Two Top Female Sleuths~ Sue Grafton and Tess Gerritsen

 

I loved reading Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series with Kinsey Millhone as her "Female Sleuth". My mother-in-law introduced me to her and for years she, my sister-in-law and my self, read the series and always talked about the ones we were reading or had just finished. As soon as Grafton released a new book we were at the store getting our copy and rushing home to devour it. Needless to say we enjoyed the camaraderie these books gave us, especially since they were in Wisconsin and I was in Tennessee. 

Sue Grafton, New York Times-bestselling author is published in twenty-eight countries and twenty-six languages--including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, begun in 1982, are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. And like Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Grafton has earned new respect for the mystery form. Readers appreciate her buoyant style, her eye for detail, her deft hand with character, her acute social observances, and her abundant storytelling prowess. She has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (2009) and is a recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award (2004). 

Tess Gerritsen, Internationally bestselling author is known for her pulse-pounding medical thrillers such as Harvest, as well as her bestselling Rizzoli and Isles mystery series, Tess Gerritsen started out as a physician before becoming a full-time writer. Her novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT television series "Rizzoli & Isles" starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. With over 30 million copies of her books sold, Gerritsen has appeared on bestseller lists worldwide. Some of her top titles are The Surgeon, Die Again, and The Sinner.

Here are two more of the ten "Female Sleuths."

 

Boston detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are the "Female Sleuths" in this series by Tess Gerritsen. I am sure we all watched the television series of Rizzoli and Isles.

Have you read books by Grafton or Gerritsen? If so, what do you remember most about the "Female Sleuths" in their books? 

Have you read books from either of these authors? What do you remember most about the "Female Sleuths"?

Kinsey Millhone is the "Female Sleuth" in Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series. She is definitely a female to be dealt with. Every book takes you on an exciting adventure. Newsweek said, "Grafton has created a woman we feel we know, a tough cookie with a soft center, a gregarious loner...smart, well paced, and very funny."  

Writers Benefit from Developing Loyal Readers

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Monday on her FaceBook page, Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone mysteries posted, "An alert reader---Sarah Nicole B.---spotted a site where it would appear my books are being downloaded without charge and therefore without compensation to me. It occurred to me that others of you out there cruise the net, and I would love it if you'd let me know when you come across sites that appear suspicious. I know there are those who earnestly believe that all books should be made available to the public without charge. I'm not sure what the logic is since a free download is the equivalent of piracy if it's done without the writer’s permission or consent...and most particularly if it's done without attention to copyright laws. Please post a note to me here if you see a link that you have questions about. The legal team at my publishing house will check the source and see if something egregious is going on. Thanks!"

Hats off to Sue Grafton for acknowledging the situation, complementing the reader that reported the issue, and urging all her fans to alert her to anything that appears pirated. Clearly her publisher will actively pursue the pirates around the oceans of the Internet, to protect their product and profits that could potentially be lost. An author's work is legally protected and should be. 

School children are taught early they cannot copy someone else's work. Plagiarism will get students removed from classes if not school. More information about plagiarism can be found at http://www.plagiarism.org. Most colleges for the admission process and class work along with some high schools require work to be run through a program like Turnitin.com just for this reason. 
The point is, with all this emphasis on plagiarism, how has the world accepted that it is okay to download an author's work from questionable sites and it be okay? As Internet consumers we know trusted sites that have credibility and if in question go to the author or their publisher and ask. 

Publishing giant Simon & Schuster has a link to a piracy form if anyone suspects one of their authors has been pirated. Thereby, allowing the public to alert them which allows them to have the possibility of gaining information directly and without delay, which will only compound a loss of revenue for both the author and publisher.

Thanks has to go to the reader of Sue Grafton who questioned it and contacted the author. Ms. Grafton was unaware as was her publisher until a reader made an inquiry. Creating your tribe of loyal readers as an author certainly benefitted Sue Grafton, who unlike some best-selling authors is easily reachable on Facebook, her website and other normal social media links. 

Hopefully, this will not happen to you. However with a cultivated tribe of readers it will allow for you to immediately send out a "rescue party of readers" and elicit their help in trying to locate the faceless internet pirates. Take the time to help out a fellow author and report it to them. As authors, readers and book lovers we are all in this together. 

Has this ever happened to your books?

BANG OUT OF THE GATE With Your Writing

By Craig Faustus Buck

Bang out of the gate.  Or else.

Are you one of those readers who scan the first paragraph of a book and puts it down if it doesn't grab you?  I am.  If I'm feeling ornery, I'll give the author only one line to snag me.  So, as a writer, I make a point of trying to write openings that pop in order to avoid losing those readers who are as quick to judge as I. 

