Tag Archive for: Kay Kendall author

The Summer of our Discontent – Covid, Politics, and Shakespeare

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by Kay Kendall

This post marks the 100th one I’ve
made here on the Stiletto Gang. I am writing it on the 100th anniversary of the
19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. You know
that one, don’t you? It gave us women the right to vote, at long last.

So on this doubly auspicious day for
me, I wish I were feeling more cheerful. Well, at least effortlessly so.

I’m reminded of what Shakespeare wrote
in his drama, “Richard III.” If you substitute the name of the sea

“Now is the summer of our discontent.”

In the play, Richard III expresses the
idea that he has reached the depth of his unhappiness (he says WINTER to note
that) and better times (SUMMER) are yet to come.

As for me in this summer of my own
discontent, I am hopeful that by wintertime our various problems will be alleviated,
thinking of the twin evils raging across our beloved nation–the virulent
pandemic and the equally virulent political divide.

What helps me hold onto hope in these
perilous times are signs of the goodness of our fellow citizens. I saw an
outpouring of this yesterday on television. Even if you saw it too, it is worth
watching again. Here are fifty Americans singing our national anthem. Not an
easy song to sing–tis true. But nonetheless they do a magnificent job. I hope
this lifts your spirits as it has mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t15hVyzCvwo

——————

Kay Kendall writes the Austin Starr Mystery series that captures
the spirit and turbulence of the 1960s. The amateur sleuth exploits are told
in Desolation Row, Rainy Day Women, and After
You’ve Gone. Her Bullet Book, Only a Pawn in Their Game, introduces
a new character that will be featured in her series.
Kay’s degrees in Russian history and language helped to ground these tales in
the Cold War, and her titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Kay is a
winner of two Silver Falchion awards, a past member of the national board of
Mystery Writers of America and president of its southwest chapter, and was a
contributing editor to The Big Thrill, the online monthly magazine of
International Thriller Writers. 

Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor


 

WHEN YOU SHOULD KNOW YOU’RE DESTINED TO WRITE MYSTERIES

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by Kay Kendall

I remember the very first inkling. At about age sixteen I walked into a room, spied a heavy candlestick, and exclaimed, while pointing,  “That would make a great murder weapon.” 

Lost in my fantasy of discovering a killer, I didn’t notice that my friends cast furtive glances at each other and backed away from me after they heard my words.

WEAPONS IN THE GAME OF CLUE

 
Together with my three cousins in my hometown, I continued to play the board game of Clue on Sunday afternoons after the family lunches that invariably followed church services. I kept reading murder mysteries, too. After I finished all the Nancy Drew books, I moved on to more grown up volumes. My parents read plenty of fiction, and my father liked who-done-it’s, so lots of books were available at our home.


In my last year of high school, I repeated my performance and again noted a hefty candlestick. “What a dandy murder weapon that would make,” I explained while eying a massive version placed on a railing in my church sanctuary.

“What’s wrong with you?” Nancy said. “Are you going to grow up to be a killer or something? You hardly seem the type.” 

One other friend snickered, but Glenda came to my defense. “Don’t be silly. She’s just indulging in make believe.”

Back then I didn’t make much of these incidents. They did, however, stick in my mind, and once I began writing mysteries, I looked back and wondered if these were portents of things to come. I just had not recognized them as such at the time.

After all, I never heard one other person utter anything similar to my remarks. That is, not until decades later when I began to attend conferences for mystery writers. Not only was such talk common among those authors, but whole panels were held that discussed how to commit murder, how to get away with it, and how to find the perpetrator. Moreover, a few pathologists were always available to advise on just the right poison to fit a writer’s plot circumstances. I picked up specific details too that would make a scene accurate. Did you know that if you hanged your victim, his or her head would always, always tilt to one side? If you see a corpse in a film whose head hangs straight down, that is a big mistake.

I had found my tribe. Oddly enough, the crime writing and fan community is a great bunch of people. They are kind and help one another. It is a truism that people who write about murders, day in and day out, are as a group one of the nicest you can ever meet.

