AUTHOR JEANNETTE DE BEAUVOIR ON OUR FASCINATION WITH MURDER AND LOVE OF MURDER MYSTERIES

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Jeannette de Beauvoir didn’t set out to murder anyone—some things are just meant to be! She wrote historical and literary fiction and poetry for years before someone asked her what she read—and she realized mystery was where her heart was. Now working on the Sydney Riley Provincetown mystery series, she bumps off a resident or visitor to her hometown on a regular basis. Learn more about Jeannette and her books at her website.

Murder Most Ladylike

Why is it that women become so engaged with murder mysteries? 

Here’s the thing: while only about a third of published authors in almost all genres are women, women have long made up the majority of adult readers. We read. A lot. And, more and more, both as readers and as writers, we’re turning to crime… the crime of choice being, of course, murder. 

And I’m not just talking about a gentle PBS-Geraldine-McEwan-as-Miss-Marple kind of murder, either: we’re going for violent death as wholeheartedly as have our male counterparts. Think about it: the mysteries that involve a clever theft, or blackmail, or deceit of some sort usually seem, to a seasoned mystery reader, all a little… flat. But put a little murder into the mix, and we perk right up.

Why?

The most obvious answer is that death ups the ante, makes it’s something worth thinking about, worth puzzling over. Reading about death (and especially, perhaps, violent death) allows us to vicariously experience something that we’re afraid of and—most of the time—don’t talk about. It’s a truism that death has replaced sex as the taboo topic of social intercourse; but our psyches still need to deal with it, and preferably in some way far removed from our eventual personal demise. It’s the only explanation I can find for the morbid curiosity that keeps people hanging around the scene of an accident or behind police tape after any tragedy, a sort of fascinated schadenfreude; and it’s a good explanation for why we read murder mysteries.

But it’s not the only one. We also like to see justice done, especially when we perceive that the real world isn’t playing fair with us. If the guilty party is caught and punished in the fiction we read, then perhaps we regain the sense of order that’s lost whenever we hear the news. Every day, we see situations that have us baffled, and our minds seek to cope with them: it often feels that everything is getting way too far out of control. Reading about Inspector Whatever arresting the culprit restores a little harmony, a little control, a little of a feeling of safety.

Ah, safety. To my mind, that’s the real pointer toward why women love murder mysteries. Safety is, for us, an all-important consideration. As women, we understand what it feels like to live with fear humming constantly in the background of our lives. Most of us grew up being consistently told—by the media, by our protective parents, by horror tales at summer camp, by the experiences of our older sisters—just how vulnerable we are. We’re not to wear short skirts. We’re not to walk alone at night. We’re not to smile at men in bars. We’ve been told effectively that just by virtue of being female, we’re wearing a big sign proclaiming, “Victim here! Victim here!”

That low hum is always there in the background; but when we read or write crime fiction, we can explore our fear safely—and we can see it resolved. 

Many of our crime novels feature a woman protagonist, the solver of crimes, the avenger of the innocent. She’s usually more harried than her male counterparts: they tend to be divorced loners, while she’s still trying to hold it all together. Yet she’s the one who takes that body emotionally home with her, she’s the one who always remembers that it’s the victim, and not the killer, who is central to her case. 

As women readers, we identify with this female protagonist. As much as the victim in the autopsy suite, she is us, too: she is working hard to make the world a better place while remembering to pick her twelve-year-old up after hockey practice and getting the mammogram scheduled and buying the broccoli and trying to figure out whether her fifteen-year-old is smoking pot. And yet with all her imperfections, she’s the one who’s going to solve the crime. She’s the one who will restore our faith in balance in the world. She’s the one who will speak for the victim. 

And that’s a very good reason to read mystery fiction.

The Matinée Murders: A Provincetown Mystery

Sydney Riley Series, Book 6

It’s time for the Provincetown International Film Festival, and wedding planner Sydney Riley has scored a coup: her inn is hosting the wedding of the year. Movie star Brett Falcone is to marry screenwriter Justin Braden, and even Sydney’s eternally critical mother is excited. The town is overflowing with filmmakers, film reviewers, film buffs, and it’s all the inn can do to keep up with the influx of glamorous celebrities and host their star-studded events.

