Writing the Second Book in a Series

I’ve just put up the e-book of Murder the Tey Way on Amazon. This is the second book in my Golden Age of Mystery Book Club Mysteries. A good deal has been written about writing the first book in a mystery series. I thought I’d say a word about the one that follows.

In many ways, writing the second book is easier. You know your sleuth quite well—her personality, how she thinks and acts and relates to people. You’ve established the setting, the tone of the series, and know some of the secondary characters.

But writing second book in a series presents a challenge. For me, it means exploring new territory that includes a deeper understanding of my sleuth’s character and love life.  In Murder the Tey Way, my sleuth Lexie Driscoll is living in a new neighborhood and meeting a new roster of friends and suspects. Of course, her best friends Rosie and Hal, make a few appearances. Her relationships with world-renown architect Allistair West and homicide detective Brian Donovan undergo changes that affect her life significantly.

A second book is a great time to introduce important but distant characters related to one’s sleuth. Lexie’s sister Gayle, whom she hasn’t seen in years, appears at Lexie’s doorstep. Gayle’s been running away from a dangerous situation. The possibility that someone is chasing her to kill her is a very real. A man lies dead in Lexie’s backyard the morning after Gayle arrives, and Lexie fears her sister has murdered him before he could kill her.

Like all the books in the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club mysteries, the various members have secrets and venal weaknesses that may lead to murder  Secret identities, doing business with criminals are a few of the elements in Murder the Tey Way. Lexie sleuths as she leads discussions about Josephine Tey and some of her wonderful novels.

Murder the Tey Way is available as an e-book on Amazon for $2.99: http://tinyurl.com/n6z973o

Me & My Sleuths

I love my sleuths and have lots of fun watching them solve murders and navigate relationships. As the protagonist in a series, each of my sleuths is complex, with both endearing and irritating characteristics. They’re all clever enough to solve mysteries, spunky enough to take risks they have no business taking, and all have blind spots that occasionally lead them to wrong conclusions and into danger. As their creator, I have something in common with each and every one of them. I thought I’d say a few words about my sleuths Lydia, Gabbie, and Lexie—what they’re like and the traits and similarities I share with each.

Lydia Krause stars in A Murderer Among Us and Murder in the Air of the Twin Lakes Mysteries series. She is an attractive widow aged 58, who once ran her own company and now resides in the upscale retirement community of Twin Lakes on Long Island with her red tom Reggie. She has two daughters who give her joy and grief, a slew of new friends, and a budding relationship with Detective Sol Molina. While I live in a gated community on Long Island, it’s nowhere as posh as Twin Lakes, nor is it a retirement community, and, alas, we don’t have an indoor pool. Ironically, Lydia became a widow before I did. I have two sons, not two daughters, and one granddaughter so far, not two as Lydia has. Both Lydia and I have red toms.

In Giving Up the Ghost Gabbie Meyerson comes to the village of Chrissom Harbor on Long Island in the middle of a cold January to teach English at the local high school.
Gabbie is in her midthirties and like Lydia, starting a new life. She has recently divorced her husband, after helping to send him to prison for white collar crimes. She rents a cottage on a bluff and discovers she has a housemate—the ghost of wheeler dealer Cameron Leeds, who plagues Gabbie until she agrees to find out who murdered him. Gabbie’s students play a part in the mystery. While I never had a ghost for a housemate, I was a high school teacher for several years though my subject was Spanish. I never divorced my husband, nor did he ever commit any crimes. We writers must take liberties. <g>

Lexie Driscoll is my sleuth in the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series. Lexie is a 48-year-old English professor at a Long Island university. Though she is very bright, she has poor judgment when it comes to choosing husbands. Her first husband left her when she was pregnant with her son, Jesse. Now father and son enjoy a close relationship. Years later, she married a fellow academic, only to learn he was extremely unstable. When Lexie told him she was ending the marriage, he burned down her house and died in the fire. In Murder a la Christie, Lexie’s best friend, now married to Lexie’s former college boyfriend, asks her to facilitate a Golden Age of Mystery book club in her wealthy town of Old Cadfield, Long Island. While discussing Agatha Christie and her novels, one of the members becomes ill and dies. Lexie is c

ertain that Sylvia’s been poisoned. More members are murdered, and Lexie fears their lives are on a parallel course of Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None. Lexie’s barrage of questions often upsets the Old Cadfield residents. She exposes old secrets and resentments, until someone tries to kill her. While I’m nowhere as intrusive as Lexie, probably because I haven’t had to, I find it ironic that just before the book was published, my local library asked me to lead the mystery book club. (I am no longer the leader, and we have not suffered any murders. ) A case of life following art.  <g>

What do you and your sleuths have in common?

