Hot & Sizzling Summer-Fall Reads!
I’m writing this as it hits 90+ degrees all week, but what better way to spend my time than talking about new stories and books to read? Yay!
I talked to several authors about their latest releases and their characters, along with their short story news, so here’s what they had to say:
Besides writing about cats, cavemen and other notable characters, plus having a brand new novel and series coming out soon (see below), author Kaye George (https://kayegeorge.wixsite.com/kaye-george) also likes stretching her fictional muscles with her short stories.
One of her latest stories, “The Bible Belt Buckle Killer” published in Suspense Magazine, Fall 2018, (http://suspensemagazine.com/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Suspense-Magazine-Fall-2018-Vol.-83.pdf) is the second featuring her character Isabel Musik. The twist is that Isabel is a former werewolf-turned re-transformer, introduced in the first story, “Retransformation” in the summer 2008 Mysterical-E magazine. (http://mystericale.com/pre-2015/index.php?issue=082&body=toc).
The stories came about as “I couldn’t get her out of my head and wanted to see her again,” says George. “I created her out of an urge to do something different in response to a call for stories taking place at a writers’ conference. Mystery writers are a friendly bunch and we don’t generally backstab, or kill off our competition, but I wondered if writers in other genres might have those urges.”
In response, she invented a character she describes as a “horrible children’s writer, wildly popular with readers and universally despised by her colleagues. (I’m sure children’s writers aren’t like that, I hope, but I had to have something for my story.)” The interesting twist is Isabel’s job is finding rogue werewolves, who are biting others and turning them into werewolves. The story includes a world where a blood substitute is available and served everywhere, though “some of the bad ones just have to have the real thing.”
In the second story, George says she saw a fellow writer’s remark about not wanting to see another Bible Belt story. “I took that as a challenge,” she says.
The story focuses on a serial killer leaving belt buckles with pictures of a bible on them stuffed in the mouths of the victims. Isabel’s friend, Loveta, a former out-of-control werewolf and fellow WA (Werewolves Anonymous) member had been investigating the killings when she becomes a victim. Now Isabel has to find the killer to avenge her friend.
Excerpt from “The Bible Belt Buckle Killer”–
ISABEL MUSIK DROPPED HER BLOODY MARY WHEN SHE HEARD THE SCREAM…
The scream had sounded almost human. Isabel ran inside her condo to get some towels to sop up the red mess before it stained her deck. When she came back out, Dolf was on all fours licking it up. “It’s not blood, Dolf.” His fangs were visible when he smiled up at her. “I can dream, can’t I?”
Along with a new book coming out in the New Orleans-based scrapbooking series she co-authors with author Laura Childs, (see below), author Terrie Farley Moran was excited to talk about her latest short story news. (https://terriefarleymoran.com/)
This time, she hit a triple bonus by not only making her first submission to Mystery Weekly Magazine, but having the story accepted and listed on the June 2019 issue cover! (https://www.mysteryweekly.com/).
The story, “Squeezer and Bongo,” is best described she says by asking, “when the loathsome bully from your high school days traipses into your successful law office babbling about murder, are you sorry he is the suspect and not the victim?” (Great question!)
Inspiration for the story came from her older grandchildren who were talking about the training they get in school regarding bullying. With them attending four different schools in two different states, she realized bullying is something the schools are working to stamp out. “Not exactly how it was many decades ago when I was a school kid,” she recalls.
And as a writer, Moran naturally wondered… “If someone bullied you all through high school and years later the bully got into a jam, would you help him out? That led to a lively conversation, but my mind had already drifted away,” she says. “The next thing I knew I had two protagonists. Squeezer was the perfect bully and Bongo was the neighborhood guy who had exceeded all expectations. Put them together and what could possibly go wrong?”
Excerpt from “Squeezer and Bongo”–
Andrea, my assistant, got louder and more forceful.
“Mr. Bongorelli cannot be disturbed but I am happy to schedule an appointment.”
“Don’t worry, Babe, he’ll see me. You tell him it’s Squeezer Markham. He’ll know …”
I flew out of my chair and yanked the door open. His dark hair was streaked with gray and drawn back in an untidy ponytail. Typical jock, he wore his green and blue high school football jacket no matter it was decades old.
I grabbed his arm and dragged him into my office.
“What the hell do you want?”
He brushed my hand away. “Don’t be like that. I’m in a jam. First person I thought of, my old buddy Bongo.”
Jean Rabe’s third book in her Piper Maxwell series, The Dead of Summer, has Indiana’s Spencer County Sheriff Piper Maxwell investigating a disaster at the county fair, along with a grisly murder. The danger she faces in her county this go-round is frightening because small, rural areas are thought to be safe… right? (http://www.jeanrabe.com)
For Rabe, it seemed natural to set this book in her favorite time of year, and get some inspiration from real life. Thankfully, it doesn’t work in reverse.
