Author Archives: Carolyn

Show Me the Ashes Released

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You won’t find Show Me the Ashes in stores or libraries for a few days, but Five Star/Gale, Cengage shipped hardbacks to distributors March 16. The e-book went up immediately on Amazon.

In this fourth book in the series, former covert operative Phoenix Smith divides her attention between a cold case and a hot one.

Now running a foundation to assist crime victims, Phoenix listens to a desperately ill woman’s plea to prove her daughter was sent to prison because of a coerced false confession to manslaughter and arson. The sheriff then was the adored husband of Phoenix’s best friend, Annalynn. She has served as sheriff since his violent death. Phoenix begins a preliminary investigation without telling Annalynn.

With her term almost over, Annalynn focuses on solving a series of increasingly ominous burglaries. Naturally she enlists the help of Phoenix and Achilles, her K-9 dropout. Some wants Achilles and Phoenix dead. She must solve both cases to protect them and others.

—Carolyn Mulford

Goodreads.com: Giveaways and More

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Wondering what to read next? Want ideas for books to consider for your book club or for a gift? Like to get a free copy of a new book even before it comes out? Check out GoodReads, the giant website for book lovers.

Today and tomorrow you can sign up for a chance to win both of my new books—Thunder Beneath My Feet (just out) and Show Me the Ashes (out in three weeks). The giveaway of the advance reading copy of Ashes continues until March 12.

Go to http://www. goodreads.com and search by title. That will take you to a brief description of the book. Below that, click on the Enter Giveaway box.

If you’re not familiar with GoodReads, explore the site. Search by book titles, authors, and special-interest lists, such as mystery, history, and Missouri books and authors. Mark books you Want to Read and list favorite books you have read. Follow favorite authors.

If you’ve indicated a special interest, you may receive a notice of a giveaway in that category or by that author. Hundreds of authors and publishers introduce their books by offering a chance to win free copies for a few days or weeks. They hope giveaway winners will write favorable mini reviews or rate the books a four or a rather rare five.

And sometimes you discover great books you’ve never seen mentioned elsewhere.

—Carolyn Mulford

New Novel Portrays New Madrid Earthquakes

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For immediate release

Thunder Beneath My Feet

By Carolyn Mulford

Portrays 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes

 

 The first earthquake struck about 2:30 a.m. on December 16, 1811. In New Madrid, Missouri Territory, brick houses and chimneys turned into rubble. Log cabins caught fire. Tall trees split up the middle. The Mississippi River reversed its flow. Lakes formed. Many residents feared the end of the world. In coastal cities, church bells rang. In the White House, the motion woke President Madison. That was just the beginning. Quakes and aftershocks persisted for months.

In Thunder Beneath My Feet, a historical novel for tweens, teens, and anyone who enjoys history, award-winning author Carolyn Mulford tells how a courageous teenage girl copes with the ongoing destruction and the diverse frontier community’s reactions to it.

Shy, sensible 15-year-old Betsy Lawton takes charge of tale-telling10-year-old Johnnie and the family farm when their mother rides south to nurse her husband. Four days later, the first of the powerful quakes and the severe aftershocks wreak such destruction that many residents become refugees. Betsy stays on the farm to contend with the unending shocks and shakes, an unknown thief, and disapproving neighbors. She must succeed to save herself, Johnnie, the farm animals, and four secretive strangers—a French-Shawnee youth, a mute slave woman, a poor French tutor, and his elegant Spanish wife.

The author says, “The New Madrid earthquakes have fascinated me since I wrote an account for a reading textbook. Although I grew up in northeast Missouri, I hadn’t known that some of the country’s most powerful earthquakes centered in southeast Missouri. And may come again.”

A former magazine editor and freelance writer, Mulford worked on five continents before making the transition to fiction. The Missouri Center for the Book selected The Feedsack Dress, her novel set in 1949, as the state’s Great Read at the 2009 National Book Festival. She also writes a contemporary mystery series for adults. The Missouri Writers’ Guild gave Show Me the Murder its 2014 Major Work Award and Show Me the Gold its 2015 Best Book Award. The fourth book, Show Me the Ashes, will be released in March. The books feature an ex-spy who returns to her hometown and adapts her tradecraft to solving murders.

