Tag Archive for: Brianna Sullivan Mysteries

How to Succeed in Business

/in /by


The truth is he can’t sing particularly well; he’s a so-so dancer; his comic timing is off; and as an aside, I had no idea he was that short.

So why did I leap to my feet at the end of the show to give Daniel Radcliffe and the cast of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying a standing ovation? Because the finale was a show-stopper and most of all, because I was in awe of the risk this 21-year-old kid had taken.

Sure it’s easy to try something different and risk failure when you’re a gazillionaire, but this was putting himself “out there” in a very public way and nobody, not even gazillionaires, likes bad reviews.

After seven, going on eight, Harry Potter movies, the chance of being typecast is basically a sure thing. But in the last 18 months, Daniel Radcliffe has deliberately chosen to project a new image and expose himself literally in Equus, as well as figuratively. He made a conscious decision to reinvent the public persona that his role in the blockbuster movies has made.

All of which gave this author pause. It’s easy, as you age, to become risk averse. Stick to what you know and what you know will sell.

Write a successful cozy. Write another one.

Heck, even simpler. Serve a recipe that’s worked for the past 20 years – and never bother to change the menu. Jalapeno peppers? Never bought one. Have no clue what I would do if I did.

But there I was, in the darkened Al Hirschfeld Theater, just steps from the gleaming lights of Broadway, and I pondered, for a change, not How to Succeed in the mystery business, but how to shake things up and change on a bigger, pardon the pun, stage.

As Goethe told us: “The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.”

I’ve been in a comfort zone when it comes to writing. It’s time to take some risk. I made a start when Rhonda convinced me to write the Brianna Sullivan series. I didn’t like, to be honest was afraid of, the paranormal. But exploring the world of ghosts has made the world of the living all the more exciting and fun. Next up is a series of short stories about love and romance. Should be published in e-book formats in the next week. If they sell, wonderful. If they don’t, I have no regrets. I tried.

And that’s how it should be. The point is not whether Daniel Radcliffe or I succeed. What’s important is that we walked out there and risked failure. As T.S. Eliot wrote, “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

Marian, in search of Jalapeno Pepper for dinner

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake- Paperback – Kindle
Murder Off the Books- Paperback – Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Romances
Love Lessons – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Your Favorite Valentine

/in /by

by Evelyn David

The first valentine I ever received was from Charlie Riggins in first grade. It read, and I can still quote it in its entirety. “Roses are red, Violets are blue, I don’t smell, but you sure do.– Brianna Sullivan in Undying Love in Lottawatah

Do you remember your first Valentine’s Day card or gift?

Like Brianna, my first Valentine’s Day gift was in first grade. The teacher let all the kids exchange tiny Valentines. One special little boy gave me a ring that came from a gum ball machine. The fake stone separated from the setting before the day was over. Kind of like the budding romance. Another boy offered the actual gum ball and my affections shifted.

For centuries the idea of romantic love has been celebrated on Valentine’s Day. In the Middle Ages this Saint’s day was considered the optimum day to choose a lifetime mate. Today it is celebrated by the giving of cards, candy, and gifts.

Undying Love in Lottawatah is the fourth book in the Brianna Sullivan Mysteries ebook series. A novella-length story, Undying Love in Lottawatah continues the saga of psychic Brianna Sullivan who planned to travel the country in her motor home, but instead unexpectedly ended up parking her home on wheels in a small Oklahoma town. In Undying Love in Lottawatah, as Valentine’s Day approaches, Brianna is hired by the local police to help solve an arson/murder case. She’s also got family problems. The ghost of her great aunt keeps pressing Brianna to find out what happened to Harry, her long lost love. In her spare time the reluctant psychic tries to figure out her own love life and her relationship with Detective Cooper Jackson. Is he reason enough to stay in Lottawatah?

Do you send Valentine’s Day cards? Brianna has mixed feelings on the matter.

