Today's Sisters in Crime/Hawaii guest, Frankie Bow,
is a Big Island resident and the author of
THE MUSUBI MURDER 
now available at Audible.com! The link is: 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Musubi-Murder-Audiobook/B00S6VNMZK/ 

Sisters in Crime: The narrator and main character of The Musubi Murder is Molly Barda, an unmarried college professor. Is “the job” the most important part of her life?

Frankie Bow: Molly herself would say yes, although in The Musubi Murder life throws her a few distractions (the most distracting of which is probably the handsome local entrepreneur Donnie Gonsalves). Molly takes great pride in her teaching. She wants to give her students—many of whom have never been off the island—a real college education. This seemingly admirable goal puts her at odds with her  bottom-line-focused dean (‘having standards is fine, but don’t make a  fetish out of it!’) and with the powerful Student Retention Office.

 

Molly is not interested in making an easy life for herself, as her next-door colleague Rodge Cowper has done. “Dr. Rodge” hasn't published a word since he got tenure. He gives no midterms or finals, assigns no homework, and spends most of his class time showing entertaining videos. Every year, the Student Retention Office nominates Dr. Rodge for the campuswide teaching award.
 

Rodge’s embarrassing self-affirmations  are clearly audible through the thin  wall that separates his office from Molly's. The worst part is when Molly  has a student in her office, and they both have to listen  to Rodge reciting, "I am a potent, powerful, and sexual male! I am well groomed, and my hair is attractively styled!"

 

Sisters in Crime: You could describe Professor Molly Barda as a fish out of water. How did this self-described “big city girl” end up teaching at remote Mahina State University?

Frankie Bow: Molly’s dreams ran into the reality of the academic job market. She describes her journey this way:

 I earned my doctorate in one of the top ten literature and creative  writing programs in the country. I’m not saying that to brag. I’m  putting it here as a warning to anyone who starts a Ph.D. in English  thinking that they’re going to end up with a full-time job leading  graduate seminars on Kafka or something. 

 My dissertation advisor was devastated when I told him that I had  accepted a position in the Mahina State College of Commerce, teaching  business communication. He lamented that Hawaii was thousands of miles  from anywhere that mattered, and that “trying to teach a room full of  slack-jawed baseball caps how to pad their resumes” would be a  grievous waste of my fine critical mind. I pointed out that the last  full-time English department job I’d applied for had nearly a thousand  applicants, and my “fine critical mind” was telling me that after a  year of fruitless job-hunting, I needed to start earning a living  wage.  He accused me of selling out for the money. Of course I sold out for  the money. Why else would you sell out?

Molly has had to readjust her priorities a little. But that doesn't  mean she's willing to compromise. For example, she'll never trade in  her 1959 Thunderbird. No matter what the  judgmental and unimaginative  Earl Miyashiro of Miyashiro Motors (who is the only mechanic on the  island who will go near her car) says about it. 

Sisters in Crime: With amateur sleuths, the question tends to be, “why her?” What’s so special about Molly Barda? What’s her superpower?

Frankie Bow: Molly’s superpower is her lifelong love of books. We know that reading literature helps you to “read” people better. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/ Although she’s an introvert, and can be socially awkward and unintentionally tactless at times, her reading habit has equipped her to take others’ point of view and to reason from their perspective.
 

In addition, Molly’s occupation puts her in a perfect position to investigate. Research is an important part of Molly's job. That means that she's not just allowed to poke around and ask questions--she's expected to.  Because her field of business communication is so broad, she can ask anyone anything and make a convincing case that it's for her research. In the course of her work she's managed to dig up, sift out, and stumble over more than her share of trouble. 

 

Sisters in Crime: Is this book part of a series, and are you working on a sequel?

Frankie Bow: The Musubi Murder is the first of the Molly Barda Mysteries. 

#2 is The Cursed Canoe, which takes the reader into the competitive world of Hawaiian canoe paddling and  the excitement around the big Labor Day Race.  

#3 is Molly Barda and  the Black Thumb, in which Molly reaches out to a grad school frenemy, an act of hospitality she comes to regret when she ends up getting involved (to put it mildly) in a murder investigation. 

#4 is Molly Barda and the Invasive Species, in which Molly is thrilled to get a grant to investigate attitudes toward biotechnology--and immediately finds herself embroiled in the bitter fight between big biotech and anti-GMO activists.  

I am currently writing a prequel, tentatively titled The Case of the Defunct Adjunct.

Sisters in Crime: The Mystery/Suspense genre is the focus of Fast Five interviews, but what unique twist makes your novel stand out?

Frankie Bow: I believe that The Musubi Murder is the first campus murder mystery set in Hawaii. While it does address some serious issues, the overall goal is to provide an engrossing, entertaining read. I hope to make the reader burst out laughing at least once!
 

