B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 45

Author R&R with Lynn Slaughter

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. Following a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, she earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s the author of four young adult novels including Leisha's Song, an Agatha Nominee for Best Mystery Novel in the MG/YA category, and It Should Have Been You, a Silver Falchion finalist, and also the short story, "Missed Cue," which appears in Malice Domestic’s 2020 anthology, Murder Most Theatrical

Her latest novel, published today, is an adult crime fiction title, Missed Cue (an expansion of the short story). When ballerina Lydia Miseau dies onstage in the final dress rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, homicide detective Caitlin O’Connor is faced with the most complicated case of her career. She strongly suspects that someone murdered the ballerina, and her investigation uncovers several people close to the star who had reasons to kill her. But the autopsy reveals no apparent cause of death. If Lydia Miseau was murdered, who did it, and how? Meantime, there’s Caitlin’s hot mess of a personal life. She has a bad habit of getting involved with married men. She knows it’s wrong, so why does she keep entangling herself in unhealthy relationships? She’s finally decided to go into therapy to find out.

Lynn Slaughter stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

Research Matters for Mystery Writers

Writers are often advised to “write what you know.” This is good advice. For example, while the ballet company in my novel, MISSED CUE, is fictional, there’s no question that my experience as a former professional dancer lends the characters and the setting authenticity. I’m familiar with artistic directors obsessed with their work, ambitious young dancers eager for their opportunity to perform major roles, and aging dancers facing the autumn of their professional careers.

On the other hand, I would never want to limit myself to only what I know. I also love writing about things I’m eager to learn more about. For example, in my novel, DEADLY SETUP, the protagonist ends up going on trial for the murder of her mother’s fiancé. Courtroom dramas have always intrigued me, and I was eager to try my hand at writing one. But I’m not an attorney. So, I did a lot of research on criminal and courtroom procedure, read countless opening and closing trial statements, as well as articles for criminal prosecutors and defense attorneys on strategies for effective witness questioning. I also solicited help from two attorneys who reviewed my work and helped ensure its accuracy.

For MISSED CUE, I had a different problem that required expertise I didn’t possess. I had this idea that a revered and seemingly healthy ballerina would die onstage, but the autopsy would reveal no apparent cause of death. The homicide detective in charge of the investigation of the suspicious death had to figure out not only who killed the ballerina, but how they’d done it.

So, I turned to help from my author friends from the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime. They advised me to contact Luci Hansson Zahray, aka “the Poison Lady.” Luci generously lent her expertise on just how you could cause a healthy heart to simply stop beating that wouldn’t be detected in an autopsy.

Sense of place is also essential for mystery writers. MISSED CUE is set in New Haven, Connecticut. Having grown up in New England, I’ve visited New Haven many times.

But the internet was also hugely helpful to me. For example, my protagonist, Lieutenant Caitlin O’Connor, is a jazz fan. In researching New Haven, I discovered it was the home of Firehouse 24, the only club in the state devoted exclusively to live jazz, which turned into the setting for one of Caitlin’s dates with a new man in her life, as did several other area restaurants.

One of the great things about restaurant websites is that most not only include menus but photos of their dining spaces. This enabled me to immerse readers in scenes with specifics about what the characters were ordering and and what the ambiance of each setting was like.

And, since Caitlin’s new romantic interest is a science geek, it was natural to research what places he’d want to visit with her, such as the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Mystic Seaport Aquarium.

Realtors’ websites and descriptions of neighborhoods online were also extremely useful in locating where my characters might live and what their homes would be like, such as the medical examiner’s sprawling colonial in one of Hamden’s prosperous subdivisions and the rehabbed Victorian in downtown New Haven that housed the office of Caitlin’s therapist.

The interest in doing both online and in-person research is a handy quality to have as a mystery writer. I feel fortunate to love research. It’s fun, and you never know what you’ll discover!

 

You can learn more about Lynn Slaughter and her writing via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.  Missed Cue is now available via Melange Books and all major booksellers.

