March Is For Murder

March Is For Mysteries

 

Though today is St. Patrick’s Day and I have a smidgeon of Irish in my blood, I would rather talk about writing mysteries and suspense. Murder and Mint Tea was my first ebook and still remains one purchased. 1998 is a long life for a book. I did have to do some updating when I reissued the book. House phones and station wagons area thing of the past. So I had to give my heroine a cell phone, something she reluctantly uses and give her friends new rides. I’ve lost track of how many copies of the book were sold over the years but the number is many.

I’ve written only one romantic suspense. Code Blue began as Code Blue but the first publisher changed the name to Obsessions. When Book We Love took over the story we went back to the original title. That pleased me. This is another book that has been around for a long time and has also had some updating. Not enough according to one reader but that’s all right. The interesting thing I discovered is the rough draft of another medical suspense put away after my long ago critique group and some doctor friends were upset with the subject. I’m going to rework this story because I really enjoyed reading what I wrote and so some day you can read Committee of Angels.”

Hearing Your Book

Hearing Your Story

 

Recently my book Murder and Mint Tea came out in an audio version. Now I’m the kind or writer who sits and reads out loud the final draft of the mss to make sure there are no awkward places. The problem is that while I’ve been reading aloud, I haven’t been listening to more than pacing and flow. I also have trained to read my words loudly and without expression.

Hearing the book read by a professional reader was a surprising treat. There were times when I wondered if I’d really written those words. Several times I had to look in the print copy and those words were there but somehow they took on a different meaning. Sometimes the meaning was more sinister than I thought and sometimes showing an undertone I hadn’t realized was there.

Many thanks to Virginia Ferguson for her reading skills. Now I’m hoping for more reviews like the one that’s already there from one of the prior editions of the book.