Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 13

A view from a distance

by Barb, writing in Maine, where the weather has been so beautiful this summer it’s almost hard to believe

Here we are for the third in my series of posts about what I’ve learned after putting in my 10,000 hours writing mysteries.

The first in the series, The Voice, is here.The second, It’s the emotion, stupid, is here.

This time I’m writing about narrative distance.

From time to time, I’m asked to review manuscripts by pre-published writers. Often this is as a part of a conference in which people can pay for manuscript reviews, or in association with a group, like the Sisters in Crime Guppies. (Great UnPublished)

One of the two most common issues I see is narrative distance. Too often I see the insertion of “distancing” words. Like this:

I wondered what he was doing down by the dock by himself. My mind reeled at the idea he might be guilty. I believed him to be a good man. His reputation alone placed him above suspicion. I’d known him a long time. I’d thought he was my friend.

Nothing wrong with that, right? We’ve all read books like that, which is why those words unspool so easily from our minds when we’re writing. But most of the books we’ve read that use this style of narration are older. Modern commercial fiction is most often written in a very close point of view.

Words like “wondered,” “believed,” “my mind,” “idea,” “might,” and “thought” place distance between the point of view character and the narrative. And between the narrative and the reader. You probably don’t use those words when you’re talking to yourself in your head.

Try this:

Jack was alone by the dock. Did he kill Esme? No. He was a good man with a solid reputation. More than that, he was my friend.

When I coach writers to remove all those distancing words, what I am really saying is– remove the distance. Try to get as deep inside the character as you can. Crime fiction requires readers to understand what the POV character, particularly the protagonist, is observing, how they’re processing the information they’re getting, and how they feel about it. The best way to do this is for the narration to come from the inside, looking out. Not to come from somewhere above, looking down.

This works in the third person as well.

He walked along, muttering, watching his step on the rocky path. He thought about Esme. It was hard to grasp that she was truly dead. Like all life partners he’d imagined her death before, what it would be like to go on without her. Somehow it hadn’t prepared him for the reality.

Try this:

His boot slid on the steep, rocky path. He sucked air over his teeth, his arms pinwheeling. For a moment, until he regained his footing, his body was as unsettled as his mind. “Esme is dead. Esme is dead. Esme is dead.” It was unreal, illusive. In his head but not in his bones. Not in his heart. The times he’d imagined his life without her flooded back, closing his throat with guilt and shame. It hadn’t been like this. Not at all.

Am I giving you a rule? “Narration must be in very close POV.” No. As you’ll find out in future posts, I hate it when one writer tells others how they must write. In the examples above you can probably think of lots of places the narrative might have landed in between the two extremes, or beyond them. You might even want to play with distance, closer for a protagonist, farther for another POV character.

Here is my advice: Think about distance. Be aware as you write. If something seems wrong, if beta readers or your writing group aren’t responding as you’d hoped, if agents are saying, “I’m just not in love with the main character,” check the distance. Maybe you’re too far away.

Readers: We have such educated readers. You know what point of view characters are, and the difference between first person and third person narration. But do you ever think about narrative distance? Or is it one of those things that is most successful if you don’t notice it? Writers, do you think about narrative distance?

Welcome Back Susan Santangelo #giveaway

I’m delighted to welcome back Susan Santangelo! She’s hear to talk about the ninth book in her Every Wife Has A Story mystery series.

Susan: Once upon a time, my husband and I lived in an antique house in the  shoreline town of Fairfield, Connecticut. Fairfield is a very historic town. In July 1779, British soldiers marched from the beach and burned most of Fairfield’s houses, including the Burr Mansion, home to the wealthy Thaddeus and Eugenie Dennie Burr. The surname Burr should be a familiar one, even to those who haven’t seen the hit musical, Hamilton. Eunice and Thaddeus Burr were Aaron Burr’s aunt and uncle.

Our antique house was built in 1791 by Major William Silliman, a Revolutionary War hero. We’d never lived in a house as old as this one before, but we loved its eight fireplaces and creaky floorboards, and had great fun exploring all its nooks and crannies. One day I discovered a secret the house had been harboring for a two centuries – Eunice Dennie Burr had died in our house.

It was just about the same time that I began to notice items of clothing were disappearing from my closet on a regular basis. Not sweatshirts or jean; fancier duds appropriate for an occasional trip into Manhattan for a formal event. Items would disappear for a week or two, and then show up back in my closet. I finally concluded we had a ghost in our house — Eunice Dennie Burr.  

My rational husband scoffed at my conclusion. But my two dogs backed me up 100 percent. There were many times in the early morning I would see them standing side by side, motionless, staring at something only they could see.

I never believed in ghosts before, but the final proof was the ongoing mystery of what happened to my favorite black full slip. After five years of being AWOL, the day we were moving out of the house, the slip appeared exactly where it should have been all along, folded up neatly in a dresser drawer. Even my husband couldn’t explain that.

