'how to write' conversations with authors of mysteries and jeanne m. dams

 

thanks so much to readers of this blog, my e-mail, face book, etc. for all of your kind wishes for my birthday. what's not to like about someone sending good wishes to 'u fabulous woman, u?

also, i've had a couple of written communications from some well-known authors who speak to some of the writing and selling problems i've bought up in this blog. i think you'll find them interesting:

rhys bowman of the her royal spyness series writes the message below. she is referring to the unwritten edict telling murder mystery writers to get their victim killed in the first ten pages. it probably is not an 'unwritten edict.' you'll see it, i'm sure, in books telling you how to write. and why? i agree with rhys (well, she's agreeing with me), sometimes the plot has to be set up, characters have to be introduced, and/or a locale described before anyone gets murdered. if i ever get famous enough to get away with it, you'll read all of 25 pages before the untimely death. wow! what a daring writer am i.

Thank you, Audrey, for the great review.

And about the corpse on page 171--yes, I realize that's a problem I have and why I've only been nominated for the Edgar once! I have some much stuff that has to happen before anyone gets killed. It's the same in most of my books. In fact I don't think I've ever had a body in the first ten pages. Ever.

then on my face book wall or his, i have to get used to this,

 

Les Roberts commented on his Wall post.

Les wrote: "I remember that, Audrey. Signings grow more difficult, but it's kind of like spinach---you GOTTA put up with them."

he is writing about a huge book signing and sale in northeast ohio we attended. the sponsors did a great job of getting writers, selling tables, etc. i remember over 50 exhibitors, though i tend to hyperbolize (makes for a better story and i am, after all, a story-teller). but the organizers forgot to get buyers or even people who would walk through and tell us how interesting the exhibit is; for once the 'i'll come back later' people would have been welcome. if you don't recognize the name right away, les is the author of the milan jacovich mysteries, a cleveland series that reaches beyond regional audiences.

also, i received an e-mail from marquis who's who telling me i'd been listed for 15 years? what? that's nice, but how does it happen?

on to the novel i read in the past few days. it is a hilda johansson mystery, murder in burnt orange by jeanne m. dams. dams is quite the competent writer. we hear hilda's swedish accent without the author being coy about it. dams is also a good researcher and we follow turn of the century labor history in a somewhat fictionalized south bend, indiana. but does the novel belong within the mystery genre as the cover states? we know from the beginning which characters are the bad guys and which are the good guys. is it then a historical romance? hardly. hilda and her husband are a happily married couple, even though he is catholic and she is lutheran? is it a family puzzle. no, again we know from the beginning if hilda's baby (her first, due any day) will be a boy or a girl.

after i realized i was not reading a murder or a mystery, i enjoyed the book, especially for two reasons: i am interested in the kind of detective, who like edgar allan poe and sherlock homes, thinks his way through a problem. that's what hilda does. in her day (1905) ladies were not seen on the street in her condition, so she has to do most of the work involved from home with help from a cast of characters. i also like the book because about ten years after the action of the novel, eugene debs came to canton, ohio, had dinner with my husband's grandfather, and gave a memorable speech. i think he would be at home with the occupy movement today.

back to murder in burnt orange. it is 248 pages and published by perseverance press.