Things You Don't Know About S.J. Rozan

SinC: What are your favorite shoes?

SJR: A semi-hightop semi-sneaker called the Soho Walker by Propet. They don't make them anymore but I buy them up on cheap shoe sites whenever they pop up.

SinC: Is there anything you'd never leave home without?

SJR: My keys. Because I've done it, and it involves climbing out the window of the nice people upstairs and down the fire escape... It ain't pretty.

SinC: What do you wish you had more time for?

SJR: Reading.

SinC: Is there anyone from the past you would like to talk to for just 15 minutes?

SJR: My past? Or our communal past? From my past, that guy I dated freshman year. I'd like to give him a 15-minute piece of my mind. From our communal past, Genghis Khan.

SinC: What word do you absolutely hate?

SJR: Not a word, a phrase: "No problem." As in, "Thanks for doing that for me." "No problem." The implication is, if it HAD been a problem, the doer might not have been so generous about it.

SinC: Do you dream in color or black and white?

SJR: Color. And Surround-Sound, too.

SinC: If the F.B.I. had to give you a new identity, what name would you choose?

SJR: Jane O'Brian. Every non-Irish New Yorker secretly wants to try it.

SinC: Favorite food?

SJR: Bread and cheese.

SinC: Favorite drink?

SJR: Bourbon. Or dark beer, if it needs to go with the bread and cheese.

SinC: Most embarrassing moment?

SJR: Are you kidding? This is the internet. No way.

SinC: First job?

SJR: Babysitting. I was damn good, too.

SinC: Worst job?

SJR: Babysitting. No, I just had to say it. I guess really, it would be when I was a janitor in grad school. But we sure had fun. Me and Kolawole Ajibola, from Nigeria, on the night shift.

SinC: Favorite dessert?

SJR: Gelato.

SinC: If you weren't a published author, what would you be?

SJR: Well, the truth is I'd still be an architect. But that's not what you're getting at. What I'd like to be is someone's gardener. I'd worry about the plants all day and live in the gatehouse.

SinC: If you could be one of your characters, who would it be and why?

SJR: Lydia Chin. Because she's young, and she's tough (no matter what she says) and because her family's there for her (no matter what they say).

S.J. Rozan is the award-winning author of 12 novels, including the mystery series featuring private investigators Lydia Chin and Bill Smith. Her most recent work, “On the Line,” finds Bill in a high-stakes chase to locate the kidnapped Lydia. You can find more things you don’t know about S.J. at www.sjrozan.com.

Photo courtesy of S.J. Rozan.

We Love Libraries: The Cary Memorial Library

Elizabeth Dickinson (left) and Robin Paul (right), Cary Memorial Library staff members, get into the October spirit in costumes inspired by crime fiction. The library is the 10^th winner of $1,000 in the monthly Sisters in Crime “We Love Libraries!” lottery. Photo courtesy of Mandy McClaine.

We Love... the Cary Memorial Library!

The Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, Mass. is the October winner of the Sisters in Crime "We Love Libraries!" lottery. The library will receive $1,000 from Sisters in Crime, to be used for the purchase of books for its collection.

According to staff member Elizabeth Dickinson, the library's entry in the SinC lottery came about as a result of a book display created for a "Mystery Night at the Library" event. The evening featured a panel of authors from SinC's New England chapter; their books provided the perfect focal point for the photo used in the library's lottery entry. The library staff snapped a number of shots of the display, included them with their “We Love Libraries!” entry – and learned this week that they’d significantly increased the library’s book-buying power.

"We're thrilled," Dickinson said about the award. "We couldn't be more happy about it. It's a lovely initiative for your group. It's a substantial amount of money."

As might be expected, the crime fiction community is a key element in the library’s programming. The library staff works with the SinC New England chapter on special events. The library also hosts “Death by the Book,” a mystery/crime fiction discussion group that meets at the Cary Memorial Library on the second Monday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

According to Dickinson, the recent Mystery Night at the Library was a great success. “It was a lot of fun,” she said. “We had a really nice program and a good turnout.”

And a photo opportunity that earned $1,000 for book purchases.

