Laura DiSilverio--Tara, Manderley and . . . the Chateau du Cygne Noir?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: If we are celebrating the advent of fall, what better way to do it than to curl up with a good book? Not just any book, but the kind of suspense novel that got many of us reading, thrilling and enchanting us with a creepy setting, suspicious characters, and a heroine whose life might depend on figuring out the mystery just in time.

Well, you can make your cup of hot chocolate (or pumpkin latte) and enjoy THAT LAST WEEKEND, the brand new novel from our Jungle Red friend Laura DiSilverio! Laura gives us all of the above, plus not just one protagonist but four, searching for a murderer in the melancholy Chateau du Cygne Noir. 

AND Laura is giving away a copy to one of our commenters!

Every year for a decade, five college friends spent a weekend together at the atmospheric Chateau du Cygne Noir. Then, tragedy struck.
 

Ten years later, Laurel Muir returns to the castle for the first time since the accident, hoping to reconnect with her friends and lay the past to rest. When a murderer strikes, it rips open old wounds and forces the women to admit there's a killer in their midst. The remaining friends make a pact to unearth the truth, but suspicion, doubt, and old secrets threaten to tear them apart. Unsure who to trust, Laurel puts herself in harm's way, risking it all for friendship and long-delayed justice.

Just reading this gives me goosebumps. Laura, tell us more.

    

LAURA DISILVERIO:  In my high school years and early twenties, I devoured gothic novels where young governesses or secretaries accepted positions at moody mansions in remote locales and stumbled into secrets and dire peril. Murder, sinister retainers, ghosts and brooding men were staples of these books. I loved Daphne duMaurier, Dorothy Eden, Joan Aiken, Mary Stewart . . . I could go on and on. Gothic novels seem to have fallen out of favor, alas, but I have borrowed some elements for my latest release, THAT LAST WEEKEND, including the atmospheric old house.

           In THAT LAST WEEKEND, the house is the Chateau du Cygne Noir (Castle of the Black Swan), a French chateau relocated stone-by-stone from the Loire Valley to North Carolina where it's now a B&B. My protagonist, Laurel Muir, and her friends spent a girls weekend there every year for a decade, starting with spring breaks when they were in college. A tragedy occurs during that last weekend, and they don't assemble at the castle again for another ten years. I describe the chateau from several points of view, because it affects each character differently. Here is Geneva Frost's take on it:

            The Chateau du Cygne Noir bed and breakfast sign appeared suddenly. It featured elegant white script on a lavender background with a black swan. Wide stone pillars on either side of the driveway supported the decorative iron gate that was always open, and she turned in gingerly. The driveway’s sharp curves hid the castle until she came around the last bend and it burst into view. Its warm yellow stone seemed to soak up the sunlight and beam it back. Arched windows with their numerous small panes glinted. She’d loved the place the moment she set eyes on it that first spring break, almost as much as Vangie did. It had presence, a personality, the way the House of Usher or Manderley did. She knew Dawn would say “your English major is showing” if she shared her thoughts. The house wasn’t brooding, like Usher’s house, nor was it grand and forbidding like Rebecca’s Manderley, its stony façade repelling the nameless heroine. If Geneva were to assign an emotion to the chateau, she’d have to go with sad. No … melancholy. The stalwart home that should have been surrounded by fields of lavender and wine grapes, that had presided over the siege of Tournai and absorbed the blood of its scion on the cobbled courtyard and the screams of maidservants treated the way ill-disciplined armies treated women, felt displaced in this verdant corner of the New World. 

        Although THAT LAST WEEKEND is very much a modern suspense novel with four women in their late thirties trying to identify a murderer and reclaim a friendship that an old tragedy derailed, it's also an homage to the classic gothics, complete with sinister retainers (modernized as the B&B's managers) and the ghost of a young countess flung out of a window to her death. (Defenestration--I love that word!) It comes out this Friday, September 8th, and you can pre-order your copy right here. (Please.) 

         Did you read gothic novels? What were your faves? What houses/castles/mansions do you remember from books you've read? Do you ever think of the setting as a character in the novel?

        I'll be here to chat with you all day, and one lucky commenter will get a free copy of THAT LAST WEEKEND!

