Yes, We Promise Not To Tell

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Pssst. Do you want to know a secret? Well, sure you do. But the influence and generosity and talent of Jim Jackson is no secret!  He's president of the Guppies (Yay!) and works tirelessly with Sisters in Crime and the Guppies and his flow sister and brother authors. He's cut quite a swath through mystery world--and the Reds are always delighted to host him! 

He's got a new book--yay! see below-- but first, he's exploring secrets.  And, even better, telling them. And even more fascinating--they're family secrets. His. 

Secrets

   by Jim Jackson 

Do you want to hear a secret? Promise not to tell?

Of course you do. We all want to know other people’s secrets. The opening words to this post belong to Snow White as she breaks into the first song in the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I can hear George Harrison singing a rephrased version of these questions in the Beatle’s song “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” that was a track on their 1963 album Please Please Me.

Lean in with me and we can catch similar words as the start of a whispered conversation between two girls (or guys) of almost any age. We all have secrets.

Telling secrets starts soon after we learn to talk. We use small ones as currency to help develop friendships. We offer a small sliver of our hidden selves and judge how the person reacts. Will they still like us if they know . . . ?

We eagerly read the tabloids (or at least their headlines as we check out at the grocery store) to find out others’ secrets. Of course, when it’s ours, we don’t want people sharing. We hope to bury our big ones so deep that no one can find them. Ben Franklin’s “Three may keep a secret if two are dead,” reminds us that if we really want to keep a secret, we must keep it to ourselves.

How well do any of us know our relatives? Are they hiding secrets we should really know? I chose to explore those questions in DoubtfulRelations, the newest addition to the Seamus McCree series coming out August 23.

If you are like me, we often reference ancestors who did something of which we are proud. However, if we shake our family trees hard enough we’ll probably tumble out a passel of doubtful relations.

One of my early ancestors in North America died during a severe winter that wiped out a large percentage of the community. He was buried along with the other victims of starvation and disease. Well, that’s what they told the English authorities. Turns out the British crown was after him and with the community’s connivance, he “died” and was “resurrected” under an assumed name.

Not too many years later, in the mid-1600s, a Puritan minister relative on my father’s side forced a minister relative on my mother’s side to flee Massachusetts during the night—for religious purity reasons. That maternal relative found relief in the more religiously tolerant colony of Rhode Island.

Parts of my family have gone bankrupt; some divorced at a time when that was just not done; a great-grandfather abandoned his family and took off for the Alaska gold rush.

Those are the stories I do know. I wonder at the stories behind the names on my family tree that have no more details than a name and date of birth. What happened to them that we don’t even know when they died?

How about you? Any doubtful relations in your family tree?

HANK: Well, I had a really cool aunt named Portia. She was just like Grace Kelly, the way I remember it at least. Her very cool son had a Porsche. I just realized that. That's gotta be funny.  Hmm. Let me think. How about you, Reds?

***************

JamesM. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree mystery series. ANT FARM, BAD POLICY, CABIN FEVER, and DOUBTFUL RELATIONS (8/23/16). Jim is the president of the 600-member Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. He splits his time between the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the open spaces of Georgia’s Lowcountry. Check out his website (http://jamesmjackson.com) for more information about him and his writing.

Doubtful Relations 

Financial crimes investigator Seamus McCree has wife problems, and Lizzie’s not even his wife anymore. Her current husband disappears on a business trip to Savannah. Has he been kidnapped? Dispatched by his hedge fund partners? Or run off with another woman? Police assume he’s AWOL, and Lizzie turns to Seamus for help.

Seamus has no desire to be sucked into Lizzie’s drama again, but her angst is also affecting their son, Paddy. Seamus agrees to help discover the truth, a quest that soon involves the entire extended family. Long buried secrets surface and each member must confront the question, “How far can you trust your family?”

Equal parts road trip, who done what, and domestic thriller, book four in the Seamus McCree series takes psychological suspense to a new level. Seamus McCree fans and newcomers alike will delight in this fast-paced novel that leaves no one in the family unchanged and keeps you guessing until the very end.

