TWO TITLES NOW AVAILABLE AT AWRITERSWORK.COM
2/23/10: "A Writer's Work" is now in business! At this new web store you'll find not only my books but others by a variety of multi-published authors. Historical? Contemporary? Romance? Mystery? Nonfiction? They're all there for your reading pleasure.The books at this site go directly from writer to reader. We're changing the process. No middleman. We've done the scanning, proofreading and covers ourselves to make our books available, many for the very first time as ebooks, and set up a system whereby we can also offer original ebooks direct to readers. The two Kathy Lynn Emerson titles available for the launch of the site are Murders and Other Confusions, a collection of Lady Appleton short stories originally published by Crippen & Landru, and Fatal as a Fallen Woman, second book the the Diana Spaulding Mystery Quartet, set in 1888, originally published by Pemberley Press. The ebooks come in a variety of formats and can also be easily converted to read on a Kindle. Check it out!
For those of you who aren't into ebooks, I now have a special offer available on the complete Diana Spaulding Quartet in trade paperback editions.
UPDATE ON AWRITERSWORK.COM
2/4/10: I’m still excited about "A Writer's Work" but setting up a new website and a new business is trickier than it might seem. The launch date has been moved up to March 1st. Apologies if you have already gone to the site hoping to purchase one of the books we're offering there. Soon. Very soon. And I'm in the process of getting three ebook originals ready to add once we're open for business. Stay tuned for more details.
E-BOOK NEWS
1/15/10: I’m very excited to be part of a new project called "A Writer's Work." More than a dozen authors from several different genres have banded together to offer their backlist titles directly to readers at reasonable prices in e-book format. To start, my contribution will be e-book versions of my anthology of historical mysteries, MURDERS AND OTHER CONFUSIONS: THE CHRONICLES OF SUSANNA, LADY APPLETON and also the second novel in the Diana Spaulding Mystery Quartet, FATAL AS A FALLEN WOMAN. I’ll be adding more titles later on, as well as offering some original, never-before-published works. Our official launch date is February 1st, but the site is live now and new information and sample chapters of our offerings are being added daily. I hope you’ll stop by and take a look. Just click on the button below to go to the site's home page.
"Any Means Short of Murder": FREE SHORT STORY
1/2/10: If you click the button below, it will take you to "Any Means Short of Murder," a Face Down short story published a year ago in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Read it free here.
Also, there's a new interview with me (as Kate) at
NEW STUFF ADDED TO EVIL TWIN'S PAGES
11/12/09: If you click the button below, you'll get a sneak peek at the first two scenes in my latest book written as Kate Emerson, SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT: BETWEEN TWO QUEENS. It's an historical set late in the reign of King Henry VIII and the review in Publisher's Weekly says: "As in her first Tudor novel, Emerson skillfully crafts a strong heroine. . . . An in-depth view into the later years of Henry’s court with the charismatic king gone to seed, makes him a character, in Emerson’s capable hands, to be feared and in some ways pitied." The material I've posted is taken from my manuscript, before copy editing, so no fair pointing out typos or grammatical errors that have been corrected in the finished product! Enjoy.
ANOTHER BLOG PLUS PSEUDONYM NEWS
11/3/09: A new blog from me is now up at the Cozy Murder Mysteries blogspot where I am this week's author answering the question "Why I Write Mysteries."
In other news, my "evil twin" Kaitlyn Dunnett has turned in the manuscript of the fourth Liss MacCrimmon novel, The Corpse Wore Tartan, which is centered around a Burns Night Supper, this one held at The Spruces, Moosetookalook, Maine's newly reopened grand hotel. Add a blizzard, stranding folks who don't get along all that well, and is it any surprise that someone ends up dead? I had a lot of fun writing this one. The only downside is that it won't be in stores for almost a year.
Meanwhile, since these things have to be planned waaaay in advance, I've been working on the official proposal for the fifth book, tentatively titled Scotched. It will go in to my editor for approval before I actually begin to write the book, which is due on the editor's desk around the time the fourth book is published. I can't tell you too much about it now, since I don't want to give away what happens in A Wee Christmas Homicide and The Corpse Wore Tartan, but there will be a mystery fan convention going on at The Spruces at the same time other things are happening in Moosetookalook. The right to name one of the fictional guest authors at this fictional convention was up for bid at the charity auction at a real fan convention, Bouchercon, recently held in Indianapolis. In other words, the winner gets to name the character after himself or herself or names the character after a friend or relative as a gift to that person. I'll be making the same offer again at the auction held at Mayhem in the Midlands next May.
