Laura DiSilverio, Guest Blogger

Laura DiSilverio is not new to the mystery field, but I only "discovered" her with the  publication of her new book, Die Buying. The amateur sleuth sounded a little different, so I asked Laura to write a guest post for us. I hope you'll welcome her to the blog today.

A heroine who used to be in the military?  A sidekick grandfather who is a retired CIA operative?  Sounds more like a thriller than a cozy mystery, some might say.

Not so fast.  Emma-Joy “EJ” Ferris enlisted in the Air Force as an act of teenage rebellion against her Hollywood-liberal parents and was medically retired in her twenties when her leg got shredded by an IED in Afghanistan.  Now she’s a mall security officer with not even a taser or a bottle of pepper spray, never mind a gun, to subdue shoplifters and vandals at the Fernglen Galleria in Vernonville, Virginia.  That might be okay on an average day, but an animal rights group recently “liberated” all the reptiles, including a 15-foot python, from the Herpetology Hut, and a murderer left a dead body in a boutique window.

As if EJ’s life isn’t complicated enough, her 83-year-old Grandpa Atherton buys spy gadgets off the Internet and uses them to spy on mall customers and merchants, resulting in complaints that make EJ’s professional life awkward, to say the least.  Her best friend Kyra, a roller derby enthusiast, encourages EJ to investigate the murders, she has the boss from Hades, and EJ’s cat Fubar insists on littering her house with dead rodents.

So, in DIE BUYING, the first in my Mall Cop series, EJ must come to terms with the fact that her disability makes it unlikely she’ll ever get a “real” police job, keep her grandpa out of trouble, deal with body image issues as a result of her injured leg, help her hero-worshiping co-worker Joel lose a few pounds so he can get a girlfriend, and catch a murderer.

I have fun writing this series because I like infusing a cozy mystery with new elements and lots of humor.  EJ has a little more crime scene related knowledge than most cozy heroines (such as the ladies of Violetta’s Salon in the Southern Beauty Shop series I write as Lila Dare), but she doesn’t have access to any of the tools cops use to solve cases:  no cop databases, no legal authorities, no forensic capabilities.  She works in a mall which is a setting just made for laughs.  How many times have you visited the mall and not seen or heard something funny?  A ludicrous product in one of those kiosks that turn the halls into obstacle courses (Egyptian hookahs, anyone?), an outfit that makes you gasp, an unintelligible conversation between teenage girls?   (I have two teenage girls and, let me tell you, using the word “unintelligible” is probably redundant.)

I hope you have as much fun reading DIE BUYING as I had writing it.  I’m donating the profits from this book to the Wounded Warrior Project that helps injured veterans because EJ’s a vet and my husband and I are both veterans and it’s important to care for the military members who sacrificed so much for this country. 

Many thanks to Lesa for inviting me to post on her excellent blog today.

Please visit my website, http://www.lauradisilverio.com/  to learn more about my books, or “Like” me on Facebook.   http://www.facebook.com/LauraDiSilverio

Thank you, Laura. I hope that summary will encourage readers to try Die Buying. Thanks for taking time to write for us. And, good luck with the book, and the series!

Die Buying by Laura DiSilverio. Penguin Group (USA), ©2011. ISBN 9780425242735 (paperback), 288p.

Thomas Kaufman, Guest Blogger

Today, I'd like to welcome guest blogger, Thomas Kaufman. Tom is the author of STEAL THE SHOW,  the sequel to last year's award-winning DRINK THE TEA. He is also an Emmy award-winning director and cameraman who has spent a lot of time with cops, filming "The FBI Files," "The Prosecutors," and "New Detectives" for Discovery Channel. He has also shot training films for the FBI, as well as hundreds of documentaries.

Tom has an interesting perspective on writing. Thanks, Tom.



Driving and writing


Good morning, campers. Today we're going to talk about driving and writing. And I do NOT mean writing while driving, not even if you're Parnell Hall and dictate the prose of your books.

No, I'm talking about the similarities between these two activities. I'd guess that most Americans, almost the majority, know how to drive a car. I've been thinking about this lately because my wonderful 17-year-old daughter is learning to drive and for want of a better teacher, I sit whiter-knuckled beside her.

Why the white knuckles? It didn't start out that way, I assure you. In fact, at the start of our drives together, I resolved to be Mister Cool. What my daughter needed was a calm, humorous, detached teacher, an unflappable guide to show her the tricks and tips I had accumulated over the decades. That was until she drove the car into the garage. The garage door was closed at the time.

About twenty-five hundred dollars later, I was not so carefree. Then we were on the interstate and she changed lanes without checking her blind spot. And there was the time she nearly side-swiped a line of cars when she –

Well, you get the idea. And while she doesn't understand why the cool and unflappable dad beside her has turned into a sweat-soaked banshee who screams no No NO! when she's about to make a mistake, she somehow makes allowances for the old man's lack of nerve..

When you think about it, there's a lot to keep in mind when you drive a car. There's your speed, controlled by your foot on the gas and the gear you've chosen.

There's your direction, controlled by the your hands on the steering wheel.

You must observe other cars – and people, animals, and the occasional ice cream truck – as you careen through the city.

The rearview – you need to see what's behind you, even as you go forward.

The turn signals – to let others know what you're planning to do.

It's a lot to remember, and none of us began knowing how to do it. We all had to learn. And now we do all those things automatically. And in many ways, driving a car is like writing a book. The pace or tempo of the book is the illusion of speed the writer creates. The direction the book takes depends on where you wish to take the reader. You have to be aware of all the elements in front of you – the characters, the locations, the weather. You have to remember what's already happened, and let the reader know what you intend to do.

Are any of us born knowing these things? I know I wasn't. I had to learn them.

You can read books about driving a car, you can take classes, you can watch videos about what not to do (and when I was a teen these videos had titles like HIGHWAYS OF AGONY and FREEWAYS OF TRAGEDY). But in the end, if you wanna learn to drive, you gotta get behind the wheel.

Same with writing. You wanna write a book, do like Ed McBain said – sit your fanny down and start typing.

Another similarity is that, once you've got the basics down, you don't need to keep thinking about them. In fact, there's a certain amount of disassociation going on. For example, how many of us will drive a car, think about something, and then miss our exit?

It's because driving has become second nature. We're so comfortable with it we no longer need to think about it, and our mind is free to wander. I find that happens to me when I write. Not all the time, but when it's going well I'm not thinking about all the things I need to do as a writer. I'm simply doing those things, bopping along, enjoying the view.

One last thing, there's a major difference between driving a car and writing a book. When you write a book, you can go back and correct your errors and mistakes in the next draft.

Try doing that with a garage.

*****
Thank you, Tom. I shared that picture with one of my staff members who had just replaced a garage door after her daughter hit it with the car. She appreciated it! And, we all appreciate your comments about writing and driving.

