In the mystery genre there are famous cat burglers and cat sleuths, but amateur mystery solver Dixie Hemingway is the only cat sitting sleuth that we know of. Over the next year, author Blaize Clement will be continuing her Dixie Hemingway series with books six and seven. The busy author put her pen on pause to talk to us about what she and Dixie have learned over the last five mysteries. In addition Clement spills details from Dixie's latest adventure, Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons. (Including the fact that she borrowed Dixie's latest title from an Agatha Christie tale!)

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Mystery author Rebecca James takes readers behind the scenes for a look at how she created her novel, Beautiful Malice. Learn what made writing this novel such an adventure for the author and don't miss the excerpt at the end of this post!

I started Beautiful Malice with the first sentence. 

Of course you did! I hear you protest. Where else would you start? Isn't that where every book begins? Well...yes and no.  The reader usually starts with the first sentence but the writer may not. Some authors start a book with an idea, a story, a plot, others start with a certain character or two. Still others might start with a place. All I had when I sat down to write was a very vague desire to write about toxic friendships -- and then I wrote the first sentence:

I didn't go to Alice's funeral. 

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In honor of her new release, Queen Of The Night, mystery author J.A. Jance shares her path to publication, the true-life mystery that inspired her to start writing and details of the original novel that held the title Hour Of The Hunter.

 In the mid-Sixties, I spent five years working as a school librarian on an Indian reservation, the home of the Desert People, now known as the Tohono O'odham Nation. During that time my first husband and I encountered a serial killer and ended up being stalked by him for sixty days before he was finally apprehended. He was imprisoned for murdering three people and is still in prison to this day.

I had always wanted to be a writer, although I wasn't allowed in the Creative Writing program at the University of Arizona in 1964 because, as the professor told me, I was a "girl." All of which goes a long way to explain why I became a librarian.

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Mystery author Paul Levine is best known for his long-running series about “linebacker-turned-lawyer” Jake Lassiter. This year is the twentieth anniversary of the very first Jake Lassiter novel, To Speak For The Dead. And in light of the event, Levine is making some modern changes to his hard-boiled mystery hero's series.

The first of these changes is a formatting update; the Jake Lassiter novels are being republished as e-books. This is a move that Levine is all for but, the author admits his hero would not embrace. Levine gives readers a look inside of his hero's head for the explanation: Lassiter says about himself, “I’m not trendy or hip. I don’t drink fizzy water from France or booze in fluorescent colors. I don’t carry a Blackberry, an iPhone, or a purse. You won’t find my mug on MySpace. I am not Linked In, and I don’t Digg or Stumble Upon. I don’t have a life coach, an aroma therapist, or a yoga instructor, and I don’t do Pilates. I’m not into blogging or tweeting, sexting or spinning. In short, I’m not a yuppie, a metrosexual or Generation X, Y, or Z.” But never mind that Lassiter is unlikely to ever read an e-book, today's readers can now enjoy Levine’s Lasstier stories in this contemporary format.

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The writing team behind mystery author Cleo Coyle is interviewed by RT's Web Editor Morgan Doremus. Their new release, Roast Mortem, is an RT *Web Exclusive Review* and the ninth installment of the New York City-set Coffeehouse series. Learn how the couple's life in New York City and their experiences co-writing affect the mysteries that they create.

Meet The Writing Team Behind Cleo Coyle >>

Learn About Their Newest Novel, Roast Mortem >>

Cleo Coyle Dissects The Culinary Mystery >>

More From The RT BOOK REVIEWS Video Channel >>

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