Author: patyjag

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.

Decisions, Decisions by Paty Jager

~ patyjag ~ 10 Comments

I’ve been contemplating whether or not to write books out of sequence since my trip to Iceland.

The trip started out as fun way to see Iceland with other authors, but the more I thought about it, I decided to set a Gabriel Hawke book there. However, the next book in the series has already been mentioned in the last Hawke book, so I have to make sure it comes next….

But…I believe I need to write the Iceland book while it is all still fresh in my mind. One day while the tour group was having lunch, I sat with our guide, Ragnor, and asked him questions about the best way to bring my Fish and Wildlife State Trooper with Master Tracker credentials to Iceland, other than a vacation. He would never travel that far for a vacation. He would stay close to home and perhaps even stay with his mother on the reservation.

Ragnor didn’t see him coming to any conference or event that would be put on by the Icelandic police. He did say that they had a very active Search and Rescue program. *boom* That is how I will have Hawke be in Iceland. He will be doing a training on tracking for the search and rescue. I even brainstormed his superior’s sister is married to an Icelander and they are living in Reykjavik.

I still have to do the research on their Search and Rescue program and put together the who and why of the murder he’ll get involved in. But the pieces are slowly coming together and I’m getting excited to write the book.

While we were out driving around on the tour, I took tons of photos (that are a bit blurry) of businesses and things that I will mention to give the feeling of the country to the book. And good photos of the place I think will work for Hawke to take his workshop outside to do some tracking. That will be when they discover a body.

Once Hawke starts on a trail, he can’t quit. Upping the stakes, the main suspect will be the nephew of his boss back in the states. Hawke is loyal. He’ll do everything in his power to make sure they find the real killer.

So my decision? Even though it will put the next Hawke book further out on a publish date, I’m leaning toward writing the Iceland book now.

What do you think? Good plan or could it backfire in my face since there hasn’t been a Hawke book out since March and the next one may not be until the end of the year?

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Guest Blogger- Susan Cory

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

How I come up with the plots for my amateur sleuth mystery series.

Have you ever wondered what could happen if you didn’t totally wipe your hard drive before getting rid of your old computer? Or what could happen if any of the blank checks sent by credit cards fell into the wrong hands?

I live in a close-knit community in Cambridge, Ma. Most of us know Joe, our long-time mail deliverer, and he knows us. So when Joe was instructed to forward a certain household’s mail to an address in a neighboring town, he knew that the family hadn’t moved. He alerted the police who discovered a ring of con artists who were diverting people’s mail in order to steal their identities and checks.

While this scam was coming to light, I was busy trying to figure out how to get rid of my old computer.  Some computer stores and charities advertise that they’ll remove your personal information before recycling your old equipment, but what if one of their employees is less than honest?

These two ideas came together to suggest a plot for my third book in the Iris Reid mystery series, DOPPELGANGER. A family of grifters uses Iris Reid’s stolen identity to commit a crime. While stripping Iris’ data off of her old computer, Rosica Bakalov, notices her own striking resemblance to this new “mark”. She becomes fascinated with Iris and starts to stalk her. Meanwhile, Iris, out on bail, is desperate to pick up her doppellgänger’s trail before her case goes to trial.

Kirkus reviews says: “The plot becomes more unnerving as it progresses, and an impressive twist leads to a lengthy final act featuring Rosica (the Doppelgänger) at her most ferocious…Cory’s concise prose establishes a consistent pace that never wavers, and even her descriptions of architecture are exhilarating. An engagingly nerve-wracking tale with gradually escalating suspense.”

I’d love to know how YOU get rid of your old computers, and also, what you think of DOPPELGANGER.

By the way, my husband smashed my hard drive with a hammer before I took my last computer to be recycled. I wasn’t taking any chances…

Let me know on my author’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorsusancory

or check out my author’s website: http://www.susancory.com/

CONUNDRUM, FACADE and DOPPELGANGER are all available here:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V2LWNX/

Susan Cory is the author of the Iris Reid mystery series of Conundrum, Façade and Doppelgänger. She is a member of Sisters in Crime National, a local member of Sisters in Crime New England, and a regular attendee at Crime Bake. Like her sleuth, she is a residential architect practicing out of her turreted office in Cambridge. Also, like Iris Reid, she has a brown belt in karate. She lives in Cambridge with her architect husband and a bossy mutt.

