Thursday, July 30, 2015

Dead Hunt, A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation by Beverly Connor, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Quick Brown Fox …

Dead Hunt by Beverly Connor

Dead Hunt by Beverly Connor

A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation (5th in series)

Publisher: Quick Brown Fox

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 8:00 PM ET).

Dead Hunt by Beverly Connor, Amazon Kindle format

Sentenced to prison for the rest of her natural life, Clymene O'Riley is a beautiful, clever, coldblooded killer whom forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon knows cannot be trusted. Diane supplied the forensic evidence that put Clymene in prison for one murder, with implications that she may have left a veritable graveyard of dead men in her wake. So what is Diane to do when Clymene reaches out from prison to her with a plea for help, and FBI profiler Ross Kingsley urges Diane on?

The answer leaves Diane the prime suspect in a bloody murder and puts her in the path of an angry killer who wants her dead. Not even her haven at the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History is safe, as a scandal over possession of stolen Egyptian artifacts threatens to turn Diane out in the street.

Dead Hunt by Beverly Connor

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Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Finch, A Novel of Suspense by Jeff VanderMeer, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Underland Press …

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Underland Press

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 7:00 PM ET).

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer, Amazon Kindle format

Mysterious underground inhabitants known as the gray caps have reconquered the failed fantasy state Ambergris and put it under martial law. They have disbanded House Hoegbotton and are controlling the human inhabitants with strange addictive drugs, internment in camps, and random acts of terror. The rebel resistance is scattered, and the gray caps are using human labor to build two strange towers.

Against this backdrop, John Finch, who lives alone with a cat and a lizard, must solve an impossible double murder for his gray cap masters while trying to make contact with the rebels. Nothing is as it seems as Finch and his disintegrating partner Wyte negotiate their way through a landscape of spies, rebels, and deception.

Trapped by his job and the city, Finch is about to come face to face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever.

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

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Every Bet's a Sure Thing, A Mac Detective Mystery by Thomas B. Dewey, New This Week from Wildside Press

Wildside Press specializes in publishing science fiction, crime fiction, and adventure fiction.

We've selected one of their recently published mystery/suspense titles to feature here today …

Every Bet's a Sure Thing by Thomas B. Dewey

Every Bet's a Sure Thing by Thomas B. Dewey

A Mac Detective Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Wildside Press

Price: $4.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 6:30 PM ET).

Every Bet's a Sure Thing by Thomas B. Dewey, Amazon Kindle format

This is a new ebook edition of a classic mystery first published Simon & Schuster in 1953.

Mac is hired to tail a mother and her two kids on the train from Chicago to Los Angeles.

All is going well until he is thrown off of the train — while it's moving at high speed!

Every Bet's a Sure Thing by Thomas B. Dewey

See all three recently reissued titles in the Mac Detective Series for $4.99 each on Kindle.

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Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

The Nameless Dead, A Benedict Devlin Mystery by Brian McGilloway, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Macmillan …

The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway

The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway

A Benedict Devlin Mystery (5th in series)

Publisher: Macmillan

Price: 99¢ (as of 07/30/2015 at 6:00 PM ET).

The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway, Amazon Kindle format

Declan Cleary's body has never been found, but everyone believes he was killed for informing on a friend over thirty years ago. Now the Commission for Location of Victims' Remains is following a tip-off that he was buried on the small isle of Islandmore, in the middle of the River Foyle.

Instead, the dig uncovers a baby's skeleton, and it doesn't look like death by natural causes. But evidence revealed by the Commission's activities cannot lead to prosecution. Inspector Devlin is torn. He has no desire to resurrect the violent divisions of the recent past. Neither can he let a suspected murderer go unpunished.

Now the secret is out, more deaths follow. Devlin must follow his conscience — even when that puts those closest to him at terrible risk …

The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway

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Death of a Good Woman, A Crime Thriller by J. F. Straker, New This Week from Endeavour Press

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher, promoting and selling ebook editions of works by new authors as well as bringing out ebook editions of out of print books.

We've selected one of their recently published mystery, suspense, thriller or crime titles to feature here today …

Death of a Good Woman by J. F. Straker

Death of a Good Woman by J. F. Straker

A Crime Thriller

Publisher: Endeavour Press

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 5:30 PM ET).

