How do you come up with titles for your crime novels? 





With great difficulty or considerable ease is the answer. Some titles can come instantly, almost the moment the novel hits the page (or rather the computer screen) Dead Man's Wharf was one such case. Others are like pregnancy, taking months to develop and even when the novel is…

Multiple opportunities to win prizes and have fun on blogs this week.

First, I'm continuing the Blog Party that celebrates the release of POISON, YOUR GRACE yesterday. It goes till Saturday, with a drawing each day for an

Amazon gift certificate. Visit

http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com/

Second, I joined the Gratitude Giveaway Hop…

I continue to put past fiction up on Kindle and Nook from time to time.  This partially because Joe Konrath advises putting material up to spark new sales interest.  This story appeared years ago in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE.  I added something else:  a thrilling swordfight in a snowy temple yard, entitled "Incident at Enshoji".  It comes from the…

That's easy: there are too darned many of us. I just returned from Magna Cum Murder, which is a small con. Attending cons, while a lot of fun, always underscores how many people are out there writing mysteries--and a lot of them a pretty good at it. One man at an informal discussion said it out loud, "I know I'm as good as a lot of the best-selling authors, but I just can't get recognized." It's true. You get good--even great--reviews. You get nominated for awards. You splash your book…

The Black Thumb by Constance and Gwenyth  Little (1941; Doubleday Crime Club)

http://bookshopblog.com/2011/10/23/no-81-the-black-paw-best-100-mysteries-of-all-time/

My blogguest (Oooh, I invented a word!) on Monday, October 10, is Donna Fletcher Crow, and she tells you why the Victorians are fascinating folks. Of course, the Tudors are the best, really, (IMHO, of course!) but she does make a good case for "The Valiant Victorians." Stop by and take a look.

http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com/

Peg Herring

Coming in November from Five Star: POISON, YOUR GRACE, the second…

What an eye opener! There was a great response to my last week’s blog on the search

for the whereabouts of a good Latina/o Mystery.  Authors, friends of authors

and, I’m sure, los primos de authors responded with clues on

how to find exactly what I’d been looking for.  My list grows and, if you take a

look at the comment sections at…

I just finished three pies for our church ice cream social, held on the Fourth every year. I like making pies. They require a little expertise, they look pretty if they're done well, and they get you all sorts of compliments from people who hope you will make more.

On this Fourth, the pies reminded me of my novels. They, too, take some expertise, and I've worked many, many years, days, and hours to get to the point where I know that I will need to work many more years, days and hours.…

All five…

Mystery Fanfare, a fantastic blog by long-time crime fiction expert Janet Rudolph announced the nominees yesterday. The award will be presented at the annual Bouchercon mystery fan convention later this year. Macavity is named for T. S. Eliot’s cat in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

Here’s the link and list–check it out:…

The Alexander Steele Mysteries

Alexander Steele is a retired African American private detective turned night club owner living in Philadelphia. He hoped to put the detective life behind him and move on with his longtime girlfriend Shakia. When one of Alex's friends brings him an encrypted travel drive with info on the blackout that was created three months before the recent Canadian blackout; Alex finds himself drawn into the…

Today's Writer tricks of the trade in the Los Angeles edition of examiner.com is about rewrites.

LINK:…

Several days a week, I read to someone who can no longer read for herself. Like most tasks that serve others, my reading to her serves me as much as it helps her. It's not just the good feeling I get from helping to brighten her day. I'm getting smarter.

As readers, we sometimes get stuck in a rut. I used to read everything, from biography to philosophy to classics to P.I. novels. In the last few years, I had pretty much dropped everything but mystery, the type of books I most enjoy.…

Mystery writers get together, and they talk. They discuss how hard it is to keep their books "real": correct police procedures, well-drawn protagonists, and non-stereotypical antagonists. We sweat, toil, and reread a thousand times to be sure the mystery makes sense, the ending adds up, and the world is set right at the end.

Then comes reality. People who should get no attention at all are splashed all over the media as if the lives they are leading make sense. I won't say the names…

Looking at the literary business it's a lot like the street game...people make promises they have no intention of keeping but I can't get mad. Liars have to lie I guess. Now obviously this bothers me a little which is why I'm even blogging about it but after this I won't mention it again. Maybe. I'll just keep my word and let the liars lie..."Ron, I'm going to do ----, I'm going to do ----" LOL Whatever....no you're not....

RSB