I hope you stop back in the next few days. I'll have a review of Thomas Kaufman's Steal the Show, and I'm planning to go hear him at the Poisoned Pen tonight. Look for that recap in a few days.

Tom Kaufman's website is http://www.thomaskaufman.com/.

Steal the Show by Thomas Kaufman. St. Martin's Press. ©2011. ISBN 9780312546328 (hardcover), 288p.

Karin Slaughter, Guest Blogger

I am a big fan of authors. I admire their commitment, their creativity, their energy.  It's always an honor to host Karin Slaughter as a guest blogger. She could have come on here today to promote her latest book, Fallen. I know readers would have enjoyed her comments about it. Instead, Karin Slaughter is going to talk about the campaign in which she puts her commitment, her creativity, and her energy. She's the force behind the Save the Libraries campaign. I had the chance to meet her, and thank her, when I was in New York City at the Library Day of Dialog. I can't thank her enough.

*****
Last year, I gave a speech to a group of librarians in Portland, OR, thanking them for all they were doing while bemoaning the cut in funding to our nation’s libraries. Staff are being fired. Facilities are being closed. Hours are being cut. I compared what was happening with funding cuts to a tsunami eroding the shores of our education system. I said that funding libraries, giving children access to reading, was a matter of national security.

I still believe those words, but at the time, they felt a bit hollow to me, sort of like I was cheering on the troops to battle, only afterward, we all put down our weapons and had some tea instead of going to war. I felt really bad about that, and decided to try to think of something to do that would actually deliver real help where it was needed most.

By help, I of course mean money, because while America will spend eleven billion dollars building schools in libraries in foreign nations, America is loathe to spend money on building schools in our own communities. Politicians look for ways to save money, and libraries are an easy target. They forget that for eighty percent of kids in rural areas, the library offers their only access to reading and the Internet outside of school. They ignore that most companies only accept online applications now, and that adults without computer access are effectively left out of the job market. They don’t bother to find out that book clubs, community groups and literacy action organizations meet at the library. Most importantly, they don’t seem to understand that for every dollar spent on a library, four dollars is returned to the community.

That’s why I created Save the Libraries, which is an author initiative to raise money that will go directly to libraries. With the help of the International Thriller Writer’s association, I and fellow authors Kathy Hogan Trochek (aka Mary Kay Andrews) and Kathryn Stockett held the first Save the Libraries fundraiser at our local Dekalb County Library, which is just outside the Atlanta area. After expenses were paid, we raised $50,000. This represented the only money the Dekalb system had with which to buy books for the year. It was a lifeline for a system that has crashed on more than its share of rocky shores.

The second program will be held in Boston sometime in October. Linda Fairstein, Joseph Finder, Lisa Gardner, Tess Gerritsen and I will host an event to raise money for the Boston Public Library system. As we did in Dekalb, we’ll open an eBay store where people from all over the world can bid on items such as having their name appear in the next Michael Connelly book or joining my agent for lunch in New York. We plan to reach out to the local Boston business community and ask them for sponsorship. We plan to tap into new donors who don’t yet know that their libraries are in danger of being lost.

I suppose the most important task Save the Libraries has before them is educating people about the great stress our libraries are under. My Dekalb system was closed several days in December because they could not afford to heat the buildings. There is a brand new branch that can’t be opened because there’s no money to turn on the lights. These are not isolated incidences. Libraries all across the country are in dire need. If we don’t do something to help them, their governments will end up spending the money anyway, whether it’s through lost tax revenue or ramping up their police force.

Soon, we’ll announce a national raffle to send ITW authors to four more libraries across the country. The details are still in the works, but please know that authors are doing everything we can to help our champions on the front line. I don’t know a single author who doesn’t have a story of transformation through their childhood library. They have done so much for us for so long. It’s time we gave something back.

*****

Is it any wonder I'm always eager to host Karin Slaughter? On behalf of librarians and library users everywhere, thank you, Karin.

Karin Slaughter's website is http://www.karinslaughter.com/

Fallen by Karin Slaughter. Random House. ©2011. ISBN 9780345528209 (hardcover), 400p.

Joel Fox, Guest Blogger

I recently reviewed Joel Fox's Lincoln's Hand. I had heard him discuss it at the New Author's  breakfast at Left Coast Crime, and found his short introduction to be fascinating. It's a pleasure to welcome him as guest blogger today, when he addresses a tough issue head on. Thank you, Joel.



Can Blurbs Hurt?

How important blurbs are on the cover of books is not a settled issue amongst writers, but I believe they could be very helpful especially for a first time novelist. At least, I figured a blurb couldn’t hurt.

Or could it?

Take my extraordinary case for my first mystery novel, Lincoln’s Hand.

I knew no well-known mystery novelist who’s name on my cover would give the high sign to legions of his or her fans that my novel was worth a read. However, I did know someone famous who had a reputation for picking good stories. He might, despite his extremely busy schedule, take the time to read the book and give me a cover blurb.

I made contact with his office and asked if this world-renowned person might read my book and offer an encouraging blurb. I was told that it was unlikely because requests like mine came to him all the time but … send the book and we’ll see.

A couple of months later, I got an email that said I would get the blurb. Short and sweet it was, an affirmation from someone who had been associated with story telling informing the world that I had written a good story.

Here’s the blurb that appears on the cover of my mystery novel:

“Lincoln’s Hand is a great story, a page-turner from start to finish” –
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Being involved in California politics, I knew Schwarzenegger in my role as a policy advisor to him both during and after the recall election that made him governor of California.

I was thrilled to get his endorsement. I felt the blurb would tell readers that appreciated the stories he made on film to take a look at Lincoln’s Hand. I also knew that a blurb from a film action star was not the standard fare on the cover of mystery novels, but I thought it was worth the risk.

Now, however, the story of Schwarzenegger’s personal transgression has surfaced. I feel badly for his family and do not in any way defend his action.

But his blurb has been printed on the cover of copies of my book. Does the blurb now hurt, help, or have little consequence?

The fact is the blurb cannot be erased so I push forward, adding a new dimension to the discussion of my novel, hoping not to take the focus off of what is between the book’s covers rather than what is on the cover.


Thank you, Joel. Since I read the book, and noticed the blurb, I can tell readers the book is definitely exciting, and worth reading, no matter who did the blurb. Thank you for addressing a touchy subject.

Joel Fox's website for the book is www.lincolnshand.com

Lincoln's Hand by Joel Fox. Echelon Press.©2010. ISBN 9781590806746 (paperback), 313p.

Cathy Holton, Guest Blogger

When Cathy Holton asked if she could do a guest blog, I jumped at the chance to host her. I had read and reviewed her book, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes. I loved it. So, now, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Cathy's fun guest blog. Thank you, Cathy.

