Let's Twist Again

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So, first. Have you voted? Are you voting? The Reds are relying on it, so do that. And tonight, we'll all be watching the returns, hoping for--good and reassuring news. Knowing  knowing that some where some time there'll be a surprise. In a novel, we'd call it--a twist! 

And that makes what Jon Land is thinking about today perfect. We can talk twists!  His new Jessica Fletcher  book MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER is out today. Yay. It's his  second book since taking over the MURDER, SHE WROTE series, and it features a twist ending. (Jon says I can tell you that.)  Many of his other books do, too.

Are you a fan of the twist? (Stop singing, I can hear you.) Jon thinks his twist-affection was born in his earliest days...and the love of the twist has only gotten stronger.  He's even offering his top twisty movies..see what you think!

A TWIST IN THE TALE

   by Jon Land

Call it the influence of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents on me when I was growing up. But I’ve long found nothing more satisfying than a jaw dropping reveal that sticks with you long after you first found your heart in your mouth. So in honor of that, and my own stab at such in MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER, here’s a list of some of the greatest twist endings ever.

((HANK: oh, ed note: spoilers lurk ahead. But you HAVE seen or read all of these, right? If not, start watching (or reading) right after you vote. Okay, Jon, take it away.))  

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: The moment when Chazz Palminteri’s customs agent Dave Kujan drops his coffee cup after studying the back-office wall Kevin Spacey’s Verbal Kint has been facing for much of the movie remains the benchmark against which all other shocking twists will be compared. Outside, as Verbal completes his incredible metamorphosis into Keyser Soze, we realize we’ve been conned; that the metaphorical devil isn’t just real, he’s loose. It was right there in front of us the whole time but, like all great twists, we never saw it coming.

THE SIXTH SENSE:  Everyone seems to have a different moment when they realized Bruce Willis was one of the dead people Haley Joel Osment’s tortured young boy could see, but whenever that might’ve been it’s sure to have sent a chill sliding up your spine. The later the better, of course, because figuring it out too early is like getting the punch line before the joke is finished. M. Night Shyamalan’s brilliant misdirection makes us think we saw things that weren’t there, concealing the twist, for most anyway, until much closer to the end than the beginning.

THE STING: The film’s director George Roy Hill famously said that you can’t make a movie about con men without conning the audience. Well, all great twist endings are cons but this one was wondrously elaborate and a straight kick in the pants to those in the audience convinced they had everything figured out. Making us think the heroes are dead only to reveal they’re not makes for the perfect finish to a perfect film, much imitated but never equaled.

ARLINGTON ROAD: The sleeper in the group. Since relatively few know the movie, so no spoilers here. I’ll just say that the film’s slow, relentlessly suspenseful build makes us think we’re watching one thing when we’re actually watching something else entirely. I saw the film in a crowded theater and the moment in the end when a character says to Jeff Bridges’ tortured terrorism professor, “Michael, the only one who doesn’t belong here is you,” you could feel the audience lose its collective breath. A stunner that sticks with you long after you leave the theater.

THE CHASER: The classic short story by John Collier remains a subtle study in inevitability, all show and no tell since it’s comprised almost entirely of dialogue. A young man who enters a potion shop gets considerably more than he bargains for—at least he will eventually—after purchasing for mere pennies an elixir that will make the woman of his dreams love him. The twist lies in the fact that the price is so low because those who purchase it always come back for the chaser of the title: a much more expensive, and deadly, potion held in a different case. The young man never realizes that, of course, even when the professorial figure behind the counter bids him farewell with “Au revoir.” Until we meet again.

THE GLASS EYE: This installment so typical of Alfred Hitchcock Presents features a penny-pinching, lonely woman who finds herself obsessed with a ravishing ventriloquist for the joy he brings into her life. Wanting to prolong the feeling, she begs to meet her crush, leading to a shattering denouement no one could possibly have seen coming. Ever the master of misdirection in his films, Hitchcock similarly relished leaving us utterly shocked in the short form penned by the likes of Academy Award winner Sterling Silliphant.

TO SERVE MAN: The brilliant Rod Serling’s ending is right there in the title of this titular Twilight Zone episode, thanks to the double meaning that nobody sees or gets, not until the moment when the episode’s hero is boarding a space ship bound for a distant planet along with the rest of the world’s top leaders. The title actually refers to a book one of the aliens leaves behind to tempt and taunt the world. And its translation should have been obvious, but wasn’t.

