The Page 69 Test

By Beth Groundwater

Musicians have long held the belief that the true value of an album is found at track seven. Marshall McLuhan (photo below), the author of The Gutenberg Galaxy (a 1962 book that analyzes the effects of mass media on culture and human consciousness), recommends trying the same trick at page 69 for novels. Read that page and if you like that page, buy the book.

So, I'm going to apply the Page 69 Test to my two 2013 releases. I'll post the content for each of them below. Read the page, then tell me honestly what you think. Will you buy the book after reading that page?

First up is Fatal Descent (cover below), the third book of my RM Outdoor Adventures series that was released in June. It takes my whitewater river ranger/rafting guide Mandy Tanner and her love interest and co-business owner Rob to the Colorado River in the remote Canyonlands of Utah.

Here's Page 69:

     She pulled on some warm clothes, stumbled into the willow and tamarisk thicket upstream to relieve herself, then washed her hands and face at the handwashing station after refilling the water can with cold river water. Fully awake after that, she scooped coffee grounds into a metal campfire coffeepot and poured in water from the purified water jug. She turned on the gas stove and put the pot on a burner. While Rob woke Gonzo and Cool in their tent, she went to the rafts to unload breakfast fixings from the coolers.

     When she reached the rafts, she pulled up short. Muddy streaks covered the tops of the coolers, and they were twisted in their lashings as if someone—or something—had been tugging on them. The dry food metal boxes had also been disturbed and moved, but their locks had held. Muddy streaks smeared the sides of the rafts, too. The streaks looked like they had come from the paws of a hungry animal, a large one.

     What happened here? A bear?

     Mandy had never heard of bears getting into anchored rafts, which were the recommended place to store food away from animals and were frankly the safest place to store anything vital to a float trip. She checked the nearby river bank, but saw no prints or damaged vegetation—or a bear hulking in the underbrush.

     Next, she did a quick mental check to see if anything was missing. They had brought ashore all of the clothing dry bags, tents and sleeping bags the night before, and the PFDs were still tied together to the front of each raft. The water jugs were all accounted for, as were the oars, first aid kit and other gear—except for a waterproof metal ammo box containing their permits and the radio. It was gone.

     Shit!


So, what do you think? Would you keep reading? Will you buy the book?

Now, on to my second release of the year, A Basket of Trouble (cover below), the third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer series, that was released in November. The mystery starts off with the discovery of a dead wrangler at her brother Charley's trail riding stables.

Here's Page 69:

     “The real culprit is whoever killed Kyle,” Claire said. “I wonder who did it.”

     Everyone in the room looked at each other and shrugged or shook their heads.

     Claire watched their faces carefully. “Any of you know if Kyle had any enemies? If he had any recent arguments with anyone?”

     More shrugging and shaking of heads, except Pedro hesitated and wouldn’t meet Claire’s gaze.

     She stepped toward him. “Pedro?”

     “Nada,” he said quickly, and brought a Coke can to his lips, spilling a few drops on his shirt in his haste. He glanced at Jorge.

     Claire turned to the older man. “Jorge?”

     Jorge’s face was passive, inscrutable. “Kyle was a kind man with many amigos.”

     That really didn’t answer her question. She stared at both men for awhile longer but saw that she wasn’t going to get anything out of them, so she turned to Brittany. “You dated him a few times. Did he mention anyone he was having a problem with?”

     She shook her head. “He was always smiling, didn’t seem to have a care in the world.”

     Jessica sat at the desk with fingers drumming on the large calendar pad in front of her. “Maybe it was a family problem, something totally unrelated to the stable.”

     Charley wheeled and looked at her. “I sure hope so, and I hope the police find out who did it soon. Kyle’s murder, on top of the issues we’re having with Peak View Stables and the neighbors, could deep-six Gardner’s Stables for good.”


What do you think of this excerpt? Would you keep reading? Will you buy the book? And what do you think of the strategy? Is the Page 69 Test a valid way to make your reading choices?

INKSPOT NEWS - December 14, 2013

Today, December 14th, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will be signing copies of her November release, A Basket Of Trouble, the third book in her Agatha-award nominated Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, at the Next Page Bookstore, 409 Main Street, #101, Frisco, CO 80443. This event will take place during Frisco's Wassail Days event, so come on in and taste the bookstore's wassail recipe and pick up a copy of Claire Hanover's "Tips for Making Perfect Gift Baskets" so you can put together a great-looking gift basket for that mystery lover in your life that features an autographed copy of A Basket Of Trouble.

