Sophie's Book Choice

Jeff Cohen

Click the cover of AN UNINVITED GHOST to read a review!

"Which one of your books is your favorite?"

You hear this question a lot when you're out trying to promote your work. Especially for those of us who are not exactly household names. We go to bookstores or libraries and face audiences mostly of people who have never heard of us before. We give a nice, lively talk on writing and our work, and inevitably sit or stand behind a table we've carefully arranged with every word we've ever had published, displayed attractively.

And it never fails that some well-meaning person (usually a smiling lady) will approach and ask not which is the first in the series or which is the most recent--which, let's face it, is the one we really want to sell today--but, which one of our books is our favorite.

I will usually look the questioner in the eye and ask if she has children. More often that not, she'll say she has. "Which one's your favorite?" I'll ask.

The scary ones will tell you.

How can I choose among the products of my fevered imagination to say which is the favorite? And "favorite," it should be noted, does not mean "best." We're not evaluating quality here; we're being asked to make an emotional choice, to declare not which one we think was most cleverly written or which one we worked hardest to make work. We're being asked which one we like the best.

There is no simple answer. Oh sure, there could be--I could simply point out the latest (and copies of AN UNINVITED GHOST just made their way to my door) to drive sales numbers--but if I'm being honest (which I normally am), I can't point to one cover or another and say, "That one. That's the one I favor above all the rest."

Each book has it own memories attached to it. FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS was my first novel (and, hence, my first published novel), and while there are passages here and there that make me cringe on re-reading, being first has its own merits. And Aaron Tucker's voice is perhaps purest here, because I didn't have to worry yet about repeating myself.

A FAREWELL TO LEGS, the only title I still have trouble saying out loud without laughing, is interesting in its own fashion, the product of someone who 1. Had written a book before, and therefore knew he could write one and 2. Realized now that people might actually read this thing. It's not more cautious, certainly, but it is written with an audience in mind. And it had a sequel in mind, too--now I knew there would be plot points that I'd have to pick up in the next book.

I'll admit that AS DOG IS MY WITNESS is a sentimental choice, but I won't label it "favorite." The book incorporated more of Aaron's family into the story, and emphasized the fact that his son Ethan, like my son, had Asperger's Syndrome, which brings the book a little bit closer to home for me. And I've gotten more emails from readers about the mob lackeys Big, Bigger, and Biggest than for any supporting characters other than Sophie from the Double Feature series. Given that they only showed up in one book from a small press that didn't get wide distribution, that's pretty remarkable.

Once Berkley Prime Crime picked up SOME LIKE IT HOT-BUTTERED and launched what I now knew would be at least three books in the Double Feature Mystery series (which I wanted to call the Comedy Tonight Mystery series, and was immediately overruled by... everybody), I had three books under my belt, which made the front of my pants look funny. I'm a big fan of Elliot Freed, enjoyed writing him, and really had a good time programming his movie theatre, Comedy Tonight, with all the classic comedies (heavy emphasis on the Marx Brothers) that I adore so well. A favorite? Hard to say. There were two others in that series that have all the same elements.

As proof of that, I offer IT HAPPENED ONE KNIFE, which some fans (and I know who you both are!) have told me is my best work so far. I loved creating the fictional comedy team of Lillis and Townes, stealing their names from a REAL comedy team, dropping a hint about them into HOT-BUTTERED which absolutely nobody has ever caught, to my knowledge, and then making for them a comedy film masterpiece called CRACKED ICE, which was the working title for the Marx Brothers' DUCK SOUP. Harry and Les might not have been nice guys, but apparently they were darned funny. A reader no less practiced than Chris Grabenstein (in fact, EXACTLY as practiced as Chris) said he felt he had actually seen CRACKED ICE by the time he finished the book. I lived on that comment for a couple of weeks, easy.

I had a ball writing A NIGHT AT THE OPERATION, which turned out to be the last of the Double Feature series (and I confess, I pretty much saw that coming as I wrote the book). Elliot and his cast of characters came to fruition, for me, in that story, which was more personal again. When his ex-wife vanished, he reacted more emotionally than even I expected, and best of all, I got to pay homage to the stateroom scene in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, which was something approaching a dream come true.

By the time my close personal pal E.J. Copperman began the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEED, I knew about writing mystery novels. And I got to play with ghosts, which was fun. Trying to revive the feel of things like the TOPPER series, I (that is, E.J.) gave Alison Kerby some really lively dead people to hang around with, and that launched a series that will continue in a scant 15 days, something of which I sincerely hope you will take note.

With AN UNINVITED GHOST, E.J. (nudge, nudge) decided to develop the story that began with DEED, taking Alison and her resident dead private detective Paul Harrison to a case that involves another ghost who thinks he might have unwittingly (and unwillingly) done some harm to an octogenarian he'd never met. Scott McFarlane doesn't know what happened for sure, or even if the "prank" he was recruited to perpetrate went wrong, because he's blind. And Alison doesn't know if she can deal with investigating a real crime, whether she can deal with the influx of a reality TV crew shooting in her house, the spoiled "cast members" who don't know the limits of... anything, and the petulant behavior of in-house ghost Maxie Malone, who's complaining about proposed house improvements and acting even more abrasively than usual. So it's going to be a long couple of weeks. For Alison. And for me and E.J., hoping that you'll like it when it shows up on April 5.

So, which one is my favorite? Like I'd tell you even if I had one. If you've read some of them, which one is YOUR favorite?

Comments

[twitter.com/trow125]

I've read 'em all (except for AN UNINVITED GHOST) and I think A NIGHT AT THE OPERATION is my favorite. I liked the way it paid off the plot threads that had been set up in the first 2 books, and the relationship between Elliot & Sharon. By book #3 I had a lot of affection for the recurring characters, which is why I was sad that it was the last one (though it did end well).

[Patty Andersen]

I don't have a favorite because of plot or story but always recommend For Whom the Minivan Rolls because I want people to get the overall feeling of Jeffrey Cohen and starting at the beginning is something this Librarian/Virgo must do -- besides it was my first book by you and I love it for introducing me to one of my favorite authors.

[carl brookins]

No favorites of YOURS, dead guy!
But, to answer the serious question seriously,
of mine, the next one!

And don't you think, seriously, you are spending far too much time on these really questionable questions?