While all persons and events in The Musubi Murder are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, I do work at a public university. Much of what you'll read in The Musubi Murder is the product of observation, rather than invention.

Bonus: This isn’t a Fast Five question, more an “if/then” scenario: If Paris is not an option, then where would you most like to spend your time writing and why?

Frankie Bow: I love living and writing in Hawaii. We have a vibrant creative community, with talented and generous artists, musicians and writers, including our own terrific Sisters in Crime chapter!

Where can readers follow you?

Frankie Bow
www.frankiebow.com

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Frankie_Bow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankie.bow.1

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frankie-bow/

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22945348

frankie@frankiebow.com

Preorder The Musubi Murder on Amazon. Ships August 2015

"13 FRIDAYS" INTERVIEW With AUTHOR PATRICIA MORIN

Today’s guest for the “13 Fridays Author Interviews” is Patricia Morin, the author of Confetti, A Collection of Cozy Crimes 2014; Crime Montage, crime short stories 2012; and Mystery Montage, mystery short stories 2010. 

"Patricia Morin demonstrates the full range of her capabilities, from cozy to suspense to noir- and every genre in between." Marcia Muller, Grand Master, Mystery Writers of America

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i: Aloha, Pat. Thank you for sharing with readers your short story, included within MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense, and for taking time to visit today. Can you please offer a brief insight into something humorous, poignant, or unusual in your life that led you to a career in writing? 

PATRICIA MORIN: I wrote a poem for my dog in fourth grade: "I have a little dachshund, frisky as can be--a short and funny dog that watches over me ..." It won the poetry contest at my school. However, sixth grade, I wrote a sequel to "West Side Story", a short story about a sixth grade gang in a Catholic school--can you just imagine? Gangs weren't as they were today, so it was quite funny. We patrolled the school yard for trouble.

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i: Why did you choose to collaborate with 12 other authors to participate in a short story anthology? 

PATRICIA MORIN: Larry, my husband, and I lived in Hawaii six years, two in Poipu, Kauai, and four in Oahu. We went from the NY minute to the Hawaii month. What most interested me is how the O'hana would gather in garages made into rooms, with couches, to drink and "talk story". We were invited into several people's Oahu for some beer, a bit of Ukulele songs--singing "Honolulu Nights" (so beautiful) and discussing the fate of the culture. I wrote a piece in my writer's journal about the garage meetings. With that, was a bit I wrote about the dangers of the boars and wild pigs. People have gotten killed by them! When I heard about the anthology, I had the setting. The rest unfolded from my imagination.

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i: In The Love Shack, what is one phrase or scene that reflects something about you as a writer? 

PATRICIA MORIN: In The Love Shack, the scene that reflects something about me as a writer is the dream sequence where the mother comes to him as a mermaid. As a therapist, my forte was dream analysis, and I often have dream sequences in my stories.

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i: Can you tell us a bit about your current project? 

PATRICIA MORIN: Confetti, my latest short story collection, out March, 2014, is a a nine story collection--with one novella--all mostly cozy and character driven.

 

Excerpt from The Love Shack

"The newspaper drifted toward Makonu’s lap as he fell into a deep sleep ... He eased onto the plush captain’s chair and threw out a fishing line without bait or direction or a care as to catching a fish. A tug on his line caught his attention. A soft, angelic voice called his name.

“Makonu, I have something to tell you,” it sung in his mother’s voice. “It’s important, so listen to me.”

He stuck his head out over the deck and studied the water. A mermaid appeared. She looked like his mother with fins and a tail--not a pretty sight. “Makonu, you’ve been a good husband, and would have been a good father, if that you-know-who didn’t ruin your life, and decide not to have children. Sure your business did not bring much, but the times were hard on the island. The economy dropped. Sure, you had to take a little money out of the house. But you have the insurance policy. Think freedom. Maybe she could have a little accident. A makana (gift) for you.”

 

Look for Mystery in Paradise 13 Tales of Suspense on Amazon in print and ebook format. It can also be ordered in Barnes and Noble. 

Patricia Morin is the author of Confetti, A Collection of Cozy Crimes 2014; Crime Montage, crime short stories 2012; and Mystery Montage, mystery short stories 2010. 

All are available at Amazon

MEET "PARTNERS IN CRIME" ROSEMARY AND LARRY MILD

Please welcome today’s featured guests for a “Friday - 13 Authors” interview, the writing team of Rosemary and Larry Mild. Their entries in the short story anthology, MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense, are The Joss at Table Twelve and Adrift on Kaneohe Bay. We look forward to hearing more about these stories and the authors’ writing careers. 

Sisters In Crime/Hawaii: What led you to a career writing fiction? 

ROSEMARY MILD: When I met Larry I was fifty-one, divorced, and out on a blind date. As he was driving me home, he announced: “When I retire, I'm going to write a novel and I want you to help me.”

