What Booklist Says About "Whiskey with a Twist"

“Fifth in a consistently appealing series, this installment continues to provide the perfect mix of cozy and dog.”

Thank you, Booklist!

Now available: Whiskey with a Twist
the wackiest and most surprising Whiskey Mattimoe mystery yet

Back Where Whiskey Began

I’ve long believed that summers are sweeter in Michigan than just about anywhere else. Happily this writer landed back in the Wolverine State in time to take a break from triple-digit temps in Texas.

My Michigan visit involves the fifth Whiskey book (as opposed to a fifth of whiskey). Like the rest of this comical cozy series, Whiskey with a Twist is set in fictional Magnet Springs, a quirkier version of the real-life coastal resort town of Saugatuck.

Whiskey with a Twist has what I call “high-surprise content.” It’s also the name of a pretty good drink—unlike the beverage that inspired Whiskey and Tonic (Book Three), a lively mystery in its own right.

The latest fictional romp features more than the usual number of plot twists, and they keep on coming all the way to the end. You can read a sample chapter and plot summary. I don’t want to give away much more than that . . . except to say that Realtor Whiskey Mattimoe bonds with her diva dog Abra the Afghan hound over an issue that even my most faithful readers couldn't foresee.

So I'm here to launch the book as well as my Nawthun vacation. To Michigan and Whiskey. Cheers!

Whiskey with a Twist: CHECK OUT Chapter One

Afghan hounds and Amish farmers? Yes. Whiskey with a Twist (Midnight Ink/Summer 2009) finds Abra and her human, Whiskey Mattimoe, at a dog show in Indiana Amish country where things go deadly wrong fast. In the fifth book of this madcap series, Whiskey's new real estate client is an Afghan hound breeder who invites Abra to the regional finals . . . as an example of how not to groom and train an Affie. True to form, Abra falls in lust with a champion and wreaks havoc in the ring. But someone is bent on pure evil: a breeder and handler are murdered, and a top dog disappears. Abra vanishes, too. Is she chasing her libido or in genuine trouble? Or, as Whiskey's loyal neighbor Chester insists, is she hot on the trail of a ruthless killer? Whiskey and crew follow paw prints and other clues to a bloody destination that's too close to home.

Wanna read the first chapter? Click here.

Whiskey with a Twist: First Review!

The first review of Whiskey with a Twist is in, and it's a tail-wagger:

“[In] Wright's frothy fifth cozy, realtor Whiskey Mattimoe enters her thieving 'diva dog' Abra in the Midwest Afghan Hound Show as the Bad Example. . . . Dog show fans will find much to grin about.”

--Publishers Weekly

Abra and I are in Wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_hound#In_popular_culture

But I still need my own (Nina Wight) Wiki link. . . .

Plot Summary: *Whiskey with a Twist*

Here's how my editor describes Whiskey with a Twist . . .

Whiskey Mattimoe never thought the skill set of her Afghan Hound Abra—stealing purses and farting—might interest a professional dog breeder. But that's exactly what's attracted Susan Davies, who wants Abra to participate in a canine competition... as a Worst-In-Show example of how not to train an Affie.

Soon, Whiskey finds herself bored and embarrassed in Northern Indiana Amish country, watching Abra wreak havoc at the Midwest Afghan Hound Show. But when two champion pooches vanish and a handler turns up dead, the sleepy community's rustic charm disappears... along with Abra.

Praise for the Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery series:

"Sprightly humor, delightful characters (including the animals), and a nicely mixed-up plot make this an entertaining debut." —Library Journal (starred review)

Nina Wright (Dallas, Texas) is an award-winning playwright and novelist. In addition to the Whiskey Mattimoe mystery series, she's the author of Homefree and Sensitive (both Flux) and other fiction for adults and younger readers. Wright also leads workshops in writing and the creative process.

Whiskey with a Twist: Available for pre-order!

Invited to a regional dog show as an example of how not to groom and train an Aghan hound, Abra leads her human--amateur sleuth and wayward Realtor Whiskey Mattimoe--straight into murder and mayhem. . . .

The most hilarious book to date in this rollicking series is the perfect gift for readers who love mysteries, laughter, dogs, and/or real estate. Now available for pre-order at Amazon!

Whiskey on the Rocks: Now Available in German!

Random House Germany is publishing Whiskey on the Rocks as Ein Ganove auf vier Pfoten (translation: A Thief on Four Feet). You can pre-order it on Amazon now.

Danke.

Whiskey and Water: Here Come the Reviews!

From Publishers Weekly:

In Wright's sprightly fourth mystery to feature Magnet Springs, Mich., realtor and sleuth Whiskey Mattimoe (after 2007's Whiskey and Tonic), one of Whiskey's duplex tenants, Twyla Rendel, whom she believed to be a struggling single mother of two, is seen by a neighbor with seven children. After Whiskey informs Twyla she faces eviction, Twyla and the children vanish. Whiskey and Magnet Springs police chief Jenx Jenkins are determined to investigate these disappearances as well as the reported sightings of Whiskey's old realtor rival, Gil Gruen, whom Whiskey saw die the previous winter. Twyla later turns up dead, but where are the children? Wright's mix of humor, crime and romance infuses this cozy with down-home zest. At the same time she makes some solid points about greed, bad parenting and real estate. (May)

From Kirkus Reviews:

