Whodunit?

amateur detectives who write

i might have picked up somebody else's two books by mistake at the library. robert harris's the ghost and john sandford's dark of the moon are suspense thrillers, the type of novels i usually stay away from, especially the ghost a book that ends up untangling some mad c.i.a. plot.

BUT the ghost is terrific and dark of the moon, not bad. both of these books have a chief protagonist who writes and who is the detective we follow as he and we try to solve the crime or crimes. the ghost is not one who goes bump in the night. he is a ghost writer, called upon to write the memoirs of a famous british politician after the previous writer has mysteriously died.  along the way, our friendly ghost writer gives the reader many writing tips. in talking about the work completed by his predecessor, he says, 'it's not really publishable. it's research notes, it's not a book. it doesn't have any kind of a voice. ...i'd like to open differently, find something more intimate.' later talking about his own writing he says, 'in the absence of genius there is always craftsmanship. one can at least try to write something that will arrest the readers' attention, that will encourage them, after reading the first paragraph, to take a look at the second and then the third.'  chapters later he refers to his skills again, 'i don't write sensitive explorations of my adolescent angst. i have no opinion on the human condition, except perhaps that it's best not examined too closely. i see myself as the literary equivalent of a skilled lathe operator, or a basket weaver; a potter, maybe: i make mildly diverting objects that people want to buy.' most of us who write have a slightly higher opinion or ourselves, but still my aim is that eloquent corpse and eloquent blood are mildly diverting objects that people want to buy!

virgil the detective in dark of the moon doesn't share writerly lore, but he does try to write fiction about his experiences with the minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension as a way of making sense of the crimes and murders he is investigating, and there are many murders involved in this novel. it's too intricately plotted for my taste, but i do think there's a lot to be said for fiction as a way of organizing our lives and seeing truths.

article from the canton repository 27 december 2007

About Books: Canton author publishes second 'whodunit'
Thursday, December 27, 2007
BY GARY BROWN
REPOSITORY LIVING SECTION EDITOR

Photographer and author Art Shay calls it a “murderously funny mystery.”

“Think Agatha Christie with a dash of Janet Evanovich,” Shay reviewed. “You’ll laugh out loud as a group of eccentrics stumble toward solving the crimes.”

That’s high praise for “Eloquent Corpse,” mystery novel recently published by Audrey Lavin of Canton.

“Eloquent Corpse” ($11.95, paperback) is the sequel to Lavin’s “Eloquent Blood,” her first murder mystery. It is published by Cave Horse Press in Dover.

The setting for the crime in the follow-up novel is an Ohio writers conference where amateur detective Mary Beth Goldberg finds herself surrounded by an intriguing cast of eccentric characters.

The novel is Lavin’s fifth book and it features some of the same amateur detectives with a new cast of victims and suspects.

“Mary Beth is invited to a writer’s conference where she finds the participants as hard to handle as Turkish camel wrestlers,” reviews Mary Grimm, the author of “Stealing Time.” “Everyone has an agenda and murder is high on the list.”

Grimm calls “Eloquent Corpse” a “witty dissection of literary gatherings, with a dash of romance.”

The book’s subject — writers conferences, not murder — is personally familiar to the author. Lavin, who taught at Case Western Reserve University, has been active in writers groups and the arts community in the Canton area.

“Along the way, she has attended many writing conferences where murder may or may not have occurred,” notes information provided by the publisher. “Lavin assures her readers that these conferences in the U.S. and in 15 countries (including Turkey) where she has taught were more civilized and less fun than the one she features in ‘Eloquent Corpse.’ ”

To learn more about the book and its author, visit her blog at http://indianhillmediaworks.typepad.com/whodunit.

Through that blog and the book itself, “Eloquent Corpse” has been drawing attention from readers, not the least of which is one “suspect” in the book, sort of — a writer who is a personally-interested bystander.

“Lavin has borrowed my name for a minor character in her joyous romp through an exciting murder mystery,” explains Seckin Ergin, author of “The American Novel: 1900-1950.” “In ‘Eloquent Corpse,’ she goes where no author has gone before and cleverly links authentic experiences in Turkey to a delightfully evil writers conference.”

