Guest Blogger ~ Liz Alterman

~ patyjag ~ 3 Comments

A big thank you to Liz for getting a post for me in time to fill in for Heather Haven, who asked me to find someone to fill her Thursday this month.

Why I write psychological suspense:

During my teen years, my favorite way to spend the weekend involved sitting in the eerie darkness of a movie theater, sharing a bucket of popcorn with friends, waiting to be scared—not by zombies, dinosaurs, or tornados but by the nanny who wasn’t as kind as she appeared, the handsome husband leading a double life, or the woman posing as an author’s biggest fan who will ultimately hold him hostage.

That fear, the feeling of goosebumps sprouting, hair rising on the back of my neck, was such an enthralling sensation, almost like those chilling moments when a roller coaster inches up that steep incline, I couldn’t get enough.

Since the afternoons when my mom read to me as a child, I’d always wanted to write a book. While my first was a memoir, when I turned to fiction, I longed to try to evoke the same tension and anxiety I fell in love with in the fourth grade while reading Lois Duncan’s Ransom and, later, in other novels by authors like Megan Abbott and Patricia Highsmith, and, of course, in those frightening films.

I’ve now written several thrillers and while I’m in the thick of plotting each story, I worry that it won’t come together in the end. (Another source of fear!) That said, I love the way the process can feel akin to putting together a puzzle. You’re working toward a complete picture, your brain turning around the pieces until they lock into place. When they do and you can surprise yourself—and, hopefully, your readers—it’s magical.

Reading and writing thrillers, suspense, and mystery also gives you a healthy sense of wariness. When you’re dialed into the possibility of darkness lurking around every corner, it keeps you on guard. One morning when I was in my twenties and walking through a parking lot, a man approached me and asked if I wanted to see the puppies he had in his van. I almost said, “Are you kidding? I’ve seen Silence of the Lambs three times! There’s no way I’m getting near your van!”

Writers have rich imaginations, which is both a blessing and a curse. I joke that once you start writing thrillers, suspense, or mysteries, that becomes the lens through which you view the world. Last fall, I attended a short writing retreat. Beyond my window lay a field, a dense fog muting the colors of the autumn landscape. My gaze shifted to a pair of dogs sniffing around but always returning to the same patch. Were bodies buried out there? I couldn’t help but muse. 

I often wonder if romance writers are similarly afflicted. When they see a couple, do they create an elaborate backstory for them? A meet-cute? A conflict involving a former love interest that leads to a break-up and eventually a happily-ever-after? Is all this imagining an occupational hazard? Either way, it’s often a delightful escape from reality.

Writing thrillers has also been a wonderful way to work through pent up feelings of frustration and even revenge fantasies. Murder a busybody neighbor? No problem. Put snarky dialogue in the mouth of your protagonist as she outwits a villain? Done. Leave all your animosity on the page.

Though I love writing personal essays and humor pieces, suspense is a genre I always return to for the chance to bask in the unsettling appeal of impending doom.

You Shouldn’t Have Done That

Jane Whitaker and Ivy Chapman have been best friends for twenty years – ever since their sons Cal and Brad attended the same preschool.

But their close bond is severely tested when their now adult sons go skiing together in Wyoming and only one returns.

Where is Cal Whitaker and why didn’t Brad Chapman report him missing?  With growing fears for Cal’s safety, his family begins to suspect Brad knows a lot more than he’s saying.

Friendship turns to suspicion and then to open hostility when Cal’s sister Emerson posts an online appeal that ignites a vicious crusade against Brad.

As decades-old loyalties crumble, Jane and Ivy find themselves on opposite sides of a deadly divide. How far will each mother go to protect her family? And what happens when saving one son means destroying the other?

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Shouldnt-Have-Done-That-psychological-ebook/dp/B0F1DPWT5D/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0

Liz Alterman is the author of the memoir, Sad Sacked, the young adult thriller, He’ll Be Waiting, the suspense novels The Perfect Neighborhood, The House on Cold Creek Lane, and You Shouldn’t Have Done That, as well as the forthcoming romcom Claire Casey’s Had Enough. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and other outlets. Follow her on Instagram or subscribe to her Substack where she shares the ups and downs of the writing life (and cat photos).

