Death by Smart Key

You know what they say: there are two types of people who are fascinated by murder—sociopaths and crime writers. I like to think I fall into the second category but I do have to wonder whether there's a little of the former in me as well.

You see, just the other day I was thinking about the new fangled 'smart key' and how easy it would be to kill someone with it. For anyone who doesn't drive a swanky new luxury vehicle (which would be, er, me) take a look at my latest Ghostwriter Mystery—Words Can Kill (now out on Amazon and slowly making its way to other ereaders). I feature a Mercedes 'smart key' in this one, although it's not used as a means of murder. But it could be!

When Cars Attack!

I read recently in the Sydney Morning Herald how some poor woman was trapped in her own car in soaring heat by her smart key. She used the keyless entry remote to get into the luxury Audi Q3. Then, once in, the doors automatically locked and she couldn't reopen the car. What's more, she couldn't start the engine to get the airconditioning going. The key had glitched! Suddenly, the desperate soul found herself trapped on a sundrenched parking lot, in the heat of the day, with no-one else about. She couldn't get out, the heat inside the car was unbearable, and her screams for help went on deaf ears. Well, no ears, as the parking lot was empty at that time.

Saved by the bloke

Fortunately, some bloke showed up after 12 minutes and managed to open the door from outside, and the gasping woman was able to escape, collapsing onto the searing pavement with great relief and, I suspect, never quite looking at her fancy new vehicle with the same innocent delight again. Apparently someone else had a similar experience a few years ago with a Porsche.

The key to a good murder?
So, of course, this all got me thinking: What a clever way to murder someone without leaving so much as a print! Here's how it would go: You have two smart keys and one car. You give your husband—let's bump him off shall we?—the wrong key and keep the right one. Then you lure him to a secluded spot on a hot day and watch as he goes to unlock the vehicle with the useless key. You press your smart key at the same time, so he thinks his key has worked and gains entry to the car. Then, once in, you lock it again and stop him from getting out.

He tries to start the car and his key fails. He tries to get out, but you have secured the doors. He starts to panic and you walk away (or drive your old bomb, whatever works for you) as his final gasping cries for help go unheeded, his screams echoing down the empty road. (Cue sinister laughter now.)

Okay, so it's a little elaborate and he could probably just smash his way out, but it gives you a tiny glimpse of the worrying way my mind works. And it must make you wonder how my husband sleeps so soundly in the bed beside me each night. I certainly do.

Of course we can't afford a luxury vehicle with a smart key, so he's safe for now. (Cue more sinister laughter, then fade away...)

Happy reading, everybody.
xo Christina

Free/99c book celebration!

To celebrate the launch of my latest Ghostwriter Mystery, Words Can Kill, and to thank my many devoted readers, I'm giving you all a fabulous gift! For a limited time, the fouth book in the series will soon be FREE through Smashwords (that's iPad, Nook, Kobo and Sony) or just 0.99c at Amazon. (Sorry, Kindle lovers, but Amazon won't allow me to charge less than that, the party poopers!)

Still, you're getting a pretty cool deal. It now costs very little to download Dying Words via your favourite eReader. This way, if you haven't got 'round to reading it, you can quickly catch up before you get the latest installment. If you have already read it, download it anyway and offer it to your flatmate, hubby or BFF.

We're spreading the Roxy magic this month, and the more readers who share in her adventures the better.

Thanks again for all your support. Don't forget to drop me a line, below, send me an email (see above), or pop a quick review on Amazon if you have the time.

Happy reading!

xo Christina

She's baaaaack!

Good news for Roxy Parker fans. Australia's favourite Ghostwriter is back, this time traipsing all over Europe—from the snow-capped heights of Mt Pilatus to the craggy cliffs of the Italian Riviera—in her quest to track down her estranged boyfriend Max. He's vanished from a luxury Swiss resort and his flatmate, Jake, has just shown up murdered back in Berlin. The cops think Max did it, but Roxy knows better ...

To find out more about the fifth Ghostwriter Mystery, Words Can Kill, head straight to Amazon where it's now available on Kindle. You can also download a copy through other readers, including iPad and Nook, in a few days.

