Elena Hartwell's Blog, page 68
January 20, 2019
Lefty Awards and the Debut Author of Hot Water
The Lefty Awards are fan awards from Left Coast Crime. Anyone registered for this year’s LCC or who attended last year can nominate books published in 2018. Attendees of the 2019 conference will vote for the winners during the conference March 28-31.
Awards will be presented at the Saturday night banquet.
But first, let me introduce you to debut author JJ Shelley . . . who knows, maybe next year we will see her debut on the list for 2020!
The Author
JJ Shelley (a nom de plume) is a filmmaker and the author of several screenplays who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Her awards include an Academy Award nomination, the Edgar Dale Screenwriting Award and a New England Women in Film Screenwriting Award.
She holds a certificate in Professional Investigation from Boston University. Hot Water is her first novel.
To find out more about JJ, click here for a link to her website.
The Book
Part mystery, part revenge dramedy, this sparkly debut novel introduces Sylvie Wolff, pampered suburban housewife and devoted mother of two who wakes up one morning to discover that her husband has cleaned out the bank account and abandoned the family, leaving them homeless and penniless.
Determined to regain her former lifestyle, Sylvie confronts a twisted web of industrial espionage and squares off against her enemies only to be faced with the question—is her old life still the life she wants?
To buy the book, click the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Hot Water is my first novel, though I have published a children’s book and a nonfiction book using legacy publishers. As an independent documentary filmmaker, I also purchased the rights to a nonfiction book. Unfortunately, none of my experiences with legacy publishers were particularly positive. It was hard to get them to even respond to phone calls when I wasn’t one of their bestselling authors. I’ve always been more successful when I’ve worked independently, so working through Amazon publishing seemed more efficient.
What inspired you to write this novel?
Long ago, when I was in college, a friend of mine received a call from her mother in the middle of the semester, telling her to pack up and come home. Her father had deserted the family and his affluent family had been left penniless. Their house was under foreclosure, the furniture was repossessed and they all had to move in to a tiny one-bedroom apartment along with another friend who had been kicked out of her family because she had recently come out of the closet.
While the mother stayed home to take care of the three-year-old brother, the three girls went to work in menial jobs to pay the rent and buy food. The father had also taken out credit card debt in the oldest daughter’s name and she had to either pay off the debt or send her father to jail. Meanwhile, the father moved in with his wealthy mistress of seven years.
I wasn’t aware of the desperation of this family until years later when we all gathered for a weekend on an island in Florida. I’ve never forgiven myself for my cluelessness at the time. I suppose this story is an attempt to confront the pain and betrayal my friend suffered as I went about my college years, focusing on my own trivial teen-age dramas.
What are you working on now?
I am currently writing the second Sylvie Wolff novel, “Deep Water,” about a real ship that disappeared without a trace. In order to research the ship, I took a six-month course in private investigation. Fun fact: a session with a medium led me to an obscure intelligence report that ultimately led to what I believe is the dark secret behind the ship’s disappearance.
Congratulations JJ!
2019 Lefty Award Nominees
To learn more about any of the authors & their books, click on their names.
Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Ellen Byron, Mardi Gras Murder (Crooked Lane Books)
Kellye Garrett, Hollywood Ending (Midnight Ink)
Timothy Hallinan, Nighttown (Soho Crime)
Leslie Karst, Death al Fresco (Crooked Lane Books)
Cynthia Kuhn, The Spirit in Question (Henery Press)
Catriona McPherson, Scot Free (Midnight Ink)
Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel (Bruce Alexander Memorial) for books covering events before 1960
Rhys Bowen, Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (Berkeley Prime Crime)
David Corbett, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday (Black Opal Books)
Sujata Massey, The Widows of Malabar Hill (Soho Crime)
Ann Parker, A Dying Note (Poisoned Pen Press)
Iona Whishaw, It Begins in Betrayal (Touchwood Editions)
Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel
Tracy Clark, Broken Places (Kensington Books)
A.J. Devlin, Cobra Clutch (NeWest Press)
A.J. Finn, The Woman in the Window (William Morrow)
Dianne Freeman, A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Kensington Books)
Aimee Hix, What Doesn’t Kill You (Midnight Ink)
Keenan Powell, Deadly Solution (Level Best Books)
J.G. Toews, Give Out Creek (Mosaic Press)
Lefty for Best Mystery Novel
Lou Berney, November Road (William Morrow)
Matt Coyle, Wrong Light (Oceanview Publishing)
Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind (Minotaur Books)
Lori Rader-Day, Under a Dark Sky (William Morrow Paperbacks)
Terry Shames, A Reckoning in the Back Country (Seventh Street Books)
James W. Ziskin, A Stone’s Throw (Seventh Street Books)
Congratulations to all the Lefty Award nominees! See you in Vancouver!
Header Photo courtesy of Pixabay, click here for more info.
The post Lefty Awards and the Debut Author of Hot Water appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
January 13, 2019
New Mystery and Thriller Books for 2019
Here’s just a few mystery and thriller titles guaranteed to tantalize your reading taste buds!
The Titles
January
The Rigel Affair by LM Hedrick
Abandoned by his part-Cherokee Ma, Charlie Kincaid escapes servitude with his uncle. He jumps a boxcar, accompanied by his schoolmate Roxy, who is escaping troubles of her own. Charlie becomes a US Navy Diver.Mattie Blanc is from a genteel New Zealand family. But when her brother’s friend persuades her to take a ride, it all goes horribly wrong.
Desperate, she flees her family’s stifling expectations for a new life in Auckland.After the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Charlie sets sail for Auckland aboard the USS Rigel. And there she is, the girl of his dreams. Mattie is everything that Roxy isn’t– sophisticated, tender, and patient. But the war intervenes… Rigel embarks for the Pacific war zones.
Charlie’s letters are sporadic. Mattie is tormented by doubts; did he truly love her, or was it only a dream?
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
The Rigel Affair produces a rip-roaring wartime romance and chilling danger unknown to most.
Miracles by John Vanek
The second book in the Father Jake Austin Mystery Series
In Miracles, Father Jake Austin’s life is hurled into the vortex of three storms: A dying sister, a bleeding statue, and a comatose infant in the intensive care unit. What will be left standing after these tempests have passed?
Father Jake Austin’s life is turned upside down by three intersecting plots that focus on the relationship between miracles and science, the clash of facts and faith, and the inexplicable production of unexpected miracles from disastrous events.
As a priest, he counsels a young couple whose baby is in a coma but wonders whether he is dealing with an accident or child abuse.
When his sister is hospitalized with leukemia, he assumes the role of caregiver for her child, as well as her bone marrow donor.
Newspaper reports of miracles at a nearby parish draw Jake to St. Wenceslaus Church. When he arrives, he witnesses a statue weep blood, and his Bishop assigns the investigation to him.
With each challenge, his faith is tested. One thing is for certain, Jake is not your conventional Catholic priest.
(To read a previous interview with John, click here)
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
A dying sister, a bleeding statue, and a comatose infant in the ICU.
Hy Brasil by Robert E Kearns
A highly advanced society, Hy Brasil is faced with pending catastrophe and Olan is determined to live on. Archaeological discoveries throw light on a civilization previously confined to legend with grave consequences for a young couple caught up in this extraordinarily dynamic enigma.
