Peg Herring, Mystery Author

Last week I sort of reviewed PLAN X, so I'll finish that today. I really liked the book: likable main character, good connection to Shakespeare's work, and lots of action. It's sad that we don't hear about books like this in the glut of stuff on the market. I get tired of hearing big publishers scream about "exquisitely written" novels (that aren't) and "compelling protagonists" (that make me yawn), but the whole deal in publishing today is hype. PLAN X is a good book. There were a couple of unresolved issues at the end, but since it's a series, I'm guessing that was intentional. Today's book is the third of the Shakespeare-related novels the four of us as promoting in the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. NINE DAYS TO EVIL  begins with the disappearance of a young woman's successful doctor husband. As police search for him, readers learn more about him, his wife, and their friends...and Shakespeare. I'll leave it

Last week's post was about four authors who've joined together to celebrate Shakespeare's work. We've each written a mystery, set in modern times, that connects to the Bard. That led me to wonder who the other authors were and why they chose Shakespeare as a theme for their books. Here's what I found out. Nancy G. West, who wrote NINE DAYS TO EVIL, ( http://tinyurl.com/a9aswr9 ) tried to convince herself to love business, but writing was always tugging on her sleeve. She went back to college and studied English literature. I can guess there was some time spent on the works of you-know-who.                     Lise McClendon, author of PLAN X     ( http://smarturl.it/plan–x )  likes Gothic novels (which were my faves growing up) and thrillers (which PLAN X is). What could be more natural than combining those things with Shakespeare's work? Love, blood, a little scary stuff--It's perfect. Cindy Brown's book MACDEATH ( http://amzn.to/1O

 In classic Greek theater, violence happens offstage. If someone's going to kill himself, he tells you so then exits. If the hero and the bad guy engage in a duel to the death, they'll thrust and parry "stage right and exeunt." Only one will return. It's partly good taste, the belief that audiences shouldn't have to see such things. I suspect the other part is more practical: a good death scene is difficult to stage--and what do you do with the corpse afterward? Shakespeare takes the easy way many times, too. People come in carrying dead bodies, like Lear bearing poor Cordelia; or parts of them, as Macduff does with Macbeth's head. Easy to make a fake head, not so easy to make it appear the head of a living actor is being separated from his body. Today we have all kinds of tricks to make on-stage deaths look real. If you've seen the Three Musketeers decapitate the evil Milady just as the theater goes dark, or the trick of light in Les Miserables t

1. Why are some words so hard to type? I invariably type Crhistmas and have to fix it. Also Goerge. 2. Why do we make stupid people famous? 3. Who decided that Christmas (or any holiday, for that matter) means going broke buying presents? 4. Who's Making Love to Your Old Lady (While You Are Out Making Love)?-- Sorry, it just came into my head. 5. What was I thinking when I planned a 30-day blog event? 6. What happened to being able to eat whatever I want and never gaining weight? 7. Where did I set my phone down this time? 8. Where can I find out if the 1998 Lincoln Continental had an escape button inside the trunk? (This is the kind of research question that drives authors crazy.) 9. When will I release my next book? (Only editors & cover artists know the answer!) 10. When will we learn that Peace on Earth is the only gift that matters?

Santa & Maggie Pill Santa was trying to get ready for Christmas, but things weren’t going well, and his droll little mouth pursed in frustration. He couldn’t find the fur-trimmed hat that went with his red suit. He needed a clean hanky to wipe away the ashes and soot after each trip through a chimney. And one of his boots had gone missing. Those were things his wife usually took care of, but she was nowhere to be found. Rubbing his little round belly, he looked in the kitchen to see if she was baking. Visions of sugar-plums danced in his head, but no. She wasn’t there. Was she in the laundry room, washing tiny elf socks and underwear? Scratching his snow-white beard, the jolly old elf peered into the small room at the back of the house. Nope. She wasn’t in the den taking a long winter’s nap, nor in the pantry sorting canned goods. When he finally found her, Mrs. Claus was in the den, curled up on the couch, reading a book on her Kindle. “What’s so interesting, dear?”