A murdered woman, missing children and a possible return from the dead confound denizens of a Lake Michigan tourist town. Whiskey Mattimoe operates a successful real-estate business, but the rest of her life is in disarray. Still grieving the death of her second husband, she's providing a home for his daughter Avery, who hates her, and her twins. Her current entourage also includes Abra, an Afghan Hound, and a needy Shitzapoo puppy that her wealthy, flaky songstress neighbor Cassina has just given her, along with the chance to sell her multimillion-dollar lake cottage. Whiskey has just listed another huge estate, and her love life is heating up. Her ex-husband Jeb Halloran is back in town. She has a date with self-help author Fenton Flagg. She's attracted to MacArthur, a Scot who works for Cassina but wants to sell real estate. But things rapidly go sour. Abra runs off with Fenton's dog. One of Whiskey's tenants acquires a large number of children and then turns up dead on the beach. Even worse, there are repeated sightings of a former mayor Whiskey knows is dead. With help from friends, lovers past and present and Cassina's neglected son Chester, who can talk to dogs, Whiskey emerges from the tangled mess triumphant. Though Whiskey's fourth features a host of oddball characters, Chester and the dogs steal the show.

Next Up: Whiskey and Water

Just in time for warmer weather!

In WHISKEY AND WATER, Realtor Whiskey Mattimoe confronts a riptide, a reappearing dead mayor, and something truly frightening: a shitz-a-poo named Velcro.

Abra the Afghan hound is still lusting after Norman the Golden when, lo and behold, Whiskey finds a couple lovers of her own.

But who killed the young mother renting Whiskey's cottage? And where did all her children go?

Now available at Amazon. Read it and post your own Amazon online review.

New Review

Whiskey and Tonic

Midnight Ink, 2007
by Nina Wright

This reader bellies up to the
bar for the third installment
in the Whiskey Mattimoe
series and leaves with a happy
buzz. It’s the annual Miss
Blossom pageant in Magnet
Springs, but instead of a local beauty stealing the crown, it’s
Whiskey’s dog, Abra. Soon after, the former Miss Blossom
is found dead and the current winner is hospitalized. It’s up
to Whiskey and her friends to track down the missing dog
and discover who has it in for the Miss Blossoms. Wright’s
humorous and quirky style is entertaining. This series and its
characters seem to grow better with age, just like whiskey.

— Deanna Woolf

The University of Toledo Alumni Magazine
Winter 2008

The Way In

by Nina Wright

For three years I was glued to my chair writing one book after another on deadline. Six books, six sales. Very satisfying.

In recent months, however, my goals and my pace have changed. I’ve researched, contemplated, and started a half-dozen fiction projects unrelated to anything I’ve done before. Since I write for younger readers as well as adults, I’m continuously monitoring trends in several markets at the same time that I audition new ideas. Although the “market mindset” is necessary, I find it also potentially distracting and, worse, discouraging. Thus I’ve concluded that it’s time to stop obsessing over what sells and simply write from my heart.

Finding "the way in" is different every time. I vividly recall walking through a cemetery in Tecumseh, Michigan five years ago when I imagined a girl who saved a key from every apartment she lived in with her troubled, itinerant mother. At the time I was facing a move that seemed both inevitable and ill-advised. Notes for Homefree traveled with me and found their way into a draft that endured many revisions and submissions before it was published in 2006. The notion of the saved key survived but ended up a sidebar rather than the center of the story.

When I wrote Whiskey on the Rocks, the book that launched the Whiskey Mattimoe series, I was sharing my rural home with Lucille, a dog rescued in late pregnancy by my then-husband and me. Not remotely an Afghan hound, Lucille was a mutt with fast legs, a scary snarl and bafflingly high self-esteem. Like Abra, she had no apparent maternal instincts and a libido that wouldn't quit. She also had a propensity for chasing anything that promised misadventure. Given the slightest opening, Lucille would take off running full-tilt toward the nearest tavern, which lay on the other side of a vast soybean field. She'd ignore our calls for at least 24 hours before—I swear—she came home stinking of whiskey and cigarettes. I could never figure out what the bitch was up to. So my creativity kicked in. An old friend from college had an energetic Afghan hound; mentally I morphed the two dogs into one and added a healthy dash of imagination. The result was Abra.

What inspires me these days? Mostly, things that go wrong. Or could go wrong, or at least madly off course. Example: While I was grooming my father's cat, the feline kicked a wadded up paper toward me. It contained a confusing partial message written in a cramped hand; my father claimed he'd never seen the note before. Who wrote it, and why did the cat have it? That incident went straight into my notebook of potential story ideas. Since I’m inclined to use the most recent notions, I periodically review older entries to see whether any of those ignite sparks. When they do, it’s the lonely writer’s equivalent of Christmas.

Other ways in: Because I favor visual stimulation, once I get an idea working, I look for photos to feed it. Dozens of pictures of St. Augustine, Florida (for my teen books) and Afghan hounds (for the Whiskey books) fill my walls and computer files. My screensaver is always a slideshow related to my current projects.

Music provides another access point. Whiskey and Water, the fourth Whiskey Mattimoe mystery, was fueled by a Barenaked Ladies soundtrack. Imagining Whiskey’s first marriage set to those tunes made the writing not only easier but a helluva lot of fun. My close friends benefited, too; they got copies of BNL’s Greatest Hits.

Now and then I track my dreams, and whenever I do, something intriguing shows up. A Southern woman named Picket Pie came to me in my sleep. She explained that her name was short for Elizabeth Bye and promised she’d be back. Months later she appeared on the page as a leading character in my play Cherchez Dave Robicheaux.