Dialog With June

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

June. Summer. Warm weather. Pleasant days, starting early, daylight stretching into the evening.

Interestingly enough, June brings thoughts of D-Day—June 6, 1944—when the Allies sent a huge armada of soldiers and materiel across the English Channel to invade Nazi-occupied France. The Longest Day, Cornelius Ryan’s riveting account of that day, is on my shelves, and I’ve read it multiple times. I also have the DVD of the epic (three and a half hours!) film, which I’ve watched over and over, usually on Memorial Day.

The movie is full of memorable dialog. Among my favorite scenes is one with actor Roddy McDowall, playing one of the many soldiers holed up on those ships, waiting for the orders to steam across the channel. It’s June 5, terrible weather, back-to-back storms giving the brass fits. The invasion has already been rescheduled several times.

Roddy’s not thinking about the weather, the wait or the battle to come. He looks into the distance. In a dreamy voice, he says:

June. Every June my old man used to take me camping up in the Blue Mountains. We’d hunt and fish all day long. And at night, we’d sleep out under the stars. Didn’t even need a blanket . . . June.

I love that. The dialog tells me a bit about the character, conveys something of his life before he got to this place and time, and contrasts starkly with his current circumstances. And it makes me think about some of the camping trips I’ve experienced. I’ll bet I’m not the only one.

Granted, movies are different from novels. I recall other examples of memorable dialog from books that wound up in the movie as well. In Gone With the Wind, Rhett Butler tells Scarlett O’Hara: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” And there’s True Grit by Charles Portis. When irascible Sheriff Rooster Cogburn tells outlaw Lucky Ned Pepper that he’s planning to arrest him, the outlaw responds: “That’s bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”

Dialog is one of many tools that we writers have in our skill set. Writing this blog got me thinking of dialog from my own books. Three of them come to mind, all with a line of dialog starting the book.

The first chapter of The Sacrificial Daughter begins in care manager Kay Dexter’s office, with a prospective client who says, “I’m at my wit’s end.” Beyond what she’s saying, her facial expressions, her demeanor and small physical actions show the character’s stress from dealing with her elderly mother.

In Bit Player, detective Jeri Howard is in a movie memorabilia shop, looking at an old poster. She says, “Grandma said John Barrymore made a pass at her.” I certainly hope that makes the reader want to turn the page and find out what comes next. For Jeri’s grandmother was an actress who played small parts in Hollywood in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Jeri is about to find out that Grandma was interviewed by police concerning an unsolved Tinseltown murder.

My most recent Jeri Howard novel is The Things We Keep. This book starts with Jeri standing on a street corner, looking at a down-at-heals Victorian house. She says, “It looks haunted.” She’s right. What happens next shows that the ghosts of past crimes are indeed in evidence. For example, those bones hidden away in an old footlocker. Haunted, indeed.

Guest Blogger~ Zaida Alfaro

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

The Hidden Track: A Miami Music Mystery, is the third and final book of the Miami Music Mystery series, and it serves as a culmination of everything the series has been building towards. In this final installment, readers are taken on one last thrilling ride through the vibrant music scene of Miami, with a mystery that not only ties up the story arcs of our beloved characters but also brings resolution to the long-standing questions and tensions that have been simmering throughout the series.

The book follows the same characters we’ve grown attached to, but with deeper layers of growth and development. They’ve come a long way from the first book, with their personal lives and relationships more complex and interwoven into the unfolding mystery. In The Hidden Track, the stakes are higher than ever. The main character, Vy, faces a challenge that requires not only solving a crime but confronting personal demons, facing difficult decisions, and navigating the delicate balance between their musical passion and the dangers that come with it.