But when Sydney opens a forbidden door in the mysterious Whaler’s Wharf, she discovers the body of a producer—and a legion of unanswered questions. Who strangled the innocuous Caroline Cooper? What dark force followed Brett and Justin from LA? Why is her boss Mike tense and double-checking every room at the inn? And is Mirela really leaving P’town forever? Sydney and her boyfriend Ali need to find the answers fast before another victim takes a final bow.

Buy Link

papterback 

ebook 

TRAVEL WITH SERENA--GUEST AUTHOR RICHARD BRAWER ON MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ

Downtown Red Bank, NJ

New Jersey author Richard Brawer writes mystery, suspense and historical fiction. When not writing, he spends his time sailing and searching out local history. Learn more about him and his books at his website.

My mystery series, Murder at the Jersey Shore, is set in and around Red Bank, New Jersey in eastern Monmouth County. Founded in the 1700s at the headwaters of the Navesink River, Red Bank―the city is named for the red dirt that forms the river bank― is an architectural aficionado’s dream.  As the town grew from colonial times to the present, every architectural period is represented―Greek Revival, Second Empire, Colonial, Georgian, Victorian, Contemporary, Classic Italianate, and Commercial.

In 1984 the city had acquired the nickname “Dead Bank”.  Half the storefronts had “for rent” signs in their grimy windows, the merchants having moved to the malls on the highway.  The retailers and restaurateurs that managed to survive were a hardy lot and decided it was time to take action.  In 1991 they created a company called River Center to revive the town. These forward-looking businessmen convinced the politicians to add a surcharge to the commercial property taxes to fund their organization. River Center then used that money to spruce up the town, refurbishing the sidewalks with paver bricks, adding century-old style lampposts and bringing festivals and special events to town.

Today, Red Bank is listed in travel magazines as one of the hundred best weekend getaways in the country and has been dubbed “Hip Town.” The city is a delight to stroll through and gaze at the displays in the windows of the fashion boutiques and art galleries; visit the renowned antique center; take in a show at the renovated 1000 seat Count Basie Theater (the count was born in Red Bank); and eat at one of the restaurants offering a wide variety of fare from neighborhood friendly burgers, Soho chic, elegant Italian and Asian cuisine and scrumptious baked goods at Carlo’s Bakery, the star of Cake Boss. If you should visit Red Bank in the wintertime when it’s cold enough for the river to freeze, make sure you catch the ice boaters. If you’ve never seen iceboating, it’s a sight to behold.

The Battle of Monmouth

While you’re visiting Red Bank, you may want to take a day to travel through other areas of Monmouth County to the sight of The Battle of Monmouth, the longest and last major battle of the Revolutionary War as well as the largest field artillery battle, and where the legend of Molly Pitcher was born; visit the twin lights, in the Highlands where Marconi ran the first test of his wireless telegraphy in the Western Hemisphere and stroll through their maritime museum; take in a day at Monmouth Park Race Track; catch a fishing boat out of the nearby Highlands and Atlantic Highlands marinas; visit Mount Mitchel and pay your respects to the 9/11 victims at the beautiful memorial; or just loll on the beaches of Sandy Hook.

By the way, if you stroll around Sandy Hook, keep your eyes on the ground. The tides continually shift the sand, and Super Storm Sandy created a major disruption. Someone occasionally finds a gold coin from a sunken ship after storms move the sand around.

For colonial history, visit the “Four Corners” in Shrewsbury, the town bordering Red Bank to the south. The “Four Corners” is one of the most historic areas in the country. On the north east corner is a Quaker meetinghouse.  The still active congregation dates back to 1672.  The present meetinghouse was erected in 1816 as the original one had burned.

On the southeast corner is Christ Church, built before the Revolution. It’s an Episcopal congregation and had been a Tory stronghold. One interesting story about the dents in the weather vane on top of the copula is that the dings were supposedly made by loyalists shooting at the vane. East of Christ Church is the Presbyterian Church also built before the Revolution.

If you visit the churches on Sunday, you can worship at the congregation of your choice and at the same time take in the stained glass windows and other artifacts from the colonial era.

On the northwest corner is the Allen House. Formerly an inn and tavern, the building was also built before the Revolution. The Allen House museum is run by the Monmouth County Historical Society and is open to the public.

On a landscaped traffic island in the middle of Sycamore Avenue between the Quaker meeting house and the churches is a plaque which reads, “The Delaware Trail used by the Leni Lenape Indians and later by Washington’s troops as they chased the British from The Battle of Monmouth.”

