Interview With Crime Novelist Mar Preston

Jodie Renner: Today’s guest is crime fiction writer Mar Preston, a Canadian who been on vacation in California for more than 40 years.

Mar has written three suspense-mysteries and is just putting the finishing touches on a fourth one. The first two, No Dice and Rip-Off, are both Detective Dave Mason mysteries set in Santa Monica, California. I was fortunate to edit Mar’s last two novels: Rip-Off and Payback, a suspense-mystery set in the mountains of California.

Rip-Off was recently released, and, since I read it and loved it, I wanted to ask Mar a few background questions about the making of this fast-paced page-turner full of suspense, quirky and nasty characters, and international intrigue.

JR: How did you choose to write about something so foreign to you and your Santa Monica locale as Chechen organized crime?

Mar P: For decades, I was an academic researcher at the University of Southern California. All that time I was slowly veering towards the dark side to contrast my rather dry academic life. I lived in Santa Monica, and my first mystery, No Dice, explored its lively political landscape. Dave Mason, my cop, works homicide with the Santa Monica PD.

JR: Where exactly is Santa Monica, and is it really a hotbed of crime?

Mar P: Santa Monica is an eight-square-mile upscale beach city on the balmy shores of Los Angeles. In fact, it’s the place Raymond Chandler called Bay City so many years ago. No, there aren’t a lot of gun battles or gang shoot-outs here. I can't remember where the idea came from to write about Chechen organized crime in my second mystery, Rip-Off. But for the purposes of the story, I needed to raise the stakes.

JR: Before editing Rip-Off, I had barely heard about Chechnya. Where is it, anyway?

Mar P: Chechnya is small country located in the mountains of southeastern Europe. A breakaway republic of Russia, Chechnya has been at the mercy of every invader throughout history that swept across the mountains to devastate its people. It struggles to build the infrastructure of government, law and order, but often loses out to organized crime because crime offers jobs. Those who can, leave. And, of course, not all Chechens are criminals.

JR: How did you prepare to write about this?

Mar P: I’m not sure I prepared. I did the research on a need-to-know basis. Yet once I started burrowing down internet rat holes, it was difficult to stop. Like all writers, I was curious. Do a search for Chechen news sites and you'll see what I mean.

JR: How did you get the speech of the characters to sound so authentic?

Mar P: I set up a Google Alert, read cultural histories, and what novels and accounts I could find in English. For years I read regional newspaper accounts about Chechnya, its wars with Russia, and its increasing fundamentalism. Gradually, individual characters came forward and I began to hear them talk in my mind. No, I am not schizophrenic. Most writers do this.

I heard their stories and the way they speak in the comments they post following pieces in many of the Chechen news sites. The kinds of errors people make writing in English are the kinds of errors they make in speech as well. For example, I saw they commonly left out the definite article “the”

before a noun. I notice this is common to Farsi speakers as well—and probably many other non-native English speakers.

JR: How did you manage to give the reader the necessary background to follow the story without a lot of info dumps?

Mar P: Here are some tricks I used to work in background: Mason reads police reports and he strikes up conversation with a visiting Moscow police official. He meets with an academic at UCLA. I tried to integrate the expository pieces with Mason's need to know as well.

JR: The stakes were high in Rip-Off, with several levels of law enforcement involved, at times almost coming to blows with each other!

Mar P: Yes, Mason isn’t the only law enforcement official who’s interested in the international criminals strolling Santa Monica’s “mean streets.” SMPD butts up against the FBI, whose cases are often trumped by the authority of the Homeland Security. Everybody wants a grab at the credit when Mason solves the case.

Fortunately, these entities only intersect in a couple of scenes at the end of the book. That meant hundreds more hours burrowing down into websites looking for up-to-the minute glimpses into how the FBI and Homeland Security relate.

JR: Was it depressing or tedious doing all that research for the book?

Mar P: No, I loved every minute.

JR: So do you think all those hours of research were necessary to make your book realistic?

Mar P: I'll let the readers decide on reading Rip-Off.

