mystery

Mystery Making Event on March 6

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SW Florida Reading Festival Mystery Making March 6, 2021.

You might be wondering what a mystery making event is. Well, let me explain…

Mystery Making is the brainchild of Sisters in Crime New England, a writers organization of which I’m a member. Back when we writers made live presentations, mystery making events were primarily conducted in libraries. A panel of four writers would work with an audience to create a brand-new mystery.

In a mystery making event, members of the audience suggest:

  • Character names
  • The plot and the setting (including time period)
  • Who the unsuspecting victim of foul play is
  • Who the villain is
  • What the motivation for the dastardly deed is

Nowadays, we’re conducting these events virtually and on March 6, Sisters in Crime New England (SinCNE) will be joining our sisters from the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter at the SW Florida Reading Festival. The Florida Gulf Coast Chapter’s booth at the festival includes recorded and live events.

Four of our chapter’s board members will present a live Mystery Making event from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, March 6. Join Lisa Lieberman, Lorraine Sharma Nelson, Tonya Price, and me. Registration information will be available soon.

Main Stage Event

Here is a video of a Main Stage event, Noir at the Bar, hosted by the Lee County Library System. Click the link or image to launch the video.

Save the date for Noir at the Bar, a main stage event at the Southwest Florida Reading Festival.

More Information

The SW Florida Reading Festival runs from March 1 to 13, is free, and involves the following types of activities:

  • Author panels
  • Author presentations
  • Book selling
  • Live author meet-and-greet sessions

Children’s programs air at 6 p.m. and adult programs air at 7 p.m. Featured authors appear in virtual online booths on Saturdays. More information and registration for the event can be found online here.

When the registration URL is available for Linda’s mystery making event on March 6, it will appear here.

Debra Bokur’s new Release: The Fire Thief

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The first book in Debra Bokur’s mystery series, The Fire Thief, was released last month to rave reviews. The series is set in Hawaii and you can check it out on her website at https://www.debrabokur.com/.

Debra visited with me on The Writer’s Voice this week, and we talked about how her career as a celebrated journalist and editor of magazines and literary journals did NOT prepare her for writing and publishing fiction. You can listen to the podcast episode here. A short video excerpt will appear on my YouTube channel on Friday, here.

As most writers will agree, we tend to write long or short. When you’re a journalist, as Debra is, you tend to write to specific word counts required by the outlet publishing your work, such as 1,000 per piece. When you write fiction, you tend to write thousands and thousands of words … only to find you need to slash your word count by as much as 25%.

My experiences have been different from Debra’s. I found that writing a newspaper column and magazine articles actually helped me keep my fiction writing tight and in accordance with required word counts. Then again, I began writing fiction first and found it fairly easy to cut word count. Not every writer can toss away words with relish.

But when you begin writing short nonfiction it’s much more difficult to retrain yourself. Give Debra’s interview a listen and then share YOUR take on how writing one particular type of work did or did not prepare you for tackling another type.

Sarah Osborne, author of the Ditie Brown Mystery Series

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I recently sat down with Sarah Osborne to discuss cozy mysteries, pantsing versus plotting, and her take on writing the first draft so many writers dread.

You can:

Visit Sarah online at: https://doctorosborne.com/

The most recent book in the series, Murder Most Southern, was released last month.

Book Review: THE PLAYER by Brad Parks

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The Player, Parks’ most recent novel in his Carter Ross series, is exciting, amusing, and suspenseful–all in a classy way. In this book, our hero (a reporter for a New Jersey newspaper) investigates the strange and sometimes deadly illnesses affecting a small neighborhood in the city … all while fielding a number of personal and professional curve balls. I rate this 4 stars–it’s very, very good and I won’t be lending my hardcover copy of the book to anyone.

The Player by Brad Parks

Released March 4, 2014 by Minotaur Books

ISBN 978-1-250-008-2