For most authors, receiving awards for something they've written is like winning one of the top prizes on a scratch off ticket from the lottery. At least the odds seem about the same. Three stories from Still Waters, the New England crime anthology that I’ve been a regular contributor to, are award finalists, winners or both. Well, the Short Mystery Fiction Society 2008 Derringer Award results are in and, while neither of the Still Waters finalists picked up the win, both deserve congratulations on a fine showing.
As for my short story from Still Waters, it may not have been picked for an award but I did receive good comments about it from readers. I might even have a fan at the New Hampshire Lottery Commission who's responsible for recently issuing a scratch ticket with the same name, Luck of the Draw. The odds of winning the big prize is 1 in 135,000.
That sounds about right to me.
I’ve always marveled at how easy Jessica Fletcher made playing private investigator look on Murder She Wrote. In reality, it’s not as easy as it looks. Without getting into the details of whom, why or how it was related to fraud and theft, I recently wanted to catch someone doing something they said they weren’t. So with my husband driving and providing technical support, I decided to give being a real life, amateur sleuth a try.
The first thing I had to do was to think like the person I was after. That was the easy part. I had a pretty good idea of where and when the target would be somewhere. It was still daylight. All it took was a simple drive thru a parking lot to confirm I was right. I even went inside the building to make sure the person was there and to find out with whom. I returned to our car, took out my camera and snapped a couple of shots. That's when I first realized surveillance work was not as easy as it seemed.
A group of three or four people, who must’ve been up to their own no good, took notice of me. So much for stealth, I told my husband. It was pretty funny that my camera and I had obviously made them nervous. They kept a careful eye on me for a few minutes before splitting up and scurrying off in separate directions. Later, when it was dark and I wanted to get the money shot, I was much more aware of being seen. My camcorder bobbed up and down as I tried not to stand out with the thing continuously held up to my face. That wouldn’t have been so bad if I were wearing a nice pair of shoes like one of my characters from my stories. Instead, every time I pointed the camcorder toward the ground, all I got was video of my ratty sneakers. Anyway, to make a long story short, I eventually did get the video I wanted and was able to capture the stills I needed from it.
If there's any advice about surveillance I’d have for anyone attempting to play amateur sleuth, it would be this -- try to get a better camera angle. Oh yeah, and don’t forget you might want to wear nicer shoes.
My biggest highlight from this year's Crime Bake was having the pleasure of meeting and having an inspiring conversation with one of my favorite authors, Dorothy Cannell. She was so kind to share some of her insights about the business with me and is genuinely one of the nicest, most down to earth writers to meet.
The book signing for the anthology with my latest short story, "Luck of the Draw" went well on Saturday afternoon. My agent pitch that early evening resulted in some interest for my manuscript of "Rigors of Murder" despite the agent not liking the title. Hopefully I'll win her over anyway, who knows.
The Saturday night dinner was okay. But I'm ashamed to admit that our table was one of the many in the mock trial that didn't focus solely on the facts and were unable to reach a guilty verdict. Maybe we'll get it right next year, if there is another mock trial next year. But, until then, I guess there's hope for handsome killers everywhere to get away with murder.
This summer, I took part in a day-long gun seminar at the Worcester Pistol and Rifle Club along with nineteen other members of the New England Chapter of Sisters of Crime, where we were introduced to the fundamentals of gun safety and shooting.
An afternoon on the firing range wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It was fun. I managed to have success hitting my target with a Ruger .22 long barrel pistol and a .44 Magnum revolver. My marksmanship with a rifle wasn’t all that shabby either. On the other hand, I couldn’t hit the proverbial side of a barn with the Smith and Wesson Ladysmith or a shotgun.
Okay, so I'm no sharp shooter. That doesn’t mean one of the characters in my stories can’t be. Dirty Harry, eat your heart out.
I’d like to thank Jon Green of the Gun Owners’ Action League and the wonderful folks at the Worcester Pistol and Rifle Club for a fun and informative day.
©2008 S. A. Daynard