How about it? Can you also look back on your life and pick out a moment that suggested what you would do “when you grew up?” I would love to hear about it.
~~~~~~~
 

 
Award-winning author Kay Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries.  She lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, two house rabbits, and spaniel Wills.
Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

THOUGHTS ON LIFE DURING A PANDEMIC

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by Kay Kendall

Anyone
who knows much about me realizes how much I love learning about history. I used
to study it in school and always enjoyed reading historical novels. I still enjoy
those books but now I write them too–historical mysteries. I’ve occasionally tried to understand why
I enjoy delving into the past so much, particularly because so many others do
not.

Lately I have come up with a new angle in my appreciation of the past. It is SAFE back there. I know how all the various historical plots turn out—which contending princes end up seizing the thrones—which nations vanquish which. I never grow anxious reading a novel set during World War II, worried that the Axis Powers will prevail and conquer the whole world

Sure there’s
plenty of bad activity, monstrous atrocities, folks killed, bad guys putting
down good guys every which way—and so on. But still. I know how everything
turns out. I see how everyday people ENDURED.

Because
of my well-honed perspective on how people lived—back then, once upon a time—I don’t
feel especially hard done by as I shelter in place now during this raging worldwide
pandemic. Five weeks have passed since my husband’s and my routine changed
drastically. That is a long time. I used to think I could make it to the end of
April without getting stir crazy. I now think I can make it until the end of
May. Furthermore, if I have to go even longer, which may well be the case, I
can do that too. Easy-peasy.

Why?
Because I know my life could be so
much harder to endure. I’ve read a lot about living through the two world wars
of the twentieth century. I know what citizens put up with back then. Think of
the blitz that hit England in the early 1940s. If you didn’t march off to war,
you stayed home and “did your bit” for the war effort, caring for your family,
hunkering down, staying home, and at nighttime when the air raid sirens blew,
you ran with your brood to a shelter. You never knew if the bombs would fall on
you and yours and if you would live to see another day.

That
explains why I answer the way I do these days when someone asks—by phone, text,
Zoom or what not—‘How are you doing?”  I
always say, “I am just fine thanks. After all, no bombs are falling.” And I
really mean that with all my heart.

Long
story short, I caution you never to say, “Things can’t get any worse.”
Look–Don’t tempt
fate. Things most assuredly can worsen. And perhaps they will someday. But not
right now. If you and your loved ones are lucky enough not to have cases of
CV19, then just stay home. That’s the least you can do for humanity right now.
And while you’re at it, feel free to ask me to recommend a good historical
novel, now that you have some extra time on your hands.  

~~~~~~~

 

Award-winning author Kay Kendall is
passionate about historical mysteries.  She lives in Texas with her
Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Thoughts to Send Around the World and Into the Cosmos

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From Kay Kendall

 

Award-winning author Kay Kendall is
passionate about history so she’s aware of many pandemics Earth has suffered over the centuries. Too distracted and/or befuddled to put coherent thoughts together right now, she offers up this fine prayer by Anonymous that she found on the internet four days ago. If you don’t believe in a deity, then she suggests you substitute the word Love for God in the prayer above. Kay lives in Texas with her
Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Technology and Moving with the Times

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by Kay Kendall


Historical mysteries are my favorites among all crime fiction. When plotting my own books, I like to show how patterns of human nature repeat down the decades, no matter what historical age one reads about. I also confess that I relish the details that show past eras—the changes in language and attitudes, in styles of dress and architecture. Also, by not setting my stories during the present day, I can focus more on character. Not for me the world of high tech and CSI tricks. I prefer to delve into people’s personalities—to discover what makes them tick—and what causes them to murder.

But last summer I had to write about more modern technology than I like to do in my plotting. I moved from writing a storyline set in 1923 (AFTER YOU’VE GONE) to a novella that takes place in 1989. Yikes. In the Bullet Book named ONLY A PAWN IN THEIR GAME, we had to introduce a few cell phones. This put me into shock.

When author Manning Wolfe asked me to write for her Bullet Book Speed Reads project, there was a snag. She didn’t want historical mysteries. Luckily, we compromised and settled on 1989—a time that was old enough for me but not too long ago for her.

That’s how ONLY A PAWN IN THEIR GAME landed in the tense summer of 1989. The Communist hold on Eastern Europe was coming apart at the seams. The metaphorical Iron Curtain was being shredded, and the REAL Berlin Wall was quaking. Emotions ran high in international diplomatic–and SPY–circles. Into this hot cauldron of intrigue we dropped our protagonist, Ms. Sammy Strauss.

Because this was a joint project with Manning, we had to agree on most everything, and at least from my point of view, the project went along smoothly. Toughest for me to cope with though, I must say, was how much new-fangled stuff to decide to add to the plot. Manning remembered more digital gizmos than I did for the time period. That difference intrigued me. The only reason I came up with to explain that difference was that in 1989 she lived in Austin, Texas, and I lived in Ottawa, Ontario. She had a cell phone, and I didn’t until 1991, and by that time I too lived in Texas. (On the other hand, ATMs were widespread in Canada in 1983, well before they became ubiquitous in the US.)

