Kathy Lynn Emerson's Blog, page 55
January 3, 2017
2016: A Literary Look Back
Bruce Robert Coffin here, feeling nostalgic. 2016 was a whirlwind year. Pausing to reflect, as it draws to an end, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. So many writing and publishing firsts, where do I start? I guess the smart money would be at the beginning.
January found me working on the second Detective Byron Mystery and waiting with baited breath as my agent, Paula Munier, negotiated with several publishing houses for the first.
February came along with a verbal agreement from HarperCollins for a three book deal, and an email from Otto Penzler announcing the inclusion of my short story into the 2016 Best American Mystery Stories.
In March I worked on yet another round of edits on my manuscript The Reaping which eventually became Among the Shadows.
April came with a written contract from HarperCollins. I blinked as I looked at my end of the deal. Three novels, one hundred thousand words each! Remember whining about five hundred word papers? I certainly do. Signing that contract was similar to the feeling I had when signing my first mortgage. This publishing deal was thirteen pages of exciting and scary all at the same time.
May saw the final copyedits on Among the Shadows.
June was back to work on Byron number two (I know. I know. A real title is forthcoming, I promise.).
July found my debut novel available for preorder on Amazon. And so began the twenty-four hour a day sales ranking checks. Which reminds me…
August brought more abundant sunshine, necessitating daily trips to local libraries where I could work undistracted on book two. Nothing is more distracting to the writing process than copious amounts of sunshine and warm summer weather. The libraries became surrogate business offices. The act of getting in the truck and driving to a library was akin to the old days of driving to the police department. Writing at home is great during winter months but when the weather turns nice the distractions pile up. Laundry, mowing, hiking, golf, the gym.
September arrived with the release of my first novel and a trip to New Orleans to attend my first Bouchercon. I met Lee Child, C.J. Box, Reed Farrell Coleman, and Harlan Coben!
October brought an untold number of library and bookstore appearances, television and radio guest spots, and the joy of seeing my novel atop the Maine Sunday Telegram’s paperback fiction bestseller list, and the release of the Best American Mystery Stories in which my story Fool Proof resides among the works of award winning authors like Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Megan Abbott, and Art Taylor.
November brought more library appearances, including one shared with my writing mentor, Kate Flora, and a trip to the New England Crime Bake, where I shared a stage with William Kent Krueger and Hank Phillipi Ryan.
December consisted of fewer appearances, more edits to Byron #2, decorating the house, Christmas parties, and some quality time behind the snowblower, clearing the drive while my mind was free to wander.
What will 2017 bring? God only knows.
As I sit here beside the fireplace writing this, it occurs to me that I owe a great deal of thanks to a great many people. My writing friends for the endless advice and inspiration, my reading friends for their kind reviews and praise, and my social media friends for helping to spread the word. The local booksellers, some of whom have faithfully followed me to my seemingly endless signings, for featuring my work and treating me like family. My agent, my editor, and my fans for keeping me inspired with my fingers to the keyboard. And finally, I owe the most thanks to my wife and biggest fan for putting up with me and for believing in me.
Happy new year, everybody! Thank you!
January 1, 2017
Coming Up Short
Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, bemoaning the fact that I’ve made it through the last chapter of the second draft of the first book in a new cozy mystery series . . . and I’m still 12,000 words short of the minimum length my publisher requires.
Oops.
Now I should point out that I write multiple drafts of every book, with long breaks to let the writing “gel” between revisions, and that each of my drafts tends to be longer than the previous one. However, twelve thousand words—that’s roughly fifty typewritten pages—is a pretty big gap at this stage, even for me. To tell you the truth, I’m a little worried. You see, as far as I can tell, I’ve covered all the plot points I need to, I’ve done as much character development as is necessary to make these people believable, and I’ve successfully planted all my clues and red herrings. I could be wrong—my judgment may be off, since I’m so close to the project—but assuming that I’m not, I’m in a bit of a pickle.
My contract says I owe the publisher a novel running somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 words. The only way 63,000 words would make the cut is if every page had lots and lots of “white space” and although I do write some dialog in short, pithy single sentences, that’s not really my style, let alone the style of the characters.
Padding for the sake of word count is also out. You might remember the song, “The Book Report” from the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Lucy has 95 words. She needs 100. She writes: “The very, very, very end.” This is obviously not a good solution, no matter how long the piece of writing.