The couple in my mysteries, Carol and Jim Andrews, also live in an antique house. When I began writing book 11 of the series, Masquerades Can Be Murder, I decided their house should have a ghost too, and only Carol could see her. I named the ghost Elizabeth, and she became a central character in the book. I had so much fun writing Masquerades, because I could really let my imagination run wild. I’m a “seat of the pants” kind of writer; I don’t outline my plots in advance. I’ve learned that my primary character, Carol Andrews, is definitely in charge of the stories (she’s very bossy). This time, she surprised me by adding Julia Child to the plot, and Martha Washington shares hostessing tips from Mount Vernon.

Readers: Do you believe in ghosts? What about ghosts in cozy mysteries — yay or nay?  Anyone ever had an unusual experience similar to mine??  Let me know in the comments. One commentator (US only) will be randomly selected to receive a copy of Masquerades Can Be Murder. To be entered in the giveaway, please include YES at the end of your comments and include your email address. 

About the book: Carol Andrews is a happy woman. Her retired husband Jim finally has a project that will get him out of the house and out of her hair every day – organizing the reenactment of their town’s 1779 Revolutionary War battle. While Jim’s focused on meetings and marching practices, Carol plans to shop ’til she drops (using her secret credit card) and enjoy frequent lunches out with friends.

The unexpected appearance of Elizabeth Porter, a ghost who’s been hanging out in Carol’s house for over two hundred years, forces her to change her plans. Elizabeth tells Carol that during the battle, she murdered her abusive husband and got away with it. She’s not allowed to pass over to the Other Side until she confesses her crime to someone and receives forgiveness. After two centuries of waiting for the right person, Elizabeth’s picked Carol.

As Carol begins to doubt her own sanity, a member of the reenactment committee is murdered and her best friend, Nancy, becomes the police’s number one suspect. Ignoring Jim’s orders to stay out of the case and let the police do their job, a frantic Carol teams up with her resident ghost to find the real killer before it’s too late.    

Bio: Susan Santangelo is the author of the best-selling Baby Boomer mystery series. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Cape Cod Writers Center, and also reviews mysteries for Suspense magazine. She divides her time between Clearwater, Florida and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and shares her life with her husband Joe and two very spoiled English cocker spaniels, Boomer and Lilly. Boomer also serves as the model for the books’ front covers, and Lilly is featured on the back. She is also a proud, lucky two-time breast cancer survivor, and credits early detection by regular mammograms with saving her life twice.   

  

It’s All About Character

Sherry – I can’t believe it’s August 1st! The summer is flying by.

I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for this post. During a chat with Barb Goffman, she mentioned the Olympics. Which made me think about watching the US men’s gymnastics team. I confess, while I’ve often known the names of the women’s team members, I’ve never paid much attention to the men. I couldn’t tell you who was on the team or anything about them.

On Monday night, my daughter and I had the TV on and tuned to the Olympics. I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention but noticed the nerdy-looking guy with the glasses who seemed to be off in his own little world. I pointed him out to my daughter and asked if she knew who he was. She shrugged.

You probably all know this by now, but a bit later in the program we found out he’s Stephen Nedoroscik from Worcester, Massachusetts. (We always cheer for anyone from Massachusetts.) And that he only does the pommel horse. Interesting.

His big moment finally arrives. He goes up to the pommel horse with his glasses on. “Is he going to wear his glasses during his routine?” I asked and earned another shrug. But no, he whips them off and starts his routine.  As I heard someone say, he pommeled the heck out of that horse and clinched the bronze medal for Team USA. By Tuesday morning there were so many tweets and memes about him. He’s Clark Kent with his glasses on, but whips them off and becomes Superman. I saw him compared to Chris Evans in Captain America where before he’s this scrawny little guy and after a hero. Another tweet compared him to Spiderman.

No matter, it made me think of characters in fiction. Stephen is a great example of someone in the background of a story who is a bit overlooked. That person could be the investigator that solves the case or the bad guy who blends into the shadows. It’s an excellent example of why you need to add depth to your characters. All of us are multifaceted and our characters must be to connect with readers.

Jackson Lamb in the fabulous Slough House books by Mick Herron is an excellent example. He’s slovenly, farts, and scratches himself. He cruelly offers alcohol to the recovering alcoholic on his team. Jackson belittles all of his team members. But in the end when it’s most needed, he comes through for them. Not in a big hug/kumbaya moment, but in his scathing way. He’s compelling in his awfulness. And yes, as a reader you root for him while simultaneously wanting to slap him upside the head. I must add that all of Herron’s characters are multifaceted.

Eliza Bennett in Pride and Prejudice is another great example of a character with a lot of depth. To a point she follows the conventional norms of the day – she can needlepoint, play the piano, sing, etc. But she also goes for long walks, gets dirty, and most importantly, stands up for herself.

One of my favorite writing books on character is The Art of Character by David Corbett. There are lessons everywhere for writers – or I’m good at rationalizing taking time to watch the Olympics.

Writers: Any advice on character development? Everyone: Who is a favorite complex character?