In It Together

 

Since I’m planning to self-publish my next mystery, I thought it would be a good idea to get myself a few beta readers. A writer friend offered to read the manuscript and let me know of anything that needed attention. I belong to a mystery book club. Knowing how great the members are at analyzing mysteries, I asked if they’d like to read and comment on my new mystery. My query brought one offer. Another member asked me what remuneration I was offering.

I was floored and a little hurt. I responded that I wasn’t planning to pay anyone anything. I thought but didn’t add that since she liked the first book in the series, this was her opportunity to read the sequel gratis. I did say, however, that exchanging manuscripts was something we writers frequently did for one another. Which got me thinking.

We mystery writers help one another in so many ways. For one thing, we support those new to our fold. The best example I can think of is the Guppies, the Great Unpublished subgroup of Sisters in Crime. Many of us published writers remain Guppies. We give advice, edit queries, read partials and suggest agents to those new at the game.

On a more personal note, I can’t say enough about the generosity of my fellow writers. Four years ago, I no sooner mentioned on the Guppies listserv that I was starting up a Long Island Chapter of Sisters in Crime when Hank Philippi Ryan offered to be our first speaker. She also was kind enough to write a blurb for my mystery Murder a la Christie. When I’ve needed reviews for my mysteries, many of my fellow mystery writers offered to read and review my books. One fellow writer, who is also an editor, offered to edit a romantic suspense I'd written. We come up with titles for one another, host each other on our blogs, and commiserate and cheer each other on. After all, we’re all in this writing business together.

Malice, 2014

I spent the past four days, from Thursday to Sunday, at Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland.. Officially, this is a convention for fans of traditional mysteries, but I consider it the best mystery writers’ conference around. Of course I haven’t attended every mystery writers’ conference to compare, but this was my third Malice and for me, they only get better and better.

I didn’t win a chance to do Malice-Go-Round on Friday morning—when pairs of authors go from table to table, to speak very briefly about their latest book or books. But Saturday morning I was on a panel with Erika Chase, Kate Carlisle, and Kylie Logan, which was wonderfully moderated by Becky Hutchison. Out subject was “Murder By the Book: Book-Themed Mysteries.” I got to talk about my latest mystery, Murder a la Christie, the discussions my book club characters have about Agatha Christie novels, and the parallels between my novel and some Christie novels.

The best part of the weekend for me was catching up with friends, writers I’m in constant touch with via email, listservs, and Facebook. In some cases, I was finally able to meet them in the flesh for the first time, people I’ve known “electronically” for years and years.

Going out Friday night for dinner with ten friends, old and new, was a highlight for me. Every year I’ve been to Malice I’ve gone out with Th
eresa Inge and her pals. This year I brought along a slew of my own. The hotel recommended a restaurant a few blocks away, and it was a winner. The food with great, the conversation nonstop.

There’s no way I can speak about Malice without mentioning the Guppies. This group of supposedly unpublished mystery writers has grown. I believe we’re over 500 strong. The thing about the Guppies is that even after members are published, they rarely leave the group. And so it was that two Guppies won an Agatha, as announced at Saturday night’s banquet: Leslie Budewitz for Best First Novel and Hank Phillippi Ryan for Best Novel.

I’m honored to be part of my mystery writers’ world. My fellow mystery writers are from all over the country and have held all sorts of jobs and positions. Some still work at their "day jobs," as they write their books. Among my friends are a rabbi, a retired judge, a retired member of the navy. And Saturday afternoon I had a long chat with a former nun. All wonderful, vibrant people who share my passion for writing mysteries.

A Theme Runneth Through It

The other day my friend and fellow writer, Pat Gligor, was a guest on my blog http://www.marilynlevinson.com/blog/  to talk about her new mystery, Dangerous Deeds. She discussed When a Child Goes Missing, one of the themes of her novel.

