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| On The Road...Again: May 19, 2007 |
One of the plums awarded after the hard work of writing a book is the
opportunity to hear from readers--in person, best of all. (Assuming of
course, that the reader in front of you didn't detest your latest opus.)
I'm just home from a very-mini-tour of New Jersey, where I had that chance.
First stop was an adorable independent bookstore in Westfield that hosts a
mystery readers group headed by Mary Jane Weber. This was author hog heaven!
Not only had the attendees BOUGHT and READ my newest book, DEADLY ADVICE,
they were eager to discuss it, right down to the minor details that only a
mother could love. And then we discussed mysteries in general, exchanged
titles of favorites, and shared our dismay about the state of the publishing
world. I even got to tease them about their staunch refusal to take on one
of my Cassie Burdette golf mysteries last year as their read of the month.
No sports addicts in this group!
Next stop was the Cloak and Dagger in Princeton NJ. Jerry and Aline Lenaz
are architects with a passion for mysteries; their store is stunning--a
perfect architectural gem with the most gorgeous displays of themed
mysteries and an amazing collection to back them up. A small group of loyal
friends and fans stopped in to visit. So interesting to hear reactions to my
previous character, Cassie Burdette, that I never heard when she was active.
(Apparently no one quite believed the smattering of psychotherapy I'd
provided for her was sufficient for the job.)
And last but not least, I was invited to give a talk at the Hunterdon County
Library in Flemington NJ. Jennifer Winberry, librarian and avid mystery
buff, had gone to a lot of trouble to promote my appearance and then provide
a cake decorated with the cover of Deadly Advice. She'd even contacted my
publisher to get permission to reproduce the artwork! Lots of white icing,
yellow cake, strawberry filling--what's not to love? I'd promised to talk
about how not to murder your mystery so the crowd was a mixture of writers
and readers. We started out discussing Father Ronald Knox's Ten Rules of
Detective Fiction from 1928--some of them have held up pretty well:
www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv186.html.
Once I've plowed through the backlog of e-mail, it'll be back to the
grind--then maybe I'll get the pleasure of meeting more readers. Ahhh,
reward for all those hours alone with the voices in my head.
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| With Malice Toward None: May 9, 2007 |
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| Me and Toni Kelner |
It's Wednesday and I still haven't written a word on my WIP--still digging
out from a wonderful weekend at Malice Domestic, a convention celebrating
the traditional mystery. I was so pleased to have a story nominated for an
Agatha award. I'm pictured here with the eventual winner, Toni LP Kelner.
Congratulations Toni!
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| SinC goddesses |
As VP of Sisters in Crime, I spent a lot of time at meetings since it's a
rare opportunity for the board of directors to physically gather. This is a
fabulous, supportive organization--chock full of amazing writers. Here's a
photo of the sinC past-presidents (goddesses, as we call them) who were in
attendance. Seated: Kate Grilley, Margaret Maron, Barb D'Amato, Sue Dunlap,
Carolyn Hart; Back: Nancy Pickard, Kate Flora, Eve Sandstrom, Rochelle
Krich, Patti Sprinkle, and Sue Henry. Year after next, I'll be in that photo
too!
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| Rochelle, Beth and me |
And finally, a photo with SinC president Rochelle Krich, and Beth Wasson,
the woman behind the scenes who keeps everything in order. I can hear her
now: Get back to work!
So I'm off...
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| With a Little Help from my Friends: April 21, 2007 |
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| Elaine Viets new book. |
My absolute favorite thing about being a mystery writer is the community of
authors and fans I've gotten to know. Between Sisters in Crime and Mystery
Writers of America, I've discovered an enormous source of support--so
important when you spend most of your time working alone. When I needed a
few well-respected authors to read and blurb Deadly Advice, I had help from
these amazing folks: Margaret Maron, CJ Box, Susan Wittig Albert, Margo
Howard, and Elaine Viets.
Just a week or so ago, vital, funny, and young
Elaine Viets suffered a
serious stroke. So mystery writers everywhere are marshalling to support
her, as she's not going to be able to do a book tour this time out. She has
a new book coming out May 1, MURDER WITH RESERVATIONS. If you're looking for
a wickedly funny cozy read, please check out Elaine Viets!
And while you're in the bookstore, also check out SPANISH DAGGER by
Susan Wittig Albert,
WINTER'S CHILD by Margaret Maron,
and IN PLAIN SIGHT or FREE FIRE by CJ Box.
