MYSTERY AUTHOR ANNE LOUISE BANNON ASKS: ARE BOOKS SET IN THE 1980'S CONSIDERED HISTORICAL FICTION?

Mystery author Anne Louise Bannon is an author and journalist who wrote her first novel at age fifteen. Her journalistic work has appeared in Ladies' Home Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Wines and Vines, and in newspapers across the country. She also spent more than ten years as a TV critic. In addition to her mystery series, Anne is also the co-author of Howdunit: Book of Poisons with Serita Stevens. Learn more about Anne and her books at her website.  

Is it Historical Yet?

In my youth, I came up with a perfectly lovely series of spy novels that turned out to be more romance than spy. Over the years, I’ve re-written them, fleshed out the characters, officially named it the Operation Quickline series, but one thing held up – the original 1980s setting.

So, fast forward to a couple of years ago. I’m at a writers’ meeting and someone asks this agent what she considers historical, and she says late 1980s and before. Okay. The days of my tender youth are now considered history. Hmmm.

When it comes to my own aging, I’m pretty cool with it. I wear my gray hair proudly. I’m working on accepting my extra pounds with the same grace. I’m certainly not going to lie about my age, which is almost sixty-two. After all, I have had the good fortune to last as long as I have, and with God’s grace, I’ve got another couple of decades or so to go.

But wrapping my brain around the idea that people consider the time of my early twenties as history. That one is going to take more work than getting used to the extra weight. I get that it’s over thirty years ago, almost forty. But that still says recent past to me. I mean, it doesn’t feel like it was all that long ago.

Yet, in some ways, it really is. The daughter I gave birth to was born in the middle of that decade and is now thirty-five years old. The world has changed quite a bit since I was the first person in the theatre department at Cal State, Fullerton to write a masters thesis on a word processor. The phone I put in my pocket has more computing power than that Apple IIe that I wrote on.

Attitudes have changed. I have changed. I hope I’ve gotten more resilient since then, and I really hope I’ve gotten a lot more open-minded. I know I’m a better writer than I was then, which is why I made the decision to re-write the Operation Quickline series. 

The joy of working with something I wrote so long ago is revisiting those times, looking at the person I was then, and realizing, yeah, I have grown, and not just my waistline. And there’s also looking at my old work and realizing that I was not a bad writer. And that I was pretty darned cute in my mid-to-late-twenties. Yes, that is a mullet I’m wearing in that photo – it was the best-damned haircut I ever had. If only it weren’t so dated. Sigh.

Finally, there’s the blessing of having those everyday kinds of details already in the text so that I don’t have to remember when we got word processors and when the full Star Wars trilogy was first available on video. Even if I have to look something up, I have a starting point and a frame of reference that I will never have for Nineteenth Century Los Angeles, no matter how many pictures I look at, and books I read.

So, I guess it’s not all bad having someone call the time of my youth history. It’s still going to take some time to get used to, but with luck, I’ll be around long enough to call it ancient history.

Operation Quickline Box Set

A compilation of the first five books in the Operation Quickline series, featuring Lisa Wycherly and Sid Hackbirn, agents for an ultra top-secret organization, who may seem like opposites but have a lot more in common than they think. The set includes the following titles:

That Old Cloak and Dagger Routine

Lisa Wycherly had no idea what she was getting into when Sid Hackbirn recruited her as his partner in an ultra top-secret organization called Operation Quickline. But then, neither did Sid.

Stopleak

Lisa and Sid are set up as bait to plug a leak in the system. Surviving the elaborate trap will be a lot easier than learning to appreciate each other.

Deceptive Appearances

When Sid and Lisa are called to Lisa's home town of South Lake Tahoe, they find themselves in the middle of a murder and a drug operation. 

Fugue in a Minor Key

Lisa's nephew is in trouble at school. An old girlfriend of Sid's has dropped his son into his lap. Oh, and they have to find out who's selling secrets from local defense plants.

Sad Lisa

Lisa gets engaged to her boyfriend only to have the case she and Sid are working blow up in the worst possible way.