It got me thinking about themes. All novels require a powerful theme, and that includes mysteries. Love, betrayal, friendship, whatever. The theme of a mystery runs through it, impacting the lives of victims, suspects, and murderer. Theme adds a dimension. It provides ballast. It adds interest to your story.

In my latest mystery, Murder a la Christie, Lexie has her hands full trying to discover who’s knocking off the members of her mystery book club as she leads discussions about novels by Agatha Christie. She’s also at a crossroads in her life. For one thing, she’s begun a budding romance with an intelligent, good-looking world-renown architect. Allistair West has made it very clear that he’s interested in a long-term relationship. Then why is she drawn to Detective Brian Donovan? Hasn’t she had enough of “interesting” men? The last “interesting” man she got involved with was her second husband. He proved to be unstable. And when she began divorce proceedings, he burned down her house with himself inside.

Lexie finds herself house sitting in the upscale village of Old Cadfield, blocks from where Rosie, her best friend and former college roommate, lives with her husband. Hal was Lexie’s college boy friend, until she decided he was too serious. Now Hal is a successful financier. Has Lexie been making wrong choices all her life or simply being true to herself?

Lexie feels out of place in this posh neighborhood. The surviving book club members close rank and refuse to answer her questions. Even Rosie tells her to stop playing Miss Marple. Lexie wonders: don’t they care about finding the murderer? Has Rosie changed that much since college? Is it possible that Rosie is the murderer?

Lydia Krause, in A Murderer Among Us and Murder in the Air, is fifty-eight when she moves to Twin Lakes, an over-55 gated community. She's about to embark on a new phase in her life. Newly widowed, she has recently sold the company she’s headed for many years. In A Murderer Among Us, Lydia's older daughter, who still resents her for having gone to work full-time when she was in elementary school, constantly asks her to baby sit. Lydia knows something's wrong. She unearths her daughter’s secret and takes steps to heal their relationship. She also forms friendships with other women, something she didn’t have time for when she was busy running a company.

The problems and concerns of dating among the older set is a theme in Murder in the Air. Lydia’s on and off relationship with Detective Sol Molina is affected by his fear of forming a serious relationship and his not liking Lydia’s involvement in the homicide investigation concerning her murdered neighbor. And what is she to do when one of her neighbors invites her out? Lydia’s part-time job, which she took to keep busy, is leading to a more

important and time consuming position. Should she take on more responsibilities at this point in her life? All questions that retired people ask themselves each day.

There are many themes to write about. Love, betrayal, aging, new beginnings. What are some of the themes that run through your mysteries?

Why This One Is Special

I love all the books I’ve written. I really do. My characters and their stories live forever in my heart. But I felt a unique surge of joy when Billie Johnson, my publisher at Oak Tree Press, sent me my finished cover and told me that Murder a la Christie was ready for the printers.

I write my mysteries, well aware of the history of the genre and of the Golden Age of Mystery, which took place here and in England, loosely between the two World Wars. My sleuth, Lexie Driscoll, is an English professor. But more importantly for my series, she leads a Golden Age of Mystery book club where murder and mayhem abound.

I decided that the first book in my series would be a tribute to Agatha Christie. By far the most
popular author of her time, Dame Agatha’s books are as enjoyable today as when they were written almost one hundred years ago. My characters discuss some of Dame Agatha’s novels. In ways, the arc of the novel follows an Agatha Christie novel. The setting is an insular village whose residents know each other almost took well. And Lexie exposes the murderer at the end of a book club meeting when all the suspects are present. There are also many differences. Murder a la Christie is a mystery novel of the twenty-first century, with its own twists and turns, secrets and romance.

Murder a la Christie was a Malice Domestic finalist the year no winner was declared. An agent sent it around to the big houses. No takers. Eventually I signed on with a small press, and the book was scheduled to come out this past summer. It was edited and ready for a cover, when one of the two publishers died and the other decided to close shop.

I was delighted with Oak Tree Press offered to publish the book. By then I was beginning to sense a buzz. I’d already received some wonderful reviews. When I put out a call for more, I was astonished by the number of people who offered to read and review Murder a la Christie. More wonderful comments and reviews made me start to think that this book was special! And when I saw the finished cover, my spirits soared. Maybe this was the one. The book that people noticed and wanted to read for the mere fun of it.