Cathy Holton is the author of Beach Trip, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes, and Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes, all published through Ballantine/Random House books. Her new novel,  Summer in the South, was just released by Ballantine. As a child Cathy had an active imagination and a tendency to “embellish” the truth, which led eventually to her becoming a writer. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband, three children, and a rescue dog named Yoshi.

No, That Character Is Not You


By Cathy Holton

“Am I in your book?”

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asks me that question. With the launch of a new novel, my phone rings off the hook for a few weeks with people claiming to recognize themselves or family members as characters in the novel.

One woman emailed me from California and said, “I knew Eadie Boone. I grew up with her. But how did you know her? She died in 1962. And by the way, you spelled her name wrong.”

I suppose it’s a compliment that my characters seem like real people. But the reality is, none of them are ever based entirely on people I know. And there’s a reason for that. Most people lead quiet, monotonous lives and in order to come across as three-dimensional on a page, they have to be drawn “larger than life.” They require a touch of imagination, an amalgamation, to become living, breathing characters in a novel.

Writers are like big sponges. We like nothing better than to sit quietly observing a crowd. We soak up mannerisms, bits of dialogue, the way a woman wears her hair, or a man jiggles his knee nervously as he talks on a cell phone. All of this information gets stored in some dark, musty crevice in the brain, and years later, when a character begins forming on a page, comes spilling out. There’s a moment when a character takes on a life of his or her own, when the writer realizes she’s lost control, not of their fate but of their forming, and it’s usually then that these spongy bits spring into consciousness. It’s the mannerisms, observed and then forgotten, that make a character “real.”

I’ll sometimes take a small notebook and jot down snatches of overheard dialogue that is simply too good to pass up. (Remember this if you ever sit next to me in an airport or restaurant.) I once sat next to two elderly Southern ladies in a tea room. They were wearing fur and discussing another woman’s garden.

“How do you think she gets her roses so big?” one asked the other.

“It’s her Cambodian yard boy,” the other answered. “Don’t you think Cambodians make the best yard boys?”

Bingo. I knew instantly who these women were, their backgrounds, their marriages, their archaic view of the world, just by how they were dressed and what they said in a few short sentences. (And yes, I did use this dialogue in a future novel.) If I tried, I could even imagine their childhoods; private schools, a prestigious women’s college, marriage to a boy from the “right family.”

Writers are Dr. Frankensteins. A bit of hair, a stutter, the way a character laughs and hides her eyes when in the presence of another. We painstakingly build our creatures. But it’s those long-forgotten observations that come tumbling out when we least expect them that give our characters life.

So if, by chance, you recognize a physical trait or a name or a snatch of dialogue, don’t assume the character is you. It’s just a phantom using your words to transform itself into flesh and blood.

As my lawyer advises me to say, “It’s all fiction, folks.”

********************************************
Cathy Holton’s website is http://www.cathyholton.com/

Summer in the South by Cathy Holton. Ballantine ©2011. ISBN-10: 0345506014; Hardcover, 352 pages

Thank you, Cathy. And, here's a brief summary of Summer in the South. SUMMER IN THE SOUTH by Cathy Holton (Random House, ISBN-10: 0345506014 $25, hardcover, May 24, 2011, Fiction.)  A Chicago writer fleeing her troubled past stumbles upon a sixty-year-old murder mystery in a small Southern town.   As a guest of the prominent Woodburn clan, keepers of a violent past, Ava Dabrowski soon finds herself entangled in the tragic history of a mysterious Southern family whose secrets mirror her own.

M.L. Malcolm, Guest Blogger

M.L. Malcolm is my guest blogger today, with an interesting topic. M.L. has won several awards for her fiction, including special recognition in the prestigious Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition, and a silver medal from ForeWord Magazine for Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year 2009.  A “recovering” attorney and freelance journalist, she has also amassed an impressive hat collection (and yes, she does wear them).  Her latest novel, Heart of Deception, was just released by HarperCollins. Thank you, M.L.

The Writer as Professional Eavesdropper

By M.L. Malcolm

Last week for the first time I watched an episode of the famous British television show, “Dr. Who.”  I was delighted—not with the show so much, it was okay—but by the site of an old-fashioned telephone booth, which in the show is actually a time machine called the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space).  Okay, maybe it’s a Police Box, which is really just a special use telephone booth, but the point is that the mere sight of the TARDIS brought back so many wonderful memories—mostly memories of being out in public without being barraged by other people’s telephonic chatter.

Now, I’m a writer, an observer and chronicler of the Human Condition, so I recently decided that if people were going to blurt out all the details of their private lives then I should just improve my eavesdropping skills and start saving some of that up as material to use in my next book (or blog, as the case may be). This past week I flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and back, changing planes in St Louis on the way there and in Dallas on the way back, so I had a total of about five hours in four different airports to sit around and soak up other people’s conversations.

What a waste of time. 

You know what Tolstoy said about happy families and unhappy families?  Well, most people’s conversations are all boring in the same way that happy families are all the same.  Here’s an example:  I was in the American Airlines airport lounge and this man’s BOOMING voice (he should have been a stage actor, but I think he’s probably in sales) conveyed the following information, whether one wanted to hear it or not:

“I thought I’d asked you to buy that ticket already.  No, not the 9:45, the 11:53.  What?  Then make it the 10:10.  No, the 12:20 gets in too late.  I don’t want the 7:25, they use the small jet.  And make sure I get an aisle seat.   And I’ll need a car.  Anything but a Malibu.”

Hmm….nothing much to use there.  I suppose I could try to come up with reasons why he didn’t want to rent a Malibu, but having driven one myself, I pretty much know why.  So, I waited until someone else started screeching away.  It didn’t take long.

“No, we were supposed to leave at 9:15, but it’s going to be 10:02 now.   I don’t know why this flight is always late.” 

Now I’m just guessing here, but could the reason be because the pilot can’t take off UNTIL EVERYONE HAS TURNED OFF THEIR CELL PHONES?

I kept waiting for someone to talk about their scandalous affair, or at least their neighbor’s, or for some businessman to tell his broker to buy or sell something that would translate into a hot stock tip, or for anyone to say something that would give me some sort of inspiration.  Didn’t happen.  And then I realized; most of the time I’m annoyed by people talking on their phones because they aren’t saying anything worth listening to, which helps me not at all.  And they’re saying it loudly.

Of course fewer and fewer people actually talk on their phones.  They send text messages.  So I tried to focus on this activity instead.  I found a seat that gave me a good view of people walking up and down the terminal, and observed the human/phone interaction. 

