The Best Advice I've Ever Received

Brandt Dodson

When I first decided I was going to write, the first piece of advice I was given was to 'write what you know'. The problem was that I didn't know anything. Not much anyway.

John Grisham was an attorney and knew the inside of a court room. Robin Cook was a physician, able to lace his medical thrillers with a realism that would take years of research to duplicate.

How was I going to compete with that?

But the advice was sound and it still holds true.

Write what you know.

Stephen King was a struggling novelist, working as a high school English teacher when he wrote Carrie.

Lee Child was an out of work television producer when he wrote his first Jack Reacher thriller, and Mary Higgins Clark was working as a flight attendant when she penned her first novel.

So what about them? What did they know?

The chances are they knew the same thing you and I know. They knew life.

All of us have experienced the pain of a relationship gone sour. We've all felt the sorrow of betrayal; the anxiety of loss. We've all felt the passion of love and the thrill of achieving a goal.

We've all been terrified, wet, hungry and cold. We've all had times when we felt secure. We've all had times when we felt threatened or helpless

True, most of us will never perform a heart transplant or sail on the Titanic or fire at a line of advancing Red Coats, but we can all imagine what it would be like. And we can do this by writing what we know.

Stephen King, arguably one of the greatest writers of the last century, sets most of his stories in rural Maine. But he populates them with aggressive automobiles, rabid dogs, and cemeteries that bring the dead to life.

Has he ever seen a car do the things that Christine did? Probably not. But he can imagine it. Does he know what it's like to be afraid? Undoubtedly. And using that fear - along with his imagination - he is able to transport us to his story world. He shares his fears with us. The same fears we've all experienced. It's write what you know that make his stories come alive.

Does this mean there is no place for research? Of course not. Research, particularly if we're writing a period piece, gives the story a verisimilitude it wouldn't - couldn't - have otherwise. But fiction isn't about transmitting information. Nonfiction does that well enough, thank you. No, fiction is about emotion; about making the reader feel the thing you want them to feel; it's about placing them in the story world and letting them live, vicariously, through the characters.

Write what you know?

You bet. Do that, and you'll move your readers to tears. Or laughter. Or heartache. Or sorrow. Or …

The Sons of Jude
Detectives Frank Campello and Andy Polanski battle corruption while investigating the homicide of a young woman.

Author Bio

Brandt Dodson is the creator of the Indianapolis-based Colton Parker mystery series and is the author of several crime novels and short stories. He comes from a long line of police officers spanning several decades and was employed by the Indianapolis office of the FBI.

The Sons of Jude is his most recent novel and was published in September 2012. You can find Brandt at: www.brandtdodson.com

Jerold Last

Authorsday

1. How long have you been writing?

About 1.5 years with respect to fiction, but I spent a lot of time thinking about it before I actually tried to write my first novel. However, I've been writing scientific papers for my entire adult life.

2. How did you pick the genre you write in?

My lifelong hobby has been reading mystery novels, especially the California mystery novels of my favorite authors, Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, Michael Connelly, Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, and Robert Crais, and wandering out of California, Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux stories. My interest in writing my own mysteries came from reading the masters and from teaching a Freshman seminar for many years at the University of California's Davis campus on California Mystery Novels.

3. Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it?

No. The settings and locales for all of these novels are authentic; I've lived previously in Salta, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay during a sabbatical leave, and have ongoing collaborations with local scientists in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The Matador Murders, set in Montevideo and Santiago, Chile, is the fourth book in this series, following The Empanada Affair, set in Salta in Northwest Argentina, The Ambivalent Corpse, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and the surrounding region, including Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, and The Surreal Killer, set in Peru and Northern Chile's Atacama Desert region. I try to write books that are fast moving and entertain the reader, while introducing the readers to a region where I've lived and worked that is a long way from home for most English speakers.

Montevideo, Salta, Machu Picchu, and Iguazu Falls are characters in these books, and I hope that some of you feel that you'd like to visit these places because they seem so vivid and real.

4. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?

"The Empanada Affair". Your readers can buy a copy for $0.99 from Amazon. Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, or any of the other usual e-book outlets. In my opinion it's not nearly as good as anything else I've written, but you can certainly see me looking for my voice and characters, which are much better done in the subsequent books, and basically learning how to write a mystery novel.

5. How many rejections have you received?

It depends on how you keep score. If we're talking about mystery novels, due to the wonders of self-publishing as an Indie author on Amazon, the answer is none. If we include my larger body of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers in biochemistry, toxicology, and pulmonary medicine, the number of rejections received is a whole lot higher than that. There are some similarities between scientific writing and writing fiction that have allowed me to learn a lot about the mechanics of writing before I ever tried to write my first novel.

6. If you have a day job, what is it?

I'm a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California's Medical School at Davis, near Sacramento in Northern California. I have a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and do research in asthma and health effects of air pollution on the lungs, as well as teaching and administrative stuff.

