Kris Frieswick’s Debut Novel

Twelve years. It took Kris Frieswick twelve years to write her debut novel, The Ghost Manuscript. So, if you’re interested, snatch it up now from the Web Store. Who knows how soon there will be a second one? https://bit.ly/2VhV1QU

Here’s the summary of The Ghost Manuscript.

Rare book authenticator Carys Jones wanted nothing more than to be left alone to pursue her obsession with ancient manuscripts. But when her biggest client is committed to an asylum, he gives Carys an offer she cannot refuse. In exchange for his entire library of priceless, Dark Age manuscripts, Carys must track the clues hidden in a previously unknown journal, clues that lead to a tomb that could rewrite the history of Western civilization.

But there are people who would do anything to stop Carys from finding what she seeks—for reasons both noble and evil. The hunt takes Carys to places she never thought she’d go, physically and emotionally; first to Wales, her estranged father’s homeland, then to bed with Dafydd, a mysterious Welshman who agrees to help her with the search, and finally, deep inside her own psyche, when the monk who wrote the journal 1,500 years ago appears and assists her in her search.

*****

Even better, here’s the conversation between Kris Frieswick and Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen.

Agatha Award Winners

MALICE DOMESTIC announced the winners of the Agatha Awards over the weekend. If you’re looking for the winning mystery novels, check the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Best Contemporary Novel 
Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)

Best Historical Novel 
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

Best First Novel 
Tie: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
Curses Boiled Again by Shari Randall (St. Martin’s)

Best Short Story 
Tie: “All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
“The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine) 

Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery 
Potion Problems (Just Add Magic) by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

Best Nonfiction 
Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers by Jane Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books)

Marc Cameron in Conversation

Marc Cameron recently admitted to Patrick Millikin at The Poisoned Pen that his new book, Open Carry, is probably his most personal book so far. Open Carry is the first in Cameron’s new U.S. Marshall series. You can order a signed copy of Open Carry, and copies of Cameron’s other books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2LmOQ9B

Here’s the description of Open Carry.

New York Times Bestselling Author of Field of Fire and Tom Clancy Power and Empire and Tom Clancy Oath of Office

“Cameron’s books are riveting page-turners.”

—Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author 

Law enforcement veteran Marc Cameron brings an explosive authenticity to this powerful new U.S. Marshal series. Arliss Cutter is a hero for our times. And his hunt for justice cuts straight to the bone. . . .

U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the Florida swamplands, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Services. When it comes to tracking someone down—or taking someone out—Cutter’s the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Cold, dark, uninhabited forests often shrouded in fog. And it’s the kind of case that makes his blood run cold . . . the shocking murder of a Tlingit Indian girl.

But the murder is just the beginning. Now, three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. Two are crew members of the reality TV show,Fishwives. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. But it won’t be easy, because the whole town is hiding secrets, every trail is a dead end—and the hunter becomes the hunted . . .

*****

Marc Cameron’s stories of his experiences in law enforcement are fascinating. You’ll want to watch the conversation with Patrick Millikin.

Jeffrey Siger & The Mykonos Mob

Jeffrey Siger, author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mysteries, is just finishing his book tour for The Mykonos Mob. You can still order signed copies of the latest book, or copies of the others in the series, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2KOiKQ6

Here’s the summary of The Mykonos Mob.

author of The Dark Iceland series

When corruption lies deep beneath the surface, how can the truth come to light?

The case begins for Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis is face-to-face with Greece’s top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface.

While Andreas and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, Andreas’s wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules. As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and patriarchal culture, they soon find that their efforts to improve the lives of the Greek girls they’ve come to care about intersect with Andreas’ investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved…

The Mykonos Mob is a thrilling police procedural, perfect for readers of Martin Walker and Donna Leon!