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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

Skydance has acquired the rights to Mickey Spillane’s and Max Allan Collins’s Mike Hammer franchise with plans to develop and produce the bestselling book series into a feature film. Hammer is the protagonist of a series of hardboiled detective novels, starting with the 1947 novel, I, the Jury, and is credited with inspiring numerous other iconic characters including Dirty Harry, Jack Reacher, and James Bond (whom Ian Fleming famously referred to as "the British answer to Mike Hammer"). The producers have the rights to the Hammer catalogue which includes dozens of Hammer stories, books, and graphic novels – authored by Mickey Spillane as well as those co-authored by Spillane and his friend, best-selling author Max Allan Collins. The Mike Hammer novel, Kiss Me Deadly, was adapted as the classic film directed by Robert Aldrich from 1955, but the Hammer character has not had a chance for any feature film treatment since then due to a rights dispute. (Two of the producers on the Mike Hammer project, Guymon Casady and Benjamin Forkner, are also teaming to produce another adaptation that features an iconic literary character, Tom Ripley, in Netflix’s upcoming series based on Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.)

Maigret, featuring Gérard Depardieu in the lead role, is coming to selected UK cinemas starting September 1st. Depardieu, renowned for his roles in Cyrano de Bergerac and Welcome to New York, brings to life one of the most cherished characters from twentieth-century crime fiction, from the pen of Georges Simenon. Set in Paris in 1953, the story begins when the lifeless body of a stunning young woman is found at Place Ventimille, elegantly clad in an evening gown. With no means of identification and no witnesses in sight, Inspector Jules Maigret, a contemplative and world-weary detective, embarks on a mission to reconstruct her tale. As he delves into the mystery, he uncovers intricate details about her past and character that paint a vivid picture of her life.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Apple TV+ has quietly axed its thriller series, Suspicion, after one season. Suspicion was a remake of the Israeli drama series, False Flag, and followed 21-year-old Leo’s abduction from a large, upmarket hotel in central New York, which is captured on video and goes viral. Four British citizens staying at the hotel swiftly become prime suspects and have their lives turned upside down as they fight to absolve themselves of suspicion. Starring as Katherine Newman, Oscar-nominee Uma Thurman appeared in six of the eight episodes and was joined in Season 1 by Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror), Elyes Gabel (Scorpion), Elizabeth Henstridge (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Angel Coulby (Dancing on the Edge).

Apple TV+ also opted not to pick up a second season of the crime drama series, City on Fire, based on the novel of the same name by Garth Risk Hallberg. While City on Fire was ordered and marketed as a drama series, not a limited series, and there were seeds for a second season planted in the finale, viewers will not be left hanging as Season 1 covered the arc in the book. The story centered on a suburban teenager, Charlie (Wyatt Oleff), who attempts to unravel the mystery of the shooting in Central Park on the Fourth of July of his friend Samantha (Chase Sui Wonders). As the crime against Samantha is investigated, she’s revealed to be the crucial connection between a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep. The series also starred Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Xavier Clyde, Max Milner, Alexandra Doke, Omid Abtahi, Kathleen Munroe, and John Cameron Mitchell.

CBS unveiled its strike-impacted fall schedule, which unsurprisingly looks a lot different due to the twin SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, especially for crime drama fans who are accustomed to seeing the various NCIS, FBI, and CSI franchises. Among all the sports programs and unscripted ("reality") TV shows on the roster are repeats of NCIS, Blue Bloods, and FBI, with some original series (but also repeats) pulled from Paramount+, including Yellowstone, FBI True, and SEAL Team.

MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS released a 2-minute trailer for Unforgotten Season 5. This award-winning cold case crime drama follows veteran London detectives who uncover the truth behind tangled, complicated murders from the past. The new season sees DI Sunny Khan's (Sanjeev Bhaskar) loyal and hard-working investigations team back at work and attempting to get along with a new and all too business-like DCI Jessica James (Sinéad Keenan). Jess's first case is the discovery of human remains in a newly renovated period property in Hammersmith, London. But how long have they been there and is this a murder dating back to the 1930's or has the body been disposed of in more recent times? Fans can catch up with full episodes of Seasons 1 through 4 streaming now on PBS Passport.





PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

WNYC's All Of It podcast chatted with Laura Lippman who drew inspiration from the infamous "Prom Mom" case for her latest novel, which tells the story of a woman who becomes re-entangled with her high school boyfriend years after she gave birth to his child in a bathroom during prom and left the baby to die.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Lynn Hightower about her new novel, The Beautiful Risk, which centers on Junie Lagarde and her hearing-ear dog Leo—who survived the plane crash in the French Alps that killed Junie's husband. Nothing will stop Junie from finding Leo and looking into the plane crash … but not everyone wants Junie to succeed. In fact, not everyone wants Junie to survive

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke chatted with Sam Lloyd about his new thriller, The People Watcher; hinterlands; The Hobbit; surviving rejection; fulfilling a dream; character; and boiling a frog.

The Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed crime writer, Sarah Hilary, and discussed neurodiversity in fiction.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club focused on four books that appropriately involve heat.

On the Writers' Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson answered questions about investigating international crime rings; FBI Legal Attachés; INTERPOL; the difference between reactive and proactive investigations; and where prosecutions might happen for transnational RICO cases.

The August episode of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's podcast featured "The Knight Wizard," a new story in the July/August 2023 issue from frequent EQMM contributor, Janice Law.

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Ned Kelly Award Shortlists

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honoring published crime fiction and true crime writing in the categories of Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to 1 March each year. Best of luck to all the 2023 finalists!

 

Best Crime Fiction


 

Soulmate by Sally Hepworth 
When The Carnival is Over by Greg Woodland 
Exiles by Jane Harper 
When We Fall by Aoife Clifford 
The Tilt by Chris Hammer 
Those Who Perish Emma Viskic 
Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic
Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

 

Best International Crime Fiction

 
The Lemon Man by Keith Bruton 
Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath 
The Favour by Nicci French 
The Hitchhiker by Gerwin van der Werf 

 

Best Debut Crime Fiction

 
Wake by Shelley Burr 
No Country for Girls by Emma Styles 
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor 
Black River by Matthew Spencer 
How to Kill a Client by Joanna Jenkins 
The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon 
Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne 
Denizen by James McKenzie Watson&nbsp

 

Best True Crime

 
Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! by Officer A
A Death Row at Truro by Geoff Plunkett 
Rattled by Ellis Gunn 
Betrayed by Sandi Logan 
Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris 

 

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Sunday Music Treat

Cécile Chaminade (August 8, 1857 - April 13, 1944) was a French composer and pianist who came from a musical family. It was still rare at the time for a woman to be a performer, let alone a composer, even though family friend Georges Bizet called her "My Little Mozart." She was generally successful during her lifetime, and in 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. But her compositions became largely forgotten in the second half of the twentieth century, despite publishing more than four hundred pieces over her eighty-six years. Here's one of her many works for the piano, the Theme and Variations from Opus 89, as played by Marc-André Hamelin in Amsterdam, 1998:

          

Quote of the Week

          

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Miss Madelyn Mack, Detective

Hugh Cosgro Weir (1994-1934) was born in Illinois but moved to Ohio where he worked as a journalist at the young age of 16 in Springfield. He also began writing screenplays early on, but eventually set up his own combo advertising agency and magazine publishing house. He was a prolific writer of pulp short stories but is mainly known today for his anthology published in 1914, Miss Madelyn Mack, Detective.



Weir dedicated the book to Mary Holland, a Chicago-area detective who was a pioneering fingerprint expert and jointly published the criminology magazine, The Detective, with her husband Phillip. In fact, Weir was inspired by Holland to loosely base his young detective Madelyn Mack on Holland. In the stories, Mack is accompanied on her exploits by the reporter Nora Noraker, who also serves as the POV character, in a form of gender-swapped Holmes and Watson set in in New York City.



Madelyn Mack is every bit as quirky as Holmes in the five stories that make up the book. She collects musical records from around the world, even commissioning expensive private recordings; she wears a locket around her neck filled with cola berries to keep her awake for days at a stretch; she dresses only in either all white or all black; and her home overlooks the Hudson River and is decorated like a reproduction Swiss chalet. Although she believes women are better at crime solving than men, she employs several young men to do her paperwork.



Nora Noraker describes Madelyn's appearance upon first meeting her:  "I had vaguely imagined a masculine-appearing woman, curt of voice, sharp of feature, perhaps dressed in a severe tailor-made gown. I saw a young woman of maybe twenty-five, with red and white cheeks, crowned by a softly waved mass of dull gold hair, and a pair of vivacious grey-blue eyes that at once made one forget every other detail of her appearance."



