COVER REVEAL: Double Vision: The Alias Men by F.T. Bradley

It's always tough when a trilogy comes to an end... Especially when you get the write a cool, wise-cracking middle-grade character like Linc Baker. I had a blast writing the Double Vision books, and was determined to have the trilogy go out with a bang.

And apparently, the amazing people at Harper Children's read my mind. Look at the cool cover the came up with for Double Vision: The Alias Men...:

Doesn't it look dynamite??

For some back story, this is Linc, about to land on a table of appetizers at a fancy Hollywood director's party. I can't wait until you all get the read the book, out October 14th, 2014.

Here's the story:

With the annual Baker family reunion only days away, Linc prepares for a weekend full of cousins, cars, and his mom’s terrible macaroni salad. But then secret government agency Pandora contacts him—again! They need Linc’s help to secure the dangerous double of Charlie Chaplin’s famous bowler hat before mysterious master thief Ethan Melais uses its invisibility powers for world domination. Always up for an adventure, Linc agrees to join the mission. Easy peasy, right?

But if there’s one thing Linc should know by now, it’s that nothing is ever easy when it comes to being a junior secret agent—especially when you accidentally land yourself a role in a Hollywood blockbuster. With bogus leads, baffling dead ends, and constant one-upping from his look-alike nemesis, Ben Green, Linc’s juggling a lot more than he bargained for! Throw in a cute Hollywood starlet, Savannah Stone, who’s along for the ride, and suddenly Linc not only has to secure the dangerous double and save the world, but look good doing it, too!


Sounds cool, right?

Thanks, as always, to the great people at Harper Children's for making me look good, and to my awesome pals and the readers here at Sleuths, Spies and Alibis. 

Y'all are awesome :-)

12 Days of Mysteries: Day 2

It's Day Two of 12 Days of Mysteries, our holiday gift-giving guide for the young (or not-so-young) mystery/thriller lovers in your life! (If you missed Day One, you can step back in time here to check out Kirsten Kittscher's recommendations).

Here is F.T. Bradley with her ideas:







This year, I've been hitting the road around the south, and get my share of book recommendations. So I'll share a couple here . . .

I love the THEODORE BOONE series by John Grisham--great for kids who like mysteries and are ready to discover a new series.

My second recommendation is THE GIRL FROM FELONY BAY, by J.E. Thompson. This is a true undiscovered gem: A MG set in the south, with a great mystery and lots of strong setting in the story. Check it out; you won't be disappointed!

12 Days of Mysteries: Day 1

Here at Sleuths, Spies & Alibis, we're celebrating the holidays under cover! Book cover, that is.

For the next twelve weekdays, counting down to December 24, we'll be sharing some gift-giving recommendations for you. With our numerous book ideas -- and some great charitable organizations we'd like to tell you about -- finding the perfect something for the young mystery/thriller lover in your life shouldn't be a mystery!

Kicking off the season, here is Kristen Kittscher with her picks for your young mystery lover:

HIDE AND SEEK, by Kate Messner

Junior members of a secret society that protects the world's most important artifacts go to the rain forests of Costa Rica to recover an important treasure before it falls into the wrong hands. A fun, fast-paced mystery my students love.

MASTERPIECE, by Elise Broach

A beetle whose a talented artist and an eleven year old boy end up on the tail of a forger at the Met. A quirky, page-turning tale of friendship and mystery.

THE NIGHT TOURIST, by Katherine Marsh

Ninth grader Jack adventures into a Underworld of ghosts in New York City to discover what happened to his mother. Such a beautifully told, smart mystery full of adventure.

GILDA JOYCE, PSYCHIC INVESTIGATOR by Jennifer Allison

The first book in a hilarious and poignant series about psychic girl detective Gilda Joyce.

KIKI STRIKE, INSIDE THE SHADOW CITY, by Kirsten Miller

A group of smart, delinquent Girl Scouts and latte-sipping, Vespa riding teen Kiki Strike go undercover (literally) in the tunnels below NYC to solve an international crime. One of my all-time favorite mysteries for kids. Great for 5th - 7th graders.

