Sandra Parshall
Starting to feel a little Scroogelike because every blog you click on has a holiday theme? Feel like you’re drowning in sentimental good cheer?
Me too.
Let’s talk about vampires instead. And werewolves, ghosts, demons, psychics, and mindreaders.
In case you’ve been languishing on a desert island and missed the news, let me tell you that mysteries with paranormal and supernatural elements are hot right now. Publishing professionals are generally cautious people who would rather follow a strong trend than try to start one that might fizzle quickly, and that seems to be the case with other-worldly mysteries, as more and more publishers jump on the bandwagon. But somebody had to get the bandwagon rolling in the first place by recognizing that this type of story would appeal to mystery readers. Looking back, it seems to me that the romance genre embraced the paranormal first, and the lines between romance, mystery, and horror have grown fuzzier ever since.
The influence of horror on the mystery genre is nothing new, though. Edgar Allan Poe, considered the father of the modern detective story because of his 1841 tale Murders in the Rue Morgue, spent most of his creative energy on work drenched in horror and the supernatural. Vampires in crime novels, however, are a relatively recent phenomenon, and some mystery writers have borrowed from their colleagues in romance by making their bloodthirsty characters more sexy than terrifying.
For most of us, Bram Stoker’s Dracula comes to mind instantly when we think of vampires, but the world’s first vampire thriller (the term thriller being used in its broadest sense) was Carmilla, a Vampyre Tale, published in 1872 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Dracula wasn’t published until 1897. Both are grim stories about humans desperately trying to escape the clutches of powerful predators. Not until Anne Rice came along did readers begin to see the human side, so to speak, of fictional vampires. Her characters retain the sensibilities they possessed when they were fully human, and some feel deep regret over what they’ve become. Rice managed to make the undead sympathetic -- and, in some cases, sexy.
These days, vampires can be the good guys, and drop dead gorgeous (sorry) into the bargain. In her groundbreaking Southern Vampires Mysteries, Charlaine Harris writes about the romance between Sookie Stackhouse, a normal young woman except for her ability to read everybody else’s mind, and Bill, a sexy vampire. Harris’s quirky series is a huge hit, and it’s not surprising that other vampire mysteries have popped up in their wake.
Ghosts have crossed over into mystery from horror and romance fiction, and psychics and mind-readers also abound. Victoria Laurie writes about “psychic eye” Amy Cooper. In Madelyn Alt’s Bewitching Mysteries series, heroine Maggie O’Neill hunts ghosts and solves paranormal mysteries. Kay Hooper has built a dark romantic thriller series around a super-secret FBI unit made up of agents with paranormal powers.
In paranormal fiction, getting hit on the head can lead to trouble for a character and a series for the author. L.L. Bartlett writes about an ordinary, likable guy named Jeff Resnick who was knocked unconscious by muggers and woke up with psychic talents that keep dragging him into murder cases. Kat Richardson’s 
Harper Blaine also got clobbered, and she woke up with a tendency to shift between the normal world and the realm of vampires and ghosts. Since cemetery tour guide Pepper Martin, in the series by Casey Daniels, struck her head on a tombstone, she’s been besieged by ghosts who need her help.
Some series blend the paranormal with a longtime favorite cozy setting, as Alice Kimberly does in her haunted bookshop mysteries. Her heroine, bookseller Penelope Thornton-McClure, didn’t believe in ghosts until she met the spirit of hardboiled 1940s PI Jack Shepard. Now they have a crime-solving partnership.
New paranormal series come along regularly. Annette Blair, author of paranormal romances, ventures into mystery in January with A Veiled Deception: A Vintage Magic Mystery, about a vintage clothing store owner who solves crimes based on the visions she receives from used duds.
The success of a genre-blending book depends entirely on a writer’s ability to create a believable alternate world. Of course, every fiction writer has to do that, but most of us can use familiar points of reference to draw the reader in and persuade him or her to believe in our characters and story. When the characters are vampires, ghosts, werewolves, psychics, and mindreaders, authors must be especially inventive and convincing. The remarkable thing is that so many have succeeded.
A few years ago, a lot of crime fiction authors scoffed at paranormal mysteries and predicted the trend would die quickly because real mystery fans wouldn’t go for them. I don’t think anybody’s saying that now.