Now that got pretty entertaining.  I saw one gentleman trip over a stroller (the baby was not in it, or it wouldn’t have been so funny).  I saw a woman try to text while eating one of those cinnamon rolls the size of your head.  I don’t know if she actually licked the icing off her phone before she got on the plane, but she could have.  (“Excuse me, but is excessive icing covered under my cell phone insurance policy?”)   I saw two gentlemen heading directly toward each other in what looked like was sure to be a head-on texting-related collision, but at the last second one of them looked up and deftly stepped aside.  I guess he’s been at it long enough that he’s developed some sort of radar.

Now amusing as all this was, it didn’t really give me enough material for my next novel, which was pretty disappointing.   So I guess I’m going to have to do what I did last time.

I’ll just have to make it up.

*****
Thank you, M.L. So, has anyone ever heard anything more exciting when eavesdropping on conversations? Cell phone conversations are particularly dull. You should have overheard the one with Avery Aames and Kate Carlisle the other day. I'm sure all such overheard conversations are fascinating when mystery authors plot to kill off characters and talk about "The Poison Lady." You're not listening in the right places, M.L.

M.L. Malcolm's website is www.mlmalcom.com

Heart of Deception by M.L. Malcolm. HarperCollins. ©2011. ISBN 9780061962196 (paperback), 352p.

Kate Carlisle, Guest Blogger

It's my pleasure to host Kate Carlisle today as guest blogger because she'll be at Velma Teague tomorrow, along with Avery Aames, appearing for Authors @ The Teague at 2 p.m.  Thank you, Kate, for taking time to write for us.

Kate Carlisle’s Kitchen Remodel

Kate Carlisle is the author of the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book restoration expert (and lover of all things edible) Brooklyn Wainwright. The fourth Bibliophile Mystery, Murder Under Cover, is a May 2011 release. Brooklyn’s best friend Robin returns to San Francisco from a trip to India with a new man – and an exceedingly rare copy of the Kama Sutra for Brooklyn to restore. When the new boyfriend is murdered in Robin’s bed, only Brooklyn and the handsome British security expert Derek Stone stand between her and life in prison.

Thank you for hosting me here today, Lesa! I look forward to meeting you in person tomorrow. (Everyone, I’ll be at the Teague at 2 pm tomorrow. Public welcome! Come say hi, please!)


I love watching HGTV makeover shows, especially when they redo the kitchen. In the before scenes, we meet the homeowners and empathize with them over their sad, outdated kitchen. How tragic to live with brass fixtures and linoleum floors! Don’t worry, poor, pathetic people – help is on the way.

The team of experts sweeps in with low slung tool belts and blinding smiles. Demolition is finished before the first commercial break. In half an hour, the room is transformed, and teary-eyed homeowners exclaim in joy.

Yeah, that’s not how it goes in real life.

Seduced by the dream, I decided recently to have my kitchen remodeled. I thought it would be fun for my readers to follow along with the progress, so I committed to sharing pictures on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/katecarlislebooks.

The contractor came several weeks ago, and I very happily posted a picture of the hole he punched through my kitchen wall. Here it is:

The first hole, the first step of demolition.

“How thrilling,” I thought. In my heart, I believed that I’d have a sparkling, new kitchen in half an hour.

Since that first hole… nothing for over a month. Seriously, nothing. The contractor didn’t even return to our house during that time, though he kept assuring me over the phone that he would. The jagged edges of that ugly hole mocked me every time I entered the kitchen. (The upside is that I don’t like to cook much anyway, so it’s no hardship for me to eat out more often.)

Work finally started last week. I went to the dentist, and when I returned home, my entire kitchen was in the back of the contractor’s truck. Gulp!

I still plan to post updates and pictures of the progress when there is progress, so I hope you’ll like me on Facebook to join in the fun. I’m beginning to suspect this remodel will have little in common with the TV version. Our contractor is not movie star handsome, with a full head of hair and a T-shirt stretched tight over his muscular chest. There’s no perky girl with straight teeth designing window treatments on the spot. Sadly, demolition and rebuilding will clearly not happen in the space of a day.

Remodeling my kitchen has something in common with restoring an antique book, which is what Brooklyn Wainwright does. Brooklyn is the protagonist of MURDER UNDER COVER, the latest book in my Bibliophile Mysteries series. To properly restore a book, Brooklyn often has to take it completely apart. In essence, to demolish it. The big difference is that when her work is done, the book will still look delightfully old, whereas I hope my kitchen will not.

I also hope most fervently that during my kitchen remodel, I won’t stumble over any dead bodies, the way poor Brooklyn does when working on her precious books.

Have you ever remodeled your kitchen or another room in your home? How did you feel while the remodel was happening? Was it worth the hassle in the end? What is your favorite home show on TV? Do you read any home décor magazines to get ideas for your house? Do you like the DIY ideas, or the ones that cost lots of money?

To read a free excerpt of MURDER UNDER COVER, go to: http://katecarlisle.com/murder-under-cover.php.

Thanks, Kate! And, I hope there are some who can join us tomorrow at Velma Teague.

Kate Carlisle's website is http://www.katecarlisle.com/

Murder Under Cover by Kate Carlisle. Penguin Group (USA). ©2011. ISBN 9780451233516 (paperback), 304p.

Katharine Russell, Guest Blogger

 Today, I'd like to welcome guest blogger, Katharine Russell. She's the author of Deed So, a novel her publicist describes this way:

Deed So  is a moving coming-of-age tale set in a small Southern town in 1962, the year before America would be changed forever by civil rights, women’s rights, war, the assassination of a president, and more.

Welcome to 1962, one year before the world would witness President John F. Kennedy assassinated, and a time before civil rights, women’s rights, and the Vietnam War changed everything. Deed So by Katharine Russell chronicles the coming-of-age of brainy twelve-year-old Haddie Bashford, a sensitive young girl who wants nothing more than to leave the close-minded world of her home in Wicomico Corners. When Haddie witnesses the killing of a black teen by a down-on-his-luck white farmer, her family becomes embroiled in a web of hatred that threatens to engulf the whole town. Tempers flare and prejudice heats to a boiling point, even as Haddie struggles to fully comprehend what is going on, especially the dark consequences within her own family. When the murder case goes to trial, neighbor is pitted against neighbor, and the violence escalates to a dangerous level. As the case drags on, arson erupts, paralyzing the community. Can the town—and Haddie—survive?

Intertwining the major themes of struggle, equality, loyalty, and love that defined a generation, Deed So is a provocative snapshot of a tense time in history. Filled with larger-than-life characters, pitch perfect dialogue, and a wonderful sense of history, Deed So is as moving as it is thrilling. Haunting, edgy, and thought-provoking, this is a perfect read for fans of To Kill a Mockingbird or Nicholas Sparks.

Katharine Russell is a former executive in the healthcare industry.  She has a Bachelor's degree in History from Northwestern University, a Master's degree in Journalism from Boston University and a certificate in creative writing from UCLA's Writers Program.  A descendant of Maryland colonists, who grew up in Southern Maryland, Russell divides her time between Baltimore, MD, and Palm Desert, CA.  Under the pen name Kath Russell, the author writes the Pointer Mystery series.

