JESS LOUREY TALKS TO THE MINNESOTA CRIME WAVE

MCW You’ve set your mysteries in a small, west-central Minnesota town called Battle Lake. There’s a real west-central Minnesota town called Battle Lake. Same town? What real elements of the town have you kept and what have you changed? And how have the folks there reacted to the series?

JL The fictional Battle Lake and the real Battle Lake have much in common, not the least of which is their location on the Minnesota map, their quirky residents, and their overall obsession with fish, fiberglass statues, and fish. The only qualitative difference is that fictional Battle Lake has a library, and all the characters there are made up.

I have had a couple Battle Lake-ians ask me how I could get away writing about the former mayor like that, or the police chief, or the guy who lives in the blue house on Elm Street. Because I know nothing about the mayor, or the police chief, or the guy who lives in the blue house on Elm Street, I think what they’re responding to is the archetypal small town qualities of the characters, and I take that as a compliment.

On the whole, the people from Battle Lake who contact me have been incredibly kind, funny, and supportive. The rest are busy cleaning their guns, I guess.

MCW Mira James is a woman in search of many things, not the least of which is a normal relationship with a man. Her quest for romance has often gone awry and provided readers with some hilarious moments. Any truth in any of Mira’s escapades? Where do you find inspiration for the mishaps?

JL I see through your flimsy ruse to get me to reveal the pitiful details of my dating experiences. J Mira’s escapades are 34% the product of my wicked imagination, 33% inspiration provided by the relationships of friends and family and other outside influences, and 33% ripped from the headlines of my own life. For example, I force myself to try online dating every spring, and every time I do it, I somehow end up with the guy who thinks it’s okay to pee on the 17^th hole of the (mini)golf course, or the man who reveals on our second date that he was actually born a woman, and can he share some hairstyling tips with me? That’s enough to put me in dating hibernation until the next spring, when I try it again.

But straight reality rarely flies in fiction. It’s too unbelievable. So authors tone it down and add creative twists to make it work. That’s why in May Day, the first book in the series, readers see Mira’s “friend” sign her up for an online dating service. Mira winds up on a date with a mild-mannered professor who turns out to be in the midst of a sex change. Because readers have identified with Mira, I hope, and see her as the type of character who has these ridiculous encounters in her life, a toned-down version of what really happened to me works for her.

Of course, anything truly shocking you read in the series is entirely fictional and never happened to anyone I know and especially not to me.

MCW How much of Mira is a reflection of the author?

JL I was at a signing in Duluth last week, and I was sharing the time slot with a charming author named Jen. At one point in the signing, an acquaintance of Jen’s came up to buy a second copy of her book and to tell her how obvious it was that the protagonist and Jen were one and the same.

“Everyone says that, but it’s not true. She’s not me,” Jen said, shaking her head.

That’s the answer we all give, right? And it’s true, as far as that goes. Our protagonist is never us, because we would never be that honest, or brave, or passionate, or horrible. The other side of the coin, however, is that our protagonist is more us than we could ever be because s/he is entirely our own creation, with all our fears and hopes amplified for the world to see.

When you write a book, even if it’s a humorous mystery like I write, you lay yourself bare, and it feels necessary sometimes to hide behind the fact that we are not our protagonists, even though that’s not the whole truth. That’s why I like how you phrased this question—I am not my protagonist, but she is a reflection of me. Actually, all the characters in my books are a reflection of me because, if nothing else, I thought they were worth including.

MCW The connection of the titles—all with a relationship to a particular month—is a clever idea. How’d you happen on it?

Thank you. I’m a fan of Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries and was the world’s biggest fan of Janet Evanovich’s number series before she started phoning them in. Those two inspired me to come up with my own schtick, so I took a survey of what was out there—the numbers and the letters were taken, somebody else had the astrological signs, there was a herbal series and a color series, what’s left for me? Months. I had the titles May Day and June Bug chosen before I wrote the first word of either book.

Though I initially chose it because I liked the gimmick, it’s turned out to be a good way to create a plot arc because you’re following the characters through a real-time year, with each book focusing on some mystery they need to solve that month.

MCW Of all the kinds of stories you might write, you’ve chosen mysteries. Why?

JL Actually, Kent, it was your writing that showed me the potential of mysteries. I’m continually awed by your deep character development and setting descriptions that pull the reader out of their chair and into the North Country. You also have important themes woven throughout your books, stuff that I was taught you could only find in “literary” fiction—deft explorations into the strength of the human spirit, the forces that divide and strengthen families, and the human flaws that make us who we are. Reading your novels helped me to overcome my personal prejudices about the literary value of mysteries and opened up a whole new world of writing for me.