JR: It was a pleasure working on this great story with you, Mar! And the most recent one, Payback, too!

Mar P: Thanks for the interview, Jodie. And I want to thank you for catching the many glitches, times out of sequence, and point of view shifts in both Rip-Off and Payback. Neither would have been as good a book without your clever eye.

To find out more about the amazing Mar Preston and her crime fiction novels, visit her website at www.MarPreston.com, and her blog at http://marpreston.com/blog/.

To order Rip-Off from Amazon, click here.

Amazon News and Market Pressure

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

Amazon News
An item caught my eye yesterday that I think is huge news. Amazon made a bid to buy Dorchester, the 80-year-old, mass market publishing company that went bankrupt last year, owing a lot of authors unpaid royalties. If no other company outbids Amazon—and who could?—it will soon own the rights to all those books.

This is good news for the authors—who will get paid and see their books return to the market—but the bigger issue is that Amazon is acquiring titles like crazy. It’s already purchased Avalon (3000 titles) and a collection of titles (450) from Marshall Canvendish Children’s Books. And this may be only the beginning. More publishing companies, especially those focused on mass market products, will likely fold. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon keep acquiring book catalogs.

Amazon is also picking up individual authors, like myself, often buying their whole backlist, and now has six imprints. This is how Amazon will eventually dominate the market, by owning a massive inventory of published titles and pricing them competitively.

Market Pressure
And on another somewhat unrelated topic, I’ve also been reading about authors who are writing three to six books a year. Joe Konrath says he can “comfortably write four books a year” and Brett Battles blogged recently on Murderati about writing six last year and being well on his way to writing five this year. Alexandra Sokoloff posted recently about writing three or four books a year, and Zoe Winters just blogged about trying to write a book in a week. She cranked out 30,000 words in three days.

I admire their output, but I don’t know how they do it! I’m diligent and hard-working, but if I can produce two stories a year for several years in a row, I’ll be very pleased. But I do know why most of them do it. Pressure! Brett talked about feeling compelled to make a living as an indie author after his traditional publishing contracts dried up, and Zoe blogged about feeling a constant pressure to be more productive and get more books out there before she “disappeared.” The New York Times addressed this issue recently too.

I've felt that pressure for the last five years. But I’m trying to let go of it and live a more balanced life. Which is one of the biggest reasons I signed with Amazon—for the stability and marketing support that will take some of the pressure off me. Now I just have to learn to shut off that little voice in my head that says, “If they can write three or four books a year, so can you, slacker!”

Writers: What is your output and do you feel pressured to write more?

Readers: What are your expectations from your favorite writers? Can you tell the difference between books that take months or years instead of weeks to write?

Some Retreats Launch You Ahead

By C.J. West
Suspense. Creativity. Action

This last week I locked myself in a friend’s apartment to block out the noise of everyday life and focus on writing. I imagined entire days doing nothing but working on my latest mystery and dreaming up ideas for what comes next.

That’s how I drew it up, but it didn’t turn out that way.

On Monday there was my CJ West Kills Blog to write.

On Tuesday I met with someone about a new project and then spent the afternoon running between my doctor’s office and the lab for X-rays and blood work.

My Wednesday was a complete bust. I had a commitment that lasted 14 hours. The only writing I’m doing in the 26 minutes left in the day is this blog.

My retreat may sound like a failure to you, but it was very productive. You’d think a writer would spend a whole lot of time writing, but the truth is that the pressure to sell books often distracts me from what I love most about this gig—dreaming and storytelling.



This week I’ve made great progress on the mystery I’m currently writing. I’m now into Act III and the climax of the book is taking shape. Getting away has helped me recharge my creative batteries and the story is really flowing.

When I’m able to dedicate multiple hours to a project day after day I feel the depth of the story grow. Each day I develop a deeper understanding of the characters and as the plot unfolds I find myself adding elements that neatly fit plot and character in a way I couldn’t achieve without the continued focus day after day.

I deliver realism in my work that isn’t there when my writing sessions are separated by too much time.

