Paris is Always a Good Idea -- Release Day!

On Sale Today!

RHYS: Who doesn't agree that Paris is always a good idea? Now more than ever! But today we Reds are jumping up and down with excitement because this much anticipated day has finally come.  Our dear Jenn's beautiful, wonderful, sexy, funny break-out book is finally born.

What's more it's the perfect book to help us escape from the crazy world we're living in. Tell all your friends. Jenn couldn't have the sort of tour and publicity she would have expected for a new venture like this so let's all shout from the rooftops.

Here is enough to whet your appetite:

One of Popsugar’s Best New Books for Summer 2020

A thirty-year-old woman retraces her gap year through Ireland, France, and Italy to find love—and herself—in this hilarious and heartfelt novel.

It's been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong postcollege European adventure. Since then, she's lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea's thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most successful moneymaker is unquestioned.

When her introverted mathematician father announces he's getting remarried, Chelsea is forced to acknowledge that her life stopped after her mother died and that the last time she can remember being happy, in love, or enjoying her life was on her year abroad. Inspired to retrace her steps—to find Colin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy—Chelsea hopes that one of these three men who stole her heart so many years ago can help her find it again. 

From the start of her journey nothing goes as planned, but as Chelsea reconnects with her old self, she also finds love in the very last place she expected.

JENN McKINLAY: What a thrill to have Paris is Always a Good Idea released into the wild! Even after so many books (Paris is my 45th book!!!) the thrill of opening a box of author's copies never ever gets old! 

This book, oh, this book. My first foray into women's fiction and it was an endeavor. It was hard. It required some blood letting, sage burning, and howling at the moon. Okay, not really, but it sure felt like it. Given that my personality is one of conflict avoidance -- as in, Oh, things are awful, okay, let's just cracks jokes and move forward and pretend we're not having any feelings -- writing about a person grappling with grief and loss and big turning points in her life, while she was traveling in three different countries, mind you -- was really freaking difficult. Oh, and it's me, so it had to be funny or why bother. In fact, I'm quite positive this book gave me shingles! Oy!

There was so much about this book that came from my own life. Chelsea, the heroine, finds herself at a turning point where big decisions have to be made. Her journey to find her happiness brought me back to the time in my life where I was standing at a crossroads, trying to decide which way I should go. Should I quit my job and move across the country to follow my dream of being a writer or should I continue on in the unfulfilling but safe job I had landed post college? I suppose it’s obvious which path I chose. Like me, Chelsea quits her job, but her journey, to try and find her former happiness, becomes much more complicated than she anticipated.

Chelsea has been challenged by her sister, Annabelle, to rediscover her old self in the last place she can remember being happy. She believes that if she goes back and reconnects with her past loves, maybe, she can find her happiness and herself again. But is it possible to go back? Can we ever be the person we once were before such a life changing event like the loss of a loved one? There is only one way for Chelsea to find out. She has to go.

It is my fondest wish that Chelsea’s journey will resonate with you, Readers. I think we have all lived through times of loss and grief, endured uncertainty while standing at life’s crossroads, and have looked to our past to inform our future, while navigating this crazy journey called life. Being able to examine these truths through Chelsea, while writing about some of the places I love best in the world was a pure joy for me in the end (despite the shingles) and I hope it will be for you as well.

So, tell me, if you had to go to Europe (hardship, I know) to make a big life decision, which country would you visit and why? 



Also, if you're in the mood for a bargain (and who isn't?) my romantic comedy EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY is on sale for $2.99, with several other terrific titles, wherever ebooks are sold!

Innocents Abroad

Youngest making good food choices in Prishtina

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: We've been enjoying pictures and stories from several Reds' trips abroad these past few weeks, and it's gotten me thinking about that FIRST trip to a foreign land. Youngest left for Kosovo (with stops in London, Istanbul, Serbia and Croatia) for a month-long college program, and has been sending back pictures, texts and emails describing her experience. She's traveled quite a bit around the US in her childhood and teens - usually accompanying me and Ross on book business - but the was the big one, her first time away from the US ( we won't count a baby appearance in Canada) and the first major trip without parental aid and supervision.

I spent years overseas as a child when we were in the military, which left me with a love of travel and fond memories of many European countries. But even though you're living with and learning about cultural and linguistic differences, living overseas with your parents managing every aspect of your time and travel is nothing like heading out under your own steam.

