Sherry Harris's Blog, page 5

What We’ve Learned From Our Guests

Again, this is the eleventh month of the eleventh year of our blog. That led me to reflecting a little and  looking up things about the number eleven. According to https://www.thefactsite.com/number-11-facts/ Canada really likes the number 11, it seems. Their one-dollar coin, called the Loonie, has eleven sides. There are also eleven points on the maple leaf that adorns the national flag of Canada. And, finally, a number of Canadian banknotes have some form of clocks on them. The time, of course, is 11:00!

Wickeds, we’ve had hundreds of amazing guests over the years. What have you learned from them?

Julie: Sherry, why do I feel like we need to do a Canadian National Treasure type story exploring 11? What I’ve learned from our guests is how important it is to celebrate milestones, and get other people to help. Never take publishing a book or being part of anthology for granted. Never.

Sherry: That would be fun, Julie! We’ve had such a wide variety of guests from authors to PIs to US Marshals to audio book narrators. I’ve learned something unique from each one. I’m so grateful for everyone who has shared with talents with us!

Barb: What I’ve learned is the vast majority of authors are amazing. They happily agree to write for us, get their work to us on time, comply with our guidelines about images, ancillary materials, and giveaways and then show up on the day to respond to comments. All of this in addition to writing books and stories, and, in many cases, balancing day jobs and families. I am forever grateful.

Edith/Maddie: We have had so many fabulous guests over the years. As my friends here have said, we’ve learned from our visitors, appreciated their effort to join us, and delighted in celebrating their new releases. As Sherry said, we’ve also learned so much from those who joined us for our “Ask the Expert” feature (besides the ones she listed, we’ve also hosted FBI agents, editors, bloggers, and even a funeral home director) and from our Genre-Hopping guests. But … Canada and the number eleven? I had no idea! I’ll have to ask my sister in Ottawa as well as book fan and reviewer Grace Koshida.

Readers: Have you been to Canada or do you live there? Is there anything that you’ve learned from our guests that’s stuck with you?

How’s That Alley Smell — Let’s Go See, Shall We? Welcome Back Tracy Clark!

Tracy Clark’s Detective Harriet Foster is one of my favorite fictional law enforcement officers. The third book in the series, Echo, releases on December 3rd and I can’t wait! I’m delighted to welcome Tracy back to the blog and yikes, Tracy, that is some intense research!

Tracy: Picture it. Four figures in dark robes watching a fraternity house in the dead of night. There’s a raucous party going on inside. College kids. But someone inside won’t make it to sunrise. (Insert evil cackle here.)

That’s how my next book Echo starts, and funnily, that’s where it started in my head too. It’s weird how stories begin, isn’t it, especially for writers like me who approach a book like a harried commuter sprinting for the 8:05 morning train … and it’s 8:04 and 45 seconds.

I saw the robed figures first, their hoods up, obscuring their evil face. I saw the house next. Big. Gothic. Looming over the landscape. I added a big empty field next to it, and then an elite college campus abutting Lake Michigan in the near distance. Close, but not that close. The body came next. Rich frat boy. Then I tossed in all kinds of complications, followed by some world-weary cops, and I was off to the races. (More cackles here.)

I really do admire writers who have a detailed outlines and know exactly how their stories will unfold, where they’ll put the thrills and chills, how their characters will meet every challenge. They’re the smart ones. Truly, my hat goes off to them.

Then there’s me and my brethren, who make it up as we go along. Picture us sitting there in our Birks and sweats staring off into the distance, eyes wide, minds engaged – with nothin’ until something comes to us. Eventually we get where the outliners get, I mean, we’re no slouches, but we get there stressed and exhausted, our brains working a different way. We claw our way to THE END like we’ve just survived some end-of-the-world battle with an army of Orcs, or something just as gnarly. It’s not pretty how we non-outliners get to a satisfying denouement, believe me, but finished is finished. We’ll take the win.

Still, it’s interesting how stories build this way. You think you’ve got a through line, until you get to the starting point and discover that nope, that’s not going to work. You backtrack. You take another path. That one looks OK until, bam, there’s a dead-end straight ahead. This is when the writer who can’t write an outline closes the laptop in disgust and goes to get a snack from the kitchen. You envy the outliner at this point. You’ll envy the outliner a lot before you slay those icky Orcs.

