A New Look
By E.A. Aymar (also E.A. Barres)
CONTENTS
A New Look
Regular subscribers of this newsletter are going to notice a change. For one thing. it has a different name. I used to call this newsletter "E.A. Aymar's Newsletter," which wasn't terribly imaginative. It's now called "Crime (Fiction) Works." VERY CLEVER.
Second, as those regular subscribers know, I usually have a gig or two in crime fiction, in addition to writing my own thrillers. One of my favorite roles, in my relatively short writing career (so far), was working for the International Thriller Writers. In addition to serving on the board for a few years, I also managed a site on behalf of the organization, dedicated to aspiring and debut crime fiction writers called The Thrill Begins. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, and I found a certain joy in sharing work I like with readers.
So I'm going to do that here. In addition to the author recommendations that "Two Writers You Should Read" provides, I'm going to include a list of crime fiction books published the prior month that I recommend. This list isn't comprehensive, but they're books by writers I like and I think you'll enjoy. And, obviously, I'm going to totally space some months and irriate someone whose book I forgot to include. Come for the books, STAY FOR THE DRAMA!
And, of course, I'll still have this Authors Note pontificating about what's happening in crime fiction, discussing my own writing and books, all that. But I hope that this new feature brings books to your attention that, otherwise. you might have missed.
Writing this monthly newsletter is far from a chore. It's one of the perks of being a writer. Art is a complicated means of communication, an intensely peculiar, personal form of connection. Us writers are rarely aware of how our work is going to be received and perceived. We hope it resonates, that it finds a welcome space in the reader. Thanks for giving this newsletter a chance.
Hey! It's that book I wrote! Click HERE or in the graphic below for more info!
Following is a list of books published last month. Were there other books published as well? There's no way to know.
Cover images are below, and a synopsis of each book is below that.
Two in the Head
By Eric Beetner
Synopsis: When Samantha awakes she's half-buried in bricks and the smoke still swirls in the air. The car bomb didn’t kill her—small miracle. Her unfocused eyes see a figure coming nearer. A shape she recognizes somehow. As the person passes by the orange glow from the car fire’s light, she sees the face.
Her face.
A Cat on the Case
By Clea Simon
Synopsis: When a panicked stranger shows up at Charm and Cherish, Becca Colwin feels compelled to help. But when that stranger then disappears, leaving behind her heirloom violin, the aspiring witch detective is drawn further into a web of deceit and intrigue complicated by a history that only Becca’s three magical cats truly understand
Tricky
By Josh Stallings
Synopsis: Does your past define you forever?
That's the question LAPD homicide detective Niels Madsen must answer after he gets in the middle of a standoff between two uniformed officers and Cisco, an intellectually disabled man. Cisco is found armed and standing over the body of a man with Down syndrome. Cisco swears the dead man was his good friend, and he didn’t hurt him; but, in his earlier life, Cisco had been gang member, and a brilliant and brutal killer. After he was badly beaten, brain injuries left him him―if he is to be believed―with the intellectual intelligence of a child. Madsen's search for the truth leads him through the special needs community, East LA gang life, and pits him up against the corrupt LA Sheriff’s Department.
Sleep Well My Lady
By Kwei Quartey
Synopsis: Hard-hitting talk show host Augustus Seeza has become a household name in Ghana, though notorious for his lavish overspending, alcoholism, and womanizing. He’s dating the imposing, beautiful Lady Araba, who leads a selfmade fashion empire. Fearing Augustus is only after her money, Araba’s religious family intervenes to break them up. A few days later, just before a major runway show, Araba is found murdered in her bed. Her driver is arrested after a hasty investigation, but Araba’s favorite aunt, Dele, suspects Augustus Seeza was the real killer.
Almost a year later, Dele approaches Emma Djan, who has finally started to settle in as the only female PI at her agency. To solve Lady Araba’s murder, Emma must not only go on an undercover mission that dredges up trauma from her past, but navigate a long list of suspects with strong motives. Emma quickly discovers that they are all willing to lie for each other—and that one may still be willing to kill.
Midnight Lullaby
By James D.F. Hannah
Synopsis: A roadside shooting ended both his career and his marriage and sent ex-state trooper Henry Malone back to his childhood home in Serenity, West Virginia. A request to look into the disappearance of a young mother becomes a second chance, an opportunity to redeem himself.
But Malone finds the unexpected as he scratches beneath his hometown’s surface: Crooked lawyers. Meth cooks. A hair-triggered sheriff. A beautiful legal secretary. And a seductive yet deadly white supremacist. It is a dangerous mix that leads Henry and his well-armed AA sponsor, Woody, down onto a wild and deadly road. A missing-persons case becomes the struggle for both men just to stay alive.
A Stranger at the Door
By Jason Pinter
Synopsis: Rachel Marin is in a good place. After years of struggle, the single mother has found both a stable, loving relationship and a new purpose: putting her investigative skills to work solving crimes for the local PD. But just as the pieces of her life are finally starting to fall into place, her teenaged son’s teacher is gruesomely murdered, starting a domino effect that shatters her peaceful existence.
When Rachel discovers an ominous email the teacher sent to her just before his death, she knows she must help bring his killer to justice. But soon a figure from her past reappears, threatening to expose Rachel’s darkest secrets if she doesn’t tread lightly. And when her son is recruited by a shadowy businessman who may be connected to the murder, Rachel knows this has just gotten very, very personal.
