This is the trouble when everyone knows you’re writing a book (thanks Joe!!!): First, they want to know, “when will it be finished?” Then, they want to know, “when can I read it? When will it be published?”
It needs to be said that publishing moves at the proverbial snail’s pace. Am not talking here about self-publishing when you upload an e-book to Amazon, lickety-split. The traditional route of finding an agent who will then find an editor who will then persuade a publisher to totally adore your manuscript is still a laborious process.
And, I’m right in the middle of that laborious process. No, take that back. I’m at the beginning of it: my manuscript is out with agents who, let me say, seem to be in no hurry at all to get my novel onto those bestseller lists. Hahaha.
But, there’s an upside to waiting for someone to like your manuscript: You have plenty of time to read other authors. And, to let them know you’re reading their novels.
Read, Read, Read
When the Mystery Writers of America announced the titles of the finalists in the Edgar Awards for Best Novel, I decided to buy all six to see if I could predict the winner before it was announced at the Edgar Awards dinner in New York City in April. This was obviously a less daunting task than picking the six finalists from an entry field of 600-plus as the Edgar judges had to do.
Here’s the order in which I opened them, and what I thought about them.
The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard is a thriller set in Ireland. The ex-girlfriend of a convicted serial killer must return to her hometown when serial killings start again, and the boyfriend says he has something new to confess — but only to his ex. This was an easy one to rate — as immensely enjoyable — since I love novels in this genre.
I should mention, in passing, that I have been a fan of Catherine Ryan Howard since I read one of her blogs about revising and rewriting her manuscript. I’m not surprised she’s just been offered a six-book deal!!!!
House Witness by Mike Lawson is the 12th in a series featuring a Washington D.C. fixer. In this outing, Joe DeMarco has to find and stop a beautiful couple who appear to be tampering with trial witnesses for megabucks. This was a really good yarn, and moved right along, not least of all because the female antagonist was such a super villainess.
Only To Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, the third author to resurrect Raymond Chandler’s iconic P.I. Philip Marlowe. I came to this one totally unbiased, with no basis for comparison since –gulp! — I never read any of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe novels. Sorry!
But, I liked this one about a 72-year old Marlowe (who seems to feel his age more than a 72-year old should, I thought.) He comes out of retirement for an insurance case that takes him between the border and the badlands of Mexico in 1988. Osborne evokes a Mexico of the 1980s of siestas, margaritas, sombreros and shady deals!!! Definitely like this one for the setting and atmosphere. Still reading it — though I read enough before the Edgars to know this wouldn’t be my winner.
A Gambler’s Jury by Victor Methos. I was really, really looking forward to this one about a female criminal defense attorney in Salt Lake City. She sounded as if she was going to go after justice with a vengeance. BUT, shockingly, I just could not finish it.
Dani, the female protagonist turns up in court, in the opening scene, disheveled and hungover and gives the presiding judge a mouthful of her sass. I realize the author was probably trying to rise above the cliche of a prim, buttoned-up attorney, but I just could not read past that scene knowing it would never, could never have happened in any courtroom in which I worked in New York.
A Historical Eye-Opener
A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn: is set in London in 1888. It’s not usually the sort of mystery (historical) I’d get into — but it proved to be a hugely entertaining eye-opener which is why I am still reading it. Veronica Speedwell is a Victorian adventuress with an intelligence, wit and sexiness that one doesn’t usually associate with Victorian women. Nor did I expect a scene where Veronica unpacks a gift which is a shipment of erotic art, more specifically, a collection of phalluses (is that the plural of phallus? Or is it phalli?) in clay, leather, marble and wood.
And, consider these comments Veronica aims at her embarrassed historian colleague, Stoker as she unpacks the collection while they are curating the contents of an estate: “Ought I to arrange them by size? Or shall they be grouped according to geographical region of origin? Or material? I hefted the largest, the hardwood piece from the Pacific, scrutinizing it with a practiced eye. “You know I’m rather reminded of a charming American fellow I met in Costa Rica,” I said with a nostalgic sigh.”
Definitely a contender, I figured. And, then I opened the last one of the six.
Leaving The Best Till Last
Down The River Unto The Sea by Walter Mosley: I knew this was going to be the winner as soon as I was a couple of chapters into it. Believe me or not, as good as the other contenders were, this one stood out as soon as I started turning the pages.
It’s not even that I’m a fan of Mosley’s. I’ve never read any of the Easy Rawlins series. (That’s right. Sorry. No Philip Marlowe; no Easy Rawlins in my past.) I’ve never read anything by this author before. But this one about Joe King Oliver, a NYPD detective who is set up, spends a month in solitary at Rikers and emerges a broken man is brilliant, and brilliantly written.
I’m happy I agreed with the Edgar Awards judges on the Best Novel this year. I’m also very happy I wasn’t one of the judges.
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So when is your novel being published? Lol!
Haha Eldon! Really don’t have a clue. Not up to me. I’ve done my part for the time being. And, it feels good.