Debra H. Goldstein's Blog, page 14
March 8, 2022
Mystery Author Roadshow – Scrawl Books
Featuring Ellery Adams, Libby Klein and Debra H Goldstein – Share in the fun of Libby launching her new Poppy McAllister book, Antique Auctions are Murder. Debra and Ellery will give sneak previews of their upcoming books, Five Belles Too Many and Mint Condition Murder. Join in the fun – Giveaways!
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February 27, 2022
What Happens When a Writer Gets Bored
By Kassandra Lamb
I bore easily, which isn’t always a good thing.
About a third of my closet is full of impulse buys that I liked because they were “something different,” but then only wore a few times. They varied a little too much from my normal style.
This tendency to bore easily is part of why I love mysteries, both reading and writing them. So many different ways a story can twist and turn…Bwahahaha.
But in my writing, even more than in my wardrobe, this trait has led me away from my comfort zone.
My first series, the Kate Huntington Mysteries were traditional mysteries, with a psychotherapist amateur sleuth, which is what I did for a living for 20 years (psychotherapy, not sleuthing). This was comfortable, since I knew that profession. But also challenging enough to keep my interest, as I figured out different messes Kate might find herself in as she tried to help her clients.
Inevitably, however, I became bored. I’d experimented with shorter, cozy-mystery-type reads in a parallel series of novellas called the Kate on Vacation Mysteries. I enjoyed the cozy style so much, I decided to write a cozy series, the Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries.
To raise consciousness about the mental health issues of veterans, and because I love dogs, I made my protagonist a young woman who trains service dogs for military veterans with PTSD.
But now I was no longer following the comfortable edict of “write what you know.” My protagonist was a Millennial, divorced, commitment phobic, and a dog trainer. And I am none of those things.
I had to do a lot of research with this series, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. It’s hard to be bored when you’re researching tasks service dogs can do, the inner workings of the various branches of the military, and different ways that combat soldiers might be injured, physically and/or mentally.
But now the dog-trainer series has almost run its course. Marcia (pronounced Mar-see-a, not Marsha) has grown from a somewhat flaky young woman to a mature married lady. (Well, “lady” may be an exaggeration). I’m currently writing the last novel in that series, and then her “character arc”—as we authors call it—will be completed.
So the bored part of me got a hare-brained idea. Why not write a police procedural series? There was a police detective character in the Kate books I’d grown fond of. Why not give her a series all her own?
Well, I may have changed things up a bit too much this time. I’ve moved way, way out of my comfort zone.
The only things I have in common with this protagonist—we’re both female and recovering Northerners now living in Florida.
But I’m certainly not bored!
I’m discovering that the “police procedure” we see on TV is often quite different from reality. Lots and lots of research is happening now, and I even got a chance recently to see the jury selection process up close and personal.
And the totally cool thing about police procedurals—there’s LOTS of variety in the crimes we homo sapiens commit. (Okay, maybe only a mystery writer would see that as cool.)
It may take a bit longer than usual for me to become bored with this series!
Bio:
In her youth, Kassandra Lamb had two great passions—psychology and writing. Advised that writers need day jobs and being partial to eating, she studied psychology. Now retired from a career as a psychotherapist—which taught her much about resilience, perseverance, and the healing power of laughter—she spends most of her time in an alternate universe populated by her fictional characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her.
Lethal Assumptions, A C.o.P. on the Scene Mystery
Judith Anderson’s no-nonsense attitude and confidence served her well in her climb to homicide lieutenant in the Baltimore County PD, but that confidence is shaken when she finds herself one step behind a serial killer—just eight days into her new job as Chief of Police in a small Florida city.
With a leak in her department, she doesn’t know whom to trust. If she makes the wrong assumption, the wrong decision, it may be her last. In a race to save lives, she’ll draw on every talent and instinct that made her a star in Baltimore. But will that be enough this time?
BUY LINKS:
AMAZON UNIVERSAL: http://hyperurl.co/c1g4ta
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lethal-assumptions
NOOK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lethal-assumptions-kassandra-lamb/1140506231?ean=2940165631856
WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/
BOOKBUB PROFILE: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb
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February 13, 2022
Love and Valentine’s Day
When I think about Valentine’s Day, which today is, I think about it in a commercialized sense. Although the holiday’s origin is related to two saints, I had to look that up on Wikipedia. I’m more familiar with the cards, boxes of heart shaped candy, special dinners, and even boxers with cupids and hearts that are sold in the name of love. But, what is love?