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ANASTASIA’S EASY-TO-KEEP NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION SUGGESTION

We’re four days into the New Year. Did you make any resolutions? If not, may I suggest you resolve to discover some new mystery authors this year? What? You’re reluctant to give a new author a try because too often by the end of the first chapter (or even sooner) you realize you don’t like the book and have no desire to continue reading?

I’ve been there. Sometimes I keep reading, hoping the book will get better, but it rarely does. It’s so frustrating to have wasted both time and money on a book I didn’t like. If you know anything about me, you know I have neither time nor money to waste.

After too many negative reading experiences some readers wind up swearing they’ll only read their tried-and-true favorite authors, never again giving an unknown-to-them author a try. However, when you only stick with authors you know, you never experience the joy of discovering a new favorite author. Think about what you could be missing!

I have the perfect solution, and it will only cost you a mere .99 cents. And that’s for not one but ten full-length mysteries. That’s right—ten books by ten different authors for less than a dollar. Invest another .99 cents, and you can try ten companion novellas, eight by the same authors of the mystery novels, plus two additional authors.

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries features works by authors Lois Winston (she’s the author who writes about me!), Jonnie Jacobs, Judy Alter, Camille Minichino, Mary Kennedy, Maggie Toussaint, Heather Haven, Susan Santangelo, RP Dahlke, and Vinnie Hansen. Each full-length mystery is the first book in an ongoing series.

Sleuthing Women II: 10 Mystery Novellas features companion stories to existing series by the writing team of Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin, Lois Winston, Maggie Toussaint, Jonnie Jacobs, Camille Minichino, Heather Haven, Vinnie Hansen, Mary Kennedy, Judy Alter, and Rita Lakin.

So resolve this year to discover some new favorite authors. If you find you don't care for some of the stories in the collections, move on to the next. Taste is subjective. However, you never know. Even if you only like one book in each set, that author just might become one of your all-time favorite authors.

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston—Working mom Anastasia is clueless about her husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips and her comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves her with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. Then she’s accused of murder…

Murder Among Neighbors, a Kate Austen Suburban Mystery by Jonnie Jacobs — When Kate Austen’s socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, Kate becomes involved in a sea of steamy secrets that bring her face to face with shocking truths—and handsome detective Michael Stone.

Skeleton in a Dead Space, a Kelly O’Connell Mystery by Judy Alter—Real estate isn’t a dangerous profession until Kelly O’Connell stumbles over a skeleton and runs into serial killers and cold-blooded murderers in a home being renovated in Fort Worth. Kelly barges through life trying to keep from angering her policeman boyfriend Mike and protect her two young daughters.

In for a Penny, a Cleopatra Jones Mystery by Maggie Toussaint—Accountant Cleo faces an unwanted hazard when her golf ball lands on a dead banker. The cops think her BFF shot him, so Cleo sets out to prove them wrong. She ventures into the dating world, wrangles her teens, adopts the victim’s dog, and tries to rein in her mom…until the killer puts a target on Cleo’s back.

The Hydrogen Murder, a Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—A retired physicist returns to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts and moves into an apartment above her friends' funeral home. When she signs on to help the Police Department with a science-related homicide, she doesn't realize she may have hundreds of cases ahead of her.

Retirement Can Be Murder, A Baby Boomer Mystery by Susan Santangelo—Carol Andrews dreads her husband Jim’s upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain. She can’t imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it—until Jim is suspected of murdering his retirement coach.

Dead Air, A Talk Radio Mystery by Mary Kennedy—Psychologist Maggie Walsh moves from NY to Florida to become the host of WYME's On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. When her guest, New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii, turns up dead, her new roommate Lark becomes the prime suspect. Maggie must prove Lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.

A Dead Red Cadillac, A Dead Red Mystery by RP Dahlke—When her vintage Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask aero-ag pilot Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher is found strapped in the driver’s seat. Lalla confronts suspects, informants, cross-dressers, drug-running crop dusters, and a crazy Chihuahua on her quest to find the killer.