Wicked Wednesday: Five Vacation Spots

Edith/Maddie here, writing from vacation in Rangeley, Maine.

It’s the last day of July, and I’m with family on a lake halfway up the state of Maine. So let’s talk vacations!

Wickeds, share five places you have been on vacation and give them a rating from five stars (loved it) to one (never going back).

Liz: Fun question! My top place right now is London. I could totally live there – I’ve been a few times and love it more and more each time. So, five stars. I am a huge fan of La Jolla, and would also give that five stars – it’s such a great town and the water views are incredible. Also Key West – another favorite! Five stars! I’ve been to New Orleans multiple times to visit a friend, and that’s always fun because I have an insider’s view of the area. That said, if it was just me going there alone, I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic – so maybe four stars? And locally, one of my favorite places to spend a few days is Newport, RI. Anywhere on the ocean is my happy place. Also five stars.

Julie: I’m only going to share five-star places. These are all places I loved, and that I would revisit. I’ve loved other places, but once was enough. Egypt tops the list. I had a fabulous trip there almost fifteen years ago, and would return in a minute. Vienna is another wonderful city I haven’t begun to explore. Florence–I was only there for a day, and need to go back. The Grand Canyon. The site that surpasses expectations. Picking just one more is tough, but I’d say Paris. I’ve only been there once, when I was sixteen, for eight hours. I need to go back.

Jessie: I only want to think about 5 Star places too! I loved Edinburgh, Scotland for it’s overal vibe, Oxford and York, England for history and architecture, Washington DC for fond memories of visits with one of my sons, and of course, OOB, Maine because the coast of Maine makes my heart sing!

Edith/Maddie: Okay, I’ll go along with only top-rated places. Portugal, where I’ve been three times – great food and wine, fabulous seafood, friendly people. Grand Bassam, a beach community outside Abidjan, in Ivory Coast, was so relaxing and tropical and different from dry landlocked Mali where we were living. Toddy Pond Farm in Monroe, Maine, in their large guest house with my family. New Orleans where I went for Bouchercon but turned it into a vacation of wandering the streets, eating beignets, buying walk-up drinks, and visiting historical sites. And Japan, where I lived, learned, loved, worked, and traveled for almost two years. But Rangely Lake is pretty nice, too, especially because I’m with Hugh’s entire family, including five little great nieces and nephews.

Barb: Only five? Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Key West, Florida, Stone Harbor, New Jersey, all places I’ve spent extended time. Travel destinations? The two I could go back to again and again and again (and have) Paris and Rome.

Sherry: I agree with, Barb — it’s so hard to pick just five. Monterey, CA — we did live there for eighteen months. It’s just so pretty. The Maine coast — I can’t pick just one of the many stunning towns. Lake Winnipesaukee, NH — thanks Julie for making me fall in love with this place after a Wicked event in Wolfesboro. Boston — one of my favorite cities and last but definitely not least — London.

Readers: Where have you been on vacation that was good or bad?

Guest Marilyn Levinson, plus #giveaway

Edith/Maddie writing from Maine but thinking of my tomatoes ripening at home.

I’m also thinking of new books, including my fellow Guppy Marilyn Levinson’s newest Haunted Library Mystery, Booked on Murder, which is out next week!

Check out the blurb: Carrie Singleton is ready to kiss the single life goodbye. Her wedding to Dylan Avery is just a few weeks away, and a happy ending is about to be hers. But when a body is found on the lawn of their wedding venue, happily-ever-after is looking deadlier than ever. 

The victim turns out to be Billy Carpenter, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery. The stolen money he’d buried is gone and Carrie and the police suspect Billy’s two alleged co-conspirators, his friends Luke Rizzo and Tino Valdez. But then Luke is murdered and Tino is nowhere to be found. 

With no leads and only a week to go before her big day, Carrie is on the hunt for clues. She hopes to wrap up this investigation with a neat bow before she and Dylan tie the knot. Carrie has something old, something new, and something borrowed ready for her walk down the aisle. Now she needs to find the killer without becoming the ‘something blue.’

The Old and the New

A few years ago as I plotted Booked on Murder, the eighth book in my Haunted Library series, I realized it would be the last book in the series, as well. My sleuth, Carrie Singleton was now a mature and caring adult. In Death Overdue, Carrie comes on the scene ready to leave town. She’s been working in the Clover Ridge Library doing low-level work–reshelving books and helping out where she is needed. Now it’s time to leave the comfort of her great aunt and uncle’s home. It doesn’t matter where. Carrie’s a floater with no place to call home; no one to answer to.

The library director offers Carrie the position of head of programs and events, for which she is qualified. Too late, Carrie thinks. I’m outa here. But a voice urges her to consider the position. The voice belonging to a ghost named Evelyn Havers. Carrie considers and with her great aunt and uncle’s encouragement she became Clover Ridge Library’s next head of programs and events.

Carrie works hard at her new job. It isn’t always easy, especially when the director thinks she only got the job because her great-uncle is on the library board, and the nasty reference librarian believes she should have gotten the position. But Carrie had pluck and determination. She has innovative, creative ideas and is insightful enough to recognize the artistic talent of one of her assistants.  

