Pre-order My New Cozy + Another eBook winner, below

At last! Here's a sneak-peek at my new Agatha Christie Book Club mystery, which is now available as a PRE-ORDER at Amazon. (Hurrah.)

To lock in your copy, just click HERE. And don't hesitate to get in touch and let me know your thoughts on the new cover (above).

ABOUT THE BOOK

And Then There Were 9

(The Agatha Christie Book Club 4)

By C.A. LARMER

REMOTE LYLE'S LODGE: Deep in isolated rainforest, the Agatha Christie Book Club gather to meet four new members, each one hiding a secret from the group…

ONE IS AN IMPOSTER. 
ONE HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE.
ONE IS HUNTING FOR SOMETHING.
AND ONE WANTS REVENGE.

Now with nine members and blissfully unaware, ACBC Mark 2 settle in to discuss Christie’s best-selling mystery—the one about the madman bumping off his isolated guests. 

Very soon, life begins to imitate art…

First one person is murdered, then another, and then they find themselves cut off by a giant bushfire that's roaring up the mountain towards them.

With their own "madman" on the loose and the flames getting closer, they must employ the wisdom of Poirot, to unravel each new member's secret and unmask the killer.

But this time not all of them will get out alive.

Once there were nine… Soon there will be six. But which six will survive the Book Club from hell?

ARE YOU THIS WEEK'S WINNER?

AS YOU KNOW… I've been celebrating the upcoming release of my latest Agatha Christie Book Club adventure and am handing out an eBook prize every single week until it hits the stands.

TO WIN: Just keep reading these newsletters! I'll pick a subscriber randomly from the list and announce the name each week until it's published. If that's you, I'll contact you directly to find out which book you'd like.

*Don't panic if you've already read ALL THREE in the series. You're my favourite kind of subscriber and will get a chance to choose from any of my other cozy mysteries (see here).

THIS WEEK'S WINNER IS...

Jane Starcher

Congratulations Jane! I will be in touch with you shortly to discuss your eBook prize.

Everyone else, please don't despair, there's at least one more free eBook to be given out. Check the next newsletter to see if your name comes up. And catch up on the Book Club's back story via the links, below.

xo Christina 

@AMAZON online

Apple iBooks

B+N nook

kobo

The Real Story Behind My New Mystery THE FERRY MAN (out soon!)

A young backpacker meets an alluring stranger on a ferry to the Greek island of Santorini. When he gets off miles from her destination, she has to make a terrifying choice. Will she jump ship with him and desert her travelling companions? Or stay safely onboard and miss what might be the love of a lifetime? 

This is the story of one woman, two lives, and the consequences that lead to murder.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

The year was 1991. I was in my early 20s. A wide-eyed backpacker fresh from Sydney, Australia, with an old school friend beside me and a team of American Lacrosse players we'd met up with somewhere in Europe. We were en route to Santorini, on the deck of a ferry, laughing, flirting, having fun.

Then, in the middle of the eight-hour journey, one of those US players struck up a conversation with a total stranger, another Aussie woman with an alluring smile. He was instantly smitten and before we knew what was happening, he was deserting us all and jumping ship with her on a completely different island.

Now remember: This was BEFORE mobile phones, before instant messaging and GPS. It was back in the days when you still had to book a call from a Greek post office if you wanted to phone home. It was another time and era and so his decision to abandon us for a relative stranger was a brave and potentially risky one. And yet we all laughed and waved him off as if it was just a lark. 

To this day I don't know how it went with that Aussie girl and if he ever caught up with his mates again. But I do know that choice he made has haunted me ever since.

Over the years, I started to wonder, what if?

• What if the man who abandoned his mates had been a woman, a young and vulnerable one? 
• What if the stranger she jumped ship with was a man who turned out to be a monster? 
• And what culpability did WE all have, not pulling our friend back to safety?

Have you ever made a risky travelling decision? If so, you'll relate to this book. It's the one I've been madly typing for the past nine months (but conjuring in my head for almost 30 years). It's a ripper of a tale and I look forward to sharing it with you very soon. 

