R.V. Doon's Blog, page 4

Doon Sleuth & Setting Review: Astray in Couper

Astray in Couper by R. Marquez
Series: A Matty Cruz Mystery #1
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 66
on May 31, 2014
Buy the Book • Goodreads

When the economic downturn ends Matty Cruz’s corporate career, she impulsively moves to Couper, Washington, a tree-filled city nestled on the banks of the Columbia River. Unbeknownst to her, the charming town has one of the highest violent-crime rates in the Pacific Northwest.


A depressed Matty entertains herself by reading news stories of the mayhem that occurred the night before in her neighborhood, until one of those stories ends up on her doorstep in the form of a soot-covered dog. Matty soon realizes that the poor creature must have belonged to the recently deceased Agnes Whitshaw, an impoverished, old woman who lived nearby and died in a house fire.


Matty reluctantly abandons her reclusive ways as she learns to take care of her furry houseguest, while at the same time she tries to find “Poochy” a forever home. Along the way, she interacts with the colorful Couperites who give her advice on dog ownership and bits of information concerning Agnes that make Matty wonder whether the fire that killed the fierce, old woman was set on purpose.


Matty pieces together the truth, but not before she attracts the attention of the murderers, and they come after her and the terrier. Will Matty be able to save herself—and Poochy—from Couper’s dark side?


 

The Sleuth

The sleuth in R. Marquez’s first cozy mystery is Matty Cruz, a no-nonsense woman, with a strong sense of fairness and justice. She’s introduced to the reader when she points out to a shifty cashier that he’d shorted the older man who’d just purchased a lottery ticket–one dollar. It’s clear that Matty considers a one dollar theft as important as a hundred-dollar theft. She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t notice. I really liked this character for pointing theft out when she could’ve remained silent. The reader quickly learns Matty is in her fifties, lost her job when she left to care for her dying mother, lives alone, and has lost everything she valued in her life. To top it off she’s left California, a state she knew well, and as crazy as it sounds, she moved to scenic Couper, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest to start over.

 

Matty hasn’t left her house in over a week. She prefers lying on her sofa wearing her pajamas and robe while watching TV.  She’s is in conflict with her neighbors and her savings are dwindling, but she has no where else to go. Yes, Matty is struggling with the weight of her depression, but the reader can hear a cracking noise in the first pages as she begins to break free from her gray-shrouded miasma. The chisel that reduces her to mush is a dog, a terrier mix, that survived a fire. The miserable dog arrives on her doorstep dark with soot and in need of food and water. Matty has little experience with pets, but this dog weaves its magic as dog lovers know all to well. I loved the growing bond between Matty and Pretty Girl, if fact, all dog lovers will.

 

The author weaves subtle themes around the protagonist, her stray pooch, and the antagonists she encounters. By trying to find the dog’s rightful owners instead of dropping it off at the pound, she finds herself in the middle of mystery.

 

Sleuth Sidekicks: Pretty Girl, the stray terrier, who leads Matty into a murder investigation.

 

Detective Phil Bester is introduced briefly, and the reader gets the impression that he’ll be her “inside” sidekick. For now, we know he’s thin, tall, and married.

 

The Setting

 

Couper is vastly different from Matty’s previous home in California. The people are weird, it’s colder, and the streets aren’t as well-kept. The author does a great job of coloring in the setting. Matty chose to live in Couper because of its natural beauty. She likens Couper to being dropped in the middle of a forest near the Colombia River.

 

The setting is deftly shadowed throughout the story, it can be cold and hard-edged or a jaw-dropping moment of natural awe. It’s clear Couper may be beautiful, but it’s not a place for hot-house flowers. My impression is Matty is tough enough to thrive in Couper, and I’ll be checking out her new forays.

About R. Marquez

R.Marquez resides in the Pacific Northwest, a place that inspired her to create the fictional city of Couper, WA, located across the Columbia River from Portland, OR. All her stories either occur in Couper or are inhabited by its denizens.

She is presently working on “The Couper Vendetta,” the fifth book in the Matty Cruz mystery series. She hopes to have her first six books published on Amazon before the end of 2014.

Her short stories have been published in Over My Dead Body!, Mysterical-E, KZINE ,and Crimespree magazines, among others.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

The War Nurse Historical Blog Tour

I’d like to thank Amy Bruno, from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, for setting up a book blog schedule for The War Nurse over two weeks leading up to December 7th, also known as the day that will live in infamy, or the day America entered WWII. I’d hoped to make The War Nurse more visible for those interested in historical fiction during the remembrance time period. I’m going to list all the fabulous book blogs that agreed to host the novel in the hopes you’ll drop by and check out the multitude of cool sites. They are also listed under the EVENTS section on the main menu.

