Please welcome
back author Judy Penz Sheluk to the bog today.
Defining a Series by Judy Penz Sheluk
Defining a
series is important, if for no other reason than to inform the reader of what
they can expect, and it’s especially important if an author has more than one
series. Are they the same? Or has your favorite cozy author veered into darker
territory, maybe tried their hand at sci-fi or paranormal?
Back in
2019 at Left Coast Crime Vancouver, I was invited to be a participant in a
“speed dating” author event, basically pairs of authors, each with two minutes
to woo a tableful of readers. My partner in crime that day was the renowned
cozy writer, Vicki Delany (who also writes as Eva Gates).
Being
paired with such esteemed company was nerve wracking, to say the least. And
while my Glass Dolphin series is decidedly cozy: an amateur sleuth (an antiques
shop owner and a journalist who becomes a partner in the antiques shop
business), set in the requisite small town, I needed something to set me apart
from Vicki and the rest of the cozy authors in the room. I decided to define
the series as “cozy mysteries without the cats, crafts, or cookie recipes.” It was
catchy enough to work, and I’ve kept that definition to this day.
Defining my
Marketville mystery series was a bit more difficult. Still leaning to the cozy
side—no overt violence, sex, or bad language—but told in the first person, with
slightly more ambitious plots, an amateur-turned professional sleuth, and cases
that delved deep into the past. Work with that, I thought, and after a
lot of mulling over, I had the answer: Cold Case Cozies.
Before
There Were Skeletons,
my latest Marketville book and the fourth in the series, finds my protagonist,
Calamity (Callie) Barnstable hired to find a woman who disappeared in 1995. As
Callie begins her investigation, she learns of two other missing persons cases,
young women who disappeared in the same small town within weeks of one another.
Coincidence? Callie doesn’t think so. Her client isn’t as sure. The last thing
she wants is Callie investigating those cases on her dime. They come to an
agreement, Callie and the client, but there are some tense moments before they
do. Then there’s the two cold cases from 1978 that have Callie facing the
skeletons of her mother’s past. But I’m getting ahead of myself here…
And yes, you guessed it. There’s not a cat, craft, or cookie recipe to be found. Maybe next book. After all, I have nothing against cats or crafts, and I’ve never tasted a cookie I didn’t like (okay, maybe gingerbread, I really don’t get gingerbread). I guess time will tell.
About Before
There Were Skeletons
The last
time anyone saw Veronica Goodman was the night of February 14, 1995, the only
clue to her disappearance a silver heart-shaped pendant, found in the parking
lot behind the bar where she worked. Twenty-seven years later, Veronica’s
daughter, Kate, just a year old when her mother vanished, hires Past &
Present Investigations to find out what happened that fateful night.
Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is drawn to the case, the similarities to her own mother’s disappearance on Valentine’s Day 1986 hauntingly familiar. A disappearance she thought she’d come to terms with. Until Veronica’s case, and five high school yearbooks, take her back in time…a time before there were skeletons.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3AeLbF8
Judy Penz Sheluk ©2022
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is
the bestselling author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and
the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several
collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited.
Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served as Chair on the Board of Directors. A longtime resident of York Region, she now makes her home in Northern Ontario, on the shores of Lake Superior. Find her at judypenzsheluk.com.
1 comment:
Thanks for your ongoing support Kevin.
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