Unlike anything I have written before, it's a little less 'cozy' and a lot more 'thriller/suspense', with a dash of Gone Girl and a Sliding Doors-style twist. It's now with my editor (love ya work, Annie!) and is due out next month. 

For more on this mystery, a cover-reveal, and your chance to win FREE COPIES, just keep an eye on future newsletters.

Until then, happy (safe!) reading everyone.

xo Christina

Get a Character Named After You In My New Mystery

Name A Character in My Next Book!

Ever longed for your 15 minutes of fame? How about the chance to see your name in lights? Well, I can't quite promise that, but I am offering all my beloved subscribers a chance to get your name into my latest mystery. Or, if you'd prefer, the name of someone you love (or loathe... vengeance can be sweet, right?)

I'm putting the finishing touches to my 12th mystery, the follow-up to my top-selling Posthumous Mystery, DO NOT GO GENTLE, and I want to write you into it! I'll just use your first name, and I promise the character will NOT reflect you in any way (they could be a baddie after all!) It's just a bit of harmless fun. Interested?

Here's How to Win:

TO BE IN THE RUNNING: Just name one character—any character EXCEPT the main character Lulu—from my first posthumous mystery Do Not Go Gentle (see Amazon link and book sample here).*

EMAIL ME: Just send me an email with the book character's name listed (first name is fine) as well as YOUR name (or the name of the person you want to see written into my next novel), and you will then go into the hat. At the end of the week—just one week, folks!—I will pick a random name out, and then assign that name to one of the characters in my second Posthumous Mystery, which is due out mid-August.*

I will then announce the winner in a later newsletter.* How cool is that? But do be quick! Offer lasts just one week!

Now, for more on the second book…

Book Title Reveal (drum roll please…)

Do Not Go Alone

by C.A. Larmer

'There's a bullet in my head, and it's really messing with my hairstyle…"

Thus begins the second in the Posthumous Mystery series. This time the victim is 27-year-old party girl Maisie who really shouldn't be dead. There's a pool party going on and she's missing all the fun. As she hovers overhead watching her loved ones splash about, Maisie begins to wonder: who hated her just enough to put a bullet in her head then return to the pool as if nothing has happened? Can you help Maisie uncover a killer before the creepy dead people lurking near the tunnel convince her to cross?

Due out: August 2018

Until then, happy reading everyone (and good luck!)

xo Christina

*Terms & Conditions: All entrants agree the author can use the winning entrant's first name only (or the name of their choosing) for one character in her next book. It may be a main character or a bit character, that is entirely up to the author. The book character does not in any way reflect the character of the winning entrant. The closing date for entries is Aug 5, 2018. The winning entrant will be notified in an upcoming newsletter of the author's choice, and will also be notified by reply email. The author's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into after the winner has been announced. The wnning entrant will receive no payment and all copyright remains with the author. 

A Killer Giveaway (or 3)

My regular readers will know I've been dead quiet lately. Apologies for that. It's been a mammoth month with a lot of writing - but mostly other people's. 

As you may also know, my day job involves constructive editing for other authors and I've had the privilege of doing just that recently, editing first a memoir from the 1970s, and then a 'single woman's guide to real estate' (my working title, not hers, but I'm sure I can convince her).

Editing other people's words really is a privilege; I don't use that term lightly. As the author of 11 books, myself, I know the hurdles writers have to overcome to simply put pen to paper, let alone finish a manuscript and THEN have the courage to hand it to someone else to 'critique', so I thank those authors for their bravery and belief in me. It really has been fun.

Of course that doesn't help you, now, does it? All this editing means I have had to put my own writing on the back burner. Bummer. So, to make it up to my loyal readers, I will be running a series of sales that I might just call my 'Suck Up Sales', for obvious reasons.

And here they are:



• Suck Up Sale #1: It all starts with my current discount for my latest book Do Not Go Gentle.

The story of a dead woman's quest to solve her own murder before the granny-beckoning light whooshes her off to eternity, this is a fun, light read with a lot of dark humour. Actually, make that black humour! It's my darkest book yet, but there really is a lot of light and it's not all coming from the tunnel, I can assure you.

You can grab a copy of that NOW for just 99c.

