Debra H. Goldstein's Blog

Irondale Public Library Grand Opening Featured Adult Author – October 11 – Irondale, AL

Debra is the featured adult author at the Irondale Public Library’s Grand Opening. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, she’ll be signing books from 10 a.m. to noon.

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The Light Enables Mystery Writers to Explore the Dark by Bobby Mathews

Here’s a surprising twist on crime and mystery writers that you might not know: these writers who deal with some of the darkest crimes that the human mind can conjure are also some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

I think it’s because we get our darkness onto the page and let it bleed out on the crime scene of our work. I learned early on — well before any of my novels were published — that mystery and crime fiction authors are incredibly kind and gracious. I am, in some ways, a decently successful novelist and short story writer. My book, Living the Gimmick, broke out in a small way for a novel from a small press, had good sales, and won a couple of regional awards. The follow-up, Magic City Blues, was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 2024. I’ve won a Derringer Award for my short fiction, and had a story included in Best American Mystery & Suspense.

I am not one of the famous names in our genre, even though I occasionally hang out with some of them.

I’m a fan just like anyone else. At Bouchercon in San Diego, I went up to the insanely talented Megan Abbott and asked her to sign my copy of her novel, Beware the Woman. She already knew that I was a huge fan of her work, and I told her that I really appreciated her signing the book to me.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “We’re colleagues.”

Colleagues? With Megan Abbott? With S.A. Cosby? With Jordan Harper? With Kellye Garrett? With Ace Atkins? With Alex Segura and Jess Freakin’ Lourey? With Debra Goldstein??? That put a new spin on how I thought of myself. While I still have an enormous bout of imposter syndrome every time I approach the page, her words ring in my ears as I chase down the words and tell the tales I hope that I was born to tell. That small interaction meant more to me than Megan will ever know. 

When my short story collection, Negative Tilt, was accepted for publication, I emailed Ace to ask if he’d blurb the book. Asking for blurbs is nerve-wracking for almost every author, but especially for one whose reputation at the time was so thin. Ace wrote back and said he’d take a look at the book. The collection was a hit with him, and he gave me an enthusiastic blurb.

I’ve had personal struggles even while having professional success. My mom died the same year Living the Gimmick debuted. My dad passed away 14 months later. Three other family members died during the same time span. Over the last six months or so, I’ve had some health challenges that have kept me away from the page for weeks at a time. But it hasn’t mattered. The crime and mystery writing community never let me fall. People I’d never met in person were emailing and messaging me to check on me and let me know they were in my corner. 

I write crime fiction because I like to read the dark stuff, to explore the human psyche at what I consider its most vulnerable. I put a Southern twist on it because I am a native of the Deep South. But I love the community because while we explore the darkest of themes, writers like Mindy Carlson and Alex Kenna and Tony Wirt and Jason Powell and James D.F. Hannah — and I know I’m forgetting a lot of people — are the brightest of lights. Those are the kinds of folks who make mystery and crime fiction more than a genre. They make it a home, and I’m proud to be here.

Living the Gimmick: https://shotgunhoney.com/books/catalog/living-the-gimmick-by-bobby-mathews/ 

Magic City Blues: https://shotgunhoney.com/books/catalog/magic-city-blues-by-bobby-mathews/ 

Negative Tilt: https://shotgunhoney.com/books/catalog/negative-tilt-stories-by-bobby-mathews/ 

Website is https://bamawriter.com/ 

Bobby Mathews is an award-winning (and -losing!) author from Birmingham, Alabama. His work has been featured in multiple magazines, anthologies, and websites that dig noir fiction. If he’s not writing, he’s probably coaching youth baseball or just procrastinating. His next book will be out sometime after he finishes writing it.

