Hardboiled...But Other Things As Well

By Jeri Westerson

With my newest book coming out October 15 (SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST), I started reflecting on my Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series.

The great thing about writing my series seems to be the freedom it affords me to write pretty much whatever I like, as long as it still carries with it the "Medieval Noir" sensibilities. That means that my stories follow a hard-boiled detective model, even though they are set in the Middle Ages. It's my own little sub-sub-genre, my own little kingdom.

At the same time, though, I still get to play around with other genres while still getting the hard-boiled detective stuff in there. In my debut in 2008, VEIL OF LIES, I did the locked room scenario, but with the suspicious femme fatale and all the other tropes that made it hardboiled. In other words, it introduced the hard-drinking, hard-living lone detective with a chip on his shoulder. He is quick with his fists and his mouth, and gets knocked around for it. He is also a sucker for a dame in trouble, and trouble comes in the form of religious relics or venerated objects, something everyone either wants to get their hands on or can't wait to get rid of. Think Maltese Falcon and medieval Sam Spade.

In my second, SERPENT IN THE THORNS, I penned a medieval thriller, what I like to call my ticking sundial story. The king is in danger of an assassin and it's up to Crispin to stop the killer in time. But it was also about discovering who the assassin was and why a courier was killed. It lead to ideas about running around London that I would use in a later plot.

In number three, THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT, it's a serial killer story based on the life of a real medieval serial killer. But it's also the story of a monster, a golem stalking the streets of London, so maybe it's Frankenstein, too (As Pablo Picasso said, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal.") And on top of all that, it also does triple duty as a commentary on religious prejudice and Jews standing in for the contemporary topic of gays as our current pariah. How's that for packing it in?

Number four, TROUBLED BONES, was my Agatha Christie story, with a bunch of suspects all trapped together. But instead of a manor house in the country, it's a cathedral in Canterbury. Showing up and getting into trouble as well is Crispin's old friend Geoffrey Chaucer, who is later to be inspired to write his famous Canterbury Tales based on the people he meets in this adventure. I almost believe it myself. It's the Canterbury Tales only with murder.

The fifth, BLOOD LANCE, could be styled a psychological drama...with jousting! In it, a knight, a former friend of Crispin's, seems to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I researched  and explored the nature and history of PTSD and wondered if knights could have been imperiled by it. In this story, one certainly is, as he is accused of cowardice and desertion from John of Gaunt's army and must perform a judicial joust to the death to prove his worthiness. Crispin goes through the usual soul-searching about what is right and honorable and at the same time must find a relic and solve a murder.

And my number six, SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST, due out October 15, is largely a treasure
hunt all over London, instigated by a Moriarity-type villain in search of the fabled Philosopher's Stone.

Number seven, that needs to find a home with a new publisher, THE SILENCE OF STONES, (in the outlining stages) involves no murder at all, but a twisting story of a missing "relic" of sorts that Crispin must find or Jack, held in captivity by the king himself, will die. Kathrine Swynford, Lancaster's longtime mistress and eventual wife shows up in this one, as well as three witches from Shakespeare's Scottish play.

In number eight, yet to be outlined, TEARS OF A MAIDEN, is a medieval courtroom drama, with Jack doing the investigating while Crispin languishes in jail. 

To be sure, each book still has the hard-boiled tropes of a detective down on his luck, a sucker for a dame in trouble, a hard-hitting action hero who's not afraid to use his fists. And they also have that elusive relic or venerated object, the McGuffin everyone is trying to get their hands on, either pivotal to the plot or just a red herring. Steeped in the time period of fourteenth century London, we can't help but get encompassed by the politics of the time as well. Corrupt officials, rich nobles passing laws in order to stay rich, the ultra religious faction trying to force its will on the reformers...is any of this sounding familiar? Strange how the more I research the more it looks like little changes over time.

I've got other things planned for future books. How about a beautiful con artist and thief? That's coming up. A black comedy? That's coming up, too. The possibilities are endless.I have a definite timeline in mind and know where we are headed for Crispin. His story is by no means over yet.

Book Launches

To tell you the truth, I don't know what other people do. I might have seen a book launch or two where the author serves a cake or it's a cocktail party sort of an affair. But no. Not me. I always wanted my book launches to have the same dramatic flair as my books, and get the reader in the mood.

