Three Authors, Three Milestones @BarbaraRoss @CateConte @maddieday

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm tickled pink to host three wonderful writers today--we've known these ladies since their books were only stars in their eyes and are thrilled with how far they've come as published authors! Take it away Edith/Maddie, Cate/Liz, and Barb!

Edith/Maddie: Thanks so much for hosting us, Roberta/Lucy! You know we love all the Jungle Reds authors, and for me, anyway, it’s the second blog I read every morning (sorry, our Wicked Authors blog comes first).

My blogmates Cate Conte (aka Liz Mugavero), Barbara Ross, and I (wearing my Maddie Day author hat) are delighted to have shared a release date last week. Barb’s Mrs. Darrowfield Professional Busybody is the first in a new series. Cate’s Tell Tail Heart is the third in her Cate Café series. And my Strangled Eggs and Ham is my sixth in the Country Store Mysteries. But Barb and Cate – writing as Liz – have also had sixth books, and we’ve all had more than one first book.

So we thought we’d share with the Jungle Reds and your fabulous blog community some of our thoughts and experiences about the first, third, and sixth book in a series! We would love to give away a special package of a Wicked Authors bag, a Kensington notebook, and each of our new books to a commenter here today.

First

Barb: Since there are seven Maine Clambake Mysteries out in the wild and an eighth back at Kensington in final production, it’s been an interesting journey to get back to book one in a series with Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busbody. So much scene setting to do! So much to learn about the “regular” series characters. Honestly, authors of standalones have my undying admiration. You really go through this every single time?

Maddie/Edith: You mean, like Hallie does? I know the feeling, Barb. In a way it’s fun to set up a brand-new world, as I recently did for my Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, with a cozy mystery book club, a fictional town on Cape Cod, and a bike-shop-owning, neat freak-bordering-on-obsessed amateur sleuth with an African Gray Parrot. But you’re right, there’s so much to keep track of. 

Cate/Liz: I hear you all too well! I’m back to a first book in a new series too with Witch Hunt, the first in the Full Moon Mysteries and it’s got magical components, so it’s kind of building two worlds - one on the human plane and one that’s, well, not. It’s been really challenging. Plus all the character work, like figuring out who has magical powers and what they are. It’s fun, when I’m not feeling like I’ve suddenly lost my ability to be imaginative.

Edith/Maddie: Ugh - I hope that doesn’t happen too often, Liz!

Third

Cate/Liz: And then there’s the whole dilemma of book three. Usually these series come in three-book contracts, so by the time you get to the third book there’s always the question of, Will this continue?And since you likely won’t know until the book is long written and turned in, you have to decide how much to wrap up and how much to leave hanging in the event you’re renewed. How do you guys handle that?

Maddie/Edith: Agree, that is so tricky, Liz. Sometimes book two isn’t even out yet when you’re writing book three, so there’s no way to predict its success. I’ll be coming up to that when I start writing my third Cozy Capers Book Group mystery this winter but at least Murder on Cape Cod, book one, has been doing spectacularly well so far. The way I handled the situation with my fifth Local Foods mystery was to tidy up any series loose ends and bring all the regular characters together at the farm in the last scene. If Kensington didn’t renew my contract, I (and my readers) would be fine, but I didn’t burn any bridges, either. As it turned out, Mulch Ado About Murder was the final book, and I was able to move on without angst.

Barb: I’m laughing because Musseled Out, the third book in the Maine Clambake Mysteries, has two endings, one that brings resolution to everything, and one that opens things up to new stories. My plan was to rip the second one out during copy-edits if the series was ending, though I guess it’s fine if readers imagine the characters going on with their lives after the series has ended.

Sixth

Maddie/Edith: Those of us with long-running series (most of the Reds, for example) start to have other issues and joys by book six, which Strangled Eggs and Ham is in my Country Store Mysteries. For one thing, it becomes clear how important it is to write down everything you know about ongoing characters as you go. By book six you have no effing idea what color the detective’s eyes are or what kind of car her bestie drives. If the series has been renewed for that long, though, you also have a dedicated following, an enthusiastic fan base. Sure, readers might start suggesting the direction they want the protagonist’s love life to go or an exciting new plot, but they Can Not Wait for the next book. And the next and the next. That’s very gratifying.

Barb: I know, Edith. I thought I’d relax once I had that Dedicated Fan Base, but now I’m more anxious than ever about letting readers down. In some ways, there’s less pressure with the first book. No one is invested in the series or the character yet. Anyway, book six was lucky for me. Stowed Away just won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction, the first cozy mystery ever to win and the first mass market paperback to win in any category.

Cate/Liz: That’s so awesome, Barb - major congratulations! I feel the same way - I never want a reader to say one of the later books in the series has run out of steam. My sixth book in the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, Purring Around the Christmas Tree, was definitely one of those books I agonized over. But people seemed to really enjoy it. It was my first Christmas-themed book and it ended up being really fun.

Strangled Eggs and Ham: Tempers run as high as the sticky August heat as a developer’s plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County, Indiana infuriate opponents, who concoct protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie Jordan ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . . 

Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Edith Maxwell, she writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. With eighteen novels in print and five more in production, Maxwell has been nominated for an Agatha Award six times. She lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Please find her at edithmaxwell.com, at the Wicked Authors blog, and elsewhere.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody: Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . . Note: Jane Darrowfield is available exclusively in mass market paperback at all brick and mortar Barnes & Nobles and Barnesandnoble.com

Barbara Ross is the author of seven Maine Clambake Mysteries. The eighth, Sealed Off, will be released in December 2019. Barbara’s novellas are included in the anthologies Eggnog Murder, Yule Log Murder, and Haunted House Murder. Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busbody, first in a new series, was released on June 25, 2019. Visit her website at  www.maineclambakemysteries.com and the Wicked Authors blog and Maine Crime Writers blog.

Tell Tail Heart: On Daybreak Island, Maddie James’ grandfather’s house-turned-cat-café is under construction and she’s also scoping out places to open a juice bar on the island. A big-name writer who’s on the island working on a new project winds up floating in the canal on the exact same day an eccentric woman shows up at the cafe claiming Maddie’s cat, JJ, is hers. As the investigation into the dead writer picks up, Maddie realizes that even the neighbors she’s known all her life might be keeping secrets that go deep into the heart of this small seaside town. Meanwhile, a killer remains at-large...and on the prowl.

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries, which launched in 2017 with Cat About Town, followed by Purrder She Wrote and most recently, Tell Tail Heart. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Sisters in Crime New England. She lives in Connecticut with her rescue pals.

Readers: Do you stick with long-running series? Which series have you binge-read (and did you find discontinuities)? What grabs you in a first book?