Clea Simon's Blog, page 32

Five Questions with Tracy Clark

Do you know Tracy Clark? If not, you should. Although her Cass Raines series has only just hit two books, this Chicago-based author is already winning accolades, from CrimeReads and Kirkus as well as garnering Lefty and Anthony noms. If you’re looking for a strong female private investigator to follow on her cases, check out Tracy’s books – and say hi to her here!

How does a book start for you? 

Each book starts with a WHAT IF. Something will spark my curiosity and I’ll turn it around in my head for a while, trying it on for size, seeing if I can craft a story around it. For my latest novel, I said, “Well, that’s how it’s supposedto go, but WHAT IF somebody did this? What if some twisted sister motivated by greed or hate or money or even a perverted sense of love did that? When I have my characters and I know what the story is about, I start writing.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

Sister Barbara Covey always surprises me. When I came up with her, I was just looking for a secondary character my protagonist could bounce off of, but Barb would not be sidelined. She’s a nun, one of the central characters who act as ballast for Cass, but she’s no shrinking violet. Barb’s opinionated, sly, gentle, tough, smart, fearless and funny as all get out. I like putting her in scenes just to see what she’ll do. She always zigs when I think she’ll zag.

When and/or where is your latest book set, and is there a story behind that setting? 

Borrowed Time, book two in my Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series, is set in Chicago. No story behind it. I live in Chicago, so Cass lives there. Writing’s difficult enough without complicating matters by trying to research a strange city, at least for me. For the Chicago mysteries, all I have to do is hop in my car and ride around for a bit or take off walking until I run into something worth writing about. 

What are you working on now?

I just finished rewrites on my third Cass Raines novel, “What You Don’t See.” I’m waiting now for my editor to tell me what he thinks about it. This phase of the process is kind of like taking a final exam and waiting for the teacher to grade it. I hope I passed. I think I did. Maybe I did. No, I passed. It’s all good. And this is why some writers drink.

What didn’t I ask you that I should have?

You didn’t ask if I had any special skills or hobbies, like playing the flute, tap dancing or collecting “Dr. Who” memorabilia. No to the flute; I’m a klutz, so no to the tap dancing. I do have replicas of a Tardis and Daleks on my bookshelf, and I own a sonic screwdriver. I fly that geek flag proudly.

Tracy Clark writes the Cass Raines PI series. Set in Chicago, the series features ex-homicide cop turned PI Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving African-American protagonist who works the mean streets of the Windy City dodging cops, cons, killers and thugs.

Her series debut, BROKEN PLACES, made Library Journal’s list of the Best Crime Fiction of 2018 and was short listed in the mystery category on the American Library Association’s 2019 Reading List. CrimeReads also named Cass Raines Best New PI of 2018. The novel also received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, a rave from Kirkus Review, was selected as a TOP PICK by Romantic Times and was nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel for 2018, the 2019 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and the 2019 Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel.

Book two in the series, BORROWED TIME, was released in May 2019. 

Visit Tracy on Facebook , follow her on Twitter at tracypc6161, or check out her author website at tracyclarkbooks.com .

What’s hot for summer reading?

The Boston Globe asked me to compile a list of new crime fiction, recent releases, and some old favorite that you might have missed (or that merit re-reading) for their summer suggestions. They have some cool lists in other categories, too. Check it out! http://apps.bostonglobe.com/arts/grap...

Five Questions with E.A. Aymar

Can male authors write female characters? Should they? In the era of #MeToo and “other voices,” these questions are coming to the fore more often in all the arts. And in crime fiction, at least, there has been a concerted effort to publish and promote voices that have not traditionally been heard. (Shout out to my own publisher, Polis Books, here, for launching the Agora imprint!) This is a vital and important step toward equity, toward fairness. Toward the health and continued life of our medium. The complicating factor, however, is that what we write is fiction – everything we write comes from our imagination. When we ask if an author can put himself (or herself) thoroughly and believably in another’s life, I have to wonder: isn’t that our job? Should they? Well, that’s another question. For me, for now, the answer is yes. At least if they’re good. E.A. Aymar is.

