Tag Archive for: Desolation Row mystery

If Austin Starr Could Talk to You *

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

My
dear friend Larissa is in big trouble. She just called me long
distance to say she’s a suspect in a murder case. Good grief, it’s only been a
year since my husband David was suspected of murder, and now it’s Larissa. This
is too much. I’ll need to get a
trench coat and fedora—pretend I’m a private eye—if I keep getting pulled into
these cases on a routine basis. 


            Larissa wants me to fly across the continent
to give her moral support. The Mounties say she’s the one who killed the leader
of her women’s lib group. Of course she didn’t do it. The idea is ludicrous.
And, I know I owe her, big time, and want to help her, but I don’t see how I
can. Believe me, I’d leave right now if I could. But things have changed since we
talked.

            The
life-changing event is, well, I’m a mother now. Wyatt is three months old and
cute as can be. I can’t possibly take him with me because last time I went
sleuthing around, I was almost killed. However, I can’t go alone and leave Wy
at home either. David would have a perfect fit
if I asked him to babysit. Of course I
juggle Wyatt’s child care with my own courses work, but that’s expected. After
all, I mean, gosh, I’m the mom. Dads don’t do things like that—not much anyway.

 


           Still, I cannot leave Larissa in the lurch. She’s the only real friend I’ve
made since I pulled up stakes and left my home and family in Texas to join my
new husband up here, in the Great White North, Canada. You know, it really was
kinda neat—how Larissa and I clicked right away. Usually I avoid anyone who is
petite like she is. They make me feel like such an oaf. Here I am at five feet
eleven, and Larissa is a good ten inches shorter. But she is so much fun, and smart
too. The two years difference in our ages seems like nothing. She just turned
twenty-one and is still an undergrad.
            I tell Larissa everything. For
instance, she’s the only one who knows I was being trained as a spy by the CIA
right before I married David. But I could never tell him that. He would not
approve, that’s for sure. But Larissa knows and keeps all my secrets. Here’s a
funny thing, though. Why didn’t she
confide in me she joined a women’s
lib group?

            Oh
my gosh, the more I think about it, I must
fly out to be with her during her time of trouble. I’ll have to put a plan in
place. She’ll call me back in an hour and ask if I’m coming.

            Hey,
maybe you can help me out. What do you
think I should do?  

* Austin Starr is the amateur sleuth in Kay Kendall’s two mysteries. Here Austin sets out on her second murder case, Rainy Day Women, the sequel to Kay’s debut Desolation Row. Both are
published by Stairway Press.

Meet the author                                                                 


Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical
novels and now writes atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit and
turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards
for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house
rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them
anyway!
Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Rainy Day Women  won two Silver Falchion Awards at Killer
Nashville in 2016.
Visit Kay at her website  http://www.austinstarr.com/
or
on Facebook 

Storylines from the Past Offer Lifelines Too

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by Kay Kendall

“I tried so
hard to sleep last night, but kept getting up to read more of Kay Kendall’s
DESOLATION ROW. It resonates powerfully in these troubled times . . . .”

So begins
the newest reader comment on Amazon about one of my mysteries. Of course any laudatory
review is a pleasure for an author to read about one of her book babies. However,
while I was thrilled to see five stars, I was surprised to see an emotion
expressed about reading my fiction that I never expected.