Reach Repository Living Section Editor Gary Brown at (330) 580-8303 or e-mail gary.brown@cantonrep.com

ABOUT THE BOOK

TITLE: “Eloquent Corpse"

AUTHOR: Audrey Lavin

PUBLISHER: Cave Horse Press of Dover

PRICE: $11.95

DETAILS: “Eloquent Corpse” can be purchased through bookstores, at such online booksellers as www.lulu.com and www.amazon.com and directly from the author by writing Lavingroup@aol.com

detective novel 'eloquent corpse' and info. about promoting your work

david m. from twinsbug, ohio, wrote that i don't give enough information about eloquent corpse.  if you'll look on-line at today's repository (canton ohio's newspaper) you'll see a neat article about the book by gary brown, book editor. it's on page d 2 and comes complete with photos.

the book is available at lulu.com, amazon.com, the bookstore 'politics and prose' in washington d.c., and three shops in canton, ohio: 2nd april gallerie, creative frames, and tony's hair design. these are all pre-publication venues. my publisher and i hope to have the book up and running or whatever books do at all regular book stores in a month or two.meanwhile, i'll be giving a talk and signing books at the tusc. co. writers guild on wednesday 16 june at 7 o'clock.

for those of you who would like some ideas about promoting your work (and wouldn't we all), you can improve upon, adopt, or ignore the following suggestions: maintain a blog, maintain a website, e-mail everyone on your e-dress list (it is amazing the collection of names that have been automatically added) about your work, enter every contest you can find on the internet unless the entrance fee doesn't sound kosher (it's o.k. if they want $10 to cover costs, but $25???), do book signings (prepare for some of them to be borr-ring).

so much of it is luck, being at the right place (or your press release being at the right place) at the right time. please let me know your ideas.

information about writing detective stories

in one of my early drafts of eloquent corpse the murder did not occur until around page 60.  for me, this was a normal story-telling pace. for my early readers and for hallie ephron, the writer of writing and selling your mystery novel, this was a huge no!no! i had to re-write the beginning to have the murder happen earlier in the story. i think those early readers were right and that the story is stronger with this more energetic beginning.

on the other hand, i just finished revenge of the wrought-iron flamingos by donna andrews where finally our narrator, meg langslow, blacksmith, says on p. 112, 'i wasn't expecting to find a body.' this is the murder that starts the mystery the reader has been waiting for. the dead body with meg's metal dagger in it is examined, then ignored until p. 144. donna andrews is a successful writer and does not obey the rule to have your murder or other crime at the beginning of the story. different strokes for different folks. i for one am taking the advice of my 'betters' and in my two published mysteries and from now on will start with a bang. or maybe a silencer. one plus for andrews is that one of the characters is a pseudo-detective from canton, ohio, where i live. not many novels feature canton!

if you are in canton, eloquent corpse can be purchased at 2nd april gallerie, creative frames, and tony's hair design.

on another subject, and especially if any young people in your household are looking for work, you might enjoy looking at http://myfirstpaycheck.com/,

detectives with attitudes, attitudes you can't help but like

first a notice of a new book due out in april. 'the oldest we've ever been'. In this engaging collection, editor Maud Lavin has enlisted seven talented writers to share their stories of midlife transitions, reflecting the unpredictable challenges and unexpected graces that characterize this multilayered stage of life. it is no coincidence that the editor's last name and mine are the same. even though it is not a mystery story, if you can't give your own daughter a plug . . . . but i also do have two terrific mystery stories to recommend: roderick jeffries' 'murder needs imagination.' an inspector alvarez mystery and stef penney's 'the tenderness of wolves,' the 2006 costa book of the year winner. the books are completely different from each other and compeletely different from the kind of detective story i usually like, a story in which the reader matches wits with the criminal and with the detective, trying to be first to solve the crime. in these two books the importance of the murders (there are two in each novel) is background. in the foreground are the locales and the chief protagonsits. majorcan inspector enrique alvarez is as charmingly laid back as a detective can be and still solve crimes. he supplies the imagination between brandies in 'murder neeeds imagination'. jeffries, the author, has had over 130 books published. he certainly knows what he is doing. the dialogue is great, even when it does not include alvarez. in contrast to the present sunny majorcan scene of 'murder needs imagination', we find mrs. ross and parker in the deep desolate north of 1867 in 'the tenderness of wolves'. they are as intense as hunters can be in the northern territory of canada as they seach through woods and barren snow fields for mrs. ross's missing son and for a killer of a man who had worked for the hudson bay company. different books, different times, different detectives all adding up to much fun for the reader.

eloquent corpse, a detective novel, and two other detective novels

eloquent corpse is not in all bookstores YET. it can be bought from the printer lulu.com, from amazon.com, at the well-known bookstore 'politics and prose bookstore' on connecticut ave. in washington d.c., and at tony's hair design in canton, ohio. you can create a demand in your own home town or buy directly from one of these sources. personalized copies can be bought (still in time for christmas) directly from the author, audrey lavin.

this week i have been reading detective stories from two cozy foodie series. i thiink there oughta be a (literary) law: the recipes in any book must have something to do with the narrative. i read diane mott davidson's sweet revenge and joanna carl's the chocolate jewel case.