COVER REVEAL: Double Vision: Code Name 711

As a debut author, you wait so long for that first book to come out. And then when it finally does, you're busy doing signings, promoting online, going to book festivals, etc. So it's strange to think of the second book's release...

But I'm so excited about Double Vision: Code Name 711 (Harper Children's) , the second book in Linc Baker's mystery/thriller adventure series! And I'm even more excited to reveal the cool cover here...

Drumroll...

Doesn't it look cool? Here's the jacket description:

A funny action-packed spy adventure, perfect for fans of James Bond, Alex Rider, and The 39 Clues.

The supersecret government organization Pandora wants Linc to go to Washington, D.C., to protect the first daughter and find George Washington's legendary coat, rumored to make its wearer invincible. Pandora needs to find it before a deadly CIA mole uses it in a plot against the president.

Unfortunately for Linc, his look-alike agent nemesis, Ben Green, is already on the case and making his life difficult. With the first daughter's help, Linc will have to dig deep into the history of America's first spies--the Culper Ring--to beat Ben at his own game and stop the mole before it's too late.

Code Name 711 features an unforgettable funny voice, high-stakes espionage, and real American spy history dating back to the Revolutionary War.

Linc's second adventure hits the shelves on October 15, so you'll have to wait a little while to read it. But how exciting is this cool cover, right?

F.T. Bradley is the author of Double Vision (Harper Children's, Oct. 2012), the first in the middle-grade adventure series featuring Lincoln Baker and Benjamin Green. Her husband's Air Force career has F.T. and their two daughters moving all around the world, but for the moment the family lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 

To find out more about F.T and the Double Vision series, visit www.ftbradley.com, www.doublevisionbooks.com; or find F.T. Bradley on Twitter @FTBradleyAuthor.

What do Readers Expect from Mysteries and Thrillers?

 Last week I hosted a monthly Twitter chat with fellow members of the Apocalypsies (a group of 140+ kidlit authors debuting in 2012). Fellow Sleuths Spies & Alibis members Laura Ellen, Talia Vance, and F.T. Bradley were among the participants, weighing in our topic of mysteries and thrillers.

A lot of interesting points came out of this discussion. I've been mulling over two of them.

1. The distinction between mysteries and thrillers. Sometimes these terms get used interchangeably. For books that have elements of both genres (such as Laura Ellen's BLIND SPOT), using both terms to describe them is fine. Many books, though, fall firmly in one genre or another, and readers may be misled by the wrong label. For example, sometimes my book, TOKYO HEIST, is described as a thriller. While it has its share of danger and thrilling moments, I would call it a mystery. A puzzle drives the plot. In the Twitter chat, we defined mystery as a story that revolves around a puzzle to be solved, and a thriller as a story focused on immediate, pressing dangers. Both mysteries and thrillers have tension, but problem-solving drives the tension in mystery and action/danger (or psychological suspense) drives the tension in thrillers.

2. Readers' expectations of mysteries and thrillers. We talked a lot about Nancy Drew (I admit we weren't exactly kind to her) and how YA/MG mysteries today have changed from the classic sleuthing stories. Technology, some of us felt, was a big factor. As Kristen Kittscher pointed out on this blog a few weeks ago ("Murder, She Blogged"), technology has totally changed investigative work in real life and in fiction.

But maybe other things have changed too, raising our expectations for YA/MG mysteries and thrillers. As Talia mentioned, Nancy Drew didn't solve (or even have) her own problems; she solved other people's problems. We don't have a sense of her as a real person; one participant in the discussion couldn't even remember Nancy's boyfriend's name. (It's Ned).

It seems that it's no longer satisfying -- it may even be laughable -- to have a series with a character who just bounces from adventure to adventure. We now expect:

• More character depth
• More plot twists and turns
• More action
• More details
• Faster/better pacing
• Some degree of realism
• Emotional impact

In short: More.