Swimming with the Guppies

LUCY BURDETTE: When the Malice Domestic Agatha nominations came out this year, a lot of folks noticed how many of the nominees had risen out of the Guppies organization--the Great Unpublished arm of Sisters in Crime. And we were reminded about the original steering committee for the Guppies--if you read the history on the Guppy website, you'll notice some very familiar names.

This is a story of serious persistence and how newcomers learned from each other. I thought you'd like to hear some memories from Krista Davis, who served as the first president of the steering committee. (And by the way, she's now the New York Times bestselling author of two mystery series!)

KRISTA DAVIS: I cannot tell you how very proud I am of the Guppies. We faced some challenges in the beginning, but we worked together to overcome them. I still remember people saying the Guppies were "the blind leading the blind." If none of us had ever been published, how could we possibly help each other?
Back in those days, we had an occasional live Guppy Chat. One day, I was in the chat room we used, testing it with another woman when someone named Kinsey logged in. OMG! Kinsey! The two of us did some frantic messaging. Could it be Sue Grafton? Would she call herself Kinsey? Why would she be there? 

It could be anyone. It could be some old man having a laugh. Suddenly, the other woman excused herself, saying she would be right back. Ack! I was alone in the chat room with someone who might, or might not, be Sue Grafton! Kinsey was very nice and asked me what I was reading. I decided I might as well take a chance and ask her advice. Maybe it wasn't Sue, but what did I have to lose? It wasn't as though I would ever have another chance to talk with Sue Grafton.

So I told her about the Guppies and asked what advice she might have for us. Her response was very simple. "Hone your craft." She said that she saw too many people trying to write mysteries without understanding them. That we needed to work at improving our manuscripts and learn about the craft of mystery writing.

The next day we received confirmation from Sue's assistant that Kinsey was indeed Sue Grafton, and she thought it was a hoot that we didn't think it could be her. (She had logged on because she needed to contact the other woman and was told to go there.)

Over the years, I think the Guppies have done exactly what Sue suggested. We swapped manuscripts and started critique groups (and let me tell you, I learned a ton from that!). We took classes and shared helpful information. We learned about agents and queries and the crazy publishing business. When we started, one of the most commonly asked questions was what font to use!

Two years ago, Sue Grafton was an honoree at Malice. She happened to see me in the hallway of the hotel and struck up a conversation. I told her about asking her advice in the chat room. She was aghast. "Oh no! What did I say?" I was happy to assure her that she gave us great advice.

I cannot believe that 14 years have passed. It's been quite a ride, full of ups and downs. But when I look at the list of nominees for the Agatha, I realize just how far we have come. Apparently, the blind can lead the blind pretty well! If you're not published yet, don't despair. The difference between a writer and an author really is perseverance. The Guppies are living proof of that.

Once Upon a Body: a guest blog by Michele Drier

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Michele Drier's first mystery, EDITED FOR DEATH, got an enthusiastic thumbs up from her fellow reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan. Michele previously published the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, a series about sexy vamps who run celebrity scandal sheets (IN TOUCH suddenly makes sense, doesn't it?) So what got her into penning this:

 Amy Hobbes never expected to solve anything tougher than a crossword puzzle. When she left her job as a journalist in Southern California, she planned to give the adrenaline a rest, but her next job, managing editor of a local newspaper, delivers some surprises. After a respected Senator and World War II hero dies and two more people turn up dead, the news heats up. Both victims had ties to a hotel owned by the Senator's family. With the help of reporter pal Clarice and the new man in her life, Phil, Amy uncovers a number of shadowy figures, including a Holocaust survivor who's spent sixty years tracking down Nazi loot. It's a complex and dangerous puzzle, but Amy can't walk away until she solves it.

It wasn't just so she could run for president of the Sisters in Crime GUPPIES (although she 

totally is!) Turns out the real-life stories she covered put her in mind of murder...

Edna Buchanan, the Miami Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran cops reporter, had a big following before she started writing novels. Probably her most famous lead, "Gary Robinson died hungry." was taped to thousands of reporters’ computer monitors around the country.

Covering the cop shop doesn’t always result in interesting, bizarre stories, but a lot of the time it involves murder. And beyond the grisly serial killers, the mass murderers, are quirky ones.

