B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 108

FFB: Murder at the Villa Rose

British author Alfred Edward Woodley (A.E.W.) Mason, born in 1865, spent much of his career serving in Parliament and in World War I where he worked in naval intelligence. Although his first novel was A Romance at Wastdale, Mason is credited with one of the earliest fictional police detective protagonists, Inspector Hanaud of the French Sûreté. The novel in which Hanaud made his debut was Murder at the Villa Rose, published in 1910.

Mason created Hanaud as an anti-Sherlock Holmes, at least in appearance, a short, broad man who resembles a "prosperous comedian." Hanaud's Watson-esque sidekick is Julius Ricardo, a fussy English dilettante. It's quite possible that Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings (or possibly Christie's Mr. Satterthwaite) were modeled on the characters of French-speaking Hanaud and Englishman Ricardo.

The plot is based loosely on real cases (a wealthy French widow found murdered in her villa and an English shopkeeper murdered for jewels), and Mason also drew on procedural details from the memoirs of French policemen. Basically, when the elderly and eccentric Mme. D'Auvray is murdered in her home, the Villa Rose, and suspicion falls on her young companion, Celia Harland who's gone missing, Hanaud is called onto the case. But Hanaud solves the crime midway through the book, with the latter half told in flashback as the readers are left to piece together what exactly happened and are challenged to guess the solution to the murder mystery from the clues provided.

Several of Mason's works were later adapted for the silver screen, including four versions of Murder at the Villa Rose, a silent film in 1920 and two "talkies" from 1930 (one in English, one in French), and another in 1940. Mason went on to write four other books featuring Inspector Hanaud, but he's perhaps best known for his novel The Four Feathers (not a crime fiction novel per se), which is one of the most-filmed novels of the 20th century, including the latest incarnation from 2002 with Heath Ledger in the role of Harry Feversham.

A few interesting trivia bits about Mason: England's King George V was a friend and one of his most avid readers; although Mason penned little in the way of spy stories, he was a successful agent for years in Spain and Northern Mexico (it's said he may have foiled a German plot to move anthrax infected livestock into France during WWI); Mason was a failed actor, although he appeared in a small number of works on the London stage during the late 1880s; his story "The Crystal Trench" was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one of the few episodes directed by Hitchcock himself; and Mason was offered a knighthood for his literary work, but declined it, saying "such honors meant nothing to a childless man."

            

Mystery Melange

Walter Mosley has been named winner of the 2020 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. He becomes the first Black man to win the foundation’s $10,000 lifetime achievement honor, which was first awarded in 1988. The author of more than 60 books, Mosley is best known for his mysteries featuring detective Easy Rawlins.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is mobilizing to help bookstore owners and staff affected by the wildfires in the western U.S. The foundation may be able to help owners or employees with personal household expenses related to the wildfires, assist with expenses directly related to the store in certain cases, and provide some expenses to help the store reopen more quickly after the threat passes. More information is available on Binc's assistance page.

Kings River Life profiled the Crime Writers of Color, a new organization of authors who support each other’s works and efforts. Author Elizabeth Wilkerson noted, "We’re a lively group with wide-ranging backgrounds and opinions, yet we share a passion: creating worlds that reflect our experiences and vision as observed through our own lens. I invite you to check out these upcoming books by CWOC authors. Ranging from cozy to cyber-thriller, the stories present a diverse and colorful universe."

Update on Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore in Minneapolis, which burned to the ground after the protests this summer following the murder of George Floyd by city police: Owner Don Blyly reported that after weeks of delays involving inexplicable water bills that had to be paid before a demolition permit for the site could be issued, a contractor will begin removing debris within a few days. Blyly has hired an architect and general contractor as well, and while he is still planning to rebuild in the same location, he has looked at a few other commercial properties for sale in Minneapolis and surrounding locations. Meanwhile, the store's GoFundMe campaign remains open, and Blyly adds that he's "eager to once again be a resource for new science fiction and fantasy titles as well as used science fiction, fantasy and mystery books." (HT to Shelf Awareness)

