Elena Hartwell's Blog, page 46
October 22, 2022
Live and Let Grind: Coffee Lover’s Mystery
[image error]Live and Let Grind, a Coffee Lover’s Mystery
Guest Post + Book & Author Info + Rafflecopter Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.Live and Let Grind
Devil’s Beach is percolating with a hot murder case, and reporter-turned-barista Lana Lewis could be the next to get beaned in Tara Lush’s third Coffee Lover’s mystery, perfect for fans of Cleo Coyle and Lucy Burdette.
Laid-off journalist Lana Lewis is thriving as the proprietor of Perkatory, a coffee shop on quirky Devil’s Beach island, Florida. She’s juggling a relationship with police chief Noah Garcia, enjoying the company of her best friend, Erica, and relishing the companionship of her golden Shih Tzu, Stanley. Only problem is her neighbor, Gus, who incessantly uses his leaf blower, disturbing everyone in the neighborhood. Lana has learned to tune it out, but Erica’s rage boils over and she confronts Gus.
Then Gus is found dead, killed when his leaf blower explodes. Erica immediately becomes suspect number one. But there are plenty of other candidates as well: Gus’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Honey Bailey, who thinks she’ll be written out of his will; Mickey Dotson and Doug Beck, who were scalded financially after purchasing a pirate-themed tourist cruise business from Gus; and plenty of angry neighbors who’ve had run-ins with him.
As the clock ticks down will Lana get someone to spill the beans on the killer so she can clear her friend’s name, or will Erica go to jail for a crime she didn’t commit?
Live and Let Grind (A Coffee Lover’s Mystery)
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Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Florida
Crooked Lane Books (October 11, 2022)
Hardcover : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 1639101128
ISBN-13 : 978-1639101122
Digital ASIN : B09Q877DDS
Music plays a big role in my Coffee Lover’s Mystery series.
When I started my first book, Grounds for Murder, I knew that I wanted music to be part of the story to evoke a time and a place for the readers. I always make playlists for books that I write.
My main character, Lana Lewis, is a millennial. I am not a millennial — far from it, in fact. While I’m hip to some new music trends (do people even say hip these days?), I’m definitely not the expert I once was back in 1989.
So I decided to make Lana a millennial who loves 70s and 80s music, the tunes of her parents’ generation. She especially enjoys “Yacht Rock,” which is the soft rock that dominated the radio airwaves back in those decades. You know, artists like Jimmy Buffett, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers. Nothing too brash. The songs are easy, breezy, and perfect to play in a café across the street from a Florida beach.
Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” is one of the classics in that genre. And while I wasn’t a big fan of it back in the day, when I relistened to it while writing my latest book, Live and Let Grind, I discovered that it’s actually an amazing jam.
You can easily picture being on vacation in the Sunshine State and hearing some smooth tunes coming from a beach bar or a coffee shop. Sipping an iced latte or a frothy cocktail while listening to a hybrid of synth-pop and smooth jazz evokes memories of Miami Vice, doesn’t it?
As a Florida resident, I joke that it’s the law that everyone who lives here must know all the words to “Margaritaville” within a month of arrival. Since my series is set in Florida, this seemed like the perfect music for them to listen to.
Lana is a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac, and plays it in Perkatory, her beachfront café. Her parents met at a Fleetwood Mac concert, and many of the songs — like “Landslide” — remind her of her late mother.
There is one music-centered mystery in Live and Let Grind. Lana’s father, an old hippie who usually loves The Grateful Dead, begins listening to Electronic Dance Music. Lana hates the throbbing club beats that remind her of her old life in Miami. She’s not sure if her father is having a midlife crisis or what, but she’s determined to get him to stop playing it in the café. It’s a bit of comic relief while the father-daughter duo investigate a murder.
Here’s an excerpt of Lana, her shih tzu Stanley, and her dad in Live and Let Grind.
# # #
Erica, my barista, closed her mouth, then opened it again, but before any words came out, the music abruptly changed. One minute Don Henley was singing about the end of innocence, and the next there was a heavy bass beat, synthesized riffs, and what sounded like a guy grunting “oh yeah” over and over.
“What is that?” Erica whispered. “It sounds like someone’s jackhammering inside my head.”
“I feel like I’m in a cheap club in Miami.” The song changed to a rhythmic beat, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Doug bob his head in time with the music. I turned my back to him and grimaced at Erica. “This is the kind of music Dad was listening to last night when I called him.”
She visibly winced. “Might want to talk to him about that.”
Nodding, I toted Stanley into the back room, praying that no one from the health department was in the café. Dad was washing his hands.
“Hey there, I have some wicked gossip for you.” He lathered up. One thing Dad was diligent about was hygiene. And gossip.
“Uh, cool, but I need to ask you something. Did you change the satellite radio station?”
He turned the water off with his elbow and reached for a paper towel, his eyes glittering. “Yes, this is Diplo’s Revolution. Don’t you love it? I’ve been listening to this a lot lately. Don’t you dig the beat?”
I stroked Stanley’s fur. I very much did not dig the beat and found it headache inducing. But I was leaving, and if that was what Dad, Erica, and Barbara wanted to listen to, I guess it was okay. “Make sure the customers don’t mind. They’re usually pretty pleased with the yacht rock.”
“Sure, sure. Now listen. About Gus.”
I rifled through my backpack and found a leash for Stanley. “What about him?”
“Apparently, he and Honey had some troubles. They were separated. I told you that. But it turns out he had a girlfriend too.”
I rolled my eyes. “What, he wanted someone even younger?” It was difficult to hide the snark, because I was a bit salty about older men who paired up with much younger women. My ex-husband—now a bigshot TV news reporter in Miami—had left me for a twenty-two-year-old.
“No, that’s the thing. He left her for one of the women who works at the library. She’s his age.”
I clipped the leash onto Stanley’s collar. When I stood, he immediately tried to climb my leg. “Well, that’s a twist.”
“Yep. And I’m hearing Honey isn’t all that sad about Gus’s death. Apparently she was skating by the beach today.”
I scrunched up my nose. “How do you know those things?” “Well, it’s the leader of the crystal bowl group. You know, Abe?”
“Abe. No. Don’t know him.”
“He’s a mystic. His wife, Ethel, is an astrologer.”
“A mystic? Dad, come on. What even is that?” Sometimes Dad was a bit much, trusting in people I thought were total crackpots. As far as I knew, he wasn’t giving them his life savings, but thank- fully now that I was back on Devil’s Beach, I could keep a close eye on the situation as Dad got older.
“A mystic’s similar to a light worker.”
I snorted. “Okay, whatever. That tells me nothing.”
“Abe knows a lot about the people in the group. About their auras. He was something of a father figure to Honey.”
“I’ll bet he was.” Sarcasm dripped from my tone. “Anyway. We’re leaving so Stanley can do his business. We’re going to take a little stroll to that new pet food store down the street, and then we’ll be back for the bike.” My bicycle had a deep basket in front for Stanley, and he loved riding with me.
“Sounds great, munchkin.” Dad gave me a kiss on the cheek as he passed by, tickling me with his beard. Now that I thought about it, he looked a little like a thin Santa Claus. Or an extremely fit Jerry Garcia. “Your beard’s getting a little long,” I called out. “And so is your hair. You look like a hippie.”
“Make love, not war, man,” he cried as he loped out.
Tara Lush — Author of Live and Let Grind
Tara Lush is a Rita Award finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow, and a George C. Polk Award winning journalist.
For the past decade, she’s been a reporter with the Associated Press, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters, and politics.
She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations. A fan of vintage pulp-fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, and 1980s fashion, she lives with her husband and two dogs on the Gulf coast.
