Clea Simon's Blog, page 36

Five questions with Joe Finder

Thrilled to be hosting thriller great Joe Finder today! I’ve loved Joe’s books forever and know him as a generous member of the crime fiction community, utterly brilliant, and all-around nice guy (he and my husband taught together, once upon a time). His latest, Judgment, (on sale tomorrow) has gotten great advance praise from, of all people, Stephen King! Cannot wait for this one…

How does a book start for you? 

With an itch.  A what-if.  A complication. The grain of sand in the oyster’s shell. What if an up-and-coming judge had a one night stand and found herself blackmailed — what would she do? The kind of what-if that gets my scalp twitching. . .

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

There’s a minor character in Judgment — a world-weary, embittered private investigator who my hero, Judge Juliana Brody, hires —named Hersh.  At first I intended Hersh to be little more than a stick figure, a plot-advancing contact of Juliana’s.  But the more scenes I wrote with the two of them, the more I liked Hersh and wondered about his background, why he’s so morose and bitter, is it more than just a personality deficit? And Hersh’s backstory took form.  I really came to like, and admire, the guy a lot. Too bad he didn’t get a book of his own.

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

It’s set in Boston, today.  I set my books in Boston whenever possible, because that’s where I live.   That way, I don’t have to do much location research, and the location research I do — a courthouse in Lowell, a courthouse in downtown Boston — is convenient.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing my fourth Nick Heller thriller.  He’s getting into some really interesting trouble.

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

How do your novels relate to real-world events and concerns?

What a question! That’s impossible to answer.  

The relationship between an era and the fiction it spawns is complicated.  For instance, the best Cold War thrillers didn’t content themselves with a simple us vs. them dynamic.  Maybe the plot involved manipulative factions on both sides, as you’d find in John le Carre.  But in the end, though, every story is about characters, characters with conflicts and characters in conflict.  It’s great when novelists can explore and illuminate current issues, the way Jodi Picoult regularly does, but the characters are ultimately why the reader sticks around.  And I found Judge Juliana Brody to be a really interesting character to hang out with.

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen previous suspense novels, including THE SWITCH, a stand-alone thriller, and GUILTY MINDS, the third to feature “private spy” Nick Heller. Joe’s novels HIGH CRIMES (1998) and PARANOIA (2004) have been adapted as major motion pictures.A founding member of the International Thriller Writers, Joe is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

When people ask…

Why revising is difficult, I usually talk about getting distance from the work, trying to make sense of tangled timelines, differentiating minor characters, and the like.

I should add that sometimes one’s helpers – ahem – help a bit too much…

It’s a long process…

Wish me luck!

How did you find your pet?

I’m sharing love stories over at the Jungle Red Writers blog today, talking about Thisbe, Petfinder, animal shelters and more. Come on by and join the conversation – and enter for a chance to win a copy of my new A Spell of Murder. 

Did you know? The three witch cats at the center of this new series are not only magical, they’re shelter kitties!

Thanks so much to Deborah Crombie and all the crew of Jungle Reds for hosting me today. Please join us over here: http://www.jungleredwriters.com/2019/...

Five questions with Ray Daniel

Boston is a great setting for crime fiction – it’s dark and cold (especially this week). But our crime fiction community is both warm and welcoming. That’s why, when I saw Ray Daniel at Joanna Schauffhausen’s book event last week, I knew I wanted to host him here. Ray’s the author of the chilling Boston-based Tucker mysteries (most recently Hacked) and a Derringer winner for his short stories, but a most genial guy in person.

How does a book start for you?

I start my book with the answer to the question “What is your book about?”  For example Corrupted Memory started with the idea “Tucker didn’t know he had a brother until the guy was found murdered in front of his house.”  My work-in-progress (The Worst of TImes) started with “A white Boston cop murders a black private investigator in the street because of what happened when they went to high school together during forced busing.”
Once I have that I figure out the big ideas behind the story, plot points and what not, and start writing.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?
I’m not usually surprised by my characters.  Others writers talk about how their characters take over the story and write it. My characters are all lazy and useless and so I have to write the story myself. That said, I have one character who was mostly off screen in the first draft of the book.  She had left Boston in 1976 and moved to New York, never to be heard from again.  

However in the rewrite I decided that I wanted  scenes from her point of view, and I found out that she was smart, sassy, and had a good sense of humor. 

