You May Not Be Able To Judge... by Betsy Ashton

... a book by its cover, but you can identify a series if the covers are done right. I love series, often reading several books in a row. Covers with a common look help me zero in on the next one.

Take a look at my friend Terry Maggert's The Fearless fantasy series. Each bookmark and cover have beautiful women and muted backgrounds. Not hard to see that he writes paranormal fantasy. Not hard to identify his books on Amazon or on a bookshelf in a bookstore as belonging to the same writer and series.

Think about the great Sue Grafton. Her Kinsey Millhone mysteries are branded with a large single letter befitting a series that began with A Is For Alibi. Small changes in variations of shading on the letters, but overall the typescript is similar. Ditto are the backgrounds similar. Bold colors with no images hidden behind under the letters. No one can pass a Sue Grafton book and wonder who wrote it or if it is part of her series.

My good buddy, Michael Murphy, writes Jake and Laura mysteries set in Hollywood's heyday. His book covers scream Hollywood noir,  whether it's Yankee Club, the first in the series, or All That Glitters. The reader knows at a glance what to expect. A hint of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett oozes from the cover and flows into the pages. (Enough of the purple prose, Ashton. Get on with the message.)

And now look at the covers my publisher pulled together for my two Mad Max mysteries. The bookmark accurately depicts two different looks. The top one, Mad Max Unintended Consequences, carries the essence of a rich woman with the little black dress and pearls. The gun warns that this has mystery elements. And the pearls and drops of blood hint at violence and, well, death. That's not a spoiler, because my publisher put, "And when her daughter is murdered" on the back cover. Bad boy!

The lower one for Uncharted Territory doesn't look like it's part of a series, other than it picks up the red lips from the first book in the red lipstick shotgun shell. Again, the shotgun warns of danger.

My publisher is excellent when it comes to working with his authors on cover designs. We tried to keep the black band in the middle with the shotgun and shell in the loser third for Uncharted Territory, but we couldn't find an evocative image for the top third. Since the book takes place in post-Katrina Mississippi, we tried images of desolation, actual photos from after the tidal surge, an Air Stream trailer, a fancy RV. All are part of the story, but the images didn't work.

With book three in progress, I wonder what we'll do for the cover. Book three takes place in a hospital. I'm thinking of a hypodermic filled with blood...

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Betsy Ashton is the author of Mad Max, Unintended Consequences, and Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Anatomy of a Mystery by Jannine Gallant

I write in multiple genres - contemporary, western, historical - but they all have one thing in common, an element of suspense. Suspense is fun. It keeps the reader guessing. Or at least I hope it does… Which brings me to my topic. How does one write a mystery?

I currently have two published novels that fall into the “who dunnit” category. There’s plenty of romance, but the plot revolves around discovering the bad guy before he ramps up his reign of terror. If the author chooses not to let the reader in on the villain’s identity, she has to play by a few rules.

1)      The villain cannot come out of nowhere to be a complete surprise.

2)      Clues must be left along the way.

3)      The reader should be able to figure out the bad guy’s identity, but not until the end of the book.

So, how hard can it be? Actually, it isn’t as difficult it may seem. I pick a cast of possible suspects and give them all opportunity. Each has to have a few issues to be believable bad guys, which leads to motive. Sometimes I keep myself guessing until I’m absolutely positive I know who the real culprit is. The key is to keep all possible suspects in play in the beginning. As the book progresses, the author narrows down the field. By the end, there should only be a couple of strong contenders left. You want your reader to have that ah ha moment when they know they’ve figured out the villain’s identity. If your reader is completely shocked and surprised, you haven’t done your job of laying a trail of clues.

One catch – it’s easy to fall into a habit of creating similar bad guys. I used to read a famous mystery writer who shall remain nameless. After reading a few of her books, it became a game to determine the villain based on the book blurb. I was nearly always right. So, get creative. Invent new and unique personalities for each bad guy. Most importantly, have fun and readers will too!

A Deadly Love

In the heart of the redwoods, a madman waits...