Guess how this author picks winners for giveaways and such! These days as many of my friends are authors as are not. I thought for the Dec. 1st post I'd tell you about someone else's books for a change. These people have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm hoping it's a nice surprise for the next few Tuesdays for them and possibly some new reading for those who read this blog. Today's "honoree" is Janet, who has a book releasing today. She has two series published under pen names, and both are worthy of a read if you like cozy mysteries and haven't yet tried them. The PTA Murders series is published under the name Laura Alden and features Beth Kennedy, recently divorced with two kids. When she gets drafted into more involvement in the local PTA, things start happening, and Beth is reluctantly drawn into sleuthing. The five-book series is notable to me because the humor is genuine, not derived from exaggerated characters who do unbelievable thing

I just returned from Magna Cum Murder, a mystery con in Indianapolis. It's interesting that each year, more people know who I am and more have already read my books. Many of us on what's called the Mid-list (meaning we're not big names that publishers are engaging in bidding wars for) sit quietly at these cons, listening to more famous writers tell their stories. Some might think that if a book is good, everyone will find it and read it. That's not necessarily true in this age of hype from big publishers. A book might be very good but not quite the thing the marketing people are pushing this year or the fad type of book everyone is supposed to be reading. (For example, when did "everyone" start reading YA lit?) There's nothing wrong with being a mid-list writer in my opinion. I write what I want to write, and no one argues with me (well, not much) about the direction my career should be going. I feel no pressure to attend twenty conferences a year or w

What takes longer, you ask? Everything. It takes longer to sell a book than you'd like. It takes longer to produce a book than you estimate. It takes longer to become a familiar name to readers than you expected. It takes longer to to keep up with promotion than you ever imagined. Let's look at those one by one. Sell the book . Five years is the estimated average time it takes a writer to find a publisher. If you're hoping for a big publisher, it could be even more. Yes, I know you read about an author who hit it big with her first book. Hooray for her, but most of us don't have that experience. We just don't talk about it because the average reader thinks if a book is "good enough," it's going to get published. Yeah, right. Produce the book . Once your book is accepted by a publisher, you're on their timeline. You can tell all your friends about it, but they're likely to have to wait more than a year to see the book in print. My

3 Current Series: Upper left, Loser Mysteries. Upper right, Simon & Elizabeth Historical Mysteries. Lower left: Dead Detective Mysteries. Somebody Doesn't Like Sarah Leigh is a stand-along mystery. Publishers love series . They invest in an author's work, and series mean they can reap the rewards of that investment more than once. Readers love series . It's nice to know that characters we love are going to come back and visit us again, telling us about their latest scrapes. Writers love series--to a point. It's comfortable to slip into the minds of characters we've already created. We know how they think, what they'll do. (Even if we don't, we can look back at the books that came before and refresh our memories.) The problem with series-writing is keeping it fresh . Writers don't want their characters to "jump the shark," but it's obvious to me from reading some series that authors find it difficult to tell when they've r

I'm at the Cheboygan Public Library this week (Wednesday, April 29 at 6:30 pm), and here are some reasons I'm thrilled about it. 1. I only have to drive 60 miles round trip . While I enjoy the talks in Florida or the meet-and-greets in Detroit, it's kind of nice to stay home all day and then take a leisurely ride around Black Lake, knowing I'll be home again in only a few hours. 2. I'm likely to see people I know . Again, meeting new people is nice, but seeing old friends is nice too (even if I don't remember names as well as I used to!) 3. I'm not the only draw to the library. The Youth Art Fair is going on, so those who attend the talk will get twice the entertainment as they browse the displays before and chuckle at my stories later. 4. I'll have help. Because I'm local, Purple Tree Books owner Emily is going to handle book sales. This means I'm free to talk, which you all know is what I like best. 5. I've got a fun new topi

Killing Silence Want 2 free copies of this book? Respond here or on Peg’s News on Facebook to be entered in the daily drawing. If you haven't yet "met" Loser, you're in for a new and uplifting experience!   Book #1 of the Loser Mysteries Setting: Richmond, VA Loser lives on the streets, washing up in public restrooms and eating when the opportunity arises. When the father of a child who’s been good to her is accused of murder, Loser feels compelled to help. In order to do so, she’ll have to overcome her demons: the inability to speak normally, the desire to be left alone, and her tragic past, which haunts her every moment. This book is now available as an audio book as well as in print and e-formats.