Death of a Good Woman by J. F. Straker, Amazon Kindle format

When Eric Cawthorne storms out of the house one afternoon after a terrible row with his wife Grace, it is nothing unusual. The pair are always quarrelling — at least, when Eric is home in the holidays from his far away job as a school master, that is. But a more sinister train of events begins to unravel when Grace is discovered dead at the foot of the cliffs the following morning. The obvious suspect is Eric, and he soon finds himself in prison awaiting trial for her murder. Desperate to clear his name, Eric's lover Sheila — the reason for the quarrel with his wife — arrives and puts her skills as a private detective to good use.

Sheila starts to investigate the mysterious characters living at Mulgerry House, the stately home in the country where Eric and Grace had an apartment. But who would have reason to murder Grace Cawthorne? Perhaps she wasn't such a "good woman" after all …

Death of a Good Woman by J. F. Straker

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Skeleton Crew, A Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery by Beverly Connor, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Quick Brown Fox …

Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor

Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor

A Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery (4th in series)

Publisher: Quick Brown Fox

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 5:00 PM ET).

Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor, Amazon Kindle format

Off the coast of Georgia, archaeologist Lindsay Chamberlain excavates the 1558 wreck of a Spanish galleon. The ancient artifacts reveal evidence of a murder at sea. As she discovers clues to the identity of the four-hundred-year-old murderer, she is faced with modern-day pirates and two killings that appear to be tied to the excavation.

Raging seas, pirates, snakes, and a ghost galleon make this an adventure for Lindsay like no other in her life.

Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor

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New This Week: Joe Klein, Detective, A Short Story Collection by David Creighton

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Joe Klein, Detective by David Creighton

Joe Klein, Detective by David Creighton

A Short Story Collection

Publisher: Balboa Press

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 4:30 PM ET).

Joe Klein, Detective by David Creighton, Amazon Kindle format

This compilation of short stories shows Joe Klein's progress from rough-and-tumble SWAT team member to becoming a paraplegic and evolving into a thinking detective.

Each of the murders, or the method Joe uses to solve the murder, is different. He's aided in several stories by his live-in girlfriend, Claire, a professor of antiquities and ancient history at Fresno State. A number of the stories start out with no discernible clue, but either Joe or Claire finds a way. Sometimes based on logic and dogged police work, others, recent discoveries in biology and science.

Most of the stories concentrate more on the solution to the crime than they do on the crime's commission. Even though this is an anthology of short stories, you can see the characters develop as the stories progress.

Joe Klein, Detective by David Creighton

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Caribbean Fire, A Manny Williams Mystery by Rick Murcer, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Murcer Press …

Caribbean Fire by Rick Murcer

Caribbean Fire by Rick Murcer

A Manny Williams Mystery (7th in series)

Publisher: Murcer Press

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 4:00 PM ET).

Caribbean Fire by Rick Murcer, Amazon Kindle format

Vacation is a magical word to all of us, even for workaholic FBI Special Agent Manny Williams. It was finally time to take a break from the BAU and profiling psychotic killers, and Manny was ready. His five-month-old son, Ian, was in good hands with his daughter and mother-in-law so why not? Manny and wife Chloe were going to get away for a few days, far away, and enjoy the honeymoon that had never been theirs.

Nothing fit that prospect like Cozumel, Mexico and one of its exclusive resorts. Hot sun, warm sand, teal waters, margaritas, and his wife in a bikini were just what the doctor, and his boss, Josh Corner, had ordered.

But destiny, and a persistent Mexican Government Inspector, had other plans.

A crazed killer performing sacrificial murders in the tradition of ancient Mayan priests was turning the sleepy island upside down. The multiple murders pressed Manny and his crew into a maddening race against time, forcing him to choose between family and the lives of kidnapped victims.

Who would survive?

Caribbean Fire by Rick Murcer

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Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? by Jutta Profijt, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2015

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2015 …

Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? by Jutta Profijt

Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? by Jutta Profijt, A Martin Gänsewein Mystery (5th in series)

Publisher: AmazonCrossing

Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? by Jutta Profijt, Amazon Kindle format

Amateur sleuth and restless spirit Pascha gets the chance of a post-lifetime when a reporter turns up dead. Detective Gregor Kreidler — a friend of Pascha's crime-fighting partner, coroner Martin Gänsewein — tops the list of suspects for the murder of Susanne Hauschild, who also happens to be Gregor's ex-wife. Martin already has his hands full with his girlfriend — who's ready to give birth any day — and he's too distracted to comb the streets, so Pascha decides to play ghost cop with gusto.

