The LadyKillers

NEWS and more "favorite books of 2016," coming up!

NEWS

Camille Minichino has been campaigning vigorously for the position of Secretary of the NorCal chapter of Mystery Writers of America.  The nail-biting period will be over soon when the results come in this month.

Jean Rabe has a guest post on the Mystery Tribune website https://www.mysterytribune.com/2017/01/04/jean-rabe-write-mystery-novel/

Mar Preston has been invited to the Public Safety Writers Association Conference in Las Vegas to speak on the subject of editing crime fiction in the pre-conference workshop as well as critique manuscripts. She will also give a presentation during the July Conference on editing. She is very flattered and a bit breathless.

Ellen Kirschman is under deadline to finish the second edition of I LOVE A COP. She has a new work plan for 2017. Write from 8 to noon. Set the timer to move 5 minutes every hour. No email, bubble spinner or FB until the afternoon. Can she do it?  Place your bets.

Priscilla Royal and Ann Parker have short stories appearing in an anthology of Poisoned Pen Press authors, Bound by Mystery, now available for preorder, with a March 2017 release: https://www.amazon.com/Bound-Mystery-Celebrating-Years-Poisoned/dp/1464208328

More favorite reads of 2016 ahead!

Last week, our crew came up with their offerings of favorite books of 2016, and this coming week we continue with our second shift of LadyKiller bloggers. Drop on by and offer up your recommendations as well. We'd love to hear what books rose to the top of your personal Top 10 for the year!

 

The Best Book(s) of 2016

Hmmm…one. I’m supposed to pick one? ONE? Can’t do it. So I’ll pick two. I read a lot. Every night.

I have a list of authors I love, and I will buy their books as soon as they are released. I want those authors to benefit from sales numbers and royalties. Problem is, sometimes I don’t get around to reading those books until the following year. Hence why it is tough for me to pick my favorite book of 2016. Most of the ones I’ve read this year are from 2014 and 2015. I suspect one of my favorites would be The Long Goodbye, the latest Harry Bosch novel. I love me some Harry. But it is on my shelf and won’t get read until 2017.

All that preamble out of the way, there were four books I read—printed in 2016—that I will recommend to you. Because this is a mystery site, my top two will be mystery books.

I attended Killer Nashville in the summer and bought books from attending authors. I especially loved two of the novels, and I recommend them to EVERYONE:

Kevin O’Brien’s You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone

• Publisher: Pinnacle (July 26, 2016)
• ISBN-10: 0786038810
• ISBN-13: 978-0786038817

This is a big, juicy book…536 pages. I LOVE big, juicy books. You definitely feel like it is money well spent. A BARGAIN, in fact. I looked for it in hardcover at Killer Nashville, but Kevin told me (yep, got to chat with this amazing author) that it was only available in mass market paperback. His Andrea Boyle is a fine character. A great character, actually. She feels so real…not fictional…like Kevin is chronicling a piece of her life. The writing is moody and evocative, and his word choice is impressive. It has lots of twists and shivers, and I don’t want to give anything away. Suffice that once you start reading, you will be compelled to keep going. He catches you quickly and pulls you through the story.

Jaden Terrell’s A Taste of Blood and Ashes

• Series: A Jared Mckean Mystery
• Publisher: Permanent Press (September 30, 2016)
• ISBN-10: 1579624359
• ISBN-13: 978-1579624354

Impressive in tone, the story has texture. Jaden knows horses (I know horses, so I know that she really knows horses), and she knows how to craft a perfect mystery. I love Mckean, her PI. I love her setting. I love everything about this novel. In this story she takes you into a world that is both beautiful and ugly and hurtful. You don’t have to be a horse lover or a racing fan to treasure this book. All you need is to appreciate good writing and a well-developed story. I met the author at Killer Nashville, too. Hey…the convention is a great place to buy mystery books and meet the writers.

Since buying the above two books, I had to go out and purchase more by those authors. That’s the mark of great books…making a reader come back for more.

I’d like to suggest two others, not traditional mysteries, but books I loved and that came out in 2016. I had the pleasure of being an advance-reader for these, and they are worth your time. The first is IMP: A Political Fantasia, exceedingly well-written. The pages fly by. Steven Paul Leiva is a master wordsmith, and combines genres flawlessly. As a sometimes-fantasy novelist, I appreciate his choice of creatures.

• Publisher: Crossroad Press; First Digital edition (October 25, 2016)
• Publication Date: October 25, 2016
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01M8N5EHL

And for the not-so-squeamish, I suggest Christine Verstraete’s Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter. It’s a clever meld of history and horror, and it’s evident she put a lot of work into getting the historical details correct.

