Cartoon of the Day: The Muse

SASSCER HILL'S ODYSSEY: Guest Post by Sasscer Hill

SASSCER HILL:
SASSCER HILL’S ODYSSEY 

My author journey has been a long and crooked path. My first book, the “Nikki Latrelle” novel, FULL MORTALITY, came out with a very small press in 2010 and was nominated for Best First Agatha and Macavity Awards. Three books later, I had a new agent and landed a two-book deal with St. Martin’s Minotaur for the “Fia McKee” mystery series.

Sadly, I learned that my Minotaur editor, who loved the books, had to battle with the marketing and sales departments who were convinced a horse racing mystery was a nonstarter. With that self-fulfilling prophecy firmly in place, they had the satisfaction of being right. Even with a $10,000 Ryan Award for Best Book in Racing Literature and excellent trade reviews, including a starred Booklist review and an Editor’s Pick in the Toronto Star, sales of the two “Fia” books languished with little publisher support and an author with no money to push the books.

I began a new murder mystery about a nineteen-year-old American gypsy girl from a clan of con artists known as Irish American Travellers. The novel is as much a coming of age story as it is a mystery-thriller. Unfortunately, my agent was convinced she’d have trouble selling the book since the Fia books sold poorly. We parted ways, the book is finished, and the Travels of Quinn will be out under my own imprint, Wild Spirit Press, on February 11.

The largest US clan of Travellers is located in the town of Murphy Village, about thirty-five minutes from my South Carolina home in Aiken. 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.” It’s useful when pulling off a scam. But many people who know them, say most Travellers are honest hard-working people.

I found their culture fascinating. 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.

Imagine, if you will, the story of Quinn O’Neill, a young woman born into this culture. Her mother, an outsider who regrets marrying into the clan, abandons Quin when the girl is only two. Quinn is bright and many in her clan resent that she has educated herself with books. Erroneously, they believe she’s a snob, like her beautiful, educated mother, who they despised. Imagine that Quinn wants out, but she’s torn with indecision. Her father and hated stepmother signed her into a marriage contract to a young criminal she doesn’t love. But can she bear to leave everything she knows and face ostracism by her own people? Is there even a way she can escape?

With a nod to my fans who love horses, I included the beautiful Gypsy Vanner horse in the story. When Quinn is arrested and jailed for theft, she pays restitution by working on a horse farm that raises Gypsy Vanners. Unfamiliar with horses, her love for them surprises her. They introduce her to a different world. They give her hope she can find a better life.

Travels of Quinn is a coming of age novel. But it is also a murder mystery, and when the farm’s owner is brutally murdered, Quinn becomes the prime suspect. On the run, she 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? I hope you will take a ride with the Travels of Quinn, a mystery-thriller of deceit, murder, greed and hope.

***
Sasscer Hill is an Award-winning Author of Mysteries & Thrillers. TRAVELS OF QUINN, 2-11-20, a novel of deceit, murder, greed and hope. Author of Multiple Award Winning “FIA McKEE” Series & the Multiple Award Nominated “NIKKI LATRELLE” Series. http://SasscerHill.com/ https://www.facebook.com/SasscerHill/

Audie Award Nominees

Thanks to The Rap Sheet, I learned that the Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced the finalists for the 25th annual Audie Awards® competition, the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment. Winners will be revealed at the Audie Awards® Gala in May in New York City. Stay 'tuned.' Congratulations to all.

Of interest to mystery readers:

Mystery:
• Along Came a Spider (25th anniversary edition), by James Patterson, narrated by Taye Diggs (Hachette Audio)• The Boy, by Tami Hoag, narrated by Hillary Huber (Brilliance)
• The Chestnut Man, by Søren Sveistrup, narrated by Peter Noble (HarperAudio)
• The Lost Man, by Jane Harper, narrated by Stephen Shanahan (Macmillan Audio)
• The New Iberia Blues, by James Lee Burke, narrated by Will Patton (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Thriller/Suspense:
• Blood in the Water, by Jack Flynn, 
narrated by Dion Graham (Recorded Books)
• Freefall, by Jessica Barry, narrated by Hillary Huber, Karissa Vacker, and MacLeod Andrews (HarperAudio)
• The Institute, by Stephen King, 
narrated by Santino Fontana (Simon & Schuster Audio)
• Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman, 
narrated by Susan Bennett (HarperAudio)
• Winter Dark, by Alex Callister, 
narrated by Ell Potter (Audible Originals)

To see the full list of nominees, click here. 

