Mystery Unsolved

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There is always a painful poignancy and urgency when a crime involves a child. May 25 will mark the 30th anniversary of the day six-year-old Etan Patz walked to his school bus stop, one block from his home…never to be seen again. His likely killer is in prison, a convicted pedophile who taunts police with answers, but never gives the family the closure it deserves by telling them where to find the remains of that sunny little boy.

Caylee Anthony, a two-year old with a bright smile, was missing for six months before her tiny body was found in a garbage bag. Her mother is now on trial for her daughter’s murder.

According to the The U.S. Department of Justice:

* 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time, resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
* 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
* 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.
* 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. (These crimes involve someone the child does not know or someone of slight acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.)

“A child can become missing because of a variety of circumstances, such as running away, being abducted, or being delayed by a mishap on the way home. Even simple misunderstandings about schedules and miscommunications about plans and activities can cause a child to be missing.” Most missing child cases are quickly resolved. We, of course, hear about the tragic ones where there is no known resolution or a heartbreaking one.

An incident last week in the supermarket prompted me to go online to check these statistics. It was another miserable rainy day in a New York suburb. When I entered my local Stop and Shop, I saw a group of adults crowded around a small child, who was face down on the floor. The little boy couldn’t have been more than three or four years old. He was making plaintive little cries, but not answering any direct questions. I heard murmurings from employees about how this was the second time in two weeks that this particular child had been found, seemingly abandoned, in the front of the store. Someone suggested that the child had developmental issues.

Finally a man in a black leather jacket and jeans spoke up. “Call the police.”

To me, that should have been the first reponse, but the manager seemed hesitant. Maybe she didn’t want to bring the cops and sirens to her store. Maybe she thought that someone shopping would come and claim the child.

The man firmly repeated his advice: “Call the police.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather billfold, flipped it open, to show his badge. “I’m a cop. Call the police.”

The manager reached for the phone.

I started my shopping, but stopped by the service desk on my way out. The manager said the police had come and that the boy’s babysitter had also showed up.

So I’m left to wonder what will happen to a little boy, abandoned twice. What could have happened had the cop not insisted that the police be involved? Would the child have wandered off? Been abducted? How often do we want to avoid intruding into someone else’s business? How many children are at risk, but don’t show up in statistics?

I’m a mystery writer, but this is a story that I can’t wrap up in a neat little package at the end.

Evelyn David

Finding My Way Home

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Meredith Cole directed feature films and wrote screenplays before writing mysteries. She won the St. Martin’s/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition. Her book POSED FOR MURDER,set in Williamsburg Brooklyn, was published by St. Martin’s Minotaur in February 2009. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of NY board, and blogs at www.thedebutanteball.com .

Where are you from? Where is home? They’re such simple questions, but too complex for me to answer easily. Some people say “home is where the heart is” or “it’s where you rest your head,” but I guess my heart (and my head) has always felt differently.

When I shut my eyes and think about “home,” I see first my mother’s house in the rolling hills of Virginia near Charlottesville. Right now I live in Brooklyn, New York. I love New York, and appreciate the diversity, the flavors, and the excitement. I like taking the subway (except when it’s delayed), and walking everywhere. But I dislike the noise, the crowded streets, the trash, and the lack of trees—but that’s a discussion for another day.

In POSED FOR MURDER, Lydia McKenzie has left Ohio behind and gone off to New York City to be an artist. She embraces everything about the city and dreams of hitting it big. Her parents have sold their house and taken to the road in an RV, and she tells herself she doesn’t mind. But Lydia is still haunted by the past, a girl she knew as a child who was kidnapped and murdered. The girl’s experience infuses her work and leads her to try to find some sort of closure for other murdered women and their families. But instead it leads her deep into trouble, and makes her the center of a murder investigation.

My own story mirrors that of lots of Americans who because of jobs and families end up somewhere different then where they started out. My parents moved to rural Virginia from Chicago when I was two. Simple enough, but then things got complicated. My parents got divorced when I was three, and my father moved to Northern Virginia when I was six. I split my time between both places until college. I went to college in Massachusetts (Smith), lived after college in Washington, DC for five years, and then moved to Brooklyn, NY (after a few stops in Paris and Pittsburgh). So I move a lot. So do a lot of other people. So what’s the problem?