       

 Laura DiSilverio is the bestselling and award-winning author of 21 novels, including multiple mystery series and standalone suspense novels, and a Young Adult dystopian trilogy. She lives in Colorado where she is trying (with lots of home projects and Haagen Dazs) to come to terms with being an empty nester. 

DEBS: It seems to me that the gothic suspense novel is making a comeback, which couldn't make me happier. So interested to hear who else loved books like this.

Introducing the Readaholic Mystery Series by Laura Disilverio

Breaking news: Cupcake58 was the winner on Tuesday of the MWA Cookbook--enjoy! Now back to our regularly scheduled business...

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm sure you've met Laura DiSilverio--she burst onto the mystery scene several years ago and has written more books than I can count! Plus she served as president of Sisters in Crime and raised two teenage girls. Impressive right? Now she's launching a brand new cozy mystery series which should be right up our alley. Tell it Laura!

LAURA DISILVERIO: Okay, Jungle Red readers, I'm going to let you in on a secret.

No, not the kind of secret that would make Jerry Springer salivate. It doesn't involve nudity, felonies, alcohol or gross stupidity and there are no embarrassing photos. Yeah, I know most of you just quit reading.

For those of you still with me, it's this: If I weren't enjoying my second act career as a novelist so much, I'd be an event organizer. Really. I get a kick out of making lists, being creative, and dealing with people, all of which are key skills for event organizers. Before you can gasp "What about the bridezillas?" I will admit that I wouldn't choose to do weddings. Emotions run too high. I'd be more inclined to concentrate on corporate events where no one would have a coronary if the ballpoint pens had sapphire blue ink rather than royal blue ink, and where no one would expect me to ride herd on cute toddlers strewing flowers and carrying ten thou worth of rings.

So, it's easy to see why my new Book Club Mysteries feature an event organizer, Amy-Faye Johnson, as the protagonist. It is just too much fun coming up with events for her to organize and ways in which they can go wrong. I've found that strippers, animals, roller skates, wardrobe malfunctions and fisticuffs are great in that regard. Leave a comment telling us about the most embarrassing, scary or hysterical thing you ever witnessed at an event. (I'll reveal the most embarrassing thing that happened to me, at my brother's wedding no less, in the comments . . . )

Set in the fictional town of Heaven, Colorado (renamed from Walter's Ford when the town council set out to woo destination wedding business), the series focuses on the five women who belong to the Readaholics book club: Amy-Faye, Maud Bell (a 60-something hunting/fishing guide and conspiracy theorist with a blog called www.outtogetyou.com), Kerry Washington (a Realtor and Heaven's part-time mayor), Brooke Widefield (former beauty queen and Amy-Faye's best friend who married into the town's richest family) and Lola Paget (owner of a plant nursery and guardian of her 15-year-old sister).

In each book, the club is reading a different classic mystery. In The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasco, they're reading--you guessed it--The Maltese Falcon. In the second book, The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle (Sep 2015), they're reading Murder on the Orient Express. And in the third book . . . Well, I don't want to give away too many secrets. (I'll give you a hint: think Gothic.) Something from the book they're reading ties into the solution of each mystery they solve. Fun, huh?,

 Pre-order The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasconow for release this coming Tuesday. Yay! And leave a comment (about an event, or the classic mystery you think the Readaholics should read next, or anything you want) for a chance to win a signed copy of the book!

Signs of the Times

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Happy Saturday!  I noticed the other day that my ankle was puffy.  (I promise this has a point.) So I looked up “puffy ankle” (in Web MD, as usual) to see if it was maybe malaria or dengue fever or something horrible that hasn't been discovered yet. Turns out, in all likelihood, it has to do with, um, getting old.

Really? A puffy ANKLE? Are you KIDDING ME? It went away, but I fear that...well, we shall see.

Anyway, I am delighted to tell you I am not alone in the REALLY? Are you kidding me? neck of the woods. My dear pal Laura DiSilverio (who is much younger than I am, just saying) has been thinking along the same lines.

Those lines being, sadly, in her face. 

Wanna talk about this? And, just because it might help--wanna take a QUIZ???   

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LAURA DISILVERIO: Hello to everyone in Jungle Red land, and thanks to the brilliant Reds for inviting me back.  Or course, I’m here in part to publicize the release of ALL SALES FATAL, the second in my Mall Cop Mystery series, but I’ve got something else to talk about, too, so let’s stipulate that ASF is funny, engaging, and a great read, and that you’re going to pre-order it at once, and move on. (You can read more about ASF at the end of this post, if interested.)

