#New Release, Take 2

#New Release, Take 2

Dec 30, 2016 | #booknews

I could call it New Release, Part 2. Or The Case of the Disappearing Thriller.

Or I could say that romantic suspense novel AWAKENING MACBETH, is FINALLY alive and well and available for your Kindle on Amazon.

Initially published on 9 December, the ebook file became corrupted shortly after release. Not once, but twice.

Related: Read Chapter 1 of AWAKENING MACBETH

New release woes

The corruption apparently stemmed from a merger of different file formats.

You see, I wrote AWAKENING MACBETH several years ago (initially entitled MY SOUL TO KEEP) but decided to publish the Detective Emilia Cruz series first. This was easily 2 computers ago and too many upgrades of Microsoft Word to count.

I worked on AWAKENING MACBETH off and on. After several years of edits and an upgrade to .docx format, the behind-the-scenes formatting got the vapors, which is a technical term for “messed up.”

Smudge sticks, incantations, and various editing dramas happily resulted in a ready-to-read Kindle ebook which you can find here.

To make up for it

Several readers who purchased the book earlier this month reached out to tell me of the corrupted file. Most were able to return the book for a full refund. I have gifted each a new copy.

If you purchased a corrupted copy any time between 9-19 December, I’m happy to send you a free replacement. Email me at carmen@carmenamato.net with MACBETH Release in the subject line and I’ll reply with an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) in .mobi file format. You can use the Send to Kindle app from Amazon to send it to your Kindle device.

It goes without saying that if you receive a free ARC, a review on Amazon would be very much appreciated.

Cover redux, too

The design for the cover of AWAKENING MACBETH got an upgrade, too. Who knew one romantic suspense novel would need 4 cover tries before the vibe of the book was truly captured?

I hope you like the final design!

The tagline reads:

Tomorrow is another day. Unless she dies in his dreams tonight.

All about AWAKENING

Romantic suspense with a paranormal twist, AWAKENING MACBETH is a passionate tale of love versus evil.

From Virginia’s most famous university to the Scottish highlands to a dusty road in Iraq, not even Shakespeare could have predicted the secret that will keep you up tonight.

When Brodie Macbeth meets Joe Birnam, he hardly seems like the man of her dreams.

Brodie is a University of Virginia professor and best-selling author; Joe is a Marine veteran who lost a leg in Iraq. Brodie’s last boyfriend was a famous television commentator; Joe is a carpenter who doesn’t even own a suit.

Differences aside, the timing couldn’t be worse. Brodie is shattered by her father’s suicide and the strange will that requires her to read his collection of British history books and use the license plates from his car before she can inherit a fortune.

No doubt that’s why she’s having terrifying nightmares. Every night in her sleep, a stalker with corroded eyes will kill her unless Brodie reveals her father’s secret.

Of course, there is no secret . . .

Falling in love with Joe Birnam helps Brodie heal. Slow to spark, the attraction between them becomes more than just a steamy romance. Joe is a strong man who has seen combat and knows what it means to lose someone important. He has his own demons to deal with, but Joe won’t accept anything less than Brodie’s full commitment.

But once she gives her heart, Brodie discovers the stunning truth about her nightmares.

They’re a real and deadly game. The prize is Joe Birnam’s immortal soul.

But Brodie doesn’t know how to play, let alone win . . .

Would you?

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NEW RELEASE! Romantic Thriller with a #Paranormal Twist

NEW RELEASE! Romantic Thriller with a #Paranormal Twist

Dec 16, 2016 | #booknews, #thrillers

AWAKENING MACBETH is out now for kindle readers, with the paperback coming 10 January! It’s a romantic suspense thriller with a paranormal twist set in Charlottesville, Virginia and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Related: Read the first chapter of AWAKENING MACBETH here

All about timing

For those who know me best for the Detective Emilia Cruz police procedural series set in Acapulco, AWAKENING MACBETH is quite a departure. I actually developed the premise after writing romantic thriller THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, but before penning CLIFF DIVER, the first Emilia Cruz novel.