And I think I did that adequately when I launched the fifth book in my medieval mystery series, BLOOD LANCE, on October 20th. Since my books are set in the middle ages, the first order of business was to make sure I served medieval food. Now I'm not talking a full course dinner, but more like medieval munchies, finger food, but something that wouldn't look unfamiliar on an English medieval table. And so I serve figs and olives and grapes. And cheese. Lots of cheese. Along with small bits of toast (i.e. crackers) to go with it. But any medieval table involves meat, and so that's there, too. Salami, and pork tenderloin stuffed with prunes.

Westerson-made mead.

Libations are in order, and along with the decidedly not medieval champagne (we have to make some concessions), we also serve my husband's award-winning homemade mead. It was a real hit, I can tell you. Many people have never had mead and my hubby knows how to brew it. It beat the champagne hands down, as a matter of fact.

Food helps to conjure the right atmosphere, but there is nothing like a little entertainment to get the ball rolling. In previous years I had the help of a cousin who plays a Celtic harp. But along with that, I always have my knights. Armored fellows who take time away from their other knightly duties to add verisimilitude to the proceedings by dueling and offering me and my guests a chance to get medieval on things.

And then I did a reading, and to accompany that, a brief Power Point presentation on the Origins of Knighthood with pictures of yours truly all armored up for the sake of research.

It's an unusual knight...er...night. When I did it for my first book, VEIL OF LIES, five years ago, the folks at Vroman's bookstore--the oldest continuously running indie bookstore in America--said they'd never seen a launch like that. And I don't feel I can disappoint.

But sometimes...sometimes I wish I just served cake.




  

Knights With PTSD?

With our young soldiers marching off to war all around us and returning home with not only visible injuries, but the many you can’t see, I began to consider Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, as it was viewed in the past. And it became a pivotal plot point in my upcoming book BLOOD LANCE, my medieval mystery with protagonist Crispin Guest, a disgraced knight turned detective in fourteenth century London. A knight from Crispin’s chivalric past, Sir Thomas Saunfayl, pulls Crispin into his difficulties that are quickly spiraling out of control. Sir Thomas is accused of desertion and must fight for his life in a judicial joust. Desperate to ensure his victory, he has paid a fortune to lay his hands on the Spear of Longinus, a religious relic he believes will give him invincibility on the lists, and he hires Crispin to find it.

The idea of knights possibly suffering from PTSD fascinated me. I wondered if throughout history, in the days before modern artillery, combatants suffered from it. After all, it is a malady that manifests once a soldier returns home to “normal” life, and many soldiers and knights were away from home for years and years. Even though there is little in the way of discussion about it in old documents because of the cultural and sociological differences between then and now, I didn’t suppose it was a modern phenomenon, though we have given it fancy modern names.

In World War I, they talked of being “shell shocked” from the nature of the new style of warfare where soldiers huddled in trenches while being barraged by exploding shells. By World War II it was called “battle fatigue.” General Patton famously slapped a soldier suffering from this. “Battlefield stress” is yet another term.

Battle of Courtrai

But in the Middle Ages it could only be recognized as a failure on the part of the soldier and labeled as cowardice. Interestingly enough, some parchment was given to the problem of cowardice. The idea--then as now--was to train the soldier so thoroughly that the “flight” part of the natural “fight or flight” response would be eliminated. Drill, discipline, and group bonding went a long way toward shaping the mind (though the medieval foot soldier wasn’t drilled in the sense of practicing formations, not like their ancient ancestors in Greece or Rome. It was an impracticality. They had to rely on the discipline of the knights, those in the front lines, to form strategies for the foot soldiers to follow. However, infantry was able to save the day over the mounted knight many a time, including in the battle of Courtrai in 1302 and Bannockburn in 1314).

Instilling a greater fear in one’s commander than in the enemy also proved optimal. In ancient China, for example, generals would maneuver their armies in such a way as to make retreat impossible thus forcing the advance as the only option. Religious fervor, too, offered a standard under which one could fight while also offering ultimate rewards if death should strike.

There was a reason for rallying the troops before a battle with a stirring speech. From ancient Greece and probably before, generals and kings gave battle orations meant to bond, to encourage, and to remind the men of their reasons for fighting and for their ultimate rewards if they succeeded. Think of the St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V. I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to take up arms!