Sometimes a drive works. I live in Chicago. Something’s always happening in Chicago. I get my best body dump ideas by walking or driving around the city. In my book Hide, I got the idea to hide bodies along the city’s impressive Riverwalk after walking it every day during my lunch hour when I still worked downtown. By walking it, I knew that there was a gap in the fencing separating the glitzy restaurants and bike rental kiosks from the dirty, ratty, gritty Lower Lower Wacker. No one goes to Lower Lower Wacker except workers driving through, cop cars patrolling the area, those up to dastardly deeds and crime writers looking for a place to hide a murder victim. It’s dark down there, isolated, grimy, and eerie at night. Perfect for Hide.

Chicago has a lot of creepy places like that. In Echo, which takes place in the middle of February, which is brutal in Chicago, I found a really spooky looking cemetery to play around in. I changed the name of it, of course (I don’t need any lawsuits), but the place is real. I walked have walked amongst the graves … during the day. Who walks a cemetery at night, except those who probably shouldn’t be walking a cemetery at night? And I didn’t go too far in, or stay too long, I’m no hero. Chicken, you say. Whatever, I say. I just needed to hear the place, see the place, feel the place and smell the place so I could write about the place.

Of course, you can write about a thing without actually getting out there, but your writing is much deeper, much clearer, much more tactile when you do get out there. Just saying.

I know how Lower Lower Wacker smells. It smells like oil and grit, sour milk and live things that scurry in the shadows. I also know not to park my car at night in the lot across from Harold Washington Library because once the sun goes down, a cadre of bold and entitled city rats, who do not fear man nor beast, will hit those alley Dumpsters like a horde of drunken losers setting upon the 2 a.m. buffet at the Harrah’s casino in Joliet.

Experience goes a long way.

That college campus in Echo? The one that sits right on Lake Michigan, up north, right off Lake Shore Drive? I named it Belverton College. The real place is sitting there right now full of students going about their business. They don’t know I put a (fictional) body there.

Where will I strike next? Who knows. I’m looking out my window at my neighbor’s house across the street as I write this. Their garage looks pretty interesting. I wonder why I never noticed that before? No windows. A busted light over the garage door. Something truly wicked could happen in a spot like that. See what I did there, Wickeds? Writing crime fiction is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it to any writer out there. So, lace up your shoes, grab your keys and hit the streets! You never know what you’ll run into, or what you might dig up, or think about burying under a layer of February frost.

Oops, there’s that witchy cackle again. And just in time for Halloween, too. Boy, am I good.

Readers: How far are you willing to go to research something you’re passionate about?

Bio:

Tracy Clark, multi-nominated Anthony, International Thriller Writers, Shamus, Edgar, Macavity, and Lefty Award finalist. She is the winner of the 2020 and 2022 G.P Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award for the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery Series, the 2022 Sara Paretsky Award and the 2024 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel. She is also the author of the Det. Harriet Foster series, which debuted in January 2023 with the first entry, HIDE.

http://www.tracyclarkbooks.com

Facebook.com/tclarkbooks

X — @tracypc6161

Instagram — tpclark2000

The Cycle of a Book plus #giveaway

Edith/Maddie, usually writing from north of Boston.

But today I’ve accompanied Hugh to Mass General Hospital in Boston for his first hip replacement, which is day surgery. Because I’ll have a lot of waiting around until I can bring him home, I brought the final printout of the manuscript I’ve been working on since August. I can sit and work on that anywhere.

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Murder at Cape Costumers is due December 1, so this is nearly my last chance to read it straight through and make sure I’ve tidied up loose ends, made the clues and red herrings work, and filled plot holes. It’s the seventh Cozy Capers Book Group mystery, and some big things are going on in Mac Almeida’s life, along with an important secondary plot.

I’ll have two more weeks before the deadline to tweak final bits, but in there is also care giving for my sweetie, Thanksgiving, which I host, and the release of Deadly Crush.

