I read in William Tapply's, The Elements of Mystery Fiction, that you should read what other authors have done to get it right. I decided to start my research by reading some of the authors that Tapply recommended as well as add a few of my own into the mix. This isn't a review, per se, just my thoughts on what I've read so far.
First off, I picked up 'Same Time, Same Murder' by Robert J. Randisi & Christine Matthews. He is actually giving a workshop next month for the St. Louis Writer's Guild, which I'm looking forward to. I thought I would check out some of his books, which were available at the library. I picked this one up because it offered one of my favorite things in a mystery series: the detective couple.
It's actually not the first book of the series but a story behind how the two main characters met. I thought I would really enjoy it but it seems that the authors have thrown me for a loop. I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to finish the book since it seems to be awfully confusing with the back and forth going on. An example would be the wife talking about how they first met, then going to the first meeting and then back to the present. Then the husband adds in his two cents, goes back to the same meeting and then back to present.
(I seem to have lost an entire paragraph here. This is all thanks to the 'Autosave feature' which I will will be turning off)
My next personal pick was Dean James' 'Decorated to Death'. This is actually the second book that I've read by this author. It seems to be a series but I have yet to get my hands on the first book so I can only read what's available. The main character in this series is a gay vampire that writes romance novels and biographies and just so happens to solve murder mysteries in his spare time. I really enjoyed the first book and I find myself enjoying this one as well. I haven't finished yet but I hope to by the end of the week.
My final pick was 'Holly Blues' by Susan Wittig Albert. I'm not sure how or why I picked this book. Can't even recall when I placed a hold on it. As I was checking out my books they told me it was there so I got it. I started reading around 7pm and finished around 1am. I couldn't put this book down. I stopped reading long enough to eat dinner and see my cousin off but that was it. It was really good. I figured out the mystery pretty quickly, which was a surprise since I usually don't, but it didn't stop me from finishing.
I really enjoyed the background of the characters which were varied and sometimes complex. An herb shop in a small Texas town was the back drop for the visiting ex-wife with a stalker. I liked the fact that the author actually told us a little about the main character's background and that of the people around her. It helps when you haven't read any of the previous books. I found that to be lacking another book that I read out of order (and for the life of me can't remember the name of) in which the author was going on about the main character splurging on various items and making veiled references to past assumptions about the character but unless you had read the previous books (which apparently all made reference to the main character's cheating husband and how she got his life insurance policy) you had no idea why it was such a big deal that she bought a new car or cell phones for the family.
I still enjoyed the book (which actually inspired me to start writing again) and found myself looking into writing conventions and actually joining the writer's guild. It's actually because of her (the author that I can't remember) that I'm even doing this.
Well, that's all I have time for now. I haven't started reading the recommended authors books yet and I hope to get to it some time this weekend or next week. I also picked up a few technical books as well. Grammar, fiction writing and forensic study were my books of choice. Haven't dug into any of those yet but I hope to at least get a sneak peek into one of them.
**EDIT**
My inspiration is Jill Churchill. Hopefully I can actually read some more of her books.
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