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Finally! I've just uploaded the second version of SECRETS OF A MARIACHI VIOLINIST. Why do a second edition? Here's the low-down. I started out with 100k words, and good friends said, well, this manuscript is nice, but it seems a little long....So I cut A LOT! But I left out too many details. So now, here's an edition that contains ten extra chapters. Here are the additions: Mostly Mexico 2. What’s the Best Part of School? Music Class. 5. What Is a Guitar? An Invitation. 6. What Is a Home? An Orchestra. Boot Camp 12. What Makes an Expert Mariachi Player? Versatility. 18. What Is Halloween? An Opportunity. 25. What’s Almost the Same as a Mariachi? A Bouzouki Band. Reinvention 47. What Is a Symphony? A Real Snooze. 51. What Is Mariachi Preparation For? A Concert Tour through China. 55. What’s the Best Kind of Performer? A Role Model. 56. What Shocks Mariachi Players? A Request for their Instruments. Get your copy today!  Because I'm often busy writing..... it's hard for me to read as a reader. I soon get distracted thinking, “Wow, they did a good job on X, and I must do the same!” OR "They did a terrible job of X.... I can't read any further!"
Some of my fellow authors are in a similar position. We thought it would be fun to start a mystery reading group so that we can remember what it’s like to read as readers and understand better how readers do read. So, this spring, at Mostly Books (6208 E. Speedway), on the third Thursday of the month, from 7-8pm, we're going to discuss: February 21st: MC Beaton's The Blood of an Englishman March 21st: Ellen Byron's Plantation Shudders If you're in Tucson, please join, even if--oh, no! You haven't finished reading the book...... No chocolate—but I was part of an advent calendar this year—lots of new book ideas!
 Author at Astiganos Beach (near Kato Venere) This month I was the first Monday Muse for Brenda Whiteside's blog. Greece is such a lovely country, but there's often trouble in paradise! (Heh, heh, at least in my world.....)  Today I was the guest on Talk 92.1 for the Tuesday Book Talk Show. What fun! Mike Orenduff asked questions about Andy and his antics. Since Mike is my publisher at Aakenbaaken & Kent, he knows all about it! The best question? He asked, "What's hard about writing a series?" Actually, it's easier than writing a standalone. But I admitted, the hard thing is that as soon as readers devour one book, they want the next one! And since I'm anxiously waiting for Dizzy in Durango to be reprinted.... Mike said, "Whoops! That's back on me!" Very funny. An interesting fact:--the program airs from Valdaosta, Georgia. My Italian cousins live just a few kilometres from the original Valle d'Aosta in Northwestern Italy!  YAY--I get to speak at a local bookstore!
D. R. Ransdell & the Andy Veracruz Mystery Series Barnes and Noble Westside April 21st 1-3 p.m. Foothills Mall 7325 N. La Cholla Blvd. Ste 100 Tucson, AZ 85741 520-742-6402 Come meet local author D.R. Ransdell, who will chat about her soft-boiled murder mystery series. Andy Veracruz is a mariachi violinist, but he’s such a meddler that he becomes an amateur sleuth by default. He’d rather write songs, but instead he protects fellow musicians, breaks into houses, and trades places with his lookalike brother! Occasionally he even has time for romance…..  {hilip Donlay, D.R., Wendall Thomas, Aaron Elkins, Elizabeth Little Just back from Left Coast Crime in Reno, Nevada--what fun to spend the weekend with a bunch of mystery writers and readers! I had a chance to meet new friends such as Libby Klein and speak Italian with James Ziskin! I went to panels all weekend long. It was cold in Reno--but at the Nugget, the room with the nice, big pool was just the right temperature. To top things off, for the Saturday night banquet Catherine Paul and I hosted our own table. Our guests played along by wearing sombreros. And they really liked the little rubber mariachi duckies! My panel had to do with how to keep a series going strong. I said that the idea was to create a character arc so that your character keeps growing. (That's what I learned from Don Maass, and he's just about always right.) Philip Donlay nodded..... so did Wendall Thomas, and then Aaron Elkins said we were all wrong! That wasn't true at all! He'd written some 37 mysteries about his forensic scientist and that was just fine! I caught my breath and thanked Elizabeth Little for going on to the next question. I guess if you write 37 books about the same character.... maybe it's hard to make that character show a complete arc. But Aaron himself later said that you do, of course, show different sides of your character. When it was time for audience questions, a nice man in the audience, Lorenzo C., came to my aid and pointed out that Aaron had contradicted himself to an extent. I believe that was the moment when Aaron said: "At 82 I can do what I want!" (I talked to Lorenzo's wife afterwards and thanked her. She said, "¡Mi esposo dijo que el viejo le atacó y que le tenía que defender!" My husband said the old guy attacked you and he had to defend you! Thank goodness for loyal readers--who can appreciate poor defenseless mariachi players......)
My new and improved covers for my first two mysteries, MARIACHI MEDDLER and ISLAND CASUALTY, have been published by Aakenbaaken & Kent. Both covers were done by Peter O'Connor at Bespoke Cook Covers. I love the yellow of MARIACHI MEDDLER (formerly Mariachi Murder)--right off the bat the color suggests the seductive Yiolanda who torments Andy. The purple in ISLAND CASUALTY suggests the murky atmosphere waiting for Andy when he reaches Greece hoping to find a paradise only to find a dark family history he never expected....
A new cover for DIZZY IN DURANGO is coming up soon. Good news! My mystery series about Andy Veracruz is getting a facelift! I’m coming out with new editions that have new covers and minor corrections. Mariachi Murder even got a new name—MARIACHI MEDDLER (to avoid confusion with a book by another author). I’ll have new versions of Island Casualty and Dizzy in Durango later this fall in anticipation of the fourth Andy Veracruz book, SUBSTITUTE SOLOIST. My new publisher is Aakenbaaken & Kent. I'm especially excited about my new cover done by Peter O'Connor at Bespoke Book Covers. I explained a little about the book, and he imagined it perfectly! |
D.R's fourth Andy Veracruz Mystery, SUBSTITUTE SOLOIST, came out in April 2019. Archives
February 2021
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