As she grows more confident, Carrie makes friends. Her relationship with her mother and father, now divorced,  improves. She falls in love with Dylan Avery, the boy who used to play with her older brother when, as children, she and Jordan stayed at the Singleton Farm during summers. She becomes a temporary member of the town and often helps others. And with Evelyn’s input she solves murder mysteries.

In Booked on Murder, Carrie and Dylan are looking forward to their nuptials when they have the biggest adventure of their lives solving a rash of murders just hours before they’re to say “I do.” All is resolved. Carrie’s story arc is complete. Time for Allison Brook to move on.

I was a bit nervous when I told my agent and my editor about my decision to end the Haunted Library series. They were both fine with it, though I hadn’t counted on the many comments from readers who were sorry the series was ending. I began to feel guilty that I was disappointing readers, though  I was deeply touched to learn that a few people planned to reread the series.

Soon I was able to tell readers about the new series I’d begun. Delia Dickens is nine years older than Carrie. She’s divorced and has a fifteen-year-old son. They live on Dickens Island, an island I created and set down in the Long Island Sound midway between Long Island and Connecticut. Delia’s life is very different from Carrie’s. She left a lucrative marketing job in Manhattan to revitalize the general store her family owns. Her aunt, the town manager,  and her uncle, the president of the town council, are at odds over an island issue that may result in their divorce.

The characters are new, the storyline is different, but the coziness evoked is the same. There’s the small town where everyone knows everyone else. Good will abounds and secrets prevail. There’s a murder, a secret room, a ghost, and a shaggy dog. Once again my readers will find themselves in a cozy world filled with mystery, excitement and a touch of romance.

The new series is called  Dickens Island: A Books on the Beach Mystery. The first book is DEATH ON DICKENS ISLAND, and is authored as Allison Brook.

Readers: When a favorite author writes a new series, are you eager to read the first book? I’ll send one commenter a copy of the new book.

A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, novels of suspense, and books for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series, the Twin Lakes series, and Giving Up the Ghost. Her suspense, Come Home to Death, was released in April, 2024, and Dangerous Relations will be republished in 2025.

Marilyn’s juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice and has recently come out in a new edition, followed by Rufus and the Witch’s Drudge, the second book in the Rufus series. And Don’t Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards. Her YA horror, The Devil’s Pawn, came out in a new edition in January, 2024.

Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids and playing with her kittens, Romeo and Juliet.

buy links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3uuPRDZ

PRH:  https://bit.ly/PRHBookedonMurder

Social Links:

website: http://www.marilynlevinson.com where you can sign up for my newsletter

social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10?ref=ts&fref=ts

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/161602.Marilyn_Levinson

X: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/marilyn-levinson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilynlevinsonauthor/

Ask the Expert: Audio Narrator Linda Jones #giveaway

Edith/Maddie here, away from home in the wilds (not really) of Maine with family.

When I was also away from home last August at Bouchercon in San Diego, a woman came up to me after my panel. She introduced herself and said she was the audio narrator for Murder Uncorked, my first Cece Barton mystery, which was due to release in a couple of months.

I was SO excited to meet her! I’d never met or even corresponded with any of my other audio narrators. We met up again later in the convention and had a chat. After that, we communicated via email about a few pronunciations of names and dialect details for several characters in the book.

When I realized this spring I would be wrangling the Wickeds’ guest spots this month, I asked if Linda would join us to answer questions about her field. I was delighted she said yes! Read down for a cool giveaway.

Area of Expertise 

I’m an actor working primarily in audiobook narration. I’m also an acting, voice and dialect coach.

How did you get started in this business?

My acting career has grown and shifted over more than 30 years, and arriving at audiobook narration feels very much like the ultimate refinement. It is, for me, the most pure, intimate and intense acting work I can imagine. (More on that below.) I was nine when I decided to be an actor. I’d just played Scrooge in the school play. I was also a voracious reader and shared a love of mysteries and literature—du Maurier, Hitchcock, Edgar Allen Poe—with my mom.

I started college in the Musical Theatre program, but quickly realized that my true love was acting. I earned a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College and headed first to Chicago, then San Francisco and finally New York. I worked in a wide variety of projects in theatre, as well as a bit of film and tv. But I found a real home in new plays and development—I loved working with writers. I did some voice over work, and with my voice coaching and dialect background found a job coaching with Edge Studio in NYC. They cast me in my first audiobook—a multicast, in studio with a director. It was a dream. Books, authors and acting all in one job! I was smitten.

What are three things we should know about your area of expertise?

Well, first: Narrating an audiobook is one of the most wonderfully challenging and rewarding acting jobs imaginable. In a play or a movie, you have not only the words of the script, but also sets and backgrounds, props, lights and sound, perhaps music, other actors to play off of. Your face and body are visible to the audience. In an audiobook, it’s just the actor and the text. The author’s world is transported on just one voice. It’s an enormous responsibility. But it’s also the purest, most distilled acting work there is.

