Author Mark de Castrique Visits Library

Local mystery writer Mark de Castrique visited my library recently for a special program in arrangement with the adult summer reading program for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  Billed the "Writing a mystery series," program,  de Castrique talked about development of his mystery series and components for effective fiction writing. 

De Castrique has two adult mystery series under his belt which are set in North Carolina. Combining the concepts that appealed to him to share in a narrative story and in locales he likes, the first series features a funeral director named Barry Clayton (Mark's father was a funeral director).  It is set in a fictional mountain town, resembling his childhood hometown.  Adding built-in personal conflicts for Barry to confront (such as self-sacrifice) along with murder investigations--a mystery series was created.  The second series features an Iraq veteran Sam Blackman set in Asheville.   

Some other points de Castrique shared included:

Mark de Castrique  (photo by blogger)

• likes to connect people and stories from the past to a present day story with interesting characters
• had worked from outlines to develop stories in earlier novels but works mostly from following the characters' stories now
• likes to include irony in stories
• when writing, he likes to pose the "what if" question
• hopes to write another Barry Clayton novel in the future
• works to be careful that too much research shared in a book doesn't turn it boring
• looks to a book editor to help shape a novel about when it should start and when it should stop
• "I'm a big believer everyone reads a different book" by the nature of experiences one brings to the story

de Castrique (photo by blogger)

De Castrique's newest book is the recently released is The 13th Target and set in Washington D.C. with a new central character former Secret Services agent Russell Mullins. De Castrique lived in the nation's capital briefly in the 70s and likes visiting the area.  He gave his first public reading of a passage from the new book which included a storyline about the Federal Reserve which interested him.

And de Castrique is careful to check facts in his writing as he shared this little story: in a pivotal scene for his newest novel, he wanted to re-examine a scene for accuracy so he took a day trip from North Carolina to Washington to settle the matter.  After arriving in the capitol, within an half hour the goal was accomplished to de Castrique's satisfaction.  Then he was free to visit family in the area--a second reward of the trip.

Paretsky Visits Charlotte for Author Festival

Last Wednesday and Thursday, my library system hosted mystery novelist Sara Paretsky for back-to-back evening events and I was able to attend both.

It was the end of the library's "Novello: festival of reading" and I worked as a volunteer, ushering the first night and helping to man the wine bar on the second. The first night consisted of an author talk with questions from the audience and book signings. The second night was a clued-filled mystery program with food, drink and music--Chicago themed.

I enjoyed the events and was glad I had attended. And I was able to speak Ms. Paretsky the second evening. Looking fashionably stylish in her black hat, here's a pix of Ms. Paretsky with the volunteer I worked with when pouring drinks at the mystery-dinner event (a new professional in Charlotte, she said just call her by her nickname "Kiki").

Now, the first evening when she spoke (and I ushered), I jotted down a few notes while sitting in the back. They included the following:
* as a youngster, girl detective Nancy Drew didn't appeal to her (particularly with "no siblings and domestic responsibilities")
* she moved to New York City to become a writer at 23 but later moved to Chicago to work as a secretary ("Chicago became the city that shaped my voice and view of the world.")
* as a devoted reader of crime novels, she became determined to write a private eye novel but that was only a dream for her for a eight-year period (afterwards, "V.I. Warshawski" was created)
* Paretsky wanted to create a female private eye who didn't fit the role of the standard role of women in noir fiction (i.e. victim or temptress)
* writing a story set in Chicago was a hard sell years ago
* "Fiction gives us the heroes we wish we could be."

Paretsky's newest "V.I. Warshawski novel" is entitled Hardball and is in the editors hands after several drafts, she said. Her website has an excerpt.

And she posts to a blog supported by Chicago six other crime writers called "The Outfit." She also read from her most recent blog post in the author talk "What happens to the novel in the Age of Fragmentation?"

Mystery novelist visit at PLCMC--

I had received a message in advance but still couldn't work it in my schedule to see a promising author visit. The main public library hosted mystery novelist Elizabeth Zelvin on May 14th. She came to discuss her debut mystery, Death Will Get You Sober which was published in April.

Just as bad, I forgot to mention this at my book club too. Zelvin does believe in staying within a keyboard's reach of the public though as she promotes her book at website. The book features New York City psychotherapist Bruce Kohler who's a recovering alcoholic. During his new bout with sobriety, he finds incidents of homeless alcoholics turning up death--including one he befriends--and starts his own measured investigation.

Book club hosted author in April--

The April book session was a special event as we hosted local mystery writer Terry Hoover. Ms. Hoover is the author of Double Dead (a Steve Harlan mystery). Set in the early 60's in Charlotte, North Carolina, Harlan is a young family man who's recently entered the private detective profession.

And the detective gets his big break by assisting in a big murder case involving a big-time bank executive, John Lattimore, tried for the death of his suspected mistress, Delores Green. Harlan is pumped up about the case but loses some steam as Green's 13-year-old son is heavily involved the criminal processings by Lattimore's actions. As you might expect, Lattimore is not the ideal client (although his lawyer is a genuine good guy).

This novel is based on an actual crime Hoover said but it is a fictional story not true crime. Click here to see her website and here's a pix of Terry from that night. She said she mulled developing this novel idea over when a couple of celebrity murder stories were plastered in the news. And she added Double Dead is her second novel with the character as an unpublished book--she couldn't get a publisher for this story--focused on Harlan's involvement in a racially-charged crime as a then newspaper reporter.

To no one's surprise, the questions and discussions during the evening dealt with the writing process. Hoover said she would meet with other writers to review their work and to pick it apart. Published writer Cathy Pickens is a member of the group and she said the group has harsh critics (OK, she said used the "b" word) that review and evaluate each other. As it turned out, Pickens heard about this author visit and stopped by to join in herself. Anyway, finding good critics to review your work is a huge benefit according to Hoover.

Jogging my memory, here are a few things the questions and answers covered including: * Why not have a mystery without a murder or violence? Terry mentioned one novel that fitted that bill and another mentioned that missing persons may also cover that type of story. Otherwise, murders in mysteries are the expected norm.
* Was the ending planned out in advance or did sort of evolve? The ending was scheduled and planned out.
*My mother complains that she can always figure out the criminal in the book before the story ends. Try reading more challenging mysteries (and some writers were suggested).
* The investigation seemed to follow a natural course with Harlan's interviews except during one instance--why? I went back and forth over the scene and sided with a dramatic moment.
* Is it difficult (or frustrating) to read bad material? In a word, it's "yes."

So what is next for Terry Hoover? A new mystery novel is in the works but Terry admits the writing is going slow. This summer the pace should pick up she says. And Cathy Pickens chides her that the writing group also misses her.