For this post, I thought I’d walk you through my process in writing a book. This is the 38th (I think) manuscript I’ve completed, so I pretty much know what I need to do in the four months I have to do it in. Other writers are sure to have different steps and different ways to accomplish the same goal, and there’s no one right way. (Beginners, don’t ever let anyone tell you there is!) But here’s mine:

Crank straight through the first draft. Because I’m not much of a plotter, sometimes that includes wading into the fog and pushing aside veils of mist, but I can usually get the bones of the story down in about two months.Revision pass A: I resolve all the places I left a note to self that reads, [CHECK THIS]. Some of it is research, some is checking prior books and series history, some is checking a scene I wrote toward the start of the current book. All those places would have slowed down my first draft if I’d bothered to check them at the time, and we all know what can happen when you head into the internet: you might not resurface for two hours.Revision pass B: Look at the storytelling. Does every scene relate to the one before and the one after? Do beginnings and ends of scenes grab the reader’s attention? Does every scene move the story forward?Revision pass C: Look at the language. Do I include the senses where they enrich the book? Have I used the most elegant language I can in the service of the story? Do I have too many dialogue tags or not enough? Are descriptions important to the story or will they make readers skip them? And so on.First paper readthrough: Print it out, sit and read it straight through like a reader will, and mark up the paper with a green pen. Then fix all that stuff and run a spellcheck.Send it off to an independent editor. Work on a short story or clean my office in the interim.Fix what she recommends. I usually knock off all the easy stuff and then address the stickier parts. Second paper readthrough: It’s just like the first one. That’s what I’m doing today. (I print on the other side of already printed paper that a couple of friends save for me, so it’s less waste of paper than you might think.)

9. If I have time, I like to read the whole thing aloud. (Some people have Word do this.) It’s amazing what you can catch by hearing the book.

10. Final tweaks, final spellcheck, and send it off to my Kensington editor.

More steps happen after the manuscript is accepted, like editorial comments, copyedits, and proof pages, thank goodness. And then the book is printed and ebooked and recorded in audio and released into the world! That’s happening next Tuesday with Deadly Crush. Look, my box of books came in!

Readers: Questions about the process? Did anything about it surprise you or seem to be missing? I found one last ARC of Deadly Crush I’d love to send one of you.

The Fine Art of Speaking Australian

Sherry — we finally had rain!

Language is so fascinating, and it was so fun learning Australian on our trip this year. They change up soooooo many words!  

Electricians are sparkies, firemen are firies, and carpenters are chippies. We asked what plumbers were called – plumbies? Wateries? Nope. Just plain old plumbers. It was a bit of a letdown. People who work in the above trades are called tradies. They have a reputation of being terrible drivers but know where the best coffee shops are.

McDonalds is called Maccas – it’s even on billboards. Someone asked us what we called McDonalds and they laughed when we said, “McDonalds.”

They love a good nickname. Our friend Rowan, became Rowie, and then Boat because you row a boat. Shouldn’t it just go down to oar?

Greetings are shortened to: How’s goin’? And it becomes one word–howsgoing. In fact, lots of words become one word. The proper response to How’s goin’? Is: Goin’ good. (Also one word)

Like in England biscuits are cookies, but they can also be crackers. I asked what a cookie was and my friend told me they were very large biscuits.

Bogans are cloddish or uncultured people.

Brekky is breakfast.

Footy is Australian Rules Football or it can mean rugby league.

Mozzie (rhymes with Ozzie) is a mosquito.

Tasmania is Tassie pronounced Tazzie.

And Aussie is pronounced Ozzie.

You don’t pronounce the “r” in Melbourne

Brisbane sounds like Brisbun

Sledging is the fine art of next-level teasing.

French fries are skinny anything bigger is a hot chip or chip.

People say, “Yeah, nah” a lot!

No one says throw a shrimp on the barbie because shrimp are called prawns. I never heard anyone call Australia “Oz” although I did see it on one sign. And no one called a woman a “Shiela.” They do say “mate” all the time. It comes in handy when you can’t remember someone’s name.

They call this Ibis a bin chicken because it’s always picking stuff out of the trash!

And here are a few signs that amused me!

It’s a lovely, wonderous place. I hope you all get to go sometime. They even have pink lakes! It’s salt in the water.

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Readers: Is there a phrase or sign that amuses you? Or a different way of saying something that makes you chuckle?

Genre Hopping with Lori B. Duff

“Duff scores with a winning protagonist and a captivating courtroom procedural.” —Kirkus Reviews

Name (s): Lori B. Duff

Genre(s): humor/magical realism/legal thrillers

What drew you to the genre you write? I’ve been a lawyer for over thirty years now. About fifteen years ago, the daily drama of going to war every day was weighing on my psyche, so I started writing humor to counterbalance my karma. The more I did it, the more fun it was, and the more successful I got. After a while, I got curious to see what else I could do. Since ‘write what you know’ is heard often enough to be a cliché, I started writing about lawyers. The magical realism kind of came out of nowhere. A friend who had read my writing sent me an article about a someone who had won an abandoned storage bin in an auction and found someone’s ashes in it. She thought it would be a good premise for a story. But when I started writing it, there were no lawyers, and the world became somewhat other-worldly.  I felt nervous putting the ‘magic’ in it, like can I do this?  But I think it went well, and the resulting novella, Broken Things, won the Georgia Independent Author of the Year Award for Literary Fiction.