7. What’s your writing schedule?

When you have a full time job in a profession, as I do, and the constant need to be your own publicist as a self-published author, the writing schedule is whenever I can.

8. What other time period besides your own would you like to experience?

I think at or near the top of the list would be the Wild West of the USA of 1870-1895. I could have been a gunfighter, stagecoach robber, or U.S. Marshal, since I'm a very good shot with a handgun and an excellent marksman with a rifle.

9. What do you do when you are not writing?

When I'm not writing, working, trying to sell books by social networking, or editing novels and short stories, I enjoy walking (and hunting) with the German Shorthaired Pointers my wife breeds, playing with our children and grandchildren, eating ethnic foods, and curling up on the couch with a dog or two to watch TV.

10. Who is your greatest cheerleader?

My wife, Elaine. She also helps edit everything I write. Honorable mention should go to some of the experienced writers on Facebook who have been generous with their advice and support.

Author Bio

Jerry's South American Mystery series includes the newest novel, The Matador Murders, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and Santiago, Chile, The Empanada Affair, set in Salta in Northwest Argentina, The Ambivalent Corpse, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and the surrounding region, and The Surreal Killer, set in Peru and Northern Chile's Atacama Desert region. All of these mystery novels are available as Kindle books from Amazon; the first two books are also available from Smashwords, Apple, Nook, and Kobo. A fifth book in this series, The Body in the Parking Structure, is an 11,600-word novelette set in Los Angeles available from Amazon.

Book Blurb

The Matador Murders, a new South American mystery novel, is set in Montevideo, Uruguay and Santiago, Chile. With apologies to reality, the Montevideo of this novel is much like the lawless Chicago of the prohibition years. That’s part of the fun of writing fiction----an author can turn one of the most law-abiding and civilized big cities in the world into the wild, wild west of the 19th century American frontier with the stroke of a pen (that’s a metaphor; it's more the click of a keyboard these days).

A Murder of Crows

Authorsday

Jan Dunlap

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

The first time I walked into a public library. I think I was in second grade, and I wanted to live there so I could read every book. The promise of all that information and all those stories overwhelmed me. And I wanted a book of my own on those shelves.

2. How long have you been writing?

I wrote my first story in fourth grade. We were in a brand-new elementary school, and the librarian asked for student contributions, so I wrote a story, illustrated it, and she bound it to put on the shelves. By the time I was in high school, I wanted to be a journalist, so I quit writing any fiction. I worked in public relations and advertising, then wrote free-lance for Christian publications for many years until I landed a job writing a family humor column for our local paper.

3. How did you pick the genre you write in?

Pure serendipity and foolish pride. I read mysteries when my kids were little because the stories were intriguing enough to keep me reading fast – I didn’t have the time or interest to read anything thick. Finally, I’d read enough that I thought I could do at least as good a job at it as some of the authors I read!

4. What drew you to the subject of “A Murder of Crows”?

Because my Birder Murder Mysteries always deal with a conservation issue that affects birds, I look for those kinds of news items. I began to plot the book after hearing about a controversy in a nearby town that pitted eagle conservationists against a local utility company’s development plan. About the same time, I took a trip through Iowa and was so impressed with the huge wind turbines I saw there that I decided to make my story about wind energy’s impact on bird populations.

5. Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it?

Since I make all my books geographically accurate so others can find the birds that my protagonist finds, I was stumped when I used a birding report from 1965, because I couldn’t find the name of a particular lake on any map. I ended up calling the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (which I do a lot in the course of writing my series!) and they connected me to the DNR in the area referred to in the old report. The officer there took the time to check old maps and confirmed for me that the lake in the report had been renamed. Mystery solved… and my story included that interesting bit of trivia.

6. What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew?

I wish I’d known that I would have to manage all my own marketing and publicity! If I had known that, I would have written all 12 books in the series (instead of only 2) before seeking a publisher. Now I’m so busy marketing, I barely have time to write, and I’ve got seven more books to go.

7. What was the best writing advice someone gave you?

Find your voice. It’s not an easy task. You’re always tempted to write like someone else, especially when they’ve gotten published and you haven’t. But a unique, clear voice is what makes a novel stand out. I worked a long time on my protagonist Bob White’s voice, but everyone who reads the series loves him!

8. Why did you pick the publisher that ultimately published your book?

I had tried to find an agent for three years, but none of them thought a mystery featuring a birdwatcher would sell. In fact, I had agents tell me that no one was interested in birds. With 48 million birdwatchers in America, though, I was convinced otherwise. I kept thinking there had to be an agent or editor somewhere who liked birds! I finally gave up on landing an agent, and decided that since my book series is about a Minnesota birder, I would look for a regional publisher. When I queried North Star Press of St. Cloud (MN) about the books, I hit the jackpot, because my editor there is a birder!