How does a book start for you?

Unfortunately, I suppose, with character rather than plot. I wish I had plots with “elevator pitch tension,” you know, the kind of ingenuous hook that compels people to buy books based off a single sentence. My books are all like, “Someone gets in over their head…chaos ensues!”

With my latest novel, The Unrepentant, the characters emerged from violence; better said, they emerged from different approaches to violence. The novel is about a woman who escapes from a group of criminals with the help of a reluctant, retired soldier. She soon realizes, to fully be free, she’ll need to exact revenge on them. All of the characters – good and bad – are trapped in this violent world, and their responses to it form the action of the book. So character drove it, rather than the machinations of a pre-constructed plot. That’s not a necessarily desirous approach for a thriller and, as the writer, you’re sort of banking on luck that the plot will remain taut.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

It was that woman, the co-protagonist, Charlotte Reyes. I started the book with an implicit understanding of who she was, the concrete elements of her character, the type of strengths and vulnerabilities she possessed. I ended the book – meaning the final ending, after all the edits and revisions – somewhat unsure of her. Charlotte wasn’t someone I knew nearly as much as I thought I did. I didn’t understand her…which is probably why I wrote her. But even afterward, even now, she’s a bit out of my grasp.

Readers have told me they really liked her, and I’m grateful for that response. Particularly from women. I worried about the hubris, or co-opting of voice, in writing a female lead, and the fact that Charlotte resonates with women means the world to me. And probably surprises my wife, since I’m pretty clueless when it comes to her.

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

The Unrepentant is a contemporary thriller that takes place primarily in Maryland, but has some scenes in Arizona. I grew up in Arizona, and it’s hard for me not to include it in a book. The desert speaks to me, and even if I don’t think I could ever live in Arizona again, I always want to return.

I live in Virginia, my day job is in D.C., and much of my writing has traditionally taken place in Maryland. I like that all three regions affect me, because this area means a lot. I met and married my wife here, my son was born here, and the DC/MD/VA triangle is home to some of the best crime fiction in the world. It’s a wonderful community to be a part of and, aside from Arizona, it’s hard for me to imagine setting a novel somewhere else. This area has everything – city, suburbs, country, forest, water, crime, peace. It’s diverse in every sense of the word. 

What are you working on now?

I’m finishing a new book, set alternately in Virginia and Maryland, about two women whose significant others are murdered the same night, in the same fashion. Their search for what happened leads them down a dark path. And chaos ensues!

See? That fucking elevator pitch.

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

You totally should have asked me what author I recommend! That answer changes constantly, and it’s really difficult to narrow it down to one. But I’m really impressed with Tom Sweterlitsch. I have no idea how many people read his work but, regardless, I wish more did. His prose is astonishing, and I still have vivid recollections of some of the images in his last book, The Gone World. Just a beautiful, fantastic writer, and one I’m beyond lucky to call a friend.

Even if he’s a fucking Steelers fan.

Of E.A. Aymar’s The Unrepentant, Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “gut-wrenching…readers who appreciate depth of character alongside gritty nonstop action will be rewarded.” His past thrillers include the novel-in-stories The Night of the Flood (in which he served as co-editor and contributor). He has a monthly column in the Washington Independent Review of Books, and he is also the Managing Editor of The Thrill Begins on behalf of the International Thriller Writers; he also serves on the national board of that organization. He was born in Panama and now lives and writes in the D.C./MD/VA triangle. To learn more, visit eaymar.com

Cool cats, professors, and more…

I only wrote a few entries in “300 Songs 300 Years,” but I’m as proud of these as of many other things I’ve written over the years. Edited by my buddy Brett Milano, who also wrote the lion’s share of the entries, this really fun new book chronicles the history of New Orleans in 300 songs (plus a couple of dozen bonus songs), from those first African and European influences up through Mardi Gras standards and into cutting-edge bounce.

