The First Crime Novel Competition, which teams up Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America, is the literary equivalent of American Idol.
Kind of.
The competition gives an unpublished writer the opportunity to launch a career with the Minotaur Books imprint. The winner will receive a one-book, $10,000 contract.
A winner is not chosen annually so the competition is pretty stiff.
And this competition has given the genre some involving stories. Previous winners include The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen (2016 ); The Drowned Land by John Keyse-Walker (2015); The Man on the Washing Machine by Susan Cox (2014); The Impersonator by Mary Miley (2012); A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns (2011); One Man's Paradise by Douglas Corleone (2009); In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (2008).
The latest author to join that group is Nev March, whose honor was announced April 25, 2019, during the Mystery Writers of America Edgar banquet in New York City.
The New Jersey resident’s winning novel is tentatively titled The Rajabai Tower Mystery, and is set to be published in 2020. (Note: the cover at left is not final.)
Set in the 1890s, The Rajabai Tower Mystery features a former soldier in the Indian army recovering from wounds sustained in skirmishes with Afghan tribesmen. The soldier becomes inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels he reads to investigate the suicides of two well-to-do Parsee women in Bombay.
Minotaur Books associate publisher Kelley Ragland stated in a press release, “A vibrant portrait of India just before the turn of the century, an engaging lead character in Captain Jim Agnihotri, and a fresh homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, The Rajabai Tower Mystery was the perfect choice for our winner.”
After working in business analysis for 20 years, Nev March returned to writing full time in 2015. She is a member of the Hunterdon County Library Write-Group. She lives with her husband and two sons in New Jersey.
Minotaur is currently accepting submissions for next year’s award. For more information, visit http://www.minotaurbooks.com/writingcompetitions.
A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the first G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award being given to Sara Paretsky.
The honor continues the legacy that Grafton, along with Paretsky and Marcia Muller, started by launching series about tough female private detectives.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the author who was even more ahead of time.
Maxine O'Callaghan began writing short stories about Delilah West, the first female PI in print. Delilah made her appearance in a series of short stories including one in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, predating Muller, Grafton and Paretsky. This short story made Delilah the first entry into the female PI genre.
O'Callaghan published 13 novels, six of them about Delilah, and a collection of short stories.
While Delilah made her first debut in a novel during 1981, those works, at the time, were overshadowed by those novels by Muller, Grafton and Paretsky.
According to The Thrilling Detective web site, “Delilah may not have had the spark and zip of the others, she was a more-than-enjoyable and credible P.I. A former cop, she goes into the shamus game with her husband Jack. But when he's murdered, she starts playing it for keeps in a series of books and stories that at the time drew praise for their emotional realism and snappy plotting.”
Readers now have a chance to revisit O’Callaghan’s works. Brash is republishing the entire series with the remaining two coming out by the end of this summer.
Details are at Brash Books. http://www.brash-books.com/.
“Maxine was a trailblazer... she wrote the first female private eye, paving the way for Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton...and yet she never enjoyed the wide public or critical recognition she deserved,” said Lee Goldberg, co-owner and publisher of Brash Books and an author.
“Her books are terrific, but were all out of print and in danger of slipping into obscurity before we came along. I thought it was vitally important that we republish her books, that they remain in print, for readers to discover. We've republished the early short stories and all but two of the books, which we'll be re-releasing later this year. It's a tragedy that her books never "broke out" the way Sue and Sara's did...because they are every bit as good and still hold up well today,” Goldberg continued in his email.
O’Callaghan was nominated for the Shamu, Anthony and Bram Stoker awards. Her novels and short fiction featuring Delilah West were honored by the Private Eye Writers of America with its lifetime achievement award, The Eye, for her contribution to the field.
Maxine O’Callaghan was born in Tennessee and was the first in her large extended family to finish high school. She joined the Marine Corp Reserve, eventually she did during basic training at the Recruit Depot in San Diego.
She, her husband and two children ended up in Orange County, California, where, as a stay-at-home mom she began writing short stories. That’s when she came up with Delilah West, selling that ground-breaking story of the private detective to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
Delilah West novels:
Death is Forever (1981)
Run From Nightmare (1982)
Hit and Run (Mean Streets) (1989)
Set-Up (1991)
Trade-Off (1994)
Down for the Count (1997)
No matter which side you are on in the immigration issue—and this essay will, in no way, be political—America is a country of immigrants.
And mystery fiction has often explored the issue of immigrants through stories about newly arrived foreigners, anxious to make the United States their home, to those who are undocumented. America isn’t the only country that also has immigration issues.
Here are some mysteries that include immigrants in their plots.
The Darkness, by Ragnar Jonasson. Days from retirement, Reykjavík Det. Insp. Hulda Hermannsdóttir investigates the death of a young Russian woman who was seeking asylum in Iceland.
The Given Day, by Dennis Lehane. The first in Lehane’s sprawling epic trilogy about the Coughlin family also is about the American experience. Cops and gangsters as well as white and black families fuel the three novels that begin in Boston, move to Tampa and, finally Cuba.
Hunters in the Dark, by Lawrence Osborn. A young Englishman loses himself in Cambodia and Thailand to escape his life as a small-town teacher.
The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The anonymous narrator was a North Vietnamese mole in the South Vietnamese army who embeds himself in the exiled South Vietnamese community in the United States. Won the 2016 Edgar Award for best first novel.
Bad Country, by C.B. McKenzie. Arizona bounty hunter and private detective Rodeo Grace Garnet is hired by an elderly Indian woman whose grandson was murdered. The evocative setting is filled with a rough landscape where undocumented immigrants are crossing the Sonoran Desert. Nominated in 2015 for an Edgar Award for best first novel.
Broken Windows, by Paul D. Marks. A sequel to the Shamus-winning White Heat, Broken Windows is set in 1994 during California's Proposition 187, which was an anti-illegal alien initiative. Marks shows how the immigration issue hasn’t changed.
The Foreigner, by Francie Lin. A Taiwanese American financial analyst travels from San Francisco to Taipei to scatter his mother's ashes and re-establish contact with his brother, who inherited the family hotel and is involved with the Taiwanese criminal underworld. Won the 2009 Edgar Award for best first novel.
Asylum City, by Liad Shoham. A look at the immigration policies in Tel Aviv, a destination for asylum seekers from Africa.
The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton. L.A. reporter Eve Diamond follows a story about the “jasmine trade" in which girls are smuggled from Chinese provinces and forced into prostitution.
The Ghost of Christmas Past, by Rhys Bowen. The latest in Bowen’s series about Mary Murphy who leaves Ireland to settle in America.
I love to find mystery authors referencing others’ works in their plots.
It’s a kind of a wink to the readers.
So I have made these references an ongoing series.
Here are some recent ones I’ve found.
The Last Act by Brad Parks (Dutton) In this highly entertaining standalone, Brad Parks sculpts a most unusual sleuth. Tommy Jump is a former child actor who had success on Broadway. But as an adult he’s only finding work with touring productions, and even those gigs are drying up. Then he is offered a challenging acting job—go undercover in a prison to befriend an inmate who was a banker for a cartel. Tommy also is reader who loves to bury himself in a book. His latest read is the thriller Say Nothing, “by an author I had never heard of,” says Tommy. Well, Tommy may not have heard of this author but Brad Parks knows him very well. Say Nothing is by Brad Parks himself. Nice product placement there.
The Knowledge by Martha Grimes (Atlantic Monthly Press) Superintendent Richard Jury’s questions about Native American culture, gambling, and the rise of casinos sparks a discussion with Alfred Wiggins, his dependable sergeant. Wiggins suggests Jury read a Tony Hillerman mystery “and went on in this vein until Jury shut him up.”
The Outsider by Stephen King (Scribner) A character talks about picking up the latest Harlan Coben “barnburner” and attending Coben’s discussion at his book signing.
A Season To Lie by Emily Littlejohn (Minotaur) The death of a well-known writer fuels the plot of this second novel about Colorado police officer Gemma Monroe. So, naturally, literature comes up a few times. One character discusses reading “an early Agatha Christie.” She offers her take on mysteries. “The thing about mysteries, unlike life, is that they are never about the killer, or the victim, or even the detective, really. In the end, they’re all about the puzzle. And the joy of reading a mystery comes from the riddle within the riddle, you see. If you solve the puzzle before the detective, it’s much more fun.” I disagree with that statement, because mysteries are all about the detective and her or his search for identity—how the mystery is a part of the social fabric of the community. Very few mysteries are only about the puzzle, and that is why the genre is so important.
