Mystery Writer's Guide to Forensic Science - Silencers (Suppressors)

Disclaimer: In no way does this blog condone gun violence. This post is solely here to post research for mystery writers.

On my last forensic post, one of the commenters wanted more information about silencers. So, here it is:  

Why do guns make so much noise? 

1) When ignited, gunpowder produces a huge amount of rapidly expanding gases. These expanding gases propel the bullet out of the gun. The loud bang noise is created when the bullet is forced out of the end of the barrel at high speed.
2) The second is the supersonic crack of the bullet. It is not possible to reduce the sound level of a supersonic bullet. For a sound moderator to be really effective, it must be used with ammunition whose projectiles travel at less than the speed of sound.

What are suppressors (silencers)?

A silencer is typically made up of a long steel cylinder. The cylinder will be much wider in diameter than that of the caliber of gun that the particular silencer is designed for.

Click to Enlarge

The first section, which is typically about a third of the silencer's length, contains an "expansion chamber" into which the hot gases that follow the bullet out of the muzzle can expand to dissipate some of their energy. The expansion chamber may contain a wire mesh cylinder, whose function is to break up the column of gas and to cool it by acting as a heat sink.

The second section consists of a series of metal baffles, with a central hole to allow the passage of the bullet. The function of the baffles is to progressively deflect and slow the flow of gas emerging from the expansion chamber, so that by the time the gases emerge from the silencer, their flow is cooler, at low velocity and silenced.

What can you do to silence a gun completely?

Because two things make a boom noise when you fire a gun, two things need to be silenced.

1) The pressure of gas- if you only silence the pressure of the gas, you will still here a loud sound because the bullet is supersonic - likely to produce a muffled crack, or to sound like a car door being slammed.
2) The second is a sonic boom as the bullet breaks the sound barrier. To silence this bang, you need to use subsonic bullets or ammunition.

What home-made silencers work?

1) A plastic soft drinks bottle can be made into a fairly efficient silencer that will work for a limited number of shots before it breaks up.
2) Wet silencers (not really home-made) but you can find more info here.

What home-made silencers DON'T work?

1) Potatoes at the end of the barrel definitely don't work - unless your plan was to shoot a potato.
2) The pillow doesn't really help, either, though it does have the benefit of minimizing or negating blood splatter during the shooting.
3) In the 2007 film Shooter, a silencer was made out of a can filled with socks. It would have been better if the socks had been left out, since all they would do was take up space that the gas could have expanded into. 4) Most packing materials are useless.

Some really good YouTube videos showing silencers (suppressors) in action. In the second video, the man is using a suppressor however, he is not using subsonic bullets.










Sources: ehow, io9.com, http://www.swrmfg.com/, newsoftpedia.com
Picture source: here

Book Critique 3: Pauwels Chapter One

I love your words, they’re beautiful. It’s like reading poetry. I actually don’t have enough good things to say about this chapter. If the rest of your book is like this, it should sell well. Three murders means serial killer and I love SK stories. Although a lot happened in the first chapter, you held my attention and I wish I could have turned the page.
Dialogue was realistic and you did a lot more showing than telling. I especially liked the SK scene where he carefully tucked the victim in bed. Says a lot about the killer.
One thing to be careful about: although your words are wonderfully perfect, some may take the average reader aback. For example, in your first sentence of chapter one, you use two words that are, by definition perfect, but have two meaning: efficiency and burden. I don’t know who your target audience is but you don’t want your readers running for the dictionary or worse, putting the book back on the bookstore shelf because they want an easier mystery to read. What I would do with efficiency is just add the word ‘apartment’ after it. However, if it’s any consolation, if I read the first line of this book, I’d buy it.
I love that you didn’t get carried away with description - you give needed description and not much more. However, you don’t describe what any of the characters look like. I don’t mind this myself, I form a view of the character right away but some readers love to know what color hair or eyes a character has or how tall they are. Just a thought.

POV: Love the POV of the killer. I think it’s popular in crime fiction today to have chapters in the killers POV and you do a nice job here. It’s creepy and that’s what you want. The female detective seems like a strong MC and drop hints about her to leave us curious. For example, “Dispatch radioed me at 12:56, and called you at 01:12, 01:17, 01:22..."” What was she doing? Or, “Seems you’re still operating on narc time.” Now we want to know about her past. This chapter is a perfect example of layering in backstory. Enough to want to know more, not enough to bore us.

Well done! Let me know when the book comes out, I’ll buy it.

Forty & Out
Chapter 1
A pale glow from the Tiffany lamp cast a muted kaleidoscope of color across the plain white walls of the efficiency, broken only by the dim shadow of a man with a burden. It took six steps to cross the apartment, but he was panting when he eased the limp body onto the bed. He bent down and slipped off the woman’s sandals before straightening her legs onto the flowered sheets. He folded her arms across her chest and tucked the matching comforter up around her chin, smoothing out the wrinkles in the blanket on all sides of the still form (loved this). The man stood over her, silent, watchful, until his breathing returned to normal. He double-checked all the window locks, closed the bathroom door, and replaced the CD in the stereo with one from his jacket pocket, careful to handle the disk by the edges. A final circuit of the room to wipe down any surfaces he noted touching earlier. In the kitchenette, he opened the oven door and turned the gas on high, blowing out the pilot light when the electronic ignition kicked in. One more glance at the unconscious figure on the bed and the man was gone, leaving only quiet music in his place. “Happy birthday to you…”

