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 … Continue reading →

Book Talks: April-June 2016

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Most of these events feature one of my two new books, Thunder Beneath My Feet, a historical middle grade/young adult novel set during the New Madrid earthquakes, and Show Me the Ashes, the fourth in my mystery series featuring a former CIA covert operative solving crimes in rural Missouri. April 7, 7 p.m.: An Evening with Local Authors, Barnes and Noble, Columbia (MO) Mall Marlene Lee, Cathy Salter, and I discuss writing and read from our new books. April 24-25: Missouri Association of School Librarians Conference, Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach As an exhibitor/vendor, I’ll be chatting about Thunder Beneath My … Continue reading →

Fighting the Second-Draft Blues

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Writing the last word in a first draft brings joy to me and probably every other writer. Dismay—call it the second-draft blues—follows the celebration. Much work remains to be done. How much? That’s almost impossible to say. Evaluating your own writing is difficult, particularly when you’ve just finished the draft. That’s why I came up with a way to look at a manuscript objectively and judge how much revision it needs. I developed this visual assessment system years ago and have taught it in numerous nonfiction workshops. I’ve adapted it for fiction. This week I shared the highlights on former … Continue reading →

Blanket Coats Endure

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The December weather in New Madrid is mild when Thunder Beneath My Feet begins. Betsy keeps warm by wearing shawls over her wool and linsey-woolsey clothing. (Linsey-woolsey contains linen and wool or cotton.) By January, the earthquake has destroyed almost all the houses, and the little group camping out at the Lawton farm prepares to cope with the cold by knitting mittens, making skunk- and coon-skin caps, and lining moccasins and boots with fur. The prospect of trekking north into a much colder area forces Betsy to deal with the need for coats. One of the simplest to make is a … Continue reading →

Fear of the End of the World

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Many people have forgotten—or never heard about—some of the most powerful and long-lasting earthquakes to ever hit North America. One reason is the epicenter was on the frontier, on the west side of the Mississippi River only a few years after the Louisiana Purchase. Even so, the quakes and severe aftershocks shook most of the country east of the Mississippi and southern Canada. When the New Madrid earthquakes began on December 16, 1811, the destruction on land and the Mississippi convinced many of the people living in or near the little river port that they signaled the end of the world. Just … Continue reading →

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, … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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, … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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, … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →