What We're Reading

LUCY BURDETTE: I feel like I am still reading slowly, and my TBR pile is not going down. But perhaps that is because I keep adding to it? Anyway, here are some of the books I’ve read since we last had this discussion. I just finished reading Ragnar Jonasson's new book, Reykjavík, written with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir. I am completely fascinated by this duo of authors, not the least, because Katrin has a masters degree in Icelandic literature, including a dissertation on the subject of the crime fiction of Arnaldur Indridason. I love his books, so how could I resist this one? Reykjavik has great pacing, plus a fascinating old case, and I love the setting of Iceland. It made me want to travel there immediately.

Before that, I read Ann Cleeves’ new book, The Raging Storm. This is the second third Detective Matthew Venn book, and he is growing on me. She is such a master at creating a crime story that reflects the cold and claustrophobic setting, this time a small town called Greystone in Devon. She also does an amazing job creating and filling out secondary characters. Now I am eagerly awaiting the next Vera book.

I also very much enjoyed Spencer Quinn’s (a.k.a., Peter Abrahams) new book, Mrs. Plansky‘s Revenge. Mrs. Plansky, a retired 70 something in Florida falls victim to a scam that cleans out her savings. She rises to the occasion in the most charming and wildly believable way. If you enjoy Richard Osman's books (or even Miss Gloria from the Key West mysteries), Mrs. Plansky is for you. Also on the cozier side of the spectrum, I finished Alicia Bessette’s Murder on Mustang Beach. The writing is lovely, the Outer Banks of North Carolina is a wonderful setting, and she writes appealing characters living in a small town.

Last night I started Barbara O'Neal's The Starfish Sisters. She's such an amazing writer--I can hardly wait to get back to it. How about you Reds, what are you reading?

HALLIE EPHRON: I just finished reading an advance copy of Lori Rader-Day’s THE DEATH OF US. It’s a heartwarming/heartbreaking mother/son story. Gorgeously written. Reminded me of the way Megan Abbott brings the complicated teenage daughter/father relationship to the page… only Lori does it with mother/teenage son. The cover blurb from Ann Cleeves nails it: “So sharp, and tight and clear. And real.” It’ll be out in October.

Now I’m into Geraldine Brooks: HORSE. Historical fiction about an enslaved groom and a record-setting horse, set during the Civil War. Incandescent prose. Great storytelling. I’ll truly never look at a painting of a racehorse in the same way again.

A horse of a different color, I’m listening to: BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT. By Anonymous! It’s the hilarious and deeply moving the story of a woman who creates a Twitter alterego for herself (Duchess Goldbaltt: an 81-year old purveyor of wisdom) based on a portrait in a Frans Hals painting. It’s funny and surreal and breathtaking. I’m listening to the audio book in which Lyle Lovett narrates his own part. Thanks to my friend Patty Jo for recommending it.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just finished Allen Eskens’ SAVING EMMA, a brilliant and thoughtful literary legal thriller–highly recommended. And whoa–Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True and Shari Lapena’s Everyone Here is Lying–such different books, amazing, but two absolutely breathtakingly wonderful authors.

Oh, have you read The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Pattii Callahan Henry? Drop everything, seriously, and get it.

On my pile, and cannot wait, Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAlllister, and Happiness Falls by Angie Kim! I have no doubt they will both be fabulous.

And back to TV? The oh so talented Alexis Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown mysteries are on Hallmark Mystery now! And they are SO perfect. YAY!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Representing science fiction here with two amazing and quite different novels that both have animals as main characters: John Scalzi’s STARTER VILLAIN and Paul McAuley’s BEYOND THE BURN LINE. The former is an homage/satire/updated twist of the Blofeld type of baddie, complete with volcano lair and fluffy cat; the latter… really, it’s best to go in not knowing much.

In our own genre, I absolutely loved Nina Simon’s MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT (and now I want to write a book where the Maine Millennial and I solve a mystery!) THE BONES OF THE STORY by Carol Goodman is a fantastic locked-room mystery set in her signature gothic-academic setting. I love Carol’s writing so much; her work perfectly balances literary and crime fiction.

Non-fiction read: THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST, by Jeff Goodell, a climate journalist who also write THE WATER WILL COME. If you like having the crap scared out of you, read these terrific books and start planning your escape route. I suggest Michigan.

JENN McKINLAY: Julia, I’ve heard amazing things about Simon’s MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT - adding it to my TBR!

I have been on a reading bender and it’s been glorious! As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m heading into a new genre (sort of) that’s a grown up Harry Potter meets Agatha Christie with some Edgar Allan Poe thrown in because why not? So my reading is joyfully all over the place.

Right now, I’m reading an epic fantasy THE KINGS OF THE WYLD by Nicholas Eames (middle-aged mercenaries on a rescue mission, it’s a blast). I’m also reading a romcom ARC by Nic DiDimizio called NEARLYWED (two gay men, who hit some relationship obstacles as they gear up for their wedding - poignant and hilarious). Nic’s writing is just so fun! And because it’s the season of all things scary (which I love), I just read T. Kingfisher’s A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES (which our Hank rightly endorsed) and up next is Kingfisher’s THE TWISTED ONES. Oh, and I just finished THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden. I figured out the twist early on, but it was still excellent.

