DIY Experimentation

by Catherine Dilts

I’ve noticed clever graphics on social media by fellow authors. I wondered whether they were developed by their publishers. Or if they were making so much money, they’d gone and hired publicists.

I’m a save-a-buck kind of gal, modeled after my cheapskate mother. I was certain an intrepid person could DIY the heck out of their own promo graphics. But the thought of taking photographs, or locating free or very cheap images to use without violating copyrights, was daunting. Plus all the fiddling around with text and formatting. Ugh!

My daughter Merida Bass works with pencil on enormous works of fine art, but is also becoming quite adept at graphic arts. She had the potential to do these bits of promotional art, but I hesitated to take more time from her crammed schedule.

Then we both zoom-attended a webinar for the local Sisters In Crime chapter. Voila! The mystery was revealed.

A first attempt at promo graphics for my traditionally published debut novel.

I typically avoid talks that are basically advertisements for services. Some folks here have heard me whine about everyone and their Aunt Harriet making bank off publishing, except for the writer. Particularly when you delve into the world of self-publishing, although traditional pubbing is not immune from authors paying for editing and publicity services.

Kathleen Sweeney from Book Brush Inc. pitched her company with a detailed demo. During the webinar, I texted Merida, who was zooming from her home. She’s the artist creating covers for our co-authored series. I asked whether she thought this was worth the price.

“I can do this on Canva,” she typed back. But the question was, did she want to? Before the end of the talk, she signed up for the service.

Sunday morning, I had a chance to play around with Book Brush. You definitely need to be a bit computer savvy. But it’s delightfully easy once you tackle that rather mild learning curve.

I’m still more interested in writing. I loathe the business and promo end of publishing. But I also believe in my work. I definitely can’t afford to purchase every shiny new object promising to make writers buy-you-own-island famous and wealthy. I’ll do everything I can manage on my own.

This service fits my DIY personality. Not for the book cover creation. My artist daughter will still create those. But for all the branding and promo bits, this feels like a game-changer. Including promoting my traditionally published novels.

This week, I’m attending a Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America meeting. The topic: Audiobooks. Tom Farrell’s talk will be less sales-pitchy, I’m sure. He’s going to give us info, share his experiences, and doesn’t have a service to sell.

Becoming a published author was an eye-opener. Hardly anyone gets publicity they haven't generated themselves. Traditional or self-pubbed, selling books under either banner are both are DIY projects. Maybe, after over a decade being a published author, I’ll finally get the hang of this business. Or not. Time will tell.

A promo image for the YA co-authored with my daughter

Point of Sale

 by Thomas Kies

Most of us have been there.  You go to a planned book signing at a library or a bookstore where nobody has heard of you and you- and maybe your spouse- are the only ones there.  Where it’s so quiet you can literally hear the clock ticking in the next room.  Where everyone avoids making eye contact with the author. 

Or at a book event or authors’ fest where there may be a dozen other writers, but once again, the audience is sparse, and you’ve just spent six hours of your life staring into space.

Those are humbling experiences.

So, I get a lot of requests for attendance, but I’ve become much more selective.  Let’s face it, time is a precious commodity.   

One of the events I do attend is something called the Olde Beaufort Farmer’s Market.  Now, admittedly, this sounds like it could be lame.  Can you really sell books in the same location that feature fruits, vegetables, and crochet animals?

Yeah, at this one you can.  At one point Beaufort was named the coolest small town in America. It’s got a vibe.  And the Farmers Market isn’t’ just for farmers. It’s also got some very eclectic items on sale, like gourmet coffees, baked goods, fine arts, cool jewelry, funky clothes and, of course, shrimp. We are, after all, on the coast of North Carolina. 

During the summer, this is an event that takes place every week, but once a year, they ask local authors to attend. I love this event.

This past weekend, I went through cases of my novels.  The people who attend this event are both locals and tourists, both of whom come to spend money.

Yeah, you still have to work the crowd.  You have to make eye contact.  If they look interested, you ask them, “Do you like mysteries?”  If they say no or tell you they don’t like to read, send them packing. They’re not going to read your books. 

If they say “yes”, you’ve got them.  Engage them in conversation, tell them about your books, how you came to create your protagonist, the writing process, and what makes your books special. Try to do it with humor and humility. 

Accent on the humor. 

What’s fun is if they’ve heard of you or seen your books somewhere before. 

There was one woman, when she spotted a poster featuring my first book, Random Road, rushed to my booth with her friends and exclaimed, “I just read that book.  Are you really the author?”

I live for those moments.  She kept telling everyone around us how much she enjoyed the novel and then proceeded to buy the rest of the books in the series.  

And then there was the group of young ladies in the early part of a celebration of their friend’s looming nuptials.  Seeing the future bride, I gave her a signed copy of Random Road as a gift and told her, “Here, you can take this on your honeymoon.”

The group broke out in laughter.  She smiled at me and purred, “If nothing else, I’ll read it by the pool.”  Two others in her entourage bought books. 

Obviously, it helps if you’re an extrovert, which I am, and enjoy talking with people. What I also love is that if they buy one book, they’ll order more.  I always see a spike in online sales after this event. 

Make sure you can take credit cards; more and more people don't carry cash anymore.  And more than once, a younger buyer asked if I use Venmo.  I don't, but I might have to take a look at it. 

So, I try to be selective these days when and where I spend time with my books. But I also try to keep an open mind.  You never know where there will be an unexpected success. 

Novella Finished and Out With Beta Readers

By Shelley Burbank

Happy Friday, Friends! 

How's your summer going so far? Have you written all the words, read all the books, soaked up all the sun, splashed in the lake or ocean, cooked up some burgers or portobellos on the ol' grill while fireflies danced and sparkled in the long grass on the side of the road? 

For me, this past month has been all about revising Strawberry Moon Mystery. Early beta reader response has been positive overall. I'm hoping with a few tweaks and changes, I'll be able to make it available to readers by the end of September, latest. The more I learn about indie publishing, the less appealing it is, but I'm at this stage where it makes the most sense, at least with this novella.

I'm going to price it fairly high because it's either that or give it away for nothing some other way. Here's my thought: my readers, the readers I'm hoping to attract, will be willing to pay $5.99 for a 120 page ebook. I know the common wisdom is to price it low, but you know what? I think that just signals a lack of confidence and a sense of my work's worth. I haven't decided yet on the print cost, but I think I'll keep in in line with the other two books in the series at 19.99. (It would be so much easier if we could just round up to $20! Especially since we are getting rid of the USA penny! Are any of us REALLY fooled by the .99 on the end of pricing?)