BARRY AWARD NOMINATIONS 2020

2020 BARRY AWARD NOMINATIONS 

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the Barry Award Nominees. The winners of this year’s Barry Awards will be announced during the Opening Ceremonies at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Sacramento, California on October 15, 2020. The nominees were chosen by panels of experts in mystery/crime fiction.  The readers/subscribers of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine will determine by vote who wins each category.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel

THE LOST MAN, Jane Harper (Flatiron)
IF SHE WAKES, Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
METROPOLIS, Philip Kerr (Putnam)
THE BORDER, Don Winslow (HarperCollins)
YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY, Steph Cha (Ecco)
THIRTEEN, Steve Cavanagh (Flatiron)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel

THE CHESTNUT MAN, Soren Sveistrup (Harper)
THE SILENT PATIENT, Alex Michaelides (Celadon)
AMERICAN SPY, Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)
SAVE ME FROM DANGEROUS MEN, S. A. Lelchuk (Flatiron)
SCRUBLANDS, Chris Hammer (Atria)
TO THE LIONS, Holly Watt    (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel

THE GODMOTHER, Hannelore Cayre (ECW)
WINNER KILLS ALL, R. J. Bailey (Simon & Schuster UK)
KILLING QUARRY, Max Allan Collins (HardCase Crime)
FATE, Ian Hamilton (Spiderline)
MISSING DAUGHTER, Rick Mofina (Mira)
NO GOOD DEED, James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Thriller

MISSION CRITICAL, Mark Greaney (Berkley)
BACKLASH, Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bester)
THE CHAIN, Adrian McKinty (Mulholland)
THE BURGLAR, Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
TRUE BELIEVER, Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester)
WHITE HOT SILENCE, Henry Porter (Mysterious Press)

Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade

GONE GIRL, Gillian Flynn (Crown)
NOVEMBER ROAD, Lou Berney (William Morrow)
SUSPECT, Robert Crais (Putnam)
THE DRY,  Jane Harper (Flatiron)
THE BLACK HOUSE, Peter May (Quercus)
THE CARTEL, Don Winslow (Knopf)

Cartoon of the Day: Reading

MARY HIGGINS CLARK: R.I.P.

Very sad news, indeed. Mary Higgins Clark, the Queen of Suspense, has died, at the age of 92. I remember the first time I met her. We were at the High Tea at the first Malice Domestic. Most of the other authors were huddled together, not necessarily mixing with the fans, but Mary Higgins Clark circulated. When she came to our table, she held out her hand and introduced herself. "I am Mary Higgins Clark, so nice to meet you." She engaged with everyone at our table before going on to others. She was so gracious. I met her several more times over the years, and each time I was touched by how kind, supportive, and truly lovely she was. She will be missed.

From: WCVB:
Mary Higgins Clark, the tireless and long-reigning "Queen of Suspense" whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world's most popular writers, died Friday at age 92.
Her publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced that she died in Naples, Florida, of natural causes.

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"Nobody ever bonded more completely with her readers than Mary did," her longtime editor Michael Korda said in statement. "She understood them as if they were members of her own family. She was always absolutely sure of what they wanted to read — and, perhaps more important, what they didn’t want to read — and yet she managed to surprise them with every book."

A widow with five children in her late 30s, she became a perennial best-seller over the second half of her life, writing or co-writing "A Stranger Is Watching," "Daddy's Little Girl" and more than 50 other favorites. Sales topped 100 million copies and honors came from all over, whether a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France or a "Grand Master" statuette back home from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of her books, including "A Stranger is Watching" and "Lucky Day," were adapted for movies and television. She also collaborated on several novels with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark.

Mary Higgins Clark specialized in women triumphing over danger, such as the besieged young prosecutor in "Just Take My Heart" or the mother of two and art gallery worker whose second husband is a madman in "A Cry in the Night." Mary Clark's goal as an author was simple, if rarely easy: keep the readers reading.

"You want to turn the page," she told The Associated Press in 2013. "There are wonderful sagas you can thoroughly enjoy a section and put it down. But if you're reading my book, I want you stuck with reading the next paragraph. The greatest compliment I can receive is, 'I read your darned book 'til 4 in the morning, and now I'm tired.' I say, 'Then you get your money's worth.'"

