DiMillo's On the Water

One of the scenes in my second mystery novel, Fatal Whispers, takes place at DiMillo’s On the Water in Portland, Maine. DiMillo’s is a floating restaurant located in a boat on the waterfront in the Old Port area. True to its location, the restaurant rises and falls with the tides twice each day. In operation since 1982 as a floating restaurant, it is one of the largest such eateries in the country. The interior is decorated with nautical artifacts like handcrafted boats and old lanterns and provides a superb view of the harbor from every table.

DiMillo’s offers a wide selection of scrumptious lunch and dinner menu items, and it was an easy decision to place my characters, ghostwriter Megan Scott and investigative reporter Michael Elliott, in a scene there. The hardest part was choosing from the mouthwatering lunch options on the menu. I finally decided my characters would order the fried seafood sampler, which includes scallops, clams, haddock, and Maine shrimp. Yummy!

In the scene, Michael meets with medical examiner Dr. Trudy Sayer to coax the young woman into sharing information crucial to his investigation of three unexplained deaths in the city. Since Megan plays a key role in gathering evidence for Michael, he introduces her to Dr. Sayer as his “research assistant” and, as agreed, avoids mentioning their romantic involvement. Dr. Sayer all but ignores Megan, but a congenial ambiance, appetizing food, and Michael’s charm persuade the enthralled medical examiner to disclose key information regarding her findings.

Here's an excerpt as told from Megan’s perspective -- in a lighter moment -- after Dr. Sayer thanks Michael for lunch and leaves:

I waited until the top of her head disappeared down the stairs. “What can I say, Michael? She’s perfect for you.” I smiled and batted my eyelids at him.

He chuckled. “Sometimes ya got to do what ya got to do.”

“Including bribing the medical examiner with a delicious lunch on a floating restaurant and suggestive body language?”

“I’ll do anything to get to the bare bones of the matter.”

“Oh, and funny too.” I poked him in the arm. “You owe me another favor for this one.”

“Even if my reasons from lunch were personal as well as professional?” He reached for my hand and squeezed it.

“Admit it. You asked me here to protect you from her.”

“Could be. She did seem disappointed after you joined us, wouldn’t you say?”

To find out how Megan and Michael risk their lives to solve three mysterious deaths in Portland, Maine, click here to find out where you can obtain your copy of Fatal Whispers.

The Human Book Project

Photo of Bookshelf in library with many books: © Depositphotos.com/PinkBadger

The Mississippi Mills Public Library kindly invited me to volunteer at a Human Book Project event they held last weekend. As far as events go, this one was a first for me.

If you’re not too familiar with the Human Book concept, here’s a condensed version:

– The Human Book is a volunteer who has agreed to speak about their life experiences and challenges. An individual accepts to take part in the event as a Book and is “borrowed” for conversation. The Book might represent a company, local authority, or a particular career or lifestyle.
– Book reservations for specific time slots are available at the library before the event. A Reader can “check out” a Book for thirty minutes maximum, during which the Book and the Reader have a one-on-one conversation.
– Readers can register for only one Human Book at a time. First come, first served.
– The library event is designed for an adult audience.

Launched in Denmark in 2000, Human Book events have been held in more than thirty countries around the world. The events offer readers opportunities to interact with real people who are willing to share their specific perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences.

On the matter of Reader etiquette, there are guidelines to follow:

– The Reader must be respectful in conversation with the Book.
– The Reader accepts that the Book can quit the conversation if he or she feels that the Reader treats him or her in an inappropriate or disrespectful manner.
– The loan period is for the established time maximum.
– The Reader must not record (audio or written), videotape, or take pictures of the Book.
– The Reader is not allowed to ask the Book for personal contact information.
– The Reader must not seek professional counsel during the conversation.

Since I enjoy one-on-one meetings, I looked forward to participating in the occasion and rightly so. I had a pleasant session with a mature library patron who was interested in writing her memoirs. We exchanged views on the writing world, the ins-and-outs of the publishing business, and other technicalities that fill up an author’s day. Before we knew it, the slotted time was up. I thanked my guest for coming and wished her success with her new venture.

The Human Book event might take on different variations in other libraries. Some libraries ask their Books to narrate a personal story to Readers. Other Books act as teachers or guides and share information about a specialized subject, for example, gardening. The goal is to reinforce the library’s value to the community through the sharing of knowledge and experiences.

Kudos to libraries for expanding their reach through such innovative events!

Red Brick Buildings

One of the settings in my mystery novel, Fatal Whispers, is the Old Port district of Portland, Maine. Known for its cobblestone streets and 19th-century architecture, the area houses specialty shops, restaurants, colorful cafés, and bars.