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?
My work-in-progress, like all my books, is set in Boston. I mentioned the main story in the answer to the first question, so you’ll see that the book has to be set in Boston. Given Boston’s reputation when it comes to race, and given the history of busing in the city, it was critical that it be set in Boston. Much of the book is in South Boston, though there are also scenes in Roxbury.  

What are you working on now?
The Worst of Times. Which I mentioned above. I wrote the book as a restart to my career. My other four books were all in the Tucker Mystery series. I thought it was time to write a standalone. My new agent liked the 108,000 word original novel  enough to sign me and then told me it needed to be cut by 30,000 words.  I’m just finished up that process.

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?
How do you cut 30,000 words out of a novel?I like to say that the original version of the book was like an episode of Game of Thrones. There were many characters, points of view, and big ideas.  The new version is more like an episode of Bosch. There is basically one point of view (though still two timelines: present and 1975) but there is one overarching question all the scenes address.

That got rid of several character plots and the associated 30,000 words left along with them.

Ray Daniel is an award-winning author of Boston-based crime fiction and is the author of the Tucker Mysteries. His short story “Give Me a Dollar” won a 2014 Derringer Award for short fiction and “Driving Miss Rachel” was chosen as a 2013 distinguished short story by Otto Penzler, editor of The Best American Mystery Stories 2013. Hacked is the fourth novel in the Tucker Mysteries.For more information, visit him online at raydanielmystery.com and follow him on twitter @raydanielmystry.

Do you know about the Agatha Awards?

Each year, many of who write “cozy” or traditional mysteries gather at the Malice Domestic conference, for talk, tea, and mystery. We also award the Agatha Awards – for Dame Agatha Christie – a skull-and-bones decorated teapot for best contemporary, best historical, best first novel, best YA, best nonfiction, and best short story.

There are hundreds of books eligible, of course. But I am proud to have at least two mysteries eligible for Best Contemporary this year: A Spell of Murder and Fear on Four Paws.  (Yes, Cross My Path came out this year, too, but I’m not sure if this black cat noir is too dark to qualify as cozy.)

It’s hard to say which of these books I’m rooting for – but if pressed, I’d have to say A Spell of Murder,  because it’s the first of a new series. Also, I’m not sure, but maybe this nomination period is why my publisher is offering a special deal on A Spell of Murder – both the e-book and he hardcover editions are on sale (for $5.40 and $15.23 respectively).

Over on my Facebook page I’ve invited authors to post their eligible entries (also on my author page, here. ) Fellow author Gabriel Valjan has also compiled a pretty thorough list. Whether you’re eligible to vote or whether we’ll see you this spring at Malice, these might help you to find your next great read – check them out!

FIVE QUESTIONS with Steph Post

The South and Southern Gothic fiction have long fascinated me, and as my own readers will know, I have more than a passing fancy for magic. Therefore, when I first started to hear about Steph Post’s Miraculum, I was intrigued. We share a publisher, Polis Books, so I was able to snag an advance. All I can say is “wow.” This book comes out this month, and you want it. Read on to find out why.

How does a book start for you?

As sort of an amalgation of themes, characters, archetypes, settings and moods, and usually all at the visual level. In a weird way, it’s like a universe starting. All these little bits and pieces floating out there in my subconscious, starting to spin around one another. Patterns and connections start to emerge and eventually a very basic story (or sometimes just a single main character) will form and I go from there. I have all these ideas and then I start paring them down, trying to find the center, the kernel or spark, at the center of the story. Then it’s on to research, and then the actual writing. But it always starts with those little ideas I’ve held onto along the way, smashing into one another to create new matter. 

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

So, I wrote Miraculum a little over three years ago (I’ve written two books since) and what is surprising me now is how I’ve changed a bit towards some of the characters. Daniel has always been my favorite character, but now that I’m really going back and having to work with him all over again, I’ve realized how much more I like him than Hayden, our other male lead. It’s always weird going back to a book that you’ve written in the past, but the time difference has really changed my opinion of Hayden’s character. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but it does change how I myself see the story playing out past the last page. And yes, I know that’s cryptic, but I don’t want to give too much away….

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

Miraculum takes place across the South, from Louisiana to Georgia. While the setting – geography wise – isn’t as essential to Miraculum as it is to my Florida crime series, it’s still a huge part of the book. There’s not interesting story, unfortunately, except that I’ve lived in the South all my life and, of course, have a complicated relationship with some of my Southern heritage. I think you can find hints of this conflict simmering in Miraculum.