To learn more about Tara, click on any of the following links: WEBSITE, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & GOODREADS Visit all the stops on the Tour!
October 12 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
October 12 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 15 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 15 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
October 16 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
October 16 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
October 17 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 18 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 18 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 20 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 21 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
October 21 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
October 22 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 22 – The Mystery of Writing – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 23 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
October 23 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 24 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 25 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
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.
The post Live and Let Grind: Coffee Lover’s Mystery appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 18, 2022
The Photo Thief: Gothic Police Procedural
The Photo Thief, the latest release by J.L. Delozier
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any author interviews! Click the link here.The Photo Thief
Drawn into a wealthy family’s long, sordid history, a grieving detective faces a choice: overlook a socialite’s death and save his career, or risk it all for the chance to hear his daughter’s voice again.
If photos could speak.
Still grieving his toddler’s death, Detective Dan Brennan of the Philadelphia P.D. returns to the force and is assigned to investigate a socialite’s fatal fall down her mansion’s staircase. But the open-and-shut case is turned on its head when the victim’s epileptic daughter alleges her mother was murdered. Her evidence? The dead. Vintage crime-scene photographs displayed on the mansion’s walls have told her so.
Compelled by the reclusive teen’s pleas, Brennan investigates her mother’s death and the disturbing secrets hidden in plain sight on the mansion’s walls. He soon discovers the vintage photographs are tied to a quartet of cold cases with a disturbing commonality. As the wealthy family’s long, sordid history threatens to bury him, Brennan’s forced to make a choice: save his career, or risk it all for the chance to hear his daughter’s voice again.
To purchase The Photo Thief, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound & GoodreadsInterview with J.L. Delozier — Author of The Photo Thief The Photo Thief combines thrillers, ghosts, and police procedurals, how did that mix of genres come about?I love to play with things that warp people’s minds, whether it be medications, diseases, or emotions—in this case, grief.
What would it take to make a hardened, pragmatic homicide detective believe he could talk to his dead daughter again? What pieces of his life would he have to abandon to believe in “ghosts?”
I wanted the reader to have to make that decision as well. Each reader can decide for themselves if the paranormal aspects of the book are “real” or just the by-product of a warped mind.
Tell us about Dan Brennan, protagonist for The Photo Thief :Fun fact: I based him on psychologist Dr. Crowe as portrayed by Bruce Willis in the movie The Sixth Sense. He’s a good guy who’s been dealt a series of bad blows—his daughter’s brain cancer and ultimate demise, a subsequent divorce, a falling-out at work.
He’s just trying to claw his way back when he’s assigned the case that sets the story in motion—a socialite’s fatal fall down her mansion’s stairs.
The Photo Thief is set in a mansion in Philadelphia. How does that environment play out in the story?Society Hill is a historic section of one of American’s oldest cities. I wanted that sense of history since, while the book is set in present day, the cold cases investigated in The Photo Thief are from the 1930s and 40s. And old mansions are just fun—the heavy, dark furnishings, the moldering brick, the whiff of despair and decay.
Think Shirley Jackson’s Hill House, Guillermo del Toro’s movie Crimson Peak, or Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic.
How does your professional history in the medical field impact your work as a novelist and writer?I don’t write true medical thrillers, but I put a hint of medical science in everything I write. The human mind and body have so many interesting, obscure quirks—why not sprinkle a few here and there?
Tell us something about yourself we would never guess from your fiction:I own three beautiful, full functional accordions. Want one?
What are you working on now?The sequel to The Photo Thief. Can’t say too much about it or I’ll give the ending of The Photo Thief away.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:I glanced at this question too fast and first thought it said for aging writers, to which my advice would be: Write faster! (This made Elena laugh out loud)
For aspiring writers, I recommend having a firm handle on your goals. Are you writing for enjoyment or do you want to make it a career?
Writing can be fun and fulfilling, but on the business side, there’s a ton of rejection, and not just from agents. If constant rejection would damage your mental health or destroy your love of the written word, don’t make writing a career. Write for joy.
Excellent advice!Author Pet Corner!
Luna and Lily!
Rosa!Twins, Luna and Lily.
I’ve also assumed responsibility for my deceased sister’s menagerie,
which means I’m an aunt/caretaker to German Shepherd Rosa and cats Primo, Miabella, and Maude.
I definitely have my hands full!
Primo and Mia!You do! What a beautiful extended family. So sorry for your loss, but so glad you could take in your sister’s beautiful pets.J.L. Delozier
J.L. Delozier submitted her first story, handwritten in pencil on lined school paper, to Asimov’s magazine while still in junior high school. Several years later, she took a creative writing elective at Penn State and was hooked. She received her BS and MD degrees in six years, which was followed by the blur of internship, residency, and the launch of her medical career. But she never forgot her first love.
From the deductive reasoning of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the cutting-edge science of Michael Crichton, she remains inspired by facts that lie on the edge of reality: bizarre medical anomalies, new genetic discoveries and anything that seems too weird to be true.
Dr. Delozier’s 2016 debut thriller, Type & Cross, was nominated for a “Best First Novel” award by the International Thriller Writers organization. Storm Shelter followed, and Blood Type X completed the trilogy in 2019. Novel number four, Con Me Once, published in 2020 and won a Silver Falchion Award. Her first murder-mystery, The Photo Thief, arrives Fall, 2022 from CamCat books.
Her short fiction has won a Roswell Award and appeared in Artemis Journal, The Pittsburgher, Thriller Magazine, Retreats from Oblivion, and the anthologies, Noirville: Tales from the Dark Side and Writers Crushing COVID-19. A retired Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Penn State, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and feline twins.
To learn more about J.L., click on any of the following links: Facebook 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.
Header photo: David Mark on Pixabay
The post The Photo Thief: Gothic Police Procedural appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 11, 2022
On Good Authority: Gothic Suspense
On Good Authority, a novel of Gothic suspense by Briana Una McGuckin
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any debut author interviews! Click the link here.On Good Authority
Repressed desires, irresistible obsessions, and perception-twisting games.
When lady’s maid Marian Osley and footman Valentine Hobbs assume their positions at the cliff-top estate of Valor Rise, they already share a history. Raised together as paupers in a London workhouse, they escaped through games of imaginary crimes and sublime punishment. Now they’ve been unexpectedly reunited—in subservience to the brooding Wythe Bornholdt and his frail wife, Diana. A master and mistress with their own dark secrets.
In private, Marian and Valentine return to their playful and addictive games—now tinged with BDSM. But when lecherous Wythe sees something he desires in Marian, he turns the pair’s diversions violently against them.
The line between servitude and bondage is drawn, and the dynamics of dominance and submission will shift in this sensually charged novel of Gothic suspense.
To purchase On Good Authority, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Goodreads, and the River Bend Bookshop.On Good Authority — The InterviewTell us about the world you created for your debut novel, On Good Authority :In part, of course, I was working in a world that was already there—that of Victorian England. But I think the lens I’m having readers look through does give a different perspective to the one we often get from that time and place.
For one, I’m focused on the servants in a manor house, and how they see the society in which the upper classes move. Their view of “above-stairs” from below is not wholly negative, either; it’s complicated, because the power of the wealthier people is tied, subtly and overtly both, to their being better people than the poor. So the servants grapple with this sense of guilt and shame as well as jealousy.
The way people dress or talk, how they fill their time—it all comes down to power, or lack thereof. I think power is a tangible part of the world of the story. Who gets to be in control at any given moment affects everything: who is allowed to commit huge transgressions and who is punished for small slip-ups, and even the kinky romantic relationship between the lady’s maid and footman in the book.