All writers know that the way in is both simpler and more complicated than I make it sound here. I eavesdrop shamelessly; free-associate wildly; take lots of photos; go for long walks, swims, and bike rides; brainstorm exhaustive lists and alternate scenarios; and draft interviews, monologues, dialogues, and character bios. Sometimes I bounce ideas off friends.

What’s your way in? The key, I think, is to get out there and in there and turn off your mental critic. Put another way: “Travel boldly, listen closely, and carry a bright light.”

Book Club Questions Now Available

My publisher, Midnight Ink, has posted Book Club Discussion Questions for all three Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries. Just click here and then choose the book you wish to discuss. The questions will pop up in a convenient PDF file.

Or, if you prefer, I've got your questions right here! Scroll down this page for Discussion Starters for the book you're reading next. And remember, the fourth humorous mystery, Whiskey and Water, will be out next spring.

As always, thanks for reading and talking about Whiskey!



Book Club Questions for Whiskey on the Rocks
the first Whiskey Mattimoe mystery

1. Explain Whiskey Mattimoe’s “survivor guilt” and illustrate how it haunts her.
2. Each of the following characters draws out specific qualities in Whiskey’s own personality. Discuss: Odette Mutombo; Noonan Starr; Chester; Avery Mattimoe; Cassina; Judy “Jenx” Jenkins; Edward Santy; Wells Verbelow.
3. Explain Cassina’s “mystique.” How does it compare or contrast with her actual personality?
4. What is the appeal of the Seven Suns of Solace? Why does Whiskey shun it?
5. Given that a dog can be a man’s best friend, what is Whiskey’s problem with her dog?
6. How would you describe the town of Magnet Springs and its inhabitants?
7. Characterize Gil Gruen, using three of his own quotations or actions to support your case.
8. Would this book appeal more to dog-lovers or to people who don’t want to own a dog? Discuss.
9. Name two characters whom Whiskey cannot abide. Illustrate and explain her reactions to them.
10. Who is Balboa, and what is her role in the story?
11. Explain the significance of Whiskey’s dream in Chapter 16.
12. Specifically, how does Jane VanDam’s arrival complicate Whiskey’s life?
13. Who is Pashtoon, and what is her story?
14. Explain Mooney’s “pedigree” and how it qualifies him for his work.
15. How does a photo of Ipinima Beach affect events in this story?
16. Who are the Schlegels, and how do they contribute to the resolution?
17. Make two columns, one for Whiskey’s assets, the other for her liabilities. Which list is longer and/or more persuasive?
18. Explain Noonan’s role in the death of Dan Gallagher. Should she have stepped forward earlier? Why didn’t she?
19. Describe the tone of this novel and find your favorite passages to support your point.
20. Discuss what each of the following characters wants most: Whiskey Mattimoe; Noonan Starr; Chester; Avery Mattimoe; Cassina; Judy “Jenx” Jenkins; Odette Mutombo; Gil Gruen; Ricardo Anuncio; Ellianna Santy; Darrin Keogh; Marilee Gallagher.

Book Club Questions for Whiskey Straight Up
the second Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery

1) Against her own judgment, Whiskey hires Roy Vickers. What are the factors that drive her to do so? Do you believe people are likely to regret or resent decisions made against their own judgment? Why?

2) What do we know—and what can we predict—regarding Whiskey’s first husband, Jeb Halloran? Specifically how is he different from Whiskey’s late second husband, Leo?

3) How and why does Gil Gruen consistently attempt to humiliate Whiskey?

4) What is it about Leo that motivates Whiskey to do a number of things she wouldn’t choose to do otherwise, including provide room and board for Avery and twins? Why does Whiskey handle Avery so poorly?

5) Whiskey calls Deely Smarr “the Coast Guard nanny.” What exactly qualifies Deely for her new job?

6) What’s the story behind Fleggers and the Animal Ambulance? How are Fleggers both an advantage and an annoyance to Whiskey?

7) What is The System? Compare what you know about it to dogstrainyou-dot-com. What is your personal experience with animal-training “systems”?

8) What is your first impression of C. Richards, R.N.?

9) At what point does Chester’s absence become truly alarming?

10) What is most distressing about Brady’s find at Iberville?

11) When Deely reveals that she and the dogs found a body in the snowy night woods outside Vestige, whose corpse did you think it was? Why?

12) Why were Leah and Leo kidnapped? Does the kidnapper’s reason for the double kidnapping make her more or less sympathetic? Explain.

13) Is it fair to call Whiskey a “reluctant” heroine? Why or why not?

14) The title Whiskey Straight Up alludes not only to Whiskey’s helicopter ride but also to her efforts to do the right thing. How is this theme manifested in the book? What other characters are also “straight up”?

Book Club Questions for Whiskey and Tonic
the third Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery

1) Explain the oddities of the historic Miss Blossom pageant and why the town continues the tradition.

2) Specifically how does Whiskey end up taking care of a teen-ager with a curse on her head?

3) Analyze Whiskey’s consistent inability to keep track of kids and dogs. Why is she called upon to do both when her record is frankly abysmal?

4) Name all the canine characters appearing in this mystery and the role of each. How are the dogs like or unlike stereotypes of their breeds?

5) Why is Whiskey encouraged to do unofficial police work?

6) How capable are the professional law officers in Magnet Springs? Be specific.

7) Bleak sentimentalism was a hallmark of the Victorian era. How does that tradition shape events in this story?