Set in ancient and present times, this is a tale for readers who adore adventure, history and extraordinary epics. It embraces influences of the Gothic, Dickensian; so too, Literary, and then bonds them into a story which delivers a thrilling read that will captivate audiences from the start.
(To read a previous interview with Robert, click here)
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
With its colourful descriptions, complex characters and a plot line as well as prose complete with symbolism and imagery, Hy Brasil is certain to entertain, spellbind and mesmerize the book lover for Eternity.
Murder Wears a Little Black Dress by Debra Sennefelder
After her rising career as a Manhattan buyer is derailed, Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back to Lucky Cove, in spite of her big plans for the soon-to-be-renamed Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. What’s left of her luck starts running out when a customer puts on a black lace dress that triggers visions of someone being murdered. As if the haunted “Murder Dress” isn’t enough to kill business, the psychic’s doppelganger cousin has just been found bludgeoned to death.
Was Maxine LeMoyne the real target or was it a case of mistaken murder? With some creepy pre-Halloween bargain hunters walking the night and Kelly suddenly a person of interest, a second murder rocks the close-knit town. Now Kelly could be the one who ends up talking to dead people when she’s stalked by a killer determined to take her out in high style . . .
(To read a previous interview with Debra, click here)
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
Manhattan fashionista Kelly Quinn thought she’d left her upstate New York town far behind . . . until the Seventh Avenue expat returns home to revamp her grandmother’s consignment shop into an upscale boutique—and unwittingly sets a trend for murder . . .
February
Dead of Winter by Sherry Knowlton
A lighthearted morning trip to test a new drone turns deadly for attorney Alexa Williams and two close friends when they find a stranger’s bullet-riddled body in a remote field in rural Pennsylvania. Next to the dead man is a note that declares: Allahu AkbaTrying to shake the gruesome discovery, Alexa returns to her busy law practice and personal life. She’s representing a Syrian refugee family whose son has been bullied at school. Old love, Reese Michaels, is back from Africa and living in nearby Harpers Ferry. He and Alexa are tiptoeing through a delicate dance as they rekindle the spark between them.
Alexa is also taking Krav Maga classes at a local studio for self- protection. The studio owner, the widow of a soldier killed in the Iraq War, is fast becoming a friend. If that’s not enough, Alexa’s parents are pulling her into a flurry of social commitments as they host an International Fellow at the U.S. Army War College, an Iraqi General, and his colleague, a decorated American Colonel.When another man is found executed near Harpers Ferry, Reese becomes a suspect and Alexa wonders just how much he’s changed since working in Africa.
After a third murder, an improbable fear of Islamic terrorism spreads like wildfire through Alexa’s small Pennsylvania town. When the police arrest the oldest son of the refugee family for the murders, her Syrian clients become the focus of mounting anti-Muslim rage, and a dangerous militia group targets Alexa.One dark night in the dead of winter, Alexa discovers how all these threads intersect, and she must race to stop an attack that could kill hundreds. If she fails, she could lose everyone she loves.
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
“Alexa Williams is sassy, alpha-female heroine” —Steve Berry, New York Times & #1 international best selling author
Fatality in F by Alexia Gordon
The fourth in the Gethsemane Brown Mystery Series
Fresh from solving her third mystery, Gethsemane Brown’s ready to relax and enjoy her summer. Her plans include nothing more dangerous than performing in the opening ceremony of the annual rose and garden show and cheering on Frankie Grennan, who has entered his hybrid rose into the competition.
But when a mysterious stalker starts leaving Frankie floral bouquets as coded messages, Gethsemane fears a copycat may be planning to recreate the still-unsolved murders of the infamous Flower Shop Killer. Then Frankie’s main competitor in the rose show—and the reason his marriage failed—turns up dead in Frankie’s rose garden. Frankie takes first prize in the category of prime suspect.
So much for a relaxing summer.
As bodies start dropping like rose petals, Gethsemane must judge the other suspects and find the real killer. Or rose bushes won’t be the only things dead-headed in Dunmullach.
(To read a previous interview with Alexia, click here)
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.
March
Titanshade by Dan Stout
Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.
But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
This noir fantasy thriller from a debut author introduces the gritty town of Titanshade, where danger lurks around every corner.
April
Come and Get Me by August Norman
At Indiana University, someone’s been studying the female student body: their dating customs, nocturnal activities―and how long they can survive in captivity.
When award-winning journalist Caitlin Bergman is invited back to campus to receive an honorary degree, she finds an opportunity for a well-earned victory lap―and a chance to face the trauma that almost destroyed her as an undergrad. But her lap becomes an all-out race when a student begs her to probe an unsolved campus disappearance: Angela Chapman went out one Friday night and never came back.
To find the missing woman, Caitlin must join forces with a local police detective and the department that botched her own case so long ago.
But while Caitlin follows the clues behind Angela’s disappearance, someone else is following her…
Unearthing secrets hidden beneath an idyllic Midwestern college town, Caitlin must expose what really happened to Angela―before she herself becomes the newest addition to a twisted collection.
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
An intrepid journalist confronts a small town’s dark secrets in Come and Get Me, a breakneck thriller for fans of Tess Gerritsen and Julia Keller.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.
Instead, she got Em.
Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .
As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, her control giving way to paranoia and anger, Gyre severs her connection with Em and the outside world. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.
But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
“This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
May
Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark
Sitting in cold cars for hours, serving lowlifes with summonses . . . being a P.I. means riding out a lot of slow patches. But sometimes the most familiar paths can lead straight to danger—like at Cass’s go-to diner, where new delivery guy Jung Byson wants to enlist her expertise. Jung’s friend, Tim Ayers, scion of a wealthy Chicago family, has been found dead, floating in Lake Michigan near his luxury boat. And Jung is convinced there’s a murderer on the loose . . .
Cass reluctantly begins digging only to discover that Jung neglected to mention one crucial fact: Tim Ayers was terminally ill. Given the large quantities of alcohol and drugs found in his body, Ayers’ death appears to be either an accident or suicide. Yet as much as Cass would like to dismiss Jung’s suspicions, there are too many unanswered questions and unexplained coincidences.
Why would anyone kill a dying man? Working her connections on both sides of the law, Cass tries to point the police in the right direction. But violence is escalating around her, and Cass’s persistence has already attracted unwanted attention, uncovering sinister secrets that Cass may end up taking to her grave.
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
In Tracy Clark’s electrifying new mystery featuring Cassandra Raines, the former Chicago cop turned private investigator looks into a suspicious death as a favor to a friend—and makes some powerful enemies.
Next Girl to Die by Dea Poirier
It’s been fifteen years since Claire Calderwood’s sister, Rachel, was brutally murdered in their small hometown in Maine. Claire has finally carved out a life for herself as a homicide detective in Detroit, but the past comes calling when the local police back home ask for her help with a murder eerily similar to Rachel’s.
Still haunted by Rachel’s cold case, Claire returns home, hoping to solve the crime and finally put her grief to rest. As she starts investigating, the last thing she needs is tenacious journalist Noah Washington asking questions she’s not ready to answer. But like her, Noah won’t give up until he finds the truth—and Claire reluctantly finds herself relying on him more and more when disturbing new details about Rachel’s death come to light.
When the killer strikes once again, Claire knows he’s not done. Now he’s set his sights on Claire, who will have to find the courage she needs to survive a deadly confrontation years in the making.
