First Line Friday #11: Innocent Damage

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Welcome to Me! My First InkSpot Blog Post

by Lisa Alber

This is my inaugural InkSpot blog post, and I'm so happy to be here. I became a member of the Midnight Ink author clan last month, which means I get to blog right here along with a crew of fabulous authors. Yay!

I don't have much to tell you yet. The process is just beginning. Midnight Ink has my next novel within its editorial grip, and pretty soon I'm going to receive an editorial letter. Over the next year I'll revise and revise some more; I'll see my cover art; I'll gear up for marketing and publicity -- and all while writing the NEXT novel.

Waahoo, let the games begin!

Here's what I can tell you right now. I named the novel GREY MAN, but that might change. It's my first novel with Midnight Ink, but not my first published novel. My debut novel, KILMOON, came out last year. It's set in Ireland and features Detective Sergeant Danny Ahern and Merrit Chase.

GREY MAN continues their stories, and I'll have waaay more to tell you about that in the upcoming months. Meanwhile, let me tell you about another Grey Man, a predatory faery of Irish folklore and one of the inspirations for the novel.

Grey Man is said to ooze onto land with the fog, disappearing hapless innocents into its damp grip. Ireland is a land of myth and folklore. Even today, there's something vaguely otherworldly about the land--as if you might look under a hedgerow and see a sprite. It's not about believing or not believing in these things; it's more like the feel of Ireland (at least to me) allows for their possibility.

I loved the imagery of the dark faery when I first read about it. I don't write paranormal mysteries, but I like a little magical realism, and I love symbols. I love that creating a grey and obscured atmosphere could incite locals in my fictional town of Lisfenora to start thinking about the faery while a real Grey Man lurks within their midst.

I welcome comments and conversation. Please visit me every third Wednesday of the month!

What would you like to know about me? Ask away!

Lisa Alber is the author of KILMOON, A COUNTY CLARE MYSTERY, which has been called "utterly poetic" and "a stirring debut." Ever distractible, you may find her staring out windows, fooling around online, or drinking red wine with her friends. Ireland, books, animals, photography, and blogging round out her distractions. Visit her on Facebook and Twitter.

Q&A with Author, Cynithia Hickey

Cynithia Hickey

By Maegan Beaumont

I sat down with my friend and fellow author, Cynthia Hickey, to ask her a few questions about what's she been up to...

1. When did you discover your love for the written word?

My mother said that, not having a Kindergarten close enough for me to attend as a child, that she taught me to read. I took to it easily and have always read above my level. Once I discovered the many worlds between the pages of a book, I was hooked.

2. When did you begin your writing career?

I've made up stories for as long as I can remember, but it isn't until a few years ago that I actually began to take the writing process seriously. My first novel, Fudge-Laced Felonies, was released through Barbour in 2007.

3. Tell us something that people may not know about you?

 I've been on television twice. Once on the backdrop of a weather report filmed on Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas and another time when a documentary was being filmed at the Pickle Plant where I worked.

4. Do you have a secret desire that may not ever come true?

I've always thought it would be a blast to be in a movie. Not a walk on character, but an actual main character. An insane person would be fun.

5. Do you have a favorite book?

 The one book I own that has stood the test of time is Gone With the Wind and Little Women. I still love them.

6. A favorite author?

I'd have to say that in today's market, I love Diana Gabaldon. Her Outlander characters are so rich, I feel as if I know them.

7. Do you have a favorite book that you've written?

No, I can't say that I do. I guess Fudge would be it if I had to pick, it being my first and all.

8. Any suggestions for pre-pubbed authors?

Never, ever, give up. If you're meant to be an author, you need to write as much as you need to breathe.

While I'm promoting book 5 in the Nosy Neighbor series, Jogging is Bad for Your Health, it helps if readers discover the first four books first. Anything for a Mystery is book 1. It is a single release and is also included in this tremendous collection by some of the Christian industries best cozy mystery authors. I hope you check it out. You may discover a new favorite mystery writer. Writing cozies is great fun! There will be two more in this series, then I have a new one planned for 2016. I hope you will join me on this adventure.

ANYTHING FOR A MYSTERY: What follows is a frolicking good time as Stormi finds herself the nosiest neighbor of them all. Can she find the killer before she becomes the next victim? (Christian)

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

GUNFIGHT AT GRACE GULCH: Cici and Audie take a dangerous gamble to nail the killer - and lay their lives on the line. (Christian)

ANOTHER STAB AT LIFE: In order to honor her grandmother's wishes and stay at Volstead Manor Bailey must unravel a string of mysteries and secrets, which all seem determined to stay happily ever buried. (Christian)

TROUBLE UP FINNY'S NOSE:A crazy kaleidoscope of characters such as the uptight gallery owner, Napoleon Prinn; half-baked Dimple Dent, writer of fortune-cookie wisdom; Alva Hernandez, octogenarian newspaper boy; and Monk, the amorous town caterer, add to the chaos in the shadow of Finny’s nose until Ruth finds herself in the ultimate do or die situation. (Christian)

MURDER IN THE MILKCASE:Sleuthing to exonerate herself from murder charges, she shakes up a murderer who has nothing to lose by killing any one in the way - including Trish. (Christian)

THE WEDDING CAPER: Join Annie Peterson, mother of the bride, as she solve crimes on her way to the wedding. In book one (The Wedding Caper) a $25,000 night deposit mysteriously disappears from the Clark County Savings and Loan, and Annie Peterson takes on the role of amateur sleuth to solve the mystery. Only one problem. . .she knows nothing about crime solving! (Christian)
MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE: What she'd hoped would be a relaxing holiday between jobs turns into a stressful and often frustrating

First Line Friday #10: Saving Cecil

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Writing the Past

I'm delighted to join the Midnight Ink blog today. And I'm even more delighted to be writing a

mystery set in 1888 with a Quaker midwife as the protagonist. The Quaker Midwife Mysteries are set in the northeastern Massachusetts mill town of Amesbury (where I happen to live), which was also the carriage capital of the world.

I used to teach childbirth education in my living room and worked as a doula, providing labor support to women and their partners in birth centers or hospitals, so I have some knowledge of the birth process. And since normal labor and delivery hasn't changed for women in thousands of years, I don't have to do much research about that part.

The life of a midwife in 1888, though, has been interesting to set up, to say the least. Rose Carroll lives in my house - which was built in 1880 for mill workers, so it's a modest three bedroom. They have a pump in the kitchen sink but no running water otherwise.

She rides one of the new safety bicycles, the kind with two even-sized wheels, to get to her clients'  homes for births. Midwifery hadn't yet been taken over by male physicians and hospitals.

Life in town was on the cusp of change, too. The town might have had electric lights, and the big fancy (think Victorian, although of course they wouldn't have called them that then) homes of the carriage factory or mill owners might have had electric lights, too, but not the smaller homes. The electric trolley didn't go in until 1890, so it was still horse drawn.

I love including John Greenleaf Whittier as a secondary character. He lived a few blocks away from Rose and worshipped at the same Friends Meetinghouse as her (and the same one I attend every Sunday morning).

Life for an unmarried independent unconventional midwife like Rose is both difficult and fulfilling. She loses a baby once in a while, and that was life back then. She hadn't expected to have to solve murders too, but I'm almost finished writing the second book, and she's realizing she has a bit of a gift for detecting.

Look for Delivering the Truth in early April, 2015!

Readers: Do you like to read historical fiction? Got a favorite historical mystery series? Or do you prefer your intrigues set squarely in the present?

Running Late

--by Linda O. Johnston

Sorry I'm late posting this.

My excuse is that my weekend was busy. 

On Saturday night, my husband and I attended a fantastic fireworks display for the Fourth of July.  It was in Marina del Rey, where some good friends live.  Because we didn't intend to stay overnight--not with our dogs at home--we went down there early in the day to try to find a parking space that would allow us to leave without getting into the worst of the departing traffic and were only partially successful.  That meant it took us a long time to leave the parking lot we did find. But we eventually did get out and home and into the loving licks of our dogs.

Cut to the next day, which I largely spent killing someone.  Okay, you know what I mean.  I'm a mystery writer, so I'd reached the part of the manuscript I'm working on where I had to plan for the murder of the victim whose killing needs to be solved in the story.  I'm working on Superstition Mystery #3.  It won't be released for a while but my deadline isn't extremely far away.  You won't get to read it for a while, though.  The first Superstition Mystery, Lost  Under a Ladder, came out last October, and the second, Knock on Wood, will be released this October.  You see the pattern?  The one I'm working on now should be out in October of 2016.

And in between are my Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries.  The first of those, Bite the Biscuit, came out in May.  I'm not writing a manuscript in that series at the moment, but I am testing dog treat recipes for inclusion in one of them--and boy, are my pups happy about that!

Anyway, enough of my apologies.  I'm late, but I'm here.  Happy July, everyone!

 

Q&A with D.A. Keeley!

This week, we sat down with D.A. Keeley, author of the Peyton Cote Novels. His most recent, Fallen Sparrow, was released in early June.

Midnight Ink: How long have you been writing?

