My most recent website poll asked the question:

When reading a mystery, what bugs you the most?

The two top answers, each getting over 20% of the votes were:

1. Cliche

and

2) Not enough character development

So it would seem that readers don’t want a retread of the same old story lines. So forget about the dark and stormy nights and the butler did it. And they want to see multi-dimensional characters – even in their bad guys.

Following closely behind at just over 15% was the complaint that readers do not want to figure out whodunit before they get to the last pages.

Coming in at just over 10% each were too bugs that are closely related. The first was a dislike for mysteries having too many read herrings – readers don’t mind being mislead, just not too many times, so don’t be a Henny Penny author – and having plots that are simply too complicated.

Bugs that were not such a big deal were: (1) not having enough meaningful clues (which jives with readers with not wanting to figure things out before the end of the book), and (2) having too much character development and not enough mystery.

Poll respondents were able to give some of their own answers about what bugs them when reading a mystery, and they came up with some interesting pet peeves. Among these were:

(1) Using weird, undetectable drugs to commit a murder

(2) A sleuth making it clear they know something but don’t share it with the readers

(3) Introducing the murderer as a walk-on character 2/3 into the book

and and oldie but a goodie:

(4) Bad editing and bad writing!

Please visit http://anthonybidulka.com/  to vote in the new poll which asks:

Do you care about setting? As a reader, where do you prefer a main character to live?

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We’re looking for questions from interested readers to be part of the author interview portion of:

A springtime (fingers crossed), late-Saturday-afternoon-after-your-weekend-errands, come’n’go,  wine’n’cheese, book signing and author interview.

Whether or not you’re able to attend the launch, here’s how you can be a part of it:

Until Friday, May 24, 2013, I will be accepting your questions via email, Twitter or Facebook. Send in any questions you would like our interviewers, Brent and Penney, to ask me. Feel free to ask anything about this book, the Quant books, about writing in general, what I put in my coffee, whatever. We will try to get to as many of your questions as we can within the 15 minute time period.

As soon as possible after the event, I will post a video on my Youtube channel of the interview. You can check it out to see if your question was asked and answered or soundly ignored.

Here’s how to submit your question(s):

Send your question(s), along with your first name and location to:

email: anthony@anthonybidulka.com

Twitter: @abidulka

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anthony.bidulka

or comment directly to this blog post.

The hometown book launch for When The Saints Go Marching In (see book details at http://anthonybidulka.com/saint/) will be held on:

Saturday, June 1, 2013

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

McNally Robinson Booksellers

3130 8 St E

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Thanks!

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In my just-closed website poll, I asked responders to vote on which TV Sleuth’s world they’d like to live in.

For the first time with one of my polls, we have a three-way tie for first place. One was a contemporary (on TV now) sleuth, whereas the other two shows, although very popular in their day and having run for many years, have been off the air for quite some time.

The first of our winners ran for twelve seasons and aired its last episode as a regular TV show over fifteen years ago. Thereafter came four made-for-TV movies, the most recent in 2003.

Can you guess?

Well, it seems everyone wants to live in Cabot Cove where murders happen with startling regularity (until they moved Jessica Fletcher to NYC later in the series). Even so, Cabot Cove did present itself as idyllic. I used to love whenever an episode started with a thunder storm (also startlingly regular) – truly a cozy show.

The second most popular TV world you want to live in from TV-days-gone-by is also not much of a surprise.The eight seasons of this show, ending in 1988, took place in paradise.

Tom Selleck, as Magnum, lived a charmed life with plenty of good weather, a great car, quirky friends, and his entire wardrobe consisted of short shorts and colourful hula shirts.

Makes sense. Right? Not so fast. If Hawaii is so popular, or if old-time classic favourites are the draw, then why was the old version of Hawaii 5-0 at the bottom of the pack, taking in less than 2% of all the votes?

Is it because it’s too old. The show ran for 12 years, ending all the way back in 1980.

A new version began airing a couple of years ago:

But guess what? Even this show only managed just over 5% of the votes.

Back to our winners. There’s one more TV sleuth in our three way tie. This show is currently in its fifth season and focuses on fun.

