10 tip-offs that you're into crime fiction

by Colby Marshall

Author of the McKenzie McClendon novels

I was recently on an anniversary trip with my husband, and while we were taking a romantic river  walk, we stopped to look out onto the water.  As we leaned our heads together in the moonlight, I whispered to him, "What is we saw a dead body in the water right now?"

 

Luckily, he's used to this sort of thing with me being a thriller writer and all, but this got me to thinking that mystery and thriller writers and readers are definitely an eccentric bunch.  Therefore, I give you the Top Ten Ways to Know You're a Mystery/Thriller Reader or Writer:

 

10.) You assume the power company representative who knocks on your door to tell you he will be trimming limbs too close to the power line is a government agent/serial killer/robber casing your house.  In fact, you often won't answer the door in case that is so.

 

9.)  You have an escape plan to get away from a killer chasing you in your house.

 

8.) When you read a book, you automatically distrust any character who gains your trust too much.

 

7.) Every time you start to crank your car, you subconsciously hold your breath in case you hear that little sound that means turning the ignition has set off a bomb (as if you could do something about it).

 

6.) Having a panic room built into your home does not seem like paranoia.

 

5.) You see a really large spiral staircase and feel the need to mention that it would be very easy for a killer to use said staircase to plan a death that looks like an accident.

 

4.) You eye the car in your rearview mirror every time you turn to make sure he's not tailing you.

 

3.) You've arranged a code word with your spouse/kids to signal that text messages are really coming from you.

 

2.) When you go out of town, you leave three lights on so the robbers will think someone's still home.

 

    1.)  More than once, you've contemplated the fastest way you could get dressed to run away from a killer if you are in the shower/in bed/in the bathroom should an intruder/a mysterious fire/a nemesis out for revenge happen upon your house.  

 

What habits do you have that show your mystery reader or writer colors?

 

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Writer by day, ballroom dancer and choreographer by night, Colby has a tendency to turn every hobby she has into a job, thus ensuring that she is aperpetual workaholic.  In addition to her 9,502 regular jobs, she is also a contributing columnist for M Food and Culture magazine and is a proud member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.  She is actively involved in local theaters as a choreographer and sometimes indulges her prima donna side by taking the stage as an actress.  She lives in Georgia with her family, two mutts, and an array of cats that, if she were a bit older, would qualify her immediately for crazy cat lady status.  Her debut thriller, Chain of Command is about a reporter who discovers the simultaneous assassinations of the President and Vice President may have been a plot to rocket the very first woman—the Speaker of the House—into the presidency.  Chain of Command is now available, and the second book in her McKenzie McClendon series, The Trade, is due for publication by Stairway Press this month. You can learn more about Colby and her books at www.colbymarshall.com.  

Suzanne Arruda's African Adventure

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

My guest today is Suzanne Arruda, author of the Jade Del Cameron mysteries set in 1920s Africa. Everyone who leaves a comment for Suzanne will be entered in a drawing for a trade paperback of her novel The Serpent’s Daughter.

Suzanne grew up Greensburg, Indiana, reading about people like Isak Dinesen and Beryl Markham and dreaming of a life of adventure in exotic places. Things didn’t quite work out that way, and instead of becoming an explorer she worked as a lab technician, a museum employee with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and a biology teacher. When she took the leap into a writing career, her fascination with colonial Africa served her well. At last she was able to live some of her dreams through the adventures of Jade Del Cameron, an American with an exotic family who leads safaris in the bush and becomes embroiled in more than her fair share of murder and mayhem.

Visit Suzanne’s web site at www.suzannearruda.com and her blog at www.suzannearruda.blogspot.com.


Q. The paperback of your third book, The Serpent’s Daughter, will be out shortly, and the hardcover of your fourth book, The Leopard’s Prey, will be out in January. Can you tell us briefly about each of them?

A. The Serpent’s Daughter (paperback Oct. 7, 2008) finds Jade in Morocco where she was meeting her mother, Inez, for a brief vacation and possible reconciliation. Inez is kidnapped and her guide stabbed, leading Jade into the winding souks of Marrakech and amongst the Berbers of the Atlas Mountains as she battles her deadliest foe yet.