9. Describe your book.

“A Murder of Crows” is about lust, greed, envy, pride, and home-baked biscuits. Actually, it’s about a birder who’s found dead dressed as a scarecrow, and how he ended up that way, but all those things I just mentioned play a part in the story. Oh, and there’s a hypnotist who gets knocked out before he snaps the kids out of being chickens, and my protagonist Bob White has to round them up before they hatch eggs.

10. What’s your favorite food?

Adele’s Frozen Custard! It’s a small locally-owned shop near my home, and it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. They make different flavors every day and they’re closed for the winter. I count the days every year till March 1 when they re-open!

Author Bio

Jan Dunlap is the Minnesota author of the Birder Murders, a laugh-out-loud mystery series following the adventures of high school counselor/expert birder Bob White, who has a bad habit of finding bodies while he birds. Hailed as "everything a cozy mystery should be," on Amazon.com, Jan's novels mix birding, environmental issues, witty dialogue and characters so real, you'll want to invite them to dinner! Jan’s favorite things are the great outdoors, her five kids, and frozen custard, though not necessarily in that order. Jan welcomes visitors to her website at www.jandunlap.com.

Book Blurb

Amidst the annual scarecrow display at the Minnesota Arboretum, Bob White finds the dead body of Sonny Delite, a birding colleague well-known for his conservation advocacy. Dismissed by the police as a suspect, Bob turns his attention to unmasking the former celebrity wrestler who has joined the Savage High School faculty, but quickly regroups when the murder investigation comes home to roost at the high school. Determined to discover the identity of Sonny’s killer, Bob’s chase takes him to the proposed site of a wind farm and into the crosshairs of a World War II explosives expert.

Authorsday: Anne K. Albert

(1) When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Anne - Until I reached a ‘certain’ age, I never imagined ordinary people could be writers. It seemed like such an incredible occupation--this ability to create worlds with words!

Then, in the late 1980s, working as a display advertising sales representative for a small weekly newspaper I came face-to-face with a computer. I fell in love with the sound of fingertips flying across the keyboard. That’s what inspired me to write my first book! I love that sound. It’s music to my ears.

(2) How did you pick the genre you write in?

Anne - I grew up reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden books. Later I discovered Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner and other whodunit authors. Realizing I could combine a mystery with a little romance and humor just makes me smile! It’s such fun to combine all three genres into a fun, fast-paced read.

(3) Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?

Anne - I’m very much a pantser. It took me a very long time to accept this process. I wanted to find an easier way to write. I tried outlining for two manuscripts, and included loads of details, twists and turns. But when it came time to write those stories, I couldn’t get do it. It took years for me to figure out why. The answer? I already knew how the story would end! Where’s the fun in that? I realized I’m my first reader. I write to find out what happens next.

(4) How many rejections have you received?

Anne - I received at least thirty agent rejections and ten or more editor rejections. It was frustrating to read positive comments about my work, yet not have anyone willing to take me on. I hate to admit it, but eventually I said enough. I quit searching and did not write for almost a year. A close friend encouraged me to give it one more try and re-submit. Thankfully I took her advice, and sold six months later.

(5) What place that you haven’t visited would you like to go?

Anne – Ireland. It’s on my bucket list. I. Just. Have. To. Go. There!

(6) What’s your favorite food?

Anne - Anything my husband cooks! All joking aside, he’s much better at it than I am. He’s able to taste a dish in a restaurant, analyze it, and then re-create it at home. It’s wonderful.

(7) What is your favorite writing reference book and why?

Anne – Without a doubt it’s Dwight Swain’s ‘Techniques of the Selling Writer’. It’s a multi-layered how-to book that will benefit beginners as well as bestselling authors.

(8) Who is your favorite character in your book?

Anne - I’m especially partial to Val, Muriel’s aunt. She is off the wall, does and says outrageous things, but has a heart of gold and would never hurt a fly. I admire her spunk.

(9) Where do you write?

Anne – I can write anywhere, but my favorite spot (weather permitting, of course) is inside our van. I jokingly refer to it as my “cone of silence”. It provides a cozy cocoon-like environment with zero interruptions. No telephone, no computer, and no visitors.  

(10) What was the hardest scene to write?

Anne - Nailing the first scene is always the most difficult part of the process for me. It’s not necessarily my least favorite, it’s just a little frustrating and time consuming – especially when I’m so anxious to get on with the story! I’ll usually write 10 to 20 versions of the same first scene. Most are variations on a theme with subtle changes that may seem insignificant to the reader, but are major obstacles for me. I have to get it ‘right’ before I can move on to writing the rest of the story. The initial process is often two steps forward and one back, but I’ve learned to accept it. It’s just how I write.

Author Bio:

Anne K. Albert has taught high school art, sold display advertising for a small town weekly newspaper, and worked for a national brand water company, but now writes full time. Her stories chill the spine, warm the heart, and soothe the soul…all with a delightful touch of humor.