8) The fact that Whiskey’s house could be overrun by stray cats is attributable to what element of her personality? In other words, how does she get into situations like that? And how does she resolve them? Does she learn anything in the process?

9) Compare and contrast Faye, Deely, and Avery.

10) Who is Whiskey’s foremost ally in this story? Explain your choice.

11) Did Nash’s revelations to Whiskey surprise you or confirm what you felt you already knew about him? Explain.

12) In your opinion, what was the most suspenseful scene at Winimar? What was the most shocking? Explain.

13) Tammi LePadanni is the Stage Mother from Hell, among other things. Have you ever heard of, or had to deal personally with, a super-competitive parent who caused problems for other people’s children? What was the real-life situation and outcome?

14) Fenton Flagg’s early book contends that people’s perceptions shape their world more than any other force can. Agree or disagree? How does that connect to this mystery?

15) Which characters in Whiskey and Tonic turn out to be most different from your initial impression of them and why?

Dogs and Angels

When I received this uplifting message in an email today, I knew I had to share it with dog lovers everywhere. Warning: It might make you cry....

This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.

Our 14 year old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love,
Meredith.

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed "To Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called "When a Pet Dies." Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven.

Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God

Camouflage Cat and Afghan Hound

Methinks the cat is quietly lobbying for her own series.

That may have to wait until after I write the fifth Whiskey Mattimoe mystery, now under way. Stay tuned for details....

Ya Gotta Have Sass

by Nina Wright

Now and then I tend toward the blunt and cynical.
Example: On a recent occasion when I may have been more...ahem...emotional than usual, my significant other, whom I fondly call Coach, asked why I was being "such a girl." In response, I asked why he was being such an a--hole. He calmly observed that I sound like the character I write.

"Which one?" I demanded.

Whiskey Mattimoe is hardly the girliest of girls, but she does have a mouth on her. Since she runs a real estate agency, however, she can't afford to piss everyone off. My teen protagonist Easter Hutton is more likely to let flip responses fly.

"Pick one," Coach said. "They all say what you want to say."

I started to protest, then reconsidered. Before long we were engaged in a lively discussion. Allow me to summarize:

Esprit de l’escalier. French for “staircase wit.” In everyday life, that’s the sparkling remark you wish you had thought of when you needed it but were too slow-witted to produce. In writing, it’s the power to give your characters the verbal snap and crackle you lack. Or not. Sometimes we make them mis-speak for humor, humanity, or plot activation. Both Whiskey and Easter frequently open mouth and insert foot.

Author-Protagonist Identity Fusion. No, this is not a new listing in the DSM-IV, although perhaps it should be. Authors, especially authors of series fiction, grow weary of being asked if they are their protagonists. Sue Grafton has admitted that she conceived Kinsey Milhone as a younger, braver, fitter version of herself. That’s partially true of me and Whiskey: she’s taller, braver, more athletic, and certainly more affluent than I am. But in all fairness, she lacks my brains and sophistication. Faraway friends with whom I used to spend lots of face time insist that reading the series is the next best thing to hanging out with me. I can only imagine that’s because Whiskey has a few of my questionable charms. Frankly, it’s the differences between us that keep me intrigued. My teen protagonist Easter Hutton is nearly the complete opposite of the sunny sixteen-year-old I used to be. That’s what makes her fun to write. I get to relive teen angst as a dark personality in a high-risk, paranormally charged world.

Author Personality Projection/Adjustment. Again, not a disorder. I contend that we infuse every character we write with pieces of ourselves, often neatly twisted. Although I’m inspired by real-world folks and frequently borrow dialogue or other details, I’m the final filter. Confession: my villain may be more like me, or more like what I fear, than my protagonist.

Author’s Voice. Finding our own is hard work for most of us. Reshaping it as needed for the various books (and genres) we choose to write may be even tougher. My signature voice, though distinctly different for Whiskey vs. Easter, is breezy, irreverent and direct, not unlike the way I talk. (There. I admitted it.) Yet that’s hardly the way I’ve always written. Back in grad school I believed that my future lay in writing literary novels. Oh, the poetry I churned out. I was the sensitive, articulate type. What happened, besides waking up to the reality of commerce? I dropped all pretense and wrote my essence. But I’d like to believe that I could still find the voice needed to write that literary or gothic novel. Without going back to grad school.

Although I aspire to weightier pieces, I'm mighty proud when I make people laugh. Sass beats class for readability and sheer entertainment! What are your thoughts about Author Voice and where characters come from?

Happy Halloween from this occasionally rude writer....

http://www.mrfairlessrules.blogspot.com/
http://www.ninawright.net/

Summer Redux

Bonus Beach Day
As I bemoaned in my latest blog entry, pools have been closed for a month. But thanks to either global warming or plain dumb luck, here in the Land of the Great Lakes we just enjoyed the warmest Columbus Day in memory. Can you say, "Ninety degrees in October"?! Almost never at this latitude.

I shot the above photo at Maumee Bay State Park in northwestern Ohio yesterday and the photo below in Oakland County, Michigan, the day before. Oh yeah, when it comes to water and sunshine, I get around. And I haul my camera. I also put on my swimsuit and dive in, a la Whiskey Mattimoe. Note: the water was not quite too cold for swimming, although nobody stayed in for more than a few minutes. Long enough to say we did it!