DEMON WITH THE GLASS HAND: The classic Harlan Ellison penned Outer Limits episode features a lone human at war with aliens amid a sprawling warehouse complex while trying to find the missing fingers to complete his glass hand. Each finger brings that computerized appendage closer to explaining who he is and what he’s doing there. But the reveal imparted when the final finger is in place is one we never could have seen coming and is all the more perfect as a result.

THE SWIMMER: The brilliant short story by John Cheever, made into a surreal film by Frank Perry, features a super successful businessman on a shattering odyssey through affluent suburbia, uncovering the truth about his past, and present, through dips in his neighbors’ backyard pools as he makes his way home. It’s a slow burn that ignites in a final flashpoint when the character of Ned Merrill (played brilliantly in the film by Burt Lancaster) finally gets back to his house on the hill.

MEMENTO: Few films have ever come together better in the final moment than Christopher Nolan’s ground-breaking shocker about a man whose short-term memory only extends five or so minutes. He tattoos cue cards all over his body to keep track of his life, which doesn’t stop everyone he meets from conning him. Then, in the final fadeout, he cons himself to the pitch perfect voiceover (for a film that unveils in reverse fashion), “Where was I?”

Those are my choices. What about yours? Leave your suggestion(s) in the comments and I’ll respond with my thoughts!

HANK: Oh! This is SUCH fun. I will never forget that Twilight Zone. And the one with the guy with the glasses. And monsters on maple street. Ah.  And a good twist does not only have to come at the end, right? Clare Mackintosh's wonderful I Let You Go has one, and my Trust Me. More I cannot say. 

 But what do you think, reds and readers? Favorite twist endings, or middles? And do you want to know when a movie or book has a twist? 

Jessica Fletcher investigates a mysterious manuscript with deadly consequences in the latest entry in this USA Todaybestselling series...

Jessica Fletcher has had plenty to worry about over her storied career, both as a bestselling novelist and amateur sleuth. But she never had any reason to worry about her longtime publisher, Lane Barfield, who also happens to be a trusted friend. When mounting evidence of financial malfeasance leads to an FBI investigation of Lane, Jessica can't believe what she's reading.

So when Barfield turns up dead, Jessica takes on the task of proving Barfield's innocence--she can't fathom someone she's known and trusted for so long cheating her. Sure enough, Jessica's lone wolf investigation turns up several oddities and inconsistencies in Barfield's murder. Jessica knows something is being covered up, but what exactly? The trail she takes to answer that question reveals something far more nefarious afoot, involving shadowy characters from the heights of power in Washington. At the heart of Jessica's investigation lies a manuscript Barfield had intended to bring out after all other publishers had turned it down. The problem is that manuscript has disappeared, all traces of its submission and very existence having been wiped off the books.

With her own life now in jeopardy, Jessica refuses to back off and sets her sights on learning the contents of that manuscript and what about it may have led to several murders. Every step she takes brings her closer to the truth of what lies in the pages, as well as the person who penned them.

Jon Land

Jon Land is the award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of 45 books, including nine titles in the critically acclaimed Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series, the most recent of which, STRONG TO THE BONE, won both the 2017 American Book Fest and 2018 International Book Award for Best Mystery. The next title in the series, STRONG AS STEEL, will be published in April. MANUSCRIPT FOR marks his second effort writing as Jessica Fletcher for the MURDER, SHE WROTE series, and he has also teamed with Heather Graham for a new sci-fi series starting with THE RISING. He is a 1979 graduate of Brown University, lives in Providence, Rhode Island and can be reached at jonlandbooks.com  or on Twitter @jondland.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451489306?pf_rd_p=8e0819a9-0ef1-44cd-9544-a7f28374af8b&pf_rd_r=SCFQSGYJNAAKT254Z2NZ

Twitter: @jondland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonLandAuthor /

Snow What?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  It's snowing in Boston. Yeah, I know, it's December, whaddaya expect? But (because we're home) it's so pretty, and no scary, and not blustery. Just a gentle sweet little dusting of decoration from Mother Nature.

Here's the cast iron colt we have in our side yard. He's life size, and my constant joy.

Hank's side yard

Is it snowing where you are? Or what's it like outside your window right now? 


LUCY BURDETTE:  Oh I'm envious of that first snow, does that sound silly? But I hated worrying about driving in winter--don't miss that at all.

The front is passing through Key West now--rain, wind, and a 20 degree drop in temperature. All the tourists on Duval St. were wearing their plastic garbage bag cover-ups!

outside Hallie's study

HALLIE EPHRON: Here's the view out my window - powdered-sugar snow. And it's coming down in big fat flakes like in a snow globe. 

