murder.booklocker.com

RJ McGill just posted her interview with me. Oh my! It’s true — we talked about the murder by banana!

That’s the good news. The great news is this review:

Having read the book, I must say that I found it to be a refreshing alternative to the cookie-cutter who-dunn-its. The characters are three dimensional, the setting itself plays a significant role throughout the novel and with the added complexity of two opposing love interests, there’s something for everyone… The most surprising aspect has to be the fondness I felt for the murdering pinochle players. Although their acts are despicable, I couldn’t help but find them quite like-able in many ways. For a first time author to create such a conflict of emotion within the reader, is a testament to her abilities. This is a cozy mystery that will undoubtedly make Cheryl Hagedorn a name well known to mystery lovers everywhere. And with another installment in the works - readers will not be forced to wait very long to be reunited with this unique and intriguing cast of characters.

You can read the whole thing - interview and review — at either 3Rs or the Blog Writers and Artists Network.

A Brewster Smythe at Blog Writers and Artists Network (BWAN) writes:

“OUR FIRST INTERVIEW - will be Cheryl Hagedorn, author of A Senior Center Murder - which has created quite a buzz because of her creative murder plots and the implement used in one of the deaths - a banana….”

Read the interview A Brewster did with RJ who will be doing author interviews at BWAN.

How appropriate for the beginning of June - I’m making a splash! I’ll be featured at the Blog Writers and Artists Network (BWAN) home page (starting Saturday and runs for a week!).

RJ of 3Rs Book Reviews will be reviewing my book and interviewing me. RJ says: “Having launched the “3Rs - Real Reader Reviews” on February 7th, the response has been nothing short of amazing. The voice of a real reader in the book reviewing arena was long overdue. I am so excited to have finally stepped forward and accepted the challenge of being that voice. Albeit a small voice, in the big scheme of things, it’s an honest one and that in and of itself gives weight to the opinions I write.   Her interview will be simulcast - on BWAN and on 3Rs!

Terry South of Quality Book Reviews has just posted her interview with me at her ProBoard site! Thanks!

The interview will also be posted on QBR’s blog site tomorrow! Twice the bang! Don’t you just love it?

That was quick! Check it out.

More info Map and directions

The Chicago Writers Association (CWA) will be participating in the annual Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair, June 9 and 10.In addition to “over 200 author programs, 150 booksellers and exhibitors,” there will be the Chicago Tribune’s Kids Alley: “Featuring performances by Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky, Jane O’Connor, Jarrett Krosoczka, Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players. Play in the Gymboree Activity Zone and enjoy other kids activities, including the Kohl McCormick Story Bus.”       Our table is #271, which is in the main block between Polk and Dearborn. We’re on the east side of Dearborn, closer to Polk (between tents AA and Z). This is between the Kids Alley Stage and Printers Square.

Schedule for authors from CWA

Saturday June 9th

10am to 12pm

• Cheryl Hagedorn - PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder
• AD Moore - Street Talk and Moore: Poetry for the People: A Collection

12pm to 2pm

• Mary Ellen Waszak - A Guide to Chicago Book Publishers & A Guide to Writing Jobs in Chicago
• Jen Wilding - Roses Prick for Sport

2pm to 4pm

• Jimmy Gordon - Caribbean Calling
• Randy Richardson - Lost in the Ivy

4pm to 6pm

• Greg Norton - An Infinity of Days in the Psychotic Atomik Empire
• Marguerite O’Connor - Griefstruck: When a Death Changes Your Life

Sunday June 10th

10am to 12pm

• Don Evans - Good Money After Bad
• Mary Ellen Waszak

12pm to 2pm

• Greg Norton
• Paul Wolf - Varied Images: The Stories of Paul F. Wolf & A Punk in Gallows America

2pm to 4pm

• Paul Wolf
• Lynn Voedisch - Excited Light

4pm to 6pm

• Jimmy Gordon
• Jen Wilding
• Randy Richardson

Cheryl L. Hagedorn, Author of “A Senior Center Murder”
By Walt McElligott

As the editor of the Chicago Writers Association CLARION Newsletter, I had planned on interviewing Cheryl in June 2007. Happily, that plan coincided with Ms. Hagedorn’s online virtual book tour. I was very impressed when I first met Cheryl and more enamored of her when I read her new book.

