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HOW OTHERS SEE US

My husband, our middle son, and I went to see “Deadpool” recently. For those of you who haven’t seen the Ryan Reynolds movie, it’s about a superhero who is gross in the extreme. All the other superheros think so! His language is foul, his methods are crude, and he is anything but noble.

Middle Son said, “Oldest Son told me to watch your face during a scene or two.”

Me: “Why would he think any of this would shock me?”

Middle Son: “Because he hasn’t read your books.”

Oldest was seeing me as a fluffy elderly woman. Because he doesn’t know the beast inside me, apparently.

It’s true I’m a mild-mannered church-going middle-class woman, brought up in a small town by wonderful parents. It’s true I do my best to be polite. It’s true I’ve been married to Hal for 28 years. It’s true I have three children, all adults, and two grandchildren, whom I adore. I also rescue dogs and have favorite charities.

It’s also true that I know a lot about evil. I understand the effects of violence. I have thought about causing death in at least a hundred ways. Like Miss Marple, I am skeptical about peoples’ motivations and secret yearnings. When I hear a story on the news about a recent murder, I am quick to suspect who committed it. Sadly, I’m usually right.

Every mystery writer I know has this dual personality. I have never met another writer who “acts like a murderer,” whatever that might be. But I think we all have a fund of knowledge that most pleasant people do not possess, and that most pleasant people are very content with that state.

What is it about mystery writers that gives them that secret (or not so secret) propensity for the macabre and the terrifying sides of human nature?

I don’t know. But I have to tell you, I LOVED “Deadpool.” So there, Oldest!

Charlaine Harris

Do You Look?

By Elaine Viets

NOTE: Some readers will find the following blog shocking, or at least unsporting. I'm confessing this so that people with my habit will know they are not alone.

When you settle in with a mystery, do you check the last page first?
I do. I like to know whodunit.

Tell this to most mystery readers, and they look at me like I just stole the last parking spot in the mall at Christmas.
"You cheat!" they say.
No, I don't. It may look like cheating, but I follow strict rules – my rules.
I don't read the entire last chapter, I just skim the last page. If it says something vague like:

Melanie watched the sun set behind Tottering-on-the-Brink Castle, content at last.

Then that's it. I don't page through the whole chapter, looking for more information. I accept my fate: I wasn't meant to know the ending. I still read the novel, but it lacks another dimension.
But many times I'm rewarded with an informative ending, like this:

Melanie smiled at her new husband. Now that the evil barrister, Nigel Cheatum, was dead and the family fortune was saved, she could enjoy her new life.

Checking the last page doesn't spoil the mystery's surprise – it keeps me from falling into bad company. What if I admired Nigel, and imitated his evil ways? Peeking at the ending isn't yielding to temptation. It takes strength of character. I open the novel knowing Nigel is bad to the bone, but I'm powerless to stop him.
Peeking is also instructive. I read the book, watching Nigel's devious ways, and maybe pick up a few tips for my own writing.
Next time you come across one of us – the readers who choose to look at the last page – don't judge us. Try to understand us. Admit you're one of us.
Come on now, you peek too, don't you?

                         ***
You're invited to Helen and Phil's wedding. Win a hardcover Killer Cuts, my eighth Dead-End Job mystery. Click on Contests at www.elaineviets.com

 

Asking the Next Question

by Leigh Perry / Toni L.P. Kelner

The first convention I ever attended was Stellarcon at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1979. One of the guests that weekend was science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon. He wrote some amazing novels, and his short stories are just wonderful. I was more than a little starstruck to meet such a notable writer, and listened to everything he said with the breathlessness of any aspiring writer for a pro she admires. One piece of advice he gave was this:

Ask the next question.

By this he meant that any piece of writing starts with asking questions. This is particularly true in science fiction, where the writer is trying to create a new view of the future, but it works pretty well for mystery, too. "Who dunnit? Why? How?" In fact, Sturgeon applied it even more widely, saying, "This is true of every accomplishment, whether it's technology or literature, poetry, political system or anything else. That's it. Ask the next question. And the one after that."

It's such a simple concept, but also profound, and Sturgeon himself wore a necklace that was the symbol of a capital Q with an arrow going through it to remind himself. (It's also used on the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial award.)

I'm thinking a lot about the next question this week I'm starting a new project. (I'm not meaning to tease, but I don't want to say too much about it until it's further along and more likely to see print.) So why will the  book be about? Where will it take place? Whose going to get killed? (It's a mystery--I've just got to kill somebody!) Why will my protagonist get involved? Who will help her? Will she be in danger? All kinds of questions are waiting to be answered so I can move on to the next set.

