Choices

From time to time we talk about life getting in the way of work, and that’s what’s been going on over the past couple of weeks. I caught the “Ick,” whatever that is, but things are getting back to normal. Sorry to have deserted you.

This week I’m here to talk about choices in books. We have hardcover books in both regular typeface and in large print. The same goes for some trade paperbacks and we have regular paperbacks. Of course, we have ebooks which seem to be pretty popular right now. I wonder what will come next. And, we also have audio books, which is my subject this week.

        

 

 A Well-Kept Family Secret and Bubba’s Ghost (both Sandi Webster Mysteries) are available in audio format now, and have been for a while. Coming up? Prudy’s Back!, another Sandi Webster Mystery. By the way, the reason there’s an exclamation point in the title is to indicate that it’s not about Prudy’s backside. It’s about her return. She was a private investigator back in the forties and fifties, and she wants Sandi to help her solve the unsolved case that meant the most to her. She just can’t let go of it.

After a narrator (in this case Viv Williams) puts the book in audio format, the author must proof the product. That means listening to the narration while reading along in the book. It’s time-consuming, but kind of a treat. Prudy’s Back! was released in 2009. After its release I moved on to other projects and didn’t give it much thought. Now that I’ve proofed the story, I remember how unique and how much fun it was to write. Sometimes looking back can be a good thing.

Prudy was based on a woman I met through someone my daughter worked with back in the day. Well, she was based on her in that she was a P.I. a long time ago. Her daughter remembered her wearing a long fur coat, cowgirl boots and smoking a long, black cigarette. When I spoke to the woman she laughed because other than the boots, her daughter’s memory was quite faulty. I liked the memory and presented Prudy as the daughter remembered her mother.

However, why would someone choose an audio book when so many other formats are available? Why would someone want to listen to Prudy? Many people like to listen to a story while they’re on a road trip and they certainly don’t want a story that will put them to sleep while driving. My mother-in-law had vision problems and she loved books. Audio stories made her day. I can think of several reasons to enjoy an audio book, like if you’re working out you can listen, but those of you who enjoy them already know why they’re your choice.

My husband and I used to listen to audio books while we traveled, and I have to make a confession. When the narrator was male, and he read female dialogue, it made me snicker. It was simply difficult to take a male voice trying to sound like a female too seriously. The reverse is true for female narrators. It’s a quirk of mine, and I can’t help it. However, I thought Viv Williams did a pretty good job of it with Prudy and the other characters, including the men.

So, if you’re looking for choices, you’ve got plenty in today’s market. I still prefer a paper book, but I find myself reading more ebooks simply because of the convenience (and the cost).

Prudy’s Back! should be released over the next two weeks. I’ll let you know when it’s available.

In the meantime, I’ve been lax about promoting my books and it’s time for that to change. I just need to come up with a new and unique idea. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. I’m not sure there are any new ideas. Oh, well… Time will tell.

Until next time, give audio books a try. They make great gifts, too. Remember my mother-in-law. She might have had vision problems, but her hearing was fine.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Remember, People Lookin’ Half Dead – A Bogey Man Mystery is waiting for you. Think massive heat and homeless people disappearing.

Evelyn Cullet, Guest Author

This week I’m pleased to welcome Evelyn Cullet. I recently read The Tarkington Treasure and enjoyed every moment of the story. It contains a mystery, humor, romance, and to my delight, a hidden treasure. Who doesn’t love a hidden treasure? I love a book that entertains me, and this one is on that list. I’m glad to have you back, Evelyn!

I’m delighted to be posting on Marja’s blog once again. This time it’s about my latest Charlotte Ross Mystery, The Tarkington Treasure. I had a hard time coming up with an idea for this novel, because I was looking for something I hadn’t read or written about in a mystery before. Then, one blustery day last January, my husband decided it was time to clean out our bookshelves. Being retired, he does this periodically. Not only bookshelves, but closets, kitchen drawers, bedroom drawers, upstairs cabinets, downstairs cabinets, the garage... He hates clutter. It doesn’t bother me as much. What does bother me, is having to move things just when I’ve become familiar with where I’d put them.