Thank you, Katharine, for taking time to write this.

*****

Guest blog by Katharine Russell

Deed So is the story about a tipping point in history. It is a snapshot of a society at equilibrium, just before it slips into a period of radical change. You can see the seeds of change germinating as you turn the pages. You know what the characters don't -- how it all turned out.

One of the things I liked most about writing DEED SO was experiencing  all sorts of wonderful stuff I hadn't thought about in years. The songs, clothing, pastimes and hairstyles of the Sixties. Funny behaviors like carrying your smokes in your rolled-up t-shirt sleeve. Teasing your hair so much, you were three inches taller. Enjoying treats like jawbreakers. Do they still have them? (Of course, even if they do, you're not going to catch me chomping on one after what I've spent on dental work!) I remember my big phonograph and how thrilled I was that it had an automatic record changer. There was no shuffle feature, of course. I remember my mother's wringer washing machine, our console television with its tiny convex screen, and my father hefting our first air conditioner into place in my parents' bedroom window.

DEED SO is about how far we have come, not in terms of washing machines and televisions, but in terms of equality, access and opportunity. What has been accomplished is pretty breathtaking, when you look back from the prospective of fifty years. Segregation is gone and so are the constraints around the roles for women. However, not everything has been 'improved.' I miss the freedom I had as a child in the Fifties and Sixties. I pretty much roamed free, rowing my father's skiff down through the marsh to the river, or wandering alone through the woods with our hunting dog in tow. As long as you were home by dusk, you were okay. Well, you were if you had done your homework. It is a rare child today who can enjoy such freedom. Too many two-legged predators about. I miss setting off my own fireworks, too. Sure, some things were dangerous, but that's why they were exciting. Better to learn how to be careful and handle something responsibly, than to live a dull existence in a safety cocoon.

I also miss the originality or authenticity of those times. McDonalds was just a bit more than a twinkle in Ray Kroc's eye.  Restaurants were as unique as snowflakes, each reflecting the skills and proclivities of its owner/proprietor. Ingenuity and self-reliance were much on display. In Deed So, the character Cleo solves a childcare problem by designing and building her own Jungle Gym. It was a little quirky, but it did the job. Rube Goldberg was alive and well and 'in the building.' Now, if you handcraft a toy for a child, you run the risk of getting sued over toxic varnish or sharp edges. Better to give gift cards. Every mall looks like every other mall from Maine to New Mexico, so different from the town square of Deed So.

I wonder what people will be nostalgic for fifty years from now and what they will be glad to be rid of. Here's some stuff from my list. I think I will miss regional accents. We'll all sound pretty much alike in another fifty years. I'll miss bookstores and libraries with row after row of bookshelves. I'll miss small neighborhood churches. I'll miss big Prairie Schooner style American cars. Yes, I'll say it; I'll even miss the postal service. On the flip side, I hope we'll be done with telemarketing by then. And, nothing personal, but I pray the Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan stories are finally no longer news. Also, I hope that cancer, Alzheimer's and autism, a tragic condition which features in Deed So, will be history.

I also contemplate how today's young people are being shaped by our times. Deed So details the deck of 'culture' cards the Baby Boomers were dealt. Some bad cards like racism. Some good cards like abundance and stability. What they made of this was a mission to insure access and opportunity for all, and an infectious optimism and idealism that convinced them this could be achieved in a generation. Although their results are mixed and the jury is still out, it's fair to say that the Boomers accomplished a lot that is positive.

What will today's Haddies chose as their generational mission? I hope they set the bar high. They have a toe in the last millennium, but they are most assuredly of this new age. They are our bridge, our continuity with our past and our shiny new prospect for a brighter future.

*****

Deed So by Katharine A. Russell. Createspace. 2010. ISBN 9781453775035 (paperback), 438p.

Tara Taylor Quinn - Guest Blogger

It's a pleasure to welcome Tara Taylor Quinn back. She has a very unusual story to tell about herself, her husband, and her latest book, It Happened On Maple Street, so I'm not going to spoil it. Thank you, Tara.

A huge thank you to Lesa for having us back! We’re on a fifty stop blog tour and finding great things at every stop. This one is a five star visit. Please take time to look around, to scroll through and read previous posts. If you’re anything like me, you’ll blink and find out an hour had passed without your knowing about it.

We’re here today talking about It Happened On Maple Street – a true, domestic violence survival story, written by me, a bestselling author of romance. In some ways my life is the biggest irony of all. But I’m changing it into the shining light of truth.

My husband, Tim Barney, and I met at 18. Fell in love. And because I didn’t tell him the truth about something that had happened to me, we went our separate ways. But I’d had a taste of true love. I’d met my true love. I knew that the love existed. And so I spent the next twenty-seven years writing about it. Successfully. I have 56 books in print with Harlequin and MIRA books. I’ve hit the USA Today bestseller list. I’ve won awards. And in my deepest core, I was living a lie. The only person I could love wholeheartedly, honestly, was my daughter. Because she didn’t have to know about my past. It had nothing to do with her. Parents weren’t supposed to saddle their children with baggage so keeping my secret was the right thing to do. Or so I thought.

I didn’t see, couldn’t see, that my baggage was in our home. It enveloped the choices I made. The people I associated with. In keeping my secret, I was setting an example for her that I regret with all of my heart. I told her to always listen to her heart. To act on the dictates of her own heart. I believed that I was doing the same. I was not. The only part of my heart that was open and healthy and capable of fully loving was the huge part that she owned.

My daughter is not the only person hurt by my silence. There are so many. And I bear the weight of that every single day. And so I bring you It Happened On Maple Street, the complete truth of my relationship with Tim and the abuse I suffered, with circumstances changed in the middle years to protect the innocent. I hope that in the telling of this story those I have inadvertently hurt will gain some understanding. And I hope that the one in four women in the United States who suffer from domestic violence still will find the strength and the will to take control of their lives. To dare to speak up. To dare to reach for the joy. Because the bottom line, the end of the story is that there IS joy. Wonderful, all encompassing joy. A joy that holds my hand through the hard moments. A joy that holds on to my life when I cannot see the value in it.

I’m here to testify that standing up is worth every single bit of the pain of doing so. I took my stand, twenty-seven years late, but I took it. In January of 2007 I verbally spoke my intention to take control of my life. And less then twenty-four hours later, I was blessed by an email in my inbox when I sat down to finish the work I had in progress (Behind Closed Doors, MIRA Books.) The email was from Tim Barney, my very first love. It was the first I’d heard from him in twenty-seven years. Six weeks later I’d moved cross country. And now, four years later, married to Tim, I am living the love I’ve spent more than twenty years writing about.

