Fault Lines, The California Greyhound and a Giveaway

Today I get to do my own Drinks with Reads for a short story I wrote called, "Please See Me," in a new anthology called Fault Lines: Stories by Northern California Crime Writers edited by Margaret Lucke. The anthology features nineteen short stories that explore crime, guilt, and justice in the California earthquake-prone region and beyond.

Don't forget to comment below to win a fabulous trio of book themed-socks. Just tell us if you've ever been to California and where. 

The contributing authors that join me in the anthology are: Ana Brazil, Jenny Carless, Diana Chambers, David Hagerty, Vinnie Hansen, Katherine Bolger Hyde, Judith Janeway, Mariah Klein, Mariella Krause, Susan Kuchinskas, Bette Golden Lamb, J.J. Lamb, Margaret Lucke, Susan C. Shea, Robin C. Stuart, Nancy Tingley, CJ Verburg, and C.M. West. Foreword by Terry Shames and Diana Chambers.

My story, "Please See Me," is about what happens when a robbery in a sleepy cul-de-sac goes very very wrong. I got the idea from a term paper my mother wrote in the 70s about local house robberies. It was great fun to write.

I picked the Greyhound to match my story because of the bright fresh California citrus and it's what they drink in the cul-de-sac. You may remember the Greyhound as Roger Sterling's favorite drink on Mad Men. 

The recipe below includes simple syrup, but I didn't include it in mine because I like the tart taste. Make yours to suit your own taste buds. 

The California Greyhound

• 1 shot Absolute grapefruit vodka
• 1 shot simple syrup (I use the instructions from the Pioneer Woman here) 
• Fill the rest of the glass with fresh grapefruit juice
• Garnish with a big slice of fresh grapefruit

There are so many great stories in this anthology here are a few highlights:

• "17 Ways to Kill Your Co-Worker" by Mariella Krause
• "Two Hundred Miles" by Margaret Lucke
• "The Champagne Girl" by Susan Shea
• "Trouble at Tor House" by Katherine Bolger Hyde

- Deborah Lacy 

You can find us on Twitter at: @deblacy and @mysteryplayground

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the book-themed socks. Just comment below with your email. U.S. residents only. 

Unrepentant Screwdrivers

E. A. Aymar joins us for Drinks with Reads this week with a screwdriver and his new book, The Unrepentant. I was at the Amazon book store in Columbus Circle over the weekend and they had the book featured because it was a fast reader favorite. The Unrepentant, was published this month by Down and Out Books. His other thrillers include the novel-in-stories The Night of the Flood (in which he served as co-editor and contributor), as well as I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead and You’re As Good As Dead. 

Aymar’s column, “Decisions and Revisions,” appears monthly in the Washington Independent Review of Books, and he is also the Managing Editor of The Thrill Begins, ITW’s online resource for aspiring and debut thriller writers. In addition to ITW, he is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and SinC.

Aymar also runs the Noir at the Bar series for Washington, D.C., and has hosted and spoken at a variety of crime fiction, writing, and publishing events nationwide. He was born in Panama and now lives and writes in the D.C./MD/VA triangle.

Now let's hear from E.A.

The first alcoholic drink I ever drank, and the first to get me stumblingly, world-spinningly drunk, was not grain alcohol or moonshine or some sort of gruff beer, but instead a simple screwdriver, an unimaginative mixture of orange juice and vodka, topped with a maraschino cherry.

This was my freshmen year in college, and of course it was at a fraternity party, that shaky environment of equal parts friendship and danger. I’d never so much as tasted alcohol before but, for me, college was a loosening of the rigid morals and fear that had guided me through childhood. I can remember walking back to my dorm, clutching a maraschino cherry in my hand (I’m not sure why), and collapsing on my narrow bed. I made certain to sleep on my stomach, since my roommate warned me that if I slept on my back and threw up, there was near-certainty I would choke on my vomit and die.

“And, dude…you don’t want to die because of a couple of screwdrivers. Honestly.”

He went back to the party. Weeping from guilt, I called my father and confessed my intoxication to him (he was fine with it, and a bit surprised at my remorse). And then I took my roommate’s advice and carefully passed out on my stomach, which was one of the better choices I made that night, and also for much of my freshman year.

“Life is all about decisions,” the excellent reviewer Kate Malmon, of Crimespree Magazine, wrote in her review of my new thriller, The Unrepentant. “Some decisions you get to make, others are made for you.” Her review – weighing the decisions that the characters made, and how those decisions affect them throughout the book – has given me the chance to see my own work in a new light. The novel is the story of revenge. A young woman named Charlotte Reyes is kidnapped by criminals, escapes with the help of a reluctant, retired soldier and realizes that, to fully free herself, she needs to exact revenge. Charlotte takes control of her fate, and her decision-making, while not uncomplicated, is firm. Of less resolve is the retired soldier, Mace Peterson, a man whose pained past has led him to shaky ground. A man in the midst of questioning what it is to be a man, and if all necessary decisions are morally correct.