RHYS BOWEN: Julia, I can absolutely recommend writing a book with your daughter. Clare and I have so much joy writing together! I haven’t read much recently as I’ve been traveling and working on edits,but I did read The Marsh King’s Daughter that I picked up at Bouchercon–brilliant but darker than I usually read. I also dipped back to several old favorites, including a couple of Mary Stewarts. I wish there were more like her being written today. A recent favorite is THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA by Patti Callahan Henry. I love her work!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I want Jenn's list! The fantasy and the gay wedding book sound fabulous. I feel like a slacker compared to some of you. I know I mentioned it before Bouchercon, but I absolutely adored Allison Montclair's latest, THE LADY FROM BURMA. Since B'con I've read Jacqueline Winspear's THE WHITE LADY–so good. Also James Benn's latest Billy Boyle, PROUD SORROWS. I'm behind in the series but really enjoyed this regardless. Now I've just started the latest Richard Osman, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE. And this week is a bonanza, with G.M. Malliet's new Max Tudor, THE WASHING AWAY OF WRONGS, the new Robert Galbraith Cormoran Strike novel, THE RUNNING GRAVE (at almost 1000 pages, that may take me a day or two…,) AND a book I have been looking forward to for ages, S.J. Bennett's 3rd Her Majesty the Queen Investigates novel, MURDER MOST ROYAL. If you've missed the first two books in this absolutely delightful series, I highly recommend them!

What are you reading Reds?

FOR ONE PERSON

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Okay, I’m not saying a word. Just read this.

Well, okay, I will. Just to say: Nina Simon’s terrific debut novel, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT, comes out September 5. And if you ask her, as people always ask authors: where did the idea come from? She has an answer you have never heard before.


FOR ONE PERSON
By Nina Simon

Imagine writing a book for one person. Not in a metaphorical, “picture your ideal reader” sense. But for real. You create a whole novel, a whole world, just for them.

Who would be worthy of all that work on your part?
Who might receive your story with love?

Who would you do this for?

 

For me, these questions are not rhetorical. I wrote my debut novel, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT, for just one person: my mother. I wrote it to entertain, comfort, and distract her, and myself, while she underwent stage 4 cancer treatment in 2020 and 2021.


When my mom got diagnosed, I changed my life to be with her. I quit my job and moved in part-time, driving her to chemotherapy, meeting with doctors, and trying to get her to eat. It worked and it didn’t. We were together, but we were scared. Disease hijacked our conversations, our emotions, even our dreams. We needed an escape, something fun, something that wasn’t cancer.

So I decided to write a murder mystery.

This made even less sense than you might imagine. I had never written fiction before, let alone a novel. I knew nothing about inventing characters and plots. But I knew my mom and I both loved murder mysteries. I knew I enjoyed writing. And I knew we needed a new shared obsession, one that didn't involve protein shakes. So we started to dream up the story that would become Mother-Daughter Murder Night.

The dream enveloped us. We drew flagrant inspiration from our own lives, modeling the main characters after ourselves while cranking up the conflict and body count. We’d spend hours in her hot tub (when she got cancer, we splurged and got a hot tub) inventing victims, suspects, and motives. We read how-to books about craft and twists. We even asked a particularly patient doctor for tips on getting away with murder.

Once the world of the story felt real, I started to write it. I tried to make every scene one that would make my mom smile. She’d sleep through the mornings while I sat on her bed, writing. When she woke, I'd hand her a cup of tea and a draft chapter to read. And then we’d talk. We kept going like that--me writing, her reading, stacks of marked-up drafts accumulating--for weeks.

My mom was both the best and worst first reader. She was unflaggingly enthusiastic, and she was always willing to read another draft. She was a terrific research buddy, but when it came to critical feedback, her scope was limited. She focused on typos, terrible outfits, and most of all, how the main character, Lana Rubicon, was portrayed. She’d say, “people are going to think I’m a b**** if this stays in!” I’d assure her that readers were going to love Lana, flaws and all.

The cancer didn’t go away, but it was put in its place. We had something new to fixate on, something that gave us pleasure and hope. We believed in the dream of the book. At night, I’d tell myself: she’s going to live to see it finished. And later: she’s going to live to see it published. When I’d call her with good news—that I’d signed with an agent, that we got a book deal—she’d say, “now this is something to live for!”

I can’t describe in words how good that felt.

But I can tell you that I’ve been holding my breath, hoping it would be true.

We’ve been very, very lucky. My mom is stronger now, and we are both excited to share Mother-Daughter Murder Night with readers all over the world. But I wrote it for her. I wrote it to keep us whole. And if I had to choose between the intimate process of writing it and the public gift of sharing it, I know what I’d choose: to sit with her in bed, marking up pages and scheming about murder. I’d choose that every time.

 

If you were going to write a book for just one person, who would it be?

 

HANK: Told you.  I cannot even answer this without crying, so you guys answer.

And do not miss this book!

MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her estranged adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. When Jack stumbles upon a dead body while kayaking near their bungalow and quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.

 

With Jack and Beth's help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they've always resisted: depend on each other.

Coming Sept. 5 from William Morrow.

 

 

Nina Simon has worn many hats: NASA engineer, slam poet, mystery game designer, exhibit developer, museum director, global nonprofit founder. Most of her career has been spent in museums and cultural centers, and she has been described as a “museum visionary” by Smithsonian Magazine for her community-based approach to design. She is an Ashoka fellow and the founder of OF/BY/FOR ALL, a global nonprofit that creates digital tools to help civic and cultural organizations become more inclusive, relevant, and sustainable. 

 

Alongside her work engaging communities, Nina is an in-demand writer and speaker about community participation in museums, libraries, parks, and theaters. She has sold over 40,000 copies of her self-published books The Participatory Museum (2010) and The Art of Relevance (2016), and for thirteen years, she ran the top blog in the museum industry, Museum 2.0. She has over 25,000 Twitter followers, and she has shared her work as a keynote speaker at over 300 conferences in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, including several state and national library conferences. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the New York Times, and on the TEDx stage.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina now lives in an off- grid community in the Santa Cruz mountains with her husband and daughter. She loves outdoor sports and adventures.