Category Archives: Show Me Series

Show Me Series

Preview of Book 5: The Sinister Snowman

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

This week I proofed the galleys of Show Me the Sinister Snowman, the fifth in my series. That prompted me to add a page for the book under Show Me Mysteries and post the first chapter.

This book starts right after Annalynn Carr Keyser completes her extended appointment as acting sheriff of Vandiver County, Missouri. She and former covert operative Phoenix Smith expect to build up their new Coping After Crime foundation, which Phoenix created to give Annalynn a job while she prepares to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Phoenix intends to leave the boring applications for assistance to Annalynn, but Phoenix goes into high gear to help a young woman hiding from her abusive husband.

To complicate matters, Phoenix must play deputy again when Achilles, her K-9 dropout, sniffs out a murder weapon at the scene of a congressman’s “accidental” death. She suspects either a corrupt political insider or the young wife’s jealous husband caused this death.

The investigation compels Phoenix to go with Annalynn, who hopes to run for the vacant House seat, to a political gathering at the late congressman’s isolated ante-bellum mansion. A blizzard traps the women there with a bevy of suspects.

Advance reader copies will go to reviewers soon. Cave Hollow Press, which took over the series after Five Star dropped its mystery line, will release Show Me the Sinister Snowman next spring.

—Carolyn Mulford

Show Me the Gold Now in Paperback

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

To help you with your holiday shopping, Harlequin Worldwide Mystery has released the paperback edition of Show Me the Gold for sale on its direct-to-consumer website, http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=68332.

The third book in the series, Gold literally starts with a bang and presents new personal problems for Phoenix. Reviewer P. J. Coldren wrote, “There are several sub-plots to hold the reader’s attention; this is one of the hallmarks of a seasoned mystery writer. Nobody’s life has only one thing going on in it at any given time. People in mystery novels need to have more in their life than a mystery to solve. The setting is rural Missouri, although any rural community would probably work just as well. There is enough back story to move the reader along, and yet not quite enough—this makes most readers want to go back and read the first two in the series.”

Here’s how HWM describes the plot on the back cover.

 

UNDER SUSPICION 

Former CIA agent Phoenix Smith is on a stakeout with acting Laycock, Missouri, sheriff Annalynn Keyser, when Keyser is called to a neighboring county. A gang of bank robbers are holed up in an abandoned farmhouse and the local cops need all hands on deck. After a harrowing shootout, a man is dead, another wounded, and the FBI thinks Phoenix—the only one with a gun but no badge—took off with a fortune in gold bullion.

Three members of the notorious Cantree clan were wanted for a previous bank heist in Ohio. Now the lone survivor is out for revenge. As Phoenix fights to clear her name, an old friend solicits her help in a shocking case of elder neglect. Can Phoenix stop the abuse, find the precious South African coins, and elude a stone-cold killer who’s got one last bullet with Phoenix’s name on it?

 

HWM also offers the paperback edition of the second book, Show Me the Deadly Deer, at harlequin.com. The hardcover editions of all four books (published by Five Star/Gale, Cengage) remain available.

—Carolyn Mulford

Book 5 Finds New Home

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

The fifth book in my Show Me series has found a new home after being orphaned. Cave Hollow Press, an eclectic small publisher, will release Show Me the Sinister Snowman next spring.

In this book, former CIA operative Phoenix Smith must play deputy again when Achilles, her K-9 dropout, sniffs out a murder weapon at the scene of a congressman’s “accidental” death. Who tried to hide a homicide? She suspects either a corrupt political insider or an enraged abusive husband and puts herself at risk to prevent more murders. Phoenix goes with her friend Annalynn, an aspiring U.S. House candidate, to a political gathering at the late congressman’s isolated antebellum mansion. A blizzard traps them there with multiple suspects inside and a sinister snowman outside.

Going to a new publisher wasn’t a frivolous decision. Midway through 2015 I became aware Five Star, which published the first four books, had serious problems. With little advance notice, the parent company delayed the release of mysteries (Show Me the Ashes from December to March) and stopped issuing contracts. In January 2016, authors received notice that only those manuscripts already under contract would be published before the mystery line died.

Publishers usually don’t want to take on a series when they don’t own the rights to the preceding books. A dozen or so Five Star authors decided to self-publish their completed manuscripts, preferring hiring editors, designers, etc. to searching for a new publisher. From what I’ve heard, most writers focused on a new mystery series or another series coming from a different publisher.

I submitted my manuscript to the good editors of Cave Hollow Press, which published The Feedsack Dress in 2007. Show Me the Sinister Snowman has begun the long process of becoming a book.

Meanwhile I’m working on a new series and considering some short stories (maybe one told from Achilles’ point of view?) and novellas featuring Phoenix and friends.

—Carolyn Mulford

Why Readers and Writers Love Mysteries

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

I didn’t become a major mystery fan until near middle age—the time when such writers as Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton, and Margaret Maron were breaking through the male-dominated genre with tough but relatable women detectives.

By the time I decided to switch from writing nonfiction to fiction, the field offered many great models of writers with both professional and amateur sleuths. I chose to join them. You don’t have to write about what you already know, but you better write about what you read.

As the books in my Show Me series have come out, some interviewers have danced around the question of why I write mysteries. The unasked question is why I don’t write literary novels instead. That ignores the fact that the art and craft of the best mystery writers equal that of any other writers.

But the question has forced me to consider why so many people read mysteries—many more than read literary novels—and why I write them. I came up with three reasons.

 

  1. Mysteries challenge readers’ intellect, calling on them to solve a puzzle, analyze information, detect deception. That challenge appeals to every age, every educational level, and both sexes.

As a reader and a writer, I enjoy weaving together apparently unrelated strands to develop a complete picture and come to a conclusion.

2. Mysteries reveal the human psyche—what drives someone to kill, how individuals react in a crisis, and even how good and evil battle within the individual and the society. That sounds pretty grim, but writers often use humor to lighten the situation. On the page and on the street, people really are funny.

The standard form for mysteries is the series. Readers follow these primarily because of the appeal of the ongoing characters. I like writing a series because it allows me to develop characters, to show how crises and relationships change them over time.

  1. Mysteries satisfy the desire for justice, which we often don’t get in life. One way or another, the baddies lose in a mystery.

 

Whatever I’m reading or writing, I want an entertaining story. Mysteries offer that and, quite often, incorporate insightful observations and thoughtful questions. Don’t tell anyone, but they can be downright literary.

—Carolyn Mulford

Show Me the Ashes Released

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

Interview on OmniMysteryNews.com

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

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

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

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