by Paula Gail Benson
Yesterday, on The Stiletto Gang, I began
this celebration of the Agatha nominees for best short story and best first
novel. Hearing from these delightful writers is like having the opportunity for
a mini-craft workshop plus some wonderful insight into the many facets of
authors’ lives. Each year, as I interview these nominees, I find my to-be-read
list lengthening and my real appreciation of the mystery/suspense genre
increasing.
If you have not yet discovered these
talented folks, you are in for a treat. Thank you to all the nominees for their
time and thoughtful answers.
Best Short Story
“Beauty and the Beyotch,” Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Feb. 2022)
“There Comes a Time,” Cynthia
Kuhn, Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
“Fly Me to the Morgue,” Lisa Q
Mathews, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
“The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot,” Richie
Narvaez, Land of 10,000 Thrills, Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books)
“The Invisible Band,” Art Taylor, Edgar & Shamus
Go Golden (Down & Out Books)
How
long (word count) are the short stories you write? Are you consistent or do you
vary the length?
 |
| Barb Goffman |
Barb Goffman:
They vary. I’ve had flash stories published (less than 1,000
words) and I’ve had novelettes published (the longest more than 14,000 words).
In recent years, my stories often fall in the range of 6,000 – 6,500 words
long, especially if the place I’m submitting to hasn’t specified a maximum word
count or a sweet spot.
Cynthia
Kuhn:
It varies, ranging from a couple hundred words for flash fiction
to a couple thousand for longer stories.
 |
| Lisa Q. Mathews |
Lisa
Q. Mathews:
A very easy question for me to answer, since “Fly Me to the Morgue”
is my first published short story. So far my collected works clock in at 3,125 words,
with zero deviation in length.
Richie Narvaez:
Early on I learned to
write to the market, so many of my early stories are 4,075 to 4,099, to meet
the then-typical word count of 5K. Over time I’ve become looser, writing both
much shorter and much longer, as the story dictates. I’ve gotten to the point
where once I conceive the general story, I know approximately how long it will
be, and I can say, “Well, that might be short enough for Shotgun Honey,” or
“Hmm, I have to find a place that still takes novellas.”
 |
| Art Taylor |
Art Taylor:
I
was just talking recently about length and word count at a presentation for the
Grand Canyon Writers chapter of Sisters in Crime—the range within that term “short
story,” from flash fiction to novella and the differences in approach depending
on length: number of characters, complexity of the plot, breadth of the
storytelling canvas. One thing I emphasized there—important to me—is the need
to let a story be the length it needs to be. That’s sometimes hard to reconcile
with a call for submissions that has strict minimum and maximum word counts—I
recognize that, and I’ve actually missed submitting stories because I couldn’t
wrangle my draft into the right range, whether too short (why bloat it
unnecessarily?) or too long (and yet trimmed down to the necessities in my
mind). I’ve written everything from flash fiction to 20,000-word novellas,
depending on the kind of story I’m trying to tell—and often I only discover
that by writing it and seeing where it goes.
What
are the advantages and disadvantages of submitting to a themed anthology?
Barb Goffman:
Anthologies often have tighter
word requirements than magazines do. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,
for instance, will take flash stories and much longer stories. In contrast,
anthologies often will limit submissions to 5,000 words or ask for submissions
to be between a certain minimum and maximum word count. If you don’t mind
writing to a word count, then that’s not a disadvantage, but if you prefer to
write what you want to write without worrying about length, then you might find
it harder to place your story in an anthology.
Unlike some magazines, anthology calls always have a deadline,
sometimes with quick turnaround times. If you aren’t good at writing quickly or
don’t like the pressure of deadlines, then that’s a disadvantage. But if you
need the pressure of a deadline or are invigorated by one, then it can be an
advantage.
Anthologies can be useful because their themes can spark ideas. My
story currently up for the Agatha, “Beauty and the Beyotch,” was inspired by an
anthology call asking for stories involving the theater. I ended up not
submitting the story to the anthology because I liked it enough when I finished
it to send it to the major magazines instead. There, it might be seen by more
readers and I stood the chance of higher payment, but the theme in that
anthology’s call for stories was useful nonetheless.
 |
| Cynthia Kuhn |
Cynthia
Kuhn:
As a reader, I love to see the different “takes” on a particular
topic! As a writer, I appreciate a compelling theme, especially when a story
concept begins to take shape, however hazily, in response. That wisp of a
potential idea to follow is always thrilling.