You won't go wrong with any of those fabulous authors!
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| SinC Receives Dove Award: April 5, 2007 |
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| Dove Award reception at Kate's |
On April 5, the Detective and Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture
Association and American Culture Association presented a special Dove Award
to Sisters in Crime to honor our organization's extensive activities in
support of women crime writers.
It was very exciting to be at Kate's Mystery
Books in Cambridge MA to receive the award for the organization, in the
presence of two of our founding mothers--Sara Paretsky and Kate Mattes!
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Hank Ryan, me, Ruth McCarty, Cathy Cairns,
and Hallie Ephron (front) at Kate's. |
And wonderful to have a crowd of New England chapter members in attendance (in fact they brought the goodies.)
And I now have pages on
Crimespace
and Myspace.
Come on over and join my friends!
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| Disturbance in the Field: April 4, 2007 |
It's been busy times--nothing like the launch of a new book to get the old
adrenaline flowing. For me, it's a time for biting nails and gnashing teeth,
while I wait for feedback from the world in the form of reviews, sales, or
e-mail from readers. It's a time for convincing myself that Amazon numbers
are meaningless and promising I will not go back to that damn site again,
and an hour later, refreshing the web address to search for any small
improvement in ranking that might be a harbinger of success.
So it was a wonderful distraction to hear that my short story "Disturbance
in the Field" (in Seasmoke from Level Best Books) had been nominated for a
Malice Domestic Agatha award http://malicedomestic.org/agathaslate.htm. I
don't write many short stories--the longer form of the novel seems to come
more naturally. In a short story, the characters have to be pared down and
the plot has to be clear and well, short.
The idea for "Disturbance" came to me when a good friend was describing her
experience with hiring a Feng Shui consultant. My friend was emerging from
an unpleasant divorce and from what I remember, had the idea that changing
the energy in her home might change her life as well. So she called a guy
right out of the online Yellow Pages. The consultant arrived with his wife
and the three of them went through the house, room by room.
"The mirror by the bed is wrong. Your spirit travels while you're sleeping
and gets frightened by its reflection," the couple informed her after seeing
her bedroom.
"Light blue is a sad and watery color," they said regretfully about the
walls. "Human beings need forest-colored rooms."
And so it went: she needed to get rid of the king-sized bed, take the
tablecloth off the dining room table, change the position of her son's desk.
I stopped my friend mid-way through her descriptions so I could get paper
and pen: the seed for my story was sprouting. What if my psychologist
character from DEADLY ADVICE was asked by her detective acquaintance to
"ride along" on a case? And what if she had just taken a course in Feng Shui
and began to notice small details about the dead woman's home which might
explain her death? As you might imagine, this was a lot of fun to write,
though tricky to tuck all the ends in neatly.
This week I received a note from Chris, a fan of my golf mysteries who had
read "Disturbance in the Field" after the Agatha nominations were announced.
She said it reminded her of "A Jury of her Peers" written by Susan Glaspell
in 1917.
"What made me think of it was the sensitivity to almost subliminal
clues--ones that were perhaps more visible to a female, or to a therapist!"
Of course I googled "A Jury of her Peers" right away. It's a wonderful story
about a woman accused of murdering her husband while he lies asleep in their
bed, told from the perspective of two of her neighbors.
www.learner.org/exhibits/literature/story/fulltext.html. The website
on which the story appears also contains essays about what makes a good
short story.
Perusing all of this material kept me from hitting that Amazon refresh
bar-for at least an hour! So thanks to Chris for her nice email. Here's
hoping you enjoy both Susan Glaspell's story and
"Disturbance in the Field."
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| SEASMOKE short story authors. |
And here's a photo from Tatnuck Books in Westborough, MA of three other
short story authors from the SEASMOKE anthology, from left to right:
Paula Mello, me,
Cathy Cairns, and
Ruth McCarty.
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| Champagne Across the Bow: March 16, 2007 |
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| DEADLY ADVICE Launch. |
Wednesday was book launch party day at
RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
for DEADLY ADVICE. Maybe it's just me, but
it seems like this hometown crowd is more interested in cake than champagne.
So once a year I order a sheet cake from the local grocery store and they
decorate it to fit the book. I got lucky this time--the scanning machine was
broken and the cake decorator went to town, adding big orange swag curtains
overlaid with an admonition from Dr. Aster: Try Roberta Isleib's DEADLY
ADVICE!
