Grace Koshida is the winner of Tracee de Hahn's Swiss Vendetta! Grace, please contact Tracee at tldehahn at Yahoo.
In addition, we're offering one lucky commentor a FREE copy of Tell Me No Lies by today's guest, Lynn Chandler Willis!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Lynn Chandler Willis knows a bit about awards. Her novel, Shamus-Award finalist, Wink of an Eye, won the St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First P.I. Novel,
making her the first woman in a decade to win the national contest.And we all know winning a St. Martin's Press contest is a guarantee of (ahem) excellence.Lynn decided to move her setting from Wink, Texas to her home state of North Carolina - and use her own history as a small-town newspaper owner - for the debut of her new series, TELL ME NO LIES.
Ava Logan, single mother and small business owner, lives deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where poverty and pride reign. As publisher of the town newspaper, she’s busy balancing election season stories and a rash of ginseng thieves. And then the story gets personal. After her friend is murdered, Ava digs for the truth all the while juggling her two teenage children, her friend’s orphaned toddler, and her own muddied past. Faced with threats against those closest to her, Ava must find the killer before she, or someone she loves, ends up dead.I could quote you the good reviews TELL ME NO LIES got from Kirkus, Publishers' Weekly, and Margaret Maron, but my favorite is a Goodreads reviewer: "Clever mystery with several viable suspects. Romance, children and a dog add to its charm."
Forget hype and plaudits - that gets right down to what REALLY makes a book we want to read!
The Golden Globes were handed out a few
weeks ago. I didn't watch—I happily cut the cable when the monthly
bill became my single largest utility bill and my little antenna
doesn't pick up our local NBC affiliate. Although I didn't watch, I
read all about the awards on line and the overwhelming thought from
many was “I haven't seen any of these movies!” And there lies my
problem.
What constitutes Best Movie in our
minds doesn't always jive with the voting board's opinion. Why?
Because we're commoners. If we were to appear in an episode of
Downton Abbey, we'd be the downstairs help while 'the board' rambles
around upstairs oblivious to the common folks likes and dislikes.
By the time this post runs, the Academy
Awards nominations will have been announced and chances are, you may
not have seen any of those movies either. That's not to say the
movies aren't good or even award worthy. They're just not the popular
choice for weekend date night with the commoner.
Look at some of the titles of box
office record breakers: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World,
Marvel's The Avengers...do you see any Best Movie nominees in there?
Yeah, me neither.
So my problem with the elite of the
elite award shows is I feel like I'm being talked down to because I
enjoyed Marvel's The Avengers. It's snobbery. Pure and simple. I will
proudly stand up for all those high-grossing, special effects laden,
escapism movies. It's like...shhh....we must whisper this
part...writing or reading genre fiction.
Sure, our traditional and cozy
mysteries, our thrillers and romantic suspense, our private eyes and
amateur sleuths may never bring home a Pulitzer but they can sure
collect an Anthony, an Edgar, an Agatha or a Shamus. And those
awards, as a commoner, are awards I can relate to.
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| My grandson Casey isn't so sure about his twin sister Ireland's singing abilities |
Several years ago I got caught up in
the hype of a certain movie. It was the “must see” movie of the
decade. It was a remake of a remake of a remake, based on a
breath-taking classic novel considered to be one of the best of all
time, a movie based on the record-shattering box office musical play.
My daughter and I went and sat in the packed theater watching Hugh
Jackman suffer, and sing. My daughter leans over and whispers to me,
“Wolverine's singing.”
And that started the giggles. And we
couldn't stop. While the entire theater (minus the two of us) wept
and jumped to their feet in a standing ovation shouting BRAVO! BRAVO!
my daughter and I giggled. The more we tried to suppress it, the
worse it became until we couldn't catch our breath while our
shoulders shook with silent laughter.
It wasn't the movie, or Hugh Jackman—or
Russell Crowe!—singing. It was the pretentiousness of it all
that got to us. Give me an Agatha or an Edgar or an Anthony or a
Shamus award any day.
Have you ever seen a “must see”
movie, or read a “must-read” book you just didn't get?
Discover more about Lynn Chandler Willis and TELL ME NO LIES at her site. Discuss books on Goodreads, friend her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter as @LynnCWillis