On Good Authority is Gothic Suspense. What do you love about that genre and how can readers see that reflected in the book?Gothics are my absolute favorite for their sensuality—specifically, their sensual darkness. Gothics and Romantic Suspense stories, like Jane Eyre and Rebecca, put our dread and our desire side-by-side, and it works because we do get fascinated by the things forbidden us.
Gothic stories also tend to present us with a mismatch between the reality of the world and the perceptions of the protagonist. I’ve pulled both the Gothic sensuality and the Gothic self-doubt into On Good Authority. Marian, our heroine, is coming of age as a kinky person in an era when nobody respectable talks about sex, let alone weird sex; her desires are mysterious to her, as dangerous as they are compelling.
And then, when her employer, Mr. Bornholdt, tries to take advantage of her submissive inclination, that trauma muddies her sense of self even more.
There’s an old manor in the story, of course, but the most haunted place of all is Marian’s mind, caught between what she wants in her heart (from Valentine, not Bornholdt) and the worry that she’s sick somehow.
What would you like readers to know about Marian Osley and Valentine Hobbs?That the obstacles to their togetherness are not one another. That they’re not adversaries. I get the sense that pop culture thinks of BDSM relationships as contentious—cold, maybe, or brusque. But that dynamic is all theatre—planned, practiced, and performed for one another. It’s part of the game of BDSM, part of the play. And in order for that performance to be possible, there has to be deep trust and respect underneath—just like actors have by the end of a rehearsal process.
This is why I wanted to show the beginnings of a BDSM relationship—how people fall into kink—so others could see what the draw really is. Because it’s not about causing actual harm, or being mean. It’s about agreeing to hand over, or take, responsibility for a while; the person surrendering gets to let go and stop worrying about everything, and the person taking over gets to feel like they have some control over their immediate surroundings for a while.
Describe your publishing journey for On Good Authority ?Oh, we went through everything together! On Good Authority was my thesis novel when I got my MFA from Western Connecticut State University. I started querying agents at the end of my final semester, and was rejected a little over 100 times over six months.
Then the manuscript got accepted into the Pitch Wars mentorship program, and I had the great privilege of revising the manuscript under Elizabeth Little, who was wonderful and so wise. Her confidence in the story, her belief in it, meant everything to me. She really put me in my place about what a rejection means: nothing.
Or, next to nothing.
It means this one person didn’t like this work, or didn’t know how to sell it. That helped me to hold on to the knowledge that I had made something important, and to have the tenacity and patience to seek out someone else who could see that.
My agent, Chris Bucci, snapped up On Good Authority from the Pitch Wars Showcase. Then there were lots of passes from publishers who didn’t know what to do with the manuscript; they liked the writing, but they didn’t know how to market the story, or they were nervous about the kinky aspects.
In August, Jessica Tribble Wells, who would become my editor, read it in I think 2 days and jumped on it. So, a year and a half after I’d started querying, I had a book deal. It sounds short when I put it like that, but it didn’t feel short. It was excruciating, exhausting—I nearly gave up so many times. Querying is hard. I’d love more opportunities to help people through that lonely patch of publishing…
As things spring up to replace Pitch Wars (which has ended since I did it), I really want to help people as I was helped.
You have spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, what has that meant for your life and your writing?I wouldn’t be a writer without it. I had corrective surgeries when I was ten and eleven, but before that I walked on my toes, because my heel cords were too tight to let my heels touch the floor. Because I couldn’t straighten my legs (tight hamstrings!), I walked with my knees turned in, so they could lean on each other and bear my weight. Running was awkward. Even walking was awkward. I fell down a lot. I still do, actually. Balance, weight-bearing, picking up my feet when I walk—all things I struggle with, though the surgeries did improve my gait.
All of that to say, physical play was more stressful for me than fun as a kid—especially because, from a young age, there were physical therapists in the house making me play games that were actually just exercises; that was often uncomfortable and frustrating. So, I started writing when I was young because it was easier to play in my mind than in my body. And, because it brought me joy, I kept going back to the page and trying again.
I’m so glad. I love being this person; I wouldn’t change me. If I wish for anything, it’s that we had more stylish kneepads. You know, like options for evening wear or a chic brunch. It’d save me some bruises.
What are you working on now?Another Romantic Suspense set in the 19th century, this time in Dublin, Ireland.
A young woman trying to escape the world of prostitution poses as a man in order to get into Trinity College. As part of her scholarship, she is made live-in servant to a professor there. She lives in fear of his discovering her—figuring he’d demand her body in return for keeping her secret, if he knew. Of course, he does find out, but his reaction is not at all what she expects…
So begins a relationship that could ruin both their lives—or, perhaps, set them free.
It’s a story about the repressive attitudes around sexuality (and women’s rights) at the time, but it’s also got a lot to do with gender identity, and how we’re (I hope) finally starting to break down the limiting gender boxes we put ourselves in, now. I’m not just writing to depict how things were then, in other words; I also want to suggest something about how things could and should be.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:You should try, try, try to hold off critiquing the first draft until after you actually finish the first draft. I think of it like this: the first draft is you getting all the stuff you want to look at under a microscope, and revision is adjusting the lens to bring it into better focus.
If you start fiddling with the lens before you’ve got your slides done, sure, you can focus, but what are you focusing on? You won’t know how to do that work until the story is out of you, on the slides (pages). Trust that you can and will do the work when it’s time, and wait.
Fantastic advice.Author Pet Corner!
Starman!This is Starman. Believe it or not, he’s part St. Bernard.
We’re not sure what part.
Probably the heart, because his is so big.
Briana McGuckin — Author of On Good Authority
Photo by Stephanie LayneBriana Una McGuckin has cerebral palsy, a perhaps concerningly large collection of perfume oils, and a fascination with all things Victorian.
Her debut novel, On Good Authority (Victorian Gothic/Romantic Suspense), launched October 11th, 2022.
Briana’s short fiction appears in the Bram Stoker-nominated horror anthology Not All Monsters, modern Gothic horror anthology In Somnio, and elsewhere.
To learn more about Briana, click on her name, photo or the following links: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & TikTokElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
Header image by Ron Porter on Pixabay
The post On Good Authority: Gothic Suspense appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 9, 2022
It’s News To Me: RG Belsky
It’s News to Me, the latest release by RG Belsky
Guest Post + Author & Book Info + Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.It’s News to Me
“[It’s News to Me is] witty, clever and engaging. Clare Carlson’s irreverent comments and dogged reporter’s instincts make for a propulsive ride as she races from the chaos of a newsroom’s inner sanctum to the dangers of a murder victim’s deepest secrets. Once you start, you won’t put it down.”
—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times best-selling author
Dashed dreams: she wanted to run for president one day, now she’s dead at 20
When Riley Hunt—a beautiful, smart, popular student at Easton College in Manhattan—is brutally murdered, it becomes a big story for TV newswoman Clare Carlson.
After days of intense media coverage, a suspect is caught: a troubled Afghanistan war veteran with a history of violent and unstable behavior. The suspect’s mother, however, comes to Clare with new evidence that might prove her son’s innocence.
As Clare digs deeper into the puzzling case, she learns new information: Riley had complained about being stalked in the days before her murder, she was romantically involved with two different men—the son of a top police official and the son of a prominent underworld boss—and she had posted her picture on an escort service’s website offering paid dates with wealthy men.
Soon, Clare becomes convinced that Riley Hunt’s death is more than just a simple murder case—and that more lives, including her own, are now in danger until she uncovers the true story.
Genre: Mystery
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: October 4th 2022
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 1608094561 (ISBN13: 9781608094561)
Series: Clare Carlson #5 (each is a stand alone work)
I’ve published 20 mystery novels in my career as an author. All of them have been written with my protagonist telling the story in the first person.
“How come you never write books in the third person, like so many other authors do?” readers sometime ask me.