The “We Love Libraries!” Program

Since January 2010, the monthly Sisters in Crime “We Love Libraries!” lottery awarded $1,000 to a total of 10 libraries located throughout the U.S. The program, originally scheduled to end in December 2010, has been extended through December 2011.

To enter, complete the online entry form at www.sistersincrime.org and upload a photo of one or more of your staff with three books in your collection by Sisters in Crime members. A list of SinC author members can be found by clicking here.

The previous “We Love Libraries!” winners include: the Kingstowne Branch of the Fairfax County (Va.) Public Library in Alexandria, Va. (January 2010); the Kraemer Family Library, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Co. (February 2010); Pineville-Bell County Library in Pineville, Ky. (March 2010); Cresco Public Library in Cresco, Ia. (April 2010); the Seminole County Public Library in Casselberry, Fl. (May 2010); the Bartram Trail Regional Library in Washington, Ga. (June 2010); the Newton Falls Public Library in Newton Falls, Oh. (July 2010); the St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library in St. Joseph, Ill. (August 2010) and the Yuma County Library District in Yuma, Az. (September 2010).

##

Living in the Library

Cathy Pickens holds the official Sisters in Crime "Great Seal of Office" in the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, shortly after her election in mid-October as national SinC president.
Photo courtesy of Sandra Parshall.

Living in the Library
by Cathy Pickens

When I was three years old, my parents did one of the most amazing things – they moved to a house with a library smack at the end of the driveway.

Imagine, your very own library! That's what it felt like. My own library. We could check out as many books as we could carry. (Later, when we walked down the long driveway on our own, having to carry our books back up the hill became a consideration.)

As soon as we finished reading, more books were waiting. Well, with one notable exception: Nancy Drew books weren't considered a suitable use for scarce library funds ("lacking in literary merit" or some such excuse).

That library funding rule has, unfortunately, driven me to a lifelong addiction. I was forced to scout out Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books when my allowance permitted me to feed my habit. As a result, I still buy embarrassing quantities of books. So far, there are no 12-step programs for this addiction, or my husband and I would be involuntarily committed. (Please don’t tell me if you know of such a program!)

The "library ladies," as they were known (forgive me, it was a long time ago), also fed another passion. At the age of 11, when I learned people could grow up and write mysteries, the library supplied me with copies and back issues of Writer’s Digest and The Writer and how-to-write books. Once, when the librarians were purging the collection to make room, they gave me old copies of The Writer’s Handbook and Writer’s Market. Oh, joy! I poured over them.

As a result of all my study, I sent my first short story – my last attempt at science fiction – to Jack and Jill magazine. It was promptly, but very politely, rejected – with a personalized letter from the Editor-in-Chief. That was the last personalized rejection I would get for many years but, thanks to the education the librarians provided for me, I knew that rejection was part of the writer's life and that personal rejections were to be coveted as a sign of progress. I kept writing.

You might not have been lucky enough to live at the library but, if you are a reader, I bet a librarian somewhere has given you unexpected gifts. Make it a point some day soon to thank a librarian for letting you check out all the books you can carry.

And librarians: Who knows what that strange little round-headed kid who comes in all the time might grow up to be? A reader, for sure. Maybe a writer. Or any of a world of wonderful things.

So, to all librarians, from one of those kids: Thanks!

Cathy Pickens, the national president of Sisters in Crime, is the author of the award-winning Southern Fried mystery series featuring South Carolina attorney Avery Andrews. The most recent title in the series is "Can’t Never Tell."

Things You Don't Know About Nancy Martin

SinC: Is there anything you'd never leave home without?

NM: I wish! But nearly every time I leave the house, I have to go back for something I've forgotten. My mind is always somewhere else, I guess.

SinC: What do you wish you had more time for?

NM: The right answer is probably sex.

SinC: Is there anyone from the past you would like to talk to for just 15 minutes?

NM: I'd love to talk to my wild child best friend from growing up, Mary Kate, who was my writing partner starting back in the 8th grade. She was a much better writer than I was--funny and passionate and dramatic, and her eagerness to read my pages taught me how to write for an audience. She passed away suddenly a couple of years ago. I miss her wonderful, cackling laugh.

SinC: What word do you absolutely hate?

