Female Detectives

Whether in film, TV, or books, female detectives have always intrigued me. I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew, graduated to V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Malone, Miss Marple, and Eve Dallas. Each fictional detective has qualities that engage the reader and make her/him come back for more. By far my favorite is Stephanie Plum. She is inept, at times, and often falls into solving a mystery. The humor makes me keep reading the books.

Nora Charles, played in film by Myrna Loy, was savvy, witty, and oh-so-smart. Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) led Remington Steele on a merry chase, solved crimes, and let him take the credit for her work. Too bad equal opportunity hadn’t hit detective shows back in the 80s. Still, she did look great in that fedora. Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) teamed up with a young Bruce Willis on Moonlighting. Great dialogue made that show a hit. Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) gave mystery writers hope that they, too, might solve real crimes.

But what about real life? When Allan Pinkerton hired Kate Warne in 1856, she became America’s first female detective. Smart guy, that Allan Pinkerton. I have to admit when I watched “The Pinkertons” on television, I was surprised at the female investigator. To find out she was a real person makes the show that much more interesting.

When I wrote The Case of the Bygone Brother, I modeled Alex O’Hara on the conglomeration of fictional female detectives. She is klutzy (like Stephanie Plum), a wise-acre (like V.I. Warshawski), a sleuth (like Nancy Drew), add in tenacity (like Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher). Best of all, she has a romantic interest in Nick Palzetti—like Eve Dallas’ Roarke and Laura Holt’s Remington Steele.

Alex will be up to her old tricks in The Case of the Fabulous Fiancé, which will be available in mid-October.

Who are your favorite detectives?

Happy Labor Day!

I'm taking the day off to enjoy the holiday with family and friends. See you tomorrow over at The Roses of Prose.

Meet Author Robyn Bachar

I met Robyn Bachar on the Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal RWA online chapter. She graciously invited me to visit her blog in August. Now I get to return the favor.
 

Welcome, Robyn. Tell us about yourself.

Hi, I’m Robyn and I write paranormal, fantasy, and sci-fi romance with high heat levels, epic adventures, and usually swords. Okay, always with swords. Even swords in space.

Space. All right! Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. How long does it take you to write a book? In other words, how long to readers have to wait for another Robyn Bachar book?

Thanks to many years of participating in National Novel Writing Month I can finish a first draft in about a month, but my inner editor will pick at the story for months afterward. Some of my books have gone from idea to published in less than a year, while others needed a few years to cook.

I've heard great things from people who've participated in NaNoWriMo. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Many of my books start off in a dream, with a single scene or even a line. Patience, the heroine in Fire in the Blood, announced her arrival in a single, “Army of Darkness”-inspired declaration: “Good? Bad? I’m the girl with the demon.” The idea for Nightfall, the first Cy’ren Rising book, came with the image of a badly wounded rebel stumbling through the doorway of a woman’s shop. Who was he? How did he get hurt? What was he running from? As I answered those questions the rebel became Dack, and the shop owner became Talena.

OMG, my stories start out the same way!  How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’ve published ten books, and it’s hard to pick a favorite. I love things about each book, each series. Morningstar is my favorite of the Cy’ren Rising books, because I love writing Bryn. She’s a bit Ellen Ripley, a bit Zoe Wash, and a bit Imperator Furiosa.

Cool. I just saw Mad Max Fury Road, so I know who Furiosa is! Bryn sounds like a real kick-butt heroine--my fav. 

What did you learn from writing your first book?

I learned not to read reviews. ;-) Or more specifically, I learned to accept that not everyone will love my books, and that’s okay.

Oh, Robyn. That is so true. If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with?

Depends on your taste. If you like something sweeter with a low heat level I’d suggest The Importance of Being Emily, which is a paranormal romance with a Victorian murder mystery. If you’re okay with more heat and some explicit language I’d say start with Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, which is urban fantasy romance set in Chicago. And if you’re adventurous enough to read erotic romance, then I recommend the Cy’ren Rising books, which are epic space opera with ménage romances.

That is so cool that you write different heat levels, appealing to a wide audience. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I’m always reading something, and I’m diligent about updating my Goodreads list so that’s the best place to see what I’m reading now. I’m also addicted to video games. I used to be a PC gamer but now I mainly play console games. I LOVE BioWare games. I’ve played through Dragon Age: Origins over two dozen times and never get tired of it.

What two authors would we find you reading?

I can’t pick just two, but I’ll try to stick to sci-fi romance. Of course I adore Linnea Sinclair, and I’m also a fan of Cathy Pegau, Sheryl Nantus, and Chandra Ryan.

Some of my favorite authors, too. Tell us about your latest release.

Morningstar is erotic sci-fi romance, and it finaled in the Erotica/Romantica category of the PRISMs and in the Futuristic/Fantasy/Sci-Fi category of the Passionate Plume contest. I love this book. It was so much fun to write! It has all of my favorite things: epic space battles, laser gunfights, sword duels, zombies, political intrigue, assassins, and spicy love scenes. 

Presigious awards, Robyn. Congratulations.Tell us more.

Book Blurb:

Desire is an addiction that could destroy them all.

The second son.

Lieutenant Commander Jace Harrow is the second son of House Morningstar—the spare, not the heir. Armored with an arrogant mask, Jace keeps the world at arm’s length to protect those around him from becoming targets for his bloodthirsty brother.

The broken sword.