Lisa
Q. Mathews:
Themed
anthologies provide authors with welcome inspiration. They also offer even
greater incentive to create fresh, unique stories. We contributors to Mystery
Most Diabolical may have been gifted a little extra leeway, though, since
the act of murder itself is, well . . . diabolical. In “Fly Me to the Morgue,”
the devil is also in the details: the Purgatory, NH setting; a motley cast of
sinners and saints; Pearly Gates jokes from hell; and Shrimp Fra Diavalo on the
menu at Joey Romano’s Sinatra-inspired restaurant and entertainment lounge.
 |
| Richie Narvaez |
Richie Narvaez:
Being given a theme can be the spark needed to
finish a story. I have hundreds of ideas for characters and conflicts in my
head, but sometimes the story won’t come because it hasn’t answered important
questions for me: Why bother writing this? Where is the fun in this for me?
When the call for Land of 10,000 Thrills came along, the idea of writing
about Minnesota immediately set me to googling the Gopher State. And so this
vague idea I’d carried around about a private eye and a cosplay convention
caught fire when I added ingredients I found out about the theme. It gave the
characters voices, gave me a setting.
A disadvantage is when
the call inspires a story right away, but I know it will take 6K words and the
call has a strict 4K word count. Rats!
Art Taylor:
A call for submissions to
a themed anthology often helps to get the imagination going in fresh
directions. For the Chesapeake Crimes anthology series, for example, I’ve
written stories about the weather, about holidays, and about jobs gone wrong.
It’s great to have that first nudge and see where the momentum takes you. And
this is exciting from a reader’s perspective, too—seeing how widely divergent
stories can be while sticking too, building from the same theme. While I wouldn’t
always want to have to write to a theme, and I sometimes find myself not
inspired by a particular theme, I do enjoy the
possibilities and the process when a theme hits just right.
Best First Novel
The Finalist, Joan Long (Level Best Books)
Cheddar Off Dead, Korina Moss (St. Martin’s)
Death in the Aegean, M. A. Monnin (Level Best Books)
The Bangalore Detectives Club, Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Devil’s Chew Toy, Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Gallery of Beauties, Nina Wachsman (Level Best Books)
How did you
determine who your protagonist would be? Will this be part of a series?
 |
| Joan Long |
Joan Long:
The
Finalist
is a standalone, locked-room-style mystery. I chose thirty-eight-year-old Risa
Marr as my protagonist because, like so many women, she is a single mom with
financial concerns. When she becomes a finalist in a competition that will
award a million-dollar prize, she hopes her money woes will soon be behind her.
But suddenly, she is accused of murder, and money no longer matters. She must
outwit a killer or risk never seeing her young child again.
Korina
Moss:
I knew I wanted
to make my protagonist a woman in her thirties, who had decided to take a
chance in a new place and make her dream of opening a cheese shop come true. As
I created more of her backstory, it made sense that she would have a dairy
background (she grew up on her family’s dairy farm), and thus be a hard worker.
As a business owner and eventually an amateur sleuth, she needed to be someone
with a lot of determination. With these qualities, of course she’d want to
strike out on her own, so I chose France as the place where her passion for
cheese began, which led to her French-inspired cheese shop. Willa’s name
changed three times as I continued to flesh her out, because I wanted a name
that evoked her personality. Learning how she reacted to my other characters
who would become her friends, employees, shop neighbors, and possible love
interests allowed me to get to know her even more.
Cheddar Off
Dead is the first book in my Cheese Shop Mystery series. The next two
books are also out now—Gone For Gouda and Curds of Prey—and
another, Case of the Bleus, is available for preorder. My latest
publishing contract includes Books 5 and 6, with possibly more to come.
 |
| M.A. Monnin |
M.A. Monnin:
I knew I wanted Stefanie to be smart, comfortable around people
with money, and have a connection but not work directly in archaeology, so I
made her a private banker on the verge of making vice president at her bank who
once interned at an archaeological dig on Crete. It is a part of a series. Death
in the Aegean is the first in the Stefanie Adams, Intrepid Traveler
Mysteries, and the second, Death on the Grand Canal, comes out in May.
