Tag: campus crime

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021

Dr. Rowena Halley Mysteries-listen for FREE

Dr. Rowena Halley is a Professor of Russian Language and an accidental sleuth. She is also a realistic modern academic. No spacious wood-paneled offices for her…try underpaid term contracts with no health insurance, depressing low-budget apartments, and copier codes (good for 100 copies per month) that don’t start working until the semester is well underway. Author Sid Stark skewers academia as only an insider can.

Foreign Exchange

In post-Soviet Russia, crime fights you.

Read Foreign Exchange FREE

CAMPUS CONFIDENTIAL

Dr. Rowena Halley has, against all odds, gotten a job. For one semester. At poverty wages. In New Jersey.

Get Campus Confidential

PERMANENT POSITION

Loves hurts. Sometimes it kills.

Get Permanent Position

Summer Session

Sometimes summer flings turn deadly serious.

Get Summer Session

Trigger Warning

When does freedom go too far?

Get Trigger Warning

Audio enthusiasts: You can listen to select Rowena Halley stories for free right now. Stark has a YouTube playlist, which you can find here. You can catch the podcast on SoundCloud, Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. I’m currently listening to Foreign Exchange, the series prequel, and loving it.

Is this a cozy series? Decide for yourself: There is a female amateur sleuth, a close campus community, a feline companion, and wry humor. But the series does contain some swearing, much of it from Rowena’s older brother John, a Marine whose world view is often at odds with his little sister’s.

Happy Aloha Friday…download and enjoy!

July 3, 2019

#midweekmystery and guest post: Mistaken Identity Crisis by James J. Cudney, and Five Questions to Answer Before you Start a Story

Mistaken Identity Crisis

A clever thief with a sinister calling card has invaded Braxton campus. A string of jewelry thefts continues to puzzle the sheriff, given they’re remarkably similar to an unsolved eight-year-old case, back when Gabriel vanished one stormy night.

When a missing ruby, and a body, are discovered at the campus, Kellan must investigate the killer’s motive to protect his brother. As if the latest murder isn’t enough to keep him busy, Kellan partners with April to end the Castigliano and Vargas crime family feud. What really happened to Francesca while all those postcards showed up in Braxton?

The mafia world is more calculating than Kellan realized. If he wants to move forward, he’ll have to make a few ruthless sacrifices. And as the summer heat begins to settle in Wharton County, a couple more surprises are also in store.

Guest post: 5 questions to answer before you start a new story
I’m thrilled to be back on the Great Escape Virtual Book Blog Tour with Lori Caswell and team. Today, I’d like to share a little bit about my writing process. Below are the key points that I analyze and prepare when I’m working on a book for the Braxton Campus Mysteries.
1. Will this be a holiday/theme book? For instance, the first two books did not contain themes; they were pure mysteries that didn’t focus on anything other than the primary plots. In the 3rd book, Flower Power Trip, it was all about springtime. The 4th book also didn’t contain a theme even though it ends with a double wedding and the 4th of July. Those were purely small things going on around the time of the story. However, next in the 5th book, it will be a Halloween / fall theme, so I had to plan it out carefully to ensure the timeline in the book was in sync with Halloween to match when it would be published.
2. Which family will be the focus? In the 1st book, we got to know all the main players, but in the 2nd book, we focused on the Paddingtons. In the 3rd book, we focused on the Roarkes and Nutberrys. In the 4th book, we focused on the 5 core/major families involved in the creation of a sorority, but in the 5th one, it will revolve around the Grey family. Once I decide the main family, I broaden out the family tree using names from my own ancestry (both last and first names). I always drop hints in previous books about all the characters to come, so readers will remember and connect the larger stories. While it’s all planned out in my head and on paper, it’s just a high-level synopsis. The actual details for each successive book are addressed in the outline.
3. My first true documentation for a new book is the outline. I draft a ~30 page summary of the main mystery, the sub-plots, the cliffhangers that need to be addressed from the prior book, the cliffhangers that will be dropped in this book, and the main characters to share clues and red herrings or pop in for consistency / connection points. Then, I focus on the murder scene and creation of all the potential suspects. From there, I summarize the critical scene where I unmask the murderer and resolve the clues. As part of the outline, I decide the number of chapters and list the basics of 3 scenes per chapter. By the end of the 30 pages, I’m left with a fairly robust approach for telling the story.
4. Now, I finalize the title and the cover. I use three words (except in the first book, which was supposed to be three but Curve Ball versus Curveball looked too funny!) where word 1 and 2 together mean something and word 2 and 3 together mean something else. So… in this book, Mistaken Identity Crisis, it’s actually “Mistaken Identity” and “Identity Crisis.” One is about the main plot, the other is about the primary sub-plot revolving around Kellan’s life with his ‘wife.’ I provide a few details to the cover artist at my publisher, usually a key building type, a prominent color being used, and three or four images that would work. They come up with the cover and we finalize it together, then I work with the marketing team for a big cover reveal blog post. Afterward, I begin to schedule the blog tour with the marketing folks and search for early ARC readers who will help with initial reviews.
5. Then, I write the book. I try to write 2 chapters per day. At roughly 22 chapters per book, it works out to be 3 weeks to write a first draft of the book, including some down time for research. It takes me 2 weeks to edit those chapters and 1 more week to do a final review and fix anything that doesn’t work well. At the 6-week mark, it goes to my one alpha reader, who has been with me from the beginning (almost). She is amazing and finds EVERYTHING I mess up… and we ‘fight’ over the resolution, then it comes together, and within another 2 weeks, it’s ready for beta reading. I spend 2 to 3 weeks with beta readers, then make my final changes and deliver it to the editor for final proofing and formatting. All-in-all, it’s a 3-month process if I am focused.