The drug dealer whose pals shot him, stuffed his body in a sleeper sofa and were sitting on it watching TV when the cops arrived.

The real estate agent who was shot with a crossbow while waiting for clients in an empty house.

I spent about twenty years, on and off, in newspaper newsrooms around California. I didn’t cover the police beat, but I assigned the reporters who did, and I edited their stories. And what stories.

When I was at the San Jose Mercury-News, there was a rash of serial killings in the Santa Cruz Mountains. With typical gallows humor, somebody would say “any new bodies,” every morning and get a sour look. Six young women disappeared and the bodies of another woman and her friend turned up before Edmund Kemper turned himself in. He also killed his grandparents in an earlier spree.

In the little town of Lodi, a tweaker broke into a house where three teen girls were. He assaulted two of them and kidnapped the third. Two days later, with the local police, sheriff, the California Highway Patrol and the FBI on his trail, he let the girl go in a local pasture and surrendered. He called my police reporter and gave her an exclusive jailhouse interview. The next calls I got were from both the DA and the Public Defender’s offices, trying to subpoena the reporter’s notes. The first time in memory that both the prosecution and the defense wanted unpublished information.

 

Uh...no!

Later in Modesto, a woman, her daughter and a friend disappeared from a motel on the edge of Yosemite National Park. We were the closest large newspaper and covered the disappearance, the search, the FBI work, the family, the discovery of the burnt car, finding the bodies, the murder of a young Park worker and the eventual capture of Cary Stayner.

As we covered murders over the years I thought this is what I’d use if I ever wrote a novel—how newspapers cover murders, how they play them, how much they interact with the police and how journalists dig to find facts. 

Many of the stories are stranger than fiction...you can’t make some of this up. 

One of my favorites: My police reporter covered an arraignment. The bad guy pled guilty. She wrote a brief. Then I watched her on the phone, getting agitated. When she hung up she said it was the bad guy, yelling at her for saying he pled guilty. Why? Because, he said, “I told you I was innocent!”

What’s your favorite stranger than fiction story?

          Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home. During her career in journalism — as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers – she won awards for producing investigative series.

          Her mystery Edited for Death, called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review is available at Amazon. She’s working on the second book in the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries, Labeled for Death, out in spring 2013.

          Her paranormal romance series, SNAP: The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, is available in ebook, paperback and audible at ebook retailers. All have received “must read” reviews from the Paranormal Romance Guild. SNAP: The WorldUnfolds, SNAP: New Talent, Plague: A Love Story andDanube: A Tale of Murder are available singly and in a boxed set at Amazon, B&N and Kobo. The fifth book, SNAP: Love for Blood rated 5 stars, is now out. She’s writing SNAP: Happily Ever After? for release in summer 2013 and a seventh book in late fall 2013.

You can find out more at Michele's website and at her Amazon author page. You can also friend her on Facebook!

A Time of Inocence, A Time of Confidences

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If you play bridge, you know James Montgomery Jackson--he's an expert who's written an acclaimed book about the game. If you're a Guppy, you know James Montgomery Jackson--he's the Guppy Website liaison.       If you like mystery authors, you'll soon know James Montgomery Jackson--his BAD POLICY (which is really really good) will be out in early 2013.

But right now Jim is handling another part of his life.  And he has a question for you. About

MEMORIES AND THINGS 

    by Jim Jackson

    

My father passed away mid-September. He had a good life spanning 87+years. I’m thankful that as deaths go, his was not too bad. He left us our memories and his stuff. I’ve been helping my mother understand her changed finances and figuring out what to do with Dad’s possessions.

 Some things were easy: Clothes went to a men’s shelter; scores of railroad books went to the local railway historical society. Since I have the room, the family history and genealogy records came to me for safe keeping.

What my father chose to keep had twice gone through a winnowing process. My parents had already downsized, first moving from the house my sisters and I grew up in to a smaller condo. More recently they moved to a two-bedroom independent-living apartment. The hundreds and hundreds of books Dad owned were reduced to those he was using for research on a book about the Erie Railroad he had recently finished, a rotating group of new acquisitions, reference books and those with family history attached. In recent years Dad sold some of his collections on eBay, converting former passions and memories to cash.