Yes, there is the romantic type of love that the ads depict for Valentine’s Day, but is that all there is? I don’t think so.
I think the concept of love is wider. Recently, I talked with a friend caring for her husband after a head injury. Because he is in a rehab center, she won’t be going to a special dinner, receiving a card, or smiling when her favorite flowers are delivered unless she does any of those things for herself. She will be running back and forth to the center, making sure he is comfortable and taken care of, encouraging him, and putting up with his complaints about whatever annoys him at that moment. That’s love.
When I look at my children and the time and care they are giving to their children whether reading stories every night, showing them how to skip a stone across water, pushing a swing for the millionth time, running behind a bicycle the first time training wheels come off, kissing a boo boo away, or simply listening to their tales of woe, I see love.
Some of my friends never married or had children, but they have pets who snuggle next to them, give happy licks, or wait patiently for attention. The relationships between these humans and their animals are another example of love.
My next Sarah Blair book, Five Belles Too Many, which won’t be out until June 25, but is available for pre-order, features five couples who are finalists to win a perfect Southern wedding. Each relationship is different in terms of motivation and interaction. For a chance (U.S. only) to win an ARC of Five Belles Too Many (which just arrived), leave a comment about how you define love or an example of how it has occurred in your life.
Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!
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February 7, 2022
Murder in the Magic City and Murder on the Menu
Debra will be live at Murder in the Magic City – Birmingham – February 5 and Murder on the Menu – Wetumpka – February 6
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January 31, 2022
When Setting is Also Character
By C. Hope Clark
The most enticing books for me to read spin setting into character. In other words, the story wouldn’t be nearly as delicious without a well-defined sense of place. Even more so if the story couldn’t exist without that specific locale.
If a story is in Los Angeles, then it needs to be there for a reason. Likewise, if it’s in Alabama or India or Portugal, the setting has to carry its weight in perpetuating the story and adding substance to its telling.
A setting can be more than a town or country, too. The setting might be a haunted resort like in The Shining, a train like in Murder on the Orient Express, or a cabin cruiser as in The Woman in Cabin 10. The point is that place is crucial to the tale.
I write mystery. A fan once told me that my stories were “destination mysteries.” She nailed two words into a description I hadn’t quite parsed into the right phrase, and I love the term. My fourteen novels are divided into three series, and setting gives them as much considerable strength as the strong protagonist women who solve the crimes.
All my books are set in South Carolina, and my goal in The Carolina Slade Mysteries was to be the Sue Grafton of South Carolina, setting each book in a different county or region of the state I love so much. The places are real, and the protagonist solves crime that falls under the department of agriculture, which further defines the setting in places like farms, secluded wooded areas, and marshes. A reader opens the book knowing there’s nothing urban about these crimes, and bodies disappear under the oddest of circumstances from gators to poisons existing in plants that grow in everyday ditches.
In The Edisto Island Mysteries, my largest and most popular series, Police Chief Callie Morgan manages the island town of Edisto Beach, actually located in the southern end of the state. The setting is rich with nature since this area is far from developed like the average tourist beach. There’s jungle, boggy marsh, and deep ocean for all sorts of debauchery, and along with the setting comes senses galore. The vinegary scent of Carolina pluff mud against the brine of the sea. Humidity you can drink and temperatures that cook you red and peeling. The salty taste of shrimp and the bite of a heavy-handed gin and tonic on a hot August evening.
My newest series is The Craven County Mysteries, somewhat similar to Karin Slaughter’s Grant County Series in that everything happens in one community, allowing the reader to become personally invested in its people, places, and style of living. The protagonist Quinn Sterling is not only a private investigator, but she is “the last heir in the oldest family in the oldest county in South Carolina.” Circumstances tore her from her FBI dream and into the role of owner and manager of a 3,000-acre pecan dynasty in the dark, humid Lowcountry. That 300-year-old farm is wrought with incredible sensory stimulation along with the black-water Edisto River snaking its border.
