Blood Country, the mystery novel I worked on through the summer and fall, will soon be available in paper, e book format, and on Kindle. There's a picture of the cover in the column to the left. You can't buy it yet, but I'll let you know when you can ($17.95 paper, $5.00 Kindle). Yeah, I know that's more of a rock guitar (a Gibson SG Classic) on the cover, but it looks pretty menacing, dontcha think?
A writer I knew, Jesse Hill Ford, once told me I should write what I enjoy reading. Since I've always enjoyed reading mysteries, including the older ones by Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, John D. Macdonald, and more contemporary ones by writers like Michael Connelly, that's what I've been writing for a pretty good while now. I finished a couple of manuscripts back in the '80s and came close to getting one published as a Zebra paperback, but they decided to change directions. Just my luck.
I actually did a draft of Blood Country back in the mid '90s, but I was so busy at the time with work related stuff, that I saved it to disc and forgot about it until last spring. It required a major revision, and I had lots of fun reworking it and lots of help from Joyce who put on her editor hat and from friends, Ed and Rae, and Max and Jeanne, and encouragement from afar from George and Sara.
One thing I plan to do to market the book is set up a facebook page with posts that recount some of the big country music scandals and mysteries from the past. I plan to post a few of those on the old Cumberland Post as well; they might be of interest to you whether you buy the book or not.
Here's a brief summary of Blood Country:
In Nashville, it’s conventional wisdom that if you’re looking for work in the music business, you’d better have a steady day job. Guitarist Joe Rose has a day job, and his business card reads: “Sideman Investigations, Put Someone on Your Side.”
Rose is hired by strung out Country Music superstar Vern Hamlin, owner of Great Axe Music and guitarist extraordinaire, to look into his father’s two decades old murder. Hamlin has received an anonymous letter suggesting that the man convicted of the crime, who was killed in an escape attempt, was not the real murderer.
Because of Hamlin’s drug and alcohol problems, his uncle Claude, CEO of Hamlin Enterprises, doesn’t approve of his nephew’s plan to reopen the old murder case; he thinks it will jeopardize Hamlin’s present sobriety and interfere with his work at Great Axe. But Hamlin’s personal assistant, Jessica Apple, thinks his father’s death is actually the cause of his substance abuse and that pursuing the investigation will help him get closure.
After Rose interviews a Desert Storm Vet with PTSD, the man is found dead. Is it suicide or murder? Along the way, Rose encounters a rogue P. I., Hamlin's sexy ex-wife (country music's answer to Lady Gaga), a Professor who writes mystery novels, Hamlin's promiscuous stepmother--now married to the pastor of a Nashville megachurch, and a pissed off songwriter with a big gun. This investigation takes Rose deep into a family's secret past and the dark, sequined heart of the Nashville music scene.
Coming soon to amazon.com and to Kindle
Along the way, Rose encounters ... a Professor who writes mystery novels...
ReplyDeleteSo there's autobiographical content? That would be a plus! ;-)
Congrats on the announcement of the new book. I thought "liberalstein" was a good read, and I'm sure your new book will have many convolutions as well before it reaches the end. I know it will be a good one!
ReplyDeleteDon't tell me about the labor pains, SHOW ME THE BABY! I'm looking forward to a good read.
ReplyDeleteAlso wha happened to the header above, if I remember correctly, "My backyard, six miles from the Cumberland River"?
Buck, The Prof is a composite of a few people I've known over the years, plus some weirdness and perversity thrown in for good measure. There's probably a bit of me in the Prof too, except for the perverse and weird parts.;) BTW, Rose drinks a lot of LaBatts. Oh, and one other thing. You're in the book--at least your name is. As a Nashville dobro player (what else!) mentioned in a scene.
ReplyDeleteScooney, Yep, there's some twists and turns on the way to the bloodletting at the end. And you already know you're in there as well. As a banjo picker/singer (under your alias Big Ed).
George, The baby will be here soon, I promise. And look for your name in there as well, as a Nashville Bass player Rose knows. All of you guys are in a kind of super group of sidemen who back up guitarist Vern Hamlin in a scene in chapter 3.
And George again, I just felt like changing things up for awhile (maybe do some more political rants, etc.), I'll probably settle down and go back to the backyard pic in the fall.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I'm gonna be FAMOUS! Cool!!!
ReplyDeleteBuck, Heh. It's a modified form of product placement. But don't get your hopes up too high. If your book linked fame spreads to a 100 people more than your already huge rep in the blogosphere, I'll be surprised.
ReplyDelete