Movin' On Down the Line

Happy Monday! As we march through May at a break-neck pace, I've come to realize that life is getting past me as I sit at my keyboard typing away, albeit at something I love to do: writing. Still, in a push to restructure my time, I'm adjusting where and when I appear on the 'net, and will be focusing more on my new website and blog and a bit less elsewhere for the time being. Which means I will be handing off my Make Mine Mystery slot. I still consider myself a member of this wonderful venue and will be visiting often, commenting and guest posting from time to time.

The terrific news is, prolific mystery author Austin S. Camacho will be taking over this time slot beginning May 25 and you are going to love his style and flare. Austin is the author of the Hannable Jones thriller series, including BLOOD AND BONE and the upcoming RUSSIAN ROULETTE. I know you will give him a warm welcome!

Please visit my new website and blog at http://beaconstreetbooks.com/ to keep up with me and stay in touch. And remember to make yours mystery, too!

Anne Carter/Pam Ripling

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Mystery is Alive and Well in Los Angeles…

by Anne Carter

...as evidenced by the crowds funneling through the Sisters in Crime/Crime Time Books booth this weekend at the L.A. Times Festival of Books! Despite a steady, slightly nippy breeze that threatened book cover stand-up displays and sent flyers and postcards airborne, the overall atmosphere was one of happy camaraderie and plain old “glad to be here” sentiments. But were they buying?

“Doing much better than we expected” was the most oft heard response. Attendance was also much better than expected. Still, the competition for a piece of the stimulus check was tough. Nearly 300 exhibitors--including booksellers, publishers, literary organizations and an estimated 450 authors--offered their wares to an as-yet unannounced number of patrons, expected to be around 130,000. Yes, it’s big, likely the biggest book festival of its kind in the U.S.

I sold my share of my lighthouse mystery, POINT SURRENDER, and my middle grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! It is always such a thrill to see a reader grasp a book and talk about their anticipation, most asking for an autograph and sometimes, a photo. It is also a gas hanging out with the other authors from my publisher’s house, Echelon Press. This weekend, we had Teresa Burrell (THE ADVOCATE), Gayle Carline (FREEZER BURN), Jeff Sherratt (GUILTY OR ELSE) and Melinda Richarz Bailey (WOOF: WOMEN ONLY OVER FIFTY), all touting brand new releases. Teresa and Gayle’s books were actually first day releases! Also on board was J.T. Turner (DFF: DEAD FRIENDS FOREVER), teen author Alyssa Montgomery (WHERE ARE YOU?), Alexis Hart (DARK SHINES MY LOVE) and me!

I always get a kick out of the variety of giveaways and promo items being handed out, and often wonder at the bottom line benefit of such practices. Handouts included everything from candy to free anthologies, sampler CD’s, coloring books, and (get this) knitted yarn necklaces. As a consumer, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever had a freebie sway me toward making a purchase. But maybe I’m the exception.

One big beef I have with festivals of this type is the cost of food. Blatant price inflation is rampant. I went into the food court with $20.00, came back with two chipwichs, one ice cream bar and $8.00. Huh? Even one of my favorite food chains was offering an orange chicken-rice-veggie bowl for $7.50, when in their restaurants they offer the same dish for (typically) under $5.00. Isn't that extortion?

Today I am achy and hoarse. I think I made a small amount of profit on the weekend, if you don’t count the meals and the gas. Would I go again? Yes. But next year I am selling ice cream and rice bowls, too.

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

The Mysterious Hot Toddy

by Anne Carter

“I wanna sing. I wanna dance. I wanna ha-cha-ha.” –Thelma Todd, as Lucille, in Monkey Business, 1931.

There’s no question that 29 year old screen star Thelma Todd liked to party. Such was the case on the weekend of her death in December, 1935, when “Hot Toddy” was found dead in her 1932 KBV12 Lincoln Phaeton, parked in the garage of her lover’s wife. To this day, her death remains a mystery to most.

I’ve been intrigued by this story since I first heard the many conflicting details surrounding the events of December 15-16, 1935, which occurred in a neighborhood I often drove through as a teen on my way to the beach. 73 years after that fateful event, movie buffs and historians still debate whether or not Todd took her own life, was a victim of a horrendous mistake or was flat out murdered. Headlines of the era reveal a trial that, for a brief time, rivaled that of O.J. Simpson’s notorious courtroom fiasco. The suspects were many, and included her lover and business partner, director Roland West; her abusive ex, Pasquale “Pat” DiCicco; even infamous mob boss, Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

What makes this story even more enticing is the wide variety of “facts” that surfaced in the days, months and even years after the “Ice Cream Blonde’s” unlucky demise. Even the condition of her body has been widely disputed, ranging from “a trickle of blood and a dislodged dental filling”—supposedly due to her mouth hitting the steering wheel--to “broken ribs, broken nose, and numerous bruises.” She was witnessed banging on her and West’s locked apartment door during the wee hours, yet her alcohol-laden body was found in a garage on the street above, 300 concrete steps and one block away. Her shoes did not indicate the wear that would have resulted from such a drunken climb, a fact verified in a reenactment by a woman of similar build wearing like-styled shoes. Time of death was placed on Sunday morning, yet witnesses reported seeing her and hearing her voice on the phone later in the day. Even the car has been largely remembered as a convertible Packard, when photos indicate a Lincoln with the roof in place.