The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown) Pelecanos’ latest novel is about the relationship between a prison librarian and an ex-con. So it’s reasonable there would be references to real novels. Here’s two:
Librarian Anna and prisoner Donnell discuss the plot of Lisa Lutz’s The Passenger. “I can see why this book was popular,” says Donnell. “’Cause, you know, the idea that you dye your hair a new color, cash in your bank account, change your ID cards, and disappear into thin air? It’s kind of everyone’s fantasy, right? To have a new start?”
And on the same page, Anna tells Donnell about another book. “Anna took another book off the cart. It was one of Wallace Stroby’s crime novels about a thief named Crissa Stone. ‘Try this one. It’s got a female protagonist. Written by a man but he gets it right.’ ”
Stroby has four novels about Crissa Stone, including The Devil’s Share and Cold Shot to the Heart.
One of the honors presented last month during Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Awards was the Charles Todd Service Award.
We neglected to write about it and want to correct that oversight now.
First, a bit of history—the Charles Todd Service Award is decided on and given by MWA board of directors for outstanding service to the organization. It is not given annually—no one received the honor in 2018—only when the board decides an individual deserves it for going above and beyond.
The first recipient of the award was none other than Charles Todd, the son in the mother/son writing team.
The 2019 honoree—and yes, I know I kind of buried the lead here—is Frankie Bailey, left.
In my opinion, a most deserved honoree.
MWA Executive Vice President Donna Andrews presented the award to Bailey during the Edgar banquet.
“[Bailey] has served as MWA’s EVP [executive vice president] during a difficult time,” said Andrews. “She has been incredibly active in getting our diversity effort moving. She also is a goddess—a former Sisters in Crime president who has done a lot to help with the new partnership and amity between the two organizations.”
Bailey is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice University at Albany (SUNY). She studies crime history, and crime and mass media/popular culture and material culture. She is the author of five mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Lizzie Stuart and two police procedurals novels featuring Albany police detective Hannah McCabe.
Authors often base a character on a composite of people they know; some use just one individual and then fictionalize that person’s life.
And of course, names of real people often pop up in novels because they’ve bought the privilege of having their name used as a character.
Owen Laukkanen has a different approach in his latest novel, the superb Deception Cove.
He bases one character on someone he knows very well, and also uses her real name for the character.
In fact, he lives with her—his dog Lucy.
In Deception Cove, Laukkanen’s real-life Lucy becomes the fictionalized Lucy, a wonderful dog who is the center of the novel.
We have no doubt that the real Lucy is just as wonderful.
Deception Cove, the launch of a new series, does have human characters in it, too.
One of those characters is former Marine Jess Winslow who suffers from a severe case of PTSD. Lucy has been Jess’ only salvation. The dog can tell when Jess is about to have an attack or is having a nightmare and offer her comfort.
The other main human character is ex-convict Mason Burke, who trained Lucy while he was behind bars. This dog also was his saving grace.
Lucy gave both Jess and Mason hope for the future, something to believe in and a reason to get up. Lucy offered unconditional emotional healing.
When Lucy is in trouble—and, believe us, she is never harmed—Jess and Mason have a new goal and team up to save her.
Laukkanen describes the fictional Lucy as “a mutt, probably pit bull but not entirely; she had that square, blocky head and that big dumb pit smile 
when she panted, but her body was long and more lean than stocky. A boxer, maybe, or some kind of retriever. Her hair was short and fine jet black save a white shout and a stripe up her forehead, a patch on her neck and her belly, white socks on all four paws and another patch like paint on the tip of her tail. She was a rescue….”
That pretty much describes Laukkanen’s real Lucy, right down to her past as a rescue.
In the acknowledgement section in the back of Deception Cove, Laukkanen thanks the RainCoast Dog Rescue Society “for bringing the real Lucy into my life.”
Lucy was found in a California kill shelter “with only days left to live,” he writes.
She was “scooped up and brought to Canada and into my life, for which I’ll be forever grateful.
"RainCoast rescues and rehomes dogs from all over the world, and their work is in every sense a labor of love,” he adds.
For more information, or to donate as Laukkanen mentions, visit www.raincoastdogrescue.com.
And, of course, read Deception Cove, a terrific launch of a new series.
Many bookstores have cats who call the stores home.
And it’s not just bookstores. My sister-in-law owns a music store in Durham. North Carolina, and the instruments are well protected each day by the resident cat.
Full disclosure—I am a dog person. Always wanted a cat but am allergic.
Not sure if James Patterson is a dog person or a cat person, but he is taking care of some literary cats.
Patterson is partnering with the American Booksellers Association to give bonuses to independent bookstore cats.
Patterson has pledged $50,000 as part of his Bookstore Cat Bonus Program
The grant application asks one question: "Why does this bookstore cat deserve a bonus?"
I would think the answer would be because it is an adorable cat! Can’t think of a better reason.
Patterson will select the winners, who will receive bonuses ranging from $250 to $500.
The 2019 campaign is open to all U.S. independent bookstore cats through May 30.
In a press release, Patterson stated . “Over the years, I've heard from so many booksellers who've received holiday bonuses, and the question that's come up so many times has been: 'What about my cat?' These bonuses will allow bookstore cats to be treated to better food, blankets, medical assistance and toys--especially those little stuffed birds with 
dangling feathers.
“However, the owners use the money, I'm humbled to know that I can make a difference in bookstore cats' lives. And I'm grateful to be able to acknowledge the important work they do."
Through the years, Patterson has generously donated money to school libraries, independent bookstores and to literacy
programs.
Doesn’t anyone have a bookstore dog?
Cat photos courtesy of several of my friends. I am not identifying them but they know who they are….I am assuming the cats know who they are, too.
Three stiff corpses delivered to mink ranchers for 7 cents apiece bought two comics and a flat packet of pink bubble gum. In a few grim months, we were players in the market, making friends along the way.
Some of my earliest memories are warm and fuzzy flashes of lying in bed alongside my brother Ryan listening to Mom reading us stories from library books. When our grandmother visited, she took over and told us tales of knights and kings until we grew drowsy, at which point she finished us off with Yeats. We seldom got the drift but the rhythms were soothing. (Coupled with strong drink, he’s still my tonic for sleepless nights.)
Those recollections might be somewhat rose-colored and hazy, but I remember clearly when it all changed with a sudden move to a French Catholic prairie town. Books went from being a comfort to an escape. As English kids–and one parent an enthusiastic atheist to boot–Ryan and I were strangers in a strange land. With no public library and the one at the school severely censored by the ruling order of nuns, reading prospects were bleak until we discovered a flourishing underground trade in comics among the kids. Starting with just a few you could trade back and forth, we read almost endlessly from that initial investment. Any port in a storm! We earned our buy-in from rabbits we slingshot and snared in an enthusiastic slaughter that still makes me wince. Three stiff corpses delivered to mink ranchers for 7 cents apiece bought two comics and a flat packet of pink bubble gum. In a few grim months, we were players in the market, making friends along the way.
I read comics indiscriminately and by the thousands, ranging from innocuous Classics Illustrated to crime and horror stories with blood splattered covers that had to be kept hidden and read at night by flashlight under blankets. Later on we added pulp fiction to our clandestine reading. The world expanded. The Max Brand Westerns were treasured; his cowboy protagonists lonely outcasts leading humble lives until a singular event touched them and they rose up from the clay and became heroes. Who the hell didn’t want that?? All they lacked was a round table. Grandma would have approved. So whether it’s fleeing to the tropics with Joseph Conrad on a cold winter's night, or parking your worries to buckle up for a wild ride with Stephen King, escape lies just beyond the turning of a page or a touch on a tablet.