Detective Sergeant Veronica Jadzinski threaded her way through the crowd milling outside the Campus View Apartments on Bancroft Street in Toledo’s university district. Flashing emergency lights lit up the dark sky, the harsh glare adding a surreal glow to the unhappy faces of displaced residences forced out of bed in the middle of a sultry June night. She tossed the remnants of her convenience store coffee in a trash can by the door and took the stairs two at a time to the second floor unit. Inside was standard crime scene chaos. The small efficiency was crowded with five uniformed officers, a three-man forensics team, the coroner, and the head of Toledo Police Homicide, Lieutenant Adam Forester, who ignored her.
"Same cause of death as the first two?" Forester asked the shift sergeant.
"Apparently. The gas odor alerted the neighbor who called us. Lucky the whole place didn't go up. We found the rose on the night stand, same as before."
"Time of death?"
"About midnight, I'd guess, but we'll know better after the coroner gets through." Patrol Sergeant Theodore Baxter finished jotting his notes and stood posed for more questions. The crime scene work was nearly completed, but the paperwork would take several hours and his regular shift was long over. The officers gathered near the victim’s bed while Forester surveyed the room. It had taken Dispatch over an hour to locate Jadzinski, even at one in the morning, and another thirty minutes for her to arrive.
"Hey, Jadz. Hot date last night?" Baxter asked.
"Hardly." She felt her face redden.
“Can it,” Forester interrupted. “This isn’t a social gathering. Give her the rundown while I talk to the coroner.” He moved away, still not looking at his newest detective, and began quizzing the medical officer.
Jadz forced her attention back to Baxter’s briefing.
"Ignore him, he’s always grumpy when he’s dragged out of bed.” Baxter flipped through his pad. “At 12:37 a.m., Dispatch sent a crew to this address to check a report from an upstairs neighbor who smelled gas. The responding officers, Canter and Jimenez," he pointed to the two uniformed men at the door, "rousted the manager, who lives in the basement apartment, and he let them in. They found the victim, Marianne Summers, white female, age forty, in bed, the gas stove turned on high with the oven door standing open. Air conditioning was off and windows were closed. Canter shut off the gas and found an exhaust fan while Jimenez opened the windows and called for the paramedics. Life squad was dispatched at 12:54, but it was already too late. Dispatch radioed me at 12:56, and called you at 01:12, 01:17, 01:22..." (It took me a minute to get it but oh, it’s funny!)
"All right, Theo, you made your point," Jadz broke in. "Any prints?"
"Nothing we can use. A few smudges on the oven door, but not enough to trace."
"Okay with you if we move the body now, Detective?" Dr. Hanley, the Assistant County Coroner moved toward the officers. "I've done all I can here and it looks like Forensics is about finished. Lt. Forester said you would want the autopsy first thing."
"That's fine, Doc. Can you give us the cause of death?" Jadz managed a slight smile for the veteran doctor. "It appears gas was a factor, of course, but are there any signs of trauma?"
"Nothing obvious," he said. "The coffee cup on the night stand was half full, so I'm taking that in for tests. I'll let you know as soon as I have anything definite." He nodded to the paramedics and they moved the body off the bed and onto the gurney. "When will you be at the station?"
Jadz checked her watch. “Give me another hour, at least. If I'm not there, Dispatch will know where to find me." She and Theo continued their review of the crime scene. They moved around the small, tidy room – crisp lace curtains, neatly filled bookshelves, straight back chairs, no over-stuffed lounges or extra pillows, and nothing out of place. “No sign of a struggle,” she said.
"Nope.” Theo returned to his notes. “According to the neighbors, Summers was single, worked as a librarian at the university. Only lived here about six months. She didn’t have many visitors. A Mrs. Anna Parsons lives in the unit above this one, she called in the report. Parsons seems to know everything that goes on in the building. She stated Miss, excuse me, ‘Ms.’ Summers usually watched the late news, the Letterman monologue, then went to bed. Parsons can hear the television from upstairs."
"Any change in that routine last night?"
"At 10:10 p.m., and Parsons noted the time particularly because it was the first commercial break in ER, she heard the door buzzer, followed by voices in Summers' apartment. The conversation continued for some time. In the middle of the Letterman monologue, about 11:40, the visitor left. Parsons didn't see anyone, although she did look out the front window when she heard the door. The awning could have blocked her view if the subject was on foot and didn't cross the street."
"Okay. Finish your report and have it on my desk as soon as you can. I'm going to stop down to talk to the apartment manager about securing the apartment for a few days. I'll see you at the station later." Jadz saw Forester waiting impatiently by the door, looking even more disheveled and annoyed than usual. Steeling herself for more unpleasantness, she approached her new supervisor.
“Crime scenes get cold fast.” Forester glared at her. “Seems you’re still operating on narc time.”
“I was unavoidably detained,” Jadz said, trying not to sound defensive. “I’m here now, and everything is going smoothly, so you can back off.”
He grunted. “It’s your case until I decide otherwise.” They stepped aside to make room for the gurney bearing the shrouded victim to squeeze through. “Number three, it seems. What are you going to do about it?” Forester followed the medics out the door, not waiting for a response.
Jadz grimaced, forced to admit at least to herself, I have no idea.

How to make a Book Trailer: Part I - The Music

Many remarked that they liked my movie trailer and wished they could do the same thing. Well, it's not hard. Even for the computer-challenged. I'm going to be using Windows Movie Maker because most have Windows based operating systems and this program is FREE.

If you don't have this program on your computer you can download it for FREE here: Windows XP and Windows VISTA. I trust CNET for downloading programs but you should have anti-virus software installed on your computer before downloading anything.

Once installed (and I'm not helping you install it) open the program. You should see a window like the one below - minus the song files. (click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

Now, I'll start walking you through how to make a movie.

1. The first thing I would do when I start making a movie is save the file. That way, throughout the process all you need to do is press Ctrl-S to save it again. You don't want to lose all your hard work! Go to 'File' (#1 in the picture) on the menu bar and click 'Save Project As' and save it. I would save it as the same title as your book but whatever, it's your project.
2. Next, we're going to get music. I'll make this clear first: you can't just choose your favorite song off the radio. It's protected. You either need to make your own music or choose a song that is in the public domain. You have permission to use it. There are many websites out there where you can download this music. Just type this into google: public domain music
3. Once you have a song, you need to upload it to WMM (Windows movie maker). You do this by clicking Import --> Audio or Music on the left hand side bar (2). Find the song and press Insert. It will appear in your Imported Media (3).
4. Now, you have to add the song to your timeline. It's easy. Just drag the file into the timeline as it is pictured in (4). Make sure it's in the Audio/Music portion of the timeline (5).
5. Normally songs range from 3-5 minutes long and you don't want to make a book trailer that long. (Usually it's about 1-1.5 minutes in length.) SO, you're going to have to cut the song. Go either to the beginning or end of the song and click on the song in the timeline. You'll see a red arrow appear and just drag the song to the desired length. Easy!
6. Okay, now what if you want only a section of the song but it's in the middle. Well, you can movie the front and back arrows to the middle portion of the song you want or you can use the "SPLIT" button shown below (8) and split the song where you want. I would go with the first option because it's simpler. 

7. If you want two different portions of the same song, you can cut the first portion where you want it and then drag the song a second time into the timeline and find that portion. Easy again!
8. What if you want three different songs? Well, you can do that too. Just pull the three songs down to the timeline and then crop them to what portions you want. (see picture below)

Any questions?

Has anyone noticed my bar?

