Category: murder mystery

Guest Blogger ~ Carmen Amato

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

Writing the Only Woman in the Room

“Beat it,” Silvio said.

He shoved both Castro and Gomez aside and came into the office. He slammed the door and pressed his back against it.

“I never wanted a woman detective in here.” Silvio was a big man and if he wanted to make Emilia feel trapped, he was succeeding. “I’ll do everything I can to f**k you over until you quit.”

Emilia couldn’t help but laugh. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Silvio gave a start, obviously not expecting her to say that.

When I wrote this dramatic moment in Cliff Diver, the first Detective Emilia Cruz thriller set in Acapulco, Silvio’s dialogue was already scripted.

I’d already been there and done that.

An identical conversation occurred when I worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. About five years into my career, I moved to a new office, recruited by a manager trying to breathe new life into a stodgy team of PhD analysts. All male, as was our manager.

“Pete” was assigned as my mentor. This gave him ample opportunities to sabotage my work. When I finally confronted him, he confessed that he’d never worked with a woman before, didn’t want to work with one now and would do everything he could to get me to leave.

He delivered his threat as if he expected to shock me. I couldn’t help but laugh and deliver  the same line that Detective Emilia Cruz would say years later in fiction.

Long since retired, I recently recalled the encounter when recording an episode of the Amato2Berrick Crime Conversations on YouTube with UK crime writer Jane Harvey-Berrick (Dead Water, Dead Reckoning) for our buddy read of The Trespasser by Tana French.

In The Trespasser, Antoinette Conway is the only female police detective on the Dublin Murder Squad. She’s convinced that all her male colleagues are out to get her.

Her point of view is a soul-eating combination of rage, paranoia and scorn. In every situation, Antoinette is looking for a fight, whether physical, verbal or emotional.

In contrast, Detective Emilia Cruz follows the pragmatic approach I took during my CIA career when I was the only woman in the room. A tiny minority of male co-workers acted like jerks and had to be dealt with, the faster the better. Like me, Emilia stands up for herself.

Although she grew up on Acapulco’s streets and knows how to use her fists, Emilia isn’t propelled by rage like Antoinette.

  In Barracuda Bay, the ninth and latest release in the series, the chief of police is the jerk who doesn’t want Emilia in the room.

In the series’ prequel, Made in Acapulco, he was loath to shake her hand at a badge ceremony. Fast forward a few fictional years and Emilia wants to get married. It’s the chief’s chance to boot her off the force.

Even worse, the chief recruits her former partner and current boss to help.

And who is the former partner and current boss? You guessed it. The very same Lieutenant Silvio who gave her such a rough time in the first book in the series, Cliff Diver.

In Barracuda Bay, the plot against Emilia unfolds after she finds a woman’s body in a derelict building. The murder case is explosive—the victim is the mayor’s sister, and election season is heating up.

Meanwhile, the crime scene holds secrets. The building once housed a covert government operation targeting a brutal drug lord that went sideways.

Before Emilia can zero in on her prime murder suspect, she’s dispatched to Washington, DC where she becomes a target of killers disguised as cops. Alone and desperate, Emilia is caught in a lethal web of corruption, betrayal, and political intrigue.

Barracuda Bay adds a heady dose of tension to Emilia’s situation as the only woman in the room. As one reviewer wrote: “The hits keep on coming as Detective Cruz is spun through a whirlwind that links cartels, crooks, and various government agencies.”

Before I sign off, you might be wondering what happened to “Pete.”

Six months after our confrontation, he left the CIA because his wife got a job in another state. He’d be a house husband until he found a job there.

Ironic, right? I couldn’t have written a better ending.

Barracuda Bay

Political corruption turns Acapulco’s first female police detective into a fugitive on the run in Washington DC.

“A thrilling series” — National Public Radio

In a derelict building for sale, Acapulco police detective Emilia Cruz stumbles on the body of a woman brutally shot to death. Incredibly, the victim was the sister of Acapulco’s ambitious mayor, who is running for re-election against an opponent with deep pockets.

The victim’s ex-boyfriend has a suspiciously weak alibi but is the crime scene the key to finding the murderer? The building was once used for a secret Mexican government operation targeting a ruthless drug lord.

