The Cozy Comforts of Mystery Authors Barbara Ross and Liz Mugavero

Welcome, Barbara Ross and Liz Mugavero, to the Kingdom Books review blog today! It's December 27, release day for the latest New England mysteries for each of you. Congratulations! Yesterday (scroll down, readers ...) we were excited to share reviews of your new titles, ICED UNDER (Barbara Ross) and CUSTOM BAKED MURDER (Liz Mugavero). Now let's settle in for a some post-holiday hot chocolate or a cappuccino together, and do some author chatting.

Your mysteries are releasing on the same date this year, December 27 -- just two days after the merriment of Christmas. You have the same publisher, Kensington, but you live in very different parts of New England. How on earth did you meet each other? Any memories from your early writer-to-writer friendship?

Barb: We met at Seascape, a lovely and instructional writing retreat run on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut by Roberta Isleib (Lucy Burdette), Hallie Ephron, and S. W. Hubbard. After that we kept in touch via Sisters in Crime New England and the New England Crime Bake. Find your tribe, is my best advice for new writers.

Liz: Before Seascape, I remember seeing Barb at many Crime Bakes over the years. She was one of The Published - a real author! And it’s so true - finding your tribe is the most important thing for a writer to do.

What are the special challenges of writing a mystery series? How do you cope with them?

Liz: There are so many! Understanding how my main character needs to grow in a way that makes sense based on where she’s been and what she’s experienced is something that’s top of mind for me. Also, making sure my plot has no holes, that the mystery makes sense and the clues are strategically placed - that keeps me up at night.

Barb: Argh—for me it is first drafts, letting my imagination flow and not judging myself too harshly. And because we both write amateur sleuths, there’s the ever-present problem of “why is she investigating this time?”

What made you choose to write in the "cozy" subgenre of mysteries? Or do you prefer to talk about your book as an "amateur sleuth" mystery, or a "traditional"?

Barb: I have fully embraced the word “cozy,” even though I know other writers shy away from it. It’s true that cozy mysteries never get the big awards or reviews, but they do have a dedicated following. And, it suits me. I don’t go to my desk everyday thinking, “Drat! Another day when I can’t torture animals or children.”

Liz: I’ve embraced it also. As long as I feel like I’ve done a good job with the story, the mystery is solid and the book has a deeper message despite the lighter feel to it, I’m happy.

Your mysteries all take place in and around one small town. Do you think of this place as fictional, or do you rehearse in your mind the layout of the actual New England town you already had in the back of your mind when you started your series?

Liz: My town is fictional, but it’s a hybrid of a couple of towns. I picked and chose the parts of each that worked for me, then added what else I needed to make it a town I would want to spend time it. But I keep the general location real - it’s eastern Connecticut.

Barb: Sort of half and half. Busman’s Harbor is a highly, highly fictionalized version of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where my husband and I own a home. I’ve moved a lot of things around, but whenever my sleuth, Julia Snowden, leaves Busman’s Harbor, I Google map the distance from the real Boothbay Harbor.

People across the world, I discover, have a Normal Rockwellian, Currier & Ives archetype of New England in their heads. Those of us who live here know it’s a real place with real crime and real problems, but the classic New England-based cozy both plays into and against that archetype.

Readers of this kind of mystery series need to bond with the sleuth and celebrate the person's changes -- and the solving of the crime somehow affects those changes. Do you have a long-term arc of character development in mind for your series? Or do you feel you are "reading along" with the rest of us, discovering your protagonist's growth as you write?

Liz: I usually try to think about the character arc in a 3-book span, since that’s usually the length of the contracts. I know what’s happening in the immediate book, then based on that I think about where it would make sense to take Stan’s growth next.

Barb: I had a definite, planned arc for the first three books in the series. The fourth through sixth have been more book to book, and I haven’t enjoyed that as much. So if I’m lucky enough to get three more, I’ll go back to an overall arc for the three.

Don't spoil the suspense for us -- but tell us one "device" of plot or location or clue in your new book that especially tickles you as the author ... so we can watch for it and enjoy it from your perspective as well as our own!

Barb: Fantastic question! In Iced Under, the detective investigating the murder keeps asking one question over and over. It turns out to be the right question in the end.

Liz: Oh, this is a tough one! I would say it’s important to really pay attention to the people around you and not take everything they say or do at face value. If someone is suffering they sometimes try to hide it, but if you look closely you might be able to pick up on a cry for help.

What's the most important thing we readers should pick up on from your latest book -- whether it's handling a challenging romance, or dealing with a dead body?

Barb: Iced Under is a book about family—how it’s complicated and operatically difficult, but ultimately worth the effort.

Liz: There’s a few things going on in Custom Baked Murder. Family is definitely a key component, and how to deal with them. If you don’t typically have a great relationship, murder can make it worse! Also, dealing with serious issues that sometimes people don’t think will surface in a small, cozy town where everyone knows everyone—or thinks they do.