That makes it both an exciting time and a scary time. As you might imagine, the balance between excited and scared slides around a lot. So when I'm feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities, I've been trying to focus by asking one question at a time. Then the next. And then the next. As long as I don't run out of answers, and more questions, I'll be okay.

 

A Woman and a Whisk-broom . . .

(. . . actually accomplish not much at all at The Ugliest House in California.)

I know I've posted before about my deep, sincere and abiding love for Calamity Jane? (I dream of writing a historical series set in 1860s Dakota: Calamity Jane Investigates). But did I ever say that my favourite bit of that, my favourite, film is when Louise and Calam spruce up the cabin?

They went a bit far with this chair, if anyone's asking me, but still.

However, much as I love watching the transformation onscreen, in real life . . . I just don't really care. Cobwebs, dust mastodons, automatic soft-focus because the windows and lampshades are so dirty? I don't care. And unfortunately, I live with someone who does.

About ten years ago, Neil stopped putting the newspapers in the recycling to see how long it would take me to step in. They were piled up in an old (unplumbed) cast-iron bath in the nethermost nether regions of the house. I noticed. I thought "Hm, I wonder if Neil's saving those papers for something." Then: "He's definitely saving them. I wonder what for." Then: "Wow, this newspaper thing's going to be good when it happens."

Eventually, after about eight months, I happened to mention it and . . . BOOM!

Neil: What did you think?

Me: Nothing.

Neil: All those newspapers!

Me: I know.

Neil: !

Me: ?

When he finally grasped the reality - that I hadn't been in the stand-off, that I really didn't mind eight months' worth of newspapers in a cast-iron bath - he got to thinking. Neil's a scientist, a plant-disease epidemiologist who designs models that predict what might happen when disease, money, weather, farmers' beliefs and consumers' desires all play a part in the life of a grape. Or a tomato.

So he broke down our household system into three categories: food, shelter, clothing. And inside those three categories:

Food: buy it, store it, cook it, eat it, clear up.

Shelter: tidy it, dust it, hoover it, polish it, scrub it, mop it.

Clothing: wash it, hang it out, bring it in, iron (some of) it, put it away.

And you know what? Put that way the problem pretty much disappeared. We both like buying food and cooking it and we don't mind doing dishes, especially since I'd rather wash and he'd rather dry.

But here's the thing. I actively enjoy washing, drying and ironing clothes. To the extent that I feel quite disappointed when it's a good drying day and the basket's empty. To the extent that I'll arrange clothes on the washing line so they look pretty and don't clash. And Neil likes cleaning. He likes cleaning. He has a view on Clorox Wipes (positive) and upright vacuum cleaners (negative). He has a favourite kind of duster. Weirdo.

This will never be the most efficient household in the world. Truthfully, neither one of us cares all that much. But peace now rei- I mean, now we argue about other things and hardly mention recycling at all.

 

 

Mr. Jefferson's Spring

by Donna Andrews.

So I should tell you all about the Virginia Festival of the Book, and what a great time I had, and post some pictures of the fabulous authors who attended . . . but I have spring fever this morning--quite possibly because I spend yesterday morning wandering around the University of Virginia campus, taking pictures.  So here's a look at Mr. Jefferson's spring:

 

March Book Reviews

 

by Mary Saums

 

 

Just have a few good books to recommend today ...

 

 

THE SILENCE OF STONES by Jeri Westerson, the brand new installment in the Crispin Guest series. Yay!! I love these books.

In case you're new to this series, they're set in medieval London. Which is enough right there to make me snatch them up. Crispin was once a favored knight at court but lost all his status, money and estates. With nothing left and no one to help, he was forced to move to the Shambles, the rough side of the city.

He's slowly pulled himself up from near-starvation by taking on any job, no matter how unsavory or dangerous. The nature of jobs, usually involved in finding something or someone, led to a bit of notoriety and eventually the nickname "Tracker." Along the way, he also rescued an orphaned street urchin named Jack who now serves as his apprentice.

Crispin and Jack are amongst the throng crowded into Westminster Abbey. It's the Feast of the Holy Virgin's Nativity and everybody who's anybody is there as well, including King Richard. During the ceremony, there's a sudden "boom" and Crispin can see smoke rising above the area where he last saw the king. As the spooked worshippers scream and push their way out, Crispin and Jack move forward to see what has happened.

Loved this book. It could be read without having read the previous ones in the series, but you'd be missing out on all the enjoyment of seeing these characters grow over time. Great descriptions of London throughout that put the reader into the scene. 

 

 

 

WHEN FALCONS FALL by C.S Harris

Another historical series I love love LOVE! 