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
Solving the case will avenge her sister—unless the killer finds her first.
June
A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder by Dianne Freeman
The second book in the Countess of Harleigh Mystery Series
Though American by birth, Frances Wynn, the now-widowed Countess of Harleigh, has adapted admirably to the quirks and traditions of the British aristocracy. On August twelfth each year, otherwise known as the Glorious Twelfth, most members of the upper class retire to their country estates for grouse-shooting season. Frances has little interest in hunting—for birds or a second husband—and is expecting to spend a quiet few months in London with her almost-engaged sister, Lily, until the throng returns.
Instead, she’s immersed in a shocking mystery when a friend, Mary Archer, is found murdered. Frances had hoped Mary might make a suitable bride for her cousin, Charles, but their courtship recently fizzled out. Unfortunately, this puts Charles in the spotlight—along with dozens of others. It seems Mary had countless notes hidden in her home, detailing the private indiscretions of society’s elite. Frances can hardly believe that the genteel and genial Mary was a blackmailer, yet why else would she horde such juicy tidbits?
Aided by her gallant friend and neighbor, George Hazelton, Frances begins assisting the police in this highly sensitive case, learning more about her peers than she ever wished to know. Too many suspects may be worse than none at all—but even more worrying is that the number of victims is increasing too. And unless Frances takes care, she’ll soon find herself among them . . .
(To read a previous interview with Dianne, click here)
About the author, click here
Buy the book, click here
How far will some go to safeguard a secret? In the latest novel in Dianne Freeman’s witty and delightful historical mystery series, the adventurous Countess Harleigh finds out . . .
That should keep you busy through June, when I’ll be posting new books for July-December. Happy Reading!
Header Photo by Elti Meshau from Pexels
The post New Mystery and Thriller Books for 2019 appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
January 6, 2019
New Year, New Authors, New Books
I’m excited about the year ahead of us. So many great authors coming out with brand new books. As many of you know, along with my other posts, interviews, and writing tips, I try to interview all the incoming Debut Authors with the International Thriller Writers Debut Author Program. I’m starting off 2019 with Robert E. Kearns.
ITW has been a wonderful organization and resource for me as a writer and this is my way of paying it forward, putting my spotlight on up-and-coming authors. From cozies to thrillers, big 5 publishers to small presses, ITW supports every type of crime writer.
Next week I’ll be posting about several books coming out in 2019 by both debut and established writers. I’ll also be continuing to post writing tips and thoughts about the writing life, so I hope you’ll hang out with me and my blog throughout the year. And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can put your email in a comment or send me a note at elenahartwell@gmail.com. Next Newsletter comes out January 15!
Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year. May You all Find Marvelous New Books to Read!
The Author
Robert E Kearns: Most of my adult life was spent in the corporate world. I worked for a number of businesses in the areas of Credit/Accounts. In 2017, I decided to fulfill an ambition, and I began to write Hy Brasil, Island of Eternity.
I love the results, and I very much hope that you do too.
As a professional storyteller, I’m adept at using my imaginative thinking and creative flair to bring my stories to life in engaging and entertaining ways.
To learn more about Robert, visit his website by clicking here, and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
The Book
Hy Brasil – An Island of Myth and Mystery, Populated with an Advanced People of Celtic origin.
Due to isolated endemism, Hy Brasil has evolved rapidly to achieve knowledge and technology that matches that of modern man.
To buy the book, click on a link here: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Black Rose Writing, and IndieBound
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
I began writing the manuscript to Hy Brasil in April 2017.
Within a few months I had a first draft, which I understood required work, all the same, I began to contact agents to pitch the idea. While that was going on and through the many rejections an absence of replies, I discovered Authors.me, which is a platform that connects authors directly with publishers. There, I posted the manuscript, bio and a hook and began to submit it to parties suited to the genre.
A short time later, I commissioned a custom designed cover and added it to the profile, which I believed would make a difference. Over the subsequent months, I continued to refine the manuscript. The beauty of Authors.me is that it allows the author to update their project with the latest updates. That’s a superb feature as the newest version is always online and searchable by potential publishers.
“There comes a time when a person has to stop talking and take action.”
My journey also included the set up of social media sites and with these the cover art came in useful. The visual aspect of it allows the author to believe they are taking a further step to fulfilling the goal of a published book. I had submitted the manuscript to about ten publishers and in June of 2018 I was approached by Black Rose Writing who offered me a contract.
I took another three months to further fine tune the manuscript but putting in the hours and effort was well worth it. I wanted to ensure BRW had the very best manuscript at the their disposal.
Within the past week, my book has become available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon for PreOrder and I received a batch of author copies. Now it’s real. At last I have a copy of my own book in hand. All the blood, sweat and tears have resulted in a physical, tangible novel.
What inspired you to write this novel?
This is something I had always wanted to do. There comes a time when a person has to stop talking and take action. I’d been considering a start on Hy Brasil, Island of Eternity for some time. I got the idea a few years ago and even jotted down some ideas. However, I hadn’t made a serious effort. Then, in April of last year I was speaking with my niece when she told me she would like to write a book when older. That was the exact moment determined to begin and I didn’t look back.
What are you working on now?
While Hy Brasil, Island of Eternity is not out until January, I decided to begin a new novel. After all these years of never getting around to it, I’m on my way to writing back-to-back works. This new manuscript is of a different style to my first. It’s going to be an out and out thriller with conspiracy baked in to the mix.
I can’t say too much about it now, but I have faith it will have great potential. It’s going to be based in Texas of the mid 1990’s which is where I lived at the time, but will also speak of a time from the 80’s. I look forward to sharing more information on this soon. I have a snappy title in mind and I would love to see it published within a year or thereabouts.
Fascinating journey, Robert, now that the book is out – I’ll be checking in again! Great to have you here.
Featured Photo by 嘉淇 徐 from Pexels
The post New Year, New Authors, New Books appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
December 30, 2018
A Writer Finds Compassion for 2019
So here we are at the end of another year. 2018 closes and 2019 spreads out in front of us as a sea of endless possibilities. While preparing to write this post, I read last year’s out of curiosity. I couldn’t remember what I said about 2017. Turns out I spoke a lot about kindness and the losses we endured.
To read that post, click the link here. It still fits today. I still miss Tom Petty and Sue Grafton. I’d still like a little more kindness in the world.
But I originally started out thinking about compassion for this post. So after reading last year’s, I found myself contemplating the difference between kindness and compassion.
Kindness: to act in such a way as to try to help someone.
Compassion: to feel the emotions of another.
Both are aspects of a value system that make the world a better place. An easier place.
I see kindness and compassion play out in the animal world all the time. My young horse, Radar, likes to share his toys. When a mare he knows well was confined in a small space for a short time next to his paddock, Radar repeatedly tossed his toy into her pen.
This could be interpreted in multiple ways. Kindness, he thought she would enjoy it. Compassion, he knows what it feels like when no one wants to play with you. Playfulness, he wanted her to play with him.
Regardless of the cause, he acted kind.
But there’s a fundamental difference between kindness and compassion. I can act kind, but feel anger and resentment. For example, a person pushes through a crowd, he says “excuse me, excuse me,” I step aside to let him pass, which is kind, but after he disappears I complain loudly about how rude he was and feel anger.