Creativity Webs

Lately I find myself wanting to focus on multiple creative pursuits: learning to crochet granny squares, reading ancient and world history and Guam history, catching up on classic literature I've missed, and continuing to explore art techniques and art journaling. All this plus more story ideas than I can handle. It feels as if I'm spinning a complex web of creativity and getting myself tangled up in all the threads. 

How do you balance your creative life?

I think one way, moving forward, will be reducing my screen time. It's so easy to fall into a nightly television habit. I'm more productive in the mornings, but I could spend my evenings reading the history and literature and knitting/crocheting. One idea was to create a cozy reading space, and so I bought a beautiful, cheery yellow lamp to sit beside a chair in my living room.

I'd like to add a pretty blue and yellow print to the shade if I can figure out how to do it properly. And yes, that's the same knit dishcloth I started months ago. I looked for some floral artwork at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store with no luck, but I was in a hurry. I'll get there again soon and take my time poking into odd corners.

Facebook, Shmacebook

As I'm about to begin "marketing" the novella, Facebook is once again on my iPhone. Am I pleased with this development? No. Simply, no. Hopefully I've figured out how to use the platform without it using me. I hop on. I post. I skeedaddle. No scrolling. Very little hitting the like button. Even less commenting. 

This makes me a "freeloader" and I don't care! 

Hope you have a wonderful week and final weeks of summer. See you in the fall!

Shelley

Have you subscribed to Pink Dandelions, my monthly newsletter on creativity, culture, manifesting, mindfulness, and nurturing your own beautiful life? http://shelleyburbank.substack.com/

[A version of this blog post appeared on my private blog, Shelley's Journal.

Creepypasta and more

 by Sybil Johnson

Today it’s random thoughts day for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a writer or if everyone has random thoughts throughout the day. I pretty much have them when I’m driving or walking or watching TV or reading a book or.... Something catches my attention and I feel the need to look it up or make a note. Sometimes I get stories out of them, sometimes I just find them interesting. Here are some of my most recent thoughts:

Creepypasta – I was watching an episode of the French crime series, The Art of Crime, and they mentioned creepypasta. What? I double-checked the English subtitles (I don’t know French) and, sure enough, it said “creepypasta” all one word. The episode was set in the world of ballet. Students at a ballet school were scaring each other with what they called creepypasta videos. They’d dress up as a Degas ballerina statue that was rumored to come to life and scare the crap out of each other, then post it on the internet.

What is this, I thought? Is this a thing in real life or made up for the episode? So I looked it up. Turns out it’s real. A creepypasta is any horror story or video that is posted to the internet. The name comes from “copy and paste”. Not sure I get how that works, but that’s okay. I’m old. I may have to come up with a story that features creepypasta stories. Hmmm.

Cats of Disneyland – I love Disneyland. It’s my happy place. I always feel better after I’ve been there. I see ducks that live in the park all the time. I knew there were also cats who lived there, but I’ve never seen any of them. They generally come out at night and help keep the vermin population in check. A friend pointed me to this video about the cats. Made me smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCoFx4Hrns

Pronouns – I recently read a book by John McWhorter, a linguistics professor, called simply Pronouns. I found it highly interesting, particularly the chapter on “they”. Worth a read. When writing a mystery, I don’t really want to use he or she for the murderer because that might give something away. Unless the police are absolutely sure the perpetrator is male or female, of course. I tend to use they a lot.

Hen pronoun in Swedish --- I’ve been “learning” Swedish for a while now. Still don’t know it well, but I am learning more and more each day. In the above book on pronouns, McWhorter mentioned that Swedish now has a “hen” pronoun for use when you don’t know the gender of a person or for someone who is non-binary or where gender doesn’t matter. I was not familiar with this at all. In my studies, they just mention han(he) and hon(she). Hen seems like a nice addition so I looked it up.

According to various sources on the internet, hen originally came into being in the 1960s, but did not reach the “masses” until 2012. It was officially added to the Swedish Academy’s dictionary in 2015. It was inspired by a Finnish pronoun which refers to anyone at all. This was an interesting article on its origins and current use: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/swedish-hen

 aibohphobia – This is the fear of palindromes. I saw this on Jeopardy! I really, really want this to be a real thing. Can you imagine having this fear and your name is Anna? Anyway, apparently the word was invented in response to a challenge to invent a new phobia. The word is, of course, a palindrome itself. No one has been diagnosed with this as of yet.

Murderbot Diaries – I recently discovered the Murderbot Diaries, a series of books by Martha Wells. I am currently in the middle of book 4 of 7. They are full of adventure. What I really like, though, is the personality of the Murderbot. I hear AppleTV has made a series out of the books. I want to finish the books before I watch it. I wonder if I’m going to enjoy it as much as the books. 

Those are my random thoughts for today. What are yours?

Colorado Book Awards

 By Charlotte Hinger

The Colorado Book Awards event was held Saturday, July 26. I was thrilled that Mary's Place was a finalist for the Historical Novel award. First place went to All Our Yesterdays, by Joel H. Morris. It's about Lady MacBeth and I'm eager to read it.

I was delighted to learn that an anthology, Ramas Y Raices, written by Type M's very own Mario Acevedo was also a finalist. It features the best of CALMA--the Colorado Alliance of Latina Mentors and Authors. There were twenty-four contributors. 

The Colorado Book Awards are very suspenseful for the finalist. All the finalists are revealed early, but the winner is not announced until that very special Saturday night. 

Winners from each category read a selection from their book and then gave thanks to people they wanted to acknowledge. The winner of the Creative Non-Fiction Award was Brandon Shimoda with The Afterlife is Letting Go. This book was also chosen as Booklist's one of the top ten history books of the year. No small feat! In fact, Shimoda has won quite a number of prestigious awards. 

Afterlife is about the Japanese American concentration camps during World War 11. All the reviews praise his research plus his ability to integrate his own family's history. 

Honestly, if he writes as well as he speaks this book must be outstanding. He literally broke my heart. Although Afterlife is based on the Japanese experience, he then referred to the terrors of the Israel Hamas War. Of course I was aware of the staggering toll on people, but he also pointed out the obliteration of libraries. 

Why had that not occurred to me? In a very short time, precious rare books have been destroyed and libraries reduced to rubble. Historical and family records no longer exist. 

I'm not sure I could breathe without access to a library.  

Alert the physicists!

 Michael Chandos

Alert the physicists! Time has changed. For me, at least. When I was a kid, sometimes time dragged by. Now, with me over 70, time flies by.  WHY?

When I graduated from college, I was in the Air Force. I traveled. Started a family. Bought cars and a house. Took the equivalent of online schools. Started a Masters program. But I still found time to write.