What fascinated me while researching the history of Portland was the discovery of a Great Fire that occurred there in 1866. While the city was celebrating the first July 4th after the Civil War, a massive fire broke out. It destroyed most of the commercial buildings and left 10, 000 people homeless. However, recovery was swift, and the city was rebuilt with red brick structures in grand Victorian style to portray its economic rebirth. Even today, many of these buildings remain—a testament to the resilience of the architectural style of the past and the energetic development of the community.

The lasting power of these structures reminded me of the main protagonists in my mystery series—characters who beat the odds and overcame obstacles, no matter how dire the consequences. Ghostwriter Megan Scott and investigative reporter Michael Elliott stand tall in the face of attempts to thwart their crime-solving efforts. They don’t flinch in the face of threats but remain resolute in digging up the truth.

As an example, here’s a short passage from Fatal Whispers that portrays Megan in a risky situation:

I could feel the sweat gathering along my forehead and upper lip. I held my breath, praying I wouldn’t inhale any of the poison inside the box. In desperation, I tore my gaze from the potential catastrophe in my arms to the indicators that signaled what floor the elevator was on. Only the third? What was taking so long?

Getting stuck in small dark spaces was a phobia that originated from my childhood days. I’d locked myself in a cedar chest by accident once while playing a game of hide-and-go-seek in the attic. My mother had rescued me after my playmates had told her I’d vanished into thin air.

My claustrophobia was in full force now. I looked to my left, then to my right. People behind me. People in front of me. The elevator was filled to capacity. Like a recurring nightmare, the doors opened on almost every floor but no one got off. The doors kept opening and closing, opening and closing, until I thought I’d scream.

I didn’t remember the rest of the ride down. When the elevator doors opened on the ground level, an invisible net seemed to pull me into the lobby with the others and force us to move as one. My legs felt stiff. I couldn’t break away.

The crowd finally dispersed and cleared a path in front of me.

I saw Michael. His expression turned to one of unease the moment he spotted me. His stare dropped down to the oblong box in my arms. I could always tell when he gets worried. Tiny furrows form along his brow and his blue eyes lose their sparkle.

Want to read more? You’ll find Fatal Whispers at online retailers listed here.

My Guest: Gail M Baugniet

Photo of Sunset on the Beach: © Depositphotos.com/silvestrova

Join me in welcoming mystery author Gail M Baugniet to my blog today. Prior to writing full-time, Gail worked for insurance companies and with law enforcement as a police officer and security dispatcher. After living through many snowy winters in northern states, she now lives in Hawaii where she is working on her next mystery novel. Gail is a member of Sisters in Crime, Inc., and current president of the Sisters in Crime/Hawaii chapter in Honolulu.

Here’s my first question, Gail. What do you consider your biggest struggle as a writer?

My plot and subplots become a bit convoluted at times. Over the course of writing and editing drafts, I sometimes get timelines or events mixed up. For instance, in WITH FIERY VENGEANCE, I had Pepper attending a court hearing at a time that preceded a previous scene, but it wasn’t meant to be a flashback. It was a minor error that required some fancy rewriting to fit everything into a sequential timeline. That is why beta readers are so helpful; they catch my plot missteps.

What book or books have influenced your writing style the most?

Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises comes to mind. Although I write mysteries, this story sticks with me because of the Paris setting. I often choose books by the story’s venue and choose the location before I begin to plot a story. With mysteries, even a locked room can become the setting, but something about that room must appeal to the reader, either its decor, the warmth of a fireplace, or possibly an enticing but troubled spirit.

Give us an interesting fun fact about a character in your Pepper Bibeau Mystery series.

Other than my protagonist, Pepper Bibeau, each story has a new cast of major characters. The one exception is Maluhia Frederick Kane, Pepper’s Hawaiian uncle who is a recurring figure, the person she has always depended on to give her sound advice and support her decisions. At age forty-three, Uncle Fred has never been married, and has often rebuffed the advances of available women. This raised some interesting possibilities. Though I’ve been mildly curious over the years about how that might play out, I learned along with Pepper about Uncle Fred’s ‘secret’ while writing my latest novel.

You’ve recently published the third novel in the Pepper Bibeau Mystery series, WITH FIERY VENGEANCE Anger Burns Deep. Tell us a bit about it.

The novel deals with decisions about Pepper’s fourteen-year-old son, the decisions influenced by murder past and present; and Pepper’s knack for getting into trouble without really trying, this time on two islands: O’ahu and the Big Island of Hawaii. The story, set in late 1972 and early 1973, offers an interesting contrast in lifestyles of small town Hawi on the Big Island and Honolulu’s Chinatown on O’ahu.

In addition to writing your third novel, you also participated in the creation of an anthology, MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense. Describe this project for us.

