ARTICLES

NEW RELEASE: MY GANGSTER FATHER AND ME!

May, 2024, “My Gangster Father and Me,” is a unique Father’s Day gift. Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has. My father was a gangster. Really! Marcia Rosen

This is my story about my relationship with my father and how his profession affected me and my life, “He called me Sugar Plum. Both a blessing and a burden, I learned interesting lessons from my father: about generosity and determination, taking risks, and certainly finding the willingness to live life as an adventure.”

I visited my dad’s gambling hall, where a card room was hidden behind closed doors. But it was in our kitchen at home on many Sunday mornings where I saw my dad and his pals, a cast of interesting characters, counting “the take” from football and baseball and other sports bets. There were those who showed a certain respect, a certain caution of who he was, and therefore, who I was in their world. I love writing mysteries, but I knew it was time to write this mystery… about my father and me.

So, I remember Papa, not like the old heartwarming TV Show, I Remember Mama. My memory has a far different rhythm because he was more like a Walter Mitty character in real life, and because as a gangster he frequently lived outside society’s code of acceptable, approved actions.

None of us are innocent. We all keep secrets about who we are and things we know.

“The issue of my father’s dark side still hangs in the air for me. There are moments I still question, even here and now, “Do we own the shame of our parent’s actions? Do I?”

Marcia Rosen is an award-winning author of twelve books, nine of them are mysteries, the most recent is An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo. She wrote The Woman’s Business Therapist and My Memoir Workbook and has given Memoir Writing presentations and classes for close to twenty years. Her Memoir Blog can be found on her website. For twenty-five years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency. Marcia has frequently been a featured speaker at organization meetings, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom Programs presenting talks on Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery and A Memoir Detective…Writing Your Life Story. She has also helped numerous writers develop and market their books. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Southwest Writers, New Mexico Book Association, Public Safety Writer’s Association, International Memoir Writer’s Association, Women’s National book Association and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors—for which she is also a board member.www.MarciaRosen.com

An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery

Murder at the Zoo

Marcia Rosen

After a body is tossed into the lions’ habitat at the zoo where she is the senior veterinarian, Miranda and Detective Bryan Anderson find themselves investigating several murders and dealing with a group of bad guys, while gangster friends of her father are trying to protect her. Plus, Miranda and Bryan alternate between flirting and fighting off romantic feelings. Murder seems to keep getting in their way!

A clever, intriguing, and gripping new cozy mystery filled with exciting twists and turns, bizarre murders and fascinating characters, including several dead authors who seem to speak to Veterinarian, Miranda Scott. A fan since childhood of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Sherlock Holmes their voices seem to live in her head frequently telling her what to do…and not do. Especially when it comes to solving mysteries.Murders, deceit, revenge, a gangster father and godfather also often get in the way of a fine romance! Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me: Murder At The Zoo, published March 14, 2023 by Artemesia Publishing, (www.apbooks.net)

Marcia Rosen (aka M. Glenda Rosen) is an award-winning author of eleven books including The Senior Sleuths andDying To Be Beautiful Mystery Series and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (Menus by her son Jory Rosen). She is also author of The Woman’s Business Therapist and award-winning My Memoir Workbook. For 25 years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency.

Marcia has frequently been a speaker and/or program moderator at organization meetings and conferences, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom presentations. Topics she has taught and presented over the past twenty years include: Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery, Writing Your Memoir and recently “Anatomy of Writing A Murder.” Many articles on these topics have been published on mystery reader blogs and in newsletters and magazines including “Mystery Scene Magazine” and “Mystery Reader International Journal.”

She is a member of Sisters in Crime National and New Mexico (Croak & Dagger), Southwest Writers, Women Writing the West, Public Safety Writer’s Association, and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors—for which she is also a board member.

“Marcia Rosen's new book is hard to put down! The characters are engaging, and you enjoy getting to know them as you read this mystery. I enjoyed discovering the world and people in Murder at the Zoo and can't wait to read more from this author!”

Cat Harper

National Steinbeck Center

“A delightful and charming new series filled with twists and turns, unexpected events, and wonderful characters including several dead authors!”

