Win a copy of Julia Spencer Fleming's One Was a Soldier

Back in the day my publisher asked me if I would blurb a book called In the Bleak Midwinterby Julia Spencer-Fleming. I thought it was fantastic - and I obviously wan't the only one.  It went on to gather starred reviews and awards.

One character had lost a sibling to colon cancer at 25.  Reading that gave me pause.  So many of us write from life - and I knew that colon cancer that young probably had a genetic link. I got Julia's email address and sent her a note saying if that was based on herself, she should probably be screened.

It turned out to be wholly fictional - the suggestion of a nurse she knew - but Julia and I stayed in touch and hung out at Left Coast Crime and then Malice Domestic, two big fan conventions.  She was a ton of fun - what redhead isn't?

Since then she has steadily built a following with:  A Fountain Filled With Blood, Out of the Deep I Cry, To Darkness and to Death, All Mortal Flesh and I Shall Not Want.  All feature the Rev. Clare Fergusson who has a tumultuous relationship with Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne.



Now comes One Was a Soldier

What it's about
On a warm September evening in the Millers Kill community center, five veterans sit down in rickety chairs to try to make sense of their experiences in Iraq. What they will find is murder, conspiracy, and the unbreakable ties that bind them to one other and their small Adirondack town.

The Rev. Clare Fergusson wants to forget the things she saw as a combat helicopter pilot and concentrate on her relationship with Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. MP Eric McCrea needs to control the explosive anger threatening his job as a police officer. Will Ellis, high school track star, faces the reality of life as a double amputee. Orthopedist Trip Stillman is denying the extent of his traumatic brain injury. And bookkeeper Tally McNabb wrestles with guilt over the in-country affair that may derail her marriage.

But coming home is harder than it looks. One vet will struggle with drugs and alcohol. One will lose his family and friends. One will die.

Since their first meeting, Russ and Clare's bond has been tried, torn, and forged by adversity. But when he rules the veteran's death a suicide, she violently rejects his verdict, drawing the surviving vets into an unorthodox investigation that threatens jobs, relationships, and her own future with Russ. As the days cool and the nights grow longer, they will uncover a trail of deceit that runs from their tiny town to the upper ranks of the U.S. Army, and from the waters of the Millers Kill to the unforgiving streets of Baghdad.

Praise
“Spencer-Fleming's most ambitious book yet - think The Best Years of Our Lives with corpses....fans will continue to be impressed by her resourceful determination never to tell the same story twice.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Spencer-Fleming explores a serious societal issue - the reentry problems of soldiers home from combat... while concocting an an absolutely irresistible combination of crime fiction and romance...this is a surefire winner. This series, as intelligent as it is enthralling, just keeps getting better.”
—Booklist

You can win one of three ARCs!
Just leave a comment below as well as a way to get hold of you if you win.

Make me a star!

A start-up nonprofit funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is developing materials (through videos and social media) for ninth graders who are bored or struggling in school.  And they asked me to appear as an expert on writing and solving mysteries.

Me! I have no idea why they picked me, but I certainly wasn’t going to say no.

A film crew of four spent 10 hours at my house on Friday.  It was an amazing - and exhausting - experience.

They interviewed me about my books, how I write, my high school years, how to plant clues and how to create suspense.  They filmed me walking, running,  practicing self defense and sparring with my Kajukenbo instructor, reading a challenge while wearing my sparring gear, opening various doors, and driving.  (A lot of this was B-roll - the footage they run to make what you are hearing about interesting, so it’s not always just a talking head on screen.)

Do you know how hard it is to assume a normal expression when someone is holding a camera four inches from your face and you are supposed to be acting like you are alone in the car?

The running part nearly wore me out.  Because we were running (little pun) low on time, I would jog to the end of the block, wait for the cameraman to give the signal, and then run toward the camera.  Only once I looked at the camera.  And once a car came by.  And once I thought he meant I should go but he was telling me to wait. And they wanted a couple of good shots to choose from.  And of course I wanted to look fast on camera, so I ran like a gazelle.  And then when the camera was off, huffed and puffed back to the end of the block.

And then they filmed just my feet.  For one shot, the cameraman crouched down and ran sideways without ever looking at the street.  He was basically running blind.  He also held his breath the whole way so it wouldn’t get picked up by the mike.

I changed clothes twice so it didn’t look like it was all done on the same day.  When they asked me to change into a third outfit, I kind of drew a blank.  What did I have that was clean, unwrinkled, attractive and ideally made me look thin and hip?  (Answer:  not a lot.)

I had to say some things numerous times, to clarify a point or to redo a segment when the rumble of a garbage truck intruded.  At the end, when I issued the challenge to students, I probably read it 20 times (“Now try it a little more slowly.”  “Now try it putting pauses between the three paragraphs.”  “Now try to draw out the word ‘suspense.’”)  before they were satisfied.

I just got an email from the director, and he asked me not to cut my hair in case they need to come back to town this week and film for a few more hours.  

What’s amazing is that all this footage will be condensed to less than 15 minutes of finished product.