For the first time I’ll be having a real launch party. And I’ll be doing web radio interviews, guest blogs, and a blog tour. I’m hoping many people will read Murder a la Christie. And when they finish it, tell me that they can’t read its sequel, Murder the Tey Way, my tribute to Josephine Tey.

Some of My Favorite Groups

We writers spend a good deal of time alone. We have to, if we want to get the words down and our books written. But we’re social creatures as well. This past week I met with four groups I belong to, groups that impact on me as a writer.

Monday night I attended a meeting of my children’s writers’ group. I joined this group in the late 1980’s, after my first book was published. We meet informally to talk about the writing business and our writing careers. I was especially glad to see everyone because ever since I moved some years ago, I can only make a few of the meetings.

Thursday night I drove to my local library to meet with our mystery book club. We read a book each month and discuss it in great detail. I led the group when it first began but had to step down because of events in my personal life. Someone else took up the role, and, frankly I prefer it this way. Of course I make many comments and observations from a writer’s perspective. More importantly, I learn first-hand what appeals to mystery readers and what doesn’t regarding plot elements and character development.

I belong to another book club that rarely reads mysteries. This Friday went to see the movie “Her” and discussed it afterwards. I thoroughly enjoyed this film about a man who falls in love with his OS—operating system--more than most of my friends. Regardless, I enjoyed hearing their comments. Our discussion set me thinking—always a good thing for writers.

Saturday I attended Long Island Sisters in Crime’s monthly meeting. As creator and past president of the group, LISinC has a special place in my heart. We talked about future meetings and presenting panels at libraries, etc. We talked about marketing, and, as always, I jotted down new ideas and ways to promote MURDER A LA CHRISTIE, which comes out next month.

These are some of my favorite groups. What groups do you belong to that sustain you as a writer?

Is Your Protagonist Your Alter Ego?

Many years ago, after reading the first novel I’d just finished writing, someone told me she could see me in every page. There were many similarities between me and my protagonist. We both wore glasses. (Now I wear contact lenses.) We liked the same foods and had many of the same hang ups. Soon after I started writing books for kids. Since I have two sons, my protagonist was usually a boy. I’d simply put myself inside the head of a boy and imagine how it feels to have an older brother with neurological problems (And Don’t Bring Jeremy.) I imagined how it would feel to suddenly have magical powers (Rufus and Magic Run Amok.)

The more books I wrote, the more my protagonists developed traits of their own. But certain personality and character traits of mine cling to each of my sleuths. Sometimes fiction precedes real life. In my Twin Lake mysteries, Lydia Krause is newly widowed and starting a new life in a gated community. She beat me there, as I became a widow after I wrote the book. Still, we both have a cat and we both live in a gated community.

Gabbie Meyerson in Giving Up the Ghost is also starting a new life. She’s divorced her husband, something I never did, after helping to send him to prison. (Didn't do that, either.) She takes a job teaching English (I taught Spanish) in a small Long Island community, and discovers she’s sharing a cottage with the ghost of Cameron Leeds. Pressed into service, Gabbie finds out who murdered Cam.

Ardin Wesley in Dangerous Relations bears the emotional scars of an abusive marriage, something I’ve never experienced. She finds herself wanting to adopt her murdered cousin’s little girl, which pits her against her cousin’s widower. She tries to ignore the fact that she’s falling for the guy, telling herself she doesn’t want anything to do with romance. In the course of the novel, Ardin comes face-to-face with her ex-husband. Even more painful is overhearing him tell his current wife that he'd never loved Ardin. Through it all, Ardin grows stronger and is able to love again.

There’s no question that Lexie Driscoll in Murder a la Christie is intelligent (she’s an English college professor). But Lexie’s not always wise when it comes to choosing the men in her life. Her first husband left her when she was pregnant with their son. When she decided to divorce her crazy second husband, he burned down her house with himself inside. Lexie finds herself spending the summer housesitting in affluent Old Cadfield, blocks from her college roommate and best friend, Rosie. Rosie is married to one of Lexie’s rejects and lives the life of luxury. Lexie realizes that this life could have hers. But would she have done things differently if she'd known how everything turned out?