Someone out there is dead set on keeping this grisly cover-up good and buried, which means if Rachel’s not careful, it’s only a matter of time before her dream life becomes her worst nightmare.
A Glimmer of Death
By Valerie Wilson Wesley
Synopsis: In the first of a thrilling new series, one woman's extraordinary psychic gift plunges her already-troubled present into chaos--and puts her future in someone's deadly sights...
Until now, Odessa Jones' inherited ability to read emotions and foretell danger has protected her. But second sight didn't warn her she would soon be a widow--and about to lose her home and the catering business she's worked so hard to build. The only things keeping Dessa going are her love for baking and her sometimes-mellow cat, Juniper. Unfortunately, putting her life back together means taking a gig at an all-kinds-of-shady real estate firm run by volatile owner Charlie Risko...
Until Charlie is brutally killed--and Dessa's bullied co-worker is arrested for murder. Dessa can't be sure who's guilty. But it doesn't take a psychic to discover that everyone from Charlie's much-abused staff to his long-suffering younger wife had multiple reasons to want him dead. And as Dessa follows a trail of lies through blackmail, dead-end clues, and corruption, she needs to see the truth fast--or a killer will bury her deep down with it.
A Tourist's Guide to Murder
By V.M. Burns
Synopsis: Sam joins Nana Jo and her Shady Acres Retirement Village friends Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae on a weeklong trip to London, England, to experience the Peabody Mystery Lovers Tour. The chance to see the sights and walk the streets that inspired Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle is a dream come true for Sam—and a perfect way to celebrate her new publishing contract as a mystery author.
But between visits to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel district and 221B Baker Street, Major Horace Peabody is found dead, supposedly of natural causes. Despite his employer’s unfortunate demise, the tour guide insists on keeping calm and carrying on—until another tourist on their trip also dies under mysterious circumstances. Now it’s up to Sam and the Shady Acres ladies to mix and mingle among their fellow mystery lovers, find a motive, and turn up a murderer . . .
You should read these writers.
Yes, I'd lie to you. But not about that.
After Alexia Gordon was twice recommended as a writer you should read in this newsletter (by both Art Taylor and Erica Wright) it only seemed right to give the physician-by-day, writer-by-night her own recommendation. Plus I know and like Alexia a lot. She's ferociously smart, prolific, and supportive; any writer would be lucky to possess one of those traits. And she's A DOCTOR WHO WRITES BOOKS. Honestly, I almost find that amount of intelligence and productivity offensive. The nerve.
And a writer Dr. Gordon recommends? V.M. Burns (and, yes, that's her latest book in the January releases):
V. M. (Valerie) Burns is an author more people should read. She keeps readers entertained with three different series: the Mystery Bookshop Mysteries, the Dog Club Mysteries, and the R.J. Franklin Mysteries. Between a bookseller-turned-mystery novelist in Michigan, a crime-solving dog lover in Tennessee, and a police detective in Indiana, V.M. Burns’ cozy/traditional mysteries promise twisty plots, quirky characters, and satisfying conclusions.
To learn more about each writer, click the photos above.
Where I'll be and why.
Conversations and Connections
This conference is actually sold out, but I'm so excited about it that I'm including it anyway. This is a wonderful conference put on by Barrelhouse that has taken place in D.C. for...14 years? I'll be moderating a panel with my good friends Angie Kim, Tara Laskowski, and Eliza Nellums. Will we spend most of our time trading insults? Probably! WISH ME LUCK. I'll also accept thoughts and prayers.
Bookstagram: What Writers Need to Know
How cool is this? I'll be moderating this panel which features three writers talking to three bookstagrammers about Bookstagram, what it is, how authors can best use it, etc. I'm really looking forward to this because I was lucky enough to have the support of a number of Bookstagrammers when They're Gone came out last year, and it's a fun, intimate, lovely approach to sharing books. There's still time to register (it's free), but the spots are filling up fast! Learn more HERE.
A Fine/Bad Romance
Just in time for Valentine's Day! Or, since I'm a guy, a few days late! I'll be joining a fun group of writers to give readings about good or bad romantic stories. This is EXACTLY my thing, and I would have crashed the event if I hadn't been invited. Find out more HERE.
It's contest time! The monthly contest winner wins copies of the books listed in my "Two Writers You Should Read" segment. So, for this month, the winner of Execution in E and A Tourist's Guide to Murder is:
ali__@gmail.com
But wait, there's more! I ran a separate contest this months for new subscribers! And the winners of gift cards to Bookshop and Amazon are:
birdj_@gmail.com
martha.p______e@comcast.net
Enjoy your prizes, everyone! Wow, three contests in one month. I'm not good at managing my money.
I wrote this.
I have two columns coming out in the Washington Independent Review of Books, but neither is up yet. So, in other words, I got nothing on that front. But next month's newsletter WOW.
But I do have some cool news! I'm really proud to be an active member of Crime Writers of Color, and I have a short story in that organization's debut anthology! It'll be published by Crooked Lane (the same publisher who put out They're Gone), and is tentatively scheduled for publication this September!
My short story is sort of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" about a man determined to kill the person who is sleeping with his ex-wife. Because I'm a &^*%$ romantic.
You can learn more about the anthology, titled Midnight Hour, HERE.
Until next time, stay safe. Much love to all of you, and Happy Reading!