Jan Brogan: As most of you already know, Nancy Martin is the highly successful and prolific author of nearly fifty popular fiction novels, including the Blackbird Sisters mystery series and the Roxy Abruzzo mysteries. Publisher's Weekly called her latest release, No Way to Kill a Lady,"a fizzy, entertaining adventure." Margaret Maron says: "Nancy Martin knows the inner workings of blue-blooded Philadelphia and she lets us in on the fun with style and panache.”And if you are the lucky commenter today, chosen at random, Nancy will send you a free copy of her new book! The one lucky winner will be announced tomorrow!
NANCY MARTIN: At the risk of offending the Reds, I’d like to talk about . . . pink
Specifically the idea of posting 50 Shades of Pink on my Facebook page every day for the 50 days leading up to the release of the new Blackbird Sisters Mystery, NO WAY TO KILL A LADY. I am always scrambling for something to post on Facebook, but one day I realized I had exactly 50 days, and of course 50 Shades hit me right away. I mean, who hasn’t heard of the 50 Shades of Gray?
C’mon, now. You can ‘fess up. Have you read it? Any of it? Even a few pages? Tell Aunt Nancy everything.Shy? I’ll get back to you in a minute.
Let me confess:
The biggest mistake I made when I created the Blackbird sisters was the couture. (You thought I was going to confess something else?) I knew Nora Blackbird was broke when she took her new job as a society columnist for a Philadelphia rag, and I also knew she’d need great clothes to wear to the parties she attends every night. After considerable stewing, I hit upon the idea of Nora using her late grandmother’s collection of fabulous designer clothes.
Only thing was, I knew ZILCH about designer clothes. Honestly, the people who make fun of middle-aged ladies who wear yoga pants all the time? That’s me they’re laughing at. So the research to create a vintage wardrobe for Nora Blackbird has been daunting from the get-go. I finally hit upon the idea of only using dresses that actually existed, which has made my task slightly easier. I have books about Chanel, and I adore Diana Vreeland’s autobiography, DV. My subscription of Vogue is now tax deductible, and I scour the Metropolitan Museum’s fashion department often.
Over the last ten years (since the release of HOW TO MURDER A MILLIONAIRE, the first book in the series) I’ve become surprisingly good at identifying the work of top designers. I don’t wear it, mind you, but I can identify it.
My readers really enjoy Nora Blackbird’s clothes—more than I expected. I get fan mail from around the world about the duds. So during the final 50 days before the release of the new book, I have posted 50 pink dresses to whet the appetites of the readers who have been rattling my cage for a new Blackbird book. (I put the series on hiatus back in 2008.) If you want to see the pink dresses, go to my Pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/nanmart1/50-shades-of-pink/
Another confession: I love Pinterest. It feeds my urge to make ideas visual. I wish I could paint or take decent photography, but I can’t. I know what I see in my head, though, so Pinterest http://pinterest.com/ has become my latest addiction.
Third confession: Back in the day when I wrote romance novels (almost 40) I read a lot of erotica so I could keep things . . . er . . . fresh. I still have Anais Nin here on my shelf, and the Nancy Friday SECRET GARDEN book about female fantasies is around here somewhere. (I got creeped out, though, in the chapter about German shepherds. I think I have a relatively open mind, and I believe people should do whatever floats their boats as long as nobody gets hurt, but the dog thing . . . nope, I couldn’t see it.)Surrender the pink? Sure, if that’s the way you roll, why not? Bondage, though, weirds me out. I have a true shrieking abhorrence of anything resembling torture, so bondage is outside my comfort zone. Which is why I’m really not going to buy 50 SHADES OF GRAY. (I did download the sample on my iPad. But for the first 50 pages nothing happened, and if there’s anything I learned from writing romance novels it’s this: Stuff has to happen and happen fast or your reader gets bored.)
My daughter points out that her generation feels differently about bondage. To those young ladies, getting tied up may be a welcome rest after a long day. They have high-pressure careers, maintain long-distance friendships and take care of family, too—so they are relieved that somebody else takes charge in the bedroom. (Nancy Friday’s theory was that women fantasized about bondage because if they were tied up, they couldn’t be blamed for enjoying the sex forced upon them. Back then, good girls felt guilty about having fun in bed. Boy, have times changed, or what?)
Another lesson learned from writing romance? Women like their sex in print, so when I set out to write the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries, I knew I had to appeal to my longtime romance readers with a few racy bits. (Which is probably why my books have never really been embraced by diehard mystery readers.) Now--even more than the clothes--readers write to me about Nora’s love life. There’s definitely pink in Nora’s world.
So tell me. What’s your opinion about sex in mysteries? Yea? Or Nay?
And if you’ve read 50 Shades of Gray? Tell me your theory of its appeal, but here’s absolutely the most hilarious review of it: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215 Don’t have a mouthful of coffee when you watch, trust me.
Pick your favorite pink dress, too, would you? Dior? Givenchy? Versace? Or Michelle Obama’s simple sheath dress from Banana Republic? How do you roll?
NO WAY TO KILL A LADY, the 8th book in the Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series, will be released next week, on August 7th. A few years ago, Jennifer Crusie said, “Great clothes, great mystery, great fun.” A blurb that still makes me happy!
Find Nancy Martin on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authornancymartin
Her website: http://www.nancymartinmysteries.com
On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nanmart1/
But not on Twitter, because the whole tweeting thing just isn’t sexy.
