Kray Crime

The Lost
© 2008 Roberta Kray
Mystery + + + + +

PI ex-policeman Harry Lind and investigative journalist Jessica Vaughan are each drawn into a twenty-year-old intrigue through different means, but revolving around the murder of Jess’s mentor, Len Curzon. In The Lost Jess wants to find out who killed Len, and Harry’s own PI case turns out to be connected to the whole sordid deal.

Intrigue, betrayals and the underworld of London are expertly intertwined. All the characters are deftly drawn, from Harry and Jess, to the crime bosses and their henchmen. It’s a Cant-Put-It-Down book, with a satisfying and thoughtful ending.

What Cuts Into My Writing Time?

I watch a lot of DIY programs, and it's so misleading when they spruce up a place with paint. Inexpensive yes, but without a crew, as they have on most of those shows, it's time consuming!

I'm sprucing up my kitchen with paint. I've vacuumed and washed the walls (paint doesn't adhere too well to cooking residue), patched nail holes, pulled baseboards and their nails, vacuumed all the detritus from that. Still have to remove face plates and mask the cupboards and counters, put down a floor cloth. Uh huh. And this is just for one wall! Next will be cleaning out that dusty, grungy stuff from over the tops of cabinets (I don't have the trendy tall cabinets that go to the ceiling) and prepping that to paint.

I keep thinking of the finished project and how much I'm going to like it. Yes, yes... So back to housework. I'll work on my writing after dark (Hmm. Sunset is at 9:30).

SPUR Awards

Congratulations to all the SPUR Winners and Finalists.
The Spur Awards are presented by Western Writers of America (WWA) to thgee best writing in more than a dozen categories for the previous year. The awards are presented at the annual WWA Convention, this year held in Scottsdale, Arizona. All the Winners and Finalists (titles and authors) can be found at the WWA site.
Another awards presented by WWA is the Owen Wister Award to honor an author's lifetime contribution to Western writing. This year the OW award went to Tony Hillerman.

Recent Enjoyable Reads

My reading hasn't been as prolific as former years, but I am getting to a few books. Here are a couple of recent reads I enjoyed.
The Third Lynx
© 2007 Timothy Zahn
SF + + +
ISBN 9780765317322 TOR
sequel to Night Train to Rigel
Another fun Zahn adventure, with the savvy Frank Compton and his faithful sidekick Bayta, fighting the Mohdri (from Night Train). A real catchy voice, and lots of plots twists.
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A Picture of Guilt
© 2007 James Brownley
Mystery + + + +
9780727865625 Severn House
Well developed story as journalist Alison Glasby's tenacious character (often a bit overbearing, too) leads her to the true facts about a murder that occurred before she was born. Characters are well drawn and distinctive. Set in London and Norwich, England with good sense of place. ================

Marketing the Books

The books are out. Now it's time to market, market, market. Actually, it's PAST time, but this is not my favorite occupation, this marketing. But better late than never, I have designed posters and printed them for the bookstores, set up book signings. The Child of the Mist title will be carried at Barnes and Noble (online); they have had the title listed since January with the April release date; even had the cover showing. That prompted me to get on their vendor list. Amazon is pending, although they are quite slow about their paperwork. Of course, that's my error for waiting until I had the book in hand to contact them.

I've sent review copies of Child of the Mist to my regional Arts Council paper, and a national online reviewer. I'm stingy about this, since with previous of my titles (both from NY publishers and Indies) the reviews made no difference on the sales sheet. I enjoy the unsolicited comments the most, like the new review just posted on Daughter of the Stone; I've included a clip and the URL on that book's comment page.

My best sales don’t usually come at book signings, but at art shows. People are possibly surprised to see books and like the change in selection. The other successful sales are through public libraries, where I set up an author event and sell books after the presentation. A lot of phone and mail work to plan those, but they are definitely worth it.