Guest Author Post - Joyce Tremel

Please welcome Joyce Tremel to the blog today. Joyce was a police secretary for over ten years. Her fiction has appeared in Mysterical-e, and her nonfiction has been published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police magazine. To Brew or Not to Brew is her first novel (click here). She lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh with her husband and a spoiled cat.

THE TOP FIVE THINGS I’VE LEARNED WRITING A COZY SERIES

5. It’s not as easy as it looks. Believe it or not, there are readers out there who think that cozy mysteries are inferior to other mysteries. Obviously, they’ve never tried to write one. I’ve found it takes quite a bit of skill to kill someone and not gross out the reader. The cozy writer has to get the horror of the murder across without showing much in the way of blood, guts, and the like. You have to describe what happened without actually describing what happened. This also applies to any sexy scenes. I’m perfectly content with not having to write those kinds of scenes. Banter, innuendo, and an occasional kiss that leaves the character’s knees weak is enough for me. I like to leave the rest up to imagination.

4. It’s sometimes hard to find adequate substitutes for swear words. I worked as a police secretary for ten years. Believe me, cops swear. I learned a whole new vocabulary when I worked for the police department. When you have officers talking in a cozy, you can’t very well have them use what must be their favorite word in the whole world because they say it three times in every sentence. And you can’t have them say gosh, darn, or golly either. Andy Griffith could get away with it, but that’s about it. My protagonist’s dad is a homicide detective and in one scene I have Max say something like, “My dad rarely swore but I could tell he held back a string of words that would have turned the air blue.” I do throw in an occasional damn and have used the letters S.O.B. Sometimes I’ll interrupt the dialogue just before the swear word would be uttered. So far, it works. I think.

3. There’s a fine line between educating the reader on the character’s craft or occupation and boring them to death. No one wants to read page after page of how your character does something. My protagonist Max is a craft brewer and there’s a lot of chemistry involved in brewing beer. If I started rambling on about how to calculate the specific gravity of a certain brew in order to calculate the alcohol by volume, I don’ t think readers would be too happy. In the best case scenario, they’d skip those pages; in the worst case, they’d throw the book against the wall. It’s a mystery novel, not a textbook. Information like that must be sprinkled in lightly.

2. Recipes are hard to come up with. I’m usually thinking more about the plot and what the characters are doing than about what they’re eating or cooking. I’ve had to train myself to actually stop and describe certain foods and then search for a recipe to include. That’s probably why the first book, To Brew or Not to Brew only had two recipes. I did a little better with books two and three. Tangled Up in Brew has four, and next year’s A Room With a Brew will have five.

1. Write everything down. When I was about halfway through writing the first book, I realized I was NOT going to remember which character had blue eyes, who had brown eyes, how tall a certain someone was, etc. I started what we call a Character Bible. I jotted down each character, what they looked like, and anything else I thought might be important. I did the same with each shop and location in the series. I even drew a little map so I’d remember which store/shop/restaurant was where. And thank goodness I did. I refer to it constantly. Between that and the style sheet (which has even more detailed info on it) from my copy editor, I’ve saved hours that would have been spent searching through previous manuscripts for one tiny tidbit of information. All because I couldn’t remember something I thought I would.

These are the top five things I’ve learned writing a cozy series. Readers, what have you learned reading one?

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THANK You Ms Tremel for this delightful post - I can relate to the swearing conundrum.  Tough question, but I would have to say I have learned I love reading mysteries because of the brush with danger while knowing I am completely safe from it.  Anybody else want to share?

Find out more at joycetremel.com.

Guest Author Post - Laura Childs

Welcome Laura Childs, USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, the Cackleberry Club Mysteries, and Afton Tangler Thrillers under the Pen-name Gerry Schmitt.  In her previous life she was CEO of her own marketing firm, authored several screenplays, and produced a reality TV show. She is married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese art history, enjoys travel, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.


I am excited she is joining us with a guest post discussing creating a sense of place in her writing.  I love when a setting is a character in the story, so I am enjoying this post.