MCW Tell us a little about your journey to publication.

JL My journey to publication is painful, so I’ll keep it short. May Day was rejected over 400 times before it found an agent, and then another dozen times before it found a publisher. I didn’t give up, and now I’m being interviewed by one of my favorite authors. Life is funny, isn’t it?
MCW You’ve taught writing at the collegiate level. How would you grade yourself on your own writing? And does your sensibility as a teacher spill over into your work as an author?

JL I do make my living teaching English and sociology at a two-year college, and I’m a hard grader. I’d give my early writing a C+ and my mysteries a B+. I’d always like to develop and improve as a writer.

I don’t find my teaching spilling over into my writing as much as I find my writing spilling over into my teaching. My writing makes me more reflective, more able to see the big picture, and more patient with human mistakes. The exception is that I do use my writing as therapy to “fix” bad students. Those who are whiny and entitled often find themselves as awful characters in future novels, but all mystery writers work through their stress that way, right?

MCW Minnesota is a hotbed of fine crime writers. Any idea what it is about this state that generates so much mayhem between the pages?

JL Initially, I think it was long winters with poor TV reception. You either learned to ice fish, took up quilting, picked up a pen, or started collecting human skulls in the pig barn. Now, I think it’s just peer pressure.You have another book in the series coming out next year called August Moon, then what’s on your agenda writing wise? Do you intend to stay with the Murder by the Month series?

I intend to write twelve books in the Murder by Month series. In fact, I have September Mourn all planned out. Battle Lake has provided more Princess Kays of the Milky Way than any other town in Minnesota. Why not kill one of them off—a really evil one, a Milk Dud, really—at the State Fair, while she’s getting her head carved in butter? It’ll be a “locked butter-head-carving-room mystery.” Classic.

Before I write that book, though, I have to clean out another story that’s been knocking around my head for a year. This one will be mainstream fiction, and so a departure from my mysteries. I’m tentatively calling it Rosebud, and it’s the story of a Lakota girl forced into a boarding school in 1920s South Dakota. I’m fascinated and horrified by the history of the time, and the way education was used as a blunt weapon. The people who promoted and participated in mandatory off-reservation boarding schools either thought they were helping Native Americans to acclimate to the “civilization” of the country or thought that they were just following orders, and that banality of evil is a theme I’d like to explore more deeply.

I find myself spending many hours a week researching the history of Indian boarding schools, particularly reading firsthand accounts by students who were there. It’s important to me that I get the story right.

MCW Is there anything you’d like share with readers that’s not general knowledge? Anything you’d like finally to come clean about?

I want a tattoo but don’t have any because I haven’t found anything I’d like as much when I’m 87 with flappy skin as I do when I’m 37 with mostly not-flappy skin. Send any tattoo suggestions and Murder by Month title ideas to me at jesslourey@yahoo.com. Thanks for the interview. J

AFTER DARK: A REVIEW

AFTER DARK
by Philip Margolin
ISBN-0-553-56908-2
Hard Cover Doubleday 7/95
pb Bantam 6/96 354pg.

Author Phillip Margolin is a criminal defense lawyer in Portland, Oregon, where this novel is set. The book reflects its knowledgeable creator. Descriptions set a well-thought-out series of locations, so the reader has a real sense of place and relationship of one to the others. The characters stand up and become real, well-modulated individuals. The novel takes on current trends to bring back and expand the death penalty. But while it is clear where the author stands on the issue, this is not a shrill polemic which refuses to see or even acknowledge the nuances of the issue. Regardless, AFTER DARK is a crackling good story, with enough action, mystery and plot twists to satisfy anyone.

Matthew Reynolds is a nationally known criminal defense attorney, driven by his own obsessive demons. A brilliant tactician, he hires newly minted attorney, Tracy Cavanaugh, as the first woman ever in his practice. When an Oregon Supreme Court Justice is murdered by a car-bomb, she is drawn abruptly into a case with more layers than a German chocolate tort. More murder, illegal deals, betrayal and hidden passion among the players who intersect in many ways, is ultimately revealed.

These revelations, shifting over uncertain moral and ethical grounds, cast a dark shadow over the entire novel. AFTER DARK is a fascinating exploration of the shades of gray in which all our lives are played out, of the moral dilemmas, large and small, we all face every day. Few will guess the final resolution and most will remember this novel well after they finish the last page.

PETER MAY AT ONCE UPON A CRIME

That fine Scots author, Peter May was at Once Upon A Crime in Minneapolis last night, after flying in from Left Coast Crime in Denver. He has many engaging stories to tell, so when he comes to a bookstore near you, be sure to go meet him.