So where am I going to find all those additional words? Good question.
Some will come naturally when I do the next pass, what I call a “read thru/revision” of the whole manuscript. My rough (first) draft came out to a little over 50,000 words. So, yes, I added 13,000 words when I revised, but no way can I add another 12,000 words to my opus by adding more descriptive details and replacing vague words with specific ones. Even finding areas that need a bit more exposition to clarify what is going on won’t help much.
Fortunately I have some time before the book is due. One obvious solution is to add a second subplot, or perhaps simply enlarge upon the subplot I already have. Here’s the set up: Mikki Lincoln, a woman my age (or, at least she was my age when I originally wrote the proposal—now she’s a couple of years younger than I am!) has been happily living in Maine with her husband for the last forty-plus years. When she’s widowed, she decides on impulse to move back to her old home town in New York’s Catskill Mountains after fifty years away. The trigger for this drastic step was finding a listing for her childhood home in the real estate ads. When the book opens, she and her cat have moved into this house and Mikki is worrying about how she’s going to pay for the extensive repairs it needs. Then she has an idea. She’s a retired English teacher. Why not set up shop as a freelance editor—a book doctor? Cut to a couple of months later, when this plan seems to be going well . . . until one of Mikki’s first clients ends up dead. Solving the murder, of course, is the main plot. The subplot deals with Mikki adjusting to old friends and old stomping grounds that have undergone some pretty drastic changes in half a century.
I have had one idea for a new scene. It revolves around the requirement that Mikki get a new driver’s license and license her car in New York State. I see the experience as having humorous elements. Now all I have to do is figure out how it can also advance the main plot. Maybe not every single word of the 75,000 has to push forward toward the solution of the crime—some can simply develop character—but I can’t just throw a scene in for the heck of it, either.
If I do write that scene, it will run 1000-1500 words. That will still leave me way short of what I need. I guess the real question I’m asking myself at this stage is what is padding and what is not. Obvious information dumps are out, but what about reminiscences?
I’ve already included quite a few glimpses of Mikki’s past, as well as a number of scenes with her cat, Calpurnia. Mikki talks to the cat. The cat does not talk back. There are also a few scenes with Mikki editing manuscripts. I’ve gone lightly on the details, save for mentioning the occasional pet peeve, because I’m leery of overdoing this.
The real “Calpurnia”
What do you think, those of you reading this blog? What do you like to find included in a cozy mystery, aside from the mystery itself? Do you enjoy reading lots of character backstory? Do you want a hint of romance? What about details of the protagonist’s profession—how much is too much? Any and all comments will be much appreciated.
Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (Kilt at the Highland Games) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in a Cornish Alehouse ~ UK in December 2016; US in April 2017) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com
December 30, 2016
Weekend Update: December 31, 2016-January 1, 2017
Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Monday) Bruce Coffin (Tuesday), Brenda Buchanan (Wednesday), Dick Cass (Thursday) and Lea Wait (Friday).
In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:
An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.
And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora
December 29, 2016
Before Hartland: A Look back
John Clark looking at a place and time that saw many changes in the 26 years we lived there. A year after Beth and I got married, interest rates and inflation started rising at a frightening clip. We’d saved a fair amount, so we started house hunting. In hindsight, we were fairly clueless about what we wanted and how much we could afford. The first place we looked at was in Readfield. The walk-through was an adventure. The owners had drenched the interior with spray on foam insulation to a point where it was difficult to stand upright. I’m sure it would have been easy to heat, but we weren’t hobbits.
Sara and Lisa with Japanese exchange students on our front lawn in Chelsea.
Our second look was at a place on Route 226 in Chelsea. It was a reasonable distance from Augusta and had just over six acres of land. What we didn’t immediately realize was that it had been on the market for some time and the upper part had once burned. Whoever repaired it had done a half baked job and the pitch on the back side of the roof was perfect…For ice dams and water backing up after a snow storm (more about that later).
Worried the mortgage rate would jump even further, we bought the place. This was in early fall and our first winter was a rude awakening. The house had an older hot air furnace and minimal insulation. Neither Beth nor I had much in the way of rebuilding skills or experience, but we entered the learn as you do world pretty fast. By the second winter, we’d replaced pretty most of the interior walls with better insulation and new sheetrock. The son of a co-worker built us an exterior chimney and a brick hearth. We bought a used airtight stove from another co-worker and I rigged a small high-speed fan behind it that did a decent job of circulating heat.