Additional Praise for the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Series:

“[A] suspenseful trip through the rarely seen darker strata of complex, contemporary Greece.” —Publishers WeeklyTarget: Tinos [is] another of Jeffrey Siger’s thoughtful police procedurals set in picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales.”—New York Times
“Siger paints travelogue-worthy pictures of a breathtakingly beautiful—if politically corrupt—Greece.” —Publishers Weekly STARRED review for Sons of Sparta“Siger brings Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis some very big challenges in his seventh mystery set in troubled contemporary Greece…The final plot twist proves well worth the wait, but it won’t take readers long to get there as they will be turning pages at a ferocious clip.” —Booklist STARRED review for Devil in Delphi
“Fans of Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy books and other police procedurals that handle violence and political issues with black humor will welcome this outstanding crime novel.” —Library Journal STARRED review for An Aegean April

*****

Michael Barton recently interviewed Jeffrey Tiger for Bookreporter. You might want to check out the Q&A.

Author Talk: April 11, 2019

When corruption lies deep beneath the surface, how can the truth come to light? This question lies at the heart of THE MYKONOS MOBJeffrey Siger‘s 10th police procedural featuring Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis and his Special Crimes unit. In this interview, Siger explains why he chose Greece as the setting for his mysteries, gives a shout-out to the authors who have most influenced his style of writing and approach to dialogue (while also naming the two literary legends to whom his work is most often compared), and reveals the hot-button issue that may become the foundation of the next installment in the series.

Question: When you made the decision to start a crime series, why did you choose Greece as the setting?

Jeffrey Siger: When I started writing about Andreas Kaldis with MURDER IN MYKONOS, I didn’t intend on creating a series. I thought I’d be writing a stand-alone novel telling the story of a Greek island I had come to know intimately over the course of several decades. I wanted to write about the people, culture and politics of Mykonos, and only settled upon the mystery format because it struck me as the best vehicle for exploring how a tourist island society might respond to a threat to its newfound economic glory.

Greece provides an inexhaustible source of material for the two central elements of this series: (1) a serious, modern-day issue that my characters must confront and overcome, and (2) a perspective on that issue to be found in the ancient past. There is no place on earth more closely linked to the ancient world than Greece — it is the birthplace of the gods, the cradle of European civilization, the bridge between East and West. Spartan courage, Athenian democracy, Olympic achievement, Trojan intrigue — all sprung from this wondrous land.

As for Greece’s place in the modern world: just look at a map, and you’ll immediately realize how many of the greatest issues facing the modern world are centered in Greece’s Mediterranean neighborhood. I’d venture to say that no western country is closer to what challenges our planet today than Greece. It is a paradise for mystery writers….as more seem to be realizing every day.

Q: Every mystery writer has a number of favorite predecessors. Can you name two or three whose work was particularly influential in laying the groundwork for Inspector Kaldis and his resourceful policemen?

JS: That’s such a hard question for me to answer, because those I think of as having most influenced my style of writing are not commonly associated with the crime fiction genre. Cormac McCarthy is a favorite of mine on so many levels, as is Steinbeck, and I admire the pacing of Tom Clancy. But in my approach to dialogue, I think of myself as influenced more by the cadence of poets (Robert Frost, believe it or not) and the decisive rigor of playwrights (such as August Wilson).

I see Kaldis and his crew as having naturally evolved without any conscious input on my part. Having said that, my work is most often compared to that of Ed McBain and Donna Leon, two literary legends to whom I am deeply honored to be compared.

Q: One trademark of the Chief Inspector Kaldis series is the setting shifting from one Greek island to another from book to book. Aren’t you in danger of running out of options at some point?

JS: In order to run out of Greek island locales  — not to mention the plethora of utterly intriguing mainland venues — I’d have to live more than a thousand years…and that would be at a two-book-a-year pace!

Q: Another of your distinctive trademarks of this series is your use of a hot-button issue as the engine that drives the plot of each novel. In your previous book, AN AEGEAN APRIL, it was the mistreatment and exploitation of the immigrants who continue streaming into Greece year after year. In THE MYKONOS MOB, you explore the effects of the island’s ever-expanding popularity with the tourist trade upon the lives of its native occupants. Which issue might become the foundation of the next Chief Inspector Kaldis novel?