As to her sleuthing philosophy, Madelyn herself says, "I work out my problems just as I would work out a problem in mathematics, only instead of figures I deal with human motives. A detective is always given certain known factors, and I keep building them up, or subtracting them, as the case may be, until I know that the answer must be correct."



The five tales included in the volume are "The Man with Nine Lives"; "The Missing Bridegroom"; "Cinderella's Slipper"; "The Bullet From Nowhere"; and "The Purple Thumb." The stories and plots aren't as imaginative as Arthur Conan Doyle's, and there is some racism that pops in (not overtly, but as in the case of woman who was suspect because she was a "mulatto"). Still, the stories were entertaining enough to spawn two silent films, The Riddle of the Green Umbrella and The Riddle of the Tin Soldier, both starring Alice Joyce as Madelyn Mack.

          

Mystery Melange

The Gotham Writers Genre Fiction Conference will take place mostly on Zoom, August 12-13, 2023. There will be at least one pitching roundtable in NYC. On Day 1, there are four panels and presentations, each designed to give you a peek behind the genre fiction book publishing curtain. You’ll hear from agents, editors, and writers, all offering their insight into the process of getting your genre fiction book out to the world. On Day 2, there are Pitching Roundtables where pre-selected writers spend the day at a table with two agents who specialize in the field that matches the writers’ book projects (fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror). 

Otto Penzler announced that he has formed Crime Ink, a new imprint at his publishing company, Penzler Publishers, which will focus on publishing literary true crime. Tom Wickersham, formerly the manager of The Mysterious Bookshop, will head the imprint as its editor. Charles Perry will be the Publisher, a position he currently holds with The Mysterious Press, American Mystery Classics, Scarlet, and MysteriousPress.com, an electronic book publisher—the other imprints of Penzler Publishers. Luisa Smith will oversee as Editor-in-Chief of Penzler Publishers. The Crime Ink imprint plans to publish four to six books in its first year, starting in the Winter of 2024. Crime Ink will be distributed by W. W. Norton and Company, which also distributes The Mysterious Press, Scarlet, and American Mystery Classics.

In 1970, a gay detective debuted in the novel Fadeout by author Joseph Hansen, who took a risk creating Dave Brandstetter. But fifty years later, there's a Netflix series in development and new book editions offering new opportunities to shine a light on Hansen’s work. Hansen was a serious writer, a poet published in The New Yorker, a journalist, and an author of novels and stories beyond crime fiction. But he is most celebrated for the elegant, literary mystery novels featuring the 40ish investigator Brandstetter, who was smart, observant, compassionate and gay. Although not as famous as perhaps he should be, the Private Eye Writers of America awarded Brandstetter The Eye, the group’s lifetime achievement award, and he received the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men’s Mystery for the last Brandstetter novel, A Country of Old Men. 

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is getting a trigger warning from publisher house Vintage. The 1939 novel The Big Sleep, considered among the greatest works of crime fiction, has been reprinted with a cautionary note by publishing house Vintage. Would-be readers of Chandler’s most famous work are now warned that the book may contain "outdated language and cultural representations." The note addressed to the "dear reader" cautions that while the story centered on Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe is an outstanding example of crime fiction, it is nevertheless "firmly of its time and place."

Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction: When an early draft of Emma Rosenblum’s debut murder mystery was leaked to the inhabitants of Fire Island where it’s set, events there began to take a weirder turn.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Ballad of Menstruation & Crime" by Sylvia Wenmackers.

In the Q&A roundup, Ken Jaworowski, an editor at the New York Times, chatted with Author Interviews about his debut thriller, Small Town Sins; Lisa Haselton welcomed mystery author Dale T. Phillips to talk about his new mystery and crime anthology, Crime Time; the blog Indie Crime Scene interviewed Lynn Slaughter about her debut crime novel, Missed Cue; Deborah Kalb spoke with Rachel Howzell Hall, author of the new novel What Never Happened, and also Gillian McAllister, whose new novel Just Another Missing Person was recently released; and Laura Lippman stopped by The Guardian to discuss her latest novel, Prom Mom, which delivers her most political novel to date about a teen with an unwanted pregnancy.