I left for Italy in the summer of my junior year. I was participating in a stone-age campsite excavation in the Tuscan region before the start of my school year in London. Unlike my daughter, who managed all her flight reservations by herself, mine were done for me by my mom's travel agent. I remember clutching my precious paper tickets nervously, because of course back in the day, if you lost one you were in trouble.

That's not the only difference between my experience and Youngest's. I had several slim wallets of American Express Traveller's Cheques and a new Kodak camera. I took exactly thirteen pictures in an entire summer spent in Italy because I was so afraid of running out of film and not being able to capture some vital scene! I had a tablet of onionskin letter paper and air mail envelopes, though I was extremely negligent in writing during the summer. My poor parents - I don't think they heard a word from me in the first four or five weeks. No phone, of course - in fact, from the time I left until I came back to the US for Christmas, the only time I actually called home (with a public phone and a stack of one pound coins) was on my little brother's birthday. I was FINE with this as a impecunious student, but as a mother, I'm very grateful for Face Time.

One thing I had that's still being used by travelers? A Eurailpass. The official Ithaca College/University of Pisa component ended something like ten days before fall classes started, so I hit the rails and began roaming. Scheduling the day meant showing up at the station and reading the times and destinations on a big board. Upon arrival in a new town, I'd check Frommer's Europe on Ten Dollars A Day for suggestions on a pensione, then walk to the place and see if a room was available. I saw Rome, Florence, Nice (where I spent an afternoon topless on a beach!) Monte Carlo and Paris before taking the ferry across the channel to England (no Chunnel yet.)

Except for the fact I flew across the Atlantic and didn't require a chaperone, my first solo trip abroad feels more like the experience an American traveler of the late 19th century than that of my daughter 37 years later. All the time I spent studying maps,haunting information kiosks, waiting in line to talk to a railroad agent, and visiting American Express offices has been  replaced by a smart phone and a debit card. It's easier now, in many ways, but I'm pretty sure one thing hasn't changed: Just as I did, I expect my daughter to come home more mature, more confident, and with a broader view of the horizon.

How about you, Red? What was your first time as an Innocent Abroad?

HALLIE EPHRON: One of my proudest accomplishments has been raising two daughters who are enthusiastic travelers. Jerry and I traveled a lot in the six years after we were married and before we had our first child. We started again with a trip to Puerto Rico when our oldest was 9 months old. When the girls were 8 and 13 we spent 2 weeks in Europe, traveling by train, and whatever you packed to take with you, you had to carry. It was a great trip, including venturing into Prague, before the Velvet Revolution.

My first international trip was to Europe for our honeymoon. We were crazy. Three months with the guy you just married? It's amazing the marriage survived. We rented a Citroen Dayan 6 (that's me with it in the picture -- I'm holding a Michelin Red Guide in the days before GPS), a car so basic it could not be imported into the US. We flew into London, took the train to Paris, rented a car and made our way up to Amsterdam where my husband's college roommate lived, down to Rome via Belgium and Luxembourg and Switzerland, and back through France to Paris. Yes, on $5 (maybe $6) a day per person.

RHYS BOWEN : I wonder if one is born with a travel gene? I had an overwhelming desire to travel from a very early age. I remember my first trips to Wales and Cornwall, what a huge impression they made on me, and begged to go abroad. Finally my parents arranged for me to go to friends in Austria when I was 14. They put me on a train in London. I had to find the right boat, and then the right train on the other side of the Channel. One and a half days in the train (3rd class, hard seats) and I was met at the other end. In those days one did not telephone so I sent my folks a postcard to say I had arrived. If that had been me, I'd have been frantic! Since then going across Europe on my own was a regular event.

Luckily I married a man in the airline business so travel was a big part of our lives. We've been to India several times, Indonesia, Vietnam, all over Australia, and to almost every corner of Europe. I'm writing this from a house in France where we have been entertaining our daughter Clare and her family. We had taken them to England but it's a first trip for the twins to mainland Europe and they are making the most of every minute, including eating snails and sipping red wine (they just turned 16). 

A grown-up Rhys enjoying Nice

Our own children grew up traveling frequently. We always went to England at least once a year, and to other fun places on vacation. They each followed this up with a junior year abroad and then both Clare and Jane went to work in other countries. It was a real growing-up experience for all of them.  And my own travel gene? I have decided I don't need to visit strange and exotic locations. I want to return to places I love. Lots of France and Italy, Switzerland and Austria, and maybe a little taste of Hawaii occasionally.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  When I was a teenager, my father was in the foreign service--a cultural affairs officer for USIA. When I was a junior in high school, I went visit him and his family for a few weeks in Hamburg, Germany--and ended up spending six months! That summer, and about half of my senior year in high school. So it was total immersion European living--and a life-changing experience.