British crime author Ann Cleeves is financing the work of two bibliotherapists in northeast England who will connect people with books to help them with their mental health or chronic pain. The therapy service will be set up in five townships, including her own Northumberland, through the U.K.'s National Healthcare Service and the country's social prescribing system, which connects people to alternative treatment programs. General practitioners, nurses and other primary care professionals will be able to refer people to bibliotherapy if they are struggling with chronic pain, anxiety, stress, depression or loneliness

Publishers and authors are having to get a bit creative in the time of cholera the pandemic since book tours, signings, and in-person conferences are out. For instance, Pan Macmillan held a one-off virtual festival celebrating the publication of his Ken Follett's new Kingsbridge novel, The Evening and the Morning, for fans, bookshops and libraries around the world. The Kingsbridge Festival had Q&As, quizzes, partnerships with the Reading Museum and a virtual peek inside the Jorvik Viking Centre to immerse fans in the history of the book—including a virtual tour of the Bayeux Tapestry and a demonstration on Viking Weaponry. There were even downloadable “celebrate from home” packs.

Janet Rudolph, editor of Mystery Readers Journal, has put out a call for "Mysteries set in Ireland." She's looking for reviews (50-250 words); articles (250-1,000 words); and Author! Author! essays (500-1,000 words). Author essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and your unique take on "Ireland' in your work. For more information, head on over to Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog.

The winners of the annual Bulwer Lytton contest, (where www means "wretched writers welcome"), were announced, including the Crime & Detective winner submitted by Yale Abrams: "When she walked into my office on that bleak December day, she was like a breath of fresh air in a coal mine; she made my canary sing." For all the other yowlers, including another private eye bit that won the Grand Panjandrum's Special Award, check out this link.

Jenny Milchman, the Mary Higgins Clark award winning author of five psychological thrillers, applied the Page 69 Test to her novel, The Second Mother.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Enter the Dove" by Matthias Regan.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People spoke with Joe R. Lansdale about his latest novel, More Better Deals, which takes a few cues from one of his influences—James M. Cain; and Writer Interviews chatted with Ellen Byron, author of Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery, about coming up with titles for books and more.

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Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Robert De Niro, Colson Baker, and John Malkovich are set to star in the action thriller, Wash Me In The River, which hopes to begin production in November. Randall Emmett is directing and producing the film that tells the story of an opioid addict out for revenge against the dealers who sold him drugs that caused the death of his fiancée—all while two cops are hot on his tail. Additional casting is underway, including rapper Quavo (of the group Migos), who is also in talks to join the cast.

Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman and Batwoman star Ruby Rose are leading the cast in George Gallo’s action-thriller, Vanquish, which is currently filming on location in Biloxi, Mississippi. Freeman plays a retired police commissioner who blackmails his caretaker (Rose) by kidnapping her daughter, forcing her into helping him double cross his team of dirty detectives in an attempt to clean up the city.

Donnie Yen is set to star in the action thriller, The Father, alongside Alec Baldwin and Frank Grillo. Tommy Wirkola (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) will direct the film from a script by P. G. Cuschieri that’s described as "a fast-paced ode to ’80s action movies." Set against the Irish-American gangland of South Boston, the project charts the struggle of middle-class Hong Kong immigrant, John Chung (Yen), making the best of his family’s new American life while working as a modest fish broker in the city’s docklands. When his wayward teenage boys stumble upon four kilos of heroin, they’re hunted by a local crime ring and a group of corrupt cops. Forced to revive his past to protect his kin, John will stop at nothing until they are safe from harm.

Noomi Rapace (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Aksel Hennie (The Martian) have been set to co-star in director Tommy Wirkola’s Norwegian-language thriller, The Trip. The story follows a dysfunctional husband (Hennie) and wife (Rapace) who head to a remote lakeside cabin under the guise of reconnecting, but each has secret designs to kill the other. Before they can carry out their respective plans, unexpected visitors arrive and the couple is faced with a greater danger than anything they could have plotted.

