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August 2011 |
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No August meeting. See You In September. See You
When The Summer's Through.
Rap Sheet says good-bye to Blaize Clement
Mystery writer Blaize Clement spent the last months
of her life working against the ultimate deadline to
complete the seventh and eighth novels in her
popular Dixie Hemingway series. Blaize lost her
fight with cancer July 20. Her first Dixie Hemingway
novel, Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter, was
published in 2006. |
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Nancy J. Cohen: Throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall
and see what sticks. Nancy received that advice from
author Marilyn Campbell.
Brad Meltzer: It's okay to admit it's hard. If it
were easy, everyone would do it. And also: Don't let
your character work the case. Let the case work your
character. Brad says he loves that so much, he stole
it from his friend Michael Connelly . |
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Deborah
Sharp passed on the link to a helpful new website
that deals with forensics for writers.Tom Adair, a
retired, internationally recognized forensic
scientist/CSI in Colorado, recently began a blog
aimed at helping mystery writers get the details
right of murder and mayhem. Not only does he tackle
topics from the crime scene to the autopsy to the
courtroom, Tom also welcomes questions from
novelists who get stumped. Here's the link:
http://forensics4fiction.wordpress.com/
Kris
Montee passed along three fun links this month.
Where does she find this great stuff? Don't have a
clue, but I'm sure glad she does.
"Acknowledgments, of course, are not just—or even
primarily—for the reader. They’re personal notes to
the writers’ friends, loved ones, and colleagues,
and it behooves him or her to check the list
carefully before sending it off."
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/07/06/on-acknowledgements/
The
second is about the best seller list. The writer
makes a good case for instituting a "cap" on
bestselling authors.
http://bookforum.com/inprint/1802/7780
This one
is about the weird habits famous writers have when
trying to write. Truman Capote wrote laying down
with a glass of sherry in his hand! Pop a cork and
start writing.
http://flavorwire.com/193101/weird-writing-habits-of-famous-authors |
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Sun, Sand, and Suspense: Mystery and Crime Fiction
in Florida : 1895-2011
 This
exhibit is open to the public from July 6, 2011 to
November 18, 2011. The Bienes Museum of the Modern
Book is featuring the work of mystery and crime
writers who set their novels in Florida. Even before
John D. MacDonald first anchored Travis McGee’s
houseboat, the Busted Flush, at Fort Lauderdale’s
Bahia Mar Marina, Florida had developed a rich
legacy of fictional detectives. A characteristic of
Florida mysteries is the strong emphasis on place.
The
exhibition showcases Edna Buchanan’s Britt Montero;
Elaine Viets’ Helen Hawthorne; Carolina Garcia-Aguillera’s
Guadalupe Solano; Randy Wayne White’s retiring
marine biologist Doc Ford; Charles Willeford’s
leisure-suited cop Hope Moseley, and Carl Hiaasen’s
quirky Florida characters.
Also
includes the work of Earl Der Biggers, Brett
Halliday, Theodore Pratt, Alan Green, Richard
Powell, Richard and Frances Lockridge, Mignon G.
Eberhart, James W. Hall, Thomas Sanchez, Lawrence
Sanders, Les Standiford, Laurence Shames, Nancy
Pickard, Nancy J. Cohen, Barbara Parker, Darryl
Winberly, Tom Corcoran, P.J. Parrish, Tim Dorsey,
Paul Levine, Stuart Woods, James Grippando, Erica
Spindler, Jonathon King, Christine Kling, James O.
Born, James Swain, Elmore Leonard, and H. Terrell
Griffin. |
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August 6,
Saturday, 10:30am - 2:30pm, Nancy J. Cohen, Florida
Sisters in Crime, Southeast Regional Library, 10599
Deerwood Park Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32256. For
reservations, contact Kathy at 904-477-4687.
http://www.floridasistersincrime.com/ |
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The
Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America
invites you two Tuesday evening sessions with some
fabulous Florida crime fiction writers. Panels will
be held at the Broward County Main Library, 100 S.
Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale.
Flagrantly Floridian: 6:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday,
October 4, features Julie Compton, Michael Haskins,
and Sharon Potts.
Julie
Compton is the internationally published author of
two thrillers, Tell No Lies and Rescuing
Olivia. Kirkus Reviews gave Tell No Lies a
starred review and called it “a taut, tense
cautionary tale complete with courtroom drama and a
surprise ending.” and Rescuing Olivia was named a
Top Ten Read of 2010 by Bookreporter.com reviewer L.
Dean Murphy. She lives near Orlando.
www.julie-compton.com
Michael Haskins lives in Key West, the setting for
his three Mick Murphy mysteries: Chasin’ the Wind,
Free Range Institution and Car Wash Blues.