What are you working on now?

I finished up the third and final book in my Judah Cannon series and now I’m back to working on the historical/literary/fantasy-ish genre level. I’m extremely secretive about works in progress, but I will say that this book- set in the 1890s and not in the South- will be my most ambitious work to date. As it should be. Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?As I get the chance to talk more about Miraculum in the coming months – and let me tell you, I can talk about this book- I’m hoping to be asked more about the mythology, both real and invented, driving the book and about all of the symbolism weaving in and out of the story. I build all layers of symbology into all of my books, but it’s particularly evident in Miraculum. I’m hoping readers pick up on it and are curious. 

Steph Post is the author of the novels Miraculum, Walk in the Fire, Lightwood, and A Tree Born Crooked. She graduated from Davidson College as a recipient of the Patricia Cornwell Scholarship and winner of the Vereen Bell award, and she holds a Master’s degree in Graduate Liberal Studies from UNCW. Her work has most recently appeared in Garden & Gun, NonBinary Review and the anthology Stephen King’s Contemporary Classics. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a Rhysling Award and was a semi-finalist for The Big Moose Prize. She lives in Florida.  Follow her on Twitter @StephPostAuthor, on Instagram as stephgostauthor or on Facebook at stpostvegas

Am I cozy?

As part of my Silver Dagger book blog tour, I’ve written a few guest posts. This one ran at “All the Ups and Downs.” 

Am I cozy? 

by Clea Simon
Readers sometimes ask me: Are my books cozy? And the honest answer is, I’m not sure. Yes, I can promise you that in my new A Spell of Murder, the story is gentle. There is no sex or foul language and, while there is a murder, the blood (as the old saying goes) is dry before it hits the page. Plus, there are cats – three of them – and cats always make a story cozier, don’t you agree?
But more and more these days, I find myself telling readers that my books aren’t strictly “cozies,” per se. They’ve got a few too many twists, a couple of extra characters, and even a few extra felines, all designed to make the book a little more challenging than some cozy readers might expect.
For example, although Becca, the human at the center of A Spell of Murder, is a perfectly likable young woman, she’s not the point of view character. Her youngest cat, Clara, is. And although Clara wishes she could spend all her time focusing on Becca, especially as Becca gets involved with some shady characters (and a murder), she also has to deal with her two litter-mates, Harriet and Laurel. While they love their human too, they have a bit less respect for Clara, their youngest, and they act as sisters often do.
So if you ask me how I would describe this book, I would say it is whimsical and fun and warm, but a bit challenging as well, since it deals with personalities as well as a caper, cats as well as crime. But if you can stick with it, I promise you a happy ending – because who doesn’t like a happy ending? Does that make it cozy? In its own way, I guess it does!

“Just the thing…”

P.J. Coldren, longtime Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s Press Best First Mystery judge and fan guest of honor at this year’s Malice Domestic has posted a review of A Spell of Murder saying, “Clea Simon’s new series may be just the thing…” and concluding, “Great fun for lovers of the cozy mystery.”

Read the full review below or here. Thanks so much, P.J. I look forward to meeting you at Malice!

‘A Spell of Murder’ by Clea Simon

Published by Polis Books, 
27 December 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-947993-32-7. (HB)Clea Simon has been writing for a while; this is by no means her first rodeo. It is, however, the first in a new series about a witch (in training) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and her three felines. Becca is the only woman who has actually “done” any magic: she conjured up a very nice gold velvet pillow, complete with tassels. The members of her coven are all agog, and to one degree or another, jealous, skeptical, curious, and varying other normal emotions. The lone male warlock, Trent, is quite interested. Becca just isn’t sure what is piquing that interest. Is it her magical skills (so far, confined to this one cushion) or her feminine attributes?  She is recently single, and also unemployed – so one plus, one minus.

