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Carolyn Mulford

Carolyn Mulford

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Category Archives: Show Me Series

Show Me Series

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First Review of Show Me the Ashes

Carolyn Mulford Posted on November 9, 2015 by CarolynNovember 9, 2015

Kirkus Reviews has posted the first pre-publication review of Show Me the Ashes. That’s a good thing.

Five Star will release the book, the fourth in the series, December 16, 2015.

The Kirkus headline reads: “A former CIA agent must find a way to solve a cold case without hurting her best friend’s feelings.” The conclusion says: “Phoenix’s fourth provides both plenty of action and enough likely suspects to keep you guessing.” In between, the reviewer sketches the characters’ relationships and the two cases that former covert operative Phoenix Smith, singer Connie Diamante, and Sheriff Annalynn Carr Keyser investigate.

If you’d like to read the whole review, go to https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carolyn-mulford/show-me-the-ashes.

If you’d like to read my description and the first chapter, click on the book’s cover on my home page.

—Carolyn Mulford

 

Posted in News releases, Reviews of Carolyn’s books, Show Me Series

A Dog’s Tale

Carolyn Mulford Posted on August 24, 2015 by CarolynAugust 24, 2015

No matter how well I plan my mysteries, characters behave in unexpected ways and take roles I didn’t intend to give them. For example, a Belgian Malinois named Achilles arrived on the page for a brief appearance in Show Me the Murder. He became a major character in the series. He’s been on every cover right along with his human, former CIA covert operative Phoenix Smith.

A character who can’t talk presents a writer with special challenges. Fortunately the K-9 dropout also offers special opportunities both in characterization and plotting. I wrote a guest blog about all of these for Wicked Cozy Authors at the invitation of Liz Mugavero, author of the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries.

To read “Going to the dog,” go to http://wickedcozyauthors.com/2015/08/21/carolyn-mulford-going-to-the-dog.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in News, Show Me Series

Talking About My Books

Carolyn Mulford Posted on July 9, 2015 by CarolynJuly 9, 2015

The work on a book doesn’t end when it’s published. Saturday morning, July 11, I’m performing one of the most pleasant of the follow-up tasks: talking to people who have read Show Me the Gold or think they may.

I’ll hold the floor for an hour at the monthly Osher Saturday Morning Book Talk, Room D, 1907 Hillcrest Drive, Columbia, MO. Readers gather for coffee (included in the $3 admission) and pastry at 9:30 a.m. The show begins a little before 10. A group of mystery fans, the Ashland Mystery Book Club, is sponsoring my talk.

What do these readers want to know? Organizer Kit Salter tells me they’re curious about the writer as well as the book. I’ll touch on how and why I finally became a mystery writer.

Series dominate mysteries, so I anticipate interest in the origin and development of my Show Me series. Most of the rest of my prepared talk will cover my characters and themes, most particularly in Show Me the Gold. If I don’t talk too much, I’ll read short passages to illustrate points and give a flavor of the writing.

To make sure the readers hear what they want to know, we’ll end the talk with a Q&A and hang around for signing and chatting.

No part of the publication process gives me greater pleasure than the writing, but talking to readers comes close.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Events, Show Me Series

The Lull Before the Final Draft

Carolyn Mulford Posted on July 7, 2015 by CarolynJuly 7, 2015

Years of editing others’ work taught me that even good writers can’t see their own mistakes, particularly the big ones. Years of editing my own work proved I’m as fallible as other writers.

I also learned to guard against one particular problem in my own writing: failing to go far enough in fixing a problem. If I write a scene wrong the first time around, for example, my first or second revision may not get it right. So after I’ve completed a draft with advice from my chapter-by-chapter critiquers and revised accordingly, I ask two to four people to read the manuscript as though it were a book they checked out of the library.

I don’t ask these readers about specific things that may be wrong. That draws their attention to a single aspect rather than the whole. Instead I ask a few general questions, including the following.

Did you become bored anywhere?