Lieutenant Bryn Viera was a shadow sword and a decorated officer, dedicated to protecting her people. But for the past five years she has lived as a slave and has the scars to prove it. Bryn vowed to escape or die trying—until she met Sabine.

The slave.

Born into slavery, Sabine never expected to fall in love. Her feelings for Bryn sparked her desire for a new life, but now Sabine is in phase, consumed by the need to mate with a male. Her dream of freedom with Bryn is on the brink of destruction, for to deny the phase means death.

Thrown together by the unforgiving demands of the phase, they must unite to save Cyprena’s people from a deadly new bioweapon—or be destroyed by the scars of their pasts.

Warning: Contains an arrogant officer with a weakness for having his hair pulled, an insatiable empath, and a badass warrior woman who form a male-female-female threesome sizzling enough to melt your shields. 

Morningstar is available from Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Samhain Publishing - iTunes - All Romance eBooks

Excerpt:

Lieutenant Viera stood in the center of the armory, calmly checking the edge of her blade. A trickle of blood went ignored as it slid down the side of her neck from a scratch at her throat. The enticing scents of blood and phase pheromones mixed in the air and Jace growled low. How was he supposed to fight when he couldn’t think straight?

“Ready?” Bryn set her stance and raised her blade.

Jace drew his sword. “What are your victory conditions?”

“You yield or I knock you unconscious. Or I kill you, though I’d rather not. I don’t think Captain Hawke would appreciate that.”

“She might. She threatens it often enough.”

“So you have a problem with women in authority?”

“No.” Jace slowly circled right, and she moved left, matching him step for step. “I have a problem with authority.”

He lunged, and she parried and came at him. His eyes widened as she rained a flurry of blows that drove him back—she was strong and damn fast. That must have been where Soth went wrong. Soth probably assumed he could overpower her, and she struck at him with the speed of a viper. Thankfully Jace was also fast, and he defended himself before going on an offensive of his own. He had to be fast to compete among his brethren, as the other shadow swords tended to be broader and burlier, like Soth. Most of them were born to fight for their house, but Jace had been born to lead it.

I like this guy! He sounds like a good match for Bryn.

About the Author:

Robyn Bachar enjoys writing stories with soul mates, swords, spaceships, vampires, and gratuitous violence against the kitchen sink. Her paranormal romance Bad Witch series, historical paranormal romance series Bad Witch: The Emily Chronicles, and spicy space opera romance trilogy Cy’ren Rising are available from Samhain Publishing. Her books have finaled twice in PRISM Contest for Published Authors, twice in the Passionate Plume Contest, and twice in the EPIC eBook Awards. As a gamer, Robyn has spent many hours rolling dice, playing rock-paper-scissors, and slaying creatures in mmorpgs.

One last question, Robyn. Where can readers find you?

I’m most active on Twitter and Facebook, though I tend to post a lot of pictures of my dog. (She’s adorable, I promise!)

Dogs are good! We're currently dog-less. If I need a doggie fix, I go to my daugher's who has three!

I'm so glad you came today, Robyn. Best wishes for Morningstar! 

 

#IWSG: About Blog Tours

It's that time again. The first Wednesday of September. The Insecure Writers Support Group meets once a month online where writers share and encourage each other.  IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts  Julie Flanders, Murees Dupé, Dolorah at Book Lover, Christine Rains, and Heather Gardner!

Last month, I did blog tours for two books, my newest sci-fi romance THE PROTECTOR and my PI mystery THE CASE OF THE BY GONE BROTHER. The week-long tours were back to back with the Sunday in between off. I hadn’t planned it that way. The first I paid for and the second was a freebie from the same company Novel Book Tours. During the first week, IWSG participant Crystal Collier wanted to hear my impression after the tours were over.

In the past, I’ve set up my own tours by begging friends to have me on their blogs or responding when someone on various groups and loops offered to host. It sounded easier to let someone else set up the tours. Plus, as gracious as my fellow authors are, I felt I was hitting the same audiences. Also, the tour director offered the book for review to those who signed up to host. (I’m a host for that company, so I knew the drill.)

I learned a few things. Never do back-to-back tours. It's too much. I felt like I was constantly hitting up people I knew to come and visit. I'm sure they were as tired of visiting as I was of begging.

In all the tours I set up in the past (well over 100 spots), only one host didn’t post (didn’t even respond when I emailed). With the paid tours, out of 30 spots, 3 were no-shows. They weren’t just spotlights, either. They were supposed to be guest posts or interviews. Extra work on my part for nothing. Five hosts requested copies of the book for review. Since I’m self-published, I could send coupon codes for Smashwords and they could choose the format. I got 2 reviews. Better than nothing, especially since they were good reviews.

In all, I wrote 11 original posts. I visited each site multiple times each day and through each week to respond to comments. All of which was very time consuming. Since I offered a giveaway each week ($15 gift card), I had a lot of comments from strangers. I got 32 new subscribers for my newsletter, gained 25 “likes” on my FB page, and more Twitter followers. Great for name recognition. 

But if the main reason for doing a blog tour is to sell books, I didn't do so good. For the past 3 weeks (includes the tours), I’ve sold 8 of the two books. Not really impressive, is it?

Was hiring a tour service worth it? In terms of sales, no. In terms of new followers? Yes, but who knows if they will buy books. If my sales skyrocket in the next week or so, then the tour was a success. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

I’d love to hear your experiences with blog tours.

Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.