All of my characters have something of me within them, of course, but Mace is the one I identify with the most. Mace is the one who, when writing, caused me to reflect on my past and present, on the boy I was, and the decisions I made. And the decisions I make now, as a husband, a father, a writer. The Unrepentant is a book about bad people who do bad things, and about good people who do bad things, and about moments of hope, but it is very much, as Kate Malmon wrote, a book about decisions. And, for me, that first confused foray into alcohol, into the uncertainties of adulthood, makes a screwdriver the perfect pairing.

Dirty Shirleys and A Killer's Alibi

William L. Myers is making "Dirty Shirleys" to pair with his novel, A Killer's Alibi. As an author as well as a civil litigation attorney, Bill knows the law, and knows his way around a courtroom, but he writes about criminal law. So, when he sat down to write his first serious full-length novel, he had to do research. He went to murder trials, preliminary hearings, arrangements. He talked to police investigators and criminal attorneys. His goal is to not just write about the criminal side of law but to be as accurate as possible to court and police procedures.

His first book A Criminal Defense came out in 2017 and went on to become the Number 6 best-selling book on Amazon Kindle in 2017. His second book An Engineered Injustice came out in January 2018 and was based loosely off of an actual Amtrak train crash that took place in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia in 2015. A Killer's Alibi is the fourth book in the series...

When crime lord Jimmy Nunzio is caught, knife in hand, over the body of his daughter’s lover and his own archenemy, he turns to Mick McFarland to take up his defense. Usually the courtroom puppeteer, McFarland quickly finds himself at the end of Nunzio’s strings. Struggling to find grounds for a not-guilty verdict on behalf of a well-known killer, Mick is hamstrung by Nunzio’s refusal to tell him what really happened.

On the other side of the law, Mick’s wife, Piper, is working to free Darlene Dowd, a young woman sentenced to life in prison for her sexually abusive father’s violent death. But the jury that convicted Darlene heard only part of the truth, and Piper will do anything to reveal the rest and prove Darlene’s innocence.

As Mick finds himself in the middle of a mob war, Piper delves deeper into Darlene’s past. Both will discover dark secrets that link these fathers and daughters—some that protect, some that destroy, and some that can’t stay hidden forever. No matter the risk.

Shirley Temples are for good little girls. Daddy’s innocent angles. But is Christina Nunzio the angel her daddy hoped for? Is Darlene Dowd innocent of killing her father? Hmmm.

Recipe:

1. Fill Glass with Ice

2. Pour Cherry Vodka over Ice

3. Top with 7-up

4. Slowly pour grenadine into drink along the side that it can sink to bottom of the drink

5. Garnish with maraschino cherries

You can find him on social media: 

Twitter: @WilliamMyersJr

Facebook: @WilliamLMyersJr

Instagram:@Jr.WilliamMyers

Goodreads.com

Drinks with Reads: Final Exam with Carol Perry

Carol J. Perry is back with us today to celebrate the release of her latest Witch City Mystery, Final Exam. With so much snow outside, it's a perfect time to cozy up with a cozy mystery. Let's let Carol tell us about her new book...

Life at the house on Winter Street is abuzz with preparations for Aunt Ibby’s 45^th Salem High School reunion. Lee Barrett is happy to pitch in, tracking down addresses and licking envelopes. But as a field reporter for Salem’s WICH-TV, her priority is to be on top of the town’s latest news before anyone else.

When the local police dredge up a vintage sports car containing human remains, Lee is thrilled to be the first reporter on the scene. Once she learns the car is connected to the cold case her detective boyfriend Pete is working on, her powers of investigation are quickly alerted. But it’s her Aunt Ibby’s emotional reaction to Lee’s report that puts her on the case. With the help of O’Ryan, her psychic feline sidekick, she’ll race to unravel a tangled trail of secrets—including a long-submerged skeleton, a hidden yearbook, a broken necklace and a one-time prom queen’s crown—before a killer makes history once again!

The recipe:

                                             KICKIN’ MULE 

We get to use New England’s old favorite drink—rum, along with those cute copper mugs we hardly ever take out of the cabinet!

1.5 ounces of White Rum

3 ounces of Ginger Beer

3 Lime Wedges

A sprig of fresh mint

Squeeze 2 lime wedges into a copper mug filled with ice. Add the white rum and top it with ginger beer. Garnish with the additional lime wedge and mint sprig.