I probably agonize over the question of where I’m from because I’m a writer. I want to get my own story straight and figure out my motivation. But I’m not easy to decipher. I’m both hugely sentimental and very callous. I hate to give up my memories, my friends, and certain things that remind me of good times and people that I love—but at the same time I’m anti-stuff. I’ve never been a collector, and when I’m ready to move I throw lots of things out.

And I’m the same way when I write. The way I approach a story and the structure of a book can change a million times throughout the process. But the goal remains the same. Tell the story. Finish what I start. And then return home–wherever that might be.

Meredith Cole

The Writer’s Journey

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The writer’s journey is a long one. Full of fast starts and lots of waiting. Marked by great excitement, mixed with terrible lows, each author finds her own way. Or finds another career. Invariably the hardest part is not the writing.

The time between finishing a book and seeing it published can usually be measured in years, not months. Echelon Press Publishing LLC is one of the few publishers that can make that turn around a little quicker – still the wait is long for the authors.

The co-authors, writing as Evelyn David, are now officially starting the promotion tour for a book we finished last summer. Lots of water has passed under the bridge since then. We’ll let you in on a secret – we have to reread our own book before we stand up before a crowd and talk about it in detail. Oh, we remember the plot and the characters, but all the scenes? No. Why? Because many scenes were deleted before we turned in the final version. But in our memories, there is no difference between the words we wrote and the finished product.

To be fair, with Murder Takes the Cake we have fewer scenes littering the cutting room floor. Understanding how hard it was to edit the first book, we were more disciplined about our plotting in the second book. We write much “tighter” now.

Just as an author’s writing changes with time and experience, the writing changes the author. You learn to see the world around you in terms of events that can be mined for plots and people who’d make great characters. You listen for a phrase that can be recycled for one of your series characters. The “world is a stage” and believe me, the author sitting at the table next to you is taking notes.

The Writer’s Journey Journal is a new collection of writers’ essays on, as editor Tony Burton calls, “… the craft and business of writing fiction.” Published by Wolfmont Press, The Writer’s Journey Journal is also a journal. Pages are left for you to write about your own journey. Evelyn David, along with the following authors, contributed to the book: Carolyn Hart, Bill Crider, Radine Trees Nehring, John M. Floyd, Austin S. Camacho, Robert W. Walker, L. Diane Wolfe, Beth Groundwater, Carola Dunn, Dorothy Francis, Chris Roerden, and Tony Burton.

The Writer’s Journey Journal is available at Wolfmont Press’s website

Evelyn David
www.evelyndavid.com

Musings on Malice and Mystery

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Well, the Northern half of Evelyn David and I are back and I’m happy to report that we had a fabulous weekend. Even the food at the banquet was good…not rubber chicken! (It actually might have been, but I was so hungry at that point that I was ready to gnaw off my own arm.)

Since this was my first Malice, I didn’t know what to expect and as you know, faithful readers of the Stiletto Gang, I was expecting the worst. I had convinced myself that it would be a cross between high school and the prison rec yard in terms of the welcome that I would receive as a first-time conventioneer. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The writers and the fans were warm, encouraging, and delightful to talk to. I made several new friends and promise to keep in touch. But the best thing of all about attending was that I got re-energized about writing and about getting further into my fifth book about Alison Bergeron, something I was hoping would happen while I was away.

Mystery fans are a devoted lot, I must say. They know their books, their authors, the characters, and the plot lines. I am awe of how much these people know about series—where they began, where they are going, where they might have ended—and how loyal they are as readers. Evelyn David and I had a long conversation about what authors owe their readers and decided that we didn’t really know. What happens when you kill off a major character? What does that do to your readership? Does it matter? Maybe. I write my books attempting to stay true to the characters and their lives. But, I do give a lot of thought—if not to what the fans might say—but to just how real-life a certain plot point might be or what a certain action will do to the arc of the series. I guess part of that thought process, maybe subconsciously, takes into account what the fans might think. I know that there are successful authors who have killed off a fan favorite and heard about it from their readership. I don’t know if that has affected the writing they do now, but I do know that it probably affected them in terms of the criticism they had to endure.