Colson Baker (The Dirt) and Travis Fimmel (Vikings) are set to topline the action-thriller, One Way, which will be directed by Andrew Baird from a script by Ben Conway. One Way will follow Freddy (Baker) who goes on the run with a bag full of cash and cocaine after a robbery of his former crime boss goes wrong. Suffering a potentially fatal wound, he slips onto a bus headed into the unrelenting California desert. With his boss and her henchmen hot on his heels and his life slipping through his fingers, he is left with very few choices.

Harry Styles has landed a lead role in the New Line thriller, Don’t Worry Darling, the next directing outing for Olivia Wilde. Styles replaces Shia LaBeouf, who had to depart the project due to a scheduling conflict. Styles joins Florence Pugh and Chris Pine in the cast, both of whom signed on earlier this year. Although little is known about the movie’s plot, Don’t Worry, Darling is set in an isolated, utopian community in the 1950s California desert. Katie Silberman wrote the screenplay based on a spec script by Shane and Carey Van Dyke.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Amazon Prime Video is developing a scripted series starring Nicolas Cage as the infamous Joe Exotic, made a household name by the hugely popular Netflix docuseries, Tiger King. The project, which had been in the works at CBS TV Studios, is based on the Texas Monthly article "Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild," by Leif Reigstad. Now in prison after being sentenced to 22 years for his role in a murder-for-hire plot, Joe Exotic continues to make headlines.

Singer-songwriter, Halsey, will co-star opposite Sydney Sweeney in The Player’s Table, a TV series based on Jessica Goodman’s bestselling debut novel, They Wish They Were Us. The project is a taut murder mystery set against the backdrop of an exclusive prep school on Long Island.

Actors Gary LeRoi Gray and Dawn Richard have joined the cast of the limited series, Trace, for the new streaming service, VIM2Tv. The crime thriller is written by Anthony Bawn and based on the unsolved murders of a serial killer, The Doodler, in 1970's San Francisco.

Caleb Castille, who recurred as the character Devin Rountree in last season's NCIS: Los Angeles, has been promoted to series regular for Season 12 of the CBS series. After Castille’s Devin Rountree appears on the radar of NCIS’s Office of Special Operations, Agents G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) decide that he be may a fit for their tight-knit group.

A trailer was released for Rebecca, Ben Wheatley’s Netflix update on the 1938 Daphne Du Maurier novel first adapted by Alfred Hitchcock, which stars Armie Hammer, Lily James, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Karin Slaighter joined WAMC's The Hudson River Sampler podcast to chat about her latest thriller, The Silent Wife.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "The Glass Slip Up," written by Chelle Martin and read by Sean Hopper.

Rhonda Evans and Frank Collerius, hosts of the New York Public LIbrary's podcast, The Librarian Is In, featured "a deep dive" into Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone were joined by John Connolly, author of the Charlie Parker series, chatting about his worst book events, his views on selfies, and how he met Stephen King.

Read or Dead talked about mysteries featuring technology and social media, along with some mixed feelings about adaptation news recently announced.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Thomas O’Callaghan, author of the series featuring NYPD Homicide Commander Lieutenant John W. Driscoll.

Oilvier Bosman was the special guest on The Gay Mystery Podcast, talking about his play, Death Takes a Lover, which was subsequently turned into the first D.S.Billings Victorian Mystery.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club welcomed August Norman to discuss Sins of the Mother, the second installment in the Caitlin Bergman mystery series.

           Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Quote of the Week

            

FFB: A Country Kind of Death

Mary McMullen (1920-1986), a/k/a Mary Reilly Wilson, had an interesting writing pedigree. Her mother was the distinguished and prolific mystery writer, Helen Reilly, which brings up interesting comparisons between them and the mother/daughter duo, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. Mary McMullen, however, also had a sister, Ursula Curtiss, who was a suspense author, and her uncle James Kieran wrote mystery fiction (yet another family member, John F. Kieran, was a sportswriter and long-time panelist on the1940s radio program Information Please).