Short post today. I have a lot of writing to do...

 1) Ten Best Links for Novel Structure - "There are endless tried and true formulas that can help writers needing a little more structure." This will be helpful for any writers just starting out in fiction.



2) Writing Mechanics Monday: Show vs. Tell

 Lola has a great article on show don't tell. She answers questions such as: But what does that really mean? Why is it so important? And is it ever okay to 'tell'?

3) Also, I've installed a bar at the bottom of my blog which does many neat things. You can tweet from it, post it to facebook, search for blogs and look at some of my past posts. Does it work for you? Have you tried it? Does it make things simpler? Please, let me know.


4) Also, so many people have asked me how I've done my trailer using Windows Movie Maker and because more and more people will be wanting to make their own book trailers, I will be making a post on how to use the program.

Writer's Guide to Reading People - The Office

Love the nature, a bit claustrophobic.

I have to be honest, reading description of setting is not my favorite thing. Most times, I quickly glance through it. If it's about the color of leaves or the shape of clouds, I skip it altogether.

However, if the description is enlightening, I read on. For instance, if a character walks into a boy's room and the walls are pink, I'm intrigued.

Well, office description can be intriguing as well - if we know what things mean. For example, if we walk into an office describe it having a desk, a chair, a bookshelf, a window, a phone, it tells us nothing interesting. That's what normal, boring people have in their offices. Well, we don't want our characters to be boring, surface creatures. We want to learn more about them... What tells us about a character in an office?

Six things. We'll look at the first three today.

Talli's gonna hate me...

1) Calendars - if you enter a mechanic's shop and there is a calender of a half-nude woman, it's not unusual. However, if your doctor has one in his office, it tells us something. Here are calenders you might find in my office: one with a picture of the new Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, 365 Daily IQ puzzles, or one with Boxer puppies. That says something about me... especially if I added to the list a calendar of half-nude women. (I don't really have this calender)

2) Photographs (or lack of) and their frames - I love walking into restaurants and seeing photos of the presidents or actors with the chef. It's bragging, but they probably serve good food. Gandhi on the wall of an office in a simple black wooden frame vs Homer Simpson in plastic glitter frame also speak volumes. What do you think of a lawyer that displays his six-year-old's school drawing on his shelf?

3) Books - When I enter anyone's house or office, this is what I notice first. Sadly, I size people (and characters) up by the books they have. If all your characters have in their house is Cosmo and romance novels, I'll think one thing. If I walk into an office and all the books are hardbound, reference books, I'll think another. If your character's bringing your romance novels to work, I'll think another. An office is a place for work so if they're piling novels or cooking magazines on their desk, it says a lot about them and their work ethic.

Now that you know this, use it in your descriptions.

Next week, the other three things.

Picture Source: Here
Source: Reading People

Revision Series: The Read-Throughs

Well, so far in my revision series I've discussed:
1) Leaving the manuscript alone for awhile
2) The first read-through
3) Making a time-line

Step #4: SELECTIVE READ-THROUGHs

This is where we pick certain parts of the story to focus on.

For example, plot.

• Go through your manuscript just examining the plot alone. Not the characters, not the dialog, just the plot. 
• Focus on the main plot first and then the secondary or multiple subplots. 
• Write down each plot on a piece of paper and analyze whether or not they have a interesting beginning, and satisfactory ending.
• Do you need it or does it bog down the story?

Once sure your plot is all right, go through for character.

• You might want to highlight in a different color the instance of each character. For example, every time my character Sophia acts or speaks in my novel, I can highlight the words in pink. (This works better in a computerized format or you may be running low on highlighters.)
• After highlighting, analyze whether or not your character sounds real or are they cliche?
• Are their mannerisms or dialogue authentic?
• Do you need that 57th character or can we cap the character list at twenty or less?

Next week, the revision series examines FINE TUNING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Source: Writing and Selling your Mystery Novel

Been working on my book trailer...whatcha think?

Keep in mind it's still a work in progress but I think you'll get the idea. It's the first time I've worked with Windows Movie Maker and it's more versatile than I thought... What do you think I should change? (I have to change some of the images because some are just filler.)

My First Free Chapter Review

Well, I've very pleased to announce my very first blogged Chapter Review. These are my thoughts and they may differ from yours. I haven't been harsh ( I hope anyway) but I have been truthful. Please, give your thoughts on both the review and the chapter. However, do not attack the writer or your comment will be deleted.

What did I like?

Let’s start with the book title: loved it! Dead Politician Society is obviously based on a movie title but it caught my attention enough that I may buy the book in a bookstore because of it.
Also, you use a lot of showing and not telling. That’s wonderful.


Also, I like the premise of the book. I love reading about undercover assignments and I love main characters that are female.


Another thing I liked about the chapter is that you could have added backstory and lots of description but you didn’t. Because you were in a coffee shop, we didn’t need much description. Most people know what a coffee shop looks like. And, the first chapter or second chapter is not the place to add large chunks of backstory.


Does the chapter end in a way that we want to keep turning the page? For me, yes. I want to find out what happens at the university. We know it’s going to get better and more exciting from here.


Does your POV (Point of View) switch in a way that the reader is confused? You’re in Clare’s POV and you remain consistent throughout the chapter. That’s great!

Problem areas:

I noticed two issues with the chapter… I think you’re not going to be able to fix the book if it’s going for publication in 12 days but I will give my thoughts anyways. It can’t hurt. You can use my opinions for your next book.


(1) You’ve said that this is your first chapter so I’m going to give you my thoughts accordingly. I wouldn’t start here. If I have this right, Clare is a police officer being given an undercover assignment – she’s to attend university and find the person responsible for killing the mayor? The information in this chapter is needed; however, I wouldn’t put it in the first chapter. This would make a better chapter two. My suggestion: You state that the mayor was murdered at the Working Child Benefit, could we see the murder happen? I would find it intriguing to see him go down in his own vomit.


(2) The second issue is with your main character. I would say be careful with your character in one aspect. She can’t appear too naive or dumb. For example, undercover work is a very difficult assignment that can put a detective’s life at risk, so when she asks “Is that more like politics or science?” I begin to worry about her intelligence. Perhaps you can have her state the question just to annoy Cloutier but let the reader know she knew what it meant. I love detective stories with humor but you want to make sure the realism is there as well. Three months as an officer is very little time so, to build the readers trust, you want to make sure that the reason she was pick for this assignment is well warranted.