He discovers that Susanne had been investigating a cluster of mysterious deaths at a retirement home before her own death. And retracing her steps leads Pascha to a shady nightclub owner with his own reasons for evading the law. With his unique ability to do detective work undetected, can Pascha solve the case?

Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler? by Jutta Profijt

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for July 2015. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of July 2015 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

Swimming with the Dead, A Hannah Sampson Mystery by Kathy Brandt, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Monkshood Press …

Swimming with the Dead by Kathy Brandt

Swimming with the Dead by Kathy Brandt

A Hannah Sampson Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Monkshood Press

Price: 99¢ (as of 07/30/2015 at 3:00 PM ET).

Swimming with the Dead by Kathy Brandt, Amazon Kindle format

Hannah Sampson knows terror. Unseeable, unknowable predators that lurk in the deep. She's a cop, an expert scuba diver, and leader of the Denver Underwater CSI team. For Hannah, diving is nasty business in polluted lakes and frigid reservoirs where no one is ever found alive. When a scientist is found dead under 70 feet of tropical ocean, Sampson is summoned to the sun-drenched beaches of the British Virgin Islands to investigate. She is fully prepared to face unknowable dangers beneath the crystal-clear waters of an idyllic paradise. But the possibility of murder runs deeper and darker than the sea itself.

Whatever the victim was looking for, he found. Whatever he found was the death of him. Now Hannah must discover for herself what lies beneath-a secret that could take Hannah's breath away.

Swimming with the Dead by Kathy Brandt

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Silent Creed by Alex Kava, New in Bookstores during July 2015

Today's featured new hardcover mystery, suspense, or thriller title scheduled to be published during July 2015 is …

Silent Creed by Alex Kava

Silent Creed by Alex Kava, a Ryder Creed Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Putnam

Silent Creed by Alex Kava, Amazon Kindle formatSilent Creed by Alex Kava, Nook formatSilent Creed by Alex Kava, iTune iBook formatSilent Creed by Alex Kava, Kobo format

When Ryder Creed responds to a devastating mudslide in North Carolina, he knows that the difference between finding survivors and the dead is time. He and his sturdiest search-and-rescue dog, Bolo, get to work immediately, but the scene is rife with danger: continued rainfall prevents the rescue teams from stabilizing the land; toxic household substances spread by the crushing slide fill the area with hazardous waste; and the detritus and debris are treacherous for both man and dog to navigate. But most perilous are the secrets hidden under the mud and sludge — secrets someone would kill to protect. For this is no ordinary rescue mission. Among the buildings consumed by the landslide was a top-secret government research facility, and Creed has been hired to find what's left of it.

Then rescuers recover the body of a scientist from the facility who was obviously dead before the landslide — killed by a gunshot to the head. The FBI sends Agent Maggie O'Dell to investigate, and she and Creed are soon caught in a web of lies, secrets, and murder that may involve not only the government facility, but decades-old medical experiments that are the subject of current congressional hearings. As more bodies are found under even more unusual circumstances, they come ever closer to exposing the truth — but with unknown forces working against them, Maggie, Creed, and the dogs are running out of time.

Silent Creed by Alex Kava

For a list of more new hardcover titles to be published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for July 2015. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of July 2015 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

No One Needs To Know by Kevin O'Brien, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2015

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2015 …

No One Needs To Know by Kevin O'Brien

No One Needs To Know by Kevin O'Brien, A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Pinnacle

No One Needs To Know by Kevin O'Brien, Amazon Kindle format

In July 1970, actress Elaina Styles was slain in her rented Seattle mansion along with her husband and their son's nanny. When the baby's remains were found buried in a shallow grave close to a hippie commune, police moved in — only to find all its members already dead in a grisly mass suicide.

Now, decades later, a film about the murders is shooting at the mansion. On-set caterer Laurie Trotter ignores gossip that the production is cursed. But then people start dying …

As Laurie digs deep into what happened all those years ago, the truth emerges more twisted than any whispered rumor, as a legacy of brutal vengeance reaches its terrifying climax …

No One Needs To Know by Kevin O'Brien

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for July 2015. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of July 2015 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes, A Culinary Competion Mystery by Janel Gradowski, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Gemma Halliday Publishing …

Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes by Janel Gradowski

Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes by Janel Gradowski

A Culinary Competion Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing

Price: 99¢ (as of 07/30/2015 at 1:00 PM ET).

Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes by Janel Gradowski, Amazon Kindle format

Amy Ridley's best friend, Carla, is getting married, and Amy is delighted to be recruited as the head wedding planner — even if Carla's demands are less than conventional. Case in point: Carla insists on a tower of doughnuts in place of a wedding cake. But navigating the world of nuptials becomes the least of Amy's problems when the owner of a menswear shop is found dead, and Carla's fiancé is assigned to the case.

With the honeymoon in jeopardy, Amy and Carla vow to help track down the killer … but they soon discover there are even more sinister happenings affecting the businesses in downtown Kellerton, Michigan. If Amy doesn't figure out who is behind the deadly schemes, the nearly newlywed detective may just be solving another murder — hers!

Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes by Janel Gradowski

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New This Week: Hiding From Danger, A Danger Incorporated Novel by Olivia Jaymes

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Hiding From Danger by Olivia Jaymes

Hiding From Danger by Olivia Jaymes

A Danger Incorporated Novel (2nd in series)

Publisher: Blonde Ambition Press

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/30/2015 at 12:30 PM ET).

Hiding From Danger by Olivia Jaymes, Amazon Kindle format

Georgette "Gigi" Sidney is a woman on the run. Her ex-boyfriend's love was controlling, obsessive, and deadly. Now she's hiding out in Tremont, Montana spending her days as a waitress and her nights in West Anderson's bed. She ought to be moving on to the next town but her feelings for the handsome detective have complicated her plans.

Everything in life has come easily for West Anderson. Until now. Despite the passionate nights he and Gigi have shared she's constantly talking about leaving town. He knows she has some sort of a secret but so far she hasn't trusted him enough to reveal it.

When Gigi's past interferes with the present she has to finally tell West the truth … about everything. She needs twenty-four hour protection and he's just the man for the job.

If West has his way there will be no more running, no more excuses, and no more lies. He's determined to put the past to rest so that he can be her future. All he has to do is catch a madman and keep her alive while doing it.

Hiding From Danger by Olivia Jaymes

See also the highly reviewed first book in this series, Damsel in Danger, for $3.99 on Kindle.

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A Conversation with Mystery Author Allan J. Emerson

Omnimystery News: Author Interview with Allan J. Emerson

We are delighted to welcome author Allan J. Emerson to Omnimystery News today.

Allan's first in a new series is titled Death of a Bride and Groom (Five Star; May 2015 hardcover and ebook formats), a small-town mystery containing humor, a little sex, a lot of double-crossing, and some surprising relationships. We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about the book.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about Death of a Bride and Groom.

Allan J. Emerson
Photo provided courtesy of
Allan J. Emerson

Allan J. Emerson: Death of a Bride and Groom takes place in a small resort town called Honeymoon Falls, and there are a number of characters who will appear in future books in the series. A few of the standouts are …

My sleuth, Will Halsey, was a big-city cop in line for a promotion, when his wife left him for a famous actor. Devastated, Halsey abandoned his chance at promotion and returned to his home town in search of a quieter life as chief of a three-person force. I like that he's retained his sense of humor, and the combination of strength and vulnerability he shows when dealing with the tangled personal relationships of the suspects.

John Larsen, 25, and Lydia Bailey, 40, are Halsey's entire staff, and they loathe each other. The warfare between the naïve Larsen and the no-nonsense Bailey is amusing, and it's fun to write about their complicated relationship with each other, and with Halsey.

Hermione Hopkins is one of my favorite characters. She's a ninety-five-year-old English actress we meet as she's pondering whether to do a nude scene in an avant-garde film by a French director. I enjoy writing for her because she no longer cares what anybody thinks, so I can be as outrageous as I like. Hermione will be back for at least one more book.

A character who won't be back is the murder victim, Iris Morland. She was fun to create too. Iris enjoyed betrayal, and although she's dead when the book begins, she's still a major character throughout the story. Sometimes she took me by surprise with the sheer inventiveness of her malice.

OMN: How do you expect these characters to develop over the course of a series?

AJE: I do expect to develop the characters over time, although the changes will be subtle. The circumstances in their lives will evolve as time goes by. Even in Death of a Bride and Groom there are significant life changes for some of the characters. I think it's necessary to keep some sense of progression in a series, otherwise the characters stagnate.

OMN: Into which mystery sub-genre would you place this book?