As for me, my long ago steeds are sailboats now, and the dusty Western streets become the boundless seas. Roll on…
Joel Scott is the author of the Offshore Novels, a series about crime and high seas adventures, featuring Jared Kane and Danny MacLean. Scott has traveled extensively and worked as a fisherman, a yacht broker, and a librarian. He is a two-time winner of the Cedric Literary Award. Joel is a lifelong sailor and circumnavigator who currently lives and sails out of Chemainus, British Columbia.
This “Writers on Reading” essay was originally published in “At the Scene” enews May 2019 as a first-look exclusive to our enewsletter subscribers. For more special content available first to our enewsletter subscribers, sign up here.
Eleven books ago, when I first started writing, I made the decision to write about women in unusual professions...
I read Christine Trent’s first Florence Nightingale book, No Cure for the Dead, and loved her fresh take on a great historical figure as well as her mad skills at crafting a traditional detective novel. The first one had a bit of a goth feel, the second plunges Florence into the heart of Victorian London, with all it’s plusses and minuses.
Robin Agnew for Mystery Scene: I love both Florence Nightingale your character, and Florence Nightingale the person. How did you settle on writing about her?
Christine Trent: She really was remarkable, wasn’t she? A one-woman wrecking ball to the firmly entrenched private and military medical establishments.
Looking back on it, I suppose writing about Florence was fate. My mother had spent years as an RN before a knee injury sidelined her. However, she maintained her nursing license until the day she died because she was so proud of having earned it.
While in the middle of my Lady of Ashes Victorian-set mystery series, my agent suggested that I develop another series to run alongside it.
Florence Nightingale immediately flashed in my mind.
My agent said, “Eureka!” My mother was pleased as punch. Then Crooked Lane Books said, “Let’s do it!”
The rest, as they say, is history.
My mother died in 2015 after years of chronic illness. The series wasn’t sold until 2016. I wish mom could have known that the series started in homage to her really did hit the shelves. I think she would have been so happy about it.
I know that some of Nightingale’s contemporaries found her aggressive and hard to handle, for want of a better expression. Your portrayal of her as a working woman, questioning what is going on around her, makes sense to a 21st-century reader, but as you make clear, in the 19th century she was something of an aberration. Do you think contemporaries of Florence may have judged her harshly?
I would almost say that her contemporaries were a bit taken aback by her. She had her great supporters—most notably Sidney Herbert, Secretary at War. He was amazed at the revolutionary way she viewed patient care and enthusiastically worked to implement Florence’s proposed reforms for military hospitals and treatments.
Military leadership was aghast at how she wanted to “coddle” soldiers. Fresh air, warm blankets, and nourishing food—what poppycock for Britain’s sturdy fighting men!
For her entire life, Florence would experience this push-pull for her many programs designed to change nursing and hospitals. There were those who believed her to be a legendary reformer (the common view today) and others who found her to be stubborn, impractical, and completely out of her depth.
After all, Florence was a society woman who had chosen—chosen—to work in a lowly occupation like nursing, which was considered little better than prostitution at the time.
Imagine how bewildered and awed her detractors would be today by what Florence’s reforms had accomplished worldwide.
How have you researched her personality and how have you made the character of Florence in your books your own?
Funny you should ask this question. My brother is one of my beta readers, and when I was describing my research into Florence’s life and personality to him, he said, “Careful that you don’t turn her into Violet Harper!”
Violet is the sleuth of my Lady of Ashes mystery series, and I had written her as smart, capable, and very gentle with the deceased bodies which she has in her charge. She is also completely intolerant of fools.
Florence, too, was renowned for her great tenderness and love toward those under her care, particularly the soldiers she ministered to in the Crimean War. She would forever refer to them as her “boys.” She was also quite adept with pen and paper and would fire off incredibly scathing letters against politicians and establishment figures who stood in her way.
I tried writing the first Florence book in third person, as I had done all of my previous books, but I couldn’t quite “feel” Florence that way. So I switched to first person, which enabled me to better see the world through her eyes and imagine what the reactions of a wealthy, privileged society miss—who also wanted to change that society—would be.
I like to think Florence would have approved of the result.
One of the things I very much appreciated in both this book and the first book, No Cure for the Dead, was watching the way Florence approached a problem and the way she was willing to learn about it. In this novel she works with two historical figures, Rev. Whitehead and Dr. Snow in uncovering the causes of a cholera epidemic. Can you talk about those two a bit?
Sure. Both men probably deserved more air time in the book than I could give them. Dr. John Snow is known primarily for having figured out the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, which played a large part in the acceptance of germ theory.
Most medical professionals of the time—Florence included!—believed in miasma theory, the idea that disease was carried about in invisible clouds, or “miasmas.” Florence felt justified in defending this theory because she saw that opening windows and letting in fresh air (thus releasing miasmas) had a really beneficial effect on her patients.
But Snow used infection statistics to track the preponderance of cases back to a drinking water pump in Soho’s Broad Street. And old cesspool was discovered leaching into the pump. In that cesspool was a discarded, infected diaper. Yuck, right?
Authorities really had no choice but to grudgingly agree that Snow’s theory was correct. Reverend Henry Whitehead was an unsung hero in the matter. He was the assistant curate of St. Luke’s Church in Soho. Because the locals knew and trusted him, he was able to go door-to-door gathering the statistics needed to come to the proper conclusion about the Broad Street pump. Like Florence, Whitehead was initially suspicious of Snow’s conclusions, but he quickly became a fervent adherent of germ theory.
Snow died in 1858 before widespread medical reforms were made based on his discoveries. Whitehead, though, would continue to crusade on public health issues until his death in 1896.
With historical fiction it’s always difficult, I think, to balance the history part with the mystery part, and not let the history part take over. How do you manage to do this, while still giving the reader the very real feel of Victorian London?
For me as a writer, it really comes down to the initial plotting. I typically take a few historical incidents (in this case, the cholera outbreak as well as to the run-up to the Crimean War) and then ask myself, “How can I get a good body count in the middle of it all?”
Because why have one murder victim when you can have two or more? Right, mystery lovers? I try not to spend a lot of time in descriptive exposition of streets, houses, weather, clothing, etc., and instead attempt to casually drop in details: the fish pie eaten at a meal, the lilac silk taffeta of a dress, the swirl of coal smuts in the frigid air outside, and so on.
By layering in tiny details like this, my hope is that the Victorian London atmosphere becomes real while I dedicate more pages to bodies and bloodshed.
The mystery parts of your novels strike me as "traditional" with a central detective, clues, red herrings, and a wrap up by the detective. Are you a fan of classic detective fiction?
What’s important to you when you start a story? What gets you to your writing table, thinking “I have to write about this”?
This question brings me back around to my mother, who absolutely adored Agatha Christie and had multiple dog-eared copies of each of Christie’s books. Hercule Poirot was mom’s favorite Christie detective and he’s mine, too.
Because mom and I would share Agatha Christie books with each other, I suppose I came to easily accept Christie’s classic style as a great method to emulate.
As for what gets me going to the next story, I have to admit that I tend to leave my characters in any book with one foot into the next story. In fact, I can already see several more story lines into Florence’s future since her life is fairly well-documented, so I’m champing at the bit to write them all! If only I wrote faster…
Your first series was about a female undertaker in Victorian London, so obviously you are drawn to rule breakers. Can you talk about your interest in these types of characters?
Eleven books ago, when I first started writing, I made the decision to write about women in unusual professions. I have an extensive doll collection and knew that Marie Antoinette collected dolls, so I thought, what sort of adventure could a doll maker to the French queen have?
It helped that I love history, too.
That book led to books about a wax-working apprentice to Madame Tussaud, a fabric merchant to King George IV, and finally to the series about Violet Harper, my fictional Victorian undertaker, and Florence Nightingale, a very real Victorian notable.
What I love about writing these types of characters is that they are in unique—yet plausible—situations.
Besides, the research is so much fun.
What book was a transformational read for you—what put you on the path as a lifelong reader or as a writer?
Besides all of the Agatha Christie books mom and I shared? I supposed I started off early with Nancy Drew books—my first binge read.
My reading addiction expanded into lots of fiction—mystery, romance, suspense—but I really fell in love with historical mystery and fiction.
It was a novel I found in a sad little used-book bin (“Any book $1!”) about 15 years ago that turned me into a writer. I was drawn to the cover because it had a picture of Versailles palace on it. The novel was entitled, “To Dance with Kings,” written by a British author I had never heard of, Rosalind Laker.