Did anything confuse you?

When did you know who done it?

Could you keep the characters straight?

If you’d checked this out of the library, would you have finished it? If not, where would you have stopped reading.

Most people ignore these questions until after they’ve read the manuscript. And sometimes forever. That’s fine with me. Whatever feedback I receive is helpful.

While they’re reading, I take a mental vacation from the book. In the last stages of the first draft and in the immediate follow-up revision, I think about the manuscript day and night. I need to distance myself from it so that I can come back with a fresh, more objective view.

Doing something completely different helps. A change of environment, as in a short trip, works well. During this lull before the tackling the final draft, I’ve been updating my website, working on my neglected lawn, and preparing a book talk.

One reader’s report has come in. The manuscript reads fast, the complicated plot doesn’t confuse, the characters are distinctive. As usual, however, I still have one important problem to fix in the final draft.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Rewriting and Editing, Show Me Series

Draft 1 Done; Now for Draft 2

Carolyn Mulford Posted on June 19, 2015 by CarolynJune 19, 2015

Today I finished the first draft of the fifth book in my Show Me series. It runs 89,003 words.

My two invaluable critique partners have been commenting on each chapter as I wrote draft 1. They notice every questionable word and comma, illogical behavior or plot twist, information dump or lack of clarity.

I’ll probably cut about 2,000 words from draft 1 by weeding out paragraphs with unnecessary information, interactions with little point, jokes that don’t work, descriptions readers don’t need, and other distractions.

A big concern on draft 2 is checking for consistency, particularly in descriptions of setting and characters and in the way each character speaks. I also will make sure of consistency of spelling in such terms as dog walker/dogwalker.

The manuscript won’t get a lot shorter because I’ll look for places where I need to add or alter descriptions and dialogue to give depth to characters. Now that I’ve reached the end of the book, I know the new characters much better and can reveal them to readers in subtle ways I couldn’t when I first met them.

When I finish draft 2, I’ll give the manuscript to trusted readers who haven’t seen it before. They give me mostly big-picture feedback on plot and characters and comments on places they find hard to follow, slow, or even particularly entertaining.

Then I’m ready to do the final draft, the one in which I polish every chapter, page, paragraph, sentence, and word. I’ll read portions aloud as I go, and finally I’ll read the whole thing aloud. I always hear places where the cadence is off, a word has been overused, too many sentences have the same structure, a word has been left out or inserted or misspelled. I even find missing periods.

Draft 1 is done. On to draft 2.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Mysteries, Rewriting and Editing, Show Me Series, Writing

Show Me the Murder in Paperback

Carolyn Mulford Posted on June 12, 2015 by CarolynJune 18, 2015

ShowMeTheMurder_pbHarlequin Worldwide Mysteries has released the paperback edition of Show Me the Murder. This June, it’s featured on the Harlequin website: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=59157.

You won’t find the paperback edition on Amazon or in your brick-and-mortar bookstore. Harlequin sells this mystery line only on its website. Most of the buyers are subscribers.

I’ll have copies to sell when I do talks.

Published in hardback and e-book editions by Five Star/Gale, Cengage Learning in 2013, Murder is the first in my series featuring Phoenix Smith, a wounded ex-spy who returns to her rural hometown to relax and instead adapts her tradecraft to solving crime. Five Star markets primarily to libraries, so I retained the mass market paperback, audio, and film rights.

Worldwide Mysteries also will publish the paperback edition of Show Me the Deadly Deer. I haven’t received a release date yet, but it probably will come out in early 2016.

The WW cover design for Murder bears no resemblance in style, content, or color to the FS cover. I’m looking forward to seeing what the new Deadly Deer cover will look like.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in News, Show Me Series

Show Me the Gold Wins Award

Carolyn Mulford Posted on April 19, 2015 by CarolynApril 19, 2015

The Missouri Writers’ Guild gave Show Me the Gold the “Show Me” Best Book Award April 11 during the Guild’s leadership conference in Columbia. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry collections, and scripts were eligible for the award.

