Pet peeves

by Carola Dunn

Trying to get ms finished as there is now a pub. date (December) which, though far in the future, is not far enough for me.

They've already produced the cover art!

 So here is a link to a blog about "pet peeves" in mysteries.  Chester and I both contributed via DorothyL.

http://istoriabooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/mysterious-monday-pet-peeves-in.html

Do leave a comment about your own particular pet peeves--so that we can try to avoid them! 

Review: The Queen of Patpong

Review by Beth Terrell

A few years ago, I passed a rack of discounted hardback books. One captured my attention. The title, A Nail Through the Heart, was evocative; the cover was attractive; and I had just read a post by the author, Timothy Hallinan, on DorothyL, a newslist for mystery lovers. Wanting to support a fellow DL-er, I picked it up and read a few lines. They were good. Very good. So, I bought it, beginning a long-term love affair with Hallinan's series of beautifully written thrillers set in Bangkok and featuring "rough travel writer" Poke Rafferty. Poke writes travel books for people who want to experience the parts of the world not included on the usual lists of tourist destinations. Some of those parts are a little seedy, a little gritty, and a little dangerous. When he arrives in Bangkok to research a new book, he falls in love with Thailand, the Thai people--and with Rose, a beautiful bar dancer in the red-light district of Patpong. Together, they rescue and adopt Miaow, a street child who struggles to reconcile her love for her adoptive parents with her shame about her roots and about Rose's former profession.

In the fourth book in the series, The Queen of Patpong, as Poke, Rose, and Miaow are dining at a favorite restaurant when Rose "drops her fork with a clatter on top of her cup, which tips over and spreads coffee across the tablecloth." A man approaches the table, someone who knew Rose when she was a dancer. After threatening her and her family, he swaggers away, and Rose tells Poke that the man is someone she thought--and had hoped--she'd killed.

With the help of a menacing partner, the stranger begins a cat-and-mouse game clearly intended to end with Rose's death--and the deaths of her loved ones. Hallinan plays out the plot masterfully, juxtaposing the elements of a tense, modern-day thriller with a sensitive exploration of Rose's past and her transformation from an awkward village girl nicknamed "Stork" to the strong, confident woman she has become.

Much of the book takes place in the past, beginning with Rose's discovery that, although her father has accepted money from her teacher to keep her at home and in school, he has also sold her to someone in the sex trade. She escapes this all-too-common situation with the help of Nana, a former village girl turned bar dancer. Nana also "sells" her, but into a more benevolent system.

Hallinan balances the various elements of this book perfectly. The tension is high throughout. The moral message is both powerful and subtle. Poke's determination to save both the lives and the emotional fabric of his family engages the reader from beginning to end, and the portrayal of Rose is pitch-perfect--thoughtful, insightful, and always authentic.

If you've already fallen in love with Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series, The Queen of Patpong will cement your loyalty. If you haven't...it's probably because you haven't read him.

Those Elusive Reviews

By Beth Terrell

Awhile back, Jean mentioned a famous author who sent out 50 review books. He attributed much of his book's success to this. Then Chester, one of my heroes, told me he'd done the same. Thus armed with advice from Those Who Are In the Know, I obtained 50 review copies and proceeded to search for 50 places to send them.

It's not as easy as it sounds. I got off to a quick start, because Chester kindly gave me a few names and addresses, and as always, I shamelessly dropped his name. Then I added to my list by Googling "mystery reviews" and "mystery reviewers" and also by offering ARCs (Advance Review Copies) to the first five people on the DorothyL list who emailed me asking for one. One, Theresa de Valence, wrote a lovely review and posted it to the listserve. Our own Pat Browning was kind enough to read a copy and give a review. My list grew, then shrunk as I went to review sites only discover that some were defunct, some only reviewed books by the BIG SIX, some only reviewed books published by Lulu or Createspace, some had long lists of reviews but no discernible way of submitting books, and so on. I searched for more, and my list grew again. I sent emails to some Amazon reviewers and one to a reviewer I found on Books'n'Bytes. All of them bounced, sending me scrambling for more recent email addresses. Many of the sites and reviewers I queried simply never replied. Maybe they have a backlog and will get to me eventually.

On the other hand, I checked back on the Thrilling Detective site and found my protagonist, Jared McKean, listed under "Detectives M-Z." That was a serious thrill, especially when I clicked on the link and read, a very nice review that began, "This Nashville cat just may be worth watching." Sending a thank-you note to the reviewer immediately went on my to-do list.

By the way, Chester's Greg and Jill McKenzie are there too, but Sid Chance isn't on the list yet.

Within a few weeks, I'm sure I'll have sent out 50 or more review copies. Will it make a difference? Well, it certainly couldn't hurt. With each online review, my search engine stock goes up. It's even better if I link to the reviews, and better still if I can find some kindly folks to link back to me. My husband thinks I'll be lucky if I ever reach a point where I make as much from my books as I spend trying to promote them. He may be right. Personally, I'd love to move comfortably into the black. But the only way to get there will be to build a readership one Tweet, one Facebook post, one review, one precious reader at a time.