What sets this book apart is the sense of closure it provides, while also giving readers the chance to reflect on the themes that have been consistent throughout the series—loyalty, trust, and the power of music to heal and connect. The music itself is integral to the story, not only as a backdrop but as a vehicle for the plot, with song lyrics and performances playing key roles in solving the mystery. Music is a language of its own, and in this book, the hidden track symbolizes the final piece of the puzzle, something that’s been waiting to be discovered all along.

Wrapping up the Miami Music Mystery series has been an emotional and reflective journey. After working on these characters and storylines for over five years, it feels surreal to finally bring everything to a close. There’s a mix of happiness and sadness—happiness in knowing I completed the vision I set out for the series, but also sadness in letting go of the world and characters I’ve spent so much time with.

The process of tying up loose ends in the final book was both challenging and rewarding. Every subplot needed resolution, and I wanted to make sure the characters’ growth and the mysteries were satisfying to readers. There were moments of doubt, especially with the last few chapters, but pushing through and seeing it all come together was worth every bit of effort.

What’s also been important for me is knowing the story has reached its natural conclusion. While it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to Miami, its music scene, and the characters who’ve made it so special, I’m proud of what I’ve created and the way everything has come full circle.

I feel a sense of accomplishment, but I also look forward to exploring new projects. There’s a mixture of pride in the series’ completion and excitement about what comes next. It’s been a chapter of my life that I will always cherish, and I’m grateful for the readers who have been part of the journey.

THE HIDDEN TRACK

Vy has finally hit her high note. After years of clawing her way through the ruthless music industry, dodging dangerous rivals, and surviving murderous encounters, her dreams of stardom are within reach. With a record deal secured and her debut single climbing the charts, Vy is ready to shoot her first music video—a moment she’s been rehearsing in her mind for as long as she can remember.

But as always in Vy’s life, nothing stays in tune. As tensions crescendo and chaos threatens to drown her out, Vy must find a way to keep her creative vision intact. All the while, shadows from her past echo through her mind—could there be someone still out there, determined to see her career hit its final note?

As Vy’s close-knit band of friends and collaborators face their own personal trials, the stakes have never been higher. Has Vy’s murderous melody finally ended, or is there still danger lurking in the final verse? In the end, will Vy get the happily ever after she’s fought so hard for, or is there a hidden track playing a haunting melody, waiting to pull her back into the shadows?

Buy link: https://linktr.ee/Zaidamusic

The vibrant city of Miami, Florida, serves as the heartbeat of the Miami Music Mystery series—a city I deeply cherish, having been born and raised there. Like the series’ protagonist, Vy, I am a singer-songwriter and Grammy-considered independent artist, with a profound passion for music and literature. 

Years ago, I discovered cozy mysteries and was immediately captivated by their engaging, intriguing, and often humorous storylines. Inspired by these works, I decided to merge my love of music with my newfound passion for storytelling. This led to the creation of my debut novel, The Last Note: A Miami Music Mystery. 

Following its success, I continued Vy’s story In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery. Drawing from my own life experiences, I wove elements like phobias, dream sequences, and quirky personalities into the narrative—all grounded in truth. Through these novels, I aimed to share my love for Miami, its rich Cuban culture, my family, and the world of music. 

Now, with the release of The Hidden Track, the final book in the Miami Music Mystery series, I’ve brought Vy’s journey to a thrilling conclusion. This latest installment delves deeper into the city’s vibrant backdrop and Vy’s evolving story, tying together the mysteries, challenges, and triumphs that have defined her journey. 

I hope readers feel the same passion for Miami, music, and storytelling that I’ve poured into these novels. It’s been a joy to bring this series to life and share a piece of my world with you. 

Zaidamusic.com

Instagram/Twitter: zaidamusic

Facebook: zaidaauthor and zaidamusic

Guest Blogger ~ M.E. Proctor

~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

Bop City Swing, or When Writers Click

By M.E. Proctor

We should write something together, I’ve heard these words many times. The suggestion is always vague and about as binding as the clichéd ‘let’s do lunch one of these days’. Many years ago, a friend and I planned to write a book. He was a big science fiction fan, so that’s what we decided to do. I delivered the first chapter. My friend never produced chapter 2, and I ended up doing the entire thing. It turned into a four-book dystopian series, The Savage Crown.