Elizabeth Cooke

Author of 21 books.

www.MarciaRosen.com

marciagrosen@gmail.com

Books by Author Marcia (Glenda) Rosen:

Dying To Be Beautiful Mysteries:

Without A Head

Fashion Queen

Fake Beauty

Fat Free

The Senior Sleuths Mysteries

Dead in Bed
Dead in Seat 4-A

Dead in THAT Beach House

The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (With son Jory Rosen)

My Memoir Workbook

The Woman’s Business Therapist: Eliminate the MindBlocks and RoadBlocks to Success

Awards and Endorsements for Previous Titles

Winner: The Gourmet Gangster (with Jory Rosen) New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards Finalist: Dead in THAT Beach House New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards Winner in Fiction: Dead in Bed, The Hollywood Book Festival Recognition in Fiction: Dead in Bed

Public Safety Writer’s Association Winner: My Memoir Workbook, New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards Numerous awards and accolades from entrepreneurs and business and professional women’s organizations for book and presentations: The Woman’s Business Therapist, including Winner: 2000, “Women of The Year” East End Women’s Network (Hamptons and Long Island)

“I found myself laughing and biting my nails at the same time. Sure, her characters Dick and Dora Zimmerman are no spring chick- ens, but they’re every bit as feisty and resourceful as her younger detectives in her Dying to be Beautiful series. What a ride!” Claudia Riess, author of eight books, including The Art History Mysteries

“Exquisitely prepared food and organized crime ventures have long gone hand in hand, and Marcia Rosen knows a lot about both of them. Her latest, The Gourmet Gangster, (Recipes by her son Jory Rosen) is another delectable entry to her fabulous menu of excel- lently written books. Be sure to savor this one like a fine dessert.” Marilyn Meredith, author of The Deputy Temple Crabtree Mysteries

“Unique, clever, wonderfully written and tempting recipes...A must read for all mystery book fans!” Inquiring Minds Books

“What a fun read! It’s a wonderful plot, starting with a severed head in the sink of a beauty salong in Dying to Be Beautiful! The characters, including a beautiful setter dog named Watson, brings humor to the whole. I loved it” Book Soup Books, Los Angeles

HEARING VOICES OF PAST FAMOUS DETECTIVES…

…THEIR IMPACT AND INFLUENCE ON MYSTERY WRITERS

Marcia Rosen

“the stuff that dreams are made of…”

With that famous line at the end of The Maltese Falcon, Bogey exposed a world to noir films and fictional detective stories. The gumshoes of the past, along with their dames and hoodlums, entranced America with the shadowy and dark side of humanity. Many mystery writers, including myself, have been impacted and influenced by these past crime-solvers. They knew a thing or two about dreams…and murder. We have long admired them. But why?

The old-fashioned private detective with hardboiled ways has been around since the 1920s. We have loved the sinister and menacing plots, behaviors of beautiful, deadly women, and the sexy gumshoes featured in dozens of films for generations following The Maltese Falcon, which opened in 1941.

There are many reasons for loving these detective stories: We become armchair detectives sharing in the suspense with a bit of vicarious pleasure. Our imagination wants to find the killer before the detective, and we are arrogantly thrilled when we do. And we love the romances we know can only end badly. Perhaps that’s just human nature.

Edgar Allan Poe unlocked the door to detective fiction when he wrote the first modern detective story in1841, Murders in the Rue Morgue; and it was Arthur Conan Doyle who swung the door wide open writing 50 books featuring the Consulting Detective, Sherlock Holmes and his cohort, Dr. Watson. Versions of Sherlock Holmes have been seen on screen over 250 times, some in old black and white films featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce who were marvelous. Later, a couple of my favorites include Jeremy Brett as Holmes and the recent, modern version with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Doyle’s first, Study in Scarlet was released in 1887 and since then, the number of books published as detective fiction has grown to huge numbers. Crime is the number one genre people read. Dozens of published authors have created stories hearing the voices of past famous detectives. Television mystery shows such as Perry Mason, Columbo, Magnum and Murder She Wrote, are just a few of mystery lovers’ favorites.

I love Dashiell Hammond who continued writing film noir, and The Thin Man turned into six films. Less dark and menacing, it was the charm of the characters, the dialogue, and the overall experience of feeling they were— for a brief time— part of your life. There was romance, love, crazy characters, and the very charming stars.

And, of course, there is Agatha Christie who has written 66 novels and there are many movies of her stories. Two her famous crime-solvers revered by so many mystery readers are the strange looking and intense thinking Hercule Poirot. Also loved is the sweet acting ways of Miss Marple finding clues, enjoying a bit of gossip and, in the process, uncovering secret plots swirling around her.

We mystery lovers have also long been thrilled by the darker and deeper writings of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, Murder My Sweet, and Double Indemnity, claiming women were definitely not to be trusted. The men could not be trusted either. Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, played by Bogart in The Big Sleep, with his classic style of tough guy, along with Mitchum and Powell and others who were cynical and moody. I mean, really! Who needs a moody, gruffy guy, except in these crime novels!