Monday, November 24

Review at Flashlight Commentary

Tuesday, November 25

Review at Unshelfish

Review at CelticLady’s Reviews

Wednesday, November 26

Guest Post at What Is That Book About

Thursday, November 27

Review at Book Babe

Friday, November 28

Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection

Saturday, November 29

Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Sunday, November 30

Review at Carole’s Ramblings

Monday, December 1

Review at Luxury Reading

Tuesday, December 2

Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Wednesday, December 3

Review at Book Nerd

Thursday, December 4

Review at Boom Baby Reviews

Review at Svetlana Reads and Views

Friday, December 5

Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

 

Burn Out!

On my last post, I described a few things needed to make a cozy mystery sleuth lovable. Someone recently asked me how I selected Reece Carson for my sleuth in The Text-A-Nurse Series.

What? You want me to confess?

Okay, the lone fan deserves an honest answer.

Burnout.
Here’s what happened: One day on a critical care unit after several patients took turns trying to die on us, a nurse everyone loved, quit. She couldn’t take the pressure of facing another shift. I remember feeling so bad over her resignation. She helped make the unit a great place to work. I hated to see her go, but I knew she wasn’t coming back after a few days off.

I asked what her plans were.

She said, “I want to start a small personable home health care business that teaches people to be healthy, so they don’t end up here.”

I can still see her tear-stained face. Honestly, every nurse with experience has reached a similar breaking point, including me. But she’s my role model for Reece. A bruised nurse, not giving up on being a nurse, but one willing to take on a new role and major lifestyle change. I wanted a sleuth on the comeback trail and not in her comfort zone.

Readers of Body Wave will remember Reece quit her job in critical care to care for a beloved, dying aunt at home. Reece was burned out, overworked, and depressed. Her aunt makes a death-bed confession and solving the mystery pulls her out of the cycle of stress. Her home health care business springs from watching her aunt, a former nurse, care for her aging neighbors.

The hard part is helping the reader understand a nurse sleuth recovering from burnout. Hospitals are like tiny cities within a community. Nurses walk out into the moonlight and blink in amazement at how time passed. I’m not sure non-healthcare workers understand how isolating the hospital environment is. No one gets off work on time. Patients and visitors are scared and worried. Hospital workers face stress every single hour of their shift. The stressors are too numerous to list, but the big one is making a mistake that could hurt someone.

To me, leaving the hospital to fly solo as an entrepreneur was a symbol of freedom for this character. A new life, a new job, a new man–Reece stumbled because she’s unfamiliar with the normal world. Her emotions surprise her. She’s kept them locked up for years. In hospitals, nurses learn to keep their feelings under tight control as a survival technique. That doesn’t mean their emotionless; no, they have to be careful. They can’t break down and cry with “every” patient.

The real question is do readers like Reece Carson? I’ll find out as I expand the series. I’d like to thank the readers for their support. Thank You!

Readers, what’s your opinion on your favorite sleuths?  What makes them lovable?

Please join my new book release notification! Don’t miss Body Magnet Book 3 in the Text-A-Nurse Series. It’s in the pipeline!

 

 

The Cozy: Lovable Amateur Sleuths

This is the one rule to rule them all:
If readers don’t love the sleuth, your cozy mystery is dead in the water
 
No kidding, Sherlock?

 

Okay, then what makes an amateur sleuth not just likeable but loveable? Answer: It’s not her designer shoes. Here are the sleuth’s basic required ingredients.

1.  The amateur sleuth can’t be a trained policeman, detective, CSI technician, or young attorney. These careers train people on how to catch a diverse lot of liars and criminals. Let’s face it; cozy amateur sleuths can’t be bothered by worrisome details like oaths of office or by-the-book investigations. Amateur sleuths can have a friend, sidekick, or lover in one of the trained occupations and most do. What makes them loveable is how they deal with the encountered roadblocks, because they aren’t trained.

Conclusion: Cozy sleuths aren’t trained to hunt down or prosecute murderers, but they can have friends who do.

 

2. The best amateur sleuths have normal jobs, but give the reader a unique insight into the work they do. Their job or ex-career in case a sleuth is retired and now a consultant, helps ground the cozy in a real world with real problems. Their job should offer up a lot of potential victims and also reveal the loveable parts of the character. Some examples of jobs that come in contact with the public: A real estate agent, hair stylist, owner of a bakery or coffee shop, and a community nurse with a long patient contact list. What makes them loveable? The way they treat their clients or patients, and by the little things they do. Free cups of coffee, free home health care visits, or free tips on curb appeal. Good sleuths have big hearts!