I also had an unexpected bonus fall from the sky last weekend. While I was on the beach (supposedly relaxing), I developed the idea for a sequel to The End of Marking Time. I’ve always had trouble with a sequel because of the way the book ended, but last weekend I worked out much of the plot of the sequel and I’m confident the ending will be just as shocking as the original.

Even the small amount of time I dedicated to focused writing has really helped me. It’s fairly easy to do what I’ve done if your schedule and home life allow. Simply set aside the time to write and ignore those distractions when they come calling.

For most of us that's easier said than done.

Whispering Pines Writers Retreat
West Greenwich, RI

If that's the case for you, try booking a week at a retreat like The Inn at the Oaks in Eastham, Massachusetts.   A space like this is not only inspiring because of its beauty, by pulling you away from the little emergencies of daily life, this retreat allows you to focus your energy on writing for a weekend, a week, or longer.

If going it alone isn’t your thing, you can go for a conference like this Writers Conference at Ocean Park, held in Ocean Park, Maine this August. A retreat like this offers more than a beautiful quiet setting. A good writers conference offers writing classes, assignments to spur your creativity, and the camaraderie of working alongside other writers.

One of these types of getaways is bound to help you launch your writing project forward.

I hope you find a way to pour yourself into your writing this summer no matter which type of retreat you choose.

On Theft and Entitlement

By Andrew E. Kaufman

I’ve had Google alerts set up for my books and my name for years. I like keeping up on where and how my work and I are being mentioned over the Internet. It goes with the job.

But for several years now, I’ve noticed a growing and disturbing trend. The majority of my alerts now come as advertisements for “torrent” feeds offering up my books as free downloads. Generous of them to do so, but unfortunately, it's being done without my permission.


I get these advisories several times a day now, and they always seem to come from different websites. Insidious little bastards, they are, and I can only assume that since the volume of books I sell through approved channels has grown substantially over time, so too have the unapproved ones. There is always a price to pay for success, and this, I suppose, is one of them.

I can also assume that all this means there is probably a very large number of people who are reading my work free of charge. How many? There’s no telling, but according to what I’ve read recently, the numbers could be staggering.

Torrents work by dividing large amounts of data into smaller chunks. Through this process, files like movies and e-books can be disseminated very rapidly and very widely, spanning well beyond the U.S. and into other countries.

Of course, torrents themselves aren’t illegal. What’s illegal is when they’re used to pirate copyrighted materials, and more often than not, that seems to be the case.

Unfortunately, stopping this kind of activity is about as easy as nailing jello to a tree. Many of the sites operate from overseas sites where copyright laws don’t apply. The U.S., in an effort to circumvent this, has started prosecuting people who download copyrighted materials via torrents. Unfortunately, because of the large number of people doing it, the process is cost prohibitive at best. Some companies have also  taken measures by “poisoning” torrents containing their material. Some have even filed cease and desist orders to Internet service providers of torrent users. But again, we’re taking about what amounts to a drop in the bucket when you take into consideration the size and scope of the problem.

Does it bother me that possibly hundreds of thousands of people could be enjoying my hard work without paying? It certainly does. Do I let myself get worked up over it? Not really. I mean, let's face it, pirating is nothing new—it’s been around for ages—and the art of thievery is one that’s even older. Of course, with the advent of the Internet, these efforts become amplified to the nth degree, which does make it more troublesome.

And while I hate to take the “There's Nothing I Can do to Stop it” attitude, I know that there's in fact really nothing I can do—except maybe complain, get all upset, and stomp my foot. But then I just end up with a sore throat and foot, and the behavior that caused it continues on anyway.

But here’s the thing. I'm not worried about the money. Honestly, I'm not. If I were, I wouldn't have given away more than a hundred-thousand copies of my books this past year. What bothers me is when people steal because they feel they're entitled to do so. Kind of like when someone sees your fancy new car in the parking lot at a shopping mall and thinks it's perfectly okay to drive away with it just because they want to. When people steal because feel they deserve what I've worked so hard to get--that's when I start to get miffed. And what about all the wonderful readers who actually spend their hard-earned money on my books? Is if fair to them? Nope.