I hope you enjoyed a ‘day in the life of an author’ when it comes to my 3-month cycle for writing a book. If I am writing a non-Braxton, family drama book, it’s usually about double the effort, e.g. Watching Glass Shatter or Father Figure, my first two books. By the way… I’ve drafted the outline for the sequel to Watching Glass Shatter, which will be published in late 2020! Thanks for stopping by today.

About the Author

James is my given name, but most folks call me Jay. I live in New York City, grew up on Long Island, and graduated from Moravian College with a degree in English literature. I spent fifteen years building a technology career in the retail, sports, media, and entertainment industries. I enjoyed my job, but a passion for books and stories had been missing for far too long. I’m a voracious reader in my favorite genres (thriller, suspense, contemporary, mystery, and historical fiction), as books transport me to a different world where I can immerse myself in so many fantastic cultures and places. I’m an avid genealogist who hopes to visit all the German, Scottish, Irish, and British villages my ancestors emigrated from in the 18th and 19th centuries. I frequently blog and publish book reviews on everything I read at ThisIsMyTruthNow via WordPress.
Writing has been a part of my life as much as my heart, my mind, and my body. I decided to pursue my passion by dusting off the creativity inside my head and drafting outlines for several novels. I quickly realized I was back in my element growing happier and more excited with life each day. My goal in writing is to connect with readers who want to be part of great stories and who enjoy interacting with authors. To get a strong picture of who I am, check out my author website or my blog. It’s full of humor and eccentricity, sharing connections with everyone I follow—all in the hope of building a network of friends across the world.
Braxton Campus Mysteries
Academic Curveball – #1 (October 2018)
Broken Heart Attack – #2 (November 2018)
Flower Power Trip – #3 (March 2019)
MistakenIdentity Crisis – #4 (June 2019)

June 26, 2019

An academic #midweekmystery: Mistaken Identity Crisis by James J. Cudney

About the Author

January 20, 2019

A new academic murder mystery! Broken Heart Attack by James J. Cudney.

When an extra ticket becomes available to see the dress rehearsal of King Lear, Kellan tags along with Nana D and her buddies.

When one of them dies of an apparent heart attack in the middle of second act, Nana D raises her suspicions and asks Kellan to investigate the death. With family members suddenly in debt and a secret rendezvous between an unlikely pair, Kellan learns that the Paddingtons might not be as clean-cut as everyone thinks.
But can Kellan find the killer, or will he get caught up his own stage fright?
Enter to win a print copy

