Evelyn Cullet

The week I’m writing about Dame Agatha Christie

She was known as the queen of crime in her day, and she is still considered that today among her throngs of loyal followers. But there was another side to Agatha, a deeper, and a much more elusive side. Under the name, Mary Westmacott, she wrote six psychological romance novels.

Giant’s Bread

     Absent in the Spring

           Unfinished Portrait

                 The Burden

                       The Rose and the Yew

                              A Daughter’s Daughter

But who among her devoted fans has actually read any of them?

Well, me, for one. I’ve always loved the Agatha Christie mysteries and have read all of her detective novels, short stories and plays. As a long-time member of the Agatha Christie Society, her mystery characters and story lines were discussed in great detail every month in a newsletter hosted by her grandson, Matthew Pritchard. The Society has long since been disbanded, but the interest in her novels is as fresh today as it was when they were first published.

But I digress. I was talking about Dame Agatha’s “other side”.

While browsing an antique store several years ago, I was thrilled to find some old and very used copies of her romance novels. Of course I grabbed them up. I was ecstatic to have found all of these novels because I had heard that some of them were no longer in print. When I got home, I sat down and began to read Unfinished Portrait. The story drew me in right from the beginning, just like all her novels. It was light and easy reading at first, and I couldn’t put it down. But then, towards the middle it got serious. And near the end, it was absolutely morose. I recognized the parallel between this novel, and her early life and marriage to Archie Christie. She herself was the protagonist here. She described in great detail the way she felt about her husband, her daughter, and her state of mind after her mother’s death, and while she was going through her bitter divorce. But since it was supposed to be fiction, I was hoping the novel would have a happy ending. It didn’t. And the twist at the end was devastatingly painful to read. I felt depressed for days afterward.

I decided that the best way to rid myself of these feelings was to read another, surely they couldn’t all be like this, so I picked up, The Rose and the Yew. It was just as morose and depressing as Unfinished Portrait, yet I couldn’t put it down, I had to find out if this one had a happy ending. To my despair, the ending to The Rose and the Yew was even more tragic. I waited a few days to get over the depressive feelings I had from reading it, and forced myself to pick up Giant’s Bread, which was touted by many reviewers as her masterpiece. I was sure this romance novel would be different. I was wrong. I tried one more, Absent in the Spring. A pointless waste of time because the protagonist ended up the same at the end of the story as she was in the beginning, although she’d had an epiphany half-way through it so I thought there might be some hope for her. Wrong again.

 While Dame Agatha’s character studies in each of these novels was brilliant, I found that her stories were extremely difficult to read. I still have two novels that I haven’t opened, and they’ll probably remain that way.

 Why Agatha Christie needed to make her romances so tragic can only be conjecture on my part. Perhaps it was because her life, at that time, was also tragic and she wanted to point out that not all love stories have happy endings.

While I was disappointed, I have to admit that all of her stories had an impact on me, mostly because I’ll never forget the emotions they evoked while I was reading them. And isn’t that the trademark of a true storyteller?

I’d love to hear your views on this subject, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks.

This week  I’m excited to host talented author and columnist,

Paula Hrbacek

 Paula Hrbacek has a BJ in magazines and an BA in art from the University of Missouri, and certification on both elementary education and after school care in the state of Florida. She and her husband have four children, and are active in Boy Scouts and other youth programs.

She writes two columns for The Examiner, a free online newspaper. Her arts and crafts column, http://www.examiner.com/childrens-arts-and-crafts-1-in-panama-city/paula-hrbacek has local events for children, crafts for youth groups, after school care and summer camp, as well as art lessons and beginning crafts. Her book review column, http://www.examiner.com/book-review-8-in-panama-city/paula-hrbacek, features books for women and self published authors. Click on the subscribe button at the bottom of the page, and follow her articles for free.

Paula has published four trade paperbacks and a long list of magazine articles in publications such as Highlights, Flower and Garden, Modern Romances, Family Fun, Scouting, Instructor, Am. Scouting Digest, and others. She has several lesson plans for art posted on The Lesson Plan Page.

How do you solve a problem? Where do you find the answer? That’s what the three main characters of Stars Shine After Dark must discover. Each of them has a problem: an unfulfilled dream, a love triangle, impending divorce, a lack of love. Each of them finds the inspiration, the guidance, to solve the problem, but from different sources, in different places, at different times in their lives. Yet, the answers they find are all good. The answer is love.