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Two Truths and a Lie: What Being a Veterinarian Taught Me About Writing Cozy Mysteries by DL Mitchell

When people hear I’m both a veterinarian and a cozy mystery author, their eyes widen. A veterinary career is surprisingly great training for writing about amateur sleuths, quirky characters, and hidden clues. I love puzzles, but I also love a happy ending. Life can be unpredictable, but the satisfaction I get from treating patients and making a difference is like the hopefulness you feel after reading a cozy mystery—justice served, order restored, friendships forged, and maybe a slice of cake in a neighborhood cafe to celebrate.

I’m going to share two truths and a lie about what my years in animal medicine taught me about crafting cozy mysteries. See if you can spot the fib.

Truth or Lie? Observing small details can save a life—or solve a mystery.

In veterinary school, you’re trained to notice what others miss. A cat isn’t “just tired,” and a dog doesn’t cough to get its owner’s attention. Both could signal injury or changes in lung function. Pets can’t tell us what’s wrong, but through a detailed exam, thoughtful questioning, and deductive reasoning, we can uncover the facts, leading to a successful treatment plan.

Cozy sleuths also survive on details—a dog’s reaction to an uninvited guest, or the talking parrot who repeats a suspicious new phrase. Clues like these may be overlooked by an untrained observer but could help my amateur sleuth find the killer.

Truth or Lie? Every client is a character waiting to happen.

Veterinarians meet everyone—farmers, CEOs, retirees, college students—and they all love their animals. In the waiting room, people who might never speak to each other swap stories about their pets. As a vet, you get a front-row seat to the quirks and contradictions of human nature. The shy woman who comes to life showing photos of her new puppy dressed up for Halloween or the long-haul trucker who chokes up discussing his aging cat’s mobility challenges.

In cozy mysteries, readers return to a series not only for a well-crafted plot but to spend time with their favorite cast of characters, both two- and four-legged. My career provides real-life personalities to draw from, many of which have ended up on the pages of my veterinary series. With their permission, of course.

Truth or Lie? Animals always make the perfect witnesses.

Real animals can’t give testimony, but as a veterinarian, I’ve learned they can give signals—just not in human words. A friendly cat that hisses when a particular person walks into a room. A horse that refuses to enter a certain stall. These moments can spark questions and add tension.

In my mysteries, the animal companions don’t “solve” the crime, but they often tip off the sleuth to something unusual. The trick is balancing believability with charm—without wandering into fantasy.

Which one was the lie?

If you guessed correctly, you know animals aren’t perfect witnesses in real life, even though their instincts should never be discounted. They can also be eccentric bystanders—observing events and responding to our cues and body language. I’ve seen dogs act guilty for no reason and cats ignore the most dramatic moments. But one thing is certain: they make delightful fictional co-investigators.

The other two? Absolute truth.

Being a veterinarian taught me to notice details and to appreciate the complex characters you meet along the way. And sometimes, the most unexpected career change makes the most perfect plot twist.

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Writing What You Know, Or Writing What You Want to Know by Carl Vonderau

You’re supposed to write about what you know. So what do you do if you’re a banker and you write about crime? You have to make up a few things if you want to keep your job. In my first book, Murderabilia, the protagonist’s father was a serial killer. No, that wasn’t part of my family history. That meant I had to research what happened to the children of serial killers.
Without exception they all had very hard lives. The next challenge then was to combine that background with the knowledge I brought from my banking career. That’s where the fun part came.

Here was the premise. Suppose my protagonist had changed his name and no one knew that his father was an infamous serial killer. He worked for a prestigious bank that only dealt with high-net-worth families. Then he was accused of killing a woman in the same way his father would. Just so you know, only the banking part was from personal experience.

 Money laundering was part of my next book, Saving Myles. In that one I blended some of what I knew, some of what I learned about, and some of what I made up. Many years ago, my wife and I sent our son to a residential treatment center. He is doing fine now and gave me permission to use some of what he went through in my book. Sending your teenager against his will to a treatment center is one of the hardest things a parent will ever do. Those emotions formed the core of the book.