I write what I love to read . . . a story sunk into a world I can disappear into, become intimate with, and feel the gist of coming home when I pick up the next book in the series. And from the comments of readers, they seem to love the familiarity just like I do.
C. Hope Clark’s latest releases are Murdered in Craven and Burned in Craven, books 1 and 2 in The Craven County Mysteries. Hope lives on the banks of Lake Murray in central South Carolina when she isn’t walking the state’s Edisto Island beach. She lives with her husband, a retired federal agent, and two dachshunds, and her previous career in agriculture as a financial manager and subsequent internal investigator and director comes out in her tales. She has more books under contract and will write South Carolina mysteries until she can write no more. Hope is also founder of FundsforWriters.com, selected by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 20 consecutive years, and freelances in Writer’s Digest books, magazine, and online events. www.chopeclark.com / www.fundsforwriters.com
Buy Links:Murdered in Craven –Amazon – https://amzn.to/3EaPwoH
BN – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murdered-in-craven-c-hope-clark/1140504992
Autographed copies – http://www.chopeclark.com
Amazon – https://amzn.to/32fRPtp
BN – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/burned-in-craven-c-hope-clark/1140505085
Autographed copies – http://www.chopeclark.com
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January 25, 2022
Mystery Rat’s Podcast features
We are doing something a little different with this episode, we are offering a story in 2 parts.
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January 17, 2022
What’s in a Name?
By Maggie King
What’s in a name? With due respect to Mr. Shakespeare, who immortalized the catchphrase in Romeo and Juliet, names matter. Ask any parent, pet owner … or writer.
People ask me how I come up with my characters’ names. I might hear a first name and read a last name and put them together. The names need to sound right and need to suit the character. In Murder at the Book Group, #1 in my Hazel Rose Book Group Mysteries, I chose the name Hazel Rose for my main character because it appealed to me.
But some names have more interesting backstories. The silver screen contributed a name for a character who appears throughout the series. One day I was watching The Philadelphia Story (1940) and saw the name Wade Rubottom in the credits. He was an associate art director for many films in the thirties and forties. I thought, “What a great name for a character” and I christened one of the book group members Sarah Rubottom.
Another recurring character is Kat Berenger. Her full name is Katrina Alexandra Berenger. Katrina Alexandra was the name of an unconventional teacher I had in high school. Kat is a logical diminutive of Katrina and also reflects the character’s love of leopards. I like the actor Tom Berenger—so that’s how I cobbled together the name Kat Berenger.
Unfortunately, Carlene Arness doesn’t get to be a recurring character, as she dies at a meeting of her book group—hence the title Murder at the Book Group. Her name was originally Deanna Arness and at some point I changed it to Sharon Arness. Then I went to work for a woman named Sharon and figured it was a bad idea for my victim and my boss to share a name, so Sharon became Carlene. As for Arness, likely I was thinking of Gunsmoke. James Arness starred in the popular western that my father watched religiously on Saturday nights from 1955-1975.
Carlene Arness was prone to tweaking her name as often as she changed her makeup. Carla, Carlotta, Carolina, were a few of her variations. She also had an assortment of last names. Her name hopping made investigating her murder challenging for Hazel Rose.
In Murder at the Moonshine Inn, Hazel Rose goes undercover to a redneck bar to investigate a murder. She consults an online database devoted to redneck baby names (yes, that’s a thing!) and picks an alias of Shelby Austin for herself and Ricky Austin for her husband, Vince. Characters she encounters in the bar are named Susie McCool, Maylene, and Duane.
For my recent release, Laughing Can Kill You, I don’t have as many interesting side stories about the names. Sarah Rubottom and Kat Berenger are recurring characters, so I’ve explained their name origins. Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe inspired the name Claudia Marlowe, a new character. I appropriated last names of people I’ve worked with over the years and gave them to Matt and Susan Rowan, Lorraine Popp, and Sherry Guanzon,
After watching (and loving) the Danish drama Borgen, I plan to name a character Hesselboe. A suitable first name will come to me.
A few years back, I wrote a post with tips about naming characters. You can read it on the Sister in Crime Central Virginia’s Lethal Ladies Write blog: https://www.sistersincrimecentralvirg....
Readers, what are your favorite character names? Let me know for a chance to win an e-book of Laughing Can Kill You.
