Kate Martinelli
The Business of Writing: The Editor (2)
Last day of February, the last of February’s posts celebrating 30 years of A Grave Talent. ** About a year after Grave Talent came out in 1993, St. Martins Press published The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Two months later, in April, 1994, Grave Talent won the Edgar award for Best First Novel. Nonetheless, the sub-editor in charge of the…
Read MoreThe Business of Writing: The Editor (1)
Part of February’s month-long celebration of A Grave Talent, the Edgar-winning first novel about SFPD Inspector Kate Martinelli that started a writing career. ** I wrote a few days ago about my beloved first agent, Linda Allen, the woman who got me started as a writer. The agent is the person who knows the industry,…
Read MoreThe Case of the Upside-Down Hebrew
A Grave Talent, as my first book was dedicated to my husband, Noel–in Hebrew, which is only right between two scholars. Amos 3:4 means, more or less, Can two people walk together unless they be in agreement? I know, scholars are really romantic, right? Now, there are two mysteries here (beyond the mystery of…
Read MoreThe Art of the Review
Part of February’s month-long celebration of A Grave Talent, the Edgar-winning first novel about SFPD Inspector Kate Martinelli that started a writing career. One of the things I had fun with in writing A Grave Talent was crafting a series of reviews of the work of Eva Vaughn, the artist at the center of the…
Read More…And a Year Later: Edgar!
Part of February’s month-long celebration of A Grave Talent, my Edgar-winning first novel. ** A year after A Grave Talent was published, my first venture into publishing took me to the annual Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards banquet, when it was nominated in the Best First Novel category. I went with my daughter (then…
Read MoreThe Author Photo: a work in progress
Part of February’s celebration of A Grave Talent, the Edgar-winning first novel that started a writing career. ** If you have ever tried to take a good picture of yourself—not just a grinning selfie with friends but the kind of photo that says “thoughtful, intelligent person with a trace of humor and wit”—well, all I…
Read MoreA T-Shirt Promo
Once upon a time, children, publishers used to promote mid-list authors and build the careers of newbies. That’s right, my publisher took out a quarter-page congratulatory ad in the New York Times back when Grave Talent won Best First and Minette Walters won Best Edgar. My original publisher decided to pass on the paperbacks of…
Read MoreThe Business of Writing: Your Friend, The Agent
Part of the 30-year anniversary celebration of A Grave Talent. Like most first novelists, I had no clue about how to run my life as a business. In 1993, the only people who did self-publishing were the desperate souls who just HAD to have a volume to put in the hands of family and friends.…
Read MoreWhen Intellectuals Read Crime
Part of February’s month-long celebration of A Grave Talent. A writer tosses books out into the world without much clue about where they will wash up or whose hands they will end up in. Naturally, this is especially true with a first book. What, people who don’t know me will read it? Wow. With A…
Read MoreThe Fans
Part of the month-long celebration of A Grave Talent, the Edgar-winning first novel about SFPD Inspector Kate Martinelli that started my writing career. In addition to actual, print reviews, my first book brought letters from people from all over who liked A Grave Talent enough to go to the trouble of writing me about it,…
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