But I digress. I also had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Parnell Hall, Rhys Bowen, and Carole Nelson Douglas; we were charge with appearing as our main character, in costume. Well, if you have read the Alison Bergeron series and know anything about me, it is that Alison and I are pretty similar when it comes to what we wear. Evelyn suggested that I appear in a hockey jersey, an homage to Alison’s love of the game. When I got to the panel, I could see that clearly I was out of my league. Parnell was dressed as Cora Felton, aka the Puzzle Lady; Rhys was in a ball gown, blonde wig, and tiara, dressed as Georgie, cousin of King George V of England; and Carole was in black feathers from head to toe, impersonating her feline protagonist, Midnight Louie. I was clearly out of my league. (Evelyn knew it, too. I could tell by the look on her face.) I decided to play the straight man. There was no way I could compete with this crowd. It worked out pretty well, and although I didn’t get the guffaws that my panel-mates did, I think I held my own.

Future promotional activities include a speaking engagement at my alma mater; two bookstore signings with Evelyn; and perhaps a trip to Bouchercon (I’m still deciding on that one). But I’ve left the attic, dear friends. And in the immortal words of Nina Simone, “I am feeling good.”

Maggie Barbieri

Making Me Think About My Priorities

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Both Susan’s last post and the following one about Malice made me mull over what I’m doing.
Sometimes I think I’m a bit crazy to spend so much time writing, promoting, traveling etc. in order to further my career as a writer. I’m such small potatoes compared to so many big-names, is it all worth it?

Yes, I do have a small following of fans. This past Saturday I spoke to the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime (I was one of the founders). We had a much smaller crowd than the week before when the reformed gangster Henry Hill (Good Fella fame) appeared along with Denny Griffin, a retired cop who writes about gangsters and crime in Las Vegas.

The ones who came though, came to hear me. They’d asked that I answer questions–some of which they’d given me ahead of time. Of course I did and talked about my two latest books, No Sanctuary and Kindred Spirits. After I was done, those who so desired bought books. I sold 19–more than the people in attendance because some bought a copy of each book.

When we got home I did a few writing chores then we had to go to a spaghetti dinner put on by our youth group. Food was great and the kids worked their fanny’s off. They’re hoping to get enough money to go to camp this summer. Camp is expensive and most of our kids come from poor families.

I have other priorities–hubby is # one. I took him with me to the SinC meeting and he took care of the selling. He’s also very popular and has his own fans. Good for his ego.

I teach Sunday School and attend church every Sunday that I’m not off somewhere. Last week our eldest daughter and hubby visited and I did no writing. We just had fun together. They’re both retired and travel in a big motor home and love it.

So where are my priorities? My family has to come first, then the writing and all that’s related to it. Most of my friends are other authors who I see at various functions.

Not sure any of that helped. I do know that I love to write and I have fun promoting, so I guess that counts for something.

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com/

The Definition of Genius

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There are writers who simply blow me away. Their use of language is so extraordinary that I deliberately read every “a, the, an,” etc.” No speed reading or skimming allowed.

When I read Laura Lippman’s To the Power of Three, I decided that I’d never write another word again. No point. She said it all, and so much better. I felt that way when I read James McBride’s The Color of Water. In both cases, while the story and memoir were compelling, I was dazzled by the imaginative metaphors and similes the authors used. I just knew I’d never be able to replicate that kind of genius.

Those feelings, while understandable, should be transitory. What I should have learned when I read those books was (1) enjoy beauty where you find it, and (2) genius is, as Mr. Edison pointed out, “one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” I suspect that Ms. Lippman and Mr. McBride sweated bullets over the language that leaves me in awe.