Stars Shine After Dark Excerpt:

“No, Ron,” she said with emphasis.  “It won’t work. Not another, movie, not now, anyway.”   Mona Poole tossed her head of raven black hair, placed her delicate hands on her slim waist, and gave her agent that look that said she was all business now.  There were times when Ron’s advice had been helpful to her career, but those times were over.

   “But, Mona…” the middle-aged man raised his hands helplessly at his sides.

   Mona knew he had as much chance of changing her mind as he did of saving his thinning hair.  He had often sat in Mona’s living room like this, he had often come with news of an acting job, but he was not accustomed to this kind of treatment.  Mona usually followed his leads and advice.  This time she wouldn’t.  It was a different character, a different attitude, than usual, but it was time for a change.

Mona knew today was different in many ways.  Her parents weren’t here, for one, and she was speaking for herself, and standing up for what she really wanted.  Mona was not used to doing that.  This wasn’t the first time that producers and directors had asked her to do something that wasn’t in her best interest.  Usually, it was Ron or her parents that made the choices.

They all agreed on what was and was not suitable for her to do.  Her parents were conservative.  They believed that her reputation, her image, was more important than making millions of dollars doing something “crude”. They all agreed that someday Mona’s career would end, and then all she would have left was her name, her reputation, and her memories.  They all agreed that any choice should protect these things, not sacrifice them for the sake of a buck.

Review

inthelibraryreviews.net/archives.html

The characters all have a strong moral foundation and want to do what’s right in the eyes of God. Readers who enjoy a pleasant story focusing on love and commitment.
–In the Library Reviews

When I wrote this book, I was upset about two different issues.  A dear friend was getting a divorce, and I felt that if I couldn’t give her a happy ending in real life, I could give her one in fiction.  the last thing you want to say to a friend is “I know what you should do!”, so I took those emotions and feelings and poured them out onto a page.  It was my hope that maybe someone else would be able to find the courage to see it through, rely on their faith, and find a way to stay together.
The second issue that bothered me was a bunch of unfounded rumors that were going around.  They twisted the truth to make the story appear to be something that it wasn’t.  I wanted to show the difference between the truth and a rumor so that the reader would stop and consider both sides of the story the next time a rumor started up in their own lives.  Rumors can ruin a person’s career.  I wish there were less of them.
There have been several people who said just what I needed to hear at just the moment I needed to hear it.  I am hoping to repay that kindness by doing the same thing for someone else.

Stars Shine After Dark, a sweet Christian romance, available in paperback, Kindle and Nook.

Day Camp in Hawaii, a complete program guide for summer camp or summer school, available in paperback, Nook and Kindle.  For more information seehttp://paulahrbacek.weebly.com or my author page at https://www.amazon.com/author/paulahrbacek

Please subscribe to The Examiner, a free online newspaper, and get email updates on my columns; Children’s Arts and Crafts, and Book Reviews.

Paula and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

I’m taking a break from my usual author’s introduction this week to talk about writers conferences. I attended the Love Is Murder writers conference last weekend for the 4th time, and I went home feeling energized and optimistic. It was great fun taking an entire weekend to be nothing more than a writer. I loved networking, meeting up with old friends and making new ones, some of whom will appear on my future blogs.

I’ve been going to writers conferences, some years on and some off, ever since I attended my first “Of Dark and Stormy Nights” writers conference twenty-five years ago. It was at this conference that I got the chance to meet and speak with contemporary authors whom I would have never discovered, or considered reading, if I hadn’t summoned up the courage to go to that conference. Being a neophyte writer, this was the first time I found myself swimming in a sea of traditionally published authors… and it was wonderful! The day was filled with useful information, and many new authors just like myself were soaking it all up. I felt right at home.

But my nerves got the better of me for most of the morning, because I had just finished my first manuscript, and I’d sent it to the conference to be critiqued. Yes, authors at the conference actually did a critique of your entire manuscript back then. I really didn’t know what to expect. Of course I had visions of praise for my writing, and publishers just begging to publish my fabulous new work. After lunch, my critique was given to me in a positive and constructive manner. It turned out to be a huge letdown, but it was an eye-opener. So I paid close attention to the carefully rehearsed speeches the professionals on the dais presented, authors like Lee Child, Carolyn Hart, and Barbara D’Amato, because they had so much to say, and I knew I still had so much to learn.