“I do.”
“Where are those books?”
“They never got published,” I say.
Which might say a lot about me as a writer.
I’ve always preferred writing—as well as reading—books that are written in the first person. To me, it’s just more personal and more powerful because you get inside the character’s head. Pretty much all my favorite characters—and the authors who write them—are first person stories. Raymond Chandler and Philip Marlow. Robert B. Parker and Spenser. Sue Grafton and Kinsey Millhone. Janet Evanovich and Stephanie Plum. Lawrence Block and Matt Scudder.
Of course, there are many good books written in the third person too. Single third person is in many ways like first person in that you’re only getting the main character’s viewpoint, but it’s not the character directly telling his story by himself or herself. It’s coming from the author.
Much more common—and with its own advantages—is the multiple point of view. In the multiple POV, the reader gets different takes from the different characters. The main protagonist. The villain. And frequently several other characters in the story. This can be really interesting because each character may reveal information to the reader that the other characters in the book don’t know about. Which doesn’t happen in a single POV mode.
I’m going through all this now with you because it’s stuff I’ve thought about a lot before writing my own books.
Like I said, even though my published work has all been in the 1st person, I’ve tried various times to write in 3rd person and multiple POV. I still would like to accomplish that at some time in the future.
On the other hand, maybe I’m overthinking this whole thing.
I once asked best-selling author Michael Connelly why he wrote most of his Harry Bosch books in the 3rd person. Bosch seemed to me to be a classic 1st person detective in the same vein as Philip Marlowe or Spenser or the rest. I figured Connelly would have some well-thought out rationale for me.
Instead, he said: “I don’t know. I never really thought about it. I just wrote Bosch that way.”
Some authors switch back and forth, even with the same character. Lee Child, for example, has written Jack Reacher in both the 3rd person and 1st person styles. Connelly did one of his Bosch books in the 1st person, but the rest are in 3rd person—or, more recently, multiple POV.
Every once in a while you’ll even see someone write a book using the much rarer 2nd person. Check out Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. The opening sentence is: “You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning.” 2nd person works here, but probably would become tiresome if used too much by authors in their novels.
Writing in the 1st person presents another challenge for me. Because most of my mystery novels have featured female protagonists. So I’m writing 1st person as a female character. I don’t think that has been a problem for readers (and there are women who write men characters in the 1st person). But again, every time I’ve tried to write a main female character in the 3rd person, well…it doesn’t seem to work for me
The more I think about it, maybe Michael Connelly has the right idea.
I should worrying about all this—and just write the best mystery novel that I can.
Maybe one day it will even be a 3rd person or multiple POV book!
RG Belsky — Author of It’s News to Me and the Clare Carlson Series
R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His new mystery, It’s News to Me, will be published on October 4 by Oceanview.
It is the fifth in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. Belsky has published 19 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News.
He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. He lives in New York City and is a contributing writer to The Big Thrill magazine.
To learn more about RG, click on any of the following links: www.RGBelsky.com, Goodreads, BookBub – @dickb79983, Instagram – @dickbelsky, Twitter – @DickBel & Facebook – @RGBelskyVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
10/03 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
10/04 Showcase @ The Mystery Section
10/05 Interview @ I Read What You Write
10/06 Showcase @ Im All About Books
10/09 Guest post @ The Mystery of Writing
10/12 Review @ Novels Alive
10/14 Showcase @ Silvers Reviews
10/15 Review @ enjoyingbooksagain
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10/17 Review @ Nesies Place
10/18 Guest post @ The Book Divas Reads
10/19 Showcase @ The Authors Harbor
10/21 Review @ Paws. Read. Repeat
10/25 Review @ tea. and. titles bookstagram
10/26 Showcase @ Celticladys Reviews
10/27 Guest post @ The Reading Frenzy
10/28 Review @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews
10/29/2022 Review @ A Room Without Books is Empty
10/30 Review @ Melissa As Blog
10/31 Review @ rozierreadsandwine
All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post It’s News To Me: RG Belsky appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 7, 2022
Proving a Villain: A Kim Brady Mystery
Proving a Villain, the latest Kim Brady Mystery by Edward J Leahy
Author Interview + Book & Author InfoDon’t miss any author interviews! Click the link here.Proving a Villain
Shortly after her arrival at Brooklyn North Homicide, Detective Kim Brady is assigned a seven-month-old rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. While the initial investigation focused on a teen suspect, DNA evidence, as well as the killer’s signature, establishes that the killer was also responsible for several older crimes, including the 1963 case Kim’s grandfather was working when he was killed. She is chasing a killer who’s been on the loose for fifty-five years.
Kim’s investigation takes place against the backdrop of a special mayoral election pitting a “law and order” state senator against the “defunder” acting mayor. A protest group is accusing the police of letting the case go cold because the victim is a Latina and stoking protests that result in arson and the killing of a firefighter. While Kim awaits the result of DNA analysis, her headquarters receives two bomb threats and the killer strikes again… and again… and again.
To purchase Proving a Villain click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble & IndieBoundProving a Villain Author Interview with Edward J Leahy Proving a Villain takes place in Brooklyn, an iconic location for a police procedural. What do you love, and what do you have to overcome, locating your series in New York?
Ed finishing the Jackson Heights 1Mile run/walkThe beauty of New York is in its neighborhoods, because each one has its own unique history, identity, and flavor. What’s more, the character of each neighborhood evolves over time. That allows me to make each setting a character in the story.
The challenge, of course, is to understand what makes each neighborhood tick. And in Proving a Villain, not only did I need to understand present-day Brooklyn, I also needed to have a sense of the Bronx in the past. As it happened, I had already been researching for another project, one involving Kim’s grandfather, and so I was able to tie the two together.
What should readers know about Proving a Villian ’s detective Kim Brady?Kim is the daughter of a former NYPD detective and the granddaughter of another.
Her grandfather, Dan Brady, was a hero but her father was not, and her father’s shady past haunts her. She is badass, but in a quiet way, and she’s an independent thinker, which sometimes annoys her superiors.
Proving a Villain is the third in your Kim Brady series, anything readers should know about the first two book? Or can this be read as a standalone?Each book in the series can be read as a standalone, although Kim’s character arc (as well as those of some of the supporting characters) shows more clearly if one reads the entire series.
In the first book in the series, Past Grief, Kim is just back to active duty after her father’s suicide when she must solve a mass shooting by convincing the lone eyewitness, a transgender woman, to testify, and find the mastermind of the crime who is obstructing her investigation and gaslighting her. We also see Kim’s ambivalent feelings about her father and how they impact her relationship with Jake Dudek, her boyfriend at the beginning of the story.
In Deceived by Ornament, to solve two murders in which pagan symbols were carved in the victims’ chests, Kim must determine whether the murderer is a police officer or an imposter, a serial killer or part of a domestic terrorist plot, while a local politician micromanages her captain.
How did your career as a tax accountant prepare you for a career as an author?Both require analytical ability, and, for the kind of fiction I write, a lot of research.
Most of my accounting career was spent in the corporate setting (so, lots of experience in hierarchical organizations, a definite plus when writing about police), but the last segment of my career, I worked for the IRS as an International Issue Specialist and had some dealings with the office of the Treasury Inspector for Tax Administration (TIGTA), as well as the lawyers from the national office of the Treasury Department.
It gave me an appreciation for investigative work.
You are a bit of a foodie, enjoying all the culinary delights your area has to offer. Tell us about some of your favorite NY restaurants.