We know you must be partway through the next book in your series. Any hints or draft title that you'd like to share with us?

Liz: Purring Around the Christmas Tree, the sixth Pawsitively Organic Mystery, will be out in late 2017.

Barb: Stowed Away, the sixth Maine Clambake Mystery will be out sometime in late 2017, assuming I make my deadline of March 1. (Ulp.)

Thanks, Barb and Liz! This has been great fun -- and getting to know you and your writing process makes it even more enjoyable to read your newest books. 

 PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Intriguing Radio Interviews with Louise Penny: "There Is No Peace Without Courage"

If you'd like to hear Louise Penny discussing her new August 26 release, The Long Way Home, here are two links:

-- The NPR interview that aired this morning: click here.

-- The CBC interview that aired Saturday morning: click here. (My favorite quote from Louise: "There is no peace without courage.")

And of course, we hope you'll enjoy our notes from Saturday afternoon's pre-release launch party in Brome Lake, Quebec: here.

Brava, Louise!

New Nonfiction on Spy Kim Philby: Two Lively Reviews and an Interview

The espionage novels of John Le Carré, for me, are more than classic spy fiction -- they are the material I go to repeatedly when I want to analyze for myself how a gifted storyteller can deepen a sentence or passage, open a character, revel in rich description without slowing the action.

So I listened eagerly to this morning's National Public Radio interview with author Ben Macintyre, whose new book is A SPY AMONG FRIENDS: KIM PHILBY AND THE GREAT BETRAYAL. And it's a sign of how fiction can become part of us that I thought, "Amazing! The way Macintyre described him, Kim Philby was enormously like Le Carré's character Bill Haydon!"

And that's almost exactly backwards. Le Carré built Bill Haydon, nemesis of his loyal British spymaster George Smiley, after considerable research into Kim Philby. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974) was the result, ten years after the end of Philby's espionage career.

The review of A SPY AMONG FRIENDS in today's New York Times book review section uses a quote from Le Carré at the end of the review, in a very satisfying way. In fact, the novelist adds an afterword to Macintyre's new book, sharing notes from his 1986 interview with Nicholas Elliot, a fellow spy (loyal in this case to the British) who hero-worshipped Kim Philby until Philby's shocking life as a double agent, working for the Soviets, was revealed.

What makes Macintyre's book especially appealing to me is his willingness to dive into Philby's psychology -- as well as Macintyre's established record of portraying the English with nine previous books that unearth and vividly capture betrayal and crime among the "well-dresssed British men in danger" (Boston Globe reviewer Matthew Price's phrase).

For a delicious set of view of the book, check out today's review and the interview (which will be available as an audio file after noon today). As NY Times reviewer Walter Isaacson wrote, "I had to keep reminding myself that it was not a novel." This book will be a great treat for fans of espionage fiction, and for those who love a classic British mystery.

The New York Times review is here.

The Boston Globe review is here.

And for the NPR review, click here.

Karin Slaughter Interview: CRIMINAL

photo by Alison Rosa

A warm Vermont welcome (from the "cool blue north") to Atlanta, Georgia, resident and crime fiction author Karin Slaughter, whose new police investigation CRIMINAL takes the Will Trent series deeper, tougher, and ironically, sweeter (well, look at all the strong women involved in this police force!) -- but with a lot of death and complications along the way. For a review of CRIMINAL, check here. Thanks, Karin, for stopping by to answer questions about the book and your writing!

1. In CRIMINAL you've shown how the crimes of the past have festered, erupting in crimes in the present -- and possibly in Will Trent's inability to continue the investigative work that suits him so well. Do you believe that unsolved crimes are always likely to lead to further evil -- or, on the other hand, that their solution is likely to create release from turmoil and nightmare?

Karin Slaughter: I absolutely believe that unsolved crimes not only fester, but lead to other crimes.  Very seldom does a criminal just do one bad thing, then go on to live an exemplary life.  It's human nature to push extremes, and we all tend to have very short memories about bad consequences.  (If you've ever been caught speeding, then never went over the limit again, I'd like to shake your hand)

One of the projects my good friend and fellow author Linda Fairstein is taking on is trying to persuade police departments to test DNA from old rape kits.  There's been a lot of push-back on this for some reasons that are obvious--money and scarce resources--but there's also been a few instances where the local politicians have grumbled that the cases are probably just wives accusing husbands to "get back at them."  What Linda's project has proven is that men who rape once are apt to rape again, so a guy who raped his wife back in the nineties might currently be an anonymous tag of DNA numbers in the databank.  Testing that kit means that guy gets identified and prosecuted, and future victims are saved from his savagery.

2. What were the best routes into Atlanta police history, as you did the massive amounts of research that fed this book of policing "then and now"?

Karin Slaughter: I found a dissertation written by a grad student back in the seventies.  She rode around for two years with Atlanta police officers and then she culled all her data and anecdotes to investigate how women were integrated into policing and the effect (if any) that they had.  It was a fascinating read, mostly because it was written in the 1970s, so there wasn't the usual struggle for political correctness.  She just laid it out how it was.  I also spoke with many different police officers--female and male--who came up during that time.  It was fascinating to hear about their struggles, and I hope that I did their stories justice.  They were trailblazers, and they had no idea at the time what they were doing for women not just in policing, but everywhere.  In the 1960s, female athletes were made to stand nude in front of men who worked for the Olympic committee to prove that they were, in fact, female.  Now, there are more women on the US Olympic team than men and no one bats an eye.

3. No woman rises to the top without learning to handle sexual harassment, right? The way Amanda Wagner and Evelyn Mitchell must, in the Will Trent series? So -- what have you faced in this way yourself, and how did you learn to deal with it?

Karin Slaughter: The thriller field is a wonderful one to be in, but it's certainly male-dominated.  I think the biggest problem is that no one really talks about that fact.  No one asks why women are rarely nominated for awards.  No one asks why they are routinely ignored for the top speaking honors at some of our conventions.  No one asks why they are continually left out of "best of" short story collections or not asked to appear on panels.  Considering that women comprise around 80% of readers and women tend to do all the grunt work in organizing conventions and such, it seems like we'd be more keen to celebrate ourselves.  There are some very, very good men who try to level the playing field--Lee Child, John Connolly, Mark Billingham, and many others, but for the most part, we either toil in collegiate obscurity or get compliments like, "You write like a man."  Which, I suppose is a way of saying, "Wow, who would'a guessed a woman could write well!"

On the other hand, Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerritsen, Lisa Gardner, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Patricia Cornwell, Tana French, Denise Mina, Gillian Flynn...these ladies sell a TON of books.  I think if you asked them which they would prefer: the accolades or the sales, they'd choose the sales.  My druthers would be for them to have both.  The first American detective novel was written by a woman named Metta Fuller Victor.  Not many people know her name.  Poe, Hammet, Chandler--those are the names that are celebrated.  Our history seems to be weighted against remembering great women.

4. Right now, the idea that sexual criminals grow from molested children is socially a "hot" notion in America? Do you think it holds up? And, critically for the developments in CRIMINAL, what happens to the children of serial killers, whether they know their parentage or not?

Karin Slaughter: No, I don't think it holds up at all, and it does a disservice to abused children to say so--"hey, kid, sorry about what happened, but you're probably gonna grow up to do the same thing to a child, so let's just assume you're bad."  It also in some ways excuses the behavior of the predator--as if there's no free will involved. The fact is that one in four girls and one in six boys has been sexually molested.  If you do the math, we would be covered up in pedophiles.  What we should worry about more is the toxic environments that help cover up the actions of pedophiles.  More women and children are in slavery now than ever before in our history.  When the Super Bowl is held, children are shipped in from around the country--sometimes the world--to service the sexual deviants who pay their pimps.  This is commonly known among all police forces.  And yet, we don't hire enough officers to police this.  We don't hire enough judges.  We don't hire enough parole officers.  We don't spend enough on schools and teachers and social services, and then we act outraged when child sexual predators thrive in these conditions. 

The DSM says that pedophilia is a mental illness.  It's not created from scratch.  It's not automatically passed down from parent to child.  Nor is being a serial killer.  Charles Manson fathered several children.  So did John Wayne Gacy.  So did the Green River Killer.  Their kids, to my knowledge, are good people with a horrible, horrible cross to bear.

5. As you craft crime, harassment, and corruption scenes in practically your own backyard -- the city of Atlanta, Georgia -- do you feel the city's resonance changing within yourself and your own ways of experiencing it?

Karin Slaughter: I love Atlanta and cannot imagine myself living anywhere else.  Like all major cities, we have crime.  As a crime writer, that's not altogether a bad thing!  I always keep in mind, though, that the crimes I write about are real crimes.  I never take one single crime and transfer it straight into a book.  I change things, I make alterations, because I don't want to exploit a person's horrific experience.  Someone out there is a real victim.  The impact of the crime resonates to family members, the community, the cops who investigate, the reporters who cover the story--they all feel it and they all know that a life has been either lost of inexplicably changed.

6. That question we all ask, after we devour a book as compelling as CRIMINAL: What's next?

Karin Slaughter: Well, I can't say much, but...Unseen will be out this time next year (2013).  Will has to go undercover, which is creating all sorts of problems in his personal life--especially because one of the cops he's investigating is Lena Adams.

Tomorrow (Aug. 13): Karin Slaughter Interview!

Don't miss it -- Karin Slaughter talks about her newest and deepest police procedural, CRIMINAL, a hefty and impressive detective saga that covers two generations and paints a compelling image of women's entry into the Atlanta, Georgia, police forces. Challenges, catastrophes, courage, and success ... check in here tomorrow.