Meanwhile, there’s a conspiracy within the police department to force Emilia out.

Before Emilia can save her job or arrest her prime suspect, she’s sent on an errand of mercy to Washington, DC. There she becomes a fugitive hunted by killers masquerading as cops. Alone, desperate and on the run, Emilia turns for help to a human trafficker she once vowed to murder. Her brother.

From Acapulco’s beaches to the streets of Washington, DC, the stakes couldn’t be higher in this electrifying, page-turning thriller.

2019 and 2020 Poison Cup award, Outstanding Series – CrimeMasters of America

BUY:

Amazon: https://geni.us/barracuda2025

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/barracuda-bay-carmen-amato/1146877496

Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Barracuda-Bay/Carmen-Amato/9798989140374

Carmen Amato is the award-winning author of 18 mysteries and thrillers, including the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pitting the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico’s cartels, corruption, and social inequality. Starting with Cliff Diver, the series is a back-to-back winner of the Poison Cup Award for Outstanding Series from CrimeMasters of America. Optioned for television, National Public Radio hailed it as “A thrilling series.”

Her Galliano Club historical fiction thrillers include Murder at the Galliano Club, which won the 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical.

Her standalone thrillers include The Hidden Light of Mexico City, which was longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award.

A 30-year veteran of the CIA where she focused on technical collection and counterdrug issues, Carmen is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal. A judge for the BookLife Prize and Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award, her essays have appeared in Criminal Element, Publishers Weekly, and other national publications. She writes the popular Mystery Ahead newsletter on Substack.

Originally from upstate New York, after years of globe-trotting she and her husband enjoy life in Tennessee.

Website: https://carmenamato.net/links

Substack: https://mysteryahead.substack.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/authorcarmenamato

Instagram: https://instagram.com/authorcarmenamato

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Carmen-Amato/author/B007UA1J8U

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6154479.Carmen_Amato

Email: carmen@carmenamato.net

Guest Blogger ~ Laury A. Egan

~ patyjag

Our guest Laury A. Egan answered interview questions.

1. Why you write the genre you do?

Good question! Though my dominant genre is psychological suspense/crime fiction, I also have written and published literary titles, comedy, romance, and a few children’s stories. In other words, I write the book that comes to me rather than focus on specific genres. Psychological suspense is indeed a favorite, however, and was originally inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s books in which she usually features a sociopath and does so with gleeful enthusiasm. (It is my suspicion that she herself fell into this sociopathic category). I also find that “bad guys” make for fascinating studies and Fair Haven has its share and some “bad girls” as well.

2. How did you came up with the mystery/murder/premise in the book you are promoting?

Actually, this was my first novel, one I began when I bought my first computer in the mid-80s. I made some headway then, but life got in the way as it often does (actually a new romantic relationship and a house move), and I delayed work for a few years. When the relationship flamed out in spectacular fashion, I moved nearer my parents on the coast of New Jersey, and though still working full time as a book designer and photographer, I picked up Fair Haven and finished a first draft. But once again life intruded so the manuscript was shelved into the closet. Finally, I began another novel, Jenny Kidd, inspired by Highsmith and set in Venice, and thus began a series of new books until my new and delightful publisher, Andrew May of Spectrum Books in London, began accepting my manuscripts at a furious pace, publishing four books in thirteen months. Once he cleared my desk and closets, I looked around and saw Fair Haven, but oh, my, it was a mess! Plot errors, amateur formatting, and tons of mistakes. It took me forever to whip this complicated, yet intriguing, novel into shape…which hopefully I did!  

3. How you came up with the main character in your book or series?

The cast of Fair Haven is generously large, but probably the most significant character is the forensic photographer, Chris Clarke, a handsome woman who is involved with Kate, a primary suspect in the murder. Because of my own background as a professional photographer, it was an easy task to handle the details of Chris’ work. She also lives by the river in the neighboring town of Fair Haven, and owns a sailboat, which I also did in my younger days. Chris has an obstreperous beagle who rules the house—Cagney is modeled on my own dog. He often steals the show in the novel, so hound and dog lovers should enjoy his escapades.