A BASKET OF TROUBLE Releases to On-line Excitement and Critical Acclaim!

My sixth mystery novel, the third in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer series, was released by Midnight Ink on November 8th. Already, A Basket of Trouble has gathered a brimming basket of good reviews, including all four of the big four review publications! Here are some pull quotes:

"Groundwater combines a satisfying mystery with aspects of riding life and a look at the illegal immigration issue. A good choice for fans of small-town amateur sleuths."
   -- Booklist, Oct 1, 2013

"Groundwater’s well-crafted cozy comes complete with numerous red herrings and a picturesque setting."
   -- Publisher's Weekly, Sep 30, 2013

"Groundwater’s third series entry (after To Hell in a Handbasket) is an action-packed cozy that successfully weaves in her small business and disability awareness."
   -- Library Journal, November 1, 2013

"This book had everything I want in a cozy mystery. It featured multidimensional characters, a twisting plot, and a location I want to visit."
   -- Mystery Books Examiner, July 15, 2013

"The latest starring Claire (To Hell in a Handbasket, 2012, etc.) packs in more action than a typical cozy."
   -- Kirkus Reviews, August 11, 2013

"Horse lovers and mystery fans will enjoy A Basket of Trouble."
   -- Clare O'Beara, Fresh Fiction, October 9, 2013

"Well, I thought with all the clues that I would have guessed this one. Nope, not quite. I loved the twists and the thoughts that were shared."
   -- A Date With a Book, 4 star rating, November 8, 2013

I've also been hitting the blogosphere to promote the book. You can read interviews with me at:

Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room

Lisa K's Book Reviews

The Big Thrill webzine published by International Thriller Writers

And my amateur sleuth protagonist, Claire Hanover, talks about a stressful day in her life at Dru's Book Musings blog. Lastly, on Saturday, November 23rd, at noon Mountain Standard Time, I will appear live on Suspense Radio. Please listen in, and feel free to call in with a question!

I have scheduled a half dozen personal appearances, so far, in Colorado, so if you live in the state, check out the Appearances page on my website to see when/where I will be appearing near you.

Phew! Is a lot of work involved in a book release? You betcha!

INKSPOT NEWS - November 9, 2013

To promote the release of A Basket of Trouble, the critically-acclaimed third book in her Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will make two appearances in Colorado Springs, Colorado (the setting for the book) next Wednesday:

Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 10:00 – 12:00 AM
Visit with Mystery Book Club, public welcome
Briargate Community Library
9475 Briar Village Point, Suite 100, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Signing
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
795 Citadel Drive East, Colorado Springs, CO 80909   

INKSPOT NEWS - November 2, 2013

Here are the new releases from Midnight Ink for November, 2013. They're both terrific reads!

A Basket of Trouble by Beth Groundwater

"Groundwater’s third series entry (after To Hell in a Handbasket) is an action-packed cozy that successfully weaves in her small business and disability awareness."  —Library Journal

"Groundwater combines a satisfying mystery with aspects of riding life and a look at the illegal immigration issue. A good choice for fans of small-town amateur sleuths."  —Booklist

"Groundwater’s well-crafted cozy comes complete with numerous red herrings and a picturesque setting."  —Publisher's Weekly

"The latest starring Claire (To Hell in a Handbasket, 2012, etc.) packs in more action than a typical cozy."  —Kirkus Reviews

 Best Defense by Randy Rawls

"[Best Defense] is a satisfying, lighthearted adventure." —Publishers Weekly

Interviewing Characters to Get to Know Them

by Beth Groundwater

We're only about two and a half weeks away from the November 8th release of the third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer series, A Basket of Trouble. In anticipation of this critically acclaimed book, which was well-reviewed in 3 out of the 4 big review publications (Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly), I thought I'd give readers an insight into one of the tools I used to create the characters in the book.

To portray my gift basket designer sleuth, Claire Hanover, and my other characters realistically, I need to get into their heads and hearts and discover what they’re thinking and feeling. Only then can they become three-dimensional people that readers can love or hate. Sometimes this is easy, such as in Claire’s case, because she is much like me, a middle-aged woman with a husband and two grown children who lives in Colorado Springs and vacations in Breckenridge (I used to live in Colorado Springs and now live in Breckenridge). Other times it’s tough because the character has a very different personality from me. This was true for Claire's husband, Roger, and for Claire's brother, Charley, partly because they are men and partly because of their life experiences.

