Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, wishing you a Happy-Day-After-Valentine's Day by announcing a sort-of-new book and the story behind it. The Maine Quartet is the fourth and final collection of romance novels I wrote between 1989 and 1997. I had two reasons for creating these omnibus e-book editions. One was to introduce readers to a…
Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be a posts by John Clark (Monday), Maggie Robinson (Tuesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday), and Kate Flora (Friday). In the news department, here's what's happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers: from Kaitkyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: I have another omnibus edition…
next book (August 2021) but utilizing a floor plan I’ve used before
Here’s the thing: at least in my case, not everything I’ve written has been snapped up by a publisher. It’s a rare writer who sells his or her first attempt at a novel or short story and has continuous success ever after. Since I’m a firm believer in avoiding waste, I look on all my unsold projects, both complete and incomplete, as material that can be cannibalized. Some bits are more useful than others. In fact, some bits have ended up being recycled into more than one novel.
Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, pondering why so many publishers of cozy mystery series, including humorous mysteries, think Christmas is a good time to commit murder. In real life, of course, there are plenty of homicides over the holidays, mostly committed by those nearest and dearest to the victim. Not to make light of it, but stress is a killer. This year, with large family gatherings being discouraged due to Covid-19, it will be interesting to see if Christmas crime statistics are much different from the norm.
Getting back to fictional murder and mayhem, let me tell you about my personal experience with Christmas cozies. I wrote two of them for my Liss MacCrimmon mysteries. The first was the third book in the series,