PATH INTO DARKNESS: Third Book Makes a Series + GIVEAWAY!

By Lisa Alber 

Three is a magic number in the land of novel publication. With three books, a series becomes a full-fledged series, and even if you never write another book in that series, you can call it a "trilogy." My third novel in the County Clare series comes out in less than three weeks (woohoo!). I'm proud of it, to be honest. I took a few risks in the storytelling and pushed my own boundaries with the subject matter and with the topic of mental illness.

To celebrate PATH INTO DARKNESS' launch, there's a Goodreads giveaway going on until July 26th. Please enter for the chance to win a signed advanced readers copy of this novel!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Path Into Darkness

by Lisa Alber

Giveaway ends July 26, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Here's more information about the book:

By the author of Whispers in the Mist, heralded by Library Journal as “a first-rate crime novel,” comes this haunting tale of family secrets, madness, and healing in small-town Ireland

Lisfenora is known across the British Isles for its yearly matchmaking festival. But a local man’s murder and the grim discovery in his home have cast a somber mood over the town. Detective Sergeant Danny Ahern tries to make sense of the chaotic scene while struggling to set aside moral conflicts and grief for his comatose wife. Within days, he’s plunged into even darker terrain when the investigation leads him on a collision course with the Tate family: troubled Nathan, who conceals secrets within ghastly secrets, and beautiful Zoe, the daughter Nathan abandoned years ago.

In this “dark, compelling mystery” (Booklist), one man is propelled toward a tragic downfall while the other struggles to walk the narrow path between life and death.

Praise:
 "An atmospheric story of Ireland, filled with myth and darkness. . . Fans of Erin Hart's dark Irish crime novels should welcome this series."—Library Journal (starred review)

"A dark, compelling mystery with numerous plot twists and well-drawn characters interwoven with an involving portrait of life in a small insular Irish village."—Booklist

“A haunting tale rife with gruesome murders and secrets, Path into Darkness shines.”

—Foreword Reviews 

“Lyrical, tense, and haunting . . . the story propels the reader to a conclusion that is heartbreaking, human, and hopeful.”—Deborah Crombie, New York Times bestselling author of Garden of Lamentations

“Each strand in this terrific novel is absorbing enough to carry books on its own, yet Alber effortlessly weaves them into a breathtaking ensemble.”—Catriona McPherson, Agatha Award–winning author of Quiet Neighbors

5 Ways I Improved PATH INTO DARKNESS at the Last Minute

By Lisa Alber

I just finished the final, FINAL nit-piks for PATH INTO DARKNESS, coming out in August. Talk about under the wire! The book is at the printer as I write this post. Yay! I'm so grateful for the chance to provide a detailed final proofread, and then quickly proofread my proofread for a sanity check on my final changes. (And, yes, I found four more wee, itty, bitty, teeny, tiny typos ... It could never end, seriously.)

It's amazing how you can always improve a story. I didn't change big things, and some would argue that small changes like the ones I performed couldn't matter that much to the overall reader experience ...

That might be true, because the book has been out in the world as an advanced reader copy for awhile now -- advanced readers seem to be enjoying the story. But still. I'm a proponent of subtle changes for overall improvement in my storytelling. No one else may care. But I do. (But then, you gotta stop. JUST. STOP. after awhile. Let the beast go. Be free, fledgling novel!) 

So, yeah, I put on my nit-pik hat, and this is what I came up with besides leftover typos and awkward word choices and grammatical bloopers:

1. Murkiness factor. Mysteries work because they are purposefully murky until the end of the story. I deleted and adjusted dialog that was too spot-on, i.e. dialogue in which one character was talking with too much clarity. I thought, Wow, that's certainly shining too much of a light on such-and-such character or event or bit of information. In my own writer self-talk, I call this toning it the hell down. :-)

2. Subtle consistency errors. The consistency errors I fixed had to do with proper setup for events that come toward the end of the novel. True, most readers probably won't catch these things, but there is an overall effect as one scene builds on another and on another, and you get to know the characters. Readers are left with feelings about the characters without knowing why all the time. The point for me is not to come out of left field all of sudden at the end of the novel.

3. Lingo adjustments. My novels are set in Ireland, so I try to be conscience of using the correct vernacular. I'm sure I don't catch everything, but, for example, in my final proofread, I changed "steal" to "pinch," "rent" to "let," and "mom" to "mum."

4. Improve the last chapter. I have my wonderful editor, Nicole, to thank for this one. She had made some edits to the final chapter with a passing comment that made me realize that I'd floated off course with one of my subplots. Just a little, but it was enough to bug me. The last chapter didn't hang right. This was with Danny, my detective, having a heartfelt moment with his kids. The final moment, the final decision he's making in this story. And it's a big decision. So, yeah, I adjusted that chapter, and went back and employed number two above.

5. Simplified backstory aspects from the previous novels. One of my eternal questions as a writer of a series is how much of the previous novels' backstories to include in the current novel. I want my novels to standalone as much as possible. For me, this means NOT dumping all the details in from previous novels. I don't like info dumps. That's just me. I prefer to simply not mention past events or background character details that aren't germaine to the current story. For example, the fact that Danny has a dead daughter from years back didn't need to be mentioned -- mentioning this daughter added more question marks than it clarified Danny's character.

So now, having gone through this process, I can finally say that I've done all that I can possibly do to create the best book I'm capable of at this moment in time. Whew!

How forgiving of typos are you when you read novels? (Me, I'm very forgiving now; before writing novels I used to be a hard ass.)

BOOK LAUNCH MONDAY | Deirdre Verne and Drawing Blood

Your friendly neighborhood web mistress here--Lisa Alber--to introduce our first guest author since we relaunched the InkSpot blog. We hope you like the new look and our new schedule! Please welcome Deirdre Verne, whose latest novel, Drawing Blood comes out today! ~Lisa

Bad Habits, Good Books by Deirdre Verne

Quirky characters, strange settings, unsavory professions—maybe you’ve read one of my books? As a new writer, I was initially taken aback by early reviews until I realized that my unconventional characters had become my calling card. A big thanks to Kirkus Reviews for being the first to spot my fondness for the peculiar: “A dysfunctional family to die for...” and “an oddly effective sleuthing team” are two Kirkus quotes I happen to love. 

But my all-time favorite review comes from a Goodreads fan who recently wrote “The regular characters are a quirky but lovable bunch that form a supportive family.”

If you’re not familiar with my cast of characters, my protagonist, CeCe Prentice, is a Dumpster diving artist who lives on a self-sustaining farm with an extended clan of far-out friends. There’s an eco-friendly clothing designer, an MIT dropout, CeCe’s wealthy but soused mother, an eccentric doctor, the manager of the town dump, a pawn shop owner and well, many more.

Apparently it takes a village to solve a mystery and CeCe seems to have a habit of recruiting the more interesting folks in town.

If you’re wondering where I find inspiration for the off-beat, I’d be happy to reveal my source. For years, I’ve watched boatloads of junk television, although I reject the term “binge watcher.” In fact, there’s a method to my research that involves a steady diet of low quality programming, dished out on a nightly basis. Portion control is my guide as I spend no more than ten minutes on any one channel before clicking frantically through shows for a minimum of two hours.

Too short, too tall, too heavy, too much skin, too many tattoos, too many coupons, controlled substances, kids or just plain too much junk in your house? I love it all, every last weird and wacky display of humanity makes my heart beat that much faster. And it’s not just the visual ridiculousness of it all. I pay careful attention to the words, the phrasing and the terminology of these people that live such unusual, yet real lives. A few hours in front of the tube and I’ve got reams of dialogue dancing through my head. I’m like the cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, but without the hassle of world travel.

As if publishing a mystery series wasn’t reward enough, I’ve also discovered an unintended side-benefit to my television addiction – writing off my cable bill. A stretch you say? Absolutely not. I long for a call from the IRS so I can hand an unsuspecting auditor the complete Sketch in Crime series as evidence of my legitimate expenses. My day will come!

In the meantime, I invite you all into the weird and wacky world of CeCe Prentice, criminal sketch artist, Dumpster diver and big-hearted friend. You can catch CeCe in Drawing Conclusions (2015) and Drawing Blood (2016).

Deirdre Verne is a mystery author and college professor. Her AirBubble Blog unravels the mysterious, weird and often hilarious happenings on both sides of the classroom door. There are helpful tips for students and teachers. Taboo topics such as missing class, favoring students, sleeping in class and cheating are all covered in an honest open forum. You can find her online here:

www.deirdreverne.com

https://www.facebook.com/deirdreverneauthor/

https://twitter.com/DeirdreVerne

InkSpot News - May 1, 2010

Beth Groundwater is very, very pleased to announce that she just signed three new book contracts with Midnight Ink which will result in moving her Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series from Five Star Publishing over to Midnight Ink. The first two contracts are for the trade paperback and electronic rights for the first two books in the series, already published in hardcover: A Real Basket Case in Fall, 2011 and To Hell in a Handbasket in Fall, 2012. The third contract is for a new third book in the series, to be published in Fall, 2013. Both Beth and MI hope the whole schedule can be moved up if Beth can finish the third book in a timely manner. The ultimate plan is for Beth to write one Rocky Mountain adventure mystery per year for MI and a gift basket designer book every other year for MI, putting her on a book every eight months schedule.