The reviewer concluded a personal email to
me by saying, “I realized that the
ideas/ideals are as compelling as the plot in your books, just what we need
right now.”
I write
historical murder mysteries, and my chosen time period is the turbulent era of
the 1960s. Back in 2012 when I finished writing DESOLATION ROW and then when it
debuted in 2013, I had hoped that setting my first book in a fraught time of
extreme unrest would be interesting. I thought it would help readers of the
baby boom generation remember their salad days and younger readers might read
and learn what it was like. The plot is fiction. The background is not. DESOLATION
ROW looks at the consequences of the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, and
personal outcomes from military service. In RAINY DAY WOMEN published in 2015, I explore the hopes
for female improvement held by early members of the women’s liberation
movement.
One reason I
write about that time period is to describe its importance to those who know
nothing about it. Reading fiction is an easy way to learn about history.
After both
my mysteries were in print, I spoke to classes at a community college in
Alabama. Only two in one hundred students knew about Bob Dylan—my book titles
come from his songs. Moreover, none of them knew why the United States
was drawn into fighting a war in Vietnam. And none of them had ever heard of
the “domino theory.”
Another
reason I write about the 1960s is to commemorate and revivify a part of
American history that has had far reaching effects. Societal upheaval was so
intense in the 1960s that the aftershocks still are felt today. Until very
recently, that past seemed dead and buried.
Yet only two years since I spoke to those Alabama students and right now, right now the
1960s have gained new relevance. The era is evoked often on television news stations. Old battles are
being fought again in the streets of America. And readers are telling me that
my books bring them hope.

After all, they say, If we Americans got through such troubled domestic times once, we can do
so again. But hang on, dear readers, we may be in for a long and bumpy ride.

 ~~~~~~~

Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY
DAY WOMEN here! http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book.  Visit Kay at https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Thrilling Lee Child

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

When my
first mystery was months away from publication, other writers suggested I
should attend ThrillerFest, the high powered writers’ conference held every July
in New York City. I protested that a) I don’t write thrillers, and b) that
conference was pricy. Then I was told that International Thriller Writers, the
group that holds the annual meeting, has a special program for debut authors
that helps put newbies on the map. I was persuaded to attend, thinking I would
go only once in order to participate in that program.

Janet Maslin of the NY Times interviews ThrillerMaster Lee Child.

That was
back in 2013, and I have just returned from my fifth ThrillerFest in a row. Yes,
I got hooked, pure and simple. The authorial fire power at ThrillerFest can’t
be equaled, and contrary to its name, the International Thriller Writers do welcome
authors across the full spectrum of crime writing. Whether you write cozy
mysteries, true thrillers, traditionals, historicals, suspense, or whatever. It
does not matter. All are welcome.
An awards
banquet concludes each conference. Besides handing out six book awards, ITW
honors one author who is deemed the year’s ThrillerMaster. Beginning in 2006
when the conference debuted, in chronological order the honorees were Clive
Cussler, James Patterson, Sandra Brown, David Morrell, Ken Follett, R.L. Stine,
Jack Higgins, Anne Rice, Scott Turow, Nelson DeMille, Heather Graham, and—this year—Lee
Child. Also part of the hoopla centering on the ThrillerMaster is an hour-long
interview by another notable person. This year Lee Child was interviewed by
Janet Maslin, long-time film critic (1977-1999) and book reviewer (1999 on) for
the New York Times.  
If you aren’t
up on your thrillers, here is some background about the suave and ever-genial
Lee Child, who hails from Coventry, England. Although a resident of New York
since 1998, he has not lost his gorgeous British accent—or his elegant manners
either, for that matter. Within the thriller/mystery writing community, his
name is a watchword for bestseller-dom. In fact, his twenty-one novels starring
the tall, sexy drifter Jack Reacher are so popular that I was shocked that Lee
Child had not been named an ITW ThrillerMaster years earlier.
Near the
beginning of his interview with Janet Maslin, Child announced that he had
become eligible for the award only three months previously. There was a
twenty-year rule that explained everything, one I had not known about. His
twenty-second Reacher novel is due out in the fall, and two popular films
featuring actor Tom Cruise as the legendarily tall Jack Reacher have been produced.
I will never forget when the news first broke that Cruise would play Reacher.
Much consternation ensued. Cruise is known to be well under six feet tall. Reacher
is described in book after book as six feet five, weighing 220 pounds, with a
chest expanse of 50 inches. To note: Child himself is six feet five, but his
frame is rail-thin. .
Lee Child
says he tires of being asked about the choice of Cruise, but his ire is never
evident.  Which is a good thing. At the
awards banquet, two thriller authors performed a mashup of Beatles songs with
lyrics restyled to fit known events in the life and career of Child. The medley
opened with “Tiny Jack Reacher” sung to the tune of “Paperback Writer.” This
performance brought down the house. And Lee Child smiled through it all. He
also gave everyone in attendance a hardback of collected Jack Reacher short
stories that debuted just this month. Now that’s what I call class.

