Monday, February 05, 2007

Confessions of a murder mystery writer

Day One
I finished the book yesterday. It looked pretty good for having been taken apart and put back together halfway through. I was afraid of holes, you know, holes in the plot.
But everything holds together.
I sent it to my beta reader. She'll probably tear it apart again. This is normal. She's a tough dame with a red pen and eyes like laser beams.
The story is about Rachel Martin, a woman who is a crime scene expert. When the story opens she's working with the F.B.I., with a guy who she's been in love with since she was a kid. She's a mess though. She has no confidence in herself anymore. See, she got married and moved to England, and then she lost her husband and infant son in a car accident. She's devestated. She thinks she could have saved them. After all, she's psychic. So how come she sees things that can help other people, but not herself? She tries to keep her psychic abilities a secret, because she doesn't believe in them. Even after the dreams, and even after finding the lost boy. She still doesn't trust her powers.
Stan Wheeler is her boss, and he has a couple secrets himself. He knows Rachel is special, so he creates a new division for her. She has this incredible talent - she can find lost children. But right after they start working together, a girl disappears. And they find out that she's the third in a series. Every year for three years now, a girl vanishes on the same date, at the same time.
So there's the premise.
Rachel finds out who the kidnapper is, but she has no proof - only her dreams. And she knows that the kidnapper has decided to destroy her completely. She has to find proof before it's too late. Because the people she loves are in danger.
There's a bunch of interesting secondary characters and I did something different for this book. I used the POV's of Rachel and of her partner, Chris Winter. But I didn't use Stan's POV. I have my reasons.
Anyhow, it's at my beta reader, and I sent out one query to one agent so far. We'll see what happens.

3 comments:

Daisy Martin said...

I can't wait to read this one. It sounds like a good read with lots of twists, turns and nail biting.

Sam said...

Thank you Bonita and Daisy!
Oh, and BTW - loved the pound cake post, Daisy!
LOL!!!

Wynn Bexton said...

Good luck with this one. Your plot sounds so interesting!