I like to use real restaurants as settings, an idea I got from an online session I attended several years ago given by C. Hope Clark. I referenced my favorite French bistro, Tournesol, in Past Grief, located in Long Island City in Queens. I also couldn’t resist mentioning Leahy’s Pub, which is a few doors down from Tournesol. I also mentioned a diner in the same neighborhood, Dorian’s Café, which unfortunately did not survive the Covid pandemic. A delightful Mexican restaurant, El Puerto de Acapulco in Corona, Queens, also did not survive the pandemic.
Gallagher’s Steakhouse on West 52nd Street in Manhattan is an all-time favorite of mine. My parents used to go there before I was born and going there is like stepping back in time. It will appear in the first book in my Dan Brady series, Enemies of All, which will be released next May.
Back in Queens, there is a wonderful Spanish restaurant, Café Salamanca, just three blocks from my apartment in Jackson Heights (oddly enough, it’s Galician in style even though Salamanca is not in Galacia). Also nearby is a marvelous Thai restaurant, Kitchen 79, and in neighboring Sunnyside, our favorite Italian restaurant, Donato’s.
What are you working on now?Having introduced readers to Kim’s grandfather, Dan Brady, in Proving a Villain, I am working on the first book in his series, Enemies of All.
In the early 1940s, Dan, an Irish immigrant, pioneers cooperation with other law enforcement agencies to track down a serial rapist who murdered a Bronx Sunday School teacher, and to investigate a string of anti-Semitic crimes that ultimately point to sabotage. The story is based on two historical events.
I’m also finishing the first draft of the fourth Kim Brady novel, Judgment of Beasts, which will be more of a political thriller. No publication date is set, yet.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:Read The Foundation of Plot. Learn the craft. And it’s never too late to get started. My first novel was published when I was 67.
Awww! Thank you, that is so kind of you to include my guidebook on story structure.Edward J. Leahy
Edward J. Leahy is a retired tax accountant living in Jackson Heights, New York.
A life-long New Yorker, he enjoys taking advantage of all the city has to offer with his wife, Cindy, spinning stories of crimes past and present, with the city-that-never-sleeps serving as a character and their favorite restaurants as scenes.
To learn more about Ed, click on any of the following links: Twitter, Facebook & AmazonElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
Header image by Pexels on Pixabay
The post Proving a Villain: A Kim Brady Mystery appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 6, 2022
Inhuman Acts: Debut Thriller
Inhuman Acts, the latest release by Brooke L. French
Spotlight + Excerpt + Giveaway!Don’t miss any book tour posts! Click the link here.Inhuman Acts by Brooke L. French
A deadly, incurable disease creeps silent through Chattanooga. And its victims aren’t random.When inexplicable human rabies cases appear in Tennessee, disease ecologist Letty Duquesne jumps at the chance to trace the virus back to its source. But the closer Letty gets to finding the outbreak’s origin, the further someone will go to stop her.
With an unwanted promotion threatening to take Letty far from the field work she loves, this outbreak feels like her last chance to make a difference. It’s not something she can ignore, especially now. The spillover of zoonotic diseases to the human population is on the rise and violent animal attacks — like the one that killed her sister — are becoming all too common.
Something in nature has gone very wrong.
Local authorities would rather she go home, but Letty can track a source animal like no one else. With the help of disgraced detective, Andrew Marsh, Letty follows the virus’s epidemiological trail. But her every move is watched. And the source animal is closer than she thinks.
Inhuman Acts is a pulse-pounding thriller. Gripping and intricately paced, Brooke L. French’s debut novel will keep you on the edge of your seat.Genre: Thriller
Published by: Black Rose Writing
Publication Date: September 29th 2022
Number of Pages: 310
ISBN: 1685130356 (ISBN13: 9781685130350)
April 7, 2017
A week at sea produced a lot of laundry. It fluttered above Jessa Duquesne as she lay on the foredeck of her parents’ sailboat, soaking up the morning sun. The air smelled of salt, waves splooshed against the hull, and seabirds cried out in the distance. It was everything she loved about a life lived outdoors.
Jessa lifted her head, searching the water for Mark. The ocean glittered, and the Nápali coast rose in the distance. Razor-sharp crags, each peak edged with green. Beautiful but empty. Just like the sea. No Mark.
She twisted to check their port side and spotted him beneath the surface. His body slid through a seemingly endless expanse of water, all sun-kissed skin and muscle.
Yum.
She’d never planned to marry, never had any interest in men that a one night stand couldn’t fix. At least, not until she’d met Mark. He surfaced for a breath then slipped back under the waves. Something moved behind him, further out. A dark shape, getting closer. Thick body, elongated dorsal fin, maybe eight feet long.
Jessa rolled onto her stomach and undid the shoulder ties of her bikini.
The sandbar shark was probably a female, given the size, and harmless as sharks went. Odd it was out this far from shore, though. Poor thing would probably be lunch for a bigger predator. A great white or a tiger shark. And it shouldn’t have been so close to the surface. Sandbar sharks usually hugged the bottom.
She should go get her camera. Maybe make a note of when she’d spotted it so she could have the data point. She could look up any other odd behavioral patterns when—
Stop it, Jessa.
There would be plenty of opportunities to study marine life when she got back to her office at the university. What she needed to do now was focus on all the wedding planning still left undone. She’d been putting off the worst of it — seating charts and table linens and all the other things she didn’t actually care about — hoping she could pawn them off on her sister. Or, at least, that she and Letty could handle them together this week, powered by a steady rotation of caffeine and wine.
Jessa sighed and shifted on her towel. It couldn’t be helped. Letty wasn’t the type to say no when work called, and it wasn’t like Jessa was sorry to be here. A little get-away with Mark was the perfect use for the week she’d already taken off work. But still…
Seating charts and table linens.
Yuck.
The minutiae danced through her mind, conspiring with the warm press of the sun to lull her into a near-doze…
Ice-cold water dripped onto the small of Jessa’s back, and she jumped with a yelp. “What the—?”
Mark stood over her, a grin on his face, dark hair dripping onto the deck. And her.
“Asshole.” She laughed, using the edge of her towel to wipe the water away while she admired the broad stretch of his chest, the V of his abdomen where it disappeared into the top of his swim trunks. “How was your swim?”
“Lonely.” He pulled a T-shirt from the rigging, where she’d hung it to dry. “Want to go below for a bit?”
She shook her head with a smile. “We’re out of condoms.” They’d used the last one the night before, and the memory brought heat to her cheeks. Even in the cramped confines of the cabin, he was a remarkable lover.
Mark shrugged. “The wedding’s in a month. You wouldn’t even be showing by then.”
His dark eyes sparked with mischief.
“You’re so bad.” Jessa retied the straps of her suit. “I’ll meet you down there. I need to hop in and cool off first.”
Mark helped her to her feet and pulled her close. “Don’t be long.” He pressed a kiss to her lips that tasted like salt water. “We’ve got to return the boat to your dad by four.”
She stepped back, winked at him, and dove off the side.
“Show-off!” he called down after her.
Jessa slipped into the water with barely a splash, like the lifelong swimmer she was. The water brushed a cool relief against her hot skin. Moored as far from land as they were, there was nothing to swim to. She settled for circuits around the boat. After a dozen, she turned onto her back and floated, giving her shoulders a break. The sky was a bright almost unnatural blue. It made a wide crescent against the darker indigo of the sea where the two met at the horizon.
Something brushed her foot.
Jessa stilled her legs, paddling with her arms to keep herself afloat as she searched for the culprit. A light-blue mass swirled below her.
Oh shit.
Ghostly strands reached up, inches from her skin.
Jellies.
And not just any jellyfish — box jellyfish. Large, square bodies with tentacles trailing below. Lots of them. Some as long as ten feet. Each tentacle had as many as five thousand stinging cells. Each one capable of causing excruciating pain and even death.
Don’t panic.