Anyway, the book is on the shelves now--time to hunker down with the next
one and leave the rest up to readers. I'm awfully pleased with the feedback
I've gotten so far. Here are just a few snippets--hope you enjoy the book
too!
Roberta
"Deadly Advice" deftly balances lighter moments - like Rebecca's adventures
in online dating - with more serious undertones that build to a frightening
climax.
Joe Meyers, The Connecticut Post
Isleib has done a remarkable job of describing a truly sympathetic figure in
the person of Rebecca Butterman, and provides the reader with plenty of
suspense in the process.
John Broussard,
I Love a Mystery Newsletter
Dr. Rebecca Butterman is a delightful new sleuth, a character wonderfully
fleshed out by the author, herself a clinical psychologist. Deadly Advice
has great secondary characters, including Rebecca's "Sunday friends" and the
quirky residents of her condo neighborhood. Detective Meigs is a departure
from the stupid, stubborn or too-hunky-to-be-believed cops that populate
many mysteries featuring female amateur sleuths.
Diana Vickery,
The Cozy Library
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| DEADLY ADVICE launch cake. |
Rebecca Butterman, a supporting character from Isleib's Cassie Burdette
golfing mysteries, shines on her own. The mystery is carefully plotted and
there are plenty of suspects and motives to keep readers guessing. Fans of
the Cassie Burdette series will be pleased to hear how well things are going
for Cassie when she makes a cameo. Roberta Isleib's series is off to a
strong start. An enjoyable heroine and an interesting plot will keep readers
engaged while they forget about some of their own problems and see what
advice Dr. Aster will dish up today.
Jennifer Monahan Winberry,
The Mystery Reader
I enjoy Isleib's golf mysteries, but I love Dr. Rebecca Butterman. The
characters are rich and complex, the plot is current and the twists will
keep you turning the pages.
Andrea Sisco,
Armchair Interviews
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| BEHIND THE STORY: March 1, 2007 |
Dear Readers,
My publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, asked me to write their "Dear Reader"
column this month. Here's what I said:
Developing the heroine for a new mystery series is always an adventure! Like
me, Dr. Rebecca Butterman (DEADLY ADVICE) is a clinical psychologist, in
order to take advantage of my training and experience. But how could I help
her stand out from today's hordes of mystery characters?
I had become an advice column junkie well before attending graduate school.
Even as a teenager, I studied Ann Landers and Dear Abby for nuggets of
common sense and wisdom, imagining how I would counsel their troubled
masses. And each month I rushed to the newsstand to buy the Ladies Home
Journal, which contained my favorite feature: "Can this marriage be saved?"
There was something very satisfying about watching these experts gently
dissect their readers' problems and then wrap them back up into tidy
packages.
Why not make Rebecca Butterman an advice columnist as well as a
psychologist? She would understand that while people's problems are complex,
they crave uncomplicated answers. By day, Dr. Butterman would work with her
therapy patients, slowly unraveling their histories in order to understand
their issues. But by night, she would don the cloak of her superhero, advice
columnist Dr. Aster, and offer simple solutions to unhappy readers.
Aside from my sleuth's background, the opening scene of DEADLY ADVICE is
also rooted in my graduate school days. During my final year, I lived in an
anonymous apartment complex with only a nodding acquaintance of the other
residents. Each morning, my taciturn next-door neighbor left for work at
7:30, returning by six. Some nights she'd cook one hamburger on the grill
outside her door. Medium well, I'd think, considering the time it sat on the
coals. How sad, I'd think. Is that me? I'd wonder next.
One evening, I came home from the library and noticed a small U-Haul parked
in front of her apartment. An older couple was loading the contents of her
place into the van. Over coffee the next morning, I skimmed the newspaper as
usual, and noticed a small article near the bottom of an interior page.
Based on this paragraph, I realized that my neighbor had shot herself
several days earlier. Her body had lain in the apartment next to mine for
over forty-eight hours before someone found her.
I felt shocked and sad. Isn't this every single woman's worst nightmare - dead
two days and no one even notices you're gone? This incident has always
stayed with me.