What sets your book apart from what is out there? Devil’s Defense is, I think, like what would happen if a John Grisham book was written by Emily Henry. There aren’t a whole lot of women writing in this genre from a place of experience, and not a whole lot of people of any gender writing in this genre who have a sense of humor. Having lived it, I know that lawyers have huge lives that aren’t all lived in a courtroom, and I tried to bring that realism into it.

Do you write a series or standalones? Why? Broken Things is a standalone because the story ended. The characters in it didn’t have more to say. Devil’s Defense is the first in the Fischer-at-Law series. When I first started writing it, I meant it as a standalone. In fact, the first draft was a short story of maybe 5,000 words. (The novel is closer to 98,000.)  But I kept thinking, “These people have more to say.” So I expanded the short story into a novel, and when I was done with that, I thought, “Nope. Not done yet.” In my mind, Jessica, Diane, Coach, and Bobby are all real people and it seemed sad to me to tell them they had to shut up after only one book.

What are you currently writing? Right now I am neck deep in the final edits of the sequel to Devil’s Defense, which will probably be called Devil’s Hand, though we’re still debating about the title.  It’s slated for release in October 2025.

What are you reading right now? In keeping with the season, I’m currently reading The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror, edited by Tori Bovalino. I’m also listening to My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan on audiobook. 

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto? As unoriginal as it may be, I hear my dad’s voice in my head a lot saying, “This, too, shall pass.’  It’s great advice—whatever you’re dealing with, it’s fleeting. Bad things won’t last forever, no matter how yucky they feel while you’re in the middle of them. And good things won’t either, so you should savor every second of them.

Favorite writing space? When my son left for college (and now grad school) I took over his room. I get my best writing done at the desk in what will forever be known as his room.

Favorite deadline snack?  Dot’s Pretzels, Homestyle Original Seasoning

Readers: Sherry here — I love the idea of a John Grisham/Emily Henry mashup! What do you think? Is there another writer mashup you’d like to see?

About the Book: A gripping courtroom drama that explores the struggle between morality vs. professional obligation, Devil’s Defense will appeal to fans of female-lead courtroom dramas like The Good Wife.

Jessica Fischer wants nothing more than to build her law practice in small-town Ashton, Georgia. She’s well on her way when the local town hero, football coach Frank “Tripp” Wishingham III, hires her to represent him in a paternity suit. Coach is everything Jessica despises—arrogant, sexist, entitled—but it’s her job to make him look good in public. This is made doubly difficult when her burgeoning relationship with a local reporter gets in the way of telling the truth.

Are things as black and white as Jessica thinks? And can she find a way to succeed without compromising her own personal values—or her personal life?

About the Author: Lori B. Duff is a lawyer, judge, and award-winning writer.  She’s a past-president of the Georgia Council for Municipal Court Judges [CMuCJ] and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists [NSNC].  A two-time winner of the Georgia Bar Journal’s annual fiction competition, she has also won the Foreword Indies Gold Medal for Humor, the NSNC’s annual column contest, and the CMuCJ’s President’s Award as well as the Glen Ashman Educational Achievement Award.  Her novella, Broken Things, won the Georgia Independent Author of the Year Award for Literary Fiction.  

When she’s not busy being in charge of things and winning awards, she’s either at home in her empty nest with her husband, Mike, and rescue dog, Lincoln, or working on a new writing project.  Her latest project is a novel, the first in the Fischer-at-Law series, called Devil’s Defense, which will be released on November 12, 2024 by She Writes Press and is available anywhere you buy books.

What We’ve Learned About Blogging

As I said last week this is the eleventh month of the eleventh year of our blog. That led me to reflecting a little and  looking up things about the number eleven. According to https://www.thefactsite.com/number-11-facts/ the fastest recorded time for eating an 11 pound (4.99 kg) cheesecake is nine minutes. This record was achieved by Sonya Thomas, an American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia.

Wickeds, what have you learned over eleven years of blogging?