Conclusion: Sleuths should have an interesting job which keeps the sleuth mobile, so she’s free to track down crime as the spirit or the clues move her. 

3. The best amateur sleuths have an abiding inner sense of fairness, truth, and justice. Once their button is pushed they’re motivated to solve the case. Outwardly, the sleuth should be independent and driven. Inwardly, she has doubts. Above all she should be an observant listener with a warm personality that people feel comfortable talking to. Who would want to spill secrets to a rude shrew? The best sleuths have savvy, and they have a good reason to stick their necks out. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t meet a shady person alone in a dark alley, but the sleuth must learn and grow. In other words, she shouldn’t keep making the same dumb mistakes. What makes them loveable is their stubborn pursuit of the truth.

Conclusion: Sleuths should be smart, independent, and likeable. Her personality conveys trust and makes it easy for people to confide secrets to her.

 

 

The best amateur sleuths have flaws that balance their strengths. Does anyone remember Jessica Fletcher’s flaws? I’m not sure she had any, but internal conflicts create more interesting characters, so I think flaws are important. If a sleuth is pursuing a black belt in karate, and faints at the sight of blood, this flaw could stop her from advancing to the next level or tournament. Balance is the key. What if the sleuth is addicted to on-line shopping and is hiding her debts, and everyone she questions about a murder, sneers at the victim’s heavy debts? The reader has an opportunity to watch the sleuth react, see her internal debates about denial and addiction, and ultimately watch the sleuth change her self-destruction behaviors. What makes her loveable? She’s a regular person like the rest of us.

Conclusion: Amateur sleuths must be interesting. A good sleuth should have a character flaw to balance her strengths. A flaw must show up as often as strength does in order to churn the inner conflicts.

 

The best amateur sleuths help the reader understand her gift of sniffing out clues. This might be a controversial requirement. What makes this person put clues together that other miss? She may use a particular tool to sift through the information or she may follow a strict methodology, but the reader needs to see the sleuth compress the information into hard clues. Finding clues can’t be guesswork. Yes, there are gut instinct guesses, but they can’t always appear magically to solve the murder. Readers like finding the clues with the sleuth. What makes them loveable? You kidding? This step is important, because the reader has to believe the sleuth is smart and savvy and this is one way those characteristics are revealed. Conclusion: Establish the sleuth’s clue-busting genius early on and help the reader understand how the magic works.

 

 

My apologies to the male sleuths, but I’m keeping it simple.

 

 

What basics have I left off? Please add them to the comments below and share with your friends.

 

Who’s your favorite amateur sleuth? Surprise me!

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Who Loves the Cozies?
Happily Murdered

Who Loves the Cozies?

No, the cozies aren’t a new toy or band of zombies!

I’m talking about cozy mysteries.

It’s no secret that I got hooked on cozies while working in critical care. The workload is staggering physically and emotionally, and to ease the stress a little dab of cozy worked fine. I decided to write a cozy from a nurse’s point of view after she’s left the hospital setting and while trying to launch a small business.

Here’s my secret confession: I wished that I had tried the self-employed route. The one time I considered such a move, I had dreams of losing the house and car. You know, the nightmares of total doom?

I know cozies have rules, but I wanted my snoop to confront bad guys and gals with more than just her wits. So, I gave her a ninja cat…Sheba. Not a good choice of weapon? You ever have a cat attack your head?

Don’t get me wrong–wits are fine, but I like action too. In my first cozy, Body Wave, my sleuth is injured in her confrontation and the stress is evident in the second book, Body Aches. Why drag out the stress? Because I think it’s a natural reaction to avoid what hurts, don’t you? And I reward her for taking the pain, I gave her a smokin’ hot fireman for her love interest. I’d call Glenn Hanover a better incentive than a carrot.

Plus, while Reece Carson admits she’s a born snoop, the truth is becoming an amateur sleuth is a process most normal people would try to avoid.

Why?

Because murder means police. Lots and lots of them, especially in smaller cities where the majority of cozies are set. Police are human too, they naturally make their way to the crime scene. Yep, that’s right almost every single one of them are snoops too. You ever tried to get between a cop and his crime scene?