Lisa and Sara in front of the wood stove at Christmas.
Fortunately I liked cutting wood and between what we cleared behind the house and wood I cut on Sennebec Hill Farm, we never lacked for firewood. In fact, there were two winters where we hit an accidental abundance. The first was when I lucked into getting the pallet recycling contract at AMHI where I worked. I’d been stealing pickup loads at night when I worked late, unaware that they were overloaded and wanted someone foolish enough to take them off their hands. I bid the princely sum of ten dollars for a year’s worth of them puppies. It wasn’t long before I had too many. Some I rebuilt and sold, but most got taken apart and cut up. Since the majority were hardwood, people who weren’t fussy were happy to buy a pick-up load of cut up ones even with all the nails still in the wood. We burned plenty ourselves. I even had the dubious experience of losing a load coming up the hill to the east side rotary during rush hour.
Looking at our neighbor’s house during the ice storm.
The other bonus came right after the Ice Storm of 1998. The Town of Windsor reacted by doing a major tree removal along Route 105. Many of the property owners were thrilled to have adventurous souls buck up the downed trees and haul them away. I netted more than 20 pickup loads that way.
The property was a never ending adventure. When we moved in, there was a jungle of weeds, an old pigsty and a garbage dump behind the house. We wanted a garden, so I set about taming the land. My first adventure came while tearing up what was left of the sty. I managed to drop a large rotten beam on my leg where a rusty spike penetrated my thigh. Off for repairs and a tetanus booster. In the process of clearing more junk, we discovered we had an antiquated septic system that consisted of a big rusty circular tank in the ground and a jury-rigged series of pipes spreading under thin soil. I made the mistake of hiring a local contractor to come in with the understanding that he would scoop up the big rocks beyond this contraption and move them down back so we’d have some garden space. Instead of using a bucket, he used a blade and in the process of pushing them to one side, he not only scraped away most of the soil, he completely flattened the drainage pipes. We were left with a bed of semi-fractured ledge and no drainage field.
One of many nighttime burns we had as we reclaimed the back yard.
There are advantages to living in a small Maine town. A major one is that you can get away with a lot of code violations. I set a speed record rebuilding and covering the drainage field and spent the next year using a crowbar and a sledge hammer to break up as much ledge as possible. After building an elevated sifting screen, I literally screened the whole damn back yard, adding the rocks and pebbles to the leach field behind the garden.
After a few years of raising great crops of rocks, the soil, having been enriched with horse and hen manure, shredded leaves and chopped up seaweed, started producing pretty decent veggies. We added apple trees and a plum and a cherry as well as several grape vines and two butternut trees. Every year, we’d expand the back yard a bit further toward the small swamp at the bottom of the slope behind the garden. I also cut a trail into the back of our property and put up a tree stand, using a couple of the remaining pallets. October became my favorite month. I could come home from work and be in the stand with my bow with an hour to hunt. I liked the quiet and solitude. Even though it was just a couple hundred yards from the road, it was mostly silent save for the woodland creatures. Chickadees often landed close enough so I could feed them out of my hand.
Winter brought another adventure I wasn’t prepared for. Every time we got measurable snow, I had to rake the back roof. That involved ladders, taking my life in my hands while trying to keep my footing on the lower roof over our dining room and not eating a gallon of snow in the process. Is it any wonder one of our major criteria when we began looking at homes in the Hartland area was a metal roof and NO need to rake?
I don’t want to go on too long, so next time I’ll share the culture and characters we encountered while living in Chelsea. I’d be interested in your memories of the first home you owned.
Library Talk Postponed
Just in case you were planning to drive to Carrabassett Valley Library this afternoon to hear four of our Maine Crime Writers speak, this is to let you know that the event has been postponed due to the incoming snowstorm. Check back here or at individual writers’ webpages for information on rescheduling. Stay warm everyone!
December 27, 2016
Crime lover or not, it’s time you caught podcast fever
I’ve got podcast fever. And I’m not afraid to admit it.
I resisted podcasts for a long time. I’d listened to the first season of Serial and really liked it, but that was it. Every time someone (mostly my sister) told me I should listen to this one or that one, I said if I’m going to just listen to something, I like my music. And yes I CAN listen to an endless loop of Tangled Up in Blue-Rosalita-I Want to Know What Love Is without getting tired of it. It’s how I roll.