First snow. Love it. Hasn't gotten old...yet. As long as I don't have to drive, and I'm not going ANYWHERE until it stops. I heard this storm brought snow to Texas(!)

JENN MCKINLAY: No snow in central AZ. I've only seen it snow twice here in the twenty plus years I've been here and then it never sticks. Snow is always magical to me! But since I can't have snow I settle for amazing sunsets and holiday lights - which I put up today! 

The view from Jenn's front porch!

HANK:  Wow. Amazing, Jenn. And look at this!  
By 8:30, the snow had not stopped! This is our back yard.

And the bird bath is about two inches deep..so that means...how many inches?

Hank's back yard--bird bath at 8:30

SO pretty, right?

Reds, what's the weather where you are?

((And the winner of Jessica Strawsers's ALMOST MISSED YOU is Mary C!  (Lucky you!) Email me at  h ryan at whdh dot com to  claim your prize!

Hurray for the Liv Constantine winners! Your books are on the way asap.)

What We're Writing: Rhys on House Hunting

RHYS BOWEN: I'm about halfway through a new Royal Spyness novel and finding it hard going.
Why? I know the story. I pretty much know what's going to happen. The trouble is that so much has to happen. This is the complication that ensues when the sleuth has a personal history and agenda as well as doing her job and solving mysteries.

This book will be called FOUR FUNERALS AND MAYBE A WEDDING.
The premise, of course, is that Georgie will finally be getting married. Her path to the future looks like smooth sailing, but then one thing after another starts going wrong. As you can tell from the title people start dying. Georgie finds herself in a difficult situation. Her dream house suddenly isn't.

And the biggest question of all: will she even get married?

Now I know this is a mystery novel. There is supposed to be a crime/a body. The sleuth is supposed to solve it and all is well.

But there is so much of Georgie's personal story in this book that we don't get to any sort of crime until at least a hundred pages. Then we aren't sure it was a crime. We are never sure there is any sort of crime until almost the end of the book. So I'm worried. Will my readers want that body earlier on? They will be concerned about what might be going on around Georgie. They will have suspicions that all is not right. But there will not be a body.

Is this all right, do you think?

Anyway, here is my sample from the book. It's something we've all experienced: those first house hunting attempts that don't turn out as we dreamed. Georgie and Darcy have been to see a couple of absolutely awful flats in London and then comes this third one:

We took the Tube to Swiss Cottage and walked up a pleasant, tree-lined street. My spirits began to perk up, especially when we stopped outside a big white block of flats. This was more like it. We met a very superior type of young man at his office off the foyer and he escorted us up in the lift.

            “It’s a trifle bijou, but   I’m sure we will meet your needs,” he said. “Our flat-dwellers are all most satisfied. We even had a titled lady here once. Lady Lockstone,  is the name familiar to you? It was in all the society pages.”

            Darcy glanced at me and winked. “What happened to Lady Lockstone?” he asked.

            “Unfortunately she passed away. She was ninety-three after all.”

            We disembarked on the tenth floor. “I’m afraid the lift does not go up to the eleventh,” he said and led us up a narrow stair. “As I mentioned these apartments are a trifle bijou but for a young couple like yourselves who probably won’t have too much furniture…” And he turned the key. It was essentially a room. Quite a decent sized room but  it was an attic. The ceiling sloped down on one side so that we would have to be careful not to bang our heads when we got up from sofa. Over in one corner there was a curtain around a sink and tiny stove. “The kitchen,” superior young man said, pulling back the curtain like a magician revealing a rabbit. “So well designed and compact.”

             There was a dining table, a sofa and a bathroom so tiny that we could just squeeze between the sink and the bath to reach the loo. And… “Where is the bedroom?” I asked.

            “Ah.” He waved his hand like a magic wand and tugged at a piece of paneled wall. This lowered into a bed. “Such a space saving device,” he added. “Everything you need right at your fingertips.”

            “You’ll be able to reach out of bed and put on the tea and toast,” Darcy said with a straight face.

Who hasn't gone through something like this? I remember my first flat after college. Sharing with two friends on a street that seemed quite respectable, but there was one loo for three floors and we later discovered that thee prostitutes lived in the basement! Do share your horror stories.

Cara Black: Murder in Saint-Germain

Cara Black is the author of 17 novels in her series of detective novels featuring Aimée Leduc, the fashionably attired, unfailingly intrepid Parisian private investigator. 

