Breaking news; The Reckoning Stones, Truth Be Told!

BREAKING NEWS!  TRUTH BE TOLD  (Agatha WINNER and a Library Journal Best of 2014) is out in paperback TODAY!  Library Journal said “Drop everything and binge read to the mind-boggling conclusion!”

So, binge now, okay? And listen to this: If you send me proof of purchase--I’ll send you a paperback of THE OTHER WOMAN.  (Just click here and click on contact.)

MORE BREAKING NEWS: The amazing Laura DiSilverio’s new book THE RECKONING STONES is out next week, and the Library Journal starred review says—well, it says a lot of wonderful stuff.  But the headline word is: OUTSTANDING!

But you know Laura. Her headline word is: fun. And: family. I know her well, though, and can reveal her imagination is, well, remarkable. And today, in these waning days of summer, if you and our family are thinking about adventures? Laura has some hilarious ideas about where NOT to go.

Not Your Father's Amusement Park

 by Laura DiSilverio

This summer, the fam and I headed to Universal Studios in Florida to visit Harry Potter World. It has long been my older daughter's dream, and so, to celebrate her 18th birthday, we packed our sunblock, hats, shorts, and bug spray to take on Florida in late June. I will say up front that I am not a theme park person. They cost too much (waaay too much), they're crowded, hot and loud. Despite that, the Harry Potter attractions captivated me with their attention to detail, whimsy, and thrills. 

My daughter teared up on several occasions, standing in Diagon Alley and outside Hogwarts, and said, "This is where I grew up." It brings me to tears as I type this.

However, this is not going to be a melancholy post. 

Seeing how beautifully--and realistically-- J.K. Rowling's books were brought to life made me speculate about theme parks based on other book series, and I came up with a Top Ten list of the book series that would make the worst amusement parks.

         

   10. Little House on the Prairie. Riding in a covered wagon pulled by animatronic oxen is no one's idea of a thrill, and those with a yen for constructing log cabins can report to their nearest Habitat for Humanity build site.

      9. Michael Shaara's Civil War 1861-1865 series (Gods & Generals, et al). War sucks. The Civil War sucked more than most. Fighting against kin. Gangrene and amputations. Slash and burn warfare. Not much here to appeal to most amusement park enthusiasts. Do a tour of Civil War battlefields instead.

       

        8. The Mitford Series. Resisting temptation, a church service or two, some pastoral counseling, and a bucolic setting. Let's just say the Disney corporation isn't battling for the rights to this series with an eye toward putting The Mitford Moral Dilemma Roller Coaster next to Space Mountain. 

        7. Not really a series, but Anything by Dickens. Grinding poverty, noxious smells, rats the size of capybaras, class warfare. If that's what you're after, take a walking tour of Mumbai. (Airfare to India would be only marginally more expensive than entry to a standard amusement park.)

         6. Stephanie Plum. Once you get past the exploding cars and the Ranger/Morelli whiplash ride, there's not much there.

         5. Kay Scarpetta. With a body farm as the main attraction, homeowners downwind will organize and get this one shut down before it opens to the public.

         4. Most cozy series. I envision this park as a cross between a cat sanctuary and an upscale tea house. Each ticket has a recipe printed on it, and the "Main Street" equivalent is lined with muffin, cupcake, cheese, spice, pie, cookie, fudge and donut shops. There would also be libraries, bookstores, and specialty boutiques. Absolutely no thrill rides. Come to think of it, it might be my kind of theme park.

         3. Madeline. Lines are a staple at amusement parks, but requiring visitors to walk in two straight lines all the time is really over the top. Uniforms, school, and nuns are not what most kids want from their amusement park vacation.

    

     2. The Hunger Games. There'd be plenty of thrills, of course, but being handed a body bag on entry might quench people's enthusiasm, and there wouldn't be much repeat business since only one customer a day would get to leave the park.

         1. Fifty Shades of Grey. All together now: Ewwww.

So, that's my take on the series that wouldn't make successful theme parks. Add your ideas in the comments, or suggest some series that would make amazing amusement parks. You never know--the folks at Disney or Universal Studios might be listening!

(The astute among you will have noticed this post has nothing to do with the book I'm here to promote, The Reckoning Stones, my first standalone suspense novel that Romantic Times award four stars! (And a starred review from Library Journal!) I hope you'll check it out, though, and pre-order a copy. It'll be in your mailbox or e-reader queue on Sep 8th.

The Reckoning Stones is darker and edgier than my cozy books, but not graphic, with a heroine who was molested by her pastor as a young teen. She ran away the same night someone beat the pastor into a coma, and grew up to be the emotionally troubled but brilliant jewelry designer Iris Dashwood. When the pastor awakens 22 years later, she returns to Colorado to confront him and find the truth of what happened the night she left. She might be able to disperse old demons, rekindle family relationships and find redemption . . . if she survives.)

HANK: YAY! And we’ll award a paperback of Laura’s other books to one lucky commenter!

(And don’t forget the TRUTH BE TOLD offer above!)

