I've written six mystery novels now, and am about to dip my toe into the seventh. More on that as weeks go by.
But in reality, that first sentence is inaccurate. There have been six mystery novels of mine that were (or are about to be) published, but I've actually written one more. I'm staring at it right now, because I can see the last existing copy sitting on my shelf.
It's called Inherit the Shoes, and I wrote it after the last Aaron Tucker book, As Dog Is My Witness, in 2004 (or so) and before what became the first Double Feature Mystery, Some Like It Hot-Buttered, in 2005 or thereabouts. Shoes was what I thought would be the first in a series about Sandy Moss, a New Jersey prosecutor who moves to Los Angeles to get out of criminal law and take on what she believes will be the calmer, less ambiguous world of family law at a large firm. (Don't ask "a large, firm what?")
Sandy discovers that nothing actually works out as she expects, and her first divorce case--one on which she's only supposed to be the second chair and not say much as she learns--becomes the defense of a man accused of murdering his soon-to-be-ex-wife. The fact that the guy is a hugely famous TV star playing a criminal defense lawyer on a show called Legality doesn't help.
Now, an author whose work has actually seen publication shouldn't complain about The One That Got Away, but Shoes has always been something of a favorite of mine. For one thing, it's the only novel I've ever written that my wife reviewed with anything other than, "It's cute." She said it was the best thing I'd ever done.
The few people who had read the manuscript have said similar things. Diane Kovacs, moderator of DorothyL, got a look at it a couple of years ago, and said it was her favorite of my work, and she liked my other work. My agent, who read Shoes as a sample when deciding whether to represent me or not, was more excited about it than about Hot-Buttered, which I might have mentioned, actually sold.
You can't figure anything in this business.
I'm told, now, that Shoes is "too chick-lit." That's something of a surprise to me, as I've never considered the book to be in that sub-genre. I think it's a funny mystery and spoof of a legal thriller with a female protagonist (mind you, I was being told at the time that a male protagonist--which all six of my published novels have had--was a strike against a book). Maybe it's the word "Shoes," which apparently is the chick-lit touchstone of all touchstones.
Seriously, I'm trying not to complain. I know the market is changeable, and maybe the book isn't as good as I thought. I haven't read it for a while. There are things I wrote years ago that I thought were the greatest thing since Citizen Kane and on re-reading years later, turned out to be something more on the level of Howard the Duck. And even if it is a good book, the business has changed since 2005. They're just not looking for that anymore, and "they" have a better sense of what sells than I do, certainly.
I don't know. I do have a real affection for Shoes, and I hope that someday you get the chance to decide for yourself. But it's not looking good.