Since then, I’ve attended numerous writers conferences. Some great, and some not so great. I may not remember all the best-selling authors who spoke, but I remember that every one of the authors, no matter how well-known, was easily approachable, helpful, friendly, had a warm smile and always an encouraging word. I’ve discovered over the years that mystery writers truly are a wonderful group of people. Needless to say, I’ll continue to attend conferences for many years to come.

                                  See you at next year’s Love is Murder!

I’d love to hear about your conference experiences, so please feel free to leave a comment.

All writers are readers. That’s a given. I personally love to read mysteries and romantic suspense. I can’t fall asleep unless I’ve been reading for a while–not always a good idea late at night, especially with a good page-turner that I know will keep me up until all hours, but none-the-less, it’s still my favorite time to read.

Over the years I’ve acquired so many books that my house is now filled with hard covers and paperbacks. They’re everywhere, but I wouldn’t consider getting rid of a single copy, especially the signed novels. (And many of them are signed.) I’m running out of storage space, but I keep buying them. I’m forever asking my husband to make me more bookshelves, but I fill them up as quickly as he finishes them. For me, books are an addiction. I have a “to be read” book pile two feet high. Of course, I could always go to my local Library and borrow books, but once I have a book in my possession, I find it hard to return.

Of course there are e-readers available now that allow a person to store as many as twenty-five hundred books on a single book-sized device. Well, I bought one because of the storage capacity, and have downloaded or is it uploaded I’m never sure, many novels, mostly by contemporary mystery authors. While I enjoy the convenience of the e-reader, it’s not the same as holding a printed book. I like to be around printed books, I like the look of them, and the feel of a book in my hands. I like to turn pages and use bookmarks. And I like to get my novels autographed, which is hard to do with an e-reader, but I hear that someone has invented a way to do that too. Wouldn’t you just know it?

I’ve read that viewing the white screen on an e-reader late at night isn’t conducive to a good night’s sleep. So far I haven’t had any problems sleeping after reading from one at night, but I know it’s probably only a matter of time before I do, so I’ll go on buying printed books and storing them until I finally run out of space.

Does anyone feel the same about books? If you do, I’d really love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave a comment.

This is the first post on my blog. Writing a blog is a new experience for me. For some reason, I find it much easier to write a novel than to write a blog. I don’t know if there are any other authors who feel the same as I because you’d think it would be the other way around. But what comes easy to one writer doesn’t necessarily come easy to another, and I’m finding it difficult to come up with anything relevant to say about the craft of writing at the moment, so I’m going to write about the thrill of meeting one of my favorite authors.

I’ve been a fan of Rhys Bowen’s novels for many years. I became enamored when I read the very first in her Molly Murphy mystery series, Murphy’s Law. She’s won numerous awards for her writing, and each has been richly deserved.

I got the chance to meet this talented writer at the Love Is Murder Writer’s Conference in 2010, and I can state that she’s a warm and gracious lady with a wonderful sense of humor.

In case you don’t remember, Chicago was deluged with a record snowfall a couple of days before the conference in February, 2010. It was touch and go for a while. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to attend or if anyone would, but I’m so glad we all managed to make it.  Rhys Bowan was the guest speaker. I had my camera with me and when Rhys saw it, she asked if I would take a picture of her with all the snow in the background to show her friends. So we stepped out the side door together and I snapped a quick photo. Later that evening, she sat my table in the theater where we enjoyed an evening of old-time radio programs.

She talked as if she’d known me her entire life and told about the years she had worked in old-time radio. I really enjoyed  her stories because my husband and I are huge fans of that media. Needless to say, she was great company that evening. Thank you, Rhys Bowen, for making the Love Is Murder writer’s conference in 2010 a special one for me.

I was saddened to hear that she’d recently taken a fall and fractured her pelvis, but she’s on the mend now and hard at work writing the next novel in her highly anticipated Royal Spyness series.  I can’t wait to read it.

If you’ve ever met or would love to meet a favorite author, I’m interested in hearing about your experiences. Please feel free to leave a comment.