BACK FROM BOUCHERCON
10/24/09: A week ago, I was in Indianapolis and nervous. I didn't expect to win an Anthony award for HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES (and I didn't), but that didn't stop me from feeling shaky. I really really wanted the awards ceremony to be over with. Nominees had been gathered in the "green room" at the Hilbert Circle Theater an hour beforehand and, although the sentiment was lovely, it just made things more nerve-wracking. Still, it did give me the opportunity to chat with some of the nominees in other categories. When there are well over 1000 people at a conference, it's possible to go the entire weekend without running into some of them, even those for whom you're keeping an eye peeled.
As things turned out, the three of us in the critical nonfiction category who attended Bouchercon split the available awards evenly. I had already won the Agatha. The Macavity went to Frankie Y. Bailey for AFRICAN AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS and the Anthony was awarded to Jeffrey Marks for ANTHONY BOUCHER: A BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY.
Now that I'm back home, I'm ready to hibernate for the winter. In other words, I have a novel to write. I won't be doing any more traveling now until spring. Late fall and winter are always very productive seasons for me. Once there's snow on the ground (and that happened on October 13 this year!) the temptation to go out of the house decreases and my output increases. I'll be doing some more blogging and I've promised an article to MEDIEVAL CHRONICLE, but mostly I'll be writing the next Kate Emerson historical, BY ROYAL DECREE, and starting work on the fifth Liss MacCrimmon Mystery (as Kaitlyn Dunnett), tentatively titled SCOTCHED.
One note for anyone who might be trying to reach me by email. My email addy (emerson@megalink.net) hasn't changed in ages but every once in awhile the demons that inhabit cyberspace decide that it doesn't exist. Or sometimes the message says that megalink.net doesn't exist. Not true. Just wait a day or two and try again and you should get through. And if all else fails, you can always contact me by snail mail at P. O. Box 156, Wilton ME 04294.
MORE BLOGS AND INTERVIEWS
10/8/09: I seem to be popular all of a sudden. People keep asking me to blog and do intereviews. This is kind of neat. It also means I can write short essays (okay, okay . . . I can BLOG!!!) about whatever strikes me as interesting at the moment. I don't think I'd want to commit to doing that on a regular basis. You can see how haphazard my "news" entries here have been. But once in a while, especially for an audience, maybe a new audience, that really seems interested in what I have to say, the process is fun. And, let's face it, being asked is always flattering. Most writers, myself included, need all the ego-boosts we can get.
So, where am I this month? There will be a blog from me ("Who Am I Today?") at http://www.writerspace.com/wsblogs on October 14th. I'm just about ready to send that one in now. I've also just done an interview for http://workingwritersandbloggers.com. And I'm working on an article for the March issue of The Medieval Chronicle, which was a print newsletter back in the day and is now starting up again as an e-newsletter. You can check it out at www.TheMedievalChronicle.com.
NEWS FROM KATHY AND HER PSEUDONYMS
9/21/09: It's been awhile since I've updated this, but that's because not much has been happening for the last few months. Trust me, you don't want to hear about me sitting down at the computer and writing. Very boring to watch!
When I wasn't working on the fourth Liss MacCrimmon mystery (due on the editor's desk on October 1 for publication about a year from now) or doing the final proofreadings, etc. for the next Kate Emerson novel (coming out in January 2010), I've been indulging in my hobby, the "Who's Who of Tudor Women" at KateEmersonHistoricals.com. I've now posted new entries for almost all of the 700+ women included in my ancient, out of print, and out of date Wives and Daughters: The Women of Sixteenth-Century England (1984) but I'm still tinkering and still adding new entries. I did a guest blog about this on The Burton Review. I've also done an interview about my historicals for Historically Obsessed, another historical blog. You can find that at Historically Obsessed.
