How do I kill thee? Let me count the ways.

JENN MCKINLAY: Seriously, having written more than thirty plus murder mysteries, I’m beginning to lose track of my homicides! Even doing simple math (not my gift) I figure I’ve fictionally murdered a minimum of thirty-six people and I have mostly forgotten how. Huh. I’m not really sure what this says about me as a person and I’m not sure I want to know, so let’s just move along, shall we? Excellent.

Pie Chart! Yes, to help figure out my most used methods of murder, I made a pie chart. Again, not really sure what this says about me…but look at the pretty colors! And, probably, you don’t want to hang out around me and sharp objects at the same time since stabbing people seems my most preferred method of murder. Who knew? Of course, poisoning, bludgeoning, shooting, and strangling are all throwing elbows for second place, so it’ll be interesting to see how this chart shapes up in another thirty-six books.

Once I realized I needed to do less stabbing and more pushing off buildings or drownings, I then wanted to see if I had a pattern for murderers and victims. Interestingly enough, my murderers are pretty much split down the gender middle in a fifteen to sixteen split, but the victims are a whole different chart with men being the victims three times more often than women.

After seeing this, the Hub may never sleep again, at least not unless he hides the knives!

So, what about you Reds? What’s your preferred method of murder if you have one? And what about your murderers and victims? Any patterns there?

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm afraid I'm an outlier here. My books often don't have murders in them... so I guess technically they're not murder mysteries. Having said that, when I do resort to murder it's usually (I had to go back to figure this out) a bop on the head followed by drowning (twice). If you count attempted murder, then fire. Insulin poisoning. Tylenol poisoning. And my victims are as often women as men... as are the perps.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I hate the part where you have to kill the people. I once said to Jonathan--maybe they could just get badly hurt? And J said: you are not writing badly-hurt mysteries, you are writing murder mysteries. Anyway, I am not much for weird or complicated causes of death. I go for matter of fact. Most of my victims..let's see.  Car accident. Pushed down stairs. (Not a reliable method.)  Drowning. Stabbing. (See how unpleasant this all is?) Head bopping then fire. Guns are loud, strangling takes too long. It's all very..difficult.

 And my victim-murderer ratio is about equal.  Although, wait. You know? More women as bad guys.  And about equal victims. 

Please pass the pie.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Pie chart!!! I LOVE it! I usually make lists in my notebook, which are not nearly as pretty. Let's see...electrocution (my very first murder!), bludgeoning, drowning, poisoning, shotgun, hit-and-run by car, grenade... But by my unscientific reckoning, I would watch out for blunt instruments around me. I never tend to go in for very complicated offings--I'm more interested in motive than method. And there have been murders that I really, really almost couldn't bring myself to commit.

I think I'm pretty good on the gender equality scale as far as perps and victims, but will now have to go make another list...

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm not pie-chart methodical, Jenn, but my hub tells everyone that if he dies suddenly they should demand an autopsy! Thinking back over the Key West mysteries, I'm remembering more clunks on the head than anything else. Though poison is up there too...there were many worried looks exchanged at a dinner party where I showed up with a key lime parfait. Apparently, they'd discussed the murder in AN APPETITE FOR MURDER ahead of time.

The good thing about writing lighter is I don't feel obligated to describe too much of the deed itself. However, I do have to clean up the mess...

INGRID THOFT: It’s hard to find a good way to kill someone!  Really!  So far, I’ve gone with drowning, bludgeoning with a blunt object, pushing someone so the victim smashes her head, and poisoning.  Stabbings are very messy and require the killer to be especially vicious and cold, and strangulation, as Hank noted, takes time and also strength.  I have a close to even split on men and women as both murderers and victims.  I’m very equal opportunity!

RHYS BOWEN: I don't think much about clever methods of killing. In real life I think murderers plan the easiest method. Usually it's done out of desperation or on the spur of the moment. So I've hit people over the head with a blunt object, I've stabbed, shot, poisoned, pushed off a cliff and out of a boat, strangled and shut one poor girl in a steam room with the setting on maximum. (Yes, that was about the most gruesome I've ever done)

I once took a train up a Welsh mountain to see where I could push somebody out and they'd fall to their death. I saw the perfect spot and said excitedly to my friend, "This is it. If he fell out here, he'd go down a thousand feet!" Then I looked up and everyone else in the carriage had moved as far away from me as possible.