Jenn: I was lucky enough to meet Cara at ALA last year in Orlando and I am happy to report that she is as fabulous in person as she is in print. Being a lover of all things Paris, I am just thrilled that her latest Aimée Leduc novel is available this week!

In the latest book  Murder in Saint Germain, Aimée finds herself involved on the Left Bank.  Black's stories treat those who love Paris to vividly rendered scenes in favorite Parisian locations. This time some of them include the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the Jardin de Luxembourg, back offices of the Sénat, the church of St Germain des Pres, and the Closerie des Lilas, famous as one of Hemingway's favorite cafés. Complicating matters for Aimée is the fact that she is now the single mother of an 8-month old baby. 

What's the most interesting or surprising thing you learned about the 6th arrondissement--or maybe about Paris--in writing Murder in Saint Germain?

-Good question, Jenn, and hi Reds, thanks for having me back! 

I was lucky enough to be invited, after a lot of begging, to tour the Saint Germain area with Patrick, a commander in the Brigade Criminelle (elite Paris homicide squad). The Saint-Germain quarter was Patrick’s first ‘beat’ as a new flic after graduating from the police academy. It was fascinating to walk with Patrick on his old haunts in the quarter. He told me about his first cases, the investigations and we actually visited where they happened. It opened my eyes. ‘Here’ he said, ‘we found an old woman who’d been murdered and solved it by uncovering a robbery that had gone wrong’. He pointed to the rooftops and explained how a lot of burglaries happened via the skylights. He talked about policing at that time, in the 90’s, and how, as an effective flic, you needed to know your community and nourish your contacts. He used to see Marcel Carné, the famous film director of les Enfants du Paradis, who lived next door to the Commissariat. Monsieur Carné would always say bonjour to him!     

You've been in some very interesting situations in the course of researching your stories, and I must say I think you are almost as intrepid in pursuing your stories as Aimée is in pursuing villains. What's the funniest, or most unusual, situation you found yourself in the course of researching this book? 

-Stooping and crab walking in the old tunnels under the 

Jardin du Luxembourg! Seriously these tunnels traverse juste à cote to Boulevard Saint Michel and are deep underground. The underground tunnels are full of history and stories from rumored royal escapes to WW2 exploits. They also house air raid shelters used by the German Luftwaffe who were stationed in the Lycée Montaigne during the Occupation. There are still signs in German and rusted memorabilia. Oddly, the temperature is moderate and maybe it’s because the walls are limestone. It’s another world down there, quiet and full of the past.

Plot is of course of utmost importance in a crime novel. Do you plot your stories through to the end before you start writing, or does the plot develop organically along the way, as you are writing the story?

 -More organically. I knew Aimée was a single mom with an eight month old, she had unresolved guilt issues about her god father Morbier and she’d be doing computer security at Ecole des Beaux Arts. In crime fiction, policier, it’s about putting your protagonist out on a limb, chopping it down and they have to climb higher and higher and the branches get thinner and thinner. Putting your protagonist in conflict reveals their character. I’ve lived with Aimée for a long time and try to deepen her character and the problems she faces which I hope reflect what a contemporary Parisian faces. I met a female police officer, also part of an elite squad for lunch, I was dying to hear about her job, what it was like to work in a male dominated place. But she kept bringing the conversation back to her secondment to the Hague working on the Balkans with an international team for the International Court for crimes in the Former Yugoslavia. Her tales were harrowing and she suffered what we’d call PTSD. Only then did I realize that was part of the story I wanted to tell. Had to tell.

One of the things about your writing is a kind of cinematic quality to your descriptions of Paris as Aimée moves around it. You render not only the complicated action at the center of your plot, but also the background details. How do you do this? Do you take notes of actual scenes you observe while you're in Paris, or are you able to create these little vignettes out of your memory, or your imagination?

-In Paris, I take photos, record street sounds and in the cafes. I take a lot of notes and eavesdrop conversations on the # 96 Paris bus which goes from Belleville through the city to Montparnasse. It’s my favorite bus line because you traverse the city, right to left bank, and the passengers reflect it. Being a mapaholic and walking the streets at different times of the day inform a scene - it’s always important to visit a place at different times of the day to see how the light falls, the sounds, the morning bustle at the cafe, people returning from work stopping for an aperitif and paint the quarter as it lives and breathes.

Thanks so much for visiting us, Cara! Congrats on the release of Murder in Saint-Germain. So, Reds, are you like Cara and let your plot develop organically or do you plot your story all the way through to the end? 

