Be Professional at all Times by Paty Jager

~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

signing HerringboneLast Friday I had a book signing with a new bookstore owner in a town where I lived for thirty years.

I have a little person who sits on my shoulder and tells me to get things done in a timely fashion and don’t make anyone have to work too hard for an event I’m the center of.

My first contact with the bookstore owner was to walk in and introduce myself, give her a card, and let her know I had a new mystery book releasing in March. She thanked me for coming in and said she would contact me. She didn’t. So I followed up with her via email when I had several other events happening in her area. I reminded her who I was, that I had a new release and that I would be in her area on several days and would one of them work for a book signing.

She replied with two dates that would work for her. I jumped on the first date she had available. Then I followed up with sending press releases to the local newspapers and using Vista Print to make posters.  On another trip in that area, I dropped off posters and discussed the evening a bit more with her.

A couple weeks before the event, I checked back in and asked if I needed to bring any refreshments. She said she would have wine, water, lemonade, and cheese and crackers. I offered to bring cookies. I had a great idea and went on a hunt for cookie cutters and made weapon cookies.

weapon cookies

The day/night of the signing. I hauled my books, cookies, and giveaways into the store two hours before the presentation/signing time. The owner looked at me with wonder. “You’re early!” I explained I was having dinner with some friends before the signing and wanted to make sure everything was here and ready in case we got to talking and I lost track of time.

She thanked me and said I am the first author she’d worked with since buying the store who she hadn’t had to prod for bios and news release information  and hope they showed up on time.

I replied, “I like to make a good impression on bookstore owners so they have me back and feel good selling my books.”

You can write a good book, and get reviews but if you don’t have a good rapport with the people who hand sell your books, they are less likely to recommend you to their readers.

The event turned out fun. I talked about writing mystery and my journey to the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series I write.

After the event, the bookstore owner was happy with the results and in my opinion, that’s all that matters with an event like this!

www.patyjager.net

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. All Paty’s work have Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her Shandra Higheagle Mystery series, set in a fictional ski resort in Idaho, is full of quirky characters, twists, turns, and a bit of mysticism.

 

 

 

 

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries

~ patyjag ~ 17 Comments

The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries

By Heather Haven

I’d like to think the Alvarez Family Murder Mystery Series was a carefully thought out project, but I have a feeling it more or less evolved. When I started out, I knew I wanted to write a mystery series with a human and lovable protagonist, Lee Alvarez, who had a few things going for her. Not perfect, but striving. I didn’t want yet another protagonist who learned nothing, who was ostracized from those she loved, who owned one crummy black skirt and life was one, long penance. Lee Alvarez loves life. She’s funny and learns from her mistakes. Like most of us, she grows as she goes along. After all, life is what happens while you’re making other plans. Lee’s lucky in that she has strong familial support to see her through it all, even though they are often a pain in her jazzercised derriere.

It was also important for my series to include two important elements:  the recently immigrated, which is one of America’s best natural resources, and the family unit.  Hence, the Alvarez Family Murder Mystery Series, a family of detectives, was born. The first book – which took me so long to write, planets formed and decayed in the interim – I knew had to be called Murder is a Family Business to set the tone for the series. However, the Alvarez family is a little off-center. They aren’t the ‘classic’ family i.e., father, mother, sister, brother, and large dog, all driving around in a shiny SUV eating Snickerdoos. Of course, these days a family like that is harder to find than a dinosaur with feathers. Oh, wait a minute. Archaeologists are digging those up all the time from unsuspecting peoples’ backyards. That means the Ozzie and Harriet family does still exist somewhere. Helloooooo out there!

Initially, the book was represented by an agent, but it was going no place fast.  I saw an Internet ad and sent the manuscript off to an online publishing house, with no hopes whatsoever for publication. I sent it because I believe Isaac Asimov is right about Perseverance, “you must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer.” Within three-days I had a contract for the first book, Murder is a Family Business, and two months later for the 2nd book of the series, A Wedding to Die For. So you never know. Keep sending your work out, is the lesson here. And never lose the faith.