 Sometimes it takes me three blows to the head before something sinks in.

The process of sifting through Dad’s stuff got me thinking (third whack) about what each of us values as evidenced by what we keep. This is personally tough for me (and why I need multiple wake-up calls). 

I come from good New England stock—you know, the kind of people who build an addition to the family barn to store the current generation’s excess. Our two rules to live by are “never invade the principal,” (i.e. live off the interest and dividends, not the principal), and “don’t throw anything out because you never know when you’ll need it.”

In 1993 I had to move to Cincinnati for a new job before my house in New Jersey sold. I moved only a few things: kitchen necessities, a table and chairs, a reel-to-reel tape player for music, a bookcase with favorite books and a sleeping pad and bag. For exercise I brought my road bike. I was very happy for the year I lived that minimalist living style. But as soon as my house sold, I bought a large Victorian near the University and brought everything I owned from New Jersey. I even had room for more stuff.

 

My protagonist in Bad Policy (Barking Rain Press, 3/1/2013 publication), Seamus McCree, is a financial guy. Although he grew up in Boston, he was common-man Southie, not blue-blood Brahmin. He recognizes that not invading the principal is an artificial constraint only the very rich can afford. However, he has not faced the necessity of downsizing, so when his Cincinnati house is partially destroyed he loses all his possessions. The bad guys were responsible in his case, but the how and why don’t really matter. Thousands just lost their homes due to Hurricane Sandy, and thousands before have lost theirs to other hurricanes or tornadoes or floods.

As an author, what interests me is how each individual responds to his personal disaster. What do they most miss?

I had a boss whose house burned to the ground. He told me he most regretted losing his family pictures. That resonates with me. Pictures are triggers to my memory. With them I can recall vast swaths of my life; without them, I remember very little. I do not claim this as a virtue; in fact I see it as a flaw that I need pictures as a crutch. I shared my flaw with Seamus.

Today it appears that many, many Americans are like my New England ancestors: unwilling to dispose of any possession, regardless of its current usefulness. Off-site storage areas have sprouted throughout the country like mushrooms the year after loggers clear-cut a hardwood forest. Our American creed is apparently that rather than make a decision about what possessions we can pass on to new owners to appreciate, we’ll pay monthly fees to store our excesses. Most of what we store we do not really value. Our children hope we dispose of them before we die.

What interests me is which possessions we most want to hold on to and why we make the choices we do. I have the hardest time throwing away any book—even those I think are poorly written and boring. Only after I retired did I pitch most of my college text books.

Yet, like my boss of thirty years ago and my protagonist Seamus McCree, I would gladly give up every book I own for access to my pictures.

With digitizing and cloud storage, I should be able to safeguard those memories—but I have left them at risk. As I write this I am feeling the vibrations of the bell tolling in my head for the third time. When I quiet the ringing, I sing to myself Paul Simon’s song, “Old Friends” from the Bookends album. The closing stanza reads:

Time it was and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, a time of confidences.

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph.

Preserve your memories.

They’re all that’s left you.

We’ve all probably played around with those hypothetical questions about which books (songs, historical people, whatever) you would take with you to the mythical island where you’ll be isolated until rescue. Instead, fast forward your life to when you are (say) 93 and have to live in a single room. What do you choose to keep with you? What are you doing to protect that now?

For me it’s photographs, and I’ve set myself the task to digitize and secure them as quickly as I can.

Things That Make You Go 'Hmmm' by Terri Herman-Ponce

LUCY BURDETTE: Hank and I met Terri through the Guppies, the unpublished writers chapter of Sisters in Crime. Except that Terri isn't unpublished any more, because her first book, IN THIS LIFE, came out this week! We're so excited to have Terri here to talk about the inspiration for her book...

TERRI PONCE: There are things we absolutely believe in, without second thought.

There are things we ignore or dismiss, because they don't fit in with our lifestyle or perception of the world.

And then there are the things that make us sit up and go 'hmm'.


Reincarnation, for me, is one of those things that make me go hmm.

 Yeah, yeah, I know that the theory makes some people thumb their nose, but you can’t ignore the fact that there are so many things around us that aren’t completely explainable – at least not yet. Black holes, for example. Or the eleven dimensions around the Earth. Or the ability some people have to sense things that are going to happen before they happen.

