Binge reading a mystery series

When you've finished reading the most recent book in a mystery series, a series you really enjoy, have you ever wished you could read the next book right away? That you didn't have to wait several months or more to see what happens next?

I recently published the second novel in my Small Town Mystery series. But, of course, it will be next year before the third book comes out. However, my five-book Malone Mystery Series is complete. You can follow my characters from their inception in Mixed Messages through the last book, Marnie Malone. In other words, you can binge read the entire series without having to wait.

If that appeals to you, here's an overview of the series:

The Malone Mystery Series isn’t just about the mystery. It’s the story of Ann Malone Kern and her family and the struggles they face. As the series progresses, you will see Ann and the other characters change and grow as they deal with a multitude of problems and are involved in several dangerous, sometimes life-threatening, situations.

 

http://tinyurl.com/8sd2cz4

More Than One Road To Travel

My guest this week is fellow author and good friend, Marja McGraw. She has some very interesting things to say about her decision to self-publish the books in her two mystery series.

"When I started writing, my friends and family, of course, told me I had talent. What else were they supposed to say? After all, they were just that – friends and family. Someone sent me an article about a self-publishing company. I’d never heard of such a thing and jumped right on it. I knew nothing about finding a traditional publisher.

The first thing I discovered was that there was a stigma attached to being self-published. I wrote a third book and had learned a little about traditional publishing, so I started submitting the manuscript. I read somewhere that whether or not your book is accepted or rejected sometimes depends on the reader’s mood that day. Without going into a long story, I discovered the truth in that statement, and I moved on to other publishers.

Oh, joy, my book was accepted, and so were the next four. One of my Sandi Webster Mysteries led to a spinoff series, The Bogey Man Mysteries. I decided to go with a different publisher for the second series. The series was accepted and I was on my way.

Then things began to change. I learned more about the business and realized I wasn’t all that happy on my current path. The two publishers wanted to take one road, and I wanted to take another. We couldn’t seem to get past that fork in the road. At least, I couldn’t.

It was time to make a difficult decision. I was able to cancel all of the contracts with both publishers, do a slight rewrite on the books, create new book covers, and before I knew it I was back where I started, in a manner of speaking. I re released all of the books by self-publishing them. Self-publishing had changed and there were more opportunities for me.

One drawback was that now I had to do all of my own promotion and marketing. Honestly, even with traditional publishers I was doing most of it anyway, so I guess it’s actually a non-issue.

The books have been doing fairly well and by the time I left the traditional publishers I had a fan base in place. That helped a lot. I wasn’t coming out of the blue with readers wondering who I was.

One last point I’d like to make. I’ve discovered that if you had a traditional publisher in your past, the stigma seems to disappear to a great extent.

Would I recommend self-publishing to other writers? No. Each writer has to make up their own mind. I can’t offer any advice. I know that I’ve been happy since I became my own boss. I’m in control, or out of control as the case may be, and I made the right choice for me.

Take your time and don’t make a sudden decision. Research and decide what’s right for you. Follow the road that makes you happy with your choice of career."

To read more about Marja's books and/or to order them:
http://www.amazon.com/Marja-McGraw/e/B003U7L3R4/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459722522&sr=1-2-ent

Marja McGraw was born and raised in Southern California. She worked in both civil and criminal law, state transportation, and most recently for a city building department.  She has lived and worked in California, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska and Arizona.

 

She wrote a weekly column for a small town newspaper in Northern Nevada, and conducted a Writers’ Support Group in Northern Arizona. A past member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), she was also the Editor for the SinC-Internet Newsletter for a year and a half.

Marja writes two mystery series: The Sandi Webster Mysteries and The Bogey Man Mysteries, which are light reading with a touch of humor. She also occasionally writes stories that aren’t part of a series.

Marja says that each of her mysteries contains a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

She now lives in Washington, where life is good.

Tired of Writing a Mystery Series?

Some serial mystery authors have grown tired of writing about the same characters. Arthur Conan Doyle grew bored with Sherlock Holmes and killed him off although he later resurrected the infamous sleuth. Agatha Christie also grew to hate her arrogant little detective Hercule Poirot, and wanted to end his career as well as his life. My own Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series became tiresome after I had finished novel six, Murder at the Mansion. However, after starting a standalone suspense novel, I began dreaming about my senior sleuths, Dana Logan and her best friend Sarah Cafferty. In the dreams both women seemed to plead with me to continue the series.

I have to admit that, after six months of not tuning into their conversations and adventures, I missed them. They had become old friends. In fact, they were patterned after my best friend and I while we were still both young, single and adventurous. My sixtyish amateur sleuths have gotten themselves into some unusual predicaments but have managed somehow to survive.

I eventually decided to write a serious seventh novel but my sleuths refused to fit completely into serious mode. Dana’s sidekick Sarah has an innate sense of humor that can’t be tamped down, and Dana usually goes along with her antics, no matter how much I try to discourage them. However, the novels’ subjects are serious:  drugs, terrorism, adultery, anarchy, romance, theft, gray wolves, RV park intrigue, a tornado, flood, and, of course, murder. But Sarah always seems to make light of or exaggerate the problems which present themselves.

Emotions are the most important elements in novel plots, so I’m grateful to have a quirky character like Sarah to make the novels come alive. No cardboard characters for me.

My current work in Progress, Logan & Cafferty #7, is titled Mystery of the Black Cross and features Sarah’s badly laser-burned face and the murders of two women in the cosmetic surgeon’s office. I researched the novel by suffering through a similar burn myself. I then came across an anarchist’s group dating back to the twelfth century. The research has been fascinating. I tied the two subjects together by having the killer paint a black cross on the house the two women share. A deadly warning or a prank? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to find out.  : )

Jean Henry Mead began her writing career as a California news reporter, among her beats the Mexican border. She later transferred to her current home in Wyoming, where she served as staff writer-photographer for the statewide newspaper, and editor of In Wyoming Magazine while freelancing for the Denver Post. She also contributed to other magazines, both domestic and abroad, before writing the first of her 21 books, half of them novels.  Along the way she established the Western Writers Hall of Fame located in the large Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, and has served as National Publicity director of WWA and editor of two small presses.

Visit her website at JeanHenryMead.com and her Amazon author’s page at http://www.amazon.com/Jean-Henry-Mead/e/B002DBE37A/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0