~~~~~~~
Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery,
RANY
DAY WOMEN here! http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That
book won two awards at the Killer Nashville
conference
in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book. 
Her
first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing,
DESOLATION
ROW, was a finalist for best mystery
at
Killer Nashville in 2014. 

The 80/20 Rule for Readers

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

This
afternoon my husband asked me an upsetting question. “Are fewer people reading
books these days?”

I gulped. “Yes,”
I replied, “but I try not to think about it.”

On the one
hand, I see statistical reports monthly and year-to-date and this year versus
last year. The trend is down, slowly but steadily down. This depresses me. 

On the other
hand, I hang out with writers and readers—both in real and in virtual life—leading to a false sense of euphoria. Why, everybody reads and buys books and complains about no space in their homes for ever
more books. Heated debates appear online about the virtues of e-books and paper
books, which is better and why. In truth, my world is replete with readers.
Everyone cares, and cares enough to argue heatedly, but usually civilly, which
is nice in this fraught climate of ours these days.

Twenty years
ago I learned how important it is to “compartmentalize” one’s mind. President
Bill Clinton was said to have mastered this skill as he went through his
impeachment crisis. Perhaps I learned how to compartmentalize my views on today’s
declining book sales from reading about his ability. Who knows?

So today,
after I gave my husband my anguished answer, he scuttled off to his French
class and I was left to ruminate on the conditions of publishing today. That is
when I remembered the 80/20 rule.

Have you
heard of it? I first learned about it in a marketing class in the 1980s. The
concept seemed unreal to me at first. The professor said that 80 percent of a
product was bought by just 20 percent of customers. Therefore, the marketers
had to define their target market and sell to them. That way led to high sales
and success.

Since that
time I’ve seen the 80/20 rule applied to all types of situations. I have also
learned that this rule was first promulgated in 1906 by an Italian economist
named Vilfredo Pareto. His research showed that 80 percent of land in Italy was
owned at that time by 20 percent of the country’s inhabitants. From there the
80/20 rule was applied to many other areas of human endeavor. Also known as the
Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule is now used to describe almost any type of
output in the real world. The rule is commonly used to analyze sales and
marketing. Companies must dissect their revenues to understand who makes up
their core 20 percent of customers…or readers as the case may be.