McMullen had early success in 1952 when she received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Stranglehold, but didn't publish another novel for over two decades until 1974. Then, in a flurry of activity, she cranked out 18 additional mysteries in just 12 years.

Her stories often drew on the advertising and fashion worlds she was familiar with and her settings included sleepy hamlets, but her writing was neither cozy nor noir, a hybrid which reviewer Steve Lewis called "domestic malice" with a lot of bite. A Country Kind of Death from 1975 starts out as an idyllic summer for the young daughters of the Keane family who pass the two months their mother is off in Europe inventing murder stories, not surprising since their father is a crime writer. But when the stories become all too real, everyone including the police wants to believe a mysterious death was an accident, since the alternative is an unthinkable crime committed by someone in their midst.

McMullen's writing is filled with details that evoke a distinctive sense of place and she also possessed a wry, ironic humor and enjoyed poking fun at pretentious people. The Keane family is a semi-Bohemian clan and neighbors to the unfortunate Mrs. Mint, who

"did not allow the Keanes or her stepchildren or any but the most honored visitors to use the front way, as the door opened directly into her living room, a perfect marvel of cleanliness, cretonne, tautly pinned-on antimacassars, rubber plants so dusted and oiled as to seem artificial, china figurines, tapestry-covered footstools, and fat hard upholstered furniture. There were no books, no magazines, newspapers, or ashtrays in the room and it was always kept dark, the cretonne curtains drawn, the shades down, so that the sun couldn't fade its splendors."

Patrick Keane, brother of the crime-writer father and a successful playwright, plays a crucial role in the denouement and has his own wry observations about the literary and entertainment circles the Keanes run in:

"The dinner party had gone predictably, from the shrimp dip to the cold sliced ham and turkey to Elaine Bonner attacking him fiercely with hot gray eyes and half-bared breasts whenever her husband's back was turned, to the local bon vivant who probably told the same long anecdotes at every Bedford party to the three women who told him they adored his plays to Johnny Coe, urged finally to the piano, and singing, 'Oh Oh Oriole' and 'Pray Forget Me,' this last bringing tears and a meaning look at Patrick to Elaine's eyes."

The strength of this particular novel by McMullen is less in the whodunnit and police procedural aspects which are minimized and more in the characterizations and how human failings and foibles knit closely together to create tragedy.

All of McMullen's books are out of print, although several of her works were included in The Detective Book Club subscription series of 3-in-1 (and some 2-in-1 and singles) reprinted novels by various authors distributed from the early forties onward by publisher Walter J. Black.

            

Mystery Melange

The Strand Magazine announced the winners of the 2020 Strand Critics Awards via an online Zoom event, with Andrew Guilli and Hank Phillipi taking on hosting duties. The annual awards recognize excellence in the field of mystery fiction and publishing. The winners are listed below, and you can check out all the finalists via this link:

Life Time Achievement Awards: Tess Gerritsen and Walter Mosley
Best Murder Novel: The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Best Debut Novel: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
Publisher of the Year: Bronwen Hruska of Soho Press

The deadline to submit to the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers is November 1st at 11:59 p.m. EST. Founded in 1993, the grant program is designed to foster quality Malice Domestic literature and to assist mystery authors on the road to publication. Writers must not have published a book, short story, or dramatic work in the mystery field, either in print, electronic, or audio form. The grant includes a $2,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the upcoming convention and two nights’ lodging at the convention hotel. For more information, check out this link.

The International Thriller Writers and the Bouchercon crime festival have responded and regrouped following recent controversies surrounding racism and sexual harassment. In response to what many authors felt was an inadequate response to the issues on the part of the ITW, all but two members resigned from ITW's board in June. Some of the changes since then began when ITW members voted on a slate of 11 mystery and thriller authors who will join its board beginning in mid-October (half male, half female); a new diversity and outreach committee was created, headed by incoming board member Alexia Gordon; and a security and safety committee is drafting a comprehensive process for dealing with violations of its code of conduct policies. Because the sexual assault event occurred at the 2019 Bouchercon, that organization has also recently revised its Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy to make it more comprehensive and easier for victims to come forward.