Second: People are often surprised by how much goes into narrating an audiobook. Audiobook narrators wear an enormous number of hats! Every project starts with prep—reading the book not only for plot and characters, but also to get a sense of the author’s voice and cadence, tone and pace. We need to be aware of any surprises, as well as particular challenges like accents we may need to bone up on or specific character traits to consider (for example twins—how to distinguish twins talking in a scene together). We’ll research terminology and pronunciation in both fiction and non-fiction (I’ve had word lists of up to 400+ words).

Then we head into the booth. It takes on average about two hours of recording time for every hour of finished audio, so a 10 hour book will take about 20 hours of recording time in the booth. In addition to the acting work, each session requires us to be tech savvy with an array of hardware and software, as well as hyper-aware of our recording space and our bodies.

That booth time is exacting. The mic picks up everything, so we warm up, we wear soft, silent clothes and no jewelry, movement is minimal (the mouth has to stay in the same relationship to the mic throughout), and with no a/c (the mic will pick up the sound) it gets hot quickly. We learn early on what foods we can eat and what to stay away from to keep mouth and tummy noise to a minimum. And we drink copious amounts of tea and water. At the end of a long recording day, my voice and especially my articulators, are tired.

Edith/Maddie: Do you read from a finished book or from a sheaf of paper – which could get noisy? How big is your sound booth (it’s at home, right?)?

Linda: Excellent questions! I read from a pdf of the finished manuscript on my iPad, using a program called iAnnotate to mark it up as needed. Paper does indeed make too much noise.

And yes, my booth is in my home. I have a small office that is just big enough for my desk (my great-grandfather’s rolltop), a bookcase and my booth: a Studiobricks, which is a popular and very effective brand of sound booth. Inside, it’s about 3 feet by 4 feet. It’s cozy!

Depending on the material, I can usually record 1.5-3 finished hours in a day. Once that initial raw recording is done, we send the files off to a team of proofers and engineers About 2-4 weeks later, we get pickups—any errors that weren’t caught during the initial recording (misreads, mispronunciations, errant tummy noises, etc.), and we record and upload the corrections.

And third: We’re not actually replaceable with AI. The relationship between author and reader is as human as it gets. Books offer connection, they help us understand ourselves and the world around us. My job is to read your book first as a reader and then to be your voice for the listener, serving almost as a translator into audio. AI doesn’t experience or understand your book. It doesn’t see character arcs or changes in tone, it doesn’t get the jokes or asides. And it can’t communicate what it doesn’t understand. There is no emotional connection, no nuance, no levels, no depth, no sense of pacing or structure, no real understanding of character or of how the story is told. It can recite words off a page, and reasonably well at that. But without fundamental comprehension, it strips the humanity out of the book. It can’t make sense of it for the listener. Humans will always do humanity best.

Is there a general characteristic that experts in this field all share?

We love books and authors! (Heck, I married one.) We’re avid readers and most of us always have been. We love books, talking about books, sharing favorite books and authors. And we’re a gregarious and welcoming community, happy to field any questions authors may have. If we don’t have the answer, we probably know someone who will.

What do people usually get wrong when writing about your field?

“It’s just reading!” There are some that think we just pick up a book for the first time, sit down with a tape recorder at the kitchen table, and read aloud from start to finish. Alongside that misconception, there are misleading youtube videos and “tutorials” hawking narration as an easy side hustle that’ll bring in “big” money. Done right, narration should sound effortless. Really, I should almost disappear so that you forget I’m there and get lost in the story. But as in so many art forms, simple is hard. There is a lot of craft that goes into effortlessness.

Is there a great idea you ’ d love to share?

I love talking books and audiobooks with authors, and I know other narrators feel the same. I think conferences and meetups that bring us all together can strengthen those relationships and help us understand each other’s work.

What are you working on now?

Well, coming up in the fall I’m very much looking forward to narrating the second in the Cece Barton Mystery series, Deadly Crush by Maddie Day! In the meantime, I’m excited to be part of a Penguin Random House multi-cast for Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White, and I’ve got a fabulous (as yet unannounced) thriller on deck. I also recently recorded my third work from Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers—part of a personal, long-term project to bring all of HDT’s work into audio.

Edith/Maddie: I’m delighted Linda will continue to narrate my series. And I can vouch for hard it is to narrate. I told a 3000-word short story of mine (“One Too Many”) for the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast a few years ago with only three different characters speaking, and I realized I was in way over my head!

Readers: Do you listen to audiobooks or have a favorite narrator? Ask Linda a question! (And if you want to listen to a sample of her reading my book, click the link here.) Two lucky commenters will win a free audiobook of Linda reading Murder Uncorked!