I was prompted down this road of reflection by an interview I recently watched with Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and most recently, Outliers: The Story of Success. Gladwell insists that success is never an overnight event, but rather almost always the result of much practice. He uses The Fab Four to illustrate his point. While the media and Ed Sullivan were proclaiming the shaggy foursome from Liverpool overnight sensations, in fact, The Beatles had spent two years as the house band for a strip joint in Hamburg. They played 8-hour sets, 7 days a week. That kind of practice and experience gave them an edge that most garage bands simply don’t have. As Gladwell posits, “no Hamburg, no Beatles.” His take on genius: “Talent is the desire to practice.”

Murder Takes the Cake debuts this month. Both halves of Evelyn David have been up to their collective eyeballs in promotional activities. We’re going to mystery conferences (Malice Domestic and Deadly Ink), speaking in libraries and other venues, appearing for booksignings, blogging, Twittering, Facebook-ing, MySpace-ing…just about everything except actually writing a new mystery. Whenever we start a new project – a book or short story – the first few pages are like pulling teeth. Hard and unpleasant. But once we get into a rhythm of writing every day, the words begin to flow, the ideas flourish.

I wasn’t stirred by Lippman’s or McBride’s promotional efforts. It was their writing that inspired me. I need to get back in the groove again – and that takes practice.

Please share books that inspired you.

Evelyn David

From Malice Domestic 2009

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The Agatha Banquet was funny and inspiring. many of the speakers acknowledged that Malice Domestic 2009 was almost cancelled due to the dire economic situation, but that everyone renewed their efforts to make it a success.

There was a sense of camaraderie to the whole weekend – like brothers (& sisters) in arms, committed to preserving and celebrating the traditional mystery. Elaine Viets was the toastmaster for the evening. She spoke movingly of the support and encouragement she received from the community when she suffered a series of strokes two years ago. That had been my first Malice and I remember being so impressed by the concern and efforts to help an author in a difficult time.

Nancy Pickard was the guest of honor. She has a quiet, effective sense of humor and is very inspiring. I still quote from her Agatha acceptance speech of two years ago when she talked about studying her craft of writing. She was an accomplished author who had 20+ books to her credit, but she wanted a challenge and pushed herself to write outside her usual genre. The Virgin of Small Plains was the result. Saturday night she described her visits to 49 libraries throughout Kansas, since January. Even in the tiniest, most economically depressed towns, she found a civic pride in having a library, in the celebration of the written word. She got a standing ovation – much deserved.

The Agatha winners were all excited and humbled by their awards – and all seem genuinely touched that they had been selected by fans for this recognition. I’ve never been to Love is Murder or Mayhem in the Midlands – the Southern Half goes to those conferences – but this is my third year at Malice and I’d sign up again in a heartbeat.

Malice is a small, super-friendly, well-organized convention with all the cozy/traditional writers that we all adore and it’s easy to fit right in. I also couldn’t help but laugh when I walked through the lobby area of the event hotel – at what other national convention do you find so many attendees sitting around reading? How fun it is to be with others who love the written word!
And for a group who loves to read about murder and mayhem, it’s also a group who is constantly cracking jokes and laughing out loud.

I’m on a panel tomorrow at 12:30 pm – then will head back home — with dreams of Malice XXII already in my head

Congratulations to all the Agatha award winners!

Best Children’s/Young Adult, The Crossroads, by Chris Grabenstein for Random House.

Best Short Story, The Night Things Changed, by Dana Cameron for Penguin Group.

Best Non-Fiction, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, by Kathy Lynn Emerson for Perseverance Press.

Best First Novel, Death of a Cozy Writer, by G.M. Malliet for Midnight Ink.

Best Novel, The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny for St. Martin’s Press.

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com/

Feelin’ Brain Dead

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by Susan McBride

I’ve got two weeks left to finish up THE COUGAR CLUB, and I’m feeling just a tad freaked out. I’ve been trying hard to say “no” more and travel less so I have more time to write, particularly with back-to-back deadlines these past two or three years. But despite the best intentions, I never end up with as much work time as I’d like. Something’s gotta give, and it’s usually sleep. That leads to brain fog, which leads to “oops” moments. Take this morning, for example. I had two hours’ worth of errands to run before the writing could commence, and I realized as I hit the vet’s office to pick up a prescription for a cat that I’d forgotten to enclose a check with a bill I mailed off at the P.O. this morning. Sigh.

