Marni Graff writes two award-winning mystery series: The Nora Tierney English Mysteries and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries. She teaches writing workshops and mentors the Writers Read program, and is Managing Editor of Bridle Path Press.
Graff also writes the crime review blog Auntie M Writes, www.auntiemwrites.com.
Nurse Trudy Genova is making plans to
take her relationship to NYPD detective Ned O'Malley to the next level, when
she lands a gig as medical consultant on a film shoot at the famed Dakota
apartment building in Manhattan, which John Lennon once called home. Then star
Monica Kiley goes missing, a cast member turns up dead, and it appears Trudy
might be next. Meanwhile Ned tackles a mysterious murder case in which the
victim is burned beyond recognition. When his investigations lead him back to
the Dakota, Trudy finds herself wondering: how can she fall in love if she
can't even survive?
Readers of Death Unscripted, the first
book in the Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery series, will find the same pleasures
in this sequel: fast pacing, engaging characters, twists and turns on the way
to a satisfying close. From the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney
English Mysteries, this second series is a winner. Once again M.K. Graff
reveals her talents in crafting this delightful mix of amateur sleuth and
police procedural.
Part procedural, part cozy, Death at
the Dakota is a well-crafted and highly entertaining mystery.- Bruce Robert
Coffin, #1 bestselling author of the Detective Byron mysteries.
I fell in love -- not only with
co-protagonists, Trudy and Ned, the richly detailed and historic setting of The
Dakota, and the unique cast of characters, but with the unusual plot of Death
at the Dakota. Sherry Harris, Agatha Award nominated author of the Sarah
Winston Garage Sale Mysteries
Q&A With the Author:
1. What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
I read and read and read, three books
a week for my crime review blog. I love old movies, too, when I'm not watching
Masterpiece Mystery. And playing outside with my two Aussie Doodle pups, Seamus
and Fiona, in nice weather is always fun. We live along a river in rural
northeastern NC and walks this time of year always end with two wet dogs!
2. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? My desk is one half of a vintage partner's desk so I'm facing the back of my husband's monitor, and our library space is at the end of our living room. I've learned to write with the television on or his own computer noises, putting myself in the zone, using the house noises are white noise. It works most of the time. The ringing of a telephone I find jarring though, and if I'm in that zone, will ignore it.
3. Do you have any suggestions to help budding authors become better writers? If so, what are they? I have four main ones: 1. Read and read and read, in your chosen genre and almost anything. You learn from reading what you like and good literature as well as what doesn't work. Read classics to see why their stories have endured even if the language use seems outdates. You are searching to develop your own writer voice. 2. Also, a good usage book on your desk is key. Many modern writers today use their computers for dictionary-thesaurus searches but I prefer the break looking things up in a book gives me. It clears my head. And a usage book that's well indexed is a great companion. Right now I'm recommending Benjamin Dreyer's DREYER'S ENGLISH to everyone. It's compact and filled with delightful footnotes, so it's a pleasure to read and to consult. 3. Find a writing critique buddy or join a writing group. You can find one online if you can't find anyone near you. It's helpful to have a good critique partner who knows the bones of writing and can provide honest feedback. If you are truly a beginner, take a course first to get the basics down. 4. Write. it doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter how long. Write about waht you see out the window. Write a character study you envision and may work into a future story. Write a setting that pleases you, and use all your senses in its description. Write when you can and don't dismiss even ten snatched minutes as worthwhile. The idea of writing soon becomes ingrained and more natural. Don't look at a large project at first; it's too daunting. Start small and work your way up and you will use all of that early writing at some point. And don't forget to always carry a small notebook around with you. It's useful for jotting down ideas that hit you in the grocery story or when you're out driving. If you hear a snatch of great conversation, write it down. Writers are sponges; soak up what is realistic in order to create your own world.
4. Where do you get information and ideas for your books?
I write two mystery series, one set in Manhattan and one in England, so setting is always a starting point for me. The place where a murder is set becomes its own character and lends itself to where my characters will go and what they do. Since I have recurring characters, why is Nora or Trudy in this place? Then I go to the end and figure out who will be murdered and why. I work my back from that point and fill in the characters, subplots, motives. I do some research before I start out but only have a vague idea of the 'muddled middle' when I do and do other research as it comes up. The idea for the actual murder usually comes from some human emotion in overdrive: jealousy, revenge, greed, even twisted love. I do keep a file with interesting news articles or things torn from magazines to spur ideas. The best ones come from reality.
2. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? My desk is one half of a vintage partner's desk so I'm facing the back of my husband's monitor, and our library space is at the end of our living room. I've learned to write with the television on or his own computer noises, putting myself in the zone, using the house noises are white noise. It works most of the time. The ringing of a telephone I find jarring though, and if I'm in that zone, will ignore it.
3. Do you have any suggestions to help budding authors become better writers? If so, what are they? I have four main ones: 1. Read and read and read, in your chosen genre and almost anything. You learn from reading what you like and good literature as well as what doesn't work. Read classics to see why their stories have endured even if the language use seems outdates. You are searching to develop your own writer voice. 2. Also, a good usage book on your desk is key. Many modern writers today use their computers for dictionary-thesaurus searches but I prefer the break looking things up in a book gives me. It clears my head. And a usage book that's well indexed is a great companion. Right now I'm recommending Benjamin Dreyer's DREYER'S ENGLISH to everyone. It's compact and filled with delightful footnotes, so it's a pleasure to read and to consult. 3. Find a writing critique buddy or join a writing group. You can find one online if you can't find anyone near you. It's helpful to have a good critique partner who knows the bones of writing and can provide honest feedback. If you are truly a beginner, take a course first to get the basics down. 4. Write. it doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter how long. Write about waht you see out the window. Write a character study you envision and may work into a future story. Write a setting that pleases you, and use all your senses in its description. Write when you can and don't dismiss even ten snatched minutes as worthwhile. The idea of writing soon becomes ingrained and more natural. Don't look at a large project at first; it's too daunting. Start small and work your way up and you will use all of that early writing at some point. And don't forget to always carry a small notebook around with you. It's useful for jotting down ideas that hit you in the grocery story or when you're out driving. If you hear a snatch of great conversation, write it down. Writers are sponges; soak up what is realistic in order to create your own world.
4. Where do you get information and ideas for your books?
I write two mystery series, one set in Manhattan and one in England, so setting is always a starting point for me. The place where a murder is set becomes its own character and lends itself to where my characters will go and what they do. Since I have recurring characters, why is Nora or Trudy in this place? Then I go to the end and figure out who will be murdered and why. I work my back from that point and fill in the characters, subplots, motives. I do some research before I start out but only have a vague idea of the 'muddled middle' when I do and do other research as it comes up. The idea for the actual murder usually comes from some human emotion in overdrive: jealousy, revenge, greed, even twisted love. I do keep a file with interesting news articles or things torn from magazines to spur ideas. The best ones come from reality.
5. What do you think makes a good
story?
Readers are drawn to characters they
can become invested in or understand, even if they are far different from
themselves or their lives. Once they want to follow that character, that
journey becomes the bulk of the story, whether it's Trudy figuring out a
murderer or Nora wanting to prove what's being termed a suicide is actually a
murder someone's getting away with. I'm a firm believer in a sense of questions
answered at the end in terms of this story; that doesn't mean there won't be
hint of a story to come, but most readers want to feel a sense of justice
served, in a mystery particularly, and that the puzzle has been solved and the
questions raised answered.
6. Tell us about your favorite summer
vacation? Or what do you like to do in the summer? Every other year I visit the
UK to do setting research, so those are clearly my favorites. Sometimes my
husband accompanies me, and we will build in side trips to France or Belgium,
as we did one year. Last summer we spent a week in Cornwall and a week in
Cambridge for the next two Nora books. I was writing the new Trudy, Death at the
Dakota, at that time, but this is for the next two Nora Tierney's to follow. We
had a few days in London visiting friends but with a week in each place, were
able to really soak up the feel, meet locals, tour the area, and take lots of
photos. Each summer my own writing group meets for a week, too, so there is
that to look forward to. We usually travel to each other's homes as we are
spread out throughout the US, but this year is our fifteenth year working
together, so we are treating ourselves to meeting in Old City Quebec and will
have time to workshop manuscripts and visit the sites. I'm looking forward to
that!
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