How Whiskey would love this weather, if only she had the time (and organizational skills) to step away from her busy real estate practice and chaotic home life to enjoy the great outdoors. My fictional mystery heroine just gets in trouble when she's out in nature. In Whiskey and Tonic, she finds death on a jinxed woodland property; in Whiskey Straight Up, it's an ice-fishing competition gone deadly wrong; in Whiskey on the Rocks, it's leaf-peeping with evil leaf-peepers. And in the forthcoming Whiskey and Water, Whiskey will confront a rip tide.

But let the record show that for a few brief moments in my own very real life, I swam in a clear, cold Northern lake even as the red leaves dropped from the trees....

Morphing Felines

by Nina Wright

Meet Flannery Florida Wright, my monkey in a cat suit. Sure, she looks relaxed, but that’s because she’s resting after wreaking havoc. Flan is a Devon Rex, a breed known for its athleticism and sociability, cat-fancier euphemisms for hyper-activity and neediness. Our nicknames for Flan include “Alien,” “Flying Squirrel,” “Heat-Seeking Missile,”and “Waxhead” (don’t ask).

As you may know, I write a mystery series starring an Afghan hound and featuring the following canine crew: a golden retriever, a German shepherd, a Rott Hound (Rottweiler-bloodhound mix), and a shitzapoo (technically, a shih poo). Every dog I love or ever have loved lives on in Abra and her peers. However, I also live with and write about cats. See the cover of Whiskey and Tonic! (Give yourself a pat on the head if you can spot Flannery in Bunky Hurter's delightful art.) To date, four of my many felines have wandered, slightly disguised, onto the pages of my books.

Flannery has inspired two fictional felines: Yoda in Whiskey and Tonic and Ruby Tiger in my middle-grade work-in-progress, The Fine Art of Following Cats. I gave Flan a sex change for Yoda and a red-fur makeover for Ruby Tiger, who is actually a blend of Flan and a stunning Abyssinian I once owned. Also featured in The Fine Art is a cat based on Lola Felina, a fluffy all-white beauty who found me on a hike through the backwoods of West Virginia. Lola’s extraordinarily sensitive nose and communicative twitchy tail inspired Fiona Whiffer, cat detective.

Rocco the “serial-killer cat” in my teen novel, Homefree, is based on Oreo, an insanely fearless tuxedo cat who slew pheasants, ground hogs, and young foxes on my farm in Michigan. When we moved to Florida, he bit the heads off snakes. Minus a few teeth, part of an ear and the tip of his tongue (don’t ask), Oreo has now settled into urban retirement.

Something tells me I'm not finished writing about Flannery (who looked like this when I chose her from the litter). Here's how one cat fancier lovingly describes Devons: "Pixie-like with a cheeky face, turned-up nose, and large pointy ears....Respond well to training and often learn to perform simple tricks like fetching, begging, and opening cupboard doors....Will follow you, talking in chirps and trills; you'll never again go to the bathroom alone....Can arrange themselves around your neck like a suede scarf....Are astonishing leapers who amaze their owners by landing on book cases, refrigerators, and the tops of open doors."

All true, except that no one had to teach Flannery to fetch, beg, or open cupboards. As for the part about Devons jumping, they prefer to jump onto people, specifically backs and heads. Hence the "suede scarf" reference. If Flannery can’t access your back, she may, without warning, leap onto your chest. Or she may scale you like a mountain, using her claws as crampons. When that happens, even devout animal lovers scream. I do my best to warn visitors. Anyone with a heart condition or anxiety disorder is immediately placed in a Flannery-free zone. No wonder I’m contemplating a Devon Rex as a murder weapon. In a future mystery, I mean.

Then again, I may switch genres. One of my imaginative friends suggested that if aliens wanted to invade earth, they'd probably come in the bodies of cats, who are innocuous and ubiquitous. Following that argument, aliens would need to design a feline so that it contained certain technical components. Devons might fit the ticket; the breed can practically fly, their coats require no maintenance, and their ears could double as satellite dishes. And aliens probably wouldn't realize how odd Devons look.

If Flannery's leaps don't unnerve my guests, her relentless close-range gaze does. I don't joke about her as a potential alien, recording and beaming images to the Mother Ship. I’m saving those notions for future fiction. But I no longer let Flan follow me into the bathroom....

"Life is too short . . . "

Reviewer Liz Clifford likes to say, "Life is too short for mediocre books!"
I couldn't agree more and am mighty pleased that she's a fan of Whiskey and Tonic. Read her review.

My Bad (Seed)

by Nina Wright

Recently a friend sent me a letter of complaint that he'd drafted after local authorities mishandled a neighborhood incident. He wanted my critique of the letter before he mailed it. Now, my friend is a darned good writer; his missive was a model of lucidity and concision. And yet I advised him not to send it as written. Why? The last paragraph contained cynical jabs at the town’s apparent attitude toward minorities. I wasn't sure whether those remarks, framed as they were, would yield the response he was seeking. Call me cautious, but I’ve learned the down side of sarcasm.

Some years ago I wrote a darkly comic play called Mimi’s Famous Company, which reviewers compared to The Bad Seed. If you know that film, you can guess that my play was about a truly evil child. Except my play was intended to be over-the-top funny…in a wincing sort of way. Mimi’s a teen-ager who has been raised by her extremely bitter single mother to believe that she deserves whatever she wants and shouldn’t let anyone stand in her way. Unfortunately, Mimi takes that advice literally and incapacitates or eliminates rivals and foes, including—eventually—her own mom. When my play ran in venues across the country, reviews ranged from “Black humor shines brilliantly” to “Utterly unfunny. The playwright demonstrates a disturbing lack of morality.”