Or the way we connect with individuals, immediately, and feel like we’ve known that person forever.

Think about it. You meet someone for the first time and there’s an instant connection. For some reason, you feel like you’ve known that person your whole life. You sync up like two interconnecting puzzle pieces, each intrinsically knowing just what the other likes or wants or needs without having to be told. A great example, I think, of knowing that there is something else out there, but it’s unexplainable simply because it’s beyond the realm of our logic or ability to prove. But does our inability to prove its existence mean it doesn’t exist at all?

Okay, maybe that’s getting a little too heavy but, even still, I have a hard time answering ‘yes’ to that question.

See, as I’ve gotten older (even though I've decided I'm going to be 39 forever), I've come to realize there’s so much more out there than what’s right in front of our noses. I’ve been fascinated by the ancient Egyptians for a long time now, along with their belief in the afterlife. Sure, we all know that you can’t take it with you when you move on, but what if you really do move on? Better yet, what if you move on and return so that you can learn from or fix past mistakes? It’s this idea that intrigues me, and fuels the stories I write.

For example, in IN THIS LIFE, Psychologist Lottie Morgan knows something is wrong when she starts reliving memories of a lover she's never had. At first, she attributes them to fever-induced dreams. But when the fever disappears and the visions don't, Lottie thinks she may need therapy of her own.

Then she meets Galen. Their first encounter is as intense as it is eye-opening, and Lottie is unprepared for the fire Galen arouses in her. His revelation that they shared a passionate relationship thousands of years ago explains the memories and entices Lottie into wanting to learn more about her past. Her decision, however, comes at a price. Galen may hold the answers but he's a growing temptation as well. One that could destroy the devoted, lifelong relationship Lottie has with her current lover, David. One that could also cost her life. Someone else knows of Lottie's past and is determined to stop her from uncovering secrets they want kept hidden.

As parallels between both of her lives emerge and the memories escalate, Lottie becomes caught between two lifetimes, two men and long-buried deceptions that present an opportunity to right previous wrongs. Unless Lottie repeats her past mistakes.

Terri Herman-Poncé is a communications manager by day and a storyteller by night. Born on Long Island, New York, she absolutely adores red wine, the beach, Ancient Egypt, sunrises and the New York Yankees—though not necessarily in that order. In her

next life, if she hasn’t moved on to somewhere else, Terri wants to be an astronomer. She’s fascinated with the night skies almost as much as she’s fascinated with Ancient Egypt.

You can read more on her website, or follow her on twitter @terriponce, or "like" her on facebook.

And Terri will be stopping in today to chat about the things that make you go 'hmmmm'....And she is giving away two copies of IN THIS LIFE to two lucy commenters!

A Fishy Business

TODAY'S PRIZE: a signed first edition of Harlan Coben's LIVE WIRE! The winner selected at random from the comments.


HANK: So you send your wonderful story or novel to an editor or to a contest--you hit "send" and cross your fingers. The person on the other end is about to click the "open" button, start to read your words, and make a decision.

Is there nothing scarier? But today we get an up close and personal glimpse behind the scenes at that process. The Guppies--yay, Guppies!--(Are you a member? See below for why it's exactly the right spot for anyone interested in writing a mystery!) have put together the second in their "fishy" short story anthologies.

The Guppies worked together on Fish Tales--writing, selecting, editing, organizing and finding a publisher. And then sharing the fun of seeing the sales go up!

KB Inglee is one of the earliest Guppies--and I wondered if she'd share her experiences. Like all good Guppies, she said yes.

(She's not as "early" as she looks in this photo...she works as an historical interpreter at two living history museums in the Mid-Atlantic. She uses this hands-on experience to improve her historical short stories. She has milled corn using water power, cooked in a wood fired oven, driven oxen, and she tends a flock of heritage sheep. But at home, she uses a computer. I think...)

KB INGLEE: Writers don’t usually get a peek behind the curtain to see what editors are thinking, why they chose the manuscripts they do, why they reject the ones they do, or even why certain authors drive them crazy.