At this
point you probably are wondering what this has to do with my concerns for declining
book sales. The answer is simple. The 80/20 rule relates to the two parts of my
brain. There is the joyful part of my brain that focuses on my
friends who love reading and buy many, many books every year—every month and
even every week. That joy lives because of my acquaintanceship with people who
make up that blessed 20 percent who buy 80 percent of all books.
That happy
part of my brain hums along, plotting my current work in progress and planning
future books to write. It willfully ignores the other piece of my brain in
which knowledge resides that book sales are declining.  
When I unlock
that gloom, I allow myself to think of my neighbors’ house, where I have never
seen one book, and not even a magazine. While I know the whole family can read,
that is not the problem. They simply do not choose to read books. Since they
have lived next door for at least 15 years, I know that even before the
explosion of online media, they read no books, magazines, or newspapers. The
two children read, but it is only on iPads and cell phones, and usually just for
gaming.
This leads
me to share an anecdote that happened a few years ago. Two of my friends were
discussing what to give a third pal for his birthday. The first friend said, “How
about a book for John?” The second friend replied, “No, he already has one.”
Although I
thought that was hilarious—and apt in John’s case—I also wonder if that could
be said of more and more people today.
I cannot
change a societal trend. What I can do is focus on the 20 percent of people
who still read and love books. These are my
people. I shall write for them. Should I be so lucky as to have one of my books connect by some
miracle with a non-reader, I shall hope to ensnare her or him into the grand
world of the imagination, found in books. Be they real or virtual, books
contain multitudes of wondrous imaginings. What a pity if someone misses out on
all that magic.

~~~~~~~

Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery,                                                                                      
RANY
DAY WOMEN here! http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That
book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference
in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book.  Her
first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION
ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at
Killer Nashville in 2014. 
Visit
Kay  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Austin Starr’s Bad Day

/in /by

by Kay Kendall

The protagonist-turned-amateur-sleuth in my two mysteries is Austin Starr. Here she shares her thoughts about the problems she faces in my first book, DESOLATION ROW, and hints at ongoing issues that develop further in my second, RAINY DAY WOMEN.

This
year, 1968, looked so promising at first. I married my college boyfriend David.
He’s kind, smart, handsome…and taller than me. That’s a real plus.
Unfortunately,
today I can’t see him because he’s in jail. And if that’s not bad enough
already, he’s in jail in a foreign country.
OK, OK,
so we’ve only moved to Canada…but we Americans aren’t supposed to feel any
culture shock up here in Canada. Ha! Not true. I’ve got news for you. Canada is
not the 51st state.
Now,
please, don’t get the wrong idea about me. Just because the man I married
became a draft resister, don’t think I’m a hippie, or anything like that.
Really, I’m just a good Texas girl from a small town who followed my mother’s
advice—to get married and settle down, do what your husband tells you. Mother
simply never dreamed I’d end up living in such a cold climate, in a strange
place. Canada.
I’m so
homesick. I miss my family and friends back in Texas. And I’m scared. So very
scared. They say the Mounties always get their man…and the Mounties now have
got my husband.
They’re
sure David murdered another draft resister. But I know he didn’t do it. After
all, we came to Canada because David was against killing—against all
killing—even in the war in Vietnam.
Today
I’m setting out to prove my husband isn’t the killer. I’m nosey, curious, and
had some training from the CIA. My handler, “Mr. Smith,” was sorry to see me
leave the program. He warned I might not be happy and said he’d keep the door
open for me, in case I ever wanted to return. Smith says the Agency needs my
Russian language skills.
Shhh,
please don’t tell David. He doesn’t know about this part of my life. I don’t
think he would approve.
Here’s
the strangest thing about this murder case. I was the one who found the
body—literally fell over it, in a church basement. Yes, me. And it turns out
the corpse was the draft-resisting son of a United States Senator. That’s why
the Mounties moved so fast to jail my poor David. The senator called the prime
minister of Canada and demanded the killer be caught, fast.
Now
everyone is satisfied the murderer is in jail—everyone but me, that is.
So now
I’m on a mission…even though I’m alone, homesick, scared…and only 22 years
old…I have to prove David’s innocence. I’m his only hope.
I’m
Austin Starr, and I’m hunting for a brutal killer. Wish me luck.

~~~~~~~

Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RAINY
DAY WOMEN here! http://www.austinstarr.com/ Her book won 2 awards at Killer Nashville in 2016.
Her first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing,

Kay Kendall & Wills AKA King William

DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay on Facebook at                               https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor
 


 

Libraries I Have Loved

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

Last
Saturday I celebrated National Library Week by giving an invited talk at the
Bellaire City Library. This fine facility is located in an incorporated city
located within the Houston metropolitan area. The occasion presented the
opportunity to ruminate on what libraries mean to me.
My small
hometown in Kansas had a Carnegie Library, a place that played a prominent role
in my

Carnegie Library, El Dorado, KS

life, especially in my grade school years. Like most other writers, I’ve
always been an inveterate reader. I cannot recall a time when I was not
surrounded by books. Each summer saw me in the cool confines of the old stone
building, selecting books to take home and devour. Mother would be upstairs
checking out books for grownups and I would be in the basement where the
children’s books were kept. It was cooler there, and in the early years that
was important, before our home was air-conditioned.