• Suck Up Sale #2: From June 20, I will be running a fortnight-long sale of the second book in the popular Agatha Christie Book Club series: Murder on the Orient (SS).

This one features a real steamship, brought back to life in my imagination, just for the purposes of baffling my fabulous book club friends. Several passengers meet a grim end on the ship—as you'd expect—but it's the ending that will take you by surprise. So far, no one I know has worked out whodunnit! Can you?

That cozy mystery will be available for 99c from June 20.

• Suck Up Sale #3: And later in the month, I will do a flash sale of the first—and most popular—book that started the series: The Agatha Christie Book Club. That one will also drop to 99c, so keep an eye out for that (and for a loony husband who may or may not have murdered one of the book club wives).


Phew. I think that should cover my proverbial you-know-what, until I find time to get a new book out.

Until then, happy (discount) reading everyone!
xo Christina

Does romance kill a good murder mystery?

I can't help myself. It just keeps happening...

Every time my ghostwriter Roxy Parker embarks on a new and gripping murder mystery, she stumbles into the arms of a potential love interest. It's extraordinarily annoying. I don't want her to find love, honestly I don't! It's murder and mayhem I'm after, yet time and time again, some handsome bloody hero appears on the scene to sweep Roxy off her feet and I am left tapping words into the keyboard that I had never intended. Things like "he took her in his arms and he kissed her". Eweeegggh!

Bucket, anyone?
I have absolutely nothing against the romance genre but I have never been a fan, no matter how hard I have tried. And boy have I tried. I've tried reading them (on a tiny Pacific Island when nothing else was available) and I have even tried writing a few. The first book I ever wrote in fact, when I was just 13, started as a romance set in bustling New York city. By chapter five I had killed off the romance and produced a dead body. I couldn't help myself.

Then, in my early 20s while frantically saving to go backpacking through Europe, I approached Mills & Boon about writing a novel. I wanted to earn some quick cash, and really? How hard could it be? I outlined a rough plot, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Within weeks M&B had replied, sending me their infamous How To Template and asking me to get back to them with the first three chapters pronto.

Overjoyed, and not a little smug, I sat down and began to write. Scratch that. I sat down and attempted to write. It was the hardest three chapters I had ever tried. And the strain must have been obvious in the prose I produced because it didn't take long for M&B to return my three chapters with a polite cover note telling me thanks but no thanks. My writing, they explained, was simply "not convincing enough". My heart sank and my pride took a nosedive.

I knew exactly what they meant and I didn't blame them one bit. Of course it wasn't convincing and why would it be? I never read romance. Didn't even like the stuff, and no amazing plot was going to fool anybody. Through my own words I had exposed myself. I was a romance fraud and I should stay out of the genre for good!

So I filed it into the 'Oh Well' basket and got on with what I have always read and adored, crime fiction. Seven books later and I've been relatively successful with that.

So, why then, does romance keep cropping up?
I know that some of my readers love it, I know others wish it would bugger off. Me? I'm not sure either way. I don't mean for my books to get mushy but they always seem to. There was romance in The Agatha Christie Book Club, in An Island Lost and in four out of five of my Ghostwriter Mystery novels. For some exasperating reason, my heroines keep locking eyes with handsome types and can't seem to behave themselves.

And it's really got me baffled. (And not a little annoyed.)

My latest book, Roxy's sixth adventure and the one I have JUST finished —hurrah!— is the worst offender yet. It's buzzing with romance, this time between Roxy and a new man who's more brooding even than Max. Yet again I am as surprised by this as many of you will be. Again I declare my innocence and assure you I had not intended that to happen. It just did!

It makes me wonder, though ...
Do you like a little romance with your crime fuction? Does it annoy you as much as it annoys me? Does it get in the way of a good crime plot or does it enhance it? Can murder and romance walk hand in hand or should they be kept as far apart from each other as possible?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and I'm keen to warn you, too. I wasn't kidding about Ghostwriter Mystery #6. It's Roxy's most romantic adventure yet, and it had nothing to do with me! Honestly it didn't.

Happy (mushy?) reading everyone!
xo Christina

When murder starts to hurt

So it appears I have a stop button, a 'full' mark, an invisible trigger that says, "Oi! No more! Go back to the light!"