 I also didn’t see many novels that realistically covered money laundering. I had a few clients in my banking days that might have had money laundering in mind, but none of them ever did it with me. So I enrolled in courses from an institution that trained financial services people in how to spot it. The other students were from banks, brokerages and the U.S. Treasury. They probably wondered whether the “writer” among them was actually building his chops so he could launder for a cartel. That gave me some ideas…in the book, that is.

 Mexico has a highly organized kidnapping industry. I traveled all over Latin America, including Mexico, and never come close to being kidnapped. So I talked with the FBI to learn how they could help. As it turns out, unless you’re murdered or from a very prominent family, the FBI usually has to work with local Mexican authorities. They can’t negotiate for you or talk directly with the kidnappers. Then I had to research the victims. My friends at the YMCA in Tijuana arranged for me to talk with a man who had been kidnapped. His abductors were from the same barrio where he grew up and he knew them. Because his family paid too slowly, they cut off his toe and sent it to them.

 Putting that all together, here is what I came up with in Saving Myles. A star banker and his wife have had to send their troubled teen to a residential treatment center. When Myles returns he seems to have totally rehabilitated himself. Then he sneaks off to Tijuana and is kidnapped. The only way his parents can save him is to become involved with money laundering at a sketchy bank.

 Sometimes the way to create a unique thriller premise is to get the right mix of what you know, what you learn, and what you make up.

Carl Vonderau grew up in Cleveland. After majoring in economics and dabbling in classical guitar in college, he made a career in banking. Carl has lived and worked internationally and put his foot in his mouth in several languages. He brought his banking expertise to his two thrillers, Murderabilia, and Saving Myles. He has won Left Coast Crime, Pencraft, American Bookfest, National Indie Excellence, and Independent Press awards. Carl is a board member of the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime, a member of Blackbird Writers, and helps nonprofits through San Diego Social Venture Partners.

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AWC Conference – September 12-14 – Orange Beach, AL

Valerie Burns and Debra will teach a workshop on “The Long and Short of Writing Fiction: How to write long, short, and sell it!”

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Keeping Track of Chaos by Lynn Cahoon

Reading the past contributions, I thought I’d talk about one thing no one ever mentioned to me when I started out – keeping track of the chaos that is publishing. 

First up, my story. I have always dreamed of being a writer but thought that was something someone else did. I was a rural Idaho kid who had nothing to say that was interesting. And yet, I was drawn to telling stories. But I was also practical. My mom was widowed in her mid-thirties with no career, and five kids, including a 1-year-old baby. Me. I needed a job to make sure that didn’t happen to me. It was the seventies and Ms. Magazine told us we could do anything. My guidance counselor was more specific. Teacher, nurse, office worker. None of them called to me but I could see myself as a younger, hipper, Mary Tyler Moore, so I made sure I had office skills – like accounting and typing.

 Years later, in my third career, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was a wake-up call and my focus changed to making writing my job, not just a someday wish.  I started with my strength – learning. 

I realized quickly once I was published that I needed to learn more than just writing craft on how to tell a good yarn. I needed to understand and develop a production plan. 

Basically, a production plan is a way to not only meet your writing or drafting deadlines, but to make sure you are being prepared for events, editing, and marketing.

For a long time, I was a working writer. I had a full-time job, was writing several books a year, in several series and attending some events that I could fit in. 

And I was failing. 

I started making a goal list, focusing on annual goals, then breaking it down to monthly, weekly, and finally daily to do list, supporting those goals. Writing several series. I needed an overall plan that can give me a view of what’s next to write, or edit, or an event to attend. 

This is the chaos controller. I use a clipboard with a notebook paper that has three columns. On Deck, Soon, and Future. On deck are the big picture list of things I’m working on. The last few months have included promoting An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder – book one in the Bainbridge Island series. I also had developmental edits on Confessions of an Amateur Sleuth. I was drafting (writing) a new Haunted Lives book as well as several blogs and articles on a new release, Seven Secret Spellcasters. I had video, in person, and Facebook group appearances. Everything was on my one page so I could make sure it got on the calendar. 