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P.S. Happy holidays, everyone!
by Sandra Parshall
Lorna Barrett debuts this month with Murder Is Binding, first in the Booktown cozy series from Berkley Prime Crime, featuring a New Hampshire bookseller. The writer isn’t a newcomer, though. She published her first novel in the Jeff Resnick psychic sleuth series, Murder on the Mind, in 2005 as L.L. Bartlett, and she has a second installment, Dead in Red, coming out in June. Her real name is Lorraine Bartlett, and she lives in Rochester, NY, with her husband and their four cats. Visit her web sites at www.lornabarrett.com, www.llbartlett.com, and www.lorrainebartlett.com.
Q. Give us your quick pitches for Murder Is Binding and Dead in Red.
A. Murder Is Binding: Two sisters, books, recipes, murder. Who knew the world of used and rare books could be so dangerous?
Dead in Red: Jeff has new digs, a new girlfriend--and a totally new life. That includes coping with the psychic flashes that drive him to seek out a bartender’s killer, and worse, confronting his guilt for compromising the safety of people he cares about.
Honestly, I haven’t pulled together “real” pitches. I’m terrible at it. I’m terrible at writing a synopsis. (I apologize for the above. )
Q. How would you compare the experience of writing as Lorna Barrett to writing as L.L. Bartlett? Do you shift into a different emotional space or mindset?
A. I tend to think of “Lorna” as this abstract person when I promote--but when I’m writing, it’s just me and the keyboard (and a cat or two).
I shift point of view; the Jeff Resnick books are written in first person, and the Booktown Mysteries are written in third person point of view. I also shift genders--or rather I have to focus on thinking like a guy for the Jeff books, and thinking like a business woman for the Booktown books. I have a deeper connection with my Jeff Renick series simply because I’ve been with the characters a lot longer. (I’ve completed five books in the series. It’ll be some time before all the books see print.)
Q. Both books will be new at about the same time. Do you plan to promote them together or do completely separate signings, etc.?
A. Both. I’ve had separate bookmarks made up for both books, and I’ve had postcards made up that showcase both books. The postcards will be sent to out-of-town fans/booksellers/libraries. I’ve sent bookmarks to readers, conferences, and reader groups.
Q. You have a fairly rigorous schedule for the Lorna Barrett books, don’t you? How much time do you have to write each book? Has it turned out to be easier or more difficult than you expected?
A. I have nine months between books. It’s been a lot harder than I envisioned. Now that I no longer have a day job, I seem to have a lot more distractions. I devote a lot of time to my elderly parents, which also cuts into my writing time.
Q. Does promotion make a serious dent in your writing time? Have you found a way to overcome that? (If you have, I can name several thousand writers who would pay for the secret!) Do you think it will at least be easier to manage this time, since you’ve been through it before?
A. Some weeks I devote far more of my time to promotion and networking than I do to writing. I don’t like to travel, so a lot of my time is spent looking for promotional opportunities on the Internet. I send out a lot of material to individual readers, conferences, and book groups. Sometimes I think I’m personally keeping the US Postal Service in business.
Q. Did one of your own cats serve as the inspiration for Miss Marple, the bookstore feline in Murder Is Binding?
A. Yes, my late cat Cori. I was surprised when the artist commissioned to do the cover of Murder Is Binding included a gray cat. It looks nothing like Cori did, but the sentiment was there. Miss Marple tends to steal every scene she appears in. I have a page up on my website devoted to Cori. http://www.lorrainebartlett.com/lorraine/pg.cori.html
Q. Have you picked up any interesting tidbits about bookselling while doing research for your Berkley series? Anything you didn’t know before?
A. I’d been selling used books in my booth at a local antiques arcade for several years before I contracted to do the series. I interviewed the community relations manager at my local Barnes and Noble and she shared a lot of wonderful (and some frightening) anecdotes about working in a bookstore. Rather than get into the nitty gritty of bookselling, I prefer to concentrate on the relationships between the characters. In a cozy, you tend to have a lot of characters, and making sure each has a unique voice is a challenge.
Q. In Murder on the Mind and Dead in Red, you write from a male POV, and the main relationship in the books is between two brothers. What drew you to explore the way brothers interact? Did anyone you’ve known inspire
either character?