In the meantime, I do hope you enjoy the read and, if you do, please jot me a quick review. It helps to spread the word and enable more Roxy Parker adventures to come.

Happy reading, everyone.
xo Christina

$1.99 Ghostwriter Mystery Sale!

Fast-talking, merlot-swilling, fashion savvy Roxy Parker is back and better than ever. In her fifth, death-defying adventure, Australia's favourite ghostwriter finds herself on the hunt for her estranged boyfriend Max. He's disappeared while working in Berlin and all she has to go on is a cryptic text message and some unsettling Facebook photos.

Has he run off with a married bimbo? Are the Swiss Army hiding something? And why has his flatmate shown up bludgeoned to death with his 1920s Gibson guitar?

Before you get a chance to find out, why not catch up on Roxy's previous adventures? Exclusive to Amazon, and in the lead up to the release of Ghostwriter Mystery #5 (out soon), I'm offering the first four books for the discounted rate of $1.99!

The sale will only last a short time so get in quick. (And a word of advice: if you haven't read book #4, Dying Words, be sure to download that now. It helps pave the way to Berlin!)

Happy reading.
xo Christina

Your chance to name Roxy's 5th book!

Fans of my Ghostwriter Mystery series will be happy to hear I have finished the latest Roxy Parker adventure, and my children are still in one piece—see blog below. Of course the fact that they've spent the past few months being ignored by their mother, staring at far too many screens, and generally learning that writers are a grumpy bunch on deadline, is neither here nor there.

We're alive and we're happy. Well, actually, not everyone is. There are at least three very unhappy people in my latest novel. One of them has just fallen off a cliff on the Italian Riviera, so that's not so much fun. Another has been bludgeoned in his Berlin apartment, and it's ruined a perfectly good guitar (not to mention his head). And the third? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out what happens to the third. It's Roxy's boyfriend Max and he's gone missing while working in Europe.

Why has Max vanished?
Is he still alive?
Can Roxy Parker find him, even with his annoying, self-absorbed sister by her side?

Before you can find the answers to those questions, I need YOUR help. The manuscrpt is currently with my US editor and will be online in a few weeks, but I'm looking for a creative title.

What would you name it?

If you can think of a good title you get to name the book and be credited in the Acknowledgements section. How good is that? All you have to do is think of a snappy title that encapsulates what the Ghostwriter Mysteries are all about: writing, murder, adventure, fun. But this time we need to add a spice of travel.

I've been playing with the titles: Lost in Translation or Globe Plotting. My cover designer tells me the former is a film, the latter an embarrassment. Can you do better than that?

I'd love to hear from you. Don't forget it HAS to include some kind of reference to writing, words, books etc, just like the previous four titles (but also mystery and travel, tricky huh?):

    

You have one week to complete your task. Good luck!

xo Christina

UPDATE: A big THANK YOU to all my readers who got in touch with cover titles (all via email, although a comment here would have been just as good). There were some fun, inspiring and just plain loony suggestions, but sadly, none were quite right. Special mention to Hannah P's contribution: Dead on Arrival. (Very clever, Hannah, and I might store that away for another time.) So what did I end up calling it? You'll have to wait and see when the book gets published, very soon!

Writing with kids is murder

So I've just bashed a man across the head with his 1920's Gibson guitar, there's blood spurting everywhere, bits of his brain are bubbling out through his skull. We're in a dark Berlin apartment, I'm spouting Italian and he's looking very confused as he takes his final gasping breath. He'd just given me a lift from Riomaggiore, he'd thought I was a good guy, so why ... why ...?

"Muuuum! Can you come here?"

Huh? What? Who?

Damn it, there goes that thread again. Writing with kids in the house can lead to murderous thoughts, but not a lot of actual crime writing. I'm two-thirds of the way through my fifth Ghostwriter Mystery and now that the summer holidays have hit, it's all starting to go AWOL. Sort of like attempting to drive a manual vehicle when you've only ever driven automatic, it's a case of spits and spurts, bunny hops and splutters and you occaisonally make ground but you never really get anywhere. Not in a hurry, anyway.

"Mum, Felix can't find his money."

There he goes again. Except that's the other one. There's two of them, you see, so it's twice the battle and half the luck.