This past fall, at the invitation of HCI books (non-fiction publisher of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul books) Tim helped me write It Happened On Maple Street. It is our love story. And it’s so much more…

This post is brought to you as part of the It Happened On Maple Street International Blog Tour. For a complete tour schedule visit http://www.tarataylorquinn.com/. All blog commenters are added to the weekly basket list. Gift Basket given each week to one randomly drawn name on the list.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, or if you suspect someone is, please contact http://www.thehotline.org/, or call, toll free, 24/7, 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY). The call can be anonymous and is always confidential. There is not one second of life that is worth wasting.

Next tour stop, Tuesday April 19, Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/pages.php?id=blog.

To get your copy of It Happened On Maple Street, visit your favorite bookseller, or http://www.maplestreetbook.com/.

Don’t miss The Chapman Files! Still available at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Tara+Taylor+Quinn.

It Happened On Maple Street is soon to be available on Kindle and Nook, too! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0757315682/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0SKJ9D86BB5XG2BPT4MV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846; http://search.barnesandnoble.com/It-Happened-on-Maple-Street/Tara-Taylor-Quinn/e/9780757315688/?itm=15&USRI=tara+taylor+quinn. 

Thank you, Tara. It takes a great deal of courage to write and speak about abuse. Thank you for sharing your story in It Happened On Maple Street.

Beate Boeker, Guest Blogger

When Beate Boeker contacted me about doing a guest blog, I was intrigued.  Here's an author whose first language is German, but she writes romances in English.  That can't be easy.  And, I loved the cover of her book, A Little Bit of Passion, and the fact that the entire story is written in e-mails.  Please join me in welcoming Beate Boeker as guest blogger.

A Little Bit of Passion

Blog for Lesa

I feel so honored to be a guest at Lesa's blog today. Few people read as much as librarians, and so they become experts with an eclectic taste, which is reason enough to be in awe of them – but I also have a second reason. All my three novels have been published by Avalon Books, a publishing house with an unusual concept: They focus on libraries! That's why all Avalon novels are hardcovers – they last through the years, no matter how many hands have turned the pages. Avalon prints sixty new titles every year – ten every two months – and libraries across the country can subscribe to six ready made „packages“ per year. Each package contains four contemporary romances, two historical romances, two westerns, and two mysteries, so there's something for every taste (well, almost - if you don't count thrillers or erotica. Avalon Books are clear on one point: they have to be family friendly, and the romances don't go beyond a kiss (but what a kiss!). :-) )

I'm one of their romance authors – contemporary romance, to be exact – and my latest is as contemporary as it can get because it's entirely written in the form of e-mails. The heroine, Karen, spends half the year on the Teton Mountain range as a skiing teacher and the other half on Long Island, where she owns a tiny book store. She writes daily e-mails to her best friend Leslie, who co-owns the book store with her. Karen's e-mails are without restraint, ironic and illogical, furious and funny, sensitive and sad - just like her life, which gets increasingly confusing as she meets the man who might be the one and only . . . if only she'll be willing to give up a bit of her independence. But that's just the problem – Karen is passionate about her job(s), and John, the man who might change everything, lives in Seattle, a city she remembers as cold and muddy from a previous vacation.

This book gripped me more than any other novel I have ever written. I fell into that snow-covered world, got blinded by the dancing sunlight, and when my family tried to contact me while I was in "that other world," I often lifted my head with hot cheeks and ears, and looked at them for a long moment, disoriented and blinking, before I could reshuffle my worlds back into the normal perspective.

So if you feel like a short break from your routine, and if you are in the mood to dip your toes into another world without ever moving from the sofa, then A Little Bit of Passion might be just right for you (and if your local library should not yet have it, you can also order it at book stores and on Amazon :-) ). Have fun!

Thank you, Beate!  And, good luck with A Little Bit of Passion.

Beate Boeker's website is http://www.happybooks.de/

A Little Bit of Passion by Beate Boeker.  Avalon, ©2011. ISBN 9780803476509 (hardcover).

E.J. Copperman - Guest Blogger

Today, I'd like to welcome guest blogger E.J. Copperman. I reviewed the second book in the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series last week, so it's very interesting to see what he has to say about book reviews.

By E.J. Copperman


Lesa's very flattering review of AN UNINVITED GHOST (much appreciated, Lesa!) got me to thinking about reviews. Book reviews, of course, but also those of films, TV, music or any form of entertainment. (I try not to think of what I do as "art"; it just slows the process down, and I have deadlines).

Having written some reviews in a previous incarnation, I understand the way it works: The reviewer, working either for a "franchise" (publication, web site, TV station, really loud town crier) or independently, earns enough of a reputation that suppliers of said entertainments provide advance copies in one form or another in exchange for the possibility of a review. There are no guarantees even that the work will be critiqued, and certainly not, with any reputable reviewer, that the evaluation will be a positive one. You send a free book, screener, or other sneak peek, and take your chances.

That's perfectly fair. And when the reviewer in question is as principled and talented as Lesa (yeah, I'm buttering her up, but it's after the fact!), an author can count on at least a fair reading, which is all we ask. But as a former reviewer, I can also attest to the power of the Dark Side, and that is the time when a book is just bad enough that it's possible to be witty in your criticism.

Now, that's dangerous.

See, it's fun and easy to tear someone's work to pieces in an effort to make the reader laugh. And while I never did that, I can tell you honestly that there were times it was awfully difficult to resist. And there were also some books (and films) I reviewed that actually deserved to be ripped to shreds. It's not something we're supposed to admit, but yes, there are some really bad writers at work out there. A good reviewer SHOULD warn people away from those books. But not because it's fun to show off how wry and witty you are.

I remember one book I reviewed for my college newspaper that was, without question, awful. It's been quite a while, so I don't remember the details, but it was a thriller of some sort that had plot holes through which one could drive the Starship Enterprise. Which would have been okay if the author was a skilled writer, but, well... not so much.

Being 19 and full of myself, I took this guy out to the toolshed and punished him. And a few weeks later, received a note at the college newspaper office which called me a name I'd probably best omit here and then signed the author's name in a scrawl just barely legible enough to confirm that this was, indeed, the author of the sorry tome I'd read and written about. (It also confirmed that no matter how you define the term, the guy was a bad writer.) And while I can say that I might regret indulging myself a little in the review, I don't think I was wrong.

That author did what no author should do--he objected to a negative review. Even in the current climate of instant feedback on Amazon and Twitter, an author, I believe, should accept all opinions without emotion (except when they're raves) and in private (all the time). Getting into an argument with a reviewer who doesn't actually seem to have read the same book you wrote--and I've run into a couple--is a waste of time and effort, and bad form. As an author, you only come off looking petty and whiny, and the fact is, that assessment might be true.