AJE: I describe mine as humorous small-town mysteries. That's not a mystery category the publishing industry uses, but it describes my books best, I think. There is some overlap with the cozy mystery: small-town setting, quirky characters, no gore, but some departures as well — the sleuth is male, there's a little sex, and the humor is dry.

I think there are disadvantages to labeling mystery sub-genres (cozy, police procedural, etc). Each sub-genre has its conventions, and readers may be surprised or disappointed if the all conventions are not observed. As a writer, I want to write the story as I conceive it, not force it to fit a mould. I personally don't find mystery sub-genre labels helpful — I already know it's a mystery, and I can tell from the story description if it's likely to interest me.

OMN: Give us a summary of the book in a tweet.

AJE: In Death of a Bride and Groom, Iris Morland is found dead atop a wedding cake parade float. Nobody cares, since half the town hated her.

OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?

AJE: I suppose all characters that writers create are made of up of bits and pieces of people the writer has encountered, but only two of the characters in Death of a Bride and Groom are wholly taken from real life. They are my wife's cats, Mr. Peepers and Suzie. Only Mr. Peepers puts in an appearance (he causes the driver of the wedding-cake float to have a traffic accident). Suzie is spoken of, but not seen.

OMN: Describe your writing process for us.

AJE: I would love to be able to outline my plots, but I never seem to have more than a general idea where the story is going until I start writing it. I guess I'm what writers call a "pantser," someone who flies by the seat of his pants. I do create detailed biographies of my characters. Although very little of that winds up in the book, it does help me to visualize the characters and realize when one of them is doing something out of character. Sometimes I delete or combine characters as the story takes shape.

OMN: And where do you most often find yourself writing?

AJE: I write in a small, messy home office which has always resisted any attempt at de-cluttering. I've never been a neat-desk person, so there's always a pile of books, bills, games, and assorted junk piled around me. Every once in a while, the pile topples onto the floor, where it remains until I shovel it into a box and dump it on a shelf in the basement.

OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your stories?

AJE: I didn't have to do much fact-checking for Death of a Bride and Groom, but I'm having to do quite a bit for the one I'm writing now. There's a weapon with which I'm not familiar, some DNA details, and a foreign language I don't speak. Fortunately, I've found people willing to share their expertise.

OMN: Is Honeymoon Falls based on a real place?

AJE: No, it is a fictional town that I imagine to be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest near forest and mountains.

OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world to research the setting for a story, where would it be?

AJE: Don't even have to think about this one — Italy, especially within the walled city of Rome, or Venice. I've been to Italy once and would love to go back. I'd introduce some Italian tourists into Honeymoon Falls, have one or both bump off a local for some reason and then have Halsey investigating with the aid of the Italian police. Of course, he'd have to travel there to gather evidence, and that would require checking out the coliseum, the pantheon, navigating the canals in Venice, etc.

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your books?

AJE: My interests include delving into my family history, learning French, theater, and working out. I get a kick out of learning new stuff. If you teach anything from basket weaving to beekeeping, I'm likely to show up at your door. So far, none of my characters has shared any of my interests. Perversely, in my current book I have a character who speaks a foreign language, but is it French with which I have at least a nodding acquaintance? Nooo, it's Portuguese, of which I know nothing.

OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author?

AJE: Best advice? Don't sweat the first draft. It'll be a mess, but that's okay — beginnings are never perfect, they're just the clay you'll be molding into your finished product. The harshest criticism I got early on was about my over-reliance on dialogue tags (he said, shamefacedly) which, although bad-tasting medicine, did pretty much cure the disease. (Although I don't agree with Elmore Leonard's rule about never using them. Of course, I don't think writers should consider any "rules" as more than suggestions.)

I think aspiring authors can learn a lot about technique from brilliant writers like P.D. James and Robert B. Parker by reading them analytically. If you're laughing or on the edge of your seat while when you're reading, go back when you're finished and try to figure out how the writer made you feel that way.

OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a mystery author and thus I am also …".

AJE: I am a mystery author and thus I am also interested in unusual ways to kill someone. Put a cobra in their bed? Tamper with their vehicle so the airbag explodes in their face on the freeway? Tie them to the tracks as a freight train approaches? (Hey, it could work … in a historical mystery about the silent film industry where the male star decides to bump off his leading lady...).

OMN: How involved were you with the cover design?