Years later, that's where DEADLY ADVICE begins. When Dr. Rebecca Butterman
returns home to find her neighbor an apparent suicide, she's wracked with
guilt. As a psychologist and advice columnist, she's an expert! She should
have been able to help the young woman. But the neighbor's mother suspects
foul play, and soon persuades Rebecca to investigate the possibility of
murder.
I've loved writing about this new character - she's wise and vulnerable all at
once. I hope you'll enjoy her adventures too.
Happy reading and happy spring,
Roberta Isleib
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| Virtual Tour: February 15, 2007 |
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| Guilford Harbor. |
With the release of Deadly Advice only weeks away, I thought you might enjoy a virtual tour
of the setting for the book: Guilford CT. The main character, Dr. Rebecca Butterman, lives
in a fictional condo community near the real Guilford Harbor.
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| Town of Guilford, CT. |
If you stood on the boat launch and looked over the harbor, you would see the little red shack
that's pictured on my website header. This is where Rebecca goes to drink her morning coffee and
think about problems--whether they have to do with murder...or men! The town itself is
quintessential New England--a green flanked by churches, the library, and lovely small shops and
restaurants.
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| West Side Cemetery. |
And here is the real West Side Cemetery,
where one of the final scenes takes place.
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| Town of Guilford, CT. |
Last but not least, Rebecca agrees to house her neighbor's
cat early on in the book. Here's my
neighbor cat, Yoda, who sometimes visits me, and graciously agreed to serve as a model for Rebecca's
friend, Spencer.
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| Catching Up: January 25, 2007 |
Good lord, here it is three weeks into 2007 already! Now the countdown
begins in earnest for DEADLY ADVICE! I'm very excited about Dr. Rebecca
Butterman's first foray onto bookshelves. Meanwhile, I don't have time to
stew--or relax--as I'm deep into the final pages of the second installment,
PREACHING TO THE CORPSE. It always feels so odd to be a year or so ahead of
readers in the series I'm writing.
If you'd like to read an article about the transition from one series
character to another, check out the January newsletter from the
Cozy Library. Dr. Butterman also had a chance to answer a question
from a cozy addict, browbeaten by her hard-boiled husband.
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Beth Green's class,
Montville school and me. |
This fall I completed a series of visits to fifth grades in eastern
Connecticut to talk about writing mysteries. These kids are so much fun--but
exhausting! Who else would ask questions like "are you rich?" and "Do you
have trouble going outdoors because of the paparazzi?" I'm attaching a photo
of me with Beth Green's class in the Montville school.
Thought for the day: Hats off to all full-time teachers! What an important
and difficult job they have.
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| New England Crime Bake: November 21, 2006 |
I'm just now recovering from the New England Crime Bake last weekend. This
was the first time I've been so involved in the inner workings of a
mystery/writers conference. It left me with great admiration for all those
who've come before me! I can't even imagine running a major conference like
Left Coast Crime, Bouchercon, and Malice Domestic.
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Lynne Heitman,
Lisa Scottoline and me. |
We had a wonderful turnout (close to 300 guests) with highly entertaining
special speakers and authors. I had the enviable task of interviewing the
guest of honor, Lisa Scottoline.
Lisa is a wonderful role model--gracious
and encouraging to all writers and lovely to fans.
Our forensic speakers included Luci the Poison Lady, Puzzle the search and
rescue dog along with her mother of course, and Sergeant Zipper, an arson
specialist. Luci is a pharmacist who has developed a specialty in poisons
used in murder mysteries. She loves talking about arsenic and strychnine and
other evil methods... I will definitely be using her advice in PREACHING TO
THE CORPSE.
Also included in the weekend were master classes on writing and
screenwriting, lunchtime roundtables, and a series of entertaining author
panels. Do plan to attend the Crime Bake next year; it's scheduled for
November 9-11 with Lee Child as our guest of honor.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
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| Ready for My Close Up! November 6, 2006 |
Fresh off the plane from a terrific event in Los Angeles: Sisters in Crime
goes to Hollywood! As part of this hoppin' organization's 20th anniversary,
our LA sisters organized a seminar on how to sell our books to the movies.
It all started with attending the Dr. Phil show on Thursday. A couple of my
buddies insisted we were held hostage. The doctor had three shows to tape
and by god no one was leaving the studio audience until he wound things up.
So we watched him counsel a squabbling couple, interview Sharon Osborne
about her eating habits, and try to talk two miserable sisters into getting
along--a losing battle. That man can handle a catfight!