People are completely allowed not to like my books. I hope they won't, naturally, but this is America (unless you're reading it elsewhere), and we're proud owners of the right to think what we want to think. One gentleman actually emailed me--he wasn't a reviewer--a number of years ago to let me know my title of the moment was "one of the three worst books I have ever read." He didn't mention what the other two might be, which was disappointing. I emailed back thanking him for the attention and the $19.95 (the book was in hardcover).

Luckily, he wasn't a reviewer.

E.J. Copperman's latest Haunted Guesthouse Mystery is AN UNINVITED GHOST from Berkley Prime Crime. It is the second in the series after NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEED, which was published in 2010. You can find E.J. on Twitter (@ejcop) on Facebook and at http://www.ejcopperman.com/.

*****
Thank you, E.J. I always enjoy guest bloggers, and it's interesting to hear about reviews from the author's point of view.

An Uninvited Ghost by E.J. Copperman. Berkley Prime Crime. ©2011. ISBN 9780425240588 (paperback), 304p.

Denise Swanson, Guest Blogger

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Denise Swanson, author of the mysteries that feature Skye Denison, a school psychologist in Scumble River, Illinois. Today, she's joining us for a guest blog in which she's talking about names.  Thank you, Denise.

The Name Game

I’ve always been fascinate with names—maybe because I always hated my first name. Granted, Denise is better than my parents’ first thought, which was to name me Ernestina after my father. But I would have much preferred a more elegant name like Kathryn or Laura—which were my grandmothers’ names.

As a teenager, I used to write down the names of characters from books that I read. I had a system where I would group the names under heroes, heroines, and villains. I still have those index cards and find that my taste has changed a bit, but not too much. I also collected baby-naming books. When my mother first discovered my cache of these books, she was convinced I was pregnant—and since I was thirteen at the time, she nearly had a heart attack.

I continued to buy baby-naming books, finally having a legitimate reason once I started writing. Two of my favorites are Beyond Jennifer and Jason and The Baby Name Personality Survey. But I like the traditional ones, as well.

One of the best parts of starting to write a new book is picking out the characters names. Until I find the right name for a character, he or she doesn’t come alive to me. And even though names are important to me, I really goofed in my first book, Murder of a Small-Town Honey. If I’d had any idea that Wally was going to become a love interest for Skye, I would have chosen another name. Like the Johnny Cash song goes—Blake or Caleb or Max—anything but Wally. The worst part about choosing Wally is that I went to kindergarten with a Wally and everyone is now convinced I was secretly in love with him. Geesh!

Another lesson I learned from early books is that like clothes, names go in and out of fashion, and it’s important to give your characters names that are appropriate for their ages. For instance, most Debbies, Nancys, Barbaras, and Denises are from the Baby Boomer generation. I’ve made a few goofs in this area, as well.

Still, I love names. And in writing my newest book, Murder of a Bookstore Babe, which debuted March 1, the character’s names are a much better fit. I chose Risé for a strong, but unique woman, Kayla for a young woman with big dreams, and Orlando, a battle scarred Vietnam Vet who wants the peace of being a small town baker.

Do you like your name? If not, what would you choose and why?

--Denise Swanson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Scumble River Mystery series featuring Skye Denison and the new (coming in 2012) Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery series featuring Devereaux Sinclair. She’s been nominated for the Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, RT Reviewers Choice, and Daphne Du Maurier awards. She enjoys hanging out with her husband and black cat. You can catch her on Facebook or at http://www.deniseswanson.com/.

Thank you, Denise! And, good luck with Murder of a Bookstore Babe.

Murder of a Bookstore Babe by Denise Swanson. Obsidian. ©2011. ISBN 9780451232809 (paperback), 254p.

Ellery Adams, Guest Blogger

I just love it when a character comes to life. Today, Ellery Adams, author of  the Books by the Bay mysteries, A Killer Plot and A Deadly Cliché, introduces us to Olivia Limoges, restaurant owner and star of both books.  Thank you, Ellery.

A Speed Date With Olivia Limoges (Interviewed by her author, Ellery Adams)

EA – So here you are. A tall, slim, independently wealthy, 40-year-old bachelorette. How can an attractive single lady keep busy in the small coastal town of Oyster Bay, North Carolina?

Olivia – I didn’t need a man’s shoes in my closet to have a fulfilling life, thank you very much. Not only do I own two restaurants—the five-star-rated Boot Top Bistro and most recently, The Bayside Crab House—but I’m writing a novel.

EA – Historical fiction, right? It must be difficult to concentrate on your book with all the burglaries occurring in town.

Olivia – Odd, those. The thieves have been leaving clues behind at every scene. My friend Harris (he’s a sci-fi writer who looks remarkably like Peter Pan) recognized that the clues are all presented in the form of clichés.

EA – Can the Bayside Book Writers solve the riddle before the crimes become more violent?

Olivia (raising her chin with pride) – My friends and I have been asked to ruminate over these conundrums by Chief Rawlings himself.  We were instrumental in helping the police wrap up a murder investigation before. Even my beloved standard poodle, Captain Havilland, provided assistance.

EA – Yes, I recall the exciting conclusion of A Killer Plot. Has anyone ever commented on the name connection? Limoges and Haviland?

Olivia (looking slightly surly) – If I had a dollar for every person who stopped me on my way to Grumpy’s Diner to ask if we were both named after French porcelain I’d be richer than Midas.

EA – I’m glad you mentioned the diner. It’s hard to believe that a roller-skating dwarf waitress with an affinity for Andrew Lloyd Webber is your best friend.

Olivia (dark blue eyes flashing dangerously) – Dixie may be short of stature, but she has more heart and brains than the rest of the town put together!

EA – Isn’t Flynn McNulty, owner of Through the Wardrobe bookstore smart enough for you? He’s charming, funny, and good-looking. What more could you want? But you two seem to be having problems…

Olivia (a blush tingeing her cheeks pink) – Flynn and I could only reach a certain level of closeness. I’m not good at that stuff. My mother died in a tragic accident when I was seven and my father was an angry drunk who disappeared in his fishing boat in the middle of a storm when I was ten. This doesn’t exactly lay groundwork for normal adult relationships. It’s taken me thirty years to make a few real friends. It’s going to take me a little longer to…to let a man inside the walls I built around my heart.

EA – Maybe Chief Rawlings has a high-quality battering ram. Here, let me pour you a finger of Chivas Regal Reserve and we’ll sit on your deck and listen to the ocean. After your adventures in A Deadly Cliché, you’re going to need a drink and a dose of serenity.

Olivia (raising a crystal tumbler in a toast) A major hurricane, robbery, murder, the possibility of finding my father alive, blackmail, bullying, fellowship and forgiveness. And perhaps, the courage to take a chance on…love.  All that in one book. Just pass me the bottle, Ellery.