  I remember one chilling experience: we went into East Berlin, just my fellow 16-year-old foreign service kid pal Allison and I, because my diplomat dad was not allowed to accompany us. Talk about life-changing--it was if the war had just ended, bleak and bombed out, and patrolled by Vopos with snarling German Shepherds. Two cute Jewish girls from America were most definitely not welcomed. 

Checkpoint Charlie, c. 1965

Hank in the 60's

We also went to Amsterdam  and London and Stockholm and it was all amazing and seemed very natural and not touristy--since I lived there, I had to go to the grocery and buy flowers and go to clubs and ride the Ubahn and hang out in parks and not have to DO anything. I learned to speak German pretty well..much of that, sadly is gone, it seems. I attended the International School, so you can imagine the life-broadening experience for a girl from Indiana.  After that, travel never seemed unusual.

Now? It seems like it takes a lot more planning. I'm not sure there is one photo of me there. But here's what I looked like at the time.

LUCY BURDETTE: My first trip abroad was with my family when I was in high school. It was one of those "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" deals. All we kids remember my father freaking out because he was driving around Rome in heavy traffic at night and we couldn't find a room. I also remember feather beds and wiener schnitzel in Switzerland, and desperately wishing for ice in our Coke. I think I've improved as a traveler since those long-ago days! 


JENN McKINLAY: Italy with my mom! A real gal pal trip that included lots of gelato, wine, and art museums. We cherish that trip and the memories made, which includes my mom flagging down the police when she had a beef with the one of the transportation monitors on the city bus! Hiiiilarious! And, yes, I did come back with a fabulous new appreciation of the world, which is why I took the Hooligans to London a few years ago. There is nothing like travel to broaden the horizons.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My parents took me to Europe the September after I graduated from college (probably because they were so thrilled not to be paying tuition!) Like Lucy's, it was a "if this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium" trip. We started in London, then rented a car in Oxford and did Oxford, Stratford, Bath, Stonehenge, and the Cotswolds. Then across the channel and the train to Paris, Provence, Rome, Florence, Venice. On to Switzerland and Germany, then Amsterdam and finally the ferry back to England for our return flights. 

Eurail pass, American Express Traveler's checks, and Frommer's how many ever dollars a day. I absolutely loved every bit of it, but especially England. Obviously. I lived at home the next nine months, worked and saved money to go back to England on my own, which I did the following June. I had a bus pass and traveled all over England and Scotland, staying in cheap B&Bs, pretty much until my money ran out. I know I have photos somewhere from the first trip, buy I have no idea where! Regardless, it was life altering, in so many ways.

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What was your first trip abroad? Or your first great solo travel adventure in your own country?

Tuscan flora, fauna, food, wine... and a cat on a leash

HALLIE EPHRON: A little more about my trip to Tuscany. The landscape, the flora, fauna, the food...

The vistas are spectacular. Just what you've come to expect from the art work and movies that feature the region. Fields of olive trees and vineyards stretching to the horizon, dotted with cypress trees and pink-stone buildings with terra-cotta tile roofs. 

Here's one of those roofs, close up from our hotel window.

I think those flowers (like miniature daisies) might be pink because of the color of the terra cotta tiles (like flamingos are pink because of the shrimp they eat.)

Lizards make their homes in the stone foundations.

There were flowers everywhere. Like us in New England they'd had a cool wet spring and now, with the sun shining, flowers were bursting open. Brilliant red poppies. Irises so hardy they were growing out of stone walls.  Flowering yellow broom. Amazing fragrant roses.

Birds! We were not disappointed. Here's a European Redstart, a new one for me. And a saucy European Blackbird, who struts about the lawn looking for grubs. It's got an orange eye ring, orange beak, orange feet, and a very loud and distinctive call.

Gelato! Every town has at least one gelateria and it's always delicious. This one is in San Gimignano -- Gelateria Dondoli -- which was actually named #1 in the world. I had a cup with lychee/rose and passion fruit. Sublime.

There are cats (and dogs) everywhere. This one seemed perfectly content to be walked on a leash, wearing a necktie, at the weekly farmer's market in Castellini in Chianti.