If she didn’t walk up those crude stairs in the middle of the night, how did she get into the garage? If she was so inebriated, how did she manage to get into the car, close the garage door, start the car—and if she did start the car, why was she sitting in the passenger seat? Again, reports that she was “slumped over the steering wheel” are misleading; photos taken at the scene clearly indicate the contrary.

“Carbon monoxide poisoning” is listed as the cause of death. Although there were those who wanted to contest the court’s ruling and pursue a case against gangster Luciano, it is said that Hal Roach lobbied against such action for fear of a backlash against his studios. Luciano himself kept silent. While it was well known in Todd’s circle that the mob wanted her to partner with them and open her nightclub to their gambling activities, some say that their reportedly public tiff at the Brown Derby (wherein Luciano threatened Todd) was only a myth.

It is rumored that on his deathbed, Roland West “confessed” to locking Todd in the garage that fateful morning. One version is that he didn’t know she was inside; another, that he wanted to teach her a lesson. He knew nothing of carbon monoxide poisoning, and was angry over Todd’s frequent partying and late night hours. However, West’s 1952 confession to actor Chester Morris has never been independently confirmed; West had suffered a stroke and a nervous breakdown.

Today, visitors to the Pacific Palisades locale where Todd and West lived and ran their roadside café are treated to visions of Thelma, sounds of a car running the smell of automobile exhaust.

If I’ve piqued your interest, read more at:

http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/t/Thelma%20Todd/thelma_todd.htm
http://www.prairieghosts.com/hollywood8.html

"You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night." -- Groucho Marx to Thelma Todd in Monkey Business.

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at The Word From Beacon Street.

"I Knew My Lips Were Snarling" by Anne Carter

As a writer, I am intrigued by writing in the first person. It’s fun because it’s personal—to the character—and more “conversational”. The protagonist’s thoughts and experiences are unique to his/her personal point of view. However, there are some caveats.

First of all, the reader is immediately let in on the fact that the first-person character has survived whatever is about to happen in order to tell the story. Doesn’t work if you protag is rubbed out in chapter 19.

Readers can only know what the character knows, can only experience what s/he experiences along the way. This can make it a challenge for the author to convey important information to the reader without relying on hackneyed memory flashbacks or info-dumping conversations with other characters. The reader also might find it difficult to “see” the character’s expressions, get the full impact of his body language unless the writer is adept at describing them without sounding forced.

“I grimaced at myself in the mirror.” “I felt my eyebrows come together in a decided, confused frown.” Hmm.

On the plus side, first-person is easier to control, especially if the writer has difficulty in third-person with regard to head-hopping through multiple point-of-view characters. There is no choice here. Additionally, readers often find it easier to identify and sympathize with a character when they spend the whole book inside that character’s head. There’s an intimacy created with the protagonist that cannot exist with other characters.

Many mysteries are written in first-person for these very reasons. However, in cases where the character in question does not survive to tell the tale, or where the reader needs to be allowed to “pull back” a bit from the character in order to “see” more of the story’s surroundings, a limited third-person point of view may be more beneficial. Some mystery authors prefer this technique, because although the POV is limited to one character, the writer has more freedom with regard to what the reader is allowed to experience.

In my romantic novella STARFIRE, my protagonist is an attractive, lonely accountant who happens upon a chance to have a fling with a well-known actor. Because the reader is treated only to her fears, her desires, her angst, I can control the reader's sympathies toward her, despite the fact that others (her husband, her children, etc.) could have very conflicting views of her behavior.

The choice is yours. But if you’ve never written (or read) a first-person story, I recommend you give it a try, if for only a short. For authors, there is a discipline to staying on that first-person path that will benefit third-person or limited-third-person writings of future work. For readers, it’s just great fun to “become” someone else for the next 300 pages, solving the mystery one step at a time with the protagonist.

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Make Mine... Mystery Radio

by Anne Carter

I’m not quite old enough to have listened to 1930’s, 40’s or 50’s mystery radio programs. But now, through the miracle of the internet, these fabulous, classic shows are available again to mystery fans for as little as … free! I’ve been listening to RadioLovers.com for several years.