HANK: Exactly Rhys! Once at a restaurant I said to Jonathan: "You can't just push someone off a bridge. You can't be sure they'd actually die."  And the waiter, who turned out was standing right there, was...unsettled. Anyway, what's your gender ratio?

RHYS: I think I have rather more male murderers but the females have been pretty creepy. But a pie chart? Can I see myself saying, "Oh, let's drown this one in the bathtub. We haven't done that for a while!"

What about you, Readers? Do you have a preferred method of fictional murder? When reading, do you find yourself noticing the gender of the murderer or victims?

 

RHYS CELEBRATES LAUNCH DAY!

JENN MCKINLAY: One of my very first “I’m an author now” memories is walking into the Poisoned Pen for one of my first signings and having PK (the unflappable Patrick King) tell me that Rhys Bowen was visiting and was going to moderate the book talk. Rhys Bowen! I was so undone, I almost turned around and ran home. I’m very glad I didn’t. Rhys was, well, Rhys. She was charming and lovely, funny and gracious. And now I’m celebrating the release of her latest fabulous A Royal Spyness mystery On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service. Congratulations, Rhys!

I am a lover of series – the longer running the better! Since Rhys has managed to weave her Lady Georgie magic for eleven books, I have to ask, how do you do it, Rhys? How do you keep your series fresh and how long do you think the series will go? (Please say forever).

RHYS BOWEN: Dear Jenn. Thank you for hosting me today. And I'm so glad I spend part of the year in Phoenix and we get to see each other. I'm sure we know each other's spiel by heart now!  How do I keep a series fresh? Well, I guess I have to enjoy visiting those characters. This series has been pure joy to me from the first words I wrote for Her Royal Spyness back in 2007. I still sit and chuckle as I write and call out to John , "Hey, listen to what Fig just said!"  I figure if they can make me chuckle then my readers will do the same. So I have no plan to quit any time soon (in fact I'm just signing new contract)

LUCY BURDETTE: Rhys, I really loved visiting Ireland with Georgie and Darcy in CROWNED AND DANGEROUS.  And now I see that we will have the pleasure of visiting Italy this time out in ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE. My question is do you plan the books around places that you happen to visit, or do you go  visit the places that will be in the books? (I know you do some research by accident, as I will always remember your story about stumbling into a funeral unexpectedly and thinking that this would be exactly the kind of thing that Georgie would do!)

RHYS: Some of the books have been planned around a place. I definitely wanted to write Naughty in Nice and went there to do research. But this one was purely serendipitous. When I start a new book I look at the real events that happened around the time I'm setting my story. And I saw that in spring 1935 there was a big international conference in Stresa, Italy. Britain, France and Italy met to discuss how to combat the Nazi threat. And I thought, "this is interesting because Mussolini was a huge fan of Hitler." And then I thought "I bet there were other negotiations going on behind the scenes." And I'd always wanted to make Georgie do some real spying to live up to her name.

And the next step of serendipity was that I was asked to teach a writing workshop in Tuscany. (I'm repeating it next year for anyone interested!) So I'd already be in Italy. So I headed north to Stresa and spent a wonderful time doing my research there--research which involved going to lots of villas and gardens, steamers up the lake, and of course wine!

INGRID THOFT: I know it’s like choosing your favorite child, but do you have a favorite character in this particular book or the series in general?  Has this always been the case or has your affection for that character grown over time?  What about a character you don’t like?  Do your readers' feelings on this subject align with your own?

RHYS: I'm very fond of Ceorgie's old Cockney grandfather, mainly because I based him on my father, who came from very humble beginnings to become a research engineer. He was a lovely, gentle man like Georgie's grandfather. And I love writing characters I don't like--Fig, Mrs. Simpson. I make them as bitchy as I dare. In Mrs. Simpson's case I try to use things she actually said.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I know you'll tell us more about this story (and cannot wait to read it!) --but I am constantly delighted by your enthusiasm and your innovation. You are constantly raising the bar on yourself..and succeeding, again and again. You're endlessly goodnatured and flexible. How did you get this life philosophy? And I wonder if Georgie could come to Boston--so you could research here!

