The Mystery Starts Here

When I went to the library the other day to restock my reading material, I found a new Linda Fairstein novel on the new book shelf, grabbed it and ran home to read it. Well, I finished the book, but had to force myself.

Fairstein, a New York native, is known for taking a piece of New York City history, researching it and writing a mystery around that place. She’s a former sex crimes prosecutor, as is her protagionist, Alexandra Cooper. She brings a lot of authenticity to her work but, I’ve found her to be a very uneven writer. When she’s good, she’s great but…too often she’s not.

In her latest book, “Lethal Legacy” she picked the New York Public library for her topic. Unfortunately, the mystery is weak, and almost non-existent. Alex, Mike, and Mercer spend most of the book sitting around a library table listening to long diatribes about lost maps and books! It’s beyond boring. WAY too much information and I had trouble following it all. Almost the entire book is telling and there’s very little action. Right in the middle, Fairstein plunks down a lover for Alex. It’s boring too! There’s a flimsy subplot and a couple of murders but none of the book worked for me. The ending is wrapped up too fast.

I must say, I’ll think twice before picking up another Fairstein novel. I think it’s great that she does so much research on her topics but…she has to learn not to put it ALL in her novels!

I held my first ever two hour writing workshop today and as far as I’m concerned, it was a success! Fifteen people showed up! I was amazed. It was held at a local library and we set up a table and six chairs for the group. We kept adding chairs, moving the table and spreading out until the room was filled! My students ranged from a seventeen year old to an octengarian and we actuall had two men! Most seminars/ workshops/groups I’ve been too consist mainly of women. Men don’t seem to need no stinkin’ group.

Most of the workshop participants were budding novelists, with a sprinkling of memoir writers and a couple who were interested in writng nonfiction. I’ve written lots of nonfiction and in just about every genre, other than memoirs, so I was able to answer all their questions and point them to several helpful sights on the net. I had my wonderul husband set up a special email for me and told all my new students to send me some pages for critiques. It will be interesting to see how many do. One of the men is retired law enforcement and has written about his experiences. I have my fingers crossed that he’ll send me something. Hey, I’m a mystery writer – I love to hear read stories.

When I got home from the workshop, I immediately emailed the head librarian to thank her for letting us use the facilities. She wrote back thanking me for hosting such a successful workshop! Now I can’t wait until next month to see who shows up, if we have more people and most importantly of all, if the participants learned anything from me. Time will tell. Now I have to think of something to talk about next time!