Strictly an amateur, I wrote for fanzines and online blogs, before they were called blogs. One was a Star Trek-inspired writing club organized like crew members on an Enterprise-type ship. Each contributing writer developed a character from Star Trek, complete with a bio, an image (which a talented member drew to our specification). I was an Andorian security and intelligence officer. A Redshirt. Then we picked a theme or mission scenario to write stories featuring our character. The "Captain" pulled the stories together into a spiral bound anthology for the members' enjoyment.

I started collecting background data on mystery and SF subjects, stored in boxes that I dragged through four successive house moves. Apparently, filing was optional. I still have a couple of the boxes of articles, pictures and notes. There's gold in there.

I left the service for the aerospace industry. I still took classes, but now I added live theater. I moved twice to new-to-us houses. I started Vintage Racing in a 1964 Formula car. I still wrote. I researched, wrote, pitched and sold a volume of military history. I sold my first SF story for 10 bucks.

I left industry for Federal Civil Service. More classes (Air War College), lots of travel, a new house, still racing, still doing theater, at a higher level, took college and professional theater courses. Got an agent, did commercials. Sold several mysteries, even one SF story to a Scottish publisher. Finally, retired from the 9-5.

Started a business, a private investigations LLC, just me. Was very busy. Licensed in two States. Sold the race car. Theater and travel tapered off. Bought a buy & die house that took a year of my time. I had my first professional sale to a mystery anthology, then 12 others, joined groups like the Mystery Writers of America.

Finally closed the business. 

Oh Boy! I was unburdened and had loads of time to write. Except I didn't. 

I was busy doing "stuff", like painting and repair. I did housework. Days passed like telephone poles seen from a train. I had to ask people or look at my phone to make sure I was aware of the day of the week. I didn't have a solid fix on the month or hour either. I did less writing. Less writing. Less sales. WTH.

I am sure some evil experiment or geophysical anomaly has altered time.

Anyone out there in contact with Einstein?

I'll Take Mine With a Twist

 Since good writers copy and great writer steal*, I'm always looking for good ideas to lift from other authors. Not plagiarism, of course. Heaven forfend! But when a piece of writing catches my eye, surprises and delights me, I want to know: How'd he do that? Because I want my books to surprise and delight as well.

I shall readily admit that I do the same thing when I see a good movie. I was telling a friend about the startling ending of Life of Pi, and to my surprise she said, "I don't like to be fooled."

Not me, baby. When it comes to storytelling, fool me once, I like it. Fool me twice and I'm a fan for life. Of course it depends on how you fool me. It has to be like a magic trick – the magician distracts you while the magic goes on right in front of your eyes. It must be that when you look back it was there all the time.

As a mystery writer and reader, I'm pretty hard to fool. This is one thing I discovered early on about writing mysteries – mystery readers know all your tricks. They've seen it all before. So if you can manage to surprise a dedicated mystery reader, you've really done something.

One of my favorite twisty movies was No Way Out, a 1981 thriller starring kevin Costner and Gene Hackman, based on a novel called The Big Clock, by Kenneth Fearing. Costner plays a naval officer named Tom who falls for a women who he later discovers is the mistress of his boss David Bryce (Hackman) – who happens to be the Secretary of Defense. When Bryce finds out she's seeing someone else, he accidentally kills the woman in a fit of jealously. To protect him, the Secretary's aide concocts a cover up. They'll blame the death on her secret lover, not realizing it's Tom. And to keep the whole affair classified and out of the papers, the aide tells the CIA that the murderer they're looking for is a Soviet agent called Yuri. Yuri's name has been bandied about as a deep undercover spy in the Pentagon for years, but most officials long ago came to the conclusion that he doesn't really exist. During a search of the murdered woman's apartment, the CIA finds an overexposed Polaroid on the floor, and a Pentagon systems analyst tells them he can have the computer reconstruct the photo within twelve hours. Tom knows the photo is of him, taken during one of his trysts. Now the clock is set. 

Then Bryce puts Tom, Costner's character in charge of the investigation. How Tom manages to get out of this predicament before the photo exposes him as the murdered woman's secret lover is pulse-pounding, to say the least.

But the best part is the twist at the end, and believe me, I never saw it coming. Just when you think it's all over, just as the whole plot comes out int the open and the bad guys are exposed...

But I can't spoil the twist. You'll just have to see for yourself.

And if you can figure it out before the end, kudos. You are a genius. Drop me a note and let me know.

–––––––––––

*I stole this quote. I wish I had said it, but it was T.S. Elliot.

Are we headed for self-destruction?

 Once more I have managed to miss my last Type M post day, so this time I decided that no matter how busy the summer is and how tired I am by the end of the day, I wouldn't miss my next Wednesday post.  This one will be brief. As a child psychologist, I have posted before about my concern about the erosion of basic thinking skills as we rely more and more heavily on technology. This is especially true of young people whose brains are still developing. In the early years, up to about age 7, the brain is expanding rapidly, making more and more connections to make all kinds of learning possible. After that, however, it begins to concentrate on those connections that are most needed and used, while cutting back on the connections that seem unimportant. It's a use it or lose it era. 

Two fundamental building blocks of cognition are attention and working memory, without which more complex thinking and analysis is impossible. Both have been seriously eroded by technologies providing superficial, rapid-fire stimulation. When was the last time you did mental math, when the calculator on your phone was readily at hand?

I first sounded the alarm when students began to use sources cribbed from the internet to cut and paste a jumble of ideas to produce an essay or project. I worried they would not learn to see the big picture and integrate ideas to see how they were connected. I also worried about the cellphone umbilical cord that tied young people too closely to their parents, so they didn't develop the self-confidence and problem-solving skills that come with doing things on their own. 

With the advent of AI, I am afraid that an entire generation will grow up barely learning to think, or feel, for ourselves at all. Recently, I've read several articles that convey the problem for better than me, and I share two here. They are long but well worth the read (for those of us who can still read for in-depth understanding). There were many more but I can't offhand find the articles. But this is a brief glimpse of the dangers ahead.

https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-of-the-student-essayand

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/27/it-wants-users-hooked-and-jonesing-for-their-next-fix-are-young-people-becoming-too-reliant-on-ai

Bearing Fruit – On Your Own Terms

by Catherine Dilts

I picked my first tomato Saturday. Colorado backyard gardeners compare their efforts to other regions at their emotional peril. Seeing bountiful harvests on social media can be distressing. I have to remind myself, we have a short season, and harsh weather.

I’m celebrating my modest successes. I’ve been harvesting lettuce, zucchini and green beans. The snapdragons are finally blooming. Barring a hail storm, I’ll have a decent harvest of tomatoes.

Writing fiction can feel like a slog through a vat of molasses in January. Especially if I immerse myself in social media announcements. Everyone and their Aunt Harriet is getting published. They’re having book signings, and winning awards. Bushel baskets full of success! Or so it seems.