AWAKENING MACBETH sat in a drawer for several years, as I thought the best way to introduce readers to my writing was through a mystery series. After KING PESO, the fourth Emilia Cruz novel, was released last August, I felt the time was right to bring out a second romantic thriller.

The premise of AWAKENING MACBETH is that when brokenhearted, the soul wanders in search of answers. That restlessness takes place in dreams, where evil stalks in search of souls to steal . . .

The setting

I attended graduate school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. I fell in love with the school’s traditions and ties to Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University. The main character of AWAKENING MACBETH is Dr. Brodie Macbeth, a history professor at the University of Virginia who is a popular academic and author–as well as former college basketball star. She’s successful, but her life has been narrowly defined for many years and she’s very emotionally reserved; the result of a strict upbringing by her father, a noted historian and the head of her department at the university.

Video courtesy WeekendBlitz

The framework of Brodie’s life is blown to smithereens when her father unexpectedly kills himself hours before giving a guest lecture at Harvard. Brodie is left with a very strange inheritance and a million questions. That’s when the nightmares begin. In her sleep, someone with diseased eyes threatens to murder her unless she tells her father’s secret.

There is no secret. But the dreams are so terrifying Brodie is convinced she could die.

On a trip to Scotland to visit her father’s sister, Brodie meets Joe Birnam, a decorated Iraq war vet. I can’t tell you anything more than that, except that their first date takes place at a golf resort outside Edinburgh. We stayed at such a place years ago. The rolling hills and uncoiling mist made for striking memories which I’ve tried to caputre in the book.

St. Andrews golf resort, courtesy of the Travel Channel

St. Andrews golf resort, courtesy of the Travel Channel

Edinburgh itself is a magical place and it is no wonder that J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, makes her home there. The city is full of turrets and tiny alleys, heroes and history. Anyone with an ounce of creativity can’t help but feel the imagination’s tug.

Scott Monument, Edinburgh

Photograph taken by Michael Reeve, 15 September 2003. Released under GFDL by the artist.

Key questions

Readers are already asking about the unusual premise for the book:

Where did the idea for this book come from?
My grandmother always said never wake a sleeping child too fast because the soul wanders while we sleep and needs time to return before we’re fully awake. When I combined my grandmother’s words with the saying that the eyes are the windows of the soul, the result gave me chills. I knew it would be a great story.

What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The hardest thing was the concept of real evil able to threaten the immortal soul. I hate movies like The Exorcist and had to stop writing several times, too shaken to go on. But evil is out there and this is my interpretation of it.
 
What draws you to this genre?
Love and mystery are the perfect combo. Each needs a bit of the other in a book, just like in real life. Romantic thrillers build a relationship, then test it. Can it hold up in a storm? The more exciting the storm, the better.

If you would be so kind

If you love a good romantic suspense tale, or are intrigued by the fight against evil as depicted in the book, I hope you’ll download a copy of AWAKENING MACBETH and stay up all night reading it!

Remember to leave a review on Amazon. You’ll not only help out this author, but help others make intelligence choices about what to read next. Thank you!

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Exciting News and Author Views

Exciting News and Author Views

Dec 9, 2016 | #booknews

It’s always exciting news when you learn something about yourself.

Recently, I’ve figured out that disappointment doesn’t mean failure. Frustration doesn’t mean giving up. And creativity is a muscle. The more you work it, the more you have.

But first, the bad news

AWAKENING MACBETH is a romantic thriller with a paranormal twist. It’s my first book NOT set in Mexico (that I will publish, that is) and the first thing I’ve ever written that has the word “paranormal” attached to it.

Last October, I submitted AWAKENING MACBETH to the Kindle Scout program, which provides a platform for readers to select books, based on cover, description, and excerpt, that they would like to see published by Kindle Press. This means that while the book would be available to Kindle readers, the same as all my other books, Kindle Press would actively promote the book in return for a 5-year exclusivity contract.

AWAKENING MACBETH was not selected.

Now, the good news.

AWAKENING MACBETH was not selected.

Bear with me. The silver lining here is that the book will be released with no strings attached, which is important as I look at film rights options, foreign language sales, and other ways to reach new audiences.