She had to stay calm, keep her wits. Which would be easier if she didn’t know their venom was deadlier than a cobra’s. Her mouth went dry. She turned in a slow circle, her breath tightening with each new jelly she spotted. They pulsed through the water underneath her. A writhing, growing mass.
She shifted the direction of her strokes, pulling herself away from them. How many were there? And why were they out now? Box jellyfish were always in the ocean, but Hawaii’s jellyfish tended to come and go with the cycle of the moon. And they weren’t due for weeks, especially not here. She and Mark had dropped anchor off Kauai, nowhere near the beaches of Oahu where box jellyfish were usually spotted.
“Mark?” She called out, but there was no sign of him.
Must be below deck.
She judged the distance to the boat. Maybe fifty yards. It would be easier and faster if she could kick. But she didn’t want to accidentally make contact with the jellyfish. Even one sting could send her into cardiac arrest. Her mouth was so dry, she could hardly swallow. The world shrunk to nothing more than the distance between her and the boat. She treaded water using only her arms, her muscles protesting, tired from the laps she’d done.
Just get to the ladder.
If you get stung, you’ll find the vinegar and douse yourself.
Jessa kept swimming, trying not to move her legs, gliding over the still-growing mass of jellies. Her heart pounded and she struggled to keep herself from hyperventilating. Forty yards, thirty, twenty-five. This was taking forever.
A lightning bolt of pain shot up from her ankle, a radiating burning sting. “Shit.”
Fuck this.
She kicked off, powering toward the boat. Her ankle burning, her jaw clenched tight against the pain.
Another strike, this one on the other leg and higher near her thigh. Like a thousand wasps stinging at once. Sweat broke out on her forehead, and she gasped at the sudden shock of pain, then another struck. And another. Her body seized, her arms freezing in place as the jellyfish wrapped themselves around her. Delicate strands weaving bands of fire across her body. Her heart thundered. The sear of agony blotting out the rest of the world, until it was the one true certain thing left.
Not the only thing.
“Mark!” Jessa forced out the word as her head slipped under the water, a sharp pain slicing her chest. She willed herself to push toward the surface, not to breathe in the saltwater around her. Except it wasn’t water. The jellyfish were everywhere.
A few feet below the surface, she opened her mouth and screamed.
Brooke L. French — Author of Inhuman Acts
Brooke L. French is a recovering lawyer turned writer who lives with her husband and sons between Atlanta and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
She spends most of her days gleefully researching and writing about fatal viruses, terrorism, and murder.
Brooke is likely on numerous watch lists.
To learn more about Brooke, click on any of the following links: BrookeLFrench.com, Instagram – @brookelewisfrench & Facebook – @brooke.l.french
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All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post Inhuman Acts: Debut Thriller appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 4, 2022
Jackal: Mystery, Horror & Suspense
Jackal, the debut novel by Erin E. Adams combines mystery, horror, and suspense
Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any debut author interviews. Click the link here.Jackal
A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she’s not the first—and she may not be the last. . . .
A PHENOMENAL BOOK CLUB PICK • “A heady, page-turning, all-too-relevant reinvention of the return-to-home horror story—truly gut-wrenching and frightening.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club
It’s watching.
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward, passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the couple’s daughter, Caroline, disappears—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood.
It’s taking.
As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: A summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She’s seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in Liz’s high school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart removed. Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can’t be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town’s history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls.
It’s your turn.
With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness.
To purchase Jackal at various outlets, click the following link: Penguin Random HouseJackal Author Interview — Erin E. AdamsJackal combines horror and the supernatural with a thriller. How did the story come to you?I’ve always loved a good mystery. That is something my mother instilled in me from a very young age with her love of mysteries, thrillers and procedurals. Growing up, I realized more than being fun, as a genre, mysteries have the ability to alter how we see the world. Usually something gets broken apart and the mystery puts it back together. I always knew I wanted to write one.
Digging into real life, I became fascinated with urban legends. So often they’re rooted in real world anxieties or issues. Occasionally, they highlight a broken system or problem in a community. The story is a way of coping. It is a way of explaining the unexplainable.
All of the above started to solidify into the story that would become Jackal right after the 2016 election. Essentially, when I returned home that year, my hometown looked different and not just because of time. Returning home I realized that the conflicts brewing in my hometown had always been there, I’d finally grown enough to be able to name them. In naming them, I was horrified. So, made my own legend to try to explain the unexplainable.
What would you like readers to know about Liz Rocher?Love her for her flaws.
I never wanted a person fully calm and in control at the helm of this story. There is such pressure to make Black women protagonists perfect. How many times have we seen the descriptors of “Black”, “strong” and “warm” women? How many times do Black women have to save the world and while being the perfectly supportive best friend? When do we get to be messy?
If people can love Gillian Flynn’s Amazing Amy, they can love Liz. At the start of the book, Liz is at her breaking point. Her homecoming is for her best friend’s wedding. It’s also for her to reconnect with herself. If she doesn’t get some grounding, her life will fall apart. That is where she starts the novel. That is the person who is being asked to solve this mystery. As the story unfolds, both the missing child’s and Liz’s lives will be on the line.
Tell us about Johnstown, Pennsylvania:It is my hometown and I have a very complicated relationship with it.
It is a fascinating place. The history is incredible. From the flood, to mountains, to the industries, it is a very distinct slice of Americana. It is a town that truly values hard work. It values it’s history.
As I revised Jackal, I set it in a place that was suspiciously like Johnstown. I’d sprinkle in a few specifics here and there until it became distracting. An early reader said they’d spent an afternoon linking together all the clues I’d left to the setting. It’s such a distinct place. Why not just set the book there?
You graduated from the MFA program run by the Old Globe Theater and the University of San Diego (a program I worked for many years ago). Tell us about your journey as an actor:How much time do you have?
I started acting in high school. In college I majored in Theatre and Literary Arts with a focus in Playwriting. Upon graduation I dove right into acting. I did the Acting Apprenticeship with the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. I moved to NYC for a year. Then I went to the Old Globe program to get my MFA in classical acting.
After that, I moved back to NYC where I’ve been ever since. I was working and auditioning consistently pre-pandemic. I started writing again because I got sick of hearing “no”. Rejection is a way of life for actors. You have to figure out a way to handle it. I handled it by writing. I said “yes” to myself.
Instead of writing scripts, I found myself writing stories and creating worlds using prose. I know a lot of writers who started as actors. When you break it down, the two art forms are very similar. As an actor you are embodying a new point of view and living imaginary circumstances. Writers do the exact same thing. I’m continually delighted by how often my training as an actor helps me with character work in my writing.
In addition to writing novels, you write plays. How does that experience and process differ for you? What remains the same?Plays are a totally different beast. When you write a play, you are creating a blueprint for someone else to follow. You might not even be in the room when they follow it! You have to leave detailed enough instructions that still allow space for other creators to come in and tell the story. If you leave too much space in books, the story becomes confusing and unfocused. Novels exist on paper. Plays exist in the air between the performers and the audience.
For me, creating a play requires a lot of writing without a destination. I write so many scenes and monologues just to learn about the characters, or to define how they sound. So many pages of my plays never make the final draft. When it comes to writing novels, there is more planning involved. I still write to learn about my characters and story, but I always have a destination in mind when I write a book. I might not know exactly how I get there, but I always know where I’m going.
What remains the same is sinking into the characters and pursuing truth. Both mediums demand those things. Often times, when I get stuck I’ve either stopped listening to my characters or have shied away from the truth.
What are you working on now?Currently, I’m in previews for my Off Broadway playwriting debut, Ink’dWell.