Ellery Adams – Thanks for stopping by to get to know the heroine of my Books By the Bay mysteries, A Killer Plot and A Deadly Cliché.  Many authors carry around ideas for the book they most want to write, referring to them as the “books of my heart.” Sometimes, we have to wait for a publishing house to take a chance on our idea. It can take years. But finally, we get the chance to put or best work on paper. This series contains the books of my heart. I write every word with joy, ever excited to return to Oyster Bay, North Carolina, and eternally grateful to the readers who allow me to continue and to folks like Lesa, die-hard supporters of traditional mysteries.

Any questions on writing? Mysteries? My books? My favorite cocktail? Ask away! 

Thank you, Ellery, and Olivia!  So, don't hesitate to ask questions of either one. Anyone who posts a comment will be entered in a drawing for an autographed copy of A Deadly Cliché. If you want to be included in the drawing, please include your email address in the blog comment. Ellery will be drawing a name at the end of the week, and she'll send out the book to the winner.

Ellery Adams' website is http://www.elleryadamsmysteries.com

A Deadly Cliché by Ellery Adams. Berkley Prime Crime, ©2011. ISBN 9780425240236 (paperback), 296p.

Paige Shelton, Guest Blogger

 It's always fun to welcome a guest blogger. Paige Shelton's second Farmer's Market mystery, Fruit of All Evil, has just been released. Her first mystery, Farm Fresh Murder, introduced Becca Robins, who makes jam on her farm and sells it at her twin sister Alison’s farmers market, in rural South Carolina. Today, I'm welcoming Paige as guest blogger.

In FRUIT OF ALL EVIL, the owners of Bailey's Farm  Market install a new lighted road sign for the market. When writing about the sign, even I was surprised that the vendors weren’t all that impressed by the new addition. They weren’t unhappy; they just didn't have much time to concern themselves with such things. It's funny how characters take on a life of their own. As a writer, you might think you've created them but you probably only created a spark of them. Once they're there, on paper or on your computer screen, if you try to make them do something that seems wrong to their personality, they'll fight you all the way. And they'll usually win.

I shouldn't have been too surprised by their reaction. After all, technological advancements have mostly occurred outside the farmers' market world. However, I recently saw a commercial for a credit card processing attachment for cell phones. Those vendors who take credit cards will probably be very happy to replace those big, old knuckle buster manual slide machines they've been using.

Despite the new road sign, Bailey's, like most markets, will always have stalls made of canvas tent walls. Display tables might change a little over time, but mostly they will just be tables. Folding chairs will be the seating of choice. And Becca, the protagonist of the Farmers' Market Mystery Series, will always have a number of overalls in her closet.

The important things about all farmers' markets have nothing to do with technology. The important things - the fresh foods and the amazing artistic products - will always be based in simplicity. Homegrown and homemade will always be the two most important product descriptions. Time marches on and technology advances the world around us, but Bailey's will always honor the simple traditions that all markets were built upon. I know this because the vendors told me.

Thanks for letting me stop by today! 



And, thanks for stopping by Paige!


Paige Shelton's website is www.paigeshelton.com


Fruit of All Evil by Paige Shelton. Penguin Group (USA), ©2011. ISBN 9780425240229 (paperback), 304p.

Sean Keefer, Guest Blogger

Today, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to introduce you to a Sean Keefer, author of the debut novel, The Trust.   According to his website, "When Sean is not writing he practices Family Law and works as a Domestic Mediator."  He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, the setting for his novel.  Since he's used some of his own background to create his character in The Trust, I'll let Sean talk about that.


Bringing a Character to Life.


My first novel, The Trust, was recently published. I typed the final period on December 31, 2004. I’ve been through a few agents and came close on one prior occasion to having it published before it was finally released in January of 2011.

The interesting thing is that after I finished editing in late 2005, I didn’t read it in total until it was being readied for publication.

With the rereads, it was an interesting experience – quite eye-opening. Going back through it allowed me to re-discover subtle aspects of the different characters and to again focus on the method I used to impart specific traits to individual characters.

Let’s take a look the main character, Noah Parks. He is a Charleston, South Carolina attorney. He owns his own general practice law firm where he is the only attorney.

Being from a similar professional background, I had the ability to draw from experience as to the basic attributes Parks’ would have. However the last thing I wanted was a generic, cookie cutter attorney, so he needed some work.

I wanted Parks’ personality to have a degree of nostalgia. I wanted him to be tied to his past, but grounded in the present. To accomplish this I used a focal point from his law school experience and created a mechanism for him to organize physical reminders of his past thoughts and emotions. From time to time Parks revisits this focal point. I found the process helped to move the plot along without seeming forced or contrived.

I wanted Parks to be independent, but reluctantly, if not guardedly, so. I also wanted him to come across as compassionate and caring without simply coming out and saying so. To accomplish these attributes I developed a sub-plot that tied together several characters who collectively explored one of Parks’ past relationship which left him, at least in the eyes of his friends, vulnerable and somewhat cautious with future relationships.

To further his compassion and caring nature, Parks has a dog – a rescued Australian Shepherd. It was terribly enjoyable the way the canine fit effortlessly into the story and also helped to bring certain characters together.

I did something with The Trust that I’m not sure if I would recommend to others as an overall method for writing, but it was a process that worked for me.

Rather than formulating an outline or summary of the entire book prior to writing, I started with the following simple proposition.

The Executor of an estate comes into a law office and demands to see the attorney who owns the firm. The Executor shows the attorney a will that directs the attorney to provide legal work for the estate and provides that the attorney receive the contents of a certain safety deposit box when the estate is closed. The Executor has never heard of the attorney and the attorney has never heard of the Executor or the deceased. Neither knows what is in, or even that, the safety deposit exists.

When I started, that was all I had and the rest developed from there.

It was quite amazing and enjoyable to not only see where the plot would lead but also to watch the characters develop and take on a life of their own. Initially I found myself having to be careful not to have my personal decisions be those made by the characters.

As I developed Parks from a basic blueprint into a fictional character I began to sense, when he was placed in certain situations of my creation, how he would react. Ultimately though I was the hand creating Parks’ fictional reality, it was Parks who made the actual decision as to how he would react.

So this process has become a benchmark of sorts for me when I create a character. When I sense that the characters are making decisions for themselves, then I know they have taken their place in the book and while I may have to step in and decide their final fate (after all, it is my book!), I’m comfortable that they will be able to take care of themselves with whatever I throw them.


Thank you, Sean.  As readers, I know we're always fascinated with the writing process, and the way authors create their characters.  Thank you for including us in the process.

Sean Keefer's website is http://www.seankeefer.com/

The Trust by Sean Keefer.  Old Line Publishing, ©2011. ISBN 9781937004170 (paperback), 352p.