***
Synopsis of the book:
He who laughs last, laughs longest.
Unless he’s dead.
When romance author Hazel Rose is dropped by her publisher, she sees herself heading down a path strewn with has-been authors. While disappointed, Hazel won’t give up without a fight—she signs up for a mystery-writing class, thinking that crime fiction will jumpstart her career.
But what’s a mystery-writing class without a mystery? So when Randy Zimmerman, an obnoxious classmate given to laughing at others’ expense, is murdered, Hazel tackles the case. Solving a real-life murder will surely lend authenticity to her creative writing.
She recruits her book group pals to help with the investigation. Trouble is, there are more suspects than they bargained for—even Hazel herself, who endured Randy’s thumbs-way-down review of her writing, had a motive.
A second body drives the stakes higher, and Hazel doubles her efforts to find who’s behind the murders, unearthing secrets that a killer would go to any lengths to keep hidden.
Will Hazel succeed? Or will this be “The End” for her?
***
Biography:
Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in various anthologies, including the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Murder by the Glass, and Death by Cupcake.
She is a member of James River Writers, International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia, where she manages the chapter’s Instagram account.
Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Business Administration, and has worked as a software developer and a retail sales manager. She has called New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California home. These days she lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and two indulged cats. When Maggie isn’t writing she enjoys reading, walking, cooking, traveling, movies, British TV shows, and the theatre.
Social Media:
Website: http://maggieking.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaggieKingAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaggieKingAuthr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormaggieking/
Buy Links:
Universal Book Link (ebook): https://books2read.com/u/3n2ZAK
Amazon print: https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Can-Kill-You-Mystery/dp/B09MYQ549Z
Barnes & Noble (print): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/laughing-can-kill-you-maggie-king/1140566735?ean=9798985231816
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January 12, 2022
Say it with Flowers
“I can’t believe Daisy is gone.” Officer Monroe stared at the picture in his hand, a crime scene photo of the deceased holding a fistful of Blue Bell flowers. “When I patrolled, she was always the first to say good-morning to me.”
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January 3, 2022
How Did a Mystery Writer End up in IT? by Heather Weidner
I have been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. I’m a 70s kid, and my Saturday ritual was overly sugared cereal and hours of mystery cartoons. Scooby-Doo, The Funky Phantom, Josie and the Pussycats, Jabber Jaw, and so many others helped me realize that ordinary people (usually kids) could solve crimes that sometimes the adults couldn’t. And then there were the super heroes to championed truth and justice and always fought for the underdog. (I wanted to be Batgirl.) All of these characters and stories were a gateway to Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Two-minute Mysteries, and many more. Reading opened up so many amazing worlds.
My love for reading turned into two degrees in American literature and eventually, a twenty-plus year career in IT. Yes, I am an English major who is an IT and Governance Manager. They seem like such opposite ends of the spectrum, and when people learn about my background (and that I also write mystery novels) there is always a quizzical look on their faces. How did an English major end up in IT?
[image error]My first real job after college was as a technical writer (translating technology to business users) at about the time the internet exploded. Everyone needed content for websites, blogs, wikis, and training materials. It was a natural fit. The IT technicians and engineers also needed someone to translate key concepts and processes into every-day language. I found that as I documented software and processes, I was really good at finding defects, much to the chagrin of the project managers. (The goal is to find defects early in the project and not at the end stages when training and documentation are happening.) I eventually shifted to software testing and channeled my inner Nancy Drew every day to uncover defects and to figure out why something was behaving the way it did. Sometimes, it was just a puzzle with a missing piece, and other times, a giant mystery with way too many suspects and red herrings.
I am fascinated by puzzles, and really, that’s all that IT is. Technology is a tool set like Batman’s utility belt, Wonder Woman’s lasso, or Green Lantern’s ring. We help our business users find solutions to problems or easier ways to do things. We also ferret out defects and find root causes for problems. Technology is such an integral part of everyone’s life now, and a large part of the IT focus has shifted to protecting our assets from attacks. Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes, including our security engineers who are ever vigilant with their constant efforts to fend off the bad actors.
So, I would argue that my love for technology (and all things geeky) and reading and writing mysteries aren’t really polar opposites. In my own tiny way, I did get to be one of those meddling kids who unmasks the problem and solves the mystery.