What do you think? Authors, does it bother you to know people are stealing your work? And readers, how do you feel knowing there are folks out there who are taking what you had to pay for?

Twitter Tattle, or, How To Use Twitter--REALLY.

Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 750 authors and imprints.

This week's entry is from our Social Networking Genius  extraordinaire, Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, who holds down the fort on Tweeting and Facebooking, Pinteresting and other "stuff" over at Booknook.biz, and has taught me all I know about Twitter, et al.  So, yes, please feel free to blame her for all the annoying twaddle I inflict upon you as you try to pluck pearls from the muck on Twitter.  And, yes, I'm one of those  horrible people that post CAT PICTURES on Pinterest, too.  This article is currently appearing on our website at Booknook.biz, and will be appearing in our upcoming (no, really, I'm not kidding this time) newsletter.  

1. Create an informative, concise, and unique bio.

You want potential followers to know who you are, what you do, and why you do it, without appearing arrogant, hasty, or a bore. Think like a (micro)journalist: answer the obligatory who? what? when? where? and why? as briefly as possible. Alternatively, think like you're filling out an online dating application. What kind of followers are you trying to attract? Bloggers? Reviewers? Agents? Readers? Ex-cons? Marine Biologists?

Example of a good profile bio:

Ellen Jones   @ellenjones
Oakland-based motorcycle rider and author of the Jane Smith YA mystery series. Read more about Jane's latest adventures: www.janegoestowashington.thebook.com

Why this bio is good:

It tells us that a woman (presumably) named Ellen lives in California, likes to do crazy things like ride motorcycles (without obnoxiously proclaiming "I'm wild! I ride motorcycles!"), and writes a mystery series of young adult novels about a girl named Jane who most recently took on Washington. If I'm curious, I can click on her link for more information. Short and sweet.

Example of a bad profile:

Joe Smith   @joesmithcool
My name is Joe Smith. I am an author. I have written 4 books. Two were published with Book Publishing, Inc. One is self-published because I'm trying to stick it to The Man! My books are, without a doubt, some of the bestest books in the whole wide world!!! Read more about "The Awesome Series" (including tons of 5-star reviews) on Amazon!!

Why this bio is bad:

It tells us that an author named Joe Smith has written 4 books, is bitter about the fact that only 2 of them were traditionally published, and is (likely unfoundedly) convinced that he's an extraordinary writer. The extraneous exclamation points take up unnecessary space and suggest he might secretly be a 6th grade girl. I know the title of his book series, but if I want to read it, I have to search for it on my own. This bio is long-winded, immature, and ineffectual.

2. Self-promotional tweets

When tweeting to promote to your followers, be it an event you're publicizing, a blog entry you'd like them to read, or a product you'd like them to buy, tread carefully. In a world ripe with bombarding advertisement, it's difficult to convince people that your self-promotion is any different from or better than everyone else's self-promotion. Make it your goal to pique interest. Promote creatively, humbly, and concisely. Come up with 140-character phrases that would make even the busiest, pickiest reader just have to know more.

And... Never underestimate the value of hyperlinks and hashtags.

For the uninitiated, a hashtag consists of a # sign followed by a word or words that categorize a tweet (no spaces in between). #books denotes a tweet about a book or books. #Obama2012 denotes a tweet about Obama's reelection campaign, including event listings, press coverage, and commentary. Anyone can employ any hashtag at any time. Hashtags that are trending as I write (you can find trends on the left hand side of your Twitter home page) include #MayWeather, denoting tweets about thunderstorms and sunshine, and #AJBurnett, denoting tweets about whatever sport that dude is playing right now.

Hashtags authors commonly use:

#books
#ebooks
#kindle
#nook
#amreading
#mustread
#read
#bookclub

Hashtags useful in promoting KDP free days:

#freekindlebook
#freebooks
#freeebook (that's "free ebook")
#free

Why these hashtags will help you:

If I'm searching for a new book to read, I can type "#books," for example, in the search field located in Twitter's upper right hand menu. Twitter will send me to a page listing all tweets including the hashtag #books, whether I'm following those users or not. If I'm looking for a replacement for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I've just finished reading, I can search for #thriller, #crimenovel, or #SteigLarsson.