Anyway, my Momma always told me that Valentine’s Day was a made-up Hallmark holiday and I shouldn’t get swept up in the commercialization, yadda, yadda, yadda. To be honest, I often tuned out when my mother would get on her high horse about these issues. And let’s be honest, the woman absolutely expected a card and an increasingly expensive present when the made-up holiday of Mother’s Day popped up every May.– Brianna Sullivan in Undying Love in Lottawatah

___________________

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series

I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series

Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake
– Paperback – Kindle
Murder Off the Books
– Paperback – Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story)
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Saying Goodbye Gracefully

/in /by

by Evelyn David

I’ve always been intrigued by the paranormal (see our Brianna Sullivan series), so when Medium, a television series about a psychic who assists the Phoenix, Arizona police department debuted in 2005, I was quickly hooked. I followed the series from NBC, who cancelled it after five years, to CBS, who cancelled it last month. I looked forward to the series finale with a combination of sadness and anticipation of how they would wrap it all up. Sigh. What I got last Friday night was an unholy mess. *Spoilers Ahead*

Multiple time jumps, fake dreams, an airplane crash, a Mexican drug cartel, cars exploding, eight years of amnesia, seriously there wasn’t a cliché they missed. There were moments when I expected Bobby Ewing to come out of the shower and tell Alison that all her dreams were just that – dreams and not psychic revelations. Even the last few seconds in the episode where Alison joined Joe in the hereafter after forty-some odd years apart didn’t work for me – instead of satisfaction that the couple would be together forever, it just felt like the writers were pouring salt on a wound. I didn’t want to learn Joe died and missed his kids growing up. I didn’t want to know Alison had to spend more years without him than she’d had with him. I didn’t particularly want to know about the kids’ grandchildren. I’d much rather have seen another episode that showed the characters doing the things they’ve done for the last seven years – Alison dreaming her dreams and waking up Joe in the middle of the night, Joe struggling to earn a living, and the kids fighting around the breakfast table. I wanted more of the same. Even if the series was cancelled, I wanted to be able to keep the family alive – well and happy – in my imagination.

Which got me to thinking about how authors treat the last book in a series. Lesson learned: You need to put the same amount of energy and creativity into ending a series that you put into that first book – the book where you were trying to engage readers into wanting to see more. Finales need to be respectful of both the characters and the audience. Do it well, and readers are anxious to read new books and new series you present. Do it poorly, and the bitter taste can wipe out all your earlier hard work.

J.K. Rowling understood the Herculean task she faced in ending the Harry Potter saga. While some readers might quibble with the length and events of the seventh book, most were extremely satisfied that she not only gave a powerful climactic battle between the forces of good and evil (the recurrent theme in all seven books), but she also provided an epilogue that gave a glimpse into the future of the main characters that her audience had grown to love. She didn’t ignore the harsh realities of the world she had created, and in fact, killed off several beloved characters. But to her credit, she was respectful in her treatment of their deaths and their demises made sense in the context of the storyline.

Ending a series is never easy for authors or fans. Fans will always expect more than the writers can give. They don’t want the series to end so any ending is often less than satisfactory. Most authors love the characters they’ve created and the line between fiction and a place at the kitchen table is mighty thin. Both halves of Evelyn David talk about Mac, Rachel, Brianna, and even Whiskey the Irish wolfhound, as if they were extended members of the Dossett and Borden families. So when we decide, if we ever decide, that it’s time to bring a series to a close, we know what we need to do and what we absolutely shouldn’t do. In the meantime, we’re still enjoying their adventures and plan to continue plotting murder and mayhem with them.

Stiletto Faithful: what finales, in books or television series, did you think were handled well? Which sucked?

http://www.evelyndavid.com
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Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake – Paperback – Kindle
Murder Off the Books – Paperback – Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story) – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Blessings of the Season

/in /by

I’m not sure how it can be Thanksgiving already. I haven’t even changed my closet from summer to winter, so how can it be time to roast a turkey?

Time flies when you’re having fun and actually the last few months have indeed been fun. I like what the collective Evelyn David is writing…actually I like that we’re writing at all. It seemed like we hit the pause button over the summer, but then took off at lightspeed with the dawn of Labor Day. Writing the Brianna Sullivan e-books has been, quite simply, a hoot. The Southern half of this writing duo asked me the other day if it was bad form to be laughing uproariously at your own jokes. She had just re-read I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries, originally penned four years ago, and said she laughed long and loud. I know it’s good when you like what you are writing – or for that matter, enjoy whatever your job may be. So I’m truly thankful for this partnership that is also a wonderful friendship.