Published in December 2014, Gold is the third book in my mystery series, and my third book to receive the Guild’s recognition. Last year Show Me the Murder won the Walter Williams Major Work Award.

The conference marked the hundredth anniversary of the Guild’s founding during Journalism Week at the University of Missouri.  An internationally known journalist and educator, Williams founded the world’s first school of journalism in 1908 and led the way in establishing the Guild in 1915.

In 2015, conferees broke into small groups to discuss the issues the 17 chapters’ representatives deemed most critical as the Guild begins its second century. The conference ended with work on action plans.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in News, News releases, Show Me Series

Book Launch for Show Me the Gold

Carolyn Mulford Posted on January 17, 2015 by CarolynJanuary 17, 2015

Readers, writers, and others with nothing better to do are invited to come celebrate the publication of Show Me the Gold at 2 p.m., Saturday, January 24, Columbia Books, 1907 Gordon Street, Columbia, Missouri.

We’ll have conversation and refreshments before and after a short presentation. I’ll talk for a few minutes about how the series has developed and why mystery writers and readers like series. I may even look ahead to book four (now beginning the production process) and book five, now in the early chapters of the first draft.

And, of course, guests can ask questions about the books or the writing of them. We had a stimulating Q&A at the book launch for Show Me the Deadly Deer a year ago.

The host, Columbia Books, is an independent bookstore that sells new, used, and antiquarian books and small items with special appeal to booklovers.

To get there from East Broadway, turn north on Old 63 (just east of Boone Hospital), and in about a mile turn right on Gordon. If you approach on Business 70 East, turn south on Old 63 (a little east of Paris Road) and in .2 mile turn left onto Gordon.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Events, News, Show Me Series

Different Readers, Different Reviews

Carolyn Mulford Posted on January 14, 2015 by CarolynJanuary 14, 2015

More reviews of Show Me the Gold went online this week, and the difference in comments from those who had read the first two books and who had read only the third one struck me.

In a brief review on the January 7, 2015, Bibliophilic Books Blog, Star noted that Gold has good characters and an interesting mystery and reads very well as a standalone. She added, “I could have gained more insight into the characters from reading the other books in this series.” To read the full review, go to

http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2015/01/book-review-show-me-gold-by-carolyn.html.

I hope her readers follow her advice and read Show Me the Murder and Show Me the Deadly Deer, too.

A similar remark came from P.J. Coldren in a much longer review in the January issue of  Reviewing the Evidence. She wrote, “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.”

Coldren saw familiar traits in the characters. She wrote, “Connie, the third member of this long-standing trio, seems to take turns aiding and abetting Annalynn, then Phoenix; who doesn’t have a friend like this?” To read the entire review, go to http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=10204.

Judy Hogan, who reviewed the first two books, noted, “This is a fast read, but I like the slower scenes best, where we learn more about the characters. Each book in the series reveals more about the trio of women. Fortunately novel four is already in the works.”

Like many reviewers, she didn’t neglect the canine hero: “The dog Achilles continues to add a wonderful human tone to these novels, as do the various minor small town and rural characters.”

Her review ran January 11, 2015, on http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com.

One of the reasons readers and writers like series is the chance to get to know the ongoing characters and watch them change.

—Carolyn Mulford

 

Posted in Mysteries, News releases, Reviews of Carolyn’s books, Show Me Series

Guest Blog About Phoenix Plus Giveaway

Carolyn Mulford Posted on January 6, 2015 by CarolynJanuary 6, 2015

To introduce Show Me the Gold to potential readers and give a bonus to the regular ones, I wrote “A Day in the Life of Phoenix Smith” for Dru’s Book Musings (http://drusbookmusing.com).

If you leave a comment on my blog by January 11, 2015, you may win a free copy of the book.

Here’s how the story of a typical day for Phoenix begins.