From Beyond Midnight to the Adventures of Philip Marlowe, one can listen in on any number of 30 minute stories from radio’s golden era. My personal favorite is Candy Matson. Some of the recordings are scratchy and difficult to comprehend, but most are reasonably clear. I like that I can play individual programs while I’m working on other things—things that don’t detract from my ability to listen to the story.

Some of these episodes are recorded with their sponsors’ commercials attached. Many have the leading actors reading the advertisement in between acts. Listening to commercials for long-forgotten soap products or snippets about war bonds is almost as interesting as the mystery itself.

Another thing I really like about mystery radio is that it engages the imagination more than its video cousins, TV and movies. Like an audio book, radio theater lets the listener imagine, with the help of a very few sound effects, the visual portion of the story as it unfolds. Sometimes, at the beginning, end or during a commercial, I visualize the actors standing before tall, floor microphones with scripts in their hands. How different from the mechanics of today’s entertainment.

By the way, a disclaimer on RadioLovers.com states that they believe that copyrights on any of the shows they offer are expired. See also Old Time Radio Fans.

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Were You Surprised?

by Anne Carter

I haven't seen "Slumdog Millionaire." Until the Golden Globes, I hadn't even heard of it. EIGHT Oscars! It seems like that happens a lot; a great movie wins, but takes several other categories along the way. I guess it makes sense.

Have you ever wondered if the recipients know in advance that they've won or lost? Officially, the Academy holds to its rule that winners names are, indeed, sealed in those precious envelopes. In early years, winning names were given to newspapers in advance so that they could get the information into their editions before press time. However, it is said that the Los Angeles Times once leaked the results prior to the broadcast, effectively ruining the evening and the mystery.

In 1948, both Rosalind Russell (shown above) and Loretta Young were up for best actress. The story goes that Russell had everything going for her, including the best PR representation in town. So certain she was of her win, she began to rise from her seat before Frederic March could utter the words "Loretta Young for the Farmer's Daughter". Variety had already typeset her victory for the next day's edition. Not to be shamed by her erroneous assumption, Russell continued to her feet and led an astonished crowd in a standing ovation. That's class.

Why do I know this detailed minutia? Because the opening scene of my upcoming romantic mystery, CAPE SEDUCTION, reprises this very night at the Shrine Auditorium in Hollywood. I'm a sucker for old Hollywood, for its glamour, its mystery, its unapologetic excess. Oscar night is one of those almost historic rituals that epitomizes and keeps alive, to some extent, that golden era.

~Anne

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon and Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Ellery Queen: An Alias For an Alias and an Alias

by Anne Carter

Ha! What’s that supposed to mean, you ask? The name Ellery Queen conjures different meanings to different people. For some, it is the 1940’s radio program that comes to mind (find some of these episodes at RadioLovers.com) For others, it’s the various incarnations of the television series, starring Richard Hart, Lee Bowman, Hugh Marlowe, George Nader, Lee Philips, and probably best remembered, Jim Hutton as the fictional sleuth. Films followed, with Peter Lawford and Ralph Bellamy joining the long list of actors portraying Queen.

Reading fans will be quick to mention that the Ellery Queen novels, first of which was The Roman Hat Mystery published in 1929, preceded all the radio, television and movies starring the popular detective, his father (Inspector Richard Queen) and his assistant, Sergeant Velie. Then there was Ellery Queen Magazine (published by Dell Magazines, Penny Publications), a host of comic books and even jigsaw puzzles bearing the Queen moniker.

But who is Ellery Queen? The character name was also the alias for the two American cousins responsible for penning the novels and creating the image of the puzzle-solving protag. And it is humorous to note that each of the men had aliases of their own: Daniel (David) Nathan, also known as Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manford (Emanuel) Lepofksy went by Manfred Bennington Lee (1905-1971).

Read more about the illustrious career of Ellery Queen at Wikipedia, and this eclectic site chronicling the detective-hero. You can find out more about the magazine here.

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER. Visit her at Beacon Street Books, and at the Word From Beacon Street.

Where Was Agatha?

by Anne Carter

She has been called the best-selling writer of books of all time, and the most famous mystery writer in the world. Her well-known sleuths, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and the inquisive, elderly spinster Miss Jane Marple, are enormously popular characters among mystery buffs of all kinds.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born September 15, 1890, in Devon, England. She got the “Christie” from first husband Archibald, an airman with the Royal Flying Corps. The marriage, which lasted from 1914 to 1928, was not a happy one, and they divorced two years after Agatha discovered that Archie was having an affair. Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920, introducing the venerable Poirot, who “went on” to appear in 32 more novels and 54 short stories.