As I have continued to add candles to my birthday cakes, I thought I might learn something important about my latter years by reading “A Senior Center Murder.” Until I discovered her book was not a “how to” for the elderly in nursing homes.

I delved further into “A Senior Center Murder” and was enthralled by Cheryl’s very different plot. She sets in motion murders by four elderly pinochle players at their Park Ridge Senior Center. Two men and two women seniors come to resent a zealous director who tries to redefine “active” and “passive” for the Senior Center populace. She tells the card players to get off their lazy “whats-its” and do something other than play pinochle.

In turn, they retaliate by providing eternal rest for their tormentors. To learn more, visit Cheryl’s website, Amazon.com, or BookLocker.com, to buy her book.

Chicago Writers Association: Cheryl, in the beginning, I had promised not to say more about “A Senior Center Murder”, but I found your book so mesmerizing, I’d like you to say a little extra about the suspense readers will find between the covers of your book.

Cheryl L. Hagedorn: The mystery within my first novel is whether the detective can discover who committed the crimes and if he will be able to convince the State’s Attorney that “old people” can be pushed to murder.

CWA: Another basic part of a good novel is “romance.” Have you created a love story within your murder mystery?

CLH: Of course! I developed a gentle romance between my thirty-seven year old detective, Stan Nevins and the curvaceous Senior Center director, Teresa Cusentino. Nevins’s other passions are for Jack Daniels, Stetsons and line-dancing. His relationship with Teresa plays out in the background while the director confronts her need to redefine “active” participation for the senior residents of PARK RIDGE Senior Center.

CWA: I think that’s a sufficient teaser for CWA members and other readers. However, for those who need more, where might they get an added jolt of your exciting novel?

CLH: Chapter excerpts may be read free at www.BookLocker.com. And my website has discussion questions for use by book clubs.

CWA: I note that you have a favorite traditional author. Would you share your thoughts with us?

CLH: Ah, you mean the enigmatic Emily Dickinson. Ms. Emily has her own special place in my heart, and I invite everyone to wander around in my collection of “Dickinson Stuff” online.

I’m particularly interested in the life of Theodora Van Wagenen Ward, one of the few women to tackle the task of trying to date Dickinson’s manuscripts. As soon as I finish with this fiction writing kick that I’m on, I’ll go back to Teddy’s biography. I’ve put 2½ years of research into it! For an idea of what the task of dating involved, I suggest readers visit my site.

CWA: Although you are presently a writer and researcher, I understand that you had a previous career in which you rose to the rank of lieutenant. Would you please explain to our readers?

CLH: In one of my former lives, I used to be a lieutenant (pastor) in The Salvation Army. I trained here in Chicago, on the corner of Broadway and Addison (just down the street from Wrigley Field). I had also been stationed at several appointments in Michigan, one of which was at working with teenage mothers-to-be. In Des Moines, Iowa, I was closely associated with the Adult Rehabilitation Center.

CWA: By any chance, was this Iowa Salvation Army experience the setting for your fictitious Park Ridge Senior Center and its 4 conniving pinochle players?

CLH: Sorry to disappoint you Walt, Park Ridge is a very real place, the childhood home of Hillary Rodham Clinton. It’s a northwest suburb of Chicago.

CWA: Your bio states that you received your Master’s degree in Writing from Chicago’s DePaul University in 2005. I believe that shortly after being degreed, you had quite a wonderful surprise enter your life.

CLH: While in graduate school as part of Composition Theory, I completed a project, which was all cartoons and had posted them on the internet. Someone notified me that one of the cartoons had subsequently been picked up by Harvard University as an illustration for a report on “Machine Learning Methods in High-Throughput Biological Data Analysis”!

CWA: Cheryl, Do you have an important lesson you’ve learned as a published author that you’d be willing to share with our readers?

CLH: Yes, and I confess that I should have known better, but the lesson I offer is this: don’t expect any reader to understand the book the way you do as the author. In my particular case, one reviewer found PARK RIDGE deeply psychological, while another said it was uproariously funny.