My sister Becky had even been insisting for some time she and I do our own podcast. I resisted that even more — no way would it mesh well with my journalism career. If I was going to do a podcast, I wanted to speak my mind unfettered and occasionally use my favorite swear word, which begins with m, ends with r and has an f in the middle. Hint: It’s not mayflower.
But then a bunch of stuff happened at the right time: iTunes’ sabotage of my music library continued to such a frustrating extent my endless loop of favorite songs got smaller and smaller until practically all that existed was the U2 album they snuck on there that I can’t delete (memo to iTunes: I SKIP THOSE SONGS); my journalism career ended, I moved within blocks of my sister, and we attended this year’s New England Crime Bake, where the hosts of the popular podcast Crime Writers On… not only taped an episode of the show from the mystery writers conference (they even interviewed me on the air!), but also presented a panel on how you, yes you, can produce your own podcast.
The hosts of Crime Writers On… from left, Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker and Toby Ball, let Maureen Milliken join the fun at Crime Bake in November.
Becky kept saying, “See, I told you.” And she had. So we were off and running.
I won’t go into all the nitty gritty, but once we created our own website, figured out how to do an RSS feed, found a host (thanks blubrry!), and, oh yeah, figured out a very loose theme and structure, we were up and running with Crime & Stuff, “The podcast you’d do if you didn’t have better things to do.”
A funny thing has happened since Crime Bake. Besides I’m now editing Episode 6 of our own podcast (everything you wanted to know about JonBenet Ramsey but were afraid to ask), I also can’t stop listening to podcasts. So long endless loop of music I’ve been listening to for years. Hello all sorts of people talking about cool and interesting stuff.
I am especially drawn to crime topics. You probably are too if you’re a regular reader of this blog. I’m by no means an expert on what’s out there in podcast land, but here are some podcast suggestions to get you started if you have been resisting, like I was. I know you have too much to do! But the beauty of podcasts is you can listen to them while doing something else.
I’d be a jerk if I didn’t start out with the folks who got me hooked, Crime Writers On… New Hampshire broadcast journalists Rebecca Lavoie and Kevin Flynn (the cutest couple in the Northern New England audio world); true crime writer/former journalist/licensed PI Lara Bricker and noir thriller writer Toby Ball weekly discuss podcasts (and some other things). They are pros and keep things hopping, but they’re also funny as hell. Lavoie usually interviews a podcast producer, and their in-depth discussions of podcasts are informed and, I’ll freely admit, have tipped me to most of the podcasts I listen to now.
A CBC image for the podcast Missing & Murdered
My favorite so far is Missing and Murdered, Who Killed Alberta Williams? A CBC production, the show follows reporter Connie Walker and her producer Marnie Luke as they look into the cold case murder of a woman in British Columbia, but also explores Canada’s treatment of indigenous people and the shameful legacy of unsolved murders of women in the country. And I love those Canadian accents!
I just tonight finished Breakdown: Season 2, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution 17-episode production that covers the trial of Justin Ross Harris, who was convicted last month of murder after he left his 2-year-old son in the car on a hot day in 2014. Bill Rankin, a 25-year reporting veteran who covered the trial for the newspaper, does a great job presenting the story with wry humor, but also humanity. He’s not afraid to call out the lawyers or cops when they’ve overstepped or misled — something that’s fun for this (former!) journalist to listen to and is one of the things that makes podcasts a great addition to regular news coverage. I plan to now listen to Season 1, which looks at the case of Justin Chapman, who was convicted of murdering an elderly neighbor and burning down her house. I can’t get enough of Rankin and his reporting.
My sister Becky’s favorite is My Favorite Murder, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstack, who discuss murders that interest them and also read emails from fans describing their own hometown murders. We’ve been asked if we’re “trying to be like” the My Favorite Murder gals with our own podcast. The answer is we’re not, we’re just being ourselves. But listening to them convinced me that it’s OK to be ourselves, and we don’t have to be as polished as the other podcasts I’ve named here. And when I learn how to do the audio better, or we can hire someone to do it for us, we may even be as smooth as these gals.
