Don’t plug the boat, plug the book

So who's running the ship?

We recently got back from a cruiseon the Celebrity Infinity. I never encountered a celebrity on the cruise. (or infinity either, for that matter), but I did contribute a copy of Master Detective to the ship’s library. Captain Margarita (is that a great name for a cruise ship captain or what?) accepted on behalf of the ship and a good time was had by all. I just hope the pages are resistant to sun tan lotion.

Scenes from an Eastern Shore restaurant

Tostoy used to go among the people for inspiration and ideas, but he never went to a Chesapeake Bay country restaurant during deer season.
This time of year, local deer hunters are coming out of the woodwork as well as the woods. Recently, eating in a local restaurant was like eating at an army mess hall, there was so much camouflage around. At one nearby table, four hunters were discussing an absent comrade…
“Yeah, he’s a great hunter; a real woodsman. He doesn’t even use a GPS!”

The speaker then ordered some more mayonnaise from the waiter, who was obviously an old friend. When the waiter brought the mayonnaise, the hunter complained it had taken too long. The waiter’s reply?
“Geez, Henry. You can  spend all day in a tree waiting for a deer but you can’t wait for some mayonnaise?”

Ah, the voice of the people.

Cover me

Not everyone realizes it, but most of the time, the publisher has the final say on both a book’s title and on its cover art. When my first book, Nassau, was published, I found this out the hard way. Nassau is about blockade running between the south and the Bahamas during the Civil War, so I expected a rousing picture of a Civil War era sidewheeler cutting through the waves. This was well into the age of steam, and blockade runners were usually sleek sidewheelers that could outrun the sail assisted Union warships.

Instead, the cover showed what looked like a fully rigged clipper ship, a type that was seldom if ever used for blockade running. In the background was what looked like a science fiction city, or possibly a World’s Fair, complete with high rises, domes and towers. In addition, a closer inspection revealed a speed boat in the middle distance. All the picture needed was a few airplanes. On the back cover was the silhouette of a tall ship; no sidewheels; no smokestacks. In the 1860s, Nassau was a town of mostly one and two story wood buildings. Only the occasional church steeple got above two stories.

I contacted the publisher and made my concerns known. A week or so later, a revised cover appeared. The city of tomorrow had been replaced by a series of smudgy looking islands. The speedboat was gone, and the clipper ship now had a smokestack added amidships. Not the best solution, but not a screaming anacronism either. The silhouette on the back cover, however, now sported rows of oars on each side! Despairing of ever getting the silhouette right, I asked them to lose it, which they did. So here is the final cover. All things considered, it’s not bad. What do you think?

When life gives you lemons..

When Master Detective was first published, Kensington proudly send me a carton of books for promotional purposes. I had a signing lined up in a week or so and even had color post cards ready to give out. As I admired the freshly printed books, I suddenly recoiled in horror.

On the spine of every book, “Detective” was spelled wrong! Master Dectective? For crying out loud, it’s only a two word title and one of them is wrong? When I reported the problem to the publisher, they recalled all the books except the ones they had already sent out to my first signing, since they wouldn’t have been be able to get reprints there in time.

So now we had a signing due in a couple of weeks with a book that had the wrong title on its spine. Then we had an idea. We sent away for a box of cheap plastic magnifying glasses and attached one to each postcard. On the back of each card we printed the following: “The mystery begins on the cover! Can you use the Master Detective magnifying glass to find what doesn’t belong?”

The postcards were a big hit. Everyone was squinting at the book to try to solve the mystery. Months after the new corrected books had taken over, people still asked about the mystery on the cover, and we have been forced to keep a supply of magnifying glasses on hand “for the kids”.  The negative had become a positive.

Deadly Ink 2

Historical Mysteries panel, just as the discussion went off in the direction of 18th century unmentionables!

Here are some more Deadly Ink photos.

Otto Gross and Patty Borden; mystery fans and connoisseurs of literature

Deadly Ink

A panel. I'm in the center in the dark shirt.

I just got back from the Deadly Ink Mystery Conference in New Jersey. The conference covered a lot of topics of interest to mystery fans, but the highlight was when a panel on historical mysteries I was moderating went off on a discussion of historical underwear! Well, anything for authenticity, I suppose.

The guest of honor was Lincoln Child, co author of Relic, which was made into a movie. Here are a couple of photos.

I gave a talk on unsolved murders of prominent men. It was called “Deathstyles of the Rich and famous”

More "Deathstyles"

Ni Hao!

Kensington Publishing has just leased rights to publish Master Detective to the Chongqing Publishing Company in Chongqing, China. That’s mainland China, or the PRC. You know, the BIG one. The rights were sold to Taiwan last year, so the Chinese language market seems to be pretty well covered at this point. I’m not sure exactly what appeal the Lindbergh kidnapping has in the far east, but I love it!
(If you’re wondering about the rather cryptic title of this post, it means “hello” in Chinese.)

Master Detective book trailer

Here’s a book trailer for Master Detective. Note that there is a second book trailer by someone else. Hey, the more the merrier!

New England Crimebake

The New England Crimebake Conference was held, appropriately enough, in Dedham, Massachusetts. The guest of honor was Harlan Coben, who made an interesting observation. He said that he never met a really sucessful author who was a jerk. (Well actually, he used a synonym for jerk, but you get the idea.) If this is true, it is apparently the only occupation where this occurs.
Anyway, his novel Tell No One has been made into a movie by a French film company. Hollywood had an interest, but he demurred because of “artistic differences”. The book concerns a man whose wife died and much of the background consists of how crushed he is and how much he misses her. Hollywood wanted to “improve” the story by giving the hero a girlfriend!
The rest of the conference was interesting as well. My agent, Janet Reid of Fineprint Literary was on a panel of agents and pretty much stole the show. when someone asked her the best way to get her to look favorably on his query letter, her answer was to include a bottle of scotch. Whenever I mentioned that she was my agent I became an instant minor celebrity.
Another highlight was a presentation by the “Poison lady” on naturally occurring poisons on common plants. All I can say is don’t walk around on your lawn in bare feet!

Tai won on

My publisher, Kensington, has leased foreign rights to Master Detective to the Goodness Publishing Company in Taiwan, who will publish a Chinese language edition next year. That’s fine with me as long as they don’t expect me to proof the galleys.