As background for my talk last
weekend, I researched details about the vast number of libraries across America
that Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated. Between
the years 1883 and 1929, there were 2,509 Carnegie libraries built, both in
public and in university library systems. Of that number, 1,689 were built in
the United States. By the time Carnegie made the
last grant in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly
half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie. He also
underwrote construction of many libraries across the English-speaking world, as
well as numerous non-English speaking countries. I cannot imagine a greater
legacy to have than his.
“My” Carnegie Library in El Dorado,
Kansas, was built in 1912 in the classical revival style. I am pleased to say
that it still exists, being now repurposed and added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1987. A survey made in 1992 of Carnegie Libraries in America found that 1,554 of the 1,681 original buildings still existed, with 911 still used as
libraries. Two hundred forty-three had been demolished, while others had been
converted to other uses, like “my” library in Kansas. For a time when I was
in high school, it had even served as the city-funded hangout for teenagers. I remember dancing to an Elvis tune in that place (dubbed The Cage), and it felt almost
sacrilegious to me.
Strahov Monastery Library, Prague (see below)

I have used more grand and extensive
libraries, but clearly this—my very first—library means
the most to me. It offered the thrill of countless books to read—ones
I could check out as fast as I could read and return them. (My eight-year-old
grandson is like that now, reading three to four books each week. He taught
himself to read at age four. I had heard of that but had never seen it with my
own eyes. I was amazed).

Libraries have been important to the advance of human knowledge
for many millennia. Babylon is credited with having the first known library, and
ancient Egypt comes next. Of course the industrious Romans made improvements with their
libraries. Benjamin Franklin founded a subscription library in Philadelphia in
1731, a precursor of public lending libraries. Carnegie’s American libraries pioneered
open stacks, thus enabling the joy of browsing.
In closing I want to salute the most beautiful library I
have ever seen—not in photographs but in real life, in person. Twenty years ago
I visited the Strahov Monastery in Prague, situated on a hill high above the city’s
famous castle. I walked down a corridor in the monastery and peeked in an open door, marked by a
satin rope across its threshold. And what I beheld made me gasp out loud. The vision
I saw was the Philosophical Hall, one of two vast rooms built in the 1700s for
the monastery’s ancient collection of books. This was a veritable temple to written
human knowledge.
If you are ever in Prague, I suggest you go out of your
way to visit this splendid place. A photograph is included here to give you a
hint of its beauty.
What libraries have meant the most to you? Do you have a
favorite? Were you able to study in the stacks in college? I could not.
Whenever I heard footsteps, my head would pop up to see if it was someone whom
I knew.

~~~~~~~

 
Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY
WOMEN here! http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That
book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August
2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book.  Her first novel about
Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at
Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

What’s Doing in My Writer’s Lair

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

When I write, my dog Wills sleeps on the floor beside my
chair, with his head resting on my foot. He prefers my lap, but he makes do
with my foot as second best. He is a cavalier King Charles spaniel, a breed
preferred by royalty as “comfort” dogs in Western Europe beginning five
centuries ago.

HERE IS WILLS KENDALL, age 6.5 years old.

Portraits of the royal houses of Spain, France, and England
often include depictions of these little spaniels. The earliest portrait including one of these small spaniels was painted by Titian in 1538.

Queen Victoria’s first dog
was a King Charles spaniel. His name was Dash, and she doted on him. Dash is
included in the television version of the young queen’s life now showing on PBS. Since
these dogs have spent 500+ years doting on their royal masters, it pleases me
to giggle and think of my feet as sort of royal.

My husband Bruce and I have rescued rabbits for more than
twenty years. Our current three bunnies—Midnight, Smokey, and Jack—are jealous
of Wills. They are never allowed to frolic in the writer’s lair, my name for
the hovel of a messy bedroom where I write. The three long-eared wonders reside
next door in my husband’s study. Sometimes Jack escapes, and then he always
hightails it down the hall and into my lair. When Jack sees one of us coming to extract him from the lair, he squeezes behind furniture to hide. Rabbits can be very stubborn…and always, always cute. (Wills insists that I add that he is also extremely cute. Indeed, he is.)
While I write, I often listen to classical music. Bach,
Vivaldi, Mozart, Chopin and their like. The volume must stay subdued, otherwise
I get drawn too far into the glorious melodies.  I cannot write while listening to music with
singing. The words fight with those in my head that are trying to make their
way out to paper.
Authors are often asked how much outlining they do before
they begin to write their books. For my first two mysteries—DESOLATION ROW and
RAINY DAY WOMEN—I had the arc of the story, but no details. I knew who committed
the crimes and why, but not exactly what the other suspects had done to bring
scrutiny to themselves. I made up those details as I went along, as my
characters grew on the pages.

I always know the personalities of my characters ahead of time
and let them fulfill their destinies. From them come the plot twists and turns. It’s tricky, throwing in red herrings
here and there. An author must play fair and drop a few hints, but not give away the
whole game. Readers want to be fooled, although they love trying to guess who
done it.
I’m now in the midst of writing my third mystery. I have
planned its plot out more than I did for the first two, but I don’t claim to be
a voracious outliner. Some authors I know go into such detail that their
outlines end up filling 30 pages. I used to feel guilty not doing that. Now,
however, I have heard enough bestselling writers say that it is fine to do
whatever works for the individual writer. The guilt is banished, pretty much.
I edit as I go along. I cannot bear to rush through a first
draft, leaving ugly sentences in my wake. Of course, after a sort-of first
draft is done, I return and do umpteen drafts all over again. All the while, I
berate myself for not writing perfect sentences the first time through. One of these days I
need to post a sign on my corkboard in front of me that says . . . ALL GREAT WRITING
COMES FROM REWRITING. In short, I am not a fast writer. I surely do wish I were though.

~~~~~~~

 

Want to read the first 20 pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY WOMEN? Go to her website http://www.austinstarr.com/ That book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book. Her first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

 

CHOOSING THE GLASS HALF FULL

/in /by

by Kay Kendall

Tradition says that when a calendar year draws near its
close, people often describe their feelings about the year that has passed and
the one that looms ahead. 2016 appears likely to be nominated for the dubious
prize of the worst year ever—or at least in recent memory.


Wherever we looked in 2016, there were troubles galore.
The weather was extreme. Global populations were fleeing miserable conditions and
causing disruption in nearby peaceful countries. International relations were
frayed. American presidential politics were extreme.


Finally in the last quarter of this benighted year, I ran
into a personal health scare. This was amplified by the fact that exactly two
years earlier my husband had endured a similar health crisis. After coming down with a pinch of PTSD, in order to keep
myself from plunging into a pit of despair and staying there, I vowed to manage
my own head. It became almost a full-time job, but I did it.

When I was young—to pick a
number, let’s say when I was less than 25 years old—I enjoyed experiencing my
strong see-sawing emotions. Mood changes made me feel alive. I loved the wild
feelings of euphoria and actually did not mind a touch of mild despair.

Over time I realized that
being emotional could be overdone. After all, I never yearned to go on the
stage.  When I married and raised a
child, I began learning to control my emotions. One emotion I could never
control, however, was dread. Playing the game of What If came naturally to me.
But whenever I got stuck playing that game in my head, the What If questions
always came out with bad answers. Nothing ever came positive.

Then I learned I have an
anxiety disorder and actively sought to control my own head. Reading in psychology
and philosophy enabled me to see that whatever moment you are in is your only
reality. If you are too busy worrying about the future or regretting your past,
then you are not fully alive to the wonders of the present.