As you know I've just finished reading a run of true crime books and they have been riveting, some more so than others. I began with Virginia Peters' expose on murdered German backpacker Simone Strobel, Have You Seen Simone? What a captivating tale. Did Simone's doe-eyed boyfriend kill her? Was it an ex-crim from the shady caravan park where they were staying? Will we ever, truly know?

Bundy run
I followed that one up very quickly, eagerly I must confess, with the horrific Ted Bundy story, The Stranger Beside Me, by Ann Rule. Ted Bundy, of course, needs no introduction. He makes Smone's boyfriend look like a kitty cat. Before he was put to death, the monster—and that's the only name for him—murdered and mutilated scores of innocent young women, all dead-ringers (if you'll excuse the pun) for a girlfriend who once rejected him. A sore loser of the most horrific kind.

Unlike the previous book, which was interesting in a hanging-on-the-couch, passing-the-time kind of way, this one was perched-on-the-edge, nail-biting stuff. Worse, it was hard yakka. Ann made me sit through murder upon murder upon murder. She had promised each family she would do their daughters justice, and so she does, in endless gory detail. Yet something (the devil inside?) spurred me on and I somehow managed to finish it while also ordering a copy of Australian author Helen Garner's 2004 non-fiction book Joe Cinque's Consolation.

No consolation for me
Garner is one of Australia's finest fiction and non-fiction writers and this book has been a classic Aussie tome for a decade, the kind that is often pored over at Book Clubs. It's the true story of how one woman drugged and killed her boyfriend and how at least one other woman, and perhaps entire dinner parties of people, conspired to allow it to happen, if only through a form of quiet acquiescence. A tragic tale it's almost nonsensical in the sheer idiocy of the death, and the fact the convicted got off so lightly.

A fine read, I'm sure, yet I found this book even harder to get through than the Bundy one, and not becaue Garner can't write an intriguing tale, or the murder (albeit just one) was any less chilling. Instead, even as I opened that first chapter, I was beginning to reach the high tide mark or, to risk mixing my metaphores, was starting to feel a little bloated, a little over done. I should never have taken that final nibble.

Only stubborness and a serious lack of better fodder by my bedside table forced me to finish it. And finish it I did. I then promptly cancelled my next order, The House of Grief, Garner's latest book about a father who drowns his three young sons on Father's Day, and let out a long, pent-up sigh.

No more. I was done. Finito.

Stranger than fiction
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Crime fiction and true crime are such very different beasts. The latter is so much more haunting than the former, merely because of its authenticity, its truth.

I can get lost in a cozy crime novel and find my way out at the end of the day without any damage done. I can put the book aside, place my head on my pillow, and be snoring within minutes.

With true crime, the ugliness lingers. It nips at my soul, it follows me into darkened hallways and puts a quick in my step at night. And every single time it takes a little something from me and leaves a little something behind, something grubbier, something less bright.

I don't know how Ann Rule went on to make a career out of the true stories of grisly serial killers. Or how Helen Garner wrote Joe Cinque's Consolation (her second true crime novel I might add) then pulled herself together in time to sit through the court case of a father destroying three beautiful little souls.

I don't know how they did it and I don't know why I decided to binge on them all in the space of a few months. But binge I did.

The hangover from hell
I won't be reading true crime again in a hurry. In fact, it turned me off crime altogether. I couldn't even bring myself to buy Harlan Coben's latest, Missing You, even though I'd been anticipating it for months, was saving up my pennies to splurge next time I hit a book shop.

There'll be no more crime—of any kind—for me for a while. The day after finishing Joe Cinque's Consolation, I went to my local library and sought out the happiest, most optimistic-sounding book I could find. It didn't take long to settle on The Brightest Star in The Sky by Marian Keyes.

I've never read the best-selling Irish author before and I was in stitches. It was funny and delightful, like a cool glass of water on a blindingly hot day. While it wasn't without an unsettling scene or two, and it's not likely to win a Pulitzer any time soon, the premise of the story was such a joy and such a necessary relief.

In very simple terms, it's all about life. And it was exactly what I needed after wallowing in death for so long. Thanks, Marian, for the break, and for bringing me back to the light.