Yes, it’s pricey – think of it as a gift that keeps on giving, every time you hear a new/old favorite tune. (And, yes, it is now available on Amazon too.)

Five Questions with Dale Phillips

Here in New England, we have a real crime fiction community. Thanks to our robust Sisters in Crime speakers bureau, we meet up regularly at libraries. We gather at events like the Boston Book Fest, and we exchange ideas at Mystery Writers of America meetings (and parties). Through this community, I’ve gotten to know Dale Phillips, and I’m thrilled to host him here today,

How does a book start for you?

For the Zack Taylor mystery series, it’s a title which conjures an image, since each title is also the theme of the book and taken from a literary reference (such as Plato, Emily Dickinson, The Bible, Nathaniel Hawthorne). The books start with Zack getting bad news or being forced to do something he doesn’t want to do, so right off the bat we get conflict, stakes, setting, and reactions to show character. The opening will sometimes suggest the ending as well. Then it’s developing a natural progression and an interesting journey from one to the other, leaving a strong impression at the end.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

A tough female FBI agent, who was wounded overseas and now is embroiled in something big. Not just a character, but a fully-fleshed person, with her own demons to match those of Zack. Didn’t plan for her at the start, but when she showed up, there was the meat of a solid story, and something wonderful. Zack is tough, but she slaps him around until they develop a mutual respect.

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

Portland, Maine, is the base, and then upstate in the vast wilderness of lumber country. Logging and lumbering has been Maine’s history, and we see the past through the lens of what’s happening today, and what it means for the state and the outside world. The setting is quintessential Maine, and vital to show that so much is connected to a larger stage that we cannot see.

What are you working on now?

A Darkened Room is book #6 in the Zack Taylor series, though it’s taken a long time to get here, since I have two other novels that have been worked on in parallel. People ask why I’d do something crazy like that, and I just shrug and say that when the Muse speaks, I go with whatever She offers. So the past two years have been alternately working on three completely different books. Can’t wait to get all of them done and work on just one at a time.

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

Why do I write? All my life I’ve loved stories, and derived meaning from them. From omnivorous reading and years of applied study of craft and practice, I have a level of appreciation and skill to tell good stories in an interesting way, and this is my path to creating art. Through my work, I can speak to people across the globe, and to those who haven’t even been born yet. That’s a mastery of time and space like Dr. Who. How glorious and satisfying it is to be the creator of worlds, to imagine them as you will, and share them with others.

Dale has published novels, story collections, nonfiction, and over 70 short stories. Stephen King was Dale’s college writing teacher, and since then, Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy (losing in a spectacular fashion). He’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime. He’s traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and throughout Europe.

Ready for summer reading?

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? There are so many great books coming out. Here in the Boston area alone, we’ll be celebrating Hallie Ephron’s Careful What You Wish For, (Aug. 6) and Hank Phillippi Ryan’s The Murder List(Aug. 20). On the cozy side, former Sisters in Crime president Leslie Budewitz has her Chai Another Day coming out June 11, and many others are due soon too. But recently I was asked by an editor to compile a list of summer mysteries and in my desperate attempt to pull together books that weren’t by friends or that haven’t been recently profiled on my own blog, I came up with the following. (Then I found out I had misread the assignment – he wanted books that were already out! Oops!). Anyway, here’s a small sampling of what I’m looking forward to, with an eye to every taste. Please let me know what you’re looking forward to – we’ve got time, at last, to indulge!

1. “One Small Sacrifice,” Hilary Davidson (out June 1)

 Author of the Anthony award-winning Lily Moore series launches a new police procedural series with NYPD detective Sheryn Sterling unraveling a complicated possible murder.  

2. “Conviction,” Denise Mina, (June 18)

Newly single Anna McDonald tunes into a true-crime podcast for distraction only to realize that she knows what really happened – and she’s involved – in the latest grim psychological suspense from a Scottish master of the genre.

