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Mystery Writers Share their Expertise on Series Writing on Nov 11 with HPL

6 Nov

We can’t wait for November 11, when we have four mystery authors from the Mystery Writers of America New York Chapter scheduled along with moderator Mark McNease talking about how to start writing a series and keep it going. If you are an established author looking to learn some additional tips and tricks or if you are a new aspiring writer looking to find out where to get started, this is sure to be an enjoyable and insightful event. You can check out a variety of their works in print and as ebooks.

Annamaria Alfieri writes the Vera and Tolliver stories, which are set in British East Africa and explore the evils of colonialism. It began with Strange Gods. The Richmond Times-Dispatch praised the series as having “the flair of Isak Dinesen and Beryl Markham, the cunning of Agatha Christie and Elspeth Huxley.”

Tom Coffey signed a three-book deal with Level Best Books in 2023. Public Morals is the first novel in The Devine Trilogy, which is named after the family at its center. The series examines the arc of law enforcement in New York from the 1980s to the present. The second book, Special Victim, will be released in late November.

Peggy Ehrhart is currently writing the Knit & Nibble mysteries for Kensington Books. Her amateur sleuth, Pamela Paterson, is the founder and mainstay of the Arborville, New Jersey, knitting club, nicknamed Knit and Nibble. Knit & Nibble #10, Knitmare on Beech Street, was a December 2023 release; “Murder Most Irish” appears in Kensington’s 2024 St. Patrick’s Day novella anthology, Irish Milkshake Murder; and A Dark and Stormy Knit will appear in the fall of 2024.

Gerri Lewis is the author of the Deadly Deadlines mystery, The Last Word, about an obituary writer who solves murders in her hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut. When she is not helping her protagonist solve mysteries, she writes magazine features and is the Public Information Officer for the Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management. 

Mark McNease is the author of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, the Marshall James Thrillers, and the Maggie Dahl Mysteries. He has won two Emmys for Outstanding Children’s Program for Into the Outdoors, and he currently serves on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter.

Posted by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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New Fantasies Worth the Plunge: A Dark and Drowning Tide and Somewhere Beyond the Sea

18 Sep

A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
I enjoyed the adult fantasy novel A Dark and Drowning Tide. The story takes place in a world where magic is linked to water and a group of scholars has been put together to try and find the location of a fabled spring that grants the worthy with unlimited power. The current young king of Brunnestaad believes that it would help him maintain control over the region which was once separate countries with a shared language but different cultures. The different characters on the mission all represent not only different areas of study like folklore and botany, but also the different regions excluding Lorelei, the main protagonist, who belongs to a much maligned religious group which is confined to a specific area of the city and is looked down on because they are believed to be naturally without magic. My only real disappointment with the story was that the novel felt like it could have been a third in a trilogy. Chapter 2 does a lot of character sketches and outlining of prior events and relationships that would make for interesting prequel stories. Besides the fantasy elements, the novel also has the mystery of the one of the scholars murders early on in the journey, and also has a frustrating but sweet rivals to lovers Sapphic romance. If you enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Encyclopadia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, than you will likely enjoy this novel as well. You can also check out Saft’s YA novels: A Fragile Enchantment, A Far Wilder Magic, and Down Comes the Night.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea
by TJ Klune
I had been eagerly awaiting the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, when I heard it was being written so was excited for the opportunity to get an advanced reader copy from Netgalley of an excerpt of Somewhere Beyond the Sea which included the first four chapters of the work and immediately put it on hold so I could continue reading the story when it was available. In the first novel Linus who works for a child protection agency focused on magical youth (gnomes, shapeshifters, and other unusual kids) goes to visit a most unusual foster home on a small island and discovers a love, with the children’s foster father, he never thought he’d be worthy of finding. Time has passed; Linus and Arthur have grown closer. The children are starting to enter their teen years with all the complex feelings and emotions that brings. What I liked about Somewhere Beyond the Sea is that it gives us the perspective of Arthur and helps us understand him a bit better, but it also gives us more insight and the ability to watch the growth of all the characters. The House in the Cerulean Sea gave us a sweet closing with the Linus finally finding love and family, but there is a world beyond the sea and though it might be much grayer in nature, it is nice to see Arthur like all parents wanting his children to be able to have the experiences of exploring the larger the world for themselves. A new additional child, David, is introduced as well that added another fun character to the mix, though my favorite will always be Chauncey, a tentacled blob entity that may be the only one of his kind and who is absolutely hysterical. I enjoyed reading the rest of Linus, Arthur and the children’s stories and look forward to hopefully more in the future as well.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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