THUNDER BAY WINS 2007 DILLYS

Kent Krueger won the Dillys award for his 2007 book, THUNDER BAY. The Dillys award is presented by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association of America, for the book they had the most fun selling in 2007. Thus, it is a very important award for authors. The award is presented every year at Left Coast Crime which this year, was help in Denver. I was pleased and honored to accept the Dilly from Tom Schantz, representing the IMBA.

BRAINTEASER REVEALED

MINNESOTA MYSTERY CONTEST #1 1/08

Clue: EHhwtMBA.
Answer: Ellen Hart has won three Minnesota Book Awards.

Clue:MVitcoDR.
Answer: Marilyn Victor is the co-author of Death Roll.

Clue: PwwbDH.
Answer: Pennance was written by David Housewright.

Clue: ILwWKKfm.
Answer: Iron Lake was William Kent Krueger’s first mystery.

Clue: DWwaomotMCW.
Answer: Deborah Woodworth was an original member of the Minnesota Crime Wave.

Since none of the entrants correctly identified all the clues, no prize will be awarded.
Three entrants, Lori, MS, and David (you know who you are) came the closest.
Andi S gets the nod for most creative non-answer, but she only gave us one.

The second Brainteaser is now up at our website, www.Minnesotacrimewave.org
Enjoy.

THOUGHTS WHILE KNEADING BREAD DOUGH

Every so often, as is currently the case, the primary award for mystery writers, the Edgar, comes in for sharp, and sometimes dull, criticism. Unfortunately, a great many of the criticisms when the nominees are announced, are not full informed which obscures some useful comments and ideas. For example, every year, for all kinds of reasons, books are not even submitted. Those books are not judged and consequently never appear on lists of nominees. In a relatively famous case a year or so ago, the then president of MWA, home of the Edgars, disqualified his then-current novel from consideration for an award. Something about ethical considerations. Imagine that.

What I’m told is that the MWA board frequently wrestles with and argues about how to define different sub-genres of what we commonly call mystery fiction. I prefer crime fiction, personally, those terms being more inclusive. I’m told that the sticking point is defining the different categories. Yet we readers, booksellers and authors, define them every day. How hard can it be? Traditional mysteries, International thrillers, Domestic thrillers, PI books and Police Procedurals, hard cover, trade, Mass Market, PBO, to name a few.

There are even awards in specified categories by different conventions. They seem to have little difficulty discerning between categories.

***

There’s a new book out that has to be one of the most useful compilations for mystery fiction to come along in several years. It’s called “The Essential Mystery Lists:” and it was collected and researched by Roger Sobin. Poisoned Pen Press is the publisher. It contains every nominee and winner in every known mystery fiction contest since the beginning of time. At least in the English Language. It’s a marvelous resource easy to penetrate, fun to dip into.

***

As I look out the French Doors to our deck, I see it’s snowing again. The temperature has moderated but I’m thankful I don’t have to go out today. My dough is ready to rest and rise.

New Stuff

Just back from the tenth annual Love Is Murder con in Rosemont. Great little event with a nice mix of fans, new and old (sic) writers. New resolution (personal) to reactivate this blog and communicate with anybody out there. There are pictures and as soon as I can get through them I'll post them on my web site.

Other news: my latest book, Bloody Halls is now out, both in trade paper and as an ebook. You can find more info at YouTube and of course, on my website.

Oh yeah, the Crime Wave has a new contest running. The january Brainteaser is closed, but there'll be a new one in a day or two.

Finally, if you're in Madison, so will I be at Booked For Murder, that fiune independent store on Wednesday, Feb. 6. Drop by that evening and say howdy

HIDDEN TREASURE

Well, it isn't exactly hidden. One of the joys of traveling about the country doing events as a published author, is the sometimes surprising places and resources one encounters. As a part of National Library Week, I went with my colleagues known as the Minnesota Crime Wave to Charles City, Iowa.

The Friends invited us to make a presentation which we were delighted to do. And there in the library we discovered an incredible resource, a gallery of prints, drawings and paintings by some of the world's great artists, including Klimpt, Duerrer, Picasso, Rembrandt, Chagall to name just a few. All nicely mounted and displayed in a well-protected gallery.

It seems that a local photographer, one Andrew Moody, who was active in the early Twentieth Century, was something of a world traveler and collector of fine art. He donated his collection of over 100 prints and paintings to the Charles City public library, and there they are, on permanent display along with a comprehensive collection of texts and art books. A truly exciting and excellent resource for the community and passersby like myself.

