(Revamping the blog. Please excuse the odd headings. Working on it!)

Writing History & Mysteries

When I'm not delving into historical research, I'm planning a character's demise.

The blog of Cindy Amrhein

Historian - Author - Abstractor

Silver Lake, NY at Sunset

Photo by Zach Amrhein

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Monday, July 28, 2014

Meet My Character Blog Tour


I was tagged by Teresa Cypher in the MEET MY CHARACTER BLOG TOUR. I know Teresa from the Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop. She is a talented writer and I look forward to reading her book when it releases in spring of 2015. If you want to see what her book is about and how she answered her questions, hop on over to Dreamers,Lovers, & Star Voyagers blog.

As for me, here are the seven questions and my answers:

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person? 

My character is fictional, and purposely a very uninteresting name of Dave Robertson, a local reporter for the Lamont Weekly Times, a newspaper in a small rural town in western New York. But Dave is far from ordinary.

 

2) When and where is the story set?

Although Lamont is a real hamlet in the county where I live, my fictional place is a very active historic rural village. 

 

3) What should we know about him/her? 

Something happened to Dave when he was a child, events that he can’t remember which triggered a “voice” in his head. Dave grew to manhood thinking this was normal, “Doesn’t everyone talk to themselves once in a while?” It is not until three child size coffins slide out from the bank of Wiscoy Creek, revealing the 20+ year old murders of three girls that trigger his memory, and the voice becomes stronger.

 

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life? 

One of the murdered girls had lived at his house as a foster child. As bits of his memory returns, Dave suspects his dad. Investigator Pepper Black is keeping Dave close sensing he knows something about the murders. Dave struggles with everything coming to a head at once.

 

5) What is the personal goal of the character? 

His goal is to remember what happened 20 years ago, to rid the voice in his head and clear his father’s name--if he can.

 

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it? 

The novel is called The Milk Carton Murders. You can read 8 sentence excerpts every Sunday right her on my blog as part of the Weekend Writing Warriors. I also have a recap page of snippets that you can check out here.

 

7) When can we expect the book to be published? 

I’m aiming for the summer of 2015.

Here is the blurb:

 When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.

Now onto meeting the great authors who accepted my invitation to join along. Stop by and visit them when they post on August 4th!

Sharon Buchbinder - Obsession - Crime cartels with seething romance!
E. E. Giorgi - Chimeras - A hard-boiled mystery with a genetic twist.And a sneak peak at her new book!
ELR Jones - Contemporary, Interracial & Paranormal Romance.  (She also has a blog of author news.)
F. C. Etier -  Meet Claudia, the coolest female assassin ever.
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Saturday, July 26, 2014

Milk Carton Murders 38

Wiscoy Creek (Yes, it's a real place near where I live.)
SETUP: The three girls whose twenty plus-year-old coffins washed out of the bank of the Wiscoy Creek have been identified as Lisa Appleton, Rachel McKenzie and Samantha Briggs. Samantha was a foster child at Dave's house when he was a kid who he knew as Sally, and it was the last place Dave seen her alive. Last time Pepper tells Dave of the stuffed dog found in the coffin with Samantha. Turns out Dave had given it to her before she disappeared. Pepper explained last week a piece of Balsa wood was found inside the toy with a carved message from the girl. (I'm leaving out part of the convo as it has clues and to keep it to 8 sentences.) Dave is trying to keep the "other voice" he hears in his head at bay, as asks what Samantha wrote. Pepper leads us off...

AND NOW THE SNIPPET:

“On one side it said, ‘Sammy Briggs August 22, 1987’ and underneath it, ‘Remember me, September 28, 1987.’ ”

“The August date had to be the week of the fair,” Dave surmised, "but the September date is after she left us—way after.”

Pepper agreed. “I'm sure she guessed something was going to happen, but what she carved on the other side was even more unsettling."