Still, I am a dreamer of sorts. I hear their voices and they have made an impact on my writing. Many mystery stories do have stuff that dreams are made of, they became film noir, and I, like others have sat thrilled watching the old black and white films with Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Nick and Nora Charles, who I adore, and, of course, Sherlock Holmes.

Their voices often play in my head as I sit down to write my mystery books. But I also love puzzles and fitting the pieces together to find the whole. I find going to the source of a problem leads me to a space where I can create my own mystery characters and stories.

Still, I keep wondering why do we enjoy the detective genre so much? Why do we so enjoy murder mysteries? I believe in part it’s a glimpse into that darker side of humanity. We seem to be fascinated by behaviors that stir our curiosity and allow us to think, to solve the puzzles of who did such awful acts and why. The stories and characters are filled with suspense and incredibly intriguing to me. I like the way they challenge my thinking and they inspire me as an author of murder mysteries.

Many of us mystery writers have the ambition and desire to create thrilling crime fiction with clever detectives. In cozies, like I write, the amateur sleuth finds the murders have many twists and turns; there are a few foreshadowing comments; and there are several red herrings to distract readers. The amateur sleuth sifts through clues, tossing the useless information out. The hunt is on to find the truth . . . for the reader and for me.

I am very much influenced by the voices of famous mystery writers. Perhaps you are too! From my new book, An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo, Artemesia Publishing, 2023:

She had read nearly every book of every famous mystery writer and had

seen movies made from them many times and was often absorbed and

obsessed by the stories and the characters. It was not the first time she had shouted to one or more of the voices in her head. Sometimes they seemed

so real to her. When she was a young girl, Miranda Scott read dozens of

mystery books by authors such as Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler,

and she loved characters like Sherlock Holmes. Then she began hearing

their voices in her head suggesting what she should and should not do.

After a body is tossed into the lions’ habitat at the zoo where she is the

senior veterinarian, Miranda and Detective Bryan Anderson find them-

selves investigating several murders and dealing with a group of bad guys,

while gangster friends of her father are trying to protect her. Plus, Miranda

and Bryan alternate between flirting and fighting off romantic feelings.

Murder seems to keep getting in their way!

***

A member of Public Safety Writers Association recently announced his new Holmes book: “I just wanted to let all you fans of Sherlock Holmes’ pastiches that my latest one is in this new anthology, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective #18. I humbly say, it's the best Holmes story I've written. It's called, "The Adventure of the Girl on the Black Velvet Swing," and touches on Dr Jekyll. and Mr. Hyde, Guy Fawkes Day, and some dastardly villains. The game's afoot.”

Mike Black, Conference Chair for Public Safety Writers Association

The British invasion is masterful and they’ve also learned a thing or two from the famous fictional detectives! MidSomer Murders, Luther, Broadchurch, and Vera plus New Zealand’s Brokenwood Mysteries and Australia’s Miss Fisher and Murdock Mysteries. Their detectives are most appealing and their murder mysteries a frequent invitation we are glad to accept. There are many more on Acorn and Brit Box, as well as in the U.S on Ovation Alley and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.

…the stuff that dreams are made of. . . are very often not real!

***

Marcia Rosen (aka M. Glenda Rosen), award winning author of eleven books including The Senior Sleuths and Dying To Be Beautiful Mystery Series and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (Menus by her son Jory Rosen). She is also author of The Woman’s Business Therapist and award winning My Memoir Workbook. For 25 years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency.

Marcia is a member of numerous writing organizations and frequent guest speaker.

Log Line: An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock and Me Mystery: “Murder at the Zoo”

A body is tossed into the lion’s habitat at the zoo where Miranda Scott is the senior vet. She and Detective Bryan Anderson join forces to unravel that mystery and several more murders. A fan since childhood of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Sherlock Holmes they seem to live in her head frequently telling her what to do…and not do. Murders, family, deceit, revenge and a gangster father and godfather often get in the way of a fine romance!

Artemesia Publishing

www.apbooks.net

info@artemesiapublishing.com

505-610-8531

ISBN: 978-1-951122-49-2 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-951122-56-0 (ebook)

March 14, 2023

Soft Cover: $15.95



WRITING MYSTERIES AND MURDERS

AT A ZOO

(With Caution and Care for the Animals)

Marcia Rosen

New Mexico is a land of amazing sunrises and sunsets with a sky constantly changing color and forms, mountains framing the background, and a desert that stretches across the mesa often giving the land a mystical feeling. Known as the land of enchantment it still has its share of mysteries, ancient and new. As a mystery writer, I find it intriguing and exciting to involve this land as an important character in my new mystery. Place is often as important a character as the people in a novel.