OUTSTANDING ARTISTS

A week ago I was priviledged to hear a young German violinist named Julia Fischer. With the Minnesota Orchestra, she performed Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D major, opus 35. A stunning, brilliant performance. I suggest that whatever she may be performing, if she comes to a concert hall near you, go hear her. You'll be thrilled.

Last night I heard Charlie Rose in conversation with Eric Bogoosian and Liev Schreiber, talking about Bogoosian's fine play, "Radio Talk." Schreiber has just taken over the lead role in NYCity. Although as sometimes happens, Rose interrupted too often and talked too much, I was mightily impressed with the sensitivity and insight of the actor.

INTERVIEW WITH LOIS GREIMAN

I interviewed Lois Greiman, Winner of the LaVyrle Spenser Award, author of GET UNSCREWED, now in bookstores near you. She’s also the author of TEMPTING THE WOLF, a finalist for Romantic Times best Paranormal Historical, and author of UNPLUGGED--Finalist for RT's best Amateur Sleuth

Visit www.loisgreiman.com for more details.
Here’s the interview in full.

When did you know you were going to be a mystery writer?
Most days I sit in front of the computer and STILL wonder if I'll ever be a real author. But I remember when I was a little girl I used to narrate my life. Such as....'she stepped into the harsh glare of the summer sun.' It took me years to figure out that while I 'stepped into the harsh glare' most folks just 'went outside.' I guess that should have told me something.

Tell us a little bit about your family background.
I grew up in North Dakota on a cattle and wheat ranch. Lots of space, lots of brothers and sisters. Lots of time to dream.

What is your educational background?
Well, I learned a lot when I was a professional horse trainer. Other than that...high school's all I've got. But I'm making my kids go to at least eight years a-piece to make up for my deficit.

What did you read as a child?
Tolkein. I'm a HUGE Tolkein geek. I actually cried when I saw Shadowfax (Gandalf's horse) on the big screen. Hmmmf....I need therapy, don't I?

Talk a bit about your present family situation.
My children have grown up. It's the saddest thing ever. They've been my best friends since the day they were born. I think I may not be a great mother, but I'm a fabulous friend. Mostly, my kids get their jollies by making fun of me. Travis, my oldest--now applying for med school--likes to throw me over his shoulder and run circles around the house yelling war cries. Come to think of it, he may be the cause for my need of therapy.

My younger son, Justin, got married to a brilliant and gorgeous vet student last summer. He's considering entering seminary or possibly the two of them will join the Peace Corps. They're determined to make the world a better place, and I have absolute faith that they will.

My daughter Tara is 17, a 4.0 student and the savviest young woman I've ever known. My husband (Scott--veterinarian) and I expect her to be queen of the known universe very soon.

What's your daily routine when you aren't touring?
I'm a morning person. If things don't get done by 4 pm it's not going to happen. I get up at six, get my daughter off to school, feed the horses (14 of them....anybody need a horse?) go running (I did a marathon with my son's a couple years ago and learned that 26 miles is indeed a long way), then work from about 10-4. Unless I'm filling out a questionnaire :)

How much touring do you do?
It varies drastically according to the amount of time I have between books and where my children are in their lives. In 2005 I did a coast to coast driving tour from L.A. to New York and stopped at about 200 stores. This is not something I would recommend for the faint of heart.

What's the hardest thing you've learned about being an author?
Sometimes the muse just doesn't show up on time. Stupid muse.

What surprised you the most when you became a published author?
The amount of work--other than writing--that's involved in the book business. I could spend 24 hours a day on promotion.

Not everybody in crime fiction knows you have published in other genres. What was your motivation to move into the mystery field?
My sons left home. Being they are my best friends it was terribly traumatic for me and I decided it'd be fun to commit murder. It was safer to do it fictionally. :)

If you could be anything else in the world, have any other career, what
would it be?
I'd like to be a superhero...able to cook a pizza with a single glance.

Do you have any pithy (or other) words of advice for aspiring authors?
Don't let 'em knock you down. You just have to keep sluggin'. I dare anyone to collect more rejections than I have.

Who are the authors who you feel have had the most influence on your writing
career?
Janet Evanovich, Julie Garwood and probably a hundred more I can't think of right now.

Where do you want your career to go?
I have a weakness for the New York Times list.

To what organizations related to your writing career do you belong?
RWA, Sisters in Crime, Midwest Fiction Writers--all invaluable

Do you think you'll change direction again or spread out a bit? If so, what
direction might it be?
I love doing what I'm doing, but I think change is necessary. I have some literary ideas floating around in my mind, but they're just percolating so far. On the flip-side, I've recently written a children's picture book.

Who is your publisher? And what's your current book?
Random House/Bantam publishes my mysteries. The current novel is Unscrewed. Avon publishes my historical romance novels.