The year is 1813. Sebastian St.-Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife and baby son, are usually at home in London. However, Sebastian wants to interview someone about a family matter, a very secret family matter .... (ahem, to those who've read previous books in the series, yes, THAT secret) .... and so he travels to Shropshire. While there, the brand new, and very young, justice of the peace asks for Sebastian's advice. It's the justice's first death investigation, that of a young woman found by a stream. An empty vial of laudanum is found next to her, as well as a cryptic note. The justice's advisors believe it's a suicide. Sebastian believes otherwise. 

So, because of the not-London location, I wasn't as enthralled with this one as I've been with all the others. But it did make me appreciate many elements that work so well in the previous books, mainly the super-strong characters of the couples' fathers, Lord Jarvis who is chief advisor to his cousin King George, and Earl Hendon, chancellor of the exchequer. London is so rich in diverse communities, interesting people. Political schemes. Pubs. :) A big difference from quiet countryside. But still an enjoyable read.

 

 

 

THE NEUROGENESIS DIET & LIFESTYLE: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life by Brant Cortright, Ph.D

 

I heard about this one on a Bulletproof Radio podcast this week. This is a terrific guide on how to keep yourself young and healthy at any age. Dr. Cortright explains recent experiments and breakthroughs that show we do not stop growing new brain cells early in life as scientists once believed. Along with new science, he gives strategies for diet, supplements, lifestyle changes in a clear and easy to understand way. 

 

 

Okay, so that's me. What have you been reading this month? Any new-to-you author discoveries?

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of the Best

I have been reading mysteries for nearly five decades now. I got my start with Nancy Drew and The Secret of Shadow Ranch (the revised version). I devoured hundreds of mysteries written for juveniles (as we were called in those days) before moving on to adult fare when I was about thirteen. That adult fare consisted mainly of romantic suspense novels by writers like Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, Mary Stewart, and Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters. I didn't start to read classic detective fiction seriously until I was in grad school in Houston. I had read a couple of Agatha Christie books -- And Then There Were None and The Murder at the Vicarage -- before then, but having a reliable source for such books made a difference. That source was Murder by the Book in Houston which had opened a year before I moved to Houston to start a Ph.D. program in medieval history at Rice University.

During the years at Rice, mysteries were my lifeline, in a way. I read mysteries for entertainment and escape on the weekends. As a poor history grad student, I didn't have money for much else in the way of relaxation. With the bookstore as a source -- along with a number of other great bookstores in Houston in the early 1980s -- I found plenty of inexpensive used books to feed my seemingly insatiable appetite for mysteries. In 1984 I started recording each book I read, and I still maintain that list (albeit now in a spreadsheet instead of handwritten in a journal).

Through the grad school years and those that followed after, especially once I started working at the bookstore and thus had a discount that only fueled the purchase of books, I read and accumulated thousands of books. I discovered many writers and sampled many types of mysteries (with the exception of spy novels), and my great love was the Golden Age detective story. The Golden Age was the period between the two world wars when the classic detective story flourished. I was already an Anglophile before I came to adore the British GA mystery, but reading those books only strengthened the Anglophilia. I also read American mysteries from the period, and I enjoyed those as well.

My favorite discovery was the English writer Margery Allingham (1904-1966) who to this day remains my favorite mystery writer (seen here in the photo on the right). I devoured the works of her contemporaries, like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. I read and enjoyed Edmund Crispin, Michael Innes, and Nicholas Blake. I can't forget Georgette Heyer's dozen mysteries, although my favorites are her incomparable historical novels. Not to mention Anthony Gilbert (aka Lucy Malleson) and E.C.R. Lorac/Carol Carnac. And on the American side, Elizabeth Daly and Charlotte Murray Russell.

The mystery genre has a rich and colorful history; with the authors I've mentioned I've barely begun to tell the story. So many of these books are, in my opinion, well worth reading, and thankfully these days it's a little easier than it was just a few years ago. With the British Library Crime Classics series bringing obscure writers back into print, and small publishers like Dean Street Press doing the same, I would probably never have read Annie Haynes, Ianthe Jerrold, or Robin Forsythe. The Rue Morgue Press also reprinted many great books and authors.

I do of course read contemporary mystery writers and have many great favorites among them, but I suppose my heart will always belong to my first love, the Golden Age detective novel.

Questions for you!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:

A pal and I were chatting yesterday about book world. About reading, and writing, and buying and selling.  And we realized, sadly, that we don't understand anything.

Can we talk? About books. Well, book buying, actually. I don't set the prices for any of my books, so there's nothing I can do with any of this, but just in general, I'd love to hear your answers to these. Not all, if you don't have time. Just any that you think are interesting.