AJE: I suggested using cake top figures of a bride and groom with "tasteful" bullet wounds to convey the idea that the story wasn't going to be entirely serious. The cover artist took my idea and created an eye-catching scene showing the couple stretched out after toppling off the cake. There's a lovely little bullet hole in the bride's upper chest with a dainty stream of blood trickling from it, and bits of cake scattered around the couple. Have a look at the cover photo and you'll see how charming the scene is, in a slightly twisted way …

OMN: What kind of feedback have you received from readers?

AJE: A few friends have asked "am I in it?" They seem surprised or disappointed when I say no. Some tell me I'm going to be rich and famous. A surprising number say they're writing a book too.

OMN: Suppose this series were to be adapted for television or film. Who do you see playing the key roles?

AJE: Hmm … Robert Downey Jr. would be right for the protagonist, Will Halsey. He can project the sensitivity and strength that would be needed to make the character believable. Daniel Radcliffe and Frances McDormand would be good as John Larsen and Lydia Bailey. And nobody else but Maggie Smith could play Hermione Hopkins.

OMN: What kinds of books appeal to you as a reader?

AJE: I read a variety of things, lots of mysteries, of course, but also literary novels like Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus and Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. In series mysteries, I like Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series. Rebus seems real, he's aged over time, lost and won battles with life and his job, and accepted his losses and victories with equanimity. Just for fun, I like Joan Hess's Maggody series. I also keep an eye out for anything from Mary Daheim, Kate Kingsbury, and Alice Duncan.

OMN: And what kinds of films do you enjoy watching?

AJE: I like just about any of the Coen brothers' films, although none of them have inspired my work. What I particularly enjoy about their films is that they're never linear — they start out odd, and then veer in a completely unexpected direction. Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, are great examples of how the viewer ends up somewhere unexpected and completely unsure of what's going to happen next. The Coens also incorporate a dark humour in their films that I enjoy.

OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.

AJE: Top Five Places to Visit:

1) Honeymoon Falls (yes, it's the fictional town in my book, so theoretically I should know all about it, but I wish I could actually go there and experience it for real);

2) Rome (Villa Borghese, murals by Caravaggio in neighborhood churches, opera, pasta, gelato …);

3) The pyramids in Egypt;

4) Moscow; and

5) Tisdale, Saskatchewan (the town I was born in).

OMN: What's next for you?

AJE: Currently I'm working on the next book in the Honeymoon Falls series, to be called Death of an Action Hero. And maybe there'll be a visit to the pyramids next year.

— ♦ —

Allan J. Emerson is a Canadian writer who was born in Saskatchewan and brought up in small towns there and in British Columbia. He lived in Australia and New Zealand before settling on the west coast of Canada. As his mother could tell you, he's been making up stories since he was a little kid.

Although the town of Honeymoon Falls and all its inhabitants are purely fictional, the idea of marriage and murder in close proximity came to him when he was visiting Niagara Falls, and wondered about the lives of the permanent residents.

For more information about the author, please visit his website at AllanJEmerson.com, or find him on Facebook.

— ♦ —

Death of a Bride and Groom by Allan J. Emerson

Death of a Bride and Groom by Allan J. Emerson

A Honeymoon Falls Mystery

Publisher: Five Star

Amazon.com Print/Kindle Format(s)BN.com Print/Nook Format(s)

When the bodies of writer Iris Morland and a former lover are discovered in full wedding regalia atop a giant wedding cake parade float, the little resort town of Honeymoon Falls is left reeling. Not only is its reputation as the Romance Capital of the World at risk, its very survival is threatened. Murder, it seems, has a chilling effect on those considering venues for potential nuptials. Finding the killer is going to be difficult; it seems Iris enjoyed betrayal. Her potential killers include her husband, Kenneth, whose faltering grip on a mechanical mouse plunged him into a hideously embarrassing scene with Iris and her latest lover, television host Arnold Reifel. Arnold was finding the affair burdensome, and his wife, Marjorie, was seething because Iris, not content with appropriating her husband, had turned Marjorie's interior decoration schemes into a very public humiliation.

Then there's haughty French film auteur Pierre Blondin, in town filming his adaptation of Iris's novel. Did Iris trigger his murderous wrath by opposing a nude scene featuring ninety-five-year-old actress Hermione Hopkins? Captain Will Halsey, head of Honeymoon Falls' three-person police force, struggles to find the killer while coping with small-town politics, feuding among his subordinates, and the ferocious attentions of the media.

Death of a Bride and Groom by Allan J. Emerson

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