Toast to Bouchercon

September 13, 2011

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By Rebecca Cantrell
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Everyone is going to Bouchercon this week but me. Not strictly speaking true, because there are a billion people in China who never even heard of Boucheron, plus nearly everyone I know who isn’t a writer or a mystery fan. But in spite of that, it feels like everyone is going but me.
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So, I decided to talk about the things I’m missing in a non-sulky kind of way.
The stock characters I will miss at Bouchercon?
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Readers! Those wonderful people who buy my books (hardcovers, even) and then spend hours of their lives reading them and then actually want to talk to me about them. I am humbled every single time. I will miss you most of all.
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Writers! I love to get together with writers and talk about research and plot and the publishing industry and can you believe what they did with that cover and that panel will be terrific and I love your books and did you read that awful review of your book and do you think the publishing industry will collapse entirely before I finish the next book and the next round is on me. Writers, you are my tribe.
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Friends! There is much overlap here, as most of the friends are writers and readers too. These are the people I often only get to see at conferences or when I’m on tour because most of my life I’m sitting in a lava tube on one of the most remote islands on Earth. But I miss them and I want to know about their children’s accomplishments and why they ever bought that hat and does this dress my make my butt look you know and congratulations on being nominated and the shrimp looks dodgy and yes, that new guy over there is kinda hot and you should go talk to him.
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OK, I feel marginally better. All of you at Bouchercon, you know which categories you fit into, so just email me your responses to all those questions and I’ll feel caught up and reasonably happy as I teetotal and sit in my cave.
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But I’ll still miss you.

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Blending in with a Cult?

August 30, 2011

By Rebecca Cantrell
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Hannah Vogel does manage to infiltrate the cult of all cults: the Nazi party. Let’s run through the cult checklist: overbearing leader, fanatical devotion, mind control, serious consequences if you leave, questions or doubts strongly discouraged. Yes, on all counts.
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So, how did she do it? It helped that she looked like their ideal. She has the protective camouflage of blond hair and blue eyes. And, as a woman, she’s not taken seriously enough. Luckily.
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The second step was picking a strong ally within the group. She partnered with Lars Lang, a high ranking SS officer. He was already accepted by the group, so she got a de facto acceptance too. This got her past the initial hurdles, but not without a cost. Lars is not always the easiest guy to work with: his loyalties are complex, he runs the risk of being found out himself, and the stress of living a double life cause him to act unpredictably, sometimes dangerously.
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After that it was a matter of having strong nerves in difficult situations, learning to lie, and developing the ability to parrot back Nazi ideology with a straight face.
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All those things served her well in “A Trace of Smoke,” “A Night of Long Knives,” and “A Game of Lies.” But in next year’s book, “A City of Broken Glass,” all those factors work against her.
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Being Hannah is tough work.

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Hannah’s Latest Adventure Starts Today

July 5, 2011

Happy Independence Day Alexandra Sabian and Hannah Vogel!

Today is July 5. I’m calling it “Independence Day” for Jeannie Holmes and me because today we release our latest novels into the wild. In honor of that, I’m totally blowing off this week’s question and instead Jeannie and I will be interviewing each other about our brand new books.

Jeannie: “A Game of Lies” is the third book in the Hannah Vogel series. What is Hannah up to in her latest adventure?

Rebecca: Hannah is in trouble, as always. Ever since “A Night of Long Knives,” Hannah has been smuggling out secret documents to British intelligence. She’s back to pick up another batch and report on the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Her mentor dies in her arms after telling her she needs to take out a package, and she spends the rest of the book looking for his killer and his secret.

Now, can you share a bit of what Alexandra Sabian gets up to in “Blood Secrets,” the sequel to the well-received “Blood Law?”

Jeannie: Alexandra Sabian is dealing with the fallout of turning rogue in the first book, Blood Law, and has been suspended from the FBPI. When a local college student disappears, she’s given a chance to prove the Bureau Tribunal that she’s not a risk to the vampire community. She takes the assignment even thought it means working with Varik Baudelaire again. However, neither of them knows the extent of the danger they’re facing when a killer known as the Dollmaker takes an unnatural interest in Alex.

It’s a tough world out there, but at least I got to make a lot of it up. But Hannah’s stories are centered around the Nazi party’s real life rise to power in Germany during the 1930s. How much research do you conduct for each book?

Rebecca: I spend months researching before I start, research the whole time I’m writing, and then uncover even more new stuff when I start to rewrite. It was a fascinating moment in history, and I want to make very sure that Hannah’s world is a true to life as I can make it.

But Alex’s world rings true to me too. She is a vampire cop, but she works with human police officers who use very modern research methods. How much research do you do?

Jeannie: I’ve done a ton of research on forensics and spoken to law enforcement officers so I can make much of what Alex does as realistic as possible. The wildest bit of research I’ve ever done was to spend a twelve hour shift riding shotgun with a patrol officer on a Saturday night. It’s an experience I will never forget, and I have a deeper level of respect for all law enforcement.

But you can’t really do a ride along. What challenges do you find are the most difficult in writing historical mysteries?

Rebecca: For me it’s knowing that the events I research are real. Real people died. Millions of them. I want to do all I can to take that seriously and do the best I can to show people that world, while also giving Hannah a little bit of peace to fall in love, tell a joke, and raise her son.

Enough talk about challenges. Let’s talk about something fun. What’s your favorite scene in “Blood Secrets?”

Jeannie: I have a few favorite scene, but one scene I particularly loved writing is Alex and Varik. It’s about midway through the book. Varik is trying to make a point and uses some rather unconventional means to make it.

Do you see the series continuing forever or do you have a clear end in mind?