On Creating a Sense of Place.

The first time I visited New Orleans, I fell head over heels in love with the city. And because this fanciful city was introduced to me by friends who lived there, friends who actually belonged to the famed Rex and Comus krewes, I had the rare privilege of being invited into the giant float dens, meeting the float builders, marching in one of the Fat Tuesday parades, and attending the white tie (not just black tie) Rex Ball.

New Orleans truly is The Big Easy and The City That Care Forgot. It’s also a city that been mythologized and derided, and is filled with contradictions. It’s eccentric, overindulgent, and just naturally possesses a dark side. And I just knew that New Orleans would provide the perfect setting and backdrop for my Scrapbooking Mysteries.

The tricky thing, of course, is how to capture the essence of New Orleans. How to bottle the magic and then spill it out onto the pages of my mysteries.

Well, I’ve tried very hard to do just that. Because at its heart, New Orleans is a spooky, highly atmospheric place that lends itself to a mystery novel setting. Think about it – you have the crumbling French Quarter with grande dame architecture, above-ground cemeteries, elegant Garden District homes, live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, massive Mississippi River, and fog-shrouded bayous.

A setting like New Orleans makes it exciting to create a total “sense of place” for readers. To depict the smell of chicory coffee at the Café du Monde, the aroma of fried oysters, and the sweet scent of magnolias at midnight. As a feast for the eyes, I focus on taut descriptions of narrow cobblestone streets with gaslights flickering overhead and dark blue-black bayous that stretch to the Gulf.

As a counterpoint to my spooky aura, my main character, Carmela Bertrand, is a savvy, focused, amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on “coincidences” or inept police work to solve crimes. She dives headfirst into New Orleans society and digs for information. In Parchment and Old Lace, Carmela gets pulled from a dinner at Commanders Palace to the murder of a bride-to-be in St. Louis Cemetery. As Carmela digs deep, she realizes the killer could be the conflicted groom, stalker attorney, jealous bridesmaid, or crazy mother-in-law to be. And as Carmela sorts through this dysfunctional group of suspects, snippets of antique lace and parchment become critical clues. It all comes to a head at a raucous casino party and ends with a frantic chase through an abandoned theme park.

Parchment and Old Lace delivers a gripping story in a realistic, yes-you-will-feel-it setting. There are also scrapbook tips and recipes for Pecan Pie Muffins, Sweet Potato Casserole, and Big Easy Butter Chicken.

But just when you’ve settled back and assumed everything is safe in Carmela’s world, footsteps sound behind you and the lonely toot of a tugboat whistle floats in from the Mississippi.

Gosh, I picked a fun career!

All my best, Laura Childs

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THANK You Ms. Childs for that delightful post.  

Find out more at www.laurachilds.com 

Review - Clock and Dagger

I reviewed the debut novel in this new series, Just Killing Time (click here), and had a guest post from the author (click here).  It has the running theme of a clock shop and all things fine clocks.  Check out this addition to the series.

Author:  Julianne Holmes

Copyright: August 2016 (Berkley) 304 pgs

Series: 2nd in Clock Shop Mystery series

Sensuality: Mild

Mystery Sub-genre:  Cozy Mystery

Main Characters: Ruth Clagan, expert clock maker and owner of Cog & Sprocket

Setting: Modern day, Orchard Massachusetts (Berkshires)

Obtained Through: Publisher for honest review

Ruth has three days to pull off four events—including the grand reopening of Cog and Sprocket, the clock shop she inherited from her grandfather—so she doesn’t have time for Beckett Green’s spiteful nonsense. The competitive owner of a new bookstore, Green seems determined to put other shops out of business by carrying their specialty items.  He’s trying to steal Ruth’s new watchmaker, Mark Pine, not to mention block her plans to renovate the town clock tower.

Ruth is already all wound up when she’s alarmed to discover Mark’s dead body. As the denizens of Orchard each chime in as to who they think the murderer is, Ruth needs to watch her back as she investigates on her own. Despite the danger, Ruth won’t stop until the killer is behind bars and serving time.