Oh, what the heck, let me keep on this thankful post, and talk about how lucky I am, blessed indeed, that The Stiletto Gang are my “peeps.” We are a disparate group of women of all ages, sizes, geographic locations, and points in our lives – and yet there is a sense of solidarity and support that is incredibly empowering. I have met in person only one of the Gang, and oddly enough it’s not the woman with whom I write books. Maggie Barbieri lives about a half hour away. But I often get just the email I need from someone in the group who might literally live across the country, but knows I need a pick-me-up. Sometimes, it’s to reassure me that “yes, you will write again,” when I am convinced that my writing career is over (if it should ever have begun). Sometimes, it’s when there’s a personal crisis, and someone has “been there, done that” and knows just will make the difference to get me out of the funk. These women I’ve never met are more than colleagues, they’re friends.

Writing, even with a partner, can be a lonely profession. I’m not sure how Hemingway and Fitzgerald managed to make it through the day without the reassurance I get from knowing that there is a group of writers out there who are no more than a click of a computer screen away. Of course, Ernest and Scott drank a lot so maybe that’s how they managed.

I don’t need turkey and stuffing to know that I have been blessed, in my personal life and professional one too. Before we eat our Thanksgiving feast, we always recite a Shehecheyanu prayer. It’s a Jewish blessing of thanksgiving. I offer it for you.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David

Note to Readers: To celebrate the publication of the Wolfmont edition of Murder Takes the Cake, we’re having a drawing each Friday for an autographed copy of Murder Off the Books or Murder Takes the Cake (winner’s choice). To enter the drawing, leave a comment on our website – http://www.evelyndavid.com/

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake – Paperback – Kindle
Murder Off the Books – Paperback – Kindle
Riley Come Home – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Resolved: We Can Disagree without being Disagreeable

/in /by

The election is over. Thank Goodness.

I think what bothered me the most about this election, and in truth, election cycles over the last ten years, is what it does to me and my own behavior towards those with whom I disagree politically.

I don’t think there is much dispute, from either side, that there is a genuine lack of civility in politics today. Who’s to blame for this conduct is undoubtedly in the eye of the beholder. But it’s become the norm to vilify opponents rather than simply oppose their views. Gandhi implored us to “hate the sin, love the sinner.” But that concept has no place, apparently, in today’s political sphere.

All of which wouldn’t bother me nearly as much except for how it makes me behave. I find myself cheering when a self-righteous, holier-than-thou candidate is tripped up by his own newly-discovered failings. Take for example, Gary Condit. He was a Congressman, at the center of the tragic Chandra Levy case. He was eventually exonerated of any complicity in her death, but it was hard to feel much sympathy for the man. While serving in office, he never missed an opportunity to excoriate Bill Clinton, yet conducted an affair with an intern young enough to be his daughter. Aha, I thought. Karma has bitten him in his self-righteous ass. Should I be that happy at someone’s else’s moral failings?

But politics today has become a zero-sum game. The only way I win is if you lose – and lose spectacularly. And maybe I even get to rub your nose in it. Nyah, Nyah, Nyah. There is no room for the moderate, no place at the table for men like Henry Clay, “the great compromiser.” Nancy Reagan’s slogan of “Just Say No,” has been co-opted to “Just Vote No,” by the opposition, regardless of the merits of any particular bill. And like sheep following Bo-Peep, too many of our elected officials follow their chosen leaders right over the cliff.

The 112th Congress will take office on January 3, 2011. It can be a fresh start. Civility can — must — return to those hallowed halls, even while spirited debate is encouraged. And I need to practice what I preach — so would any Tea Party members like to come to tea?

Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David

The Sullivan Investigation Series

Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)

Murder Takes the Cake – Paperback – Kindle

Murder Off the Books – Paperback – Kindle

Riley Come Home – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series

The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries
– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords