Recent Reviews of Scratched

Here are recent reviews for “Scratched” from all over the country. More to come.

Big News! Scratched Receives starred review in Publishers Weekly

Latest Algy Temple mystery Scratched receives Starred Review in Publishers Weekly, the bible of the publishing industry. According to publisher John Koehler and publicist Jocelyn Kelley, this is a huge break for the book! Off we go!

Rhode Island Parole Board

I had the opportunity to attend a session of the Rhode Island Parole Board. This one occurred in Minimum Security and related primarily to individuals who had eighteen months or less to serve on their then sentences.

Pope Francis, Algy Temple and the ‘ndrangheta

Pope Francis has been speaking out against the dreaded n’dranghita, the criminal cartel that controls Calabria on the Boot Of Italy.

Update

To bring you up-to-date on Scratched, Koehler Books promises me that I will have the galleys to review in July. I am very much looking forward to that and I hope that the galleys are in very good shape which is what I expect. I am dealing with John Koehler there who seems to be very attentive. Also, Jocelyn Kelley with the publicist firm of Kelley and Hall have been giving me hints as to what I should be doing. They are really waiting for the galleys in order to move forward with their program. Hopefully, Scratched will be right up there on their screens.

Mystery Writers of America

I usually report on the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Awards and this year is no different.

Covers

With regard to Scratched, I am waiting to see the proposed cover. I am hoping that the cover will align on a bookshelf just as Carom Shot and Straight Pool’s covers do with the focus on the pool ball, in this case with the number 3 at approximately the same place on the spine. I must say that I have asked for the same but I not know if that is what is going to happen. I have found that the author’s view with respect to what a cover should be is very often not that of the publisher’s.

Background on J.J. Partridge and Pool

I was recently asked at a book session as to whether J.J. Partridge was an inveterate pool player. I have to confess that I am more of a player in my mind than in actuality. Although I manage to get to the table most mornings just to “bang around” and occasionally do a drill or two, I have never played at a club on a regular basis nor on a club team.

New Books

A number of people have asked about other books, other characters, and other locations.

Straight Pool and Westerly

I enjoy being a Westerly resident for part of every year. I think I have captured a lot of what Westerly means to those who live there in Straight Pool. There are fairly accurate descriptions of toney Watch Hill, downtown Westerly, of the summer golf club life for those who are in Westerly between Memorial Day and Labor Day, what it might be like to practice law in Westerly, or to have had a family member caught up in the Hurricane of ’38.

Scratched

I am surprised that Scratched had not been the title of a book - to the best of my knowledge. I think Scratched is appropriate in a mystery thriller for my reasons including what I hope will be definitions included in the friend piece of the book. That is, I find it to be a very unusual word. First, it can be a verb and generally mean that one has scored or marked the surface of something with a sharp or pointed object. But then, does the object making the scratch have to be sharp? For Instance, we say things like "she scratched at her nose to relive itching." As a verb, it could also mean "quick writing." In other words, "scratching out something." It can also mean to remove something by pulling a sharp implement over something else.

Update on E-Books

I am pleased to tell you that Carom Shot and Straight Pool will be published in e-book editions through Köehler Publishing by mid-April.

Scratch has scrathed out a publisher!

Information on Publisher; e books coming;

Update: Edgar Awards and Misc.

Edgar Awards and new posts

Update: Mystery Writers of America Edgar

I am thrilled to be back. Technical difficulties are over.

Frustrations

Sorry that the blog has been afflicted by something known as WebKnight application. Really didn't know until the complaints. Will fix

Precis for "Reckoning"

Precis is coming for Reckoning

Precis for "Reckoning"

The précis for "Reckoning will be posted soon, Watch for it!!!! About 50% done in initial draft. Very different than an Algy Temple series book. Still a Rhode Island setting and I've learned a lot about parole boards, cold crimes, migraines, car shredders and the like!

Written in the third person again.

The Draft Readers--Need Them

Every author acknowledgement section, those last pages we often skip by since the novel is complete. contains a salute to the folks behind the writer, those that have stood by, commented, and given the book its birth to a reading public. For the most part, their roles are not identified. Not so in Scratched. Its initial readers were invaluable, giving insights as to the book's texture, characters, and plots. Like the first editors of a film, readers are the shock troops of the author, bearing up under misspellings, scene goofs, bad grammar, and plot mistakes. Mine were fearless and patient.

Recent Days

Bob Knightly, bless him, suggeted that Johnny Temple might be interestted in a Providence Noir . As a reader of the Noir series, I did contact  Johnny and in his reply, made it clear he is interested.

Have to wait  bit to see what might  up to edit or to write a piece. I have one ready to go called "The Woman with the Muncle". If you don't know what a "muncle" is, then you have to wait.

View: www.crimewriters.blogspot.com for posting on JJ Partridge and Algy Temple

Check out www. crimewriters.blogspot .com for news on JJ Partridge and Algy Temple!!!

New Work Begins

The new work is tentatively entitled " Reckoning" with a  central character who has a hardbitten quality after having undergone personal tragedies and addicitions. Still, he plunges ahead, bullheadedly, into the investigation of a thirty year old sadistic murder, a task  that  propels him forward towards personal redemption.

Going digital!

Got to acknowledge that Carom Shot was a sell out and I believe that Straight Pool is close to being one.

When in Rome, Research!

Just back from Rome to check on locations and hear the vernacular spoken as part of the research for my newest Algy Temple mystery, Scratched. Bella Roma, where every street corner holds a surprise. Fellini would like our characters. Even sat at his hangout, the Geneva, at the Piazza del Populo  watching the evening crowds in their passing. Checked out all the restaurants and cafes in the book, had the same dishes as our hero, walked the same streets. I think I’ve captured the atmosphere of the Eternal City and some of the characters and characteristics of its denizens. Think Leone and Venice, not a postcard of the Forum.

Hello, Algy Temple fans!

The third novel in the Algy Temple series, tentatively titled Scratched, is on its way. During the East Coast’s largest pool tournament held in Providence, RI, with all the demi-monde of the pool world, Algy deals with gambling, big-time private games, criminal gangs, fixes, fraud, and, of course, death.