"Best Of" Mystery/Suspense Novels by Small Press Authors

        Every time I see another commercial on TV advertising a new book by James Patterson, I can't help thinking: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if authors published by small presses (including myself) could afford that kind of publicity?  But, the sad truth is, we can’t and neither can our publishers.  
        I realize that we can’t all achieve the fame and fortune of James Patterson. But I think we deserve a shot, a chance for readers to discover our books. That’s why I created my “Best Of” list on Shelfari. It’s my humble attempt to draw attention to the many, many wonderful mystery novels I’ve read by small press authors. But I need your help.

Before I write another word, I want to clarify something. My “Best Of” list is in no way complete. At this point, it’s a sample of some of the best mystery/suspense novels (published by small presses) that I’ve read in the past year or so. I’ll be adding new books to my list as time permits. I hope you’ll check the list periodically to discover new treasures.

So, how can you help to promote small press authors? The most obvious way, of course, is to buy our books. You can also join Shelfari, if you’re not already a member, and click the “recommend” button on my list. Then, spread the word to your friends about the list and the wonderful books you've discovered there. After all, word of mouth is the most powerful advertising there is!

http://www.shelfari.com/Best-Of/10560/Best-of-Mystery-Suspense-novels-published-by-small-presses

Mystery Author of the Month, Jenny Milchman

I'd like to welcome mystery/suspense author, Jenny Milchman.

Jenny, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer? 
I was born in Manhattan, and grew up in a suburb in New Jersey. I would say that the place I grew up contributed to the places I now write about in a paradoxical kind of way. Living outside an enormous city gave me a fascination with small towns and the closeness of the people who live in them, whether they like being that close or they don’t.

Where do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels? 
I live in another suburb, a little farther west, and I haven’t written about it yet. Small towns with dramatic topography—mountains, rivers, woods—consume me. My first novel, Cover of Snow, takes places in the Adirondacks. And my next novel begins in Idaho before traveling back to the Adirondacks. However, the novel I have kicking around for my third just might start out in New Jersey!

What inspired you to write your most recent novel?

The idea behind Cover of Snow was a question that grabbed me around the throat and just wouldn’t let go. What would make a good man do the worst thing he possibly could to his wife? Of course, first I had to figure out what that ‘worst thing’ would be, but once I did, I had a premise and an opening scene that persisted over many years and about twenty-two drafts. (Oy). Another way to describe Cover of Snow is with this log line: When her police detective husband commits suicide in the middle of a frozen Adirondack winter, Nora Hamilton must lay bare the secrets a town has always kept...as well as her own.

When did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer? 
My mom says that when I was two years old, I would tell her bedtime stories, and she would write them down. I just know that I always wanted to write. But practical considerations interfered and I went to college and graduate school to study psychology. I realized at some point that I couldn’t stop writing, but it’s good I didn’t know how hard it was going to be. It took me thirteen years to get published.

Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them your favorites? 
Oooh, this is so hard. Winifred by Doris Miles Disney is one of my all-time favorite mysteries. I think it contains the best last line ever written. The others I’d choose are not strictly mystery authors. I think that Pet Semetary by Stephen King is as existential a horror story as anything by Camus. And ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson is absolute perfection as a short story that hides the reveal until the very end.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine.

Jenny can be reached at http://jennymilchman.com and she blogs at http://suspenseyourdisbelief.com

Mystery of the Month by Marja McGraw

This is the third in the Bogey Man Mysteries (and my personal favorite), featuring Chris and Pamela Cross, along with their son Mikey and two Yellow Labs, Sherlock and Watson.

Marguerite Turnbal was a bestselling gothic mystery writer in the 1950s. A little on the eccentric side, she had her home renovated, adding secret compartments. In her later years she told her twin daughters, Coral and Carol, that there was a treasure to be found, and she gave them only one clue to its whereabouts. 

Over twenty years after Marguerite’s death a young woman is murdered in the old empty house. Chris Cross’s parents have come for a visit. His mother, Judith, and his son, Mikey, want to solve their own mystery in true Cross family tradition. Judith, also a little eccentric, breaks into the house after seeing strange lights and finds the body – not quite the mystery she was hoping to find. The Bogey Man and his family are soon gumshoeing their way through life again, looking for a murderer and hidden treasure.

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Ace-Bogey-Mystery/dp/1610090675/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361716945&sr=1-1&keywords=they+call+me+ace

Oak Tree Press: http://oaktreebooks.com/Shop%20OTP.htm

Bio:

Marja McGraw is originally from Southern California, where she worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years.

Relocating to Northern Nevada, she worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation.  Marja also lived in Oregon where she worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and owned her own business, a Tea Room/Antique store. After a brief stop in Wasilla, Alaska, she returned to Nevada. She’s also worked for a library and a city building department.

Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half. She’s appeared on television in Nevada, and she’s also been a guest on various radio and Internet radio shows.