Who is your favorite mystery author?
I have an ever-growing list, but Evanovich, JD Robb, Robert Parker, and Dick Francis would be up toward the top.

Do you like to travel? Where would you most like to go, if money and time
and family were not considerations?
Australia calls to me.

What's next for Lois Greiman?
A nap. It's almost 4:00.

The future of retail selling is changing.

I saw a fascinating interview on Charlie Rose. Most of his interviews are just that, but this was particularly of interest because of the subject. Chris Anderson is the award-winning editor of Wired magazine. He has authored a new book titled “The Long Tail.” He contends that we are looking at the end of the increasingly desperate search for the mega hit. And the implications that descend therefrom are interesting. If he’s right, there are new business models to consider, and since every author is a small business person, his POV is something to seriously consider. Here’s what he believes: “The future of business is selling less of more.”

In other words, the hit television program or movie, the hit record album or the mega-seller book, is becoming less important to the financial health of the musician, the author or the producer than is a larger quantity of a smaller number of whatever it is.

Here are some approximate figures:
New titles every year in the US-200,000
Number of titles in print-4,000,000

How many does B&N or Walmart stock? A thousand titles?

According to Publisher’s Weekly, Nielsen’s Bookscan reports that in 2004 they recorded 1.2 million book sales. 950,000 sold fewer than 99 copies each.
Only 25,000 titles sold more than 5,000 copies each.

The average title in the US sells around 500 copies annually. So if your average mystery is in print for two years, sells 1,000 copies the first year and 500 the second, and then essentially disappears from the shelves, you have a sales record of 1,500. But if it is in print for five years and the author continues to promote and the book averages 500 copies annually after the first bump, the sales record is 3,000 copies. Meanwhile, a second book is now available. A year later, perhaps, a third.

One obvious answer to all this for authors at least, is to be sure the publisher will keep your book in print long enough to sell widely and steadily.

Quite possibly the answer is niche marketing, because finding the right book is often difficult to do. If you write a mystery that appeals to necrophilia’s who love vampire fantasy, you need to figure out where those people are and build a contact list.

Authors ought to look at the actions of bands and independent producers who seem to be building a fan base through widespread merchandising of their products on UTube, Myspace and similar outlets. Book publishing appears to be behind the curve in making use of these outlets, although some bookstores, notably Powell’s and Barnes & Noble are becoming more aggressive at offering books via the internet and I am of the opinion that independent bookstores will need to develop strong on-line presences in order to stay in business.

This is certainly not the whole picture. And I’m sure I don’t understand the entire picture. What about warehousing? Why do distributors HAVE to buy quantities from a publisher? There are upside and downside elements I haven’t considered, but I thought it was all worth a conversation. Just maybe the present business model in book publishing, anyway, is in need of reassessment. What do you think?

INTERVIEW WITH LIBBY HELLMANN

Libby Fischer Hellmann is the outgoing president of Sisters In Crime, the national organization founded in 1986 to work for women crime fiction writers. Libby is concluding her tenure leading this vibrant, active organization. I thought it a good time to get her views on her year as president and the future.

CARL BROOKINS-Now that your presidential year is over, how do you feel about it? Was it what you thought it would be?

LFH-It was – in a word – busy. And productive. We started several new programs ($300 grants for promotion for authors), we expanded our website, we planned and executed a number of 20^th anniversary programs, including a national promotion with Borders, independent bookstores, and in a few months, libraries. We planned the first ever “SINC goes to Hollywood” conference (to educate members how to sell to the movies), we hired a PR firm, we revamped our Monitoring Project, we started publication of an Anniversary anthology featuring former Presidents, we reworked a number of our publications, including a national brochure, our Books in Print, and we’re starting production on a new publication, tentatively called “Mystery Matters.”

It was busier than I thought it would be, but at the same time, it was without question the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done. The people that make up this organization are truly special. And talented. Everyone who was asked to perform a task, from Directors to volunteer members, did a terrific job, without complaint. I’ve never been involved with an organization with so many accomplished members, so little friction, and practically no politics. It’s been a remarkable year.

CB-What one accomplishment during your year gives you the most satisfaction?

LFH-People tell me the organization has never been this energetic before, so I’ll claim that – infusing new energy into SINC – as my greatest accomplishment. I’m also very proud that we reached out to booksellers, both independents and chains, to let them know our members need them as much as they need us. I’m also proud of revamping the Monitoring Project. We now monitor over 60 publications regularly (for reviews of mysteries by women vs men) and because we do it online, we’re able to call up accurate data pretty much at will.

