My fourth Monster Hunter Mystery, Monster in the Moonlight, came out January 27th. I just turned in the manuscript for the fifth book, Creature of the Night, to my editor so I’m awaiting feedback on it. It has a January 26, 2027 release date scheduled. In the meantime, I’m thinking up proposals for future books so my agent can submit those to Berkley to see if they want to contract for more in the series. And I have that back burner book I’ve been working on for the past two years. This week I’m mostly being lazy, streaming shows I’ve been saving up to watch, and thinking up plot and location ideas.
I don’t know how to answer this question. I’m sure my writing has changed–hopefully for the better– over the last thirty years but I’m not sure I could identify how. I still can’t seem to get the hang of using the verb lie/lay correctly no matter how hard I try. And I always have words I tend to overuse that I need to watch out for. I suppose writing a novel has gotten easier over time and my confidence has grown, though it still suffers some setbacks from time to time.
I get a lot of questions from readers and fans about the covers for my books, how much input I have, do I like them, etc. Every publisher I have been with has asked me to share my vision for the cover art for my books. In the beginning I did so, but I quickly learned two things: 1) thery’re going to go with whatever ideas they have and they’re just being polite letting me think I have a say, and 2) it’s just as well because I have no artistic ability–some might say taste–for stuff like that and the publishers have people who do and who know how to create covers that will make people want to pick books up off the shelf. So I’m happy to defer to those in the know.
That said, I’ve loved nearly all of my book covers. When I first saw the flat for what would be the cover of Cold White Fury I fell in love with the sleek look and feel of the matte finish it had. I thought it looked classier than all the embossed, glossy covers on the shelves. However, once the cover came out on the actual book and it was displayed among all those glossy covers, that matte finish looked dull and almost dirty.
I wasn’t crazy about the inclusion of kittens and puppies on the covers of the early Mattie Winston books but there were kittens and puppies in the stories and having them on the cover targeted the cozy mystery audience Kensington is known for. With book #8 in that series, Dead in the Water, they changed my covers to pieces of beautiful, scenic artwork that I loved. I think my favorite was the cover for Dead of Winter.
I wasn’t wild about the cover for A Death in Door County but deferred to the expertise of the marketing people at Berkley. Many people love that cover and the book continues to sell well, so that shows what I know. Then, for reasons I’m not sure of because I didn’t express any displeasure to them with this cover, they changed the artwork for the subsequent books to scenes that remind me of the Nancy Drew books I grew up with. I LOVE these covers and get tons of comments and compliments on them (which I happily accept even though I had no role at all in creating them!) I’m not sure why Berkley made the change and it’s a bit confusing because the first book doesn’t even look like it’s part of the same series as the others.
Book cover designing is quite a science!
I’ve rambled on quite a bit here and we’re getting ready to hunker down for Mother Nature’s last little hissy fit here in the midwest. I’ll continue to check in over the next few weeks to see if any one has any questions/comments. Thanks for inviting me and thank you to all the readers out there who have read any of my books. You are the reason I do this and I’m eternally grateful. Stay safe everyone.
I’m sure your medical training helped you to be disciplined, and I’m guessing you need that skill as a writer too. Thanks for visiting with us.
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Thank you very much for all your wonderful answers! I’ve very much enjoyed reading your comments. Take care, and best of luck with your upcoming projects!
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Most of the events I have are made when the venue contacts me. I’ve had a lot of requests from libraries over the past couple of years and now that indie bookstores are experiencing a renaissance of sorts, quite a few of the local ones book me. My publisher arranges some stuff online but rarely any in-person things.
I do have family out in Oregon so it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities.
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