October 2006

Newsletter 20

Hello, friends!

I feel as though I've been whirled madly from spring to fall without ever passing through summer—although if you have to miss a season in Texas, summer is the one to miss.

You may remember that last March I was starting Book Three in the Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron mystery series, but had no idea when I'd get it written, let alone what the publication date might be. Imagine my surprise and gratification when my publisher bought the book on just the first three chapters in April, for publication in September 2007. Which is all good news, except that the deadline was October!

Well, as Samuel Johnson once said (or should have), "Impending execution concentrates the mind wonderfully." The novel is finished and in the hands of my editor. Whew.

And it's no longer titled THE FAMILY SQUINT. A squint or spyhole is a hole in a wall, and the title of Book Two is THE MURDER HOLE, and a murder hole is a hole in a wall. So Book Three in the Fairbairn/Cameron series is now THE BURNING GLASS.

Book One, THE SECRET PORTRAIT, is still available in hardcover, plus there's now a trade paperback edition from Wildside Press. I had to scratch my head over the first sentence of this review on Scottish Readers.net:

"V.I. Warshawski meets Hamish McBeth at Brigadoon! Atmospheric whodunit set in Lochaber as Jean Fairbairn, an American journalist, sets out to authenticate a coin from Bonny Prince Charlie's hoard. This quickly becomes a murder investigation with the local police inspector. Murky discoveries lead back through WW2 commando training all the way to Culloden. A haunted house and a bloodline subplot that could be out of THE DA VINCI CODE make for an entertaining read. You'll want to book a holiday in the West Highlands after this book."

Sorry, but Jean Fairbairn is a mild-mannered librarian and journalist, not a hard-boiled P.I. like Warshawski. And edgy Alasdair Cameron is hardly Scotland's answer to Gomer Pyle, like good old Hamish. Once you get past the first sentence, though, the review is dead on. As for my take on THE DA VINCI CODE, well, that's in THE BURNING GLASS.

Mark your calendars: September, 2007.

In the meantime, let's not forget THE MURDER HOLE:

Deep water . . .

Jean Fairbairn is off to write a story about the haunted waters of Loch Ness. She has an appointment with American scientist Roger Dempsey, who is using his latest gadgets to try and prove that the legend of the monster, Nessie, is true.

Jean's business is checking out legends. Some hold water, some don't, and some are about much more than H2O.

But the troubled water she finds at Loch Ness is colder than its snow-melt and darker than its peat-stained depths. Sonar and other remote-sensing tools might find Nessie, but what scientific instrument can plumb the mysteries of death?

Troubled, too, are the waters that run between Jean and Detective Inspector Alasdair Cameron. Will another encounter bridge the depths that lie between them? Or will their story end at the hands of a murderer, in the icy water of a loch that never gives up its dead?

The cover of this book shows Urquhart Castle, where a couple of chapters take place. At the Texas Scottish Festival in June (music! men in kilts!), I set up my wares in the Clan Stewart tent. (Yes, they're still speaking to me after THE SECRET PORTRAIT, which is not entirely appreciative of Bonnie Prince Charlie, aka Charles Edward Stewart or Stuart.) At one point I looked over to see a very distinguished kilted gentleman eyeing the poster of the cover of THE MURDER HOLE. After he nodded bemusedly and walked away, one of my fellow Stewarts informed me that he was the chief of Clan Urquhart! He's probably used to the ancestral castle being taken in vain, though, situated as it is on the shores of Loch Ness.

At the Festival I also visited with musician Brian McNeill, the original of Hugh Munro in the series. I had given him a copy of THE SECRET PORTRAIT in 2005 and he said he enjoyed it. He said if I ever got tired of Hugh I could kill him off in some gruesome manner, to which I can only respond, no way! And he asked, "What do I do in the next book?"

He has a very important role in THE MURDER HOLE, which appeared in August—my lucky thirteenth published novel.

"...there's time to savor the complexities of the story and take in the scent and sense of Scotland. The author has a wonderful sense of humor and a gives us a story that moves right along and a heroine who doesn't take herself too seriously." 