To have compassion in the same circumstance, I step out of the way and consider what might be going on in his life. That his child is sick, his partner is stuck in an unsafe place, his dog got out and got picked up by Animal Control.
Any of these circumstances would make me understand why he’s pushy. It would excuse his behavior. I would not feel anger or resentment, instead, I would feel compassion. Hope his child feels better, he finds his partner safe or he gets his dog back.
As we move forward into 2019, I would love to see more compassion. When someone does something that appears rude or thoughtless, use your imagination and think about what might be going on. Maybe she has an emergency. Maybe he is having a panic attack. Maybe she deserves our compassion even more than our kindness.
Regardless of the other person, we can experience less anger. We can choose not to breed contempt. Our lives can be more peaceful if we let compassion drive our reactions.
I hate preachy posts, so I’m going to stop there. If I went too far, I hope you’ll feel a little compassion. The anger I see every day troubles me. The knee jerk reaction of us vs. them discourages me. The lack of civility unsettles me. The constant vilification of the people in our own communities concerns me. The terrible ways in which we treat anyone we consider an outsider disheartens me.
For 2019, let’s all share our toys.
Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, playful New Year.
Elena- (and Radar)
Horse photo: Radar coaxes JD to play with him.
Header Photo by Johannes Plenio from Pexels
The post A Writer Finds Compassion for 2019 appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
December 23, 2018
New Authors & New Books for the New Year
Wishing everyone who celebrates, a very Merry Christmas.
The AuthorWendy Heard is an author of psychological thrillers. She was born in San Francisco but has spent most of her life in Los Angeles, which is on fire more than she would honestly prefer.
When not writing, she can be found haunting local bookstores, hiking the Griffith Park trails, and (apparently) writing about herself in the third person.
To learn more about Wendy, you can visit her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
The BookAfter serving three years in a psychiatric prison, Sean is determined to stay away from any potential victims. He can’t resist Annabelle, though, and when she’s kidnapped on their first date, he’s driven to extremes in his quest to find her.
To save her, he’ll have to do more than confront his own demons… He’ll have to let them loose.
To buy the book, click the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
This was my seventh completed book over a span of about ten years. I think I have something like seven hundred agent rejections under my belt. It took a long time, but in retrospect, I’m grateful none of my earlier work was published. I’d be so embarrassed to have it out in the world. Also, my agent is amazing, and she was worth the wait.
What inspired you to write this novel?
I was inspired by a lot of things! First of all, the theme park inspiration came from a lifetime in Southern California, where you grow up going to Disneyland for special occasions. At that theme park, there are all these tunnels running underneath, and the ambulances are outfitted to look like quaint maintenance vans (or something similar) to avoid bad press, and I always imagined that some seriously scary shit could go on there and you’d never, ever find out. I was dying to write a murdery theme park book.
For Sean’s characterization, I was interested in what the French call “L’appel du vide,” or “High Places Phenomenon.” I wanted to explore the dark potential we all have within ourselves through a character who was just a little bit less in control of his impulses than the rest of us are. I thought it would be an uncomfortable yet compelling experience to read a book through the eyes of someone like that.
What are you working on now?
I just turned my second book into copy edits! I’m really excited about book 2. It’s a close-to-home story for me; it takes place in working class Los Angeles (my hometown) and is about a woman who gets recruited by a vigilante murder club as she tries to save her younger brother from their dangerous foster mother. It comes out in December 2019!
Now that it’s in to copy edits, it’s time to start thinking about book 3!
Congratulations on your debut and second book! Thanks for hanging out with us today.
The Author
Rick Treon is a Texas-based novelist, a member of the International Thriller Writers and a member of the Texas High Plains Writers.
Treon is a former journalist who, after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s in journalism, worked as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was a reporter and editor at the Amarillo Globe-News and was the managing editor of The Kerrville Daily Times. He now lives and writes in Texas.
To learn more about Rick, visit him on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.
The Book
Someone’s out to ruin the reputation of political reporter Levi Cole. After losing his high-profile job in Dallas, Levi returns to his rural Texas hometown to regroup and win back the married woman and fellow reporter he left behind, Kat Hallaway, by helping her cover a grisly murder.
As they close in on the killer, Kat is kidnapped and Levi must solve the murder — and uncover the conspiracy against him — to save her and regain control of his life.
To buy the book, click the link here. For IndieBound, click the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Deep Background is the first manuscript I completed. It’s actually the first work of fiction of any kind I completed. Fiction was always in the background during my journalism career, and I’d written some opening chapters, but never had a story I was excited about. Then I started forming Deep Background, and I eventually knew I wanted to get it finished and get it published.
After finishing the manuscript, re-writing it, and editing it, I began querying agents. I got a few requests for the manuscript in the first couple of weeks that turned into kind rejections. At that point, I decided to research some publishing houses that don’t require agents and submitted my manuscript to a few of them. Within a week of sending it to Black Rose Writing , I got a response asking if the project was still available. I had a contract offer about a week later.
I quickly found out the amount of work that begins after signing the publishing deal. I went through the manuscript one more time to get it “finalized.” Then BRW editors did their edits and had suggestions. I implemented those suggestions and submitted it again. We then did one last line edit on the galleys and tweaked the cover art. Then the novel was finally ready for publication. Though the story is the same, reading the manuscript I originally sent in and the final product are almost different reading experiences. Needless to say, I feel the final product is much better.
My biggest takeaway from that process was the amount and type of editing a novel requires. I had been a newspaper editor for several years, so I thought I had a good idea of what I would need to do to get my manuscript ready. But the endurance, note-taking and methodical pace it takes to thoroughly edit a novel is a different animal. I now know to do that far earlier in the process. I also learned that the book publishing process is slower than I had imagined, especially compared to the deadlines I was used to in daily journalism.
What inspired you to write this novel?
It all started, as I’m sure it does with many authors, with a love of reading. I was reading Stephen King in elementary school, and have been reading thrillers, mystery and horror novels since. This particular novel was a good example of “write what/who you know,” which I figured was a good place to start my first novel.
Many of the events of Deep Background, none of which actually happened except for a few smaller details, were inspired by the sudden and unprecedented shift the journalism industry and the political landscape, and how those two are connected. I was writing the first draft during the 2016 presidential campaign and re-writing it during President Trump’s first year in office, which is fortunate. If I’d have written this story with these kinds of characters (journalists and politicians) before that, I would have had to re-write it again anyway.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing the first draft of another novel. It’s not a sequel to Deep Background, though that’s certainly possible in the future. For this novel, I wanted to get away from having journalists as protagonists and newsrooms as settings. This story takes place in two timelines, past and present, and the present timeline’s setting is primarily an oil pipeline job site.
I actually spent about four months working on a pipeline with one of my best friends, who is a pipeline welder, so I will still be writing from experience. Though not a journalist, the protagonist is a failed true crime writer who has taken the job to make ends meet and possibly re-boot his life. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say this is another thriller that includes a murder investigation.
Sounds fascinating! Thanks for spending time with us on my blog!
The Author
A.M. Halvorssen is a native of Norway, living in Colorado, she has focused on teaching law and writing on environmental issues, especially climate change. She has a masters and a doctorate in law from Columbia Law School.
To learn the fiction-writing craft, she joined several writers’ workshops (the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, the Lighthouse Writers Workshop, the Colorado Writing School, and International Thriller Writers) and attended several conferences (Colorado Gold Conference and the International Thrillers Fest).