Art! Most of it's in the churches and the treasures are from the middle ages when Florence and Venice were arch enemies and competed in every venue. Here's a fresco in the main church in San Gimignano, demonstrating in graphic detail what awaits you if you misbehave.

And of course, the food and wine. Chianti Classico is the prince of wines in this region. We drank many glasses and I wish we'd brought home a bottle or two. 

They also make a rose, and there's a lovely white wine, Vernaccia, from San Gimignano. 

The antipasti tables are bounteous, the pasta sublime, and Tuscan steak, Oh my! One night four of us shared a T-bone steak, grilled and served rare with fried potatoes. 

Alora... we will be going back to Italy.

And a reminder, if you're interested in a week-long workshop next year with Ann Cleeves, visit Minerva Education.

RHYS CELEBRATES LAUNCH DAY!

JENN MCKINLAY: One of my very first “I’m an author now” memories is walking into the Poisoned Pen for one of my first signings and having PK (the unflappable Patrick King) tell me that Rhys Bowen was visiting and was going to moderate the book talk. Rhys Bowen! I was so undone, I almost turned around and ran home. I’m very glad I didn’t. Rhys was, well, Rhys. She was charming and lovely, funny and gracious. And now I’m celebrating the release of her latest fabulous A Royal Spyness mystery On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service. Congratulations, Rhys!

I am a lover of series – the longer running the better! Since Rhys has managed to weave her Lady Georgie magic for eleven books, I have to ask, how do you do it, Rhys? How do you keep your series fresh and how long do you think the series will go? (Please say forever).

RHYS BOWEN: Dear Jenn. Thank you for hosting me today. And I'm so glad I spend part of the year in Phoenix and we get to see each other. I'm sure we know each other's spiel by heart now!  How do I keep a series fresh? Well, I guess I have to enjoy visiting those characters. This series has been pure joy to me from the first words I wrote for Her Royal Spyness back in 2007. I still sit and chuckle as I write and call out to John , "Hey, listen to what Fig just said!"  I figure if they can make me chuckle then my readers will do the same. So I have no plan to quit any time soon (in fact I'm just signing new contract)

LUCY BURDETTE: Rhys, I really loved visiting Ireland with Georgie and Darcy in CROWNED AND DANGEROUS.  And now I see that we will have the pleasure of visiting Italy this time out in ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE. My question is do you plan the books around places that you happen to visit, or do you go  visit the places that will be in the books? (I know you do some research by accident, as I will always remember your story about stumbling into a funeral unexpectedly and thinking that this would be exactly the kind of thing that Georgie would do!)

RHYS: Some of the books have been planned around a place. I definitely wanted to write Naughty in Nice and went there to do research. But this one was purely serendipitous. When I start a new book I look at the real events that happened around the time I'm setting my story. And I saw that in spring 1935 there was a big international conference in Stresa, Italy. Britain, France and Italy met to discuss how to combat the Nazi threat. And I thought, "this is interesting because Mussolini was a huge fan of Hitler." And then I thought "I bet there were other negotiations going on behind the scenes." And I'd always wanted to make Georgie do some real spying to live up to her name.

And the next step of serendipity was that I was asked to teach a writing workshop in Tuscany. (I'm repeating it next year for anyone interested!) So I'd already be in Italy. So I headed north to Stresa and spent a wonderful time doing my research there--research which involved going to lots of villas and gardens, steamers up the lake, and of course wine!

INGRID THOFT: I know it’s like choosing your favorite child, but do you have a favorite character in this particular book or the series in general?  Has this always been the case or has your affection for that character grown over time?  What about a character you don’t like?  Do your readers' feelings on this subject align with your own?

RHYS: I'm very fond of Ceorgie's old Cockney grandfather, mainly because I based him on my father, who came from very humble beginnings to become a research engineer. He was a lovely, gentle man like Georgie's grandfather. And I love writing characters I don't like--Fig, Mrs. Simpson. I make them as bitchy as I dare. In Mrs. Simpson's case I try to use things she actually said.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I know you'll tell us more about this story (and cannot wait to read it!) --but I am constantly delighted by your enthusiasm and your innovation. You are constantly raising the bar on yourself..and succeeding, again and again. You're endlessly goodnatured and flexible. How did you get this life philosophy? And I wonder if Georgie could come to Boston--so you could research here!