The logo my sister Becky created for our podcast Crime & Stuff
As for our own podcast, we’re just having fun. It’s a big learning curve figuring out how to do audio (especially since we could only afford one broadcast-grade microphone and free Audacity software), but we still hope to be interesting enough for people to listen. Our premise is that we take a crime story that’s been in the news or that interests us, and do some research to bring listeners a more detailed story than what they may have seen on TV or the web. Our first episode, Twisted Sisters: A Tale of Yoga and Death, was custom-made for what we were trying to do. I’d seen a 30-second TV news story on the topic of the death by plunging off a cliff in an SUV of Anastasia Duval and the subsequent arrest of her sister Alexandria for murder and was confused as hell. Becky delved into the story and it all became clear. More or less. We’ve even had some special guests: my high school classmate Matt Nichols, a Portland criminal defense attorney, is featured in our “Ask a Lawyer” segment each week and we convinced Ben McCanna, who covered the Ayla Reynolds disappearance in Waterville, Maine, for the Morning Sentinel newspaper during the first year of the investigation, to be on our episode marking the fifth anniversary of her disappearance.
We don’t take ourselves too seriously, hence our accidental catchphrase (remember? It’s “The podcast you’d do if you didn’t have better things to do.”) But we’re also excited to be part of a creative community where just about anything goes.
If you haven’t already, it’s time you checked out the world of podcasting. Turn off the TV and take a look. It doesn’t have to be about crime if you’re not interested (again, you’re reading this blog why?) I guarantee you’ll find something you won’t be able to stop listening to, and you’ll be hooked too.
EVENT: Thursday, December 29, Maureen Milliken, Jen Blood, Bruce Coffin and Vaugh Hardaker will be part of the Carrabassett Valley Library‘s Maine Crime Writers Death & Desserts presentation, 4:30-6:30 p.m. They’ll also be signing and selling books. Snow? What snow? As of this writing, the event is still on, so strap on your Maine-ness and get over there.
Maureen Milliken is the author of the Bernie O’Dea mystery series. Follow her on Twitter at@mmilliken47 and like her Facebook page at Maureen Milliken mysteries. Sign up for email updates at maureenmilliken.com. She hosts the podcast Crime&Stuff with her sister Rebecca Milliken.
December 26, 2016
It’s Twins–Liz Mugavero and Barbara Ross Celebrate New Releases
by Barb. Packing madly. Leaving tomorrow for Key West.
My friend Liz Mugavero and I are celebrating a double book birthday today. Not only do we have the same agent (John Talbot) and the same editor (John Scognamiglio at Kensington Books), we are also both launching the fifth book in our respective series. Before the craziness of the holidays was upon us, I sat down with Liz to talk about this experience.
Barb: Five books! I can believe we made it. Custom Baked Murder is the fifth in your Pawsitively Organic Pet Food Mystery series, and Iced Under is the fifth in my Maine Clambake Mystery series. So, I’m asking you. What do you know now that you didn’t know when you started?
Liz: It’s crazy, right? We’ve written a lot of books in the last few years. To answer your question, wow, I don’t think I knew anything! Besides the fact that I knew I could write a book, I didn’t know if I could write a good one. I didn’t know how crazy the publishing world was. And I didn’t know how the heck I was going to juggle a day job with my deadlines.
I also didn’t know what an amazing experience it would be to become part of the Wicked Cozy Authors, and to meet so many readers who enjoy my books, and how much fun it would be to write this series – and also how challenging to make sure I can continue to provide quality entertainment with each story. Which brings up my question to you, Barb. How do you keep your stories and characters fresh?
Barb: Argh. Great question and something I think about all the time. Despite what some people think, there is no formula for writing cozy mysteries. (Believe me, there are days, when I’m struggling, when I wish there were.) I keep the stories fresh by changing them up. For example, in the fourth book, Fogged Inn, we discover the body in the very first line. “Julia, there’s a dead guy in the walk-in!” In the new book, Iced Under, we don’t learn about the death until page 106, and we never see the body. These changes give an entirely different structure to the narrative. As for the characters, I keep them moving forward. My protagonist Julia’s life has changed profoundly with her return to Busman’s Harbor, Maine. She’s building new relationships and figuring out her life, for good and for ill, just like all of us. So tell me, five books in, is there anything you regret? Would you change any characters, situations or places if you had to do it again?
