Jeri Westerson By Avery Daniels Hello and thank you, Jeri, for inviting me on your blog. Writing a novel is challenging. Not only do you need a compelling plot that moves along, keeping the reader’s interest, but you must bring characters alive that engage the reader’s emotions without dumping all the individual back stories at once. There … Read more
I just wanted to let you know what’s coming up in the blog, what irons I have in the fire. I’m looking forward to guest blog posts from other mystery authors. And if you are one, I encourage you to contact me at jeriwesterson at gmail dot com. I’d love to see what you’re cooking … Read more
Since I’ve been writing my Sherlockian pastiche — An Irregular Detective Mystery Series — I have had to research all sorts of things, from what people ate in different social classes, to how they talked, to railway travel, to what they wore. And that brings us to hats. I’m not a formal person. I would … Read more
I’m a bit of a collector. First it was jugs or pitchers, depending on which side of the pond you’re on. Then it was salt and pepper shakers, but I began to think that was too ordinary. So I switched to chickens. Chickens big time. And then vintage typewriters from the late nineteenth century into … Read more
Welcome everyone. Today, I am talking with bestselling author James R. Benn who writes the Billy Boyle WWII Mysteries. James is one of those really nice people out there. In fact, most all of my mystery-writing friends are pretty darned nice people. It must be that we get all our rage out by murdering people … Read more
They are the bane of an author’s life. They are a necessary evil. But we gotta have them. Be they from industry magazines (Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, or Booklist) or from newspapers (USA Today, the New York Times Book Review), or consumer magazines (People, The New Yorker, etc.). I remember a time when … Read more
In the third of my King’s Fool Mystery series, REBELLIOUS GRACE, Will Somers, Henry VIII’s real court jester, finds himself called upon to use his skills to solve murders during Jane Seymour’s reign. But this was my conceit, because solving murders is not something that a jester ever would have done. So what do jesters … Read more
Welcome, everyone. Today, we’re talking with author GARY PHILLIPS. I feel rather stupid calling him just “author” because Gary is so much more than that. To tell you the truth, I feel a little inadequate around him. He has been described as the “epitome of the noir cool” and that he is. He is also … Read more
My Sherlockian series, An Irregular Detective Mystery, features a former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger who, as an adult, opens his own detective-for-hire agency with his friend and colleague Ben Watson, a Black man who has a scientific mind and won’t play second fiddle. They attempt to solve cases by using Sherlock Holmes’ method with … Read more
When I decided to end the long-running Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series, it was not a whim. I didn’t tire of them, I had a plan. It was all laid out long ago. And I was committed to treating my beloved characters with the respect they and the readers deserved. In fact, by getting to … Read more