• Publisher: Imajin Books (September 5, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1772232734
• ISBN-13: 978-1772232738

Ya know, thinking about it…Lizzie and IMP have a bit of a mystery about them. But all good books do.

Happy reading,

Jean

(who recently cracked open Preston & Child’s Beyond the Ice Limit … it’s okay, but not as good as the stuff I recommend above.)

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FUDGE and candy canes and sugar cookies and all tasty things Christmas by Jean Rabe

LadyKillers asked what my characters eat around the holidays.

Fudge.

Lots of fudge.

My characters live in Spencer County, Indiana, and Santa Claus is one of the little cities. Inside Santa Claus is The Christmas Store, a sprawling shop visited by people from all across the country…and it gets some international visitors too. My sheriff and her father stop at the place in a scene from my novel The Dead of Winter. My husband and I visited the place when we traveled to the county to research my setting.

You can smell the bakery before you see it…the enticing sugary scents will tug you toward it. Open up your wallet and don’t be shy about spending.

The bakery offers cookies, of course. And Santa sits in a high-backed chair against the wall, perhaps waiting for people to give him a plateful. The bakery’s specialty: fudge—in wondrous varieties. When we visited, we sampled the plain milk chocolate (oh my!), and my husband was quick to eat the chocolate walnut (I assume it was good).

I called the bakery yesterday to ask what varieties of fudge were in their display case. What would Sheriff Piper Blackwell and her father have to choose from? The baker told me:

• Peanut butter and chocolate
• Chocolate walnut
• Peppermint
• Eggnog
• Sugar free chocolate
• Snowy road…she explained this is vanilla fudge with nuts and marshmallows
• Amarello
• Salted carmel
• Sugar cookie
• Dark chocolate with salted caramel
• Milk chocolate

She named a few more, but I couldn’t write fast enough.

Suffice it to say…YUM.

My characters would eat fudge for the holidays. Piper would go for the snowy road and milk chocolate (because that is what I would buy). Her father? The Dark chocolate with salted caramel and probably a little piece of peppermint…that would go good with coffee.

Coffee would also be on the menu. The Blackwells love good coffee, Eight O’clock Dark Italian being a favorite.

Now, they’re going to need something more substantial than sugar and caffeine. Enter Nang Phan. Nang runs a quick mart in Fulda, a dinkburg in Spencer County. Piper meets him while investigating a murder. Nang’s quick mart and gas station doesn’t feature the traditional fare…pretzels, hotdogs, and the like. He offers complete Vietnamese meals, and he’s known for catering the occasional party. Nang is an excellent chef.

For the holidays Nang would cook Piper and her father Crab Meat Sui Mai and Dan Dan Noodles Chen. He’d serve up bowls of Tears in Eyes, a spicy mung bean noodle soup, and have pork dumplings in chili oil on the side. And for New Year’s, he’d keep it simple: Chả Lụa and Gà Nướng Xã. Sheesh, I’m getting hungry typing this.

My characters can be found here, in The Dead of Winter: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Winter-Piper-Blackwell-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01LY5X4BB/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481730569&sr=8-1&keywords=jean+rabe

The Santa Claus Christmas Store is here: http://www.santaclauschristmasstore.com/

If you’re in the area, stop in and have your senses overwhelmed…and bring your sweet tooth.

News and Holiday FOOD!

News

Ellen Kirschman and her husband exchange experiences, not presents, during the holidays. This year they are taking advantage of a "deal" to spend two days in San Francisco eating, museum hopping and window shopping among holiday lights in Union Square.

 

Ann Parker is getting ready for a quick visit from out-of-towners early in the week, before sinking into a (hopefully) quiet holiday weekend. She is looking forward to perhaps getting in a little writing time, once the hubbub dies down.

 

 

 Coming Up: A Mouth-Watering Week...

We'll be talking about our character's favorite holidays food!

And now, here's a "holiday bonus" for Sunday: The LadyKillers offer up their personal holiday favorites in the comestibles department...

 LadyKiller Food Faves for the Holiday, Past and Present

• Ann Parker - Almond Roca (my mom's favorite) and that old-fashioned ribbon hard-candy (anyone remember that stuff?). These days, my personal faves tilt toward See's chocolate and homemade fudge.
• Priscilla Royal - My mother, who hated any form of cooking or baking, made a killer egg nog. It was completely non-alcoholic, and only she and I drank it, but it was made from scratch with vanilla and cinnamon. 
• Mar Preston - I loved my mother’s meat pies, the Canadian version of Cornish pasties.  Christmas crackers were also part of our holiday table.  You never see them now, colorful paper tubes with twist ends that exploded with a snap. I still love Rice Krispies treats made with marshmallow. Sigh.
• Camille Minichino - A recipe for my favorite will be up on Monday, BUT I feel compelled to confess that I love fruitcake! And I always make enough cranberry chutney for sandwiches for a week or so.
• Carole Price - I bake Kolachi Bread every Christmas. It makes ten long logs, enough to share with family and neighbors. I also make scalloped corn, my mother's recipe. Another favorite of mine is Asparagus Canapes.
• Jean Rabe - My favorite holiday foods. That's easy: Cherry Jell-O fruit salad, Roast chicken and rice, Green beans with almonds, desert...cherry pie...warm cherry pie. When I was a kid, it was all about the cut-out sugar cookies.
  