To read the first chapters of her books and to download cover photos, go to http://CarolynMulford.com. To request an interview or presentation, contact her at carolynmulford@gmail.com or 573-445-0829. 

Thunder Beneath My Feet, Rocking Horse Publishing, St. Louis, 2016, 188 pp.

$12.95 (paperback), $4.95 (Kindle)

Thunder Beneath My Feet Is Out

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Sometimes ideas for book evolve for a long time. That’s certainly true of Thunder Beneath My Feet, my newly published historical adventure for tweens and teens and anyone who enjoys history.

The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 have fascinated me for 30 years. That’s when, as a freelancer, I wrote a short description of the quakes for a textbook. Although I’d grown up in northeast Missouri, I hadn’t realized that some of the most powerful and long-lasting earthquakes on the continent had taken place in southeast Missouri. And may come again.

After moving back to Missouri in 2007, I started thinking about the quakes as a setting for a novel. For several months I read books, websites, and articles in my spare time, fascinated by the people living in and passing through the ambitious little Mississippi River port and how they responded to day after day of terror. Finally facts and creativity gave birth to a plot and characters.

I tell the story from the viewpoint of 15-year-old Betsy Lawton, a shy, sensible girl living on a farm near the village of New Madrid, Upper Louisiana Territory. Her mother must ride south to bring home her ailing husband. She leaves Betsy in charge of the farm and her tale-telling 10-year-old brother. Four days later, the first of the powerful quakes hits, downing buildings and trees and demolishing boats on the river. Betsy must contend with the terrifying shocks and shakes, an unknown thief, and frantic community members to save herself, Johnnie, the farm animals, and four strangers with deep secrets.

To read more about the book and the first chapter, go to this website’s Thunder Beneath My Feet page. Better still, ask your local library to order it or buy your own copy.

—Carolyn Mulford

Interview on OmniMysteryNews.com

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How have your characters developed over time? What’s your writing process? How true are you to the settings in your books?

I answered these and other questions in an online interview conducted by Lance Wright, editor of OmniMysteryNews.com.

Here’s part of my answer about the setting of the Show Me series: “I created a county in northern Missouri that resembles the one where I grew up. In a fictional place, no one can complain that a business was portrayed as a crime scene or a street runs the wrong direction. In made-up Vandiver County, real regional expressions and attitudes reveal the subculture. The setting functions as a character.”

By the way, I named the county after Congressman Willard D. Vandiver, the man responsible for Missouri becoming known as the Show-Me state. In 1899, he said, “I come from a country that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri. You have got to show me.”

To read the entire interview, go to http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2016/01/a-conversation-with-mystery-author-carolyn-mulford-5F6F5130.html.

—Carolyn Mulford

From Headlines to Short Story

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In December local media reported that a couple of customers in Walmarts here (Columbia, Missouri) and in three nearby towns bought out the pre-paid cell phones. No one knew what the buyers wanted with dozens of burner phones.

So the media and the audience (including me) speculated. Terrorists hiding their communications from NSA? Drug dealers foiling police trying to trace their calls? Entrepreneurs planning to resell the phones at a profit to shady characters?

We received no answers.

I was on deadline to come up with “A Day in the Life of Phoenix Smith” for a great mystery lovers’ blog, Dru’s Book Musings. Why not let Phoenix solve the puzzle of the purchase of pre-paid cell phones?

I put together the news stories on that with news stories on an illegal use of the phones in a short story. You can read it at http://drusbookmusing.com/2016/01/09/phoenix-smith-2.