"It's your fault for having us," he says now, reading over my shoulder as I write this. That's the older one again, the cheekier one, the one who should know better. "It sounds like you absolutely hate us," he adds.

"Muuum, I can't find my money," says the younger one now, wandering into my office. "What are you writing?"
"Mum hates us."
"No I do not."
"Yes you do, says so right there on your blog."
"I'm just explaining to my readers why it's so HARD to finish novels with you guys on holidays. Now, if you'll let me get on with it, I'll stop writing about you."
"But what about my money?" demands the younger one.
I sigh, stop typing and turn to face him. "Why do you need your money, sweetie?"
"Because I want you to take me shopping to buy Ratchet & Clank. It's on special at EB Games."
"Shopping? Really? I was hoping to finish a few chapters today."
"But Mum, I'm really bored."
"And then we'll have something to do and we'll leave you aloooooone!" adds the other one, the older one. Did I mention he was cheekier?

At some point, this point actually, I start screaming like a hapless murder victim and they rush out of the room knowing they've pushed me too far, and I'm left alone for a blissful paragraph or two before ...

"Muuum, I can't find my socks!"
I try breathing deeply. "Why do you need your socks?"
"Because I have to put my shoes on if we're going to go shopping."
I growl quietly to myself, I save the pathetic three pars I've managed that day, I push away from my desk and I search for the money, the socks and my car keys.

It looks like we're going shopping.

xo Christina

Plotting my way out of writer's block

I've never really experienced 'writer's block' but have to admit, while working on my fifth Ghostwriter mystery recently, I struggled to get the story out, labouring over every sentence, feeling bored, floundering, wondering why I bother and was there a less talented writer anywhere on this dark earth.

Then I picked up a book I bought at the last Byron Bay Writers Festival that I'd neglected to read. An anthology of Australia's leading crime writers with the disappointingly cliché title If I Tell You ... I'll Have to Kill You (edited by Michael Robotham) and relief flooded through me like a cold shower in the middle of a Melbourne heat wave.

Forget about just 'Australia' and 'crime', 20 of the world's top writers have revealed that they, too, stumble and fall, flounder and feel like frauds from time to time. Experts like Gabrielle Lord and Kerry Greenwood, Peter Corris and Shane Maloney. Gee I'm in good company!

These wonderful, candid writers offer excellent advice on getting started, on keeping going, on plotting or not plotting (to each their own), on flow, character development and how to handle the ugly ego that sits on each of our shoulders laughing regularly at our 'ineptitude'. Every writer struggles occasionally. No writer thinks it's a breeze. Not even the best of them.

Of course, deep down I know all this, I've heard it all before, but to see it at this time, as I struggle with a series that, just between you and me, has been a breeze, was a welcome buoy in what's been a turbulent and unproductive month. (Well, if you don't count the spotless kitchen and one very tidy desk.)

Just promise yourself you'll write 500 words a day, suggests Katherine Howell (writer of pacy ambo thrillers). If that doesn't work, make it 250. Before you know it, you'll be on a roll. Others advised I just put the pen down (keyboard, iPad...) and go for a stroll. Thinking, or not thinking, is just as pivotal to plotting as getting letters onto a page. (Sadly, most of us see this as a waste of time, but oh no it's not!) Almost everyone stressed the importance of character and I wondered whether I'd not developed mine enough. Was that my stumbling block?

Then I read that perhaps it's not me that's struggling. It's the plot. Yes, I thought, yes! Let's blame the blasted plot!

I put my keyboard aside and I sat out on my veranda, watching the wallabies mow the backyard as the catbirds screeched like manic babies in the poinciana above, and I looked again at my plot. Of course. That was it. My plot was all wrong. It just wasn't doing its job. There were not enough suspects. There were certainly not enough dead bodies. It was all a bit of a yawnfest. No wonder I was bored senseless, it was a senselessly boring plot. So I grabbed pen and paper and reworked the entire novel. Then I returned to my keyboard and the story began to flow.

I haven't stopped writing since.

Thanks, fellow writers, for your candour and your encouragment, but most of all, thank you for your failings, because without them, I'd still be scrubbing every square inch of my office.

Happy reading (and writing) everyone.
xo Christina

High Tea with Mum, anyone?