The story of the unexpectedly exciting—and dangerous—summer of 1989 shows Ms. Sammy Strauss flying from her home in Houston, Texas, to Vienna, Austria. Although she expects a carefree time serving a summer internship at the US Embassy in Vienna, that’s not what she ends up with.

I’m not used to writing about instantaneous communication, and fortunately, in 1989 the digital revolution had not yet gotten into full swing. Sammy mentions that her cell phone doesn’t work in Europe, and so she puts it away. Good, it doesn’t figure into the plot. She uses hotel phones and receives notes from the handsome stranger she meets on the plane ride from Texas to Austria. These written notes play an important role in the plot as competing spy rings clash in desperation and encroach and then threaten her life. Is the attractive man interested in her because he is headed for romance—or is he really trying to use her as a pawn?

Plotting on my next mystery is now underway. Again I must face more advances in technology. Although I’m not terribly happy about that, I’ll have to deal with it. The story begins a year after the conclusion of Sammy’s red hot summer in Vienna, when she meets up with the cast of characters from my Austin Starr mysteries. And thereby hangs my next tale, TANGLED UP IN BLUE. (Maybe I will give Austin or Sammy a cell phone with a blue case.)

Yes, that’s another song title by Bob Dylan, and it’s perfect for one of the crimes I have planned. The year is 1991 with flashbacks to 1970. At least there won’t be cell phones in those flashbacks.
~~~~~~~

 
Award-winning author Kay Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries. She lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/
or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Debra & Kay “Do” Houston

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by Kay Kendall

Avid readers and writers
of crime fiction make up a warm and supportive community, both IRL (in real
life) and online. This fact often astonishes folks outside this community. Isn’t it odd, they ask, that people who spend lots of time steeped in criminal
activities of all kinds—even if it is fictional—are so nice?

Debra H. Goldstein & Kay Kendall, 2014, Killer Nashville

And now one of the nicest
and funniest authors I know is coming to Houston. Debra H. Goldstein and I will do
a talk and book signing together at Houston’s renowned store, Murder by the Book.

On Saturday, January 4 at 4:30 pm. (location: 2342 Bissonnet Street) you’ll
find us doling out cookies, tea, wine, and opinions aplenty about reading and
writing mysteries.

Debra writes funny cozy mysteries
and will talk about her newest book, Two
Bites Too Many. I write historical mysteries and will discuss my latest, After You’ve Gone.

Watch this space for news of a live feed on Facebook!

               
Debra and I are both bloggers here on the Stiletto Gang, but our
pal-hood predates that by several years. We first met at the Killer Nashville
conference in the summer of 2014 and hit it off immediately. Both of us came to
our mystery writing later in life.

She had been both a
successful labor lawyer and one of the youngest individuals appointed as a U.S.
Administrative Law Judge. I had won international awards in my two decades of
corporate communications. Both of us then cut our careers short (hers as a
judge was a lifetime appointment!) to become fulltime mystery writers. Since meeting
five years ago, we’ve each published more books and participated in several
organizations promoting crime novels. This year our paths crossed again as
members of the national board of Mystery Writers of America, with Debra representing
the Southeast Chapter as president, and me as president of the Southwest
Chapter.

I always have fun when Debra is around, and also learn lots of interesting things. I know you will too. If you are lucky enough to be in Houston on January 4, swing by Murder by the Book and see us. And everyone can see our live feed (and/or later video) on Facebook. We guarantee a great time!

~~~~~~~

Author Kay
Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries. 


She lives in Texas with her Canadian
husband, two house rabbits, and spaniel Wills.
Her second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at
Killer Nashville. Visit
Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

 











Oscar Buzz–for Brad Pitt’s Latest Film

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by Kay Kendall

Hollywood
film director Quentin Tarantino is known for his over-the-top movies,
especially in the violence department. Although I’m a fan of his talent, I don’t
enjoy his excessive use of violence so I skip some of his pictures. But the
latest one—ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD—I did rush to see this year.
Sure,
it offers Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in lead roles—plus it’s set in La La
Land.