It’s a system with a lot of moving parts. The bigger projects, like writing the book, I use a computer program called Asana to schedule the writing.

Sometimes things still fall through. But if I follow my plan, most things get done. So, I’ll count that as a win. I even found an error by my publisher since I didn’t have a round of edits marked off my clipboard list. They’d forgotten to send them to me. The book might have been fine, since it was final edits, but I’d be worried if I didn’t get the chance to read it, one last time.

Do you have a planner? Or a system? Let me know what works for you. Giveaway – Seven Secret Spellcasters – signed copy – to one lucky US address winner. 

Lynn Cahoon, author of An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder, the first in the Bainbridge Island mystery series is an Anthony-award nominated, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. Lynn pens several cozy mystery series including The Tourist Trap Mysteries, The Kitchen Witch Mysteries, Survivors’ Book Club Mysteries, The Farm to Fork Mysteries, and The Cat Latimer Mysteries. Readers can expect a fun ride no matter where the mystery is set. She lives in a small town in Eastern Tennessee like the towns she loves to write about with her husband and two spoiled Keeshonds. Find out more and sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com

AN AMATEUR SLEUTH’S GUIDE TO MURDER

A Bainbridge Island Mystery

An irresistible new series from New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

 TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE

Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

 Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

 TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

 Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

 TIP #3: BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Links – 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Amateur-Sleuths-Guide-Murder/dp/1496752090 

www.lynncahoon.com  for more vendors.

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Killer Nashville – August 21-24 – Nashville TN

Debra, a former Silver Falchion winner, will be a panelist on several craft related panels.

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Will They or Won’t They? By Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell

Thanks so much, Debra for having me back to your blog.

My next Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, Murder at Cape Costumers, releases August 26th. It’s the seventh in the series of stories that take place in fictional Westham on upper Cape Cod. Bike shop owner Mac Almeida and her Cozy Capers book group sometimes never get to the cozy mystery of the week because they’re too busy investigating murder.

As I was writing it, Cape Costumers was the last book under contract. I didn’t know whether my publisher would renew the series for more books or if the seventh would be the last.

I’ve been in that position before. I wrote book three AND book five in the Local Foods Mysteries without knowing about a contract extension. Both times I left Cam Flaherty and her friends at the farm in a good position. If the series ended there, I’d be satisfied, but I didn’t burn any bridges to prevent it from continuing.

It did end with book five, and the books have been re-released as ebooks authored by Maddie Day.

Ending my seven-book Quaker Midwife Mysteries series was my business decision.

I was also in charge of deciding to finish the Country Store Mysteries at book thirteen, despite knowing how much I’d be disappointing dedicated fans of Robbie Jordan and her gang in South Lick, Indiana.

With both those series, I left everybody with all loose ends tidied up and the characters in a good place.

But with the Cozy Capers Book Group stories, I wanted the series to continue, except I didn’t know if Kensington would offer me a contract for more. 

I’m not much of a plotter, and as the book went along, I realized something big was going to happen in Mac Almeida’s personal life beyond the murder investigation. 

And it did. Once again I ended the book feeling satisfied that I could walk away from Mac and Tim and her family and the Cozy Capers book group and Mac’s Bikes if I had to.

But I didn’t have to! I was offered a contract extension.

I’m now polishing book eight, Murder at the Toy Soldier. It’s my fortieth novel, so yay, me! I’m not sure what’ll happen in book nine, but I’ll figure it out. I always do. 

Readers: Have you been able to end a job, a project, or a chapter in your life to your own satisfaction? I’ll send one commenter a copy of the new book (toward the end of the month after I get my copies).

Just in time for Halloween, a new costume shop has opened on Main Street in Westham, Massachusetts. Cape Costumers is a cut above the usual seasonal pop-up stores with their flimsy mass-produced outfits and cheap plastic masks, mostly due to co-owner Shelly, a former Broadway costume designer. But when Shelly discovers her elderly boyfriend Enzo—a Broadway star who retired to Westham—dead of unnatural causes, Halloween suddenly gets a lot scarier.