D.A. Keeley: I wrote my first “book” when I was six. I wrote a story one weekend, bound it with string, and told the librarian at Readfield Elementary School I wanted her to put it on the shelf. She did, God bless her. I sold my first novel when I was 29. My first five were under my own name (John R Corrigan), my sixth was under KA Delaney, and now I’m DA Keeley writing about Peyton Cote, a US Border Patrol agent and a single mom.

MI: What influence have other authors had on your writing?

DAK: As a dyslexic, reading never came easy. I had a great middle-school teacher who told me to read “something” every day. I read The Hockey News cover to cover every week. In high school, my mother handed me Robert B. Parker’s Ceremony. I remember hitting the passage “It’s a way to live. The rest is confusion” and thinking, What a great summary of detective fiction. I read everything Parker wrote, then moved to Chandler, and Connelly, and Hemingway, and—you get the idea. A highlight (along with being a finalist for a Maine Literary Award this year) was having Mr. Parker blurb my first novel Cut Shot. I learned so much about writing by reading the Spenser novels and listening to them on audio. It impacted not only what I write by how I write: I listen to every word I write using text-to-speech as part of my editing process.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hemingway, and Philip Levine are all writers I adore.

MI: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

DAK: I turned down a minor league hockey tryout to go to grad school. Maybe I’d be kicking around a rink sharpening skates.

MI: If you have a job outside of writing, what is it?

DAK: I teach and chair the English department at Northfield Mount Hermon School, and I’m probably the only crime writer on the planet who is a dorm parent to 60 teenage girls.

MI: What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing or working?

DAK: Anything with my three daughters and wife. We spend as much time as a family as we can at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, body surfing and playing on the beach.

D.A. Keeley's daughter Audrey with Schnoodle Edie

MI: Who is your favorite mystery sleuth and why?

DAK: Spenser is probably tops. Although, that’s like asking a little kid what his favorite sport is—my answer changes depending on who I’m reading right now (which, by the way, is Naomi Hirahara).

MI: Do you have a favorite murder case from a book (either yours or another author’s)?

DAK: I love true crimes. I was a newspaper reporter during and after college. I’m a news junky.  

MI: What was your inspiration for this series? Tell us about Peyton Cote.

DAK: When I lived in Presque Isle, Maine, I played hockey on Sunday nights with Customs and Border Protection agents. That led to ride-alongs with a CBP agent. I learned so much from those—details that I hope add authenticity to the novels. I got a call from the CBP last summer saying these ride-alongs were no longer allowed, so I am indeed lucky to have had the opportunity. At the same time, I was teaching at Northern Maine Community College. And I was blown away by the will and determination I saw in the single mothers who attended my classes. I tried to create, in Peyton Cote, a woman with these attributes. Peyton is an accomplished agent and a single mom who struggles to balance both of those worlds. She's got an ex-husband who drives us all crazy, and a highly traditional mother who thinks she failed because she raised a daughter who carries a gun. As the series progresses, Peyton's love life gets more interesting, and her homelife more complicated, two aspects of the series I love writing.

MI: How does this series compare to your past works?

DAK: The “procedural” qualities are similar to my Jack Austin PGA Tour novels, in that I research my butt off to make sure things are authentic. I am VERY lucky to have Kevin Steven, former deputy chief of the CBP, serve as something of a technical consultant. He has answered emails for three years, telling me everything from whether or not agents tuck their pants into their boots, to his philosophy on the Texas border crisis. I've always strived to make my books authentic, and Kevin (and his wife and daughter, who read them) have been great resources.

I love writing series, seeing how the characters grow and change or time. But Jack is a lot like me. Peyton Cote, for obvious reasons, is not. But the books are similar in that I like to deal with the human condition. For instance, Fallen Sparrow is—to me—much more a book about lost friendship than a thriller.

MI: Do you have a pet? Tell us about him/her.

DAK: Edie (like the ice cream) is a two-year-old Schnoodle. I got her in Pennsylvania. Left a 2 a.m., arrived at an Amish farm a 9 a.m., paid, stayed 30 minutes, and drove home. Got back at 2:30 that afternoon and had her at the bus stop to surprise my daughters by 3. I highly recommend the book The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skeet. This book makes me look like a much better dog trainer than I am.

Edie

MI: What food could you live off of for the rest of your life?

DAK: Sandwiches. Red Hook beer.

MI: Do you have a favorite recipe?

DAK: Garlic steak.

MI: What’s your favorite part about being an Inker?

DAK: I LOVE working with Nicole and Terri. I’ve been on this treadmill for nearing 20 years, so I know how lucky I am to work with an editor and publisher who treats my books as if they were their own.

Fallen Sparrow is available online and in bookstores now!

Midnight Ink | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Your local bookstore

Visit D.A. Keeley online.