One of the habits I’ve
acquired that helps me most is to seek evidence that the glass is always half
full, never half empty. This in turn leads to a feeling of gratitude. I have
had many blessings and much good luck in my life. By emphasizing these things
rather than sorrows or slipups, I have found more joy in my everyday living.

Now I study the habits of
people who handle trials and tribulations with grace and forbearance. Even
though I have dodged the recent health scare with the assistance of fantastic
medical professionals, I know that there will be more ordeals ahead. That is a
fact of life—and of aging.

Often I think of the story I
was told about two boys who were given the task of mucking out stalls filled
with manure. One boy dragged his feet, whining and complaining. The other boy
set to cleaning the stall while he whistled. When asked about his happy
attitude, the second lad explained, “I know there has to be a pony in here
somewhere.”

And that is how I spend my
time these days. I am always looking for the pony.  
~~~~~~~
Want to read the first 20 pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY WOMEN? Go to her website http://www.austinstarr.com/
That book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book.

Her first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Why I Write Mysteries

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By Kay Kendall

I don’t give a fig how a car works. Or electricity. Or a
computer. They all could be black boxes, as far as I’m concerned, inside which
mysterious things happen. Poof! The car turns on. Poof! Electricity powers the
air conditioner. Poof! The computer recalls everything you type into it. 
What I really care about is how people work. Why they do
the things they do. I discovered this passion one teenaged summer when my
boyfriend dumped me and I drooped into churlishness. After a week my mother
tired of my moods and suggested I work at one of her charities. 
I began volunteering at the county’s psychiatric clinic,
helping with rudimentary clerical tasks. As I typed up forms and patients’
reports, I was shocked to see so much pain appear on the pages. But later I was
gratified to see the clinic’s psychiatric social worker help some of those patients
whose woes I learned about. Sometimes they left our office with springier steps.
I fancied I could see their anxieties and depression lift.
That same summer my favorite cousin began exhibiting
behavioral problems. Merle was super bright but troubled. I never saw him act
out or be mean to someone, but I began to hear stories.  I wanted to help him but didn’t have the
skills. Ah-hah, I thought! I’d study psychology in college and become a
psychiatric social worker so I could fix him.
Please note that I never aspired to be a psychologist or
psychiatrist. Perhaps that was because I’d only seen a psychiatric social
worker in action and therefore could imagine being one. Betty Friedan had just published
The Feminine Mystique. I hadn’t read
it, and it would be years before I became an ardent feminist. 
When I started college in the sixties, I loved all my
classes—even for a short time geology and astronomy, subjects taken only to
fulfill liberal arts distribution requirements. Much to my sorrow, however, psychology was a letdown,
a huge bore. 
I wanted to learn about people. But all we studied were
rats. While two friends in my class did manage to cope with rodentia behavior, I
couldn’t.  These women went on to earn
their doctorates in psychology and help countless people. For me, however, the
gap between the actions of rats and people was too great a leap. I never took
another course after Psych 101.
I toyed with various majors, but English literature was my
mainstay. Fiction encompassed everything about humanity, and I’d always been a
ferocious reader. Writing was a joy. After getting a graduate degree in history—real
crimes that happened in the past, I now say—I fell back on writing and developed
a solid career as a corporate communicator. However, I never felt I’d found my
niche. My heart did not sing.
When I began writing fiction a decade ago, I finally responded
to an inner compulsion. What I had to explore is why people do the things they
do. Character development and plot are almost synonymous to me. It’s like attending
another high school reunion and seeing old friends again after ten years. I’m
reading the newest chapters in their lives. People are walking and ongoing stories.
Curiosity drives me to learn everything I can and then fictionalize it—showing behavior
and uncovering motives. 
The mystery comes in when good people do bad things. Each
of us is a mysterious black box. Inside are so many factors all jumbled up—memories,
desires, huge grievances. How can others hope to understand us? How can we hope
to understand ourselves?
Yet still we try. We must try. Sadly, I never deciphered
what made my cousin Merle derail. I was helpless to alter his sad trajectory. Alas,
after living for years in a hospital for the criminally insane, he
wandered off into a field while on furlough and simply lay down and died. He
was forty.
As a mystery author, though, I can put characters into
extreme peril and see how they react. Can they sort out their own complicated
lives? Can they figure out who has done what vile thing to whom? Solving the
puzzles of people living only on pages (or in E files) is now my full-time job.
After I figure out one set of interconnecting lives, then I go on to develop
another set, another, and another. This is a job I relish.