For some reason, my tired mind keeps singing, “feelin’ brain dead” to the tune of “feelin’ groovy” from Sesame Street. That’s when you know you’re sleep-deprived. At least it’s stopped thinking of that stupid FreeCreditReport.com song!

Still it’s hard to regret taking time off work to do things like fly to Houston in early April for the Texas Library Association convention (even though I had laryngitis–oy! Can you say “stress much”?). I loved being back in my old hometown, seeing friends, doing a drive-thru of my former neighborhood which is where THE DEBS series is set, taping a TV interview, signing stock at the lovely Blue Willow Bookshop, and doing an event at Murder by the Book. If I sounded like a croaking frog, oh, well. There wasn’t much I could do about it, and everyone was awfully nice though it sure made it hard to schmooze! (Pictured left: Sara Zarr, author of SWEETHEARTS, and Justin Somper, author of the VAMPIRATES series.)

Neither do I regret playing emcee at Lisa Scottoline’s appearance on April 21 at the St. Louis County Library headquarters. I’d never met Lisa before, and she’s terrific. Just a bundle of energy and a hilarious speaker.

And, my gosh, it would’ve killed me to say “no” to the St. Louis Komen for the Cure co-chairs, Dede and Kris, who invited me to be guest speaker at the 11th Annual Survivors Luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton on April 26. As a breast cancer survivor, I felt honored that they’d asked me to share my experience with 800 fellow survivors and their friends and family. My husband, my mom, and my mom-in-law accompanied me, and I ran into several pals and met lots of other amazing women. I’d been warned not to make my speech sad, something I wasn’t sure how to do anyway. I got through the worst of my boobal trauma by relying on my sense of humor. If you can’t laugh through the tears, I don’t know how you make it.

I’d never been so nervous before a talk, however, and I picked at my food during lunch (which was a shame because it was delish!). But once I was up on the stage and the lights were glaring in my face–I mean, those suckers were bright!–the words began to flow and the laughter rang out through the ballroom. By the time I finished, I realized people were on their feet, clapping. It took a minute to grasp the fact that I’d gotten my first standing-O! Wow. I signed books for at least an hour after, and I probably took longer signing than I should have. But I couldn’t help chatting with each woman who approached. It’s astounding the connection between strangers when you share a bond like surviving breast cancer. I felt like I’d been embraced by some of the nicest people in the world. For all the luncheon ladies who said I inspired them, let me tell you, they inspired me, too.

No more outside events until next Friday when I speak at the Young Authors Conference downtown to St. Louis Public School students. No matter the interruptions, I keep telling myself to FOCUS and get THE COUGAR CLUB done by May 15. (I think I can, I think I can!) And if that fails, I remind myself that I finished TOO PRETTY TO DIE and wrote THE DEBS entirely while going through my surgery and radiation therapy in late 2006 and early 2007. Geez, Louise! If I can do that, I can surely complete the last chunk of COUGAR in two weeks, right? Even with a soggy brain.

New Book Mania

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Murder Takes the Cake, the second book in the Sullivan Investigations Mystery series by Evelyn David, has an offical publish date of May, 2009. That’s tomorrow!

Actually it feels like Murder Takes the Cake has already been out for six months – that’s how long we’ve been promoting it. Longer still if you consider we had the concept and title picked out two years ago.

We’ve designed and ordered bookmarks promoting the new book, the series, and The Stiletto Gang. We’ve sent charity promotion baskets featuring our series to Bouchercon 2008, Mayhem in the Midlands, Murder 203, Malice, etc.

We’ve sent out emails and flyers to readers and WorldCat-listed libraries who purchased the first book, Murder Off the Books. We’ve blogged, twittered, myspaced, and facebooked about the book. We’ve called into radio station programs featuring books about animals.

We did a sneak peek sale at the Love Is Murder Convention in February. We’ve sold a few advance, autographed copies through our website – http://www.evelyndavid.com and Amazon has been taking pre-orders. But this weekend at Malice, Murder Takes the Cake will be officially launched.

Now the real work begins.