Combined, this is what made up the “band of brothers,” where even the general or, in some instances, the castellan of a fortress, feels close to his men in a way that defies the social classes.

Still, even with all this training and discipline, with the subsequent shame in society associated with cowardice, there were certainly soldiers and knights who succumbed to the rigors of war. A knight on a horse could flee a lot easier than a man on the ground, and there were instances where generals insisted the knights dismount in order to make fleeing more difficult. Early flight of the knights lost many a battle, including King Stephen’s battle at Lincoln and Robert Curthose’s battle at Tinchebrai. Are these instances of cowardice as we might understand it, or of a man cutting his losses and getting the heck out of there?

Battle stress manifests itself in running away in the face of battle, sleeplessness, irritability, irrational anger, mood swings, and thoughts of suicide. Sir Thomas in this piece suffers from these symptoms and can’t understand why. All his training and discipline failed him in the face of the constant barrage of the battle royale. What’s a knight to do? As he said, they can’t all be Crispin Guests.

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My new medieval mystery BLOOD LANCE will be released Oct 16 in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook. See a series book trailer and discussion guides for all my books at www.JeriWesterson.com 

Touring: Worth the Price?

Since my newest book, TROUBLED BONES, came out in mid October, I’ve been on the road touring. And I think if I never saw another airport it couldn’t be too soon.

My husband actually looks forward to the early part of the tour that I do in Arizona, because this becomes a long weekend for us both, driving from our home in southern California to cross the deserts and slip over the Colorado River into Arizona. A weekend of sitting around pools with the occasional stint at a bookstore or library doesn't sound too bad.

This year, I asked my publicist at St. Martin’s to set me up on a multi-state tour. They are happy to do that for me. Of course, they don’t actually pay for any of it, they just make the phone calls and set it up. It’s up to me to get there.

Is it worth the time and expense for an author? In this age of social media, can one get away with simply tapping away on the computer to get attention? In order to sell books, an author has to get their name out there. And even with all the Facebooking and Twittering one can do, I believe there comes a time when you still have to step out of your front door and go out into the world, meeting people personally and connecting with librarians and booksellers.

I do events all year. I’m lucky to live in southern California where there seems to be lots of avenues for me to get myself out into the public eye, from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books to smaller but no less high profile literary gatherings like Literary Orange and luncheons sponsored by various women’s professional organizations, as well as library appearances. And once the word gets out that you’re halfway entertaining, you get recommended all over the place. That’s how I roll these days, through recommendations, through the speaker’s bureau at my Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime, and through my publicist with my publisher.

But that only gets me connected in California. I wanted far more coverage than that and this year, I pulled out the stops—and my credit card—to hit the road. (You can see pictures of my adventures at www.Getting-Medieval.com)

Before any official book tour, I began the year in January with a couple of panels at the ALA Midwinter Conference in San Diego. And then I got invited to Murder on the Menu, a grand panel of authors sponsored by the Cerritos Library in southern California. So far so good. I could drive to these and they required no overnight stay.

In February, I was invited to Birmingham, Alabama for their weekend of author panels and events in Murder in the Magic City. Now I needed to shell out airfare and hotel. They managed the ferrying around and the meals so that helped. Also in February, I flew up to San Francisco for the day to the Oakland Library to participate on a panel with other mystery authors. Airfare only, as one of my critique partners, Ana Brazil, who lives in the area, offered to drive me around (when I came off the plane she was holding up one of those signs with my name on it, as if she were a limo driver. Funny!)

In April, I hit Literary Orange on a panel with fellow author (and personal idol) Barbara Hambly, and made all sorts of connections with librarians, scoring more gigs for later in the year. There were no fees accrued there and I got a free lunch, too boot. Also in April, San Antonio College invited me to speak as part of their writer’s week (they heard about me through acquaintance with another mystery author). They paid me to be there. That's what I'm talkin' about! At the end of April, I skipped the free LA Times Festival of Books to attend mystery fan convention Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland, where I hosted a banquet table with fans and fans-to-be and also sat on a panel. I paid a conference fee, airfare, hotel, and meals, as well as dosh for giveaways to my tablemates.

I taught a workshop on researching the historical novel at the California Crime Writer’s Conference in Pasadena, for which I only shelled out for the hotel room (which I really got free with my points from Best Western).