i believe this is davidson's thirteenth book about the caterer goldie schulz. i enjoy reading cookbooks as much as anyone, but i think the recipes should have a connection to the plot, not just be ten pages of how to prepare food eaten by some one in the suspense novel. you can do it, ms. davidson.

carl's work is different. lee, her heroine, continues to work in a chocolate shop as she has in six or seven past novels. during the course of the story she has a reason to eat or serve various pieces of chocolate that get a one-line yummy description. three one-page inserts inoffensively describe books about chocolate. chocolate does not get in the way of the plot.

maybe this review proves only that i like to eat chocolate more than i like to cook.

addition complete with advice from trollope & suggestion from me

because my last post was a revision of one i had lost to the great internet in the sky, i omitted an important detail i thought i had included (well, i had included it first time around).  the comparison between hoeg's the quiet girl and ishiguro's never let me go was made because both are about children who are beyond the norm. one reason ishiguro is more successful is that he (probably unaware) follows anthony trollope's theory, given voice in barchester towers, that "Our doctrine is that the author and the reader should move along together in full confidence with each other.  Let the personages of the drama undergo ever so complete a comedy of errors among themselves, but let the spectator never mistake the Syracusan for the Ephesian (ref. to Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. . . ."

the suggestion from me? do give books for the holidays. i prefer that you give one of mine, especially the newest murder mystery, eloquent corpse. but do give books. as lenore henley says, "They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal."

the reader as detective: a-hint-of mystery novels

first, i want to remind you, my blog-friends, that my new mystery eloquent corpse can be purchased directly from the printer lulu. com. it will not be in the stores for a while because of a technical glitch with the bar code. it can also be purchased from amazon. com.

i started a post about peter hoeg's the quiet girl, a few days ago, when suddenly the computer ripped the post from under my fingers, which is, i suppose, a response to the pseudo philosophical mysticism i had just absorbed. 

i read the book for two reasons. hoeg is the author of the excellent smilla's sense of snow, 1993. and the wall street journal gave the quiet girl a good review. now that i look back at the wsj's review, i notice some warning words that i should have taken more seriously: "a difficult novel, in its way," "busy plot," "strains under its own weight," for example.

kasper, the chief protagonist, hears more and better than any the other characters in this book who also have secret powers (his girl friend stina is a danish superwoman). kasper hears the sound of eleven young children quietly at play, "and at the same time it was much too intense, blew around him like a strong wind; it would have reached the spectators in the back row."  he explains, "nature usually has a dry sound because of perpendicular surfaces. in nature there is no lateral fraction, no sound energy from the lateral plane."

many of the sounds are related to specific composers and even to specific works which the average reader might not be able to call immediately to mind. hoeg is good about using these specific analogies, but for this reader the references to music and musicians sometimes got in the way: goldberg variations, weber, bach often (especially the toccata in d minor), wagner, bells from grundtvig and other churches, mozart and mozart's last symphony, etc. these references interrupted the story flow while i tried to remember (often vainly) which section of which symphony he was talking about.

but i kept at it because after a while i wanted to know the secret of the quiet girl. i, the reader, became the detective. it reminded me of reading kazuo ishiguro's never let me go, a far superior book where again the reader is also the detective. if novels are a form of moral laboratory, ishiguro is the one who brings up serious ethical problems that we face today. he is able to hold and entertain his reader while he does so, subtly at first, then whamo. throughout the process, thinking becomes part of our discovery.  i believe that both authors are asking what does it mean to be human. by abstaining from intellectual and stylistic gimmicks, ishiguro does a better job. my eloquent corpse, on the other hand, is not a philosphical novel. it is instead a fun read.

detective comments and gripe

i just lost a long post. how does that happen? i was discussing similarities between peter hoeg's the quiet girl and kazuo ishiguro's never let me go. ishiguro wins by a mile. i'll write it again in a day or two.

i also mentioned that i had received a phone call from lois l. of the chicago area who has just found this blog. she printed out the whole blog to show people. as much as i appreciate lois's support, i suggest that it would be easier to tell people that they can read this blog through the following route:

Click for Audrey Lavin's Whodunit blog

or cut and paste this url

http://indianhillmediaworks.typepad.com/whodunit/

and, most important, although my mystery novel eloquent corpse is not on amazon or in book stores yet (it should be soon), it can be purchased by the printer used by my publisher (cave press a division of pale horse press.) the printer is lulu.com. if any of you, my mystery reading friends, do order form lulu.com, i would be interested in finding out how effective they are as on-line sales people for me. my publisher says to use them.

i'll return soon to finish my blog  on kasper the clown's extra-ordinary listening sense as portrayed by the danish writer hoeg.