RHYS: Darling Hank: you don't see me when I have a deadline looming and the bath backs up! But I'm lucky enough to live in two beautiful places, to travel, to have great friends and wonderful family, also to be able to write what I want to. So I should be content and enjoy life. I have certainly come through many stressful periods in life (husband laid off and 3 kids in college!)  Also a stressful spring this year with John's health looking bleak. So now I savor the good times

HALLIE EPHRON: Rhys, in this new book Georgie does some more spying, so I'm wondering what kind of research you did and whether there was a historical figure whose experiences you may have used?

RHYS: Hallie, as with everything Georgie does the spying is almost a disaster and puts her in danger! I did read a lot about MI5 when I was writing In Farleigh Field so I know about how real spies operated at that time.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, I cannot wait to read Georgie's latest adventure!!! I'd love to know about Georgie's genesis. What first gave you the idea for the character and the series? Did you just hear Georgie's voice in your head?

RHYS: Hi Debs! Georgie started  out as a challenge. My then publisher said they couldn't really break me out until I wrote a big, dark stand-alone. I thought about it and couldn't see myself with serial killers, child molesters. So I asked myself what was the most improbable heroine I could think of. How about if she was royal? And penniless? I started writing in Georgie's voice and she was right there, immediately, talking to me. She dictated, I wrote. I still find it easy to be in her head.

In this new book Georgie is planning to go to Italy to be with her friend Belinda who is having a baby and alone. When Queen Mary hears this she gives Georgie another assignment and sends her to a posh house party. But once there it is clear that darker things are happening and Georgie finds herself in the middle of them.  I can SAY NO MORE or I'd have to kill you!

So thank you everyone for joining me today for the launch of ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE. I start with a launch party tonight at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA. If you're anywhere near I have baby cheesecakes from the best cheesecake shop in the world. And champagne.
Then I'm hitting the road for Houston, Ann Arbor, Scottsdale, Orange County and Pasadena before I return to the Bay Area for more events. It's all on my website, www.rhysbowen.com

The Fabulous Linda Fairstein

INGRID THOFT

I'm thrilled to welcome Linda Fairstein to the blog today!  Not only is she a New York Times bestselling author, Linda is also a champion for women and a pioneer in the prosecution of sex crimes.  The former head of the Sex Crimes Special Victims Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, Linda has been fighting for women's rights long before she created whip smart prosecutor, Alexandra Cooper.

Linda is as generous and fun to talk with as she is smart and talented.  See for yourself!

Ingrid Thoft: Tell us about DEADFALL, your latest Alexandra Cooper book, and I want to assure readers new to the series that they don't have to start with book one.

Linda Fairstein:  Exactly.  Readers can start here even though it’s the 19th in the series.  The last book, I did something I think is pretty radical for a writer in a series.  We usually tie up all the ends and give the reader a neat package, and so, when I turned in KILLER LOOK, the 18th in the series, I had two endings.  I had the ending that is now the next-to-last chapter, and I tacked on this two-page scene because I really wanted to do it. I was quite sure my editor would say, "You can't do this."  But she said, "I like it.  I really like it.  I love leaving the readers hanging that way.  Your regular readers will come back."

IPT: Absolutely. This was a real change in terms of how you work, though.

LF:  So starting this book, as you would guess, was the easiest thing, and it's never easy to start.  I knew I had to pick up just hours later after the shooting in [KILLER LOOK]. When you're looking for that first page, "how do you get the first scene that's going to capture the reader?"  I had it!  It’s going to be in the morgue!  I didn’t know whether it would capture the reader or not—I don’t mean to sound vain about that—but I just knew where I had to start.  That was the unexpected boon to ending the book with a suspenseful killing that Alex witnessed.

She becomes the suspect, in the sense that, did she actually lure the man to the assassination that was triggered? I turned the tables on her for the first time in 19 books and made her a suspect, a person of interest, as they now say.  Those first 100 pages were such a wonderful challenge for me to write because it was taking all the interrogations I've done over the years and putting her in that seat.

Linda was recently interviewed by Lesley Stahl for

 "CBS Sunday Morning." Photo: Linda Fairstein/CBS

IPT:  Animal conservation and international wildlife trafficking are central topics in the book.  Have you always been interested in these subjects?