Liz: Hmmm. Regrets are so easy to find, aren’t they? That said, there isn’t anything major I wish I could change in these books. I was thinking the other day about Stan’s family. When I wrote the first book, it was sort of an impulse to give her a snobby, rich mother who tried to interfere in certain areas of Stan’s life. That could’ve gone either way as I got deeper into the series, but it turned out to be a good choice. I’ve had a lot of fun working with Stan’s family and her relationship with them, and her mother ended being more of a permanent character than I think I ever intended. And now her sister has snuck in to the narratives too, which is another opportunity for some fun interactions. It’s also all part of Stan’s character arc.
I do think I could’ve sketched out the town a little better in the first two books. I’m forever trying to make sure things make sense as the town’s grown and I’ve added storefronts, etc. But I think it works. So with all that in mind, Barb, do you find it easier to write the books the further into the series you get, or were the earlier books easier?
Barb: As you know, Liz, first drafts are my bete noire and they don’t get any easier to write. But I guess, as I gain experience, it does get easier to let go of at least some of the gnawing anxiety and believe it’s all going to come together in the end.
But that’s been replaced by a new anxiety. With the first book in this series, I had no idea if it was going to be good. I was determined to write the best book I could, but if it wasn’t good, it wasn’t good. Now I have fans, who have expectations for quality. Disappointing them has become my new anxiety.
I guess you can’t win for losing!
Best of luck with Custom Baked Murder, Liz. I’ve read it and I loved it.
Liz: Same to you! And good luck with book six.
Both: Happy New Year, everyone!
About Custom Baked Murder: Summer is winding down in Frog Ledge, Connecticut, but Stan’s love life and career are both heating up nicely. In between planning her new pet patisserie and café, Stan is settling into living-in-bliss with sexy pub owner Jake McGee. Love’s on the menu for Stan’s mom, Patricia, too, who’s engaged to Frog Ledge’s mayor, Tony Falco. When Mayor Falco’s executive coach, Eleanor Chang, is found dead, there’s a whole pack of suspects to choose from. But finding out who forced her to take a fatal plunge off the corporate ladder means unearthing some shady secrets…and a killer who’s too close for comfort. Includes Gourmet Pet Food Recipes!
About Iced Under: The snow is deep in Maine’s Busman’s Harbor and the mighty rivers are covered in ice. Snowden Family Clambake Company proprietor Julia Snowden and her mother, Jacqueline, are hunkered down for the winter when a mysterious package arrives—heating up February with an unexpected case of murder . .
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December 25, 2016
Happ-E Reading, Everyone
We hope you are having pleasant holidays, and enjoying some time to read this season. In case you’ve missed any of our recent releases, here’s a recap of some of our latest books:
Brenda Buchanan:
Truth Beat-A respected priest’s suspicious death leads to revelations in Riverside, Maine.
Dick Cass:
Solo Act-an alcoholic buys a dive bar in Boston and has to prove the death of his jazz-singer lover was not really a suicide.
Bruce Coffin:
Among the Shadows-Fall in Portland, Maine usually arrives as a welcome respite from summer’s sweltering temperatures and, with the tourists gone, a return to normal life—usually. But when a retired cop is murdered, things heat up quickly, setting the city on edge.
Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: Just to be a bit different, here are the links to
an oldie but goodie, the second Face Down mystery, Face Down Upon an Herbal (w/a) Kathy Lynn Emerson, in which Susanna, Lady Appleton celebrates Christmas . . . in the mid-sixteenth century.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/face-down-upon-an-herbal/id417124634?mt=11
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/face-down-upon-an-herbal-kathy-lynn-emerson/1100069435
Kate Flora:
Led Astray-In the 5th Joe Burgess police procedural, police officers are lured into an ambush. Now Burgess and his team race against time to find the shooter before a police officer’s funeral results in a massacre.
Amazon http://amzn.to/2dvTuxC
Kobo: https://goo.gl/DDmSdL
Google Play: https://goo.gl/jyGtS6
iTunes: https://goo.gl/g5vmu6
Maureen Milliken:
No News is Bad News-a case from the past haunts Police Chief Pete Novotny, while the unexpected arrival of newspaper editor Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea’s brother opens a deadly can of worms. What does all this have to do with a hunter’s grisly finding in the woods? The residents of Redimere, Maine, still recovering from the deadly summer of Cold Hard News, brace for more answers they may not want to know.
http://sandhbooks.com/story/bernie-odea-mysteries/no-news-is-bad-news/
Brendan Rielly:
An Unbeaten Man-When Bowdoin College microbiologist creates a microbe that instantly cleans up any oil spill, no matter how large, by devouring the oil, that discovery should be the breakthrough that defines a career. But his life is ruined when The Global Group kidnaps his wife and daughter, forcing him to use his microbe to destroy all Saudi and Russian oil.