Recovering from a broken engagement and determined to start over, Brooke Wakefield flees to her grandmother's home deep in the redwood forest. Discovering her teenage crush lives next door is a less than auspicious beginning. The last thing she needs is another man to break her heart, but every time Dillon glances her way, her heat level soars.

Dillon Tremayne isn't looking for a relationship. With a young son, an eccentric grandfather, and a logging company running him ragged, he can't afford any romantic entanglements. But Brooke's humor and strength are hard to resist.

When a woman from his past is brutally murdered and another disappears, Dillon is heartsick--and terrified the killer will target Brooke next. Can Brooke and Dillon find love in the heart of the forest? Or will a madman's twisted dream destroy their chance at happiness?

Victim of Desire

Ex-soap star, Rachel Carpenter, is a single mom coping with the daily problems of raising three daughters and operating her bookstore in the Napa Valley wine country. Kane Lafferty is a burned out police detective struggling with his own demons. The attraction between the two is immediate, though they both have reasons to avoid a relationship. At a wilderness camp in the High Sierra, their passion grows. But someone is watching. A man obsessed with Rachel since her soap star days is determined to have her at any cost. Danger mounts as the stalker’s reign of terror escalates. Kane risks his life to protect Rachel and her daughters, but can he uncover the predator’s identity in time? Or will Rachel have to sacrifice herself and her relationship with Kane to save her family?

Today I’m giving away a PDF copy of one of my romantic suspense books – winner’s choice. Please leave a comment or email me at jannine @ janninegallant.com to be eligible to win. Who are some of your favorite suspense authors? If you’ve read mine, did I do my job and keep you guessing?

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This Rose is A Genetically Unmodified Clutter Bug! It's Not My Fault!

Oh, my – this is organisation month? Nobody asked me about that. In fact, when I read that my dear, talented fellow Roses had put up that note about organisation, I almost fell off my office chair laughing. Indeed, I would hav e fallen off if all the stacks of books, paper and clutter around me hadn't kept me upright.

My shelves are cluttered with self-help books about how to live an organised life. My office floor is cluttered with empty plastic boxes that were supposed to organise my clutter if by some chance it should decide to jump into said boxes itself. The rack under the coffee table has lots of magazines with interesting articles about how to declutter. One of my favourites says to take photos of all the articles that mean something to you but you no longer need. Ha! So tell me, Ms. SmartyPants, just where do I store all those photo albums? Huh?

You see, I'm about a million miles away from being a neat freak Actually, I think it's some kind of genetic thing – I simply did not inherit a cleaning gene. Or a directional gene, for that matter. . Oh, I do have my moments – every now and again I catch up on filing and clear out my various spaces – only to be submitted to comments such as: Oh, look – there's actually a floor in the kitchen! Or Did you know there's a desk in your office under all that paper? And similar stuff that my family actually thinks is humorous. It doesn't exactly inspire me to keep up the good work.

I am organised as far as my writing is concerned - I don't miss deadlines because of clutter, and my Novel Planner Notebooks are a joy to behold!

But the rest of my life - that's another story. Of course, there's always someone to blame. My better half leaves tools all over the kitchen and newspapers all over the family room. Yes, he cleans up – eventually. And it's not unusual for one or another of our offspring to drop by with 'a box' of stuff they need to store for a while. For 'box' read several large containers. For 'a while' read 'forever'. Even the cats leave their toys all over the rugs. 

See, the mess is always someone else's fault.

The sad thing is that I know life is better and easier without clutter. It's just that sometimes I'm so busy with work and writing and family and  cooking and life…well, you know what I mean. I just can't keep up. When we became empty nesters I really had high hopes that the tidy parts of the house – the parts kept for visitors to see – would stay fresh and clean and tidy.

Fat chance.

Speaking of fat, I note that some of the Roses are looking to lose weight this year. Frankly, I can't see why – they're all gorgeous. Still, I admit I could do to lose a pound or twenty. Maybe if I chase around, bending and picking things up, hoisting boxes to the Value Village thrift store, running the vacuum cleaner, all that abs firming polishing and dusting, maybe I could actually make a dent in that, ahem, extra poundage.