I was sorry to learn of the deaths recently of two mystery authors. Gary Alexander passed away at the age of 79 after a short battle with cancer. Gary wrote 24 novels and some 200 short stories, including his most recent novel, Harry Saves the World Again. We also lost Dorothy Simpson at the age of 87. Dorothy's first book was the suspense novel, Harbingers of Fear, which was published in 1977, followed by installments in the Inspector Thanet series. (HT to and Janet Rudolph)

Writing for CrimeReads, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation and author of the thriller, Winter Counts, discussed "Why Indigenous Crime Fiction Matters."

Attention, crime writers: there was some interesting forensic science news last week. Search teams looking for human remains are often slowed by on-foot pursuits or aerial searches that are obscured by forest cover. But researchers could use tree cover in body recovery missions to their advantage by detecting changes in the plant's chemistry as signals of nearby human remains.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Crow" by Tad Tuleja.

In the Q&A roundup, the Sunday Post sat down with Andrew James Greig, one of the newest authors in Scotland’s Tartan Noir crime fiction scene; Writers Who Kill's E. B. Davis chatted with author Ellen Byron about her Cajun Country mysteries; Vanessa Lillie stopped by Deborah Kalb's blog to discuss her new thriller, For the Best; this week's guest on Author Interviews was Gerald Elias, chatting about his new thriller, The Beethoven Sequence; and Lisa Haselton interviewed thriller author Virginia Crow about her new novel, Baptism of Fire.

           Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

After launching their careers together on Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are reuniting on the spy thriller, Five Eyes. Ritchie will direct and produce the project about an an agent (Statham) recruited by the global intelligence alliance, "Five Eyes," to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapon that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with a high-tech CIA expert, he sets off on a globe-trotting mission to infiltrate a billionaire arms broker's crime syndicate.

Amazon Studios, Skydance TV, and Paramount TV Studios have found their Jack Reacher. Alan Ritchson (Titans) has been tapped for the title role in Jack Reacher, the streamer’s drama series based on the character from Lee Child’s international bestselling series of books. As conceived by Child, the imposing, 6'5"-tall, 250-pound character of Jack Reacher is a U.S. Army veteran investigating suspicious activities that frequently put him in danger. (Santora is 6’4” and 235 pounds). The role was played by the 5'7" Tom Cruise in the 2012 Jack Reacher feature film and the 2016 sequel.

Greenland star Gerard Butler and Captain America actor Frank Grillo are set to star in the Joe Carnahan-directed action thriller, Copshop. The story centers on a small-town police station that becomes the unlikely battleground between a professional hitman (Butler), a smart rookie female cop, and a double-crossing con man (Grillo), who seeks refuge behind bars when there's no place left to run. Casting for the female lead is still in progress.

Stephan James is in final negotiations to co-star with Russell Crowe in Paramount’s thriller, American Son, which is based on the critically acclaimed French film, A Prophet. Andrew "Rapman" Onwubolu is on board to direct the movie from a screenplay by crime author, Dennis Lehane. The film centers on a man (James) who falls under the control of a ruthless mobster (Crowe) while in prison and later builds a multiracial crime syndicate to take down his mentor and earn a place for his crew alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.

A new trailer was released for the next James Bond installment (and the last one for Daniel Craig), No Time to Die, giving fans a deeper look at the long-awaited 007 movie — and its scarred (both emotionally and physically) supervillain played by Rami Malek.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Skydance Television is developing an original hour-long series headlined and executive produced by Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first major foray into scripted television. Created by Nick Santora (Scorpion), the series is said to be a global spy adventure with a father (Schwarzenegger) and daughter at the center of the story. Preliminary casting is underway for the role of the daughter. 

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar are among the cast of the second season of Netflix’s police interrogation drama, Criminal, which just released a trailer. The drama takes place exclusively within the confines of a police interview suite. It is a stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama that will focus on the intense mental conflict between the police officer and the suspect in question. Season two returns to the streamer on September 16.

