Saturday, September 28, 2013

How common are husband/wife writing teams?

I received a special package in the mail today: the first paperback version of our book, "Death Among The Stacks: The Body in the Law Library," which has just arrived hot off the press.  This was the first book I ever wrote with my husband.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be writing murder/mysteries, let alone be writing them with my husband.  I'm an English Literature Major and spent years reading long Dickens' novels and complicated essays like Mathew Arnold's "Culture and Anarchy".  I didn't even read mystery novels; but my husband and I both like to watch the PBS Masterpiece/Mystery series. 

We fell in love with the Agatha Christie stories, so I set out to write a mystery about what would happen if someone was murdered in a library by electronic compact shelving.  It's not as far fetched as it sounds: I actually witnessed someone almost getting crushed to death when they malfunctioned.  Even quiet libraries have drama and office politics can get really dramatic, especially when the librarians start pointing their fingers at each other when the police come asking questions.  We tried to make it humorous and a bit of a farce.  Just as in the conclusion in "Murder on the Orient Express," we have our detective gather all the suspects into one room and reveal each person's potential motives in front of everybody else, with the final "big reveal" of "who dunnit" coming at the end.  We asked my niece Allison to pose for the cover as a "sshing librarian". 

Take a look:  Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library

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