One tool I successfully used to understand Roger’s and Charley's psyches was the first-person character interview. In a first-person interview, the author pretends to be a trusted person in the character’s life (I was their psychologist), and asks probing, thoughtful questions. The critical element is to record the answers in first-person. The first person voice helps you really get inside a character’s head.

Some of the questions should address the book’s central theme or conflict and some should address the reason(s) why this character is so hard to define. Examples include:

What's the worst thing that ever happened to you or could happen to you?
What is your biggest accomplishment?
What do you wish you could do or stop doing?
How would you describe yourself and how would others describe you?
What's your biggest secret?
Why do you want what you want and how would you feel if you never got it?

The result of the interview should be that the character feels as real to the author as a member of her family. When she's writing a scene including the character, he should actually speak the dialogue in her head and she should be able to picture his gestures and facial expressions. How does an author know when she has succeeded? One clue is if her character balks when she tries to force him to do something for the plot that is out of his character.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview with Roger that I did for the first book in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, A Real Basket Case.

How did you meet your wife?

"My wife. Love of my life." Roger’s expression grows soft. "I can still remember the first day I saw her on the campus of UC Boulder. I was a junior and she was a freshman. She was laughing with a girlfriend, tossing her long blond hair over her shoulder, and her eyes—so blue they could break your heart. Still can, you know." He stares out the window, his fist balled against his mouth as if fighting for control. "She's breaking mine right now."

It was through this interview that I realized the anger Roger was showing over his wife’s perceived infidelity and over being falsely accused of murder was really masking a deep fear that he would lose the love of his life. This helped me write a very emotional scene late in the book where Claire and Roger discuss whether their marriage can survive.

Claire's brother Charley is a new character in the series that is introduced in A Basket of Trouble. In addition to his trail riding business being threatened by the discovery of a murdered wrangler in his stable, Charley has quite a few emotional issues to deal with in the book. These include vestiges of sibling rivalry with Claire, their mother sinking further into dementia, a wife who props up her own self-esteem by cutting down his, and a trusted friend with immigration problems. To help me understand the churning emotions all these issues brought up in Charley, I interviewed him. Here's the answer to one question.

Which would be a harder blow, losing your mother or your business?

Charley let out a long, slow whistle. "Man, that's a toughie. I know Mom's illness is going to kill her eventually, and I've been trying to steel myself for the inevitable. But, it's still going to be damn hard when it happens. I'll definitely miss her, even though she hardly knows who I am now. Losing the business, though, I have to say would have a much bigger impact. That's Julia's and my livelihood. We'd lose everything--our income, our house, our friends. The people who work for me could lose everything, too, if they couldn't find other work." He sighed. "And I'd lose my sense of identity, my purpose in life. I'm a stable manager. I've never done anything else. I'm not sure I could do anything else."

The answer to this question showed me that even with all his other issues, the threat to Charley's business was still the largest one, in his mind, that he had to deal with. For a reader to understand and sympathize with a character, the author must first understand and sympathize with the character. And I use whatever tricks and tools I can to do that, including the first person interview.

Please visit my website to learn more about me and my books, including A Basket of Trouble, which will be released this month.

INKSPOT NEWS - October 5, 2013

 Here are the new releases from Midnight Ink for October, 2013. They're all excellent reads!

Devil With a Gun by M. C. Grant

The riveting sequel to Angel With a Bullet, “a fast-paced combination of violence and sex” (Kirkus Reviews), Devil With a Gun leads Dixie Flynn to an incendiary confrontation with the most ruthless killers in San Francisco.

Heritage of Darkness by Kathleen Ernst

"Chloe’s fourth...provides a little mystery, a little romance and a little more information about Norwegian folk art and tales."—Kirkus Reviews

Plague Ship by Leonard Goldberg

"[An] all-too-plausible medical scenario that will send chills up the spine."—Kirkus Reviews


Also, on Tuesday, October 8th, from noon - 1:30 PM, Beth Groundwater will appear at the Colorado Mountain College, Coronado Cafe Room 701, 901 South Highway 24, Leadville, CO 80461. As part of their Local Author Series, she will talk about her path to publication, answer questions, and sign copies of her mystery novels.