Jess Ryder’s psychological thriller novel, The Ex-Wife, is getting the series treatment, with BlackBox Multimedia and Night Train Media teaming for an international co-production. New York Times bestselling author and actress, Catherine Steadman, known for roles in Downton Abbey and her novels including Something In The Water, has been drafted to pen the screenplay, marking her screenwriting debut. The Ex-Wife follows newlywed Tasha, who has the perfect house, a loving husband, and a beautiful little girl. She’d be set if it weren't for Jen, her husband's ex-wife who just won't leave them alone.

CBS has put in development The Bay, a one-hour police drama from director-producer Larry Teng (Nancy Drew); writer-producer Yalun Tu (Wu Assassins); and CBS Television Studios. Described as "The Good Wife meets NYPD Blue," the project centers on two newly partnered Chinese-American detectives who strive to overcome their gender, generational, and cultural differences as they work to bring justice to their dynamic and ever-changing San Francisco community. 

NBC has put in development a father-daughter murder mystery drama from Blindspot creator/executive producer Martin Gero and executive producer Alex Berger. Written by Berger, the story follows a dogged young reporter who witnesses the murder of her sister. As she launches an investigation to find the people responsible, she enlists the help of her estranged father – a legendary but reclusive investigative journalist.

Danish actor Roland Møller is set to co-star opposite Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Citadel, Anthony and Joe Russo’s upcoming global thriller series for Amazon Studios. Møller will play Laszlo Milla, a lead operative of Citadel’s rival intelligence agency, Manticore, who was incarcerated in a Citadel detention facility for years. Now liberated, Laszlo sets his sights on getting revenge on the man responsible for his capture, Mason Kane, and bringing down Citadel once and for all.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, interviewed crime writer Karen Neary Smithson.

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed James R. Benn to talk about The Red Horse, the latest installment in Benn's Captain Billy Boyle mysteries set in World War II Europe.

My Favorite Detective Stories host John A. Hoda chatted with Mike Omer about his Zoe Bentley series.

Brad Parks stopped by Meet the Thriller Author to chat about his books, writing at Hardees, and how he tackled subjects like quantum physics to turn into a thriller.

Faye Snowden, author A Killing Fire, was interviewed by Robert Justice on the latest Crime Writers of Color episode.

The Gay Mystery Podcast welcomed Ellen Hart, often called "the LGBTQ’s answer to Agatha Christie" and the author of thirty-five crime novels in two different series.

Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover spoke with special guests Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson, the authors behind the latest Tier One thriller, Collateral.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone host Steve Cavanagh became a guest on the show to talk about his newly released thriller, Fifty Fifty.

The featured guest on It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club was Alex Gilly. One of his translations, Thierry Cruvellier's The Master of Confession, was longlisted for the 2015 PEN Translation Prize. His own latest crime novel is the thriller, Death Rattle.

The latest Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast featured Josh Pachter's "The Secret Lagoon."

           Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Quote of the Week

           Related StoriesQuote of the Week 

FFB: Home is the Prisoner

Jean Catherine Potts (1910-1999) started out as a journalist and then writing mystery short stories, many of which appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Woman's Day. In 1954 she had her first novel published, Go, Lovely Rose, which won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. That was followed by 14 additional novels published in over seven foreign languages. One of those later novels,The Evil Wish, was an Edgar finalist in 1963 and optioned to be made into a movie starring Barbara Stanwyck and Sir Ralph Richardson, although that project apparently fell through.



Most of Potts's books are largely out of print, although Stark House Press recently released a couple of two-book volumes. Home is the Prisoner was also released as part of the Black Dagger Crime Series by the Crime Writers' Association (which is the version I found in my local library) in their attempt to make hard-to-find exemplary works in various crime fiction subgenres available. The book tells the story of Jim Singley, who spent six years in jail for manslaughter, as he returns to the small town and scene of the crime where almost no one—including his son, ex-wife, and former mistress—are glad to see him. Potts uses shifting third-person POVs, including Singley's friend Judge Mack McVey and thirteen-year-old Cleo, the daughter of the man Singley is supposed to have killed and whose testimony kept him from the death penalty. But as Singley attempts to settle old scores, the truth that has lain dormant for six years is painstakingly pieced together.

