Writing in the new year

By Sally Carpenter

In the Ladies of Mystery rotation, my post is always the first one each month, which means I get to kick off the new year. I’ve made my 2019 writing resolutions.

First off, I have a 90-minute presentation in March as part of the University Series, a program of adult education classes held in the local Catholic parishes during Lent. I gave a talk two years ago on the nature of evil and crime, and it was well received. This time I’ll be speaking about the portions of scripture that are found in the Catholic but not Protestant Bibles. Some of the stories are mystery-related!

The book of Daniel, chapter 14, has perhaps the world’s earliest locked-room mystery. In a temple to the idol Bal, the priests left food and drink each night. They would leave, lock the door, and the following morning the food would be gone. So the idol must have eaten the food, right?

One night, after the food was placed in the temple and everyone had left, Daniel spread ashes on the floor. The next day, footprints were seen in the ashes. Caught in the act, the priests revealed a secret door that they used to enter the room during the night and take the food.

The story in Daniel chapter 13 has a #MeToo vibe. Two prominent men lusted after a married woman named Susanna. One day they found her alone in a garden and tried to assault her. She resisted and screamed. In an effort to punish her, the men told the townsfolk Susanna had a lover, although she insisted she was innocent of the charge.

Daniel questioned the men individually, and their stories did not match. When asked about the type of tree where Susanna met her alleged lover, the men give different descriptions, and so their accusation was proven false.

As for my mystery writing: My last Sandy Fairfax book was released two years ago, so I need to get that series up to speed.

In 2018 year I wrote a new short story about Sandy to add to the reprint of “The Baffled Beatlemanic Caper.” However, my publisher said the story made the book too long.

What should I do with my leftover story? I considered selling it as a stand-alone on Amazon, but a reader said she didn’t have an ereader. If I wrote three or four more stories with the same character, I could bundle all of them into one print book/ebook.

The stories will involve Sandy’s family members and his girlfriend with more attention given to the family dynamics. Each story takes place in a different setting, but the trick is to keep Sandy’s detection work from getting repetitive—talking to the same types of people and finding the same sorts of clues. The plan is to finish the anthology by the end of the year.

Next up for 2020 is the “Flower Power Fatality” sequel, tentatively titled “Hippie Haven Homicide.” After all, one can’t have a series with only one book. A guru and his counter-culture followers invade the sleepy town of Yuletide, Indiana.

This year my local library is starring a monthly writers’ group for adults. I’m scheduled to speak to the group in March. So far I have no other writer appearances set for 2019. While I enjoy participating in such events, they don’t result in book sales. Spending hours on a presentation and then to sell one book at the event is not the best use of my time. But I’m open to the right opportunities.

I also getting things in order so I can attend Bouchercon in Sacrament in 2020.

Meanwhile, I’ll still be posting on Ladies of Mystery and writing my Roots of Faith newspaper column.

On a personal note, my cat is old. Will I be breaking in a new cat this year? Or will I be cat-free for a while? Stay tuned . . .