It was such a moving, thrilling read that it was the moment that I wondered to myself, “Could I do this? Could I at least try?”
So I started writing. And taking classes. And attending conferences. I even wrote to Ms. Laker, care of her agent, and to my utter amazement she wrote back to me! I ended up visiting her several times at her home in Great Britain, and she encouraged me to write and seek publication. Laker died a couple of years ago, but I consider that sweet author, who was so supportive of me, to be my greatest writing inspiration.
And what’s next for you? Will Florence be heading into the Crimea? I certainly hope so!
You bet she will. Florence spent a little over a year in the Crimea. So much went on there that I’m not sure I can contain it all in one—or even two—books. I have all sorts of delicious plans for malice and mayhem in a leaking, crumbling, 19th century wartime hospital!
Christine Trent is the author of the Florence Nightingale Mysteries, as well as the Lady of Ashes historical mystery series and three other historical novels. Trent is also a first-person interpreter of Florence Nightingale, visiting book stores, conferences, and other locations to tell the riveting story of the great nurse’s life from Florence’s own point of view. Follow Christine Trent at www.facebook.com/ChristineTrentBooks.
The annual Arthur Ellis Awards by Crime Writers of Canada recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. The winners of the 2019 Arthur Ellis Awards were presented at the annual Arthur Ellis Awards Gala held at the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, on Thursday, May 23, 2019. Congratulations to all the winners!
BEST CRIME NOVEL
Though the Heavens Fall, by Anne Emery (ECW Press)
BEST FIRST CRIME NOVEL (Sponsored by Rakuten Kobo)
Cobra Clutch, by A.J. Devlin (NeWest Press)
BEST CRIME NOVELLA – The Lou Allin Memorial Award
Murder Among the Pines, by John Lawrence Reynolds (Orca Book Publishers)
BEST CRIME SHORT STORY (Sponsored by Mystery Weekly Magazine)
"Terminal City," by Linda L. Richards (Vancouver Noir, Akashic Books)
BEST CRIME BOOK IN FRENCH
Adolphus - Une enquête de Joseph Laflamme, by Hervé Gagnon (Libre Expression)
BEST JUVENILE/YOUNG ADULT CRIME BOOK
Escape, by Linwood Barclay (Puffin Canada)
BEST NONFICTION CRIME BOOK
The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (Alfred A. Knopf Canada)
BEST UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT – aka The Unhanged Arthur (Sponsored by Dundurn Press)
The Scarlet Cross, by Liv McFarlane
In very short order Belfast attorney Steve Cavanagh has gone from new kid on the legal-thriller block to absolute must-read status. He pens fresh, ingenious tales blending courtroom nous and out-of-court action. Thirteen, his fourth novel starring New York defense attorney Eddie Flynn novel, is magnificent.
It’s a book with a phenomenal hook: a serial killer maneuvers himself onto the jury for the highest of high-profile celebrity trials, that of Hollywood star Robert Solomon, accused of murdering his wife. But why, to what end? Former con-man Eddie Flynn is facing a defense counsel’s worst nightmare—a client he believes might very well be innocent, but who’s facing an overwhelming case against him, and a DA hungry for victory. Is the actor merely playing a role for Flynn, or is he being set up? Meanwhile Joshua Kane has killed someone to take a spot in the jury box. Cavanagh leads readers on a merry dance between Kane and Flynn’s perspectives on the unfolding trial, keeping the intrigue and tension high.
Flynn is in a chess match, but doesn’t even know all the opponents he’s playing as he fights the odds in the courtroom and tries not to mess up his own personal life even further. This is compelling, propulsive storytelling. It over-delivers on all the promise of its high-concept hook, providing plenty of depth and character to go with the clever storytelling. Cavanagh has already laid down plenty of evidence to show he’s a force to be reckoned with in the legal thriller world, but Thirteen may just be the crucial testimony that ensures a slam-dunk verdict: that he’s right at the top of the field. Guilty as charged.
“The older you become, the more you felt the hazy, confused thoughts of your youth. You saw yourself through a fogged window of glass and time.” So observes the morose middle-aged Copenhagen architect Jacob Errbo Nielsen, whose life—which is in flux professionally and personally—is about to be further shaken by his efforts to locate a woman whose presence seared him in his younger days.
The Summer of Ellen, by Agnete Friis (cowriter with Lene Kaaberbøl of the Nina Borg thrillers) delves into events of the summer of 1978. That’s when Nielsen and those around him came under the spell of the entrancing title character.
During that same time period a physically unattractive teenager known as Toad—real name, Lise—went missing. The younger Jacob had many a sexual fantasy about her, and as a close friend of her creepy brother, kept abreast of the fruitless search for her. As the adult Jacob retraces Ellen’s steps, he reexamines the fate of the unfortunate Lise.
The back cover copy for this book says that Jacob’s search uncovers issues of obsession—and the au courant cultural issue of “toxic masculinity.” Nix any thoughts of the latter. This is an atmospheric psychological journey, more character study than overt mystery, that owes much to the raging hormones of male teenagers, and the men they become.
And though it’s a largely male-centric storyline, Ellen is a pretty darn compelling costar. Darkly striking, with deep blue eyes and “a wild forbidden laugh,” she had fled a nearby hippie commune when she asked to stay at the Jutland farm where Jacob lived with his two great uncles. Then a strapping 15-year-old who spent much of his free time obsessing about sex, and—as boys are prone to do—drawing graphic images of female body parts, Jacob was instantly aroused by the older (at 29) free-spirited woman.
Together they hiked the countryside, then sat side by side sketching. She nicknamed him “Utzon,” a nod to the great Danish architect Jørn Oberg Utzon (designer of the Sydney Opera House), and warned him to keep clear of the commune and her former long-haired drug-taking boyfriend.
Meantime, as the search for Lise continues, the sense of foreboding is heightened. Within this farmland setting, slaughterhouses and what occurs within them are more dominant than bucolic fields.
Along with sexually explicit passages, this book includes vivid depictions of animals being butchered. And there’s some cruel (and unnerving) abuse by characters desensitized to the plight of creatures headed for the food supply.
Befitting its late-’70s setting, there are plenty of pop-culture references—many of them Danish. Get ready to Google the likes of Ekstra Bladet (a Danish tabloid), Lily Broberg (Danish film and stage actress), The Olsen Gang (a Danish comedy film series), and Skagen yellow, a particular shade so-named because of the color of paint that dominates the quaint homes of the town that is home to Denmark’s main fishing port.
Speaking of colors, if we had to pick one to describe this book, we’d go with black with a splattering of red, and some bits of blue, to signify the hope that ultimately breaks through.
Michael Clark’s second novel (following 2015’s Clean Sweep) tells the story of mechanic and tow truck operator Steve Mahony, whose main missions in life are to pay his bills, return his overdue cassettes to Video Stop, and restore his beloved ’67 Camaro. One night, fate guides him to a replacement body for his “baby,” which he rescues from a river and later secures for $1,200 Canadian. There’s one slight drawback, however—the rescued car is the place where one Heather Price, accountant and junkie, met an untimely demise handcuffed to the steering will and left for dead after an overdose. Mahoney can overlook that sordid detail, but he can’t overlook the fact that her spirit haunts the car. Her confusion over her present state, and how she got there, leads Mahoney to sympathize with her plight, triggering an impromptu investigation into the details of her final hours.
Clark handily maintains positive forward momentum throughout, glorifying cars and car lore the way Stephen Hunter glorifies guns, seeding his narrative, set in mid-1980s Manitoba, with generous dollops of good humor and great character turns from even the most minor members of his cast. Let’s put it this way: a book that successfully evokes the films Ghost and Christine, and the novels of Thorne Smith (Topper, especially), Elmore Leonard (the criminal element involved is as engaging and sometimes more sympathetic than the book’s protagonists, a truly winning lot), and Stephen King (Christine, again) is not one to be missed. So don’t.
The second installment of James Ellroy’s second LA Quartet (the first was set in the late ’40s through the late ’50s, the second began in early December 1941), takes up where 2014’s Perfidia left off (late December 1942). It follows the sordid professional and personal lives of a handful of lead characters, including policemen Dudley Smith and Elmer Jackson, and forensic specialists Hideo Ashida and Joan Conville, as they try to advance their own selfish interests against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent times in US history.