She is the Director of Global Legal Solutions, LLC, an international think tank and consultancy and a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise. Furthermore, she does pro bono work for the Legal Response Initiative, in conjunction with the UNFCCC climate change negotiations.
To learn more about A.M. visit her website or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
The Book
A Moroccan journalist stumbles upon a story that can make or break her career … and her life. Zakia Kamir gets a note from a former boyfriend about his suspicions regarding the company he works for, an oil and gas company in Rabat, Morocco.
She doesn’t respond, because her long-distance marriage is already hanging on a thread. Not a week later, he is incinerated in a fracking incident, which may not be an accident.
To buy the book, click the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey
This is my first fiction manuscript. I started pitching a conferences, Thrillerfest was one of them. Found my publisher through a friend.
What inspired you to write this novel?
Teaching climate change law at the University of Denver, I thought that having some students learn about climate change was fine, but a much broader audience should be enlightened. Few people read the scientific reports (IPCC reports, etc.) and the newspapers had the stories backwards for a long time. I thought plenty of people still read novels, so I decided to write a novel and put climate change into it, being careful to make it a thriller first and foremost, not an info dump on climate change. This thriller belongs to the new genre of climate fiction (cli-fi).
What are you working on now?
I’m working on the sequel with Zakia again, also addressing climate change.
I’m excited to read cli-fi! Thank you for sharing your expertise alongside your skill as a writer.
The post New Authors & New Books for the New Year appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
December 16, 2018
Author Cathy Perkins: Making Hay and Publishing
Today’s guest post is by author Cathy Perkins. Did you know making hay and publishing have a lot in common?
Read through to the end to learn more about her and her most recent novel, In It For The Money
Making Hay
by Cathy Perkins
I started to write a holiday post, but when I think about Elena, I think about horses, which naturally makes me think about hay. Why? Other than the obvious – horses eat a lot of hay – most of the people around our mountain retreat grow hay. So when it’s cold and cloudy outside, it a lot more fun to remember last summer’s warm, sunny days. Besides, the hay-making process is interesting, even if it does play havoc with my husband’s allergies. One thing that surprised me, though, was the parallels I saw between making hay and writing.
Stay with me.
Let’s look at the hay part first. There are three basic requirements for growing hay: land, water and sun. Lots of each one. Once the grass reaches the right stage—tall, but not gone to seed—the ranchers start watching the weather even closer than they usually do. Hoping the forecast holds, they cut the grass in wide swathes and let it dry.
Over the next few days, the ranchers fluff—okay, the technical term is swath—the hay so it dries evenly. Once the hay is dry, they can bail it into bricks that litter the field at regular intervals.
This year’s first cutting looked terrific and the initial bids from Japan were many dollars/ton. (What do you think those Kobe cows eat?) The earliest cutters started bailing and there was happiness in the valley.
Then the unexpected happened. A storm boiled over the Cascade Mountains and drenched the valley. All the grass still on the ground went from being prime hay to cattle feed—not even dairy cow feed—at a price that barely covers the expense of bailing it.
As soon as the sun reappeared and dried things out, the ranchers fluffed what was there and prepared to get it out of the field and make way for the next crop.
There are other ways things can go wrong. Balers break and things get stuck. Weeds invade from untended land. But the men and women who ranch for a living keep going, raising hay for their horses and other people’s cows.
So how is any of that like writing?
Well, you start with three basic ingredients to create a story: writer, imagination and paper—lots of each one. (Well, one author, but it takes a team, although that’s a different story.)
The author nurtures the story to The End and fluffs and cuts and edits, hoping for that premium bid for the manuscript. But things outside the author’s control can ruin the venture. A decision somewhere else that Steampunk/Chick Lit/Romantic Suspense/Whatever is “dead” means that particular manuscript isn’t going anywhere except a closest or thumb drive. (Hmm… considering indie-pubbing yet?)
Like a bale in the baler, words can get stuck. It’s much harder to find a repair person for a broken or missing muse than a machine.
Like the rancher, the writer keeps putting words on the page, creating stories, because that’s what writers do.
Can you think of any other parallels?
Latest release
In It For The Money – Book 4 in the Holly Price Mystery Series
Holly Price traded professional goals for personal plans when she agreed to leave her high-flying position with the Seattle Mergers and Acquisition team and take over the family accounting practice. Reunited with JC Dimitrak, her former fiancé, she’s already questioning whether she’s ready to flip her condo for marriage and a house in the ‘burbs.
When her cousin Tate needs investors for his innovative car suspension, Holly works her business matchmaking skills and connects him with a client. The Rockcrawler showcasing the new part crashes at its debut event, however, and the driver dies. Framed for the sabotage, Tate turns to Holly when the local cops—including JC—are ready to haul him to jail. Holly soon finds her cousin and client embroiled in multiple criminal schemes. She’s drawn into the investigation, a position that threatens her life, her family and her increasingly shaky relationship with JC.
Click here to buy the book at a variety of locations.
The Author
An award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories. A contributing editor for International Thriller Writers’ The Big Thrill, she also coordinated the prestigious Daphne du Maurier contest.
When not writing, she does battle with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd.
Sign up for her newsletter on her website or follow her on BookBub for new release announcements.
For more information on Cathy, you can find her on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Thanks for hanging out with us Cathy! I’ll never look at hay the same way again.
The post Author Cathy Perkins: Making Hay and Publishing appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
December 9, 2018
Holiday Book Giveaway!
And nothing says it better than free books! Even more exciting, there’s something for every mystery reader. Cozy, Thriller, LGBTQ … you name it, we’ve got it!
Authors
Kim Alexander, Mary Angela, Tracee de Hahn, Dianne Freeman, Elena Hartwell, Carol Potenza, Saralyn Richard, Tristan Drue Rogers, S.A. Stovall, and Lili Wright
How do I win? You ask …
Do one of the following by December 16
There are three ways to enter for a chance to win one of the autographed books below. 1. Comment on the post with what kind of mystery you like to read. 2. Shoot me an email at elenahartwell@gmail.com with what kind of mystery you like to read. 3. Tweet: I want to win @Elena_Hartwell and include a hashtag with the kind of mystery you like to read. #privateeye #cozy #thriller ….
What’s the best Holiday gift you can give an author?
Write a great review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other social media. We survive on word of mouth. If you enjoy a book, let your friends and family know!
The Books
Kim Alexander: Pure
A unicorn walks into a bar…When bartender Ruby saves the life of unicorn shifter March, they’ll have to fight more than the attraction between them. The ancient evil missed once, and if they can’t have his horn, they’ll take his heart. There’s something scarier than lobbyists haunting the streets of D.C, and in this fight no one will come out PURE.
(Paranormal, Urban)
Available on Amazon and Books2Read.
Learn more about Kim Alexander by clicking the link here.
Mary Angela: A Very Merry Murder
When a musician dies unexpectedly at the Candlelight Inn, suspicion falls on Professor Prather. Will she get her wish this Christmas and solve his murder?
(Cozy)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and IndieBound
Learn more about Mary Angela by clicking the link here.