RHYS: Darling Hank: you don't see me when I have a deadline looming and the bath backs up! But I'm lucky enough to live in two beautiful places, to travel, to have great friends and wonderful family, also to be able to write what I want to. So I should be content and enjoy life. I have certainly come through many stressful periods in life (husband laid off and 3 kids in college!)  Also a stressful spring this year with John's health looking bleak. So now I savor the good times

HALLIE EPHRON: Rhys, in this new book Georgie does some more spying, so I'm wondering what kind of research you did and whether there was a historical figure whose experiences you may have used?

RHYS: Hallie, as with everything Georgie does the spying is almost a disaster and puts her in danger! I did read a lot about MI5 when I was writing In Farleigh Field so I know about how real spies operated at that time.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, I cannot wait to read Georgie's latest adventure!!! I'd love to know about Georgie's genesis. What first gave you the idea for the character and the series? Did you just hear Georgie's voice in your head?

RHYS: Hi Debs! Georgie started  out as a challenge. My then publisher said they couldn't really break me out until I wrote a big, dark stand-alone. I thought about it and couldn't see myself with serial killers, child molesters. So I asked myself what was the most improbable heroine I could think of. How about if she was royal? And penniless? I started writing in Georgie's voice and she was right there, immediately, talking to me. She dictated, I wrote. I still find it easy to be in her head.

In this new book Georgie is planning to go to Italy to be with her friend Belinda who is having a baby and alone. When Queen Mary hears this she gives Georgie another assignment and sends her to a posh house party. But once there it is clear that darker things are happening and Georgie finds herself in the middle of them.  I can SAY NO MORE or I'd have to kill you!

So thank you everyone for joining me today for the launch of ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE. I start with a launch party tonight at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA. If you're anywhere near I have baby cheesecakes from the best cheesecake shop in the world. And champagne.
Then I'm hitting the road for Houston, Ann Arbor, Scottsdale, Orange County and Pasadena before I return to the Bay Area for more events. It's all on my website, www.rhysbowen.com

Best Birthday Present Ever!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  There’s one critical thing every book must have.  Yes, a great character, and a great setting, and an important problem and a lot of secrets and a wow of an ending. But before all that. There’s one pivotal thing every book needs.

The germ, the gem, the nugget. The perfect unique twist or moment or action.

 

In other words: A good idea.

And the terrific Gigi Pandian got one for her birthday.  (and leave a comment to be entered for a copy of MICHELANGELO’S GHOST!

Milestone birthdays led to MICHELANGELO’S GHOST

                        By Gigi Pandian

Two years ago, I’d figured out the basic ideas that formed my latest novel, MICHELANGELO’S GHOST: A lost work of art linking India to the Italian Renaissance. A killer hiding behind a centuries-old ghost story. And a hidden treasure in Italy’s macabre sculpture garden known as the Park of Monsters.

I loved this new story I was crafting with an India-Italy connection. All of my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries involve a present-day crime linked to a treasure from India’s colonial history, and I felt like I was well on my way—but there was a problem. I hadn’t visited Italy in nearly two decades, and I’d never been to the Park of Monsters.

My silly husband has never been fascinated by Italy (I told you he was silly!), so I was preparing to take this research trip on my own. I’ve always been a good solo traveler, but the universe lined up to make sure I didn’t have to take this trip on my own.

Last year, I turned 40. Within a few months of my birthday, my mom turned 70 and my dad turned 80. (Yes, this is how we’ve always been able to keep track of each other’s ages!) Both of my parents were anthropologists before retiring, and my dad is originally from India, so starting when I was 10 years old they began taking me with them when they traveled abroad. 

To celebrate our milestone 40/70/80 birthdays last year, we decided to take a trip abroad together—just the three of us, like we hadn’t done since I was a kid. When I learned my father had never been to Italy, that settled it: we’d travel to Italy as our family trip. We’d visit Rome for my dad and the Park of Monsters for me.

 

Have you heard of the Park of Monsters? Also known as the Gardens of Bomarzo, it’s a Renaissance garden located between Rome and Florence built by eccentric nobleman Pier Francesco “Vicino” Orsini, that after centuries of neglect is now a popular destination for both horror film-makers and Italian families with small children. The park has always fascinated me because the gigantic, moss-covered stone statues are like oversize gargoyles, and they’re filled with such personality. My favorite is the ogre, with its wide mouth serving as a door that leads to… not a dark dungeon, but a picnic table!