Whew. Much as I tend to agree with all this, I find myself missing Nancy a little. Life seemed simpler then. Well, mystery writing did, anyway.

Are any of these criteria for modern-day mysteries at odds? Can we have "better pacing" and "more action" while still reaching for more character depth and realism than a Nancy Drew type of sleuth? Character development does sometimes get sacrificed a bit to service plot or pace in mystery -- can we really have it all?

YA author A.C. Gaughen suggested, towards the end of the Twitter chat, that "with more books, more authors, more competition, the bar gets raised." Readers don't just want a good mystery; they want "GOOD FICTION."

Are mysteries and/or thrillers harder to write than ever? Is the bar raising because there are so many being published? Do we really expect mysteries/thrillers to have it all these days? (Even in middle grade/young adult markets, where word counts tend to be shorter?) How can mystery/thriller writers overcome the potential paralysis of trying to write the mystery/thriller that Has It All?

What do you think? What do you expect from YA/MG mysteries and/or thrillers? What would you like to see more of -- or less of?

[PS - Have you entered this week's great giveaway yet? No? There's still time to win a signed copy of the just-released DOUBLE VISION by our own F.T. Bradley! Check out her great interview with W.H. Beck from Tuesday; the contest entry form is right below it. Oh - and how cool is it to have two initials before your last name? It just occurred to me that F.T. and two other blog members do this. I think I'm gong to declare a Double Initial Day in honor of DOUBLE VISION!]

D.C. Renn (aka Diana Renn) was born in Seattle and now lives outside of Boston with her husband and son. TOKYO HEIST (Viking/Penguin, published June 2012) is her first novel.

Falling into Mysteries

There's always mystery in the air in fall. Shorter days, brighter moons, sudden gusts of wind, leaves skittering down the streets. Maybe that's why fall is my absolute favorite season for reading mysteries, and if they cross over into thriller-land, even better.

Is it just me, or are there more mysteries than ever coming out this fall? A few weeks ago, W.H. Beck listed fall 2012 kidlit mysteries she's looking forward to (some YA, mostly MG), and she also has a formidable Pinterest board with an even bigger list. Here's my own fall reading list, which skews more YA.

BURNING BLUE, by Paul Griffin. (October 25. Dial/Penguin)
When Nicole Castro, the most beautiful girl in her wealthy New Jersey high school, is splashed with acid on the left side of her perfect face, the whole world takes notice. But quiet loner Jay Nazarro does more than that--he decides to find out who did it. Jay understands how it feels to be treated like a freak, and he also has a secret: He's a brilliant hacker. But the deeper he digs, the more danger he's in--and the more he falls for Nicole. Too bad everyone is turning into a suspect, including Nicole herself.

This is one of my all-time favorite YA authors. If you haven't discovered his work yet, you should drop everything and do so at once. He writes somewhat gritty -- and beautifully written, emotionally moving -- contemporary stories about urban kids. When my sales rep out in Seattle gave me an ARC of this forthcoming book, I might have danced a little jig. Or at least jumped for joy. I'm thrilled he's turned his talents to mystery in this novel, and I can't wait to read it. (Psssst.... Paul Griffin will be hauled into our Interrogation Room in early November!)

THE EDGE OF NOWHERE, by Elizabeth George (Just released! Viking/Penguin)
Whidbey Island may be only a ferry ride from Seattle, but it's a world apart. When Becca King arrives there, she doesn't suspect the island will become her home for the next four years. Put at risk by her ability to hear "whispers"--the thoughts of others--Becca is on the run from her stepfather, whose criminal activities she has discovered. Stranded and alone, Becca is soon befriended by Derric, a Ugandon orphan adopted by a local family; Seth, a kindhearted musician and high school dropout; Debbie, a recovering alcoholic who takes her in; and Diana, with whom Becca shares a mysterious psychic connection.

