AUTHOR SASSCER HILL ON HOW A HORSE RACE LED TO A BOOK CONTRACT

American Pharoah

Author Sasscer Hill was involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for most of her life. Her mystery-thrillers portray the world of horse racing, and the skullduggery that big money and gambling so often attract. Learn more about Sasscer and her books at her website. 

In June of 2015, the incredible happened! St. Martin’s Press showed interest in publishing my manuscript, Flamingo Road. But the sales and marketing department worried that it would be difficult to sell a horse racing mystery.

 

I found out later that my St. Martin’s editor struggled to secure their permission. In the middle of this, the awesome racehorse American Pharoah was on his way to breaking a drought where no horse had won the Triple Crown in twenty-seven-years.

 

At home, I was on pins and needles waiting for St. Martin’s to decide. On May 16, American Pharoah raced in the final leg of the Triple Crown. When he blasted down the stretch on the lead, I yelled so loud, the dog and cat fled from the TV room. The horse won, and in tears, I turned to my husband and said, “I’m going to get that deal with St. Martin’s!” The next day American Pharoah’s win appeared on the cover of every newspaper, and on every morning TV show. The day after that St. Martin’s sent me a two-book contract for the Fia McKee series. 

 

I immediately finished writing The Dark Side of Town and sent the manuscript to St. Martin’s. That book was shortlisted for a Claymore Award.

 

I was thrilled that my lifelong love of horses and my thirty plus years of breeding and training the almost spiritual Thoroughbred racehorse had led me to a publishing contract with one of the “Big Four” publishers, MacMillan who owns St. Martin’s Press.

 

I wanted to base my third Fia McKee novel at Santa Anita Racecourse where HBO filmed the ill-fated series “Luck.” During HBO’s filming, too many horses died from film crew ignorance and mishandling. The show was canceled. Fia McKee would be hired to protect the horses in a fictional horse racing movie. I have friends in the horseracing industry, and since it’s not what you know, but who you know, in 2016, I flew to Los Angeles and headed North to Santa Anita racetrack. I’d obtained an invitation for lunch and a tour by the track’s Special Operations manager, Pete Siberell. 

 

Astonishingly, my lunch companion turned out to be the point man who dealt with HBO when they were filming “Luck.” Pete told me everything I needed to know to write my novel, but sadly, the first two books in the Fia McKee series were not selling well and St. Martin’s dropped me like a hot potato. In April of 2018, Flamingo Road won the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Award for Best Book in Horse Racing Literature, beating Felix Francis’s Pulse. St. Martin’s Press was unimpressed.

 

So, I did what authors often do and started a new series. I completed the novel Travels of Quinn, A Quinn O’Neill Mystery, but my agent barely tried to sell it, saying that my poor sales with St. Martin’s made me a nonstarter. I self-published the book, and in July of this year, it was shortlisted for a Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery of 2020.

 

Unwilling to give up my Santa Anita novel, I turned it into the fifth book in my Nikki Latrelle series, Shooting Star. It debuted in July and has received great reviews including one from The Midwest Book Review.

 

I do hope mystery readers will take a gamble, give this novel a test ride, and catch a Shooting Star!

 

Shooting Star

A Nikki Latrelle Mystery, Book 5

 

When Nikki’s ex-lover Will hires her to protect the horses used to film a movie at Santa Anita Racetrack, she learns evil is alive and well in Hollywood.

 

Keeping Thoroughbreds safe from a director who doesn’t know a horse from a hamster is tricky. More difficult are the unresolved feelings between her and Will, especially when sexy, young movie star, Jamie Jackson, sets his sights on Nikki.

 

But when a sniper’s bullet shatters the brain of a cameraman close enough that she can smell his blood, Nikki’s need to protect the film crew overrides everything. Her sleuthing unearths a trail of corruption and when she must lie to Will to protect his life, she’s on her own. Can she identify the evil behind the scenes before she and Will become the next victims?

 

Shooting Star is the fifth rocket-paced story in the award-winning Nikki Latrelle mystery series. If you like protagonists with heart and courage, unexpected twists, and a thrill ride to the finish, you’ll love Shooting Star.

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--A LOOK INTO THE WORLD OF THE GYPSY TRAVELLERS WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR SASSCER HILL

Multi-award winning author Sasscer Hill was involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for most of her life. She sets her novels against a background of big money, gambling, and horse racing. Her latest book, a standalone mystery-thriller based on the con artists known as Irish American Travelers, is a departure from that world but not from horses. Learn more about Sasscer and her books at her website.

I’d like to tell you a little about the strange culture of the American gypsies known as Irish American Travellers.

My new novel, Travels of Quinn, a dark-cozy mystery, is based loosely on the largest clan of these people in the US, located only thirty-five minutes from my house. Some might remember a reality show called “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.” It was filmed in the town, Murphy Village, South Carolina. 

The culture of the Travellers is strange, to say the least. Children are taken out of school no later than seventh or eighth grade. Girls stay at home and are locked into marriage contracts, often when only five years old. Locally, we've seen little girls with diamond engagement rings, and they are always dressed to kill. Full makeup, and "big hair" with teasing, mousse and extensions, and sometimes even wigs. These people are extremely insular, sticking to themselves, and avoiding outsiders as a way of preserving their culture. 

Like grifters, the men and boys travel out of state, during warm weather, running home improvement swindles. Many Travellers speak a secret language, a mixture of Gaelic and English called “Cant”– useful when pulling off a scam. But many people who know them say most Travellers are honest hard-working people. 

Researching this story, I met with law enforcement officials including the head of the county detention center and a criminal defense attorney who represents Travellers. I met with the county prosecutor, and the judge for the second Judicial Circuit in South Carolina, who has presided over their cases. I was so fascinated by these people, I wanted to drive into Murphy Village and see if the stories about their McMansions and the trailers they often continue to live in were true.