About the Author

James is my given name, but most folks call me Jay. I live in New York City, grew up on Long Island, and graduated from Moravian College with a degree in English literature. I spent fifteen years building a technology career in the retail, sports, media, and entertainment industries. I enjoyed my job, but a passion for books and stories had been missing for far too long. I’m a voracious reader in my favorite genres (thriller, suspense, contemporary, mystery, and historical fiction), as books transport me to a different world where I can immerse myself in so many fantastic cultures and places. I’m an avid genealogist who hopes to visit all the German, Scottish, Irish, and British villages my ancestors emigrated from in the 18th and 19th centuries. I frequently blog and publish book reviews on everything I read at ThisIsMyTruthNow via WordPress.
Writing has been a part of my life as much as my heart, my mind, and my body. I decided to pursue my passion by dusting off the creativity inside my head and drafting outlines for several novels. I quickly realized I was back in my element growing happier and more excited with life each day. My goal in writing is to connect with readers who want to be part of great stories and who enjoy interacting with authors. To get a strong picture of who I am, check out my author website or my blog. It’s full of humor and eccentricity, sharing connections with everyone I follow—all in the hope of building a network of friends across the world.
Braxton Campus Mysteries
Academic Curveball – #1 (October 2018)
Broken Heart Attack – #2 (November 2018)
Flower Power Trip – #3 (Early 2019)

January 1, 2019

Teaching, Research, Murder.

My Academic Mysteries page is up to 19 authors.

I’ve made some additions, both classic and modern, but it’s possible I still don’t have them all. Any great campus crime authors who should be on this list?

August 31, 2018

Let's talk about campus murder mysteries

Let’s talk about campus murder mysteries.
I love reading them and writing them. What is it about academia that sparks thoughts of murder? Of course there’s the old saying that “campus politics are so nasty because the stakes are so small.” But that’s more of an observation than an explanation. I have some ideas:
Clashing agendas. Professors want to enlighten the world with their teaching and their research, and deplore the duplicity of administrators. Administrators, on the other hand, need to keep the dollars flowing in, and the legislators and trustees off their backs, and they don’t want some self-righteous faculty Speaking Truth to Power and messing everything up. Late-twentieth-century postmodernists have nothing on administrators when it comes to having a complicated relationship with Truth:

“Our position is, yes, Mister Yamada, your wonderful idea for a Golf Course Management major is going through, and before you know it, we’ll be putting out graduates who are ready and willing to work at your resort. And also, no, Senator Kamoku, of course we’re not considering offering a major in golf as a taxpayer-subsidized sop to our most powerful trustee. The very idea.”

From The Invasive Species

Same words, different meanings. Naturally, everyone on campus agrees on striving for “excellence.” It’s in the University Strategic Plan, after all. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same definition of “excellence.”

“Dr. Rodge,” as he tells his students to call him, doesn’t give midterms or final exams, assigns no homework, and gives A’s to everyone who signs up for his Human Potential class. I can’t force Rodge to “maintain academic standards worthy of our university” (Hanson’s words) or “teach a real college class and knock off that feel-good bull****” (Hanson’s contemporary, Dr. Larry Schneider). As long as Rodge shows up when he’s supposed to and stays out of trouble with the students, there’s not much else I can do. Especially not when the Student Retention Office keeps nominating him for the campus-wide teaching award every year.

From The Cursed Canoe
The student as customer. But not the kind of customer you actually listen to. To cater to students (and their tuition dollars), administrators are forever coming up with new programs and bringing the latest edu-fads to campus.

The student is the customer, and you know what they say about the customer.

Oddly enough, when students ask for more course sections, lower tuition, affordable childcare, and job placement, what administrators hear is “Can you impose some punishing new regime on the faculty that will make their lives harder without actually improving my education? Also hire more administrators pls.”

A few weeks after the Student Retention Office remodel was finished, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement attended an ed-tech conference. Upon his return, we were directed to record our class sessions and post them online, so that students could watch them at their leisure. The problem was that we were “guides on the side” now, and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement didn’t want to post hour-long videos of students sitting in circles talking. So we all had to go back to being “sages on the stage,” lecturing to the video camera, but this time we were cautioned to act as “facilitators of experience” rather than “providers of knowledge.” We’re still stuck with the immovable round tables.

From The Musubi Murder
And not only does academia provide plentiful motives for murder; it’s populated by nosy obsessives with library access who will drop everything to chase the faintest of clues. (This is also known as “research.”) So we have Christa Nardi’s Sheridan Hendley, Sarah Caudwell’s Hilary Tamar, Amanda Cross’s Kate Fansler, Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier, R.T. Campbell’s John Stubbs, Edmund Crispin’s Gervase Fen, and of course Mahina State University’s Molly Barda.
In my view, the only mystery is why there aren’t even more academic detectives.
An earlier version was published on Christa Reads and Writes

May 10, 2016

#Giveaway and New Campus Murder Mystery: Failure is Fatal by Lesley A. Diehl

>>>Enter to win an e-copy of Failure is Fatal<<<

Someone at Professor Laura Murphy’s college appears to be playing a joke on her by planting sexually explicit stories in her research results…

but the joke turns deadly when one story details the recent stabbing murder of a coed. Eager to search out clues, Laura ignores warning signs that playing amateur sleuth may jeopardize her newly developing romance with Guy. And of course her usual intrusive manner puts her at odds with everyone on campus—colleagues, the college administration, the head of campus security and fraternity members. Is there no one Laura can’t offend in her eagerness to find the truth?

