GREETING THE AGATHA-NOMINATED AUTHORS FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL

by Paula Gail Benson

On Wednesday, April 9, we had a virtual visit with the authors nominated for the Agatha for Best Contemporary Novel. Today, we are pleased to welcome the debut novelists, whose work covers an amazing range of characters, cultures, and time periods. Here are the nominated books and their authors:

Jenny Adams

A DEADLY ENDEAVOR by Jenny Adams (After returning home to Chicago from California where she has spent years recovering from influenza, Edie Shippen discovers her childhood sweetheart is engaged to her twin sister and that young women are disappearing. Edie teams with the brother of a missing girl to investigate)

HOUNDS OF THE HOLLYWOOD BASKERVILLES by Elizabeth Crowens (Young private detectives Babs Norman and Guy Brandt try to solve the celebrity dognapping of Asta, the dog from The Thin Man series, in order to collect a large reward)

GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ by Jennifer K. Morita (An out-of-work journalist and the homicide detective who broke her heart must find out who murdered the land developer for whom the journalist has been hired to ghostwrite an autobiography)

THREADS OF DECEPTION by Elle Jauffret (After a devastating accident, defense attorney Claire Fontaine seeks to return to working as a caterer in Southern California, only to find her client dead)

K.T. Nguyen

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID by K.T. Nguyen (A thriller where a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares of the past and the present)

Each of the debut authors was kind enough to answer the following question:

EACH OF YOUR PROTAGONISTS HAVE A SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME. WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION TO WRITE THIS NOVEL AND IS IT THE FIRST OF A SERIES?

Many thanks to them for some fascinating insights into their craft!

JENNY ADAMS: The inspiration question is always a really tricky one for me to answer. Personally, I deal with chronic migraines and an anxiety disorder; when I was drafting the book that became A Deadly Endeavor, I wanted to write a main character who shared these challenges, and I knew I wanted to set it in Philadelphia. These two facts (and Edie in a dumbwaiter) are perhaps the only aspects of the book that remained unchanged between the first draft and published version; it initially was a YA paranormal romance, then an adult paranormal romance, and eventually morphed into an adult historical mystery over many, many revisions! Edie, as a character, appeared in my head like a freight train and really took over the story. Gilbert as a narrator was a later addition, and he morphed from medical student to doctor to coroner, and he was a much tougher character to write. I’m proud of the evolution of the book, even if it is so very different from the book I thought I was writing!

Edie and Gilbert, my protagonists, live in 1921 Philadelphia, and certainly have their share of challenges–in the opening chapters, you learn that Edie’s childhood beau is engaged to her twin sister, and Edie deals with anxiety and chronic migraine as a lingering side-effect of her brush with the 1918 influenza. She decides to reinvent herself as an independent young woman…despite the fact that across the city, young flappers are going missing. Gilbert, meanwhile, is a widowed single dad dealing with his own demons–in his case, shell shock from his time in World War One. He’s deeply devoted to his family, despite his internalized shame and reliance on morphine to keep his flashbacks at bay. When Gilbert’s sister goes missing, they find themselves working together to find her…before the killer terrorizing Philadelphia does.  A Deadly Endeavor is the first book in the Deadly Twenties Mysteries - the second book, A Poisonous Silence, releases on May 6!

Elizabeth Crowens

ELIZABETH CROWENS: Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles is the first of a series I have with Level Best Books. My protagonist, Babs Norman, a former actress-turned-private eye from the 40s, was based on my best friend. If she were still alive, she would’ve turned 102 this year. Among the many hats I’ve worn in the entertainment industry, at one point I was an independent consultant providing men’s and women’s vintage clothing and textiles to fashion designers in both the garment industry and for film, theater, and television. I had met my inspiration for “Babs” at a vintage clothing show many years ago. Her husband had just passed, and since I was one of the few dealers in New York who also had a significant inventory in menswear, she invited me to look at his wardrobe. To make a long story short, I ended up selling $10,000.00 worth of his clothing and mine to the wardrobe department for the Ridley Scott film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and Josh Brolin. Babs and I became instant friends, but somehow we felt we were also kindred spirits.