• Staci McLaughlin - When I was a kid, my favorite holiday treat was my mom's fudge (after I picked out all the walnuts, of course).
• Ellen Kirchman's one traditional holiday recipe is for cranberry relish. (She hates the slimy stuff that comes in a can) -  Takes less than five minutes to make and stays fresh in the fridge for days. Best made a day ahead. Ingredients: One bag of cranberries, washed with the soft berries discarded; one unpeeled orange,  cut into quarters; a large handful of walnuts. Put all ingredients  in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Place in a bowl and add one half cup of granulated sugar. Taste again the next day to adjust to  the desired level of sweetness.
• Michael A. Black - I always enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on a cold Christmas morning. 
• Peggy Lucke - A regular item on my family's holiday table is my Uncle Hank's Sweet Potato Casserole. The secret ingredients are bourbon and orange liqueur. Could that be why it's a favorite? And then there's my mom's chocolate icebox cake. Rich and delicious. One year my aunt decided to eat nothing but stuffing and chocolate icebox cake for her holiday dinner, because those were her favorite dishes and why waste the calories on things she enjoyed less?

And that's the icing on the cake from us!

 

 

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Hope and Despair by Jean Rabe

This is my first posting with The LadyKillers, and I am happy to be part of this great group. I am not new to writing …my 36^th novel came out this fall…but I am new to mysteries. Writing them. I’ve been reading them for many years.

The topic LadyKillers gave me is Hope and Despair. Cheery, eh? Especially for this merry time of year. No problem, I well know the pair, and they sit at my side when I’m writing.

Hope and Despair…yeah, I’m intimately involved with them…we’re roommates, officemates, soulmates. They’re my constant twin shadows and they’re bookends to me and my characters’ lives.

Hope was what I so often had these past several months when longtime friends let me know of their serious illnesses. Despair took over when those friends lost their fights. Hope waltzed in when I moved into a new house and a new town…a new start! Despair waltzed along right behind when the roof leaked, the air conditioner went out in the height of summer, and the sump pump broke and turned the basement into a lake when I dared go away for a weekend.

We’re good friends.

Hope flourished in my writing life when I had a finished manuscript and appointments with agents at a mystery convention this past summer. Despair was on its heels, however, when agent after agent told me I’d written a novel in a genre that didn’t exist on the shelves and so they’d have trouble placing it. “No such thing as a cozy police procedural,” one of them told me. When I tried to market it on my own, I largely got the same response…though a few told me it was well written. Ah, Hope flickered.

And then Hope smiled.

I sold the book to a publisher who didn’t care that it was a square peg for a round publishing hole. It recently came out and I’m getting good reviews, cracked the Top 100 for a day on Amazon, was featured in a rave review in the Huffington Post.

Ah, Hope wins. I knew she would.

Despair can still be my shadow, but it is not going to be throwing a party in my presence anytime soon.

I use the pair in my writing, Hope and Despair, and encourage my students to likewise do so. Hope and Despair are integral components in any juicy read, no matter the genre. Hope without Despair can’t shine so bright. And Despair? It’ll be responsible for rotten book sales if its counterpart doesn’t show up.

I like to emotionally and sometimes physically hurt my characters. I call up the “bottom moments” in my own life to put me in the right mood for driving my characters into a downward spiral. I let Despair fuel my fingers on the keyboard as I draw my protagonists into some dark holes in their souls. I’ve been there…my characters can relate.

I demand that my favorite characters experience the absolute worst…and then I try to pile it on a little thicker. I want them to suffer and anguish and to glance in the mirror and see Despair staring back.

In their blackest moments, those characters become close to human. They make a stronger connection with the reader, make the reader feel something…sympathy, maybe anger at me for putting them through such awful times. But feel something.

Then I let Hope trickle in.

I believe Hope is at its most beautiful best when Despair is hanging heavy. Hope shines and pulls my protagonist up, blossoms all glowing and encourages the characters to defeat their foes…solve the murder and the mystery... and climb out of those dark holes in their souls. My protagonist will always achieve some measure of victory in the end—after taking that long, slow dance with Despair, Hope demands it.

Hope must always win or the book isn’t worth my time writing it, and it’s not worthy of your time reading it.

Hope casts the better shadow.