Barb: I’ve learned that I like writing blog posts. The length and the topics speak to me. In another life, I would have loved to have been an essayist or a columnist. I had no idea I would like that work before the blog.

Edith/Maddie: Barb, your posts have been some of the best ones! We’ve all gotten more fluent with the mechanics. I remember in the beginning, Sherry was particularly nervous that she wasn’t doing something right. We’ve also learned that we or our guests need to own the rights to any picture we include. That we all make the occasional mistake in scheduling or producing a post and that it’s okay – we fix it and move on. And that consistency is a good thing. We’re here for our readers every weekday come hell or high water and they – you all – can count on that.

Julie: I’ve learned how valuable it is to make space for conversations, and celebrations. And like Barb, I love short posts that can provide a brief respite for readers. Authors love coming on the Wickeds blog because we have engaged readers. And how much fun is it to give a new book a platform?

Also, an 11 pound cheesecake in 9 minutes? My stomach roils…

Sherry: I agree, Julie. I can’t imagine doing any food competition. I have watched the hot dog eating competition with fascination and horror a few times. As Edith said, I was terrified in the beginning. But I learned I could do it and, apparently, people were interested in what I has to say. I also agree that being able to lift up each other and other authors has been the best thing about the blog.

Jessie: I like cheesecake, but 11 pounds! Yikes! I’ve learned that an enterprise like the Wickeds blog has the ability to build community. It has been amazing to get to “know” people over the internet in this way, both guests and readers through their comments. It has been such a delight!

Readers: What have you learned reading our blog?

Welcome Back Clara McKenna!

Sherry — in Northern Virginia where the weather is randomly swinging from one season to another

Welcome back, Clara. Murder at Glenloch Hill, the sixth book in the Stella and Lyndy series, releases on November 26th!

Clara: The journey that resulted in my writing Murder at Glenloch Hill was an unexpected one. And it all started with the Field of Dreams. If you’re unfamiliar, the movie is about baseball, family, and second chances starring Kevin Costner that was filmed in Iowa in 1989. After the filming finished, the location- a farmhouse, the baseball diamond, and some of the surrounding crop fields – were maintained as a tourist attraction.

It was one of the first places I visited when I moved to Iowa in 2001.  Fast forward to 2021 when Major League Baseball decided to host a regular season Chicago White Sox game at the movie site. They were to play my favorite team, the New York Yankees. To attend, you had to enter a lottery for the privilege of buying tickets. The catch was you had to have an Iowa zipcode. My husband and I were so excited. Although I’ve never been very lucky at drawings, lotteries and the like, there are only about 3 million Iowa residents and how many of those were baseball fans willing to shell out hundreds of dollars to attend? Our chances seemed really good. We both put our names in and…we didn’t get chosen.

What does this have to do with a book set in 1906 where my characters, Stella & Lyndy visit distant relatives while attending a golf tournament and all manner of mayhem ensues? Well, a month or so after we watched the White Sox beat the Yankees at the Field of Dreams movie site from our living room couch, another lottery was opened–one to attend the 150th Open Championship at The Old Course, the “birthplace of golf” in St. Andrews, Scotland. In previous years, one could simply buy tickets but because of the milestone anniversary and the iconic location, you had to, again, enter a lottery system just for the privilege to buy tickets.

My husband, an avid golfer who comes from a family of golfers, wanted to put our names in. But what were our chances? This lottery was open to the entire world. From what I learned later, over 3 million people entered and to date it is still the most highly attended event in Open history. But I humored my husband and entered and then forgot about it. I was planning our summer vacation to the Grand Canyon (since we had to cancel the trip we’d planned in 2020) when I received an email congratulating me on being selected. When I told my husband he simply said, “Well, I guess we’re going to Scotland!”

Needless to say, I took full advantage our unexpected travel plans. I decided to bring Stella and Lyndy along with me and when I landed accommodations in a historical Edwardian mansion only six miles from the golf course, I knew it was fate. (And if you’re wondering, I have yet to make it to the Grand Canyon.)

Readers, have you had a similar experience when a setback or disappointment unexpected led to something positive?

About the book: On a weekend trip to the Scottish countryside, American transplant Stella, and British aristocrat, Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst, learn how sinister bad sportsmanship can be when a prestigious golf tournament becomes a deadly game of murder . . .

