Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 50 + novels, novellas, and short stories of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
I wasn’t a child who thought too much about the future. At least not beyond my own desires. There was a time when I wrote a story about being a writer and living on the Oregon Coast in a renovated barn. I would have two tigers as my pets. If you’ve ever read the “Cat Who” books by Lillian Jackson Braun, you know that the protagonist, Qwilleran, made walkways for his cats in his home. This was how I saw my barn, only the funny thing is, I’d never read one of the “Cat Who” books until later. When I did, it was deja vue and my mind went right back to that story I’d written in Jr. High
While I had dreams of being a writer as a teenager, it wasn’t until I had children that I decided to fulfill that dream. I started writing mystery. It was the genre I loved to read. But after two books and a bad start with finding help to make my books better, I segued into romance.
Three years ago, I decided to write what I had always wanted to write. I am a better writer, I’ve had enough classes on craft, and still read murder mystery books. I could do this. And I did.
The best part about how much I enjoy writing the mysteries, are the reader/fan emails I receive. All the years I wrote romance, I think I had a half dozen readers comment on how they enjoyed reading my books. With mystery, I receive something every week!
And a friend who has been with me on my road to becoming published, says my true voice comes out in my mysteries. It took me nearly 30 years to get back to the genre I love best, but I am here and I plan to stay writing murder mystery until my hands are so gnarled I can’t type anymore. 😉
As a writer, did you start with mystery or did you start in another genre? As a reader, have you always read mystery or did you discover it recently?
Oh, and the fresh perspective in the new year? I am only writing mystery. I’ve put writing romance books aside, so the mysteries can come faster!
Historical mysteries are travel literature with a kick. You get to visit a different locale, exploring a distant place AND era. New vistas, new sensations: you want to experience it all and, to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, you don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
I’m the kind of writer who needs to immerse myself in a setting. The third book in my noir series takes place in Saigon, circa 1957, and builds off my favorite Graham Greene novel: Banished from the set of The Quiet American, actress Cara Walden stumbles onto a communist insurgency—and discovers her brother’s young Vietnamese lover right in the thick of it. How could I get myself to Asia?
Lecturing on the ship.
It turns out that luxury cruise lines are always looking for guest lecturers. I put together a a film and lecture series for Silversea entitled “Asia Through Hollywood’s Eyes,” a romp through classic movies featuring Asian characters and stories. From Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan through Cato in the Pink Panther series, pre-Code gems like Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich (“It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily”) and the ever-fascinating Anna May Wong, beloved epics including The Good Earth and Bridge on the River Kwai, musicals including The King and I along with the best-forgotten Road to Singapore not to mention masterpieces based on Somerset Maugham stories and featuring the best leading ladies out there: The Painted Veil (Garbo), Rain (Joan Crawford), The Letter (Bette Davis).
Tai Chi with William
Okay, it took me the better part of a summer to research and write the lectures. I had to watch all the films (poor me . . .) and learn how to rip DVDs to make clips to embed in my presentations. I had to upgrade my wardrobe and get my bridge game back up to snuff. But October 17, 2015 found me at the five-star InterContinental Hotel in Hong Kong, doing Tai Chi by the pool with William to get the kinks out of my body after the nineteen-hour flight. Then I boarded the ship for the eleven-day all-expenses-paid cruise to Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Singapore and ports in-between. The highlights of my trip included tagging along as a chaperone on a tour of Hue, retracing Graham Greene’s footsteps through Saigon, and visiting the palace and temple grounds of the King of Siam, followed by a very expensive mojito in Somerset Maugham’s favorite watering hole, Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental.
What an adventure!
The Glass Forest
A Cara Welden Mystery
Saigon, 1957: Banished from the set of The Quiet American, actress Cara Walden stumbles onto a communist insurgency-and discovers her brother’s young Vietnamese lover right in the thick of it. A bittersweet story of love and betrayal set in the early years of American involvement in the country, Lisa Lieberman’s tribute to Graham Greene shows us a Vietnam already simmering with discontent.
Lisa Lieberman writes the Cara Walden series of historical mysteries based on old movies and featuring blacklisted Hollywood people on the lam in dangerous international locales. Her books hit the sweet spot between Casablanca and John le Carré. Trained as a modern European cultural and intellectual historian, Lieberman abandoned a perfectly respectable academic career for the life of a vicarious adventurer through perilous times. She has written extensively on postwar Europe and lectures locally on efforts to come to terms with the trauma of the Holocaust in film and literature. She is Vice President of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime and a member of Mystery Writers of America.
Happy Holidays, Everyone! If you are American, I hope you enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving. Whether it was with, family, friends, or time to yourself. And now we are approaching another holiday. I’m not sure how many cultures have a holiday in December, but for my family it is Christmas.