Over our decade-long friendship, she shared the most interesting stories of her colorful life, and she expressed her interest in having me write her memoirs. I had to be honest and tell her that unless she was famous or notorious, memoirs were the hardest to sell. Then one day, the idea suddenly came to light. What kind of books did she read? Mysteries. What shows did she watch on TV? Law & Order, NCIS, Murder She Wrote, Turner Classic Movies, a mystery series on PBS, or an animal show on Animal Planet or NatGeo Wild.

So, I approached her with the idea of taking her stories and turning her into a fictional actress, frustrated with show business, and who became a PI. My friend was a former actress, but she never was a private eye, but she loved I was taking artistic license with the concept and gave me her blessing. Then I got her estate attorney, made it legal by drawing up the paperwork, and told her that’s how I’d memorialize her. I only wish she were still alive to know that my first book in that series, Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, which she inspired, is up for the Best First Novel in the Agatha Awards.

ELLE JAUFRETT: My inspiration for this novel came from wanting to explore how people react differently to accents and speech impediments, and the stereotypes we carry about identity. My protagonist suffers from foreign accent syndrome, which causes others to mistake her for a French tourist rather than an American citizen. Through her journey, I wanted to examine deeper questions: Does an accent make you more or less American? How much of our identity is tied to the way we speak?

The story is about a former criminal attorney turned private chef who desperately needs to solve a murder to save her best friend's wedding to a soon-to-deploy Marine. She's invested heavily in catering this wedding, hoping it will launch her new culinary career, making the stakes both personal and professional. While she's racing against time to identify the killer and clear the crime scene (which happens to be the one-of-a-kind historic venue for both the murder and the wedding reception) of police tape, she's simultaneously struggling with her own internal battle—the frustration of constantly having to prove her American identity despite her French accent.

Yes, I'm excited to say this is the first in a series that will continue to follow our protagonist as she solves crimes while navigating the challenges of her unique condition. The second book in the series, Cosplayed to Death, comes out November 11, 2025.

Jennifer K. Morita

JENNIFER K. MORITA: I was originally inspired to write a mystery with an Asian American reporter many years ago when I was covering local government for a community newspaper. I was reading Jan Burke, Naomi Hirahara, and Sujata Massey at the time, and each of their characters had something that really spoke to me. Somehow Maya got into my head. It was years before I got serious about writing my book, and by then the newspaper industry had changed completely.  Ultimately, the downfall of newspapers became Maya’s obstacle and helped shape Ghosts of Waikiki.

I have several ideas for more Maya Wong books, so I’m hoping it will be a series.

K.T. NGUYEN: Like me, my protagonist Anh Le "Annie" Shaw experiences obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). After the death of her mother, the disturbing intrusive thoughts swirling around in Annie's brain begin to manifest themselves in real life. My personal struggle with OCD inspired the premise of You Know What You Did: "if thoughts could kill." 

BIOS:

JENNY ADAMS has always had an overactive imagination. She turned her love of books and stories into a career as a librarian and Agatha Award-nominated novelist. She holds degrees in Medieval Studies and Library Science from The Ohio State University and Drexel University. She has studied fiction at Johns Hopkins University and is an alumna of Blue Stoop’s 2019 YA Novel Intensive and the 2021 Tin House YA Workshop, and was a 2021 PitchWars Mentor. Jenny currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with family, though her heart is always in the City of Brotherly Love. Her website is Jenny Adams – historical mystery author.

ELIZABETH CROWENS has worn many hats in the entertainment industry, contributed stories to Black Belt, Black Gate, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazines, Hell’s Heart, and the Bram Stoker-nominated A New York State of Fright, and has a popular Caption Contest on Facebook. Awards include: MWA-NY Chapter Leo B. Burstein Scholarship, NYFA grant, Eric Hoffer Award, Glimmer Train Honorable Mention, a Killer Nashville Claymore finalist, two Grand prize, and six First prize Chanticleer Awards. Crowens writes multi-genre alternate history/time travel and historical Hollywood mystery in Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel (mystery), and Bye Bye Blackbird, its sequel. Her website it www.elizabethcrowens.com

Elle Jauffret

ELLE JAUFFRET is a French-born American writer, former criminal attorney with the California Attorney General’s Office, US military spouse, Claymore Award finalist, and Agatha Award nominee. New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry described her debut novel, Threads of Deception, as “a powerful, complex, and compelling mystery,” and USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan called it “a smart and fresh new voice.” Elle is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. She lives in Southern California with her family, along the coast of San Diego County, which serves as the backdrop for her Suddenly French Mystery series. You can find her at https://ellejauffret.com or on social media @ellejauffret.