So a deal breaker for me, is a sleuth, who breaks the rules of crime scenes. In real life, people are arrested for it because if a crime scene is contaminated, all the evidence is put at risk. As a cozy reader, I want them to go to jail, not win a get out of jail free card.

So, for me I like balance but also details. Most cozy writers agree, which explains why many sleuths have policeman around as romantic interests or friends. They deliver the results of the coroner’s autopsy, blood test results, and bullet tests.

Follow me as I explore the anatomy of a cozy mystery.

Here’s my question to cozy fans: What’s the deal breaker for you as far as crime details go? Come on don’t be shy. Leave a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Body Wave

First Goodreads Giveaway: Body Wave

521 entries for Body Wave!

 

 

 

 

 

There were six winners. I’d like to thank them for entering to win Body Wave, the first book, in my Text-A-Nurse series. I hope they enjoy the book.

I’m also hoping for reviews. Marketing isn’t my forte, which is why I’ve been late to the Goodreads giveaway, but I’m trying to get better. If you’re like me and didn’t move to print copies, the Goodreads giveway is worth it. It’s a great opportunity to get my book in front of readers who love cozies. If you didn’t win, I hope you’ll leave Body Wave on your shelf.

When I worked in critical care, the stress of keeping people alive was very real. Reading cozy mysteries helped me distress, and I often talked to my unresponsive patients about the books I was reading. I figured it was way better for them than keeping CNN on the TV 24/7.

I’ve often wondered if I converted any of my patients into cozy mystery fans:)

In either case. I’d like to thank all the readers who entered and hope to convert some of you into Text-A-Nurse fans.

 

 

 

 

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Body Aches Available on PreOrder
Body Wave
Book Review: Body Wave

Body Aches Available on PreOrder

Genres: Cozy Mystery

I’m happy to announce that Body Aches the second book in the TEXT-A-NURSE cozy mystery series is available for preorder on Amazon.  You can read it in paperbackright now!

Body Aches will launch on August 29th on Amazon. Amazon has recently made preorder available so I haven’t had time to promote, but hopefully, Text-A-Nurse fans will respond. Look for Body Aches to be on a Goodreads giveaway as well.

As fans of Body Wave, may know, Body Aches continues to put Reece on the track of solving an older case and a current one. In Reece world, the past and present are always connected by secrets, lies, and murder.

The third book in the series, Body Magnet, is scheduled for release in September. Thank you readers for your support.

 

 

 

 

 

BODY WAVE

BODY WAVE: A Text-A-Nurse Cozy by R.V. Doon
Published by BRY Publishing Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 252
on August 20012
Buy the Book • Goodreads

Body Wave is Book I in the Text-A-Nurse Cozy Mystery Series introducing amateur nurse-sleuth Reece Carson.


Death by Natural Causes...or was it Murder? Only one person knows the answer to that question, but Reece Carson, nurse entrepreneur and owner of Text-A-Nurse, plans to be the second. Everyone but Reece believes Abigail Hamilton died of natural causes. They point to her age, chronic health conditions, and medications as evidence. Abigail's doctor called her a heart attack waiting to happen, and the police have determined she doesn't merit a crime scene investigation or even an autopsy. Reece is determined to prove that a blood pool isn't required to solve this murder mystery.


Armed with her stethoscope, a handy-dandy murder-care plan, and her well-honed nursing instincts primed to interpret clues like symptoms, she becomes an amateur sleuth to find the answers. Haunted by her aunt's recent deathbed confession of a murder cover-up over half century ago, Reece reluctantly realizes Abigail Hamilton was at the heart of her aunt's confession. Not only that, she uncovers other cases of death by natural causes connected to the same drowning victim in the distant past.


She never counted on her investigation into Abigail's death, setting off a fatal chain reaction or an incoming hurricane to aid the killer's escape. Worse, she's beginning to suspect that the sweet fireman she's falling in love with may be guilty of murder.


When the suspect turns on her, Reece learns that secrets fester like infections, and one day they'll come back and try to kill you.

I’m practicing how I’ll be reviewing books I read in the future by getting the format nailed first. This is a practice post for Body Wave but it doesn’t have a review section or rating stars because, hey, it’s my book. What do you think?

About R.V. Doon

R.V. Doon used to have a really nice C.V. detailing her advanced nursing education and numerous certifications. She’s had varied experiences from bedside nurse, teacher, administrator, and ended her career as a clinical research nurse. R.V. writes across genres from cozy mysteries to historical fiction. The connecting thread between every Doon book is the colorful characters that won’t let readers forget them when the story ends.

R.V. lives in historic Mobile, Alabama on the beautiful Gulf Coast with her husband. She loves seafood, deep sea fishing, and has taking up sailing.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

Writing Update!

Well, it’s summer time in the deep south. You can see the heat waves radiating off the top of the roads and car hoods, heck, maybe it’s radiating from my head too. With the Fourth holiday behind me and now that I’m back from a short trip, I thought an RV Doon update is in order.

First, I’ve learned it doesn’t take a village to make a book trailer for free, but it does take a family and friends that will share pictures with you. So the book trailer for SWARMERS is up and going out over social media, and the paperback is out as well. I hope you enjoy the trailer because it’s 100% family made. (Thanks Laura) Anyway, the book trailer and paperback version of THE WAR NURSE is next. While both books are totally different, an apocalyptic dark fantasy and a historical family saga, they do have one thing in common. They thrill!

I’ve been holding my finished books, so that I can hit a trifecta (this is a dream, but if I don’t try, I can’t hit). My goal is to put up a book every month from August to December. Yeah, it’s a startling crazy idea and right up my alley. The goal is to have one of my books on the Just Released list every month. But why?

It’s hard to stand out in a sea of books. My last release THE WAR NURSE has had trouble being noticed out of the gate. Hopefully, the new plan will increase my books visibility to readers searching for their next book. To keep me honest, here’s the schedule:

August-Body Aches Book 2 in the Text-A-Nurse Cozy Mystery Series

September-Body Double Book 3 in the Text-A-Nurse Cozy Mystery Series

October-Swarmers 2

November- Medical thriller

December-A romance

As you can see, I’m writing but drop me a line when you can. I’d love to hear from you.

 

Overhaul Military Hospitals: Fire the Hospital Administrators

The recent story of military veterans put on secret waiting lists, let’s call them what they are dying lists, sickens me to the bone. Heads should be rolling! Every single VA hospital administrator all the way to the top must be fired. One or two falling on their make-believe swords is not going to cut it!

The whole situation begs the answer to this question: Is anyone in charge? In the real world where the majority of Americans lurk, people who screw up epically, even those who only had the job a few years, GET FIRED!

I’m SICK OF THE ENDLESS PARADE OF PEOPLE GOING BEFORE CONGRESS AND BEING TOTALLY CLUELESS AND THEN HAVING THE GALL TO SAY THEY CAN FIX IT! Newsflash!  We don’t believe a single one of you!

Rant over. I’m heart-sick over this and clearly the agenda was planned and accepted as routine. Fire every hospital administrator because the system is sick and it begins at the top. Put the whistleblower doctor in charge. He knows more than the Secretary of the VA. It’s a sad day when people who tried to blow the whistle were fired while the abusers got promoted. Doctor Sam Foote had to wait until he retired to blow the whistle. Before you say anything against him, it’s not easy to blow the whistle in America. I applaud him and you should too.

I have the simple answer here: Stop exporting billions until we build more hospitals for the veterans. Yes, it’s really that simple.

Here Are The Reasons To Build More Hospitals:

1. We, the country of we, promise military veterans we will take care of them. Either we’re a country who honors their promises or we aren’t.

2. The Vietnam veterans have held off as long as they can. They will need health care in droves for decades.

3. The Gulf War and Terror War veterans are young and have terrible blast and brain injuries. These injuries don’t go away and their care will last for decades.

4. We will soon see the VA hospitals on the United Way charity lists if we don’t demand a reset of the situation. We need more hospitals and money to fund them.

5.  I found military veterans were always the first to volunteer in the clinical civilian drug trials I participated in. Even with the problems in the military hospitals, which every veteran knew about from experience, they still volunteered. They were also the least likely to drop out and go out of touch. There is a significant number of military veterans who volunteer for clinical civilian research in their later years to “help other people.” It’s our turn to help them. We need to demand VA hospital reform and build new hospitals.

7. The suicide rate will increase if the hospital care doesn’t get overhauled soon. Who wants to beg for health care after surviving hell? See number 1.

8. Until action is seen as in massive firings >Someone tell the veterans to go to the civilian hospitals and refuse to leave until treated. Claim to be on the death list and tell them you want to live. REFUSE to LEAVE until you’re treated like the rest of us. They can triage you but not if your kidneys are failing for instance. Believe me, this is the quickest path to reform. The overloaded civilian hospitals will scream to their state politicians and the VA hospitals will get overhauled.

 

Disclaimer: I have family members in the military.

 

 

 

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The War On Our Veterans: Gearing Up To Go Against Them And Killing Them In Hospitals.