I’m in the throes of editing the 5th book of the series, The CEO Came DOA. If the publishers and the readers are happy, I’ll just keep on writing about my wonderful Alvarez Family. They are so fun and I love it. Plus I get to be all the characters, including the cat!

I am proud to say Murder is a Family Business, Book 1 of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, is included in Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries. The lineup of the other nine authors is impressive. It includes Lois Winston, Jonnie Jacobs, Judy Alter, Maggie Toussaint, Camille Minichino, Susan Santangelo, Mary Kennedy, RP Dahlke, Vinnie Hansen, and yours truly. We are a murdering lot, but fun!sleuthing women 3-D.2

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries is a collection of full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem by ten critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors. Each novel in the set is the first book in an established multi-book series—a total of over 3,000 pages of reading pleasure for lovers of amateur sleuth, caper, and cozy mysteries, with a combined total of over 1700 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4 stars. Titles include:

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston—Working mom Anastasia is clueless about her husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips and her comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves her with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. Then she’s accused of murder…

Murder Among Neighbors, a Kate Austen Suburban Mystery by Jonnie Jacobs — When Kate Austen’s socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, Kate becomes involved in a sea of steamy secrets that bring her face to face with shocking truths—and handsome detective Michael Stone.

Skeleton in a Dead Space, a Kelly O’Connell Mystery by Judy Alter—Real estate isn’t a dangerous profession until Kelly O’Connell stumbles over a skeleton and runs into serial killers and cold-blooded murderers in a home being renovated in Fort Worth. Kelly barges through life trying to keep from angering her policeman boyfriend Mike and protect her two young daughters.

In for a Penny, a Cleopatra Jones Mystery by Maggie Toussaint—Accountant Cleo faces an unwanted hazard when her golf ball lands on a dead banker. The cops think her BFF shot him, so Cleo sets out to prove them wrong. She ventures into the dating world, wrangles her teens, adopts the victim’s dog, and tries to rein in her mom…until the killer puts a target on Cleo’s back.

The Hydrogen Murder, a Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—A retired physicist returns to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts and moves into an apartment above her friends’ funeral home. When she signs on to help the Police Department with a science-related homicide, she doesn’t realize she may have hundreds of cases ahead of her.

Retirement Can Be Murder, A Baby Boomer Mystery by Susan Santangelo—Carol Andrews dreads her husband Jim’s upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain. She can’t imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it—until Jim is suspected of murdering his retirement coach.

Dead Air, A Talk Radio Mystery by Mary Kennedy—Psychologist Maggie Walsh moves from NY to Florida to become the host of WYME’s On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. When her guest, New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii, turns up dead, her new roommate Lark becomes the prime suspect. Maggie must prove Lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.

A Dead Red Cadillac, A Dead Red Mystery by RP Dahlke—When her vintage Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask aero-ag pilot Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher is found strapped in the driver’s seat. Lalla confronts suspects, informants, cross-dressers, drug-running crop dusters, and a crazy Chihuahua on her quest to find the killer.

Murder is a Family Business, an Alvarez Family Murder Mystery by Heather Haven—Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve.

Murder, Honey, a Carol Sabala Mystery by Vinnie Hansen—When the head chef collapses into baker Carol Sabala’s cookie dough, she is thrust into her first murder investigation. Suspects abound at Archibald’s, the swanky Santa Cruz restaurant where Carol works. The head chef cut a swath of people who wanted him dead from ex-lovers to bitter rivals to greedy relatives.

Buy Links

Kindle /  Nook  /  Kobo  /  iTunes
HeatherPhoto

Bio: After studying drama at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, Heather Haven went to Manhattan to pursue a career. There she wrote short stories, novels, comedy acts, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and two one-act plays, which were produced at Playwrights Horizon and well-received. Once she even ghostwrote a book on how to run an employment agency. She was unemployed at the time.