Trust me, I know right from wrong. I didn’t write the play to advocate either ruthless child-rearing or matricide. I simply believe that certain imbalances can be best illuminated by dark comic exaggeration. Witness Dr. Strangelove.

Likewise, I’m a fan of Mark Twain’s Pudd’n’head Wilson, which is not only brilliant social satire but also a cutting-edge detective story. And I marvel at works by Peter Lefcourt (The Manhattan Beach Project and Di & I) and Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club and Diary).

I haven't flexed my own sarcasm much lately. Although Whiskey Mattimoe and friends trade barbs, most of the humor in that series comes from the dogs. No satire required when describing a species that licks its privates in public and dry-humps human limbs. Nonetheless, because I love dark guffaws, I can't resist sharing this 25-words-or-less summary of an American classic:

“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.”

That’s journalist Rick Polito’s wry take on The Wizard of Oz. I challenge you to have fun with cynicism. Come up with a skewed 25-words-or-less summary of something you've written. Here's one view of the Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries:

"An oversexed Afghan hound commits numerous felonies as bodies pile up and her reluctant owner tries not to get sued."

Better yet, share with us how sarcasm has gotten you into trouble. Mimi’s Famous Company produced the most uneven collection of reviews I’ve had to date. Ah yes. My “disturbing lack of morality” still makes me smile.

Nina Wright's latest releases:

Whiskey and Tonic, the third Whiskey Mattimoe mystery, and

Homefree, published by Midnight Ink's sister imprint, Flux/Llewellyn

Eighteen Questions

I recently had the pleasure of answering writer Gregory A. Kompes's famous Eighteen Questions for posting on his web site.

As Greg puts it, "We all learn from experience. The Eighteen Questions is a Q&A series designed to share the views and experience of published authors."

Go there and learn more about how lots of writers work, including yours truly.

Still Under Construction.....

Psssssst. Yesterday my editor at Midnight Ink sent me a rough draft of the cover art for Whiskey and Water, the fourth Whiskey Mattimoe mystery, due out early next year. I love it because it features three of the stars of the book, all of them canine: Abra the Afghan hound, Norman the Golden, and Guess Who?

If you'd like a sneak peek, too, drop me an email at whiskeymattimoe@yahoo.com

Now get thee to a beach with a good beach book before this sweet season ends!

Why Lie?

by Nina Wright, author of the Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries

Once upon a time, in a place far away, I found myself falling in love with a man who was funny, sexy, generous and smart, but whose personal story didn’t add up. No matter how supple my skills of denial, I couldn't ignore what I knew to be true: he was fudging some salient details…like age and marital history. Not marital status, please note. I was sure he was single. The problem was how many times he'd been married. And how recently.

Know what bothered me most? Not the lies as much as the fact that he kept telling them even after he knew full well he was talking to someone with a brain. A writer, no less. A keen observer of the human condition capable of doing complex equations, not to mention on-line research.

Why, I wondered, would he pretend to be ten years younger than he really was and insist that his adult kids were, too? And why oh why did he declare that the charming woman he worked with was merely an old friend when I had proof that she used to be his wife?

I won’t reveal how our story ended because I’m morphing it into fiction...and that's the seed for today's blog: to consider characters who are other than they seem. Characters who misrepresent themselves, through weakness or willfulness or both.

That describes a fair percentage of the cast of any mystery novel. But let’s widen our lens. Back in my acting days, a theater director told me, “People lie. Figure out when your character is lying, and you’ll find her inner truth.”

Advice that can work for writers. The key question, though, is why does your character lie? What does lying do for her—or what does she think lying will do for her—that the truth won’t? What’s at stake in her world, and why is lying the chosen route? Is it simply the easiest way, or does she think it's the only way?

Other intriguing questions, at least for her back story, include how did she learn to lie, whom have her lies hurt, how does she feel about lying, and how do other characters feel about her? What if she lies so seamlessly that she no longer knows when she's lying? How much responsibility should she take for the lies she tells?

I've been pondering these fictional liars: Anyone in a mystery who lies so subtly that readers can’t detect his repeated untruths. How do we as writers manage that charade and then eloquently expose it? Or what if you have a lying “regular”--maybe even one of the good guys? Perhaps the protagonist's buddy or sidekick lies as easily as he breathes. Why does our hero put up with that? And what if the liar tries to make honesty a habit? What causes the change of heart? What can he do to earn people’s trust?

Most intriguing of all: What if your protagonist is a liar? Whiskey Mattimoe tells fibs only when necessary, and readers know when she’s lying. (She's not good at it.) The convention of the unreliable narrator is a whole different issue. That's the point-of-view voice who deliberately misleads readers. How many of us use an unreliable narrator when we write mysteries? And if we don’t, why don’t we?

Back to the flesh-and-blood guy who insisted he was younger and less-often-married than I discovered him to be. If he were in a Whiskey Mattimoe mystery, where he might very well end up, Abra the Afghan hound would teach him a lesson. Provided, of course, that nobody murdered him first....