 

Achilles licked my hand to remind me to get up and take him on our morning run.

I sat up before my hyperactive Belgian Malinois could lick my face.  “Sorry I overslept, boy. My souvenir of Istanbul kept me awake.” I touched the still-tender bullet wound that marked my last CIA mission.  No twinges. Across the hall, Annalynn’s bed was made and her windows closed. She’d gone to the sheriff’s department early to cajole deputies into taking extra shifts, and she always fed Achilles before she left.

 

To follow Phoenix and Achilles through the day and comment for a chance at the giveaway, go to http://drusbookmusing.com. Dru posted the story January 4, 2015.

You may want to cruise around the site and read some of the other writers’ stories, too.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Mysteries, News, Show Me Series

Reviewers Value Books’ Characters

Carolyn Mulford Posted on December 22, 2014 by CarolynDecember 22, 2014

Yesterday two reviewers gave me an early Christmas gift, appreciation of the people who inhabit Show Me the Gold, the newly released third volume of my mystery series.

In Living on the Page: Personal Journal of Author Sandra Parshall, the Agatha winner wrote, “The plot has enough twists, turns, and blind alleys to keep readers turning pages, but the greatest strength of Carolyn Mulford’s writing is her gift for creating likable characters with the kinds of flaws that make us all human. … Highly recommended for readers who love character-driven stories with realistic small town settings.”

If you need a model for writing book reviews, read this one and others at http://livingonthepage.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-show-me-gold.html.

Few newspapers give space to writers these days, but Columbia Tribune arts reporter Amy Wilder surveyed the local scene literary scene in “Missouri scribes fill shelves with varied volumes.” She even read Show Me the Gold before she interviewed me.

She focused on the fast pace, the sense of place, and my characters. She wrote, “Mulford is interested in, and draws a lot of inspiration from, social dynamics she has observed in people throughout her life — both while she lived and worked abroad and at home.

“While many things have changed” since the author left Missouri decades ago, “I don’t think people have changed very much,” she said. “I didn’t have an awareness of as many of the strains of Missouri life as a child, as I do as an adult — particularly as an adult who’s come back; you see a place more clearly when you return to it after being away.”

You can read the full article at http://www.columbiatribune.com/arts_life/ovation/missouri-scribes-fill-shelves-with-varied-volumes/article_4a7f2a0d-7e14-5858-86b1-ecff2f4e7041.html.

Those two perceptive reviewers made December 21 a great day for me.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in News, Reviews of Carolyn’s books, Show Me Series

Library Journal and Gumshoe Like Show Me the Gold

Carolyn Mulford Posted on December 8, 2014 by CarolynDecember 15, 2014

One of the most important reviews for any author comes from the Library Journal. With Show Me the Gold to be released December 17, I started searching for the review, only to discover it came out October 1, 2014.

I’d missed two months of feeling good. The reviewer, librarian Viccy Kemp, put Phoenix Smith in the company of three of my favorite mystery protagonists: Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, and J. A. Jance’s Joanna Brady. Those three writers pioneered in introducing intelligent, tough female investigators.

Here’s the review: “Ex-spy Phoenix Smith and Sheriff Annalynn Keyser respond to a call from a neighboring county in rural Missouri and kill two bank robbers trying to escape an abandoned farmhouse. Now they are the No. 1 targets of the surviving members of the Cantree clan. The third entry (after Show Me the Deadly Deer) in this character-driven series will intrigue fans of female PIs such as Sharon McCone, Kinsey Millhone, or Joanna Brady.”

The December issue of Gumshoe Review delighted me by posting two reviews. Both reviewers gave the nod not only to Phoenix and her two old friends but also to her canine sidekick, Achilles.

Verna Suit concluded, “The complex plot of Show Me the Gold finds Phoenix getting into lots of tight corners as she hunts down the elusive Cantrees. Frequently she is saved at the last second by the alertness of her Belgian Shepherd, Achilles, who easily earns his place in the series’ cover art. This very satisfying book traces the exploits of a 50-something single woman creating a new life for herself in small-town America; a CIA agent’s second act.” (See http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4513.)

