Lifus Interuptus by Paty Jager

March 14, 2016 ~ patyjag ~ 7 Comments

This photo is why my post is late. Grandkids have taken over my office!

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I started out 2016 telling myself I wasn’t going to push so hard. Last year I wrote and published four mystery novels, three western historical romance novels, and one novella. The three projects at the end of the year were almost more than I could handle. That’s when I made my decision for 2016 to write two novels and a novella in the mystery series and two historical western romance this year.

However, due to catching the virus going around and family visiting, I’m already behind my slower pace for this year. Killer Descent was to be published by now but it is a week to two weeks out.

Killer Descent book five in the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries

Abuse…Power…Murder

Once again Shandra Higheagle finds herself a suspect in a murder investigation when an ex-lover is found murdered on a Huckleberry ski run. A past she’d planned to never divulge now must be shared with the first man she’s trusted, Detective Ryan Greer.

Ryan puts his job in jeopardy when he’s booted from the case and uses all resources plus a few extra to prove Shandra is innocent. The information leads them down a road of blackmail and betrayal of the ugliest kind.

This past weekend, one of my daughter’s went with me on a road trip to a book signing. On the way back we started brainstorming the Christmas mystery I’ve been thinking about writing this year. It was fun, since she’s read the books in the series and knows the characters. She gave me some fun ideas. Have any of you ever read a book where and animal is the main suspect? I’m thinking about making Sheba, Shandra’s canine sidekick,the suspect.

And I plan to introduce a couple of new characters into the next couple of books to also use as suspects. That is the fun of writing a mystery series, incorporating characters you know will be suspects or the killers in books to come. I’m always thinking two to three books ahead when I write a book to drop small clues to what may be a next book.

As a reader do you you like clues to a possible next book dropped in? Or does it make you upset if that little nugget isn’t the next book in the series?

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patyjager.net

Writing into the Sunset

Researching a Mystery by Paty Jager

February 8, 2016February 5, 2016 ~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

SH Mug Art (2)

I’m not a forensic coroner or a lawyer or even a law enforcer. I’m the wife of a rancher and I write murder mystery.

As I write this next book in my Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series I’ve come across questions that have required answers by professionals. When I start a book I know how the victim will die and where. But I ultimately need to know what their injuries would look like say if they fall off a cliff or are stabbed with a blunt object or shot at close range with a small caliber gun.

These are all things coroners have seen and can tell me. But how do I get a coroner on speed-dial or in my case speed e-mail? I’m part of a yahoo loop that is filled with every kind of occupation a mystery or murder writer might need expertise about. The yahoo loop is crimescenewriter@yahoogroups.com

That’s how I connected with a coroner who not only answered my question I put on the loop but also emailed back and forth with me as I asked more questions and what-if’s. She has lots of knowledge and being a budding writer is willing to help out fellow writers.

Writing the opening and how the victim is killed and what is discovered went well, knowing I had the correct information and knowledge. Then I brought in some secondary characters and a sub-plot. For the sub-plot I needed some legal information. I turned to my niece who is a para-legal and what she couldn’t answer she knew where to send me to find the information. After my niece and I discussed the issue I wanted brought up in my book and how I wanted it dealt with, she suggested I contact a law enforcement officer. I happen to have one in the family. 😉

I sent off an email explaining what I wanted to do, how would it be handled, and after some back and forth ,that element of the sub-plot was worked out.

Writing mystery books is my favorite writing experience. Not only do I have to puzzle out a mystery that will keep the reader thinking, I have to make sure the forensics and laws will work in the story and enhance the overall realness of the crime and the killer.

Have you read books where you could tell the writer hadn’t researched the laws or forensics? Did it bother you while reading the book or is that something that doesn’t bother you?

~*~

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. All Paty’s work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

You can learn more about Paty at:

her blog; Writing into the Sunset

her website; http://www.patyjager.net

There’s Always More to Learn

January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 ~ janegorman ~ 9 Comments

I love learning. Always have. There was a time in my life when I thought I’d have the privilege of being a perpetual student (which is to say, a professor…). That didn’t turn out to be my career, but it hasn’t stopped me from pursuing my dream. I read. I travel. I listen. And wherever I am, I learn something.

I’m taking a course now on body language — how to read it, how to write it, how to use it to communicate more effectively. I’m definitely learning a lot. Experts on body language will read postures, gestures and facial expressions to understand what people are really saying, their hidden words. It can be fun to test out in the real world!

One of the things that struck me in this course on body language is how differently people learn. Some of us learn best by reading, others by listening, and others simply by doing — the old trial and error technique. I’m not surprised to hear that, but I’d never thought about how to apply that knowledge when I was teaching. I am now thinking very much about how to apply that knowledge when I am writing.

Learning in a group setting by listening to an expert

Writing is a skill, and while there is an art to it that perhaps cannot be learned, there is certainly a craft that can be. With each book I write, I strive to improve. Throughout the year, through the benefit of courses, conferences and workshops, I learn more about technique, style, character development. I practice, beyond what appears on the pages of my book. I write short stories, enter competitions, seek feedback from experts. Membership in organizations like the Sisters in Crime is invaluable.

I practice writing whenever I can — and whenever the cats will let me!