Sleuthing, Mac has found, is a lot like riding a bicycle: once you learn how, you never forget. Far from being spooked, Mac and the members of the Cozy Capers Book Group put down their weekly book selection and put their heads together to see past a bag of tricks and find a malice-making murderer who’s hiding in plain sight . . .

Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, the Cece Barton Mysteries, and the historical Dot and Amelia Mysteries. As Edith Maxwell, she writes the Agatha-Award winning historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries and short crime fiction. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and a proud lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. Maxwell/Day lives north of Boston with her beau and their cat Martin, where she writes, cooks, gardens, and wastes time on Facebook. Find her at her website and at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen .

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Triangle Sisters in Crime – August 9

Triangle Sisters in Crime Chapter will host Debra on Zoom to teach a “Conflict” workshop

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Reading the World by Miranda James

I discovered juvenile mystery series when I was ten or eleven. My introduction to them was The Secret of Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene. I was immediately entranced. I eagerly looked for more Nancy Drew books, and I discovered many other series like the Hardy Boys, the Dana Girls, Judy Bolton, Biff Brewster, and another favorite, Trixie Belden. Not only did I get to enjoy exciting adventures vicariously, I began to learn in a number of the books about foreign countries and new (to me) parts of the United States (like Hawaii and Alaska). I believe that reading about these countries, along with studying them in geography classes, ignited my interest in travel.

My first international trip was to Mexico the spring of my junior year in high school. My Spanish teacher and her husband, an anthropologist who had been a part of important archaeological digs in Mexico, put together a trip, and I was lucky enough to get to go. I loved my Spanish classes, and I ended up getting a minor in Spanish in college. After that, I never looked back.

There are so many countries I would love to visit, given the money, good health, and time. The two destinations dearest to my heart are the United Kingdom and Ireland, perhaps because much of my ancestry is English, with some Irish and Swedish thrown in, as well as Norman French (the Conquest, you know). But I have also traveled to Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba, Bonaire, the Bahamas, Colombia, and Costa Rica in the Americas, and in Europe, France, Greece, and Turkey.

That brings me to my new book, Something Whiskered, which is set entirely in Ireland, chiefly in County Clare, where I have visited twice. I was nervous about setting a book in a foreign country, but I felt so at home in Ireland, I decided to give it a go. My series character, Charlie Harris, is on his honeymoon (spoiler alert) with his wife Helen Louise Brady (originally O’Bradaigh). Diesel, thanks to a relaxation in the laws about bringing in cats and dogs, accompanies them. They are visiting Helen Louise’s Irish family, her grandfather’s cousin Finn, Baron O’Bradaigh, along with his grandson Lorcan and his family.

Charlie, Helen Louise, and Diesel get a rough welcome to Castle O’Bradaigh, however, because when they drive up to the castle, a body falls from the roof right in front of them. This scene came to me immediately when I started thinking about the book. Then I had to decide, of course, who dies. Then I had to figure out the rest of the story.

I did a fair amount of research, including diving into Irish slang and common phrases. Among my favorites are gombeen, eejit, and craic. I use these words throughout the book, because I wanted my Irish characters to sound Irish. I don’t think I overdid it, but I had fun with it. The Irish are a colorful people, and I hope I managed to portray that. I don’t know that I’ll ever set another book in a foreign country, but I hope my readers will enjoy the one I did.

Miranda James is the pseudonym of retired medical librarian Dean James. His books have made the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. He currently resides in the Jackson, MS, area along with three cats and thousands of books.

Website: www.catinthestacks.com 

Buy links:

Murder by the Book: https://www.murderbooks.com/book/9780593199558  (signed copies) 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/something-whiskered-miranda-james/1146487399?ean=9780593199565 

Indie Bound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/something-whiskered-miranda-james/00ced5f0bc5ab3c9?ean=9780593199565&next=t 

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