Next up, a tour of Sony Pictures Studio. The only show being filmed was In
Case of Emergency! So lots of extras scurrying around the lot in scrubs. We
did have a wonderful tour including the original MGM soundstage where the
Wizard of Oz was filmed, the set for Rocky, the Jeopardy set, and the water
tank where Esther Williams took her dives. Then we were treated to a seminar
on how to pitch in preparation for our appointments on Sunday.
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| Lori, Jessica, and me. |
Saturday brought a whirlwind tour of ten bookstores including two wonderful
mystery specialists, Mysteries to Die For in Thousand Oaks and The Mystery
Bookstore in Westwood. Signed golf mysteries available there folks! Here are
my signing buddies, Lori Avocato
and Jessica Speart. Obviously, I need a
pair of Hollywood sunglasses!
And for Sunday's line-up, we heard panels on entertainment agents, how
screenwriters adapt novels, writing for TV, and moving from option to film.
And finally the moment we were all waiting for: the chance to pitch our
stuff to a real Hollywood producer.
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| Sisters in Crime |
Don't hold your breath looking for
Cassie Burdette or Rebecca Butterman at the movies this summer, but on the
other hand, stranger things have happened.
And here's a line-up of a small portion of the Sisters in Crime who
attended: Rochelle Krich, Carolyn Hart, Jessica Speart, Ann Parker, Marcia
Talley, Jane Isenberg, Lori Avocato, me, Anne Perry.
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| CALENDAR GIRLS (AND GUYS!): October 14, 2006 |
What do a poisoned martini, a body buried in the suburbs, and a deadly car
ride have in common? They are all part of a mysterious calendar published this fall by my
New England chapter of Sisters in Crime.
When the national SinC board challenged its
chapters for proposals to help celebrate the organization's twentieth anniversary, chapter treasurer
Ruth McCarty came up with this winning idea.
Ruth, chapter VP Cathy Cairns, and I have
spent hours and hours over the last six months bringing the idea to life. The photos are amazing--you must
take a look!
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Getting ready for our cover shot:
Ruth, Janet, me, and Cathy. |
More than sixty members, both published and unpublished, were photographed by
Roger Leo in mischievous rather than naughty poses.
Despite the popular movie, starring nude British women, enthusiasm for posing without clothing was underwhelming.
So we went with poison and other mayhem instead!
In the original proposal, we imagined authors clustered according to the "concept" of their books:
Tess Gerritsen in a morgue,
Janet Evanovich in front of an exploding car,
Linda Barnes as a cabbie,
Bill Tapply gone fishing,
Dana Cameron on an archeological dig, and so on. We
soon realized we had too much talent for twelve months, not to mention a problem with including as many members
as possible. Not to mention a logistical nightmare!
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| Our photographer Roger hard at work. |
Instead, our calendar team traveled across New England for the shoots, snapping groups of authors from
Rockport, Maine to Hanover, New Hampshire, to New Haven, Connecticut, to Cambridge, Massachusetts. And we
called on the flexibility and good humor of all our sisters. For example, when many attempts to borrow
motorcycles for the shoot with Janet Evanovich fell through, we climbed onto an excavator conveniently
parked in her yard. Authors in Maine bought scrubs to join Tess Gerritsen for an autopsy with
Jerry Healy laid out on the slab, and a
group in Connecticut showed up in cocktail dresses and drank "martinis" at a funky Irish bar.
Hope you enjoy the results as much as we enjoyed the process!
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| Bouchercon Blast: October 3, 2006 |
Just got home from six days at the world mystery convention,
Bouchercon, in Madison, WI.
1500 plus mystery fans, authors, booksellers, agents, editors and more gather for days of panels
and parties. Whew! Hard not to get overwhelmed.
Two of my favorite moments were musical--Val
McDermid singing "Long Black Veil" at the Poisoned Pen party and Parnell Hall crooning a song
he'd written for the
Sisters in Crime
anniversary party. That Saturday party was a big hit--lots of chocolate consumed by all, along with
appearances by previous SinC "goddesses".
Here are two photos from the night--that's me
(newly anointed as vice president) with outgoing president
Libby Hellmann and incoming prez, Rochelle Krich.
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The other features Margaret Maron, Nancy Pickard,
Carolyn Hart, and Eve Sandstrom--all past presidents. Talk about good company! |
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