We were going through dozens of books on the Civil War he’s collected over the years, deciding on which to keep and which to donate to the Salvation Army store. I never really paid much attention to the books, there were so many, but this day I glanced through several and noticed a chapter in one of the books about millions of dollars in Civil War gold that still hasn’t been found. That’s when the idea struck me. I thought it might be fun to write about rumors of a Civil War treasure that had been hidden somewhere on an old estate—but the stories of the treasure had become so skewered over the years that it might be anywhere... or it might be anything. If in fact, the treasure ever really existed at all. That’s how I came up with:

  The Tarkington Treasure

A spooky old house, rumors of a hidden Civil War treasure, a neighbor’s murder, and an ex-fiancé falling unconscious at her feet—Charlotte Ross has her hands full when she’s invited to stay at her friend, Jane Marshall’s home while her apartment is being renovated.

Jane and her new fiancé have sold everything to move to the large estate she’d just inherited near the small town in Illinois, where she grew up. She’s always loved the house, but the cost of living in, and fixing up, a deteriorating old mansion is more than both their incomes combined. If she can’t come up with the money for the next property tax payment, she’ll be forced to give it up. 

Charlotte is intent on winning back her ex, but her efforts are stymied when he’s suspected of Jane’s neighbor’s murder.

The two couples soon discover the rambling old house holds more than one secret when they join forces to find the real killer—and the elusive, Tarkington treasure. 

Author Bio

Evelyn Cullet has been an author since high school when she wrote short stories. She began her first novel while attending college later in life and while working in the offices of a major soft drink company. Now, with early retirement, she can finally write full time. As a life-long mystery buff, she was a former member of the Agatha Christie Society, and is a current member of the National Chapter of Sisters In Crime. She writes mysteries with warm romance and a little humor. When she’s not writing mysteries, reading them or reviewing them, she hosts other authors and their work on her writer’s blog. www.evelyncullet.com/blog. She also plays the piano, is an amateur lapidary, and an organic gardener.

The Tarkington Treasure is available on Amazon. com for your Kindle or in paperback: http://tinyurl.com/hr53k6p

Website and Blog: http://evelyncullet.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EvculletsAuthorPage

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvelynCullet

Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3425303.Evelyn_Cullet

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ecullet/

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw's website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com 

Catchy Titles

A little self-promotion: Having a Great Crime – Wish You Were Here, A Sandi Webster Mystery, is available in ebook format, and should be available in paperback today or tomorrow.

1936 – In the small farming community of Battle Ground, Washington, a scream is heard and actress Bonnie Singleton is found dead. With no evidence or suspects, the crime goes down in history as an unsolved murder. The only one who knows the truth is Bonnie Singleton, and her voice has been silenced.

That is, until many years later when Sandi Webster-Goldberg and her husband, Pete, go on a belated honeymoon to a new Bed and Breakfast in the small community.

Plenty of surprises await the couple when the proprietor of the B&B asks for their help. She doesn’t want her business to be known as the local haunted house.

Have Sandi and Pete ever been able to turn down a challenge? The request to find the truth has been made and once again they’re reluctantly on a cold case.

I thought that was a catchy title, but then I have to think that.

Sue Grafton has done the Alphabet series and Janet Evanovich has done the Numbered series. Mary Higgins Clark has done some with song titles. And, like mine, there are some that are sort of a play on words. There are titles of series where all of them have something to do with food, and many of Elizabeth Peters titles have to do with archaeology. So far, J. Michael Orenduff’s titles have to do with a pot thief. Interesting. Carolyn J. Rose’s titles in her series have “substitute” in the titles. Her character is a substitute teacher, so it makes perfect sense.

I have to admit that I’ve picked up many books based on the title. Any mystery that has “chocolate” in the title will get my attention.

I’ve never been able to come up with a hook like that. Maybe someday I’ll think of just the right hook. My husband came up with the title, Old Murders Never Die, which I thought was great and apropos to the story. He also came up with How Now Purple Cow. If I saw that title on someone else’s book, I’d have to wonder what a purple cow might have to do with a mystery. I might walk away shaking my head, but then again, I might pick it up and read the description on the back. Who knows? Sometimes I think it depends on our mood at the time.