The play follows Kendra as she returns to her childhood home on Martha’s Vineyard upon learning her brother has died. While searching for the truth about his passing, she finds herself tormented by a childhood ghost story. As the mystery behind his death is unraveled, she discovers that he was drowning in much more than water. The ghost story, paired with her grief, begins to impact her relationship with her family and to the ocean itself.
It opens 10/5/22 at 59E59 Theaters. We run until 10/16/22.
If anyone is in NYC, come check it out. I’m also deep in book two! It is a totally different book from Jackal. This one is more of a domestic horror.
Think, “the call is coming form inside the house”. Two Haitian sisters encounter a mystery involving Haitian mysticism and spiritual deaths. Still honing the pitch on this one, so stay tuned for more details soon. It’s been a TON of fun to write.
Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:This is very hard to do, but there is great value in learning how to engage with art without judgement. It is so easy to pile on criticisms when reading. While it’s valuable to be able to name what isn’t working, it is just as valuable to allow a story to happen.
Judgment can blind you to things worth learning from. Also, engaging without judgement can be very helpful when revising your own work. There is a such thing as over editing and it’s hard to spot if you don’t learn how to make your inner critic take a backseat.
Great advice!Author Pet Corner!
Thisbe!I have a little Boston Terrier/Gremlin named Thisbe.
She is seven years old.
She loves to hike and roll around in the grass.
Thisbe requires morning belly rubs and ear scratches.
She is a total snuggle bug and the good-est pup ever.
Erin E. Adams — Author of Jackal
I’m a first-generation Haitian-American who grew up in a small mountain town in Pennsylvania.
My written work traffics in the worlds of myth, tales of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. (Yeah, I’m a genre lady!)
When it comes to acting, I’m a classically trained professional, who loves New Plays, difficult texts, and challenging the “American Canon”.
There are so many people who are made to feel invisible, purely because they don’t fit the stories told about them. My work as an artist strives to widen that narrow narrow foot path.
To learn more about Erin, click on any of the following links: Website, Instagram, Twitter & FacebookElena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
Header image by Felix Mittermeier on Pixabay.
The post Jackal: Mystery, Horror & Suspense appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
October 1, 2022
Fallout: Suspense by Carrie Stuart Parks
Fallout, the latest novel by Carrie Stuart Parks
Guest Post + Book and Author Info + Author/Blog Tour Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.Fallout by Carrie Stuart Parks
Her carefully crafted life is about to be demolished.After a difficult childhood, Samantha Williams craves simplicity: jigsaw puzzles, lectures at the library, and the students she adores in her role as an elementary art teacher in the dusty farming community of LaCrosse, Washington.
But when an SUV crashes into the school where she teaches, her entire world is upended. She manages to keep all of the children safe, but her car isn’t so lucky. Oddly, her purse—containing her driver’s license, credit cards, and other identification—is missing from the wreckage.
After authorities discover that the driver in the school accident was shot seconds before the crash, Samantha quickly becomes entangled in increasingly strange events that have her looking over her shoulder.
Samantha has long tried to forget the tragedy of her past, but the twisting maze she discovers between the murdered driver, a deadly secret government project, and an abandoned town can’t be ignored. Those involved are determined to keep these secrets buried, and they’ll use any means necessary to stop Samantha’s search for truth.
To purchase Fallout, click on any of the following links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook | GoodreadsGenre: Suspense
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: September 13th 2022
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 0785239855 (ISBN13: 9780785239857)
What a lovely topic as I can take it two ways—what about writing a mystery and it’s a mystery why I, or anyone, writes.
I’ll start with writing a mystery. That’s the easy one. My career, since 1981 (when I was born. . . okay, maybe I was a tad bit older) . . . has been as a forensic artist. I worked for the North Idaho Regional Crime Lab in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
The crime lab handled physical evidence for the ten northern counties of Idaho, the Department of Fish and Game, the FBI, and any agency which required our services. I actually helped out even before that time—as early as high school. My dad was the director of the Crime Lab. He’d bring home cases he was working on and talk about them.
From an early age, we knew not to discuss active cases, so mom and I were good sounding boards. As an artist, dad often asked me to look at something with my “artistic eye.” For example, it might be a blood-stain pattern on the carpeting of the trunk of a car. He would ask what I thought could cause the blood to pool in that particular way. Sounds like a morbid conversation, but I was fascinated by the mystery of it.
Eventually the crime lab hired me on an “as needed” basis to prepare the trial charts for the cases going to court. That meant often going to the crime scene for measurements or viewing the crime scene photos. This work inspired me to continue studying forensic art at the FBI Academy and other training. When I finally ventured into writing, mysteries were the logical choice.
Tackling the second way this topic may be addressed—it’s a mystery anyone writes—is more of a challenge.
The easy answer is “because I must,” or “I have something to say.” Yes, that’s true, but the writing journey is amazing, and discouraging, long and difficult.
“Writing is both an art and a craft.”Writing is both an art and a craft. Crafts, of old, required years of apprenticeship with a master. There is so much to learn! A short list would include: antagonist, beats, characters, description, dialogue, emotion, endings, foreshadowing, genre, hooks, inner and outer journey, openings, pacing—and on it goes.
I was blessed to have a master mentor in Frank Peretti—the dean of Christian Fiction—but most writers are not so fortunate. And not many writers are patient enough to master the skills. With today’s ease of the internet, they self-publish. Well over one and a half million books a year are published on Amazon alone. The competition is astonishing, the chance of success infinitesimal.
The short answer to why it’s a mystery anyone writes might be as simple as it brings you joy. Mostly.
I write because I love writing a good mystery, I love hearing from readers, and I love the fellow writers I’ve been privileged to call friends.
Carrie Stuart Parks — Author of Fallout
Carrie Stuart Parks is a Christy, multiple Carol, and Inspy Award–winning author.
She was a 2019 finalist in the Daphne du Maurier Award for excellence in mainstream mystery/suspense and has won numerous awards for her fine art as well. An internationally known forensic artist, she travels with her husband, Rick, across the US and Canada teaching courses in forensic art to law-enforcement professionals.
The author/illustrator of numerous books on drawing and painting, Carrie continues to create dramatic watercolors from her studio in the mountains of Idaho.
To learn more about Carrie, click on any of the following links: www.CarrieStuartParks.com, Goodreads, BookBub – @CarrieStuartParks, Instagram – @carriestuarparks & Facebook – @CarrieStuartParksAuthorVisit all the Stops on the Fallout Tour!
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All We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
Header image by Pexels on Pixabay
The post Fallout: Suspense by Carrie Stuart Parks appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
September 28, 2022
The 13th Hour: Chaos by Richard Doetsch
The 13th Hour: Chaos by Richard Doetsch
Author Guest Post + Author & Book Info + Giveaway!Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.The 13th Hour: Chaos
A Mesmerizing Thriller Told in ReverseOn a warm Fourth of July in the quiet town of Byram Hills, Nick Quinn watches as his wife and daughter die in an unprecedented terrorist attack. Amid the disaster, Nick is approached by a dying friend who hands Nick an antique pocket watch.
Emotionally shattered and desperate, Nick takes the watch and is shocked to find himself propelled back in time to where he was an hour ago, before the attack on his town. Quickly stopping the course of events, his relief is shattered as life spirals in an even more tragic direction.
At the top of each hour, the watch sends Nick back two hours to live one hour again, a backwards march to relive each hour of his day. A twelve-hour journey providing precious but limited time to protect Julia and Katy and uncover the source of the ever growing threat.
But each time Nick thinks he’s solved the crime and secured the future, he uncovers new levels of deception, agony, and betrayal, ultimately revealing a far more sinister plot with unexpected players and grim, global consequences.
If Nick hasn’t set things right by the 13th hour, not only will his wife and daughter be lost forever to the chaos, but an even greater catastrophe will be unleashed upon the world.