1. How much do you feel comfortable paying for an e-book?  Is there a price point where you'd say--not a chance, no matter what book it is?

2. If an e-book is free, clearly to entice you to buy the next one in the series, do you happily pay the "regular price" for the next one?

3.  How much is "too much" for a hardcover book? Do you buy them?   4. The last hardcover you bought--why did you choose it?

5. Have you ever seen an ad on Facebook and clicked through, then bought the book?

6.  Have you ever seen an ad in a magazine and then thought, whoa, I cannot live without this! and instantly bought it?

7. If you did, where did you by it?

8. Do you read Amazon reviews?  If a book has all great reviews, are you suspicious? Have you ever done an Amazon review?

9.  Do you care about blurbs from famous authors? What do you think about them?

10. If a book is on the NYT bestseller list, are you more likely to buy it?

It's a puzzlement, isn't it? And I'd love to have your insight. 

And one commenter will get the Hank novel of your choice: THE OTHER WOMAN or PRIME TIME. 

And thank you--do you think this is interesting, too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISTRESSING VIEWING

My distressing viewing this morning was the news. Any year we are having a presidential election, the news revs up a notch, but this year is particularly divisive and dramatic.

This morning I saw large crowds of Trump followers trying to beat up protesters. And I saw the protesters themselves disrupt the Trump rally.

Both these things are wrong in America. The people who came to hear Trump are entitled to hear Trump. The protesters have the right to protest. And the police surely shouldn’t end up bloody in the attempt to keep the two separate.

I’m not discussing who I’m voting for. And that’s not the point. America was founded to be a nation where people who didn’t care for national policy, or a political candidate, or a new law, should be able to protest publicly.

And a candidate should be able to discuss his hopes for his country without interruption, no matter how lame-brained and divisive his words are. That’s what we are as a nation.

In a year of embarrassment – and I have been wincing when I think of international news commentaries about our political battles -- this is the most embarrassing image of all. We have boasted for decades about what makes America great. And now that’s being stamped into the dirt, on camera.

I hope somehow we can return to the civility that should be the norm for politics. I remember there was a time when the gloves stayed on, for the most part. And that was, in my memory, a good time. Can we do it again? I don’t know.

Charlaine Harris

It ages you

by Dana

My usual beauty routine consists of a quick swipe with a face cloth followed by eight-ten hours of exposure to LCD and LED light from my monitor. Last week I went in for a facial because every once and a while it's nice to have someone massage your face with nice-smelling extract of organic, Vitamin-C enriched, farm-raised Swiss monkey glands*, or whatever it is they use. As usual, the facialist grilled me about what I used for cleanser, moisturizer, etc.

When I told her, she reeled back in horror. It was as if I'd said “I just pat a mixture of raw meat and donuts onto my face; it makes my pores tingle.”  Or “I start with a good industrial grease cutter, then use ten-grit sandpaper to raise the grain and follow up with a light shellac.”

“That product is very aging, you know,” she wailed. “It ages you. Use this other product—it will keep your skin from aging.”

I had no idea how much that cleanser was aging me...

Again, I bit back a comment about formaldehyde also being a fine preservative (they don't have a sense of humor at the day spa—I've learned that the hard way). I also refrained from pointing out that she was the one who recommended that terrible “aging” cleanser to me in the first place.

I also managed to keep from laughing out loud—after all, she was just doing her job, even if part of that job is up-selling. It's just that I found the situation hysterically funny because the terrible secret is: I am aging. As I continue to not-die, I am continuing to get old. And my skin along with me.

I drink lots of water, use sunblock, get fresh air, but...yeah, there are things I do that I know are bad for my skin. To misquote Oscar Wilde, I know I look exceptionally plain when I've been editing. Deadlines cause wrinkles—that's a 100% true fact. I am convinced air travel forces ambient fast-food molecules into your pores when the plane cabin changes pressure (shut up, it is too science). And when one of the kids who works in the coffee shop says something like “no, I've never heard of The Cure, but I think my father listens to them,” it adds decades. Decades.

Got my nails did, too. I call the color "Baker Street Blue."

But as editing, deadlines, air travel, and coffee shops are a big part of my life, I take steps to mitigate them. Editing results in a book (and there is nothing like the glow one gets from opening a box of author copies). I am also switching coffee shops, tout suite. Travel takes to me see friends (who make my laugh like a hyena) and to events that energize me—enthusiasm and laughing is very good for your skin. It's true. In fact, you should check out books by The Oatmeal, Caitlyn Moran, or Jenny Lawson right now, for a good laugh. Or write about something you love and share it with someone.

What do you recommend for a good laugh or a way to generate enthusiasm? Besides avoiding facials?

*Exaggeration for comic effect.