3. “Big Sky, ” Kate Atkinson (June 25) 

After an eight-year hiatus, Yorkshire ex-cop turned private investigator Jackson Brodie (with dog) surfaces in a quiet seaside village where a routine domestic case turns into something darker.  

4. “Paranoid,” Lisa Jackson, (June 25) 

Decades after Rachel Gatson accidentally killed her half-brother, her high school reunion – and a string of new murders – make her doubt her sanity in this bestseller’s latest psychological suspense.

5. “A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder,” Dianne Freeman (June 26) The follow-up to the series’ multiple award-winning debut, this frothy, fun historical cozy once again has the American-born Countess of Harleigh solving a murder in Victorian London’s high society.

6. “The Paper Bark Tree Mystery,” Ovidia Yu (June 27) 

The steamy Singaporean summer of 1937 smolders when private detective Su Lin’s ex-boss is murdered in a case involving diamonds, race, and political unrest in this third evocative Crown Colony mystery.

7. “The Whisper Man,” Alex North (June 27) 

A widowed father and his young son move into a strange house in a town haunted by the memory of a serial killer in this truly creepy debut thriller.

8. “The Chain,” Adrian McKinty (July 9) 

To ransom her kidnapped daughter, a mother must kidnap another child, whose parents must then do the same, in this fast-paced, nightmarish thriller from the award-winning suspense author.

9. “Lady in the Lake,” Laura Lippman (July 23) 

Having bolted from a stale marriage in 1966 Baltimore, Maddie Schwarz has transitioned from housewife to crusading journalist, heedlessly seeking the truth about a missing woman in this New York Times-bestselling author’s latest standalone.

10. “The Hounds of Justice,” Claire O’Dell (July 30)

In O’Dell’s second strikingly engaging dystopian Sherlock Holmes pastiche, Dr. Janet Watson once again joins covert agent (and fellow queer black woman) Sara Holmes in infiltrating an extremist group.

11.  “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead,” Olga Tokarczuk, (Aug. 13) 

This Man Booker International Award finalist veers from straight mystery into fantasy as Janina, the local crank in a Polish resort town, takes a break from astrology to investigate a murder.

12. “The Swallows,” Lisa Lutz, (Aug. 13)  

Best known for the humorous Spellman Files books, Lutz follows up her thriller “The Passenger” by going very dark with this tale of revenge and secrets at a New England prep school.

13. “Play With Fire,” William Shaw (Aug. 13) 

In his fourth series outing, Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen can’t get into the swing of 1969 London, but with his pregnant partner Helen Tozer’s help he tackles the murder of a high-society call girl.

14.  “Thirteen,” Steve Cavanaugh (Aug. 13)

Conman-turned-defense attorney Eddie Flynn uses the crooked system against itself, but he’s out manipulated when he’s brought into a Hollywood star’s murder trial in this legal thriller. 

15. “The Long Call, ” Anne Cleeve (Sept. 3) With her usual stunningly deft prose, Scottish master Cleeves (“Vera” and “Shetland”) debuts Detective Matthew Venn, who returns to the North Devon evangelical community he once fled when a body washes up on the beach.

So, what are you going to be reading this summer?

Five Questions with Leslie Budewitz

You probably know Leslie Budewitz from her fun, frothy Food Lovers’ Village and Spice Shop cozies – the latest of which, CHAI ANOTHER DAY comes out on June 11. Or maybe you heard that she just won the coveted Agatha for her short story, “All God’s Sparrows.” Those of us in the crime fiction community also know her as a wonderfully encouraging colleague, a former president (and tireless promoter of) Sisters in Crime (where she co-founded the Guppies for not-yet-published writers), and member, as well, of the Mystery Writers of America, Authors of the Flathead, and Montana Women Writers. Personally, I’ll never forget her kindness when I was mourning the loss of my longtime feline companion, Musetta. As she has her own feline companion, Squirt (aka Mr. Kitten), she got it. All of which goes to why I am honored today to give you Leslie Budewitz!

How does a book start for you?