Nina Wright

Now available: Whiskey and Tonic
the third Whiskey Mattimoe mystery

Going Back, Going On

by Nina Wright
author of the Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries

"Jade Greene, private investigator and proprietor of Greene I, Inc., would rather write mysteries than solve them. Since moving from Chicago to St. Pete, Jade can’t do either profitably, even with the enthusiastic help of three teens from St. Mary’s Academy. When their favorite teacher is arrested for killing her ex-lover, a real estate developer who hired Greene I, Inc. to stop the teacher from stalking him, Jade discovers disturbing parallels between the novel she’s writing and the case she’s working on. Is her subconscious mind solving the crime, or are stranger forces in play? Whose murder weapon of choice is a diamond-back rattler, and how can Jade keep the Academy Girls safe? Snakes, Pagans, and Icelanders mix it up in this darkly humorous, sparely written novel of suspense."

Recently I dusted off that plot summary and the 45,000-word partial manuscript that goes with it, a project I hadn't let myself think about for three whole years. I started that manuscript in another life, when I was living in Florida. Actually, I was living in Denial, trying desperately every day to convince myself that my husband wasn't a drug addict, and I wouldn't need to leave him in order to save myself.

I didn't know it then, but Denial had an expiration date, which coincided with the arrivals of hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jean. Within six weeks we were visited by all four. Newscasters spoke of "hurricane fatigue." My problem was Denial fatigue. I was a complete wreck, but not because we kept losing power and pieces of our home. Thanks to incessant threats of deadly weather, I finally lost my ability to pretend that everything would be okay if I just wished it were so.

I bring up my personal past because it raises what I find to be an intriguing technical issue. In rereading that partial manuscript from the summer of '04, I see the hand of a very different writer. Although by then I had already sold my first novel, Whiskey on the Rocks, I wanted--no, needed--to lose myself in the process of writing something completely new. So, with my husband unconscious in the next room, I poured myself into a terse, tense mystery featuring Jade Greene, a half-Asian, half-Jewish PI who flees Chicago for St. Pete because she can't handle cold weather or her own emotions. Go figure. Although Jade Greene is no more (and no less) Nina Wright than Whiskey Mattimoe is, that unique point in my personal evolution gave birth to her story.

Then along came the hurricanes--literal and metaphorical--and I put the manuscript aside. When I was ready to write again, I cranked out three more Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries and two teen novels. I didn't touch Jade Greene until last month, when I started packing for my latest move.

"Things happen when they're supposed to," a wise friend likes to say. I'm sure I wasn't ready to dive back into that manuscript until the memories it conjures didn't matter anymore. Beyond that, though, I'm oddly fascinated by the story I set in motion during that other life. It feels as if it was conceived by someone else.

Which brings me to my point: If we're lucky, the stories we spin find their way into print and endure. But the moment of their creation is ephemeral, even chemical. It's a tipping point: the unique synthesis of forces more potent than the sum total of our experiences to date. Fiction simultaneously masks and reveals our fears, hopes, obsessions, and environment. Hell, it even reflects the weather.

If I choose to finish my story starring Jade Greene, I know I can. Three years ago, I set enough gears whirring to carry me all the way to the end. But I could never have started that book now; I don't live in Denial anymore even though I remember the neighborhood.

Now available:

Whiskey and Tonic by Nina Wright

Heartbreak, Silliness, Bamboo

by Nina Wright, author of the
Whiskey Mattimoe mysteries

Writers are list makers and note-takers. Many of us won't leave the house without a micro-cassette recorder and camera, or higher-tech equivalent, in case we have a whim or inspiration that might lead to a best-selling novel. Or a solution to the messed-up draft we're writing right now.

We eavesdrop shamelessly, surf the net endlessly, and mutely "what-if?" every situation or comment that captures our attention in the course of our mundane lives. My own copious lists fill several very fat three-ring binders and include names, notions, quotations, and possible titles.

Although choosing a title is generally one of the last details of the book-writing process, more often done by editors than authors, several of my novels were born from phrases that sounded like future titles and became my working titles.

My favorite current inspiration is a three-word phrase I found while surfing the net for something entirely unrelated. Heartbreak, Silliness, Bamboo leapt out at me as the perfect title for...well, my life. Not that I'll ever write nonfiction or even fiction that looks like my daily grind. Still, I love that non sequitur perhaps because once upon a time, in the midst of a crisis, I moved to the tropics hoping for a ridiculously cinematic fresh start. It was a fiasco but great fiction fodder.

Here's what I propose: Share one or two of your current possible titles and tell us what inspired them or where they're leading you or, at the very least, what genre they suggest to you. Alternatively, pick one of mine and tell us what you think a novel by this title might be about.

There's a small chance, of course, that your ideas will inspire someone to write something commercially viable. But you can steal from this post, too. Let's have fun.

My Short List:

Deep Regards from the Dark Side of the Moon
The Width of Oblivion
P.S. You Were Right
The Virgin Widower
Spumoni Days
I Am My Own Twin
Hoosier Triangle
The Inverters
Welcome to UNFISH BAY
Now Read Clouds
Dead Men’s Ties
This Is Not the Middle-Aged Ladies Club
The Great Unslept

In stores now: Whiskey and Tonic

by Nina Wright

The Wigs Did It

by Nina Wright, author of the Whiskey Mattimoe Mysteries

Confession: I wore wigs to school.

At age fifteen, I discovered that the easy way to be somebody different every single day was to build a wig collection that included all available colors and styles…and then be brazen enough to wear 'em. On some level I must have been hoping that my fellow students wouldn’t recognize me. Or would want to meet the Real Me, whoever that was. Although I wouldn’t have admitted it, most days I wished I was the cheerleader rather than the artistic loner. True, I knew how to be funny, and that helped. But I was dramatically intense. I had to be; my life was hugely misunderstood. To underscore that, I dressed as if I couldn’t possibly belong to my conservative middle-class family. Despite my strict mother and the school dress code, I managed to look outlandish. I wore the most make-up and the most eccentric accessories I could find. And wigs. A different one every day.