Linda Jones is an award-winning audiobook narrator recording from her home studio in the wilds of Brooklyn, NYC. She is also an award-winning actor, an accomplished coach and ‘Voiceographer,’ with a background in theatre—from Shakespeare and restoration comedy to a host of premieres (NYC, West Coast, US & World). She loves nothing more than to dig into new work by exceptional writers. Still and always a voracious reader, she has narrated over 120 titles for publishers including Penguin Random House, Recorded Books, Audible Studios, Blackstone, Dreamscape, Brilliance and Tantor, as well as a variety of independent authors and publishers. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, PANA (The Professional Audiobook Narrators Association) and the APA (Audiobook Publishers Association). She has a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College.

She and her husband, noted horror writer John C. Foster, and their rescue dog Coraline— a Dutch Shepherd/Pitbull mix — live in an apartment filled-to-bursting, floor-to-ceiling, corner-to-absolute-corner with books.

A Wicked Welcome Back to Valerie Burns #giveaway

Sherry here looking forward to a great read on a hot summer day! Look for a giveaway after the reader question!

Valerie: Thanks, Sherry Harris and all of the Wicked Authors for inviting me back to spend time with all of you today to celebrate the release of my new cozy mystery A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death, the third book in the Baker Street mysteries.

The Smelly Truth About Red Herrings

Two important features in a cozy mystery are clues and red herrings. Before I started reading mysteries, I thought a herring was just a fish. Which of course, it is, but mysteries, especially cozy mysteries have a lot of red herrings. I’ve read a lot of mysteries over the years, but I have yet to read a mystery involving herrings. So, what’s the connection?

I turned to Google for answers, and I learned a lot about herring, too much. I will scale things back to prevent herring overload, by pointing out two critical facts. First, herrings have a very strong scent. Second, herring are in the same family as Sardines, which is probably why the strong scent. I saw a lot of pictures of herring (Atlantic herring, Pacific herring, Araucanian herring, etc), but none were red. However, when herrings are smoked and salted, they turn a brownish-red color.

These are all interesting fish facts, but they still didn’t answer the question. Why are herrings so important to mysteries? To the cozy mystery lover, a red herring means a lot more than a smoked fish. In mysteries, red herrings are false clues intended to challenge the reader and divert them away from the real clues. So, why are these false clues called red herrings?

According to Wikipedia, the idiom “red herring” originated from an English journalist, William Cobbett, in 1807. As the story goes, a young Cobbett claimed to have used red herrings to train hounds to track. He used the strong-scented fish to lay a false trail for the hounds.

This made sense to me. Years ago, I competed in canine obedience with my poodles. One of the more advanced tests involved teaching my dog to find my scent. There were metal and leather dumbbells called articles. I placed my scent on one of the articles. Someone else’s scent was placed on all of the others. My dog was expected to ignore all of the other smells and find the one article that contained my scent. How does this tie in? As a mystery writer, I leave clues that the reader can follow to figure out Whodunit. However, I’m also laying false clues, red herrings, to make the puzzle harder to solve. Those potent (smelly) false clues serve one purpose—to distract the reader from the real scent. It’s important to have all of the clues needed to solve a mystery, but the red herrings provide the challenge. That’s what makes the reader excited when they see through the lies and avoid the missteps. As Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe says, “Any fool can solve the most difficult of cases if everyone told the truth.” (Three Doors to Death).

Readers: Do you like lots of red herrings in your mysteries? Or do you prefer when writers stick to the clues and stay on the straight and narrow? Let me know in the comments. One commenter will be randomly selected to win a copy of A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death. To be entered in the giveaway, please type YES in the comments and include your email address. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only until midnight on July 29th. The winner will be announced on July 30th.

On the shores of Lake Michigan, influencer Maddy Montgomery has turned the bakery she inherited from her great aunt Octavia into a destination. There’s just one thing she won’t post: the body in the freezer . . .

Thanks to Maddy’s social media savvy, Baby Cakes Bakery is becoming a huge success—so much so that she’s attracted the attention of her former nemesis, the fiancé-stealing Brandy Denton. When Brandy blows into New Bison like an ill wind and disrupts a vlog Maddy’s filming, their argument goes viral. After Brandy’s body is found in the freezer at Baby Cakes, Maddy instantly goes from viral sensation to murder suspect.

As Maddy is still reeling from the murder, a stranger shows up in the bakery claiming to have been a friend of Octavia. He believes Maddy is in danger. When a second body washes up on the lake shore, it seems clear someone’s out to kill to keep a secret—and it may have to do with her great aunt.

Maddy rallies her aunt’s friends, the Baker Street Irregulars; Sheriff April Johnson; and her veterinarian boyfriend Michael—not to mention her English mastiff Baby—to do some digging and root out whoever’s behind the killings . . .
With Bailey’s sharp senses and Pris’s hometown know-how, can they prove to the community that they’re all barking up the wrong tree?

Buy Link—- Amazon, B&N

Bio: Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, and Edgar Award-nominated author. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. As Kallie E. Benjamin, Valerie writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. She is a mentor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Valerie grew up in the Midwestern United States. She now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.

Connect at:

Website: http://www.vmburns.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns

All the ways I trick myself into writing

By Liz, sitting on the deck looking at the ocean

I love writing. But I don’t always love sitting down to do it.