Sometimes a title will take hold and it won’t let go. I’ve been known to buy a book, and then months or a few years later buy the same book again, not remembering that I’ve already read it. It was the title, grabbing me again. Another issue is when I find a great title, but when I read the book I find that the title has absolutely nothing to do with the story. In a way, it reminds me of false advertising. Oh, well, that’s my problem. However, if you think about it, a title is a form of advertising. Huh. I’ve never thought about that before.

There have been times when I came up with a title before a story. I know other authors who’ve done the same thing. Having a Great Crime – Wish You Were Here was one of those times. I have a card file where I keep notes about stories and titles. This title was something I jotted down a few years ago. The time finally seemed right to use it.

What are some of your favorite titles and what was it that caught your eye? The word “secret” always catches my eye and, like I said, “chocolate” grabs me.

Until next time, read some good books, no matter what the title is. Just enjoy reading. Let a book take you away from day to day life.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Don’t forget that Choosing One Moment – A Time Travel Mystery is also a new addition to the McGraw books. Have I been blatant enough yet?

I Love Surprises and Clues

I watched a commercial on television recently that was about people enjoying surprises. I’m one of those who loves a good surprise, and mysteries generally hold plenty of them, although not always good ones.

For the purposes of this week’s blog, I’m going to talk about clues, or what could be considered clues.

I’ve mentioned a few times in recent blogs that my house is for sale.  Being the positive thinker that I (sometimes) am, I’ve started packing already. When the house finally sells, I’ll be ready to go.

It’s been interesting. There are a number of boxes that have been stored rather than unpacked. Now I’m having to go through the boxes to sort and throw out or repack. I’ve always been a “saver”, and there are plenty of things I’d forgotten I had. I’ll open a box and think, Wow! I forgot I had this. Other times I’ll think, I wonder why I saved this.

I’ve watched several television shows having to do with forgotten items. I used to watch If Walls Could Talk. People would buy an historic house or building and find amazing things in unlikely places. Recently I watched a show called Attic Gold which involves a small company who will clean out an attic, free of charge, but they keep what they find and remodel the attic. I’ve watched some of the shows where people purchase the contents of storage units and find amazing things. I realize that some “finds” are staged. After all, this is television. However, I also know that there really are some surprises out there.

I remember a show I watched a long time ago where the new owners were going to renovate an older house, and they found old movie posters that had been used as insulation in the walls. They were in pristine condition and valuable.

Where a mystery is involved, people will hide things in the most unlikely places. When a writer is developing a story, they can create a scenario wherein a character might find something of historic importance, or they might find something recently hidden – clues.

I wrote Old Murders Never Die, which had to do with finding a ghost town that no one had seen since the late 1800s. All Sandi Webster had to work with were things she found in the town. The people had left suddenly and many homes and businesses were found just as they were left, with plates still sitting on dining tables and merchandise still in the general store. It was fun to dream up what a modern day person might find and coming up with an old mystery. The clues were all there, just waiting for her.

I found a letter that a soldier had written to my grandmother during World War I. He wrote it on Armistice Day and described what was going on. He was in the Argonne Forest when this took place. Fascinating. He included a few comments about what was going on in her life, which made it even more personal and interesting. (She’d recently been in an industrial accident and lost her arm. This would have been in 1918. It’s difficult to know how long it took her original letter about her arm to reach him.)

Another unexpected, and shocking, find was a photograph that was mixed in with family photos. I know I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but it’s difficult to forget. My grandmother gave me a large trunk filled with photos dating back to the 1800s through around 1980. There were so many to sort through, and as I looked at them I found a photo of a firing squad shooting people. The Officer in Charge sat astride a horse, the troops were in the background, and you could actually see the smoke coming out of the rifles. The people being shot appeared to be starting to fall. For clarification, no one involved was American. I sent the photo to a retired military historian and he believes these were possibly Asians. Even more startling, or to add to it, it appears that my grandfather took the picture. This would have been between 1904 and 1907. I won’t include the photo in this post because it would shock too many people.

Clues? They can be found in the darnedest places. Maybe you’ve found something of interest mixed in with the ordinary, everyday things. Tell us about your most surprising find.

Until next time, try sorting through some of those old boxes that have been stored and forgotten. You may find things that make you smile, or that make your mouth pop open in surprise.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com