Book Blurb:

Frank, Incense and Muriel: It’s the week before Christmas when the stress of the holiday season is enough to frazzle anyone's nerves, but to find a missing woman Frank and Muriel must deal with an embezzler, femme fatale, kidnapper, and of course, Muriel's eccentric, (but loveable) family whose desire to win the coveted D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award just might make them all a little crazy.

Mexican American Characters by John Desjarlais

Johnny asked me to say a little about my background or offer a memory or two for his guest blog with Chris. No problemo, I said, contento ayudar, amigo. I was reminiscing just last week when I visited my favorite tia, madrina Maria, back in Chicago.

So I wheel my '69 Charger onto 18th Street in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood near her place, and the throaty rumble of the big engine turns heads. Good street cred. I hear Norteño bands playing plaintive corridos on button accordions along with the thump-thump of quebradita, a blend of North Mexican banda and Aztec punk rockers singing in Spanglish. Ay, lemme tell you, I felt my Spanish blood beating.



Every time I pass Saint Adalbert’s Elementary in the shadow of the church’s skyline-dominating steeple I remember how in the sixth grade Sister Mary Beatrice (aka Sister Mary BattleAxe) caught me speaking Spanish in the back row asking Gloria Garcia for an eraser. Sister pulled me by the ear into the corner.



“You’re in America now,” the Polish nun reprimanded me, her milky finger in my mocha face. “We speak English here. If you want to be an American, speak American. If you want to speak Spanish, then go back to Mexico.”



I asked if there was a difference between speaking English and speaking American. Even then, Dios me ayuda, such a mouth.



Sister Beatrice kept me after school on KP (kitchen patrol) for "talking back."



“Ay, you don’t talk back,” my mother chided me when I got home. Mami’s high Zapotec cheekbones colored and the jet-black bun on top of her head, I could have sworn, was spinning.



“Muchachitas bien criadas, girls brought up well, don’t mouth off,” Mami said, wringing the dishtowel. “Do you want to be called ser habladora? A big mouth that talks too much? Is that what you want?”



“Mami, all I did was ask a question.”



“En boca cerrada no entran moscas,” my mother said, tapping her lips with a finger. Flies cannot enter a closed mouth. She had a dicho for everything.

I didn't tell her what the kids did in recess the next day. Joey Kowalski asked me if I knew the Frito Bandito and got the others to dance around a hat singing “La Cucaracha” while snapping their fingers like castanets over their heads. How could they know the famous Pancho Villa song was about Mexican heroes who bravely fought back against white oppressors? So when Joey asked me in my face if I knew Speedy Gonzalez too and trilled “Reba, reba! Andale!” I bloodied his nose with a single punch. He was too astonished and ashamed to tell Sister Mary BattleAxe what really happened and said he had taken a direct hit in the face during dodge ball in recess.



I told my twin brother Antonio about it that night.



“The boxing lessons I gave you, they helped, no?” he said, laughing. “Did you put your shoulder into it, the way I showed you, like this?”



“Stop it,” I whispered, deflecting the playful punch. “Mami says I already act too much like you boys. Promise you won’t tell her. Or Lorenzo or Francisco. Promise me.”



“OK, Oscar de la Hoya.”



“It’s not funny. And don’t tell Papa, either.”



“Oh, he might be glad,” Antonio chuckled. “He wanted all boys anyway to start his own beisbol team. Then you came along and put a stop to that idea.”



I socked him in the shoulder; he swung the pillow into my face, I threw mine at him, and soon the room was full of goose feathers and giggles.



Madre de Dios, how I miss him. I'd better stop here.



OK, Johnny, thanks for letting me share in your place. Now get back to writing the third book in this series or I'll give you a swift kick en la nalgas with my Guiseppi Zanottis!



VIPER blurb:



On All Souls Day, Selena De La Cruz’s name is entered in her parish church's “Book of the Deceased.”

The problem is, she's not dead.

And someone thinks she should be.



Is it "The Snake," a notorious drug dealer Selena helped to put in prison when she was a Special Agent with the DEA years ago? Or someone far, far more dangerous?



John Desjarlais:

A former producer with Wisconsin Public Radio, John Desjarlais teaches journalism and English at Kishwaukee College in northern Illinois. His first novel, The Throne of Tara (Crossway 1990, re-released 2000), was a Christianity Today Readers Choice Award nominee, and his medieval thriller, Relics (Thomas Nelson 1993, re-released 2009) was a Doubleday Book Club Selection. Bleeder and Viper (Sophia Institute Press, 2009 and 2011 respectively) are the first two entries in a contemporary mystery series. A member of The Academy of American Poets and Mystery Writers of America, he is listed in Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who Among America's Teachers.