JS: So many things happening in our world call out for Kaldis to intervene, but at the moment there’s an idea percolating in my mind that has its hooks deeply into me. It’s a battle raging on an island close by Mykonos that has islanders seeking to preserve their agrarian ways pitted against those seeking to maximize tourism profits. It is a dilemma facing many of the world’s tourist paradises, but particularly so the Greek islands. And it can lead to murder. That’s all I have to say about that for now. Stay tuned…

Q: Living half the year in Greece as you do, you have a very special perspective on the issues that most concern contemporary Greeks. Do you ever have a hankering to write a novel that features an American setting? And if so, in what section of the country would you like to have it set?

JS: In Greece, I’m blessed with contacts who give me inside perspectives on what goes on behind the scenes. That’s hard to replicate back in the USA. However, if I were to place a book in an American setting, I’d likely use the northwestern New Jersey farm community I call home when not in Greece. It has so much mood to offer, not the least of which is that generated from its modern history as the location where Friday the 13th was filmed…and several folks actually named their sons Jason in its honor!

Q: If Netflix or HBO was to come calling with a plan to develop an on-location film or miniseries based on one of the Kaldis novels, with which one would you suggest they commence? And in the unlikely event that you were consulted regarding the actors they ought to hire, play casting director for a moment.

JS: Funny you should mention that. Let’s just say that I don’t count my film deals — or leading actors — until they’re hatched. However, and hypothetically speaking, I’d say the place to start is with the first in the series, MURDER IN MYKONOS, because it plumbs the spirit of Greek islands in general, and Mykonos in particular, while establishing the personal integrity of Andreas Kaldis that carries forward throughout the series. As for lead actors, I’m so bad at that, but others have suggested Clive Owen or Bradley Cooper.

*****

Barbara Peters and Jeffrey Tiger had a conversation when he was at The Poisoned Pen. You can “attend the event” via this video.

Shelf Awareness Questions David R. Dow

Photo by Katya Dow

David R. Dow, the author of Confessions of an Innocent Man, a debut novel that is available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2GQL3vx

If you missed an earlier post, here is the summary of Confessions of an Innocent Man.

“Every person wrongfully convicted of a crime at some point dreams of getting revenge against the system.  In Confessions of an Innocent Man, the dream comes true and in a spectacular way.”—John Grisham, New York Times bestselling author of The Reckoning 

A thrillingly suspenseful debut novel, and a fierce howl of rage that questions the true meaning of justice.

Rafael Zhettah relishes the simplicity and freedom of his life. He is the owner and head chef of a promising Houston restaurant. A pilot with open access to the boundless Texas horizon. A bachelor, content with having few personal or material attachments that ground him. Then, lightning strikes. When he finds Tieresse—billionaire, philanthropist, sophisticate, bombshell—sitting at one of his tables, he also finds his soul mate and his life starts again. And just as fast, when she is brutally murdered in their home, when he is convicted of the crime, when he is sentenced to die, it is all ripped away. But for Rafael Zhettah, death row is not the end. It is only the beginning. Now, with his recaptured freedom, he will stop at nothing to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. 

This is a heart-stoppingly suspenseful, devastating, page-turning debut novel. A thriller with a relentless grip that wants you to read it in one sitting. David R. Dow has dedicated his life to the fight against capital punishment—to righting the horrific injustices of the death penalty regime in Texas. He delivers the perfect modern parable for exploring our complex, uneasy relationships with punishment and reparation in a terribly unjust world.

*****

Why am I bringing it up again. Dow was interviewed in Shelf Awareness earlier this week, and you might be interested in the reading that interview. https://bit.ly/2LjjVLi

But, if you want to see an excellent interview, check out the one from The Poisoned Pen’s event.

Like Lions – Hot Book of the Week

If you loved the multi-awarding winning book Bull Mountain, you’ll want to read the current Hot Book of the Week, Brian Panowich’s Like Lions. Panowich was just at The Poisoned Pen, so you can still pick up a signed copy of the book through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2XPK8Co

Here’s the description of Like Lions.