Along with cheering on her soon-to-be brother-in-law, Freddie Kentfield, at The British Open in Scotland, Stella embraces the chance to connect with her distant cousins, the McEwens, at their grand estate, Glenloch Hill. But she and Lyndy don’t receive the warm welcome they expect when their arrival is marred by missing luggage, evasive hosts, and the perceived mistreatment of a young laundry maid. Adding to the tense atmosphere, Freddie’s roguish father, Sir Edwin, appears at the manor uninvited, his presence casting a shadow over the events—and stirring up more unanswered questions . . .

As golf clubs swing on the green, so do Lyndy’s fists in an uncharacteristic outburst. Chaotic circumstances take a dark turn when Sir Edwin is found bludgeoned outside the laundry house—the maid waiting beside the body, no murder weapon in sight—and all eyes on Lyndy . . .

Suddenly caught in a whirlwind of kilts, elite golfers, and deadly rumors, Stella rushes to protect Lyndy’s innocence and save herself from real danger. But can she both navigate the unspoken rules at Glenloch Hill and survive a cutthroat competition against a killer who will stop at nothing to win?

Bio: Clara writes the Stella & Lyndy Mystery series about an unlikely couple who mix love, murder, and horseracing in Edwardian England.  With an incurable case of wanderlust, she travels every chance she gets, the UK being a favorite destination. When she can’t get to England or Scotland, she happily writes about it from her home in Iowa.

Website: www.claramckenna.com

Buy link: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/9781496748515/murder-at-glenloch-hill/

Social media: 

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/clara-mckenna

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

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

A Day of Remembrance

Jessie: In New England where the leaves have tumbled along with the temperatures

Today I find myself thinking about the past, about sacrifice, the common good, and the things within and without one’s control. My latest two series are set in England, both after the end of WWI, and since today is Armistice/ Veterans Day, my mind turns to the impact of unrest on both sides of the pond.

My characters are all impacted by forces far larger than themselves and part of their stories revolve around how they navigate day-to-day life when their own spheres of influence are not so very large. My first book in the Beryl and Edwina series has much to do with the aftermath of combat and the trauma it created for so many. There are returned soldiers with thousand-yard stares, the loved ones of soldiers who did not return, and those on the home front who do the best they can to pick up the pieces and to muddle through the best that they can.

But mostly, the books are about hope and what comes next. They are about people making meaningful connections with neighbors, friends, and even those whom they find utterly galling. My novels display the wielding of soft power, of really listening to those who are hurting, and striving to make life better for most of those who appear on the page. They are stories about people who might have ordinary-ish lives, but they love them with zest and compassion no matter what has raged around them. They do what they can in their own small bit of the world to make life worth the living. After all, on Armistice/ Veterans Day, they are aware of how many others gave up their lives so that others could continue on.

So, on this day of remembrance, I plan to think of ways I can impact my community, in my village, or for those who read my novels, for the better. I think the best way I can acknowledge the gift given to all of us who have come after is to do my joyful and determined best with my own spheres of influence, today and each day to come.

Readers, do you anyone in your life that you are remembering today? Tell us about them!

Long Running Series — Welcome Alex Erickson and a Giveaway!

Sherry — I love falling back but hate the early dark!

Join me in welcoming back Alex Erickson to celebrate the thirteenth novel in his Bookstore Café series — Death by Caramel Macchiato! Look for a giveaway at the end of this post!

Alex: When I originally sat down to write this blog, I was thinking I’d discuss some interesting tie-in with my upcoming novel, Death by Caramel Macchiato. In the book, there’s a big town event, a sort of live action role playing murder mystery that might seem crazy anywhere other than the fictional Pine Hills. There’s coffee. Cats. Drama within the local community theatre. I had options.

And yet, when I brought up the dreaded blank page, I realized something: Death by Caramel Macchiato is book thirteen in the Bookstore Café series. Thirteen!

When I first started writing in this little cozy world, I didn’t know if there’d even be a series, let alone thirteen plus books in it. I didn’t have a contract for it. I was running on pure faith that I could come up with something that wasn’t completely horrible. Death by Coffee was born, and like any book, it isn’t perfect. But it had that little something about it that spawned book after book, that drew in reader after reader. It’s something I still haven’t been able to put my finger on, yet here we are, talking about the series in double digits.

Who knew?

