Mystery Ahead, Sept 2016 | KING review | Estelle Ryan chat | Rule-breakers

Published: Thu, 09/15/16

#booknews  #protips  #friends  #reviews  #suggest

This is Mystery Ahead, the webzine for readers and writers. Together, we find out what makes for a compelling mystery.

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#booknews
NEW! KING PESO, the 4th Detective Emilia Cruz mystery, is out in paperback as well as for Kindle.

Mysterysequels.com gave it 5 stars: "The book is full of surprises, twists and turns, and the suspense is there all the time."

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#protips
If a book is set in a non-English speaking location or the characters are presumed to be speaking another language, how do the readers become convinced of this when they are in fact reading in English?

The solution used by many authors, including yours truly, is to use selected words or phrases in a foreign language as a device to transport readers.

Here are 3 tips to make it work:

1. Use mostly foreign language common nouns and put them in italics.
For example: “He’s a pendejo who makes me nuts,” she said.

2. Either provide the definition or add context so that the reader gets a notion of the meaning.
For example: Luz worked as a muchacha planta—a live-in housemaid—in the Vega household.
For example: As a muchacha planta, Luz worked 12 hours a day scrubbing the Vega house.

3. Make sure you know the actual foreign language word and don’t attempt a phonetic interpretation on your own.
Wrong: Senior Vega smoked cigars and Luz hated the smell.
Right: Señor Vega smoked cigars.


Peter Mayle, author of A YEAR IN PROVENCE, is the master of this technique. Use his novel ANYTHING CONSIDERED as your model.

#friends
Estelle Ryan is the author of the unique and compelling Dr. Genevieve Lenard mystery series (see my review of THE GAUGUIN CONNECTION below) and I’m thrilled that she was able to take the time to chat.

Estelle’s riveting character Dr. Genevieve Lenard is a self-described “non-neurotypical” personality with touches of Asperger’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in her makeup, all of which both help and hinder her efforts to solve crimes that incorporate an art element.

Carmen Amato: How do you maintain continuity across the series, with 9 books so far, while also keeping things fresh?

Estelle Ryan: Firstly, thank you so much for having me and also for your kind words. When I developed the series, I spent a lot of time getting to know my characters before I even wrote the first book. I wrote out comprehensive personality and professional profiles on each of them. No matter what crazy crime challenge gets thrown their way or how much each of them grow throughout the series, at their core they're still true to their personalities.

Plot points are easy and hard to find. Technology evolves at such an alarming rate, it's not difficult to find new things to include in the mysteries. The difficult part comes in avoiding the very strong temptation of repeating the progression of a mystery in one of the previous books. But that challenge is fun to take on.

CA: Accompanied by her observations of body language, discussions between a group of characters in Genevieve’s apartment or her work place drive much of the storyline in your books. What are the pros and cons of so much dialogue?

ER: The pros of dialogue-heavy story telling are numerous, one of which is that it is more dynamic. It gives the reader the opportunity to get to know the characters through their speech and not through lengthy descriptions. It is a great way to reveal conflict between characters as well as giving each character a very distinct voice.

The cons would be the lack of detailed description. We are venturing into a very subjective topic. Some readers love detailed descriptions of places, emotions, actions, as well as lengthy internal dialogue, where others find that boring and skip over those parts. Both have their place and finding a balance is another challenge for every writer.

CA: One of the reasons I love your books is that our writing styles are very similar. We both feature strong yet flawed female characters and write from their deep point of view. What is the most difficult thing you have faced writing the character of Dr. Genevieve Lenard?

ER: I wanted the readers to experience the challenges people on the spectrum face every day. I wanted to make Genevieve difficult, but I didn't want to make her impossible to relate to or unlikable. Striking that balance has been and still is something I pay close attention to.

People who don't know someone on the spectrum might find a character like Genevieve unbelievable and it's my job to draw them into her world, into her mind in a way they can relate to her - even if it's only in a small way.

Read the entire interview​​​​​​​

#reviews
THE GAUGUIN CONNECTION by Estelle Ryan kicks off a rule-breaking mystery series that I’m racing through as fast as I can. Dr. Genevieve Lenard is a world-class specialist in non-verbal communication with multiple PhDs and dual US and French citizenship.

She works in Strasbourg, France, for a company that insures high end artwork. She is an obsessive and autistic genius, yet wholly relatable.

Genevieve’s world is perfectly structured to her needs. She aligns everything to precise specifications, cannot abide physical contact, has no emotional attachments, and works alone in a viewing room studying the behavior of the company’s clients and interlocutors. Her employer, Philip, understands her value to his bottom line and is the only person with whom she interacts on a regular basis.

Until things change.

Genevieve’s reaction to stress, disorder, and uncertainty is to retreat into Mozart. She mentally writes out concertos for hours at a time, oblivious to her surroundings and other people. Our first glimpse of this coping mechanism comes when she is faced with the photo of a gory murder and is asked by the European Defense Agency to help solve the crime. It happens again when a shadowy figure she believes is associated with the crime literally drops into her ultra-secure apartment and touches her books, causing her to write out a Mozart composition for 8 hours.

The shadowy—and patient—figure turns out to be master forger and art thief Colin Frey, whose work for Interpol is a well-kept secret.

Accepting Colin’s assistance in solving the crime, which now includes stolen weapons, art forgeries, and the deaths of numerous up-and-coming artists, means a shift in Genevieve’s rigid black and white world view. It also means accepting Colin’s crew: Vinnie, an American bodyguard with scars that speak of a violent past, and Francine, a hacker with supermodel looks. Manny, a perpetually cranky British Interpol investigator, rounds out Genevieve’s new-found tribe. Together they finger a Russian Moriarty named Kubanov as the villain who teases his adversaries with riddle-like clues.

Through it all we are in Genevieve’s head, observing body language, applying analysis and logic, and finding surprising comfort in her interaction with Colin. Ryan’s talent shines through as Genevieve resists, and then slowly adapts to change, but maintains her persona throughout.

THE GAUGUIN CONNECTION, and the other 8 CONNECTION books (so far) break the writer’s rule of “Show don’t tell.” Plots are revealed through group dialogue as characters share off-stage discoveries. The discussions usually take place in Genevieve’s apartment or workplace and are peppered with the characters’ nicknames for each other, helping readers identify the speaker and underscoring tensions within the group.

This minimalist—and rule-breaking--construct works because it brilliantly mimics Genevieve’s world and makes action scenes in unfamiliar surroundings really pop.

The books form a continuous timeline so start with GAUGUIN. You’ll appreciate the developing romance between Genevieve and Colin, the touches of humor, and the ensemble cast. The dangerous and cunning Kubanov, and his sick minions, will keep the whodunits coming. Highly recommended.

​​​​​​​#suggest
My writer’s group threw a picnic dinner this week. The conversation ranged from burgers to—you guessed it—writing. A big topic was plotters vs pantsers: whether or not a writer should plot out the story before hitting the keyboard or just go by the seat of the pants and let it flow.

Readers often ask if I write from an outline or just write whatever comes. Which method do I use?

I’m a plotter now, using sticky notes to create outlines, but wrote my first published novel, THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, by the seat of my pants. I’m very proud of that novel and its message, but it took me frigging forever to finish.

Lesson learned.​​​​​​

Here's part of the outline I used for KING PESO.
Question: What's the best meal you ever encountered in a mystery novel?

Your answer could be in next month's edition of Mystery Ahead! 

Until then, keep reading and keep exploring the mystery ahead :)

All the best, Carmen

P.S. Don't forget to grab your Kindle copy of KING PESO with the blue cover chosen by you!
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