~~~~~~~

Author Kay Kendall

Want to read the first 20 pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY WOMEN? Go to her website http://www.austinstarr.com/ That book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book. Her first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor


 

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

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by Kay Kendall

Many readers of the Stiletto Gang blog know that Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, was held last weekend in New Orleans. It’s an annual gargantuan event that brings together fans, authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, and even critics of crime fiction for a long weekend of learning, awards, and fun. The name honors Anthony Boucher, the distinguished mystery fiction critic, editor, and author. He helped crime fiction gain credibility back when it was considered merely “pulp fiction.”


Where do Bouchercon authors hang out? In the book room of course!
 (l-r) Lisa Alber, Barry Lancet, Laura Elvebak, Manning Wolfe, & me Kay Kendall

Naturally, in New Orleans, the entertainment and fun were stellar. Those of us who attended are still marveling at how the good times rolled and the hospitality was rampant, and some of us are just too tired to type…but type I must.

The first Bouchercon took place in 1970 in Santa Monica, California. Since then, Bouchercons have been held in many cities across the United States and in Canada too. In fact next year’s event begins in Toronto on October 12, 2017. The fiftieth anniversary event will be held in Dallas, Texas. Thousands of totally volunteer hours go into making each Bouchercon a success–a fond memory to cherish and a shimmering event to attend again in the future.

While on the one hand many writers of crime fiction are deeply introverted, on the other hand most throw caution to the winds and revel in the comradeship of fellow authors and fans when at a Bouchercon. Included here are photographs to convince you of this truth.


Megastars chat–on left David Morrell (papa of Rambo) and Lee Child (dad of Jack Reacher)

My first Bouchercon took place in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011. I’m not an introvert, but even I was initially taken aback by the hootin’ and hollerin’ as friends greeted each other after a year’s absence. I expected to remain excluded from that for years. But I was wrong, thank goodness. The mystery crowd is famous for its inclusivity, its friendliness, and its supportiveness.

At the conference in St. Louis an author on his first Bouchercon panel expressed his astonishment. He had expected to see competitiveness and criticism, like he found when attending his wife’s professional poetry events, where meanness abounded. The friendliness of Bouchercon amazed and pleased him. That was five years ago, and the kindness and support have only grown and expanded since then.

Writing is a lonely gig. Self-doubt is your constant companion. The worldwide publishing situation is super tough. Meeting up with other authors and readers, however, is a balm to your soul. If you are a crime fiction fan or writer and have never attended a Bouchercon–or a smaller conference perhaps nearer to where you live–I urge you to attend. “Just do it.” Friendship, support, well-meant advice, and fun all await you.. It is truly one for all and all for one. We crime authors may write about mayhem and murder, but in real life, we are all (well, say, 99% of us) as gentle as lambs. And so, to close, I’ll reference another famous ad slogan–“Life is meant to be good.”

~~~~~~~

Kay Kendall’s Austin Starr mysteries <http://www.AustinStarr.com> capture the spirit and turbulence of the 1960s. DESOLATION ROW (2013) and RAINY DAY WOMEN (2015) show Austin, a 22-year-old Texas bride, set adrift in a foreign land and on the frontlines of societal change. Austin learns to cope by turning amateur sleuth.