But at a zoo? Well, yes, with much caution and caring for the animals. Please don’t worry about the animals in my stories. They are well-cared-for and loved. In Murder At The Zoo, two lion cubs are born: Imani (meaning faith) and Sabrina. They are “adorable and not the least bit camera shy.” Mom and Dad, Kamali and Kasi, are very proud and protective parents. A baby zebra is born and there is a contest to name him. In fact, after the two main characters in the book, the veterinarian and detective, watch the foal being born, she tells him with a grin, “We just had a baby.” The poor guy is a bit freaked at that comment. Miranda and Bryan alternate between flirting and fighting off romantic feelings. Murder keeps getting in their way.

The zoo veterinarian and the charming police detective become romantically involved as they work toward solving a series of murders. Their romance certainly has a hefty fair share of friction and interruptions, since her father is a gangster—even though he claims to be retired. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty! There are also a number of other interesting, crazy, and unusual characters, as well as a fair share of humor to encourage you to smile a bit.

Writing any murder mystery book is akin to putting together a puzzle with a thousand pieces. When the mystery begins with a murder at a popular zoo, there is bound to be a need to also add a lot of positive animal experiences. And I make sure to do that.

The good characters are interesting and appealing, so the question becomes how to present the bad guys and surprise the reader? A good mystery tries to lead the reader astray a bit by placing suspicion and blame on various suspects. It’s important to have the reader involved and interested in your story, so they attempt to solve the crimes along with you. Don’t make it too easy. Still, murders at a zoo?

“Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery: Murder At The Zoo” published by Artemesia Publishing, March 2023.

1st Excerpt:

“Miranda, get to the zoo! Visitors are pointing at a human arm in the lions’ enclosure.”

“Hmmm. This is intriguing. A body in the lions’ den. What are the facts?”

“Agatha, Raymond, facts if you please,” Sherlock demanded.

“All of you shut up!”

It was not the first time Miranda shouted to the voices in her head. Sometimes they seemed so real to her. She had read nearly every book of every famous mystery writer and had seen movies made from them many times. She was often absorbed and obsessed by the stories and the characters.

Miranda loved their ways of thinking, analyzing problems, finding solutions, and delving into the dark spaces hidden in humanity: Raymond Chandler’s tough Detective, Philip Marlowe, who always found a dame he could lust after and distrust and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and her Tommy and Tuppence. Their gossip and ways of finding clues and uncovering secrets swirled in her head, while the famous Sherlock Homes demanded facts and attention to the tiniest of details.

There were other geniuses of mysteries who stopped by to give Miranda their “two cents” at times, especially when Agatha, Raymond, and Sherlock were disagreeing with each other. Miranda was sure they would have plenty to say about the murder at the zoo.

End of Excerpt

Again, why would I choose a zoo as a place for a murder mystery? Why would anyone? Well really, why murder anyone, anywhere for that matter? Even when the murders take place at a zoo, you eventually have to get the bad guys to talk or confess or have someone give them up. Along the way, you are also on the chase with your characters through conflict, danger, and mystery. In addition, this book provides an opportunity to give a positive voice to all the wonderful reasons for the existence of zoos.

In Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock & Me: Murder at the Zoo, these characters are often telling the veterinarian what to think or do. In Sherlock Holmes and the London Zoo Mystery (W. Lane; 1986), it is an entertaining story that recaptures the atmosphere of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes’ tales and includes the familiar figures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Inspector Lestrade. The book also features several real-life characters, including Abraham Bartlett (Superintendent of London Zoo, 1859-1897), the famous African elephant Jumbo, Matthew Scott (Jumbo’s keeper), and P.T. Barnum.

Ultimately, you want to be able to explain your characters’ motivations for their criminal behavior. Common sources are anger, hate, power, money and, of course, revenge. Revealing truths, secrets, and lies with stories of betrayal and vengeance and surprise endings can leave your readers wanting more. Your first sentence, your first paragraph, should grab your reader. . . maybe even by the throat, like a good murder!

Many years ago, we had a lassie collie who thought she was a lap dog, and my son and he adored each other. It’s good for children to grow up with pets and learn to care for them. It’s also wonderful for adults to have the love of an animal who doesn’t judge them. Right?

2nd Excerpt:

Bryan whispered to Isabella, walked out, and came back in with the most special gift of all. Handing Miranda the leash to an Australian Shepherd puppy he said, “Your new watch dog.” And giving her a big kiss, he whispered, “You know, I love you.”

The detective and the veterinarian were too busy to deal with the “I love you” issue for now but. . . eventually.