Clare Vengel tossed a leg over her Triumph and kicked it into gear. The sun was shining, the mayor was dead, and Cloutier wanted to meet with her. (I actually liked this sentence the best. I would make it sentence number one. The sentence grabs our attention because it says the sun’s shining and then, bam, hits us with “the mayor was dead”. What!? See, it catches us off guard – great!) As she sped along Dundas Street, weaving a bit too quickly through traffic, visions of her first undercover assignment played in her head. (Is what we read of from this point visions of her first undercover assignment or does your character just think of the past until she arrives at Dundas and Dupont? Not clear enough for me.)
At Dundas and Dupont, she found the agreed-upon donut shop. Sergeant Cloutier was already seated with two enormous coffees. (Oh… coffee. *drool*)
“So.” Clare flashed her brightest smile. “Who am I?” She slid into the cushioned booth, and set her helmet on the seat beside her.
Cloutier opened a bag and pulled out a dutchie. “I’m not pleased to be using you.”
“Okay.” That was fair. She was as green as they came. Clare determined to please him with results.
“We need someone who looks young. We also need someone with field experience. Apparently in this enlightened age it’s the packaging that counts.”
Clare sipped her coffee. What was she supposed to say?
Cloutier nodded to some sugar packets in the center of the table. “You’re not gonna use those?”
Clare wrinkled her nose. “No, thanks.”
Cloutier took one and added it to his own coffee.
“You’re going back to school.” He slid a plain white envelope across the table. “You’re a third-year political science student.”
“Political science?” Clare opened the envelope and discreetly observed a student card, driver’s license, and other documents that identified her as Clare Simpson. “Is that more like politics or science?”
Cloutier shook his head irritably. “Politics.”
“Oh.” Clare would have preferred science.
“You think you can get up to speed fast enough?”
“Of course.” She’d stay awake all night if she had to. (Do you really feel one night of studying is equal to three years of political science studies? It shows the character’s is eager and willing but a little naïve.) “Is there a reason I’m only half undercover?”
“You’re keeping your first name to make things easier on you.”
“Thanks.” Clare wasn’t sure whether to feel protected or insulted. ( You might want to say something about this. Perhaps, “You’re trusting that I’ll pass as a third year political science student but you think I can’t remember two names?”)
“This isn’t a permanent transfer.” Cloutier broke a piece from his donut. “Screw this case up, and it’s back to the beat for a very long time.”
“Okay.” Again, fair. Most cops had to put in years in uniform before they’d be given an undercover assignment. She’d been on the force for three months. (She couldn’t have been the only one with a pretty face. I think the reader will want a better explanation as to why she was picked after such a short time on the force.) “How did the mayor die?”
“Do you live on this planet?”
Clare eyed Cloutier’s dutchie. She wished she had one of her own. Or something greasy, like bacon or sausage, to soak up her mild hangover. (Be careful about mentioning a hangover here. It really doesn’t add to the respect we should be giving the main character. We need to respect her to want to read a whole book with her as MC…)
“Hayden Pritchard died at last night’s Working Child Benefit. He collapsed in his own vomit. It was all over the news.”
“Oh.” Clare was supposed to feel ignorant because she didn’t spend her evenings glued to the local fucking news? Fine, maybe she felt a little bit ignorant, but she wasn’t going to show it.
“Just read this.” Cloutier passed a printed email across the stained Formica table.

Hayden Pritchard: July 27, 1954–September 6, 2010

We hereby launch our campaign to create a political utopia for the real world. Hayden Pritchard made a dramatic exit from life last night, facilitated by the poison we slipped him.

Pritchard became mayor thirteen years ago, at which point he began to skillfully destroy the city’s economy. He spent piles of money to cultivate all kinds of fringe votes, and when he went over budget, he simply raised taxes to compensate. Small business owners closed up shop or moved to the suburbs in response to punishing tax hikes, and Toronto was ranked the worst place in the western world to do business.

We might have been fine with this if that money had been used to save some wildlife or give scholarships to inner city kids, but as far as we can tell, society’s problems have remained intact.

Pritchard and his staffers are okay with all this; they’ve received a fifty percent pay raise.

With another election three long years away, we have decided to free taxpayers from Pritchard’s socialist nightmare.

You’re welcome.

This has been a message from the Society for Political Utopia.

Clare wasn’t sure why her fingers trembled as she handed the page back to Cloutier.
“This email was sent to Annabel Davis, the assistant obituary editor at the Star.”
“Obituaries?” Clare rolled her eyes upward, and saw that the drop ceiling was badly in need of repair. “I guess there isn’t a homicidal rants editor. Is the newspaper printing it?”
“Not for now.”
“Do we know who sent the email?”
“Yeah. That’s why we need the investigation.”
Clare wanted to groan, but reminded herself to stay positive.
“The source computer was wireless.” Cloutier took one of the unused creamers and added it to his coffee, not bothering to stir it in. “A laptop, or one of those fancy Internet phones. The address was nicknamed ‘Utopia Girl.’”
“I presume we know that the mayor actually died from poison.”
“You don’t need to do any presuming. We have detectives for that. But yes: the medical examiner found massive organ damage consistent with some common poisons. Pritchard’s genitals and urinary organs were congested with blood.” (That’s pretty quick for a post mortem to be done. The murder only happened last night.)
“You mean his cock was hard,” Clare said, then immediately felt morbid.
Cloutier looked Clare in the eye. “Pritchard’s death was painful and miserable.”
Of course it was — her comment had been callous and horrible. She tried another tack. “Had he recently started a new medication? Viagra maybe? If he was already on some other drug, for his heart or something, the two could have interacted badly.”
“Thanks for your medical opinion.”
Clare tried to take a sip of coffee, but ended up dribbling most of it down her chin and onto her favorite T-shirt.
“Your job is basic, Vengel: go in as a student, keep your eyes and ears open, and get in touch when you find something that might help us.”
“Okay.” Clare stroked her helmet, which sat beside her on the plastic bench. “How about an obvious question: Why do we think this ‘Utopia Girl’ is the killer? Doesn’t every nutcase and his brother pop out of the woodwork when a famous person dies?”
“The inspector obviously thinks there’s something to it.” (What does the inspector know? I think the reader should know a bit more here…)
Clare leaned forward. “Which inspector?”
“Detective Inspector Morton hand-picked you for this assignment.”
“Cool.” Clare liked Morton — and apparently he thought she was worth a chance. He had hardly been exuberant when she’d met him, but he at least hadn’t laughed her out of his office when she’d approached him about undercover work. “And — last question, I swear — what’s the connection to the university? Is that where the email was sent from?”
“Looks that way.” Cloutier ate the last of his donut and stuffed his crumpled napkin into the bag. “Your first class is at eleven a.m. if you can make it, but the course that most interests us is your two o’clock. It meets twice a week. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. It’s called Political Utopia for the Real World.”
Clare’s eyes scanned the obituary upside down. “Is it a large class?”
“Twenty students, plus you. Now go. You have pencils and notebooks to buy.”
“Can I invoice the station for them?”
“Of course. Just don’t buy anything fancy.”
“Do I look like I’d want something fancy?” Clare picked up her helmet.
“No, you don’t.” Cloutier smirked. “Have a good day at school.” (Personally, I would end it here. The last line does not add anything for me.)
Clare rode off into the morning.

