Local Author Prepares For Saturday Signing
Mystery Writers Lend Support To Colleague Who Suffered Stroke
Last updated Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:17 PM CDT in Living
By Debbie Miller
THE MORNING NEWS
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Call it a fellowship of folks who earn their wages plotting others' demise.
Author Elaine Viets suffered a stroke three weeks prior to the launch of her sixth book in the "Dead-End Job" mystery series. Friends of Viets and mystery writing colleagues united to include copies of "Murder with Reservations" on their own signing tables. Viets' publisher will fill requests for signed book plates from the noted writer.
Benton County writer Radine Trees Nehring is among the "brothers and sisters in crime" aiding a fellow storyteller.
"All around the United States, authors began banding together to help her out since she could not travel to promote her book," said Nehring.
The result will be a signing this Saturday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Rogers. Nehring will sing copies of her latest book, "A Wedding to Die For," and copies of Viets' book also will be available. Nehring's work is set at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, the scene of her protagonists' planned wedding. It seemed natural to her to have the signing in June, a month traditionally associated with weddings, she said.
Quentin Lunsford, assistant store manager at Barnes & Noble, said Nehring is a popular local author whose signings have generated a lot of interest in the past.
"She has a good following," he said.
The Rogers Public Library has commissioned Nehring to pen an original short mystery, "Who Kills Librarians?" Readers sleuth along with heroine Carrie McCrite as she discovers a murder at a familiar library building. It's part of a summer reading for adults. (Information is available at library.rpl.lib.ar.us.)
Nehring's lived in Arkansas since 1988 and champions the Natural State in her works.
Nehring previously has penned "Dear Earth: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow," and three books in the "To Die For" series. "A Valley to Die For" was set in the Ozarks. "Music to Die For" was based at Ozark Folk Center State Park, and "A Treasure to Die For" was set in Hot Springs National Park.
The local author said she's found fellow writers to offer a supportive network. The signings for Viets is just one example of that fellowship. Writing can be a uniting force, she's found.
On the way to a recent Arkansas Writers Conference in Little Rock, she talked most of the journey via cell phone with a writer in Savannah, Ga.
Writers' conferences and convention have helped cement that sense of camaraderie.
"Everyone is incredibly friendly ... incredibly supportive. ... I can't see professional jealousy," she said.
Nehring has completed the manuscript for the next book in the "To Die For" series. "A River to Die For" is set at the Buffalo National River.
She's a meticulous researcher, having traveled to Kansas City and even the detective's desk where her fictional police retiree Henry might have sat.
"I can see his office right now ...," she said during a phone interview last week. She learned about life in the police department and about what sort of retirement prospects he could have expected. She even saw the sofa where he could catch 40 winks when he didn't have time to go home.
She's promoting the wedding title and preparing to see the river tale to fruition. Those tasks can be time-consuming enough. She's uncertain where Carrie and Henry might find future adventure and murder.
"I haven't started to think about what's going on in their lives next," she said.
Go And Do
Book Signing
Author: Radine Trees Nehring
Title: "A Wedding to Die For"
Venue: Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Rogers
Time: 1 p.m. Saturday
Noteworthy feature: Friends and mystery writer peers of Elaine Viets are including copies of her book at their own signing table. She suffered a stroke earlier this year.
Book Information
'Murder With Reservations'
Author: Elaine Viets
Publisher: New American Library
Cost: $21.95
Synopsis: Helen Hawthorne works as a maid cleaning rooms at the Full Moon Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., trying to maintain a low-profile and avoid her ex-husband to whom she must pay alimony. A colleague goes missing, and Hawthorne discovers the body in a Dumpster behind the hotel. Hawthorne tries to find answers to the maid's death while avoiding attracting attention from the police and her ex. The work is one in a series of books in the "dead-end job mystery" series.
Book Information
'A Wedding To Die For'
Author: Radine Trees Nehring
Publisher: St. Kitts Press
Cost: $16
Synopsis: Carrie and Henry, a "mature" couple, are planning a wedding, and Carrie decides the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs would be a perfect place for the start of their new life together. On a trip to check out the location, they and two florists they just met are shot at and a dead body turns up outside the hotel. They seek to help solve the crime and salvage their wedding.
Source: Staff Report
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