Alas, the cover

The cover of AWAKENING MACBETH is being troublesome. For those regular readers of this blog, you’ll remember that when I released excerpts of the book as a serial last year, this was the cover image:

Print

Some readers noted that it could be a vampire story, which it is not.

So for Kindle Scout, I went through the excitement of a design competition with 99designs.com, which resulted in this cover:

Awakening Macbeth novel

But the feedback on this is 1. Her hair looks fake (the artist had to change the color from brunette to blonde and it got helmet-esque), and 2. This could be a pirate or bondage story. Ahem, none of the above.

While I am disappointed in the result of the 99designs experience, I’m excited to be confronted with a new design challenge. So stay tuned, a new cover will grace the release of the book later this month.

Of course, Mystery Ahead newsletters are ALWAYS the first to get book release news, so if you haven’t signed up, better do it now.

Don’t remember the premise for AWAKENING MACBETH? Here you go:

Shattered by her father’s death, history professor Brodie Macbeth has terrifying nightmares. In her sleep, people will kill for a secret Brodie doesn’t know.

Blame it on the grief, everyone says. Brodie tries, but it takes meeting Joe Birnam, an Iraq War vet with his own demons, before she can finally let go of the dreams and learn to love.

Yet when a colleague makes a shocking claim and demands her father’s secret, Brodie realizes that the nightmares are a real and deadly game. The prize? Joe Birnam’s immortal soul.

But Brodie doesn’t know how to play, let alone win.

Friends in high places

Over the last two weeks I’ve been lucky enough to be featured on several bookish websites, talking about KING PESO and sharing some excerpts. KING PESO is the 4th Detective Emilia Cruz novel, in which Emilia tracks down a cop killer even as she is reassigned to an all-female patrol unit.

I also had a chance to talk to Mary Rosenblum, author, teacher, editor, and powerhouse behind The New Writer’s Interface. Mary’s services fill the gap for independent and emerging authors that once upon a time traditional publishers filled: content editing, structural critique, blurb writing, etc. More than that, she’s an astutue publishing insider who knows how authors need to position themselves and their works for success.

We had a great conversation about what got me writing and what advice we have for new authors. Check it out here.

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What I #amreading in December

What I #amreading in December

Dec 2, 2016 | #booknews

I hereby declare December to be Discover a Good Book Month.

Between decoration envy when I look at the neighbor’s artfully placed lanterns, red candles, and sprays of greenery; and the self-induced pressure to choose the right gift for everybody, by the end of the day I’m ready for lose myself in a good book.

Here’s what I’m reading this month.

DOG DAY by Alicia Giménez-Bartlett

Thinking there might be a kinship with Detective Emilia Cruz, my local librarian recommended this mystery, the first in a series from Spain featuring Petra Delicado, a female police detective in Barcelona. The author is the winner of the Feminino Lumen prize for the best female writer in Spain.

GALLOWS LANE by Brian McGilloway

Gallows Lane coverMy recent trip to Dublin—home of the famed Hodges Figgis bookstore—has inspired me to read some Irish crime and mystery writers. The Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin series looks like a winner.

THE GIRL FROM VENICE by Martin Cruz Smith

This is Smith’s first book in a number of years and is a standalone rather than a continuation of the Arkady Renko series. I adored his little-known ROSE and hope this book is similar. Reviews are mixed but we’ll see.

DECEPTION ISLAND by Judith A. Boss

This is an action adventure pitting an American scientist against bioterrorists in an abandoned World War II Nazi base under the Antarctic ice sheet. I’m a huge polar history buff, so had to scoop up this book and see how plausible it is.

DARK DEEDS by Sandra Nikolai

This is the fourth novel in the Megan Scott/Michael Elliott series set in Canada. I’ve read the others and like the clean style and down-to-earth characters trying to figure out their own relationship while encountering off-beat mysteries.

DONOVAN’S DEVILS by Albert Lulushi

Donovan's DevilsThis is the story of the OSS commandos who dropped behind enemy lines during WWII to help resistance efforts and make trouble for the Nazis in occupied countries across Europe. This is background reading for a possible new project.