BiographyThrough the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers is the first in her cozy mystery series, the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries. She also writes the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series set in Virginia.
Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, and Murder by the Glass, and her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
Website and Blog: http://www.heatherweidner.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherWeidner1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherWeidnerAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather_mystery_writer/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GGBFWT5
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Trailers-Blackmailers-Heather-Weidner/dp/1685120369
Barnes and Noble: Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers by Heather Weidner, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
There is nothing like finding a dead body, clad only in a red satin thong, on your property to jolt you from a quiet routine. Jules Keene, owner of the posh Fern Valley Camping Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is thrust into the world of the Dark Web when one of her guests, Ira Perkins, is found murdered in the woods near her vintage trailers. Jules quickly discovers that the man who claimed to be on a writing retreat was not what he seemed, and someone will go to any length to find what he left at her resort. Jules, along with her Jack Russell Terrier sidekick Bijou, has to put the rest of the missing pieces of a blackmailing scheme together before her business is ruined.
Jules’s resort, set in the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville in the quaint town of Fern Valley, offers guests a unique vacation in refurbished and upcycled vintage trailers. Hoping to expand her offerings, she partners with her maintenance/security guy to create a village of tiny houses, the latest home DIY craze, but a second murder of a reporter interrupts Jules’s expansion plans. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she steps up her sleuthing to find out what Ira Perkins was really up to and what he was really hiding at her resort.
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November 21, 2021
For the Fun of It by Marilyn Levinson/Allison Brook
Reading cozy mysteries is fun, writing them even more fun because I get to create a world to my liking filled with characters I’ve grown to love. My Haunted Library mystery series takes place in Clover Ridge, Connecticut. The library is housed in a centuries-old building facing the town Green. There’s a library ghost— Evelyn Havers, who used to work in the Clover Ridge Library—and a library cat named Smoky Joe, as well as all sorts of mysteries for my sleuth, Carrie Singleton, to solve.
Over the course of the series Carrie changes from Goth Girl to the responsible head of programs and events at the Clover Ridge Library, developing close relationships as she investigates homicides. What I love about writing a series is that Carrie and her friends and relatives appear in every book. And what a busy bunch they are! Their activities and adventures carry me from one book to another so I am never at a loss for storylines. No need to ever have to wonder: “Hmm, what shall I write about next?” My characters lead the way!
Each book in my Haunted Library series has a theme, and the theme of DEATH ON THE SHELF, the fifth book in the series, is love and marriage and aptly takes place in June. Angela Vecchio, Carrie’s best friend, is getting married. Angela is worried that her brother Tommy, who’s currently in Clover Ridge from California where he produces movies, will ruin her wedding. Tommy has a bad temper and tormented Angela when they were younger, something their parents never believed. Now Tommy’s going around asking friends and family members to invest in his new movie. When a relative is murdered, Angela wonders if her brother killed him because he’d turned Tommy down.
What fun it was to create Donna and Roxy, Angela’s beautiful and sophisticated cousins who are best friends when they’re not competing with each other. Growing up, Angela always felt insecure in her older cousins’ company. She wishes Donna and Roxy weren’t involved in her bridal shower. But when they offer to host the shower in Donna’s drop-dead-gorgous house after learning that the restaurant where the shower was supposed to be burned down, there’s nothing Angela can do but graciously accept. Both her cousins have married doctors and are financially secure, but now Roxy is divorced and seems to have grown attached to Donna’s husband. Will Donna put up with her cousin’s behavior?
While Donna and Roxy’s ventures into love and marriage may not have happy endings, conjugal bliss is in store for Carrie’s father who, after a life of crime, has settled into a job he enjoys and has found a woman he loves. As for Carrie and Dylan, their romantic path takes a new turn at the end of DEATH ON THE SHELF.
Cozies have their share of murder and intrigue, but their tone is considerably lighter than that of more traditional mysteries. This allows me plenty of leeway when setting the scene that exposes the murderer. At the end of CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER, Carrie stalks a pair of suspects and is more shocked by their relationship than what they reveal about the murders—but you’ll have to read the book to find out.
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. DEATH OVERDUE, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series.
Her juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice. And Don’t Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards.
Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, and chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids.
Buy link: https://bit.ly/36OkDrG
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