HAPPY reading everyone!
xo Christina

My tribute to a True Crime trailblazer, Ann Rule

Hi guys,
I wrote this post last September, after belatedly discovering the tremendous True Crime author Ann Rule, author of more than 30 books. With news overnight that Ms Rule has passed away, aged 83, I think of her again and hope she can finally rest in peace...

The Queen of True Crime

I seem to have developed the True Crime bug, big time, and have found myself creeped out for days now reading The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule (Pocket Books; reprint 2008).


This book is considered the blueprint for true crime, the bible for all true crime writers, and yet when Ann Rule wrote it she was a total novice. While she had once been a cop and had written extensively on crime for various detective magazines, she had never written a book before.

But that's not the stunning part about it.

What is truly incredible about this story—and why I guess it broke all the rules and became the template for both true crime and immersion writing—is that Rule had no idea, as she embarked on the book, that she not only knew the murderer, she was his friend.

Soon after being commissioned to write about a dreadful series of murders across America involving scores of beautiful young women who were brutally attacked, she came to realise that the leading suspect in the cases, indeed the only suspect, was a man she had befriended while working in a crisis centre. A man she genuinely liked!

It was, of course, the infamous Ted Bundy, a name that still sends shivers down women's spines 40 years later.

Bundy was a monster like no other. 
He confessed (albeit indirectly) to more than 35 murders, each one horrendously degrading, the kind that gives you nightmares. And Rule was on his speed dial.

Incredible stuff. Even more incredibly, Rule didn't hang up the phone and run (as I probably would). She didn't baulk at writing the book once Bundy was arrested, nor did she hesitate to remain in contact with that monster throughout his incarceration, taking his calls, returning his letters and even sending regular checks to help pay for his smokes in jail.

I don't believe she did that for the sake of the book. 
Not at all. It was not a marketing ploy. Judging from the book, she genuinely liked this man and wasn't afraid to admit it! She couldn't quite believe at first that he could do such monstrous things. When she finally had to accept this truth, she still felt a certan empathy for him which may seem bizarre to the average person, but which is very brave and honest of her to admit.

This book does what I think Virginia Peters tries to accomplish in her newly released Have You Seen Simone? (Penguin; 2014), see earlier blogs, yet fails at. This book takes us through the nitty gritty of a true crime (or 35 of them, and it's gruelling stuff!) while also showing us an incredible friendship and a first-hand insight into a murderer's mind.

She balances her friendship and the truth with such applomb. It really is an incredible feat and has been worth every jittery moment of reading it.

I have not enjoyed the book—how could anyone enjoy such horror?—but I did find it gripping, un-put-downable, and I was mesmerised by the words of an innocent writer caught in the middle. Unlike Peters, this really is as much about Rule as it is about Bundy. Yet we never feel that Rule believes that. She never takes over the story or makes it about herself. She is just there, stuck in the middle, and we are stuck right alongside her.

Tremendous stuff.

It's no wonder, as Rule says at the start of this reprint, people still contact her about the book all these decades later. She has gone on to write scores of other books, but this is the one that haunts all who come across it. And still haunts her.

Happy (less creepy!) reading everyone.
xo Christina

On second thoughts ...

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about a real-life murder that happened in my own backyard. And I beat myself up about it, believing I had missed a good opportunity to write a true crime book and reveal a horrendous crime to the world.

Today I'm happy to report that I've changed my mind.

After finishing Virginia Peters' book Have You Seen Simone? about a murdered German backpacker in Lismore (pictured, above), I am left with an empty space, in my head and my heart. And I've passed the book on to my Mum. She's welcome to it.

It's not that I didn't like the book. It was well written although the editing was a tad dodgy and it took me a while to settle in. Peters wrote a first-person account which is unusual for this genre, so I had to get used to the fact that it was as much about the author, Peters, as it was about the poor dead backpacker, Strobel. Eventually I did get used to that but what I will never get used to are all the question marks it left dangling, like a hangman's noose, at the end.

Who the hell dunnit?!

This is true crime and worst kind of true crime—one that's unsolved. There are no neat endings here, no final reveal over glasses of sherry in a room full of jittery, well-dressed suspects. Just a deep, long wondering that has left me feeling deeply frustrated.