Former newspaper reporter JENNIFER K. MORITA believes a good story is like good mochi - slightly sweet with a nice chew. Her debut mystery, Ghosts of Waikīkī, won the 2025 Left Coast Crime Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and has been nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. It’s about an out-of-work journalist who reluctantly becomes the ghost writer for a controversial developer. When she stumbles into murder - and her ex - she discovers coming home to paradise can be murder. Jennifer is a writer for University Communications at Sacramento State. She lives in Sacramento with her husband and two teenage daughters. When she isn’t plotting murder mysteries or pushing Girl Scout cookies, she enjoys reading, experimenting with recipes, Zumba, and Hot Hula. You can reach Jennifer at www.jenniferkmorita.com.

K.T. NGUYEN is a former Glamour magazine editor. Her debut psychological thriller YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID has been nominated for Lefty and Agatha Awards. The Seattle Times called the novel "a swirly, tangled hair-raiser...as sinister as it is emotional." It was selected as a People Magazine Best Book of April 2024 and named a Best Mystery and Thriller Book of 2024 by Elle, Parade, and Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. K.T. enjoys practicing Krav Maga, rooting for the Mets, and playing with her rescue terrier Alice. A graduate of Brown University, she lives just outside Washington, D.C. with her family. Her website is K.T. Nguyen Suspense Thriller Books.

My Debut Launch Experience by Tammy Euliano

 

At long last, my ‘baby’ is out in the world, making its own way, sort of. I went into this knowing the majority of marketing is the responsibility of the author, and knowing I would stink at it. I’ve never been active on social media. I call it Instachat to annoy my kids, and I’m only slightly more knowledgeable than that. I’m not even active on social…life. My husband and I have a small group of friends, but won’t be found at parties or gatherings of more than a handful of people…the same people, over and over. It works well for us, but maybe not so well for marketing a debut novel.

So…I asked my publisher, Oceanview, for advice and then researched publicists. Money is the limiting factor there, and I can’t imagine I will recoup the funds I spent with sales, but I justified the cost in three ways, (1) we are fortunate enough to afford it without great sacrifice, (2) I’ll only debut once and I wanted to do it right, hopeful that future books might do better if this one does particularly well, and (3) if this one doesn’t do well, I don’t want to wonder if it’s because I failed on my publicity end.

After seeking recommendations and interviewing a few prospective publicists, I went with the one recommended by Lisa Daily at Oceanview, FSB Associates. I considered another group that did radio programs, but since I don’t listen to any sort of program I would be on, it seemed an odd way to find a book to read. I could very well be wrong on that, but I chose to be at least a slightly reasonable steward of our money and stick with one method.

With Anna Sacca’s help at FSB, I learned about Bookstagrammers, and had lots of fun shout-outs from them (they take really cool photos of books). I learned that blog interviews aren’t a verbal exchange, but pre-written questions you answer at your relative leisure. I learned that occasionally people do live interviews, and those are nerve-wracking. I learned some about Zoom backgrounds and lighting and fluctuating helmet-head. Most important, I learned that virtual interviews are best done with the dogs’ squeakie toys out of their reach.

Two weeks in, I’m learning that reading reviews is stressful on so many levels, even the good ones, because they so often give spoilers, get details wrong, and/or apply so much pressure for the sequel that I fear it won’t measure up. Jenny Milchman said I shouldn’t read any, but I’m told that it helps on GoodReads if you comment on the 5-stars. I’ll figure out the sweet spot at some point. It’s still a very steep learning curve, and book two needs tons of attention, and my day job has become more time-consuming as Covid wanes rather than less. The Coronial generation may not be as big as we expected, but it’s keeping our Labor and Delivery Unit quite busy the last month or so. I coined a term for why the bump may be smaller than anticipated…LIBIDON’T – the effect of home-schooling quarantined children on one’s desire to procreate.

I’d love to hear about others’ launch experiences, and recommendations for post-launch publicity.

 

~Tammy Euliano

The Value of a Writing Tribe

by Tammy Euliano

In April of 2016, early in my encore career of writing, I attended a writing immersion by Margie Lawson at her home near Boulder, CO. Eight women attended, and one of our number started an email chain in advance through which we shared our writing. We were all enthusiastic beginners.

