July has started with a bang which is rather appropriate given that Canadians celebrate Canada Day on July 1, while the Americans celebrate their independence on July 4. SICILIAN MURDER was released seven days earlier than expected. Why? All the work was done and the promotional campaigns in place, so why not?
I hope you've had a chance to read SICILIAN MURDER and if you loved it, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. I thank you in advance for any and all reviews that you leave. Having released SICILIAN MURDER, I had a one day celebration and then went back to work on the next story set in Toronto, Canada.
I'm going to have some new characters in this book for Jill and her team. Angela's mother will be along for the ride, Henrik's arriving from Germany, and Jo's beau – Jack. Nathan won't be on his own with all the women for once.
The murder victim for book 13 comes from the music world, and so I've got a lot of research in my future to understand the highs and lows of being a classical pianist. My inspiration for this book resulted from a visit to Toronto for Bouchercon (World Mystery Convention) in 2017. Trip Advisor mentioned that there were free noon piano recitals at a historic church that was located four blocks from the convention hotel. I'd planned to run out on the convention to 'cleanse' my mind of all things books, and experience some great classical music.
I sat down in one of the church pews along with about 75-100 other listeners as the pianist played his four selections. I was glancing around the church as it was really quite beautiful. I also watched my fellow listeners trying to determine why they were in the audience. It's fascinating to observe classical music lovers listening to a pianist playing Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, and Schubert. Some closed their eyes, other swayed to the pianist fingers rather than the beat of the selection. Some moved their lips in the same way the pianist did as he played – I'll have to talk to a few pianists to understand why they're moving their lips.
The pianist began his third selection, which was Beethoven's Sonata in A Flat Major, Opus 110. (sorry, there may be ads when you open the link; you can click them close after 4 seconds). The music started climbing toward something, and at about 7 minutes into the piece, I knew I had to feature a murder victim that was a pianist playing this sonata. Music is supposed to move you, and this piece made my imagination take off to a future book in the Jill Quint series. I could immediately envision her and her team sitting in the very same pew that I was, witnessing the murder of the pianist.
I looked around in guilt, hoping none of the music lovers could see in my eyes the desire to kill a pianist in a future book. I took several pictures of the church's interior and then studied the nave to decide how the poor man would be murdered. Once I finished that, I quietly escaped the church, feeling my murderous thoughts would get me in trouble in a house of worship. And that was how my 13th (book 10 of the series) evolved. The title is OPUS MURDER and you, my website followers, are the first to see the cover of this future book!
Cheers,