Editing a Galley Proof

By Beth Groundwater

 I just finished editing the galley proof for my November book release, A Basket of Trouble, the long-awaited third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer series. What is a galley proof, you might ask? It's a page-by-page layout of the print-ready manuscript, sent to the author and others to do a final edit before it goes to the printer. Where did the term come from? As Wikipedia explains, "Galley proofs are so named because in the days of hand-set type, the printer would set the page into galleys, the metal trays into which type was laid and tightened into place. These would be used to print a limited number of copies for editing mark-up."

My Midnight Ink copy editor sent me the galley proof two weeks ago along with a few questions and a request for two missing items, a dedication and the acknowledgements. I was given the choice of marking my changes on the paper manuscript itself and mailing it back or emailing detailed change instructions to the copy editor. I always choose the second option and send back a list of directions that say, "Page xxx, xxx lines from top: change xxx to xxx." and so on.

This time, the file of changes was 5 pages long. Why so long? Well, one page of that was the Dedication and Acknowledgements.  Another set of changes were suggestions of which reviews of prior books in the series should be quoted in the pages prior to the start of the novel.

A full page of changes was due to a reader winning a character name in a silent auction at the Left Coast Crime conference in Colorado Springs, CO, this spring. I not only changed the character name to match hers, I changed the character's hair color to match hers and the character's shirt color to match her favorite color. I try to weave in personal details like this for readers who "win" a character name in a silent or live auction at a mystery conference.

Another set of changes were to address a question asked by the copy editor, who pointed out that I was inconsistent in talking about a business trip taken by my sleuth's husband, Roger Hanover. I made sure all references to the trip were for the same length of time and that references to his return all used the same day of the week. I sent him on the trip to get him out of the way, so Claire could feel free to snoop as much as she wanted. The trip was unimportant, really. But this is just one example of all of the small details that have to be kept consistent in a novel. This is especially true for mystery novels, where inconsistency could be interpreted by readers to be a clue!

Am I sure that all the errors have been caught? Heck, no! The copy editor and I are human, after all, and humans make mistakes. But at least there will be fewer mistakes in the final book than there were in the galley proof. And, the proof is going out to other Midnight Ink staff and reviewers, too. They all may catch errors that I and my copy editor did not.

My main concern is that A Basket of Trouble be a fun and exciting read. Hopefully no readers will be pulled out of the story by stumbling across a typo, spelling or punctuation error. Have you been pulled out of a story recently by such an error? Share it with us here!

INKSPOT NEWS - July 13, 2013

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 14, 2013, from 3:00 - 5:00 PM, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her June release, Fatal Descent, and the other two books in her RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series at Who Else Books, Broadway Book Mall, 200 S. Broadway, Denver, CO 80209. This is part of the bookstore's Mystery Weekend, and Beth will be joined by fellow Colorado mystery author, Bonnie Biafore, signing copies of her Fresh Squeezed release.

INKSPOT NEWS - June 29, 2013

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 30, 2013, from 10 AM - noon, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her June release, Fatal Descent, and the other two books in her RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series at the Murder By the Book booth at the Pearl Street Farmers Market, 1500 block of South Pearl Street, Denver, CO 80209.

Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her June release, Fatal Descent, and her other two books in her RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series on Thursday, July 4th, from 11 AM to 1 PM, after the parade, at The French Kiss, 226 South Main Street, Breckenridge, CO 80424.

INKSPOT NEWS - June 22, 2013

Today, Saturday, June 22, 2013, from 1 - 3 PM, Beth Groundwater will be signing copies of her June release, Fatal Descent, at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers, 795 Citadel Drive East, Colorado Springs, CO 80909.

INKSPOT NEWS - June 15, 2013

Today, Saturday, June 15th, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her Fatal Descent release twice during the FIBArk (First in Boating on the Arkansas) whitewater festival in Salida, Colorado. The first signing will happen after the parade from 10:30 AM - Noon at The Book Haven bookstore, 128 F Street, Salida, CO 81201. The second will take place in front of the Boathouse Cantina restaurant across the street from the festival grounds from 1:30 - 4:00 PM. Fatal Descent is the third book in Beth's RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, and the first book, Deadly Currents, takes place during FIBArk. Also, Beth was the FIBArk parade VIP guest in 2011.

Sunday, June 16th, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her Fatal Descent release at the Breckenridge Welcome Center, 203 South Main Street, Breckenridge, CO 80424 during the Breckenridge Kingdom Days Sidewalk Sale. The signing will take place right after the Outhouse Races end.