One of her first paying jobs was writing a love story for a book published by Bantam called Moments of Love. She had a deadline of one week but promptly came down with the flu. Heather wrote “The Sands of Time” with a raging temperature, and delivered some pretty hot stuff because of it. Her stint at New York City’s No Soap Radio – where she wrote comedic ad copy – helped develop her long-time love affair with comedy

Heather lives in the foothills of San Jose with her husband of 34-years and her two cats, Yulie and Ellie. She is currently writing her ninth novel.

http://www.heatherhavenstories.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HeatherHavenStories

Twitter@HeatherHaven

Email me at: Heather@HeatherHavenStories.com

Congratulations, it’s a book!

~ sandyfairfax ~ 6 Comments

By Sally Carpenter

I recently “gave birth” to a beautiful, 15-ounce cozy that I christened “The Quirky Quiz Show Caper.” Gestation was a bit over nine months, as I began in earnest last spring. Labor pains were intense, and the book nearly miscarried.

First thing to change was the title. Following a story arc that began two books ago in the series, the original title was to be “The Bloody Black Tie Benefit Caper.” My protagonist, former teen idol Sandy Fairfax, was to perform at a benefit concert to help fund his father’s orchestra.

However, after considering the sales of the previous books, I needed a “snappier” title to catch readers’ interest. Most cozy fans have never been to an expensive fundraiser (neither have I, even though I live in an area where $150 a plate benefits are common) and might not find it an captivating topic.

Also, a one-night gala event was not enough to sustain a 200-plus-page book. I needed more action to flesh out the story.

So I gave Sandy a show biz job. In each book I put him in a different venue to maintain variety. So far in the series he’d performed at a Beatles fan convention, in a sitcom and on a cruise ship. Since he was singing at the fundraiser, I didn’t want a second concert.

What else do teen idols/actors do? They appear on game shows.

Sandy would be perfect on “Hollywood Squares” where he could crack jokes and express his charming personality. However, to avoid copyright issues I created my own game show, “Raise The Stakes.” That would give Sandy something to do for several days. And when he discovered the murder victim had appeared on the same show . . .

I’m a plotter and I usually have a scene-by-scene outline set before I start writing. This time I just dove in and began writing.

Big mistake. By page 50 I was stuck.

The story began with Sandy going to his father’s office and finding the body. Right away I had problems. How could the killer sneak in and out of an office suite and past the receptionist without being seen? The office was in high-rise so people in the hallways and a lobby desk clerk would have spotted the murderer as well.

My suspect pool was limited to people who worked in the orchestra or were on the board trustees. Try as I might, I just couldn’t picture dedicated musicians as killers.

While writing about a meeting between Sandy and his father, who share a rocky relationship, the scene had zero energy. I knew the story wasn’t working. I found the office setting boring and the plot too shaky.

I told my publisher I wanted to drop this novel and start a new series that I’d been considering. She encouraged me to finish the book (bless you, Patricia).

So I threw out what I had and started over.

I kept the scene that opened chapter two: Sandy is in an old art deco theater, talking with his estranged brother who is the house organist. They are on stage while the brother is playing the organ. Aha! Now that’s interesting. I love old theaters and especially those terrific organs.

I shifted the scene of the crime from the office complex to theater. And Sandy’s brother, not his father, would be framed for the crime. That would force the two feuding brothers to work together.

With this new approach, I finally wrote the plot outline. I won’t give more spoilers, but once I restructured the premise the rest of the story fell in place easily. By the time I wrote “the end,” I was pleased with the result.

QQSC front coverSome books take more nurturing and prenatal care than others.

 

 

 

 

Keeping a Series Strong

~ Amber Foxx ~ 3 Comments

Amber in tree finalI hope this hasn’t happened to you, but … have you ever picked up the sixth or seventh book in a series you follow and been let down? Maybe the author crushed you with backstory aimed at new readers. Or worse, the author took your loyalty for granted and got self-indulgent with a book full of “darlings” that should have been killed. Series fans, myself included, sometimes forgive all of that and keep reading because they love the characters. New readers who happen to start with a later book in the series won’t be so forgiving.