4. Any interesting research you did for the book?

Originally, I thought the local police force would oversee the murder investigation, which was one of the huge errors I committed during the first stages of writing. In fact, though they do some coordination, interviews, etc., the Monmouth County’s Major Crimes Bureau and the prosecutor’s office are in charge of everything, including gathering forensic evidence. I interviewed a former Fair Haven policeman as well as a retired director of the county’s Economic Crime Unit, both of whom set me straight on a number of misconceptions. In addition, after a few glasses of wine, a friend, a financial analyst, grinned and answered my question about how a broker would commit fraud, cheerfully providing details about the Cayman Islands, offshore accounts, and the like.

5. A post on your process of writing a mystery book.

As mentioned above, this book took a long and arduous journey from its inception to its submission to my publisher. Quite honestly, I never thought the manuscript was good enough to publish, but there was something charming about the plot and its characters that kept drawing me in. I also loved the irony of a murder in the quiet, serene village of Fair Haven. After hundreds of hours of revision, I hope this murder mystery will be an enjoyable read, one that harkens to some British series such as Midsomer Murders in that the residents of small towns are the focus even more than the crime. Despite this, have fun figuring out “who done it!”

Fair Haven: A picturesque riverside town. A safe, friendly place. And then, one summer afternoon in 1994, Sally Ann Shaffer is electrocuted in her hot tub. Who did it? One of her many lovers? Her husband? A thief? A jealous colleague at her tennis club? The town is suddenly embroiled in suspicion, interpersonal conflict, blackmail, fraud, and murder. 

“When is a murder mystery more than a who-done-it? Answer: When it is written by Laury Egan. This wonderful mystery kept me en-tranced, as her characters drug me around the town of Fair Haven and through their inter-woven lives. In an ever more complex web of intrigue, jealousy, hatred and lust the plot was revealed. Though its difficult to write a review of a murder mystery without giving away too much, I couldn’t figure it out, even with some well-placed clues, until the end and then I was amazed by the reveal. You will be too.”

—CA Farlow, author of The Paris Contagion

Amazon: https://geni.us/fairhaven Published by Enigma Books, an imprint of Spectrum Books, London

Laury A. Egan is the author of fifteen novels, a story collection (with a new collection, Contrary: Stories and a Play, due May 2025), and four volumes of poetry. Her psychological suspense/crime fiction novels are: Jack & I, The Psychologist’s Shadow, Doublecrossed, The Ungodly Hour, A Bittersweet Tale, and Jenny Kidd (a revised edition will be released October 18, 2025). Ninety of her stories and poems have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. She is a reviewer for The New York Journal of Books, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, and a 2024 recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award in prose. Website: www.lauryaegan.com

LauryA.Egan@EganLaury

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Finding Time to Write is Hard

~ patyjag ~ 7 Comments

The rest of this month, I am home 13 days! That means every one of those days I need to put my fanny in the chair and get the next Gabriel Hawke book written. Because August is going to be hit and miss to get writing done.

I swear, each summer gets busier and busier! I was able to get more writing done when I sat all day in a swather or tractor raking hay during hay season than I do now.

As our family grows so do the family commitments as well as I’m trying to get my books seen more by actual people. I’ve found that if someone meets a writer and sees their enthusiasm for their books, the reader is more likely to purchase the book. Then if the like that first purchase they come back for more.

I started this month with an in-person event that I’ve not attended before. It was a Renaissance Faire (loosely). I sold 26 books over two days. All but one of the sales were to new to me readers. I’m hoping they will enjoy what they purchased and come back for more next year, as my following has done for the Sumpter Flea Market each year.

The rest of this month I will be attending Miner’s Jubilee in Baker City, OR, to see if it will be something to do next summer, and I’m attending the Tamkaliks Powwow in Wallowa, OR. I’ve been attending this for several years to help me better see my characters and because I find it healing. The last two Mondays of the month, I’ll be judging at county fairs. That’s what makes the summer get busy for me. But I love talking to the 4-Hers and discovering their love for their projects.

When I am home, I make myself write. I have to. My readers let me know they are impatiently waiting for the next book. I can’t let them down. I’m a people pleaser. My greatest flaw. It gets me more work than I can sometimes do, but there it is. It is who I am.

I’m also mentoring two mystery writers and a friend who has been writing the same book for too long. I’m her weekly reminder to sit down in the chair and move the story forward, don’t keep making it perfect. That comes after the story is all out and waiting to be prettied.