I'm taking the day off blogging... kinda

I've decided to interrupt my normally scheduled programming to focus on my life today.

I have a squash in the my fridge that's just begging to be cut open with a knife and baked with butter and cinnamon. (Oh my, the mystery writer in me is strong, Yoda!)

I have to get chapter nineteen edited and up on my other site.

I have to get back to the book I'm reading before I have to start over because I can't remember who anyone is or what happened in the first few chapters.

I did finish my first Free Chapter Review. I'm so excited. I'm going to post my review on tomorrow's blog and I would love YOUR COMMENTS on both my review and the chapter.

And, if I get a chance, I have a date with my pillow hopefully more than 15 minutes.

So, enjoy your weekend (what's left of it...) I'm going for some Texas BBQ tonight (brisket and beans) and then play some basketball. See ya tomorrow!

My Life as a Book and Why English is So Difficult

When I saw Margot from Confessions of a Mystery Novelist's responses for the My Life As A Book community meme, I too decided I couldn’t resist participating, So here is the truth about me by crime fiction titles:

• In high school I was: Baroque and Desperate by Tamar Myers
• People might be surprised I’m: Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham
• I will never be: The Torment of Others by Val McDermid
• My fantasy job is: American Assassin (Mitch Rapp)
• At the end of a long day I need: A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George
• I hate it when: No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
• Wish I had: Timeline by Michael Crichton
• My family reunions are:  The Insane Train (A Hook Runyon Mystery) by Sheldon Russell
• At a party you’d find me: Still Missing (Chevy Stevens)
• I’ve never been to: London Boulevard by Ken Bruen
• A happy day includes: Mystery At The Bookstore by Harleen Jaggi and Gurcharan S Ahluwalia
• Motto I live by:  No Regrets by Gene Lewter
• On my bucket list: Publish or Perish (Margot Kinberg)
• In my next life, I want to be: On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark

This was really fun. You should play along too.

Last week, Charmaine Clancy at The Write Words had an example of why English is such a difficult language to learn. And yes, it is. I've taught English here in Mexico and one of the hardest things to teach is pronunciation. The interesting poem below explains why.

The Chaos

by G. Nolst Trenite' a.k.a. "Charivarius" 1870 - 1946

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye your dress you'll tear,
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer,
Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say said, pay-paid, laid, but plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say break, steak, but bleak and streak.
Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir,
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles.
Exiles, similes, reviles.
Wholly, holly, signal, signing.
Thames, examining, combining
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war, and far.
From "desire": desirable--admirable from "admire."
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier.
Chatham, brougham, renown, but known.
Knowledge, done, but gone and tone,
One, anemone. Balmoral.
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel,
Gertrude, German, wind, and mind.
Scene, Melpomene, mankind,
Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, reading, heathen, heather.
This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.
Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet;
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which is said to rime with "darky."
Viscous, Viscount, load, and broad.
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's O.K.,
When you say correctly: croquet.
Rounded, wounded, grieve, and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive, and live,
Liberty, library, heave, and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven,
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover,
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police, and lice.
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label,
Petal, penal, and canal,
Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal.
Suit, suite, ruin, circuit, conduit,
Rime with "shirk it" and "beyond it."
But it is not hard to tell,
Why it's pall, mall, but Pall Mall.
Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, and chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor,
Ivy, privy, famous, clamour
And enamour rime with hammer.
Pussy, hussy, and possess,
Desert, but dessert, address.
Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants.
Hoist, in lieu of flags, left pennants.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rime with anger.
Neither does devour with clangour.
Soul, but foul and gaunt but aunt.
Font, front, won't, want, grand, and grant.
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger.
And then: singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age.
Query does not rime with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post; and doth, cloth, loth;
Job, Job; blossom, bosom, oath.
Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual.
Seat, sweat; chaste, caste.; Leigh, eight, height;
Put, nut; granite, and unite.
Reefer does not rime with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
Hint, pint, Senate, but sedate.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific,
Tour, but our and succour, four,
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria,
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay.
Say aver, but ever, fever.
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.
Never guess--it is not safe:
We say calves, valves, half, but Ralph.
Heron, granary, canary,
Crevice and device, and eyrie,
Face but preface, but efface,
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust, and scour, but scourging,
Ear but earn, and wear and bear
Do not rime with here, but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, clerk, and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation--think of psyche--!
Is a paling, stout and spikey,
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing "groats" and saying "grits"?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel,
Strewn with stones, like rowlock, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict, and indict!
Don't you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?
Finally: which rimes with "enough"
Though, through, plough, cough, hough, or tough?
Hiccough has the sound of "cup."
My advice is--give it up!

Special Announcement: Free Chapter Reviews and Awards!

 Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere has awarded me with the One Lovely Blog Award. I feel honored.
I don't think I need to do anything but pass it on so here goes:
1) Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow
2) Patrick Tillett and Talli Roland- I don't know if you two accept awards but you can at least get the recognition
3) Tossing it Out!
4) Amanda at All That Good Jazz
5) Doralynn at Coffee Time Romance
6) Carol at Under the Tiki Hut

 Alex J. Cavanaugh has awarded me the special Friday the 13th Award! I have no idea why it's called that.

1) Lenny at Lenny's World

2) Theresa Milstein at Substitute Teacher's Saga

3) Helen at Straight From Hel

4) keishua at The Curious World of L

5) Boonsong

If I forgot any one and you want any of these awards to grace your blog sidebar, please take it.

Now, on to the SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! I've been thinking of doing something for my blog readers for a long time. I belong to an online group of writers that give reviews and support to writers of poetry, short stories and novels. They are invaluable to me. They have helped my writing improve dramatically in the two years I've been with them. I thought I would do something similar for you.