This search feature works for promoters as well. If I've just written a crime novel I would compare to Larsson's series, I can run searches for those books in Twitter and use hashtags I find in my own future tweets, such as #MillenniumTrilogy.

Apart from using by the book (no pun intended) categorical hashtags, use your imagination in your tweets! Don't be afraid to be funny.

Bad self-promotional tweet:

Back to Basics is free today! Please Retweet you guys! I love you!

Why this tweet is bad:

It's lacking information. Remember that people use Twitter for various reasons, not just to find books they'd just like to buy and read and share with their friends. We have no idea what "Back to Basics" is. A book? A work-out video? Even if I were to assume Back to Basics is this author's book, there's no link to it, which means I'd have to search for it. Then he asks me to retweet to my followers with the additional qualifier that he loves me. Not only am I annoyed, I'm a little creeped out.

Good self-promotional tweet:

#freekindlebook: Back to Basics www.amazon.com/backtobasicsbook A case for resuscitating the electric #car. #books #nonfiction #amreading #green #energy #algore #hybrids #free

Why this tweet is good:

Right off the bat, it informs followers that the tweet is about a free kindle book. It gives the book's title, a direct link to where it can be purchased, and a phrase explaining what the book is about. Hashtags in the tweet explain that the product is a book, is nonfiction, and pertains to energy policy, green energy, that it is related to hybrid vehicles, and that it is a free product.

More examples of good self-promotional tweets:

Now out on #kindle: #Murder in #Miami, the 2nd #book in the Jan Austin #mystery series: www.amazon.com/janaustinbooks #chicklit #femalesleuth #romance #florida #mustread

Is #Twitter REALLY an effective tool for #selfpromotion? An interview with #selfpub #author @JackieJCollins www.interviewjackie.com

"Joe Jones does it again. Before There Was #Coffee is #hilarious & #moving. A page-turner to the last drop." www.link.com #books #satire #humor #capitalism #starbucks

Non-promotional tweets:

Don't use Twitter only to sell yourself! Think of it as a bar conversation with an acquaintance. Retweet (denoted by "RT") tweets you're interested in by large publications and individuals, ask your followers questions, find common ground with other Twitter users, start conversations with those you follow, make small talk about day-to-day happenings. You wouldn't talk incessantly about your job or divulge gory details about your recent divorce to the stranger sipping a beer on the bar stool to your right; don't do it on Twitter, either.

3. Quick Tips:

Twitter now has a built-in link shortener, which automatically codes your hyperlinks to take up no more than 20 characters. This means you can copy and paste links without having to worry about losing precious characters.

Running out of room in a tweet? Can't figure out how to shorten it any further? Replace "and" with "&," and compound words w/ (hint!) contractions.

======================================================

Thanks, Steve!  For those of you that like jazz, our Steve is a smokin' musician.  Warning:  ADULT lyrics and music, don't go to the page with your kids in the room, but her lyric, "facebook is a gateway drug to stalking" should be used in a bestselling  novel!   Visit her site at:  http://www.stephanienilles.com . 

Next time:  yes, I swear, I really will do the bloody article about ISBN monopolies.  I know it'll sell like nekkid picshures of Kim Kardashian (wait--I'm too late, huh?), and you're all breathless for it.  I can tell from those cards and letters that keep pouring in.

Documenting Reality

Life Without Parole by Clare O'Donohue.

Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.

When we first see Kate, she has just finished working on a budget home-design series, which she hates.  After work, she cocoons herself at home, mourning her estranged husband Frank, who died seven months earlier.  Although she insists (both to herself and others) that she's fine, her family and friends are worried about her.

 Upon Kate's refusal to do another episode of the soul-sucking design series, the executive producer asks her to do a program about men who committed serious crimes and are serving long prison sentences. Kate quickly agrees, despite the fact that the show will by necessity be filmed in a prison. 