A. I’ve always been a fan of “buddy” stories. (The Classic Star Trek “triad,” Starsky & Hutch, Sam and Al in Quantum Leap.) When I decided to write from a male point of view, I wanted the characters to have more at stake than just friendship, so I made them brothers with a lot of baggage. It didn’t hurt that I grew up with two brothers. I got to observe firsthand the ups and downs of that kind of a relationship.
I didn’t base either character on any one person. They both came to me as unique individuals. I wish that would happen more often.
Q. What kind of comments have you had from readers about your portrayal of male characters? Have you had any feedback from your husband or your own brothers?
A. A lot less than I would’ve thought. Being published by a small press probably had a lot to do with that. Most of my readers have been women--which is not surprising, since women buy more books than men. They’re attracted by the relationship between the brothers, and between Richard and his significant other, Brenda.
My husband is long-suffering. He helps me assemble my promotional material (he’s a former graphic designer) and he proofreads my work. He doesn’t like to offer criticism. I don’t believe either of my brothers have even read my first book, despite the fact I dedicated it to one of them. They’re just not fiction readers. I was hurt, but I got over it.
Q. Your Jeff Resnick books are set in Buffalo, the Booktown mysteries in New Hampshire – both places with cold, cold winters and tons of snow. Does the harsh winter play any part in your stories, either the books you’ve already written or those you’re planning?
A. Winter played a part in Murder on the Mind, my first published novel. One Buffalo book group pleaded for me to set the next installment in summertime. Little did they know, I’d already done it. Since I’ve never experienced winter in New Hampshire, I’ve decided to stick to warmer times of the year. The first book takes place in September; the second in April, and the third in the summer. (I’m still working on the timing of that one.)
Q. Tell us about your road to publication. Along with the disappointments, can you remember any incidents or feedback that encouraged you to keep going?
A. My Sisters In Crime chapter, the Guppies, has been a constant source of inspiration and enthusiasm. More than once I wondered if I had it in me to persist. The entertainment industry as a whole, be it acting, singing, writing, etc., is a tough business to crack. You’d better get used to rejection. Something that’s easier said than done.
Q. What aspects of writing craft have you struggled with? What do you consider your strength as a writer?
A. I struggle with writing “long.” My contracts say I will write a book of a specific length. I tend to write short. Jeremiah Healy said I have a “stark, spare style.” He’s right. I took to heart Elmore Leonard’s advice to leave out the parts people skip. That means I often end up rewriting to add in one or two more subplots after I’ve written my first draft of a book. Then I’ll have to go back to pump up the description. I had pacing, Pacing, PACING drilled into my head by an early mentor. It makes for a fast read, if nothing else.
My greatest strength is never giving up. That makes it quite difficult to face the fact that certain of my unpublished novels must remain so--at least for the foreseeable future. I’m not a patient person, and my characters keep calling to me from the closet shelf, telling me not to forget them--reminding me that I once loved them best.
Q. What writers have you learned from? If you could meet any writer you admire, who would it be?
A. Maybe it sounds corny, but I’ve learned more from my critique partners than any class or book that I’ve read, be it fiction or how-to. Discussing what works and what doesn’t work with fellow writers has been a wonderful experience. That said, you can’t remain in one group forever. And, I don’t even belong to a group anymore. These days I share my work--entire manuscripts--with other (mostly) published authors. I no longer like to critique a book/story in a piecemeal fashion.
I’m not a celebrity chaser, so there’s no big name I’m eager to meet. That said, I want to meet two of my fellow bloggers on Writers Plot--Kate Flora and Jeanne Munn Bracken. We’ve never met in person. I’m looking forward to having dinner with them sometime in the near future.
Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
A. Keep writing. Keep sending out queries. Keep striving to improve your work. That’s how you get published.
Posts
In paranormal fiction, getting hit on the head can lead to trouble for a character and a series for the author. L.L. Bartlett writes about an ordinary, likable guy named Jeff Resnick who was knocked unconscious by muggers and woke up with psychic talents that keep dragging him into murder cases. Kat Richardson’s 
Harper Blaine also got clobbered, and she woke up with a tendency to shift between the normal world and the realm of vampires and ghosts. Since cemetery tour guide Pepper Martin, in the series by Casey Daniels, struck her head on a tombstone, she’s been besieged by ghosts who need her help.