THIS IS NOT A CONTEST! THIS WILL BE A NEW FEATURE ON MY BLOG SO DON'T FEEL YOU HAVE TO RUSH TO SUBMIT A CHAPTER. 

Also, I understand that some of you are nervous about having your work read by those you know in the blogging community, if you would like, send me an email and we can post your work as anonymous. Email: clarissadraper at gmail dot com

I will be offering weekly free chapter reviews on this blog. If you're writing your first story or if you're writing your fifth and you want some opinions, this will interest you. All you have to do is (1) be a follower of my blog (most of you are) and (2) write your name (or blog title) and link to your blog below. I will visit your blog (if I'm not following it, I will follow you - so make sure you have a follower gadget) and give you information as to how to send me your chapter. I will post three chapter reviews every week (unless I'm on holiday) in order of the names received.

What will I review?

Any fiction/non-fiction chapter or short story under 2000 words. 

What will I NOT review?

• Poetry
• Sex scenes (I will post my reviews on the site and I know there are teenagers who read my blog)
• Any chapter with extreme violence or swearing.
• Any work that degrades a certain race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.

What will the review touch on?

I will say this, if you're sending me your chapter because all you want is a pat on the back and you think your chapter is perfect and doesn't need any more revision - DON'T SEND ME YOUR CHAPTER!
However, if you want an HONEST and HELPFUL review, feel free to fill out the form below. I will never be too harsh but I will always be honest.

• I'll mention the things I liked about the chapter first. What I found funny or touching or thought-provoking. There is always something good about a chapter.
• I will mention what I think you need to work on in general. For example, you need to fix your POV or grammar.
• The main character - is he/she/it easy to relate to? do we sympathize with them? are they boring?
• Does the chapter capture the readers attention and keep it throughout the chapter?
• Does the chapter end in a way that we want to keep turning the page?
• Does your POV (Point of View) switch in a way that the reader is confused?
• How is your dialogue? Realistic?
• How is your voice?
• Too much backstory?
• Description: Too much, too little, too difficult to understand?
• Cliche?
• Too much telling and not enough showing?
  

Because this is only a chapter review, I will not discuss plot or character development much because that's difficult to determine with one chapter alone. Unless it's a short story. ALSO, THIS IS NOT A COPY-EDIT! I will not be fixing spelling errors or grammar problems. I am giving my opinion only. I will be specific though. I will post your chapter and, in red type, write my notes.

When I contact you, please send me a short paragraph briefly explaining the plot.

What about me? I'm not an author? I just read your blog. What can I do?

You can do two things: (1) you can tell your friends about it. I will make a button and you can put it on your sidebar if you like.---> Button on sidebar
(2) you can give your opinions as well. When I post the three chapters, you can take the template above and leave comments below. I'm sure the writers would love more opinions. You may disagree with my critique and that's allowed.

HOWEVER, I will NOT tolerate attacks on the writer. You can critique the writing but you CAN NOT make comments against the writer. Any such comments will be deleted immediately.

Any more questions? Please ask in your comments below.

Writer's Guide to Reading People - Writing Focus and Boredom

First of all, before I start my blog today, I want to state that tomorrow I'm going to announce a new feature at Listen To the Voices. I'm really excited about it and I hope you will be too. I will explain all then.

We all know what's it's like to be focused. For instance when we're watching a movie with Brad Pitt or Jessica Alba... or Biel. We're focused. Or when we're trying to pass our driving test. Again, focused.

We know what it means now how do we describe it in our novels?

When we're focused, we are usually still. For as long as we're interested.

Our eyes may be:

• maintaining strong eye contact - "She never took her eyes off the screen."
• blinking less or not at all
• looking at the ceiling or off in space

Our mouths may be:

• agape
• chewing something  - "While listening to the lecture, she chewed on her bottom lip."

Our hands may be:

• under our chins, holding our heads up
• clasped tightly in front of us

Other signs:

• Nodding or shaking head in agreement with what is being said or done
• Staying with a conversation - he replies to ever statement and question with the proper response.
• Laughing or appropriate sounds at the right moment for it
• Our bodies remain still

Now on to boredom. I think the baby is the perfect model for boredom.

• Slumped shoulders
• Hand on chin
• Droopy eyes
• I think I can hear the baby groan.
• Yawning or stretching
• Doodling
• Looking at the ceiling or off in space (notice how it can mean both attention and boredom?)
• De-linting or de-piling
• Cleaning your fingernails, filing them
• Tapping or playing with a watch
• Sleeping - if someone is doing that when we speak, we might as well stop.

The list really goes on and on and on...

Have you read any good passages that SHOW either FOCUS or BOREDOM?

Picture Source: here
Source: Reading People

Revision Series: Why am I wearing a raincoat in a snowstorm?

Ever do this? Chapter three, it rained and then in chapter four, each step tracked up dust? That's because you made the same mistake I did on my first book. I forgot to make a time-line while I wrote it.

Why is a time-line important?

• Continuity errors - after I began to edit my first book I discovered that characters couldn't have been where they said they were because I had them somewhere else in a different chapter. Especially when writing mysteries - where alibis are important - your readers may be keeping track (I often keep a notebook beside me while I read) and they will catch your errors.
• Cluttered days - I made this mistake too. I had my characters run around like chickens trying to find the killer and forgot that things like autopsy and forensics take time. They wouldn't have received the information the next day like I wrote. Another reason a time-line is vital.
• Snowing in summer - I don't have a lot of issue with this because I write my novels with a small time frame but if you're a cold case writer, you need to keep track of when past events happened as well.
• Sunrise/Sunset - Does your sun rise in the West? When your character is sitting down to dinner at six, is it dark or light out? In the summer, he can eat without lights. In the winter, he has to turn on the lights.
• Domino effect - If you change the day in the fourth chapter, make sure you change the chapters that follow.

What should your time-line look like?

Time-line by character

Time-line by scene or chapter

My current time-line looks more like the first but you can make yours fit how your novel progresses. If there is a lot of time between scenes (for instance, if days or weeks go by without action) you can make a combination of the first and second).

If you have a time-line, what does it look like?

Source: Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel

Mystery Writer's Guide to Forensic Science - Bang, Bang, you're dead!

I often fall asleep to the sound of gunfire. Ah, the smell of gunpowder in the morning. However, I'm not going to talk about Mexico today. I'm going to talk about guns - handguns to be specific. I'm going to take the most important questions and give you my research.

What do handguns look like?
Here are two examples of popular service pistols used by law enforcement. Do more research to find out what type of weapon the shooter would use.