Murder is a Family Business, an Alvarez Family Murder Mystery by Heather Haven—Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve.

Murder, Honey, a Carol Sabala Mystery by Vinnie Hansen—When the head chef collapses into baker Carol Sabala’s cookie dough, she is thrust into her first murder investigation. Suspects abound at Archibald’s, the swanky Santa Cruz restaurant where Carol works. The head chef cut a swath of people who wanted him dead from ex-lovers to bitter rivals to greedy relatives.

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Sleuthing Women II: 10 Mystery Novellas

Frosted, A Moreno & Hart Novella by Allison Brennan & Laura Griffin—Three years ago LAPD Detective Scarlet Moreno and rookie cop Krista Hart were nearly killed during a botched sting operation. Now, they’re best friends and partners in the Orange County private investigation firm of Moreno & Hart. But their routine assignments are anything but safe.

Crewel Intentions, An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Novella by Lois Winston—Craft editor Anastasia Pollack receives a desperate call for help from former fashion editor Erica Milano, now in Witness Protection. Erica is being stalked and is afraid to notify the authorities. She once saved Anastasia’s life. Will Anastasia be able to return the favor before the stalker strikes?

No Quarter, A Cleopatra Jones Novella by Maggie Toussaint—Amnesia, the doctor says when accountant Cleopatra Jones wakes in a distant hospital. Hours later most of her memory returns. Detective Jack Martinez visits Cleo’s nearby wealthy client, only she’s dead and broke. To Cleo’s horror, she’s a murder suspect. Will she totally recover her memory before the killer returns? 

What the Widow Knew, A Kali-O’Brien Novella by Jonnie Jacobs —Attorney Kali O’Brien takes on the case of a young woman accused of murdering her much older, very rich husband. As evidence mounts and other possible suspects are eliminated, Kali’s doubts about her client’s innocence grow. Meanwhile, Kali is also grappling with her feelings for longtime boyfriend Detective Bryce Keating.

The Magnesium Murder, A Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—While freelance embalmer Anastasia Brent prepares the body of a young bride-to-be, she learns the girl’s mother suspects foul play. Once again Anastasia is pressed into service as a sleuth, following a trail of clues in search of a murderer and justice.

Honeymoons Can Be Murder, A Lee Alvarez Novella by Heather Haven— When PI Lee Alvarez goes on her honeymoon with bridegroom, Gurn Hanson, they find a dead woman practically on their doorstep. Kauai breezes may be soft, but there are gale force winds of accusation against Gurn. Will Lee find the real killer before her new hubby gets sent to a Hawaiian hoosegow?

Smoked Meat, A Carol Sabala Novella by Vinnie Hansen—Baker and wannabe sleuth Carol Sabala visits her mother for a family Christmas get-together. It’s murder, in more ways than one.

A Deadly Fundraiser, A Talk Radio Novella by Mary Kennedy—When radio talk show host Dr. Maggie Walsh and her pals start digging up clues in a scavenger hunt at a glitzy fundraiser, the game suddenly turns deadly. Will Maggie and her team be able to crack the case and solve the crime?

The Color of Fear, A Kelly O’Connell Novella by Judy Alter—Kelly receives a written kidnap threat targeting her infant daughter, Gracie. Kelly’s assistant Keisha narrates as Kelly and her family plot their precautions, but as time passes and the threat still looms, fear takes a toll on the family…and on Keisha.

Papa’s Ghost, A Gladdy Gold Mystery Novella by Rita Lakin—Gladdy and her girls accept an assignment iat a famous resort in Key West, thinking it will combine business with pleasure. Once they arrive, Gladdy suspects something is strange. Not only is their client an unexpected shock, but so is the case of murder they are expected to solve. Can they succeed when a whole city is against them?

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FAVORITES, FAILURES & FRUSTRATIONS--ANASTASIA SOUNDS OFF

The Weeds That Devoured Westfield

Anastasia here, and I’m frustrated.