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a second mystery series set in occupied Norway. It’s a long way from sunny Mexico and the Detective Emilia Cruz series but a germ of an idea has been hatched. But like a good mama bird, I’m going to sit on it for awhile.

Any suggestions? What’s your antidote to the holiday rush?

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Detective Emilia Cruz’s gambling addiction

Detective Emilia Cruz’s gambling addiction

Nov 4, 2016 | #booknews, #EmiliaCruz

Detective Emilia Cruz is a gambler. You could even go so far as to say she has a gambling addiction.

The Gambler

As a cop in Acapulco, one of the most deadly cities in the world thanks to Mexico’s drug cartels, Emilia gambles every day that she’ll survive the violence on the city’s streets. She risks coming to the attention of street gangs and cartels that routinely target cops. If you see pictures of Mexican cops at major crime scenes, they are wearing masks for that very reason.

Vegas Style

In KING PESO, the 4th Detective Emilia Cruz mystery, the gambling theme goes big with epic action at the El Pharaoh casino. That’s the place that Emilia and senior detective Franco Silvio closed down on money laundering charges in HAT DANCE. But if you remember the end of HAT DANCE, evidence went missing and the casino reopened.

Two books later, the El Pharaoh is a bigger success than ever.

All due to a steady line of gamblers? Or something else?

Pull the lever, hear the win

Okay, I’ll admit to enjoying a little casino play time now and then. Years ago, my husband and I hit the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, and I won $700 playing the quarter slot machines. That was back in the day when coins spilled into the hopper with a deafening clatter and you knew you’d WON. Now the light still flashes and the bell rings but all you get is a bigger digital number and a slip of paper when you cash out.

I can see why a gambling addiction can take hold. Whether you play the quarter slots or table games, there is always the breathless anticipation that this could be THE TIME that you hit it big.

My husband and I have a rule when we go to a casino. We play with a fixed amount of money. If we lose it, well, we’ve had a fun day for the same price as a theme park ticket. We usually end up a few bucks up, however, because whenever I win, I pocket the extra and keep playing with the original amount.

Inspiration

The Beau Rivage provided some inspiration for the casino in KING PESO, but the El Pharaoh is more Caesar’s Palace than coastal Mississippi. The El Pharaoh is big and brassy. Imagine it full of kitschy Ancient Egypt décor as interpreted by, say, Taco Bell.

Here is Emilia’s first impression:

“The casino was big, noisy, and crowded. Waiters and waitresses were dressed as ancient Egyptians. Costumes leaned heavily on metallic leather, imitation gold, gladiator sandals, and jeweled collars extending beyond their shoulders. Emilia’s senses were assaulted by blaring pop music, incessant electronic bleeping and ring tones from hundreds of slot machines, and a circus of visuals inputs including blinking lights and wide screen televisions broadcasting Copa America highlights.

Emilia ordered a mojito and looked around. The first and last time she had been in the El Pharaoh casino was with a detective badge around her neck and a warrant in her hand. She remembered telling Kurt that Silvio had walked into the place as if he owned it and had the doors shuttered ten minutes later. Of course, it had all been for nothing.”

Best line

I think Emilia’s gambling addiction extends to her personal life. Every day she gambles on her cranky partner Franco Silvio as well as her roller-coaster love affair with hotel manager Kurt Rucker.

So in KING PESO, Emilia knows what he’s talking about when the owner of the El Pharaoh tells her, “When you are a gambler you know that tomorrow the odds will be better.”

May they ever be in Emilia’s favor.

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Music and Mystery with NPR’s Alt.Latino

Music and Mystery with NPR’s Alt.Latino

Oct 26, 2016 | #booknews

My turn as a guest DJ on National Public Radio’s Alt.Latino show with host Felix Contreras has aired!

Click below to listen to the show or find it here on the NPR webpage which includes expanded audio excerpts of books we discuss on the show, including HAT DANCE, the second Detective Emilia Cruz novel.

I’d never taped a radio show in a sound booth before but it was easy to follow Felix’s lead as he sat in the sound booth on the other side of the glass wall. In this episode of Alt.Latino, Felix and I discuss Latino noir authors as well as music that reflects the genre and more specifically, the Detective Emilia Cruz series, of which he’s a fan.