I’m not telling this story here because it was a fun trip (even though it was great to relive the spirit of those childhood family travels—this time with none of my pre-teen eye-rolling). I’m sharing it here because the trip had an added bonus: traveling with my parents turned out to be essential to writing Michelangelo’s Ghost.

Before I left for Italy, the novel had a rough draft plot and some scenes I thought were rather exciting. But… It didn’t yet have a title. It didn’t have its main twist. And most importantly, it didn’t have its heart. I’ll tell you a secret: at the time, Michelangelo wasn’t involved at all.

But once I was in Italy, it was impossible not to breathe in the rich artistic history everywhere I turned.My father—who’s basically a walking encyclopedia—made an off-hand comment about Michelangelo being difficult to work with and not taking apprentices. With that, the story fell into place like a curling row of dominoes. Michelangelo and the mystery linked together perfectly. I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner, but that’s how writing goes!

I’m sorry (but not sorry) that I’m not going to reveal the twists here. But I can tell you this much: I do my homework to get my history right. The treasure and the twists are historically accurate. And next week, you can read the mystery and history in Michelangelo’s Ghost.

Do you enjoy traveling by yourself, or with your family or friends? Or are you more of an armchair traveler who loves to experience the world through books?

HANK: How about you, Reds?  Do you like your travel real or in your imagination?  Or-- if you’d rather--what’s the best birthday present you’ve ever received?

(Oh—and the winner from yesterday of SAY NO MORE is SUSAN in Williamsburg!

Send me your address via H ryan at whdh dot com and I will send you the ARC of SAY NO MORE!)   And watch this space—I’ll give away another one later in the week!)

MICHELANGELO’S GHOST: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery

Publishers Weekly says: “Everything a mystery lover could ask for: ghostly presences, Italian aristocrats, jewel thieves, failed actors, sitar players, and magic tricks, not to mention dabs of authentic history and academic skullduggery.” 

When Jaya’s old professor dies under eerie circumstances shortly after discovering manuscripts that point to a treasure in Italy’s Park of Monsters, Jaya and her brother pick up the trail. From San Francisco to the heart of Italy, Jaya is haunted by a ghost story inexorably linked to the masterpieces of a long-dead artist and the deeds of a modern-day murderer.

USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, the Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories. Gigi’s fiction has been awarded the Malice Domestic Grant and Lefty Awards, and short-listed for Macavity and Agatha Awards.

To hear more about the stories behind the book, you can also join me for my virtual book launch party next Tuesday, October 4, on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GigiPandian/ (And in case you’re in California, you can join me in person: http://gigipandian.com/events.)

Connect with Gigi via her email newsletter ( www.gigipandian.com/newsletter/ ), Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/GigiPandian ), and Twitterhttps://twitter.com/GigiPandian )

What We're writing--Rhys on Dialog (or is it dialogue?)

RHYS BOWEN: At the moment you are reading this I'll be heading to the airport on my way to the Bouchercon mystery convention where I'm looking forward to seeing fellow Reds Hank, Debs and Susan. I'm on a panel on Saturday with Hank and Deborah--it's about our tales from the road: mishaps, misadventures and outright fun during our book tours and speeches. I hope there are going to be some stunning reveals. I know I have plenty of good stories. I may share some with you when it's my next turn to host JRW.

But in the meantime I'm juggling two books: I have finished the first draft of the next Georgie Book, called ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE, I've started on the final polish, and I'm just starting to write the next Molly book, called THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST. This is a much more somber affair so I'm having to juggle the two a little and switch moods between jolly and depressing!

I've been reading a lot of books lately and one thing that strikes me about beginning writers is that they don't know how to handle dialog.(or is it dialogue? I spend my time writing half in British English and half in American English, hence perpetually confused!)

 When people start to talk we have one line of speech after another, like staccato bullets. In real life people don't speak like that. They speak in broken sentences, they gesture, their body language matches their mood, outside things happen like planes flying over, dogs rushing in. AND we need to be reminded where we are. If the dialog scene takes place on a train station we need to hear an announcement or toot of a train whistle to remind us.