We used to have next-door neighbors who took great pride in their backyard garden. From my kitchen window I could gaze out at a cornucopia of beautiful flowerbeds as I scrubbed pots and pans. Unfortunately, a few years ago these neighbors sold their house and moved away. More unfortunately still, the people who bought that house have left the lovely yard go to pot. (No, they’re not growing pot; that would be illegal in New Jersey. I’m talking about the other type of pot, the kind that grows out of neglect.)

My driveway butts up against the edge of their backyard. There’s no fence or wall blocking what has become a jungle of weeds. Some of these weeds are seven and eight feet tall. By the end of the summer they’ll probably grow another five feet or so. After all, weeds grow, well, like weeds, right?

I could understand if these neighbors were elderly and couldn’t keep up with the demands of yard work. If that were the case, I’d do the neighborly thing and pull the weeds myself, even though circumstances don’t allow for me having much in the way of free time (thanks to Dead Louse of a Spouse leaving me up the wazoo in debt and two steps away from living out of cardboard box if I don’t spend every available minute moonlighting to make ends meet.) But these people are not elderly; they’re at least a decade younger than I am.

They could hire someone to do the work for them. Finances are not an issue for them. They have money to spend on fancy cars and expensive furniture. Neither is time an issue. Not only is the husband a stay-at-home dad, the wife’s mother lives with them. Both are able-bodied and quite capable of pulling up weeds. So could their kids with next to no instruction because there’s nothing but weeds in the yard at this point. All the flowers are long dead.

I’ve tried talking to my neighbors. The neighbors who live behind them have also tried because the weeds are spreading into their yard. The weeds are also pushing up through the asphalt, destroying my driveway, a driveway I can’t afford to repave (again thanks to Dead Louse of a Spouse.) The weed seeds also blow throughout the neighborhood, creating more yard work for all the other neighbors.

I have to wonder why people who refuse to take care of their property buy homes in the first place. Why don’t they buy a condo or move to an HOA community where their fees would pay for landscaping upkeep?

Have you ever had to deal with neighbors like this? Anyone have any suggestions?

For those of you unfamiliar with the Dead Louse of a Spouse reference, you can learn all about my circumstances in Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by Lois Winston. The book is currently featured in SleuthingWomen: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries boxed ebook set, for the phenomenally low price of just .99 cents.

As a working mom I'm clueless about my husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips, and my comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves me with staggering debt, our two kids, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. And that’s all before I'm accused of murder!

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GUEST AUTHOR HEATHER HAVEN ON BLENDED HERITAGE SLEUTHS

Some people say America is a melting pot; others call it a salad bowl. Either way we’re a country made up of many cultural and ethnic groups that have played a huge part in making us who we are as a whole, both enriching and educating us. Heather Haven has tapped into this amalgam in her Alvarez Family Mystery series by creating a character whose genes are one part Mexican immigrant, one part Caucasian blueblood—and all parts fun to read.

Award-winning author Heather began her writing career at No Soap Radio in New York City. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

People have asked what inspired me to write the Alvarez Family Mysteries. The answer is I’m intrigued by the dynamics of familial relationships and America’s history of immigrants rising to heights often unattainable in their native countries.

That lofty statement made – and pahdon me whilst I play the grand piano – the truth is there’s something about a family who does their darnedest to be supportive and positive no matter what, that can be heartwarming and often hilarious. So enter the Alvarez Family, owners of Discretionary Inquiries, a Silicon Valley based detective agency.

The lineup includes Liana (Lee), protagonist and in-house detective; Lila, CEO, aristocratic, never-had-a bad-hair-day mother; Richard, computer nerd kid brother, brilliant but goofy; Tío, uncle and retired executive chef who gives unconditional love while frying up the best tortillas in town; and, of course, Tugger, the foundling kitten helping to reunite the family in a most passive yet feline way.