--Diana Vickery, Cozy Library

"The sequel to the delightful THE SECRET PORTRAIT is a fun contemporary police procedural investigative tale with the emphasis on the reporter's inquiries.  The story line cleverly combines Nessie, an ancient historical stone with a twentieth century history, a bit of romance and murderous mayhem into a fine tale starring a likable heroine."

--Harriet Klausner

"Carl creates vivid images of the Scottish scenery and her characters ring true. There is an element of woo-woo involved in figuring out the mystery, but it seems appropriate to the setting. This is a thoroughly enjoyable addition to the series."

--Shirley H. Wetzel, Over My Dead Body.com

I have had some real life the last six months. In addition to the Texas Scottish Festival, I attended Malice Domestic in Washington DC in April. I donated another gift basket to the charity auction, this one not only with copies of PORTRAIT and MURDER, shortbread, and tea, but also with some little chocolate frogs which I labeled "Loch Ness Monster Embryos"

The fall 2006 MYSTERY SCENE has my take on the Loch Ness monster, as filtered through THE MURDER HOLE, in an article titled "Nessie on the Half-Shell."

I had the pleasure of attending the second and unfortunately last Con Misterio in July in Austin. I had to cancel two science fiction/fantasy conventions in August and September, I'm afraid, with that October deadline bearing down on me. I squeaked to "the end" of THE BURNING GLASS at nine p.m. the day before my seven a.m. departure for Bouchercon, the big mystery convention, this year in lovely Madison, Wisconsin. I must admit I mostly sat in a corner and smiled dazedly at friends, when I wasn't wandering around admiring the lakes, the trees, the old homes, the ice cream shops, and the Wisconsin Cow Parade, lavishly decorated fiberglass cows lining the sidewalks of Madison. I can hear my ancestors, Texas cattle ranchers, muttering about metrosexual cows.

http://wisconsin.cowparade.com/cow/gallery

Next up is the World Fantasy Convention, back in Austin. This year the convention is honoring Texas fantasy writer Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian as well as other enduring characters, by publishing an anthology of stories written by Texas authors. My contribution is "The Diamonds of Golkonda", in which a Scottish soldier stationed in Hyderabad, India, goes looking for the fabled diamonds of Golconda but runs afoul of magic and purple prose. I'd been researching the fascinating history of the area anyway—I have relatives living there. Waste not, want not!

And one of the last year's short stories, "Way Down in Egypt's Land", from the anthology THOU SHALT NOT KILL (murder mysteries based on episodes in the Bible) will be appearing at www.fictionwise.com before the end of the year. "Topnotch entries include...Lillian Stewart Carl's "Way Down in Egypt's Land," a marvelous tale about 19th-century slavery..."  --Publisher's Weekly

Both "Diamonds" and "Egypt" will be re-printed in a collection of short stories due out next spring, titled AROUND THE CIRCLE OF TIME. But more about that—and about THE BURNING GLASS—next time. Next time I should also have news about BLACKNESS TOWER, a stand-alone romantic fantasy set in—wait for it!—Scotland.

All my older novels are still available in print and electronic forms, including ASHES TO ASHES and DUST TO DUST, where I introduce Michael Campbell and Rebecca Reid, who are secondary characters in the Fairbairn/Cameron series. Yes, I know—in real time a good fifteen years has passed since they married and moved to Scotland, but in literary time it's been only three.

For all my titles, including the story anthologies, please support your local independent booksellers. They would be glad to order anything that they don't have in stock. And don't forget your local library, source of all good things.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER contact me through my website and I will remove you from my list.

My best wishes to you and your families for a healthy, happy end to 2006. May the spooks of Halloween make you laugh, may the special dinners of Thanksgiving fill your heart as well as your stomach, and may the blessings of Christmas go with you and yours into the next year.

Cheers, Lillian

Lillian Stewart Carl

http://www.lillianstewartcarl.com