She writes the Sandi Webster Mysteries and the Bogey Man Mysteries, and says that each of her mysteries contains “a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!”

She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, where life is good.

Website : http://www.marjamcgraw.com/ and Blog: http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/

A bonus! Ms. McGraw has just released another mystery! It's available on Kindle at the link below and will soon be available in paperback. You won't want to miss this one!

http://www.amazon.com/Mysteries-Holt-House-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00BDTQ5NS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361123657&sr=1-1&keywords=mysteries+of+holt+house 

Getting to know W.S. Gager

I’d like to welcome mystery author, W.S. Gager. Wendy’s most recent addition to her Mitch Malone Mystery Series, A Case of Volatile Deeds, will be released this month. 

Patricia: Wendy, I’ve read the first three novels in your series and I’m looking forward to reading the fourth. But, tell us, what are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?

Wendy: I love photography and scrap-booking.  I’ve always like to take photos and last Christmas I received a new camera and I’m still learning all the unique features of it. We are renting a home on a lake temporarily and I have been taking the same view in all different weather and am excited to put them together and see what they look like. I have summer, fall, rainy and winter. Now I just need to wait for spring’s new green. The home faces southeast and there are some awesome sunrises.

Patricia: What’s your favorite color? Why?

Wendy: Purple. I have always liked purple. When I was in the fifth grade I was able to shop for my own school clothes. I picked out a pair of purple jeans and a matching print shirt. They were my favorites and I couldn’t wait for the start of school. It was like ninety degrees that day but I wore my long purple pants because I couldn’t wait.  I roasted but I looked good!

Patricia: How would you describe yourself, personality wise?

Wendy: I am an eternal optimist and adventurous. There are always second chances and if things don’t work out right, it is because something better will be coming along. My dad still rolls his eyes when he remembers the people I brought home in high school. It was the late seventies and my friends were some pretty scruffy characters. He was sure I would end up dead in a ditch dead from one of my adventures.

Patricia: Do you like to travel? If so, what are some of your favorite places to go and/or what was your favorite vacation?

Wendy: I love to travel and have been able to go to some wonderful places. Two years after I received my bachelor’s degree I was in a job and going nowhere. I got a second job, moved in with a friend to save every dime and then quit. I went to Europe for the summer with my roommate from college. We went to England, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and France on the dollar a day plan. A dark, warm beer counted as a meal on so many of those days. I fell in love with Paris and the southwestern Irish coast. Paris was eclectic and romantic and years of history to peak my imagination. Ireland was so many shades of green and the friendliest of all people. Each was so beautiful. I’m saving my pennies to visit our exchange student from last year in Germany so she can show us the sights. We also traveled to Ecuador for a week to visit another exchange student and that trip was incredible. This wild part of the world is so very different from everything I was used to.

Patricia: How would you complete this sentence? If I won a million dollars, I would

Wendy: write mystery books every morning and then sightsee the rest of the day in different parts of the world. (I would pay people to clean and to promote my books.) I would be poor again very quickly but it would be a grand time for as long as it lasted.

Bio:  In the past three years I have moved three times and have one more coming up in the next couple of months. In between unpacking and repacking, I write the award winning Mitch Malone Mystery Series. During the last move this summer, I was a finalist in the 2012 Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense for A CASE OF HOMETOWN BLUES. I figure the next move will be during the launch of A CASE OF VOLATILE DEEDS in February. Prior to writing mystery books and teaching college English classes, I was a reporter for a newspaper for a dozen years. My crime beat reporter Mitch gets to really say some of the things I wish I could have. For more information, on me or Mitch, check out my revamped website or blog: http://wsgager.com, http://wsgager.blogspot.com

Buy Links: 

A Case of Infatuation: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Infatuation-W-S-Gager/dp/1892343584

 

A Case of Accidental Intersection: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Accidental-Intersection-W-Gager/dp/1892343703/ref=la_B003U5OADU_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356107704&sr=1-2 

A Case of Hometown Blues:  http://www.amazon.com/Case-Hometown-Blues-W-Gager/dp/1610090179/ref=la_B003U5OADU_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1356107704&sr=1-3 

http://www.amazon.com/Volatile-Deeds-Mitch-Malone-Mysteries/dp/161009204X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361026445&sr=1-1&keywords=a+case+of+volatile+deeds

Blurb: A CASE OF VOLATILE DEEDS: Mitch finally got a date on a weekend instead of chasing crime, but an explosion in a high rise office building makes him stand up his date as he goes running for an exclusive.  When he investigates he learns his date is the only casualty in a botched attempt to steal from the real estate office where she works. The clues lead to city hall politics Mitch has always avoided. When city employees are killed, Mitch must unravel the local politics or a cute dog with a knack for finding dead bodies will be sniffing out his corpse--the next casualty of murder and governmental corruption.