“I’d love for it to be summer all year long,” she says. “I I go to the Champaign County Fair in the summer, so I sent Piper to her fair in Spencer County. I have a corn dog and a Lemon Shakeup at my county fair, and so I forced them down Piper’s throat. I attend the country concert … and so Piper gets tickets to the country concert. We both try to have a great time, but her great time instantly turns awful because a book about a 23-year old having a wonderful time in the sun, listening to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, wouldn’t be terribly interesting. I do my writerly best to ruin Piper’s summer in this book.”
Excerpt from The Dead of Summer:
One
5 p.m. Friday, June 14th
The gut-punching clang of metal striking metal merged with the screams of fairgoers. Sheriff Piper Blackwell swore World War III had broken out in Spencer County.
Piper dropped her corn dog and raced into the wall of noise just as a BOOM made her think a mortar had exploded. The screams grew louder and a kaleidoscope of colors–the summer attire of the agitated crowd–filled her vision.
“Nooooooo!”
“Call an ambulance!”
“Outta my way!”
“Get some pictures!”
“Mary’s on that thing. Dear God, my Mary!”
New and Upcoming Releases
Author Kaye George’s new novel: Revenge Is Sweet, the first Vintage Sweets cozy, comes out March 2020 and is now on pre-order from Lyrical Press. (Cover to come. https://kayegeorge.wixsite.com/kaye-george)
About the Book:
In the picturesque tourist town of Fredericksburg, Texas, Tally Holt has opened a new candy store with a vintage twist . . .but there’s no sugar-coating a nasty case of murder . . .
Tally Holt has poured her heart, soul, and bank account into Tally’s Olde Tyme Sweets, specializing in her grandmother’s delicious recipes. Tally’s homemade Mallomars, Twinkies, fudges, and taffy are a hit with visiting tourists—and with Yolanda Bella, the flamboyant owner of Bella’s Baskets next door. But both shops encounter a sour surprise when local handyman Gene Faust is found dead in Tally’s kitchen, stabbed with Yolanda’s scissors.
Mumbo Gumbo Murder by Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran comes out October 1. The 16th book in the New Orleans Scrapbooking Mystery Series is set this time at Jazz Fest in New Orleans with the giant puppets from the Beastmaster Puppet Theatre parading through the French Quarter. (http://www.laurachilds.com/ – https://terriefarleymoran.com/)
About the Book:
As the parade proceeds, Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, follow behind, down Royal Street and past the food booths. Hearing a terrible crash, they rush into Devon Dowling’s antiques shop and find Devon collapsed with blood streaming down the side of his face. Has he been shot? Stabbed? They soon learn their friend was murdered with an icepick. The friends are determined to catch the murderer, but the list of suspects is long. How much time do they have before they find themselves on the killer’s list?
Readers are in for a treat with the reissue in ebook of author Elaine Viets’ first book series written for Dell starting in 1997. The Francesca Vierling mystery series features an outspoken, 6-foot-tall newspaper columnist. (See all links at http://elaineviets.com/index.php?id=dark.)
The books in order are:
1 Backstab: In the St. Louis winter, city folks survive the snow and fight for parking spaces in their redbrick neighborhoods. But St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling is investigating two murders — a bartender in a landmark St. Louis saloon and a colorful rehabber. Francesca is desperately looking for a killer—who has already chosen her.
2 Rubout: For serious Harley riders and wanna-bes—RUBS, Rich Urban Bikers—the annual biker ball in St. Louis is a thrill. But this year’s biker ball ends in murder. Now newspaper columnist Francesca Vierling must find out who ruined the annual Leather and Lace Biker Ball. But with her career crashing, her love life sputtering, and another murder waiting down the road, Francesca finds out how dangerous it can be when you’re born to be wild—and dare to live that way.
3 The Pink Flamingo Murders: Whacked with a lawn flamingo? A reporter wants to know–who killed with kitsch. The rehabilitation of North Dakota Place is a feel-good story, the kind St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling likes to write. Grand houses restored to former glory. All bets are off when a third murder takes place, a socialite unceremoniously whacked with a pink lawn flamingo. Now the neighbors want Francesca to investigate. But her boyfriend wants her to commit to marriage, not crime.
4 Doc in the Box: St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling is helping Georgia, her friend and editor, hide her battle with breast cancer. At the Gazette, any hint of illness is death to a career. Francesa is also writing about a gorgeous male stripper, Leo D. Nardo. Then Leo disappears and someone starts killing the worst doctors in St. Louis. If you’ve ever had the urge to kill a doctor, this is your mystery.