Of course, the voices had to have their say.

“Yes, you can trust him.” Agatha was such a romantic.

“Well, we agree!” chimed in Sherlock and Raymond.

“What are you going to name her?”

With a mischievous grin Miranda said, “Agatha.”

***

Marcia is a member of numerous writing organizations and frequent guest speaker.

Log Line: An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock and Me Mystery: “Murder at the Zoo”

Artemesia Publishing

www.apbooks.net

info@artemesiapublishing.com

505-610-8531

ISBN: 978-1-951122-49-2 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-951122-56-0 (ebook)

March 14, 2023

Soft Cover: $15.95

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Mysteries Have Their Place!

Marcia Rosen

To appear in "Mystery and Suspense" Magazine

Set for January 16th issue

Mystery and Suspense Magazine

After landing on the moon…that could have been a fun location for a murder.

The Egyptian Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, or White House? They would be great locations for a good murder. In fact, they have been.

Major cities, small towns, and many made up villages have become the location for a murder mystery and, especially, several very successful mystery series.

There were plenty of murders in cities along Rt. 66. John Steinbeck named it the Mother Road. I think of it as the Murder Road.

Location was once considered everything in business…before technology. Location is still essential in a good mystery. Location is place, and place is as much a character in mysteries as the people.

Murder on the Orient Express—what a great location for a murder, moving and stopped. As was the apartment in Rear Window, and another apartment in the haunting film, Laura. In and around London there were many murders with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and a fascinating one on an English Country Estate in Godsford Park.

We lovers of mysteries know that murders and other crimes have occurred on all sorts of moving vehicles, in different rooms in small homes and large estates, and possibly even in our own back yards? Well, hopefully not!

The lover of mystery books enjoys envisioning the place where a story takes them, and in movies and on television the place often becomes central to the appeal and importance of the story. It helps the viewer to become caught up in it, perhaps even feel a part of it. Some plots are dark and frightening and provide an extra sense of anticipation for lovers of thrillers like the type written by Stephen King, and his locations add to the suspense.

The art of a murder mystery and investigation includes a private detective or the police or, in a cozy mystery, an amateur sleuth. The dialogue needs to create suspense with some foreshadowing and fake clues are followed and soon ignored. Finally, the arc of the murder mystery starts having the story lead to the chase of the real villains, who are caught—dead or alive—of course.

But, what about a location, where murder and mayhem terrorize the residents. Doors are locked and there are whispers and secrets behind those closed doors. Questions remain. Who killed their neighbor’s wife in the alley next to the post office? Who stabbed the old man as he walked across the bridge late at night? Who pushed the young man off his apartment balcony? Why did the murderer run his or her car over the victim on a country road, the moon hidden behind the trees? Were there witnesses to any of these murders? Ah, where are they possibly located?

As a mystery writer, I believe location plays a huge part in the plot and ultimately when and where the murder is solved. To escape murderers hide in a location fitting the plot, one designed to build up a sense of suspense and anticipation.

We as readers and viewers also enjoy explosive endings. There are gunfights and car chases up and down city streets. There are threats and demands until the final moments of capture. The movie Witness ended in an Amish barn. In the book The Name of the Rose, written by one of my favorite authors, Umberto Eco, the murders and the ending take place in an Abbey in the 1300s. In Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, the finale is on Mt. Rushmore. Another favorite of mine is Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series taking place somewhere along the California coast. And, in historical fiction, the landscape fits the century and the plot.

Location, location, location. The book ends. The film is finished. Surely calm prevails, the dark sky is lighter, and all is right again. Or is it?

Send me your favorite mystery location. Author, MarciagRosen@gmail.com. We’ll add it to my site or possibly one of my social media posts.
Thank you.

Marcia

Marcia is a member of numerous writing organizations and frequent guest speaker.

Log Line: An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery: “Murder at the Zoo”

A body is tossed into the lion’s habitat at the zoo where Miranda Scott is the senior vet. She and Detective Bryan Anderson join forces to unravel that mystery and several more murders. A fan since childhood of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Sherlock Holmes they seem to live in her head, frequently telling her what to do…and not do. Murders, family, deceit, revenge, and a gangster father and godfather often get in the way of a fine romance!

Artemesia Publishing

www.apbooks.net

info@artemesiapublishing.com

505-610-8531

ISBN: 978-1-951122-49-2 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-951122-56-0 (ebook)

March 14, 2023

Soft Cover: $15.95

The Gourmet Gangster:

Mysteries & Menus by The Family

Guest Post & Recipe featured on:
Mystery Reads, Mystery Fanfare, Thonie Hevron & Marilyn's Musings