John’s web site: http://www.johndesjarlais.com

John’s blog: http://jjdesjarlais.blogspot.com

John’s email: jjdesjarlais@johndesjarlais.com

VIPER isn’t out yet, but it will be available through Amazon.com and can be ordered through bookstores sometime later this Spring. BLEEDER, RELICS and THE THRONE OF TARA are at Amazon, too:



http://www.amazon.com/Bleeder-Mystery-John-J-Desjarlais/dp/1933184566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297207709&sr=1-1



http://www.amazon.com/Bleeder-A-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004L62D4K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1297207753&sr=1-1



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bleeder-Mystery-John-J-Desjarlais/dp/1933184566/ref=sr_tc_2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297207898&sr=1-2-ent



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bleeder-A-Mystery/dp/B004L62D4K/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A3TVV12T0I6NSM&qid=1297207898&sr=1-2-ent



http://www.amazon.com/Relics-John-Desjarlais/dp/0840767358/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298297119&sr=1-3



http://www.amazon.com/Throne-Tara-John-Desjarlais/dp/0595155979/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298297119&sr=1-4

ExcerpTuesday: Sheila Goss

BIO

Shelia M Goss is the national best-selling author of eight novels for adults: Savannah's Curse (February 2011), Delilah (January 2011), Hollywood Deception, His Invisible Wife, My Invisible Husband, Roses are thorns, Paige’s Web, Double Platinum and three young adult books: The Lip Gloss Chronicles series: The Ultimate Test, Splitsville, and Paper Thin. Shelia has received many accolades over the years, including being honored as a Literary Diva: The Top 100 Most Admired African American Women in Literature. For more information, visit her website: www.sheliagoss.com or www.facebook.com/sheliagoss.

About Savannah's Curse by Shelia M Goss

Straight-laced Savannah Blake’s world is turned upside down when she finds her dad, Major Blake, shot on his lawn. Before he dies, he gives her a few clues to the identity of his killer. His dying request is “Protect your sisters.” Montana and Asia are the only family Savannah has left, and she will fight to the end to save them. The pain of losing their father has Savannah obsessed with finding his killer.

Savannah suspects someone from “The Agency,” a secret government security operation where her father once worked, is behind his death. She enlists the help of Troy Bridges, the owner of a private security firm in Dallas. She doesn’t necessarily trust him, but Savannah needs Troy because of his inside knowledge of The Agency.

The chemistry between Savannah and Troy is electric, and only intensifies as the stakes get higher. They have no time to deal with their unresolved feelings, though, because the closer they get to the killer, the more dangerous things become.

Savannah’s Curse will take you on a roller-coaster ride of suspense as Savannah channels her grief into an unrelenting search for her father’s murderer.

Savannah's Curse Short Excerpt

Silence caused her to release her tight grip and look at her father’s face again. She had to know if he was still alive. He had to be alive!

“Savannah, promise me you’ll protect your sisters,” he said before his eyes closed. This time it was for good.

She envisioned Major Blake, her father, rising from the ground and stepping through death’s door. Gone was the bloodstained shirt that adorned his earthly body a long white robe now replaced it.

With Savannah holding his body with one arm, and raising her hand to wave at him with the other, she gave in to the momentary out-of-body experience she found herself in. “Good-bye,” he said, smiling at her before following a tall, handsome man standing beside him. The scene disappeared into the portal of her mind’s eye. She glanced back at the body in her arms.

All her senses were on alert. “Daddy?” she called.

The door opened as the paramedics burst onto the deck. They were late. They were a moment too late.

Some came through the house, some through the back gate—late, all the same.

She could tell people were surrounding the house. That’s when she noticed the Dallas police officers’ uniforms, in addition to the firemen’s and paramedics’. So many uniforms of different types were there. Her eyes fluttered, but she held on to the moment. This was not a time to give in to the mental overload.

With tears streaming down her face, Savannah kissed her father on his forehead for the last time before those men, with forcefulness and tactless hands, shoved her out of the way. “Excuse me, miss,” one said, noticing her falling back onto the deck with a thud.

As she watched them work, she could only think of their poor timing. They were seconds too late to save the one man in her life who never disappointed her, and who meant the world to her. Major Blake died in her arms, but his legacy would live on.

Soon they, too, would want to know the answers to what she already questioned. Who had killed her father?

But what they didn’t know was that Savannah had made a vow—whoever it was, they would not go unpunished.

All Things Romantic Suspense Tour: Dawn Brown

After a devastating personal tragedy, history professor Hillary Bennett seeks refuge in the quaint Scottish village of Culcraig, hoping to research a legend and salvage her career. Instead, she finds her hostess dead, and her hopes for the future pinned to the woman’s black sheep heir.

The last thing Caid Douglas needs is a decrepit manor house to remind him of his estranged family, but he does need the money selling the house would bring to pay off his debts. In desperation he offers to honor his great aunt’s arrangement with Hillary—if she pays him to stay at Glendon House and view his ancestor’s journals, he’ll have the money to fix up the family mausoleum and sell it.