In The Leopard’s Prey (hardcover January 2009), Jade is back in Nairobi and strapped for cash. She takes a job as a wrangler for a zoological capture company, hoping that way to also save a pair of leopards that are earmarked for extermination as Nairobi and the farms encroach on the animals’ homes. Jade’s friends find a body in their brand new coffee dryer and Jade’s would-be beau, Sam Featherstone, is the prime suspect. As Jade tries to clear his name, she finds herself confronting more than one kind of brutal killer.

Q. Your fascination with history comes through clearly in your writing. Why did you choose this particular time and place to write about?

A. I grew up reading that place and time. My two older brothers lived and breathed all things Tarzan, but the town librarian was horrified to think that their little sister would read about “naked savages” and pushed other African tales on me instead. (I still read the Tarzan.) So I read missionary tales, Beryl Markham, Isak Dinesen, and Osa Johnson. I love that time period. The world was so undiscovered.

Q. Were any of your characters inspired by real people who lived in East Africa in the 1920s? Jade, for example – does she have a bit of Beryl Markham in her?

A. She does, as well as all those other ladies mentioned above. Plus there are some real ambulance drivers jammed in there, too. Mix in some Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island) and Laura Croft and you get Jade.

Q. The animals of Africa are featured prominently in your books, in often endearing ways, but for some readers the very word “safari” conjures images of big game hunters gunning down exotic species. What would you say to those readers to get them to try your books?

A. “Safari” is just the Swahili word for “journey.” I take my readers on a journey to a different place in a different time. To be true to the time, I need to portray some hunting. Lions were as like to eat a wandering farmer as his or her stock so they were frequently shot. And people on safari needed to hunt to eat, otherwise you couldn’t carry enough food with the laws governing the weight porters could carry. But while Jade may have to shoot animals in self-defense or for food, she saves many more.

Q. The sense of place in your books is so striking that it’s hard to believe you haven’t lived in those places for a good part of your life. Have you traveled very much in the places you write about? Are they so different now that they don’t provide inspiration for your historical settings – or have some things remained the same through the decades?

A. When I traveled to Morocco, I tried to see 1920 Morocco. There was a big bus depot at a very important Marrakech gate that I wanted to see. And there are satellite dishes in the Atlas mountains. I do want to get to old Zanzibar and parts of Tanzania, but my best way to “see” the old world is through old newspapers, diaries, and other books of the time.

Q. Why did you choose the mystery form rather than mainstream historical fiction?

A. I like mysteries, for one thing. A puzzle or crime to solve is a good motive for having someone run around doing feats of daring. And mysteries still carry those other themes in there as well. Jade faces social issues of the times and romance and family trials. So I like to call these mainstream historical mysteries.

Q. What made you decide to start writing, after years of working at other things? Can you recall a particular event or revelation that made you turn to writing as a career?

A. Well, the waters of the toilet bowl didn’t part – if that’s what you mean. I began with correspondence courses when my twin sons were born. Writing seemed like something a stay-at-home mom could do, or a summer career in between the teaching years. I mostly concentrated on the children’s magazine market. Then I branched into some young adult biographies. One of those biographies on Osa Johnson (From Kansas to Cannibals) resurrected all those adventuresome women I’d grown up with. After that, Jade grew in my head and took off.

Q. How long did it take you to write the first book, Mark of the Lion? Did you have a good grasp of how to construct a mystery novel, or did you learn as you went along?

A. I learned as I went along. At first, Mark of the Lion (then called Stalking Death) was meant to be more of a suspense/thriller. My editor wanted it to be a true mystery. Who’s going to say no? And she helped me a lot with suggestions. Frankly it’s a far better book as a mystery. I have a very smart editor.

Q. Tell us about your road to publication. Was it easier to find an agent and publisher than you expected, or was it harder? Did you work with your agent and editor on rewrites along the way?

A. It’s work to find either one. For every Cinderella story that makes the news, there are a lot more writers that slog through rejections and don’t give up. I think I was just better at handling rejection. (Remember, I taught junior high and high school.) I found my agent at a conference. She found my editor and I know she worked very hard at it, too. Yes, I worked with both of them on rewrites. I have to believe that they know a lot more about this business than I did or do even now and I should listen to them. And they haven’t steered me wrong.