We have to approach bookstores, libraries, clubs, civic organizations, basically anyone who would like a speaker or workshop for their organization and in turn, will give us an opportunity to promo our books. We’re busy booking events from now until 2010. If you’d like Evelyn David to speak to your group, email us at evelyn@evelyndavid.com

You can see some of our scheduled events listed on the lower right side of this blog. For a full listing check out our website at http://www.evelyndavid.com

My co-author and I love speaking to library groups – nothing like talking to a group of people who love everything about books. We have a listing of all the libraries we’ve visited on our Library Hall of Fame section of our website.

On the Saturday before Mother’s Day, I’m trying something different. I’ll have a small table at Reasor’s Grocery Store in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. From 9 am – 2 pm, I’ll be competing with the “food sample lady” and the “special on aisle 5” for shoppers’ attention. Hey, maybe I could join forces with the “food sample lady!” No, scratch that – I don’t want barbeque stains on my book pages. On the other hand someone might think red stains on a murder mystery was a plus. I’ll have to think about it.

Wish us luck! The new book mania begins.

Evelyn David

Off to Malice

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If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I spend an inordinate amount of time in my attic. My office is located up there, a little alcove that is filled with books, manuscripts, and shoes (we’re short on closet space in this almost one hundred year old house). But for the first time in my writing career, I’m heading to Malice Domestic this weekend with the northern half of Evelyn David, my good friend Marian Borden, who has schooled me in the ins and outs of attending the convention. And thank god she did, because I had no idea what to expect.

As she mentioned in Monday’s post, we have both been invited to participate in Malice Go Round, a mystery convention version of speed dating, where we have the opportunity to do a two-minute presentation on our latest books—mine being Quick Study—to groups of fans. I was told by the person chairing the convention that it is nice to do a little giveaway, a bookmark, post card, some candy. Well, suffice it to say that BJ’s needs to restock their candy aisle because I bought more candy than I’ve ever bought during the Halloween season, and still didn’t make my goal of making it last through one hundred bags. I’m on eighty, with a goal of preparing one hundred and fifty. So it’s back to BJ’s this week. I hope they’ve restocked.

Marian and I had a quick lunch to go over the details of the convention. My concern? That I’ve been in the attic so long that I’ve forgotten how to behave in polite society. If your day in the “office” starts at eight and ends somewhere in the vicinity of twelve hours later—after brief interludes of making sandwiches, doing laundry, NOT cleaning the bathroom, and preparing chicken cutlets for the fifth time in a week—and you’re by yourself with only Bonnie, the very emotionally needy Westie, to keep you company and talk to, you’d be nervous, too. I’m guessing that mystery conventioneers don’t respond to the same verbal cues as Bonnie and won’t get all excited if I ask them if they want a treat. I’ve been practicing my convention small talk, and watching myself in the mirror as I introduce myself to someone else. (That hasn’t been going very well. I’m starting to look like someone who needs anti-anxiety medication. When you introduce yourself, I guarantee that your smile shouldn’t include ALL of your teeth. Molars shouldn’t be part of the introduction equation.)

Marian and I are looking forward to the opening night reception (see previous paragraph on small talk, introductions, and smiling) and the banquet on Saturday night, though I am in a dither as to what to wear. If I wait long enough to pack, that will become a non-issue and I’ll just throw something in my suitcase that will have to do. I have a longstanding aversion to packing since my editorial job where I had to travel three months a year. Packing meant leaving and leaving meant not seeing husband and child number one for at least a week, if not longer. I’m trying to think through what I need, but know that I’ll be throwing items in a suitcase on Thursday morning, moments before I’m supposed to leave, confident that there is an underground mall beneath the hotel for anything I’ve forgotten.

I expressed all of the anxiety I was feeling about traveling down to the convention in a recent post. But something recently dawned me: I’ll be in a hotel room, by myself, for three nights. That, in itself, sounds fabulous. And if I do have any anxiety about mixing and mingling, I only have to remember the inimitable words of fellow poster, Marilyn Meredith: “Everyone’s in the same boat. Just smile and start talking.”

I’ll do that. I’ll just have to make sure that I keep my molars to myself.

Maggie Barbieri