In mystery news, Kaitlyn Dunnett's A Wee Christmas Homicide will be in stores on September 29th. Liss MacCrimmon discovers she and two other shopkeepers in Moosetookalook, Maine have the last supply of the hot toy of the Christmas season, Tiny Teddies, and launches "the Twelve Shopping Days of Christmas" to bring business to town. Naturally, since this is a mystery novel, murder threatens to blight an otherwise joyous season. For more details and a sample chapter, check out my Kaitlyn Dunnett website at KaitlynDunnett.com.
I'm headed for the Novelists Inc conference in a little over a week. This is a gathering of (big surprise) novelists. A chance to talk to others who do this crazy thing for a living and attend panels that offer a sort of "refresher course" in the things I may need to know---everything from forensics to stress relief. I'll be doing a couple of workshops myself, one on painless research and another on the historical mystery market. A little less than two weeks after that conference ends, I'll be at the Bouchercon mystery convention, the largest gathering of mystery fans in the U.S. Again, this is a chance to get together with other writers, but it also gives me the opportunity to meet readers and to sit in on panels on a variety of topics. I'll be on one with other folks who have written writing guides of various sorts, hawking my How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries which, just incidentally, is up for two awards presented at this convention, the Anthony, voted on by all attendees, and the Macavity, given by Mystery Readers International. Wish me luck.
NEW LARGE PRINT EDITION AVAILABLE
6/17/09: Face Down Beneath the Eleanor Cross is now available in a large print trade paperback edition from Delphi Books. It has a great cover, once again featuring the artwork of Linda Weatherly S.:
This is the fourth book in the Face Down series and the one in which Lady Appleton is arrested for the murder of her husband. Is the killer one of his many former mistresses? Or someone else? Allowed out of prison while whe awaits her trial, she must find the real killer before time runs out. This is the first novel in which Nick Baldwin makes an appearance (he's in one earlier short story) and also the one in which Rosamond and her mother first appear in person. For more details on other large print editions of my novels, click here.
MORE NOMINATIONS
6/5/09: How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries continues to garner honors, which pleases me more than I can say. I received word shortly after returning from Malice Domestic that it is a finalist for two more nonfiction mystery awards, the Macavity, given by Mystery Readers International, and the Anthony (not to be confused with the Tony!!), awarded by the annual Bouchercon Mystery Convention. The winners of both the Macavities and the Anthonys will be announced in October at Bouchercon.
Between now and then, I'll be attending two writers' conferences, neither of them specifically for mystery writers. The first is coming up in a little over a week, the Historical Novel Society gathering, at which writers in many genres have a chance to get together and talk history. This will be the third North American HNS conference I've attended and I'm looking forward to it. At most conferences and conventions, those who write historicals are a decided minority of attendees.
In other news, I'm hard at work on the as yet untitled fourth Liss MacCrimmon mystery (I write those as Kaitlyn Dunnett). I auctioned off the name of the kitten who first appears in #3 (A Wee Christmas Homicide, in stores in October) at Malice Domestic, so one of my challenges has been coming up with a reason for Liss to select that name in the story.
HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES
WINS NONFICTION AGATHA AWARD
FROM MALICE DOMESTIC CONVENTION
5/5/09: I'm sitting here at my computer with my award right next to the monitor and I still have trouble believing that I won. Malice Domestic is an annual gathering of fans of the traditional mystery and they give awards for the best of the previous year's books in five categories: best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, best children's /YA novel, and best short story. This year there were fewer people in attendance, an unfortunate result of the economic situation, but those present were as enthusiastic and friendly as ever. I was on one panel with fellow nonfiction nominee, Frankie Y. Bailey and three of the nominees in the children's/YA category: Sarah Masters Buckey, Chris Grabenstein, and Nancy Means Wright. Ironically, Sarah's name is the only one (as far as I know) that I misspelled in my nominated book. It went in as Buckley instead of Buckey. She says she'll answer to either. I know that feeling. I answer to Kathy, Kathy Lynn, Kate, Kaitlyn, and even my husband's name, which is Sandy. "Hey, you, the author!" will also work, but I tend to ignore anyone who addresses me as Kathie Lee!
