Blog Archives

Sisters in Crime blog interview

09/27/2010

Come and visit on the Sisters in Crime website blog:

http://sisters-in-crime-sinc.blogspot.com/2010/09/brief-talk-with-carola-dunn.html

where I'm answering questions about my writing life, particularly writing books set in several different historical periods.

A Colourful Death in Large Print

09/21/2010

A COLOURFUL DEATH is now out in large print in the US and UK.

This looks like a real Cornish village. Just like Port Mabyn, in fact!

8 in 1--a bouquet of Daisies

09/20/2010

The first eight Daisy books are now being sold as a set in the UK :-) http://tinyurl.com/28upym6

3 New UK editions of Daisy

09/16/2010

Three more Daisy mysteries are now out in the UK, STYX AND STONES, RATTLE HIS BONES, and TO DAVY JONES BELOW.

Daisy's brother-in-law, Lord John, needs help: He's getting poison pen letters. Desperate not to have Daisy's sister Violet find out, he asks for Daisy's help. So she goes to visit, and discovers he's not the only victim in the village.

But when the next victim turns up, it becomes a case of murder. And Lord John is a suspect.

Alec to the rescue!

Who could guess that a visit to the Natural History Museum to do research for an article would end in murder? Daisy finds a newly deceased body among the ancient bones--and she's recently interviewed all the suspects.

Daisy and Alec are married and on their way to America. What with storms, fog, the rescue of survivors of a sinking ship, and bodies falling overboard to port, starboard, and amidships, it turns out to be an exciting honeymoon voyage!

How to write...??

09/11/2010

I gave a talk to a writers' group this week, about how I develop a novel, intertwining character, plot, and setting. To tell the truth, I don't know how I do it--it just sort of happens. One thing leads to another.

That's why I can't understand it when mystery authors say they go back after finishing and drop in a few clues and red herrings in appropriate places. If I tried that, it would change the story and I'd have to rewrite.

I guess I've always written in much the same way. My first book (Toblethorpe Manor), having been written longhand and then typed, was way too long for what the publisher wanted. My editor said she'd have to cut it, and I, being young and innocent, said OK (nowadays I'd scream blue murder and insist on doing it myself). She tried. Next thing I heard was that the whole thing was so tightly intertwined she could only find a few paragraphs to cut. They published it full length for $1 more than their regular price!

It's really hard to explain my method--because it isn't a method--and impossible to tell someone else how to do it. I only hope I was some help to some of the audience, at least.

Lord Roworth's Reward

09/02/2010

I just found out:
"Amazon.com sent out a message today about the forthcoming publication of [my Regency] Lord Roworth's Reward in large print. It was the featured book of the day."

Wow, Amazon has good taste!

This is the cover of the e-book version, available at www.RegencyReads.com and other e-book sellers.

I'd post the original paperback cover, which is really cute, except I lost the .jpg when I switched computers and I'd have to scan it. Someday...

This is the second in my Rothschild Trilogy. In the first, Miss Jacobson's Journey, Miriam Jacobson is involved in a plan to smuggle Rothschild gold across France to pay Wellington's army in the Peninsula. Lord Roworth is one of her travelling companions. In the second book, he is Nathan Rothschild's agent in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo. He shares lodgings with an artillery officer, Frank Ingram, and his sister Fanny, and their 3-yr-old ward. When Frank is badly wounded at the Battle of Quatre Bras, Fanny turns to Roworth for help.