I enjoy learning about other cultures. If you are celebrating something besides Christmas, I’d love to know a bit about it. Please comment below.
If I had the money and the time, I would love to be a world traveler. In High School I loved World Geography. Our teacher had been to a lot of places so he could give us information that you don’t get from text books. He made learning about other people and cultures exciting. I think that, and my infatuation with the Nez Perce band that lived in the county where I grew up, is why I like to have Native American characters in my mystery books. I can show people a past they may not know about and a culture they have only seen stereotyped.
I’m excited about the book I’m writing now and the one that I will be writing after this one. They are both set in the places I visited this year. I’ll get to add in the cultures I experienced and have my characters see similarities with their lives.
Right now, I’m pleased to say that the 4th Gabriel Hawke book has released. It is available in ebook and print.
Chattering Blue Jay
Killer on the loose.
Tracking Rivalry.
Revenge could get them killed.
Fish and Wildlife Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is set to teach a class at a Search and Rescue conference in Idaho when a dangerous inmate breaks out of prison. It is believed the man is headed to Hells Canyon.
Hawke is enlisted to find the escapee. He’s paired with a boastful tracker who doesn’t follow directions, making them both targets.
Before the dust settles, the other tracker is dead and Hawke is twisting in the wind for letting the possible killer get away.
The first book in this series, Murder of Ravens, is also available in audiobook.
Book 1 of Gabriel Hawke series
The ancient Indian art of tracking is his greatest strength…
And his biggest weakness.
Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke believes he’s chasing poachers.
However, he comes upon a wildlife biologist standing over a body that is wearing a wolf tracking collar.
He uses master tracker skills taught to him by his Nez Perce grandfather to follow clues on the mountain. Paper trails and the whisper of rumors in the rural community where he works, draws Hawke to a conclusion that he finds bitter.
Arresting his brother-in-law ended his marriage, could solving this murder ruin a friendship?
I’m a romance author. Historical western, contemporary, even a little erotic; romance is my genre. So, imagine my surprise – and frankly, horror – when I awoke one morning with the idea for a mystery rolling around in my brain. At first, I wasn’t sure of the intricacies of the story. Would it be a thriller? A police procedural? Crime fiction? I sat down, opened a new Word doc, began typing, and that’s when it became clear – cozy mystery. The genre had chosen me.
Writing a cozy mystery is worlds apart from penning a romance, but I dove in, repeatedly reminding myself that the focus of the story was not the romantic interaction between my main character and her love interest, but rather the clues and intrigue leading the pair to solve the mystery. And that’s where the fun began. As a new-to-me genre, I harbored no preconceived notions about how to write the story; instead, I allowed the words to tumble onto the page at will, each one building on the next to thicken the plot and guide the characters to discover not only the who, but the why, how, and where.
On the subject of characters, their development in my cozy mystery – it’s titled Finn-agled, by the way – came about differently than how I usually create them. I’d explain it if I could, but even as an author, I don’t know exactly how to put into words the process. They simply originated in my brain in their own unique way and demanded that I bring them alive on the page. They’re pesky, that way.
If interrogated, and under threat of never again being allowed access to my Netflix password, I’d admit that certain aspects of Finn Bartusiak’s personality (she’s the main character and star of the show) mirror my own. She lives in a seaside town (I grew up three miles from the ocean), she’s quirky, fiercely loyal to those she loves, her hair frizzes in humid weather, and she has more than her share of ‘squirrel’ moments.
What was I saying?
Oh, right; our similarities. Like Finn, I adore a great pierogi – though I’m only half-Polish and she’s full-blooded – and we both own Basset Hounds who are follicly-challenged. And, while the most complex mystery I’ve ever solved was locating my keys, I like to think that should one present itself, I’d be up to the challenge. How hard can it be?
To my faithful readers who love romance, not to worry. My romantic streak is firmly intact (I have several ideas for future romance stories floating around in my gray matter), but now that cozies have taken hold, it’s safe to say they’re not going anywhere either.
After all, the genre did choose me. 😊
Finn-agled
A secret message hidden inside of an antique wooden box, an unidentified dead body, and a mother determined to marry her off to the high school crush whom she hasn’t seen since…well…high school. There’s no doubt about it; Finn Bartusiak’s life in the seaside town of Port New is about to get interesting.
Coming into possession of a 19th-century, bronze and mahogany writing box under somewhat suspicious circumstances, Finn’s accidental discovery of a coded note leads her and Spencer Dane, bestselling novelist and love of her life (though he doesn’t know it yet), on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the jumble of letters. But they’re not the only ones interested in the cryptic message. There’s a con man on their trail, and he’ll stop at nothing, including murder, to claim the ‘treasure’ for himself.