I also moderated a panel called "Timing is Everything" and had the pleasure of asking questions of historical mystery writers M.E. Kemp, Ann Parker, Roberta Rogow, and Victoria Thompson. Personal highlights of Malice Domestic 21 were the banquet before the awards ceremony, shared with some of the many friends I've made at previous Malice Domestic gatherings, visiting with fans and more old friends (you know who you are), and meeting new people who will be included in the "friends" category when next we cross paths at a mystery convention. Yes, I do attend the panels and interviews, but I've been going to Malice Domestic since #3, missing only two of the years up until now (#21), so catching up with people I've now known for years is a big part of the reason I keep attending. Gathering at Malice has much the same feel as a family reunion, one where the cousins and sisters and aunts truly enjoy each others' company.
My photos, whether I take them or my husband does, tend to be fuzzy and cut off heads, but here are a few shots from the weekend that didn't turn out too badly. The first is an overview of the crowd at the opening ceremonies, including two of the nominees for best first mystery (G. H. Malliet and Joanna Campbell Slan) in the first row and another (Rosemary Harris) beside me in the second. On the other side of her are three of the nominees for best short story (Carla Coupe, Dana Cameron, and Toni L. P. Kelner). Below that the pictures show Verena Rose, Awards Chair, handing me my certificate as an Agatha nominee; me chatting with Carolyn Hart; me with Joanna Carl (I first knew her when she was writing as Eve Sandstrom); and finally, at the banquet, me with my husband, Sandy, who retired from 35 years in law enforcement just two days earlier. Next week we will celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary.
News Items from past months continue below
KATHY'S BACKLIST CLEARANCE SALE
In addition: A SPECIAL OFFER FOR LIBRARIES
4/5/09: I've just been going through my many many boxes of books in storage and have decided it's time to do some spring cleaning. I've had a list of books for sale up online all along, but now prices have been slashed. If you think you might enjoy reading some of my older novels, check out the listings at Kathy's Backlist. These are out of print titles in mystery, romance, and children's books. All brand new. All come autographed and I'll personalize the autograph if you tell me to whom you want the book inscribed or what special message you'd like me to write.
For the librarians reading this, if you order two books for your library, you get another, your choice, absolutely free. A few titles are excepted from the "free" list because they are in short supply, but there are lots of other choices. Check it out!
DEADLIER THAN THE PEN now in Large Print
3/7/09: I've just seen an advance copy of the large print edition of the first Diana Spaulding 1888 Mystery, DEADLIER THAN THE PEN, and it looks wonderful. Very easy to read large print in a trade paperback that is also easy to hold. The margins are good, too (so many large print books have teeny tiny margins, making the text very hard to read!). Although this version is a bit pricy ($25.95), it is a good choice for libraries, where large print versions are always in demand. And I have to say that, for myself, if I can find a large print version of a book I want to read, I grab it. They are soooo much easier on the eyes!
HTWKHM is an Agatha Nominee!
2/25/09: Great news. HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES: THE ART AND ADVENTURE OF SLEUTHING THROUGH THE PAST is one of five finalists for an Agatha Award in the category of nonfiction. The Agathas are given out every spring by Malice Domestic, a fan convention held to honor the traditional mystery, and awards are given for the best novel, best first novel, best short story, best nonfiction, and best juvenile book published in the previous year. I'm honored to be one of this year's nominees. This year is Malice #21 and I've been to most of those held to date, starting with #3. It is always wonderful to see old friends and make new ones. Everyone there has one thing in common: a love of reading mysteries. To see the complete list of nominees and find out more about Malice Domestic, check out their website by clicking on the quill:
Valentine's Day Anyone?
1/24/09: The first event of the new year, for Kathy, Kaitlyn, and Kate, is a group signing at the Fertile Mind Bookstore in Belfast, Maine. On February 6th from 6-8 in the evening, I'll be participating in the annual "Who Wrote the Book of Love" event with fellow Maine writers Dorothy Cannell, Janet Chapman, Mary Duncan, and Susan Vaughan. I should add "weather permitting" since last year there was a snow and ice storm and most of those planning to sign books had to cancel. Belfast, on the coast, is about a two-hour drive from where I live in the Western Maine mountains, so it isn't a trip to be taken lightly when the roads are bad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this year. Not only is the Fertile Mind a wonderful bookstore with a great selection of books and a loyal group of customers, but this event gives me a chance to catch up with writer friends I rarely see otherwise. Also, the new Kate Emerson title, SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT: THE PLEASURE PALACE, will be available.