A lot of writers like to set the scene before diving into a story, but most readers aren't interested in what a character feels or how a setting looks unless they're already invested in that character or wonder about that setting.  As Elmore Leonard famously advised, "Never open a book with weather." 

I write noir.  Perhaps cozy, romance or "literature" readers have more patience than my readers, but hardboiled fans want to be grabbed by the throat and hurled into a story.  One way to do this is with a twist. 

A twisted open implies right up front, that more surprises are in store.  I like that in a story. Sue Grafton used the device to launch an empire.  Here's how she opened A is for Alibi: "My name is Kinsey Milhone.  I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California.  I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids.  The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind."

She lulls you with a straightforward description of a single-divorced detective, then smacks you awake with the unexpected.

Another opening tactic is the suggestive hook.  In the first paragraph of my first novel, Go Down Hard I use an image: "I look through the spyhole.  Gloria has a bottle of gin in her hand and a pair of cuffs hanging from her belt loop.  A deadly combination."

It's a soft open for a noir thriller, but doesn't Gloria pique your interest?   

Michael Connelly opened The Poet with a suggestive concept: "Death is my beat.  I make my living from it." 

How can you put that book down before you've satisfied your curiosity about the narrator?  Make readers wonder and you buy time to hook them on your story.

These are just two of a multitude of possible opening tactics, but I've run out of space.  Bottom line: hit 'em fast and hard and where they least expect it.

_______________________________________________________ 

Craig Faustus Buck is an L.A.-based journalist, nonfiction book author, TV writer-producer, screenwriter, short-story writer and novelist.  Among his six nonfiction books, two were #1 NYT bestsellers.  He wrote a short film that was nominated for an Oscar.  He was one of the writers on the seminal miniseries V: The Final Battle. His first noir mystery novel, Go Down Hard, will be published May 2015 by Brash Books and was first runner up for the Claymore Award at Killer Nashville.  His indie feature, Smuggling for Gandhi, is currently in preproduction.  His novella, Psycho Logic was published May 1 by Stark Raving Group and his short story, Dead End, the novella's prequel, is a current Anthony Award nominee.  http://craigfaustusbuck.com

https://www.facebook.com/craigbuck.friends 

Twitter: @CFBuck

Think Ahead As Your Character Develops

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director For Southern Writers Magazine

Recently, I reviewed a brochure from my cell phone provider. It listed wonderful apps for any smart phone or tablet. These were broken down by professions and as luck would have it included suggestions for "writers" apps. 

One app shown in the brochure sounded great for outlining characters on the go and it was free. I immediately picked up my tablet and downloaded. However, after the download a screen came up, stating the app company would no longer have support for this app after August 30. What? To quote a Queen Song, "Another One Bites The Dust". 

I'm sure the cell provider brochure was printed a couple of months ago prior to the mail-out to customers but the facts in the brochure should have been checked before going to print. App companies don't stop supporting their product overnight so someone didn't check the facts before having brochure copy printed and then mailed. 

This experience made my mind drift to authors books set in the past and how careful they have to be in checking their facts on the era. Author, Sue Grafton developed her Alphabet Mystery Series, with protagonist, Kinsey Millhone, a P.I. who lives in the 1980's before Internet and cell phones. With her starting book, A is For Alibi, Kinsey is 32 and it's May 1982 the same date the book was published. This date setting gives readers an appreciation for the difficulties of a PI's job, pre-Internet days. These are the times before "Google it" was the verb of today. 

If you are writing a series, you need to determine how your character will age or not. Grafton's B is for Burglar takes place in June/July of 1982, C is for Corpse takes place in August 1982. Grafton developed her series character to age in slow time not real time. "C" was published in 1986.

Thinking ahead was brilliant character development by Grafton. Her latest book, W is forWasted will release in September. If Grafton had not frozen Kinsey in the 1980's era instead of being a 30-something private investigator, she would be of social security age at 63 in present day. Her delightful relationship with her 80 plus year old landlord Henry wouldn't be part of the book in real time. Kinsey Millhone at 63 would not have the same energy, attributes or flaws that keep millions of fans craving the next Kinsey mystery adventure.

As the picture on the right shows, Princess Diana holding the heir to the throne, Prince William born in 1982. Thirty-one years later the picture on the left shows Prince William and Princess Kate with their own Prince in 2013. Think about this picture as you decide how your main character needs to age or not in your book series.

As readers it's about the interaction of characters not are they aging as we do. Writers’ development of characters and human nature as it unfolds in the pages of a book is what keeps us reading until the very last word.