Thursday, June 20th, at 7:30 AM MST, Beth Groundwater will appear on the Tron Simpson show, 1040 AM in the CO, NM, KS broadcast area and on-line at i25talk.com. Tron will give away a signed copy of her Fatal Descent release to one listener.

Thursday, June 20th, from 5:00 - 8:00 PM, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her Fatal Descent release at the Covered Treasures Bookstore, 105 Second Street, Monument, CO 80132 during Monument's June Art Walk event.

Friday, June 21st from 5:00 - 7:00 PM, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her Fatal Descent release at Black Cat Books inside the Business of Art Center, 513 Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs, CO 80829. This will be a wine and cheese event!

INKSPOT NEWS - June 8, 2013

Today, Saturday June 8th, from 3:00 - 5:00 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her brand new release, Fatal Descent, the third book in her critically acclaimed RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series. The event will be a fundraiser for the Gore Range chapter of Trout Unlimited, with 10% of the proceeds going to the organization. It will take place at the Next Page Bookstore, 409 Main Street, #101, Frisco, CO 80443.

Reviews - Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

By Beth Groundwater

Do you read book reviews, either professional or amateur? Do you base your reading choices on them? As an author, I probably pay more attention to professional reviews than my friends do who are purely readers. There are some review publications and some particular professional mystery reviewers whose opinions I trust and who influence my reading selections a great deal. However, I also pay attention to what books my in-person reader friends recommend and what books my on-line Goodreads reader friends recommend. For a select few, almost every mystery book they rate 4 or 5 stars goes on my to-read list.

Also as an author, reviews are VERY important to me, because they are an important way for my books to stand out from the crowd of hundreds of thousands of books that are published every year.

With each new release, I wait with bated breath for that first professional review of the book, hoping that it's from one of the big four review publications (Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, or Publishers Weekly), or an equally respected source, and hoping that it's good. And I sweat a little. That's because, much like restaurant reviews, professional book reviews can make or break a new opening or new release. They can eat you for lunch ...

or they can enjoy reading your book so much they can't put it down, even late at night when they really need to go to sleep.

If that magical state happens and they write a good review, that can start the all-important word-of-mouth cycle that gets people reading the book, and if they like it, recommending it to a friend.

And if that friend likes reading it, too, he or she will recommend it to more friends and the fire spreads until soon whole crowds are reading your book. Or, at least that's the hope and dream of all authors I know!

Recently, I've been in this anxious state for my June 8th release, Fatal Descent, the third in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger/rafting guide Mandy Tanner. Instead of the usual setting for the first two books (the upper Arkansas River in Colorado), the murderous action in Fatal Descent takes place on the Colorado River in the remote Utah Canyonlands, specifically Cataract Canyon.The first breath of relief came in April with a review from Publishers Weekly (click on the link for the full text):

"The tension runs high in Groundwater’s absorbing third RM Outdoor Adventures mystery … Scenic descriptions and folklore add atmosphere to a suspenseful tale."

With that review, I could breathe a little sign of relief. The second loosening of tension came with news of a Fatal Descent review in Kirkus Reviews. But then the tension increased a little again when the review turned out to be more lukewarm than blazing hot like the Publishers Weekly one. Here's the pull-quote:

"A late-season rafting trip spells trouble for a river ranger doubling as an adventure tour guide."

Next in May came the first review, along with a 4-star rating, from an amateur reviewer on Fatal Descent's Goodreads page:

 "... Fast-paced, intense read where the personalities of the folks on the trip (and their interactions with one another) and the things Mandy learns about them make for a gripping puzzle. ... Highly recommend, as always!"

By that point, I was feeling pretty darn good. Then, two days ago, I felt like the girl who hits the baseball over the fence for a home run the first time when a very complimentary review of Fatal Descent came out in Library Journal. The book even merited its own sub-heading "River Tales," and who could complain about being compared to Nevada Barr!

"Groundwater’s third entry (after the Left Coast Crime Rocky Award finalist Wicked Eddies) is marked by an outdoorsy intensity and authentic sports chatter sure to resonate with Nevada Barr readers. Her methodical, gentle buildup mirrors the river’s course so that when the characters hit the rapids, life jackets are a must."