As such, it deals with myriad topics, including greed, corruption, loyalty, honor, love, hubris, world war, the US internment of Japanese citizens, local politics, frame-ups and setups, gold heists, and murder. Its scope is vast (Ellroy again sees fit to include a listing of dramatis personae to help the audience keep track), yet it boasts an intimacy that will leave some readers feeling as if they need to shower. The prose is tight, tense, and terse, never tedious, often displaying the author’s affinity for alliteration. In other words, quintessential Ellroy.
At this point in his career, reviews of Ellroy’s works tend to focus on his impressive canon, rather than on his current book. His body of work remains a wonder to this reviewer: his voice distinct and unforgettable, his characters sometimes pathetic, bordering on loathsome, yet capable of showing great nobility, making their way as best they can, victims of their past, often victimized by their current circumstances. They inhabit a dark, dark world, one which, while worth visiting, is only palatable or tolerable for a few days every couple of years. It’s Ellroy’s exquisite talent, and seemingly his heavy burden, that he is so fit by nature to chronicle that world’s sordid, secret history.
She was blonde, pretty, a seemingly happy wife and mother. Last seen jogging on a rural road, she disappeared without a trace. What happened to Shannon Blaine? Crime writer Bailey Weggins is one of the many reporters who wants to know. On assignment for the online Crime Beat, the Manhattan-based Weggins travels upstate, to the town of Lake George, where she winds up playing sleuth.
A thriller with a page-turning plot that trumps the cliché-heavy writing, Such a Perfect Wife is the seventh outing for Weggins, whom author Kate White debuted in If Looks Could Kill (2002). Told in Weggins’ “voice”—which includes expletives that appear disingenuous, as though they’ve been thrown in to give the text an “edgy” feel.
White, a former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, has laid out a series of tantalizing clues, some of them related to the still-unsolved, decades-old disappearances of two other young women who were visiting the region. Are the cases linked?
Weggins is a stand-out among the locals in her skirt, cashmere tee, and suede mules. “Miss Fancy Pants,” as Weggins is dubbed by the local sheriff, is further distinguished by her aggressive reporting.
Along the way Weggins encounters a gallery of potential suspects, including the missing woman’s husband and the local church deacon. She also develops a promising friendship with an earthy reporter for the local newspaper.
Located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains, Lake George and its surrounding region makes for a picturesque and, yes, mysterious setting. Those small motels that dot the twisty roads can generate all manner of scares, real and imagined. For Weggins, footsteps outside her locked door leads to sleepless nights. Then there’s that white Camry, in the otherwise deserted parking lot, coming and going at odd hours. A deserted lakeside retreat, once operated by the Catholic diocese, is another evocative locale.
Readers will also enjoy following Weggins’ reportorial acumen—which results in breaks in the case. Not so necessary are all the details about the protagonist’s dining choices. The author, who edited the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, details most of Weggins’ meals, glasses of wine (there are many!), and cups of cappuccino.
Based on the shaky financial status of many of today’s news outlets, print and digital, it’s doubtful that Weggins’ editor would authorize those expenses. But he wouldn’t balk at the results of her investigative work.
Given the origin, perhaps it’s a mystery dust storm rather than a crime wave, but regardless we’re certainly seeing a fair few high-quality mysteries set in rural Australia coming out in recent years. Debutant Richard Anderson brings something a little different than his peers: not only is he a second-generation cattle farmer himself, but his fascinating tale doesn’t center on a murder mystery. Instead, Retribution is powered by a variety of simmering tensions and nefarious deeds in a farming community.
The title has a double meaning: motivation for some of the characters and the name of a prized horse whose theft serves as a little bit of a MacGuffin for all that unfolds. Anderson populates his tale with an eclectic group of small-town characters, who ring very true despite their foibles and quirks.
The quartet of characters at the heart of the tale are an interesting grouping: a horse-loving rustler with close ties to the land, a protester-for-hire who enjoys creating chaos and isn’t what he seems, a middle-aged woman who's gone from political powerhouse to pariah, and a young woman who wants more—though she's just not quite sure what. Each feels very real and rounded, growing in depth over the course of the novel, and the interactions between them and others aren't typical or clichéd.
Anderson brings rural Australia to vivid life on the page, showcasing the community and the conflict, the mix of personalities and perspectives on a variety of issues. There’s a strong sense of authenticity among the drama. Retribution is an unusual rural mystery, but a fascinating and well-written one.
What’s in a name? For author Diane A.S. Stuckart, the next question would be, which name?
As Anna Gerard, she is launching the Georgia B&B mysteries from Crooked Lane. The first in this new series Peach Clobbered comes out July 9, 2019.
Under the name Ali Brandon, she writes the New York Times bestselling Black Cat Bookshop series featuring Hamlet the cat and his human, Darla.
Under her own name, Stuckart writes the Tarot Cats Mysteries. Fool’s Moon introduced Brandon and Ophelia, black cat siblings. Her Leonardo da Vinci Mystery series also is written as Stuckart.
She’s also written some romance novels as Alexa Smart.
And as an animal lover, Stuckart has been able to “shoehorn” many of her pets into her books.
Her Italian greyhound Ranger was the inspiration for "Pio the Hound" in the second Leonardo da Vinci mystery, Portrait of a Lady. He was even on the cover! He also appeared in the third Leonardo book.
In one of the Black Cat Bookshop mysteries, her female Italian greyhound, Rylee, appeared as Hamlet the Cat's nemesis, Roma the Iggy (she's actually on the Japanese cover of the book). Hamlet the cat was named for her former editor's late kitty and was inspired by several other cats the author has known.
Her real life Brandon Bobtail and Ophelia were the models for black cats Brandon and Ophelia in Fool's Moon, the first Tarot Cats mystery.
Mattie the Australian shepherd in the upcoming Georgia B&B mystery, Peach Clobbered, is based on her own late Aussie, Mattie. The dog character also has a bit of her late male Aussie, Oliver, and her current mini Aussie, Winston.
Oddly enough, Stuckart said “the cover artist apparently never saw an Aussie before as the dog looks nothing like she's described” in her novel.
She’s right. The cover dog looks more like a border collie.
Several years ago, I wrote a feature about gay sleuths for the Sun Sentinel, the newspaper for which I worked for 29 years.
And this being Pride Month, it’s the perfect time to read these novels.
The following list is culled from my previous story and a list that author Greg Herren has been posting on Facebook page and on his blog. At the end of June, Herren plans to post his entire list.
George Baxt—Baxt apparently had the first openly gay male detective to be published by a major publisher, a character named Pharoah Love, who appeared in A Queer Kind of Death in 1966. After a string of novels, Love disappeared until he was brought back in 1994's A Queer Kind of Love after a 26-year hiatus. The Love series never really caught on. Baxt found more success writing historical mysteries involving celebrities or movie stars of the ’30s to ’50s.
John Copenhaver—his novel Dodging and Burning was one of the top debuts during 2018. A riveting look at life for gay men and lesbians during America’s post-WWII era, set in a small Virginia town and in the military. It is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a coming-out tale. Dodging and Burning has been nominated for four best first novel awards: the Anthony, the Strand Critics Award, the Lambda, and the Barry Award.
Robert W. Fieseler—chronicles a fire in a New Orleans gay bar that killed 32 people and its impact on the gay community in Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation, which won the 2019 Edgar Award for best fact crime and Lambda Literary's Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers. It also was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Shelf Awareness.
Katherine V. Forrest—has written about homicide detective Kate Delafield since 1984.
Joseph Hansen—remains a touchstone in gay mysteries. His series about Dave Brandstetter debuted with Fadeout in 1970. A low-key insurance investigator, Brandstetter was a likable character who approached his work in a professional manner and had relationships with men. Before his last appearance in 1991's A Country of Old Men, Brandstetter had attracted a large cross-section of readers.
Ellen Hart—her traditional mysteries about lesbian restaurateur Jane Lawless and her smart-mouth best friend, Cordelia Thorn began in 1989. Her 30 years of involving stories has earned her myriad awards. She was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2017.She will receive the Lifetime Achievement award from Malice Domestic during the 2020 convention.