So, when fellow crime writer Russell Thayer typed in a social media chat that “Tom should go after Gunselle someday. Imagine the interrogation scene!” I agreed that bringing our two recurrent short story characters together was a cool idea, but I doubted it would go anywhere.

I was wrong. We’re a year later and Bop City Swing is on the bookshelves. Even better, Russell and I are working on another mystery featuring the same two leads.

Russ’s creation is Vivian Davis, aka Gunselle, a contract killer. He has written more than twenty short stories spanning the late 1930s-early 1950s with her in the starring role. My guy (he’s in a dozen stories so far) is Tom Keegan, a homicide detective in 1950 San Francisco. A professional killer and a cop, in the same place at the same time … sounds like a match made in Noir heaven.

Early last year, Russ and I both happened to have pieces published at the same time in two different magazines. A mash-up—in the vein of CSI meets Law & Order—was top of mind again and we started brainstorming ideas for a short story. What if she’s hired to bump him off … What if they’re after the same killer… We eventually decided to build the story around a political assassination that would involve both characters, coming at it from their respective angles. The detective investigates the case, in straight procedural fashion, and the contract killer is embroiled in it sideways. She didn’t commit the crime.

We never discussed the mechanics of the collaboration. It felt natural to tell the story from a double point of view (POV), Russ writing the Vivian-Gunselle chapters, while I wrote Tom’s scenes. The differences in our styles fit the particular voice of our respective characters. If there were awkward disparities or rough edges, we figured we could polish them off after the first draft.

Russ sent me a snippet of Gunselle being hired for a job she dislikes—fixing somebody else’s mess, i.e. the assassination (that plot line was discarded later on)—and a few days later, I sent him Tom’s arrival at the crime scene, the ballroom of a luxury hotel. The suspect is a musician in the jazz band hired for the event.

Everybody knows that most of the research should be done before starting to write the story, it’s a lot more efficient, but we were both eager to get something going. Now, with two scenes drafted, we had to make sure we were historically correct on the when and the where.

The when would be 1951, an election year. That November, San Francisco re-elected the incumbent republican mayor, Elmer Robinson. The fictional who (the victim) would be Charles Forrester, the democratic challenger launching his campaign at a June fundraiser. Where would be the Palace Hotel, conveniently located downtown, with a good size ballroom—an internet deep dive delivered period-accurate floorplans.

We knew when, where, and who, but like our two lead actors, we were stumped by the motive. Why was Charles Forrester shot? We wouldn’t find out for a while.

Writing a story is like a treasure hunt. Every sentence, written on the fly, contains potential clues. Here’s an example. The decision to make the killer a jazz trumpeter gave the plot a definite slant. It also gave us the opportunity to dig into the rich Bay Area music scene of the early 50s, the various clubs, the talent on display, the racial tensions, the lure of the city at night, the early involvement of the Mob in the drug trade. Russ had touched on the music angle in some of his stories and brought all that background into the plot, with great secondary characters. One of them, Maggie, became central to nailing down the motive and the final resolution. Through Maggie, we also touched on the war, only six years in the past, and its aftermath, how deeply it scarred many characters in the story.

Very soon, the project was no longer a short story. Bop City Swing had turned into a book.

During the months it took to complete a solid first draft, we had a couple of mini-debates. One of them was about who would enter the scene first.

Homicide cops always get there after the fact, by definition. We decided to start with Gunselle and put her in the ballroom, at the very beginning, before the shots ring out. That gave us the story hook. She was hired for the hit and somebody beat her to it. She’s pocketed the down payment. For doing nothing. As a professional, it sticks in her craw.