Mel Jacob focuses on how Phoenix and her friends, Acting Sheriff Annalynn Keyser and singer/musical comedy director Connie Diamante, deal with crime and personal problems and what Achilles contributes. Jacob endorses Show Me the Gold by writing, “Readers will be looking forward to [the] next installment on Phoenix, Annalynn, Connie, and, of course, Achilles.” (See http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4682.)

Nothing beats knowing that readers enjoy my books.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Mysteries, News, News releases, Reviews of Carolyn’s books, Show Me Series

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I Am a River

Carolyn Mulford Posted on April 19, 2025 by CarolynApril 19, 2025

Each week I lunch with a group of friends and discuss a topic. Last time the coordinator posed this question: What is the shape of your life? The answers included a rectangle, a vase, a cloud, and an octagon. Usually I wing it, but this time I wrote my response. The Shape of My Life I am a river, Birthed in a puddle, Nourished by rain, Pushed to overflow And grow broader And deeper.   Springs and creeks fed my flow. Widening waters gathered force, Thrusting me against unyielding barriers And cascading me over rocky falls.   Other streams joined … Continue reading →

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Where to Find My Books

Carolyn Mulford Posted on April 1, 2025 by CarolynApril 1, 2025

While only one of my books, Show Me the Sinister Snowman, continues to be published in print and electronic editions, several of my novels are available from online sellers. Most of the copies are used, but columbiabooksonline.com, my supportive local bookstore, has a small stock of new Show Me hardbacks and paperbacks. I also have a few copies of all my novels except The Feedsack Dress, my historical children’s book, and Show Me the Murder, the first in my mystery series featuring a former spy returning   home and solving crimes with old friends. Fortunately e-editions still exist. Barnes and Noble … Continue reading →

Posted in Mysteries, The Feedsack Dress, Uncategorized

Looking Forward 60 Years Ago

Carolyn Mulford Posted on February 28, 2025 by CarolynFebruary 28, 2025

Reminders of my attempts to start my writing career arrived last Christmas. A friend, Joyce Campbell, sent me letters I had written to her while we were serving as Peace Corps Volunteers (teaching English) in Ethiopia from September 1962 to July 1964 and in the months after we returned home (Chattanooga, Tennessee, for her and Kirksville, Missouri, for me) after traveling through Europe. On December 21, 1964, I wrote, “Has anything turned up for you yet? People don’t seem terribly impressed with Peace Corps experience for job qualifications it seems to me. I’m going down to the University Placement Bureau … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing

Mid-Continent Earthquakes, Past and Future

Carolyn Mulford Posted on December 16, 2024 by CarolynDecember 16, 2024

About 2:30 a.m. December 16, 1811, an earthquake threw people in New Madrid, Missouri Territory, out of bed and crumbled brick houses and cabin chimneys, forced the Mississippi River to run backward and change course, disturbed sleep along most of the East Coast, and toppled dishes from shelves in the White House. That marked the beginning of some of the most powerful, prolonged quakes the United States has experienced. These weren’t the first in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is centered near where Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky come together. Geologists and other scientists have found indications that powerful … Continue reading →

Posted in Historicals, News, Thunder Beneath My Feet

The Turkey That Bullied Me

Carolyn Mulford Posted on November 26, 2024 by CarolynNovember 26, 2024

I grew up with animals as friends, the first being our dog Roamer. He and I wandered around the yard, the barnyard, and the garden. Roamer barked at squirrels and chased rabbits from our vegetables. He made me ponder one of life’s great puzzles: Is it okay to sympathize with Peter Rabbit in the story but condemn him when your own carrots are at risk? Roamer knew not to chase our chickens or cows or pigs, and he joined me in playing with an orphaned lamb and the kittens whose parents kept the barn free of mice. What he didn’t … Continue reading →

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