My turn at Bouchercon

First night: First night there, my friend and I took a cab ($15 CAD) to Eva's Original Chimneys and tried their hand-made ice cream cone – I had the typical vanilla/chocolate twist with rainbow sprinkles on the cinnamon coated cone. Yummy. To prevent the ice cream from falling through the bottom, they put a chocolate truffle as the base. We decided we would brave their subway system, which is so cool. We couldn’t just buy a one-way ticket, so we paid $20 for their reloaded card and darn if we couldn’t figure out how to pay for our fare. It was fun taking their subway – although, we couldn’t figure out if we got off the correct stop because we were looking for a particular word – but with help from a train rider we were on our way.


Second day: My friend and I went to Dundas Square / Eaton Centre to take the City Sightseeing Tour, only we planned to stay on the bus for the whole two-hour tour and besides the weather was dismal with rain and a damp day. We saw Casa Loma, Bata Shoe Museum, China Town, CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District. Then we decided to walk back to the hotel from within the Eaton Centre mall and the walk wasn’t that bad, since when we came out of the underground mall, we were right next to the clock building. Later I had a pre-convention board meeting and after, there was more hanging out with friends.


Third day: I went to the panel that I was on: Bouchercon 101. We had to tell a story and for the life of me, I could not remember Sue Grafton’s name so instead I said “you know the Y-Lady, the one who writes the alphabet book.” And everyone knew who I was talking about and then the other panelists talked about their encounter with the “Y-Lady.” It was funny.

photo courtesy of John Thomas Bychowski

Later that afternoon, a group of us went to SOMA Chocolatemaker in the Distillery District for a chocolate tasting, where I braved sampling the three different types of dark chocolate and yes, they had one milk chocolate sample. We also got to taste pure chocolate nibs and chocolate dust (that’s what I’m calling it. It which was very informative. Then it was dinner with another group at Maezo Restaurant, an Indian restaurant, where we and shared five dishes. Everything was delicious. Then onto the Opening Ceremony and then the HarperCollins reception.


Fourth day: Then there was the GMM board meeting where we voted four new members on the board. Next up was the Librarian’s Tea where an unexpected event happened - - the fire alarm went off and like the person she is, Hank Phillippi Ryan held court with great aplomb, even incorporating the fire alarm in her talk. Interesting note was the fire alarm had a nice melody as it rang throughout the evening. The evening closed with the Pub Quiz, hosted by the Crime Writers of Canada, which was a barrel of fun. Our team lost with a score of 13 points, but we had a good time.


Fifth day: A group of eleven went to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel for an Afternoon Tea event. The Library Room where the tea was held was picture perfect, although one of the picture on the wall was slight skewed. The tea was perfect. I selected the Jasmine tea which was heavenly as was the traditional finger sandwiches and their selection of pastries. Then it was off to the Minotaur reception and the Seventh Street reception.

Photo courtesy of Art Taylor

Sixth day: My last day with the crime fiction tribe. Of course, at 4 in the morning, there was a loud argument outside my door (drunken guests) and soon I heard banging on the doors (not my door). I heard later that security was called. On the agenda, was brunch and the Anthony’s Award. After a few goodbyes, it was time to leave where I encountered a 3-hour delay due to air traffic. Finally arrived home at 11:30 and crashed.

Looking forward to next year’s Bouchercon which is being held in St. Petersburg, Florida. Who will meet me there?

A Panel of Great Reads from Bouchercon by Debra H. Goldstein

When I’m asked to blurb a book or moderate a book panel, I have one nagging fear.  I’m petrified I’m going to hate the book.  It might be lack of plot, poor characterization, boring writing, or simply a topic that doesn’t interest me. My fear is even more intense when the panelists are well known names in the industry. So, you can imagine my level of panic when I discovered I’d be moderating the Hidden Secrets panel at Bouchercon featuring Heather Young, Michael Stanley (co-authors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip), Mark Pryor, Laura McHugh and Louise Penny.

Once I picked myself up from the floor and sent them my standard “let’s get to know each other” e-mail, it was time to read their books.  I dreaded it, but what a wonderful surprise.  They were all excellent reads.  And, as I was to learn at Bouchercon, their authors were all wonderful people.

If you are a series reader, feel free to jump in with the one I read, but if you prefer to savor a series from its beginning, you’ll need to go back to their earlier books for Pryor, Stanley, and Penny. Young and McHugh have written standalones. 

 My recommendations without giving too much away (and in no particular order):

Mark Pryor – The Sorbonne Affair – a book in the Hugo Marston series – someone is spying on a famous author and the book quickly moves from surveillance to murder.