Dave squelched the other voice in his head from coming to the forefront of his mind. “I almost don’t want to know, but go ahead.”

Pepper looked up at him. “It said—the milk man is evil.”

***
The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!

*** 
BLURB:
When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.


 ***

My blog may look different again when you stop next week. Some things with this one don't work right, like the side show. :(
It is canning and freezing time so I may not get to all of you on Sunday. I must take advantage of hubby being home to help. I shall be visiting blogs all week though. :)
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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Milk Carton Murders 37

My vision of Lamont, the town of The Milk Carton Murders
(Photo is really Bastrop, TX, although my book is set in western NY State.)



SETUP: The three girls whose twenty plus-year-old remains washed up in coffins at Wiscoy Creek have been identified as Lisa Appleton, Rachel McKenzie and Samantha Briggs. Samantha was a foster child at Dave's house when he was a kid who he knew as Sally, and it was the last place Dave seen her alive. Last time Pepper tells Dave of the stuffed dog found in the coffin with Samantha. Turns out Dave had given it to her before she disappeared. We pick up a little bit ahead in the same scene. Pepper speaks first.

And now the snippet:

“Samantha put something inside the stuffed dog at some point, between the back stitches—a piece of balsa wood. We figure it survived because it was surrounded by fiber fill, basically encased in plastic.”

“Balsa wood? That’s what my pine wood derby car was made out of.”

“And when did you make that?”

“It was pretty soon after she came to us—May or June, but why do that?"

Pepper looked him straight in the eye, “Because it was a soft wood to carve into I imagine. She wanted to leave us a message, Dave; for the person she hoped someday would find her.”

###

I wonder what it said? Don't you hate that?

***
The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!
*** 
BLURB:
When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.
 

***   
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Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Freedom To Read

Three winners will be chosen to receive an ebook 
(your choice of format MOBI or EPUB) of
Bread & Butter 
The Murders of Polly Frisch

A 19th century true crime by Cindy Amrhein (me) and Ellen Bachorski


In 1856, in the rural town of Alabama, NY one woman's family suffered from multiple unexplained deaths. The town folk grew suspicious of the now remarried Polly Frisch. An investigation commenced, bodies were exhumed, an affair—exposed. Polly would be arrested for the murders of her first husband and daughters. Her fourteen-year-old son would testify against her. If found guilty, the punishment for such a crime was the gallows. Would Polly be the first woman in Genesee County history to be hanged for murder? Bread & Butter is the true story of Polly Frisch who poisoned her family with arsenic and the five trials it took to convict her.


All you have to do is leave a comment below, the rest is optional for extra entries. Good luck!
Don't forget to hop around to he other blogs below to  enter other giveaways.



a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Available in paperback and eBook formats

Available in paperback and eBook formats

Now Available At:

Barnes & Noble
Amazon
The History Press
Walmart

Carried by over 40 college/university libraries across the county, according to daily updates by worldcat.org, including Columbia University, Oklahoma State, Texas A & M, and Yale University Law Library.

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Weekend Writing Warriors

Weekend Writing Warriors
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Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch

Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch
Available on Amazon

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Cindy's bookshelf: read

Waiting for Harvey
4 of 5 stars
Alone, in a cabin in the woods, with a ghost. Who could ask for more in a ghost story? Harvey starts right out with a hint of foreboding in a conversation between brothers John and Erik. Already my curiosity is roused as to what happened...
tagged: books-i-read-to-me
James Potter and the Curse of the Gate Keeper
3 of 5 stars
I randomly downloaded this on my iPad when I hit the wrong button being a bumble fingers, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I've never read fanfic before. It was pretty good. But like many other people, it still can't compare to J. K. Row...
CHIMERAS
5 of 5 stars
I beta read a few chapters of a different book by this author (one that isn't out yet) so when this one was out I had to read it as it was the same character in the one a betaed a bit of--the character of Track. I have a fondness for thi...
tagged: books-i-read-to-me

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