But an ancient curse hovers over the village, and the secret to lifting it lies in the journals. Will Caid and Hillary realize what they have and uncover the truth before a twisted killer silences them forever?

  
Someone was in the house with them…


“You know,” Hillary said, keeping her voice low. “This house is huge. We could check each room individually, but who’s to say that whoever’s here won’t just keep moving around as we search, eventually working their way into a room we’ve already checked? We’ll never be one hundred per cent sure we’re alone.”


“Are you suggesting we separate?”


Her grip on his hand tightened. Did she even realize she’d done that?


“It would probably make more sense to split up. If we worked from opposite ends and met in the middle, it would reduce the chance of an intruder slipping away. But as I said, this place is huge and we’re only two people, the odds of our mystery person eluding us are still pretty good. Not to mention the confusion.”


“Confusion?” Caid tried to suppress his grin.


“Yes. If we separated, we could easily wind up tracking each other. At least together, if we hear or see anything out of the ordinary, we know that it has to be someone else.”


“What an astounding rationalization.”


She frowned at him in obvious consternation. “I think I made some very good points.”


He smiled. “Aye, you did. I’m sure you’ve convinced yerself quite nicely. Did you bring the subject up simply because you were concerned that I might think you liked holding my hand?”


He couldn’t stop his smile from widening, especially when she struggled to untangle her fingers from his, but as they entered the kitchen, he tightened his grip.


"Dinnae be like that. I’m just having a wee bit of fun with you."


She ceased struggling as her delicately shaped brows drew together in disbelief. "That wasn't here earlier."

"What?" He turned to the direction she pointed.

A brass fireplace poker lay dead center on the battered harvest table. On the floor, a series of watery footprints stretched between the back door to the table.


Christ’s sakes. Hillary hadn't just been frightened alone in an old house, there had been someone else here.

But who? And why?

ExcerpTuesday: Kaye George

Twenty-two-year-old Imogene Duckworthy is waiting tables at Huey's Hash in tiny Saltlick, TX, itching to jump out of her rut and become a detective. When Uncle Huey is found murdered in the diner, a half-frozen package of mesquite-smoked sausage stuffed down his throat, Immy gets her chance. Immy's mother, Hortense is hauled in for the crime. Unclear of the exact duties of a PI, Immy starts a fire in the bathroom wastebasket to bust Mother out of jail. On the run from the law with her mother and her toddler daughter, Nancy Drew Duckworthy, Immy wonders, now what?

Chapter 1


"That's it, Uncle Huey!" Imogene Duckworthy whipped off her apron and flung it onto the slick, stainless steel counter. "I quit!" If only her voice didn’t sound so…young. Her order pad, pencil, even the straws skittered out of their pouches and across the floor. She took a step back, her shoes sticking to the trod-upon-after-lunch debris of squished lettuce, blobs of gravy, and bits of unidentifiable brown stuff.

"You can't quit, darlin'," drawled Uncle Huey in that thin, nasal voice that made him seem six inches shorter than his five ten. "You're family." He dipped a scoop of mashed potatoes onto a plate, ladled thick brown gravy on top, and handed it to the cook.

"I'm not working double shifts again next week." Immy hoped she sounded serious. Mature. Convincing.

"Well, you'll just have to, won't you? Since Xenia just quit on me today, you and April are all the waitresses I've got left."

Clem, the portly cook, piled the hot plate with thick slabs of meatloaf, spooned green beans beside them, and shoved it into April's waiting hands. Immy hadn't eaten lunch yet and the oniony smell of the meatloaf kicked up some saliva under her tongue. She watched April swing through the double doors and glimpsed the white-washed dining room, full of scarred wooden tables and chairs, almost empty of customers now.

She’d worked and played in this restaurant her entire twenty-two years. It had been started by her grandparents and handed down to her father and her uncle. Since her father’s death, of course, Uncle Huey had run it alone.

Would she miss this place? Maybe, but she was quitting anyway.

Immy pounded her fist on the work counter. Hugh Duckworthy jumped. "No, Uncle Huey. April is all you've got left. And if you'd kept your mitts to yourself, you'd still have Xenia." Immy's hands shook as she snatched her purse and jacket from her cubby, but she succeeded in stomping out the back door of the diner, past the cook and busboy who were staring openmouthed. Aside from troublesome customers, she didn't talk back to people often, even when she wanted to.

Even if Uncle Huey was her father's brother, he was a first class jerk.

© by Kaye George 2011

Kaye George, an Agatha nominated short story writer, is the author of CHOKE, Mainly Murder Press, May 2011, as well as A PATCHWORK OF STORIES, a collection of her previously published stories. She reviews for "Suspense Magazine", and writes for several newsletters and blogs. She, her husband, and a cat named Agamemnon live together in Texas, near Austin.


