Tag Archive for: Kay Kendall author

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

Lasting Fiction–7 Books That Matter Most to Me

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

I can’t recall when I wasn’t
surrounded by books, even when my age was in single-digit years. I had a strict
time for lights-out but always wanted to keep reading. One year someone gave me
a small pin-on Santa. It lit up when I pulled a string dangling from Santa’s
beard and provided enough light for reading under the covers. Fortunately,
Santa’s battery lasted for months and months. This made me so happy, although
it’s a miracle I didn’t ruin my eyesight.

These memories illustrate how
important books have been for me, like, forever. I once told my mother
that “books are my friends.” I felt silly saying it, but years later she recounted
my words back to me. Both of my parents were great readers. Unusual for their
generation—the Greatest—both graduated from college. My father continued his quest for learning throughout his life, while my mother devoted herself
to fiction.


A few years ago, I came across my
baby book, bound in pink leather. On one page, space was provided to answer this
question: What
was baby’s first statement about religion?
My mother filled in the answer: “At the age of
two years, my daughter asked if Jesus went to college.”
Oh yes indeed, books and book
learning were inculcated early in me.

Like many of us who are inveterate
readers, I’ve encountered many favorite books over the years. I could probably
rattle off one hundred right off the top of my head. Recently I attempted to
winnow the list down to those that have stuck with me—those that left
lasting memories—and boiled that list down to seven. Here are the first five, in
the order that I read them:

Black Beauty by English author Anna Sewell, published 1877
Little Women by American author Louisa May Alcott, published 1868
Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Bronte, published 1847
Anna Karenina by
Russian author Leo Tolstoy, published 1878
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by
British author John le Carré, published 1974

Each of these novels I’ve read at least three times, with the exception of Anna Karenina, read only twice. (After all, it is by far the longest on my list.) Since I adhere to the motto of “so many books so little time,” I rarely reread anything. These five stand out because I devoured each of them many times. And even today, when paging through them,
I stop at passages that astonish me. The words leap off the pages and seem to
shout, “See. See. THIS is why I grabbed you and will never release you from my
clutches. You STILL believe in these things.”

Horse crazy as a young girl, I read many
books about horses, but only Black Beauty
had staying power. Its message of kindness to all creatures great and small was
important in my grade school years. The American classic of Little Women gave me a heroine named Jo
March with whom I could relate. Not her three sisters—they were too sweet or
dazzling or bossy. Then around age eleven, the adventurous Gothic romance of Jane Eyre swept me away.  I never looked for my own Heathcliff—oh no,
not him—but searched instead for my own Mr. Rochester. And I found him, dear
reader, I found him.  
To prepare for my SAT exams and for
college, I read classic literary novels in high school. I tried Anna Karenina then but could not get
past the first twenty pages. In my twenties I tried again, and that time it
took. I also read the great War and Peace,
and it was almost a toss-up for which I loved more, but poor Anna with her sad
tale won out. For anyone who has never read Tolstoy, I recommend that you begin
with something short to see if his precision writing draws you in. Try The Death of Ivan
Ilyich, a novella considered a masterpiece of Tolstoy’s late
fiction. What the author sees, understands, and describes is sheer brilliance,
even in translation.
The only
contemporary novel of my first five is my favorite spy story of all time, by my
favorite living author, John
le Carré. On first reading I could scarcely understand
it. There were too many code words and triple dealing and nothing was as it
seemed. I couldn’t even understand the ending—I was that confused. When I
reread it a year later, then I began to “get it.” The depth of deception
on both political and personal levels was astounding, and the puzzles were
dazzling. I have read le Carré’s  masterwork several
more times for sheer pleasure.
All five of
these works I watch again and again as new versions come out for the screen. I
am particularly picky when I watch Jane
Eyre. No actress ever lives up to my vision of the heroine, although there
are some darned good Rochester’s, mind you. Conversely, actresses who play the
role of Anna Karenina have never disappointed me. Well, let’s face it. My
favorite book, ever, is Jane Eyre,
and nothing can compete on the screen with what I see in my own imagination.
Finally, in a somewhat different category
are books six and seven. These are seminal works—ones that contain the seeds of
later development. My own later development, to be exact. One inspired me to
try writing for the first time, and much, much later the other encouraged me to write
historical mysteries. These two are
“A Visit from St. Nicholas” by American
academic Clement Moore, first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23, 1823, and
Maisie
Dobbs
by British author Jacqueline Winspear, published in 2003.
Even when I could read, my grandfather read
the beloved Christmas poem to me every holiday season. When we weren’t together, he read it to me over the phone. To this day I love its language and
can recall most of its lines. When I was seven, I wrote and illustrated my own
version, paying special care to decorate the opening line, “Twas the night
before Christmas when all through the house….” Then for decades I proceeded to
write and write and write some more, but none of it was fiction. Instead I
wrote a graduate thesis and then media releases, annual reports, and the like
for corporations and educational institutions during my PR career. While I sometimes longed to write novels, I didn’t think I had anything worthwhile to say.
Finally in 1998, I began my first attempt, empowered by a seminar for women
leaders in Texas.
While that completed manuscript will stay
hidden in a drawer forever, my next effort was successfully published. My historical
mystery, Desolation Row, was directly
inspired by Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs. That
debut book in her mystery series contains the critical elements I now try to
incorporate in my own mysteries—a tough yet tender female sleuth, an exciting
period of history for the setting, and crimes committed out of deep personal
anguish. . . . So, now that I’ve told you about the books that have lasted for me, do you know which ones did that for you? Please do share your comments below. I would love to know.
~~~~~~~
 

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

/in /by

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


 

AUSTIN STARR SPILLS THE BEANS

/in /by

Amateur sleuth Austin talks to her creator Kay Kendall

Freaking out. That’s
exactly what I’m doing. Freaking out.

RAINY DAY WOMEN-An Austin Starr Mystery

               Remember
how desperate I was when my husband was jailed for a murder he didn’t commit? If
it hadn’t been for all the moral support Larissa gave me, I’d never have been
able to track down the real killer. I owe her so much.

               Now it’s Larissa herself who’s in big trouble. She
just called long distance with the terrible news. She’s a prime suspect in a murder.
Good grief, it’s only been a year since David was an accused killer. This is too much. I’ll have to wear a trench
coat and fedora—pretend I am a private eye—if I keep getting pulled into these
cases on a routine basis.
               Larissa wants me to fly across the continent—all the
way to the Pacific coast—to back her up while the police grill her. I’m
desperate to help her out, but I don’t see how I can. Believe me, I’d leave
tomorrow if I could.
               But what would I do with baby Wyatt? He’s only three
months old. Last time I chased a killer—back before I was a mom—I almost
died. That kind of scene is no place for an infant.
               But I can’t go by myself and leave Wy at home. David’s
facing a big deadline in grad school, and he’ d have a hissy fit if I asked him to babysit. Of course
I juggle Wyatt’s child care with my
own studies, but that’s expected. After all, I’m the mom. Dads don’t do things
like that—not much anyway.
               Here’s another thing—kind of selfish of me, I know. I planned
to drive down to Woodstock, New York, this weekend. The big outdoor rock ‘n’ roll
concert is happening pretty close by. I figured I’d put Wy in his little carrying sling, and he could enjoy the music with me.
               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 Ontario, in the Great White North.
Since
Larissa left for her summer job, I’ve really missed her. Long distance is too
expensive to talk much. When I heard her voice on the phone, I knew something
was wrong. We tell each other everything. See, she’s the only one who knows I was trained
as a spy by the CIA. That was back before I married David. I could never tell him that. He would not approve, that’s
for sure. But Larissa knows and keeps all my secrets.
               Oh gosh, the more I consider this situation, the more I realize
I must fly out and back her up during
her time of trouble. She’ll call me back in an hour to ask if I’m coming. Guess
I’ll have to put a plan in place. I must think of something.  

