I recently learned that during December, one of my readers purchased all of my mysteries and read them in a single month. Hopefully, she has since added my Decision Time self-help guide and Overcoming anthology to her library. It reminds me of my own effort about twenty-five years ago, when I read all of Agatha Christie’s mysteries and short stories in a single year. It’s fun to randomly pick a novel from a mystery author and then, if you like it, read all of his or her other offerings. My mysteries feature common settings and characters that appear throughout my Lord’s Prayer and Imp Mysteries. Each volume stands on its own, but you’ll find familiar people and places in the next novel you read.
Author Archives: rmdauthority
Impostor
My current project emerged from a genealogy effort several months back. This third volume in the Imp Mystery Series is called “Impostor”. When I studied my family tree, I discovered a branch I hadn’t seen before. It was in England, and I found that one of the children was born and died on the same date. I don’t know whether he didn’t survive birth, or if he lived for only a few hours. This discovery made an impact on me, and it’s now the focus of my new book-in-progress. The girlfriend of one of my characters decides to do a family tree for his side of their pending merged family. She discovers that his great-grandfather had the same name, birthplace, and birth date as a stillborn baby. Who was this IMPOSTOR? Naturally, they have to find out more about him…
Impulses – An Arthur Blake Mystery Novel
Impulses is the second volume in my Imp Mysteries series. (Each volume title begins with Imp. Volume 1 in the series was Implications.) Although these mysteries use some of the same characters and settings as my earlier Lord’s Prayer Mystery Series, the Imp mysteries are not tied to a single theme. They are loosely connected stand-alone novels, some of which may stray a bit from the mystery genre.
Impulses presents a story that has many facets, or impulses, to it. Arthur Blake moves from initial boredom caused by a dearth of cases to an array of situations requiring simultaneous investigation. We focus on a small-town rehabilitation home where four female patients have died over the course of a year and also look at the apparent suicide of a pastor who had visited all of those women shortly before they died. Additional casework involves the disappearance of two people from a college town, the arrival of a mysterious shipment at Arthur’s father’s antiques shop, and examination of a woman who is experiencing flashes of memories from a deceased man. This latter evaluation leads Arthur and all of us readers to consider the possibility of life after death, in the context of university studies that have documented convincing instances of prior life memories.
The story also includes the introduction of a pair of younger investigators who assist in this volume’s cases but are likely to have their own adventures in future novels. Enjoy all of our Impulses and the characters who participate in them.
MWSA Selects “Deliver Us from Evil”
One of my books made the MWSA Summer Reading List…
Summer 2015 Bob Doerr’s MWSA Recommended Reading List – Summer 2015
The Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) is an organization of over one thousand writers, poets, and artists drawn together by a common bond of military service. One purpose of our Society is to review the written works of our members. From our recent book reviews, and from a list of old favorites, we’ve selected the following as our 2015 Summer Recommended Reading List:
Charentin, 1918 by David Andrew Westwood
Edge of Valor by John J. Gobbell
Deliver Us From Evil: The Lord’s Prayer Mystery Series, Vol V by Richard Davidson
Murder in the Slaughterhouse by Tom Crowley
I Flew with Heroes by Thomas R. Waldron
Oveta Culp Hobby: Colonel, Cabinet Member, Philanthropist by Debra L. Winegarten
Surrender September 2, 1945 by Suzanne Simon Dietz & James L. Starnes Jr.
Wait Until Sunset: Memories of a Distant Conflict by Robert E. Burtt
Warfilms: An Overview of Motion Pictures Within Military Record Groups by Philip W. Stewart
Evil Deeds by Joseph Badal
Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War by Gary A. Best
Secret Assault by Don Helin
African American Warrant Officers…In Service to Our Country by Farrell J. Chiles
The Dare by Linda Swink
Hellbound by Chester D. Campbell
Yankee in Atlanta by Jocelyn Green
Damned Yankee by Carolyn Schriber
Emmerspitz, 1938 by David Andrew Westwood
The Asian Imperative by Kenneth Andrus
Mystery Writer’s Toolbox Program
On Thursday, January 8, 2015, from 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 Noon at the Winnetka Community House, Winnetka, Illinois, Richard Davidson will present at Off-Campus Writers’ Workshop (OCWW):
“The Mystery Writer’s Toolbox”
Dick’s workshop will cover a wide variety of formatting and storytelling aids designed to simplify the construction of a mystery novel and enhance its impact on the reader, with specific clues about the way to approach the development of a new mystery, comparing his techniques with those of several other writers. If time permits there may be a brainstorming exercise for mystery development.
Richard Davidson is the author of the self-help guidebook: DECISION TIME! Better Decisions for a Better Life. He has written the five novels that comprise the Lord’s Prayer Mystery Series: Lead Us Not into Temptation, Give Us this Day our Daily Bread, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Thy Will Be Done, and Deliver Us from Evil. He has edited an anthology, Overcoming: An Anthology by the Writers of OCWW, and he has had pieces included in the last two annual anthologies published by the Military Writers Society of America. His latest novel, Implications, continues to chronicle the exploits of Arthur Blake and the investigative associates who aided him in the earlier mystery series. It is the first volume in a new series, The Imp Mysteries.
Dick will accept manuscripts for critique, but will comment on them in writing, to the author, because the body of material to be covered in his main program is large. Please follow the submission guidelines on the website: ocww.bizland.com. Dick will not have time available for in-session discussions of manuscripts during the workshop.