The late Edward D. Hoch, a prolific short-story writer himself, once said that Potts' ''characterization was perhaps her strongest suit, and she was especially good with her small-town, middle-American settings.'' This is certainly the case with Home is the Prisoner, where the shifting POV's allow the reader to see inside the minds and secrets of the various characters, allowing the story to slowly unfold as a rather poetic multi-layered psychological study. As one example, these thoughts from Cleo:

"Because Mother, for all her dependence, was not communicative. Or maybe just not articulate. Anyway, there was a lot of uncharted territory in her geography, great areas that Cleo knew absolutely nothing about. Had not wanted to know about. Jim Singley, for instance. They had both steered clear of him — Cleo out of a rich hash of emotions that included adolescent squeamishness, wrenched loyalties, shame and shock, not to mention her own privately owned nightmare. And Mother out of — what? Cleo discovered in herself a sudden, engulfing curiosity. It broke over her like a wave, carrying, as a wave carries shell fragments, seaweed and sand, its load of remembered gossip and prying, lip-licking questions."

In Potts' fictional world there are no true good or bad characters, just many shades of gray, but she writes them in a way that makes you care about them, warts and all.
            

Author R&R with August Norman

Originally from central Indiana, thriller and mystery author August Norman has called Los Angeles home for two decades, writing for and/or appearing in movies, television, stage productions, web series, and even commercial advertising. A lover and champion of crime fiction, Norman is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime (National and LA), and regularly attends the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference. In addition, August is a founding member and regular performer with LA's longest running improv comedy show, "Opening Night: The Improvised Musical."

Last year, Crooked Lane Books released Come and Get Me, the debut novel in Norman's series featuring intrepid journalist Caitlin Bergman. On September 8, Caitlin returns in the follow-up novel, Sins of the Mother, about which Kirkus Reviews said, "Action-loving readers are the real winners in this offbeat thriller."

This time, the case is closer to home when Caitlin goes in search of her mother, whom she believed dead for the past forty years. But when a rural sheriff invites Caitlin to the woods of coastal Oregon to identify her mother's remains, Caitlin drops everything to face the woman she's spent a lifetime hating. Unfortunately, the body — abandoned on the land of a reclusive cult, the Daughters of God — was left faceless. Instead, Caitlin finds the diary of a woman obsessed with the end of the world, one that hints the cult's spiritual leader knows the identity of Caitlin's real father.

She's not the only one looking for clues in her mother's writing. Johnny Larsen, a violent white supremacist whose family runs the county, thinks the Daughters of God kidnapped his teen-aged daughter...and will do anything to get her back. Caught between the local white supremacists ready to take action and the radical cult her mother belonged to, Caitlin must unravel the town's secrets before the fiery prophesied end of days arrives.

August Norman stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:

"The Cult Leader in Me"

While plotting my second Caitlin Bergman thriller, Sins of the Mother, I wanted to explore the relationship between the families we’re born into and the families we choose. I’d also been researching another type of chosen family at the time: religious cults. To combine the story of Caitlin’s search for her birth mother with that of a woman who would abandon her life in Los Angeles to commune with strangers in the woods of Oregon, I knew I needed to explore my own inner cult leader.

Like a hand held over a candle’s flame just until the point of pain, my fascination with people who blindly follow the dogma of self-professed prophets, often giving up friends, families, sexual boundaries, economic treasures, and original perceptions of reality, is thinly protected with a sense of “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Of course, I mean my God, not their God, because obviously my belief in a higher power that influences the World Series, but somehow ignores childhood diseases, is perfectly acceptable. See? There’s a fine, slippery, dangerous line between them, me, and a spiritual abyss. So, what is the difference between a mass theology and a cult?