Q. What would you say is the best part of being a published writer? Do you see any downside to it?

A. The best part is getting paid to send people on a fun adventure, one that I enjoy going on myself. A downside? Trying to fly to a book signing when there’s yet another ice storm. Ick.

Q. You must do a tremendous amount of research for each book. Do you try to do it all before you start writing, or do you research as you go along and the need arises? Has research ever thrown you off-track, when you discovered that something you had in mind wouldn’t work?

A. I do most of the research in advance, but I can’t anticipate everything. Then, it’s back to the books and the library. For example, towards the end of book 5 (Treasure of the Golden Cheetah – Hardcover, October 2009), I needed to delay a train for two days. That sent me on a search to learn about that particular rail line: the gauge of tracks, the locomotives, etc.

There was one problem that came up in Mark of the Lion that altered everything. At first draft, coffee farmers Madeline and Neville Thompson were supposed to go on safari with Jade. While researching coffee farming, I discovered that they would be entering a main harvest. They can hardly leave then. So Beverly, who was not supposed to be in the book after chapter 1, got married and the pair of them came out to see Jade on a honeymoon trip just so I could get another couple on that safari.

Q. You seem to be on an accelerated publishing schedule. How do you manage to cram so much research, writing, and promotion into one year? Do you have much time left for relaxation?

A. I like to hike and so I always find time to get into a forest and walk. When I can’t, that’s why God made 1,000 piece jig-saw puzzles. I find they help me clear my mind a lot. But in order to do all the aforementioned work, some things have to take a back seat. I don’t clean house much. I don’t miss it either. Funny how that works.

Q. When you read purely for pleasure, whose books do you pick up?

A. I’m a very eclectic reader. I love to go back to some old favorites: Treasure Island, Ivanhoe, Pride and Prejudice, H. Rider Haggard. I love the Amelia Peabody series, Tony Hillerman, Dana Stabenow. I’m discovering Claire Langley-Hawthorne and Cordelia Biddle as fresh faces in historical mysteries, too. And anything by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

A. Persevere! When Mark of the Lion sold, I’d garnered over 350 rejects for all my articles and short stories, etc. I operated at a 7.5% success rate and was told that was good. If you want to do the book market, don’t ignore the magazine market. You want a resume to show a would-be agent or editor that you know how to meet deadlines and guidelines and can work with them. Finally, they say you never become successful until you can paper a wall with your rejections. So... choose a small room with low ceilings.

Cynthia Riggs: The Mysterious Lady from Martha's Vineyard

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

Cynthia Riggs describes her Martha’s Vineyard mysteries, featuring 92-year-old poet Victoria Trumbull, as the kind of mystery you can read in front of a fire with a cat on your lap “without being scared that someone is going to jump through
the window and strangle you.”

Cynthia was 70 when she published her first mystery, Deadly Nightshade, which she wrote while earning a master’s degree in her late 60s. Her seventh novel, Shooting Star, is available now, and book number eight, Death and Honesty, is scheduled for publication by St. Martin’s Press in spring of 2009. Deadly Nightshade and her second novel, The Cranefly Orchid Murders, have been reprinted in a single volume paperback from Vineyard Stories, an island publisher, under the title Double Murder on Martha’s Vineyard.

After graduating from Antioch College with a degree in geology, Cynthia wrote nonfiction articles for Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Petroleum Today, and several scientific journals. She has also been a mariner, captaining tour boats on the Potomac River, teaching at the Annapolis Sailing School, delivering boats to Europe and the Caribbean, and operating a ferry service on the Chesapeake Bay. A 13th-generation islander, she now lives on Martha’s Vineyard year-round and has turned her family’s 18th century house into a bed-and-breakfast inn for writers and artists.

Q. What made you decide, in your sixties, to go back to school for an advanced degree in creative writing?

A. I manage the Cleaveland House, a bed & breakfast that caters to poets and writers, in my family homestead on Martha's Vineyard. Shortly after my mother died, one of my guests, a writer, was getting her degree in a low residency program at Vermont College. She suggested that I go back to school and get my masters. "No, no, no!" said I. "Never! I've had enough of school. And not at sixty-eight. Forget it!" She persisted. Nagged me, had the college send me an application form, and finally, to shut her up, I applied, knowing I'd never be accepted. Sure enough, I was, and back to school I went.