He owns a 1973, 36-foot Amel sloop, which he has
sailed to Cuba four times.
www.michaelhaskins.net.
Sharon
Potts is the author of two critically acclaimed
suspense novels. In Their Blood won the 2010
Benjamin Franklin Award in the Mystery/Suspense
Category, sponsored by the Independent Book
Publishers and received a starred review from
Publishers Weekly. Someone’s Watching was
released in 2011. Publishers Weekly called it
"shiver-rich." Sharon's novels are set in South
Florida and are about ordinary people in
extraordinary circumstances.
www.sharonpotts.com
Three Dangerous Dames: 6:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday
October 11 features Nancy Cohen, Elaine Viets, and
Deborah Sharp.
Nancy
J. Cohen is a multi-published author who writes the
Bad Hair Day mystery series featuring South Florida
hairdresser Marla Shore. She also writes sexy
science fiction romances. Silver Serenade, her
latest release, is her fifteenth title. Coming next
is Shear Murder.
www.nancyjcohen.com
Ft.
Lauderdale resident Elaine Viets is the laugh-out
loud funny author of many mystery novels. The sixth
installment in the Josie Marcus mystery shopper
series, set in Elaine’s hometown of St. Louis, is An
Uplifting Murder. She recently debuted
Pumped for Murder, the latest in her Dead End
Job series, set right here in South Florida.
www.elaineviets.com
Former
USA Today reporter Deborah Sharp relies on her
Florida roots, and her sense of humor, to write the
charming Mace Bauer Mysteries, set in a
Southern-fried slice of the state. Her latest,
Mama Gets Hitched, landed Deborah on the Today
show in a bridal veil.
www.deborahsharp.com
Both
sessions will be moderated by Neil Plakcy, president
of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America
and author of numerous mystery and romance novels,
including two Golden Retriever mysteries and the
Mahu series about an openly gay Honolulu homicide
detective.
www.mahubooks.com
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Murder on
the Beach Mystery Bookstore will be sponsoring
writers workshops for beginning to intermediate
level writers on Saturday mornings throughout the
Summer. Topics range from the fundamentals of
writing, to getting the final book published. The
eight instructors are all multi-published local
authors with experience in writing, publishing and
teaching, with almost 100 published books, and 20
writing awards among them.
Sessions are held at Murder on the Beach Bookstore,
273 NE 2nd Ave, in Delray Beach. The charge for each
session is $25 per person for a two hour workshop.
Register for all eight for $175, and get one free!
Reservations are required.
The schedule is as follows:
Saturday August 13, 10am - Noon
Point of View. Whose head are we in and why are we
there?
Instructor: Diane A.S. Stuckart, author of the
Leonardo da Vinci series.
www.dianestuckart.com
Contact
Murder on the Beach Bookstore at 561-279-7790 or
murdermb@gate.net.
Joanne Sinchuk
Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore
273 Pineapple Grove Way (NE 2nd Ave)
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Phone: 561-279-7790
Fax: 561-279-7759
Email:
murdermb@gate.net
Website:
www.murderonthebeach.com
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Stepping Outside the Box by Sharon Potts
 I've
never been good with boundaries. When I'm told
something can't or shouldn't be done, I'm usually
incited to do it. For the last few years, my writing
impulses have taken me into a world of dark places
and suspense. I have put my heart into Jeremy Stroeb
and Robbie Ivy and experience the same fears and
terror they do as they search for family and truth.
I write novels of suspense and I hope I've done it
well. IN THEIR BLOOD received a starred
review from Publishers Weekly and the 2010 Benjamin
Franklin Award for best mystery/suspense novel, and
SOMEONE'S WATCHING also received kudos from
the likes of Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
So
why, when I'm on my way to establishing a successful
brand as Sharon Potts--suspense novelist, would I
decide to go against conventional wisdom and write
and publish humorous contemporary fiction? Well,
because I like Mozart and Dan Fogelberg and Degas
and Picasso. I'm not a one-track tape. Maybe you
aren't, either. I hope you'll have a look at my
latest work--South Beach Cinderella. Yes, it's
funny--at least I intended it to be. But it also has
the themes that are important to me and are in
everything I write--about family, and what really
matters in life. So come meet Frankie Wunder and see
why she believes that over the rainbow is a giant
dumpster.
South
Beach Cinderella by Sharon Potts, now available on
Kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/South-Beach-Cinderella-ebook/dp/product-description/B0058J09T0/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=133140011&s=digital-text
Elaine Viets is the Summer Celebrity at the
Parkland Library in Allentown, Pa., August 17. She's
also a panelist at the Mystery Florida Conference in
Sarasota, August 24-27.