Tracee de Hahn: A Well-Timed Murder
In this magnetic follow up to Swiss Vendetta, police inspector Agnes Lüthi agrees to investigate the death of a watchmaker. But the world of Swiss watchmaking is guarded and secretive, and before she realizes it, Agnes is walking straight into the path of a killer.
(Traditional Mystery, International Mystery, Suspense)
Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound
Learn more about Tracee de Hahn by clicking the link here.
Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
Victorian widow, Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, is dealing with a high society burglar, a marriage-mad sister, and a murder. When the London season turns deadly, she fears one of her sister’s suitors may be the killer. Frances must rally her wits and a circle of gossiping friends and enemies to unmask the culprit before she becomes his next victim.(Historical, Traditional)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound
Learn more about Dianne Freeman by clicking the link here.
Elena Hartwell: Three Strikes, You’re Dead
Private Eye Eddie Shoes goes on vacation with her mom in beautiful Leavenworth, Washington. What could possibly go wrong?(Private Eye, Humorous)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and IndieBound
Learn more about Elena Hartwell by clicking the link here.
Carol Potenza: Hearts of the Missing
Sergeant Monique ‘Nicky’ Matthews is a non-Native police officer working on Native American Pueblo in central New Mexico. A young woman’s suicide leads Nicky to a list of missing tribal members.
As she investigates, she discovers not only murder but a horrifying motive that strikes at the heart of what it means to be a member of the Fire-Sky people.
(Women Sleuth, Police procedural, Native American)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Apple, and IndieBound
Learn more about Carol Potenza by clicking the link here.
Saralyn Richard: Murder in the One Percent
When Detective Oliver Parrott is charged with solving the untimely killing of one of America’s leading financial wizards, he realizes this will be the case to make—or break—his career.(Police Procedural, Suspense)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Black Opal, and IndieBound
Autographed copies available by clicking here.
Learn more about Saralyn Richard by clicking the link here.
Tristan Drue Rogers: Brothers of Blood
“Rogers’ talent as a writer becomes bolder and more apparent with every page, as Belle grows older and is left to her own devices. It’s a horrifically realistic picture of a fraction of today’s youth without parental influence.” – Far From Home author, C. Derick Miller(Crime fiction, Humor, Serial killers)
Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and IndieBound
Learn more about Tristan Drue Rogers by clicking the link here.
S.A. Stovall: Vice Enforcer
Holding on to a life worth living can be hard when the nightmares of the past come knocking. Eight months ago, Nicholas Pierce, ex-mob enforcer, faked his death and assumed a new identity as a rookie PI.
It’s an easy enough gig—until investigating a human trafficking ring drags him back to his old stomping grounds.
(Thriller, M/M Romance)
Available on Amazon, DSP Publications, Barnes & Noble, and KOBO
Learn more about S. A. Stovall by clicking the link here.
Lili Wright: Dancing with the Tiger
“The chorus of the many voices of Oaxaca — expats, tourists and locals alike — creates a siren song that keeps you turning the pages. This novel has much in common with Anna’s favorite drink, the margarita, said to be the brainchild of an American Mexiphile: It’s salty-sweet, refreshing and more powerful than you think.” The New York Times, Tayari JonesNominated for the 2017 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
(Thriller, Action/Adventure, Literary)
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and IndieBound
Learn more about Lili Wright by clicking the link here.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Great Book!
Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!
The post Holiday Book Giveaway! appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
December 2, 2018
Two Debut Mysteries For a Cold Winter Night
This week I’m thrilled to introduce two debut mystery authors. Carol Potenza and Loretta Goldberg.
The Author
Carol Potenza lives in southern New Mexico with her husband, Leos, and love for the desert southwest. She has a breathtaking view of the Organ Mountains from her backyard.
Her day job is teaching biochemistry to undergraduates at New Mexico State University, a Land Grant University established in 1888. Before teaching became a full-time position, she conducted plant genetic engineering research, also at NMSU, and worked briefly on the Jornada Experimental Range north of town and at a drug-testing lab.
The beauty of New Mexico is the inspiration for her books and will continue to be for years to come.
To learn more about Carol, click here to visit her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
The Book
In Hearts of the Missing, Fire-Sky police sergeant Nicky Matthews investigates the tragic death of a young woman and makes a stunning discovery that leads her to a list of missing tribal members. She must carefully navigate the culture and traditions of the Pueblo in her search for answers as well as contend with departmental jealousy and undercover federal agents.
But when Nicky’s closest friends are put in danger, she may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save then and the spirits of those already taken.
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Apple, and Indie Bound
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
I decided I wanted to write books after I retired and started doing just that one January. In a year or so, I’d completed two books in a different genre: the first one was to ‘learn’ how to write fiction (and will never see the light of day), and the second, I may one day self-publish under a different name. After I started Hearts of the Missing, I queried it directly to an editor at a small writer’s conference. She requested a full manuscript, but ultimately rejected it. I was kind of glad about that because I’d found out about the Tony Hillerman Prize and wanted to enter. I in no way thought it would win. I was just hoping for feedback. When I received the call from a St. Martin’s Press editor a few months later, she asked me if I was sitting down. I did, and was glad of it after she told me I’d won. The news literally made me weak at the knees!
What inspired you to write this novel?
Three things were the ‘seeds’ for Hearts of the Missing: true ghost stories, a pendant, and science twisted to fiction.
Ghosts first. It turns out some of my relatives are ‘sensitive’. They see spirits, ghosts, shadows, or hear ‘scenes’ from the past. We were sitting around one night and they were exchanging stories. I was fascinated—and creeped out like you wouldn’t believe. Goose bumps everywhere. I loved it. When they were finished, I made a comment, something like, ‘I’ve never seen anything supernatural’, and one of them said, ‘How do you know? A ghost or a spirit could be a person sitting at a bus stop or standing next to you in a crowd, but we never think to question that ‘what we see isn’t reality because it looks so normal’. That statement stunned me. I actually put something very similar to that in HOTM.
The pendant is a piece of Zuni petit point my husband and I purchased on a trip to Chaco Canyon one spring. It’s shaped like the rays of the sun, the silver filled with slim coral sticks. It also has an open circle in the center divided by an cross—like the chambers in a heart. I haven’t seen anything like it since. The only problem is that the coral pieces fall out. I made up a short story about how these pieces of stone represent missing people, called the pendant type a ‘Spirit’s Heart’—also in the book—and blended that story with the ghost stories.
A description of the science will give too much of the plot away, so you’ll have to read the book to see how this ‘seed’ weaves in with the ghost stories!
What are you working on now?
I’m editing the second Nicky Matthews book—also a blend of police procedural, ghosts and spirits, and science twisted to fiction—writing the third, and researching the fourth. I’ve always planned at least four books, each themed for one of the elemental clans in Hearts of the Missing: earth, fire, water, and sky
Great to have you here, Carol! Thanks for visiting with us.
The Author
Loretta Goldberg is an Australian-American, Loretta earned a BA in English Literature, Musicology and History at the University of Melbourne, Australia. After teaching English Literature at the Department of English for a year, she risked all, coming to the USA on a Fulbright scholarship to study piano with Claudio Arrau.
She earned an MA (music performance) from Hunter College, New York; and a Chartered Life Underwriter degree from the American College, Pennsylvania. Member of the Historical Novel Society, New York Chapter, she started and ran their published writer public reading series at the landmark Jefferson Market Library. This is her first novel.