In June, I attended and was empaneled at the Historical Novel Society Conference in San Diego (I paid a conference fee, which they cut in half since I was a speaker, hotel expenses, and gas to get there. Meals were included.)

In September, I went to Bouchercon in St. Louis, moderated one panel, sat on another, was snuck into the Library Breakfast by my publisher, and attended an outside event under my pen name at a local bookstore. In October I was on a panel at the West Hollywood Book Fair as my alter ego, and then began my medieval mystery book tour with my book launch in Pasadena (hotel, meals, and party expenses for the launch, including sword-fighting knights, who don't come cheap!)

The following weekend, my husband and I headed out for the Arizona leg of the tour, which was driveable (gas, food, lodging). But the weekend after that I was flying out to Texas to hit a bookstore each in Houston and Austin. The next weekend I was in North Carolina hitting two libraries and two bookstores, and this last weekend wrapped things up in Wisconsin having been invited to Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, another weekend full of panels with fourteen other mystery authors.

But this last one in Wisconsin was the only event I attended all year where all expenses were paid for by the sponsors (except that my flight out of Milwaukee was delayed and I missed my connecting flight to California which ended up in an overnight stay in Chicago, which I paid for). Otherwise, I was all in for conference registration fees, hotels, car rentals, gas, airfare, and meals. And let me tell you, all told for the year, that is a very, VERY BIG bill for a midlist author with only four books released (six if you count the others under my pen name). If you think it's glamorous being an author, let me show you my credit card bills.

So, Jeri, are you just going to complain about it or has it been worthwhile? On a human level, it was very worthwhile. Going to meet the readers personally, giving readers face time--and connecting in person to all those Facebook friends--leads to even more loyalty and to talking me up to other readers. Same thing at the bookstores. Sure, I sell a few right then and there, but now you’ve got the bookstore owner on your side, hand selling when a curious and eager reader shows up and just has no idea what to read next.

But how does one quantify it? Do I have to sell X number of books on my tour to pay for it? Does it even work that way? Can it?

The answer, I believe, is not really. It’s truly impossible to quantify how many books I will eventually sell by these out-of-pocket efforts.

Touring is not for everyone. And because of the expense involved, I doubt I will be doing much traveling at all next year (see me and Crispin on Facebook!). But I’m glad I gave it a push this time around. And, as many of the librarians and new fans told me, “You weren’t on my radar before, but you are now!” Maybe that says it all.

(Pictures, from top: Jeri and the Giant Peach outside of Birmingham, AL; the costume parade at the Historical Novel Society Conference; the town called Hope in Arizona I passed through.)

Deadly Daughters book giveaway

Poe's Deadly Daughters are getting an early start on the gift-giving season by offering our readers a chance to win free copies of our books. Leave a comment with your first and second choices, and you'll be entered in a drawing for a free book. Come back tomorrow to see a list of winners. Good luck -- and we hope you enjoy the books!

FROM JERI WESTERSON:

I'm giving away one signed copy of Troubled Bones, my hot-off-the-press newest release in the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series.

The retelling of the unfinished Canterbury Tales as it might have happened…Disgraced knight Crispin Guest gets himself into some serious trouble in London and as a result is forced to accept an assignment far out of town. The archbishop of Canterbury has specifically requested Crispin to investigate a threat against the bones of saint and martyr Thomas a Becket, which are housed in a shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. The archbishop has received letters threatening the safety of the artifacts, and he wants Crispin to protect them and uncover whoever is after them. But when he arrives at Canterbury, Crispin is accosted by an old acquaintance from court—one Geoffrey Chaucer—who has arrived with a group of pilgrims. Trapped in Canterbury, looking for a murderer, a hidden heretic, and a solution to the riddle that will allow him to go back home, Crispin Guest finds his considerable wit and intellect taxed to its very limit.

I had been wanting to tell this story for a while. I've had a longtime association with Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales (see that here) and so to be able to include some of the Pilgrims in my story as well as Geoffrey Chaucer has been a joy. I hope you'll feel the same way.

FROM JULIA BUCKLEY:

I'm giving away Kindle versions of Madeline Mann (the first in the Madeline Mann trilogy, which Kirkus called "a bright debut" and Library Journal dubbed "a welcome addition to the cozy scene") and of my newest title, The Ghosts of Lovely Women, which is the first in the Teddy Thurber series.