We had a great conversation about some terrific Latino noir authors including:

Manuel Ramos, an attorney and author of the series featuring Denver lawyer Luis Móntez.

Ernesto Mallo, author of the Inspector Lascano series about Argentina under the ultra-rightwing junta in the 1970’s.

Leonardo Padura, the Cuban author of the Havana series crime novels featuring the detective/writer Mario Conde.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II, the Mexican author of a multitude of books including MEXICO CITY NOIR and the series featuring private investigator Héctor Belascoarán Shayne.

and me, Carmen Amato, author of the Detective Emilia Cruz series set in Acapulco.

Playlist for Emilia Cruz

I brought a playlist of music for the Detective Emilia Cruz series to the Alt.Latino show and asked Felix to pick a theme song for Emilia. He nailed it with Maná’s Eres mi religion.

Listen to NPR

Click the link at the top of this post or go to the page for NPR’s Alt.Latino show. Listen to the episode and surf  other episodes for compelling music and discussion. The show ranges across the Latino cultural landscape with guest DJ’s who are on the cutting edge of television, music, and literature. I’m thrilled to be in such good company.

Thank you, Felix for inviting me and for such a great experience.

Carmen Amato and Felix Contreras

Me and Felix, July 2016

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Romantic thriller with a paranormal twist hits #KindleScout

Romantic thriller with a paranormal twist hits #KindleScout

Oct 21, 2016 | #booknews

“She inherited a secret her soul doesn’t know.”

That’s the tagline on the cover of AWAKENING MACBETH, my latest romantic thriller.

I want your vote

Amazon’s Kindle Scout program allows readers to nominate books they would like to see published and AWAKENING MACBETH is one of the books competing to be nominated. Readers can only nominate 3 books at a time and a book has 30 days in which to garner votes.

Awakening Macbeth novel

Click to cast your vote

The nomination page for AWAKENING MACBETH went “live” today with the cover, a lengthy excerpt, and this romantic thriller description (limited to 500 characters!):

Shattered by her father’s death, professor Brodie Macbeth has terrifying nightmares. In her sleep, people will kill for a secret Brodie doesn’t know. It’s grief, everyone says, and when Brodie meets Joe Birnam, an Iraq War vet with his own demons, she’ll finally learn to love. Yet a colleague’s shocking claim and demand for her father’s secret makes Brodie realize that the nightmares are a real and deadly game. Joe’s immortal soul is the prize. But Brodie doesn’t know how to play, let alone win.

Nerves

This is my first book not set in Mexico and I’m a bit nervous to see how it will be received. Regular readers of this blog will remember that the novel was excerpted here last year. Since then, I’ve amped up the story and included more sizzle between Brodie and Joe.

So check out the nominating page, read the excerpt and please nominate AWAKENING MACBETH for publication with Kindle Scout.

Thank you

Thank you so much for walking with me on this writing journey from Mexico City to Acapulco and now to Virginia. My readers are smart, savvy people with a wealth of interests and I love connecting with you. Thanks to each and every one of you for your reviews, enthusiasm and great ideas.

All the best, Carmen

P.S. To be the first to know if AWAKENING MACBETH makes it to the Kindle Scout winner’s podium, subscribe to my newsletter.

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5 Presidential Election Thrillers Better Than #Election2016

5 Presidential Election Thrillers Better Than #Election2016

Oct 14, 2016 | #noticed

Exhausted by the run-up to the US presidential elections on 8 November 2016?

Exchange those robo calls and campaign ads for some election thrills of the literary variety with 5 presidential election thrillers

These novels are a definite improvement over the real thing.

The Manchurian Candidate

  1. The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

War hero Sergeant Raymond Shaw was brainwashed by North Korean captors into becoming a sleeper assassin. Given the right signal, he’ll kill without question or mercy. Back in the US, his programming will cause him to carry out a hit on a candidate for president. Shaw’s former commanding officer, Major Bennett Marco, is the only one who knows but he’ll encounter a deadly conspiracy spread like a spider’s web throughout the government. Two movies, but the book is still the best way to experience this gripping story.

The hidden Light of Mexico City

  1. The Hidden Light of Mexico City by Carmen Amato

In this compelling and romantic 2012 thriller, Mexico’s First Lady wants to succeed her husband. Her lover, the country’s Minister for Public Security, makes a deal with an El Chapo-esque drug kingpin to fund her campaign in exchange for territory. Attorney and ex-cop Eduardo Cortez Castillo uncovers the deal, triggering a deadly pursuit as the cartel attempts to destroy him, starting with his Cinderella-story relationship with a housemaid. The First Lady and money-for-influence themes harken to #Election2016 but the political slogans and sex scenes are much, much better.

Vanished

  1. Vanished by Fletcher Knebel

In this 1986 political thriller, a prominent DC attorney and close friend of the president simply vanishes after a round of golf at Burning Tree Country Club. As presidential elections loom, the White House press secretary Gene Cullen becomes the unwilling linchpin in a secret investigation that touches national security agencies as well as the president’ re-election campaign. The book’s pace is swift, Cullen is an appealing anti-hero, and the Watergate scandal hovers between the lines like Knebel’s ghostwriter. Another Knebel presidential politics classic is the equally famous 7 Days in May, both books sadly only available in hardcopy.

A Very British Coup

  1. A Very British Coup by Chris Mullins

In 1982, the thought of an ultra left-wing government in Britain was a real possibility and the novel captures such a rise—and the backlash—with brilliance and humor. Steel worker Harry Perkins wins the prime minister’s seat, vowing to remove American bases, bring banks under government rule, and dismantle the media. British Establishment fights back, in a series of moves that years later were revealed to be uncomfortably truthful, according to the author in a 2006 interview in The Guardian. The book became a much-awarded television series starring Ray McAnally as Perkins.

The Better Angels

  1. The Better Angels by Charles McCarry

The novel has terrorists who use passenger jets as weapons and hacked voting machines that rig a presidential election, all of which appeared far-fetched when it was first published 30 years ago. Set in the 1990’s, the setting is bleak as socialist policies in both the US and the UK have led to unemployment and squalor. The uber-liberal US president facing reelection orders the murder of an Islamic terrorist about to use nukes against Israel, but it’s a decision that could lose him the election. His opponent is a former president who wants to serve a non-consecutive term but has his own issues to cover up. Complicated characters, complex plot. Part dystopia and part prophecy.

More presidential election thrillers?

Got a book to suggest? Leave a comment.

Don’t forget to share this post. Your friends need to know there’s more to life besides Election2016, too.

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Book Review: Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo

Book Review: Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo

Oct 7, 2016 | #reviews

For those mystery lovers who reveled in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, his new stand-alone novel Midnight Sun will be a bit of a surprise. Midnight Sun is easier on the blood pressure than Harry, with a sympathetic protagonist and the wooded setting of Norway’s  remote Finnmark province, home to Norway’s indigenous Laplanders, also known as the Sami people.

Related: Visiting Norway, Mystery Author Style

Ulf is on the run from an Oslo drug kingpin named The Fisherman and gets off the bus in the Sami village of Kasund. It’s a random choice but a lucky break: Ulf meets Lea and her son Knut who buy his story of coming for the grouse hunting. Ulf is soon installed in a hunting cabin with the rifle of Lea’s late husband, thought to be drowned at sea.

As Ulf considers what to do next, his backstory unfolds. It includes a drug-dealing past, his daughter’s death from leukemia, and his inability to shoot a rival dealer. He’s got a pile of money from the rival dealer, which The Fisherman wants back, and Ulf knows the hunt is on until The Fisherman sees Ulf’s dead body.

Like The Blackhouse by Peter May, I had the feeling that Nesbo wanted to write about a place and people that get little attention. He did so very well, using Ulf as the outsider looking in and sharing his experiences with us. Nesbo serves up great local color: the reindeer scratching its antlers against the cabin, the sun shining at all hours, the Sami’s homemade hooch and 3-day celebrations. Nesbo also gives us a window into a local brand of puritanical Christianity that both helps and hinders Ulf’s situation.