Homepage: KayeGeorge.com

Blog: TravelsWithKaye.blogspot.com

Authorsday: J. R. Lindermuth

J. R. Lindermuth lives and writes in central Pennsylvania . A retired newspaper editor/writer, he is now librarian of his county historical society where he assists patrons with genealogy and research. He is the author of eight novels, including four in the Sticks Hetrick mystery series, and has published articles and stories in a variety of magazines, both print and on line. He recently signed a contract with Oak Tree Press for a novel in their new Western line. He is the father of two children and has four grandsons.

BLURB
When an out-of-state reporter is found murdered in the restroom of a disreputable bar the tendency to violence spirals in the rural Pennsylvania community of Swatara Creek, and the investigative trail keeps bringing Dan ‘Sticks’ Hetrick and his team back to the family of a wealthy doctor who has come back to his hometown in retirement.



See reviews and excerpt at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/chapters/BeingSomeoneElse_JRLindermuth.shtml

Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
A. I think the desire was always there. I remember making up stories as I played with toy soldiers as a boy and coming up with scenarios for cowboy and Indian games with friends. My grandfather was a story teller and my Dad had a good library. I think both further stimulated my imagination.

Q. How long have you been writing?
A. I’m not sure just when I began committing my stories to paper. I recently found an old school notebook which contained some early (embarrassingly bad) examples. I know my output expanded greatly after my parents gave me a typewriter in high school. I began sending stories to magazines and actually got encouragement from a few kind editors. But it would be much later until anything was accepted.


Q. How did you pick the genre you write in?
A. My genres are mystery and historical fiction, both generated by my early taste in reading. I grew up reading the tales of Poe, the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London and the mysteries of Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr. Though I now read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, my favorites remain mysteries and thrillers.



Q. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?
A. I’m definitely a pantser. I generally know where I’m going with a story, but if I have too-defined a road map I’ll get bored before I get there. My outlines are so brief no one else could follow them—usually just a scattering of words as reminders and to keep me focused.


Q. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?
A. My first completed novel was The Spartans, a sort of Cain and Abel tale set during the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania . Fortunately, it was rejected by every publisher to whom I submitted. But elements of that novel—much changed and moved to a later period in history—made it into Schlussel’s Woman, my first published novel.

Q. What was the best writing advice someone gave you?
A. I’ve said this elsewhere, but I still believe it. Early on I wanted to be an artist. I wrote Thomas Hart Benton and asked his advice. He replied with one word: Paint. I believe the same applies to writing. We learn best by doing.

Q. What place that you haven’t visited would you like to go?
A. There are many, though Africa would top the list. Why? To see the place where man began. To see the great herds before they are completely exterminated. To see the places where some of my heroes walked.

Q. What other time period besides your own would you like to experience?
A. With a generous supply of today’s antibiotics, the Renaissance period, especially in Italy and England . Can you imagine a more interesting period in history than this when man was shaking off the fetters of superstition and questioning everything?

Q. What do you do when you are not writing?
A. I like spending time with family, reading, drawing, walking—especially in the woods and mountains around my home, listening to music, watching good movies.


Q. What would you like to learn to do that you haven’t?
A. Play some musical instrument, though I doubt I can do it. I love all kinds of music—from classics to the blues, from folk to early rock. Unfortunately, I can’t even play the radio without getting static.


Being Someone Else (July 2010), Whiskey Creek Press
Watch The Hour (April 2009), Whiskey Creek Press
http://www.jrlindermuth.com

Recipe Wednesday - A R Grobbo

Everyone seems to be cheating on everyone else these days. Jesse James on Sandra Bullock. Tiger on his wife Elin. Wonder what they would have done if murder by poison was still in vogue. Can one taste arsenic if you put it in this recipe?
ONE WOMAN’S POISON is the fourth Gloria Trevisi Mystery published by Double Dragon Publishing; a friend’s high school diary contains a deadly secret, canned preserves are killing the locals, and Gloria is about to face the worst two weeks of her life. (Fortunately there is no peach preserve needed for the recipe.)



BEER BARBECUE SAUCE



Barbecue season begins in southwestern Ontario, and Gloria Trevisi is cooking outdoors.



1 bottle of beer (any brand)

3 cups ketchup

3 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp horseradish

3 tsp Worstershire Sauce

1-1/2 tsp Garlic salt

1-1/2 cups brown sugar



Boil gently, uncovered, until thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir often. This mild barbecue sauce is great with chicken and pork, wonderful on hot dogs and hamburgers and sensational with ribs. Store it in a glass jar in the fridge.

A.R. Grobbo spent 20 years working for suburban newspapers and marketing for an international corporation before retiring to the country. She lives in southwestern Ontario where she keeps bees, teaches music and dreams up mystery plots for her cozy series.