I had so much fun researching and writing Fatal Descent, and I hope that readers have as much fun reading it. You can order copies now from your local bookstore or favorite on-line retailer. If you enjoy reading it, I hope you'll tell your friends about it (and ask them to spread the word). If you hang out in Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, DorothyL or some other on-line reading community, I hope you share a review of the book. It's you readers who determine a book's (and ultimately an author's) success or failure!

Please share in the comments whether or not you are influenced by reviews, professional or amateur, and if so, where you read them.

INKSPOT NEWS - June 1, 2013

Here are the new releases from Midnight Ink for June, 2013. They're all phenomenal reads!

As She Left It by Catriona McPherson

"The creator of Dandy Gilver . . . has produced a stand-alone that is worlds apart, a fascinating, mysterious ramble you can't put down."—KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW)

"...dark, absorbing, contemporary stand-alone..."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Eternally 21 by Linda Joffe Hull

"A character whom readers will be pleased to follow." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Maddie’s coupon-clipping tips are seamlessly incorporated into the well-constructed mystery, which provides a series of stunning twists that will leave readers eager to see what will happen to Maddie in the next installment.”—BOOKLIST

Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater

“The tension runs high in Groundwater’s absorbing third RM Outdoor Adventures mystery … Scenic descriptions and folklore add atmosphere to a suspenseful tale.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Groundwater’s third entry (after the Left Coast Crime Rocky Award finalist Wicked Eddies) is marked by an outdoorsy intensity and authentic sports chatter sure to resonate with Nevada Barr readers. Her methodical, gentle buildup mirrors the river’s course so that when the characters hit the rapids, life jackets are a must.” —LIBRARY JOURNAL

INKSPOT NEWS - April 20, 2013

On Sunday, April 28, 2013, from 1:00 – 4:00 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will sign books at the "2013 Meet the Faces – Colorado Author Open House" at the Englewood Public Library, 1000 Englewood Pkwy, Englewood, CO 80110-2373.

INKSPOT NEWS - April 13, 2013

On Saturday, April 20th, from 1:00 – 3:00 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will sign books at the 2013 Longmont Library Festival's Colorado Author Open House in the Longmont Public Library, 409 4th Ave., Longmont, CO 80501.

Also on Saturday, April 20th, Deborah Sharp will be among dozens of authors scheduled to take part in the 15th Annual Southern Kentucky Bookfest in Bowling Green. Deborah's mystery panel is slotted for 1:45 pm in the Carroll Knicely Conference Center, 654 Campbell Lane, Bowling Green, KY 42101. The event is a fundraiser to promote literacy in the region.

INKSPOT NEWS - March 30, 2013

On Friday, April 5th, 2013, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM during the Breckenridge Lady's First Friday event, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will sign copies of her Claire Hanover gift basket designer titles at The French Kiss, 226 South Main Street, Breckenridge, CO 80424.

How a Rural Colorado Sheriff’s Office Works

by Beth Groundwater

The first two books in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, Deadly Currents and Wicked Eddies (both shown above), take place in rural Chaffee County, situated in the upper Arkansas River valley in central Colorado.

The county has about 17,000 residents in the winter. Most of them live in the small city of Salida, where my whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner lives, and in the two towns of Buena Vista to the north and Poncha Springs to the west, at the base of the Monarch Mountain ski area, where Mandy works as a ski patroller in the winter. The Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA) headquarters building, where Mandy works spring through fall, is in downtown Salida, one block from the river.

The county population doubles in the summer when tourists and part-timers flood in. They scamper around the county, engaging in whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hiking, climbing, fly fishing, off-roading, birding, horseback riding, antiquing and all the other warm weather activities the valley offers.

One fourth of Colorado’s 54 “fourteeners”, mountain peaks measuring over 14,000 feet in altitude, are located in the Chaffee County. One of those, Mt. Shavano appears on the patch of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s office (in the photo below). The patch shows the “Angel of Shavano,” an angel-shaped area of snow that appears on Mt. Shavano each June as snows melt (see second photo).

To learn how the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office operates, I interviewed Undersheriff Keith Pinkston, who is their lead detective. He is in charge of two other detectives in their small Investigations Division. He educated me on how their procedures differ from those I learned in El Paso County Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy, where I used to live. Because the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office has only three detectives, patrol officers conduct their own investigations of crimes, except when the crimes are major, such as murder.

Chaffee County averages about one murder case a year, though the detectives need to investigate many more unintended deaths, fatal accidents, and suicides to rule out murder. Their (imaginary) murder rate has soared with the releases of Deadly Currents and Wicked Eddies!