Another discussion was about the key confrontation between our two characters. Up to that climactic moment, they’d both gone through their moves separately, with only a glancing accidental contact that showed mutual interest. Yes, this is where it gets sexy … Who would write that scene, in whose POV? We considered writing it twice, in a ‘he says, she says’ tango, but it proved clunky. I wrote the initial scene, from Tom’s voice, then Russ took it and turned it around. It worked a lot better that way, Gunselle initiates the event and is the more active character. It was also fun to write Tom’s reaction afterwards.

We initially wrote our respective scenes separately. After a few weeks, we built a master document that we carried all through to the end, highlighting changes, constantly adjusting things. Russ writes snappy action scenes and I tend to be atmospheric. In the master document, we started blending things. He added bite and I added background.

Mid-way through the process, we built a timeline. The characters were all in motion and the investigation picked up speed. A beat-by-beat sequence of events helped us figure out the ending. None of what happens in the last act was in the cards from the start.

The time we took to consider options, writing them and discarding parts of them, might appear to be a waste but was crucial in coming up with the best solution. The beginning of the story, in particular, was rewritten multiple times. Part of the fun in a collaboration is having your partner put something on the table that you would never have come up with on your own.

Writing is a solitary pursuit. Sometimes, it feels good to share. Russ and I had so much fun, we’re doing it again. There will be more Tom and Gunselle in the future. I’ll keep you posted!

—-

Bop City Swing

San Francisco. 1951.

Jazz is alive. On radios and turntables. In the electrifying Fillmore clubs, where hepcats bring their bebop brilliance to attentive audiences. In the posh downtown venues where big bands swing in the marble ballrooms of luxury hotels.

That’s where the story begins, with the assassination of a campaigning politician during a fundraiser.

Homicide detective, Tom Keegan, is first on the scene. He’s eager, impatient, hot on the heels of the gunman. Gunselle, killer for hire, is no longer there. She flew the coop, swept away in the rush of panicked guests.

They both want to crack the case. Tom, because he’s never seen a puzzle he didn’t want to solve, no matter what the rules say. Gunselle, because she was hired to take out the candidate and somebody beat her to it. It was a big paycheck. It hurts. In her professional pride and wallet.

The war has been over for six years, but the suffering and death, at home and abroad, linger as a horror behind the eyes of some men. And one young woman.

Bop City Swing is the brainchild of Russell Thayer, author of the Gunselle stories, and M.E. Proctor, who occasionally takes a break from Declan Shaw, her Houston PI, to don Tom Keegan’s gray fedora.

Buy Links:

Bop City Swing is available in eBook and paperback

On Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Bop-City-Swing-Proctor-Thayer/dp/B0F4DSSQ9V/

From reviews:

“A wild ride down the neon-lit streets of post-WWII America, with bebop wailing in the nightclub on the corner, the white witch pumping through the veins of the junkie on the barstool, three slugs draining the life from the charismatic politician with a shady past, and enough snappy dialogue to light up the faces of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain.”

M.E. Proctor (www.shawmystery.com) was born in Brussels and lives in Texas. The first book in her Declan Shaw PI series, Love You Till Tuesday (2024), came out from Shotgun Honey, with the follow up, Catch Me on a Blue Day, scheduled for 2025. She’s the author of a short story collection, Family and Other Ailments, and the co-author of a retro-noir novella, Bop City Swing. Her fiction has appeared in Vautrin, Tough, Rock and a Hard Place, Bristol Noir, Mystery Tribune, Shotgun Honey, Reckon Review, and Black Cat Weekly among others. She’s a Derringer nominee.

Social Links

Author Website: www.shawmystery.com

On Substack: https://meproctor.substack.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martine.proctor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MEProctor3

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/meproctor.bsky.social

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

Russell Thayer’s work has appeared in Brushfire, Tough, Roi Fainéant Press, Guilty Crime Story Magazine, Mystery Tribune, Close to the Bone, Bristol Noir, Apocalypse Confidential, Cowboy Jamboree Press, Hawaii Pacific Review, Shotgun Honey, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rock and a Hard Place Press, Revolution John, Punk Noir Magazine, Expat Press, Pulp Modern, The Yard Crime Blog, and Outcast Press. He received his BA in English from the University of Washington, worked for decades at large printing companies, and currently lives in Missoula, Montana. You can find him lurking on Twitter @RussellThayer10.