CB-Were there disappointments? What did you want to accomplish that you weren't able to do?

LFH-I would have liked to work on our relationship with publishers more directly, ie what can SINC do to encourage publishers to give their authors (particularly female) more support.

CB-What was the biggest surprise your presidency brought you?

LFH-That we could accomplish so much with so little. It was incredibly rewarding and affirming to come up with an idea, discuss it, vote on it, and then actually implement it. I don’t think there are many organizations as nimble or as accommodating. Not to say that we were impulsive, because we’re not – the women on the National Board are some of the wisest, but most creative people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. That, I think, was the biggest, and most enjoyable, surprise. That we could actually GET THINGS DONE! I hope that never changes.

CB-How has the world of publishing crime fiction changed in the recent past (or during your year)?

L FH-How much time do you have? Unfortunately, the market is becoming grimmer every day. Mass market sales are down, hard cover print runs are down, and individual titles have an ever shrinking window of time to succeed. Because of these factors, it becomes even more important to “seed” the success of a book before it hits the stores. IE Arc campaigns are critical, as are wooing influencers and arranging for co-op sales. All of which are difficult for an author to do without a publisher’s support. On top of that, the public is reading less, particularly fiction. So the author is getting squeezed coming and going. It’s not a particularly sanguine situation.

CB-SinC has become a significant and growing presence on the crime fiction scene. Do you foresee a time when a separate gender-based organization will no longer be needed?

LFH-I wish I could say yes, but the reality is I don’t think so. When you stop pushing against a boulder, inertia and/or gravity often tilts it back the other way. We’ve made tremendous strides in attaining parity in the mystery community, but I think we’ll always need to be out there pushing.

CB-There are significant and ever-faster changes in our publishing universe. Do you foresee a time when the printed book becomes a dusty relic of a bygone era? Do you think there will be a time when your children or grandchildren will do most of their reading from screens, rather than the printed page?

LFH-It’s already happening. The problem is people are not reading books. They’re reading other things in much shorter, more palatable chunks of prose. I’m afraid you’re right, though, and it’s sad – I get such pleasure from reading a book that it’s impossible to think other people don’t.

CB-How's your personal writing going? Did you have to set aside your career for this past year as President of Sisters in Crime?

LFH-They say that being President of an organization like this means you lose a book during your tenure. That may be the case, but I write slowly anyway, so it’s hard to measure. But there will be another year before my new book comes out. I do have a couple of short stories coming out, though. One in October, the other in December.

CB-What's next for Libby Fischer Hellmann, author?

I have a new agent, and we’ve just finished revising my next novel, tentatively called EASY INNOCENCE. It’s a stand-alone PI book, featuring Georgia Davis (she was a cop in my 3^rd Ellie Foreman book, AN IMAGE OF DEATH). It’s a mystery/thriller set on the North Shore of Chicago, and it deals with high school girls and what can happen to them when they’re not adequately protected or supervised.

CB-Thanks, Libby. For more, including membership information, go to www.sistersincrime.org. For more information on upcoming activities of author Libby Fischer Hellman go to http://hellmann.com/mystery-author

THE KNOX DECALOGUE

Rules of the Mystery

Monsignor Ronald Knox was an avid reader, critic and essayist on mystery fiction in the early part of the Twentieth Century, as well as a novelist and writer of short stories. Originally an Anglican, he converted to Catholicism in 1917. In 1928 he published his “Decalogue of the Mystery: The ten rules of detective fiction.” Some of the rules are written in language that today is offensive, but I have tried to preserve the original, not as a comment on the writer, but as a comment on the society of the time.

1. Introduce the murderer early, but readers should not be allowed to know the murderer’s thoughts.

2. All super natural or preternatural agencies are to be ruled out.

3. No accidents or unaccountable intuition.

4. Only one secret passageway is allowed.

5. All clues must be shown at once.

6. Never make the detective the killer.

7. No exotic rule-free killers. (actually he wrote no Chinamen)

8. No undiscovered poisons.

9. No unprepared-for twins or doubles.

10. The stupid friend of the detective must never conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind, and his intelligence must be very slightly below that of the average reader.

These ten rules have guided writers ever since. Of course, many fine writers have and continue to twist, bend and violate those rules. But, as Beethoven is purported to have said to one of his students of composition, “it is hard to effectively break the rules until you know what the rules are.”

Bangor Maine

One of my publishers is Five Star Mysteries, an imprint of Thorndike Press.
They're in Waterville, Maine. a nice small community.
I flew out there a week or so ago , and landed in Bangor, where, on the way home, I had an interesting experience.

Bangor is a town of about 35,000. Pleasant, right on the river, not far from the
sea so tides affect the port.