Being a serious introvert, just witnessing all this putting-yourself-out-there author activity stresses me out. And here’s where my gardening attitude needs to apply to my fiction writing.

Comparing yourself to others can cause depression, especially if you’re on the socials frequently. Fellow Type M for Murder author Shelley Burbank takes breaks from social media. This is a fantastic idea.

Focusing on your own path is healthier. Write that next story. Outline the next book in a series. Write a blog post, plan a book signing, or take a writing class. Give back to the writing community by teaching a class. Celebrating the success of other authors is a way to engage in the community in a positive way.

Along with my tomato, I have a writing success to celebrate. I can announce this now because the contract has been signed.

Real Cowgirls Like It Hot is scheduled for the November/December issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Set in modern day Colorado, rancher Katie is wrangled into judging a televised hot sauce contest at a mountain farmer’s market. Things heat up when a bottle of Banned in Hades hot sauce goes missing.

I’m celebrating by writing on the deck. Listening to hummingbirds, blue jays, and magpies, enjoying the summer heat and the blooming flowers, is inspiration to keep going.

Ten Commandments for Mystery Writers?

 By Thomas Kies

The first thing I write on the blackboard when I start teaching a creative writing class is “There Are No Rules”.

But in reality, there are…more or less.  While waiting to meet someone for a meeting in a coffee shop (he was fifteen minutes late), I was scrolling on my phone like every other patron in that place, and I tripped over the Ten Commandments for writing detective stories.  The rules were created by Ronald Knox in 1929.  He was a British author and theologian, and he was a member of The Detection Club, a group of writers that included Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton 

Let’s take a look at his rules and see which ones should be followed and which ones are a little dated.  Some of them have been broken, often enough to have become their own tropes. 

1- The criminal must be someone mentioned early on in the story.

This rule ensures fairness: the reader should have a chance to solve the mystery alongside the detective. No last-minute villains allowed

I agree with this, but I’ve read novels where the story was more character driven and the mystery was deep in the background. The bad guy wasn’t mentioned until the very end and there was no way the reader could have figured ‘whodunit’. 

2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Mystery, not fantasy. The solution must be grounded in logic and reason, not ghosts or miracles.

There’s a whole genre of supernatural mysteries being written.  Many of them have become bestsellers. I believe Stephen King has broken this rule once or twice. 

3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

Secret passages were a popular trope in earlier Gothic fiction, but Knox believed overuse was lazy writing. One was permissible—barely.

I’m not crazy about secret rooms or passages.  That being said, I had a secret tunnel in my third book, Graveyard Bay. But it was just the one. I swear.

4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

This was Knox’s way of banning deus ex machina solutions. The science should be believable and understandable to the reader.

I just broke this rule.  I’ve written a dinner mystery for which our local community theater will soon be rehearsing, and I created a poison that will kill someone in exactly thirty minutes. That’s how much time the audience will have to figure out who in the dinner theater has the antidote.  

5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.

Though offensive today, this rule was aimed at discouraging lazy reliance on xenophobic tropes. “The mysterious Oriental” had become a cliché in early 20th-century fiction, and Knox called it out.

I would hope we’ve all moved past this by now. Keep your ethnic biases to yourself. The early James Bond books and movies have some pretty heavy stereotypes that include both racism and sexism.

6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

Detectives should solve crimes using intellect and deduction, not luck or “a feeling.”

This rule is broken all the time now. 

7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.

This rule was upended by later classics like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, but Knox felt it violated the trust between reader and detective.

The unreliable narrator has become its own trope. 

8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the reader.

Again, fairness is key. The reader should see all the clues the detective sees, as soon as he sees them.

I’ve seen this rule broken multiple times very recently.  I loved the limited series called Residence on Netflix.  The detective Cordelia Cupp is delightful, but the most damning clues were withheld until the last episode.  The audience had no chance to figure out whodunit before then. 

9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

The narrator, often a Watson-like figure, should be an honest but slightly naive companion—not a co-conspirator or red herring.

The sidekick must expose all of their conclusions, because they’re a mirror of ourselves. They ask the questions that we’re asking. This is a pretty good rule.  If anyone out there has an exception to this rule, let me know. 

10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

Another safeguard against surprise cheats. The “evil twin” twist is only fair if readers had a fighting chance to suspect it.

And once again, this has become its own trope.  Didn’t the second “Kives Out” film, “Glass Onion” have a surprise twin in it? True the twin was announced early on in the movie. Plus, this really feels like it’s been ripped out of a soap opera.

Knox wrote these rules to be tongue in cheek, and now they’re broken all the time. As I assure my students at the beginning of our creative writing class, there are no rules.  But a mystery is a little like a written puzzle.  The reader wants the chance to solve the puzzle—to catch the killer.  It’s up to us, as writers, to lay down enough clues in the story where, at the end, the reader says, “Oh yeah…I should have seen that.” 

The one rule I think we all agree on is:  It should be a damned good story.

What rules do you have that you won’t break?

The Bedrock of the Publishing Industry

When it comes to books, we writers like to interview other writers, editors, literary agents, publicists, but how often do we pick the brains of those representing the bedrock of the publishing industry? Without whom, the entire enterprise would collapse? Who am I talking about? Readers! Or rather in this case, one particular reader, my neighbor Eric Knoll.

He and his wife Kathy (and their two sons) are front porch people, so we see each other quite a bit. Since Eric is usually huddled with a book, I got into the habit of asking him what’s he reading. From that, we’ve had many discussions about books and authors. Turns out, not only is he very knowledgeable about a wide range of books, he and I have similar interests, mostly crime novels and edgy nonfiction, and we’ve shared recommendations. So I used this opportunity for him to share his thoughts.

Eric, give us a bit of your background.

I’m 49 and was raised in Rockford, Illinois. It’s where the Sock Monkey and the band, Cheap Trick, came from. Aside from that, it’s a typical Midwestern town. Once it was a thriving manufacturing center but automation and NAFTA have gutted it. Sadly, because of high unemployment and crime, Rockford keeps popping up on those lists of worst American cities. I majored in English and for the next few years worked as a copywriter, substitute teacher, an associate at Whole Foods, barista and assistant manager at Starbucks. Kathy is a nurse and a career opportunity for her brought us to Denver. After more hopping from job to job, a friend suggested that I become a public school teacher, which intrigued me because then I could reconnect with my English degree. Interestingly, my father was a school teacher and though my mother had a BA in Education, she was a stay-at-home mom. After getting my teacher’s license, I roved about the metro area in various schools before settling in where I am now. I had taught English to 8th graders, but now teach in a pathway school, attended by students who haven’t had success in a traditional setting for a variety of reasons. This summer I’m completing my Master’s in Special Education. 