Little did I know that my Wig Phase—which lasted about six months—was my preparation for careers on both the stage and page. Wearing an ash-blonde shoulder-length flip one day, an auburn shag the next, and a frosted pixie-cut the day after that no doubt served as dress rehearsals for characters I would later play or write.

In time I discovered that theatre and literature express a basic human desire: “Get me out of my own life!” We all want to know what it’s like to be somebody else. I’m not saying we’re ready to trade lives, but we would like a taste of somebody else's. We wonder what it's like to be that green-eyed redhead driving the Maserati. Or that sleek brunette with the black belt in karate. Or even (if I'm lucky) that bumbling, love-sick Michigan Realtor with the runaway Afghan hound. We want to safely, vicariously live pieces of those lives...on the pages of a mystery novel, on the stage or screen, or--in my adolescence--from under a wig.

My burning desire to be someone other than who I really was at age fifteen fueled my drive to become an actor and writer. Put another way, I wanted to keep wearing wigs. Sometimes, as a professional actor, I was required to wear one. Happy day! Now, as a writer, I own a vast metaphorical wig collection, and I don a different one while imagining each point-of-view character. For Easter Hutton, my teen protagonist in Homefree and Sensitive (Flux/Llewellyn), I wear a spiky flat-black number. For Whiskey Mattimoe, amateur sleuth, I wear a perpetually disheveled curly brown one. I never owned either of those wigs in high school, but now in my adult years, I spend many hours imagining life with such hair. And the myriad troubles that come with it.

Although my books feature lots of male characters, some of whom I'd no doubt fall in love (or lust) with if they were real, I have yet to write an entire book from a man's point of view. My unpublished starter novel was a thriller alternately told by a stockbroker and his wife caught in a high-stakes foreign adoption scam. Lacking a metaphorical wig for the husband narrator, I channeled the voices of a couple flesh-and-blood guys. The character that emerged was compelling and fun to write. I'd discovered non-wig ways to get inside a person's soul.

Still, when I think about what launched my creative careers, there’s no question: The wigs did it. Thanks, Mom, for letting me win that battle. You were right, of course; I looked ridiculous, especially as a platinum blonde. But, hey, I was just doing my homework.

Publishers Weekly likes WHISKEY AND TONIC

Whiskey and Tonic: A Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery by Nina Wright.

$13.95 paper (328p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1055-6

A tiara-stealing dog and a long line of cursed Miss Blossom beauty queens enliven Wright's whimsical third whodunit to feature Whiskey Mattimoe, realtor and sometime sleuth (after 2006's Whiskey Straight Up). Whiskey, a 34-year-old widow, is still adjusting to life in Magnet Springs, Mich., where her greatest challenge after selling houses is controlling her beloved late husband's pet afghan hound, Abra, who has a "penchant for stealing purses and other forbidden treats." When Abra absconds with the Miss Blossom tiara (not once, but twice!) after a well-liked intern from Whiskey's real estate firm wins the title, things really get crazy. It's a risky prize that has often brought death for past winners, including the previous year's queen. Wright's playful narrative touch and snapshot of smalltown life lightens the "curse" theme in this fizzy cozy, but the mischievous Abra really steals the show. (June)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6435041.html

Where I Get My Ideas

by Nina Wright

Since the premier of my very first play, I continue to be thrilled whenever readers or audience members care enough to ask where I find my ideas. It's a question I always answer honestly; however, the reply that I long to make is a variation on one I heard a bestselling writer give on late-night TV. When asked where he got his ideas, the celebrity novelist replied, "Dubuque." After the laugh, he went on to say that he’d never been to Dubuque, but he figured it was as good a place as any to shop for inspiration.

I’d like to say my ideas come from . . . Cincinnati.

And not just because it sounds funny. Newly divorced in my 20s, I had moved to Cinci to take what would be my first corporate job when I realized that I was never going to be happy wearing a suit every day. That shouldn’t have been a stunning revelation since I had already worked five years in professional theatre; however, the big Three-Oh wasn't far away. Time to get serious about earning a steady income. Alas, selling bulk orders of Crisco shortening for Procter and Gamble was not my career destiny, despite the tempting health and retirement benefits.

So it was in Cincinnati, during an existential crisis, that I faced my personal truth: no matter what the cost, I wanted to walk through life as a Writer.

I look back on my brief time in the Queen City as the start of a long and winding road paved with corporate failure and creative fodder. I wish I could say (on a late-night TV talk show promoting my first bestseller) that I found a blockbuster idea in a bowl of Skyline chili, but of course that didn't happen. No, the answers I stumbled on in Cincinnati led me to grad school, restaurant work, more grad school, more theatre work, assorted teaching jobs, lots of freelance writing gigs, a sideline biz renovating homes, lots of elder care, and a costly school-of-hard-knocks general education before I ever got my first novel published.

So . . . where do I get my ideas?

Honest answer: Finding ideas is the easy part—the easiest part—of the whole creative process. Inspiration is literally everywhere, especially if you listen more than you talk. People are always telling their stories, asking their questions, whining their complaints. All you have to do is pay attention. You don’t even have to wait around long enough to hear the ending. In fact, I recommend that you don’t. Walk away while they’re still talking and go write the rest of the story. It’s yours now. Let the magic begin.