Jess Lourey's Murder-by-Month mysteries are getting a makeover! The covers of the first three books in the series are being redesigned to fit with the streamlined look of August Moon and September Fair. June Bug is being redesigned first--previous cover on left, new cover on right. Woot woot!

I enjoyed the color and detail of the originals, but the new covers are clean and fun, and I'm thrilled with how they've turned out. Is there some way to promote the old ones as collector's items? ;)

On Debuts and Cliches

“Write what you know.” It’s one of those clichés every writer hears in the early stages of learning the craft.

I agree with it—to an extent. I know about religion, classic horror, acting, and medieval lit. The first novel I ever wrote dealt with religion and horror. Then an agent who passed on that book challenged me to write a crime story starring an ex-nun. Nah, I thought—I’m a horror writer. But the idea clung to my subconscious, and I decided to learn about private investigators, health food, MMORPGs, and the minds of stalkers.

You may be asking: How is getting into the mind of a stalker is a positive thing? It is when it’s the mind of the villain in my debut mystery. If I’d clung to my self-label of “horror writer” I wouldn’t be looking forward to my first mystery on a bookstore shelf next spring.

Yet without my writing roots I wouldn’t be here either, because folks seem to be fascinated by nuns. We’re like an alternate species of human. Yep—I used to be a nun. Habit, veil, the whole shebang. (Sorry to disappoint: The convent’s nothing like Sister Act. And speaking of clichés, yes, I played the guitar; yes, I sang at Folk Masses; and yes, I taught middle school kids to sing and dance.) In my debut mystery, my ex-nun main character is re-acclimating to the world. That’s writing what I know—you should’ve seen me trying to walk in high heels for the first time in years. She’s also foiling a Bible-obsessed stalker, which combines what I know and what I had to learn—I’ve certainly never stalked anyone! Although if Gerard Butler moved in down the street…

Where was I? Oh, yes. Clichés. Nuns themselves may be cliché, although I certainly wasn’t. As in, I was in trouble pretty much every week for all my years in the convent. At first all I thought the only use I could make of those years were good was cocktail party conversation for the rest of my life. Yet what I thought was a colossal waste turned out to be a crucial ingredient to a mystery series.

Were I to go back to teaching English, this is where I’d start: Everything you know, everything you’ve experienced—good and bad—can be used to make your writing better. I’m living proof.

Oops. A cliché. I’d better go back to daydreaming about Gerard Butler moving into my neighborhood. And writing my next book

Lucky Me

Cricket McRae

The third Sophie Mae Reynolds Home Crafting Mystery, Spin a Wicked Web, came out this month. I feel both thrilled and extraordinarily lucky.

First off, look at that cover. Once again Lisa Novak in the Midnight Ink art department outdid herself. Oh, I know I’m a proud mama and bound to be biased, but so many people comment on all the MI covers that I know I’m not making this stuff up. Other MI authors know what I mean: There’s something almost tactile about the designs, inviting folks to pick them up, handle them.

Then there are the mystery authors who provided cover blurbs. I’m grateful to them for taking the time and for saying such nice things. Just another reminder of what a generous group writers are.

Early reviews are good. Nope, still nothing starred from Kirkus, but they continue to review my books. That’s something! And Booklist and Library Journal continue to recommend the series, which I hope will result in even more library sales.

Reader feedback has been good, too. More email is hitting my inbox than ever, and more people are picking up the first two books, too.

So, of course it’s vital to promote the heck out of Spin. It doesn’t matter that I’m up against a tight deadline on the next Sophie Mae mystery. I mean, what a problem to have, eh?

I’ve scheduled the first dozen signings and more are in the works. My uber-targeted mailing list is receiving postcards. Spinning guilds and book clubs are showing interest. Book trailers populate the web. The list of promotional activities is long, but I’m glad to have it. Much of that list is due to the combined marketing prowess of the authors here on Inkspot. I’ve learned so much from this crew about creative -- and efficient -- book promotion.

Thank you. Seriously, knowledge = sanity. If it weren’t for you, I’d be in a constant state of semi-panic.

I’m really looking forward to Spin a Wicked Web’s virgin reading and signing. It’ll be at The Readers Cove in Fort Collins, Colorado tomorrow, Thursday the 26th, at 6:30 p.m. No booze, but a great deli and terrific coffee shop. Those people at The Readers Cove know what they’re doing.

My full signing schedule, including the Seattle venues, is here.

And this is the book trailer. As predicted, I found animoto to be totally addictive!