When did you start reading? What did you like to read then? How did those books and what else you liked to read influenced you and your outlook on life?

As a kid, I loved reading those Garfield books, comics, and the newspaper sports column. I suppose the book that really opened my eyes to the world was Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. His adventures seemed romantic and daring, especially considering my Catholic upbringing. From there, my interests kept growing. I’d keep my ears open for new titles or read author interviews to see what they had on their nightstands. I’m an avid follower of Goodreads and love to talk about books and music.

What are your favorite genres? 

 About 80 percent of what I read are novels, the other 20 percent are nonfiction. Of fiction, it’s mystery, thriller, and occasionally sci-fi or fantasy. Of nonfiction, it’s mostly historical. However, currently, I burned out on books about World War Two, there’s been so many.  

What makes you stop reading a book?

I read for escapism. I generally jump right in and go with the flow. I give a book about a hundred pages to reel me in but if I haven’t connected by then with either the characters or the plot, and no matter how sparkly the prose, I just stop reading.

What have been your all-time favorite books?

There have been many and I’ll start with the novel that hooked me because it’s so weird and well-written: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Other books include The Dharma Bums, also by Kerouac, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.

I enjoy southern Gothic mysteries for their gritty, swampy atmosphere. Some of my favorite mysteries are from Joe Lansdale, Michael Farris Smith, SA Cosby, James Lee Burke, and the Australian writer, Michael Robotham.

For nonfiction, my go-to author is Erik Larsen. However, I can’t offer enough praise to The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough or Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams a biography of Dean Martin by Nick Tosches (combining my love of music and books).

What’s on your nightstand?

I just finished The Big Empty and thanks to Mario for introducing me to Robert Crais. Right now, I’m about halfway through Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson. Next up is Dead In The Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel.

Thank you, Eric, for your insights and adding to my TBR pile. Happy reading.

A Story Idea Developing in Real Time

As Recorded on a Facebook Post

by Shelley Burbank

One of the perennial questions readers ask authors is, "Where do you get your ideas?"

Well, the other day I accidentally recorded the exact moment when an idea--starting with a story title--occurred to me. Here's how it went: 

In past months, I've tried to wean myself off of Facebook and Instagram and had some success. However, as I'm in the end stages of revising my novella and the beginning stages of publishing and release it into the world, I'm back on the platforms a bit more because . . . that's where readers continue to be. 

As an experiment, I decided to ask readers a question about preferences regarding chapter headings. 

Post: Do you like numerical headings, ie. 1,2,3, etc. or catchy phrases? 

Commenter: Catchy phrases and numbers.

Shelley: Both??? Like 1. Call Me A Cabernet?

Note: I came up with that title on the spot, trying to think of something fun in the moment. Unfortunately--or fortunately--I ended up liking it. 

Shelley [A few seconds later]: I'm not drinking these days, but that's CUTE! I should use that sometime.

Note: Uh-oh. It's starting. 

Commenter: Yes! Or 1

                                    Call Me a Cabernet 

Shelley: Hmmmm. Much to consider. 

Shelley [looking at the title again]: Now I want to write an entire novella with that title. Damn. I don't need any more projects.

Shelley [now warming up, ideas flashing in brain]: It would be about a mid-life woman who makes a mess of things and decides to try out sobriety for thirty days and the wacky things that happen when she tried to avoid it. What could go wrong???

Note: I'm sorta laughing to myself and staring into space, imagining a scene or two, vague, vague.

Shelley [another flash goes off because I remember something I read on a Substack newsletter about appealing to agents/publishers by going the opposite of the expected.That would look like]: Or MAYBE I turn the story inside out and a sober-all-her-life good girl reaches middle age and decides to give DRINKING a try for 30 days, haha.

Shelley [Remembering her current WIP is waiting for revisions]: Okay, now you all see how my brain works in real time. Do not wish this on yourselves. I'm actually avoiding revision work.

***

A day later. 

Do you know what is now happening? I can't stop thinking about this story and how much I want to write it and how it would be a fun novella and oh, maybe a SERIES of novellas--all stories with a booze-themed title but not idealizing drinking because, you know, it's not healthy in any way for our bodies but the covers would be soooo cute! And what is going on in my MC's life that sets her off on this weird adventure? A dare? No, too trite. Something. Something...

I'll keep working it in my brain for a few weeks or months or years, but I'm trying to not do that anymore. Too much time and the ideas get stale. Also, I'll do a little "recon" and see who's used that title in the past. I'm sure someone has. It's too delicious. 

Meanwhile, I have about two chapters left in my novella revisions and can finally send it off to my beta readers and hopefully they won't have too much in the way of objections. 

I've been looking up how to self-publish on Amazon's KDP. Partly I don't want to do it that way and have considered other options. I could use it as a reader magnet, perhaps, and give it away free to people who have already signed up for or will sign up for my newsletter. But really, I think it's time for me to explore the wild world of indie publishing. I'd love to find an agent and score a Big Five publishing deal, but I'm not holding my breath. 

I've never even tried to go that route. The process seems both daunting and SLOOOOWWW. But maybe someday, if I write the right kind of story. Meanwhile, it's probably gonna be indie-pubbing for me. 

***

Anyway, I hope you found this entertaining and enlightening. Ideas just spring up out of nowhere, like the title, but then the brain latches onto something in the original idea and works at it, connects other information to it, expands it. It's like daydreaming, really. Anyone can do it. 

Writing, on the other hand, is the craft and discipline part. That's where writers are made, not in the ideas arena but in the craft arena. It's putting the sentences together and learning the right structure for a paragraph and making a ton of decisions about point of view, theme, narrative device, etc. 

Writing is a wonderful, challenging, fun, rewarding hobby and vocation. I'm not sure it's a great "job" these days, but for some, I guess, it does bring financial rewards, as well. I'm no longer holding on to any expectations in that regard, but if I were thirty years younger, maybe. For now, it's enough to have fun with it. 

Enjoy the remaining days of summer, all you lovely readers out there. You also make it fun. 

Moral Rights

 by Sybil Johnson

Not long ago Penny Publications sold AQMM, EQMM, FS&F, Analog and Asimov’s to the new consortium Must Read Magazines. The staff remains the same and supposedly it’s business as usual for these magazines.You can read more about it here.

There has been discussion on SMFS (Short Mystery Fiction Society) about changes to the contracts when they buy stories, in particular the addition of a moral rights clause where the author agrees to waive them for the story. 

Moral rights? What the heck is that? I’ve never seen one in a contract, not that I’ve had many. Apparently, others in SMFS hadn’t either so it created a stir. 