The plot was hugely satisfying, if largely linear and without the heft of the Harry Hole series.  I would have liked more about the remote Finnmark plateau; the harshness of the weather, the psychological impact of 24 hour days so close to the Arctic Circle, the (only hinted at) tension between the Sami people and central government in Oslo.

Verdict: A nicely paced thriller with a unique and absorbing setting.

Jo Nesbo

“Authorize” Advice from Pulitizer Prize Author Richard Ford

Sep 30, 2016 | #authorlife

Last year, I was lucky enough to attend the  F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival. Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Ford was guest speaker and winner of the 2015 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature.

Ford is the author of five collections of short stories and eight novels, including the acclaimed Frank Bascombe series. The second novel in the series, Independence Day, won the Pulitzer in 1996

In his acceptance speech at the Fitzgerald festival, Ford was humorous and articulate, with a soft Southern sway to his voice as he described his writing journey from Mississippi to New York.

An author’s discipline

I took notes as he talked. Ford drew laughter several times from his rapt audience, but he had a message about writing that resonated for its gently forceful lesson for authors. Ford said that ordinary human beings can write great books but that it takes great discipline. His exact words were: “A sternness I live with and have learned to enjoy.”

As an example of this, Ford described how before he writes a book, he creates a tabbed binder full of research on characters, location, and events. All this research—which might take more than a year—is needed to get the book’s concept and setting firmly fixed in his head before he writes anything. Validation! I do something similar except that I use an archive box.

Ford also declared that as an author, he “authorizes.” For him, there is no such thing as the characters “taking over” the story. As a writer who writes to an outline, this really resonated with me. Ford also claimed that literature is most interesting “when the villain says something true.” I liked that pronouncement as well and have enough dialogue under my belt to that this type of writing cannot be achieved by letting characters meander “unauthorized” through the story. Bottom line: discipline.

“Sternness” matters because . . .

I pulled out my notes of Ford’s talk when I saw his article on assessing short stories in the 18 April 2016 edition of America magazine. After discussing how and why to define short stories, but cleverly managing to avoid actually doing so, Ford took the reader’s point of view to tell us why an author’s “sternness” matters:

“I like stories that understand they are husbanding my precious attention and need therefore to give me back something important. And I like stories that are up to telling me directly something important about life, something I did not know and in language I can understand.”

Thank you for putting it so perfectly, Mr. Ford!

You, dear readers, are sharing your “precious attention.” I hope that myself and fellow writers offer you valued entertainment–be it humor, excitement, curiosity, joy, or a tingle up the spine–in return.

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Book Review: The Blackhouse by Peter May

Book Review: The Blackhouse by Peter May

Sep 23, 2016 | #reviews

In The Blackhouse by Peter May, the setting is the remote, windy, and rainswept Hebrides islands off Scotland’s western coast. The murder is gruesome and mimics a recent killing in Edinburgh being investigated by police detective Fin McLeod.

Fin’s young son has just been killed by a hit-and-run driver. His lukewarm marriage has fallen apart. So he heads to the Isle of Lewis, where he was born and raised, to vent his grief and see if the two murders are connected.

The Blackhouse is rich, dense, and real. More than just a typical whodunit, I got the feeling it was written to illustrate a unique place few have seen and fewer still have truly experienced. Life in the Hebrides is remote and difficult, squeezed between rock and ocean and constantly buffeted by winds which have scoured trees off the land.

The setting is another character, one both capricious and perverse. May often refers to the changing sky, the remorseless wind, and the rage of the ocean and never forgets their impact on a scene. Local customs are rooted in the simple need to survive. Religion is as severe and unforgiving as the wind. Both physical and emotional comforts are luxuries few can afford.

While the setting sets The Blackhouse apart from the majority of tartan noir novels, May also uses flashbacks unlike any mystery author I have read. The book is written in third person, with Fin as the central character. But Fin also narrates many flashbacks of his youth on the Isle of Lewis, which mostly deal with his childhood friend Artair, whose father tutored both of them, and Marsiali, the woman Fin alternately loved and discarded until she finally left him and married Artair.