~~~~~~~           
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

/in /by

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.

WRITERS WHO INSPIRED ME

/in /by

BY KAY KENDALL

Earlier this month, Bethany Maines asked us Stiletto Gang members the
question so many authors struggle with: “what other authors are you
like?”

My answer to this question has evolved over the past twenty
years. At first I didn’t even know it was a question—one I was supposed to be
readily able to answer. Then a kindly bookstore employee explained that
publishers and booksellers find it helpful in publicizing authors if they can
be compared to other more famous writers. Okay, so I do get that. After all, I
didn’t spend my whole previous career in public relations not understanding the
point of publicity.

Jacquelin Winspear


Then the difficulties set in. How could I presume to compare
myself to a well-known author? How presumptuous. I took an online test that
suggested it could analyze my writing and figure out where my style matched
someone else’s. The answer was ludicrous—and instantly forgettable. (For
example, someone like Herman Melville. No, I think not.)

Next I realized that there were certain authors of historical mysteries
who had inspired me. Here I began to
strike pay dirt. Jacqueline Winspear is the most relevant for me. Her Maisie
Dobbs mystery series is a direct inspiration for my Austin Starr mysteries.
Winspear began her early stories in the 1920s in England when the entire
society was trying to recover from the horrors of the conflagration that was
erroneously labeled “the war to end all wars.” We now call it, sadly enough,
World War One. She successfully evokes that time period and makes us readers
believe we are back among those fraught times when my grandparents were young.

Before I discovered Winspear’s books, I had only read historical mystery
series written by men with their male protagonists. Many of these tales were
set in the 1930s, emphasizing events that led up to World War Two, and then
also during that war itself. British author Philip Kerr writes about Bernie
Gunther, a Berlin detective who gets co-opted by the Nazis. Kerr’s plots are
unusual and his historic research is impeccable. Alan Furst also describes the
interwar period in a set of loosely related (very loosely) mysteries that are
steeped in atmosphere. His evocations of Eastern Europe and France are so
successful that when I read his books, I feel as if I am walking down a Parisian
street and smelling the Gauloises cigarettes smoked by passersby.