NM: There are a couple, but I can't even type them here. My mother hates the word "pus." That's pretty awful in my book, too, but at least I can type it.

SinC: Do you dream in color or black and white?

NM: Technicolor.

SinC: If the F.B.I. had to give you a new identity, what name would you choose?

NM: When I was first writing and needed a pen name, I chose a doozie, but chickened out and didn't use it. Now I would: Samantha Lovejoy.

SinC: Favorite food?

NM: Chocolate.

SinC: Favorite drink?

NM: Champagne.

SinC: Most embarrassing moment?

NM: There's a long story about my first trip to Malice and a breakfast meeting with my sophisticated New York (and new-to-me) agent, a very high-powered editor she wanted me to meet, two intimidating best-selling authors who were scary as hell. . . and me -- a somewhat awkward girl from the sticks. What I didn't realize until after the breakfast? I had forgotten to remove a giant pink curler from the back of my hair.

SinC: First job?

NM: As a teenager, I taught swimming at the YMCA to all the young guys who needed to learn to stay afloat before they could join ROTC. I had a 100% success rate. The reason why those fellows had perfect attendance and paid such close attention in class? I think it was because I was a very perky 36C in my Speedo.

SinC: Worst job?

NM: The summer I had to shovel muck out of rental cabins that had been flooded by a hurricane. You can't imagine the horrors we found in that mud.

SinC: Favorite dessert?

NM: There's a small-town frozen custard that I travel a lot of miles to enjoy now and then.

SinC: If you weren't a published author, what would you be?

NM: A theater director.

SinC: If you could be one of your characters, who would it be and why?

NM: Nora Blackbird is a lovely person who never says the wrong thing, never loses her temper, never behaves in an unkind way. Most of the time, I aspire to be her. Unfortunately, I'm probably more like Roxy Abruzzo--impulsive and brassy and not as smart as I think I am.

Nancy Martin, author of the award-winning Blackbird Sisters mysteries, recently launched the Roxy Abruzzo series with her latest offering, “Our Lady of Immaculate Deception.” You can find more things you don’t know about Nancy at nancymartinmysteries.com.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Martin.

Metta Fuller Victor: The First Woman Crime Novelist in the U.S.

By Jeffrey Marks

Recently, the long-forgotten works of American author Metta Fuller Victor, who wrote her mysteries under the name of Seeley Regester, have been reintroduced to the mystery community. The novels that have been re-published in the last 10 years predate Anna Katherine Green’s work by almost a decade, making Victor the first author and first woman author to produce a full-length mystery novel in the United States.

Little is known about Fuller’s personal life. She was born in 1831 and seemed called to writing from an early age. Fuller didn’t limit her craft to detective novels. She wrote in genres ranging from westerns to rags-to-riches works, using a new pseudonym for each genre. At 25, she married Orville Fuller, the editor for Beadle and Adams. The marriage, which produced nine children, allowed Fuller to publish more of her works. Beadle’s Monthly serialized The Dead Letter in 1866 and the novel came out in book form the following year. The Figure Eight appeared in 1869.

Fuller’s works are typically Postbellum in style. Her novels give insight into the social mores of the time. She would be classified as a cozy author today, writing books that focus on the effect of a crime on a family and the ramifications of crime. In her work, murders threaten the domestic tranquility and must be cleared up to restore equilibrium.

Like many women of her era, Fuller was a proponent of social change. Her other works included denunciations against slavery, alcoholism and Mormon polygamy. The Dead Letter has a distinctly moralistic tone when the villain’s gambling and wanton behavior foreshadows the solution.

While her mysteries use a methodical approach to solve a murder, Fuller is not above using supernatural means to further her plots. She uses the detective’s clairvoyant daughter to locate a suspect in The Dead Letter and a sleepwalking governess in The Figure Eight. These gothic elements are surprising to today’s readers who expect fair play in their mysteries, but not to the readers of the 1860s who knew Poe as much for The Telltale Heart as his tales of detection.

Jeffrey Marks is the award-winning author of "Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice: Queen of the Screwball Mystery," "Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950s," and the Anthony Award-winning "Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography." He is also the author of the U.S. Grant mystery series that includes "The Ambush of My Name" and "A Good Soldier." Marks lives in Cincinnati.