Moral rights is not the same as a morality/morals clause. Here is SFWA’s description of moral rights: “an author's right to control the integrity and attribution of their work, even after they have transferred copyright ownership.” Basically, the right to have your name on a story and the story published as you wrote it. A morality or morals clause concerns the right of the publisher/movie producer, etc., to cancel all connection with the writer/performer for immoral conduct. So quite different.

Writer’s Beware has a nice article on what a writer needs to know about moral rights. Quite an interesting read and too long for me to summarize. A must read for writers. There’s something called the Bern convention that covers it. While the US became a signatory to it in 1988, there is no provision in US copyright law for moral rights. Apparently, Congress decided the patchwork of laws at the state and federal level were adequate. Later, copyright law was modified to include moral rights, but only for visual art.

This situation created enough of a stir that Must Reads decided to remove moral rights clauses from its standard contracts. Here’s the SFWA’s press release on the subject;

Has anyone had any experience with a moral rights clause in a contract? Did you sign it? Did you think it was a deal breaker?

The Interview

by Charlotte Hinger

Mary's Place is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award in historical fiction. I'm thrilled to be given this level of recognition. The ceremony is this coming Saturday.

A while back I read a witty short story, "What Is . . ." If one of the readers of Type M knows where it was published, please let me know through the comments section of this post. I thought about that story when I was interviewed by Kevin Simpson for the Colorado Sun. Here's a copy with a little reformatting to fit the boundaries of our Type M blog:

Charlotte Hinger built her historical novel around “rural royalty”

The farm crisis of the 1980s created the backdrop for “Mary’s Place” and fueled the characters wrestling with economic doom

Charlotte Hinger has won multiple awards for both fiction and nonfiction writing. In 2021 she was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame. In 2008 she moved to Fort Collins, where she applies her degree in history to academic publications and her depraved imagination to a mystery series published by Poisoned Pen Press. “Mary’s Place” is her third historical novel.


SunLit: Tell us the backstory of “Mary’s Place” – what’s it about and what inspired you to write it?

Charlotte Hinger: It’s about an affluent agribusiness family (rural royalty) who have always been prosperous and a banker who is the pillar of the community. Both entities are threatened with ruin when the government suddenly changes financial regulations. I’m a historian and I recognized the importance of events happening right before my very eyes.

SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?

Hinger: The day the bank closes in a rural community is a heart-stopping event. It’s like a bomb has dropped on a town. Selecting my excerpt was difficult! I knew which one was my favorite, but I didn’t want to expose too much of the plot for the reader. Both fathers have sons who have contempt for their values. The sons want to make money.

SunLit: What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?

Hinger: I lived these events. My community lost its bank. I knew so many of the people involved. I knew heroic bankers who wanted the best for their community. I also knew wealthy farmers who believed nothing could touch them. I was a member of an ecumenical church committee that tried to provide emotional and financial help to farmers. We heard so many heart-wrenching stories.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

Hinger: This is my third historical novel. I’m used to doing historical research, but wading through all the government programs and regulations pertaining to agriculture was mind-boggling. Integrating enough information so the reader understood outside pressures without stopping the story cold was hard.

The characters were trapped by events. Honestly, how could farmers find the time to wade through stuff? They have more on their minds than complying with regulations that are in effect one day, and changed the next.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Hinger: Resisting the temptation to provide too much detail about banking and agriculture. But I had to understand a complex and lengthy sequence of events to accurately reduce them to a sentence here and there. This was a story, after all, not an economic textbook. I loved my cranky old banker and wanted readers to empathize with his dilemma. I was so invested in the characters and wanted the reader to love them too.

SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book?

Hinger: No matter how sensible our decisions, how earnestly we strive to be the best person we can, things happen that we can’t control. Never assume people have caused their troubles because of some moral deficiency. Of course, that exists, but it’s easy to judge too harshly.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Hinger: It’s a historical novel about the Volga German community in Kansas and the frontier Catholic Church. It’s set before World War I.

A few more quick items:

Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading: As usual, I have a nonfiction, a heavier fiction book, and a fun book going at the same time. My favorite recreational picks are psychological mysteries. Right now I’m reading “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy. I love Rick Atkinson’s first volume of his Revolution Trilogy, “The British are Coming.”

First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid: Hands down, it was “Hoot Owl.” I read it in the first grade. I had learned the alphabet and while the teacher was helping other kids, she let me pick out a book from our sparse little library. It was a real book with a real story. Not just the numbing repetition about Jane throwing Spot the ball. I was filled with wonder. I could read a real story. It was about a little Indian boy named Hoot Owl who led a little lost pilgrim boy back to his family. The pilgrims were so grateful they invited the little Indian boy’s family to share their first Thanksgiving meal with them. Of course both groups lived in perfect harmony ever after.

Best writing advice you’ve ever received: It came from my first agent, the legendary Claire Smith. She said never to alter a book just because I think the person giving advice is really smart. Only change your writing when you know in your gut someone is right.

Favorite fictional literary character: Marguerite in “Green Dolphin Street.”

Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre): I’m not a literary snob. I don’t feel guilty about anything I read. I’m dismayed by over-zealous parents who insist on monitoring everything their children read.

Digital, print or audio – favorite medium to consume literature: All three, but if I really adore a book, I want to own the printed copy.

One book you’ve read multiple times: “Green Dolphin Street.”

Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: Coffee — hot and black.

Best antidote for writer’s block: Walking with only the sounds of nature. No media to muddy thoughts.

Most valuable beta reader: Margaret Neves, my friend, a poet with an impeccable eye.

It's like the stage on the page

    In my mid-20s, while working full time as an Air Force Officer, slogging thru a Master's program, coping with a new family and an old house, I decided to become a professional actor. I'd already been writing, since junior high back when they had those things. I was published in Fanzines and small publications that paid with a copy with your story in it. Short fiction, but with a novel forming. I took an afternoon class in theater basics, followed by three acting classes and one each in directing and producing. 

    As I got into the craft of theater, I was amazed at how similar it was to my writing process, except, on the page, I was the entire cast, tech crew, costumers, director and the house business manager. With fiction writing, the stage was between my ears and the audience was invisible.

    Consider the actor. The actor must understand his character's position in the story and in all the action. He must know the relationship his character has with the story and all the other characters, at least the characters he knows. Some actors write a deep analysis of their character, noting clues on his history, opinions, and personal issues as expressed by what he says and does. They weave that together to create a biography of the character, freely filling in details when the original author didn't mention them. It can be obsessive/compulsive.

    They look at scenes their character is in, and dissect the action and the words to discover the subtext, what the character really meant when they said that line or did that action. Serious method actors continue the process to perhaps ridiculous levels, examining their character's thoughts and feelings about everything on the stage, the couch, the props, the colors.