Greg Herren—the prolific Herren has written multiple series, including the Scotty Bradley and the Chanse MacLeod novels set in his hometown of New Orleans and was the editor of the award-winning short story anthology Florida Happens: Tales of Mystery, Mayhem, and Suspense from the Sunshine State.
Val McDermid—launched her career with novels about journalist and Socialist Lindsay Gordon.
Michael Nava—his novels about attorney Henry Rios took on social issues while delivering solid plots and three-dimensional characters. Nava adapted the first Rios novel, Lay Your Sleeping Head, into an 18-episode podcast. Carved in Bone, the first new Rios novel is 20 years, will be published during the fall 2019.
Abigail Padgett—her series about social psychologist Blue McCarron began with Blue.
Neil Plakcy—writes two series: Golden Retriever Mysteries about a man whose lifeline is his dog, and the The Mahu Investigations about a gay police detective who lives in Hawaii.
J. M. Redmann—is a multiple Lambda winner, whose hard-drinking, hard-luck heroine Micky Knight set the standard for the hardboiled lesbian private eye.
Christopher Rice—his suspenseful thrillers have included insightful looks at gay soldiers, coming of age issues and terrorism. 
John Morgan Wilson—became the first openly gay author writing about an openly gay detective to win an Edgar Award for best first novel in 1996 with Simple Justice. His character Benjamin Justice was a burned-out, disgraced former reporter turned private detective.
R.D. Zimmerman—began his career writing two non-gay series and creating mystery jigsaw puzzles until he created a new series with a gay private detective. Zimmerman, a Lambda Literary Award winner and two-time Edgar nominee, began that series with 1995's Closet, an award-winning paperback original about TV news reporter Todd Mills.
And here is a list of some novels, most of them courtesy Greg Herren:
Cobalt by Nathan Aldyne
Adrenaline by James Robert Baker
A Queer Kind of Death by George Baxt
Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite
Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver
Eye Contact by Michael Craft
Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Robert W. Fieseler (nonfiction)
Cottonmouths by Kelly Ford
Murder at the Nightwood Bar by Katherine V. Forrest
Fadeout by Joseph Hanson
Wicked Games by Ellen Hart
The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse by Keith Hartman
Garden District Gothic by Greg Herren
The Talented Mr. Ripley/Carol/Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Faked to Death by Dean James
The President's Son by Krandall Kraus
Brotherly Love by Randye Lordon
Blood Link by Claire McNab
A Body to Dye For by Grant Michaels
The Gold Diggers by Paul Monette
Lay Your Sleeping Head by Michael Nava
The Lure by Felice Picano
Mahu by Neil Plakcy
Intersection of Law and Desire by J. M. Redmann
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
I'll Be Leaving You Always by Sandra Scoppettone
Murder in the Collective by Barbara Wilson
Simple Justice by John Morgan Wilson
She Came by the Book by Mary Wings
Closet by R.D. Zimmerman
A Simple Suburban Murder by Mark Richard Zubro
Laura Bradford's long career has included over 30 books, including An Amish Mystery series, the Emergency Dessert Squad Mysteries, the Tobi Tobias Mysteries, and the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries (written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey). Amish country is the setting for many of her books, and here she joins Mystery Scene to talk about how her Amish cozies have led to a foray into "women's fiction," what makes a good cozy, Mary Higgins Clark, and her favorite series character.
Robin Agnew for Mystery Scene: You've written many cozy mysteries under your own name and as Elizabeth Lynn Casey, but you’ve written in other genres as well. Can you talk about going back and forth between types of books? What’s the difference between writing a romance and a mystery, for example?
Laura Bradford: I've been drawn to mystery/suspense since I was a teenager, so it wasn't really a surprise when I took my fiction-writing dream in that direction. My first mystery came out in 2005 and that was my focus, onward. No one was more surprised than I when, a few years later, a story idea came to me with a great cast of characters; none of whom wanted to die (a problem with a mystery novel). In fact, the writerly muse in my head kept saying, "write it as a romance." I can't tell you how hard I tried to resist that. I didn't read romances, let alone write them. But the story wouldn't let go until I tried. And, surprise by surprise, it sold right away. Even more surprising? Three more romance type ideas came to me and I wrote (and sold) those, too.
Soon though, the romance ideas faded and I just let it go, preferring (at the time) to just keep with the mysteries I was already writing.
As for the difference(s) in writing those two genres, there is some, of course. In mystery, it's about crafting and maintaining the intrigue of the whodunit. In romance, it's about crafting and maintaining the intrigue of the relationship. The same, yet different. Sometimes, I think romance is harder because it calls on a different kind of emotion in the writing process. Then, other times, I think mystery is harder because there are so many threads to keep track of. During that brief time in 2010-2011 where I was writing both, sometimes it was nice to change it up.
Many of your books focus on the Amish culture. Can you talk about why you are drawn to the Amish?
I was first drawn to the Amish theme via my cozy mysteries. To me, the Amish are a perfect fit for a whodunit. They aren't heavy tech/phone users. They are wary of police. They often keep large sums of money in their home. They don't consent to pictures. They believe in shunning. They are often misunderstood by the outside world. Such fun, fun stuff to work with as a writer!
Your character in your An Amish Mystery series, Jakob, has left his Amish roots and is actually now shunned by his family, making him more or less the classic outsider, which is almost essential for a good detective. Can you talk about Jakob a bit?
I love writing Jakob Fisher. Here's this guy, who was drawn to police/police work despite his upbringing. He kept that intrigue on the back-burner, knowing it wasn't the Amish way. Shortly after his baptism as a teenager, a member of his community is murdered. His frustration over the unanswered questions fuels that intrigue enough that he opts to leave forsake his vow and pursue police work as an Englisher (what they call us). Of course, the crime was long solved before he finished the academy, became a cop, but he'd made his choice to leave and the work suited him. Sixteen years later, he comes back to his hometown as a detective. He knows his family, his old community won't speak to him, but he wants to be close, to look after them, so to speak. But crime happens and now he's got a double whammy against him when that crime has him needing to engage with the Amish—he's under the ban and he's a cop. It's a tricky tightrope to navigate, that's for sure.
While this series focuses on Claire as the main character—by book 6, Jakob’s girlfriend—to me it’s almost a dual character series. Do you agree?
Absolutely. I think Jakob is a crucial part of this series. He humanizes so much about the other characters.
One of the strongest elements in Just Plan Murder, the most recent installment in the series, is the relationships between the characters, specifically between Claire and Jakob. I know Jakob inspired you into another realm of fiction with Portrait of a Sister. Can you talk about how that move came about?
One of the aspects about Jakob that I have enjoyed writing the most, is the shunning aspect. Because of something as simple as timing in his decision to pursue police work, he lost all ties with his childhood family. He wasn't a bad guy, quite the contrary. Here's this guy who has devoted his life to serving people, but because of that decision—a decision so many others might find inspiring, if not heroic--he is essentially wiped from existence by his parents, his siblings, his community. And why? Because he made the decision to do this after he'd been baptized. If he had come to this conclusion beforehand, they'd still talk to him.
In the mysteries, I'm able to explore that aspect of Jakob to a point. And readers love that. But, in the end, it's a cozy mystery. The whodunit needs to be primary.
So that's how my move into women's fiction came about. I wanted to explore that pre/post baptism decision on a deeper level. Portrait of a Sister, my first women's fiction novel that debuted in 2018, allowed me to do just that. That story centers on twin Amish girls. One who leaves before baptism, thus maintaining family connections, and one who--because of a God given talent that has caught the attention of the English world—is now faced with having to choose between a passion that makes her who she is, and the family that grounds her. Deep stuff, but such a fun story!
Your latest book, A Daughter's Truth, is also what you might call “women’s fiction.” Can you talk about that book as well, and if you think that all novels have to have some mystery element to them, not necessarily a murder? I know P.D. James thought so.
I had so much fun writing Portrait of a Sister, I just knew I had to keep going. I see women's fiction as being a genre about personal journeys—something everyone can relate to in some way or another. In A Daughter's Truth, we meet a young Amish girl, Emma, who has never really felt as if she fits, not even in her own family. Some of that, she suspects, is that her birth happened on the same day her mother's beloved sister passed. So instead of her birthday being a fun day like her siblings', her special day has always been cloaked in sadness.