To learn more about Loretta, click on the following links. You can find her on Facebook, on her website, and on her blog.
The Book
The Reversible Mask is about an Elizabethan courtier, Edward Latham, torn between his Catholicism and the Protestant government. The contemplative life isn’t for him—he wants action– so he throws up prospects and family in 1566 to go abroad and spy for European Catholic monarchs. His missions take him to the Brussels bed of the greatest woman singer of the day, an Emperor’s concubine; to Constantinople, where he witnesses the fearsome comet of 1578; to the River Scheldt when the first self-detonating bomb ship explodes, with devastating effect.
But when Europe’s religious wars threaten England he becomes a double agent, penetrating plots and battle plans to help his Queen and home country prepare for invasion.
You can find the book on Amazon and IndieBound.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey, is this your first manuscript?:
Yes, it’s truly a debut. When I was a child, my parents insisted that I never make anything up. My father was a distinguished accountant who lived for balance sheets, while my mother equated fantasy with “madness.” I taught English Literature, then was a concert pianist and financial advisor. It’s been an astonishing mid-life adventure to un-creak my imagination. I think I’m still sane!
The toughest challenge has been structure. I wasn’t prepared for that, because as a classical musician I did good Liszt and Copland climaxes. I thought the skill would transfer. It didn’t. Creating momentum from the characters’ vicissitudes took more false starts than I can count. I was lucky to have an agent, John A. Ware. I was thrilled to read on your blog that one of your other writers, Deirdre Feehan, was also his client. (Click here to read Deirdre’s interview). I’d love to swap “John” stories with her. He represented me in a non-fiction project, but urged me to try fiction until he died.
After that I had helpful critique groups. Of course, I got rejections when I looked for another agent and publication. My opportunity came from the Historical Novel Society Portland Conference in 2017. They have a mentor program. You submit ten pages and they match you with a published writer in your field. The mentor edits your submission and gives you a fifteen-minute interview. My mentor was generous enough to refer me to her publisher, MadeGlobal Publishing, which wanted the book. Large dose of luck.
What inspired you to write this novel?
A historical person, Anthony Standen. A Catholic from a solid Surrey family, he left England before Latham does, and spied for Catholic Spain. Yet he also spied for Elizabeth from the 1580s until he was blown in 1592, beyond the time of my novel. His letters to his English handlers, the Bacon brothers Sir Francis and Anthony, grabbed me. I felt that Standen’s inner conflicts epitomized, in pure form, dilemmas we face in modern life: a tobacco executive pays his children’s college bills with profits from cigarettes he knows are poison. Most of us compartmentalize. Standen couldn’t. What split could be more profound than a Catholic who believed in transubstantiation and a physical hell yet risked his life to protect his heretical birth country?
I wanted to wander in his world. The upheavals of the sixteenth century were a backdrop that for me has modern relevance. The printing press had spawned outpourings of dissent, provoking institutional leaders to clamp down with cruelty. It was a little like our wild-west digital media. There was a siren call of religious martyrdom, while new learning, mechanical innovation and far-off lands generated excitement. Social turbulence becomes a character in the novel. Latham is the only one with split loyalties, but everyone from queens to peasants and balladeers is affected by this lumbering oaf, change.
Another dimension is Latham’s individual moral code. With spies, betrayal is built in. But what won’t he do? How does he define the higher purpose he’s sacrificed his patrimony for? In creating this side of his personality I was inspired by a modern spy, the “Green Prince.” He is the son of a Hamas leader but spied for Israel for ten years.
What are you working on now?
As a new writer, blogs and articles. I’m also active in the Historical Novel Society, New York Chapter. I run public readings by published HNS writers at the Jefferson Market Library, New York. But a sequel calls. Latham and other lovable rogues from The Reversible Mask return in a short tale about the fight between Elizabeth I and the Hanseatic League. I’m a sucker for moments when power relations wobble.
The Hanseatic League was an international merchants’ association of towns that had controlled tariffs within states for five hundred years, their monopolies backed by their own military forces. But when Francis Drake captured a Hansa merchant convoy taking war materials to Spain after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the cargoes were litigated in the English admiralty court, subordinating the Hansa to a nation state and breaking its monopolies.
Latham, along with his autistic manservant and the servant’s pert wife, discover the convoy’s route, and Latham testifies at a trial. There’s a new fictional character I’m in love with, a Fleming Hansa merchant and his banker’s-daughter wife who are caught between the contesting sides.
Both debut novels sound fascinating! Might make good presents for a mystery reader on your holiday gift list?
The post Two Debut Mysteries For a Cold Winter Night appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
November 28, 2018
History With Your Mystery: Nancy Bilyeau’s Latest Novel
Don’t forget to add this to your Want to Read list on Goodreads. Better yet – get it now and add it to your Reading Challenge!
Nancy Bilyeau on Goodreads click the link here.
The Author
Nancy Bilyeau has worked on the staffs of InStyle, DuJour, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. She is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at City University of New York and a regular contributor to Town & Country, Purist, and The Vintage News.
A native of the Midwest, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. The Crown, her first novel and an Oprah pick, was published in 2012; the sequel, The Chalice, followed in 2013. The third in the trilogy, The Tapestry, was published by Touchstone in 2015. Her fourth novel, The Blue, launches December 3rd.
Nancy lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
To learn more about Nancy, find her on Twitter, Facebook, and on the web.
The Book
In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities. Fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.
For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure; she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London. If only she could reach Venice.
When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse; if she learns the secrets of porcelain manufacture, he will send her to Venice. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue…
The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage.
She also learns much about love.
With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue?
Buy the book on Amazon US, Book Depository, Amazon UK print, and Amazon UK e-book
The Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
Amiability has never been counted more important in a woman’s character than it is today. Which is why I’m twenty-four and unmarried and without friends or employer, only a grandfather for company. It doesn’t matter. Ambition consumes me, an impossible one. It’s what delivers me into the back of a hackney carriage on this December night, holding a party invitation that doesn’t bear my name as I make my way from Spitalfields to Leicester Fields.
My grandfather and I live on Fournier Street, one of the most respectable in Spitalfields, a street where, never mind the longing and greed and fear that nibble at the souls of a good many neighbors, all say their prayers after supper and snuff the candles. Not so along the route through London to Leicester Fields. From my swaying carriage, I see lights leaping in many windows and hear the shouts and the laughter. London is alive, and so am I.
After more than an hour, the carriage jerks to a stop as it is has many times. But on this occasion, it’s not in order to allow another to rumble forward. Thump, thump, thump. The driver pounds his stick. I’ve arrived.
The carriage door swings open to number thirty, Leicester Fields, the home of England’s greatest living painter, William Hogarth.
As I step down, I catch sight of handsome houses rising along each side of the square, illuminated by coal-lit street lamps that stand to attention like tireless soldiers. The largest by far is Leicester House, tucked behind a courtyard, containing whichever Prince of Wales is presently draining the country of gold with his peevish schemes. I know from the newspapers the names of some of the other residents, wealthy doctors and striving merchants and low-rung nobles. But now is not the time to gawk.
I’m not sure what I expected from Hogarth’s London home. The solid terraced building, third from the left on the southeast corner, gives no outward evidence of artistic genius. Yet I know I’ve come to the right place, by the lights bursting from the windows and the roar of many voices. This is the man’s Christmas party.