Rebecca: Varik is a rather unconventional guy. I do have an arc planned for Hannah. I’d like to write nine books about her adventures: the pre-war trilogy that “A Game of Lies” completes; a war trilogy starting with next year’s “A City of Broken Glass;” and a post-war trilogy where she deals with the aftermath of war.

How about you? How many books do you think you might have for the series?

Jeannie: I have a total of six planned, and hopefully will get the opportunity to write them all. I never meant for the series to drag out to infinity. I think Alex and Varik would eventually like for me to go away and leave them alone since I have a tendency to torture them unmercifully.

What else are you working on? Any hints about “A City of Broken Glass?”

Rebecca: I’m just starting my first round of rewrites on it. “A City of Broken Glass” is set during November 1938—Kristallnacht. Hannah is dragged back to Germany and searches for a lost little girl while trying desperately to get herself and Anton back to Switzerland. It was by far the toughest book I’ve written.

How about you? Is there more Alex in store?

Jeannie: I’m working on the third Alex book, which doesn’t have a title or release date yet, and I also have a couple of other works in progress.

Rebecca: Thanks, Jeannie, for taking time to chat with me about your new book! Have a great time at Thrillerfest! Best of luck on your release day, Book Buddy!

Before I return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast, I’d like to clink glasses with Jeannie in a cyber toast! I giddily invite you all to join us. The cyber Champagne is on me!

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Guilty Pleasures

May 9, 2011

Guilty Pleasures
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By Rebecca Cantrell
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What’s the guiltiest pleasure on my bookshelf?
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I’m vaguely guilty about all the stacks of books I have that won’t even fit onto my shelves, but not enough to give them top billing. Because, really, they’re just a sign that I will never catch up and read them all and where’s the pleasure in that? (I know, the pleasure is in the journey of reading the ones I do get to. Thank you, Mr. Zen.)
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The guiltiest pleasure on my bookshelf is my collection of newspapers from the 1930s. Here’s how it looks all tucked away nicely. It seems nice and safe and non-guilt inducing. And yet…
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First off, it cost more than my Spartan soul can justify. I got them mostly on e-bay, for a song, and they are tax-deductible because I use them to write my books. But still, I probably could have found scanned in versions online for free. Version that did not have the delightful scent of old newspaper and ink. Versions that did not feel smooth under my caressing fingertips. Versions that you couldn’t leaf through, just as the original subscriber did, eighty long years ago. Yes, pleasures of the eye and nose and hand won out over common sense. Guilty.
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Secondly, I worry that those priceless artifacts will be destroyed while under my protection. Much like the dining room table that has needed to be refinished for ten years. And don’t even get me started on the sorry condition of the chairs. Back to the bookshelf. Those newspapers are made of lovely old paper. And Kona eats paper. It covers it with mildew. It sends silverfishes scurrying in. It dispatches geckoes to poop on it. And I have recklessly brought those newspapers here.
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I try to keep them safe. I store them in a blue archival box recommended by a friend who sets up museum exhibits (nice job at the California Academy of Sciences, BTW, Pixie!). It’s acid free and protects against gecko poop and maybe silverfish.

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I have a dehumidifying box in there that has magic crystals that suck the moisture out of the air to protect the paper from mildew. But when I took the box down for these pictures, the indicator crystal had changed from friendly blue to poisonous pink.

It’s in the oven now, having the moisture backed out of it, but how long was it pink? What evil befell the newspapers during the weeks it might have sat there, flashing out a pink beacon of despair?

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I don’t know. But I know it’s all my fault.

Still, I think I will go re-read those newspapers one more time before they succumb…
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What’s YOUR guilty bookshelf pleasure?

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What’s on my reference shelf? Not just dust!

March 15, 2011


Sorry for the lateness of today’s post. I just got back from the Tucson Festival of Books and collapsed in an exhausted, dried up husk instead of writing my blog post.

Today’s topic? What’s on my reference shelf? I have all the standard writing books on the writing shelf to the left of the dresser, the one that’s covered with necklaces that I forgot to put away and dust dunnies and a valentine from my son with a bug on it. Titles include: Elements of Style (Strunk and White), The Hero’s Journey (Christopher Vogler), Save the Cat (Blake Snyder, and yes I know it’s formulaic, but some of the advice is still damn good), Romancing the A-list (Christopher Kean), The Joy of Writing Sex (Elizabeth Benedict, but it’s still not joyful and I cannot write sex scenes at Starbucks because I’m that much of a prude).

Then I have all the titles that are specific to what I write: Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William Shirer), Blood and Banquets (Bella Fromm), I Will Bear Witness (Victor Klemperer), Voluptuous Panic (Mel Gordon, and the pictures are so racy that I hide it under my archival box of newspapers), bound editions of Berlin Illlustrierte Zeitung from 1931 plus one from 1934, BZ anniversary edition to 1986, Lenya (Donald Spoto), What I Saw (Joseph Roth), Counterfeit Spy (Sefton Delmer, and yes it was expensive because it’s out of print so I didn’t let myself buy it until I sold my book), plus more.

My thesaurus fell apart, so I use thesaurus.com and dictionary.com (although they put a bunch of tracking cookies on your computer, and are, in fact the worst offender when it comes to building an online profile of you according to the Wall Street Journal). I also love Online Etymology Dictionary because they give great histories of words. They’re by no means complete, but what they do have is fascinating! I also spend a lot of time at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and YouTube has an amazing collection of videos of Berlin in the 1930s is you poke around a bit.

For my upcoming novel, A GAME OF LIES, I spent a lot of time reading the 1,500 page official report of the 1936 Olympics. It’s in two volumes. One is here. Volume Two is here.

Yes, I’m in touch with my inner research nerd.

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