What a surprise it was to learn that every book has its own process, and that none starts the same way! I think it’s Neil Gaiman who quotes a teacher of is saying, in effect, that each book teaches you how to write it. With luck, of course, some of what you learn carries over! Since I write series fiction with amateur sleuths, when I get past the first book, the setting, main characters, and tone are fairly well-established, although they develop further over time. But generally, the trigger is a combination of a scenario—“what if this happened?,” the place, and the protagonist. How would she get involved? What are the stakes for her? That, of course, depends on her relationship with the victim or the accused, or someone closely connected to one of them. 

Who in your latest book has surprised you most — and why?

Oh, great question! (Of course it is, I hear you saying. I asked it.) In CHAI ANOTHER DAY (coming June 11 from Seventh St. Books), Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece overhears an argument in an antique shop, and she finds herself drawn into a murder that could implicate an old enemy, or ensnare a new friend.

It’s about loyalty, trust, and identity — that last is a theme in all the Spice Shop Mysteries. Pepper’s starting a new relationship, and struggling a bit with knowing whether she can trust this man and her own judgment. She’s juggling employee crises and conflicts, as every business owner does, and trying to be a good daughter to a mother going through shifts of her own. It’s about an ever-changing city, and yes, it’s about chai.

Pepper and I were both surprised to discover some of the conflict and racism her friend Seetha deals with every day, as a woman of South Asian (Indian) ancestry. Pepper thinks she knows how she would deal with it, and is a little frustrated when Seetha takes a different tack. She has to back down and recognize that we all get to be the experts in our own lives, and that problems can look very different from the inside than from the outside. 

I was also a little surprised by Nate, the new man in Pepper’s life, but it’s probably best if I don’t say too much about that!

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

The Spice Shop series is set in Seattle, largely in the Pike Place Market, with some scenes in the Eastlake District, the Lake Union houseboat moorage, and on Fisherman’s Terminal. I fell in love with the Market my first year in college, more than 40 years ago, and still find it a crazy, magical place. It’s the oldest continuously operating public market in the country — founded in 1907 — and it’s constantly evolving.

It’s an urban cozy, which requires a community within a community. That pretty much Pike Place, which is owned by the city but run by a Public Development Authority. In my early forays to the Market, I always stopped at Market Spice, next to the fish market, for a cup of tea, and it was the whiffs of herbs and spices that lured me into learning to cook. Spice has been luring humans for millennia! Giving my protagonist a spice shop not only gives her a popular market haunt, but it also connects her to the city’s food and restaurant world, giving her good reasons to investigate. And giving me good reason to research. (By “research,” of course, I mean “eat,” but you knew that.)

What are you working on now?

The next Spice Shop mystery, scheduled for spring 2020. I’m also working on a stand-alone, set in my native Montana from 1981 to the present, and a proposal for a new series. Plus short stories — I’ve been writing a couple a year the last few years, and they’ve done well in the world. “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine), my first historical fiction, set in Montana Territory in 1885 and featuring a real-life historical figure named “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, just won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. (It’s available free on my website, www.LeslieBudewitz.com) The second Mary story, “Miss Starr’s Goodbye,” will appear in Alfred Hitchcock later this week. And “With My Eyes” (Suspense Magazine), set in Seattle and Athens, won the 2018 Derringer Award, given by the Short Mystery Fiction Society, in the long story category. I do plan more short stories; they’re great “palate cleansers” between novels, and of course, some ideas are shorter than others!

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

“Is there a cat in the book?” No, darn it. Pepper’s sidekick is an Airedale terrier she acquired in the first book, ASSAULT & PEPPER. He’s a lovely gentleman she calls “Mr. Ambassador,” although he does take down a bad guy in book two, GUILTY AS CINNAMON. I have never owned or known an Airedale or their smaller Welsh cousins, so I don’t know where he came from, but I’ve met a few since, and they are terrific dogs. I’m quite in love with him, though happily, I’m not the one who has to walk him or keep him supplied with bones to chew.