Browning Hi-Power

SIG Sauer P226

Where is the safety on a gun?
Well, every gun is different. And, in all honesty, when writing mystery fiction, do we really say more than, "he/she took the safety off"?

However, some popular guns have safety in the grip -such as the 1911 guns. For such a gun to fire, even if you press the trigger if the back of the grip is not pressed in – which it always is in when you hold it for firing but never otherwise as it is spring loaded to stay out – even if you press the trigger that gun will not fire. The grip safety must be pressed in to go BANG. Some popular guns such as Glocks have no safety switches but they have little levers on the trigger. To fire the gun, whether cocked or not, you must first press the little trigger lever and then pull the trigger.
Revolvers have no safeties but they are much harder to pull the trigger (relative to a semi-auto).  

What are the parts of a handgun called?

The Simple Diagram

The More Complex Diagram

What do handgun shots sound like?

Well, again, it depends on the gun, where you are (indoors or out), how far away you are. I once was a few houses away when police started shooting but it was with rifles so it was loud. Also, I was running to my car, so I wasn't trying to think of what it sounded like either. From far away (like a few streets away, they are much quieter and sound more like popping to me. I put a video on my youtube account, you can go watch it here. You do NOT see any dead bodies - no one dies. (Keep in mind, it sounds different on TV.) If any of you have heard a gun go off, what did it sound like to you?

What happens when you shoot a gun in the air? 

The bullet comes down. And hard. Some idiot on New Years Eve shot a gun outside of my father's house into the air and the bullet came down through my father's Honda Civic roof and down into the drivers seat. Had my father been sitting behind the steering wheel, he'd be dead. If you shoot a gun in the air, it can kill someone.

Is this all I need to know?

Of course not. But, I have this word of advice. You don't want to get your facts wrong, don't go into to much detail. The average reader does not need to know much more than someone was shot. However, when doing witness statements or forensics, research is good to have.

I want to hear your gun stories, people!  What kind of experience do you have with firearms? Anything you want to know for my next gun post?

Next week: Gunshot residue. Bullet holes. Can bullets go through concrete? What about glass?

Sources: Rightnerve.com
 Smith and Wesson

Book Review and INTERVIEW: Cut Short by Leigh Russell

CUT SHORT “gritty and totally addictive debut novel” New York Journal of Books (Sam Millar)

‘Simply awesome! This debut novel by Leigh Russell will take your breath away' CUT SHORT is listed as a Top Read for 2009 on Eurocrime

Genre: Mystery/ Psychological Thriller
How I read it: I own the book

What attracted me to the book: I had heard many good things about this book. This genre is the type of genre I write so I'm interested in reading the same. I prefer to read series with strong detectives and I was hopeful that DI Geraldine Steel would continue for many books.

Summary (from amazon): D.S. Geraldine Steel expects the quiet town of Woolsmarsh to be dull. She quickly discovers she is wrong. The park is a place where children play, friends sit and gossip, people walk their dogs, or take a short cut to avoid the streets. But in the shadows a predator prowls, hunting for victims. A woman sees the killer and comes forward as a witness-someone whom the killer must stop at all costs. For D.S. Geraldine Steel, it is a race against time to find the killer before he strikes again, as public pressure mounts with the growing death toll.

My thoughts:I was looking for a wonderful series to start and I found it! Leigh says that character is interesting to her and you can really see that in the way she delves into the lives of each one. One thing I liked about the book was that each chapter was short - there are sixty-five of them, but they are each short. We are introduced to the killer from the beginning of the book but even then, the information keeps us guessing who he really is, how will he be caught, and for me, who is Miss Elsie? It's a real twist when we find out...

Also, what made the novel great is that we live, not only in our detective's shoes, but also in our victim's shoes and the killers. Each time a victim is taken, we feel not only for them but, because we know the killer and his motives, we feel for the killer as well. Leigh Russell does not tell us too much about the detectives in the series and that's great because it leaves us with something to discover in the next book which I'm eagerly awaiting.

Interview With The Author: I am so honored to be interviewing Leigh Russell today. Her writing, her books I'm sure are going to be joining the ranks with the likes of Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell very soon.

(1) What made you decide to write crime fiction? What authors inspired you?

I started writing one day almost by chance. It took a second for an idea to grab me and I’ve been writing compulsively ever since!

I was walking through my local park one rainy day when a man appeared around a bend in the path walking towards me. I wondered what I would do if I passed him and saw a body in the bushes beside the path. I walked on, there was no body in the bushes, but the idea stayed with me and when I went home I began to write the story. Who was the victim? What was she doing in the park? Why did this man kill her? How would the police find him? Within six weeks I had written the draft for a novel. I sent this off to a publisher who specialises in crime fiction. Two weeks later they phoned me and shortly after that signed me up for three books. I wrote somewhere that I fell into writing like Alice down the rabbit hole.

I admire many authors. I am a huge fan of Jeffery Deaver and am thrilled to have him as a fan in return. He described CUT SHORT as “a stylish, top-of-the-line crime tale, a seamless blending of psychological sophistication and gritty police procedure. And you're just plain going to love DI Geraldine Steel.” I read Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid, Lee Child, Simon Beckett… it’s a long list. But sadly, since I started writing, I have very little time for reading.
As for inspiration – I find that in real life, just walking around. I’m constantly on the look out for places where a dead body could be concealed. Who is it? How did he or she arrive there? Who was the killer?... and off I go, writing another book.

(2) You introduce us to DI Geraldine Steel - a strong female heroine. She also appears in the next book ROAD CLOSED. Do you plan to keep the series alive for while?

The draft for the third book in the series, DEAD END, has already been delivered to my publisher and I am about a quarter of the way through the next one. So the answer is YES! As the series is becoming so popular, I think it will continue for quite a while and I have lots of ideas – I’m already working on ideas for books five and six… and Geraldine is the detective throughout.

(3) Recently, I heard your name was read out as one of eight authors shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award for Best First Novel. What an honor! It's every writer's dream that their first book does as well as yours, did it shock you how well yours did?

I was astounded and excited. It is a great honour. Being shortlisted for such a major award gives you a huge boost as a writer. I had a wonderful day at Harrogate, chatting to Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham and attending a brilliant panel on forensics. This kind of recognition gives you real credibility as an author.

(4) I love that you switched multiple point of views in your novel. You even have the point of view of a child. What made you decide to write from that POV?