Miriam-Webster defines a cult as a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous.

While the world’s major religions often require personal sacrifice through fasting, tithing, or adherence to regimented moral constructs, cults take the weirdness level up to the sky.

Does your religion have a sex-abstaining savior who walked the earth two thousand years ago? Ours lives amongst us in a compound, gets down with everybody, and thinks vows to anyone but himself are mere suggestions.

Do you believe in space travel? We think that evil souls from a galactic war latch onto everyday people and can only be detected by our scanning machine. For a little money, and the recorded confession of your darkest secrets that we swear won’t be used to manipulate you, we’ll be glad to remove them.

Does your clergy maintain that living a moral life means that time will continue as long as we are good to each other? Ours sets a date on a calendar when the world will end in fire, guarantees it will happen in our lifetime, and demands that we sell all of our earthly possessions to fund a theater where our leader can do his performance art.

If these examples sound familiar, that’s because they’ve been cherry-picked from genuine religious movements of notoriety from the last century. While I’m exploring these concepts with a tone of humor, the damage that these groups have created is devastating in its reach and duration. Losing a family member to a fringe religious group, let alone growing up under a cult’s indoctrination, is life-shattering, soul-crushing, and often requires hospitalization and life-long therapy.

(And yes, I’m aware that mainstream religions can and have been just as damaging, especially in the context of global warfare and oppression, but this is about cults!)

Sketching out my own group, the Daughters of God, I needed a leader that even I, a jaded crime fiction author, would find both believable and appealing. Like many other creative hopefuls, I moved to Hollywood in my early 20s only to be lost in a metropolitan area of 12 million people from every country on the planet amidst an extreme range of wealth and poverty. Like anyone, I wanted to feel unique and be recognized. A good cult leader knows where to find people looking for definition, and it will come as no surprise to anyone who’s studied these organizations to find that a great many have started and prospered right here in Southern California. Therefore, Desmond Pratten, my fictional guru, starts as a movie star-handsome yoga instructor in West Hollywood, an area where many people seek physical perfection, surrounded by young and beautiful hopefuls looking for their big break.

Beyond recognition, many in this clique of young Hollywood want another step up their moral ladder, a special purpose. Who doesn’t want to feel like they’re making the world a better place, especially when it doesn’t seem like stardom will arrive anytime soon? Not only are Desmond’s followers getting in shape, but each is told they’ve been brought to his circle for a special purpose – to gather those lost to society and save the environment.

Still, at that level not much is happening that’s worse than an accountability group, so Desmond offers his followers another incentive, a direct conduit to God. Driven mostly by the need to satiate a wealthy defense contractor’s widow who has guilt-ridden visions of an apocalypse fueled by her husband’s inventions, Desmond lets the woman’s dreams become the group’s mythology, stepping in as the guide toward her noble goals while partnering with her corrupt niece, a confident, sensual companion who will do anything to avoid working a legitimate job. With the widow’s delusions, her niece’s help, and Desmond’s ability to read the needs of his well-meaning, soul-searching followers, the Daughters of God could easily attract a broad variety of followers with a mix of free love, intense-to-the-point-of-hypnotic physical activity, and a connection with the divine. Throw in some rules keeping everything legal, such as mandatory birth control and no one admitted under the age of consent, and file for a religious exemption, Desmond could keep the whole thing going for the rest of his life.

Of course, the problem with building a religion on a woman’s belief that the world’s end is on the horizon is that she might actually name a date and time. What will happen to Desmond’s followers when the world doesn’t end, and what would he do to keep his kingdom intact? Above all, what would happen if an investigative reporter, searching for the woman who abandoned her as a child to join this cult, showed up to shine a light on the man behind the curtain?

The cult leader in me wouldn’t give up his life at the top of the mountain without a fight.

 

You can learn more about August Norman and his books via his website and also the upcoming virtual book launch hosted by Anne's Book Carnival in Tustin, CA. Or you can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Bookbub.

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