 

I chirped, “Okay!” What was I thinking? I'd never written a word of fiction and neither had he. And I'd only known this man four hours! I was a career editor and journalist. Larry was an electronics design engineer writing technical papers. It didn't occur to me to say "Forget it" because in a matter of minutes we had become soul mates. It was chemistry, folks, and I'm convinced I knew him in a previous life. 

We married the following year, but it was seven years before we started writing together. Larry retired and, with his typical gusto, wrote the first draft of the novel he’d dreamed about. It’s our thriller, Cry Ohana, Adventure and Suspense in Hawaii. (Ohana is “family” in Hawaiian). Then he handed me his 450-page manuscript and said, “Your turn.” 

Yikes! It was truly the halt leading the blind. This is the book on which we cut our fiction teeth. We subjected it to two critique groups, three different titles, and umpteen drafts. After twenty years as snowbirds in Honolulu, we're steeped in local color and cultures, which gives Cry Ohana its authenticity. Recently we waved goodbye to Severna Park, Maryland, and moved here permanently to be with our daughters and grandchildren. 

Sisters In Crime/Hawaii: Why did you choose to collaborate in a short story anthology? 

ROSEMARY MILD: We already had a stable of stories under our belts, many of them published. We've had a series of eight stories featuring a "soft-boiled" detective named Slim O'Wittz in MYSTERICAL-E, an on-line magazine. We were thrilled that Gail and Laurie created the project Mystery in Paradise. An anthology has a lasting quality, and our fellow contributors are excellent writers. It's an honor to be included. We lucked out getting a second story in it when one contributor backed out. 

Happily keeping our Maryland connections, we're members of both the Chesapeake and Hawaii chapters of Sisters in Crime. This fall, we'll have a Valentine's Day story in the "Chessie" chapter's anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays.  

Sisters In Crime/Hawaii: What is one phrase that reflects you as writers? 

ROSEMARY MILD: Larry and I are cheerful partners in crime. We have a great time thinking up well-deserved punishments for characters that our readers love to hate. In general, mystery writers are placid, genial folks, because we can take out our aggressions on our villains. 

Our titles in Mystery in Paradise are "The Joss at Table Twelve," based on an ancient Chinese legend: Where lions and dragons prowl, six strangers take a chance on fate; and "Adrift on Kaneohe Bay": Captain Rick's glorious day-sail takes a tack into a deadly enigma. 

Larry and I have coauthored two novel series: the Paco & Molly Mysteries: Locks and Cream Cheese, Hot Grudge Sunday, and Boston Scream Pie. They have food titles because one of the sleuths is a gourmet cook—and because Larry is an incorrigible punster. The night we met, he slipped a pun or two into our dinner conversation. I retorted: “I bet you pun in your sleep.” 

“Sure,” he said. “I was born in the Year of the Pun. That’s the thirteenth sign of the Zaniac.” (I still laugh. I’m pretty sure our marriage depends on it.) 

Our newest series begins with Death Goes Postal, A Dan and Rivka Sherman Mystery. Rare fifteenth-century typesetting artifacts journey through time, leaving a horrifying imprint in their wake. The Shermans risk life and limb to locate the treasures and unmask the murderer. Not quite what they had in mind when they bought The Olde Victorian Bookstore. 

Sisters In Crime/Hawaii: What is your current project? 

ROSEMARY MILD: Death Takes a Mistress, the second Dan and Rivka Sherman Mystery, is our work-in-progress. Woefully behind schedule, I admit; I'm the villain here. 

The way we work is this. Larry says he's more devious than I am, so he conjures up our plots and writes the first draft. I come behind him, tossing and dressing the narrative salad and breathing life into the characters. Then we "negotiate" to be sure the writing comes out seamless, sounding like one author. Larry has tremendous drive. He depends on me to keep pace with him. But I don't. 

I also have a writing life of my own in nonfiction—essays and memoirs, and I tuck my projects in between our fiction. For months at a time! My new book is Love! Laugh! Panic! Life with My Mother. (It's on Kindle now; paperback coming soon.) I recently published Miriam's World—and Mine, my second memoir of our daughter Miriam Luby Wolfe, whom we lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. 

Still, I love working with Larry. He's the Energizer Bunny—only cuter.  

All our books are available on Amazon, Kindle, and Nook. Or from us. Visit us at www.magicile.com or email us at: roselarry@magicile.com. 

Thank you for including us on the Sisters in Crime/Hawaii blog.

The Face: An Interview with Author Greg Field

 

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii: This week we welcome editor and author Greg Field to our “Friday - 13 Authors” interview. Greg, thank you for sharing with readers your short story, The Face, included within the anthology MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense, and for taking time to visit with us today. 

Can you please offer a brief insight into something humorous, poignant, or unusual in your life that led you to a career in writing? 