The more books we write, the more our characters take on lives of their own. I suppose we subconsciously borrow traits from people we know, from characters in TV series, books and movies. How they behave and interact with one another are offshoots of their personalities and characters. My sleuths vary in age and social position, but they are all strong, intelligent women. Of course they’re all bolder than I am – never afraid to ask questions or to follow up on a clue, which often gets them into trouble as they go about solving murders.

In what ways are your sleuths like you? How are they different?

Signed a Contract – Again

For the second time this year, my mystery Murder a la Christie is under contract. The first time the book had been edited and ready for a cover when the publishing house closed its doors because one of the publishers had died. Changes happen often in the publishing world. Years ago, when the only game in town was traditional publishing, my head would spin with all of the changes taking place. Editors moved from one house to another. Editors became agents. Agents became editors. Agents and editors left publishing to work in other fields. There were many orphaned books, books bought and championed by one editor suddenly in the hands of an editor nowhere as enthusiastic about it.

Murder A La Christie, which was a Malice Domestic finalist, is my tribute to Agatha Christie. Dame Agatha and her books are a major reason why I became a mystery writer. My sleuth, Lexie Driscoll, is an English professor whose estranged second husband has burned down her house with himself inside. Needing funds, she agrees to lead a Golden Age of Mystery book club in wealthy Old Cadfield where her best friend Rosie resides. At the first meeting, Lexie is just getting into The Mysterious Affair at Styles, when she notices her old friend Sylvia is looking ill. Before the evening is over, Sylvia is dead and Lexie is certain she’s been murdered.

Lexie spends the summer house sitting Sylvia’s Old Cadfield home. Though she’s out of her element in this wealthy community, she welcomes the opportunity to get to know the book club members better. Every one of them has a secret that may or may not be the reason Sylvia was murdered. Lexie starts dating the world-renown architect who designed Sylvia’s home. Amid more book club meetings and discussions of more Christie novels, more members are killed. Lexie finds herself attracted to the sexy homicide detective in charge of the case. In the final scene when all the suspects are present, she employs Poirot’s cunning and Miss Marple’s means of deduction to reveal the murderer


The next book in the series is Murder the Tey Way. But that’s for another day.

Talking About My New Mystery

My mystery, Murder a la Christie, a Malice Domestic finalist, is coming out in a few months. Forty-eight-year-old Lexie is an English professor at a Long Island university. She’s beautiful and brainy, but has no smarts when it comes to men. Her first husband left her twenty-six years ago, when she was pregnant. It irks her that her ex, an absentee father during the years she raised Jesse, now enjoys a good relationship with their son, probably because they’re both musicians living in California. Three years ago, Lexie married a colleague who turned out to be a nutcase. When she told him she was leaving him, he burned down her house with himself inside. Now she's homeless, so to speak, and short on funds.

Lexie's best friend, Rosie, asks her to lead the Golden Age of Mystery book club she has created. The first meeting, a discussion of Agatha Christie novels, is held in Rosie and Hal’s mansion in the upscale village of Old Cadfield. Lexie muses that she could have lived the elegant life--if she hadn’t broken up with Hal when they were in college. If only she hadn't found him boring.

Before the meeting, Lexie overhears Sylvia, an old friend of hers, arguing with a neighbor. “Write that book if you dare, but you won’t live to see it in print!” Gerda tells Sylvia. An hour later, Sylvia is dead.

Lexie agrees to house sit Sylvia’s Old Cadfield home for the duration of the summer. While she appreciates her lovely surroundings and enjoys having a private pool at her disposal, she doesn’t feel  comfortable with the Old Cadfield crowd. As she investigates Sylvia’s death and gets to know the book club members better, Lexie learns that money doesn’t necessarily make for happiness. Each member harbors a secret. The murderer strikes again, and Lexie begins to feel she’s living an Old Cadfield version of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.

Lexie is drawn to two very appealing, sexy men: the renown architect who built Sylvia’s home and the homicide detective in charge of the murder investigation. Will she make the "right" choice this time?

And then an "accident" occurs, and Lexie barely escapes with her life. The murderer is losing control. Lexie employs Poirot’s power of deduction and Miss Marple’s cleverness to find the murderer before he/she kills again.