Those are draws, but it’s the time period that really hooks me. The film opens in August 1969. Brad and Leonardo play great buddies. We see them on film sets and at their respective pads.  Real life actress Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie) is a next door neighbor of Leonardo. Eventually Brad runs across the Manson family of
murderers. Violence does ensue, naturally, but there’s a neat twist at the end
that makes the viciousness more satisfying than usual.
Now,
it so happens I have more than a passing familiarity with that time frame.
My second book in the Austin Starr mystery series also takes place then.  RAINY DAY WOMEN opens during the week of the
Manson murders and Woodstock, and the era is seething with menace.
Some
friends called me up to say, “Hey, didn’t you use that stuff as a backdrop?”
Yes
indeed, I did.
In
my book, intrepid amateur sleuth Austin Starr, with her infant in tow, flies
across the continent to support a friend suspected of murdering women’s
liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Then her former CIA trainer
warns that an old enemy has contracted a hit on her. Her anxious husband
demands that she give up her quest and fly back to him. How much should Austin
risk when tracking the killer puts her and her baby’s life in danger?
While
I don’t offer a gory ending to my tale—with body parts flying through the air,
a la Tarantino—I do promise you a  most
satisfying story that earns 4.5 stars on Amazon. Why not take a look? https://www.amazon.com/Rainy-Day-Women-Kay-Kendall/dp/1941071171/
PS.
I’ve got to add that Brat Pitt is past due for his own Oscar for Best Actor. If
I were a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Brat would
get my vote.
~~~~~~~
Author Kay Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries. 

She lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Her second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at Killer Nashville. Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Only a Pawn in Their Game (Bullet Books Speed Reads #7)

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by Kay Kendall

 My fellow Texan Manning Wolfe—friend,
author, ace lawyer—has launched an exciting new series called Bullet Books
Speed Reads.  
BULLET BOOKS!
ON A PLANE… ON A TRAIN…FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET!

Bullet Books are speed reads for the busy traveler, commuter, and beach-goer.
All are new original crime fiction stories that can be read in two to three
hours. Gripping cinematic mysteries and thrillers by your favorite authors! Page
turners for fans who want to escape into a good read. ALL ABOARD!

Manning asked me to write for her project, but there
was a snag. She didn’t want historical mysteries, and that’s what I
write. Luckily, we compromised and settled on a time
that was old enough for me but not too long ago for her.

That means ONLY A PAWN IN THEIR GAME is set in the tense summer of 1989. The Communist hold on Eastern Europe is coming apart at the seams. The metaphorical Iron Curtain is shredding and the REAL Berlin Wall is shaking. Emotions run high in
international diplomatic–and SPY–circles.

Into
this hot cauldron of intrigue I drop my protagonist, Ms. Sammy Strauss.

Sammy
expects a carefree summer during her internship at the US Embassy in Vienna.
Competing spy rings clash in desperation and threaten her life as every Viennese
waltz accompanies a murder. Is the handsome stranger she meets heading for
romance or using her as a pawn?

Can she figure out who’s playing the tune before the dangerous dance ends
badly?

Lucky
for YOU, the potential reader, you can read my new book ONLY A PAWN IN THEIR
GAME to find out the answer. This book and others in this new series are
available at all online book sellers in paperback and digital format. (NOTE: Keeping with my long-standing tradition, the name of my Bullet Book is also a Bob Dylan song title.)
~~~~~~~

 
 

Author Kay
Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries.  She lives in Texas with
her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Her
second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at Killer
Nashville. Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  

or on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

So You Want to Write a Book . . . 6 Things I’ve Learned!

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By Kay Kendall

By now I’ve written fiction long enough to trust my own habits. Once, when I was a real newbie, I believed I must do just as the experts advise. But now I know on some points the experts differ.