I fully expect the servant at the door to give me trouble. Raising my chin, I try to look as if I belong in the rarefied world of Leicester Fields. Unfortunately, a bitter cold wind envelops me, making my earrings, the only ones I possess, sputter against my neck. I shiver in my dress. I did not bring my winter cloak — how could I? It is too plain, the garment of a modest, God-fearing Huguenot woman of Spitalfields, not the West End. Sober manner and somber dress, such is our creed.
Without a word, I thrust the invitation into the gloved hand of the silver-wigged servant. He does not look down at the card.
“Have you no escort, Madame?”
“None is required.”
He peers at the writing and frowns. “This was sent to Pierre Billiou.”
“My name is Genevieve Planché and I am his family — his granddaughter,” I reply. My mother died of smallpox when I was eight. My father being dead of typhus three years before that, Pierre has long been my only family.
I say, as casually as I can manage, “Grandfather is ill, but he wished me to convey to Mr. William Hogarth in person his wishes for a merry Christmas.”
The servant purses his lips.
I take a step closer. “I’m sure Mr. Hogarth would be most angry to know that a member of the Billiou family was made to feel unwelcome.”
A smile crinkles the servant’s face. With a mocking flourish, he beckons for me to enter. I straighten my shoulders and follow him, determined to maintain the appearance of being accustomed to such occasions, when the truth is I’ve only attended two artists’ gatherings hosted by my grandfather and they consisted of three or four old friends grumbling about their commissions over goblets of cognac. I’ve never attended a party among London society in my life.
The post History With Your Mystery: Nancy Bilyeau’s Latest Novel appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
November 18, 2018
Mystery Author Debuts a Brand New Series
So happy to introduce a fellow Camel/Coffeetown Press author. Welcome Priscilla Paton, and congratulations on the launch of your brand new mystery series!
The Author
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, you can visit her website and find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
The Interview
Your debut novel revolves around two detectives, and we spend time in the point of view of both characters. What made you decide to write from both points of view?
Trial and error, quite appropriate to the detecting genre. I came up with Detective Erik Jansson first: I knew his Midwest do-gooder background (I had a similar one growing up in Maine), I knew he’d be driven and restless with a thwarted romantic streak. I knew he’d been seen as a straightforward white guy and could use that image in a subversive way. Oh, and I made him good looking, just so you know. But as I wrote the story would get stuck in his head.
I set Erik aside and tried a different storyline with a female P.I. I didn’t like her, she couldn’t assert herself. Then Detective Deb Metzger shoved her way into the original story—6’2” (in boots), lesbian, with a concrete block instead of a chip on her shoulder. She speaks out, loudly, to advocate for the abused. Together she and Erik start a fire. They have similar underlying values, but they carry different burdens and their styles clash. Erik and Deb have to figure out how to use their differences advantageously rather than exploding.
I like the challenge of multiple viewpoints because it allows me to explore how people misunderstand each other and, intentionally or not, mislead each other. With different POVs, I can change vocabularies, frames of reference, types of humor. There are two more POV characters. Jonathan Lewis, a new hire at a Reputation Management/PR firm, is undone by the murder of his boss and struggles with his naïve ambitions. Haley Haugen is an adolescent scene-stealer who has to deal with issues a girl her age should not have to confront—and she’s being stalked. Meanwhile, there’s no superiority like a middle school girl’s: Haley’s perfected her assessment of adults as fugly screw-ups.
“My thought—what a great place to hide a body!”
Your series is set in the Twin Cities, how does the geography of the area impact the events?
I was flying back to Minneapolis a few years ago, and the plane swooped over the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, a maze of wetlands and dense growth abutting the Twin Cities. My thought—what a great place to hide a body!
Geography is “ground zero” for me, though in the Land of 10,000 Lakes the ground is often replaced by water. The Mississippi and Minnesota rivers converge in the Twin Cities area, and these working rivers are full of barges, crucial to a final scene.
With urban and suburban addresses, I fictionalize names of establishments where crimes occur. I also made up a town in Iowa to protect the innocent towns in Iowa. Yet I did walk or drive through all the novel’s setting, with the exception of a dive-bar which I googled.
Tell us about your writing process:
Hmm, painful, tedious, maddening? On a brighter note, it can be fascinating and devious, a release of the inner imp. Real crimes suggest a premise and a theme: for this novel, it was criminal breaches of “sensitive digital records” and terrible violence against women and children, which raised for me the themes of privacy and exploitation.
After research, I invent a crime—this is fiction—and a character with tragic and comic attributes comes to me. What starts me writing is interaction between characters—how they test themselves against each other. I could describe Where Privacy Dies as a character-driven novel, only these characters are bad drivers who crash into each other.
Another point: like many writers, I work to balance serious elements with comic ones. Just becomes something’s serious doesn’t mean it can’t be funny, or if it’s funny it can’t be serious.
When I’m stuck, I’ll read several pages by a writer I admire, not necessarily a mystery writer. I love the sensibility of Richard Russo and the twisted humor of Julie Schumacher in The Shakespeare Requirement. I also return to a site to check for odd details—like a torn heart flag on a run-down house.
You did opposition research as part of your process to write Where Privacy Dies, what interested you about that topic?
Several elections cycles past, I read a newspaper article and then a book about “opposition research” of candidates and that it supposed to be based on fact-finding, not mud-slinging. I also saw online advertisements for “reputation management.” Doctors, public figures, and business people hire professional help when “fake” news about them spreads like a virus. There are huge—all right, I won’t use “huge”—important themes there. In our culture, it is not enough to speak for yourself, it is not enough to know you are innocent; your individual word can be shouted down.
It is difficult to make innocence, or reasonable responses, or flawed responses with good intent, prevail. You might then hire a reputation management firm, but think about the loads of information these firms collect—what could happen to that information in the proverbial wrong hands?
From a different angle, opposition research is much like crime detection. It tries to methodically uncover what’s been deliberately hidden and potentially dangerous.
What has surprised you most, now that you are a published author?
That you have to start the grueling process over again with the next novel. Charles Baxter, a serious-type writer, says that writing each novel is like climbing a new mountain. A series makes some elements easier—central characters are developed and in place; then the concern is freshness. Also, I’m still learning about shameless self-promotion. Writers are generally introverts who couldn’t sell a doughnut to a cop.
What are you working on now?
The next Twin Cities mystery: Erik and Deb come back, with their Great Metro backup-team of Chief Ibeling, Jimmy Bond Smalls, Cyber Paul, and the ex-fake hooker, Lola Scheers. But a new crime involves new characters (a musician and dog-rescuer) and opioid trafficking. Working title: SHOULD GRACE FAIL.
I’m also working on blogs, available at my website priscillapaton.com, and short stories.
Final words of wisdom:
Bad writing comes before good. Get that first draft down (a challenge when the draft, to use a lit-crit term, “sucks”), and then move on to the transforming revisions. Louise Penny, author of the famous Inspector Gamache series, says that the creative mind writes the first draft.
The fussy inner-editor has to be turned off, a challenge for me. I used to grade papers, so I have an auto-set on “correct.” So release the imp, and later turn that editor brain-worm to high. That said, I’m a slow writer who deliberates and rewrites along the way. I think of it as “building” a story. (editing photo: Pixabay)
Great advice. Thanks for visiting!
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