Margie runs a superb course, though it was probably too advanced for any of us. We were still dealing with plot and genre while she was teaching us about rhetorical devices. More important than what we learned were the friendships fostered by those few days together. Seven of the eight continued to talk by Skype or Zoom every month or so since.

Last week, we had our fourth annual reunion retreat at my lake house near Gainesville, Florida. Due to
Covid travel fears, it was smaller than in years past, but still writers came from Minnesota, Washington and Colorado; others joined by Zoom. We wrote during the day, with breaks for long walks with my dogs, or to talk about book marketing or plot problems, or to just go sit on the dock and enjoy the sun. At night we got on Zoom and workshopped each other’s books, set goals for the year, reviewed courses we’d taken, played games, ate too much, stayed up too late, and laughed a LOT.

So what has the group of total beginners accomplished in less than five years? Of the eight, five have published, several more than one book, and one has published NINE (9). The remaining three are hoping for publication by our next meeting.

We are different ages, from early 30s to 70s; with no children, young children, or adult children; married and unmarried; employed and retired, but none of us is a full-time writer. One is a phenomenal book coach and Story Grid editor though.

We each write in a different genre and with very different methods, tools and techniques. We aren’t a critique group and only rarely read each other’s novels, except isolated scenes or general plot discussions, but we work incredibly well as a group. What binds us is an interest in how to tell a good story, and once there, how to get it out for others to read. We celebrate each other’s successes and support each other during the inevitable low points. With the encouragement, support and genuine concern of my fellow Lake House Writers, I’ve achieved my goal of a (soon-to-be) published novel. My hope for readers of our blog is they find a like-minded tribe to share their writing journey, separate from editors and critique partners. Surprisingly, and maybe preferably, you need have little in common, except a love of writing…and my dogs…or wine, that would probably work just as well.

~Tammy 

* * * * *

Tammy Euliano’s writing is inspired by her day job as a physician, researcher and educator at the University of Florida. Her short fiction has been recognized by Glimmer Train, Bards & Sages, Flash Fiction Magazine, and others. Her debut novel, a medical thriller entitled “Fatal Intent,” will be published by Oceanview March 2, 2021. You can sign up for her newsletter and find more information at https://www.teuliano.com.

One Route to Authorhood

 

by Tammy Euliano

My road to becoming a published author has been rather circuitous. Recently my octogenarian parents handed over our childhood memory boxes, trophies (from the days when not EVERYONE got a trophy, but still not worthy of display), report cards, band medals and innumerable faded photos of BFFs long forgotten (is that what the second ‘F’ stands for?). Toward the bottom of the box, I found a couple of stories I’d written in First Grade, on that landscape paper with the triple lines. Does that paper still exist? In my childish print were childish stories of friendly lions and Laura the Ladybug. Though I recall none of it, apparently my writing gene activated in grade school, then took a long hiatus, reigniting only five years ago when, after writing an introductory textbook of anesthesia with my mentor, he suggested we write a novel together. Unfortunately, he fell ill and passed away before we made much progress, but those first chapters (which were awful by the way), sparked a fascination in me. I’d read widely, but never considered the craft involved. Even major issues like POV had never crossed my mind. As always, when faced with a challenge, I dove in head-first, beginning with research.

I read craft books on writing, soon discovering an entire world and breadth/depth of knowledge so far from the medical research articles I’d been invested in for two decades that I became enamored. After my first writing conference, I fell in love with the supportive character of writers, unlike the more competitive nature of medical conference attendees. And so I learned, and read, and wrote, and re-wrote, and pitched, and reeled from innumerable rejections, and bounced back with the help of amazing writer-friends, and finally had some short stories published, and received my first writing-related paycheck ($3), and volunteered to moderate a medical panel at Bouchercon, where I met an amazing fellow physician/author who invited me to submit my manuscript to her publishing company and here we are, a year later, and my debut comes out in March.

Many hurdles lie ahead, finding an agent being foremost. Oh, and navigating my first book launch while being a practicing physician in a pandemic. And not failing the main characters of my first novel, Fatal Intent, in their sequel. I’m told the only thing harder than writing the first novel, is getting the second published. Wish me luck!