Murder at the Jersey Shore is a three book mystery series in one volume―Secrets can be Deadly, Diamonds are for Stealing and Murder on the Links, all featuring

detective David Nance and his on-again, off-again relationship with girlfriend Bobbie.

Secrets Can Be Deadly

As a single parent, David Nance’s mother is devoted to her son. When David finds her murdered on the eve of her sixtieth birthday, he sets out to avenge her death. His investigation uncovers a brain-impaired baby born twenty-six years ago that had either been switched at birth or murdered. The mounting evidence forces David to come face to face with the idea that his mother may not only have been involved, but as a delivery room nurse in the hospital for thirty years, may also have been a blackmailer. As David digs into the backgrounds of the murder suspects, he is tormented when one-by-one he realizes each could be his father. One is, but is his father also the murderer?

Diamonds are for Stealing

David Nance is still angry, still mourning his mother when he takes on an insurance case from an old rival. Investigating the circumstances surrounding a missing diamond necklace, the new case throws him into the path of his old nemesis, the man he blames for his mother's death. Already on notice from his girlfriend Bobbie about his insatiable thirst for vengeance, David must walk a fine line between cool, rational deduction and his inner rage. When the body count starts mounting, the trail of diamonds leads him to a dangerous killer and a confrontation with his own demons.

Murder On The Links

Rooting out the murderers of a penny stock scam artist, a mob boss’s daughter, and a prostitute, David Nance uncovers mob-infested stock brokers, fraudulent hedge fund operators, loan sharks, blackmailers and deviant sex addicts from among the high powered CEOs, lawyers, investment bankers, philanthropists and heirs to fortunes at exclusive Riveredge Golf and Country Club.

Buy Link

THIS WEEK'S BOOK WINNER

Thanks to all who stopped by the blog this week and special thanks to Kathleen Kaska, our Book Club Friday guest author. Kathleen offered a copy of Murder at the Luther to one of our commenters. The winner is Brenda W. Brenda, please send your mailing address to me at anastasiapollack@gmail.com so I can forward it to Kathleen.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT...

We normally discuss health, money matters, or decorating on Wednesdays, but today we have something different for our readers. Our guest author, Eleanor Sullo, is here to give us a bit of a women’s history lesson. Eleanor, a pastoral minister, authored over two hundred non-fiction articles, short stories, and newspaper articles before turning her attention to writing novels. Since then, she’s published four romances and four mysteries. She’s also penned a memoir and a cookbook. She’s currently working on two more books in her Menopause Murders series. To learn more about Eleanor and her books, visit her website and her blog. -- AP

Who Are the Women Writers in Our Roots?

Folks have asked me why strong women are the main characters in my books. One reason is that so many women fought against society’s resistance to their artistic talents, picked up their pens and made their marks. Even today women who write romance novels are often looked down upon and almost totally ignored in the field of literature. But in the beginning all novels were called “romances” in the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries.

A small but impressive number of these romances were written by brave and articulate women who defied family and society, to put their written words into print. And not all of them turned out to be romances in the sense that we understand romances today.

We have forgotten, or perhaps like me, never knew, the names of these pioneers. Aphra Behn, for example, is considered the first woman to earn a living writing novels and plays, more than a dozen of each. Aphra wrote in the 17^th century, and her first novel was Oronooko, a tale of horror and adventure that takes place in Surinam where she is said to have had an affair, hardly expected from the life and pen of a proper English woman.

A hundred years later Fanny Birney, denied an education by her father, kept writing whenever she could, then, out of despair, burned all her early manuscripts in a huge bonfire. But Fanny made a courageous comeback, writing popular novels that often portrayed the changing relationships of women with church, state, men and society. One of her better works includes Emiliana, said to have inspired Jane Austen and winning even her father’s approval.

Jane carried on the torch, writing brilliant romantic fiction that clearly portrayed the societal restraints on women, mocked the cruel customs and the wicked ways of “courtly” society. Her Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility are probably on most writers’ bookshelves even today, but it took another writer, leaving romantic fiction behind, to brave new ground and gain the attention of an ever widening readership.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, writing at the end of the 18^th century, is generally regarded as the first of feminist English authors. Who doesn’t know her shocking Frankenstein? Her work also consisted of travel, education, history, and political writing. She’s best known for her A Vindication of the Rights of Women, a treatise way before its time, and a fine work to celebrate women who write.