LF:  I’ve been on the board of a wildlife conservation organization, a nonprofit called the White Oak Conservation Center, and I've been interested in this issue for a long time.  I only recently read about the global connection.  It’s only recently that federal prosecutors began to prosecute [wildlife trafficking] in America. The fact that that the predators use what’s called the “heroin highway” to smuggle was totally new to me.  

IPT:  As a reader and lay person, I was fascinated seeing the local versus the federal law enforcement issues. I knew that there were turf wars and issues about jurisdiction, but I didn't have a true understanding of that.  

LF:  It's interesting to me because with my specialty—sex crimes special victims work—there really were not turf battles.  The feds have no jurisdiction for sex crimes unless they’re on Indian reservations, a military base or in a post office.

IPT:  A post office?

LF:  Yes.  We had a couple of West Point investigations, and they usually called me for help.  Bob Morgenthau was the DA for most of my tenure, and at the most vicious point, Rudy Giuliani—when he was a federal prosecutor, before he was mayor—and Bob fought for global cases like children in a sand box.  As an executive in that office—but not in the middle of those cases—I watched with great wonder as these grown men fought.  They were really federal cases, most of them, but Morgenthau was smart enough that if something happened at a bank with a New York branch connection, to just go for it.

IPT:  One of the main settings in DEADFALL is the Bronx Zoological Park.  I was fascinated that this place exists in what is, technically, New York City.  You thank the park in the acknowledgements and mention it was a frequent childhood destination.

Picture courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society, an organization

 that aided Linda in her research.

LF:  I grew up in a very un-fancy suburb called Mount Vernon, New York, a town adjacent to the Bronx, and we were a fifteen-minute car ride to the Bronx Zoo.  Spring and fall, there would always be a mother or father to say, "Let's go to the zoo, and spend a few hours there on a Saturday."  I grew up with incredible access to the zoo and learned so much.

Of course, in those days, the '50s and the early '60s, they were horribly different places; the lion had a space probably the size of my living room, and these caged animals were pacing back and forth, but I’ve watched it evolve.  I’ve probably never—and I say this with a big smile—I’ve never researched anything that was more fun than this.

IPT:  Did you do a lot of research into big game hunting?  I had no idea these animals are imported into the country for the purpose of hunting them.

LF:  I did a lot of research.  I knew from White Oak where I was involved, that the man who founded it, Howard Gilman (he’s longer alive), would bring endangered species from Africa to a 7,000 acre preserve [in the U.S.].  He had scientists who did DNA, and the whole point was to repopulate the wild.  They were not animals on display like the zoo.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died, I was fascinated that it was at a private hunting preserve in Texas, where they bring in wild animals, the more endangered animals from Africa, for you to shoot.  The price per night of these lodges—not for him I'm sure—depends on how rare the animal is that you want to kill, which just revolted me.

IPT: I'm with you on that.

LF:  My husband has a place in Montana, and it’s obviously a part of the country where hunting is the culture.  I'm not part of, and Mike’s not a shooter, but it also got me reading.  In fact, just at the time I was writing the book, a huge article, "The Ultimate Pursuit in Hunting: Sheep" by John Branch that I credit in the acknowledgments about the bighorn sheep auction, was in the New York Times.  I really just took a left turn and went to Montana with the story because I knew the landscape.  I had no idea that people would pay half a million dollars to come shoot the sheep, and then, that money is used to “save” other sheep.


IPT: That is just bizarre.

LF: It’s bizarre.  It’s oxymoronic.

IPT:  Moving on to a topic dear to both of our hearts, you dedicated the book to the women who were Carolyn Keene.  I assume you grew up reading Nancy Drew?

LF:  Absolutely.  For me it was the gateway to two things: it was the girl sleuth—woman—but she was really a girl, and it was the series.  I remember so clearly if I were home sick with the measles or it was Christmas, my mother would give me the next one.  It was the gateway for me and to my devotion to try—certainly not imitate her—but it's my homage to Carolyn Keene.  Carolyn Keene really set me on my way.