Sara Paretsky


There are other mystery writers who inspire me by setting their
stories against a background of important social issues. Sara Paretsky is the
queen of this group. After all, she was a pioneer of the female private
investigator V.I. Warshawski as protagonist. When she saw the difficulty women writers were
having getting published in America in the 1980s, she did something about it.
She was a founding mother of Sisters in Crime. How’s that for being a
successful author and activist too. Write on, sister!

There are easily ten more authors I could mention whose work
inspires my writing, but those I’ve listed here are the ones who continually bubble
up in my mind first. I would never dare say that my writing is like theirs, but
I am happy to give them a tip of my metaphorical hat and say, “Thank you for
being you, thank you for writing what you do. And please, do write on and on
and on.”  

~~~~~~~

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.



GONE GIRL’S Mom and Me

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

Author of GONE GIRL Gillian Flynn (left), me on the right

Every
few years a new book bursts on the scene and throws the crime novel genre into
a tizzy. These are big books that sell millions, remain on bestseller lists for
months and months, get remade as movies, and establish new trends in reading.


In
recent memory three enormous crime novels have burst forth from publishers in North
America. Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE hit in 2003, revivifying the thriller sub-genre. Stieg Larsson’s GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO came to America from Sweden in September 2008, the
first of a four-part series. And in June 2012 came the diabolically plotted GONE GIRL by Gillian
Flynn.

My
favorite among these mega-sellers, by far, is GONE GIRL. I admire the author’s
ability to fashion such an intricate yet entertaining plot. As a writer myself,
plotting is not my long suit, so I’m awed by someone whose talents in that
area are masterful.

Online
comments about this book amaze me. So many readers profess to dislike the book
and to loathe the two main characters, yet the darned thing stayed a bestseller
for ages. In 2014 GONE GIRL was made into a film that opened to fine reviews.
The author wrote the screen play. GONE GIRL’s popularity was so immense that it sent her two previous novels up the bestseller charts too–SHARP OBJECTS and DARK PLACES.

Back
then, in the midst of all this hoopla about GONE GIRL, I thumbed through the
latest edition of my undergrad alma mater’s monthly magazine and found—lo and
behold—an article about Gillian Flynn. Because I knew little about her,
I stopped to read the story, thinking she must have made a presentation at the University
of Kansas. Why else were they profiling her? Then I did a double take, and then
a triple take.
Gillian
Flynn graduated from the same school I did. Who knew?! Not only was KU the
alma mater of the famed mystery writer Sara Paretsky, and of me (not so
famous), but it was also Ms. Flynn’s. I was so proud I burst into a short
rendition of the school cheer, Rock Chalk, right on the spot. (I scared my
dog.)
Because
I attend three large mystery and thriller conferences each year, I have the
chance to see many fine and famous authors. Some are on the circuit and easy to
find. For example, every summer I see author David Morrell, and I have blogged
about meeting him, the father of RAMBO. A few authors never seem to appear at
conferences. Ms. Flynn is not on the circuit.

Author Karin Slaughter (left) interviews Gillian Flynn (right)

Then
last summer the International Thriller Writers announced its lineup of headline
authors for ThrillerFest 2016. And there she was. Gillian Flynn. For an entire
year I looked forward to hearing her talk about her life and life’s work. I’m
delighted to say that she did NOT disappoint.

At
the conference in New York City on July 8, author Karin Slaughter interviewed
Ms. Flynn for an hour. Because they are long-time friends, their talk was free
and easy. Emphasis on easy, even tiptoeing
into truly raunchy territory. If you’ve seen the film BRIDESMAIDS, then you
know whereof I speak.
Several
things Ms. Flynn said stuck in my mind. First, she attributed her penchant for
writing dark, dark stories to her upbringing. Her parents were college
teachers, and her father (a film professor) shared scary movies with her at a
young age. She explained during the interview, “When I turned seven, he said, ‘I
think you are now ready to see PSCYHO.’”
That
explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Ms.
Flynn also noted that when she meets readers, they often say to her, “Oh, you
seem so normal.” Well, exactly! I sat in the audience and thought that very
same thing. Her normalcy, she says, comes from her Midwestern upbringing
(hometown, Kansas City). Her fiction writing comes from her dose of heavy-duty
adult film and reading material, started very early.
Of
course I stood in line to have her sign a copy of GONE GIRL for me. I bought a
second one just for that purpose. We had a nice chat, and she said, when asked,
of course she recalls KU’s Rock Chalk chant.
Now
Gillian Flynn is hard at work on the follow-up to her mega bestseller and
professed to feeling some pressure. I wished her well and went off happily, my
signed copy of GONE GIRL clutched to my chest.
If
you are interested in more detail about Gillian Flynn, here is more background
about her, written in her own words. http://gillian-flynn.com/for-readers/
(Note:
She pronounces her first name with a hard G. As in gill, like a fish.
~~~~~~~ 


Kay Kendall lives in Texas
with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. In her
former life as a PR executive, Kay’s projects won international awards. And she
studied lots and lots of history in school, and loves it still! In fact that’s why she writes historical mysteries.