What hurdles have you cleared so far? What’s next?

 ~Tammy 

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Tammy Euliano’s writing is inspired by her day job as a physician, researcher and educator at the University of Florida. Her short fiction has been recognized by Glimmer Train, Bards & Sages, Flash Fiction Magazine, and others. Her debut novel, a medical thriller entitled “Fatal Intent,” will be published by Oceanview March 2, 2021. You can sign up for her newsletter and find more information at https://www.teuliano.com.

Our Stories Never Die, They Just Reinvent Themselves

  by Tina deBellegarde

 

Please welcome debut author Tina deBellegarde to Writers Who Kill to tell us about her new release, Winter Witness!

 

How Far Would You Go to Avenge the Death of a Stranger?

 

When a beloved nun is murdered in a sleepy Catskill Mountain town, a grieving young widow finds herself at the center of the turmoil. Bianca St. Denis is searching for a job and seeking acceptance in her new home of Batavia-on-Hudson. Agatha Miller, the nun’s closest friend and the ailing local historian everyone loves to hate, shares her painful personal history and long-buried village secrets with Bianca. Armed with this knowledge, Bianca unravels the mysteries surrounding the death while dealing with the suspicions of her eccentric neighbors. 

However, Bianca’s meddling complicates the sheriff’s investigation as well as his marriage. Can Sheriff Mike Riley escape his painful past in a town where murder and infighting over a new casino vie for his attention?

Danger stalks Bianca as she gets closer to the truth. Can the sheriff solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? Can the town heal its wounds once the truth has been uncovered?

 

***

 

Winter Witness, my debut novel, was born out of a lost story, literally. Many years ago I wrote a long short story or a short novella. Much of it was in free verse – that’s just the way it came out. It was the first time I had actually attempted more than journaling. I wrote it, shared it with one encouraging person and put it away. Life happened, but no more writing happened. Then I moved. Twice.

 

When I finally decided to write Winter Witness, the decision was made in the comforting knowledge that the old story existed. My intention was to find it, polish it, and expand it into a novel. I looked for it for weeks. I searched my computer, my laptop, all my flash drives. Nothing. I looked in file cabinets and boxes and still nothing. I almost gave up the project. For some reason I believed that I had lost the ability to write this story now that the original manuscript was lost. I mistakenly believed that losing the manuscript had meant losing the story.

 

I eventually sat down to the arduous task of recreating my original work, but that’s not what happened. Instead, a nugget that was particularly vivid to me surfaced and I built around that nugget. What I created was something different entirely.

 

I learned that there is no one way to make a thought or a sentence sing. My two stories are the same and yet different. You can express the same feelings in so many ways. I now believe that if I had found the original it would have stymied me. I would have gone back and not forward. I would have regressed instead of allowing myself to grow as a writer. Even now that the book is complete, I am sure that if I scratched it all and started again that I would write a different story the third time around as well. We are not static as writers. We are evolving, so our stories evolve with us. The benefit of writing a series is that I can continue to grow alongside my characters. Dead Man’s Leap, Book 2 in my Batavia-on-Hudson mysteries, feels even truer to the characters who inhabit the series because I know them better.

 

What I learned is that words are never lost. Even words written but intentionally discarded are not wasted. They are our necessary exercise and practice. We wouldn’t think of performing a musical instrument or running a marathon without limbering up. This is also the case with writing. All writing is good writing. It all serves a purpose and furthers our writing practice and polishes our style and voice.

 

In the end, I wrote something different from the original work. It is not an expanded version. It is something else entirely. The stories we have inside us are endless.

 

PS: After turning in the final manuscript of Winter Witness to my editor, I found the long lost story in a box in the attic. It wasn’t on any hard drive or flash drive. I found it in a folder with a handwritten version, a typed version, and, wait for it…a floppy disc.

 

***

 

Tina deBellegarde lives in Catskill, New York with her husband Denis and their cat Shelby. Winter Witness is the first book in the Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery Series. Tina also writes short stories and flash fiction. When she isn’t writing, she is helping Denis tend their beehives, harvest shiitake mushrooms, and cultivate their vegetable garden. She travels to Japan regularly to visit her son Alessandro. Tina did her graduate studies in history. She is a former exporter, paralegal, teacher, and library clerk.

 

Visit her website for more information www.tinadebellegarde.com.