“Excellent . . . It’s the emotional complexity of Burroughs . . . as well as the brass knuckle punch of an ending that will have readers applauding. This is hillbilly noir at its finest.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

A powerful follow up to multiple award-winning debut Bull Mountain

Brian Panowich burst onto the crime fiction scene in 2015, winning awards and accolades from readers and critics alike for his smoldering debut, Bull Mountain. Now with Like Lions, he cements his place as one of the outstanding new voices in crime fiction.

Clayton Burroughs is a small-town Georgia sheriff, a new father, and, improbably, the heir apparent of Bull Mountain’s most notorious criminal family.

As he tries to juggle fatherhood, his job and his recovery from being shot in the confrontation that killed his two criminally-inclined brothers last year, he’s doing all he can just to survive. Yet after years of carefully toeing the line between his life in law enforcement and his family, he finally has to make a choice.

When a rival organization makes a first foray into Burroughs territory, leaving a trail of bodies and a whiff of fear in its wake, Clayton is pulled back into the life he so desperately wants to leave behind. Revenge is a powerful force, and the vacuum left by his brothers’ deaths has left them all vulnerable. With his wife and child in danger, and the way of life in Bull Mountain under siege for everyone, Clayton will need to find a way to bury the bloody legacy of his past once and for all.

Edgar Nominees in Conversation

Alafair Burke and Lori Rader-Day have both been Edgar Award nominees. Before this year’s ceremonies, they were at The Poisoned Pen where they had a conversation. Rader-Day led the conversation, interviewing Alafair Burke about her new book, The Better Sister. Rader-Day’s Under a Dark Sky came out last year, and was nominated for several awards. Burke’s books, including signed copies of The Better Sister, are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2GHPkkT



Here’s the description of The Better Sister.

Recommended by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Entertainment Weekly, Popsugar, Goodreads, CrimeReads, and BookBub.

Keep your enemies close and your sister closer.

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky—always restless and more than a little reckless—was the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed that both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

*****

Check the Web Store for copies of Lori Rader-Day’s award-winning and nominated books. https://bit.ly/2PyU6oQ

Here’s the summary of Under a Dark Sky.

From the critically-acclaimed author of The Day I Died comes a terrifying twist on a locked-room mystery that will keep readers guessing until the last page

Only in the dark can she find the truth . . .

Since her husband died, Eden Wallace’s life has diminished down to a tiny pinprick, like a far-off star in the night sky. She doesn’t work, has given up on her love of photography, and is so plagued by night terrors that she can’t sleep without the lights on. Everyone, including her family, has grown weary of her grief. So when she finds paperwork in her husband’s effects indicating that he reserved a week at a dark sky park, she goes. She’s ready to shed her fear and return to the living, even if it means facing her paralyzing phobia of the dark. 

But when she arrives at the park, the guest suite she thought was a private retreat is teeming with a group of twenty-somethings, all stuck in the orbit of their old college friendships. Horrified that her get-away has been taken over, Eden decides to head home the next day. But then a scream wakes the house in the middle of the night. One of the friends has been murdered. Now everyone—including Eden—is a suspect. 

Everyone is keeping secrets, but only one is a murderer. As mishaps continue to befall the group, Eden must make sense of the chaos and lies to evade a ruthless killer—and she’ll have to do it before dark falls.

*****

Two strong authors, discussing their strong female characters. You’ll really want to hear the conversation.

Jane Stanton Hitchcock in Conversation

Michael Barson recently had a conversation with Jane Stanton Hitchcock, author of Bluff. Hitchcock appeared at The Poisoned Pen on book tour, and signed copies of her latest book. You can still order signed copies of Bluff through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2YnF49C

Before the conversation, you might want to read the summary of Bluff.

“An irresistible social noir.” —New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein

There has never been a better time for revenge

One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she walks out again, a man will have been shot. 

Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and she uses her ability to fly under the radar as she pursues celebrity accountant Burt Sklar, the man she believes stole her mother’s fortune and left her family in ruins. Her fervent passion for poker has taught Maud that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her, and now she has dealt the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.

One unexpected twist after another follows as Maud plays the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff—and on who will fold.

Can she win?

A tale of deceit, seduction and revenge, perfect for fans of Mary Kubica and Jeffery Deaver!