Fortunately for Emma, the odd little trinkets someone has been leaving on her aunt's grave each year have become something she looks forward to. And even though she knows they should be thrown away, she can't quite bring herself to do so. Instead, she secretly keeps them in a drawstring bag in the hollow of a tree. No harm, no foul... Until the item she finds at the grave on her 22nd birthday literally sends her entire life into a tailspin.
For me, this story is about those crossroads we all come to in life at some point or another—the kind where we have to decide whether the moment will define us, or we will define the moment.
As for whether I think all novels have a mystery element to them, absolutely. Mystery is intrigue. So, too, is life. Novels that contain characters of any depth demand intrigue. The genre used to tell the story doesn't change that, in my opinion.
To backtrack in time a bit, what made you want to write the Southern Sewing Circle mysteries? Love of sewing?
Actually, I don't sew. At all. Unless you count buttons and, at one time, girl scout patches onto vests and sashes (and trust me, it wasn't pretty). Honestly, I wrote that in-house series because I wanted to break in with a New York publishing house. My first three books were with a small, now defunct, indie, and while they went on to be released by Harlequin's Worldwide Mystery, it wasn't where I ultimately wanted to be. So when my agent at the time told me Berkley was looking for someone to write a series set in the south around sewing, I drafted up a 6 chapter proposal and off it went. Two days later, we had a three-book contract. Looking back, I almost didn't try because, as I said, I didn't sew. But when I looked at the sewing as simply a way to bring these women together (like books might bring a book club together) I saw my in. What grew from there was magic. We wrapped that series up with book 12—Patterned after Death—in 2017, but not a day goes by that I don't hear from a reader asking for more. Those sewing circle ladies became real friends to a lot of people, including me.
What elements do you think are essential to a good cozy?
A cast of characters that people grow to love—characters readers want to check in with again, year after year. Because really, at the end of the book, the mystery is solved. It's the characters that keep you coming back.
Beyond that, but also related to that, I think the crime works best when it impacts someone in the beloved cast in one way or the other. Because just as the characters keep you coming back book after book, the characters keep you turning the pages in said book.
Do you have a favorite character and/or book out of all the many you’ve written?
Wow. Tough question. Character wise, I'm going with a tie:
Jakob Fisher from my An Amish Mystery series for the reasons stated above, and Leona Elkin from the Southern Sewing Circle. Leona, at first glance, was this prickly, shallow woman who could be quite nasty to some of the fan favorites in the circle. But Leona had a lot of sides, and a lot of reasons for being who she appeared to be at first glance, and who she was at her core. I loved exploring her many levels.
(Of course, after saying that aloud, Carter McDade from my Tobi Tobias series, and Winnie Johnson from my Emergency Dessert Squad series are a little irked at me now...)
And favorite book? I think I'm going with the new one, A Daughter's Truth, although Portrait of a Sister is a very close second. Something about A Daughter's Truth just resonates for me. The fact that my college kid came into my room after reading it saying "this one needs to be a movie" doesn't hurt.
Finally, what book or book(s) were inspirational to you in your journey as a reader and writer? What book made you think, “Oh! That’s what I want to do.”
Easy. Mary Higgins Clark's A Cry in the Night. I have read that book a dozen times at least. And even though I know what happens to Jenny McPartland, I still want to read her story again and again. That's good storytelling.
Laura Bradford is the national bestselling author of over 30 books, including An Amish Mystery series, The Emergency Dessert Squad Mysteries, the Southern Sewing Circle mysteries (the latter written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey) and others. Her first women's fiction novel, Portrait of a Sister, was the July 2018 Book Club Pick for Delilah of Delilah Radio and a Summer Book Club pick for Southern Lady Magazine. Her latest novel, A Daughter's Truth, will release on May 28, 2019. For more information about Laura and her books.
I don’t suppose we’re designed to recognize our most formative experiences as they’re actually happening, but I think I did when I first read Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (1937). For a 12-year-old girl in a dull English town in the early 1980s, reading this book was a mind-blowing discovery on multiple levels: of an exotic world beyond Northampton; of adult motives and complexities I’d not previously been asked to consider; and, of course, of devilishly clever storytelling that had me turning the pages in a rapacious new way.
It was an unusual summer for our family. My older sister and I had recently been involved in some petty juvenile crime (nothing interesting enough to be mined by my adult self for a plotline!) and we were grounded by our parents for the school holidays, which in the UK last about six weeks, from the end of July to early September. Forbidden the bad influence of our neighborhood chums, we were only allowed to leave the house unsupervised to go to the library. This we did almost every day, bringing home up to four books each to tear through in the long airless hours of our incarceration. This was how I discovered Death on the Nile.
I think I’d been reading a Barbara Cartland romance just before, so you can imagine the shock of going from stolen kisses and nobly defended virtue to stalking, adultery, dipsomania, kleptomania, cold-blooded murder. One after the other, Christie’s characters found their cabins in my mind: socialites traveling with trustees and maids, archaeologists mixing with novelists and colonels—not to mention an eccentric little detective from Belgium of all places. I’d never come across any of these in Northampton.
And then there was the murder mystery itself. I was sitting on my bed when I read Poirot’s explanation of how the crime was done, Blondie’s Eat to the Beat playing on the turntable between my bed and my sister’s. I remember placing the book to one side, turning Debbie Harry down low and closing my eyes. And I thought: how could anything so wicked, so bitter, so glamorous, so ingenious ever have been dreamed up by the human mind?
Well, maybe not those exact words, but that was it. That was the moment.
I went on to read Christie’s complete works, but nothing ever beat Death on the Nile for me. That was the book that took a tightly folded map and spread it out in front of me; showed me all the places I might go when I grew up—and how I might get there.
Louise Candlish attended University College London and worked as an editor in art publishing and as a copywriter before becoming a novelist. She lives with her husband and daughter.
This "Writers on Reading" essay was originally published in "At the Scene" enews June 2019 as a first-look exclusive to our enewsletter subscribers. For more special content available first to our enewsletter subscribers, sign up here.
Michael Niemann, left, grew up in a small town in Germany, 10 kilometers from the Dutch border. Crossing that border often at a young age sparked in him a curiosity about the larger world. He studied political science at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität in Bonn and international studies at the University of Denver. During his academic career he focused his work on southern Africa and frequently spent time in the region. For more information, visit: michael-niemann.com.
No Right Way (Coffeetown Press), the fourth in the Valentin Vermeulen thriller series, is set in the fall of 2015. In this novel, the refugee stream from Syria into Turkey has swelled to unprecedented numbers. Valentin Vermeulen, investigator for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, is assigned to check that the money sent to alleviate the crisis is spent for the intended purposes. He visits a newly established UN sub-office in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, before making his way to a rough tent camp. His investigation into why the refugees in the camp haven’t received any aid leads to the discovery of an audacious fraud.
In this essay, Niemann discusses the politics before No Right Way.
On the first pages of No Right Way, readers meets Rima Ahmadi. She’s in her mid-twenties, a primary school teacher, and she’s a refugee. She’s fled Syria for Turkey after her home was hit by a missile and her family was killed.
From a purely legal perspective, she is a refugee, at least according to the definition in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. She is a person who, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
This definition is the core of the international treaty that was first adopted in 1951. At that time, the definition applied only to persons who became refugees before January 1, 1951. In addition, signatories could choose to limit the applicability to Europe only. In 1967 a protocol was adopted that removed the temporal limitation, but not the geographical limitation.
The treaty also spells out how a refugee ought to be treated. In general, a refugee is entitled to the same treatment and benefits as any other foreigner legally inside the host country, that is, it guarantees access to education, work, social services, etc. Equally important, it prohibits government from returning refugees to the country from which they fled, unless that country is deemed save again.
So, on paper at least, Rima Ahmadi is entitled everything other foreigners in Turkey get. But this is where reality differs from legal documents. When Turkey ratified the original treaty, it chose to limit its obligation to refugees coming from Europe only. In 1967, Turkey made sure that this limitation remained in place. So people, who, like Ahmadi crossed from Syria are not considered refugees in Turkey. Instead the government considers them “guests” of Turkey.