It is these mentorships that keep me from opening the internet first thing in the morning and getting words written before I look at an email or see who liked a meme on Facebook. While I coach other writers on finding time to write, finding ways to streamline their days and writing, I follow my own guidance by making sure I’m writing and moving my story forward.

My greatest strength is that when I set my mind to something, I do it. And right now my mind is set on getting this book written this month so I can “pretty it up” next month when I’m attending a family reunion, a grandson’s wedding, judging at another county fair and state fair, and then selling my books for two days at the State Fair. Because most of those trips are on the opposite side of the state from where I live, it requires a day’s travel to and a day’s travel back. Which eats up a lot of the days in August! Half of August I’ll be away from home- 15 days to travel and attend the events.

That is why my fanny is in my chair and I’m writing! I’m halfway through the book and should get it done in the next 13 days. Yipee!

Authors, are you on a deadline this month, or do you give yourself slack in the summertime? If you’re a reader, how impatient do you get for the next book in a series?

Guest Blogger ~ Melissa Westemeier

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

The story behind Old Habits Die Hard begins in 2004 when I attended the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival where I met four women who would become my writing partners. One of those women shares the author credit on Old Habits Die Hard, Mariana Damon came up with the idea of a murder taking place at a retirement community set in a renovated church. When I met Mariana in 2004, the spunky woman from Nebraska with a low voice, wild red curls and long flowing skirts was writing a murder mystery set in a fictional reservation in the southwest, featuring a Native American police officer solving a crime involving a murder and ancient artifacts. Mariana’s writing journey took her next to France, then to Cambridge, England, and finally to Kuwait before her dementia made further work as a writer impossible to pursue.

Mariana and I shared many trips together over the years we worked together and often bunked up together, too. We’d share our secrets, dreams, wishes, and histories deep into the night. Wickedly funny and brave, Mariana’s generous spirit meant I could trust her with anything, she’d be honest and loyal in every circumstance. It’s funny how our lives mirrored each other’s—we both taught English in public schools, both lived in the Midwest, both mothered only sons, and both set aside our own ambitions for our spouses’. She was truly a sister from another mister.

In 2021 another partner, Marni Graff, and I visited Mariana in her new home at a memory care facility. During our time together Mariana shared her desire to write one more murder mystery, so Marni and I gamely took notes and helped her flesh out ideas for a setting, murderer, victim, motive, and cast of characters. “Death at the Abbey” was set in the assisted living facility where she lived before her condition worsened, and she had a terrific concept for an opening scene.

Marni, Mel, Mariana 2021

Marni and I felt tremendous sadness at our friend’s struggle with her disease and helplessness as dementia stripped away her capacity to focus, let alone write. “We should write it for her,” I suggested to Marni over breakfast before we boarded our flights home. It seemed like a fitting tribute to our friend if we could flesh out her final idea and put her name on it. We’d left the character worksheets and plot outline with Mariana, so I jotted down what we could remember in a tiny notebook.

A year later I was between projects and dug that little notebook out of my purse. I’ll just flip through it and see what I might be able to do—maybe turn these ideas into a short story. I’d never successfully written a murder mystery before, but Marni has written eight of them, so I figured I could get things started and Marni could clean up my mess and we’d take it from there. The joke was on me because when I came up for air, I’d written 30,000 words, almost half a book! I sent the pages to Marni and our other writing partner, Lauren Small, to get their feedback. Their response was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging so I kept writing. Four months later I had a complete, polished draft of this book, retitled Old Habits Die Hard.  

I preserved Mariana’s original ideas. Sister Bernadette, a retired nun, solves the murder of Toni Travi at The Abbey with the help of her former student, Detective AJ Lewis. All six of Mariana’s original characters are in the story, and the opening scene is all Mariana’s. She’d determined who committed the murder and why, so it was up to me to fill in the rest. AJ’s less heartbroken and much younger than she’d planned him to be, but I hope she’ll recognize him and be happy with how he turned out.

Mariana Damon sparked this series and it’s exciting to take her ideas further than she imagined they’d go. Neither of us expected that visit in 2021 to result in a book and we certainly didn’t predict a series would happen. It’s pretty cool how our friendship that twenty years ago wound up with both of us on the cover page. Old Habits Die Hard and I’m honored to be Mariana’s ride or die until the end.