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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

David Cornwell, the British spy better known to the world under his pen name John le Carré, reveals secrets of his extraordinary life in a documentary directed by nonfiction filmmaking legend Errol Morris. The Pigeon Tunnel, from Apple Original Films and The Ink Factory, is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 20. Following a career in Britain’s MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and '60s, Cornwell became the mega-bestselling author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager, and The Constant Gardener, all of which were successfully adapted by Hollywood. His fictional creation, George Smiley, the veteran intelligence officer who appears in many of those books, has been played on screen by James Mason, Alec Guinness, Denholm Elliott, and Gary Oldman. The documentary is set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into the present day and spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes.

The Gray House, a Civil War spy drama series that is being produced by Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, is the latest high-profile project to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. Paramount Global Content Distribution is set to distribute the six-part series, which does not currently have a U.S. network or streamer attached. The Gray House tells the story of the three women General Ulysses S. Grant credited as helping the North win the Civil War: a Richmond Socialite and her daughter, a formerly enslaved African-American, and a courtesan, who built the first successful female spy ring, operating right under the noses of the Confederate High Command. They risk life and liberty to help win the war and preserve American Democracy. The series is based on an original script by Leslie Greif, Darrell Fetty, and Oscar-nominated John Sayles, with another Oscar-nominee, Roland Joffe, set to direct.

Shout! Studios has set a September 28th nationwide theatrical release date for The Kill Room, the darkly comedic thriller that marks the first re-team for Pulp Fiction stars Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson in decades. Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike) also stars in the pic directed by Nicol Paone from Jonathan Jacobson’s script. The project tells the story of an art dealer (Thurman) who teams with a hitman (Manganiello) and his boss (Jackson) for a money laundering scheme that accidentally turns the hitman into an overnight Avant-Garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building is back with all new episodes on August 8, and the first trailer for Season 3 sets up a new mystery. Following the shocking death of actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) in the Season 2 finale, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) are investigating the tragedy that took place behind the scenes of Oliver’s Broadway show. Aided by co-star Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep), the trio discovers this case is a tougher nut to crack than the Arconia murders but remain optimistic they will find who killed Oliver’s leading man as he also attempts to put his show back together.

Channel 4 has set the cast for The Gathering, which is award-winning novelist Helen Walsh’s debut TV script. The Gathering centers on the violent attack on a teenage girl in a tidal islet on Merseyside and a group of teens from disparate backgrounds, each of whom could have committed the crime – along with their parents, who give equal cause for suspicion. BIFA-winner Vinette Robinson will play pushy mother, Natalie, and is joined by leads Eva Morgan and Sadie Soverall, who play Kelly and Jessica respectively. Also aboard are Warren Brown as Kelly’s hard working single parent, Paul, and Richard Coyle as successful solicitor Jules, along with Sonny Walker, Luca Kamleh-Chapman, and Hebron Tedros.

RIP Jerome Coopersmith, who died this past week at the age of 97. After earning a Purple Heart at the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, Coopersmith turned to writing for Hollywood, counting among his projects more than 30 installments of the classic 1960s-70s police drama, Hawaii Five-O. He also received a Tony Award nomination for his book for the 1965 Harold Prince-directed Sherlock Holmes musical, Baker Street.





PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Denise Mina, whose two titles, The Second Murderer, a Phillip Marlowe novel, and Three Fires, the story of 15th-century Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola, will both be published on the same date, August 1, 2023.

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed literary crime fiction on Read or Dead.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Stuart Gibbs, an American author who has written mostly mystery and humor books that are aimed for tweens and teens, and his latest book, Spy School.

Crime Time FM's Paul Burke profiled crime fiction titles released this month, a selection heavy on noir and psychological thrillers with a couple of in translation novels and a de rigeur pulp.

On the Writers Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson talked about a DA Investigator moving over to a police department as a detective; the legalities of making a warrantless arrest inside a suspect's home; and how to conduct a cover-up.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up featuring the mystery short story "Swan Song" written by Donalee Moulton and read by actor Sean Hopper.

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Sunday Music Treat

July marks the birth anniversary of Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor, Ernst von Dohnányi (July 27, 1877 - February 9, 1960). Although he wrote in various genres, he composed primarily for the piano, including the witty Variations on a Nursery Tune for piano and orchestra, which was used in the most recent Scott Drayco mystery (Melody of Murder). Here's a recording of the composer himself playing the work at the age of 79 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Adrian Boult conducting:

 

          

Quote of the Week

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