Exit laughing! Three Agathas and a Boffo Game Panel with Charlaine Harris!

Jungle Reds Malice Domestic 2015 game panel...
with LOTS of help from our friends!
Photo by Robin Templeton

HALLIE EPHRON: What a time we had a Malice Domestic 2015! 

Lucy and I met in the airport and took the Metro to the hotel. Here's us decked out in our Jungle Red pashminas, our READ RED buttons, and armed for bear...

We had dinner with Rhys and Hank, and we were laughing like crazy about how fun it would be, and secretly worried that the audience would be smarter than we were… And then we realized, that's exactly what we hoped! Where else could you play a game where knowledge of the Mystery  world makes you a star!
 

The next morning we pow-wowed with Charlaine Harris whom we'd inveigled to be our moderator. You want me to what? she said when she realized what she'd signed up for. She was completely amazing. And having Dru Ann Love and Nikki Bonanni to help calm us. (HANK adds: We needed pals who could keep score under pressure. And a moderator who could wrangle us. Good choices, huh?)


HALLIE: And then, like a great party where you're the host, whoosh it was happening. Everyone was screaming with laughter as we brought up audience members to join us in humiliating ourselves. Bluffed answers. While Charlaine got off some of the best one-liners.

HANK: You remember the game, right? We chose two members from the audience (they had to be wearing Jungle Red buttons)
 to join Hallie and Rhys versus Lucy and me--and name, in twenty seconds as may examples of a mystery category given by Charlaine! It was awesome. Here's a photo taken by the fab Kristopher Zygorski--who joined me and Lucy for one of our (many :-) ) winning rounds! 

HANK:  So we're hoping that many of you were there--say hi in the comments, and let us know, okay? It was absolutely standing room only! Wow. SO happy to see you here! 

Ω

HALLIE: Pause to catch our collective breaths, get gussied up for the banquet. Hank and I had to honor of sitting at the head table with Sara Paretsky who is just exactly as nice and opinionated as you imagine her to be. Here's us and a very glamorous Dana Cameron.

And then, TA DAH! They started to announce the Agatha Awards. Hank! For

best nonfiction (editor of SinC's WRITES OF PASSAGE.) Rhys! For best historical for QUEEN OF HEARTS. And Hank (again!) for best contemporary novel TRUTH BE TOLD.  We were all over the moon.

HANK: Whoo hoo. May I just say. Rhys and I were beaming all the rest of the weekend. And we are so grateful!

HALLIE: Below, here's Hank with some of the wonderful writers (including me!) whose essays are in WRITES OF PASSAGE.

Handing it over to Rhys...

RHYS BOWEN: My memories... Apprehension about looking a complete fool during the game. Brain going blank.but I think it was a big hit and we all knew enough and bluffed in a funny way.... I mean B. F. Goodrich wrote books?

HANK: Hey, it was a perfectly good idea. I mean--the category was "authors who use their initials." And after we'd used PD, and JK, and GH and SS and JJ--I was--under pressure. And then I realized--Charlaine never said MYSTERY authors! Right? And  BF might have written a tire manual.   And I still insist that Beowulf is a  fine  good answer for a mystery  that takes place before 1915.   I mean--am I wrong?

HALLIE: My favorite was Rhys' bluff for a Scandinavian author... and Lucy and Hank got off some great bluffs, too.

RHYS: Charlaine was the perfect MC.
 
Malice for me is meeting and reconnecting with so many lovely people. It's like high school reunion only better. And winning the Agatha with my editor and agent there was the icing on the cake.  Speaking of which the dessert was to die for.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Even though I spent the whole next day today thinking of authors who use initials. (And my wonderful agent was there, too. It was such a joy to win with her! We stayed up way too late celebrating.)

LUCY BURDETTE:  I sometimes feel a little lost at conferences, but not this time. Spending two days with friendly writers and readers and planning that zany game show with the other Reds--I had a blast. Though I'm going to be honing my bluffing skills for the next 12 months...

Thank you planners of Malice Domestic--we know how hard you work to put this conference on. And it was terrific!

HALLIE: And boy did we get to see old friends from Jungle Red. Here's Keenan Powell who won a Malice grant! Karen from Ohio was there with proverbial bells on. Edith Maxwell who was nominated for an Agatha for best short story served time on Hank and Lucy's team and distinguished herself. Kristopher (waving) from BOLO Books. Molly Weston (with her signature flowered purses). Brenda Buchanan with her new book QUICK PIVOT! Robin Templeton (writer/photographer!)

And loads more.

As a final question on shoes at Malice, and YES there will be a prize given...How well do you know your reds? Rhys, Lucy, Hank, Hallie - whose shoes is whose? 

WHAT WE'RE WRITING--Hank Phillippi Ryan and WHAT YOU SEE

HANK PHILLIPPI  RYAN:  It’s what we're writing week, and I am being grateful for deadlines, because otherwise how would we ever be finished? When I look back at my work (sometimes), or read it out loud at events (rarely!) there is always some little thing I would change. Sigh. I guess that’s good, always striving to be more evocative, more emotional, more exciting. Shorter.