Fin’s flashbacks don’t come at us in chronological order but are seemingly random (but highly relevant, as we will see) memories prompted by present-day encounters. Fin runs into the unhappily married couple Artair and Marsiali. Artair is now an abusive drunk and his son has gotten a girl pregnant. Donald, another friend, is a clergyman and father of the pregnant girl.

The big climax comes with a hefty dose of local Lewis custom: the annual 12-man trip to a tiny and remote rock in the Atlantic to kill guga sea birds, considered a local delicacy. The custom has been going on since time immemorial and to be included in the guga hunt brotherhood is a rare honor.

It is at this point, we realize what a master storyteller may truly is. He draws all the threads—both from the flashbacks and the present-day murder investigation—into whole cloth as thick and durable as the Harris tweed still woven on the island. The ending is huge and heart-pounding.

The Blackhouse is the first of May’s trilogy about Fin’s return to the Isle of Lewis. All use the flashback device to good effect, although in the second book, The Lewis Man, the flashbacks belong to a man suffering from dementia, which is handled brilliantly. In The Chessmen, we are back to Fin’s flashbacks, most of which deal with his high school days but lack the strength of The Blackhouse’s Artair-Marsiali tension.

May has also collaborated with photographer David Wilson on a small coffee table book of the Hebrides. The book beautifully captures the moody sky and ocean so close to the Arctic Circle and contains excerpts of some of the novels. My one complaint about Hebrides is that occasionally May’s description of the land was on the left facing page and a book excerpt (using a subtly different font) was on the right. The format broke up the continuity of both. But the Hebrides also tells the story of how May, a BBC producer, came to the Hebrides in the first place and their impact on his life.

Verdict: Read these books. Now.

Blackhouse

The Importance of a Fatal Flaw

The Importance of a Fatal Flaw

Sep 19, 2016 | #authorlife

Mysteries are all about complicated people solving complicated plots. We love characters with issues—even a Fatal Flaw–that make them vulnerable and real.  It’s why Spenser has his Code, why John Rebus hangs out in the Oxford Bar, why a 1000-year-old spirit lives inside Dr. Siri Paiboun.

Related: Book Review: The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

My favorite flaw

One of the best examples of a hero with a Fatal Flaw is the Harry Hole series by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo. Harry is a brilliant Oslo cop with addiction and alcoholism issues. Sometimes Harry’s drug use and alcoholism are in check, other times they send him into a death spiral. Every time, the reader is pulled into his self-destructive yet brilliant narrative. Will the good times last? Or will this be the disaster that ends Harry’s career/life/relationships?

Acapulco detective Emilia Cruz’s Fatal Flaw is that she’s an accomplished and habitual liar. The talent serves her well, except when it comes to her interpersonal relationships. Unable to commit, and unable to be truthful, her emotional life is often in a tailspin.

Related: Chapter 1, HAT DANCE: An Emilia Cruz Novel

Don’t make this fatal mistake

The trick to writing a character with a Fatal Flaw is making it part of their personality. The character has to be inbued with those traits. The Flaw isn’t a “once and done” thing.

I recently read a mystery novel which opened with the character doing something very much in keeping with the fatal flaw of Promiscuity. “Okay,” I thought. “This is promising.”

But the behavior/trait never came up again. In the rest of the book the character was more reserved, professional, and careful in her relationships.

The good start ended up gratuitous, as if the author threw it in to 1. Hook the reader with some spicy bait, or 2. Tried for a Fatal Flaw and assumed one scene was enough to get the message across. Either way the result was disappointing. The character was cardboard for the rest of the book and the opportunity for a zesty subplot was missed.

Related: Book Review: Cold Service by Robert B. Parker

As I mentioned, Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole and his addiction issues have topped my Favorite Fatal Flaw chart for a long time. New favorites include Ernesto Mallo’s Inspector Lascano whose dreams of his dead wife invade his waking moments, and Estelle Ryan’s Dr. Genvieve Lenard who is a high functioning autistic savant.

What’s your favorite mystery character with a Fatal Flaw?

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Importance of a Fatal Flaw for mystery characters

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