It's not Peters' fault. It's the nature of the crime. The police have their suspicions, so, too, Peters, although she stops short of saying whodunnit (not that it's stopped her from being sued for defamation the poor thing). But that's not really my issue because, quite frankly, she doesn't know. Not for sure. Neither do the police who investigated or the families who are involved.

And it haunts them all.

Simone Strobel's murder is an enigma that, for now, is unsolved. May never be solved. Might always be left dangling, hanging over everyone's heads including the weary author who dedicated seven years of her life to the book.

And it frustrates the bejezus out of me! 
I write crime fiction, I read it with pleasure. But I don't do both things because I'm a gory, blood-splashing sadist. I love crime fiction becasue I love a good puzzle. I love to be handed all the clues and given a fair crack at solving it, preferably before the detective (or my annoyingly savvy readers ;-). So when a puzzle has no neat ending, when no one is cuffed and locked up for the crime, it makes me a little cranky.

And it makes me realise just why, deep down, I didn't do the Simone Strobel book.

At first I thought I ignored the book idea, handed to me on a platter by a criminal lawyer friend, because I was too chicken-shit, too relcutant to bring such darkness into my life. Now I wonder whether it was really because the case had not been solved, and there would be no answers at the end.

So what was the point of that? 

Does it help Simone Strobel or does it just rake over her grisly death for no good reason? I'd love to hear your thoughts, drop me a comment below or email me directly.

Happy reading everyone!
xo Christina

Slam, bam, thank you, Ma'am!

There's an old adage amongst crime fiction writers that the first murder has to come quickly, preferably in the first 40 pages or so. 

Try it free Sample the beginning of this book for free

I've heard this advice repeated at crime fiction workshops and on the podiums at writers festivals, and I usually scoff and sneer and think that's so cliche. Can't we just kill people when and as it's required?

As I've said in an earlier blog, I hate stereotypes. I loathe so-called rules and regulations around any kind of creative pursuit, but especially around writing. Shouldn't writers try to break the rules, push the envelope, surprise world-weary readers?

I like to think so.

However ...

Now that I publish ebooks, I have begun to feel the imperative to kill, and kill fast, more than I care to admit. And I blame it all on Amazon.

You see, the thing about digital books—which I love, and which have given me a career I could never have dreamed of, let alone a tremendous source of cheap reading— is the free sample stuff. Today, browsers get to download a sample of your book for free, usually the first 30%. That way they can have a small taste test before they cough up the full amount.

It's a great idea in principle and I often use it myself when deciding what to buy. In turn, I get a lot of people downloading samples of my books, a hell of a lot more than actually go on to buy them.

But here's the kick: of those who download samples, I doubt most of them will even get to the 30% mark. I suspect, from my own reading habits, that most will read the first three pages, perhaps even just the first three pars, or even the first three sentences, to make up their minds.

This means I need to grab them fast!

I know these things should not matter when constructing a great story, and I truly wish they didn't, but sadly they do. The faster I grab people's attention, and encourage them to buy, the more 'great stories' I get to write. Purchases mean freedom to keep doing what I love, and what I know some readers enjoy.

It's a tricky balancing act— grab 'em quick without prematurely rushing the drama.

As my books have progressed, I think I have the balance right but it's hard to know. What I do know is, I never want to forfeit good plot and storyline for a quick buck. But do I pull it off?

Let me know what you think, about this and other topics.

And happy reading everyone!
xo Christina

The one that got away

Several years ago I was having dinner with a criminal lawyer friend who suggested a non-fiction book idea to me which I promptly ignored, and am now kicking myself about.

Back in 2005, a German backpacker had been found murdered, her body left under palm fronds near a Lismore caravan park, and her case has gone largely unsolved, despite several good leads and at least three suspects. My lawyer friend, Tracey, who also happens to live near Lismore, knew about the case and thought it would make a fascinating book.

But did I listen to her? No I did not!

Then, last weekend, while planted in the packed audience at a true crime session of the Byron Bay Writers Festival—a popular annual event that I NEVER miss out on—I had the great good fortune of hearing three writers speak about their work.