Q. Why did you choose mystery as your genre? Was this a long-time ambition?

A. I've always liked reading mysteries, but hadn't really thought about writing one. My father was an early member of the Mystery Writers of America, Number 416. He was dabbling in mystery writing, but was never published. Once I was accepted into the MFA program at Vermont College, I had to decide what to write. I asked my friend, Jonathan Revere, for suggestions -- The Great American Novel? Significant Short Stories? Creative Non-Fiction? -- he told me, "Murder mysteries. That sounds like fun." So that's how I got started.

Q. Victoria is such a wonderful character – unique in the mystery world. Can you tell us how you created her, how you decided what kind of person she would be? Were you at all wary of making her a woman in her nineties? And did you intend from the beginning to keep her the same age forever?

A. Victoria Trumbull is based on my mother, Dionis Coffin Riggs, a poet, a strong woman, and someone I wanted to keep alive forever in the mysteries I'd decided to write. She was almost ninety-nine when she died. I figured it was stretching credulity to have a ninety-nine-year-old sleuth, so I made Victoria much younger. During the MFA program, I wrote a paper analyzing how writers dealt with time in their mystery series. I learned that as long as the writer is fair with her readers and they understand the rules, they willingly suspend disbelief. Victoria will remain ninety-two forever while time passes in the background. That way I don't have to remember what life was like five or ten years ago.

Q. Mystery writers are always hearing that our characters need to “grow and change” in each book and over the course of a series. Is this possible with a character of Victoria’s age? Has she changed since you began writing about her?

A. Victoria's character remains fairly stable. I've noticed, though, that from identifying her totally with my mother, I've come to see her as a character on her own. My recurring characters grow and change, and that's fun to watch.

Q. What do you enjoy most about fiction writing? What aspect has been most difficult for you to master?

A. Before I wrote fiction, I'd written quite a lot of scientific articles, edited a couple of scientific periodicals, and wrote and edited for National Geographic's books. My facts had to be accurate and every word had to be the exact right word. I had to know where the piece I was writing was going, had to outline it, and kept prodigious notes. You can't imagine how freeing fiction writing is after that. I can make things up, can sit down in the morning at my computer not knowing what my characters are likely to do or where my story is likely to lead me. It's great fun. While it's work to put words together so they make sense, writing continues to be a fascinating process. The most difficult aspect for me to master was time management. That's where the MFA program made a difference. I'm not a disciplined person in general, but when it comes to my writing time, I'm disciplined.

Q. Do you have a strict writing schedule? How do you balance writing with your other work?

A. I sit down at my computer at ten a.m. after my B&B guests finish breakfast and work steadily, seven days a week, until five or six. I'll break to make beds, do laundry, pull weeds, do errands, but I get right back to work.

Q. How long does it take you to write a book? Do you outline first or just plunge in?

A. Usually it takes about six months to complete a book. I start with the title -- all my books have plants in their titles -- and a vague idea of what I want to include, current gripes about Island affairs, irritations with people I'd like to get even with, and then away I go, not planning ahead at all. For instance, a future book will be titled Poison Ivy and will deal with academic politics in a wannabe college on the Island. There are a couple of pompous asses around here I'd like to deal with.

Q. What mystery writers do you read? What have you learned from the writers you admire?

A. One of my favorite writers is Donald Westlake, who's not exactly a mystery writer, but I find him one of the funniest writers ever. I try to copy his manic sense of humor in my writing, but of course it can't compare with his. I love Agatha Christie, Rex Stout's Nero Wolf, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James, Michael Dibdin. I tend to keep the mystery books I buy, and have run out of bookcase room. I probably read two to three books a week, mostly mysteries, and borrow a lot from my local library. Just last night I learned a tip from reading Patricia Highsmith, how to allow a point of view character to see into another character's thoughts without the reader suspecting it's a trick.