I'm at the airport early for coming home because that's the way it worked
out. Waiting room is quiet, comfortable, I've got my laptop, so no problems.
About three hours to my flight.

A flight lands from Boston, place soon empties out, I see a permanent office witha large electric sign that says MAINE GREETERS. There are displays of Desert Storm unit badges and flags, etc. here and there. I go to the Red Baron Lounge which is empty except for
Tammy the bartender who is sitting on a stool sucking on a Heineken. I order scotch and tell her it's quiet. She smiles and says yeah, sometimes it is. An hour passes and I decide to order lunch. A family of two kids and parents show up and order lunch. We're eating and I hear a squawk from the room behind the bar. A guy sticks his head out and says, "They're
early, just touched down."

Tammy says "Oh shit." Then she turns to the family and says, "You might want to settle up right away. It's about to get real busy in here." They do and leave. I hear applause from across the terminal, coming from people standing in line beside the Greeter office. Suddenly the place is filled with over 200 Marines who have just got off a Trans World (not TWA) military
flight from Iraq by way of Kuwait and Germany. They line up in the Red Baron for beer (mostly) at a special price., many dialing cell phones.

Nice well-behaved kids. Dressed in their tan desert camo gear and tan desert boots. They don't look like they've been to war, but one kid says to me, "Yeah, we saw our share of fighting." Men and women (not very many) who seemed more self-assured than the guys. Bedlam for about an hour. Then the plane is refueled and the Red Baron has placed the catered meals and other stuff aboard, the Marines have made their phone calls and drunk their beers,
mostly Buds, and they file out to reboard the aircraft to more applause. Lapsed time, mabe 90 minutes. Now they are off, non-stop to their base in California.

So I'm curious and Tammy tells me, over a drink she buys, it happens every day, anywhere from six to eight times a day, both incoming and outgoing companies of service men, Marines and GIs. In the space of sixty minutes, the troops consumed 150 beers and over 100 other
drinks.

Turns out Bangor is a prime East Coast airfield from and to which all troops going and
coming in Iraq and Afghanistan are routed.

It was an interesting and unusual experience.

Bangor, Maine. Interesting.

The picture of Margarot Maron in that t-shirt has nothing whatsoever to do with the above piece.

Vote Early and Often

After almost forty years observing and, occasionally, participating in politics, I normally didn’t get too riled up about elections. 2000 changed all that, and not only for me. There was an outcry and chorus about reforming the way we vote, cleaning it up, making it transparent, incapable of sabotage. Now, almost 6 years later, as we approach another election year, it’s time to ask what happened?

The answer is grim. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that’s not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Especially when it’s such a simple issue. As the Clintonites were wont to say, “It’s the optical scanner systems, stupid.”

Report after report proves that these machines, as well as other electronic voting systems, just don’t work. (www.bradblog.com/?p=2954, just Google “voting irregularities, optical scanners) They’re able to be hacked, manipulated, and contaminated. And the fact that many of them don’t even generate a paper trail so we can see how they were hacked, manipulated, and contaminated is absurd. Never has the potential for vote fraud been so massive, so pervasive, and so dangerous.

We are allowing our democratic system to be hijacked by companies like Diebold. Come on, folks. He’s a significant Republican contributor. Always has been. Are we that naïve?

And yet, six years after we first saw it happen, nobody seems to care. If there’s anything we hold sacred these days (and there’s not much) it should be our ability to vote and think it might actually make a difference. But except for sporadic emails from Move-On and other liberal groups, I don’t hear much of an outcry.

Okay, I’m not naïve enough to think stuffing the ballot box is new. Chicago, my home town, has a rich tradition of it. (Quick: who coined the phrase “Vote Early and Often”?)*

But are we all so inured to systemic corruption that we don’t even want to lift a finger in protest? Are we so apathetic and cynical that we just assume the fix is in?

I know we’re all faced with demands on our time. I also know there are lots of good causes to commit to. All of this makes it increasingly difficult to energize ourselves, to care about everything. But this seems to me to be one of the most basic.. I mean, if we give up our right to unfettered and fair elections, we may as well tear up Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.

Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we just forget the exercise of voting and watch it on TV instead? We already have a show called American Idol. Why don’t we just let Paula, Simon and the rest of the gang decide who our next elected officials will be? That’s tantamount to what we’re already doing when we allow optical scanners to tally our votes.

By the way, David Skibbins, a fine mystery writer has a book coming out, hopefully in 2008, about how the Presidential election could be manipulated through optical scanners. He’s calling it Hardened.

Appropriate, don’t you think?

