My First Mystery…and a Gift Card
I wrote my first romance novel about a million years ago. Since then I’ve penned thirty others, and I’ve loved every one of them. But eventually, when my kids ran away from home (a.k.a. grew up) I decided to try writing some other things. A lot of other things. I wrote a story about a talking cat (weird). I did a twisted Cinderella story (sad). I believe there was even an odd little tale about a Martian (super weird). Not to mention a host of other “stellar” ideas.
Meanwhile, I was in the market for a new agent. One of those agents read through my string of masterpieces like a real trooper, gave me a call, and informed me that she could sell the mystery. The mystery! The mystery? I was pretty sure I hadn’t written a mystery. I went through the list in my mind, made sure my talking cat wasn’t a mystery pet and said, “That’s great. That’s fantastic. Ummm, in your opinion, which one do you think might be a mystery?” She replied, “Unzipped.”
Hmmm, Unzipped wasn’t a mystery. It was about Christina McMullen, a sassy psychologist who has an ongoing love/hate relationship with sexy police lieutenant Jack Rivera. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was…maybe a romantic suspense or a chicklit or a…mystery? Okay. Well, thought I cleverly, if she could sell it as a mystery…then a mystery it was.
That was seven years ago. Bantam published Unzipped in 2005. Since then there have been six other Chrissy McMullen novels. Uncorked was just released, and after all this time I’m still not sure it’s a mystery. I mean, we have a feisty female lead looking for love in all the wrong places. We have a cop with a lot of attitude and a great assss…spect on life. We have romance, sexy dialogue, and secondary characters that I adore. Then again we do have a pretty healthy body count by the end of each book. So you tell me, is it a romance or is it a mystery?
I’m giving away an Amazon gift card to one much appreciated commenter.
Here’s a little video to help you decide about the genre.
And a small clue: Francois is actually a battery-run device that has appeared in several books and sometimes gives us quotes. I can’t resist snarky battery-run devices.
https://www.facebook.com/lois.greiman
https://www.facebook.com/ChrissyMcMullenMysteries
https://www.loisgreiman.com
Also just released digitally, one of my favorite early historical romance titles: The Lady and the Knight at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/148654
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Its romance. sometimes , they have some mystery too. 🙂
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Romantic Mystery
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To me it reads like a romantic mystery so you have both you can sell it as. Just like some music crosses that line of what genre it is you have crossed the life and got the best of 2 instead of just one. Some people don’t want to pick up a romance but they will buy a mystery and that is what they see. Then there are others that will buy it for the romance and that is what they see. So when you can write a book that will fill more than one genre it can be the best thing and just keep on writing.
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Hmm… it sounds like it crosses a couple genres, Lois! I have a couple of your mystery/romances on my TBR–they looked fun when I picked them up! Do your Chrissy stories need to be read in order? Glad you’ve found success with these (not) mysteries 🙂
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Alisa, romantic mystery it is then. Thanks.
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That’s true, Deb, some people won’t pick up a romance. There is still a stigma out there, I think.
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How about mystery with a romantic twist?
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I would say a mystery with romantic elements.
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Thanks for giving me a try, Fedora. Hope you enjoy.
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Mystery romance…. sounds like a fun read!
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Sounds like a Romantic Suspense story to me. It sounds like a very interesting story.
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I say romanctic suspense , congrats on the books
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I would have said Romance, but whatever floats your boat.
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any winner