          I’m five thousand words into a new book—more on that soon. And every word feels like a triumph. Not that the words are so great—simply that they exist, where there was once only a blank page! And I keep telling myself that if I keep going, inevitably and inexorably, the new story will emerge. So far, I’ve got a car accident, a murder victim, and a new job for Jane. And that’s only the first three chapters. I can make it better later.

          You know, every time I start a book, I have a moment of thinking: this cannot be done!  And then, months and months later, there it is. Now we are coming up to the pub date for  the fourth Jane Ryland/Jake Brogan thriller, WHAT YOU SEE. I am so excited to say it’s October 20, and why sure, you can pre-order.

WHAT YOU SEE begins with a murder in broad daylight, a stabbing at Curley Park just outside Boston City Hall.  (Inside info: This incident is very loosely based on a case my defense attorney husband had! He represented the accused killer. More on that another day…) Anyway, in the book at least: Soon after the crime, a newbie police cadet takes our hero, Detective Jake Brogan, aside, and tells him a bystander might have a lead on the bad guy.

                                                                     

  Chapter  3

     “Down that way—in the alley!” The cadet grabbed Jake’s arm, and Jake followed the kid’s pointing finger toward the narrow curved passage between the bank and the liquor store. “Some guy, hiding in a Dumpster. Down there. Or someone put something in the Dumpster. Something like that.” The cadet gulped for air, trying to get the words out. “A girl—I mean, a woman—told me. Anyway, what if it’s the—”

“Who told you? Where’d she come from?” Jake needed specifics. “Where is she now? This girl-woman? What’d she say?”

“Ah, I don’t know, she just said—what I said. The Dumpster. We were all taking names and addresses, see, they’re still doing that, like you wanted, and she came up to me and—” 

The cadet’s black plastic name tag said brad lonnergan. Lonnergan pointed again, jabbing the air. “Down there. What if it’s the guy who—”

“You kidding me? Do you see her? Find her.” This Lonnergan kid was not clear on the law enforcement concept. “Hold her. Do not let her leave. Understand? D!”

Jake signaled DeLuca with one finger. Me. You. That way. Let’s go.

They couldn’t afford to spook the crowd. All he needed, a mob following them into Franklin Alley, hooting like medieval peasants while they dragged some poor jerk from a Dumpster. Jake, checking to make sure D was behind him, snaked behind the spectators, dodging and weaving. Only one or two seemed to notice they were on the move. He and D didn’t look like cops, after all. Just two guys wearing jeans and leather jackets. Walking fast.

Jake glanced over his shoulder again. Most eyes focused on Kat McMahon, the ME now kneeling over the victim. For once, better to keep it that way. Cadets—the ones with brains—were taking names and addresses. Asking if anyone saw anything. Asking spectators with cameras and cell phones to stand by. The whole thing was already verging on out of control. And now this.

But maybe this would solve the whole damn case and they all could go home.

Ahead of them, the alley. Cracked pavement, cobblestones scattered with gravel. Framed on the right by the bank’s brand-new red brick, on the left by the pockmarked brownstone of Jodi’s Liquors and the University Inn. With its twists and turns, only the first ten feet or so of Franklin were visible from the street. Jake knew it was a dead end. If someone was in there, like Lonnergan’s “girl-woman” said, there’d be no way out except toward him and DeLuca. A bad guy who planned where he was going, or was at least familiar with this part of the city, would never have chosen this as an escape route. Unless he was panicking. Or hurt. Or trying to hide, waiting it out.

Or luring them in? Trapping them?

At the curb, Jake stopped, put up a hand, assessing. DeLuca skidded to a halt, almost slamming into Jake’s back. Broad daylight, not like anyone could surprise them. The quiet hubbub of Curley Park softened into background.

One second, two.

Jake felt for his Glock, drew it, felt the sun on his face. A seagull squawked, swooping, headed for the harbor. Lured into a dead-end alley? Windows above. Rooftops. Where was the woman who’d sent them down here? Who was she? Whose side was she on? What if—well, there were too many what-ifs to consider right now.

“You ready?” he said.

“Ready,” DeLuca said.

“On my three.” Jake began, “One.”

“Help!” A voice, from down the alley. “Help me!”

“Three,” Jake said.

HANK: Okay, I like it. It still makes me smile.  That‘s a good thing. 

 And let’s give away an advance reading copy, whaddaya say?  I need a name for a female drama teacher at a small college in Boston. I was thinking her first name is Sasha. What’s her last name? (No beginning with J, or M, or D, or R. In fact, can it begin with V? )

Is she a good guy or a bad guy? Too early to tell.  But I’ll choose an ARC winner at random for the suggestions…and I’m hoping I can also use a name!

(And who is going to Malice this weekend? Crossing fingers for my Agatha-nominated TRUTH BE TOLD  and WRITES OF PASSAGE!)