In 1926, Christie created a mystery of her own. After quarreling with Agatha, Archie reportedly took off to spend a weekend with his mistress, a Miss Nancy Neele. Agatha left later that same day, leaving a note for her assistant that she was off to Yorkshire. Although her car was found abandoned, she was not seen again for 11 days; she turned up as a guest at a hotel in Yorkshire, where she registered as “Miss Teresa Neele”. She gave no accounting of where she’d been for those 11 days; two different doctors declared her as suffering from amnesia. Some suggested she had suffered a nervous breakdown, while others were certain her mysterious disappearance was simple a publicity stunt. There was even speculation that Mrs. Christie had attempted to cast a shadow on her cheating husband, hoping that officials would think he’d killed her.

As recently as 2006, biographers were still studying the matter. Biographer and former doctor Andrew Norman is certain that Christie was experiencing a "fugue state", or an "out of body amnesia" induced by stress, wherein she would have acted in a trance-like state.

Where was Agatha? Reports are that she was in the spa hotel in Yorkshire the entire time, but did not acknowledge who she was or respond to reports about her disappearance. It’s not likely we’ll find out more anytime soon. Anyone who had knowledge of her condition during those infamous 11 days surely would have come forth by now, 33 years after her death.

Knowing what we now know about her skill in crafting mystery, it is entirely possible that she disappeared on purpose, weaving a personal “whodunit” of her own as she hid away somewhere in the English countryside. For 11 days, at least, she had the whole world wondering what had become of her, and she just may have been laughing at the fingers pointing to her Cassanova spouse. Well… could happen!

Anne Carter is the author of paranormal romantic mystery POINT SURRENDER. Visit her at Beacon Street Books!

Trick or Treat?

Just reminiscing about Halloweens past. One thing that always comes to mind was the care my mother took when I was young to make homemade treats for the trick-or-treaters. My favorite was popcorn balls. Of course, back then you had to really pop the corn (no microwave bag thingies) and she cooked up some syrupy stuff and poured it onto the popcorn and then buttered up her hands and formed the balls. It was hot; we used to swear Mom had asbestos hands. Then we wrapped them in waxed paper and tied a ribbon to hold it closed. Those were the days before the $6 bags of mini chocolate bars; before razor blades were sliced into apples; when kids dressed as ghosts, witches, clowns and hobos instead of Britney, Hannah, the Hulk and Freddie Krueger (and I apologize if I misspelled Mr. K's name, never was a big fan.)

My dad got into the act, too, by donning a scary plastic mask to answer the door. They both got a big kick out of Halloween, and Mom would even keep a pad and pencil near the door to actually keep a tally of how many kids we got. There were usually well over a hundred. I went out, but always got back in time to help answer the door for awhile. I loved that part almost as much as getting the sweet loot.

Sadly, our doorbell hardly rings, despite the colorful pumpkin lights and jack o'lanterns we put out. Our street is a bit isolated, most of the children have grown and moved out. Some folks complain when the trick-or-treaters are teens, but I don't mind at all, as long as they are in costume. My own sons participated into their teens, and I loved that they still cared.

I still dress up myself, matter of fact. It's a natural, I think, for fiction writers to want to step into the role of a character, just for one night.

Have a fun night tonight, mateys!

The Dread Pirate Anne

See my blog for Halloween birthdays!

It's A Mystery to Me by Anne Carter

Everyone loves mystery. No, seriously. Even those who say they only read mainstream fiction, historical romance or Zane Grey westerns are mystery buffs—of a sort. For if every book written didn’t have some kind of unknown contained therein, there would be no point in reading it. The mystery is what happens between the covers.

I write romantic mystery. Some call it “mysterious romance”. It all depends on what grabs you as a reader. Because it is considered somewhat “cross-genre”, I have trouble deciding how to label it when I enter contests or categorize my work on marketing platforms. People ask, “is it more mystery, or more romance?” Darned if I know! Yet this can and will be an issue with some novels. Is it romantic enough to be called a romance? Or, is the mystery strong enough to appeal to mystery lovers?

Worse, my latest release has no body. No overt murder. No amateur sleuth or hard-boiled flatfoot. As a member of Sisters in Crime, I sometimes feel a bit fraudulent. But there is death, I insist, and yes, there is a crime and a mystery to be solved. There is a heroine who needs to know, a hero who knows too much, and a friendly, if restless, spirit subtly helping them to find answers.

Whoops! A spirit, too? Well now, what we might have here is a paranormal romantic mystery. Cross-genre just took on a whole new meaning. Now that I am mixing three genres, does my marketing appeal narrow, or am I winding my way into a new niche? I prefer to think the latter, and hope that my books are helping to create a new stratum of mystery fans.

Oh, did I mention my stories take place inside of lighthouses? Does that make them paranormal, romantic, lighthouse mysteries?