—Carolyn Mulford

Looking Ahead to 2016

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A year ago I worried that aging would decrease the speed and quality of my writing. I wondered if I had the stamina and sharpness to complete a solid 90,000-word mystery. Over 2015 I found that I wrote more slowly—partly because I don’t always work a full day anymore—and spent more time rewriting and editing. Even so, I finished my fifth mystery, Show Me the Sinister Snowman, and began rewriting an earlier mystery while new Phoenix the Spy ideas jell.

In short, going into 2016, my pleasure in writing fiction endures, and my output remains satisfactory. The truth is that I write better than I do anything else—except maybe talk about my writing. I resolve to do plenty of both in 2016. I make no promises about cleaning my house or taking care of my yard.

No one knows the future, but here are highlights of what I expect to happen in 2016.

In late January or early February, Rocking Horse Publishing will release Thunder Beneath My Feet, my novel set during the devastating New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. This is a historical adventure with mystery elements, and I expect it to appeal to everyone from fourth graders who like to read to adults who enjoy history. (My beta readers included all ages.)

I’ll be reviewing my mounds of unused research to write blogs that offer readers, including teachers, background on the period, place, and people.

Missouri winters interfere with such scheduled events as book signings, so I’ll concentrate on writing and make few appearances until the release in late March of Show Me the Ashes, the fourth in my mystery series. May as well promote two books at once.

April through June I’ll divide my time between writing and promoting, which includes giving talks and possibly workshops here and elsewhere, speaking at such conferences as Malice Domestic, and writing guest blogs.

During the summer I expect to finish rewriting Ancestral Plot. Late summer initiates conference season and the chance to introduce new readers to my books. On my tentative schedule are Killer Nashville, Magna cum Murder, the regional Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and our local Show Me Writers MasterClass.

Before winter comes again, I expect to celebrate the release of Show Me the Sinister Snowman, anticipate the publication of Ancestral Plot, and begin work on another book.

I resolve to enjoy 2016 and hope all who bother to read this far do the same.

Happy New Year!

—Carolyn Mulford

Looking Back at 2015

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The publishing industry continued to change this year. Large publishers still stumble to find a new path, small publishers struggle to survive, and self-publishers thrive (a few), hang on (many), and give up (countless). One trend I’ve noticed is the proliferation of hybrid authors—those who get their work to the public through both traditional and independent publishing. Whatever works.

Like most people, I’m guessing about trends in the industry. What I know is what I, one writer among millions, did last year. Here are some highlights.

The year began with my working on the first draft of Show Me the Sinister Snowman and promoting Show Me the Gold. I launched Gold at Columbia Books, an independent bookstore that supports local writers and serves readers who want knowledgeable recommendations and who search for rare books online. Such bookstores remain endangered species.

In April, Gold won the Missouri Writers’ Guild’s Show Me Best Book Award. The Guild presented the award at a special conference organized to discuss how to meet the changing needs of the century-old organization’s members. Chapter representatives spoke of who they served and how. Chapters operate quite differently, but clearly all play a vital role in informing and supporting writers.

In late April I spoke at a much larger and more focused conference, Malice Domestic. Spun off from Sisters in Crime, this annual national event features mostly traditional mysteries written by women. You promote your books, get the feel of what’s happening in mystery publishing, and enjoy meeting hundreds of mystery writers and fans.

While at Malice, I received an acceptance of Thunder Beneath My Feet, my historical novel set during the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. I signed a contract with Rocking Horse Publishing, St. Louis, on the 50th anniversary of becoming a professional writer and editor. In May 1965 I began working as an assistant editor of the NEA Journal, then a top monthly education magazine, in Washington, D.C.

In June Harlequin Worldwide Mystery published the paperback edition of Show Me the Murder, the first in the series. That’s sold from the Harlequin website, not in stores.

Much of the summer went to polishing the first draft of Sinister Snowman, the fifth book in the series. I also gave major presentations at the Osher Institute Book Talks and the Livingston County Library, Chillicothe.

In the fall, I planned promotion for Show Me the Ashes (scheduled for release December 16), spoke at Bouchercon (the country’s largest mystery conference) in Raleigh, and began revising an earlier mystery called Ancestral Plot.