The two publications Fish Tales and Fish Nets, both short story anthologies, came about precisely to give writers that glimpse. The Sisters in Crime chapter, The Guppies decided to use the process of putting together an anthology as an education for members. The call went out for short story manuscripts with a fishy theme.

Since short stories are my love, I offered to field the manuscripts and act as liaison between the authors and the professional editor we hired.

HANK: So how'd you do it? It'd be difficult to choose stories from friends and people you know and love.

KB: We hired a professional editor, Ramona Long. Each author was to score three other stories and the top scorers would make it into the anthology. My job was to field the stories and send them out to be scored. When the scores came back, I pulled out the high scorers and sent them to Ramona. She read them and sent them back to me with comments which I forwarded to the authors. After two rounds of this, Ramona and I compiled the whole manuscript added the table of contents and the introduction by Chris Roerden. At that point I handed it off to others who found the publisher.

HANK: How did reality compare to what you'd imagined?

KB: When I took on the job I made two resolutions, I would not take anything anyone did personally and I would finish what I had contracted to do.

Every step of the way, authors were kept posted as to the progress and problems. Each author received a copy of their scores and comments by the readers. Each time I hit a snag, I alerted the whole group.

The biggest problem I had was the impatience of the authors. When I opened my email at 5 AM, there would be a story waiting. If I had not downloaded the story and responded to the author by noon, I could expect a “did you get my story?” email. I contacted all the authors to let them know they had to be patient, and not keep emailing, that if they did that they would get the reputation of being hard to work with.

HANK: SO funny! Was it a learning process for you? Did people do what they were told?

KB: Most everyone met the deadlines; two authors submitted their stories with the name attached for a blind read. This didn’t seem like much of a stumbling block since the readers didn’t know the authors. They got points off for not following orders, but the manuscripts were not rejected.

Those involved learned how subjective the process was. Both as readers and writers we were of all different skill levels. Had I sent any story to a different reader the score could have been different. One story that didn’t make the cut, showed up later in one of the prominent mystery magazines.

As an author, this was a mind expanding exercise. I now write the best story I can, have someone else read it to fix any errors, follow the submission guidelines like my life depended on it, send it out and then go on to write something else. I do not email magazines to ask if they have received it or when they are going to do this or that. The chances are good it will be rejected, or that I will never hear anything, but every now and then I have a story accepted somewhere.

Fish Tales came out in March and is a volume to be proud of, with 22 excellent short stories of murder and fish. Well worth the read. We hope it will be followed soon by Fish Nets.

HANK: Can we get a sneak peek?

KB: Sure! Here's a sampler of first lines:

***From Thicker than Blood by Leslie Budewitz:

From the shore, the setting sun looked like it had been pierced by two burnt lodge pole pines still standing on a distant ridge. Not even last summer, when the fires raged for months, had she ever seen the sun so red.

And her hands. Nothing more red than fresh blood.

***From Feeding Frenzy by Patricia Winton:

One rarely thinks of fish as a murder weapon, and Caroline Woodlock certainly didn’t have murder on her mind as she surveyed the vast piscine assortment spread out at the market near Piazza Vittorio in Rome.

*** From The Turkey Hill Affair by Warren Bull:

Turkey Hill, Iowa, was a big disappointment until I bumped into Bennie as he was robbing the Farm and Business Bank.

***From Amazing Grace by Betsy Bitner:

I have been planning my husband’s funeral for twelve years. No, he doesn’t have a slow-acting terminal illness. And he’s not some bigwig requiring a send-off befitting his stature in the community. It’s just that, like the Scouts say, you’ve got to be prepared. Everyone has to go sooner or later and, with any luck, my husband’s time will come sooner. Call me an optimist.

HANK: Sounds great! And congratulations to all. ****We at the Guppies are always looking for good fishy titles--any ideas? Let's see--Calling All Cods? No. To Tell the Trout? Come on, you guys can do better than that.****

Fish Tales is available at this address! And make sure you put #guppies on your tweets!

The GUPPIES--for Great Unpublished--is an incredibly active, friendly, educational and always-inspirational on-line chapter of Sisters in Crime. For more info, click here!

And don't forget to comment--you'll be entered to win a signed first editon of LIVE WIRE by Harlan Coben!