Castle is near and dear to my heart for three reasons: (1) the lead character and crime solver is a mystery writer; (2) it stars an actor that had been touted as the perfect person to play Russell Quant if that project ever got off the ground; and (3) many of today’s best known mystery authors have had cameos on the show.

Coming in with about 9% of the votes each were two more diverse shows, one ran for 4 years in the late 80′s, and the other is currently in its fifth season.

I think the trend I see – if there is one – is that respondents want to live in a TV sleuth world that (a) is a physically pleasing place to be – i.e. bucolic Cabot Cove, Maine  or Hawaii, and (b) is a world that has at least a little bit of humour  or quirkiness in it – Magnum, Castle, Moonlighting, Mentalist

Thereafter came votes for The Closer, Murdock Mysteries, and The Rockford Files. I was particularly surprised The Rockford Files didn’t score a little higher in this.  A few years ago I visited Santa Monica pier where this show shot many of its iconic scenes. They even had a salt-water-worn plaque signifying a specific spot.

Seems like that would be a nice kind of life to me. Hanging out near water.

And now, getting the smallest percentage of votes?

In this, I must say, I heartily agree. Prime Suspect is a British police procedural starring Helen Mirren which aired in the 1990s and 2000s.  One of the scripts even won an Edgar Award. It was a fantastic show, Mirren was incredible, but would I want to live in that dark, dreary, vaguely threatening world? No way.

Thanks all for your votes and comments. On to the next!

Please visit http://anthonybidulka.com/ to respond to the new poll that asks the question:

WHEN READING A MYSTERY, WHAT BUGS YOU THE MOST?

And in this poll, you can even create your own answer if one of the existing options doesn’t work for you. Come on, let it out – what really bugs you?

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A New Beginning

I published my first book, Amuse Bouche in 2003.

I hosted my first EVER book launch at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon in April of that year.

People showed up. A LOT of people actually.

I was shocked and thrilled and ever so grateful. Especially when the same thing happened over and over and over again.

We’ve now celebrated the launch of eight Russell Quant books together.  We’ve shared shots of aquavit, eaten tapas, worn Hawaiian leis and chugged Dos Equis.

It’s ten years later and a new day is here. And along with it, a new hero.

Russell Quant was the first ever half-Ukrainian, half-Irish, Saskatchewan, ex-farm boy, ex-cop, gay, world-traveling, wine-swilling, wise-cracking Canadian prairie private eye being written about by anyone anywhere. And now, Adam Saint is the first ever Canadian Disaster Recovery Agent being written about by anyone anywhere.

The Quant book launch parties were and are legendary. There is no repeating them. And since I’ve always been a fan of trying something new, I decided to do something different to recognize the arrival of  Adam Saint  and the new book he’s featured in: ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’.

You are invited to…

A new day. A new hero. A new kind of book launch:

When:

Saturday, June 1, 2013

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Where:

McNally Robinson Booksellers

In the ALCOVE at the rear of the store (not Prairie Ink Restaurant)

3130 8 St E

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

(306) 955-3599

www.mcnallyrobinson.com/

What:

A springtime (fingers crossed), late-Saturday-afternoon-after-your-weekend-errands, come’n’go,  wine’n’cheese, book signing and author interview.

Here’s how it will work:

From 3:00 – 5:00 pm, you can come and go as you please.

For the entire two hours, there will complimentary wine and cheese.

Come relax at the end of a busy Saturday and enjoy some lovely wine and cheese

For the entire two hours, I will be signing copies of ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’

 EXCEPT…

At 4:00 pm, I will move from the signing table to a stage where, for 15 minutes, I will be interviewed by the ever popular Brent Loucks (The Brent Loucks Show) and Penney Murphy (Penney Murphy & Associates).

Brent Loucks and Penney Murphy-don’t they look like trouble…?

At the end of the interview, I will do a brief reading from ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’, then I’ll go right back to signing.

Should there happen to be a lineup at the signing table at the 4:00 pm interview time, for those of you in the signing line, fear not. McNally Robinson will hand out numbered placemarkers, so you can enjoy the interview then go right back into the line up without losing your place.