So it was my birthday. The boys were all heading off, beanies in hand, for the Collingwood versus Gold Coast Suns footy game (yawn) and my mother determined that WE were not to be outdone. So she invited one of my besties and we lippyed up and headed to the so-kitsch-it's-cool Verscace Hotel in Surfer's Paradise (think Miami on steroids, my American friends).

As I sat there supping darjeeling, quaffing champers and scoffing myself with lashings and lashings of teeny cakes, oversized scones and mushy cucumber sandwiches, I couldn't help wondering what my protagonist Roxy Parker (of the Ghostwriter Mystery series) would make of all this.
[AD BREAK: You can grab your copies at Amazon and Smashwords, now.]

Not Roxy's cup of tea at all, I'd've thought (the bubbly and best friend would have been welcome, the mother not so much). We had a lot of fun, and there wasn't a single patronising word or eyeroll from anyone. I didn't even get a raised eyebrow over my black skinny jeans and mulberry suede ankle boots.

I guess that answers the question I often get from readers about whether Roxy's mum Lorraine Jones is modelled on my own mother.

God no. Thank God, no! But gee she's a fun character to write. I'd love to hear about YOUR mums/moms, too, people. Are they meddling like Lorraine? Away with the fairies like Max's mum (we'll meet her in the next book), or generous and full of good ideas like mine?

Do tell, darlinks! (That's High Tea-speak for 'oi, let us know')

Oh and happy reading, everyone.

xo Christina

Ghostwriter Sale Coming Up!

Hi guys,
A quick heads up for those who loved Killer Twist and are considering buying more great Ghostwriter mysteries. I will be putting Roxy Parker's second exciting adventure—A Plot to Die For— on sale on Amazon for just 99c for one full week, starting this Saturday, July 20.

But that's not all, lovely people. If you go to Goodreads, you can clinch one of 3 free paperback copies I'm putting up for grabs. You've got a month to enter, so hop to it: book giveaway.

If you're after the 4th Ghostwriter Mystery, Dying Words, that's hot off the press and now available as an ebook at:
Amazon and Smashwords.

I'd LOVE to hear your feedback so please don't hesitate to write a quick review and/or leave me a comment. And look out for other giveaways coming up.

Happy reading,
xo Christina
PS: Those who know me will also know that July 20 is my birthday, so this year, the treats are clearly on me!

Roxy back on murder track

At last, life was looking pretty good for ghostwriter Roxy Parker. She had the man of her dreams, a new book in the wings, and was so content, she'd barely found time for a speedwalk, let alone her good friend Gilda Maltin. Everything was rosey until ...

... In the dead of night, an elderly man has been bulldozed over in a brutal hit and run. Clutching to life, he summons his sobbing family to his bedside and utters one simple sentence—"Roxy Parker ... she has it!" —before taking his final, gasping breath.

So begins the next exciting adventure for my crime loving amateur sleuth.

Keen to know more? Want to clinch your own ecopy?
Dying Words is the fourth book in the Ghostwriter Mystery series and is now available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Words-Ghostwriter-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00DPUYG5M/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373078356&sr=1-4&keywords=Dying+Words

It was a fun story to write because, as I said in an earlier blog, it was based on a real life incident that happened to me. An elderly man I had met and interviewed just once also called out my name on his deathbed and, while I'm pretty sure his passing was innocent enough, it set my imagination into overload.

Why did he call out my name of all names? What had he given me that was so precious to him? And what if there was a riveting mystery behind it all and he was sending me a message from the grave?

Dying Words is the result of my imagination gone wild. I loved writing it and I'm sure you're going to love reading it, too. And if you did, please don't hesitate to jot down a quick review and/or get in touch.

I love hearing from my readers, it's part of the reason I do what I do. (The other part is simply because it's such good fun.)

Happy reading!

xo Christina

Sneak peek - 4th Ghostwriter cover

Hi readers,
As promised, here's a sneaky peek at the latest cover for the fourth Ghostwriter Mystery novel, Dying Words which will be up on Amazon in early July. Designed by Mullumbimby artist/designer Stuart Eadie, it's a bold new look, and I'm very excited about it.

I'd love to hear your comments and will be back in touch when the book is published.

Cheers,
Christina Larmer