Laura McHugh – The Weight of Blood and Arrowhead are both standalones set in creepy small towns. The Weight of Blood deals with human trafficking while Arrowhead concerns the secrets behind the disappearance of two little girls.

Louise Penny – Glass Houses – an Armand Gamache book set in the small village of Three Pines concerning a special kind of trial – one that includes conscience, regrets, and guilt.

Heather Young – The Lost Girls – a child’s disappearance sparks a story that involves many layers of interwoven secrets

Michael Stanley (Michael Sears was my panelist)– Dying to Live is a fresh slice of sunshine noir in which everyone from the main detective to the bad guy has a secret.

Let me know what you think – don’t keep it  a secret.

A Chance to be a Better Mom by Juliana Aragon Fatula

Dan 1977ish

My son, Dan, planting a flower garden for me.

This post is dedicated to all of the children raising children in the seventies. Becoming a mother at fifteen taught me two things: my love for my son is unconditional and my son's love for me is unconditional. We are connected by love. We are so close we have telepathy phone calls. Go ahead laugh, but once or twice is coincidence, what we have is cosmic.

I realized the other day that I'm sixty and my son is forty-five in December and we've missed decades of time together. I hope I have at least a good twenty years left in my life, but we never know. Que no? So I'm going to write about the things that matter to me. Instead of complaining about Donald, I'm going to stay positive and hope for a better day. I'm going to write about mistakes I've made and about unconditional love for someone. 

This is the truth. I have a past and it was troubled. I was one of those girls that was described as wild. So naturally, I was drawn to wild men. What happens when you mix a wild fourteen year old girl and one wild nineteen year old boy, you guessed it, a wild baby.

First, let me explain. My son and I are fifteen years apart. He is 45 this December. I turned 60 in April. He saved me. He gave me a reason to live when I had lost hope, faith, and love. The moment he came from my womb and into the wild world, I knew it would be the best thing that ever happened to me. It was. We've been through trials and tribulations together. I wasn't always the best mom. He wasn't always the best son. We made mistakes. We were wild. 

But with maturity, a new attitude began to emerge. I quit drinking 27 years ago and he has been incarcerated for the last five years and has changed from a drug user to a man I am very proud of. I'm often asked how did you cope with your son being locked away in prison for five years. My answer is simple. Don't do the crime if you can't pay the time. He paid the time. He will be coming home this month and my husband and I are happy to be rejoined with our son. 

Dan is a hero. He saved lives many lives. He had a drug addiction and it almost ruined his life. But, he went to prison, got his GED, began taking college courses for credit, and learned new job skills. He stayed clean and he stayed out of trouble. He earned his freedom by proving he has changed. 

I'm writing this story because I have something to say. The truth. If going to prison for five years is what it took for him to find peace, then I'm sure it will all work out for him. He lost five years of being with family and friends, but he learned how to communicate, how to follow rules, how to be productive and give his time and energy to helping others. He made it. He survived. I don't know how I survived except, that's not true. That's bullshit. I know how I survived. I pretended to myself and no one else that he was away in the military, or away at college, or traveling the world. We had letters, email, phone calls, and visits but as happy as I was to see him, leaving him there and going home without him broke my heart. I didn't deal with reality. I lived in denial. But I survived and so did he.

Now we are on the journey of a new life and a new chance to be better human beings. The love has always been there but for the first twenty years of his life I was an alcoholic. And for the last twenty years of his life he has been a drug addict. This will be the first time we are both sober. Free from addiction.

I'm looking forward to this opportunity to discover our future. I believe everything happens for a reason. There was a reason we were apart for five years. We now have the rest of our lives to prove to ourselves that we deserve to be happy for the second part of our lives. Wish us luck. And love. 

Guest Interview with Marcie Rendon, author of MURDER ON THE RED RIVER

by Linda Rodriguez

My guest today is Marcie Rendon, whose debut mystery novel, Murder on the Red River, is receiving critical praise and was just translated into German. I'm particularly interested in Marcie's work because there are so few Native writers of mysteries, and I thought our readers would be, as well, so I asked Marcie to answer some questions that I thought you readers might be interested in. Please welcome Marcie Rendon to The Stiletto Gang.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie Rendon is available in paperback at http://www.cincopuntos.com/products_detail.sstg?id=277  and in ebook at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X94B6PM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1.

Cash and Sheriff Wheaton make for a strange partnership. He pulled her from her mother's wrecked car when she was three. He's kept an eye out for her ever since. It's a tough place to live—northern Minnesota along the Red River. Cash navigated through foster homes, and at thirteen was working farms. She's tough as nails—Five feet two inches, blue jeans, blue jean jacket, smokes Marlboros, drinks Bud Longnecks. Makes her living driving truck. Playing pool on the side. Wheaton is big lawman type. Maybe Scandinavian stock, but darker skin than most. He wants her to take hold of her life. Get into Junior College. So there they are, staring at the dead Indian lying in the field. Soon Cash was dreaming the dead man's cheap house on the Red Lake Reservation, mother and kids waiting. She has that kind of power. That's the place to start looking. There's a long and dangerous way to go to find the men who killed him. Plus there's Jim, the married white guy. And Longbraids, the Indian guy headed for Minneapolis to join the American Indian Movement.

Marcie R. Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Anishinabe Nation. She is a mother, grandmother, writer, and performance artist. A recipient of the Loft's Inroads Writers of Color Award for Native Americans, she studied under Anishinabe author Jim Northrup. Her first children's book is Pow Wow Summer (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2014). Murder on the Red River is her debut novel.

You've written award-winning children's books. What was the toughest part of switching genres to a mystery?

I love to write so I really didn’t have a problem switching genres. I haven’t quit writing for children. My children’s books are non-fiction. I find them harder to do because I want to accurately portray the families and their children and the story. With fiction I can just make stuff up.

How does writing for adults differ from writing for kids?

When writing for children there exists standardized word lists appropriate to each reading level. With adults I don’t have worry about that. I actually think that Native American children and other children of color have a greater understanding of some hard, real life situations and that the industry needs to not be so leery of addressing some issues. With adults you can write what you want. I consciously attempt to write all of my stories in a way where people can see their resilience over trauma, whether that is for children or adults.

What was the hardest part of writing this book for you?

It was a fun and enjoyable book to write. There wasn’t really a hard part to the writing of it. It did take a while to find a publisher and I didn’t get an agent before I found a publisher. Hopefully, that will be easier with this go-round of the next book.

Also, the book is set in a time before cell phones and DNA analysis so I didn’t have to worry about my lack of knowledge in those areas.

During the editing process I discovered that I had given every bartender in every bar the same name and had to go back in and re-name folks. Catching those kinds of errors required reading and re-reading and an outside eye. Thank goodness for a good editor.

What are some of your favorite fictional characters?

Lucas Davenport and Jack Reacher, Alex Delaware and his wife. Milo in the Coben books.

What has been your journey as a writer? Did you always want to be a writer?

I have always written since learning to write but you know, as a Native woman, I was never told that making a living as a writer was an option. During my early adult years we were all supposed to be doctors or teachers or lawyers and work for our people. So, I got a bit of a late start on the novel writing but I figure there is still time to crank a few out.

What has been your biggest surprise with this debut mystery?

I am surprised by people’s attachment to the characters in the story. Readers ‘want’ certain things for Cash and they let me know what they want for her. People are curious about the children in the story and want to know what happens to them. When I write, the characters are real to me – I was surprised that they are as real to so many of the readers also and that they are invested in their lives/their story.

What do you wish someone had told you before you ever started writing?

To sit my ass down and start cranking out books decades earlier.

I also wish that there were more affordable writing conferences that Native writers could attend. There is a business side to writing that I still am not that savvy about. How do I get someone to read my contracts? How do I know who a good agent is? Should I shell out money to have someone read and critique my manuscript? Who ‘should’ I know in the business? The whole publishing industry is not readily accessible to someone who is just writing. I think if you work in academia you have a few more doors at the ready to open, but I could be wrong about that also.

Ready to Double Down?

“Double Down” used to mean a calculated gamble – and maybe it still does. The technique certainly can increase the odds of winning. These days the term can mean anything from a bold decision to an increased resolve to stick to a position. Of course, it can also be a media euphemism with huge political overtones about certain statements, but that’s a different discussion.

What do the words have to do with books?

Lots!  DOUBLE DOWN, a story set in the Holly Price mystery series world, is my newest release.

While this story was fun to write, I have a couple of confessions to make:  

People always ask authors where we get our story ideas. Confession #1 – The premise for this story was a given. A group of us challenged each other to write a story where luck changed the protagonist’s life.  Of course, for a mystery writer this means someone is likely to die. That isn't the life changing event. 

Really. 