Q. Are you still a manuscript screener for Poisoned Pen Press?

A. I was a manuscript screener for awhile, but found it difficult to read the manuscripts, many of which were single-spaced, some printed on both sides of the paper. My eyes are not that great, so I gave it up, although I loved critiquing. Very, very few of the submissions I read seemed publishable, probably less than one percent. I learned a lot about what not to do, and that helped me in my own writing. I liked being able to be candid in my reviews, knowing that Poisoned Pen Press would protect their aspiring authors from my terribly clever, cutting, nasty comments, something I would never write to the writer herself.

Q. You say that your inn “caters to writers and artists”, which brings to mind an image of fussy creative types who need special handling! What is it really like to have a stream of writers and artists as guests? Do you have many guests who return year after year? Is the inn open year-round?

A. As the manager of the Cleaveland House B&B, I screen out potential guests who might need special handling. I have a spiel that goes something like this: "This is an old house. The floors creak, doors don't shut, shared baths, no television, no recreational facilities, and books and papers all over the place." The poets, writers, artists, and people sympathetic to creative types who come to my B&B find a relaxed place with creative vibes. The house is large, but has only three guest rooms, so people can get to know each other if they wish. Most guests come back year after year, often for a week-long stay. Because this is my home, the B&B is open year round. However, there's no heat on the second floor, where two of the guest rooms are. Some people thrive on sleeping in a chilly room with fireplace and down comforters and come off-season. But the B&B tends to be quiet from mid-November to mid-April.

Q. During your career as a nonfiction writer, you spent some time in Antarctica. Do you remember that as a good or bad experience?

A. My Antarctic trips -- two of them -- were incredibly amazing and humbling experiences. I went the first time as a Smithsonian technician working on board the Eltanin, an antarctic research vessel, for two months. We never got onto the Ice, as the continent is called. There were something like eighteen different scientific programs going on twenty-four hours a day aboard the ship. The waves in the Antarctic Ocean were unbelievable. Keeping our footing was an adventure, and it was all wonderful. When the vessel reached an area of icebergs and lots of floating ice, we headed north. I cried when the ship docked in Chile.

The second time, the National Science Foundation sent me as a journalist to cover scientific activities on the continent. I spent about two weeks visiting the scientific stations of other nations, crawling around penguin rookeries, meeting seals, and being awestruck by the fact that I was safe and warm in a Hercules aircraft, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts, while following 20,000 feet above the footsteps of explorers like Scott and Shackelton. We flew to the South Pole and to a scientific station that was completely buried by ice. A sign at the entrance read, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here!" The sun circled the horizon all day and all night. Being there was such an adventure, I tried to make use of every minute of daylight. Impossible, of course.

Q. Looking back on all the writing you’ve done in your life, what would you say has been the most fun?

A. The absolute most fun of all is right now. I've learned a lot during my past writing years and continue to learn today, this minute, while I'm writing now. It's satisfying to be able to write something that people might read and enjoy. Every day I learn how to work around problems such as too many "he saids," or how little or much detail to include, or how to make a reader laugh, or how to build suspense. Learning to write is like learning to master a musical instrument to please myself and others.

Q. What do you see in the future? More books about Victoria? A new series, perhaps?

A. I'm hoping to keep Victoria going for a total of twenty books. I'm on nine right now. I've started a second series set on the waterfront in Washington, DC, where I lived on a boat for twelve years. My protagonist, a former call girl, is a far cry from Victoria Trumbull. She lives on a houseboat at a yacht club, a neighborhood of live-aboard individualists. I've finished the first book, Murder On C-Dock, and am shopping it around right now.

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

A. Sit down and write. Set a regular time, whatever is best for you, even if it's only an hour a day, and don't let anyone or anything disturb you. Treat that time as if it were a job. Some days the muse won't strike, but write anyway. It's like practicing a musical instrument. Keep at it. Much too often aspiring writers say, "I don't have time to write," yet they'll watch three or four hours of television an evening. Cut out a couple of shows and write. Just write.

Cynthia Riggs’s books are, in order: Deadly Nightshade, The Cranefly Orchid Murders, The Cemetery Yew, Jack in the Pulpit, The Paperwhite Narcissus, Indian Pipes, and Shooting Star. Visit her web site at www.cynthiariggs.com.