PHOTO: Lauren, Mariana, Melissa & Marni Summer 2014

OLD HABITS DIE HARD:

When retired nun and teacher Sister Bernadette returns with her fellow residents to The Abbey: Senior Living, she is the first to discover the body sprawled in the hallway of the converted school where she once taught English and now lives.  Instead of freezing with horror, Sister Bernie has questions. Lots of them. Why does Toni Travi, the bedazzled and bejeweled resident from apartment 218, have so much chest hair? Did anyone at The Abbey know Toni was a man? Was Toni’s death related to allegations that she cheated at cards? Where’s the murder weapon? Who had motive? And did someone kill Toni, or the man hiding beneath the Revlon foundation and blonde wig? 

Detective AJ Lewis is charge of the investigation though Sister Bernie acts as if he is still her student. With unholy stubbornness, she dogs his every step, eavesdrops, sneaks beyond the police tape and offers conjecture and clues. He wants to keep her safe, but she’s determined to lend a helping hand—it’s her habit, after all!

BUY LINKS

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Melissa_Westemeier_Old_Habits_Die_Hard?id=4oorEQAAQBAJ&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1

Amazon https://a.co/d/exKs6zn

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/old-habits-die-hard-6

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/old-habits-die-hard-melissa-westemeier/1146452143?

Melissa Westemeier is a Sister in Crime and teacher from Wisconsin. She uses humor to explore serious subjects, and her published books include murder mysteries, rom-coms, and a trilogy loosely based on her years tending bar on the Wolf River. She likes her coffee and protagonists strong and prefers to work barefoot with natural lighting.

MEL’S Website: https://www.melwestemeier.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027992959383

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/mwestemeier/

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There is more to a title than the words.

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

My line editor, who is in her thirties, said the title of my recently published book makes her laugh. I shrugged and told her the title is a gambling term. She said that makes sense because it is a book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries, but it still makes her laugh.

Crapshoot: something(as a business venture) that has an unpredictable outcome. Webster’s dictionary.

When I came up with the storyline for book 7 in my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series, of all the gambling terms I jotted down for titles, this term was the one that fit the best.

I’m a writer who comes up with an idea for a murder or an idea for a situation that puts my main character into a situation that will test them. This story didn’t start out with a murder. It was to be about a missing woman from the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The woman was a friend of my main character, a disabled veteran who lost her best friend in high school.

This story was meant to show how losing someone and not knowing why the cruelty happened could remain a constant enemy of the living. I wanted my main character to throw her whole being into finding the missing woman. And she does. But in the middle of this emotional trip, her nightmares come back and she becomes engaged. Talk about lows and highs! That is this story. A rollercoaster of ups and downs, and how the Indigenous community comes together to find their lost ones and to make themselves stronger.

While Crapshoot may make some people snicker or laugh, it is the epitome of this story. Each time my main character thinks she knows something, other information comes up. When she tries to rely on the right people or do the right thing, something gets in her way. It’s a crapshoot whether or not they will find the missing woman. The story takes a dark turn when the missing woman’s husband is killed. Then they discover an undercover female FBI agent is missing. And “SPLAT!” another body turns up. This is a story that I enjoyed writing to bring my character both happiness and grief. It shows more of the main character and sets her up for the next book that will knock her off her axis and make her wonder if a person can truly ever really know anyone.

So if this title makes you smile or laugh, that’s okay. Once you begin reading the book, you’ll understand the title and see the reason behind it, besides, it is a gambling term.

CRAPSHOOT

Book 7 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series

 A Fentanyl death.

A missing woman.

Dela Alvaro, head of the Spotted Pony Casino security, and Heath Seaver, a Umatilla Tribal Detective, join forces with the FBI to find Dela’s missing basket-weaving instructor and put a stop to a lethal drug flowing onto the reservation.

The investigation turns deadly when an undercover FBI agent goes missing and the drug cartel’s girlfriend is out for Dela’s blood.

https://books2read.com/u/3njQ7e

In case you were wondering what gambling terms are left on my list for titles:

The Gimmick

Full House

Jackpot

Penny Ante

Luck of the Draw

Blue Chip