Setting Inspires my Work
Guest Post by Lesley Diehl

Failure Is Fatal is the second book in the Laura Murphy mystery series. In this book, Laura is, as we have come to know her: an impulsive, smart, chocolate-addicted advocate for taking down the bad guys especially those threatening the values she holds to be important—education, protection of the environment and justice for the victims of crimes. And she accomplishes all this while trying to hold together a long-distance love relationship. Of course, she has friends to help her as well as her sense of humor.
My novel length work and my short stories all have a strong sense of setting. I like to think of it as another character, one I can use in various ways. The setting can become the backdrop for the mystery. In the case of Failure Is Fatal the book is set in a small community in Upstate New York. The town houses a public university where my protagonist, Dr. Laura Murphy is a professor of psychology. The size of the community and the college allows me a limited area for the events in the story to unfold and affords me the opportunity to explore the geographical as well as the social setting where my characters live and work. And kill. I like my readers to be able to develop a mental map of the vicinity so that the reader moves around with as much familiarity as do the characters. I think this familiarity sets the stage for all of the changes made in the story, e.g., the murder, the search for clues, changes in relationships and the catastrophes I introduce into the setting. I want my reader to say, “Oh, yes. I know where she’s going. I’d do that too,” as the reader forms a sleuthing partnership with Laura.
Another way I like to use setting is to turn it on its ear, i.e., introduce some form of friction into the setting. For example, many of the scenes in the book take place in Laura’s house on a small lake outside of the college town. The conversations among Laura, her love interest, Guy, and the detective who enlists her aid in the case bristle with the tension of the killing but are set against the beauty of woods turning their autumn colors. As much as the setting might lull us into a feeling of normalcy, the threat of the coming winter and the tragedy of the murder work together to propel Laura forward in her search for the killer, forecasting the possibility of disaster yet to come.
As the promise of snow is realized, the story leads the reader into the blizzard of conflicting clues that toss Laura backward into events in her past that she must unravel and forward toward confrontation with the killer. Laura fights oncoming winter in terms of what it means for her long distance relationship with Guy as well as its impact on her ability to dig out clues to the murder in a community buried under ice and snow. The final resolution of the crime takes place during a deadly snowstorm. Laura could find her way through the snow to the killer or lose her way in the whiteout.
As I did with the first book in the series, Murder Is Academic, in Failure Is Fatal, I use the building tension of worsening weather as the culmination of a final meeting between Laura and the killer. Depending upon the season, Upstate New York can be subject to weather disasters such as floods, tornados, thunderstorms, blizzards and ice storms. The threat of bad weather can make for a great tension building device especially if it is used in parallel with the protagonist’s difficult path to finding the identity of a killer. A murder mystery is always better during a storm, especially if the writer pairs bad weather with a devious killer bent taking out the protagonist. Will the weather do her in? Will the killer? And if she defeats the killer, will the weather take her out? What fun for creating ultimate tension and anxiety, and, finally, as the reader expects in a good cozy mystery, a satisfying solution to the mystery.

About the Author

Lesley retired from her life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed her country roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York. In the winter she migrates to old Florida—cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still jingle in the post office, and gators make golf a contact sport. Back north, the shy ghost inhabiting the cottage serves as her literary muse. When not writing, she gardens, cooks and renovates the 1874 cottage with the help of her husband, two cats and, of course, Fred the ghost, who gives artistic direction to their work.
She is the author of a number of mystery series (Microbrewing Series, Big Lake Mystery Series, Eve Appel Mystery Series and the Laura Murphy Mysteries), a standalone mystery (Angel Sleuth) and numerous short stories.
Visit her on her website: www.lesleyadiehl.com
Webpage: www.lesleyadiehl.com
Blog: www.lesleyadiehl.com/blog
Twitter: @lesleydiehl
Facebook: [email protected]