Now, when it comes to my reading habits, I love long running series. I want to dive into a world and never come up for air. I want to cheer for the characters, to see how their lives progress year after year. And, yes, I even enjoy their suffering to some degree. Their pain is how they grow. Their pain is what makes their successes feel that much more amazing. And as the series progresses, the stakes always seem to grow, not just for the characters, but for the reader as well. There’s a drastic difference between when you’re worried for a character you’ll never see again past the last page in a standalone, versus worrying for someone you hope you’ll see again and again in future novels of a series. The stakes feel more real, even if the characters are not.

But I understand that not everyone wants to invest so much time into one group of characters, in one zany little town. I might like the idea of a 60+ book series like J.D. Robb’s In Death series, but I get that it’s not for everyone. Even trilogies sometimes stretch the limits of a reader’s patience, especially if the second novel falls into the dreaded “middle book syndrome.”

So, what is it that makes a series feel as if it has overstayed its welcome? The characters going stale? The plots starting to repeat? When you’re talking murder mysteries, there’s really only so many ways you can kill the victim, only so many motives. Yes, the author has to be creative, but is there a point when they can get too creative, where the story becomes too hard to believe? Where is that breaking point?

I don’t know the answer. At this point in the series, I’m trying to find that happy spot where I’m bringing back the familiar, be it characters or locations or plot points, while also looking to do something different. How different? I can’t stray too far from what has come before or else the series would no longer be the same. But to stick too close to home might have the opposite effect and create a sense of stagnation, a “why don’t the characters ever do anything out of their comfort zones?”

My bookshelves are filled with series after series. Sure, there are standalones and trilogies here and there, but the vast majority of the books are parts of a much larger whole. And me being me, I love a large variety when it comes to genre. Give me The Wheel of Time. Give me The Expanse. The aforementioned In Death.

And, of course, there are the cozies, which are very nearly all done in series format.

How about you, dear reader? Would you want to see a cozy standalone? A trilogy with a definitive beginning, middle, and end? Or are you perfectly happy with books that go on seemingly forever? Let me know because, who knows? Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to try a little bit of everything, and why not give the reader what they want? Alex is giving away two signed copies of Death by Caramel Macchiato to a reader who leaves a comment. U.S. only.

About the book: When Pine Hills, Ohio hosts an inter-town murder mystery game, bookstore-café owner and sometimes-sleuth Krissy Hancock assumes it’ll all be in good fun, but that’s before the competition claims its first real-life victim. . .

The unique weekend-long event—a combination of a live-action role playing game and a theatrical production—draws competitors from all the neighboring towns, including Pine Hills’ own Krissy and Rita. Although the actors, clues, and performances are spread across the community, somehow Krissy’s team lands at the one location with an actual body. . .

Police immediately call-off the competition while they conduct a real murder investigation, but soon it’s clear some folks are playing by their own set of rules. So it’s up to Krissy and her pals to shuffle through the suspects and draw out the real killer before another player takes their final turn.

Bio: Alex Erickson is the author of three cozy mystery series, including the Bookstore Café mysteries. He hides away in his home in Ohio with his family and their gaggle of cats. You can find him online at https://alexericksonbooks.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/alexericksonbooks

May the Lights Do Their Magic

by Julie, sick of summer in Somerville

I have had a very interesting, very varied career, in arts administration. I’ve had great jobs, and terrible jobs. I’ve worked in theaters, universities, concert halls, offices, and museums. I’ve worn dozens of hats over the years–marketing, box office, general management, house management, executive directorships. Twenty years ago I was able to try on a new hat–that of teacher. When I went to work for Emerson College, teaching was part of my job. Since then I’ve continued to teach arts management at different colleges in the Boston area. Had I known how much I love teaching I may have rethought my career early on, but I am blessed to have the outlet as part of life.

I strongly believe that artists and creative people need to understand how their business works. It’s not always easy to have to figure out how to do a budget, or create out a marketing plan. But that’s part of the work.

Today I am taking my class to New York City for a field trip to a Broadway producer’s office. The producer is an alum of the school. Over the next three days we’ll meet a director, a marketing exec, a tour manager, and more. We’ll also see three shows.

Now, you’d think I’d have nothing else to learn since I’ve been in the business for a long time. But you’d be wrong. I always walk away from trips like this, or from teaching in general, having learned something. That’s one of the gifts of teaching.

Theater soothes my soul. This week I need soothing. I trust that the lights of Broadway will do their magic, and allow me to escape for a few hours. Perhaps I’ll come out of the theater laughing, smiling, weeping. Who knows. What I do know is that the lights will do their magic.

Readers, what soothes your soul?