Thursday, August 8, 2013

Memories of Barbara Mertz / Elizabeth Peters, 1927 - 2013

I can't imagine the world of mystery novels existing without the dozens of books written by Barbara Mertz under her pen name, Elizabeth Peters.

Barbara Mertz passed away on Thursday, August 8, 2013, at the age of 85. She brought readers countless hours of joy through her amazing books, plus inspired so many of us to become mystery writers ourselves. I doubt I would have discovered either the joy of reading or tried my hand at writing if it hadn't been for her.

I started with the Vicky Bliss mystery series when I was in high school. American art history professor Vicky Bliss traveled to foreign lands on mysterious and romantic adventures that were fun, incredibly clever, and full of memorable characters and settings. That was the gateway series that led me to the Amelia Peabody Egyptology mysteries set in the late 1800s, and the Jacqueline Kirby (intrepid librarian) series. Not to mention her stand-alone novels... It's no wonder I've devoted a full shelf, two rows deep, to fit her books on my bookshelf.

Shelf devoted to Elizabeth Peters books.

This shelf of Elizabeth Peters books is two rows deep.

In 2012, the Malice Domestic mystery convention honored Barbara with the Amelia Award, a new award created in honor of the Amelia Peabody character she created. She hadn't attended the convention in several years, and I had never previously met her. It was incredibly meaningful to meet her in person and tell her how much her books had meant to me.
 
Barbara Mertz signing books at Malice Domestic 2012.
As I stood in the signing line, I learned that my feelings were far from unique. One woman even burst into tears upon meeting her. I wasn't quite that demonstrative, but I admit I may have babbled. Yet you'd never know it based on the gracious reaction from Barbara Mertz. She congratulated me on Artifact and signed my beloved old copy of Borrower of the Night, the first book in the Vicky Bliss series, that I've held onto for decades.
 
My beaten-up old copy of Borrower of the Night that I've read countless times.

I'm saving this book forever!

Meeting Barbara Mertz at Malice Domestic 2012.


If you've never tried one of her books, here are a few that are good ones to start with:

  • Borrower of the Night (Vicky Bliss Book 1)
  • Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody Book 1)
  • The Murders of Richard III (Jacqueline Kirby)


She will be missed by her family and friends as well as the scores of readers whose lives she brightened. Her marvelous books live on.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Book Launch Day!

It's book launch day!

Today the Henery Press edition of Artifact comes out. This is the same book that I released last year, with three differences:
  1. It's got a gorgeous new book cover.
  2. There's an Author's Note about the Scottish and Indian history in the book.
  3. A Reader's Discussion Guide is included for book clubs.

For those of you who already read Artifact last year, I've got some fun things planned so you won't feel like you have to wait quite as long until Pirate Vishnu comes out in February 2014:

This October I'll be emailing my newsletter subscribers a Halloween-themed Jaya Jones mystery short story.

And if you haven't yet read "Fool's Gold," the novella that's a prequel to Artifact (Jaya and Sanjay solve a locked-room mystery at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), the eBook on sale for only $.99 cents this week on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I'm not doing any in-person events right now, but I'm appearing at various online venues over the next six weeks, starting today with an interview for Henery Press and a memoir-y post on the fabulous blog of one of my favorite memoir writers, Rachael Herron:

UPCOMING ONLINE EVENTS

TWITTER CHAT with two mystery novelists who write about Scotland
Friday September 6
Noon-1pm PT / 3-4pm ET
Anna Lee Huber, author of the Lady Darby historical mysteries (Mortal Arts, Sept 3 2013)
Gigi Pandian, author of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series (Artifact, August 6 2013)
Use the hashtag #ScotlandMystery to join the conversation

Whew! It's a good thing I eat so healthily now so I've got the energy to do all this while still working on the third Jaya Jones book! And of course I've got my little gargoyle helpers...



Thursday, August 1, 2013

Post-Chemo Hair Growing Out and a Clean Bill of Health

Life is pretty damn good these days. The Henery Press edition of Artifact comes out next week, I finished a rough outline of the third Jaya Jones book a few days ago, and I got a clean bill of health at my annual post-cancer doctor appointments.

Still... I couldn't help grumbling about how long it takes hair to grow back! I've been taking weekly photos of my hair as it grows out, and tracking my progress has made it feel sooooo sloooooow.

But then I took a step back. Looking at photos from every other month during the past 10 months, it's easy to spot the change from a super-short pixie cut to whatever you call a big curly swirl of hair that the wind is constantly blowing into my eyes. Cancer can't stop either me or my hair.