    My acting process is more cryptic. I diagram the cast and search for minimalist terms with deep meaning to describe relationships. I look at my character's objective with each scene and what's in the way and what I plan to do about it. As Marcus Aurelius said, "The impediment to action advances action."

    In short fiction, my initial seed is a concept, an idea about a scene or my protag. (A lot can be learned in daydreams)  Only after that concept has grown do I begin to write. I make short notes. I write them all over the text (why does she hate me, he is disgusting, he's left handed) and I slowly build up a collection of terms about what's going on in my story. 

    When I start a story, I have carefully considered a starting point, maybe a beginning, several scenes, maybe an ending, but it's not all laid out by my subconscious. I discover the story and the characters as I write, subconscious to fingertips on the keys. I have several series characters. They develop something like a biography that notes their likes, dislikes, what parts of their past affect this story, and, especially, what happened in previous stories that have become fact for that character. If he gets shot in Book 2, it still hurts in Book 4.

    The main characters in my mysteries have an autobiographical core. In those daydreams, I become the protag and I live the scene. The character, like when I played Tilden in "Buried Child", a drugie, burned out failure, aren't me, but there's enough of me inside to allow me to tag along thru the plot. I have the best seat in the house.

                                                                       "Michael Chandos"

Wonder Girl

 

Original movie poster

Did you ever see the movie Wonder Boys, with Michael Douglas? It's one of my favorite movies of all time, and here (aside from the Bob Dylan theme song) is why: it's about writers. On top of that, it's an excellent film about writers. Douglas plays a university professor of creative writing who several years earlier wrote a novel which won the Man Booker Prize for literature.

Since that moment of triumph, he has been unable to finish his much-anticipated second novel. It's not that he has writer's block – just the opposite. In one scene, he puts a blank page in his typewriter (yes, he still uses a typewriter), and at the top types in page number 2121. In a later scene, one of his students goes behind his back to find and read the MS. Afterward, she says to him, "You know how you tell us that writing is all about choices? Well, this looks like you've made no choices at all."*

Boy, can I relate. I've been on the verge of finishing a contemporary mystery for the past two years, but the darn thing kept getting longer. I just kept writing and writing, and I could tell plain as day that in the end I'm going to have to get rid of half of what I was writing. But I couldn't stop. I like my murderer and how the murder was accomplished, but I can't figure out how my sleuth is going to figure it out – not in a logical, uncontrived manner, anyway. So I kept writing. I'd try this for a while, then I'd try that. Maybe it'd work better if I did this. I have a bunch great scenes which may or may not go together. Probably not. But I kept going.

This is not the first time this has happened to me, and I must remember that, miraculously, it always works out. As I write the first draft of a novel, my beginnings never match the ending, for somewhere in the middle , I change my mind about this character, or this action, or this story line. And I don't waste time going back and fixing the beginning to fit my new vision. I can get (and have gotten) caught up in an endless merry-go-round of fixes and never reach the end. I just keep going until the book is done, with every confidence that I can repair all the inconsistencies when I'm done.

But this time, I let myself get sucked down the whirlpool and ended up not making any choices. So I've put the MS aside to marinate and started another historical mystery. I'm in my wheelhouse now and feel more confident that I can keep it tight. In the meantime, I know there's a THERE there with the contemporary, so after a bit of rest and rumination, I'll pick it up again. It'll be great. I just know it will.

––––––––––––––––

*I paraphrase

A Garden Surprise

 Catherine Dilts

Summers in Colorado tend to be go-go-go. We want to fit in all the outdoor adventures that don’t involve snow sports. The growing season is short at higher elevations. If you want to stop to smell the roses, you’d better do it quick!

One of my favorite hobbies is gardening. I’m far from alone. 55% of the US population lists gardening as their hobby. Over 70 million households engage in gardening activities.

There are dozens of reasons for digging in the dirt. For me, gardening gives me a connection to the planet. I’m more aware of the changing seasons when thinking about seed starting, planting, and harvesting. I get exercise carrying bags of soil, bending and squatting to weed beds, lifting watering cans to hanging flower planters, and generally getting my butt off a chair and into the outdoors.

My garden is modest. I do enjoy some produce, and might do a little canning and freezing if the harvest is good. As the years go by, and the pine trees shade my yard more, I’ve moved almost exclusively to container gardening.

When your chosen career involves hammering away at a keyboard for hours at a time, you need reasons to step away. Move around. Eye health requires looking away from screens every hour. Focus on something further away than your fingers.

During one step-away session, I went outside to admire our grapevine. In the half dozen years of its existence, it has never produced grapes. I was surprised to see tiny green globes for the first time.

I typically have a flaw in my writing schedule. Winter is more conducive to sitting at my computer for hours. It’s a way to avoid facing the gloomy, short days happening outside. Summer should be lived closer to nature. Yet I frequently end up tackling new projects or doing heavy editing in the summer.

In June, my co-author / daughter and I released book one in our YA series, Frayed Dreams. Book two, Broken Strands, will be out before the end of July. I’m doing final edits on my cozy mystery, book three in the Rose Creek Mystery series, The Body in the Hayloft. I won’t list the half dozen other projects I have going. My ambition exceeds the hours in a day. And my own energy level.

Marathon sessions should be for hiking, not sitting in my desk chair. To maximize my participation in summer, I work on the deck in the fresh air, as weather permits. If I hadn’t stepped away from my computer, I wouldn’t have seen the grapevine surprise.

I’m refreshed by the sun slanting through the ash tree, the sound of birds singing, and the scent of flowers wafting on the breeze. Time to get back to work.

Mystery Writing and Conspiracy Theories

 by Thomas Kies

Why are so many of us enamored with conspiracy theories?

I know that I’m enthralled by one right now.  This business about Jeffrey Epstein.  Unless you live under the proverbial rock, I know you’ve heard about it.  

Boiled down into as few words as possible: Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who ran a vast sex trafficking operation involving underage girls, often recruiting victims through coercion and manipulation. He was convicted in 2008 but received a lenient plea deal (where the current head of the DOJ, Pam Bondi was involved). Arrested again in 2019, he died by suicide in jail, sparking widespread conspiracy theories. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was later convicted for aiding his crimes. In 2025, a DOJ memo revealed over 1,000 victims but denied the existence of a “client list,” fueling public outrage and speculation about powerful figures allegedly involved.

Is the President of the United States implicated?  Was the video released by the Department of Justice showing that no one entered Epstein’s jail cell the night he died altered? Is the Department of Justice involved in a cover-up?

What a great mystery novel this would be…if only it wasn’t all happening in real time right in front of us. 

Okay, so that’s the conspiracy theory I’m wrapped up in.  You know some of the others:

-The moon landing was fake.