It wasn’t until later in life that Kristine Raymond figured out what she wanted to be when she grew up, an epiphany that occurred in 2013 when she sat down and began writing her first book. Sixteen books in multiple genres later, she’s added the title of podcasting host to her resume, thus assuring that she will never be idle.
When a spare moment does present itself, she fills it by navigating the publishing and promotional side of the business. When not doing that, she spends time with her husband and furbabies (not necessarily in that order), reads, or binge-watches Netflix.
Mystery novels have always delighted and intrigued me. From
the Bobbsey Twins straight through to Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, I prided
myself on following the clues, identifying the miscreant, and serving justice
by solving the crime. What a challenge to match wits and triumph over wily
authors who salted their prose with red herrings and misdirection! Cozy
mysteries, police procedurals, private eyes and thrillers—I devoured them all.
When former colleagues at that alphabet government agency asked about future
plans, I had but one answer: I will write mystery novels!
Like many readers, I felt bereft
when literary characters I had grown to love suddenly vanished. After all, I’d
spent a good deal of time with them and established a sense of intimacy. They
were friends. Family even. Thus, I became enamored of mystery series where the
saga continued with each novel. In these books, Spencer and Susan (not to
mention that dishy HAWK) lived on; Lord Peter and Harriet nourished their relationship;
Emerson and Amelia Peabody flourished in an exotic land where adventure and
danger lurked, and Dr. Alex Cross kept the streets of DC reasonably safe.
My first three published novels
were stand alones featuring smart, sassy heroines matched by equally desirable
partners. As each saga ended, I felt a tug of sadness. These lovingly crafted
children of my mind had slipped forever into the abyss never to reappear. I
missed them. Ultimately the urge to write a series was born. The Creature
Comfort series sprang from my experience in the dog show world. While trudging
across the North East with my Belgian Tervuren, I became painfully aware of how
easily thwarted ambition, snubs and extra-curricula hijinks could lead to
murder. Tennyson’s famed observation about “…nature red in tooth and claw…” was
on open display but not from canines. Show dogs are bound by strict behavioral
standards, so my Lord Byron and his comrades repressed their baser instincts.
Their human companions sometimes did not. Bared teeth, growls and nips were
common fare on that menu and became my inspiration for Death by Dog Show, followed closely by Homicide by Horse Show and Murder
at the Falls.
I modeled my protagonist Persephone
Morgan on the master leather-smith and dog breeder who produced Lord Byron.
Smart, snarky and independent, Perri keeps one eye on the bottom line and the
other on the odd assortment of friends and neighbors who surround her. She
loves all animals, is a steadfast friend and an implacable foe with a weakness for
a certain little girl and her toothsome dad. Perri, the kind of friend we all
seek and seldom find, is a sleuth in the proud tradition of Amelia Peabody with
a touch of Harriet Vane. Some purists resist the idea of a cozy character with
emotional and physical needs. I celebrate a flesh and blood woman who can solve
crimes while finding balance in her own life.
HOMICIDE BY HORSE SHOW
Leathersmith Persephone “Perri
Morgan makes the kind of beautiful custom leashes and saddles that make wealthy
dog and horse show lovers swoon – until murder strides onto the course…
When Perri’s BFF Babette hosts a meeting of Fairfax County’s
affluent animal lovers to save a local horse rescue farm, the agenda gets
sidetracked by the discovery of a corpse in the master bedroom. Everyone
present is a suspect, including Perri’s main squeeze, Wing Pruett-Washington,
DC’s sexiest reporter.
While Perri scours local horse and dog shows hoping to
unmask the killer, she uncovers band manners, infidelity, and low-level crime
in her hunt for the killer- but what she can’t find are grounds for murder.
When the killer strikes again and she gets a warning to stop her sleuthing,
Perri has to muster all her training-and all her allies, human and animal
alike-to make it out of the ring alive.
Praise for Arlene Kay’s Boston Uncommons Mysteries
‘Reminiscent of the comedy-mystery movies of the
thirties…An entertaining first entry into the Boston Uncommons Mystery series
New York Journal of
Books on Swann Dive
“Highly entertaining…I can’t wait for the next book”
Jaye Roycraft, author
Rainscape
An artful combination of humor, satire and savagery make Arlene Kay’s tales unique. The published author of nine mystery novels, is a former Treasury executive who traded the trappings of bureaucracy for the delights of murder most foul. She wisely confines her crimes to fiction although like all mystery writers she firmly believes that most deaths are suspicious, and everyone is a suspect. Her Creature Comforts series from Kensington (lyrical), includes Death by Dog Show; Homicide by Horseshow; and Therapy by Murder.
Ladies of Mystery 
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