CWA: As a resident of Des Plaines, schooled in Chicago, would you please share the name of your favorite site in the Windy City?

CLH: I also paint watercolors so, hands down, my favorite place is the Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Ave.

CWA: Are you working on another book you hope to have coming out soon? What might fans of the “Cheryl Hagedorn” experience be looking forward to in the near future?

CLH: I’ve finished a manuscript for my second book, Senior Games, and am currently searching for the right agent or publisher.

[For Cheryl and all CLARION readers, the Chicago Writers Association has an up-to-date list of Literary and PR Agents from across the U.S., with some foreign agents. Ed.]

A Senior Center Murder Facts

Published: July 26, 2006
Paperback: 216 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc
ISBN-10: 1601450230
ISBN-13: 978-1601450234
Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 8.8 ozs.
Purchase paperback ($14.95) or e-book ($8.95) at http://www.booklocker.com/books/2637.html

Author blog, Senior Center Murders
Author website at http://www.cheryltime.com/books/

Best book review at Midwest Book Review

God Bless All, Walter McElligott
Beecher, IL USA
Editor of Chicago Writers Association CLARION Newsletter

[NOTE: this interview will be published in The Clarion in July. I got permission to quote it early as part of my virtual book tour. Thanks, Walt!]

Denise Fleischer of the Gotta Write Network and her co-organizer, Rosemarie Piemonte, invite writers’ groups and book clubs Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, to the 3rd Annual AuthorFest, June 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Schaumburg Twp. District Library.

Schaumburg Twp. District Library is located at 130 South Roselle Road in Schaumburg, IL. For further information about the library, call 847-985-4000.

When Nolan Lewis (Clouds Are Always White on Top - Flying the Box the B-17 Flying Fortress Came in) posted about Google Book Search on the Chicago Writers Association forum, he gave us this link to see what his book looked like.

I thought I’d summarize the good things I found there. First, off to the right there’s a box that lists five places to “buy this book.” There’s even a link for “Borrow this book” that will let you “Find this book in a library.”

Second, at the bottom of the page is a map with pins for the places mentioned in the book. Clicking on a pin pops up an excerpt from the book! For a book like Nolan’s this is really great since there are at least thirty pins. Below the map, three towns have been pulled out for featuring.

Third, you can search inside Nolan’s book. How cool is that?

Ah me.

I took the tour at Google UK. I was impressed so I signed up, which was easy. If you’re wondering, they give you a choice of four views: Full View, Limited Preview, Snippet View, and No Preview Available. I chose Limited View; Nolan and his publisher had gone with Full View.

Like I said, that was the easy part. Getting the files to Google took a bit of doing, though. First off, I didn’t have a photo handy of just the back cover of my book. It’s sort of funny when you think about. Nobody has ever asked me for a copy of it before! So, I took the original artwork, created a front cover file, a backcover file, renamed the .pdf with the innards of the book, and uploaded it all to Google.

Now I’m waiting for it to be processed. As soon as it’s up, I’ll let you know.

UPDATE: Fellow CWAer Helen Gallagher just posted the link to her book, Computer Ease, on Google Book Search.

Long-time friend (40 years!) Donna Jackson has posted her interview with me on her blog. I asked Donna to share some personal background with me and she sent me a list which she called “a thumbnail bio in bullets.” Sounds like a title for a book, doesn’t it?  The irony is that I can’t make bullets appear before items on a list, nor numbers for that matter, compliments of the Ginseng Coffee WordPress Theme!

• * born & reared in Rapid City, South Dakota
• * trained for officership (minister) in The Salvation Army in Chicago
• * been an avid reader since I was able to read (age 4 or 5)
• * love intrigue and mystery and have forever (even as a kid loved the Nancy Drew series
• * when in Kenya loved it when someone brought a mystery book and left it for us. We shared it with everyone. Same when I was in Hong Kong.
• * have written the beginning sentences to at least ten different mysteries. The novels will never be written…just the openings
• * education: M.A., M. Div., D. Min.
• * appointments with The Salvation Army - corps (churches), Divisional Headquarters, Territorial Headquarters, College for Officers Training, overseas
• * I would rather read than eat

Major Jackson is currently stationed in Minnesota.