Cover Story--and question for you!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I need your advice. But first, even though they tell you never to do this, a bit of back story. (The flowers, the last from our garden last fall, are just for decoration.)

I was at my desk in the newsroom a few years ago, and, by mistake, clicked open an email spam. I stared at it, baffled. What it said didn’t make sense. Then--that very instant--I had the idea for my first novel.

That night, I went home and said to my husband: "I've got it. I've know the plot of the mystery I've wanted to write ever since I was a kid.”

Jonathan thought a moment. Smiled. Then he said, “That’s terrific. But, ah, sweetheart? Do you know how to write a novel?”

Newbie me laughed, and said,  “How hard can it be?”

And I typed: Chapter 1.

I soon learned how hard it could be. Ha! But through a process of doubt and delight, the story emerged. PRIME TIME (about secret messages in email spam!) became the first in my series of suspense novels starring reporter Charlotte McNally, the funny, smart, savvy TV journalist who wonders: What happens when a TV reporter is married to her job—but the camera doesn’t love her anymore?

The first cover looked like this. 

Don’t even get me started. But my sheer joy overcame any artistic questions. 

Questions like: Why is she wearing diamond handcuffs? And who is that person, anyway? It doesn’t look like Charlie McNally at all. And what is she kissing? That’s not an Emmy, and it if were, you wouldn’t kiss it.  And if she’s in silhouette, why isn’t her dress in silhouette? 

But I said not to get me started. And I was incredibly happy, whatever. 

And it won the Agatha.

Then MIRA grabbed the series, and re-issued Charlie to much acclaim. 

That cover looks like this. 

Very of-the-time right? Dark. Body part. Don’t get me started. At least it looks like a professional body part.  And, hey, I was still SO thrilled, I didn’t care. (Forgive the bad photos. My name is actually straight.)

That was several years ago. My first thriller, THE OTHER WOMAN (with an PERFECT cover), interrupted the so-far four books in the McNally series--but now, ta-dah, Charlie’s back.

I’m so thrilled to tell you the four Charlotte McNally books will be available in all gorgeous new hardcover and trade paperback editions from Forge--starting with PRIME TIME with a new one every other month this year.

Pant, pant. Back story over. SO. FINALLY the point.

How do I tell people about this? PRIME TIME is not new, but if someone hasn’t heard of it before (and they are certainly legion), it’s new to them, right?  But it’s not calendar “new.” So what does new mean?

And when I say “Charlie’s Back” it’s cute, but it  requires, as you just saw, some explanation. 

Reds and readers, how would you handle the new/not-new marketing case study? Have you ever done this? Have you ever been angered or annoyed by buying a book you've already read? Do I treat these books as new or old or returning or back or available or--what?

And if you saw  the version of PRIME TIME in a bookstore, what would you think?

(And isn't it instructive to see all these covers?)

PS--CONTEST!   If you missed Charlie (or miss her), TIME to get acquainted!  Buy PRIME TIME in any format—and you can enter to win a $100 or $50 or $25 dollar gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice! Yes, you can enter each time you buy. Click here for to see the info, the rules, and enter to win: https://1.shortstack.com/dmSQMz

Nancie Clare and Speaking of Mysteries podcasts

HALLIE EPHRON: Podcasts are hot, and Nancie Clare is riding the wave. Co-founder of the iPad publication Noir Magazine and former editor-in-chief of LA, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, she’s teamed up with Leslie S. Klinger (everyone’s favorite Sherlockian) to create Speaking of Mysteries podcasts.

And speaking for mystery writers, we’re all eager to be featured.

Nancie, where did this wonderful idea come from, and when did you guys post your first podcast?

NANCIE CLARE: Les and I published our first podcast in April 2014. Robert Crais was our first guest. We figured why not open with a bang!

As for the idea: In 2011 Los Angeles Times Magazine had an iPad app and our April issue, which was always an annual mystery issue that featured people who worked in the genre, went global. I mean it’s not a great revelation that the audience for crime fiction is everywhere, but it was astounding to me to get emails from all over the world from fans of the genre who found the issue at the iTunes store.

After the LA Times shut the magazine down, the former creative director Rip Georges and I did a Kickstarter campaign and raised funds for the tablet publication Noir Magazine. Unfortunately that didn’t go any further than the first issue. But I was determined to continue in the genre. I asked Les to join me in the adventure and, well, here we are, more than a year into it with more than 60 episodes!

HALLIE: What’s been your most exciting “get” in terms of guests?