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Published by: Permuted Press
Publication Date: May 3rd 2022
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 1637583060 (ISBN13: 9781637583067)
Series:A Nick Quinn Thriller; The 13th Hour Series
Guest Post by Richard DoetschThe Impossible
I hate that word. I don’t believe in it. Most say things are impossible because they couldn’t do it. I believe there’s always a way.
Sometimes we just have to knuckle under, work 25-hour days, push ourselves, take risks, bleed and believe to break through that impossible wall.
There are instances where we do the impossible because we didn’t realize the task was impossible, we weren’t aware of the constraints. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
They said no one would ever break the 4-minute mile, they said we’d never go to the moon, they said the Red Sox would never win the World Series. There was that guy in high school everyone said would never get the girl, but he chased, pursued, sent flowers, listened, learned, wined and dined, never gave up, and now they are happily married for 30 years.
In my mind, impossible was just another word for challenge.
I was told I could never fly. I said I’d find a way. So, when I was 13, I started jumping off bridges, 75 feet into the reservoir. Then bungee jumping from a few hundred feet. Sky diving from 14,000 feet came next. Huge adrenaline rush. 312 jumps. Amazing fun except when your chute doesn’t open and you only have a few seconds to figure it all out: Dump the first chute and release your reserve, hoping to prevent sudden impact death syndrome.
But all that stuff was just like Buzz Lightyear-falling with style. Not really flying.
Then I went up in the vomit comet, the plane they train the astronauts in. I went into Zero gravity. And I flew, weightless, back and forth, upside down, upside right, spinning and twirling for two hours. I flew. I did what everyone told me was impossible.
One day, I was looking for a particular book, one that encompassed everything I enjoyed, but I couldn’t find it. I realized the book I wanted to read was in my head.
Everyone talks about writing a book, lots of people try it, but never finish.
I thought writing a book would be impossible, but as mentioned, my adage was impossible is just another word for challenge.
I put my head down, shut out the noise and naysayers for a year, and did it. Took a bunch of rewrites to get it right but… I sold The Thieves of Heaven to Random House and discovered my passion.
Which brings me to The 13th Hour.
After turning in my third book, now at Simon and Shuster, I needed to find a new challenge, a writing challenge.
I had never seen a book that had gone backwards which got me thinking. My stories are usually heartfelt thrillers, wrapped in mystery, encased in fun. I had a story in mind, but I wondered if I could make it go backwards taking the readers on a unique, fun journey. And to challenge myself even more, I set the goal of writing it in 30 days.
I started at Chapter 12, 9:22 pm and dove in hard.
I was traveling in two narrative directions at the same time. I had to write about the past, which in my story’s context was the future both of which I was creating as I went.
I kept a detailed note pad of three different timelines: the book’s chapter timeline of going backwards; Nick’s journey both forward and reliving his day; and the natural timeline of the day in forward motion. Each was labeled by hour and chapter. It was so critical that everything be perfectly aligned because if one element was out of place the whole story would collapse.
It was like playing three layers of chess with one board upside down, one in a mirror, and one in reality. It was a challenge as I had to remember the past which hadn’t yet happened in my mind, yet it had informed the present, current chapter.
It sounds confusing to write, but all of that brain strain paid off in a clear, fun story line that, while being a bit mind-bending, is an easily flowing narrative.
I finished my challenge in 30 days, sold it to Simon and Schuster and New Line/Warner Brothers.
Recently, I wrote its sequel, The 13th Hour: Chaos. It took me longer. And this time the challenge was to make it more fun, thrilling, and original than the first one.
So, as I said, impossible is just another word for challenge and from challenging ourselves comes the fun and reward, be it an adrenaline rush or dreaming up and writing a new story.
Cheers
Richard Doetsch —Author of The 13th Hour: Chaos
Richard Doetsch is the author of six international bestsellers published in twenty-eight countries, with several acquired for film and television.
He is an adrenaline junkie with a passion for kitesurfing, skydiving, SCUBA diving, triathlons, and defying gravity in Zero G aircraft.
He has served as CEO, president, and director in the real-estate industry, managing, creating, and preserving more than 50,000 units of affordable housing with an emphasis on social and community programs.
He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Virginia, who is the impetus and inspiration behind everything he writes.
To learn more about Richard, click on any of the following links: RichardDoetsch.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Instagram – @richarddoetsch, Twitter – @richarddoetsch & Facebook – @richarddoetschVisit 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 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post The 13th Hour: Chaos by Richard Doetsch appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
September 26, 2022
Abby’s Pony Love: Middle Grade Review
[image error]Abby’s Pony Love, new middle grade fiction by Susan Count
Review + Book & Author Info + Rafflecopter Giveaway!Abby’s Pony Love
When a girl falls in pony-love, she wants it to be forever.
Desperate to be near horses, a hopeful girl with no horse experience begs for a job at a stable. Then she falls in love with a beautiful but mischievous pony, only to have it bought by another family.
Abby’s heart aches when her barn job becomes helping the new owner learn to ride the best pony ever. Can her faithful heart let go of what never belonged to her?
Abby’s Pony Love
Hastings Creations Group (September 19, 2022)
Middle-Grade Ages 8-12
Print length : 113 pages
Digital ASIN : B0B7VXQSX5
Little girls love horses and Abby is no exception. Unlike the wealthy kids at the nearby stables, with parents who can buy them ponies and pay for lessons, Abby has to pursue her love of horses on her own. Abby’s parents my not have the means to buy her a horse, but they do support her in other ways, allowing her to take on a job at the local stables. But once there, Abby falls in love with someone else’s horse, and working around these beautiful animals is no longer enough.
Secretly naming the palomino mare Glory, Abby overlooks all the pony’s antics, of which there are many, believing her to be the most amazing horse in the world. Something every little girl needs, and every horse should have.
Unfortunately, life at the barn isn’t simple. If Glory (named Starlet by her owner) doesn’t behave, she may have to move to another stables. Or worse yet, the real owner may decide she’s too much trouble, and sell her to someone else. Someone who will take Glory far away where Abby will never see her again.
Abby desperately searches for a solution. She wants nothing else in life but to make Glory her own. But how can she possibly earn enough money to buy her dream horse? And what should she do about Glory’s owner? A girl she wants to see fail, and yet needs at the same time.
A sweet tale about a girl’s love for horses, working hard to achieve a goal, and finding solutions to difficult problems, Abby’s Pony Love is a terrific read. It’s perfect for young girls who understand the dream of being owned by a horse, and parents who remember what it feels like to want something with their whole heart.
My golden boy Jasper approves.
Susan Count — Author of Abby’s Pony Love
Susan Count writes for the joy and entertainment of young readers. She is a best-selling, award-winning author of the Dream Horse Adventures Series, Dream Pony Riders Series, and Texas Boys Adventures.
She prefers to create stories in a quiet zone. Out her window, her mind wanders through the forest and keeps her in a grateful, contented state of being. She writes at a fabulous antique desk that has secret compartments filled with memories, mysteries, and story ideas.
As a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and American Christian Fiction Writers, Susan takes studying the craft of writing seriously.
Susan confesses to being overly fond of brownies and horseback riding on forest trails. She is a lifelong equestrian and is owned by a Rocky Mountain Horse.
Learn more about Susan, visit her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.She also loves to hear from readers, email: susancountauthor@yahoo.comVisit all the Stops on the Tour!
September 19 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT
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Elena Taylor/Elena HartwellAll We Buried, available now in print, e-book, and audio.
Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
Foreword INDIE Award Finalist, Best Mystery 2020
The Foundation of Plot, a Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet!) guidebook.
The post Abby’s Pony Love: Middle Grade Review appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.