Michael Haskins was one of four writers (two
mystery writers) asked to speak about writing and to
read from their latest books, at this years literary
event for Key West’s Hemingway Days. To a crowd at
the Wayland Gallery on Duval Street, they each had
their fifteen-minutes of fame.
Tom Corcoran, Michael
Haskins, Lorian Hemingway (Ernest’s granddaughter)
and Mark Childress.
Plan ahead - way ahead - Mainly Murder Press
will publish the second in Lesley Diehl's
mircobrewing series, release date May 2012. It is
tentatively titled Poisoned Pairings and
focuses on pairing beer and food, and murder (of
course).
Rap
Sheet loves advanced peeks at book covers.
Here's the cover for Nancy J. Cohen's tenth Bad Hair
Day mystery. Shear Murder due out in January
2012 from Five Star.
Nancy J. Cohen has published her backlist title,
Keeper of the Rings, on the Kindle. It’s Indiana
Jones meets Star Wars. A beautiful archaeologist and
her mysterious protector search for a stolen sacred
artifact.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005C5YXRO
Also,
Nancy's novella Three Men and a Body is one of four
sexy romantic mysteries in Wicked Women Whodunit,
a Kensington Brava Anthology, being reissued in mass
market paperback in November. Available for
pre-order:
http://amzn.to/nOZGXK
Neil Plakcy's two short romance stories, The Catbird
Seat and The Six-Year Itch, were just published
with MLR Press, a press that was recently added to
the list of MWA-approved publishers. MLR has also
brought out e-book editions of all six books in the
Mahu series. Book seven is scheduled for March 2012.
P.J.
Parrish is "fier une Artaban" (proud as a peacock)
to announce that her last Louis Kincaid thriller
THE LITTLE DEATH, is debuting in France as part
of a new line by esteemed French editor Robert
Pepin. Newly titled in France "Une Si Petite Mort"
(Such a Little Death), the book is part of an
exclusive new imprint of Pepin's chosen authors at
publisher Calmann-Levy. Other Pepin authors include
Mike Connelly, Lawrence Block, T. Jefferson Parker
and Martin Cruz Smith. Said Parrish: We're Robert's
only girls. But we don't mind being in this rogue's
gallery. And we just love the sexy cover! Calmann
Levy is also picking up Parrish's newest Paris-based
thriller THE KILLING SONG (which debuted July
26 with a launch at Murder on the Beach) and is
considering two older Louis Kincaid novels for
future publication.
Laurianne Macdonald has published Penance and Prey,
a political thriller that foretells the consequences
of politics in bed with Oil. It is available in
paperback at
Amazon.com and
Barnes & Noble.com
Judith Rock's The Eloquence of Blood, the second
book in her new Charles du Luc historical mystery
series, comes out Tuesday, September 6th, with a 6
p.m. book launch party and signing at Bookstore 1,
1359 Main St., Sarasota.
Joan Lipinsky Cochran's mystery The Yiddish
Gangster’s Daughter is one of the ten finalists
for the 2011 Claymore Award.
Ann
Meier's comic mystery, Never Expect the Pied Piper
to Lead you to a Good Place, is a finalist in
the unpublished humor category in the Florida
Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Awards.
Joan Mickelson reports she has a publisher for the
biography she's written about Joseph W. Young, Jr.
who founded Hollywood, FL. The working title is
Joseph W. Young, Jr., Founder of a City Beautiful.
She assured Rap Sheet that she is still hard at work
on her museum mysteries.
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Michael Haskins will have a signing of REVENGE,
the first Mick Murphy story. Revenge has been “lost”
since Hurricane Georges, 1998, but rediscovered on
an old floppy disc Michael's sister had. The signing
will be held Aug. 12, 5:30 pm, at Key West Island
Books.
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Friday
August 5 at 7 pm. Prudence Foster (Prudy Taylor
Board) will speak and sign her new book Devil
Eyes $17.95.
Thursday
August 11 at 7 pm. Kate White will speak and sign
her new book The Sixes $24.99. |
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Sunday
August 21 at 3 pm. The Sunday Sleuths Book Group
will discuss Fragile by Lisa Unger $15.99. |
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I’m a
lousy writer; a hellova lot of people have got lousy
taste. – Grace Metalious, author of Peyton Place |
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Rap Sheet
leaves my desk all in one uniform font (honest &
pinky swear) It looks darned good. To test the links
and layout, I send it to two email accounts. In one
account, it looks awesome. But when it hits the
other, font gremlins have their way with it and
competing fonts scamper willy-nilly through out.
Just sayin'.
Do you
have an idea for something you would like to see in
the Rap Sheet? Got a notion about how we can improve
things on this sheet? Or do you just want to ask a
question or blow off steam? Drop us a line here at
the Rap Sheet. We want to hear from you. Contact me
at
annmeier2@yahoo.com
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