GREG FIELD: At an early age I enjoyed telling stories. I even drew comic books with my own made up characters. The heroes were not necessarily endowed with super powers, but more likely to be a kid my own age. The villains were teachers, police officers, or other grown-ups who used their authority for evil or to bully others. Firemen were heroes — they ran to the fire when everyone else ran away. 

One evening when I was young I saw a park structure on fire. Sparks and burning cinders swirled into the night sky. I called the fire department and soon the fire trucks rolled up. Men in heavy yellow coats pulled thick canvas hoses to the fire. Overspray from the nozzles chilled the air. I stood with onlookers — adults who insisted I stay back because I was a child. I wanted to tell them I was the one who called the fire department. One adult suggested it was kids who’d set the fire. And so onto my list of heroes went those who were unjustly accused. These same characters and themes appear in my stories: kids who take on the roles of adults, persons who must prove their innocence or overcome bullies who gang up on the weak.

 

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii: Writers, by default, are independent contractors who sit alone at their computer/typewriter/journal, composing prose, poetry, lyrics, haiku, or limericks, for hours on end. 

Why did you choose to collaborate with 13 other authors to participate in a short story anthology? 

GREG FIELD: I often share the early drafts of my writing with Laurie Hanan, another author in the anthology. She suggested I write a story and submit it to Sisters In Crime. I’d just finished a novel, Red Dirt, and wanted to hang out some more with the same characters. This often happens. After living with my characters for a few months I’ll see them in little vignettes, like hanging out in Chinatown or eating ice cream cones. I had an idea that wasn’t enough to carry a novel, but was perfect for a short story.

 

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii: Each short story in the anthology offers a glimpse into the personality of the writer. 

In your short story, The Face, what is one phrase or scene that reflects something about you as a writer? 

GREG FIELD: The scene where detective Kai leads Ka’ena into the soup kitchen — it’s menacing, bleak, hostile, but it is also part of his past, so in a way it is familiar to him. Kai even meets someone he knew from when he was a kid — and yet they’d never known each other’s name. Kai revealed all of this to Ka’ena, not in words but in an active way. At the time Ka’ena is terrified but later she thanks him for it. 

This scene in particular resonates for me. Many times we struggle to tell another person about ourselves, our past — often words just don’t capture the experience or evoke the emotions. With their descent into that miserable place, Kai told Ka’ena what his life had been like at her age.

 

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii: Every writer has a WIP (Work-In-Progress). 

Can you tell us a bit about your current project? 

GREG FIELD: I’m putting the final touches on Red Dirt, a novel that brings Detective Kai and teenage Ka’ena together. It should be available soon. At the same time I am outlining their next adventure – With Eyes Like Those. Detective Kai is accused of killing a motorcycle cop’s brother while rescuing a kidnapped girl. Meanwhile a friend of Ka’ena has gone missing, lured by the promise of easy money as a fashion model. Ka’ena decides to go undercover, and Kai must get her back before she is smuggled off the island.

 

Following is an Excerpt from Greg Field’s short story, The Face:

 

“Who’s that? Your girlfriend?”

“It was the medical examiner. She’ll be here soon.”

“Dr. Emerald-Eyes,” and she adopted a quick succession of Bollywood poses. The uniform cops suppressed a grin.

“Knock it off.”

Ka’ena shrugged. “I think I’ll walk down the street and make sure it’s the same guy.”

“Just stay here. I don’t want you confronting him.”

“I won’t confront him. I’ll just look in the window—like I’m window shopping.”

When the ME arrived he could turn custody of the site over to her. “Wait five minutes and we’ll go down there together.”

“Five minutes will turn into ten.” She minced Bollywood with the hands of Kali, dipping at the knees as if wearing a tight sari. “And how are you, my Beloved Inspector Detective?” She dropped her eyes seductively, then shot them up at him.

“Cut her some slack.”

“I’ll just take a look.”

“Wait.”

Ka’ena was already striding down the block. She crossed Hotel Street without waiting for the light, even though she had to know four cops plus Kai were watching her. The uniform cops seemed to get a chuckle out of it, like Kai had a sparkly puppy that totally disregarded his commands. Kai reached into his HPD bag and found his binoculars. He trained them on her. She was halfway between Hotel and King Street when she stopped and looked into a storefront. She leaned forward with her hands cupped above her eyes, the heels of her hands to the glass. She stood up straight, looked his way, blew him a kiss, and stepped into the store.

 

 

The anthology of short stories set in Hawaii, MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense, includes Greg Field's short story, THE FACE, and is available in trade book and e-Book format at Amazon.com

 

http://www.amazon.com/MYSTERY-PARADISE-13-Tales-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00GYL6FEE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391741480&sr=1-1&keywords=mystery+in+paradise+13+tales+of+suspense