WEEPING WILLOW

~ Kimila Kay ~ 2 Comments

Hello, Ladies ~ Sorry this post is late. I’ve been at our cabin for the long weekend, which doesn’t have internet. I tried to upload my blog a couple of times while in Lincoln City, but the internet at most places is spotty at best.

When my husband, Randy, and I bought our house in Donald, I was thrilled we had a willow tree in our backyard. The lovely eight-year-old tree helped to block the city’s big blue water tower.

Since our lot sat at an angle and backed up to a farmer’s field, we couldn’t see our neighbors on either side of us. I loved the illusion that we lived in the country surrounded by beautiful crops.

Of course, as time ticked by, my beloved willow tree grew taller and broader as we grew grayer and rounder, the unstoppable march of time making all of us older.

Every fall, Randy and I would struggle to keep up with the never-ending shower of colorful leaves blanketing our patio, creating a slick carpet of decaying debris. Spring would bring the dropping of the budding leaves’ cuticles, which looked like a sea of bumble bees inhabiting the patio.

Our now-massive willow tree also had branches that extended over flower beds, causing plants to die or grow in weird directions to capture some sunlight. Randy’s biggest fear was that the now forty-foot tall and thirty-five-foot-wide tree would fail, and the branch looming over our roof would do some serious damage.

We finally had to make the gut-wrenching decision to cut down our majestic Weeping Willow. I cried as the arborist and his crew dismantled the tree in sections. But the hardest part for me was when he shot poison into the lonely stump. He’d just killed something I’d enjoyed for years.

During this time, I was working on the first draft of my novel, “Chaos in Cabo.” I’m close to typing The End and working on tying up all my story threads. I’ve been struggling with how to end my villain’s story. As the arborist and his crew cut down my willow, it occurred to me that I grew attached to things … including my characters.

Even though I know she needs to be punished for her crimes, the idea of sending her to prison pains me. My alternative idea, having the man she loves kill her, seems so harsh.

Why is it so hard for me to let go? I mean, my villain is a fictional character. It’s not like I meet her for Happy Hour every month. And I usually fashion my villains after people I’ve met who wronged me somehow. This female villain was named after a woman who stole the guy I was dating after pretending to be my friend. So essentially, I’d be virtually settling a score with her. Right?

In my past novels, I’ve redeemed a few villains, punished a few, and, of course, a few have died. In “Malice in Mazatlan,” I faced the same dilemma as I’m experiencing with “Chaos in Cabo.” I loved my villain, Sarita Garcia, so much that I decided I couldn’t end her story, and she appeared in “Vanished in Vallarta.”

As Randy and I approach retirement, I’ve been faced with “letting go” of things. Downsizing is painful, but I find joy in donating items or handing off family treasures to the younger generation.

I recently gave pieces of décor to a niece. She was so thrilled she sent me a thank you note with pictures of the repurposed decorations in her small house. It made me think about what my readers might expect as they read one of my novels. Maybe they’ve decided in their minds as they read “Chaos in Cabo” that this villain seriously deserves her just desserts and isn’t worthy of being “repurposed” or “redeemed.”

One of my readers said they loved that I infuse my villains with qualities that make them human to balance their evilness. She said, “I find myself rooting for your villains despite their crimes.”

But can I justify allowing the villain in “Chaos in Cabo” to live since she threatens the lives of people from her lover’s past? He would be devastated if she killed his loved ones and would never be able to forgive her, which would create a prison of a different kind.

While I’m sad at the loss of my beautiful tree, the plants in the flower garden that once were shrouded in shade are thriving. I like the idea that letting go of something opens up possibilities for brighter occurrences… and, hopefully, rewarding stories for your readers.

Happy Memorial Day, Ladies! I hope you had a fabulous day with family, friends and … your characters!