Meanwhile, she is asked by a Los Angeles company  to produce a reality show about the opening of a new restaurant in Chicago, which would be titled "Opening Night".  Kate is reluctant, but they tell her that they've already discussed this with the producer of "Life Without Parole" who has assured them there will be no scheduling conflicts.  To sweeten the deal, they offer her 25% more than her usual rate, which she finds herself agreeing to.

It turns out that one of the partners in the restaurant venture is Vera, Frank's mistress, who insists on trying to be friendly with Kate.  Kate wants to back out, but can't, and discovers that the relationship between the restaurant's investors and staff is somewhat volatile.  She learns just how volatile when Vera finds the chef dead in the restaurant's kitchen and calls Kate for help.

I was almost surprised to realize that this is only the second book of the series featuring television producer Kate Conway.  When I began reading the book, it was as though I were re-connecting with a friend I'd known for some time.  I look forward to getting to know Kate even better.

Clare O’Donohue is a freelance television writer and producer. She has worked worldwide on a variety of shows for Food Network, the History Channel, and truTV, among others. Life Without Parole is the second in the the Kate Conway mystery series. She is also the author of  the four-book in the Someday Quilts series, and is currently working on the fifth. 








FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review.

Medical Pitfalls Authors Fall Into

It's my pleasure to welcome Jordyn Redwood as our guest today on Crime Fiction Collective. She and I have hung out together at the Citizen's Police Academy and driven across town to attend a series of lectures on sexual homicide. Some might say we're strange, but I'm betting that the readers of this blog understand our friendship and how we choose to spend time together.

Jordyn is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. Her debut medical thriller, Proof, examines the real life possibility of DNA testing setting a guilty criminal free. It has been endorsed by the likes of Lynette Eason, Dr. Harry Kraus, and Rick Acker to name a few. You can find out more about Jordyn by visiting her blog: www.redwoodsmedicaledge.com and website: www.jordynredwood.net.

****

One of the reasons I created my medical blog for authors, Redwood’s Medical Edge, was to right some of the wrongs in published works—traditional and self-pubbed—that caused me to want to toss the book aside and move onto to something else.

A reader, even one who primarily reads fiction, wants to trust you as an author. Part of building that trust is doing your research to make sure the details are authentic. The more close to real life you write, the more believable your fiction is. Strange, right?

So, as a medical professional of almost twenty years, these are a few author type pitfalls that will signal to me that an author has not done their research and I begin to wonder what other details of the ms they’ve been loose with.

1. Referring to an ECG as an EKG: This is relatively common and you’ll likely be given a pass on this because as medical professionals communicate with one another—we still will say “EKG” but the correct terminology is ECG. An ECG comes from electrocardiogram and is when we attach patches to your chest to look at the electrical activity of your heart.

2. Use of needles: There are instances where needles are still used. Primarily, they are used for starting IV’s, giving intramuscular (IM) injections, suturing and for drawing up a medication from a medication vial. However, what’s left in place after an IV is started is not a needle but a plastic catheter. Giving medications through an IV line is done with a blunt tipped plastic “needle”. I don’t know of a hospital that doesn’t use “needleless systems” that are designed to reduce needle stick injuries among healthcare professional. Be sure you’re referring to the right type of equipment for your scene.

3. Anatomical Issues: These are the most annoying because they are the easiest to research on your own. I’ve seen in published novels where the spleen is on the right side (it’s on the left), and the clavicle referred to as a scapula (your collar bone versus your shoulder blade.) Easiest way to determine where a certain organ/bone is would be to Google search specifically—“what side is the spleen on?”

4. HIPAA Violations: Which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is the law that governs patient privacy and is the notification you likely receive (and subsequently throw away) each time you visit a doctor that dictates how your health information is shared. Let’s look at an example—I take care of a neighbor’s child in the ER during a shift. If my husband calls me at work, I can’t say, “Hey, Kim is here with her daughter. She broke her arm.” This is a violation of HIPAA. Now, I can share that information if Kim says I can do so but she has to give permission. Types of HIPAA violations I’ve seen in published novels? A nurse giving patient information to a reporter—this is a huge no-no. All information released to the press is done through the public relations office. This is drilled into every medical professional’s head from the get-go. A medical person giving info to a spouse. And from real life, a local news station that shot an interview where the patient tracking board was in the backdrop. All big no-no’s.

5. Injuries that heal too quickly: Sure, you want conflict and sometimes conflict means someone taking a bullet or being in a car accident or any number of ways you want to injure and maim a character. The problem usually is after the injury. Your hero that took a bullet to the arm is easily shooting with it the next day with subsequent ease. Make sure whatever injury your character suffers, the result of the injury is reflected in the manuscript. If you break your femur, you will not be running the next day.

What medical inaccuracies have you seen in published fiction?








Dr. Lilly Reeves is a young, accomplished ER physician with her whole life ahead of her. But that life instantly changes when she becomes the fifth victim of a serial rapist. Believing it's the only way to recover her reputation and secure peace for herself, Lilly sets out to find--and punish--her assailant. Sporting a mysterious tattoo and unusually colored eyes, the rapist should be easy to identify. He even leaves what police would consider solid evidence. But when Lilly believes she has found him, DNA testing clears him as a suspect. How can she prove he is guilty, if science says he is not?

Where'd you say you were from?

Jen's post yesterday generated a lot of thinking about where we set our crimes so I thought I'd talk about my own setting. It's not nearly as romantic and sophisticated as San Francisco, the home of Jen's mysteries, nor is it as charming as her hometown of Swindon.

I set my mysteries in my hometown of... Placentia, California.

Yes, that's pronounced Pla-SEN-cha, a Latin word for "a pleasant place to live." It is not, as my brother says, "Afterbirth, California." The town began around 1837 as Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana but that wouldn't fit on the envelopes at the post office, so some woman named Sara Jane McFadden suggested Placentia. For some reason, that stuck.

It's now about 6.5 square miles, with 50,000 residents, surrounded by Fullerton, Brea, Anaheim, and Yorba Linda. All just names of cities to most of you, without any flavor or interest. Sure, Anaheim has Disneyland, Angel Stadium, and Honda Center (home to the Ducks hockey team), but a stranger to southern California would probably race down the freeways without even noticing they've left one zip code for another.

Hell, I did.

After I had lived in Placentia for a few years, I began to notice the difference. It feels more like a small town, more intimate. It also feels more Hispanic and truer to its heritage. The schools are diverse, filled with ethnicities from African-American to Samoan and everything in between. For a multi-racial family, we were planted in the right soil.

When I started planning my mysteries, I thought a lot about inventing a fictional town that looked a lot like Placentia. I wanted a small-town feel in a large metropolis setting, so that strangers could wander in and out. In a big city, one murder is barely a ripple and may not even make the news. In a small town, you can only kill off so many residents before property values start to head south.

I imagine Peri's house looks like this.

But in a town like Placentia, with so many towns nearby and a train track running through it, well, you can have quite a few murders!

While I was thinking of a town name, it slowly dawned on me that readers might actually look on a map for my setting. Perhaps I should include a little blurb that explains it's a fictional town based on my hometown, the way Sue Grafton's Santa Teresa is really Santa Barbara, wink, wink.

After a few days' thought, I decided to hell with winking and making up names, etc. It didn't matter what I named the town, it was Placentia. Let's call it what it is.

The landmarks and streets of Placentia are used in my book, although I change a few things to fit into the story line. I moved a street in Hit or Missus because I needed Peri to have a flat tire at a specific location. I'm also a little leery of naming actual restaurants now. Two restaurants have closed after I mentioned them in my books.

I don't want to be anyone's jinx.

The Backs Building - where the first body was found.

Although I try to put the reader in Placentia, I doubt if I'm enticing people to come and visit this exotic locale. In fact, I'm certain my motives for setting my books in my hometown are purely selfish and lazy.

I want my murders to be nearby, so I can be a part of the action.