-JFK’s assassination was orchestrated by the government

- Walt Disney has been cryogenically frozen.

- Denver Airport is the headquarters for the Illuminati.  (Actually, until I did some research on this blog, I’d never heard of this one.  I guess I’ll go looking for those tunnels and lizard lairs the next time I fly to Colorado).

- We’re all living in the Matrix.

- The world is flat. 

- Covid was manufactured in a lab and released on purpose. 

- Elvis is still alive

I’ve read that we gravitate to conspiracy theories for a number of reasons.  We’re trying to make sense of a complex, chaotic, often frightening world. We have a deep distrust of authority. They give us some kind of control—we see hidden truths that others don’t see. They can give us a sense of community, letting us belong to a group of people with shared beliefs.

As writers of mysteries, isn’t that what we cater to?  Within 70,000 to 100,000 words, don’t we create our own conspiracy theories, drawing readers into fantastic adventures, suspicions, and anxiety that we create? 

Mystery novels and movies often share key ingredients with conspiracy theories: hidden motives, secret organizations, cryptic clues, and the thrill of uncovering “the truth.” 

Some novels have hatched or contributed to conspiracy theories.  One example is the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.  It fueled the fire with it’s story about the Holy Grail, secret societies, and secrets about Mary Magdelene and Jesus. 

The Oliver Stone film JFK threw gasoline on the flames with its story about government involvement with Kenndy’s assassination. 

In my own novel, Shadow Hill, I talk about how some members of government work with fossil fuel companies to create their own conspiracy theories countering the science behind climate change. Something I came up against, in real life, when I was lobbying against oil drilling off the Atlantic coast of the United States.

In the meantime, Cindy and I binge on old X-File episodes late at night. After all, “The Truth is Out There.” 

What conspiracy theories do YOU subscribe to?

A Dark Death: Analysis of a Cozy Mystery

By Shelley Burbank

Happy Friday, Type M Clan! 

I hope your July is going swimmingly. Here in Guam we are heading toward rainy season and have had several days of downpours–not unwelcome from my point of view. I love a good rainy day. They tend to be excellent for writing, cozy and hushed. 

Every once in a while I am approached with a request to read an Advanced Reader Copy and write a review. Part of membership in the writing community is helping other authors where we can. When I received an email from a publicist asking if I’d consider reading and reviewing a literary mystery, the author’s second book, I asked the PR rep how she heard about me. (I’m not exactly famous!)

She said she saw my posts on Type M and thought I’d be a good fit. I thought that was cool, so I said, “yes” and was privileged to read the ARC for Alice Fitzpatrick’s A DARK DEATH. Rather than a straight-up reader-type review, I’ve decided to analyze it from a writer’s point of view and for Type M readers who may be interested in studying the various pieces of a novel and all the choices a writer makes while creating a new story. 

Different authors start with different pieces. Sometimes a character comes first. Other times, the plot or setting or theme. The ideal outcome involves all these elements fitting together seamlessly, usually accomplished through the revision process. While drafting, the subconscious often works some magic. Themes and insights and imagery bubble up from the depths, and these are woven in and expanded on second and third drafts. When everything mixes well, the book resonates at a deeper level. We can't always hit this mark, but, dear readers and writers, we can try.

In A DARK DEATH, author Alice Fitzpatrick hones in on the darkness.

The Mystery Plot 

Set on a picturesque Welsh island, A DARK DEATH weaves together several mysteries. The central mystery begins with the discovery of a dead body, naked and posed, at an archaeological dig site. Secondary subplots include a mystical encounter during the filming of a ghost-hunting/paranormal traipse through a dark, abandoned mansion and to a lesser extent the mystery of the archaeological site itself at which anomalous artifacts are found, puzzling and exciting the team working there. 

This book manages to combine cozy mystery with touches of Gothic horror, paranormal, dark academia, and archaeological adventure. Rich and complex stuff! 

The Characters

The main character in A DARK DEATH is retired high school English teacher turned writer and amateur sleuth, Kate Glaway. Like many cozy mystery sleuths, Kate is well-liked and trusted in the community, pragmatic, and nosy. She’s not afraid to ask questions and wheedle information out of the police detectives. She and her feisty (and sex obsessed) friend, Shiobhan, can’t resist investigating the murder, especially to help clear the names of two suspects Kate knows and cares for. 

A big cast of possible suspects creates a fun jumble of characters. From quirky locals to a psychic conman, a team of archaeology students, and three police detectives, each character adds their own motivations and foibles to the twisty mystery while providing some flirtatious banter and interpersonal conflicts along the way. Important to the dark thread, many characters have "shadow" personality traits lurking behind their more innocuous faces, or hidden or forgotten trauma seeping through the cracks.

The Setting

I enjoyed armchair-visiting Meredith Island in Wales. The Welsh language touches were used sparingly, so as not to overwhelm the reader, but there were enough to lend atmosphere and authenticity. With descriptions of the boats on the waterfront, a cozy pub and hotel, a Gothic manor home, windswept cliffs, rocky beaches, and coastal cottages for contrast, the setting details paired well with the plot and characters. 

The Themes

Although mysteries are by design aimed at the head, not the heart–at their core they are puzzles–giving characters personal troubles, psychological traumas, and interpersonal conflicts adds depth. A DARK DEATH explores guilt, shame, fraud, jealousy, and a dark crisis of faith through the various characters. Even the main character, Kate, struggles with midlife questioning of her career path, wondering what she’s missed by not continuing on to a higher educational degree. 

The Writing

Mysteries can be written in styles ranging from cute and commercial to dark and literary, and though Alice Fitzpatrick’s language falls more to the side of literary than the cute, I found her writing to be very readable. I enjoyed the descriptions, and the sentence structure was varied enough to keep my interest. I would have liked a bit more dark, atmospheric language to fit the vibe of the book, but authors also need to develop a personal style that carries over from book to book.

The Whole Package

A good cover design is essential, and I think the publisher, Stonehouse Publishing, nailed it. The broody colors. The dark cliffs in the background. The clouds rolling in. It doesn’t scream “island” but you get the sense of it. The bold white lettering of the title stands out and the orange sun adds pop. 

Combined with a twisty mystery, a charming cast of characters, interesting themes, and the Gothic and dark academia elements, this mystery works. Alice Fitzpatrick must be happy with her second Meredith Island mystery, and I think I’ll have to read the first one, Secrets in the Water, to catch up.

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That's it for my analysis. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. 

In other news, I've finished my draft of Strawberry Moon: An Olivia Lively Novella which takes place between books one and two, and I am working on revisions. It will be sent to beta readers next. I'm aiming for a late-September release, my first foray into indie publishing after being traditionally pubbed by a small Maine press. 

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