I've been told that my dialog is one of the things readers enjoy most about my books, so I thought I'd share a scene in which we have action, dialog, character and setting all playing a part: This is from the Georgie book I am working on. We are in Stresa, Italy, on Lake Maggiori:

            As I approached the villa I spotted a group of people, sitting on a terrace beneath an arbor of wisteria. I felt suddenly shy and awkward. Why had I not asked the driver to take me to the villa? I must look pathetic, staggering up the drive carrying my own suitcase and dressed in my unfashionable tweed suit. And what if the letter still hadn’t arrived and here I was with my suitcase?  Had the queen actually suggested that I join the house party, or merely that I should be welcomed for a drink if I showed up? Why on earth hadn’t I left the suitcase at Belinda’s house and pretended I had just dropped by to pay my respects? Then, when they suggested I should stay I could have acted as if I was surprised and they would have sent someone to pick up my belongings. But now I was committed. I couldn’t retreat without being noticed. It was only a matter of time before one of them looked up and…

            I was startled by a great scream. “Georgie!”

            I was even more startled to see that the scream came from my mother. She had risen to her feet and was running toward me, her arms open. “Georgie, my darling!” she exclaimed in that voice that had filled London theaters. “What a lovely, lovely surprise. I had no idea you were coming to join us. Why didn’t somebody tell me?”

            She flung her arms around me , something she was not in the habit of doing. Then she turned back to the others. “Which of you arranged to bring my daughter to me? Was it you, Max, who suggested it? You knew I was pining for her, didn’t you?”

            I had prudently put down the suitcase before she attacked me. Now she took my hand and dragged me forward. “Everybody, this is my darling child, Georgie, whom I haven’t seen for ages and ages. And I had no idea she was coming to join us. ” She gazed at me adoringly. “And now you’re here. It seems like a miracle.”

            I noticed she had failed to mention that she had bumped into a few days ago and at that time there had been no talk of inviting me to join her. Nor had she seemed overjoyed to see me. As I smiled back at her I wondered what she was up to.

            Several other members of the party had also risen to their feet as she led me up steps to the arbor. Among them I recognized Miss Cami-Knickers herself. She looked older, perfectly groomed, incredibly chic as she stepped down from the terrace and approached me.

            “Georgiana. How delightful to see you again after all this time. I was so pleased to receive a note from the queen herself suggesting that you join our party.”

            I shook the hand that was offered. “I do hope this has not inconvenienced you in any way, Camilla,” I said. “When I told her majesty that I’d be staying nearby I really had no idea she’d invite me to be part of your house party. But she was insistent that I pay my respects to my cousin, the Prince of Wales.”

            “But not at all,” Camilla laughed. I remembered she had always had a horsy sort of laugh. Her horsy looks had definitely been improved with impeccable grooming and expensive clothes but the laugh was unchanged. “Actually we’re horribly short on women at the party, so you are a godsend at evening up the numbers.  Come and meet my husband and the other guests.”

            I followed her up to the terrace where several men were now standing to greet me. One of them I recognized immediately as Paolo, Belinda’s former love. I saw from his face that he also remembered me but I also saw the warning sign flash in his eyes. “Pretend you don’t know me,” could not have been more clear if he had shouted the words.

            “My husband Paolo, Count of Marola and Martini,” she said proudly.

            “My dear Lady Georgiana, you are most welcome, especially since my wife tells me you and she were old friends from your school days.” He took my hand and kissed it.

            “How do you do, Count,” I said, inclining my head formally.  “But please let us dispense with formality. Why don’t you call me Georgie?”

            ‘Georgie. How charming.” He smiled. I had forgotten how incredibly handsome he was. I could see why Belinda had been quite smitten at the time.

            Camilla took my arm and moved me on. “And of course you already know Herr von Strohheim?”

            My mother’s beau Max clicked his heels and said, “Georgie. I am pleased to see you again,” in his stilted, staccato English. At least it was better than when he first met my mother and spoke only occasional monosyllables.

“Max, how are you?” I said, shaking his hand. He too looked handsome in a blonde and Germanic way and I was reminded of my encounter on the train with….

            “And this is Count Rudolf von Rosskopf,” Camilla said, and I found myself face to face with my would-be seducer.

            He too took my hand and drew it to his lips. “We meet again, Lady Georgiana,” he said. “What a delightful surprise. And I had no idea that we would run into each other again so soon. It must be fate, drawing us together.” He looked rather pleased with himself and his eyes flirted with me.

            “Behave yourself, Rudi,” my mother snapped. “This is my young daughter, you know.”

            “Not too young,” Rudi said. “Ripe and ready for adventure, I think.”

RHYS: I rather fear that seduction will be the least of Georgie's worries as the story progresses!

So do share: what do you look for in good dialog?