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series. CHAI ANOTHER DAY, her fourth Spice Shop Mystery, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, is due on June 11. DEATH AL DENTE, first in the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. She also won the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction. “All God’s Sparrows,” her first historical fiction, won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives and cooks in NW Montana.

Find Leslie online at  www.LeslieBudewitz.com  and on Facebook at  www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitzAuthor  More about CHAI ANOTHER DAY, including an excerpt here:  http://www.lesliebudewitz.com/spice-shop-mystery-series/

Great thrillers by women

When a list of the supposed 100 best crime novels only included 28 by women, The Guardian responded with this great list of female authors (including Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, and Dreda Say Mitchell) of 50 can’t miss thrillers, all by women. Click through here (and if you can, chip in!)

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Five Questions with Bryon Quertermous

Dark books can have a ton of heart – and Bryon Quertermous’s certainly do. Bryon’s books often place his characters in horrible situations, where they have to deal with the emotional ramifications of grief. Yet, when I had the honor to serve with Bryon on a committee judging short stories recently even though we were swamped with entries (and I was particularly clueless about how to manage the judging spreadsheet), Bryon remained a font of good cheer. I guess he really is as resilient as his characters, and that makes me even happier to be able to introduce him here!

How does a book start for you?

It’s usually a combination of things starting with either something that’s bothering me or something I find interesting and want to learn more about and then progressing to finding the right character or characters to tell the story.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

One of the victims keeps surprising me and it’s really starting to piss me off. The idea originally grew from my obsession over parents losing kids and how much it bothers me when I read stories like that. I knew I wanted to write a book about a dad who’s grief turns toxic after his son is murdered and started knocking that out. But I quickly realized that just telling this from a white suburban male’s POV was doing the story a disservice and started to dig into the character of a 19 year old female drug dealer who is shot along with the dad’s kid but survives. The girl and the dad both have questions about what happened the night of the shooting and they both blame each other to varying degrees, but as I’ve tried to get in this girl’s head she keeps trying to shake me loose. She’s by far the smartest character I’ve ever written and that’s been giving me fits, but if I can get her story right I think it’ll be great.

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

The book I’m working on right now is set in Detroit and the surrounding blue collar suburbs. I always envisioned this as a blue collar version of a Harlan Coben novel or a blue collar domestic suspense novel. I love both styles of books, but they always seem to take place in fancy urban areas or really upscale suburbs. I don’t know those worlds and I don’t find them as interesting as the sketchier and fading middle class worlds I grew up.

What are you working on now?

Some folks who have known me a while online always joked that my TBR pile was split between books with pink covers (women’s fiction, domestic suspense, romance, chick lit, etc.) and black covers (noir, hardboiled, etc.) and the book I’m working on now is my first attempt to mesh both of those styles. So far it’s been fun, but we’ll see how it all ends up.

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

I’m happy for any question anyone asks me and I never wait for anyone to ask me if I feel like I have something to say. So thanks for the opportunity.

Bryon Quertermous is the author of the novels Murder Boy and Riot Load. His short stories have appeared in a number of print and online journals of varying repute. He was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger Award from the Crime Writers Association. Bryon lives somewhere between Ann Arbor and Detroit (metaphorically as well as physically) where he can be found screaming at the TV during football and baseball season and playing Ninja Turtles and My Little Pony with his kids the rest of the time. Visit him online at bryonquertermous.com or on Twitter @bryonq

“Shades of Grey,” rediscovered…

One of the most unexpected joys of becoming a writer has been discovering a community of generous, wonderful people. Mary Kennedy – whose bestselling Talk Radio mysteries are grand cozy fun (she also writes cookbooks and more!) – was one of the first to welcome me. And now, once again, she has reached out, naming my “Shades of Grey” as one of her rediscovered favorites. I’m in wonderful company here, and her Cozy Chicks blog post should prompt us all to clean out our shelves and dust off an old favorite this week.

Thank you, Mary!