Since the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office is small, they request outside help for many of the tasks associated with a murder investigation, and they are adept at coordinating with outsiders. They rely on the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to process much of the forensic evidence they collect at crime scenes. They may call in the investigator from the District Attorney’s Office to help. And, they may request officers from the Colorado State Patrol to work with their detectives to solve major cases.

While the county has an elected coroner, he is not a forensic pathologist. So, if an autopsy is needed, the body is sent outside the county to the Pueblo County Coroner’s Office located in the city of Pueblo, Colorado. This is what happens to the body of Tom King, the person Mandy Tanner pulls out of the Arkansas River in Deadly Currents, who dies on the river bank.

Keith Pinkston also explained how the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office works with river rangers like Mandy who discover dead bodies in or alongside the Arkansas River, or who pull people out of the river who later die. While the Sheriff’s Office is responsible for investigating deaths, the river ranger(s) who are the “first responders” are a part of the investigative team. The river rangers’ primary responsibility is extracting the body from the river, but they also share information with the detectives about what they found, and they may testify in court.

Mandy Tanner has a personal stake in the murder cases she becomes involved in the two books because they affect people she is very close to. Therefore, she gets tangled up in the investigations much more than river rangers usually do. Victor Quintana, the detective assigned to both cases (and Keith Pinkston's fictional counterpart), is willing to share information with her, because in Chaffee County, as in many rural counties, all of the law enforcement and fire/rescue personnel work and train together on search and rescue teams and become a close-knit community.

The vehicles the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office use are 4-wheel drive Ford Broncos (for frequent snowy or muddy road conditions) and Crown Victoria patrol cars. Every vehicle contains a rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun with lethal ammunition, and another one with non-lethal ammunition, all stored in brackets. Each deputy has their own patrol car.

Like many rural Sheriff’s Offices, Chaffee County’s constantly could use more funding. Only some of the deputies have Kevlar helmets and vests. And, the deputies are responsible for supplying their own sidearm, so there’s quite a variety. They also carry shoulder radios, handcuffs, pepper spray, and either an ASP tactical baton or a TASER.

The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office may be small, and on a tight budget, but the deputies I met there had a friendly, professional attitude and took their assignments seriously. They were also very willing to help this mystery author with her research. What interactions have you had with your local sheriff's office or police department? What is your impression of them? If you'd like to learn more, you should see if they offer a citizen's academy like the one I attended in El Paso County.

Sales conference - Fall 2013

I think I might thrive under pressure.  I say that because this week, here at Llewellyn headquarters, we will be doing our Fall 2013 sales conference and I have been slow to get prepared.  For those of you unfamiliar with sales conference, it is a huge meeting where the acquiring editors showcase the fall titles for the sales, marketing, and publicity departments.  For each title, we create a document that gives those departments all the information it needs, such as:

• release date
• cover image
• synopsis
• author bio
• physical book description (page count, sub-genre, ISBN)
• who the audience is
• a one to two sentence sound bite
• three comparable titles with book description and life to date sales

We also create a powerpoint to go with the presentation.  During the presentation, I give a verbal summary of the book and often go deeper into why I chose the applicable comp titles.  I also talk a bit about the author, especially if I have personally met the author.

 

After each title presentation, I ask if there are any questions or other information to add.

 

Is it stressful?  Heck yeah.  The most stressful part for me is the question time, because I have no idea what might come up!

 

But in general, I find sales conference to be fun and exciting.  I acquire books that I love and often refer to them as my children.  And at sales conference, I get to whip all my baby pics!  I tell stories of hanging out with authors and getting to know them.  I might go on and on about how much I loved a manuscript.  I can talk about a series - where it has been and where it is going.  I also work in my vision of Midnight Ink.  Where we have been and where I see us going.

 

But alas, I procrastinate.  Which means I should be filling in my powerpoint rather than typing up a blog post.  By noon today, I will start feeling anxious and stressed out.  Tuesday I will probably be a wreck and finish up my powerpoint.  Wednesday starts the sales conference with nonfiction lines.  Thursday we do fiction.  I can't wait...  now to just finish this powerpoint!

 

 

 

 

I give a big shout out to Kelly Van Sant who did the heavy lifting on my onesheets.  And to Brian Farrey-Latz who put the bones of my powerpoint together.  :)