1.   If your process works for you, trust it. For example, while most experts advise to rip through your first draft quickly, without editing as you go, I just can’t. I used to feel guilty—since I was doing things WRONG. Finally, lo and behold, I learned about other authors, bestselling authors, who also begin their writing days by editing what they wrote the day before. Whew. What a relief.
Here are some other habits I’ve also learned to trust:
2.     2. Keep reading. If you’re writing your own book, don’t stop reading other ones. I’ve read more, not less, since I began to write fiction. I submerged myself in the mystery/suspense genre for almost two years before I started Desolation Row—An Austin Starr Mystery. Picking up the tricks of the trade by osmosis works better for me than gulping ten dry how-to tomes. 
3.     Keep a notebook beside your bed. “Brilliant” thoughts are fleeting. Pin them down before they get away. I learned the hard way that wonderful ideas at 3:00 a.m. disappear by the time I awake in the morning. 
4.     Keep exercising. Health gurus are adamant that sitting all day is a terrible habit that can lead to early death and/or dementia. Besides, when I’m on my exercise bike, I zone out and then ideas for my writing zone in. The mind-body connection is worth protecting with sufficient exercise. However, it’s time for a true confession. I have trouble with this one, especially when I’m on deadline. 
5.     Keep up with your pals. Writing can be a lonely pursuit, and trying to get published these days is a killer. I needed all the support I could get, and my friends stepped up and stayed there right beside me on my journey. They kept me going through the darkest days and have been my staunchest supporters and shared my joy upon publication. I’ve also made new friends as I’ve joined writers’ critique groups and associations. I’m a staunch believer in the truth of what Barbra Streisand sang back in the sixties. “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
6.     Keep the faith. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” When I saw that on a coffee mug for sale 15 years ago, I was too scared to pick it up. How dare I think I could write a novel? But I forced myself to buy that mug, and after using it for two years and writing my first manuscript, I began timidly to call myself a writer. Hold fast to your dream. Keep it alive by doing it.
I have faith I will complete new books because three of my mysteries are published and the fourth is in progress. I’ve pushed through the dark times, “getting by with a little help from my friends.” (Footnote to the Beatles) Moreover, if I’ve done this, then you can too. As we used to say back in the day, just keep on truckin’. And find what works best for you. Your mileage may differ from mine, but just do it.

NOTE: This post originally appeared one year ago to great acclaim from other authors. I am recycling it so others can read this who may have missed it last year.

==============
Meet the author

 Author Kay Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries. 

Her second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at Killer Nashville. Her newest is After You’ve Gone.

Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor








The Magic of Fiction

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by Kay Kendall

Like many authors, I am an avid reader. I also adore movies, and in both categories of storytelling I prefer fiction to non-fiction. I have loved many books and films and liked countless others. Increasingly these days, as the world becomes more and more fraught with ugliness and danger, I treasure the ability to escape into the tale of my choice, be it on the small screen or large, or on the digital or actual page. Fiction, bring it on. (Needless to say, I am not a fan of dystopian fiction.)

Two weeks ago I happened to see an online recommendation by Kate Quinn, an author of historical mysteries that I’ve read and admired. She enthusiastically supports the historical novel named Madensky Square. The book is set in Vienna, Austria, a few years before the outbreak of the disastrous First World War. Eva Ibbotson (1925-2010) wrote the book in 1985, and Pan Books reprinted it two years ago. The author herself was born in Vienna and moved to London right before World War II.

Those are the bare facts. What remains for me to convey is the intense feelings of joy and peace that reading this book instilled in me. Kate Quinn says she often  urges people to read Madensky Square, and now I have joined her worthy crusade.

In the preface to the 2017 edition is this sentence: “Ibbotson was determined to prove that romantic novels can be funny, well-written and even a little erudite.” Indeed, with Madensky Square, she achieved all that, in spades.

For me, however, to call this treasure a romantic novel sells it short. Although it begins sweetly and lightly with descriptions of the lovely square in which Frau Susanna has her dressmaker’s shop, it proceeds to deepen as the pages turn. The lives of its characters–the dressmaker and her friends and lover–go through perils and triumphs, and yet by the ending most achieve a more perfect harmony. A few receive their just deserts that are not pleasant, but the plot flows effortlessly like a stream. Nothing feels the least contrived. Susanna hides a deep sorrowful secret that burdens her throughout the book. Believe me, this is no mere piece of fluff. And Ibbotson writes like an angel.

Enchanting is one adjective that came to my mind by the fiftieth page. Then, halfway through the book, I thought, “Ah-ha. The only time I’ve felt this enraptured by fiction was when I saw the 1991 film called, fittingly enough, Enchanted April.  Even though I saw it only once, 28 years ago, I vividly recall the euphoria it induced in me.  I’m delighted to learn that I can stream it tonight, and I shall.

A little research today showed me that the book that inspired it, The Enchanted April, was written in 1925 by a British author named Elizabeth von Arnim. The book was set in Italy and was so successful that it caused Portofino (where four fictional British women spend a month away from their boring and/or stressful lives–and husbands) to surge in popularity as a tourist distination. The author’s life is well worth Googling, and you can read her entire book online for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16389/pg16389-images.html

If this blog post succeeds in getting even one person to read this novel and another to watch this film, I will feel good knowing that I’ve done my bit today in bringing more happiness into this dark world. Fiction lovers, I salute you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Author Kay
Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries. 
She lives in Texas with
her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills.
Her
second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at Killer
Nashville. Her newest is After You’ve Gone.

Visit Kay at her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor