as “Alice” dropping into this strange world, Amy as the “White Rabbit” she sometimes chases for clues, and Lonnie as the “Mad Hatter.”
You are an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. How did the writing process differ for you between writing for the screen and writing a novel?I think the writing process for the screen is easier. You only need to write 100 or so pages with a lot of white space. But to get it to a final product is much harder because there are so many hoops to get through. It takes a lot more money and a lot more people need to be involved in both the decision-making and production process. Also, most of the time, you are working off of someone else’s intellectual property (IP) such as a book, a true story, a news article, a remake, etc.
Writing a novel is more torturous in the process. Unlike in screenplays, an author of books must also be the director, the cinematographer, the set designer, the costume designer, etc. But I find it to be much more satisfying and liberating in the end in that you can develop something original and the end product relies mostly on you and your writing.
Tell us about your publishing journey:I started writing City Under One Roof after initially trying to come up with a pitch for a series. I had come up with so much material that I thought I had enough to write a book.
Writing novels was something I had aspired to do before I entered the screenwriting world, but I had a hard time actually finishing a novel so I turned to screenwriting. After I had written a number of chapters for City Under One Roof, I started querying agents even though I had not completed the novel, which I understand is not how it’s supposed to be done.
One of the agents I queried (Lucy Carson, who is now my agent) asked for the rest of the novel but since I had not finished it yet, she told me to get back to her when it was complete. So I put it aside, as I was still writing scripts for Hollywood. However, Lucy was persistent and would gently prod me to see how the book was coming along.
Finally after a couple of years, she proposed sending the partial manuscript to one editor to see what she thought. It was during the middle of COVID when strange things were happening and thanks to Lucy and the editor at Berkley Publishing, I was able to get a deal!
What are you working on now?I am now working on the sequel to City Under One Roof, which will bring back some characters from the first book as well as introduce some new ones.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:Don’t be so precious about your work. I always start off with something I call a “vomit draft” whether it’s in screenwriting or writing novels, because I know a lot of things are going to be thrown out later. So don’t try to make things perfect on the first go. Also, have a roadmap. The roadmap will most probably change and take you on a different course, but it beats being lost in Perpetual Writer’s Block if you start with some general destinations.
Great advice! Thanks for hanging out with us today. Best of luck with your debut.Author Pet Corner!
Bento and Kiki!I have two cats, Bento and Kiki.
We have a number of feral cats in the neighborhood and one of them chose to have her kittens in our backyard.
We had all the cats, including the mama cat spayed and then fostered the kittens to put up for adoption.
We were only going to foster, but of course, we ended up keeping two of them.
Despite having qualms about being able to socialize feral cats, the two we adopted have turned out to be the nicest, sweetest cats I’ve ever had.
It’s also nice to have two sister cats who love snuggling with each other.
Iris Yamashita — Author of City Under One Roof
Born in Missouri, raised in Hawaii and having lived in Guam, California, and Japan, Iris Yamashita was able to experience a diversity of culture while growing up. She studied engineering at U.C. San Diego and U.C. Berkeley and also spent a year at the University of Tokyo studying virtual reality. Her first love, however, has always been fiction writing, which she pursued as a hobby on the side.
Iris submitted her first screenplay to a competition where she was discovered by an agent at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who offered to represent her. Her big break came when she was recruited to write the script Letters From Iwo Jima for Clint Eastwood. Letters was named “Best Picture” by both the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It received a Golden Globe award for “Best Foreign Language Film” of 2006 and was nominated for 4 Oscars including “Best Picture” and “Best Original Screenplay.”
City Under One Roof is her debut mystery novel set in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building.
Iris continues to work in Hollywood, developing for both film and streaming media and has also dabbled in writing a musical for a Japanese theme park with Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori. She has taught screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles and the American Film Institute.
To learn more about Iris, click on her name, photo or either of the following links: Facebook & InstagramElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook. #1 Amazon bestseller
Header image by dennisflarsen on Pixabay
The post City Under One Roof: Debut Mystery appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
January 10, 2023
The Hunter: Debut Thriller
The Hunter, a new psychological thriller by debut author Jennifer Herrera
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any debut author interviews! Click the link here.The Hunter
A riveting atmospheric suspense debut that explores the dark side of a small town and asks: How can we uncover the truth when we keep lying to ourselves?
After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, she returns with her four-year-old daughter to her beautiful hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio. Leigh had stayed away for more than a decade—even though her brother and a trio of loving uncles still call it home—because, while the town may seem idyllic, something rotten lies at its core.