I know it’s a familiar refrain from a lot of writers. There are a lot of reasons why we don’t always make the time to do the things we love. For me, it used to be a perceived lack of time. Which was somewhat excusable when I was working ridiculous hours and doing five other things on the side.

Now that I’m only doing three major things that compete for my attention at once, the problem should be solved, right?

Wrong. So I had to start relying on something other than my own desire – one that could easily be overcome by the lure of a particularly good Netflix show – to get me working.

So I’ve become a systems queen. I don’t know how it happened, because I’ve always struggled with process and project management. But between working full time and writing multiple books a year FOR YEARS, I finally needed to figure out a better way to get my writing done.

Which meant I needed a system to get myself writing every day, or most days at least, make enough progress to feel good about myself, and make writing a priority in my life – even if it wasn’t the thing I could spend the most amount of time on.

Here’s how I do it: 

Affirmations. Yes, we’re going woo! Affirmations have changed my life. They are short statements that help you reframe whatever’s going on in your life in a more positive way. I’m not talking about saying things you’ll never believe or toxic positivity when you’re feeling lousy, either. I’m talking about statements that make you feel better, like I am safe, or All is well. 

Consistency goals. I heard this recently and adopted it. This is different than setting a big goal, like writing a book or running a marathon. So instead of saying, want to finish my book by December 31, you set a consistency goal that’s something like, I will write 1000 words daily until I finish my book or I will write two scenes daily. 

Scheduling time for writing in my actual calendar. When I started treating writing like a meeting I couldn’t miss, it got done. Simple – and I wish I’d done it sooner. 

Journaling and meditation. My nonnegotiable morning activities that get me in the headspace to write. I meditate to a guided meditation for 10-20 mins, then journal three pages longhand. It clears the clutter out of my brain and starts me off in the right mindset.

Having an accountability partner or group. Having people on the writing journey with you is so important. Having people who can kick your butt into action when they need to is even better. Find your people.

Being kind to myself. This is a totally new activity for me. You might think this isn’t really a system, but if this is a habit you have on repeat, it needs to get onto your systems list. Most of us are way too mean to each other. We’ve learned this from people in our lives, probably. But it doesn’t help. All the wasted hours of beating myself up did not make me more productive. In fact, they probably made me less productive. 

These are the systems that work for me – they feel best for my unique creative brain. Yours might be totally different. But I’ve found that having some way to manage yourself with kindness and consistency makes all the difference in actual progress. 

Readers, what systems do you have in place to help you manage life? Tell me in the comments!

Wicked Wednesday: Five Favorite Foods

Edith/Maddie here, writing from north of Boston and loving me some sweet corn, ripe blueberries, and sun-warmed tomatoes.

It’s full July in New England, and you know what that means – local summer produce! This week let’s delve into summer foods, the ones grown or produced locally that you can taste only in season. (Ice cream counts if it contains a local fruit or flavoring.)

Wickeds, what are your five favorite local foods to eat in July?

Liz: I am all about the summer fruit – blackberries, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, and I like to have some local corn on the cob once a year.

Edith/Maddie: Blueberries from my own bushes are a favorite this month, after a salad of my own lettuce, cukes, and sun-warmed heirloom and gold cherry tomatoes. Sweet corn from one of our local farms is a treat. And I like to grill the slender Asian eggplants I grow. If there are leftovers, I whirl them with olive oil and roasted garlic into a baba ganoush dip/spread. Oops, that’s six.

Jessie: Cherries! They are not currently local to me, but I love very few foods as much as those! When I was a child they were a local food, and I have never lost my love of them, warm from the tree and darkly sweet. I also love my home grown rosemary, cider doughnuts from the local farm store, a local goat cheese, and baguette from the Standard Baking Company.

Sherry: Oh, Jessie, we’ve been eating lots of Rainier cherries the past few weeks. They come and go so quickly. My favorties: grapes crushed into wine — a nice, crisp white is perfect on a summer day. The ribs my neighbor cooked for us on July fourth, ice cream, tomatoes from the farmer’s market, and pesto that we make.

Julie: Sherry, LOL. Bless those grape crushers. I adore summer fruits and veggies. Blueberries, strawberries, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes. Runners up are squashes, nectarines, and cherries. And rhubarb!

Barb: Since it’s summer, my favorites are corn on the cob, tomatoes, melon, peaches, and ice cream. I’m very much a seasonal eater by preference and tradition.

Readers: Are you hungry yet? I am! What are your favorite July foods from your area? Make sure to add generally where you live.

Welcome Back Susan Van Kirk #giveaway

I’m happy to welcome back Susan Van Kirk who is here to talk about the third book, Death in a Ghostly Hue, in her Art Center mystery series. Look for a giveaway at the end of the post.

Comic Relief in The Art Center Mysteries

Years ago, when I was a high school English teacher, I sometimes taught Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and the technique of adding a comic relief character obviously stayed in my head since I’ve used such a character with my recent Art Center Mysteries.