In mid-December came an unpleasant surprise. The publisher announced the release of Ashes will be delayed until March 16, 2016. I went ahead with some of the guest blogs scheduled weeks ago, and I’m still reworking my promotion plans.

December ended on a positive note. I proofed the pre-publication copy of Thunder Beneath My Feet, which will be released in February.

As 2015 ends, I’m planning my writing and promotion schedule for 2016.

—Carolyn Mulford

Reviewer: Achilles Steals the Show

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“Phoenix’s dog Achilles plays a star role in the whole series, and with each book, he steals more of the show,” wrote blogger Judy Hogan in her pre-publication review of Show Me the Ashes. The review is posted at http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com/2015/12/review-carolyn-mulfords-show-me-ashes.html.

The reviewer liked the other characters, too, ending the review with this: “One fiction teacher I had years ago said that the sign of a good book was its memorability.  Did it stick in your mind?  Carolyn Mulford’s characters stick in my mind.”

A poet, novelist, and activist, Judy’s latest books are The Sands of Gower: The First Penny Weaver Mystery and This River: An Epic Love Poem.

 —Carolyn Mulford

Release of Show Me the Ashes Delayed

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Show Me the Ashes won’t be in anyone’s stocking this Christmas. The publisher, Five Star, notified me a few days ago that the release is being delayed three months, until March 16, 2016.

Ho, ho, ho became no, no, no. The late notification inconvenienced not only me but also others, and I’m sorry for that. I had sent out review copies to my own list weeks ago and scheduled guest blogs for early January. A few people have already posted reviews of the book.

As the publisher told me and several other authors, publishers change schedules all the time. Unfortunately, that’s true. And I had seen signs that production had fallen behind schedule. The review copies came to me late, and the cover image didn’t go out to booksellers, libraries, and review publications.

On the plus side, spring is a better season than winter for driving to book signings, talks, and workshops.

Maybe Peter Rabbit will put Show Me the Ashes into some mystery lovers’ Easter baskets.

—Carolyn Mulford

Giveaway of Show Me the Ashes

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Show Me the Ashes comes out in a month. If you’d like a chance to read the uncorrected copy reviewers receive, sign up for the giveway at GoodReads.com by December 2.

The direct link is https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27009695. You can also get to the giveaway by typing in the title on the site’s homepage.

In this book, the fourth in the series, the three main characters’ lives are changing. Phoenix is running the new foundation that she set up to give Annalynn a good job when she finishes her term as sheriff. An applicant begs Phoenix to take on a cold case involving a young mother’s possible false confession, one Annalynn’s late husband encouraged when he was the sheriff.

Not wanting to hurt Annalynn unless new evidence gives grounds for freeing the imprisoned woman, Phoenix investigates secretly with Connie, now negotiating a contract to direct musical comedies. Meanwhile Annalynn enlists Phoenix’s help in solving a series of burglaries that appear headed for violence. To complicate matters, failing to catch the burglar could scuttle Annalynn’s plans to run for Congress.

Achilles has his nose to the ground in both investigations. Someone from one of the cases fears the Belgian Malinois enough to want him dead. Phoenix has to figure out who it is to protect them both.

—Carolyn Mulford

Giveaway on GoodReads.com

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From November 14 to 22 you can sign up on GoodReads.com for a chance to win an autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Show Me the Murder. The hardback edition won the Missouri Writers’ Guild 2014 Walter Williams Major Work Award.

The direct link to the giveaway is https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/162241. Or go to the GoodReads site and type in the title in the search box. You may need to become a member (free) to be eligible for a giveaway.

Why give away copies of a book published in February 2013? I want to introduce new readers to the series before the fourth book, Show Me the Ashes, comes out in late December.

A fast reader could also read Show Me the Deadly Deer (a DearReader.com Mystery of the Week) and Show Me the Gold (winner of the Guild’s 2015 Show Me Best Book Award) before book four hits the shelves.

—Carolyn Mulford