Looking way too serious before the panel If you're not a writer, don't ever get caught in a group of them. The discussions are never-ending, and we love them, even if we've heard them a thousand times before. I sat on a panel Saturday that discussed writers' dilemmas and how to solve them. After sharing a few of our own problem areas, we asked the audience to share theirs. We could have stayed all day. The funny thing is that in the final analysis, they're the same. How to overcome a stalled story (I recommend a break, even if it takes a week or two). How to cut to a reasonable word count (I listen to the MS read by my computer. Others read it aloud to themselves or to others). How to beef up a MS that's too short (I added a subplot; others add a secondary character). How to recognize your "personal errors," those things we all do that irritate readers (I use SmartEdit, which points out how many times I used the word just or how many sentences

There are things we hear discussed among readers today, and one of them is electronic versus print books for reading. People say things like, "I want a book in my hand," or "E-books are so much more convenient." I'm okay with both. I like reading on my iPad when I travel, my Kindle at bedtime, and a "real" book anytime, anywhere. The other question is "Do you listen to books?" To that one I have to say no, or at least, not yet. I'm a fast reader, and I doubt I'd be happy with the slow pace of someone reading to me. I'm also a wool-gatherer, so I'd probably zone out when something interesting caught my eye. So I haven't done the audio thing yet. However-- I have to listen to my own books in order to okay them for release on Audible.com, Amazon's audio book company. It's been an enjoyable experience, and it gave me a different perspective on the book, the story, and the protagonist. Most recent was the firs

Sunday Update: The promo is finished. 80,000+ people downloaded the book, and there was a big jump in sales for the audio book as well. Friday Update: Down to #3 in Free Books on Amazon but #1 for Women Sleuths. I'll take it! Thursday Update: THE SLEUTH SISTERS is now #1 in Amazon's Cozy Mystery List. Imagine me dancing around the kitchen! Wednesday Update: THE SLEUTH SISTERS is currently #1 on Amazon's list of FREE books. The FREE days last until Saturday, so if you haven't downloaded it yet, now's your chance. Most people know by now that Maggie Pill is also me. She writes cozy sleuth mysteries, and her first, THE SLEUTH SISTERS, will be FREE for Kindle from Tuesday, November 25 to Saturday, November 29, 2014. Here are a few tidbits:         Set in northern Lower Michigan         Concerns sisters who start a detective agency for widely different reasons         Deals with sisterly issues in a funny way         Involves some tromping around in the U.P.

If you know someone who writes, you might have noticed her idea of fun is different from that of other people. An invitation to go shopping might be answered with, "I have a chapter that just won't work out right, so I think I'll stay home and work on it." Conversations all turn into analyses of publishing. And don't think about asking what she's working on if you don't have half an hour to listen to the Next Great Idea. Two things authors enjoy are talking about books with other readers and talking about books with other writers. I did both those things recently, so I count it as a great week. First, I visited Petrolia, Ontario, where a lively group of readers listened to my spiel on mysteries, offering their own suggestions as we went. The library is in an old train station, and the town itself is charming. I highly recommend visiting, and I have promised to return (in summer, of course. Everything is better in summer!) The Petrolia visit was

I tend to book fewer author events once October is gone. In the first place, the tourists have returned home, at least the ones who shop for books. Visitors who come north in the fall and winter tend to have goals like skiing or snowmobiling, so they don't visit bookstores much. In the second place, people who live up north start heading south. Michigan bookstores don't host many authors outside the summer months because there just isn't the return on the time invested. In the third place, the weather is full of surprises, so booking a trip to Traverse City or Grand Rapids is a bit of a crap-shoot. Will I be able to get there, will it be a nail-biting ride, and will anyone else show up if I do make it? In the fourth place, I need time to focus on writing. I plan one more Dead Detective book (though #3 has yet to appear). I got the cover art for the 4th Simon & Elizabeth (left), which comes out early in 2015, and I'd like to do one more of those. And my Maggie Pil

I manned the Midwest Mystery Writers of America table for a while, with the able assistance of E.A. Poe I returned last night from Magna Cum Murder, a mystery conference held in Indianapolis, IN at the beautiful Columbia Club. One can safely say that a good time was had by all, and the organizers, led by the indefatigable Kathryn Kennison  do a great job of making everyone feel at home. Since I've attended many Magnas, I saw lots of authors I've chatted with, dined with, or sat on panels with in the past, either at Magna or at other cons. Molly MacRae, Sarah Wisseman, Sharan Newman, Tony Perona, Albert Bell, Dan (D.E.) Johnson, John Desjarlais, Monica Ferris, Ann Margaret Lewis, Carla Norton, Elaine Orr, Carol Preflatish, Lori Rader-Day, and Brenda Robertson Stewart. Among those authors you will find a wide array of mysteries, from woo-woo to cozy to deadly serious. What does one do at a mystery con? If you're an author, you sit on panels and discuss wh