To Quote award-winning author Dee Lloyd: “… crisply written, tightly plotted and filled with characters who walk right off the page.”

Check out the author and her books at www.angrobo.com.

Recipe Wednesday - Dorothy Francis

Mystery author Dorothy Francis has a killer recipe for Crab Bisque today. Killer? Would Kate serve it to Jon?

Hmm.

Dorothy Francis is an award-winning author who for years has written mystery novels and short stories from her home offices in Iowa and the Florida Keys. She is a member of MWA, S-in-C, Key West Writer's Guild, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.


Eden Palms Murder:



Key West visitor Bailey Green faces death at the hands of blackmarket thieves when police ignore her claim that her brother's homeless friend was murdered.





Recipe:



CRAB BISQUE



1 small onion chopped

4T butter or margerine

1can celery soup

1can potato soup

1 can milk

1 can half & half

5 to 7 oz. can of crab meat

1/4 c sherry

salt to taste



Saute onion in 2T margerine until tender. Add soup, milk, cream, and drained crab meat. Heat to just boiling. Add sherry, salt and pepper. Heat. Add remaining butter.
Makes 4 to 6 generous 3/4 cup servings

ExcerpTuesday - Carylyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton

Two authors for the price of one.

The Big Grabowski
By Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton
From Krill Press, Available through Amazon.com

Excerpt:
Investigative Report Molly Donovan arrives at the crime scene on the Oregon Coast


A whumping sound thickened the southern sky. A Coast Guard chopper appeared over a stand of Douglas firs, tilted, and circled.
“Look!” I pointed over Greg’s shoulder. “They’re signaling for you to stop traffic so they can land on the highway.”
Greg turned. I dodged under the tape and sprinted for the door. It was so easy I almost felt guilty. Almost.
I bolted through the back door, and pounded down the asphalt trail, digging for the telephoto lens. Not that the paper would print a picture of the floater. The Flotsam enforced strict standards about blood, guts, and sensationalism, but I hoped the long lens would give me a clue to the victim’s identity and a jump on my deadline. Of course, this might be a suicide. That meant no story—and pissing Greg off for nothing.
Stumbling to a stop, I dragged out the camera and snapped on the lens. I heard Greg’s boots thudding on the asphalt as I climbed onto the creaking wooden railing and focused on the body bobbing in the foaming swells below. It floated face down, pink shirt hanging in tatters, gray slacks torn around bruised and broken flesh.
“Damn it, Molly, get off that railing and up to the road or I’ll cuff you.”
“Promise?” I braced myself, squinting. A whiff of week-old-tuna odor drifted up to me. I stifled a gag.
“You know Ben Galloway won’t let you print those pictures.” He grabbed the back of my T-shirt.
“I’m not shooting, I’m looking.” I zoomed and focused. A wave flipped the body and I caught a flash of color, a paisley pattern of pink and purple only one man I knew would put on his feet willingly. “Whoa!”
“What?” He tugged at my shirt. “What is it?”
As another wave rolled the body, I spotted a matching tie. “I feel sorry for you, Greg. You just caught yourself one hell of an investigation.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I snapped off three quick shots: the body, sea lion cows huddled on the rocks, and a big bull with an expression of disgust. “Two words. Vincent Grabowski.”
“The developer guy? He’s the floater?”
I climbed down, grinning. “Afraid so.” I packed up my camera. “But look on the bright side. You won’t need to make a list of suspects. You can just copy the Devil’s Harbor phone book.”




Blurb

When the body of an unscrupulous land developer washes in with the tide, there are more suspects than mourners in the quirky town of Devil ’s Harbor. Vince Grabowski was infamous for creating an environmental disaster, hatching shady investment schemes and trying to commercialize the tiny coastal community. Those on the list of who-could-have-done-it include Grabowski’s less-than grieving widow, her eco-freak boyfriend, a marijuana-farming ice cream shop owner, a radio evangelist about to lose her listeners, the mayor’s sex-crazed wife and a disgruntled artist who grudgingly perpetuates a hoax on gullible tourists.

For Molly Donovan, the murder creates an opportunity to use the crime reporting skills she shelved when her father’s heart attack forced her to return to Oregon . Chafing under the limitations of writing for The North Coast Flotsam, she revels in matching wits with investigators—until the killer frames her father.

Video trailer on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M36HSyesec8

Author Bios
Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York ’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona , logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America , and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas , New Mexico , Oregon , and Washington . She’s now a writing coach, teacher and founder of the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

Mike Nettleton grew up in Bandon and Grants Pass , Oregon . A stint at a college station in Ashland led to a multi-state radio odyssey with on-air gigs in Oregon , California , and New Mexico under the air name Mike Phillips. He’s been with KEX in Portland since 1994. His hobbies are golf, pool, Texas held-em poker, and book collecting.

Surf to http://www.deadlyduomysteries.com/ for more information