Today's 'How Did That Happen'
is equally about the 'When Did That Happen' with my return guest, fellow Crooked Cat author, Joan Livingston.
Joan was a guest here earlier this year, when Book 1 of her 'Isabel Long' mystery series was published, but today she's here to give us some information about Redneck's Revenge (Book 2) which launches soon ...and we have the privilege of having a sneak peek at the story!
I knew Joan has been writing for a good few years, but I didn't realise she had written so many different stories and series. Here's Joan to tell us about them.
Welcome back, Joan...
Writing the Isabel Long Series
Sometimes
I love my characters too much for them to have only one book. That’s the case
of Isabel Long and many of the characters in my mystery series. The first, Chasing the Case, was released this past
spring. The official launch for Redneck’s
Revenge, the second, is Sept. 26. And the third, Checking the Traps, will be ready for readers next year.
And I
plan to continue this series.
Actually,
this isn’t the first one I’ve written. My first is a middle-grade series
featuring a family of jinn (genies). In the first, they hide out in a traveling
carnival’s show, where they put their magical powers to good use. They live in
a small town next, then on a ranch in the Southwest. I am halfway through the
fourth, where they live in a town with retired circus performers.
Alas,
as of this writing none of the books have been published.
Nancy says: Maybe soon they'll be published? I'm sure middle grade kids will love them!
But I
loved the Jinn family — the last name they use — and the mischievous twins,
Jute and Fina, so much that I wanted to plunk them into different situations. I
should backtrack here a bit and say they managed to escape from their evil
master, so they are supposed to keep a low profile. Tell that to the kids.
My
other is the Los Primos/The Cousins
series. This bilingual series for kids features two cousins, their grandfather,
and magical realism. The first, The
Cousins and the Magic Fish/Los Primos y el Pez Mágico, was self-published.
I hope to release the next two, which have been completed.
Nancy: Finding the time to squeeze in self-publishing, I think, is an art, Joan. And if you're doing the translation as well, then even more so!
But
back to the Isabel Long series… mysteries lend themselves well to it. Each book
features a cold case Isabel takes. So far, a family member approaches Isabel to
find out what happened to a loved one.
I
carry some of the characters over from one book to the other. Others I leave
behind. I create new ones.
Nancy: In my historical series, I've also carried over some characters in later books. And as they age, some of the younger clan members in the first book become the main characters of later books, with the earlier characters as the revered, and aging relatives.
I
also use different settings for the crimes she is supposed to solve.
The
trick is to give continuity while not giving away too much of the previous book
or books.
In Redneck’s Revenge, I catch readers up in
the first chapter when she meets Franklin “Lin” Pierce, a private investigator.
She has found out that legally she needs to work for a licensed P.I. for three
years before going solo. Lin, whose best days as a P.I. behind him, is more
interested in Isabel’s first case.
Here’s
an excerpt:
Isabel Long. The man’s greeting was more
of a statement than a question, but then again, Franklin Pierce is expecting
me. He’s a private investigator and I need his services. It’s not what you
think. I don’t have a case for him to solve. I want him to hire me for three
years, so I can be a bona fide P.I. We are meeting at his office, which is just
a narrow storefront between a Cumby’s – that’s Cumberland Farms to those who
don’t live in New England – and a pizza joint. The sign on the window says:
FRANKLIN PIERCE
LICENSED P.I.
FRAUD, DIVORCES, LOST PEOPLE.
Franklin Pierce is on the pudgy side,
pushing seventy or more, maybe, with glasses and a double chin that hangs loose
like a turkey’s wattle. He’s got to be about five-foot-two or shorter because I
tower over him. Get this. He’s wearing a cowboy hat and a long canvas coat as
if he’s a cattleman out West. But when he opens his mouth, he’s pure Yankee
with those missing Rs and added Rs, plus a twang that says his folks have lived
in this part of the world, that is, Western Massachusetts, since the white
folks found it and the people who lived here before them.
He clutches a set of keys as I make my
approach to the front door. Naturally, I was ten minutes early, my M.O., and
waited in the car with my mother before he arrived. Yes, Maria Ferreira, my
ninety-two-year-old mother, soon to be my ninety-three-year-old mother April 2,
is with me. But when Ma saw Cumby’s, she hightailed it out of my car. She says
she’ll go to the pizza joint afterward to get something to drink. She could
have stayed home, but it’s February, and like the rest of us, she’s got a bit
of cabin fever from the seemingly endless winter that began in October.
I smile and extend my hand to Franklin
Pierce. I feel a bit self-conscious my skin is colder and rougher than his. I’m
curious why someone would name their kid after one of the worst presidents so
far although I can think of a few other contenders. But now isn’t the time to
bring up that observation. I need to win this man over. So, what will it be:
Franklin or Frank although I seriously doubt Frankie. I play it safe.
“Mr. Pierce, hello.”
“Please call me Lin. And you? Is it
Isabel or Izzie? Which do you prefer?”
I shake my head.
“Never Izzie,” I say.
“I’ll remember that.”
“Okay, Lin. How do you spell that?”
“L-I-N.”
Gotcha.
REDNECK’S
REVENGE
Her next
case. She’s in it for good.
Isabel Long
is in a funk months after solving her first case. Her relationship with the
Rooster Bar’s owner is over, but no surprise there since his sister turned out
to be the killer. Then cops say she must work for a licensed P.I. before
working solo.
Encouraged
by her Watson — her 92-year-old mother —
Isabel snaps out of it by hooking up with a P.I. and finding a new case.
The official ruling is Chet Waters, an ornery
so-and-so, was passed out when his house caught fire. His daughter, who
inherited the junkyard, believes he was murdered. Topping the list of suspects
are dangerous drug-dealing brothers, a rival junkyard owner, and an ex-husband.
Could the man’s death simply be a case of
redneck’s revenge? Isabel is about to find out.
 |
| Joan Livingston |
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and
young readers. Redneck’s Revenge,
published by Crooked Cat Books, is the second in the mystery series featuring
Isabel Long, a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. The first is Chasing the Case.
An award-winning journalist, she started as a reporter
covering the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. She was an editor, columnist,
and most recently the managing editor of The
Taos News, which won numerous state and national awards during her tenure.
After eleven years in Northern New Mexico, she
returned to rural Western Massachusetts, which is the setting of much of her
adult fiction, including the Isabel Long series.
Joan Livingston on social media:
Twitter:
@joanlivingston
Book links to Chasing the Case and Redneck’s Revenge:
Thank you for visiting today, Joan, and for bringing along Isabel. Wishing you the very best for your launch of Redneck's Revenge, which sounds like a very entertaining read! And additional good wishes for successful publication of your other writing.
Slainthe!
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