Design your attendance in whatever way fits for you. Feel free to come in, get your book signed, and go. Or come in and stay for a while, enjoy some wine and cheese, mingle, maybe listen to the interview, and get your book signed along the way. Or whatever combination of the above fits into your schedule that day.

Here’s 2 other ways you can be a part of it:

(1) If you can’t make the event but would still like your book signed: Simply drop by McNally Robinson anytime prior to the event (call ahead to ensure the book has arrived in inventory – I’d say sometime in May). Purchase the book. Leave it with the front desk with a note detailing to whom I should inscribe the book. Then pick up your signed copy at McNally Robinson anytime after June 1. 

and/or

(2) Here’s how you can be included in the interview portion of the event, whether or not you are in Saskatoon and able to attend, or living anywhere in the world and can’t quite make it.

Until Friday, May 24, 2013, I will be accepting your questions via email, Twitter or Facebook. Send in any questions you would like our interviewers, Brent and Penney, to ask me. We will try to get to as many of your questions as we can within the 15 minute time period.

As soon as possible after the event, I will post a video on my Youtube channel of the interview. You can check it out to see if your question was asked and answered or soundly ignored.

Here’s how to submit your question(s):

Send your question(s), along with your first name and location to:

email: anthony@anthonybidulka.com

Twitter: @abidulka

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anthony.bidulka

or comment directly to this blog post.

Come celebrate a new day. Have wine. Eat cheese. Meet interesting people. Try out some new reading material.

I hope to see you there.

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Best welcome home surprise ever?

It was the longest day, in more ways than one. After spending fifteen hours on a flight from Sydney, Australia to Vancouver, BC, a mad dash through customs, baggage claim & re-drop-off, and security to catch our impossibly tight connection (an Air Canada employee actually suggested we “run like the wind”)…

…and a  final 90 minute flight I was back home in Saskatoon. Freakishly, I’d left Sydney at 9:00 am Wednesday, March 6 and was touching down at just past noon that same day.

Having gotten little sleep on the flights – but I did watch Silver Linings Playbook (awesome, now totally get why Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress Oscar for her role), Brave (couldn’t finish it), something about a Lorax (not bad), a documentary about cruise lines, and a couple episodes of Big Bang Theory (for which I am a latecomer in realizing how funny it is), and enjoyed a couple of hot meals and some really nice wines and equally fine g&t’s – it was all I could do to unpack bags, sort through 2-storeys of mail, and forage the wilds for food (read: burgers!).

Then somewhere out of the inescapable social-media-cosmos I began hearing beepings and bingings and alerts sounds and thanks to many kind well-wishers out there I learned that while I was in the air, the Lambda Literary Foundation announced their Finalists of the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, and Dos Equis: A Russell Quant Mystery was nominated in the category of Best Men’s Mystery!

Jet lag be damned!

My first nomination for a Lambda Literary Award was ten years ago…oh my gosh…wow, that’s a long time ago…and wonder of all wonders…I WON!  I was in New York City for the ceremony and was pretty much gobsmacked when my name was announced. And then to learn I was the first Canadian to win in that category was an extra thrill. Since that time other Canadians have won in that category, including my good friend Garry Ryan of Edmonton (I was honoured to be a presenter that year and to hand Garry his award), and this year Jeffrey Round of Toronto in also nominated.

I want to say a special congratulations to the other fine writers in my category, including Jeffrey and Rod Shelton, Janice Law and Steve Neil Johnson. As well as all the other nominees in other categories. You’ve accomplished a great thing. Celebrate!

And a big thanks to the Lambda Literary Foundation and the judges who do A LOT of work to get down to these short lists.

As for me, well, I’m thinking there is some champagne in my near-future as I commemorate the nomination as well as some catch-up sleep….

My 2004 Lambda Literary Award win for Flight of Aquavit

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My latest website poll closed today. It asked the question: What most attracts you to a book cover?

There were two big winners.

With more than one-third of the votes, #1 was Visual Image.

Readers want a cover to draw them in. The above cover is a good example. Not many people today would know that David Dodge wrote ‘To Catch a Thief’. The title is not particularly catchy, and the colour scheme is rather understated. But the visual image of the cat, the jewelry, catches more than a thief, it catches readers interest and imagination.