Authors who handle backstory well (in my opinion) give very little and slip it in only as needed. In one of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon novels, she briefly mentions that Anna acquired her dog, Taco, after accidentally causing the death of her friend who owned him. That’s it. No other details. The story moves on. To me, this was brilliant. The reader knows just enough with this bit of painful background to understand Anna’s feelings about Taco. I hadn’t yet read the earlier book, Blind Descent, in which the accident occurs. When I did read it, nothing had been spoiled.

I’ve started other series late in their progress and quit without finishing due to backstory overload. It wasn’t just dull; it ruined the earlier books for me. Of course, a series character’s personal life changes and grows in each book, and it’s inevitable that book three will give away transitions in the lead character’s love life or family life, but it shouldn’t spoil the mystery plots of books one and two. I suspect that most people like to begin a series at the beginning, but others grab the newest book first. Sometimes the new release in a series is the only thing my library has available in audiobook, so off I drive with no prior familiarity with that author. It’s usually a good experience, but once in a while I get a book that threatens to put me to sleep at the wheel with tedious summaries of the characters’ previous adventures, sometimes in the worst way possible: expository dialogue. “Remember when we solved the mystery of the missing heiress? You saved my life and hers.” “But it was your quick thinking that got us there.” “And then the press made a hero out of her husband, of all people.” On it goes. Both characters were there and know what happened and yet they tell each other so the author can tell the reader. Yawn. Hit eject button. Pull over for coffee. Try a different audiobook.

This experience has motivated me to get a new critique partner for each book in my series. I have long-term reliable partners who know my work and my characters, and who do great plot critiques, but I also need fresh eyes on each book. Because of my aversion to backstory, I include as little as I possibly can. The new person who hasn’t read the prior books lets me know what was unclear, and then I can insert the necessary minimum at the right place. The new reader also will not be as tolerant of scenes that are fun for me and for people who have a long relationship with my characters, but which are slow in moving the plot—symptoms of that other error which can creep into a long series: self-indulgence. My new critique partner will catch it and help me cut the fluff.

I want the person who picks up book five first to have a complete, compelling experience within that story, and to be curious what happened in the rest of series. Also, I hope for the later books in the series to be as alive and exciting for long-term readers as the first book was.

Off and Running!

~ marilynm ~ 15 Comments

To be honest, I don’t run anywhere these days. However, when I get busy it does seem like I’m running.

Right now I’m in the middle of a blog tour for my latest book. And yes, things have gone wrong as they usually do. In fact, sometimes I wonder why I ever decide to do one of these labor intensive blog tours.

The first thing that happened was a mistake on the cover that was noticed by one of my blog hosts–fortunately, it plenty of time to get it fixed.

One of the hosts told me she never received the material on the day I was supposed to appear. What on earth happened to the post I have no idea. The problem was easily fixed.

Then one of the hosts blog had issues, so she changed the address–which meant all the promoting I’d done for the first address was done for naught.

None of this would matter except I’m having a contest and the winner will be the person who comments on the mosts posts.

The day this appears, I’ll be visiting Lorna Collins where I wrote about  My Younger Life . No doubt there’ll be other blips and problems along the way, but I still think it’s a fun way to promote a new book.

I just sent my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery off to the publisher–and that meant fixing all the things suggested by my critique group (that I agreed with), then sending it off to an editor and the same thing–fixing what I agreed with. It’ll be interesting what the publisher’s editor finds.

I’ve already had a book launch and I’ve given a talk to two classes at a high school, a presentation at the local library, and next month I’m doing an event with the Central Coast Sisters in Crime chapter at a winery.

And believe it or not, I live a normal life besides writing and promoting: I do all the things everyone else does: cooking, laundry, shopping, etc.and I have a big family, so I love spending time with them. Plus this last month, my husband has had some health problems, we’ve been to the ER twice and he’s had a pacemaker put in.

Sometimes I wonder why I do all this writing and promotion since I’m certainly not a big name author with thousands of fans. However, I know I love writing and the people in my two mystery series. How would I ever know what happened to them if I didn’t write the next book?

Marilyn who is also known as F. M. Meredith when I’m writing about the beach community of Rocky Bluff, it’s police force and others.

A Crushing Death Right