*Answer: Big Bill Thompson, Chicago mayor, 1915-1931 (more or less)

Here's that shirt in Texas again!

bookselling in america

The future of retail selling is changing.

I saw a fascinating interview on Charlie Rose last night. Most of his interviews are just that, but this was particularly of interest because of the subject. Chris Anderson is the award-winning editor of Wired magazine. He has authored a new book titled “The Long Tail.” He contends that we are looking at the end of the increasingly desperate search for the mega hit. And the implications that descend therefrom are interesting. If he’s right, there are new business models to consider, and since every author is a small business person, his POV is something to seriously consider. Here’s what he believes: “The future of business is selling less of more.”

In other words, the hit television program or movie, the hit record album or the mega-seller book, is becoming less important to the financial health of the musician, the author or the producer than is a larger quantity of a smaller number of whatever it is.

Here are some approximate figures:
New titles every year in the US-200,000
Number of titles in print-4,000,000

How many does B&N or Walmart stock? A thousand titles?

According to Publisher’s Weekly, Nielsen’s Bookscan reports that in 2004 they recorded 1.2 million book sales. 950,000 sold fewer than 99 copies each.

Only 25,000 titles sold more than 5,000 copies each.

The average title in the US sells around 500 copies annually. So if your average mystery is in print for two years, sells 1,000 copies the first year and 500 the second, and then essentially disappears from the shelves, you have a sales record of 1,500. But if it is in print for five years and the author continues to promote and the book averages 500 copies annually after the first bump, the sales record is 3,000 copies. Meanwhile, a second book is now available. A year later, perhaps, a third.

One obvious answer to all this for authors at least, is to be sure the publisher will keep your book in print long enough to sell widely and steadily.

Quite possibly the answer is niche marketing, because finding the right book is often difficult to do. If you write a mystery that appeals to necrophilia’s who love vampire fantasy, you need to figure out where those people are and build a contact list.

Authors ought to look at the actions of bands and independent producers who seem to be building a fan base through widespread merchandising of their products on UTube, Myspace and similar outlets. Book publishing appears to be behind the curve in making use of these outlets, although some bookstores, notably Powell’s and Barnes & Noble are becoming more aggressive at offering books via the internet and I am of the opinion that independent bookstores will need to develop strong on-line presences in order to stay in business.

This is certainly not the whole picture. And I’m sure I don’t understand the entire picture. What about warehousing? Why do distributors HAVE to buy quantities from a publisher? There are upside and downside elements I haven’t considered, but I thought it was all worth a conversation. Just maybe the present business model in book publishing, anyway, is in need of reassessment. What do you think?

Teleconferences

So I was all set to spend the evening catching up on an old John Lescroat novel... dont know how I missed reading him, because he is so fluid... anyway, suddenly the phone rings, and it's Congressman Mark Kirk, (he represents the 10th district in Illinois, of which I'm a resident). Seems he is launching a town meeting by telephone. All I have to do is press the pound key and get in the queue for questions. Being the sophisticated high-tech maven that I am, I do. Well, it's been about an hour so far, and he hasnt called on me. (was it something I said? Or are my brain waves somehow getting through to his handlers and they know NOT to open up my phone line)...

Nevertheless, the entire experience has been fascinating. Particularly the questions. (Kirk's answers have been less than scintillating) Most of the questions are about our immigration policy, (probably not surprising in the lily-white northern suburbs of Chicago), but there have been several on Iraq (none supporting the administration), the prescription Medicare program, a balanced budget, and more. My question has to do with net neutrality and the fact that Kirk voted against it... which is seen as a capitulation to the big phone companies... but seeing as how he's using their resources to make this town meeting possible, I doubt I'm going to get much more than a pablum response. If I get the chance to ask it at all.

Sometimes I wish I werent so cynical about the political process. Is it because I used to live in Washington DC? Or because I was an activist forty years ago? Or is it just that I grew up ?
But there's only one politican who excites me these days.. who makes me think it's all possible all over again.. but he's very new, and very green.

Three guesses who I'm thinking about...

Libby

ConMysterio

So, I went to Austin Texas in the middle of July. Demented, right. Never mind, it was 100+ degrees in St. Paul while I was away. A small, excellent, well-organized con, mostly for working authors and those struggling to become published. Plenty of good panels, interesting guests and endless conversation. As usual, I encounterd several heretofor unknown (personally) authors of note. No, I'm not going to mention those I can remember right now. There will be pictures on the web site soon. www.carlbrookins.com. But I found the shirt! Yes a few people in Texas are wearing the shirt!

A peripatetic symbol

This shirt seems to be showing up here and there.
Anybody know this gentleman? Spotted in El Paso.