I’ve always thought I was the type of person who learned best through reading. But as I write more, and work on my craft more, I realize that I also learn through doing. Practice and more practice, as they say. Of course, it doesn’t feel like practice when it’s something you love to do, does it?

I hope the work pays off, and that as my readers work their way through the books of my series, they find that each book is better than the one before.

More information about my books and links to online retailers can be found at janegorman.com.

Hope, or, Why we love a good #mystery #series

December 21, 2015 ~ janegorman ~ 2 Comments

At this time of year, it seems perfectly reasonable to write about hope. We gather with family and friends, cuddle up in front of a cozy fire, laugh, talk — and read, of course! As the song says, “we’ll conspire, as we dream by the fire, to face unafraid, the plans that we made …”

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I’ve been thinking about plans and hope. Not my plans (or my hopes) but those of Adam Kaminski, the hero in the Adam Kaminski mystery series.

Adam has dreams. Or at least he did. Until his view of the world was shattered through one cruel, heartless act. That devastation changed his dreams and changed his life course. He left teaching to join the Philadelphia Police Department, intent on chasing down the bad guys who posed a threat to the safety of the people he loved and cared for.

My job as author is to force Adam to face his lost dreams, to help him strive for his lost hope. It’s not easy! Sometimes it’s so much easier to let him sit back, take life as it comes, watch from the sidelines even. But that wouldn’t make for very interesting reading.

In any mystery, the detective, whether amateur or professional, must throw himself into the path of danger. She must face her fears, thwart the villain. And in each book, that’s exactly what happens. But the attraction of a series is that other story, the longer story arc that the character follows over multiple books.

For Adam Kaminski, that longer story sends him on a quest to find the truth about his family legacy and to find the hope that he lost, the hope that led him to be a teacher in the first place.

Whenever I’m tempted to make life easy for Adam, to let him zip through a case, solve the murder in front of him without delving too deeply into other mysteries, I remind myself of his dream. I owe him. He needs me to let him dig deeper, to send him to unknown places, so that he can find the answers he needs, the faith in humanity that will give him back his hope.

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Links to all available retailers for the Adam Kaminski mystery series can be found at my website.

Guest Blogger S.L. Smith – Murder on a Stick

October 24, 2015October 18, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 10 Comments

Before explaining why I wrote Murder on a Stick, I’ll tell you a bit about myself and my writing.
One of the first decisions I made, as an author, was where to stage my novels. It boiled down to creating a fictional setting or writing about the familiar. I chose the latter. The Pete Culnane mysteries are set in St. Paul, Minnesota––my home for the past three decades. One benefit is a built-in audience of locals who enjoy books set in locations they know. A drawback is my compulsion to get it right, portraying the sights, sounds, and smells in a way that rings true for locals and becomes real for those who have never been here.

Despite my knowledge of St. Paul, each novel requires lots of on-site and Internet research, and a variety of interviews. While looking for a location for book three, I thought about the Great Minnesota Get Together, otherwise known as the State Fair. Most Midwesterners have at least a passing knowledge of this fair. That gave me a shot at attracting them as readers. However, the overriding reason for selecting this venue was my love for this event. I’m not alone there. The 2015 attendance (12 days) was 1,779,738.

While writing Murder on a Stick, I spent four days at the fair, researching. My efforts included speaking with police and deputies from across the state. These are people who use vacation hours to ply their trade at the fair. A paramedic and an EMT from the St. Paul Fire Department explained the role they play and the tools at their disposal. A volunteer from one of the information booths provided pages of facts and trivia about the fair. I love learning when I read, and I used some of this information to provide that opportunity to my readership. The thing that surprised me the most was a fair-related tidbit about Teddy Roosevelt.

You can get almost anything on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair. Murder on a Stick takes that a step further. Due to my commitment to realism, I felt compelled to obtain a sample of the sticks on which 100+ foods are served. These delicacies include hot dish, s’mores, key lime pie, and walleye pike. Obtaining these sticks took a couple of days. Thankfully, the vendors gave me their sticks without the food. Hence, I saved a fortune and avoided gaining 50 pounds. I drew upon the expertise of a retired lead investigator from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine if any of these sticks was a feasible weapon. The title of this novel provides the answer. 🙂 By the way, any idea what using one of those sticks as a weapon says about the crime?

The State Fair is located in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. My protagonists do not have jurisdiction there. You have to read the book to discover why that didn’t handcuff me.

By now, I hope it’s clear that I enjoy the research part of writing, and that there are few places where it’s more fun than at the Minnesota State Fair.

Book Blurb:

You can get almost anything on a stick at the Minnesota State
Fair. This year, murder is added to the list. Family and friends
construct radically different portraits of the victim, and the
list of suspects keeps growing. No suspect has a corroborated alibi. Three admit being at the
fair that day.

The investigation crisscrosses the Twin Cities,
and travels from the fairgrounds to Rochester. St. Paul
investigators Pete Culnane and Martin Tierney must separate
fact from fiction, truth from lies.

Bio:

S.L. Smith’s long career working alongside law enforcement and fire officials while with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety inspire and inform her mystery novels. Yearly trips to the iconic Minnesota State Fair addicted her to the unique atmosphere and the foods often found only at the fair.