Suzanne, one of the other members of the group invites Becca over to discuss something private. Becca meets Nathan on Suzanne’s doorstep; he’s gone before Becca discovers Suzanne’s dead body. Becca’s ex-boyfriend Jeff calls her just as she approaches Suzanne’s open door. What are the chances that both the meeting and the call are purely coincidence?  Is it relevant that Jeff was, until very recently, dating Suzanne?  Detective Abrams has lots of questions, about all of this and more. In the meantime, Becca is job-hunting with the help of some other members of the coven. Is it relevant that one interview is with the ex-husband of one of the group?  Apparently not to Larissa, who fails to mention this possibly salient fact to Becca before the interview. What is Nathan doing at the interview site?  Competition?  Does any of this have to do with Becca’s ancestor, once caught up in a witch trial back in the dark times in Salem?  Becca’s skills as a researcher come in handy as she tries to figure out who killed Suzanne and what her connection was to the Salem ancestor.

What Becca doesn’t know (and neither does anyone else in the story) is that all the magic belongs to her cats, three sisters from an old and royal feline lineage. Clara, the youngest, is the narrator, with interruptions and interjections from Harriet (the oldest) and Laurel (the middle child). It was Harriet, always in search of physical comfort and food, who conjured up the pillow. Clara seems to use the most magic in this story, however; she uses her ability to blend into her surroundings in order to follow Becca all over town. She and her sisters, to varying degrees, are vested in Becca not being arrested for the murder of Suzanne.

As I said, Simon isn’t new to writing mysteries. If a reader has no issues with domestic animals as narrators (fans of Rita Mae Brown and Spencer Quinn will know whereof I speak) then Clea Simon’s new series may be just the thing. The plotting is good, with enough leftovers to fuel a few more books. Cambridge is just about the perfect setting for a historical researcher interested in witches and the like. The romantic angles alone can keep this going for a while. Simon writes well enough to keep all the cats separate in the mind of the reader, and also does this for the numerous secondary characters. Again, enough there for at least two or three more books. Great fun for lovers of the cozy mystery.
——
Reviewer:  P.J. Coldren

FIVE QUESTIONS with Maddie Day

Edith Maxwell – aka Maddie Day – is a force of nature. I’m not sure when I met her. She might have been organizing an event. She might have been recruiting other authors – members of Sisters in Crime New England, perhaps – to help out. She might have been leading a historical tour. One thing I am sure of, Edith/Maddy knows her way around a cozy! I’m proud to have her here today.

How does a book start for you? I get the time of year and the victim, then I figure out the murder weapon. From there I set up a few plausible suspects, then start following everybody down and writing down what they do. No, I’m not much of a plotter. 

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

My protagonist Mac Almeida is allergic to mammals, so her pet is an African Gray parrot. Belle turns out to be quite a character and I love how she interacts with Mac.

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

MURDER ON CAPE COD is the first in a new series. I played around with a few settings for the series with my editor, but when I mentioned Cape Cod, he got all excited. I spend solo writing time in a retreat cottage in West Falmouth on the Cape a couple of times a year and love the area in all seasons. And with the miles of bike trails, it made sense to have a bike shop proprietor as the protagonist. Mac’s participation in a book group that only reads cozy mysteries was icing on the cake. The paperback is available exclusively from Barnes & Noble for the first year, and will be re-released in all formats a year from now.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on NACHO AVERAGE MURDER, my seventh Country Store Mystery. Chef Robbie Jordan is going to leave southern Indiana to attend her tenth high school reunion in Santa Barbara, California. While there, a friend of her late mother’s hints that Mom’s death might not have been from natural causes, after all.

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

“Don’t you also write a historical mystery series?” Yes, the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, set in northeastern Massachusetts in the late 1880s, with a Quaker midwife catching babies, hearing secrets, and solving murders. CHARITY’S BURDEN, book four, will be out in April 2019.

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Please find her there , at edithmaxwell.com , on Instagram, and at the Wicked Authors blog .

Five fabulous fictional felines…

We authors have long been associated with cats. Inspired—or besotted—we cohabit with them, indulging their whims and suffering their ills and tempers as we dole out treats and nurse the occasional scratch or accident or broken heart. Along the way, we write about them, both as they are and as the bewitching creatures they often seem to be.  As a result, they show up so often in literature that it is nearly impossible to list only a few favorites. But I will try—presenting five felines who have left their clawmarks on my heart. (Thanks to Crime Reads for hosting me – and this feline list – today!)

Behemoth

Chatty, gluttonous Behemoth could be any housecat, were it not for his command of language (particularly sarcasm), firearms, and anarchy. Yes, the enormous black cat who steals the show in Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is a demon. But a charming and funny one. Just watch your vodka and your mushrooms, too.

For more, please click through to Crime Reads here.