Harini Nagendra:
I wasn’t even planning to
write mysteries until the main protagonist in The Bangalore Detectives Club
parachuted into my head one day in 2007! I was looking through a fascinating
pile of archival material on historical Bangalore–for my day job, as an
ecologist studying the history of Indian cities–when intrepid 19-year-old
Kaveri Murthy appeared in my mind, demanding that I write a book about her–and
her supportive husband and able side-kick, Ramu. The second book in the series,
Murder Under a Red Moon, was just published in March 2023, and I am in
the middle of writing Book 3. I hope there will be many more!
 |
| Rob Osler |
Rob
Osler:
Hayden McCall—five foot four (rounding up) and
one hundred thirty pounds (again rounding up) is the hero in Devil’s Chew
Toy. He is a mild-mannered, twenty-five year old middle school teacher and
gay dating blogger. He is at once like me and nothing at all like me. The next
book in the series, Cirque Du Slay, comes out March 9, 2024.
Nina
Wachsman:
My original protoganist was going to be a famous rabbi, orator,
scholar and playwright of the Venetian Ghetto, who was also a compulsive
gambler. However, after reading his autobiography, and learning about his
children, I picked his daughter, as someone I could relate to, since I too, am
a rabbi’s daughter, and know the blessings and limitations of that status. He
still is in my book, gambling addiction and all, but his children, including
one son who goes to sea and becomes a pirate, will be characters in the next
two books in the series, called Venetian Beauties. The pirate son becomes a
main character in Book 2, The Courtesan’s Secret.
What role does
setting play in your novel?
Joan Long:
Setting
is tremendously important in my novel. The Finalist is set on a remote
tropical island where there is no communication with the outside world and no
way to leave. When a finalist is found dead, there is no one to call for help.
Can my characters outwit a killer? Will any of them leave the island alive?
 |
| Korina Moss |
Korina
Moss:
The setting was one of the
first choices I made about my series. When I discovered the California cheese
trail with more than two dozen Sonoma County farms and creameries included, I
knew I wanted Willa’s cheese shop, Curds & Whey, to make its home there. My
fictional small town of Yarrow Glen has a dairy background, making it the
underdog to the surrounding, more upscale vineyard towns in the Sonoma Valley.
In this way, the town mirrors Willa’s underdog qualities, as well as those of
her fellow shop owners. It also makes for a tightknit community. As the series
progresses, we see Willa and her crew—Mrs. Schultz and Archie—all begin to
blossom, much like the town itself. Every time a reader picks up the next book
in my series, I want them to immediately feel right at home again, like they’re
back with old friends in a cozy place they want to hang out in . . . even if there’s a murder to solve!
M.A. Monnin:
The settings on Santorini and Crete are everything in Death
in the Aegean. The story revolves around a gold Minoan snake goddess statue
that is recently discovered at Akrotiri, on Santorini, and the tourists who go
there to see it. I love to travel, and I think that really comes across in my
books.
 |
| Harini Nagendra |
Harini Nagendra:
1920s Bangalore, the
setting for my books, is a time period I love—along
with the promise that it briefly brought, of a world full of possibility. As an
ecologist, the natural life of the city plays a strong role in my books, which
have a lot of details about the lakes, parks, and wooded bungalows of the
colonial city. I also love the food of the times, and my books include recipes
for traditional south Indian food—so the
indoor settings of women, in their kitchens and homes, also form an integral
part of my books.
Rob
Osler:
The contemporary series
takes place in Seattle. The story’s amateur sleuths race from neighborhood to
neighborhood, even across Elliott Bay in a speed boat to a mysterious island
estate. Not only does the geography of the city play a role, but so does the
wet, drippy weather.
 |
| Nina Wachsman |
Nina
Wachsman:
As the setting for mystery,
Venice of the 17th century is perfect, since it was then known as the capital
of poison. But Venice was also famous for its beautiful women. I combined both
those elements for my novel, when an artist’s commission to paint the portraits
of the most beautiful women of the city leads to their murder—by poison.
BIOS:
Barb Goffman has been a finalist for major
short-story crime awards 38 times and has won the Agatha, Macavity, Silver
Falchion, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Readers Award.
She’s an editor of Black Cat Weekly and a freelance editor,
often working on cozy and traditional mysteries. In addition to her current
Agatha nomination, she’s a current finalist for the Thriller Award for her
short story “The Gift” from the Bouchercon anthology Land of 10,000
Thrills. Look for her story “Real Courage” in Black Cat
Mystery Magazine later this year. www.barbgoffman.com.