The Times of London described my books as “well-written, soundly plotted and psychologically acute.” My books are plot driven – you read on because you have to find out what happens next. The Star magazine called ROAD CLOSED “a gripping page-turner from the start” and this is a view that is repeated throughout the many reviews of my work. But what really interests me is character. I have to see the world from inside my characters’ heads before I can create them and make their world seem real. I wrote one scene from the point of view of a child because that was the character the narrative focused in that scene.

(5) You also write from the POV of the killer. The reason I think this is gaining popularity in crime fiction is because the reader can delve into the mind of the killer - we gain an understanding of the motives. Did it ever bother you to write those scenes? Did it leave you haunted?

I wrote somewhere that my killer crawled off my pen onto the page. I have no idea where he came from but I felt I understood him right from the start. He haunted me in the way many of my characters haunt me, because they fascinate me. Exploring the mind of my killer wasn’t disturbing because I found him so interesting! In some ways, he is as much a victim as the people he kills. Because I have to understand my characters, it is difficult to create a character who is purely ‘evil’ and, in real life, many killers seem outwardly quite normal. Neighbours and acquaintances are often shocked and surprised to learn that someone they thought they knew is in fact a killer. Exploring the evil potential in man is one of the issues that interests me. Are we all capable of killing? I don’t think so - but if your life was threatened and you had a gun in your hand, what would you do? These are huge and dangerous questions to raise and all crime fiction has a moral dimension because we are talking about life and death. That also raises the stakes and makes it very exciting, of course.

(6) Last question, I love the cover of Cut Short. One thing that puzzles me, what does the writing on the cover signify? Are they real words?

I love the cover of CUT SHORT too! The writing on the cover is ambiguous, but I like the fact that readers can draw their own conclusions about it. Not everything in life is clear cut. I think that is one of the reasons for the enduring appeal of crime fiction, because the moral issues are clear and the villains are caught by the good guys in the end. Although, as I said, the villain in CUT SHORT is also a victim. So you have to draw your own conclusions about the book as well.

Wow. I can't believe that two weeks after finishing the draft, you were picked up for three books. That's amazing! But, you can see what all the excitement was about when you read the book. I'm sure the publisher knew the potential the series would have. I'm looking forward to the day when I can watch your books come alive on BBC or ITV with the new DI Geraldine Steel series.

Thank you so much for interviewing with me. I hope to be able to ask you a few questions about your next book.

Bottom Line on this Book: I know many of my readers enjoy Val McDermid, Ruth Rendell and Martin Edwards. You will not be disappointed with Cut Short or any works by Leigh Russell.

You can buy the book Cut Short in paperback

• AMERICA HERE:  Cut Short
• THE UK HERE: Cut Short

You can buy the book Road Closed in paperback

• AMERICA HERE: Road Closed
• THE UK HERE: Road Closed

Visit the author's blog and website.

Blogging Tips: Creating a Scrolling Blog Button Viewer

In case you don't know what that is, it's the scrolling (moving) gadget on my side bar. The one displaying all my blog buttons. Many have asked me how to do it and so I'm going to give a tutorial now.

1) Go to your 'dashboard'
2) Click 'Design' under your blog
3) Under the 'Page Elements' tab, click add gadget where you want a gadget
4) Select the add HTML

5) Copy and paste the text below into an HTML

<center>

<div class="textwidget">

<marquee direction="up" width="200" onmouseover="this.stop()" scrollamount="5" onmouseout="this.start()" height="400" align="center">

<center>
<a href="http://clarissadraper.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ED_xmanimDQ/S89LMEL-GXI/AAAAAAAAAGM/gEI3YBlF4Q8/LTTV.JPG" /></a>
</center>

</marquee>

</div>

</center>

You'll notice in red some numbers. You can change those if you like to make the width of the scroll bar wider or taller depending on the size of your sidebar.

I put my button as one of the buttons for demonstration. I hope you keep it but you don't have to.

6) Visit blogs and where it says "Take my button" take the code and place it between the </center> and the </marquee>

If you have any questions, you can always leave a comment or email me and I'll help you through it.

Grammar Guide: The Top Five Sites for Correcting Grammatical Errors

I found this site at about.com and the resources are wonderful. I thought I'd pass them along.
Source: about.com

1. The Effective Writing Marking Guide

The Department of English at the University of Calgary has prepared an alphabetical index of common writing errors with links to a series of excellent grammar tutorials. The explanations are straightforward, and the examples are clear and concise. Useful for teachers and students alike.

Visit the Effective Writing Marking Guide

2. Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation Exercises

Our favorite OWL--the Purdue University Online Writing Lab--hosts this comprehensive collection of exercises.

Visit the OWL at Purdue

3. 20 Most Common Errors

This site (a companion to Andrea Lunsford's textbook The Everyday Writer) not only explains and illustrates the "most common surface student writing problems" but also provides exercises to help us correct those problems.

Visit the 20 Most Common Errors

4. Big Dog's Grammar: A Bare Bones Guide to English

According to Big Dog's buddy, Doc Scott, this site offers "a list of the bare essentials of grammar. These are the things that English teachers love to comment on in your papers." Particularly helpful are the self-tests at the bottom of each page.

Visit Big Dog's Grammar

5. Rules at Grammar Bytes

Convinced that language should be enjoyed, college instructor Robin L. Simmons has created the most delightful grammar site on the Web. "The goal of the site," she says, "is to cover each type of sentence error in real depth."

Visit Grammar Bytes

Sure, you're a writer, but where's my dinner?

I'm about to lose it.
Seriously.

It's so noisy in my house and I think it has to do with a work-at-home husband and a home-schooled son.

• Did you know: you can "work at home" and watch movies at full volume? Apparently yes, because my husband's doing it right now.
• Did you know: that even if you do the bookkeeping for your husband's company and the housework, it's still not considered "work"?
• Women, did you know: writing's just a hobby? Especially if you don't make more money at it than your spouse?

I know I should stop complaining because I don't have a full time job and write at the same time. And, I have learned some ways to cope with "my problems".

• When you need a break from the kids, you invite their friends over. Well, it works for husbands as well. The key is to invite their unmarried friends over or else you will have to fake enjoying conversation with the wife.
• Wear earphones at all times in the home. When your husband wants to chat, make him MSN or text you. That way, conversation is shortened tremendously.
• When your husband wants to go out without you, be careful about how much anger you display. You want him to feel guilty enough to bring home a cake or a new book but you don't want him to stay home.

That's all the wise advice I have for the day. Now it's time to invade the liquor cabinet...