Compiling and formatting the anthology was a new and satisfying experience for me. Thirteen authors living in Hawaii or having close ties to the state participated, submitting mystery short stories set in Hawaii. The short story I submitted, Chinatown Conundrum, is a spinoff of my mystery series. Author Laurie Hanan used personal photographs to design the cover for the anthology. After the stories were written and edited, I copyrighted the full manuscript, arranged the layout, and submitted the completed documents to CreateSpace for publication on Amazon.com in trade book and ebook formats. Proceeds from the sale of the anthology are to be donated to the non-profit organization Sisters-In-Crime/Hawaii to support mystery writers in Hawaii.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Gail. Wishing you continued success with the Pepper Bibeau Mystery series and best of luck with the Mystery in Paradise anthology!

How to connect with Gail:

Twitter @GailMBaugniet

Blogsite

LinkedIn

Facebook Author page

Where to find Gail’s books:

Amazon

Amazon (Anthology)

My Guest: Susan Russo Anderson

Photo of  Notre Dame in Paris, France: © Depositphotos.com/boggy22

My guest today is Susan Russo Anderson. She is a writer, a mother, a grandmother, a widow, a member of Sisters In Crime, and a graduate of Marquette University. She has taught language arts and creative writing, worked for a publisher, an airline, and an opera company. Susan discusses her work and what inspired her to write two different mystery series that take place centuries apart.

Welcome to my blog, Susan. You are the author of four books in the Serafina Florio Mystery series set in 19th-century Sicily. What enticed you to write about the adventures of a “midwife turned sleuth” in that period?

Great question, Sandra. Beyond the surface stories—there’s always a murder that needs to be solved—is the overarching theme of the Serafina mysteries in all the novels. And that’s migration—in the broad sense, that is.

I became interested in migration a long time ago when I became enthralled with the Lower East Side, an important neighborhood in Manhattan, teeming with immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe from the 1880’s to 1925. And they’ve left their mark. The neighborhood is still an amazing place, a real melting pot, and one of my favorite places to visit. But in the beginning, as I walked the streets of the Lower East Side, characters would appear in my head and they began talking and telling stories. That’s how the series began. My head is filled with them, all related to Serafina, by the way, generations of them.

About Serafina. She’s a 19th-century sleuth and a sleuth has to have a reason for getting around the neighborhood, and one of the best reasons for a woman in the 19th century was midwifery. Midwives were a vital part of the community. They knew everything about everybody. They had instant cachet, far more important than most local officials.

Murder on the Rue Cassette is the most recent book in the Serafina Florio Mystery series. Tell us a bit about it.

The book begins in Paris on April 15, 1874. A group of painters hang their works in a studio on the Boulevard des Capucines. Elena, a Sicilian countess estranged from her husband and living in Paris for the past seven years, attends the opening with her latest flame. She counts many of these artists as her friends, some as her former lovers. Three hours later, Elena’s body is found in the Rue Cassette, fatally shot in the left temple. Her husband, Loffredo—also Serafina’s lover—is charged with her murder and awaits trial in a Paris prison.

Serafina is commissioned by Elena’s father to investigate the countess’s death. The sleuth and her entourage travel to Paris where Paul Cézanne, Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, and other notables make cameo appearances as Serafina interviews friends of the countess. At the same time, she attempts to prove Loffredo’s innocence. As the plot twists and turns, Serafina and her friends find themselves in the dangerous grip of a mind gone feral.

It’s been a busy year for you, Susan. You’ve also written Too Quiet in Brooklyn, the first book in a new adult mystery series featuring private investigator Fina Fitzgibbons. What prompted you to diversify with a contemporary series?

The protagonist, Fina Fitzgibbons, has been rattling around my head for quite some time. She’s a descendant of Serafina, by the way, and has inherited her sleuthing talent and her jade eyes. Someday I’ll write more about the family.

Anyway, Fina had to write her story, and beyond the mysteries and making a living as a private investigator, she’s got issues that need to be aired. Issues that many of us have today, but especially new adults, adults in their early twenties. I think they grapple with these issues—like loving and leaving, friendship and privacy and being disillusioned with society’s constructs, and, for women, making it in a man’s world. Beneath the surface story of Too Quiet In Brooklyn—a murder and a kidnap—Fina struggles with these modern-day issues.

Which characters did you find more challenging to write about: the ones in the Serafina Florio series or the ones in the Fina Fitzgibbons series? Why?

Another great question, Sandra! Oh, I think historical fiction is much harder to write. For instance, I know Paris pretty well, but the Paris of 1874, well, that’s a different place than the Paris of today. I had to do a lot of research, and it takes me more time to develop the characters and to walk in their shoes. I have to be very careful not to give them a modern mouth and brain. But whether the characters are contemporary or historical, I spend a lot of time with them.

Thank you, Susan, for sharing your innermost thoughts with us today. We wish you continued success and look forward to more books featuring your strong-willed protagonists!

How to connect with Susan:

Website

Twitter @susanrussoander

Where to find Susan’s books:

Amazon Author Page

Smashwords