What's New?
12/13/08: The answer is actually "not much" since I'm fully into writing mode right now, working on the second book in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series, written as Kate Emerson. The first one, The Pleasure Palace, will ship to stores in early February. It covers the last part of the reign of Henry VII and the first part of the reign of Henry VIII. I'm currently revising the second, Between Two Queens, which takes place between 1536 and 1543.
The January/February Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is out, containing my short story, "Any Means Short of Murder," in which Lady Appleton's foster daughter Rosamond solves the mystery and makes some important changes in her life.
I'm done traveling for the year and will now hibernate (and write) until late April (by which time, I hope, the snow will be gone!)
Under my other pseudonym, Kaitlyn Dunnett, I have signed with Kensington Books to write two more Liss MacCrimmon mysteries (#4 and #5) for probable publication in 2010 and 2011. #3, already written and accepted, is A Wee Christmas Homicide, but it won't be out until October of NEXT year. You can reach Kaitlyn's website for more information by clicking here:
Check out KateEmersonHistoricals.com
10/14/08: The website is up for the novels I'm writing under the name Kate Emerson. There is a series title (Secrets of the Tudor Court) but these books aren't a series in the usual sense. Only the setting---the Tudor court---and some of the royals are continuing characters. Each book will have a different minor historical figure as protagonist. I'm having a wonderful time writing these books, and in the first one there are even a few mysteries to solve, although I would not call the book as a whole a mystery novel. If you're interested in some of the things real women got up to in the sixteenth century, check out the Who's Who of Tudor Women feature. I'll be adding to this as time allows. There are many, many more fascinating females who lived during the sixteenth century. You can reach the Kate Emerson Historicals site by clicking here:
Newsletter Going On Hiatus
9/18/08: Since the Face Down series is on hiatus and the Diana Spaulding Mystery Quartet is complete, Face Down Update and Deadly Tidbits, the newsletter used to publicize those two series, is also going on hiatus. For the time being, news about upcoming projects, historical and contemporary, mystery and non-mystery, will be posted here instead. The last three Face Down mysteries and all four of the Diana Spaulding Mysteries are still in print and the first three Face Down mysteries are available in new large print editions. Face Down Beneath the Eleanor Cross is scheduled to come out in large print in the spring of 2009. But for right now, that's all the news there is on Kathy's historical mystery novels. Definitely not enough to fill an issue of a newsletter.
Update on Short Story
9/8/08: I've just been notified that "Any Means Short of Murder" (described below) will appear in the January/February 2009 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. That means it should be in stores sometime in November. Or you can go to the magazine's website, The Mystery Place,
for information.
New Name for 2009
8/3/08: I'm not trying to confuse fans of my historical mysteries. Honest. But in addition to using the name Kaitlyn Dunnett for contemporary mysteries, I am now also Kate Emerson. That's the pseudonym I'll be using for non-mystery historicals set in sixteenth-century England. Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace is the first Kate Emerson novel and will be out in February of 2009. It is set at the court of Henry VIII, very early in his reign, and the protagonist is a real woman, Jane Popyncourt, who was somewhat notorious in her own time. I'm writing this in August of 2008. I'll be putting up a website for the new name at KateEmersonHistoricals.com sometime during the next couple of months with much more detail. The thing that I think will appeal most to fans of Kathy Lynn Emerson's mysteries is that the novel is as true to history as I could make it. Almost all the characters are real people, although I came up with my own explanation to account for some of the gaps in the historical record. One thing may not please my mystery readers quite so much. In The Pleasure Palace I do not worry AT ALL about anachronistic speech. I do try to avoid anything that would jerk the reader out of the story, but the novel is written in Jane Popyncourt's point of view and readers will just have to accept that it is "Kate Emerson's" translation of a memoir Jane left behind when she died, in France, in the early part of the sixteenth century. If she had left such a thing, it probably would have been written in French, and "Kate" would have had to translate it. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!!!!
There will be a second novel in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series, tentatively titled Between Two Queens Another real person, Anne Bassett, maid of honor to five of Henry VIII's queens, will be the protagonist of this one. I'm writing it now with a deadline of April, 2009.
© 2008-10 Kathy Lynn Emerson. All rights reserved.