What I really want to discuss today, and get your thoughts on, is aging.  More specifically, aging gracefully.  I’m coming up on the big five-oh and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing “graceful” about the way I’m doing it.  Hallie’s sister Nora wrote a hysterically funny collection of essays on the subject, I Feel Bad about My Neck, and I’ll admit those essays resonate more now than they did when I first read the book.  

 I feel okay about my neck, but I think it’s grossly unfair that I’ve been re-afflicted with acne as my hormones go menopausal.  Wrinkles are bad enough, but wrinkles with acne is just wrong.  I’m also not fond of muscles that take four times as long to recover from a hard workout, or the way the flesh around my knees sags like it’s trying to visit my ankles.

To facilitate this discussion, I’ve put together the following short quiz.  Take it and see how you score on the “Graceful Aging” scale.

1.        You notice a few more wrinkles around your eyes.  Do you

a.       Smile at your reflection and think how great it is you’ve laughed and smiled enough to carve happiness into your face

b.       Trot down to the drug store and buy some retinol cream

c.       Try a do-it-yourself face lift by pulling your hair back into the tightest ponytail possible

d.      Rifle your kids’ college funds, sell your plasma at the blood donor center, and race to the nearest plastic surgeon

2.       Your joints ache after a little exercise.  Do you

a.       Give thanks that you’re still mobile

b.      Wander down to Walgreen’s to get some of that chondroitin you’ve been hearing about; it’s worth a try

c.       Schedule a massage

d.      Use it as an excuse to give up your gym membership (and apply the money saved to your tummy tuck fund)

3.       Someone tells you, “You look great . . . for your age.” Do you

a.       Thank them sincerely and feel good all day

b.      Buy another lotion or potion to fade age spots, diminish wrinkles, brighten your complexion, plump your skin, and raise your IQ ten points

c.       Put this person in your WIP . . . as the murder victim

d.      Try to patent the phrase “for your age” so no one can use it without your permission under threat of prosecution and a lengthy prison term

4.       You put on five or ten pounds that just won’t budge.  Do you

a.       Think, “That’s why God invented elastic-waist pants and skirts!”

b.      Invest in the entire Spanx collection

c.       Work a half-hour walk into your daily routine

d.      Try the latest fad diet and learn to subsist on nothing but kelp, raisins and Metamucil

Scoring:  Give yourself one point for each A, two for each B, three for each C and four for each D answer.

0-4:  The “Let Nature Take Its Course” Gal (or Guy).  You’re undermining the economy with your refusal to purchase any of the lotions, ointments, dyes, teeth bleaching kits, diet pills, vitamins, or services devoted to making you look and feel four months younger than your calendar age.  Your aging celebrity counterpart is Jack Nicholson. 

5-12:  The Do What You Canner.  You have staked out a reasonable middle ground between letting yourself go completely and obsessing endlessly about each gray hair and wrinkle.  Your aging celebrity counterpart is Jamie Lee Curtis or Betty White.

13-16:  The Interventionist. You’re well on your way to becoming Joan Rivers.  You regard the words “aging gracefully” as an oxymoron and are doing more than your share to keep the economy afloat with beauty product, spa, and plastic surgery purchases.

So, Jungle Reds, how gracefully are you aging?  What’s your biggest complaint about aging?

HANK: Sorry. Still laughing. Luckily I'm really bad at math,so I can't properly calculate the bad news. And even if I knew the score, I would forget it soon.

How about you, Reds?  

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In All Sales Fatal, wounded-vet-turned mall cop Emma-Joy “EJ” Ferris finds a dead gangbanger in the Fernglen Galleria parking lot.  When her boss then disappears and his three ex-wives insist he’s met with foul play, she searches for a link between him and the dead teen.  With the help of her octogenarian Grandpa Atherton (a retired CIA agent), currently working as the mall’s Easter Bunny, she must track a killer with little to lose before the murderer puts her out of business for good.  Critics loved the first mall cop mystery, Die Buying, naming it to several Best of 2011 lists:  Suspense magazine (Top Four Cozies of 2011), the Seattle PI (Top 10), AnnArbor.com (Top 12). 

Please visit me at http://www.lauradisilverio.com or http://www.facebook.com/lauradisilverio