Or maybe I'll perch the laptop on the treadmill, using the pain and anguish of that experience to write a bestseller. That's known as killing two birds with one stone. Lose the fat and gain a fabulous advance.

Then I'll hire a cleaner.

Glenys O'Connell is the author of several romance and mystery novels, children's books, award winning plays, and non-fiction works on travel and mental health. And she wonders why she can't keep up with the housework? She shares her large and cluttered home with her long-suffering husband, assorted visiting offspring, several computers, various thirsty houseplants, two exceptionallylazy cats and a variety of dust bunnies.

I'm not really one for having heroes. I guess it depends on your edfinition, but "Hero" always sounds somehow above and beyond the rest of humanity, and the people I admire most are those who have done wonderful things, shown courage or kindness in the face of very human feelings of fear, pain, self-doubt, the need for conformity. There are many women that I admire, especially as I grew up through the 1960's and 70's Women's Lib movement era. People like Nellie McClung and Hilary Clinton.

But often women I admire the most are the unsung, the ones who lived their lives quietly but offer an example to all of us of the road to follow.
 I went to a memorial service for a lovely neighbour recently, let’s call her R.M. in order to respect her family's privacy. At the age of 25 she’d been diagnosed with a rare and disfiguring illness, and told that not only would her lifespan be very limited, but she would probably spend most of it in a wheelchair and in a nursing home. She was destined never to know the joys of motherhood, of independence, of a deep and lasting love or a sweetly fulfilled old age.
At the service we watched a slide show of her life, starting with the pretty little blonde girl with a big smile through to the beautiful and stylish young woman. Then we saw her with her husband and three delightful children…and as time progressed we began to see the terrible toll the illness took on her.
But only on her looks. R.M.’s spirit never flagged. She moved with her husband and young family to Canada at 35, leaving behind her support system of family & medical advisors to start a new life in a new land. She insisted on an active hand in her own treatment, because the disease was very rare and she was willing to do research and keep her ‘medical team’ informed of new developments. She worked full time, quilted, sewed, embroidered, travelled, raised her children, enjoyed her grandchildren, and got to cuddle her great-grandchildren. And she could be counted on to turn up at church and community events, and fundraisers when her neighbours needed help. Her song and dance and comedy routines were highlights of community concerts. And she remained close and loving with her husband to celebrate more than a half century of marriage. She loved her retirement home on a beautiful lake, and her home was often filled with family and guests.

Now, frequently when someone is gifted with beauty and then faced with its loss due to injury or disease, the response is to try to hide away. Not R.M. She was a beautiful woman, yet over the years her disease took its toll on her looks, with mouth cancer adding to her disfigurement. But you didn’t notice her looks, because she was so very much…well, she was so very there.
And when the disease finally took its toll – many years after her predicted demise – the whole community turned out for her memorial service, and it was a pretty colourful event because R.M. had insisted that no black be worn for her. We were all to celebrate her life by wearing bright colours. She wanted to be remembered with smiles and joy. Over and over again, we heard the words courageous, brave, joyful…but the phrase that stuck in my mind was “A woman who lived her time well.”

I’m glad you’ve stayed with me this long, because you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with writing romance. Well, here’s what I learned from R.M.: She discovered early in life that she had talents that brought joy to other people: dance, music, acting, comedy. She organised and took part in theatre, and even appeared on television. An extremely shy woman by nature, she took joy from the pleasure her talents brought other people, and so she put herself out there despite her illness and pain.

Now, as writers we complain bitterly about the need for promotion. I’m among the naturally shy and absolutely hate appearing for book signings or even discussing my work. And I’m now a bit ashamed of that attitude because, as R.M. taught me, surely if you have a talent that brings pleasure to other people you should get out there and demonstrate it? When you think about it in that light, ‘promotion’ takes on a whole new meaning. It becomes both an adventure and a gift that we use to offer our work for others to enjoy.

So thank you. R.M., and may we all become people “…who live our time well”.

Glenys O'Connell writes romantic suspense and cosy mysteries, and her work can be viewed on http://www.glenysoconnell.com/ She also writes non-fiction books such as Depression: The Essential Guide and PTSD: The Essential Guide. She hopes to live her time well.