Regarding Lee Alvarez, I wanted the protagonist of the series to be an intelligent, quirky, and flawed woman, but not so much so she can’t learn and grow. Mainly, Lee’s happy to be in the world. She loves life. She strives to be a B&BP or a bigger and better person, even while she’s spilling coffee all over herself. I adore her and hope it shows.

Also, and this is important to me, she’s of blended heritage, half Mexican immigrant (her father’s side) and half Palo Alto Blueblood (her mother’s side) i.e., Mexican American. There are days when she’s up, down, all over the place.

I can relate to this big time. The Italian half of my family came to the States at the turn of the 20^th century, when it was difficult to be an Italian immigrant. Traditionally, the newest ones in are always the most challenged. But also traditionally, immigrants usually work hard to integrate, to become useful and respected members of our society. No pity, just hard work, with love and good times thrown in. Olé!

The Alvarez Family Mystery Series shows a family managing to capture the American dream today while stumbling over dead bodies and solving crimes in one of the hottest places in the nation, Silicon Valley. All with a few laughs.

I am proud to say Murder is a Family Business, Book 1 of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, is included in Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries. The lineup of the other nine authors is impressive as will see below. We are a murdering lot, but fun!

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries is a collection of full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem by ten critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors. Each novel in the set is the first book in an established multi-book series—a total of over 3,000 pages of reading pleasure for lovers of amateur sleuth, caper, and cozy mysteries, with a combined total of over 1700 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4 stars. Titles include:

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston—Working mom Anastasia is clueless about her husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips and her comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves her with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. Then she’s accused of murder…

Murder Among Neighbors, a Kate Austen Suburban Mystery by Jonnie Jacobs — When Kate Austen’s socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, Kate becomes involved in a sea of steamy secrets that bring her face to face with shocking truths—and handsome detective Michael Stone.

Skeleton in a Dead Space, a Kelly O’Connell Mystery by Judy Alter—Real estate isn’t a dangerous profession until Kelly O’Connell stumbles over a skeleton and runs into serial killers and cold-blooded murderers in a home being renovated in Fort Worth. Kelly barges through life trying to keep from angering her policeman boyfriend Mike and protect her two young daughters.

In for a Penny, a Cleopatra Jones Mystery by Maggie Toussaint—Accountant Cleo faces an unwanted hazard when her golf ball lands on a dead banker. The cops think her BFF shot him, so Cleo sets out to prove them wrong. She ventures into the dating world, wrangles her teens, adopts the victim’s dog, and tries to rein in her mom…until the killer puts a target on Cleo’s back.

The Hydrogen Murder, a Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—A retired physicist returns to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts and moves into an apartment above her friends' funeral home. When she signs on to help the Police Department with a science-related homicide, she doesn't realize she may have hundreds of cases ahead of her.

Retirement Can Be Murder, A Baby Boomer Mystery by Susan Santangelo—Carol Andrews dreads her husband Jim’s upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain. She can’t imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it—until Jim is suspected of murdering his retirement coach.

Dead Air, A Talk Radio Mystery by Mary Kennedy—Psychologist Maggie Walsh moves from NY to Florida to become the host of WYME's On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. When her guest, New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii, turns up dead, her new roommate Lark becomes the prime suspect. Maggie must prove Lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.

A Dead Red Cadillac, A Dead Red Mystery by RP Dahlke—When her vintage Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask aero-ag pilot Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher is found strapped in the driver’s seat. Lalla confronts suspects, informants, cross-dressers, drug-running crop dusters, and a crazy Chihuahua on her quest to find the killer.

Murder is a Family Business, an Alvarez Family Murder Mystery by Heather Haven—Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve.

Murder, Honey, a Carol Sabala Mystery by Vinnie Hansen—When the head chef collapses into baker Carol Sabala’s cookie dough, she is thrust into her first murder investigation. Suspects abound at Archibald’s, the swanky Santa Cruz restaurant where Carol works. The head chef cut a swath of people who wanted him dead from ex-lovers to bitter rivals to greedy relatives.

Buy Links

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

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