This series follows Jill Madison, an oil painter, who returns to her small town in the Midwest to be executive director of an art center named for her sculptor mother. It isn’t enough that a body is found in the basement, a burglary results in the loss of a priceless sculpture, and someone in the shadows is out to keep Jill from being successful. She also must contend with the art center board presided over by her nemesis, Ivan F. Truelove III, CPA.

Ivan is a micromanager, and he is constantly threatening to fire Jill since the above-mentioned disasters seem to follow her. Ivan becomes that comic relief character who adds humor to the mystery.

In the first book, Death in a Pale Hue, Ivan is introduced with Jill’s words: “What a misnomer of a name and the bane of my existence.” In this book, Ivan is constantly calling or emailing her. At one point she says, “With great satisfaction, I tapped the ‘decline’ button. Better to put off unpleasantness.” She describes him as a hissing snake of an accountant with a bald head, spindly legs, sensible shoes, and a polka-dotted tie. Her aim is to keep him from stopping by the art center.

Ivan hates to spend a nickel of the art center budget. He has a running feud with Jill about paying for a handrail for the dangerous basement stairs in the art center, and eventually Ivan falls down the stairs and breaks a leg. Jill sends him flowers in the hospital, figuring she will kill him with kindness. (I borrowed that phrase from Shakespeare too.)

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By book two of the series, Death in a Bygone Hue, Ivan has improved his phone skills and discovered capital letters for emphasis. Jill says, “Recently he’d learned to text, so he’d given up emailing me multiple times a day with advice and would now simply text whenever a random thought crossed his mind.” Fortunately, Jill can swipe across his text and destroy it instantly. “I knew that ping. Sorry, Ivan. Not now. I’m busy saving the world.”

After the art center treasurer is murdered, Jill receives increased texts from Ivan, with capital letters sure to annoy her. “Ms. Madison. Despite your recent ineptitude with locks, make sure you lock up the art center. EVERY NIGHT. DOUBLE CHECK. We CANNOT afford a new alarm system. DO NOT EVEN ASK. Ivan F. Truelove, III”

Jill tells her best friend, Angie, “My dreams are so satisfying. It’s usually Ivan Truelove the Third who’s been murdered. Then I wake up, he texts, and I realize, sadly, it’s only a dream.”

Autocorrect is even more of a problem. Ivan texts, “I understand the Spiveys [a family] being clangy, but this publicity for the PARTS CENTER is not good.” Jill explains to the reader: “He doesn’t understand autocorrect, and uses ‘clangy’ for ‘angry,’ and ‘Parts Center’ for ‘Art Center.’ I’d love to autocorrect him, but he’d turn into some other weird creature I’d have to deal with.” 

“Ms. Madison. CONGRATULATIONS on catching the art center killer. GOOD publicity for a change. I’ll add up the damages and take it out of your celery next month.” Jill replies, “He’s evidently paying me in celery now.”

Book Three, Death in a Ghostly Hue, brings the relationship between Ivan and Jill to a crisis. After all, this is the last book in the trilogy. I must resolve this conflict somehow. When the young man who killed the Madison parents in a DUI head-on collision seven years earlier returns to town looking for redemption, Andy threatens him in front of the entire town. You know what happens. Quinn Parsons, the ex-convict, is murdered and Andy is charged with the crime.

Since this is the third book of a trilogy, it is the last chance for a reckoning between Jill Madison and Ivan F. Truelove III, CPA. What should I do? Is there a clear winner in this war with text messages? Should Ivan get what he deserves since he’s an irritating gnat? Should I make him a murder victim? (He often complains that Jill finds way too many bodies.)

You’ll have to read Death in a Ghostly Hue to find out Ivan’s fate. I can guarantee he has a satisfying, if not humorous, ending.

Readers: Do you have a favorite character that provides comic relief in a book or short story? Leave a comment for a chance to win (US only) a signed copy of Death in a Ghostly Hue.

Book Blurb for Death in a Ghostly Hue:  The past never leaves us… Jill Madison and her brothers have never forgiven Quinn Parsons for driving drunk and killing their parents. When Parsons returns to Apple Grove from his six years in prison, he’s looking for redemption. But his thoughtless actions, so long ago, hurt more residents than the Madisons, and people are now taking bets on how long Quinn will survive. They’re right.

Meanwhile, the Old Friends senior group at Jill’s art center is rehearsing a radio-play of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost,” a ghostly story of forgiveness. Jill and Angie are convinced a ghost is haunting the art center, and they decide to investigate. That’s never a good idea with these two, who have gotten in and out of trouble together since they met in kindergarten. 

About the Author

Susan Van Kirk is a Midwest writer, living in downstate Illinois. Her writings include the Endurance Mysteries, a smalltown series republished by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery. A Death at Tippitt Pond is a standalone mystery. Her Art Center series includes Death in a Pale Hue,
Death in a Bygone Hue, and Death in a Ghostly Hue. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is Past President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Her website and blog are at http://www.susanvankirk.com

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