Ruth is a good heroine, level headed and making up for some lost time and a few regrets.  Ben Clover, is the owner of the neighboring hair salon and makes a fun potential love interest. He is the guy-next-door character, average man who you root for. Jeff Paisley, by-the-book Chief of Police who is dating Ruth's friend but must handle the rumor mill in this small town.  Caroline, the step-grandmother has her past catching up with her which was a great touch.   Bezel, the shop cat deserves a mention, just for being the shop cat. 

The setting is a standard small town with the standard enclave of shops.  It is the week between Christmas and New Year’s and the shops are trying to provide a coordinated event to bring business from surrounding areas.  There is a dichotomy of the community minded versus the every-man-for-himself that has elevated to the city council.  I appreciated the tension in the story with this scenario rather than impossible family members (just saying).

The plot was well executed as the murder victim wasn't who I was expecting from the setup although, as the story progressed I could tell what direction it was headed.  Not, to say that was bad, it was well presented and pacing kept my interest throughout.  The culprit was fairly presented and gradually revealed with clues that I enjoyed putting together. While still a cozy, the plot was nicely more developed.

The killer reveal had some nice suspenseful moments like I enjoy.  Kudos on that. The wrap up tied up all the loose ends and left me looking forward to the next book.

This cozy sets up a nicely involved plot, has characters you become invested in, and the setting is just enough to add tension with small town politics.   

Rating:  Excellent - Loved it, it had a good grip on me! Buy it now and put this author on your watch list.

**I have gotten very behind with my reading, reviewing, and posting - my apologies. 

Guest Author Post - Delia James

Please welcome author Delia James of the delightful Witch's Cat Mystery series.  Delia has been a writer almost as long as she’s been anything.  She started putting stories on paper by drawing stick figures comics based on Maurice Sendak cartoons and never stopped.  These days, she writes her magical mysteries from her home near Ann Arbor, Michigan, assisted by her loving husband, Tim, her magnificent son, Alex, and her vocal cat, Buffy the Vermin Slayer.

SO, WRITER, WHAT ARE YOU READING?

When you’re a writer, the most popular topic for people to talk to you about is, well, writing. 
What do you write, how do you write and where and when and where do you get your ideas, all of that. 

The second most popular topic, however, is what do you read. Which is fine by me. Every writer was a reader first, and every writer remains an enthusiastic reader throughout their lives, or, pretty soon, they cease to be a writer. I’d rather talk about books than anything else, except maybe my son. And obviously, as a mystery writer, I get asked about the kinds of mysteries I like to read.

Usually, I talk about my earliest influences; Dorothy L. Sayers and Josephine Tey, Daphanie DuMaurier and, of course, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.

But today, considering the renewed and necessary discussion of diversity in publishing, I thought I might talk about some of more recent writers I’ve been reading, a number of whom are African American women.

Now, I write cozies and historicals, but I read all kinds of mysteries, and I admit a love for a touch of the gothic, and the classic. When I opened OF BLOOD AND SORROW by Valerie Wilson Wesley, I was immediately catapulted into a classic hard-boiled detective novel, complete with the down at the heels office, the scrabbling, emotionally scarred sleuth, and the mysterious,slightly unsavory female client who is hiding at least as much as she’s telling. The difference is, Tamara Hayle is an African American woman with a teenage son, struggling to make a living as much as she 
is to come to grips with her past, and the case that has just landed on her desk.

An author in the cozy realm is Charlotte Neely, and BLANCHE ON THE LAM. This is the first in a series about Blanche White, an African American housekeeper, who, like Tamara, is struggling with parenting issues (she’s helping raise her sister’s kids) and to make her way in the world. For Blanche, both are an uphill climb. When the story opens, Blanche is quite literally on the run when

she starts. Stiffed by her employer, enough of Blanche’s checks bounced that she was at risk of being sent to jail for check fraud, and she does skip out from the court house. The stakes for her in this mystery are real and immediate from page one. The suspense and the characters were both excellent, and I found myself constantly asking “how is she going to get out of this?”