#2 at almost 22% of the votes at first took me a little by surprise, but probably shouldn’t have: Author’s name.

According to his website, since 2006, one out of every seventeen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title.  What does this tell us? Do readers crave the familiar, the tried and true. When making choices, its easier to pick up something that looks and smells and feels the same, then give that weird looking book by whozit? a chance?

I don’t like it, but I can understand it. More and more our ‘down’ time for pleasure reading is becoming hard to come by. So when you get a chance to simply put up your feet, beer or wine or hot chocolate at hand, dog at your feet, maybe relaxing next to a fire or tropical sea, set to indulge in a few hours of reading – you damn well want it to be a good book!

Now, love ‘em or hate ‘em, here is where eReaders come in handy. You’ve slathered on the sunscreen, you’ve made the half mile traipse to the beach, you’ve managed to secure that perfect spot half sun/half shade, those noisy kids are wreaking havoc elsewhere, and you’re settled in on your chaise. The book you hauled all the way from home (adding weight to the precious few pounds the airline allows you and now down to the beach)…sucks! Now what? Well, if you have an eReader, you simply shrug, hit delete and on to the next.

Coming in a respectable (ish) third in the poll with 15% of the votes was the answer I thought would rank much higher: A cover with anything on it that directly relates to the content of the book.

The title has the word Sheesha in it, the cover has a sheesha on it, there’s a sheesha in the book. And more so, even if you don’t have the foggiest idea what a sheesha is (who does?), the cover conveys an Arabian feel which speaks to the prime locale written about.

Following, at 10% was: Catchy Title

Tied at 5% each were Colour and Graphic design. Then at the veeerrrrryyyyy bottom were four responses, three of which I was shocked by.  Font was the one that I could see garnering few votes – which it did. But here is the surprise. According to the respondents of this survey, they could not care less to see the following on a book cover (1) Review quotes from other authors (2) Media review quotes, and (3) Author’s accomplishments (awards, bestseller status)

This is very interesting. What does it mean? It would seem that readers are not selecting books to read because another writer or a newspaper reviewer or Nobel or Giller or even a million other readers thought it was a good read. Huh? Go figure. Is this a case of: well, it can’t hurt, but it doesn’t help a lot either?

In the end it looks like you’re going to sell books if you’re famous. A given. But the biggest revelation: You’ll sell books if you come up with a hit cover that draws in readers. And a catchy title doesn’t hurt.

NEXT POLL:

My next poll is up, asking you:

Moonlighting

Castle

Magnum, PI

The Closer

The Rockford Files

Murdock Mysteries

Hawaii 5-0 (New)

Hawaii 5-0 (Old)

Prime Suspect

The Mentalist

Murder, She Wrote

Visit http://anthonybidulka.com/ to register your vote now!

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Right from the beginning of the Russell Quant series I knew that cover image was going to be important. Making cover decisions for the first book of what you hope will be a series can be daunting. This will be the first face you put forward to the public – even before your own as the author.

As a reader I’ve always liked it when series book covers have a common theme. Not only does it help make the books readily identifiable, it makes good marketing sense. Plus the books simply look better together on the shelf that way. Right now I think one of the series that does this best is Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. Not only do the book titles bring a cohesiveness to the series, so do the very distinctive book covers.

I suppose with eBooks this may become less important? I’m not sure about that – but that’s a discussion for another time.

After a few missteps in developing the cover for the first Russell Quant book – good-bye puke green back ground – good-bye pair of wedding rings obviously for a bride and groom instead of the groom and groom featured in the storyline – I begged and pleaded and my gracious publisher finally gave me a chance to come up with some cover concepts that would be better suited. This was waaaaaaaaaaay long ago and I had just gotten my first digital camera. I spent a weekend with the camera, my tuxedo shirt and tie, a gun, some bullets, my passport and voila! I came up with what eventually became the cover image for Amuse Bouche: A Russell Quant Mystery.

