Maggie King Author

My long-awaited “Missing Author” series is back! Since I last updated in January, I’ve had a number of requests. In March, I guest posted for a week on Sue Ann Jaffarian’s Fan Club (great experience!). Many of my requests came from one of those posts.

Without further ado, read on for the latest updates.

Annette Blair, author of the Vintage Magic mysteries, set in Connecticut

Here’s Annette’s response to my inquiry on her status:

Maggie, I will be writing more mysteries, but I have to wait to get the rights back from Random House. I’m working on new Rogues right now, Rogues 5 & 6. And I should have the rights back to the witches this spring. I went missing because of four years worth of surgeries, months of rehab, horrible side effects and of course depression with all that. But I am back to writing again. Thanks for letting the readers know.

Joyce Christmas, author of the Betty Trenka and the Lady Margaret Priam series.

Joyce Christmas passed away in 2012. Read her obit.

Earlene Fowler, author of the Benni Harper quilting mysteries, set on California’s central coast.

On February 15, 2017 she responded to an inquiry about a new book on her Facebook page: “Not writing currently, personal and professional reasons. So sorry.”

Graham Landrum, author of the The Social Club Mysteries in Borderville, Virginia.

Graham Landrum died in 1995. Here is an article about his last book, The Garden Club Mystery, published posthumously by his son.

I must read The Garden Club Mystery, as I once served as Administrator for the Garden Club of Virginia.

Lia Matera, author of the Willa Jansson mysteries, set in San Francisco

Read Lia’s response to my inquiry:

Hi, Maggie. Thanks for asking! I do hope to finish the manuscripts I’ve been working on soon… or soonish. (Or maybe, at this rate, I should say eventually.) But then the books will have to find homes, and if they do, they’ll be in the pipeline for a year or two. So for now, I’m answering to Lia Who? and wasting time on facebook & twitter when I should be working.

Stephanie Matteson, author of the Charlotte Graham mysteries

All I can find are indications that she’s been involved in the corporate world for the past several years, especially in the solar energy field. She wrote her Charlotte Graham series in the 1990s.

Deborah Sharp, author of the Mace Bauer Mysteries, set in Florida

Read Deborah’s response to my inquiry:

Hi, there … I’m so flattered that readers still ask about me! I love the idea of your blog post tracking down MIA authors. The “Whatever Happened To . . . ?” stories were always favorites of mine to write back in my journalism days. As for me, I never planned that my fifth book, Mama Gets Trashed, would be the last when it came out in 2013. In fact, I had completed a 35-page outline for Book 6, had a title — Mama Gets Schooled — and a commitment from my publisher, Midnight Ink. Unfortunately, life intervened. Health issues, care-taking for my elderly mother, and family responsibilities just seemed to sap the “funny” right out of me. When I sat down to write the book, I found I just didn’t have the heart to do it. I’ve been surprised by how much I miss my characters (not to mention the lovely readers!) My mother — the real mama — recently passed away at 102. I’m not sure if I will return to writing, but if I do, it would likely be to my series, because I love those folks in fictional Himmarshee, Fla. Currently, though, I’m enjoying the freedom I have to travel, read, and do not much of anything, frankly. I kind of like being a lazybones!

S.T. Haymon, author of a series featuring Ben Jurnet, a detective inspector, in Norfolk, England

Sylvia Theresa Haymon passed away in 1995.

Here’s information a reader sent for author Marianne Macdonald and CJ Songer, featured in my January post:

Marianne lives in London, but is in poor health. Her sons were caring for her but have not heard from her for over a year and do not have contact with the sons.

I forwarded your address to CJ Songer.

Note: So far, CJ Songer has not contacted me.

I receive many requests for authors I’ve posted about before. Click on the following names to see the earlier post:

Madelyn Alt

Jill Churchill

Selma Eichler

Jerrilyn Farmer

Stephen Greenleaf He has his backlist on Kindle now

Sue Henry

Karen Kijewski

John J. Lamb

Valerie Wolzien

Thank you readers, for wanting to know what happened to your favorite mystery authors who, for whatever reason, haven’t published in a while.

If you have information on the status of an author included in these posts please leave a comment. And if you have a favorite author who hasn’t written in some time and isn’t included on one of the above posts, include the name(s) in the comments section and I’ll see what I can find out. It may take me some time but I will get back to you, either personally or in an upcoming blog post.

One thing’s for sure—there are a lot of missing authors out there!

Some are easy to find, while some are not. Fortunately, many still maintain websites and are active on social media so I can contact them. Often life circumstances put her or his writing on hold. Some are making a comeback with a new series. Sadly, I find that some have left us for the great beyond. Others have seemingly vanished.

I have more authors to research. I’m waiting on responses to a number of inquiries—Earl Emerson, Jane Haddam, Beverly Taylor Herald, M.D. Lake, Barbara Taylor McCafferty, Beth Sherman, Christine Wenger, and more. I may have to reach out to publishers. So look for an update this summer, earlier than usual.