When the writer Mary Ann Evans took the nom de plume George Eliot in 1871, she did so because she wanted her work to be taken seriously. Although her personal life was a source of scandal, (she never married but lived with her lover) her work was widely recognized for her realism and psychological insight, making her plots ring with truth and her characters unforgettable. In my opinion her Middlemarch is one of the finest novels ever written, and one I read again and again.

Strong women, the characters and writers all.

Thank you for joining us today, Eleanor. What a fascinating post. I know I learned quite a bit from it. What about you, readers? -- AP

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR WARREN BULL

Mystery author Warren Bull is our Book Club Friday guest today. Warren is an award-winning author of more than twenty published short stories as well as memoirs, essays, one novel, and a short story collection. Visit him at his website and his blog where he posts every Friday.

Warren has offered a copy of Murder Manhattan Style to one lucky reader who posts a comment to the blog this week. -- AP

Through the Knothole

When my brother, Dennis, was two years old, he was certain that his dreams came through a knothole in a board in the ceiling over his bed.  When I talk about writing to groups or sign books in a bookstore, inevitably someone asks where my ideas for stories come from.  I wish I had a magic knothole, but I don’t.

In my short story collection Murder Manhattan Style (Ninth Month Publishing, 2010)  I had fifteen different ideas. Some of them must have worked.

In describing Murder Manhattan Style New York Times bestselling author Nancy Pickard, wrote, “Warren Bull is a short story master, and this collection shows him at his best…” Derringer Award winner and author of Memory of a Murder, Earl Staggs wrote, “Highly recommended morsels for when you want to spice up your reading diet with variety.”

I wrote the opening story for an anthology contest sponsored by The Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave.  The requirements were that stories had to take place in or around Manhattan, Kansas and be based on local history.

For me the most exciting time in Manhattan, Kansas was during the days of “Bleeding Kansas” when pro-slavery border ruffians and anti-slavery Jayhawkers battled over whether the Kansas Territory would enter the union as a free state or a slave state.  I had done some research about the time period already but it took quite a bit more for me to get the social mores, technology and family dynamics the story required correct.

It took me nearly as long to write the first line as it took to write the rest of the story. Having an idea for a story is like having an idea about cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for fifteen.  There’s a lot of work required before anything tangible gets accomplished. Fortunately, I was one of the winners and the story was published. That was my first writing award and my first young adult story.

There’s no reason to limit a good idea to one story. Another first for me was when two members of that Manhattan Kansas family then stepped forward to tell me stories of their own.  My protagonist became a secondary character, which he readily accepted. I could build on the research I had already accomplished so I had less heavy lifting to do.  Also I knew the family wouldn’t shut up until I gave each character a turn.  

One year The Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave honored native son Damon Runyon of “Guys and Dolls” fame.  Just for fun I wrote an ad in the style of Damon Runyon, touting the conclave.  The director, Marolyn Caldwell, asked me to write a background mystery for a faux crime scene set up for the conclave. I imagined what would happen if a young man from Manhattan, Kansas ran into the sort of characters that populate a Damon Runyon story.  I knew somebody would get bamboozled — but who?  

I read a newspaper article stating that Valentine’s Day was a busy time for private detectives.  Apparently spouses and lovers hire private investigators to check out their partners’ faithfulness.  That sounded like the basis of a fun story.   To round out the set of stories, I wrote a love story in the style of Damon Runyon, featuring my wife. You can tell she’s a forgiving soul. We’re still married.

My friend and mentor, Bob Isles, now deceased, wrote a series of short stories about a private detective who is a returning World War II vet.  With his permission I borrowed the setting from his stories to introduce a new character.  It was hoot fitting my characters into another writer’s mental universe. I ended up with my favorite short story to read aloud.  Again, characters from the first story had more to say and I let them say it so they would leave me alone.  I ended up with one very dark and one very funny story.  

The next set of stories returned again to Manhattan, Kansas, this time in the present. The first story was set during a Manhattan Mystery Conclave and included characters you might have heard of, including me.  One story theme, and title too, came to me while listening to a forensic lab director at a Sisters in Crime meeting. I thought, “I could write a story about that.” And I did. Another story idea came from listening to an evening news story about a carjacking in which it was feared that a child might have been in the car that was stolen. I thought “Yes, but what if…and then if…” The story twisted and turned on its own in a most entertaining way.

At the end of the book I included three more stories that don’t happen in either Manhattan because as an author I did not want to leave them out. One was heavily influenced by my work as a psychologist and my respect for my clients. Another story was substantially altered from the original by my experience as a cancer patient.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Warren. Readers, if you’d like a chance to read the stories in Murder Manhattan Style, post a comment. One lucky person will win a copy of the book. -- AP

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR LOIS WINSTON, PART 1

In celebration of the release of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN (which is officially January 8th, but the book is already available at Amazon and elsewhere), the book about me, I’ve invited Lois Winston, the author who has undertaken the task of telling my story, to join us today and next Friday.  -- AP

Thanks, Anastasia. Personally, I have a feeling I was invited to fill these two slots because today is Christmas Eve, and next week is New Year’s Eve. How many people are out there reading blogs today? Or will be next week?


Busted!


No matter. I’m happy to tell you all about ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Here’s where I get to spill some of Anastasia’s secrets.


Don’t say anything we might regret!


Not to worry. We both want everyone to buy the book, so I won’t be spilling the beans, merely dropping a few appetizers to whet everyone’s appetite.


What’s with all the food metaphors? I think you’ve been spending too much time with Cloris.


It’s the muffins. Meanwhile, back to the book. For those of you who don’t know what ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN is about:


When Anastasia Pollack's husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Las Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life craps out. Suddenly, she’s juggling two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, a communist mother-in-law, AND her dead husband’s loan shark. And that’s before she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a coworker she discovers hot glued to her office chair.


Thanks for reminding me. I’ve been trying to get that image out of my head ever since you wrote it.


Sorry about that. How about if we introduce your readers to your mother-in-law?


Good idea! You sure did create a lot of family conflict with that one. Besides, I need all the sympathy I can get.



Excerpt from Chapter One of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN:
I hate whiners. Always have. So I was doing my damnedest not to become one in spite of the lollapalooza of a quadruple whammy that had broadsided me last week. Not an easy task, given that one of those lollapalooza whammies had barged into my bedroom and was presently hammering her cane against my bathroom door.

“Damn it, Anastasia! Hot water doesn’t grow on trees, you know!”

Some people can’t start the day without a cigarette. Lucille Pollack, Monster-in-Law from the Stygian Swamp, can’t start hers without a sludge load of complaints. As much as I detest cigarettes, I’d much prefer a nicotine-puffing mother- in-law, as long as she came with an occasional kind word and a semi-pleasant disposition. Unfortunately, marriage is a package deal. Husbands come with family. And mine came with a doozie to end all doozies.

My mother-in-law is a card-carrying, circa nineteen-thirties communist. When she met me, it was hate at first sight. I bear the name of a dead Russian princess, thanks to my mother’s unsubstantiated Romanov link -- a great- grandmother with the maiden name of Romanoff. With Mama, the connection is more like sixty, not six, degrees of separation, and the links are coated with a thick layer of rust. But that’s never stopped Mama from bragging about our royal ancestry, and it set the tone for my relationship -- or lack of it -- with my mother-in-law from Day One.

I suppose I didn’t help the situation by naming one of my sons Nicholas and the other Alexander, even if they were named after my grandfathers -- Alexander Periwinkle and Nicholas Sudberry. 

(end of excerpt -- Read more at my website.)

Why don’t you tell everyone about the blog tour you’ve set up to promote me and the book about me?

Great idea!

I do have them occasionally.

In celebration of the release of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, I’ll be doing a blog tour beginning next week and running throughout January. You can find the schedule on my website, http://www.loiswinston.com, and here on the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers sidebar. Everyone who posts a comment to any of the blogs over the course of the month will be entered into a drawing to receive one of 5 copies of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN. (If your email isn’t included in your comment, email me privately at lois@loiswinston.com to let me know you’ve entered.)

In addition, I’m also giving away a collection of crafts books at several of the blogs. So look for those as well. 


And to any of the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers readers I'm also giving away an assortment of crafts books to one person who posts a comment this week. So let's hear from you, and be sure to check back on Sunday to see if you're the winner.

Thanks for having me here today, Anastasia. And Merry Christmas, everyone!