Just for interest sake…several years later when this same book was being translated to be sold in Turkey, here is the cover they came up with (along with the rough Turkish translation for the title):

I’ve been quite happy with our choices for cover images throughout the life of the Russell Quant series. We did make a couple of small adjustments here and there. For instance, with the first two books we were going for a very stark modern image. We used a limited colour palette of black, white, grey and red. With the third book, Tapas on the Ramblas, we added vibrant colour and stuck with that ever since.

Another thing we played with was the font. If you look closely at the first book (original edition) the font is slightly different than what we used on the subsequent books. (see above the “A” in Amuse Bouche vs the “A” in Aloha, Candy Hearts)

Going full circle, here I am again at the start of a new series. The first book in the Adam Saint series will be released spring 2013. Cover decisions are soon to be made.  I want the Saint covers to be unique, a departure from what we’ve done up to this point, something that really shows that these books are distinct from the Russell Quant books.

As such, I’ve been thinking about a lot about book covers lately and decided to put up a new poll on my website asking the question:

What most attracts you to a book cover?

So, if you get a chance, please go to

www.anthonybidulka.com

and register a vote.  For those of you who have voted before, you’ll notice I’ve now allowed respondents to select more than one of the choices as your answer (by popular demand). If you haven’t been to my website in the last month or so, this will also give you a chance to see the recent revamp of the site which now has separate sections for Russell Quant and Adam Saint.

Thanks and happy voting!

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Hip hip hooray!

The eighth Russel Quant mystery, Dos Equis, was ranked by McNally Robinson Booksellers as the #1 Fiction book on their list of 2012 Saskatchewan Bestsellers.

I can not say enough times and in enough ways THANK YOU to all the readers out there who have made this so. I’ve said it often, but it bears repeating how I have found the support and exuberance of readers to be one of the most pleasant unexpected side benefits of being a writer. Not only for buying the books but for attending events and sending me the most wonderful emails and messages I receive on a daily basis. As great examples, just before Christmas I received two lovely emails – one from Joyce in Calgary and one from Kent in Maine – that were like opening a thoughtful gift. Just the idea that people take  time out of their busy lives to write these notes, or come to a reading or signing, is amazing to me. I am grateful.

It has been that way from the beginning.

Line up for my first Saskatoon book launch for Amuse Bouche in 2003

And continues to today:

The gathered crowd at most recent hometown book launch for Dos Equis, May 2012

If you’d like to see or revisit (if you were there) any of my eight Saskatoon launches with everything from aquavit shots (Flight of Aquavit), a Hula Hut (Aloha, Candy Hearts), an African buffet (Sundowner Ubuntu) and belly dancers (Date With a Sheesha), you can check out some photos at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49327678@N05/sets/72157632298460288/

I’d also like to congratulate the others on the Saskatchewan Bestseller list – Guy Vanderhaeghe, Wes Funk, Yann Martel, Gail Bowen, Henry Ripplinger, Barbara Sapergia, Arnold James, and Harold Johnson.

Thank you McNally Robinson.

And once again, thanks to all the readers out there who support writers and bookstores and literacy. Wishing you all many hours of reading enjoyment in 2013!

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Hoorah! My revamped website is now up and running at http://anthonybidulka.com/

Including separate sections for Russell Quant and my new character, Adam Saint.

Just click on the Adam Saint button and you will be transported into the world of Disaster Recovery Agent Adam Saint. New content will be added as we get closer to release date, but for now you can learn a little more about him and even download the first (unedited) chapter of the new book: When The Saints Go Marching In (Spring 2013) – Merry Christmas!

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According to Scott at Glad Day bookstore in Toronto, their top three bestsellers for 2012 so far are:

1) INTOLERABLE by Kamal Al-Solaylee
2) DOS EQUIS by Anthony Bidulka
3) LAKE ON THE MOUNTAIN by Jeffrey Round

Okay Torontonians, Operation Take Kamal down: Gotta get to #1 before New Year’s Eve! Dos Equis will make an excellent Xmas gift or stocking stuffer. Go buy a copy at the wonderful Glad Day bookstore please! Throw in a case of Dos Equis or gift certificate from your favourite Mexican restaurant and you’ve got an even excellent-er gift. Yes, excellent-er is a word.

Six weeks till NYE — let’s see what happens!

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