Of course, if we’re going to talk mysteries, we have to talk cop stories. I particularly like Eleanore Taylor Bland, and the Marti MacAllister mysteries. Marti is tough and practical and has a great working relationship with her partner Vic. The one that hooked me was from later in the series, A DARK AND DEADLY DECEPTION, but even though I was starting in the middle, I caught up fast, and was glad I did. I enjoyed the read and it kept me reading, and guessing all the 
way along.

Now, here’s where I make a confession. I’m an absolute sucker for suspense, and yes, I went head over heels for GONE GIRL and GIRL ON A TRAIN. If you are also that kind of reader, you need to check out Dorothy Koomson’s THE WOMAN HE LOVED BEFORE. This one had me from the first lines:

Are you her? Are you the one he’s with now? Is that why you came looking for me?

If you aren’t reading this letter fifty or sixty years from now, then it’s likely that I’m dead. Probably murdered.

Please don’t be upset by that…

Now, THAT’S an opening.

But, for me, even better than straight suspense, is suspense with that touch of the gothic. This is the territory Attica Locke lays claim to in THE CUTTING SEASON. Set on a former plantation that has been turned into a tourist attraction, and told from the point of view of Caren Gray, who works as the manager of the plantation where her mother worked as a cook, and where her ancestors were enslaved. This is a complicated, wonderfully written book, rich with contradiction, mystery and the struggle to reconcile the past and the present, both in terms of family and the sweep of history. She doesn’t drop a stitch in this story, and she doesn’t miss a beat or shy away from questions of class as well as race. THE CUTTING SEASON has turned out to be one of my favorite read of the summer.

So, Writer, what are you reading? There’s really only one answer to that:
Whaddayagot?

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THANK You Ms. James.  I am with you, I love suspense with gothic touches!  I am reading Whispers Beyond the Veil at the moment, but your newest (BY FAMILIAR MEANS) is next up!!

Margaret Coel Q&A

Fans of the Wind River series by Margaret Coel will definitely want to read this Q&A.  Hard to believe the newest book released, Winter's Child, is the twentieth in the series.  Find out big news about the series. 

Q&A with Margaret Coel about Winter’s Child
Q. Is it true? Winter’s Child is the final novel in the long-running Wind River series?

A. Yes, it is true. Winter’s Child is the twentieth novel, and I knew while I was writing that it was a good place to let Vicky and Father John finish their stories.

Q. Just like that?

A. Well, not exactly. I thought about it a lot. It was a tough decision, but everything has a natural lifespan, even a mystery series. Vicky and Father John have been through a lot of adventures together. They've solved dozens of crimes and faced down and outwitted a whole range of murderers. Sometimes I was surprised they were still alive! But there they were, always ready for the next crime to solve, the next criminal to bring to justice. And I was always ready to see what they would do.

Q. So you didn’t get bored writing about them?

A. Bored is not a word I understand. I loved every minute of writing about them. Still, I thought it was time to let them go.

Q. So what’s next?

A. For me? I may be retiring the Wind River series, but I am not retiring. I am a writer, and as Garrison Keillor has said, writers just keep writing. I am looking forward to meeting new character-~ people, getting to know them, sharing their lives in different kinds of adventures. Who they might be, I have no idea, but I trust they will come to me in their own good time, just as Vicky and Father John once did.

Q. How about Vicky and Father John? We have seen the deep and ongoing affection they have for each other grow with each novel. We’ve been waiting to see what will happen. Are we going to find out?

A. As I was writing the ending, I realized that what I wanted to do was leave them in a good place, with the future open and stretching ahead. It is how I wanted to remember them—going about their lives and heading into the future. What will that future be? Well, you’ll have to read Winter’s Child and fill in the rest of the story. 

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THANK You Ms. Coel for sharing about the series with us.  I know I haven't read all of them, and I certainly want to even more so now!