This means that Ahmadi is not entitled to the services and public institutions available in Turkey. Those Syrians who managed to get into the official refugee camps set up by the Turkish government are certainly treated well, they receive services, medical care, etc., but even they weren’t allowed to work in Turkey until 2016.
Those who don’t live in an official camp—and that’s about ninety percent of the refugees—are on their own. There are, of course, local and international charities and NGOs working with refugees, but their resources are limited and they don’t reach all refugees equally.
I tried to capture what that’s like in the character of Ahmadi. Doing that from the safety of my own existence in the U.S. makes me automatically an “unreliable narrator.” No matter how much I read about the conditions of refugees, even in their own accounts, I did not experience being a refugee. The best I can do is to imagine what it must feel like to be displaced. And no matter how empathetic I might be, I’m a white man, so even my empathy is filtered through those lenses. But, I’m a writer, so I have to try. This is what I imagined.
It begins with not having a place to live. Before the war, urban Syrians lived in solid houses. Living in a tent camp is as bad as things can be. Ahmadi lives in a small tent next to other refugees. There’re no showers, no private toilets. Privacy is non-existent. Even basic safety is precarious, there’s no door you can lock. Yes, there is solidarity among many refugees, but it’s important that the mass of refugees included all kinds of folks, including criminals.
The next thing is the lack of money. Syrian refugees, unlike many others in the world, managed tap into their savings before they left, but paying for transport, bribes, etc., and the cost of living quickly makes a serious dent into their resources. Finding work to supplement the meager support form charities is crucial.
Without a work permit, that means entering the informal labor market and that means working lousy jobs for even lousier pay. Sweatshop work abounds for Syrian refugees in Turkey and agricultural work is just as bad. Wages are low and, given their undocumented status, cheating and exploitation abound. Ahmadi experiences that first hand at the vineyard where she picks grapes.
Educational opportunities are scarce and the language of instruction is Turkish, not Arabic. There are some special schools for refugee kids but those are usually in the official camps. Youths skip school, roam the streets, beg, and sometimes get in trouble. Many Turkish citizens have gotten tired of the Syrian refugees. There are after all 3.5 million of them in the country. The treatment has gotten frostier than it was in the initial days.
Imagine all this and then imagine having to navigate that. Everything you knew is gone, you may have lost some or all of your loved ones. You are destitute and your education and degrees mean nothing anymore. You can’t understand the language and people are angry with you because you don’t. You put up with harassment and, if you’re a woman, with sexual advances and assault. You don’t trust anybody anymore, not even your fellow refugees. What little you have could be stolen any moment. And on top of it, everyone expects you to be grateful.
All this is only a very partial, rough approximation of what it must be like to live as a refugee. All you want is things to be again as they were but you know they won’t be for a long time. That’s the meaning of despair.
Meghan Holloway’s Once More Unto the Breach is a brilliant, touching reminder that the shooting wasn’t completely over when the Nazis were driven out of Paris. Nazis still prey upon the French countryside where Welsh farmer Rhys Gravenor has come to war-torn France searching for his son Owain. Rhys, a hero in World War I, parted ways with Owain when his son pronounced himself a conscientious objector. Rhys has learned that Owain is now holed up somewhere in the rubble of France, along with the art he had helped save from the Nazis. Rhys’ struggle across the still-on-fire landscape with Charlotte Dubois, an American ambulance driver with ties both to the Resistance and the Louvre, provides the backbone of this extraordinary story. But Rhys’ memories of fighting during the Great War provides its heart. As he fights the remnants of the retreating Germans, he remembers the rat-infested trenches and barbed-wire strung with corpses across no-man’s-land. Along their blood-spattered way, he and Charlotte adopt a poodle named Otto (dog lovers needn’t worry; nothing terrible happens to Otto), and trade stories of their own pasts. As their relationship grows, so does the book’s tension. Unknowingly, they are being tracked by Henri, a German who has his own reasons for finding Owain. In some of the book’s most intriguing passages, author Holloway switches point of view from Rhys to Henri, allowing us to understand Henri’s ambivalent view of the Nazis. Casual readers might be shaken by his opinions, but students of history will nod in recognition. Sensitive to the suffering surrounding Rhys and Charlotte, author Holloway is careful never to allow their relationship to descend into a cliched wartime romance. Instead, Holloway paints the duo as brothers-and-sisters-in-arms—equals who know how to kill, but who, in most cases, choose not to. The author’s restraint rewards her readers with a deeply moving coda certain to remain with them for days—possibly years—to come.
Wendy Hornsby’s A Bouquet of Rue is set in fictional Vaucresson, a suburb of Paris. Maggie MacGowen, an American documentarian, has moved there to be with Jean-Paul Bernard, her fiancé. Because she speaks French with an American accent, and is called by one local “a Hollywood actress with fake tits,” Maggie has trouble fitting into village life. To make matters worse, one of her and Jean-Paul’s closest friends is Ari Massarani, a refugee pediatrician from Aleppo, and anti-Islamic feelings run high in the village. When Ophelia Fouchet, a troubled 15-year-old, goes missing, suspicion falls upon young Ahmad Nabi, whom Ophelia had been protecting from brutal, anti-Islamic schoolyard abuse. To protect the orphaned boy, Maggie and Jean-Paul allow him to move in with them while Maggie investigates Ophelia’s supposed abduction. The French flavor of this book is lovely, from the lushness of the local flora and fauna to the scents of the many prideful kitchens. The characters are just as colorful, especially Detective Lajoie, whose delightful name is at odds with her sour manner. A Bouquet of Rue can be read as standard mystery fare—missing girl, suspicious outsiders, etc.—but author Hornsby’s concerns lie deeper than that. This book provides a pointed critique of racial and religious prejudice. It doesn’t whitewash terrorism, though. During one of Maggie and Jean-Paul’s shopping trips to Paris, they witness a horrific suicide bombing. Returning home, they discover that the already anti-Islamic villagers are dangerously close to lynching the innocent Ahmad. Fortunately, the boy does have his champions, and the sour Detective Lajoie turns out to be one of them. I have long been a fan of Edgar-winner Hornsby’s Maggie MacGowen series, and A Bouquet of Rue is right up there with her best. Her characters are so real they fairly leap off the page. And few writers can rival Hornsby’s skill in creating a community so complex, so layered, that it is difficult to believe it’s fictional. But Vaucresson does not exist, although its close-mindedness can surely be found in some French communities today—as well as right here at home.
Anyone who has ever attempted to sell a house is certain to enjoy Grace Topping’s Staging Is Murder, which, despite its many laughs, gets down and dirty about the staging business. Think you’re struggling with staging your three-bedroom, two-bath ranch? Try working with a multistory 19th-century mansion so overstuffed with outdated furniture and knickknacks that even the ghosts moved out. But the financially strapped, first-time professional “stager” Laura Bishop can’t afford to be picky. After paying for her mother’s medical bills and funeral expenses, she needs all the money she can get. “If it would help, I’d stage a house for Hannibal Lecter,” she admits. Unfortunately, her client—the viperous Victoria Denton—turns up murdered on Laura’s first day at work, and Tyrone, her staging assistant, immediately becomes a suspect. Anyone seeking a straight-ahead cozy with flair would do well to read Staging Is Murder, because it has all the accoutrements necessary: a charming small town and a cast of interesting characters, each of whom has a reason to murder the awful Victoria. Joining poor Tyrone on the suspect list are Madame Zolta, the local psychic; the desperate real estate salesman; and Dr. M, the possibly demented dentist who was given a part in the community theater’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace only because he could play the trumpet. Laura suspects a few others, too, and takes time away from her fervid house-staging to check them out. Throw in a handsome detective for a love interest and you have everything you need for a relaxing (if murderous) read. But wait, there’s more. Author Topping, an amateur house-stager herself, kindly starts each chapter with house-staging advice. For instance, did you know that playing soft music in the background at an open house will make the place sound less hollow? Or that baking a cinnamon-heavy apple pie in the oven while the house is being shown will make your kitchen seem homier, even if your appliances remain the original harvest gold?
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