Barbara Ross:
Iced Under-The snow is deep in Maine’s Busman’s Harbor and the mighty rivers are covered in ice. Snowden Family Clambake Company proprietor Julia Snowden and her mother, Jacqueline, are hunkered down for the winter when a mysterious package arrives—heating up February with an unexpected case of murder . . .
The fifth Maine Clambake Mystery ships on December 27. Here are the links for Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple iBooks, and Google.
In case you’re behind on your series (and have a gift card burning a hole in your pocket) all the previous books in the series are on sale on those same platforms.
Lea Wait:
Shadows on a Maine Morning-Antique print dealer Maggie Summer‘s moving to Maine, starting a business with her beau – and adopting a child. But as she struggles with secrets from the past and the present, she begins to wonder whether moving to Maine was the biggest mistake of her life.
Susan Vaughan:
Dark Memories- After museum curator Laura Rossiter witnesses a murder and the cop guarding her is killed, she runs for her life. She survives months by working odd jobs under an assumed name and landing in a Maine resort where she finally feels safe. Until bad-boy Cole Stratton rides his Harley back into her life.
http://getBook.at/DarkMemories
December 23, 2016
Weekend Update: December 24-25, 2016
Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Kate Flora (Monday) Barb Ross (Tuesday), Maureen Milliken (Wednesday), John Clark (Thursday) and then something still to be determined on (Friday).
In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:
Barb: A December 27 release means I’m not doing much in the way of physical appearances. However I am doing a blog tour with my friend Liz Mugavero, whose book, Custom Baked Murder, A Pawsitively Organic Pet Food Mystery, is out the same day as Iced Under.
In addition to our blog here on Tuesday, here’s where we have been/ will be…
Tuesday, December 20, 2016, Killer Characters.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016, Escape with DollyCas.
Monday, December 26, 2016, Femmes Fatales.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016, Jungle Red Writers AND Kingdom Books, Mysteries — Classic to Cutting Edge.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016, Dru’s Book Musings.
Thursday, January 5, 2017, Mystery Lovers Kitchen.
An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.
And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora
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December 22, 2016
What the Dickens!
Dorothy Cannell: In the past I have always squirmed when asked the inevitable
Charles Dickens
question of this time of year: “Are you all ready for Christmas?” The answer, because one cannot risk telling lies with Santa listening, was always a squeaked: “No.” There were those one thousand two hundred cookies left to bake, presents still to buy and wrap, overlooked Christmas cards to send, more ornaments to be added to the tree if it weren’t to make visitors feel they should donate to it. But this season of official good cheer is blissfully different. Daughter Shana who lives nearby broke the news in November that she and her family were going to Jamaica for Christmas and invitations to visit our other children had to be turned down because it wouldn’t be morally right to leave new puppy Watson behind. And taking him on a plane could be traumatic to his little psyche.
“I suppose this means it’ll “be just you and me,” said my husband Julian, making no attempt to look dismal. “No point in putting up decorations or doing a load of baking.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “That’ll leave me with plenty of time to shop for presents and get them mailed off.”
“Why not gift certificates stuck in with Christmas cards?”
“We could have candles. We’ve got quite a lot and no real planning goes into lighting them.”
“And perhaps some of that hot wine punch simmering on the stove after dinner.”
“Dinner,” I said; “can’t we skip that tradition, too?”
“If that’s what you want; but how much energy does a ham, and perhaps a few roasted vegetables and an apple pie take?”
“Not much for the person whose only job is to eat it, but you’re right, we mustn’t turn into Scrooges.”
How magical is the power of pressure lifted. I have had a lovely few days buying presents and mailing them off. Julian bought and hung a plaque that says “This house is protected by elves.” We have invited a friend for Christmas dinner … and I even may do some baking. Additionally I found time to recall a poem I wrote in English class when I was nine which I now send you with the best of good cheer.
Christmas is coming on its way
Nearer and nearer every day
Soon the bells will begin to ring
While the children carols sing
And this is what will be sung
A merry Christmas every one.
Dorothy