Her own life taught her lessons of resilience, strengthened by her Catholic faith, that she shared with her fictional heroines. She was born Mary Higgins in New York City in 1927, the second of three children. She would later take on the last name Clark after marriage. Mary Clark's father ran a popular pub that did well enough for the family to afford a maid and for her mother to prepare meals for strangers in need. But business slowed during the Great Depression and her father, forced to work ever longer hours as he laid off employees, died in his sleep in 1939. One of her brothers died of meningitis a few years later. Surviving family members took on odd jobs and had to rent out rooms in the house.

Mary had always loved to write. At age 6, she completed her first poem, which her mother proudly requested she recite in front of the family. A story she wrote in grade school impressed her teacher enough that Mary Clark read it to the rest of the class. By high school, she was trying to sell stories to True Confessions magazine.

After working as a hotel switchboard operator (Tennessee Williams was among the guests she eavesdropped on) and a flight attendant for Pan American, she married Warren Clark, the regional manager of Capital Airways, in 1949. Throughout the 1950s and into the '60s, she raised the children, studied writing at New York University and began getting stories published. Some drew upon her experiences at Pan American. One story which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, "Beauty Contest at Buckingham Palace," imagined a pageant featuring Queen Elizabeth II, Jackie Kennedy and Princess Grace of Monaco. But by the mid-60s, the magazine market for fiction was rapidly shrinking and her husband's health was failing; Warren Clark died of a heart attack in 1964.
Mary Clark quickly found work as a script writer for "Portrait of a President," a radio series on American presidents. Her research inspired her first book, a historical novel about George and Martha Washington. She was so determined that she began getting up at 5 a.m., working until nearly 7, then feeding her children and leaving for work.

"Aspire to the Heavens" was published in 1969. It was "a triumph," she recalled in her memoir "Kitchen Privileges," but also a folly. The publisher was sold near the book's release and received little attention. She regretted the title and learned that some stores placed the book in religious sections. Her compensation was $1,500, minus commission. (The novel was reissued decades later, far more successfully, as "Mount Vernon: A Love Story").

For her next book, she wanted to make some money. Following a guideline she would often suggest to other writers, she looked at her bookshelves, which featured novels by Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and other mystery writers, and decided she should write the kind of book she liked to read. A recent tabloid trial, about a young woman accused of murdering her children, gave her an idea.
"It seemed inconceivable to most of us that any woman could do that to her children," Mary Clark wrote in her memoir. "And then I thought: Suppose an innocent young mother is convicted of the deliberate murder of her two children; suppose she gets out of prison on a technicality; and then suppose seven years to the day, on her 32nd birthday, the children of her second marriage disappear."

In September 1974, she sent her agent a manuscript for "Die a Little Death," acquired months later by Simon & Schuster for $3,000. Renamed "Where are the Children?" and released in 1975, it became her first-best seller and began her long, but not entirely surprising run of success. She would allege that a psychic had told her she would become rich and famous.

Mary Higgins Clark, who wrote well into her 90s, more than compensated for her early struggles. She acquired several homes and for a time owned part of the New Jersey Nets. She was among a circle of authors, including Lee Child and Nelson DeMille, who met regularly for dinner in Manhattan. She also had friends in Washington and was a White House guest during the administrations of the Clintons and of both President George H.W. Bush, whose wife Barbara became a close friend, and President George W. Bush.

Married since 1996 to former Merrill Lynch Futures CEO John J. Conheeney, she remembered well the day she said goodbye to hard times. It was in April of 1977, and her agent had told her that Simon & Schuster was offering $500,000 for the hardcover to her third novel, "A Stranger is Watching," and that the publisher Dell was paying $1 million for the paperback. She had been running her own script production company during the day and studying for a philosophy degree at Fordham University at night, returning home to New Jersey in an old car with more than 100,000 miles on it.

"As I drove onto the Henry Hudson Parkway, the tailpipe and muffler came loose and began dragging on the ground. For the next 21 miles, I kur-plunked, kur-plunked, all the way home," she wrote in her memoir. "People in other cars kept honking and beeping, obviously sure that I was either too stupid or too deaf to hear the racket.

“The next day I bought a Cadillac!”

Read more here.