Madeline is a small-town reporter who decides to investigate the disappearance of an old friend; this leads her into some humorous scrapes, but also into some very serious crime and corruption. Truly, to paraphrase Hamlet, something is rotten in the town of Webley.

Teddy is an English teacher who is horrified to learn of the death of a former student. The dead girl, Jessica Halliday, has left Teddy some cryptic messages that relate to the literature they read in class. Only Teddy, who has immersed herself in the truths of the great classics, can see the patterns in the words that Jessica has left behind.

Both books have spunky and literary heroines!

FROM ELIZABETH ZELVIN:

I'm giving away a signed hardcover first edition of Death Will Get You Sober, the first novel in my series featuring recovering alcoholic Bruce Kohler and his friends, Barbara the world-class codependent and Jimmy the computer genius. One reviewer, bless her heart, praised my "ability to bring us both tragedy and humor, sometimes in the same sentence."

Death Will Get You Sober tackles a subject that is not only serious but emotionally charged for many readers, with a combination of lighthearted fun, authenticity, and heart. As it opens, Bruce's denial is cracking as he wakes up in detox on the Bowery on Christmas Day. A couple of murders and an unexpected burst of genuine feeling set him off on a quest to find the murderer, stay off the booze for good, and get his life back.

FROM SHEILA CONNOLLY:
I'm giving away one copy (signed) each of the most recent book in my two current series.

Let's Play Dead (Museum Mystery #2): Nell Pratt, president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society in Philadelphia, is jolted into action when someone is electrocuted at the beloved Philadelphia children's museum, Let's Play. When Nell is invited to a sneak preview of a newly installed exhibit, she's in for quite a shock: while she's there, one of the installers gets a severe jolt while working on an animated creature.

He recovers, but when a second man gets zapped, this time fatally, it sparks a homicide investigation, and it's up to Nell to channel her energy into finding the killer—before she gets burned herself.

Bitter Harvest (Orchard Mystery #5):  Now that Meg Corey's first apple crop has been harvested and sold, she's enjoying some free time, and cleaning out her 1760 house.

In a dusty corner Meg finds an early 19th century silk sampler, but she doesn't recognize the names on it as any of the earlier owners of her house. Then she starts being plagued by a series of small but annoying mishaps. If she doesn't figure out how the sampler she found is connected to the motive of her modern day tormentor, her first harvest could be her last.

Take your pick--city or country, electronic animals or apples!


FROM SANDRA PARSHALL:
I’m offering a copy of my latest book, Under the Dog Star, and a copy of my first Rachel Goddard novel, The Heat of the Moon – to two different readers.

Veterinarian Rachel Goddard can’t stand by while animals suffer -- and she feels equally driven to act if she believes a child is mistreated. In Under the Dog Star, she makes deadly enemies when she scrambles to save feral dogs wrongly accused of killing a prominent doctor, and at the same time becomes entangled in the sad lives of the doctor’s adopted children. This fast-paced mystery, praised by Kirkus Reviews for  “spine-chilling tension from cover to cover,” is also a story about the meaning of family, the power of compassion, and the duty we have to the animals that share our lives. Award-winning author Deborah Crombie calls it a  “tense and compelling entry in one of my favorite series” and adds, “Believable, sympathetic protagonists; a beautifully evoked setting; a haunting crime -- Under the Dog Star is one of the un-put-down-able reads of the year.”

If you haven’t read any of my books and would like to start with the one that introduces Rachel, you can enter the drawing for a copy of The Heat of the Moon. When Rachel begins having strange dreams and experiencing flashes of long-buried memories that make her question her family’s background, she must fight a devastating battle of wills with her controlling psychologist mother to get at the truth. Publishers Weekly called The Heat of the Moon a “frightening psychological mystery” with a “mesmerizing plot.” The book won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

From Sharon Wildwind:

I'm giving away a copy of Missing, Presumed Wed, fourth in the Elizabeth Pepperhawk/Avivah Rosen Viet Nam veterans mystery series.

 

Ex-Special Forces Sergeant Benny Kirkpatrick is one week away from marrying Lorraine Fulford and, as he puts it, “I’’ve seen courts martial that required less preparation than this wedding.” Then Benny’s mother is abducted. When her abductor’s body is discovered, Benny, Avivah and Pepper put their own romantic entanglements aside to help Benny find the killer. The price of justice may tear Benny’’s family apart forever.