One of them was about a German backpacker who had been found murdered, her body left under palm fronds near a Lismore caravan park. What? No! Not only was the tragic story of Simone Strobel fascinating, the author, Virginia Peters, had such an incredible tale to tell of researching and writing the book, and the audience was captivated by the excerpt she read out.

After the session I rushed out to buy the book.

While I'm yet to finish Have You Seen Simone? (Penguin, 2014)—freelance work, why do you plague me so?—I am enjoying it thoroughly. And I can not help wondering, what if ...

What if I had listened to my lawyer friend and written the book myself?

One step removed

I recall at the time Tracey suggested it, I was intrigued. I've always had a macabre interest in true crime, devouring Who/People magazines' crime articles weekly and reading real crime stories in daily papers with the same gusto that my heroine Roxy Parker does. (Although, unlike Roxy I do not cut and paste them in a Book of Death. I'm sick, but not that sick!)

Yet I made a deliberate attempt to ignore my friend's advice. I like reading about true crime, I love writing crime fiction, but both things afford me a distance that writing true crime would not. Mine are one step removed. Safe and cosy. To do this book I would need to do as Virginia does, and not only immerse myself in the real crime, decaying flesh and all, but I would have to meet and interview the suspects. I would have to look a potential murderer in the eye.

It felt like a step too far. Did I really want to invite that kind of vermin into my life? Back then, I decided, not.

Living brave
Now, flicking through this book and remembering the wide-eyed audience who clung to the author's every word at the Writers Fest, I wish I had been braver. I wish I had taken a risk. And I wish I had written about an important story that needed to be told. Maybe if I had, it would be me sitting up on that podium, keeping an audience entranced with a story that breaks your heart.

Oh well, Tracey, you tried. Next time I'll heed your advice!

Happy reading everyone and kudos to you, Ms Peters.
xo Christina

POSTCRIPT: Despite not pointing the finger directly at any one suspect, author Virginia Peters is currently being sued for defamation. For me, this only underscores the importance of this story and the author's utter bravery.

A nice name for a bad guy

So there I sat, bated breath, waiting for inspiring words from one of Australia's best-selling novelists, Bryce Courtenay (right, may he rest in peace). The popular and aging author of The Power of One, Tandia et al was part of a seminar at the Byron Bay Writers Festival several years ago. I had my ticket, a near-front row seat and a bucketful of expectations.

Then he let me down. Badly. 

It was just one line, a few words of 'advice' but I felt cheated and demoralised and bitterly disappointed. On the subject of characters, Mr Courtenay offered something like this (and I paraphrase as I did not write it down, although it stuck indelibly in my brain so you can take my word for it):

"When naming your characters, always try and use a name that sounds like the character. So, say, Mr Black for the bad guy, and Hope for the heroine."

I wanted to throw up. I considered walking out. I wished I had taken him to task on it.

"Surely not, Mr Courtenay!?" Isn't that the height of predictability, a classic cliche? Isn't that just too bloody obvious? I mean, take my crime fiction for instance. You wanna give away the ending, go right ahead and call your murderer Johnny Devious all you like. Me, I prefer to surprise my readers, keep 'em guessing, not treat them like a pack of idiots.

Isn't the name Helen Gooding a better moniker for a murderer?

I'm sorry to speak ill of the dead but, on this at least, I believe Bryce Courtenary was wrong, dead wrong. Sure, he has had the success (and sales) I can only dream of so maybe it works, maybe I should just shut up now and defer to the expert. Yet something inside me says no, no, NO! I refuse to chase success/sales on the back of such sorrowful stereotyping. Better to be original than oldhat.

Can't we do better than that?!

I'm currently concocting names for the characters of my 6th Ghostwriter Mystery, hence the reason Courtenay's words have come flooding back. I am trying very hard not to make them too obvious, too much the murder mystery stereotype. And it's a lot more fun to go for trickery than predictability, that's for sure.

What do you think? Can't authors be a bit more surreptitious, readers a little smarter? Shouldn't we at least treat our audience with a tad more respect?

I'd love to hear from you. Jot me a comment below.

And happy reading! (May the characters you encounter be strong and surprising.)
xo Christina