People told me, “Don’t go there, it’s dangerous. They will run you out. You could even get hurt!”

 But we all know writers are crazy, so off I went with my iPhone video camera and my husband at the wheel. Murphy Village, called “Tinkers Town” in my novel, had one way in with cross streets ending in cul-de-sacs or dead ends that forced us to make awkward K turns to get out. That made me feel vulnerable, except no one bothered us. 

As promised, there were McMansions, trailers, and numerous statues of Catholic saints in the yards outside. A number of huge front doors had orange stickers on them. We couldn’t imagine what those were for. We drove slowly through the village for at least twenty minutes shooting video, and no one cared. The place was dead quiet, and I decided the people who’d uttered dire warnings didn’t know what they were talking about.

Imagine my shock the next morning when the newspaper announced that the day we’d been there, twenty-two people in Murphy Village had been arrested on fraud and racketeering charges. No wonder nobody bothered us! We just got lucky. Oh, and those orange stickers? They were forfeiture notices. The feds were confiscating these people’s homes.

Imagine if you will, the story of Quinn O’Neill, a nineteen-year-old woman who was born into this culture. Imagine she wants out, but she’s torn with indecision. Her parents signed her into a marriage contract to a young criminal she doesn’t love. But does she really want to leave everything she knows and be ostracized by her family? Is there a way she can escape?

Travels of Quinn

Born an Irish American gypsy Traveller, Quinn’s father and step-family raise her to be a con artist. Can she escape a dreaded marriage contract and a life of crime?

Jailed for theft, Quinn pays restitution by working on a horse farm. Unfamiliar with horses, her love for them surprises her. They make her hope for a better world.

Until the farm’s owner is brutally murdered and Quinn is the prime suspect.

On the run, Quinn uses every scam and con she knows to save herself. Can she find the real killer before she’s imprisoned for life or murdered because she knows too much?

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#TRAVEL WITH SERENA--AIKEN, SC WITH AUTHOR PAULA GAIL BENSON

Aiken County Historical Museum

Short story author Paula Gail Benson is a legislative attorney and former law librarian. Her work has been published in various writing journals, magazines and anthologies. She joins us today to talk about Aiken, SC, an author-friendly town. Learn more about Paula at the Writers Who Kill and The Stiletto Gang blogs and at her website. 

Why Aiken Is A Writer’s Town
Aiken, SC, nestled at South Carolina’s western border, not far from Augusta, Georgia, and the Savannah River, the states’ boundary line, is appealing on many levels and the perfect place for a writer to vacation, with or without family. Living there can be pleasant, too. Just ask Sasscer Hill, author of the Nikki Latrelle series, who moved from Maryland to Aiken a few years ago and is thriving in this southern community of horse racing enthusiasts.
 

Wilcox Hotel

I’ve visited Aiken many times, but this year have come to value the qualities that make it a writer’s town. I was invited on the Friday before the Fourth of July weekend to talk with a group of 4th and 5th graders in a summer school program about what makes up a story. The children were courteous and eagerly wrote their own stories as a photographer from the Aiken Standard took candid shots. I received the invitation based on the recommendation of Fran Bush, a local bookseller who maintains strong relationships with educators. I took the opportunity to stay at the famed Willcox hotel, which has hosted many celebrities and where FDR is rumored to have met with former social secretary Lucy Mercer, a resident of Aiken, on his train trips to the “Little White House” and rehabilitative facility in Warm Springs, Georgia.
 

Museum Exhibit

History buffs should definitely visit Banksia, a former winter “cottage” where Vanderbilts and Astors were entertained. It now houses the Aiken County Historical Museum. (Please note that a residence could not be considered a “cottage” if it had less than twenty rooms.) In the museum, you can find displays describing events and people that influenced the area including Hernando Desoto’s encounter with an Indian Princess while searching for gold, colonial pioneers creating towns out of wilderness, railroad tycoons building their empires, former classmates pitted against each other in a Civil War battle, Aiken’s growing reputation as a health resort that attracted wealthy visitors, and the “cold war” that led to the building of the Savannah River Plant for making thermonuclear materials.
 
Aiken supports the arts in various ways. Its downtown features numerous shops that offer not only second hand and antique items, but also handcrafted jewelry and art works. The Aiken chapter of the AAUW recently sponsored a lunch visit with mystery authors Charles and Caroline Todd. The Aiken Community Playhouse is a thriving theatre that produces a diverse season of shows. Last year, I attended a very moving performance of To Kill a Mockingbird that left not a dry eye in the house.
 

Aiken Horse Statue

Most notable for those who live in Aiken are the equestrian events and facilities. It is the home of polo games and steeplechase. Throughout the town, you’ll find horse statutory that have been decorated in various motifs. You can tour the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum as well as see the farms, training areas, and sports venues.

The appeal for writers is in the many unique coffee houses and dining spots, like the New Moon Cafe, with outdoor tables for writing and people watching. A lovely, well-stocked library is centrally located in an historic building. Within the city limits and close to the museums are Rye Patch, formerly a winter estate used to entertain the Duke of Windsor and his bride, Wallis Simpson, and Hopewell Gardens, another former estate that is now a public garden. Both locations are open for touring, picnicking, and enjoying.
 
With temperate weather throughout the year and the excellent local Booklovers’ Bookstore in nearby Windsor, Aiken has all the qualities to be a writer’s paradise.

“Ghost of a Chance,” featured in the A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder anthology

When Heck, a pirate first mate with a treacherous captain, spies a ghost ship following the pirate vessel, will it prove to be Heck’s ultimate damnation or possible redemption?

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