IPT:  One of the things I always loved about Nancy Drew is that there would be an intruder in the night at the house, and after Nancy foiled this person, Hannah Gruen would always serve angel food cake and hot chocolate.

LF: That’s so perfect.

IPT:  Almost makes an intruder seem worth it!  Speaking of girl sleuths, you have a relatively new series starring Devlin Quick.  That’s a middle grade series?

LF:  Yes, middle grade, not young adult.  It's eight to twelve-year-olds.  It's really a kid thing.  No sex, no violence, no drugs.

IPT:  The first came out last fall, INTO THE LION’S DEN, which was set in the New York Public Library.  When can all the parents and grandparents reading this expect the second installment?  And does it also take place in New York City?

LF:  The second one is called DIGGING FOR TROUBLE, and it's coming out on November 5th.  It’s set here in Montana, which is probably the most dinosaur fossil-rich part of the US because there once was an inland sea through this area.  The kids are on a ranch—much like my husband’s— and go on a dig, and they find bones.  It goes back to the Museum of National History in New York.

IPT:  Okay, Here’s my curve ball question.  I love your author photo; you look knowledgeable, approachable, elegant, in charge, but not rigid.  Author photos are really tough to get right.  Like I said in an email to you, my editor warned me, "No small animals, no hats,” which weren't actually an option.

LF: That was hysterical.

IPT:  So how did you approach your author photo?  Did you have help with it?  How did it come about?

Photo by Katherine Marks

LF:  I'll tell you how it came about it.  What I love about this is nobody has ever asked this question.


IPT:  Really?  Right away, I thought, “This photo is fabulous!”

LF:  Well, as a 70-year-old woman—and this started in my 60s—I have a double chin genetically, and I cringe at all those authors' photos where women of a certain age are holding up their jowls with their elbow on the table.

IPT:  Or with their small dog.

LF:  I really wanted to get away from that.  The New York Times did a story, completely unrelated to the book, for their Real Estate section about apartments and where you live.

IPT: I saw that! "The Case of the Disappearing Chintz." I love the Real Estate section of the Times.

LF:  A women named Katherine Marks was hired by the Times to photograph me in my home.  She spent so much time with me because she was photographing objects, so there's just enough time to loosen up and be comfortable.  Katherine came up with the photograph, and when my editor said, "Okay.  New author photo,"  I said, "Why don't you look at these pictures Katherine took. There are three or four that I'd be perfectly happy using."  And so, that came out of a New York Times’ “show me your apartment feature.”

IPT:  This is a slight detour from talking about books, but I wanted to be sure to tell you that I’m a big fan, not only of you as a writer, but also of your work as a prosecutor, and of the work you do for women.  It’s quite impressive.

LF:  Well, thank you.  I'm always grateful when somebody says something about the first career.  It means the world to me, and the work meant the world to me.

IPT:  Thank you so much for spending the day with Jungle Red!

LF:  The Jungle Red women have always been good to me, and it’s a smart, fun site, so I'm happy to be included.

Today is a giveaway bonanza!  Linda is very generously giving away a copy of DEADFALL, a copy of KILLER LOOK, and a copy of INTO THE LION'S DEN!  Three readers will be winners!  Just comment to enter or ask Linda a question; she'll be checking in throughout the day.

DEADFALL
A wild heart beats within New York City. Amid concrete and skyscrapers, the Wildlife Conservation Society works to preserve and protect the animal kingdom both within and beyond the borders of the five boroughs. But dangerous creatures don't always have claws and fangs, as Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper and NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace know all too well. Predators lurk close to home, and in the aftermath of the shocking assassination of an iconic public figure—someone Alex has worked with for years—the trio must unravel the motive behind the shooting to discover who is the bigger snake: the killer or the victim.
 
The murder investigation provides more questions than answers, as a tangled mess of secrets slowly comes to light. From street gangs to secret societies, from big-game hunting to the illegal animal trade, from New York City zoos to the highest offices in city government, Alex has her work cut out for her—especially since the task force handling the investigation, led by the US Attorney, seems to be more against her than with her. As tensions rise between Alex and the feds, she must determine just how far she is willing to go to uncover the truth—and uphold the integrity of the office she has so proudly served.

Linda Fairstein was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney’s office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America’s foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha’s Vineyard.