Cynthia Kuhn writes the
Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries and Starlit Bookshop Mysteries. Her work has
also appeared in Mystery Most Diabolical, Mystery Most Edible,
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, and other publications. She lives in Colorado with
her family, where she is professor of English at Metropolitan State University
of Denver. cynthiakuhn.net.
Joan Long:
Joan
Long is a third-generation Floridian who writes mysteries and suspense. Her
debut novel, The Finalist, is an Agatha Award nominee for Best First
Mystery. Joan earned a bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing from
Florida State University and a master’s degree in Journalism and Communications
from the University of Florida. Her short story “The Extra Ingredient” is in
the Anthony Award-winning anthology Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible.
https://joanlongbooks.com
Lisa Q. Mathews
Lisa
Q. Mathews used to make Nancy Drew’s life miserable. Then she set her beady
sights on Lizzie McGuire and Mary-Kate and Ashley—all part of early jobs as a
kids’ book editor and writer-for-hire. Now Lisa is the author of an odd-couple
sleuth series for adults, The Ladies Smythe & Westin, and runs an
independent editing service. A co-founding member of the Chicks on the Case
blog, Lisa lives in New England. https://www.lisaqmathews.com/
M. A. Monnin’s debut
mystery Death in the Aegean has been nominated for an Agatha Best First
Novel Award. Her second in the Intrepid Traveler series, Death on the Grand
Canal, launches May 18th. Mary also writes short crime fiction,
with her latest short story in the SinC Guppy anthology Hook, Line & Sinker.
Find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. www.mamonnin.com.
Korina Moss is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series (St.
Martin’s Press) set in the Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award nominated
first book, Cheddar Off Dead. Her books have been featured in PARADE
Magazine, Women’s World, AARP, and Fresh Fiction. Her latest book, Curds of
Prey, released on 3/28. https://korinamossauthor.com.
Harini
Nagendra is a professor of ecology at Azim Premji University and a well-known
public speaker and writer on issues of nature and sustainability. The
Bangalore Detectives Club is her first crime fiction novel. The sequel, Murder
Under a Red Moon, will be published in 2023. https://harininagendra.com/
Richie Narvaez is the award-winning
author of Roachkiller and Other Stories, Hipster Death Rattle, Holly
Hernandez and the Death of Disco, and Noiryorican. https://www.richienarvaez.com/
Rob
Osler’s debut novel Devil’s Chew Toy was a Lefty Nominee for Best Debut
Mystery and Agatha Award Nominee for Best First Novel and named a 2022 Year’s
Best by Crime Reads, BOLO Books, PopSugar, and Book Riot. His first
publication, “Analogue,” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine), won the 2022 Mystery
Writers of America Robert L Fish Award for best short story by a debut author.
Forthcoming projects include “Miss Direction” (EQMM), Cirque du Slay
(sequel to Devil’s Chew Toy), and a new historical series featuring an
LGBTQ+ detective. Rob’s a member of MWA and Sisters in Crime. On good days, he
writes, plays tennis, and eats pie in California, where he lives with his
partner and Andy Action Cat. https://robosler.com
Art Taylor is the
author of two collections—The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other
Expeditions and Indiscretions and The Boy Detective & The
Summer of ‘74 and Other Tales of Suspense—and On the Road with Del
& Louise: A Novel in Stories, winner of the Agatha Award for Best
First Novel. His short fiction has won three additional Agatha Awards as
well as the Edgar, Anthony, Derringer, and Macavity Awards. He is an associate
professor of English at George Mason University. www.arttaylorwriter.com.
Nina Wachsman majored in
book illustration at the Parsons School of Design and studied under Maurice
Sendak. She is currently the CEO of a digital marketing agency in New York
City. She attends the Venice Art Biennale every two years and is a descendant
of a chief rabbi of the Ghetto, a contemporary of her characters. She is a
member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Historical
Novel Society, and has published stories in mystery and horror magazines and
anthologies. The Gallery of Beauties is her debut novel, and its sequel,
part of the Venice Beauties series. The Courtesan’s Secret will be
released in Summer, 2023 by Level Best Books. https://ninawachsman.com