NANCIE: Every guest is a “get”! But in terms of best selling authors on both sides of the pond, we’ve interviewed Jo Nesbø, Peter James, Val McDermid, Robert Crais, Alan Furst, Thomas Perry, C.J. Box, Ace Atkins, Sara Paretsky …

HALLIE: Wow. That's some list. Which author surprised you?
NANCIE: Robert Olen Butler knocked my socks off. I had certainly heard of him as a Pulitzer Prize winner for literary fiction, but his three crime fiction books featuring Christopher Marlowe (Kit) Cobb—The Hot Country, The Star of Istanbul and The Empire of Night that take place before America enters World War One—are extraordinary. Otto Penzler read “The One in White,” a short story Bob had written for The Atlantic—which itself was inspired by one of the postcard’s in Bob’s collection—and suggested creating a novel using that voice.

HALLIE: How often do you put up new interviews, and what authors do you have in the pipeline?

NANCIE: I do my best to publish one podcast a week. This month (August 2015) we’ve had an embarrassment of riches.

We just published an interview with former Sports Illustrated staff reporter and editor, Bill Syken, whose Hangman’s Game, his debut mystery is set in the world of the NFL, and we’ll interview Belinda Bauer about Rubbernecker, her remarkable mystery featuring an anatomy student with Asperger’s Syndrome.

We're going to interview Kareem Abdul Jabbar who, along with Anna Waterhouse, wrote Mycroft Holmes. Yes, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is a Sherlockian! 

HALLIE: What unavailable author (dead, reclusive…) would you most like to interview, and what would you like to ask?

NANCIE: Alain Robbe-Grillet for The Erasers. I’m not trying to be high-falutin’ by naming a French author, and a writer in the Nouveau Roman (new novel) vein at that, but The Erasers, which was his first published book, is a mind-bending mystery story about a detective who is investigating a murder that hasn’t yet occurred, only to uncover that he is the intended murderer.

HALLIE: Whoa. I'm going to have to read that.

NANCIE:  And Patricia Highsmith. I’d ask where did Strangers on a Train and Tom Ripley come from? And considering she was a famous misanthrope, she probably wouldn’t answer. Hell, she probably wouldn’t pick up the phone when I called.

HALLIE: What have you learned about mystery writers?

NANCIE: For a group of writers who toil in an—albeit fictional—world of deceit and death, they are the nicest group of people on the planet.

HALLIE: And could you share tips that you’ve learned about creating engaging podcasts since you started Speaking of Mysteries?

NANCIE: I’m pretty much the ultimate crime fiction fan girl and after three decades in journalism, am a pretty good interviewer, so I figured why not combine the two. But here are the things that I think are important:

1. Always, always read at least one book by the author and certainly the one that’s going to be discussed.

2. Prepare your questions, but be prepared to go off the script. The great thing about interviews is the direction in which they can wander. 

3. Have a chat before turning on the recorder. Ask the interviewee if there are any topics that are off limits, or if there are any questions he or she might have for me. 

4. Keep in mind that listeners are coming to the podcast to hear who’s being interviewed, not me; that means have great questions that will elicit engaging answers.

5. Edit the interview down to around thirty minutes. Audiences have a limited attention span. Leave them wanting more.

HALLIE: Nancie, you also wrote a gorgeous, lavishly illustrated coffee table book commemorating the 100th anniversary of Beverly Hills, In the Spirit of Beverly Hills. Did you discover anything unexpected about famous crimes that took place there?

NANCIE: First, thank you! It was a fun book to write and I learned a lot about your hometown and it made me sad that I had grown up so close—Sherman Oaks—but oh so far away!

Of course I read about the Johnny Stompanato murder and the Menendez murders. But what piqued my interest was an incident that took place before the vote on the attempted annexation of Beverly Hills by Los Angeles in 1923: a bomb—which was referred to in the press coverage as an “infernal device”—was sent to the office of Al Murphy, the editor of the Beverly Hills News was pro annexation. It exploded, but since it was built of firecrackers, Mr. Murphy only sustained minor burns. The note accompanying the bomb indicated it was sent by someone in the anti-annexation camp—which included such luminaries as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Will Rogers, Rudolph Valentino, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Fred Niblo.

I’d like to find out who sent the bomb. And why.

HALLIE: So everyone, run right over to Speaking of Mysteries podcasts and DOWNLOAD!Today's question: What dead or otherwise unavailable mystery author would you like to hear interviewed and what would you like to know?