It’s Audio Book Month by Paty Jager

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Do you like to listen to audio books? I have become a fan of them both as a writer and a listener.

I just finished the second book in Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s , Thora Gudmundsdottir series. They are classified as suspense, but I really enjoyed the humor that makes the suspense/ supernatural undertones not so real. LOL I know, I’m a wimp when it comes to scary. But I have to say the first two books in the series were really good.

I think what made them so good was the narrator. I loved her pauses and attitude when narrating. She had the right amount of “drama” for lack of a better word to make the books really come to life.

That’s what I’m hoping to find on my quest for a narrator for my Gabriel Hawke books. 

I have been making audio books with the talented Ann M. Thompson. You can find the first 9 books in the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries in audio book.

I’ve requested auditions from two male narrators to begin putting the Gabriel Hawke novels into audio. This will probably be harder to find a narrator than the Shandra books were.

Ann had the warm tone I envisioned as Shandra’s, but of all the men who were suggested from my description of what I wanted for Hawke’s voice, there were only two who seemed close to what I was looking for. I’m interested in hearing their auditions of the first chapter of Murder of Ravens to see if they capture how I see him and the tone of the books.

Making an audio book isn’t hard, but it is stressful and time consuming. Stressful in hoping you pick the best representative of your book to narrate it and at a price you can afford.

Time consuming is going through the book to make sure it will read well, then picking out words that the narrator may need guidance with pronunciation. Then it’s listening to the chapters as the narrator sends them to you and making sure your book is well represented without you driving the narrator nuts with changes. But you are paying them and they should be willing to work with you to make your book its best.

Do you enjoy listening to books on tape? What makes a good audio book for you? Narrator or how well the characters are portrayed?

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New Member

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To fill in the fifth Monday of the month, I’ll introduce you to our new member.

We were sorry to see Sally Carpenter leave the Ladies of Mystery, but I’m excited to say I found some to take over her day.

Lisa Leoni is a writer I’ve known for many years. I met her when we were both members of the Salem, Oregon chapter of Romance Writers of America. We roomed together at a conference and spent time together being officers of the chapter.

I moved on from RWA and began working on writing mysteries, not realizing Lisa was too. When I discovered she is writing mystery books, and then Sally said she’d like to step down from the blog, I immediately thought Lisa would make a good addition.

Lisa will have her first post on this blog next Monday, the first Monday of every month. I look forward to hearing what she’ll have to add to the blog.

Here is her bio: Lisa has found a way to combine her lifelong love for happily ever afters and her (un?)healthy fascination with crime by writing cozy mysteries. She writes cozies set in her own backyard of the Willamette Valley of Oregon and writes contemporary romances set in Scotland. When she’s not plotting ways to murder people, she’s being herded by her ginger cats and juggles a dozen craft projects.

Welcome, Lisa!

TODAY IS MEMORIAL DAY by Marilyn Meredith

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

Because it’s long holiday weekend, too many forget this is the day to remember all those who gave up their lives in wars for our freedom. My husband served 20 years in the Sea Bees, including 3 tours in Vietnam. We were fortunate as he came home to us, unlike so many other families who suffered great losses.

Though my husband loved his time serving his country, it wasn’t so pleasant for me. We had a big family—ultimately five children. Often, I was the only parent at home.

There was never enough money. I got my monthly allotment check and I had to buy food for the whole month and budget wisely. There were times I went to work to supplement our income. Usually I ended up splitting whatever I made with the babysitter.

The only reason I decided to share the above information, is that there are many military families still going through separation and not enough money. At this time, we have two family members who are married to service men and have children. I believe the pay is better than what it was during my time as a military wife—but I sincerely doubt that it’s enough. And for those who’ve lost their husbands (or in some cases, wives), I’m willing to bet besides the emotional struggle there are monetary ones too.

Yes, I know that is neither writing nor mystery related, just something I felt compelled to share.

At this time, I’ve been busily planning three book signings—one in my little mountain community at a local coffee/sandwich shop, one in the closest city in a wonderful chocolate store, and one at a museum in Tehachapi—the setting for Spirit Wind. This is the latest in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series.

Fortunately, Spirit Windhas received some great reviews.

Marilyn

Available in trade paperback and on Kindle.