Three men in town have drowned in what Leigh suspects to be a triple homicide. She hopes that by finding out who killed them, she just might get her life back on course. Headstrong and intuitive, Leigh isn’t afraid to face a killer, but she has to do more than that to discover the truth about what happened to those men. She must unravel a web of secrets going back generations, and, in doing so, plumb the darkness within herself.
Both a taut mystery and a deeply affecting examination of the lies we build our lives upon, The Hunter is a haunting look at how the search for truth often leads us back to the most unlikely of places.
“[A] complex plot, which is matched by thoroughly realized characters whose actions are anything but predictable. Herrera is a writer to watch.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)
To purchase The Hunter, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Powell’s, Target & WalmartJennifer Herrera — Author of The Hunter — The Interview The Hunter is set in Copper Falls, Ohio. Tell us about that environment:For the first five years of my life, I lived in a trailer park, which, while not economically diverse, was diverse in just about every other way. So when my family moved to a small town in rural Ohio, I wasn’t prepared for how alien I would feel there. Everyone was related. They all looked alike. They went to the same church. They held the same beliefs. If you’re not from there, it’s unbelievable. But those places still exist.
When I was a kid, all I knew was that I didn’t fit in and wanted to get out. When I got older, I started to wonder what it was about this community that made them so afraid of letting the outside world in. As with most things I don’t understand, this experience ended up in my writing.
Copper Falls is very similar to the town where I grew up. It’s so small that everyone knows each other and as such it is beset by nepotism, small-town drama, and many many secrets.
What would you like readers to know about Leigh O’Donnell, protagonist of The Hunter :In writing The Hunter, I was very committed to wanting to write a female protagonist who felt like a female protagonist, not like a woman who has all the same qualities as someone who is stereotypically male.
For that reason, Leigh is very intuitive. As her brother puts it, there are things her body knows that her mind can’t yet understand. She relies on her intuition more than her logic in order to solve crimes.
However, because she uses her emotions to guide her toward clues, it means she doesn’t always have insight into her own actions. As a result, she often comes across as erratic, unpredictable, and a loose cannon. She’s always toeing that line between being divorced from reality and deeply connected to it. She doesn’t always know which is which. Neither does the reader.
In The Hunter, the past informs the present. What intrigues you about that concept?James Baldwin has this great quote that I think about often: “The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.”
So much of crime fiction is about the why of our most extreme actions.
Why do some people kill? Why do others need to bring killers to justice?
In order to understand both of those questions, we need to develop deep psychological portraits of people, communities, and even places. As any psychologist knows, understanding who you are is just as much about understanding who you used to be and about the history of your community. We inherit so much and we examine so little of it. Yet we need to if we are going to understand other people and ourselves.
How has being a literary agent helped or hindered your own publishing success?Both! On the one hand, I have access to people those outside of the industry don’t have access to. On the other hand, I get to see just how hard it is for any author to succeed even if they already have an agent. But the one great thing that working in publishing has done for me is that it has primed me for having the patience I needed to be a writer.
In working with my own clients, I’ve seen how long and how painstaking the process is to “get it right,” as well as how steep the competition is when you’re just getting started. You need to be completely devoted to the thing you’re creating. “Mediocrity is always in a rush,” is a phrase I repeat to myself a lot. It helps me slow down and respect the process.
Outside of other writers, what has influenced your writing the most?I am a big talker. Other people’s lives are endlessly fascinating to me.
Just last night I was at a restaurant, where the person at the table next to mine wanted to share about his experiences being an Italian American in South Philly. He had some great one-liners. While those exact lines will probably never end up in a book I write, his way of seeing the world might, as well as his personality and details about how he dressed or the way that he walked.
So much about being a writer is about being a little bit in love with everyone you meet.
What are you working on now?I want to continue to write books that readers of The Hunter will enjoy: books for people who have fallen back in love with their own family; books for those wanting romance, not just the quick and easy kind, but the kind that tests your mettle. Above all I want to write books for those who are looking to escape into another world, one where the mysteries raised are solved by the end, and where you feel as though you’ve learned something, maybe even about yourself.
Whatever comes next, I want it to hit those notes.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:As much as you can, try to be process oriented not results oriented.
Great advice! And wonderful interview. Congratulations on your debut.Author Pet Corner!
Olive![image error]Olive is a seven-year-old rescue from New York City!
Jennifer Herrera
Photo ©Aliza Schlabach 2022.Jennifer Herrera is a former philosophy grad student turned literary agent, who is fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves to live and the lies we cling to that sabotage our chances at a good life.
She grew up in northwest Ohio and now resides in Philadelphia with her family.
“Herrera has a gift for drawing vivid characters and rich settings. A voicey and compelling debut that is not to be missed!”
— Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Girl, Forgotten
All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
Header image by Geralt on Pixabay
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