Additional Praise for Bluff:
“This delicious novel of sweet revenge reveals, with wit and stylish vigor, a world ““ New York high society ““ that the author clearly knows intimately.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
“A smartly plotted upper-crust caper.”—Booklist

*****

Thanks to Michael Barson for sharing the conversation.

1)      BLUFF grew out of your own mastery of poker. In what ways did that iconic game inspire this crafty novel?

First of all, I would never say I had “mastered” poker.  If anything, the game is my master.  It’s taught me a lot about life and how to deal with adversity ““ namely, there’s no point in dwelling on bad luck or one’s mistakes.  Hard as it is, you sometimes have to say “Next Hand” and get on with it.  I also realized that at the poker table I was being underestimated just as I had been in life.  Players never expect an older woman to play anything but Old Lady Poker—just as the guy who swindled my mother out of millions of dollars never expected me to find out about his larceny and ultimately help put him in jail. 

When I made this connection I found a way into the book:  Combine being underestimated in life as well as in poker and then write a twisty tale of murder, revenge, and bluffing.  Hopefully the reader will be intrigued by the characters and swept up in the twists and turns of the story.  The book is one long poker hand with a Flop, a Turn, and the River.  As readers play the hand with me, I want them to be thinking:   “How the hell does she get out of this?”  Only one way:  Bluff!


2)      “Mad Maud” Warner is a complex character ““ and a timely one, given the fervor of feminism and the #MeToo movement. Do you see Maud as an everywoman of sorts?

As I say in the book, “Older women are invisible and we don’t even have to disappear.”  Power derived from supposed weakness is the primary theme of BLUFF. In the very first scene, Maud is able to escape because no one can fathom that a woman like her ““ an older, well-dressed socialite ““ could have had the balls to commit such a shocking crime in a posh and crowded restaurant. 

The book is told in two voices:  Maud’s own, as she recounts what lead her to commit murder; and the third person, which details the crime and its aftermath on all the people involved.  My hope is that the reader will be rooting for Maud as she explains what has led her to such violence and why she thinks she can possibly get away with it if she literally plays her cards right!  I guess she’s a #MeToo murderer! 


3)      You also satirize high society in BLUFF. Do you view humor as a tool for enlightenment?

I like what Abba Eban said:  “The upper crust is a bunch of crumbs held together by dough.”  I grew up in so-called “High Society” and, as I say in the book “money is a matter of luck and class is a matter of character.”  Maud knows she can trust some of her dicey poker playing pals much more than the “social” friends she’s known her entire life.  I also say:  “Money exaggerates who people are.  If you’re good you’ll be better, if you’re bad you’ll jump right down on the devil’s trampoline.”  A lot of people think having money makes them better than other people.  I like to aim my pen at such pretension and there’s no better way to do it than with humor. 

I’d have to be Dostoevsky to write my own family’s story without humor.  As the book shows, money doesn’t save anyone from addiction, swindling, and death.  In fact, money often makes things worse.  But there’s nothing more exasperating than self-pity.  So telling my family’s story was a challenge.  It took me nineteen drafts!  But the poker theme eventually helped me harness the humor in all the darkness.  

   
4)      In addition to being a novelist, you are also a playwright and screenwriter. In what ways do these disciplines inform one another? 

 Movies are really a directors’ medium so a writer is blessed if he/she has a good director.  Enough said.  Playwriting taught me about creating scenes and developing characters through dialogue.  In the theatre time on the stage grows more expensive with each minute.  You have to engage the audience.  Therefore, you always have to ask yourself:  What’s at stake?  Why should people care about these characters, this situation?  You have a captive audience sitting there waiting for things to develop in a finite amount of time.  The novel has no such constraints.  But I confess, I love a good, twisty plot. I like every scene to further the story but I also think it’s important for the reader not to be one jump ahead of me.  It’s when surprise meets inevitability that I feel I’ve done my job.  I want my readers to say:  Wow I didn’t see that coming, but now it all makes sense! 

