by Susan Van Kirk | Jun 26, 2021 | Blog, mysteries, mystery, Susan Van Kirk
Lesson Plan for Murder by Lori Robbins What’s not to love when an English teacher like me reads a mystery where the chapters are titled Things Fall Apart or Heart of Darkness and the protagonist is a high school English teacher? First, I loved the clever, intelligent...
by Susan Van Kirk | Jun 2, 2021 | Blog, mysteries, mystery, publishing
When I first began writing mysteries, I didn’t know a great deal about copyrights, publishers, or self-publishing. My first series, the Endurance Mysteries, was published by a traditional publisher. After putting out Three May Keep a Secret and Marry in Haste, that...
by Susan Van Kirk | Feb 16, 2021 | Blog, mysteries, Susan Van Kirk, suspense, writing
Last year, Harlequin Worldwide Mystery republished my first Endurance mystery, Three May Keep a Secret, in July as a mass market paperback. These books are smaller than your usual paperback, and they easily slip into a purse or tote bag. I was so excited to see the...
by Susan Van Kirk | Jan 4, 2021 | Blog, mystery, reading, writing
(The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation) by Brad Ricca [St. Martin’s Griffin Books 2016] I loved the history in Brad Ricca’s book about Grace Humiston, a lawyer and advocate for the voiceless...
by Susan Van Kirk | Nov 18, 2020 | Blog, mysteries, publishing, Recent News, Susan Van Kirk, suspense, writing, writing novels
No wonder Thanksgiving is a prelude to long winter nights. A holiday focusing on blessings gives us the opportunity to slow down, reflect, and be thankful for what we’ve received. We hope that our gratitude and happier memories can get us through the cold nights when...
by Susan Van Kirk | Nov 12, 2020 | Blog, mysteries, mystery, reading, Susan Van Kirk, writing
Arabella Carpenter and business partner Emily Garland find themselves in a world of legal entanglements in this newest addition to the Glass Dolphin series, Where There’s a Will. Arabella is hired to do an appraisal of a vintage photograph for the executrix of an...
by Susan Van Kirk | Aug 17, 2020 | Blog, bookstores, small towns
In 2018, Jim Jacobs (YA author) and I had a book signing scheduled in West Burlington, Iowa at Book World. Before we could shout, “Come on in and talk about books!” the store closed, along with forty-four other Book Worlds. Not all was lost, however. We met Teri...
by Susan Van Kirk | Jun 13, 2020 | Blog, mysteries, small towns, Susan Van Kirk, suspense, writing
Back in 2012, I sold my first mystery, Three May Keep a Secret, to a small publisher called Five Star Publishing. It was followed by two more books and a novella, all concerning a retired teacher named Grace Kimball in her small town of Endurance. I called the series...
by Susan Van Kirk | Apr 20, 2020 | Blog
We all know that book covers sell books. Duh. Cover artists and publishers connect complicated pieces and parts to come up with covers that sell, reflect the contents, promote a brand for a series, and fit the publisher’s catalog. I had not thought about all those...
by Susan Van Kirk | Mar 13, 2020 | Blog, mysteries, Sisters in Crime, Susan Van Kirk, writing
I made a difficult decision this past week. Months and months ago, I sent in my entry fee and planned to go to a writing conference called Left Coast Crime held in San Diego from March 11-15. I was looking forward to it because I’d been to Malice Domestic a couple of...