Characters are as important as the plot in my stories. My heroine, Maddie Larsson, leapt onto the page. The inspiration for Maddie came from a friend’s daughter—a single parent who works in a casino as a blackjack dealer. Maddie’s determination to forge a stable life for herself and her son draws the admiration of one of the casino’s gamblers, attention that changes her life for the better but also threatens to ruin—or end—it.

I wrestled a bit with the male lead character. So many readers wanted to see JC Dimitrak’s side of events (JC is the hero in So About the Money, book 1 in the series) I decided to put him in charge of the investigation. Maybe he was a little too charming since my beta readers …well, telling you would be a spoiler.

Confession #2 – I didn’t know anything about gambling. Honestly, I don’t understand the attraction but clearly it’s a popular pastime. Fortunately I had a willing “resource” (aka my friend’s daughter) to teach me the basics and give me insight into the dealers’ world.

Take all that and place your bets - DOUBLE DOWN releases October 23^rd

Murder isn’t supposed to be in the cards for blackjack dealer Maddie Larsson. Busted takes on a new meaning when her favorite customer, a former Poker World Tour champion, is murdered. His family claims—loudly and often—Maddie is the gold-digging murderer. She better prove she’s on the level before the real killer cashes in her chips. 

If the victim’s body had been dumped five hundred yards up the road, Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective JC Dimitrak wouldn’t have been assigned to the Tom Tom Casino murder case. Instead, he’s hunting for suspects and evidence while dealing with a nemesis from the past and trying to preserve his own future. He better play his cards correctly and find the killer before an innocent woman takes the ultimate hit.

Special release week pricing! 

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An award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd.

Find out more or sign up for her newsletter at http://cperkinswrites.com 

Highlights from Bouchercon

Bouchercon 2017 was held in Toronto, Canada and I'm still enjoying a few extra days there, but here are two highlights from the week:

Here is our panel discussing crime novels set on the coasts. From the left are Ryan Aldred (mysteries set in Costa Rica), Baron Birtcher (Hawaii), David Burnsworth (Charleston SC), Michele Dorsey (US Virgin Islands), and Mike Martin (Newfoundland). They each had interesting observations about coastal settings, character, and crime. They made my moderating job easy.

Another highlight was Canadian bestselling author Louise Penny. I snapped this right after she won the Anthony Award for best mystery, for her book A GREAT RECK0NING.

The Power of 'Me Too'

J.M. Phillippe

One of the most powerful feelings in the world is that moment when you realize that something you thought just happened to you, that only you understood or experienced (often with fear and/or shame), also happened to someone you know. Somehow sharing the experience changes how you feel about it. It shifts the burden from you to some universal truth -- this is a thing that happens to people, not just me.

It needs to not just be "me" in order to take away some of the shame. To that end I often self-disclose with my clients that I also suffer from depression. Me, too. So when I talk about how its the little things -- the laundry, recycling, dishes, and trash piling up; the constant need for distraction and inability to focus on anything; the sleeping binges and insomniac binges; the appetite that refuses to stay consistent -- they nod their heads. Oh yeah, that happens to me, too.

On social media, there is a trend happening right now of women saying "me too." It is a way for them to share that they have also experienced sexual harassment and/or assault, to show how common the problem is (and is a throwback to #yesallwomen, popularized in 2014 as a response to #NotAllMen). But for me at least, it is having a secondary effect of showing me just how not alone I have been in my own experiences. It is showing me that whatever I have gone through, someone else has gone through something similar, and that means I can feel a little less ashamed about my own experiences, a little less convinced I somehow did something wrong, inadvertently "asked for it" in some way, or had something specifically wrong with me that invited other people's bad behavior. Instead, I can see more directly how the culture at large is to blame, how systemic the issue is, how real rape culture (and the way it contributes to mass harassment) is.

For me, the power of "me too" in this instance is that it helps me continue to chip away at the shame I have had about my body since I was a little girl and was "made to feel funny" by adult men paying too much of the wrong kind of attention to me. My body was remarked on, my looks analyzed, my freedom curtailed because my very femaleness meant I would forever be a target. Pretty little girls don't get to go play outside by themselves. I was taught that a healthy amount of fear would keep me safe. It didn't. I was taught that a certain amount of modesty would keep me safe. It didn't. I was taught that not wrestling with the boys would keep me safe. Not only did that not help, eventually learning self defense by "wrestling with the boys" was the only thing that did help me feel safer as an adult.

Every "me too" I saw on my timeline made me feel a combination of sad -- and relieved. I wish the problem wasn't so prevalent. But at the same time, I feel reassured that this was never just about me but about all girls and women. This was never just my problem -- it was all of ours.

And I feel better still after reading wonderful messages of support from my male friends. A secondary trend of posting "yes I have" has popped up, with men sharing their own stories of giving in to rape culture and being complicit in the behavior of others, or participating in that behavior themselves. Their confessions and heartfelt apologies mean the world to me, because they come with a pledge to do better. It's another version of "me too" that carries the same kind of power -- we have all done things we are ashamed of. The first step is recognizing the problem. Together, we have a chance of changing things.

***

J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a family therapist in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free-time decorating her tiny apartment to her cat Oscar Wilde’s liking, drinking cider at her favorite British-style pub, and training to be the next Karate Kid, one wax-on at a time.

Finding Neverland: the Musical

by Paula Gail Benson

This summer, while I was in Boston for a business meeting, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the opening night performance for the national tour of Finding Neverland at the Boston Opera House. Based on a successful book and movie, this musical tells the story of how author J.M. Barrie developed the story of Peter Pan after meeting the sons of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. Although the fictionalized story does not strictly follow the facts found on Wikipedia or in Andrew Birkin’s J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: the Real Story Behind Peter Pan or Piers Dudgeon’s Neverland: J.M. Barrie, the DuMauriers, and the Dark Side of Peter Pan (which has been reviewed as being a little too dark and not as factually reliable), the exploration of how an author found his character (and vice versa) is a fascinating view of the creative process.

Diane Paulus

Seeing this particular production had many advantages. The show already played Broadway and some of the company had been affiliated with that production. In particular, Diane Paulus, the Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theatre (ART) at Harvard University, had directed the musical from the time it was being developed at ART through its Broadway run. She also directed this national tour company, and had worked with the creators to incorporate suggestions for improving the plotline and making the story more immediate for the audience. The result was a really captivating performance that allowed the audience’s recollections of the boy who wouldn’t grow up to add another dimension to the story.

Billy Harrigan Tighe

As the musical begins, stoic Scotsman J.M. Barrie, a successful London playwright, is concerned that his plays are all the same and wondering what his next work should be. His American producer, Charles Frohman, urges him not to worry and finish the next show. His wife Mary, a former actress now enjoying life in society due to her relationship with Barrie, also encourages him to continue with the status quo. But, Barrie meets four boys and their widowed mother, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, in the park. After playing with the boys and relearning the joys of indulging his imagination, he faces triple crises of his wife leaving him for a nobleman, his producer demanding a new play, and Davies’ mother insisting that he cut off his relationship with her family.

Christine Dwyer

From the inner turmoil Barrie experiences, a villain emerges. His first name is James (after Barrie’s own first name and because, as the character informs Barrie, he is his alter ego) and his second name is Hook, for the appendage that takes place of a lost arm as well as the concept necessary to develop a story. As the first act concludes, Barrie’s imagination has taken the games from the park, added a dark presence consumed by the press of a ticking clock inside a crocodile that swallowed the missing arm, and created a pirate adventure that will become the story of Peter Pan. In the finale, Barrie becomes “Stronger” as his mind builds the images of the pirate ship (that the audience sees grow from a park bench) and has Barrie standing on the edge of the plank as the curtain falls.

Karen Murphy

In the second act, Barrie convinces his dubious producer and cast to put on his new work. Gradually, they warm to the project as Barrie discovers that Sylvia is ill. On opening night, Peter Davies is chosen to accompany Barrie to the theatre, but then the whole company returns to the nursery to give a private performance for the Davies family. In the end, Sylvia dies and Barrie with her mother collaborate to raise the boys.

John Davidson

Following the Boston performance, our audience enjoyed an onstage interview with the main actors and director Diane Paulus. Billy Harrigan Tighe, who had worked with Paulus in Pippin on Broadway played J.M. Barrie. Christine Dwyer, who had grown up near Boston, took on the role of Sylvia and was delighted to have so many people she knew coming to see the production. Veteran actress Karen Murphy played Mrs. DuMaurier, the strict matriarch who warms to Barrie’s charm, and well-known actor, singer, and TV personality John Davidson was featured as producer Frohman and alter ego Hook. In characterizing his work with the production, Davidson spoke eloquently about how each performance became a contract between the audience members and cast where all brought their impressions of Peter Pan into the mix.

The musical speaks to writers seeking to create as well as readers who remember a unique literary creation. Here’s the website where you can see if it is coming to a theatre near you: http://findingneverlandthemusical.com/tour/. If it is, please go see it. You will thoroughly enjoy it.