I try to give the reader a sense of place without overloading the description.  Action is character and I really like writing dialogue, putting myself into all the characters ““ the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It’s fun to create a good villain and more fun to see the villain get his/her comeuppance.  But in my books, there is usually an anti-heroine who is, herself, operating in an amoral sphere.  In Bluff, I want my audience to be complicit in Maud’s revenge and root for her to earn it.

 5)      Who were the crime authors whose books had most influenced you at the time you decided to enter the field yourself? 

To be honest, I didn’t know I was entering the field when I wrote Trick of the Eye.  I thought of the book as literally a trompe l’oeil canvas for the readers who are led to believe they are looking at a simple whodunit when, in fact, the real picture is about a dark acquisition.  I was thrilled when mystery lovers liked it and it was nominated for both the Edgar and the Hammett Prize.  I think those fans made me realize I had a mind for murder!

The writers who most influenced me at that time were Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Edgar Allan Poe, and Daphne du Maurier.

The Talented Mr. Ripley has been a favorite book of mine since I first read it and got pulled down into Highsmith’s amoral rabbit hole from the very first page.  

Ruth Rendell’s, A Judgement in Stone is a brilliant book.  Again, dealing in the amoral and the power of ignorance.

I’ve always worshiped Poe, even though I’m claustrophobic!  Poe is quite simply a genius who brilliantly concretized all the darkest fears of the human heart.  He writes about the soul of a murder.  His stories are fresher than ever today.  Sometimes I think we are all living a version of “The Mask of Red Death.”

6)  Having now returned to the world of crime fiction after a nine-year hiatus, did you notice any change in your writing approach versus your technique from years back?


A writer never really stops writing.  During this nine-year hiatus, I was working on three three books while trying to sort out a difficult family situation.  As a writer, I was always used to being an observer of social life.  Writing took me away from my problems.  

However, with Bluff, I’m not only an observer but a real participant in the story, which is what made it so difficult for me to write.  It was painful to look back on the ruins of our family.   So I would work on it, then put it away and work on the other books.  I knew if I ever published Bluff I’d have to get the tone just right because I hate self-pity.  

In writing Bluff, I came to realize how blessed I’ve been.  I remembered the words of my stepfather who always said:  “Anything you can buy with money is cheap.”  That lightened things up for me and made me think:  Okay—humor and murder is the only way to go!  


I often wish I did have a “technique” because then I might have a road map of some sort.  As it is, I write until my characters take over the story.  Of the three books I was working on, Maud in Bluff took over the story in a singular way.  It took me nineteen drafts to get her story just right.  I just hope I succeeded.      

Recap – John Sandford & Neon Prey

Did you miss John Sandford’s appearance at The Poisoned Pen when he was here with his twenty-ninth Lucas Davenport book, Neon Prey? You can still pick up a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2XKpm7l

Here’s the description of Neon Prey.

Lucas Davenport tracks a prolific serial killer in the newest nail-biter by #1New York Times-bestselling author John Sandford.

Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don’t much care about a low-level guy–it’s his boss they want–but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation.

Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese’s rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves.

Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and–as Davenport will come to find–full of surprises . . .

*****

Even better, here’s the link to John Sandford’s conversation with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen.

Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries

If you are a fan of Kerry Greenwood’s mysteries featuring Phryne Fisher, or the TV shows, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, you might want to watch for the spin-off series, Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. The new series debuts on Acorn TV on Monday, April 29. In the meantime, you can always order copies of the books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2JfL7W5

Here’s Acorn TV’s description of the new series.

When the famous aunt she never knew, Phryne Fisher, goes missing over the highlands of New Guinea, the gorgeously reckless Peregrine Fisher (Geraldine Hakewill, Wanted) inherits a windfall. Peregrine sets out to become a world-class private detective in her own right, aided by the handsome, straitlaced Detective James Steed (Joel Jackson) and with the unerring guidance of The Adventuresses’ Club, a group of exceptional women of which her celebrated aunt was a member. A natural rule breaker, Peregrine is fearless, fun, and charmingly down-to-earth, as well as having a keen instinct for solving crimes. With newfound wealth and The Adventuresses to hone her rough edges and become the family she’s never had, Peregrine is unstoppable.

You can check out the trailer.