What I'm Writing: Rhys is Juggling

RHYS BOWEN: Why do I put myself through this?

 I ask this question many times each year but even more so now. Why don’t I write a nice simple whodunit set in a bakery with a woman who is a former lawyer and a man who is a lumberjack/ veterinarian, wears plaid flannel shirts but has a heart of gold under the rugged exterior ? Instead I create the Molly Murphy series that requires more research than a PhD thesis and stand alone novels that have multiple stories in various time periods and the stories have to intersect, impact each other and end with everything tied up satisfactorily

 The one I’ve given myself now, with the working title FROM SEA TO SKYE--  is a doozy ( does anyone use that word any more?). 

It takes place at a castle like this.

I’ve an elderly woman with dementia who can’t finish the book she is writing set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The young writer she has hired to finish it. The young writer goes to the island of Skye and finds what she thought was fiction was really true, only much earlier and may involve the elderly lady although this isn’t possible as she is Australian.

So I’ve got the same story essentially being told in 3 time periods, one having been written by an elderly woman with dementia in a different style from the rest of her famous series. In the telling of each story we find a clue to the truth. And we have a couple of the sort of twists when the reader will scream “What???” The sort of twist that will change the perception of the whole story. Like Debs’ Dreaming of the Bones which was so brilliant I’m about halfway through and have more or less completed the amount of the written story the elderly writer has finished before she couldn't continue. So now I have to retell it as the young writer experiences it on Skye without being repetitive. 

And being me I like a touch of romance but I have no idea where that might come in. A handsome lumberjack should be getting ready to come through the door on the island of Skye!    At least I know how it has to end this time. It's the getting there that is like walking through a maze.  After The Rose Arbor you'd think I'd have learned my lesson about having various time periods and various stories woven together.

I’m thinking of dropping writing and taking up crochet!

So Reddies: do you like complicated stories or do you prefer straightforward ones? (My stand alone that comes out in August is one woman's story,  told from start to finish with no jumping around. Bliss!)

What we’re reading

 

LUCY BURDETTE: You know I adore this topic (and I know many of you do too) even though I honestly have more books in my multiple piles than I could finish in a lifetime. But new sparkly titles are constantly getting published, along with favorites from my most favorite authors, and reminders about older books that I’ve overlooked. Aside from all that, I’m judging a contest that I am forbidden to discuss. So I’m accumulating a teetering stack of books that might be right up your alley that I can’t mention!  I’m trying the technique of alternating the books I’m dying to read with the ones that are part of my contest obligations.

Most enjoyable books of the spring so far? Kristin Hannah’s THE WOMEN, Rhys Bowen’s THE ROSE ARBOR (one of her very best!), Kent Krueger’s THE RIVER WE REMEMBER…and I’m so looking forward to Barb Ross’s TORN ASUNDER and Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK, and so many more—just look at my recent pile—wahhh! Reds, what are you reading?

HALLIE EPHRON: I just finished reading a book that Sarah Weinman suggested in a roundup of recommendations. It’s an oldie and now I’m wondering how I missed the series. I read DEATH AND THE PENGUIN by Andre Kurkov. Wonderful dark humor in a book with a detective/aspiring writer who’s in a dead end job writing obituaries and, oh by the way, he has a pet penguin. Highly recommend. 

And fascinated as I am by the movie business and alcoholic mega-stars, I’m reading COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA, and nonfiction by Philip Gefter. It’s about the genesis and filming of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. From Edward Albee to Mike Nichols to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: utterly fascinating. Also an excellent doorstop.

I also loved Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR which I tore into the minute I got my hands on an advance copy.

JENN McKINLAY: Count me in for Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR! Such a fascinating story. I loved it. Also, I’m reading YOU’D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST by Joanna Wallace. Very original! I can’t even describe how different it is but I’m enjoying it tremendously. Recently, I read WEYWARD by Emilia Hart and could not put it down. It was excellent.

RHYS BOWEN: Aw, I’m blushing because you all said nice things about The Rose Arbor! Thank you. It was a complicated book and I was relieved that it worked out so well in the end. What am I reading? I’m returning the compliment… Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK.  It was exactly what I needed right now having had a stressful first half of the year with radiation for John, lots of strange doctor visits (the symptoms were strange, not the doctors). So I’m savoring Ireland and Jenn’s snappy dialog. Always so good. I’ve reread the Paris book at least twice.  

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just read two absolutely fabulous books, completely fabulous! By two of my favorite authors, and was so honored to interview them afterward. The first is CLOSE TO DEATH— and I know I go on and on and on about how much I adore Anthony Horowitz and his brilliant meta-fiction, and they just get better and better. This book is absolutely terrific in every way, and sometimes I just had to stop reading and applaud. You know, this is the series where I Anthony Horowitz the author is a character in the book. I don’t know how he managed to do it so beautifully.

And the other book I just read, and adore is THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Stuart Turton—- it’s sort of a dystopian utopia, yes, truly, or Agatha Christie meets the apocalypse on an isolated island. The world has ended, and there are only 121 people left, and they live this idyllic life – – although the reader is aware, something is not quite idyllic :-) – – until someone is murdered. And that’s like, chapter 1. This is an absolute tour de force in genre bending, with a solid mystery underneath.

It strikes me in discussing these—that both authors have written an intriguing, unique complex, unusual, pushing-the- envelope novel, but underneath both still depend on a satisfying, believable, and fair traditional mystery .

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Joining the dittos on Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR! I loved it! So well plotted, and I particularly loved the characters and the details of the late sixties setting.

Also, I’ve listened to the audiobook of THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Julia Whelan, my absolute favorite female narrator, and was blown away. It’s one of those books that makes you feel desperate for someone to talk to about it when you’ve finished it. AND I finally, finally (I think I’m the last person in the world!) read LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus, and of course it is just brilliant. It was nice to read these one right after the other–similar themes, similar time period (LESSONS is a bit more than a decade earlier,) and then Rhys’s book also is set in the same time period as THE WOMEN. I listened to the audio of Marion McNabb’s SOME DOUBT ABOUT IT, which I really enjoyed. And now I’ve started Elly Griffith’s THE LAST WORD, but i picked up Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK and will not be putting this one down until I finish it. So good!!!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I saw THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD and thought it was calling my name, but you've sold me - it definitely sounds like my kind of read. 

Loved THE ROSE ARBOR and LOVE AT FIRST BOOK (don't hate us because we get advanced copies, dear readers!) and I also recently read Tessa Wegert's next Shana Marchant mystery, THE COLDEST CASE. It's a little Agatha Christie combined with frigid weather and a great detecting couple, so if that appeals, pre-order it now!

Catching up with what everyone else raved about, I tore through Benjamin Stevenson's EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE and EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT. I can see why HBO has picked this up. 

Next up, VILLAGE IN THE DARK, Iris Yamashita's follow-up to one of the most original mysteries of  '23, VILLAGE UNDER ONE ROOF. No science fiction! That's a first for me.

LUCY AGAIN: That's enough from us, but we'd love to hear what you're reading!

Cover Reveal: The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen

 Okay, Readers, we have a treat for you today. The cover reveal for our Rhys's spectacular new novel THE ROSE ARBOR is here...

Pre-Order NOW

More about the novel: 

An investigation into a girl’s disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Paris Assignment.

London: 1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a scoop: her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.

Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again.

As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?

Isn't it just fabulous? A perfect summer read. 

What do you think about cover reveals, Readers? Do they help you get excited for an upcoming release? 

Even more thrilling for me, I received my ARC just in time for a trip to Nevada! Yay! Thank you, Rhys. And, naturally, I had to take a picture of it against my rose bush.