In the meantime, I’ll have to check out Madelyn Alt’s series—she’s my #1 request.

Find bibliographies for the above authors on Stop You’re Killing Me, a great resource for mystery lovers.

Posts from my “Missing Authors” series, in chronological order:

“Missing Rochelle Krich”

“Discovering a Lost Author: John J. Lamb”

“Whatever Happened to Gabrielle Kraft?”

“Whatever Happened to (Name an Author)?”

“In Memory of My Favorite Mystery Authors (And Maybe Yours)”

“Those Missing Authors: An Update”

“Missing Author Found!”

“Missing Authors: Update 2”

“Missing Authors: Update 3”

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A warm and hearty welcome to F.M. Meredith, aka Marilyn Meredith. This is her third, maybe fourth, visit here. I know that readers are always eager for her next title to come out and, luckily, we never have to wait for long. Today she introduces Unresolved, the latest in her Rocky Bluff P.D. series, and talks about setting as an actual character in her stories.

The setting for any book is important, and can be as important as the characters.

The Rocky Bluff P.D. is located in a small beach community somewhere between the Southern  California towns of Ventura and Santa Barbara. Though it has some of the features of real towns along the coast, it is entirely fictional.

However, it is very real to me. I can see the way the streets are laid out on the hillside as they progress down toward the main part of town and the ocean. I know what stores are at what end of the main street. Where the restaurants are, including McDonald’s, the location of the police department, the churches, the grocery store, and the campground at the southernmost end of the city limits. At the northern end, the bluff that gave the town its name rises above. This is where the most expensive homes are located.

On the other side of the 101 highway, the sharply sloping hillsides are covered by ranches and orange groves. An interesting trailer park is tucked away in a wooded area.

Things are changing though, the low income housing that once fronted the beach has all been taken down with three story condos taking their place.

Where people live can tell you a lot about them, and their homes are an important part of the setting.

Of course, the fact that the town is beside the Pacific Ocean is a huge factor in all the stories about Rocky Bluff. Because the town is beside the sea, fog often complicates life for the police officers and the people they serve and protect.

Where the action takes place and conversations are held are also setting, the reader needs to know where these things are going on.

 

Though most people might not think of setting as character, to a writer setting is as important.

A little about Unresolved, #13 in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series:
The Rocky Bluff P.D. is underpaid and understaffed and when two dead bodies turn up, the department is stretched to the limit. The mayor is the first body discovered, the second an older woman whose death is caused in a bizarre manner. Because no one liked the mayor, including his estranged wife and the members of the city council, the suspects are many, but each one has an alibi.

F. M. Meredith lived for many years in a small beach community much like Rocky Bluff. She has many relatives and friends who are in law enforcement and share their experiences and expertise with her. She taught writing for Writers Digest Schools for 10 years, and was an instructor at the prestigious Maui Writers Retreat, and has taught at many writers’ conferences. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra.

Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

Facebook: Marilyn Meredith

Twitter: MarilynMeredith

Buy link for Unresolved: http://amzn.to/2pVTUGw

 

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I’ve been on an Australian kick.

In the past year I’ve read Bittersweet by the late Colleen McCullough  (I read The Thorn Birds decades ago); The Lake House by Kate Morton; and the wonderful mysteries of indy mystery authors Christina Larmer and Morgana Best.

And now I’m enjoying The Doctor Blake Mysteries, a TV series set in 1950s Victoria.

I never realized how spotty my knowledge was of Australian geography. Before Doctor Blake, I had heard of Victoria (I think), but I couldn’t have told you anything about the place—was it a city, state, territory? I didn’t know. My trusty atlas showed me that Victoria is a small state in the southeastern part of the continent.

Here’s a map that I appropriated from Wikipedia. Victoria stands out in red:

I found Ballarat, the city where Dr. Blake lives, practices medicine, and solves murders. I realized that I had often heard of Melbourne, the state capital. If pressed, I would have put it New South Wales.

Honestly, I took Geography in school. Really, I did. Of course, that was eons ago, but still. In my mind’s eye I could place New South Wales, Sydney, and Canberra in their correct spots on a map—although I had NSW much larger than it in fact is, eclipsing Queensland. And I knew of Perth from the movie Shine and because I had a boss who came from there. But that was it.

So my Australian kick has been quite educational. And now I’m hankering to visit. Maybe I’ll get to meet some of the great people I’m friends with on Facebook. Of course, there’s the daunting idea of the air travel … but I know the day is coming when I’ll arrive in the land Down Under.

Map in hand.

I always like to read up on my destination in fiction:

The Aussies wield a mighty pen. Here’s a long, long list of Down Under novelists.

A list of Australian mystery authors from Stop! You’re Killing Me.

Patricia Carlon. I read her suspenseful novel, Whispering Wall, years ago.

A couple of extras:

Everything about Victoria, and then some.

Sydney Chic Blog: I follow this guide to restaurants and lifestyle on Instagram.

Suggestions are welcome.

 

 

 

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