Marilyn's Musings

Unless you believe in reincarnation, people only live once. Fortunately, that isn't true of books. My cozy mysteries Fallen From Grace and Sooner Than Gold, the first two novels in the Sheriff Tilghman series set in 19th century Pennsylvania, have been reincarnated. Originally published by Oak Tree Press, rights returned to me after the death of Billie Johnson, publisher. Now Lawrence Knorr, my publisher at Sunbury Press, has reissued them under the Milford House imprint. The Bartered Body, third in the series, was published by Milford House Press in 2018 and a fourth novel is in the queue. Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman is the third of his family to serve as sheriff of the small Pennsylvania town of Arahpot in the waning days of the 19th century. Here's a short blurb for  Fallen From Grace: The 19th century is coming to a close, and Sheriff Tilghman is focused on his two biggest problems: Finding a new deputy and convincing his true love, Lydia, to marry him. But his problems are ...

The average person is rarely concerned about technique when reading a novel. But they’ll know when it isn’t there. Technique is the business of the writer. It consists of such varied ingredients as character, plot, dialogue, style and point of view.  Think back to the last novel you enjoyed and considered what it was made it memorable. Most times that element will be character. You can’t have a credible plot without believable characters. So how does a writer create memorable characters? You might describe his/her appearance, job, eccentricity, desires, and other such aspects of personality. Yet all of these are no more than statistics. Statistics are generally dull and don’t stick in the mind. The secret is the one ingredient too often overlooked. Whether your favorite is Emma, Hannibal Lector, Scarlett O’Hara or Ishmael, they all share one thing in common. They inspire emotion in the reader. It doesn’t matter if that emotion be love or hate, pity or envy...

There’s been a lot of discussion recently about J. K. Rowling’s experiment in publishing a crime novel under an assumed name. For the benefit of those who may have been in limbo and out of touch with the news, Rowling—famous for her Harry Potter juvenile novels—decided to publish a debut detective novel under the name Robert Galbraith, alleged to be the married father of two and a former undercover investigator. Though the book sold about 1,500 copies in hardback (not bad for a debut mystery), sales didn’t really begin to soar until her cover was blown in a newspaper article. Some have accused Rowling of engaging in chicanery and leaking her identity to the press. Whether you believe that or not, is of no concern here. What is obvious, and hasn’t been stressed enough, is this fact: Names sell. This has always been true to a certain extent, but is even more true today. Readers, deluged with tons of books being published each year, must rely on certain fa...