Murder the Tey Way
by Marilyn Levinson
Cozy Mystery – 300 pages
The sequel to Murder a la Christie. The book will be out in mid-October!!
Synopsis
Professor Lexie Driscoll is leading a Golden Age of Mystery book club discussion of Josephine Tey’s novels, when her sister arrives in a state of agitation. The sisters aren’t close, and Lexie wonders why Gayle has driven from Utah to Long Island to stay with her. The following morning, Gayle awakens Lexie to say there’s a dead man lying in her backyard. Gayle confesses she’s on the run because she witnessed a murder and the murderer is out to get her. Gayle takes off after begging Lexie not to tell the police she’s been there. This presents a problem because Lexie’s boyfriend, homicide detective Brian Donovan, is initially put in charge of the investigation. The murder victim turns out to be a minor criminal suspected of having burgled several homes in the area. Lexie wonders if her sister killed the man, believing he was sent to kill her.
Lexie and her friend Joy Lincoln, a former FBI agent and now a stay-at-home mom, soon discover that all of the book club members either have secrets or are in situations involving the wrong side of the law. An older couple, Marge and Evan Billings, are at the mercy of the criminals they’ve hired to extricate their young granddaughter from Peru. Tim Draigon has lost his attorney’s license for illegal activities. He and Sadie Lu, a guidance counselor, owe money and have borrowed large sums from money lenders connected to the murdered man. Lexie’s neighbors, the Roberts sisters, are strange birds. Corinne dominates her slow sister, Felicity, and berates Lexie whenever she comes to Felicity’s aid. And who is this Johnny Scarvino Felicity fears? Another club member is murdered, one is knocked unconscious, and old and new secrets impact the lives of the members of the book club. Lexie must find the murderer before more lives are destroyed.
Guest Post
Elements to Include When
Writing a Mystery Series
- Your sleuth should be likable, interesting and resourceful, with a definite personality that includes quirks and personal issues that have yet to be resolved. Your sleuth needs to have a personal stake in solving the mystery.
- Consider your setting a major character. Use your setting well--its geography and flavor, its contrasting neighborhoods, businesses, parks and restaurants. Set your scenes in various locales to avoid monotony.
- Occasionally change your setting. If most of the books in your series take place in a small town, you might have you sleuth solve a murder in Manhattan.
- Your sleuth needs a best friend or confidant with whom to brainstorm. Consider his/her having a nemesis, as well, to up the tension and add red herrings to the mix.
- A love interest or interests spices up your plot and adds another dimension. While your reader enjoys the puzzle-mystery aspect of your novel, his/her ties to your sleuth are even stronger.
- Choose your victim carefully. Why was he/she murdered? What connects the victim to the suspects? Why was the second victim murdered?
- As for suspects, have many, with various motives, and with varying connections to the victim(s). Don’t telescope the identity of the murderer, but let your murderer appear often enough so that your reader doesn’t feel cheated when all is revealed.
- Secrets relating to the past are like chunks of dark Belgian chocolate in a chocolate brownie. Every character should have a secret or two. Reveal each secret only when necessary. Use them to your advantage.
- Every mystery should have a theme. Be it a dispute regarding an inheritance, collecting butterflies or coins, each mystery should include a theme that reflects the concerns of the village or the outside world.
- Decide what role official crime solvers play in your mystery. Even if you’re writing a cozy series, the police must appear in your books. Is your sleuth friendly with the homicide detective? Do they have an adversarial relationship?
- Sub plots are essential to any novel, including your mystery. They arise from the theme such as a dispute over land development, or from an issue in your sleuth’s personal life.
- Make sure your personal viewpoint comes through in your writing. You are unique. Your take on the human condition will help make your series stand out.
Purchase Links
Amazon B&N
About This Author
Author Links
Webpage
Blog the first and third Monday of every month.
Blog Facebook Twitter
Goodreads Pinterest
Giveaway
Amazon B&N
About This Author
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and books for kids.
Her latest mystery, Murder a la Christie, is out with Oak Tree Press. Untreed Reads has brought out new e-editions of her Twin Lakes mysteries: A Murderer Among Us, awarded a Suspense Magazine Best Indie, and Murder in the Air. Uncial Press e-publishes her ghost mystery, Giving Up the Ghost, and her romantic suspense, Dangerous Relations. All of Marilyn’s mysteries take place on Long Island, where she lives.
Her books for young readers include No Boys Allowed; Rufus and Magic Run Amok, which was awarded a Children’s Choice; Getting Back to Normal, & And Don’t Bring Jeremy.
Marilyn loves traveling, reading, knitting, doing Sudoku, and visiting with her granddaughter, Olivia, on FaceTime. She is co-founder and past president of the Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Author Links
Webpage
Blog the first and third Monday of every month.
Blog Facebook Twitter
Goodreads Pinterest
Giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment