Where do you get your ideas?

People often ask where I get my ideas. Now I have a perfect story to tell them!

Last week, I sent an advance reading copy (bound galley) of "Probable Claws" off to a woman who runs a website on cozy mysteries. This week, I followed up to make sure she had gotten it. She responded that she had, but because it was sent via media mail it had been opened and inspected by the US Postal Service. Wonderful woman that she is, she asked why.

She was told that everything that is sent via media mail is X-rayed, for starters. And, I quote:

"I asked the lady at the post office and she said if there's anything in "media mail" that doesn't belong (like drug-impregnanted paper,which, she says, is a problem), the feds return it to the sender."

Which blows my mind. First of all, that drug-impregnated paper is common enough to be a problem. And also that they send it back.

You know this is going to show up in a book at some point.

and... here's my latest review for the San Francisco Chronicle. Nina Killham's "Believe Me."

What's a pet psychic supposed to do?

Ever wonder if our animals know more about us than we'd like them to? Ever wonder if they'll talk? That's the idea behind "Dumb Beasts," my first pet psychic short mystery. It's just one of the short stories in the brand new Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers, which is just coming out now.

Order Deadfall here.

Pet noir?

Just heard that my short story, "Dumb Beasts," has been accepted for Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors, to be published in November by Level Best Books, a multiple-award-winning small publisher up here in New England. I'm tremendously excited for multiple reasons.

For starters, stories from Level Best's last anthology, Still Waters, have raked in several awards, so I know I'm in fabulous company. And... while I was re-reading my story, I realized that I might have a germ of a new novel. "Dumb Beasts" features a pet psychic who "hears" animals' thoughts – and this helps her realize a murder has been committed. The animals don't talk to her like we talk to each other; they only note what is important to them, in ways true to their species. But my heroine has always been better with animals than with people, so she catches on pretty quick.

I'm now toying with a larger story along these same lines. I want to be true to the animals, and give readers a thrill, too. When I sent "Dumb Beasts" in, I described it as "pet noir." What do you think?

Where do our characters spring from?

All cats are not created equal. While Cyrus was a quiet cat, the dignified, strong and silent type, Musetta is a little loudmouth. In fact, since we were just away for a week, she's been quite chatty. Some would say demanding. And last night, I realized something. More than the barristas at the local 1369 and Peet's coffeehouses, Musetta is the model for my spunky punk rocker Violet. ("Thank God she can't dye her hair purple," says my husband.) After all, my heroine, Theda, is often prompted into action by those early morning calls... sound familiar?

Speaking of cats; this is just too weird. The following, however, makes sense.

David Simon on the birth of "The Wire"

From the same Boston Phoenix blog, or "phlog," this tidbit from Kafka's letters, about housebreaking his cat:


“How hard it is to arrive at an understanding with an animal on this question. There seem to be only misunderstandings, for the cat knows, through blows and other explanation, that there is something undesirable about taking care of her needs of nature, and that the place for it has to be carefully chosen. So what does she do? Well, for example she chooses a spot that is dark, that will in addition show me her affection...But from the human side this spot happens to be inside my bedroom slipper.”

crime and R&B

I write about radio for The Boston Globe, and so over the last few days I've witnessed a lot of schaudenfraude in the industry (along with jokes about "pay for play") that Eliott Spitzer was going to clean up. But now that I hear that the woman at the center of the Governor-felling scandal, Ashley Alexandra Dupre aka "Kristen," is an aspiring singer, I can't help but wonder... could this have been set up by a station?

Nah, probably not, but how long before we start hearing her "What We Want" on hot hit radio?

***Oh! On this week's Animal Connection, Vicki Croke talks animal forensics and the return of the Eastern gray wolf! More reason to keep your kitties inside. (Click on the wolf to hear.)

A cat shooting in Texas

Now that I have your attention, let me state for the record: I would never shoot a cat in one of my books (and certainly never in real life). I may have multiple human victims in my mysteries, but all my cats have happy endings (and if I ruin some of the suspense for readers by saying that, so be it. I don't like reading books in which animals are harmed, and as a reader, I'd want to know that.)

But there's a case in Texas that has been on my mind, and those of animal lovers everywhere. In brief, a bird lover, seeking to protect the endangered piping plover, shot a cat he saw hunting the plovers. He was charged with animal cruelty. Cat lovers have been outraged – and so have bird lovers, who say that the animals we have introduced into the environment (i.e., cats that roam free) are threatening birds and other elements of the delicate native ecosystem. As much as I am pro-feline, I have to admit it's a complicated issue. This story is particularly of interest to me because this conflict – animal welfare (i.e., the pro-cat side) vs. animal rights (often the folks on the side of native species, and sometimes anti-domestic animal) – is at the core of my soon-to-be-released mystery, Cries and Whiskers.

Today, this particular tragedy may be at an end. Yesterday, a judge announced a mistrial, after the jury declared that it was "hopelessly deadlocked," according to this story in The New York Times. One big legal issue in the case was the question of whether or not the cat, which lived beneath a toll bridge, was "owned." According to an outdated Texas law, only "owned" animals – that is, not ferals – are protected under state animal cruelty laws. Ferals, that is, genetically domestic animals such as cats, dogs, pigs, etc., that have been abandoned by their owners, lost, or simply bred and colonized in the wild, are not. The feline victim in Texas had lived under the bridge, i.e., "outdoors," but had been given food and toys by the caretaker of the bridge.

The outcome may be as good as was possible in one way: The uproar about the case has caused Texas to change its animal cruelty law, removing the requirement that a cat be "owned" in order to be protected by law. And while nothing will bring that poor grey-and-white tabby back, or console the toll-bridge caretaker who fed, played with, and clearly loved him, at least Texas has taken a smart legal step. And maybe brought an important debate to light.

My take is that a reasonable truce is possible. For our beloved pets' own safety, as well as for that of their prey, I'd rather all cats be kept in happy, safe, and loving homes. I also hope that abandoned and lost pets can be rescued, and replaced into loving homes. But I also believe in, and support, TNR – trap, neuter, return – of feral cats. Truly feral cats, which have never known human love, usually cannot be made into happy housepets. The best resolution, therefore, seems to be to keep them disease free (trapped ferals are given shots), fed, and also neutered, so that their numbers don't increase. Of course, some people think differently. They see letting cats out as part of their contract with these little tigers, and they take the death of their prey as part of nature's deal. And, of course, as long as people keep dumping pets, letting unwanted cats and dogs loose so they can "fend for themselves," the problem won't disappear. And cases like this one in Texas will keep happening.

What do you think? Do you keep your cats in or let them out? How would you have ruled, had you been on that jury? Can you come up with a better resolution?


* * *
On another note, entirely, I guestblogged over at Writers Plot, today, talking about the the role of our pets in our lives – and why we love the pets we do. Thanks to the marvelous mystery writers who keep this blog going for the opportunity!

Not exactly crime fiction...

although there are several murders in this collection. But for once, considering the author's tendencies, I am truly grateful there are no cats among these 16 short stories! In case you can't tell from my Boston Globe review, I preferred Faber's novel, "The Crimson Petal and the White." But as I read more of his work, I have begun to think this fat, fun novel was an anomaly.

World Literary Day!

Thanks to Oline Cogdill, who used her great books blog to alert us to World Literary Day – Today! Oline is the crime fiction critic for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and she shares the blog with fellow critic Chauncey Mabe, chatting on a variety of topics about books, the literary life, publishing and more.


So how to celebrate? Read a book, today! (Though if you're here, you probably read at least a little every day.) Re-read an old favorite, and think about why you love this or that book so. Share a book with a friend.

How else to celebrate? Oline suggests sending a book to a serviceman or woman overseas, an idea I second. I'd also send out a little love to your local public library. Where else can you get the world, for free? Think about volunteering or making a donation. At least, thank a librarian today, in any way feasible. (I just finished a short story for a fund-raising and celebratory anthology to be published when my local public library finally finishes its renovations. I cannot wait! And, yes, I'll publish it here if they give me the ok.)

Crime and communists... and no rock 'n' roll

When I was asked to review "Anarchy and Old Dogs," the latest Dr. Siri Investigates mystery from Colin Cotterill, I was thrilled. That glow faded a bit once I read the book; it doesn't seem quite as much fun as its three predecessors. That said, it's still better than much out there. And I hope my Boston Phoenix review directs a few folks to the series, if not this particular book.

1 cat, 1 three-legged raccoon, lots of crime...

I love crime fiction and I love Louisiana music, so it makes sense that I'd love James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, right? Therefore, it should be no surprise that I've been blown away by Burke's latest,"The Tin Roof Blowdown." What did surprise me is how many serious issues he raises in this smart, atmospheric mystery set during and immediately after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita played havoc with New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. Corruption and neglect, both local and national. He brings it all in. Read it for the story, for the writing, for Tripod the raccoon and Snuggs the cat. Read it for the politics. A wonderful book.

But what about crime?

Faithful blog readers may be wondering, where's the crime?
If I've been cat happy lately, readers, it's not because death (fiction) has taken a holiday. I'm actually hard at work on a mystery project (hinted at a bit lower down), and I hope to be able to tell you more in a few months. A few months?!? Yes, that's how publishing works, kiddos – glacial compared to everything else in this electronic world. But there is a new mystery in the works, and the start of another, too, on the back burner until this one is drafted. I may be breaking format a bit on this one, too, but as a writer and a cat lover, I'm too superstitious to want to write more.

Besides, the next Theda Krakow will be out before you know it! Cries and Whiskers will hit the stores in late November – and as we all know, books make more gifts!

So, until then, enjoy the cat trivia. Crime fiction is happening, behind the scenes, even as you read this...