I'm originally a Seattle girl AND a longtime Elizabeth George fan, so I am very excited to read her first YA mystery (which is also the first of a planned series). This story is set on Whidbey Island, a real place not far from Seattle. The cast of characters intrigues me, too.

THE DIVINERS, by Libba Bray (Just released! Little, Brown)
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies." When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

I love the 1920s and love Libba Bray, and the whole ingredient list for this book sounds divine! I've also been meaning to read more historical mysteries, so I'm looking forward to time-traveling through this book.

HORTON'S MIRACULOUS MECHANISMS, by Lissa Evans (out now! Sterling Children's Books)
As if being small for his age and also having S. Horten as his name isn't bad enough, now 10-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends. But on his very first day in his new home, Stuart's swept up in an extraordinary adventure: the quest to find his great-uncle Tony--a famous magician who literally disappeared off the face of the earth--and Tony's marvelous, long-lost workshop.  Along the way, Stuart reluctantly accepts help from the annoying triplets next door… and encounters trouble from another magician who's also desperate to get hold of Tony's treasures.

This mystery for younger readers (10+) looks charming. The cover makes me think of Edward Gorey, and the premise makes me think of childhood books I devoured and re-read, especially the mysteries by John Bellairs. Just leafing through the book in a store, the voice pulled me right in. This one came highly recommended to me from a bookseller at Seattle Mystery Books.

THE GHOST OF GRAYLOCK, by Dan Poblock (Out now! Scholastic)
Everyone's heard the stories about Graylock Hall. It was meant to be a place of healing - a hospital where children and teenagers with mental disorders would be cared for and perhaps even cured. But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods. As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He's got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back. Neil might think he's prepared for what he'll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he's certainly not prepared for what follows him home. . . .

What would a fall reading list be without a good ghost story? We interviewed Dan Poblocki last year for our Interrogation Room on this blog, and ever since then I've been a huge fan of his creepy middle-grade mystery/horror novels. I confess, I'm not a huge horror fan (I like my horror served up on the mild side, kind of like my Indian food in a restaurant). Dan's stuff is not exactly mild. It's genuinely creepy, and even though it's for the 10+ crowd, I get a little jumpy after reading his atmospheric, suspenseful prose. He makes me feel like anything could be lurking around a corner in my own neighborhood; he's the master at making the familiar unfamiliar. There's a bit of an old-fashioned quality to his prose too -- with nods to H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe -- so I'm looking forward to curling up with this new book. Um, maybe with the lights on.

Have you read any of the books on this list? What mysteries are YOU reading this fall?

Diana was born in Seattle and now lives outside of Boston with her husband and son. TOKYO HEIST (Viking/Penguin, published June 2012) is her first novel.

Sleuthing in Seattle!

Me and my shadow

Greetings from Seattle!

I'm out here this week taking TOKYO HEIST on the road, as well as tracking down some great bookstores and local mystery reads.

And look what I stumbled across! Seattle Mystery Bookshop, on 1st and Cherry: a mystery-lover's delight!

Actually, I was graciously invited here by the bookstore owner, JB (and yes, the initials are his name; so mysterious and cool!). TOKYO HEIST is one of the staff picks in their kids section, and they had a healthy stack of them for me to sign.

This store has warrens of shelves bursting with mysteries, their own crime scene tape (I love that), and a cool chalk outline of a human form splayed out on the ground. (Don't ask).

Blogging in the hot seat!

I got to meet JB in person, as well as booksellers Adele and Amber. Amber is the YA reader for the store, and she wrote a glowing review of TOKYO HEIST a few months ago.You will not find a person on earth who knows kids mysteries as well as Amber. I could have hung out all day talking about mysteries with her and my Penguin sales rep, learning more about new and forthcoming mystery titles. She has her finger on the pulse!

I almost did hang out all day because after I signed their stock, and then signed their big white book of visiting authors (wow!), I got dragged invited over to their computer and ordered at gunpoint politely asked to blog on the fly. Yeah, no pressure, right? Gulp. Anyway, you can read what I wrote for their bookstore blog right here!

I left this store sweating from the spontaneous blogging, but totally energized from my visit. Mystery for teens and tweens is thriving, folks. This store has a swelling bookshelf full of new titles (see right). Teens wandered into the store to browse.

Check them out online for great reviews, book lists, and breaking news. Oh . . and did you know you can avoid big online retailers, support a great local mystery bookstore, and buy online from this place? They make it very easy!

Three cheers for Seattle Mystery Bookshop! And three cheers for middle grade and young adult mystery!

(I know, that's six cheers total, lots of cheering. Now go drink some water).

Let me remind you that our ARC giveaway of Nikki Loftin's THE SINISTER SWEETNESS OF SPLENDID ACADEMY (a great middle grade mystery debut) is on for three more days. If you missed our Interrogation Room interview with Nikki earlier this week, you can find it here, as well as the Rafflecopter thingie for the giveaway. I will sign off with a mystery photo to mull over, taken on location here in Seattle. Can you guess what it is?

It's the Mickey Mouse Pancake Special, complete with old bacon and swollen blueberries, served up at a sleazy bar near our hotel, which happens to serve some semblance of breakfast. The biggest mystery I'm grappling with now is why I actually fed this to my child!

Persons of Interest #1: Mystery Lovers Bookshop

Today we're introducing a new feature in our Thursday rotation called Persons of Interest. Here we will be spotlighting booksellers, agents, blogs, editors, events, and anything that hits us in the mystery kidlit gut.




So, without further ado, let us have a look at Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA, near Pittsburgh. This independent ?-centric bookstore has been in business since 1990, trading in new volumes of crime and mystery fiction, including spy stories and thrillers, and a healthy selection of YA and MG titles. As authors, we especially love that MLB hosts many author events. The store also hosts a Festival of Mysteries each April.
514 Allegheny River Boulevard, Oakmont, PA 888.800.6078

TOKYO HEIST Celebration Week!

We here at Sleuths, Spies and Alibis are thrilled to celebrate the release of TOKYO HEIST by our fearless detective-leader, Diana Renn. This week we will be talking about Diana's fabulous YA mystery, starting today with an amazing giveaway.

TOKYO HEIST is about a summer vacation that takes an adventuresome turn. So now it's your turn: We want to know all about your best and worst summer vacations ever.

Answer in the comments below for a chance to win a signed copy of TOKYO HEIST and a TOKYO HEIST swag bundle (bookmarks, stickers and special crime scene tape!) or a signed ARC of the MG mystery MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT by detective W.H. Beck. Tweet about the giveaway, follow us or add TOKYO HEIST to Goodreads for more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Signed ARC (and Swag!) Giveaway for Chris Grabenstein's new MG mystery!

Anthony and Agatha award-winning mystery author Chris Grabenstein will face our rigorous questioning in The Interrogation Room in just a few weeks. In preparation for his visit and the April 10 launch of his action-packed middle grade mystery, RILEY MACK AND THE OTHER KNOWN TROUBLEMAKERS, we have a very special giveaway all week. Enter below to win a signed ARC as well as fun RILEY MACK swag that will delight your kids and students!

From ChrisGrabenstein.com:

Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers, the first book in a hilarious new action-adventure series, is a classic crime caper, a funny, fast-paced mystery/comedy with lovable characters, non-stop action—and a barnful of dogs.

Seventh-grade mastermind Riley Mack and his best buds always come to the rescue when family or friends are in trouble, even if it takes some high-octane subterfuge and fifty pounds of dog food. Kids ages 8-12 will root for Riley and his "Gnat Pack": tech-savvy Jake, dramatic Brianna, big-guy Mongo, and brainy Jamal. They'll hiss for the bad guys, too—the bully Gavin Brown; his father, Fairview's crooked police chief; his conniving grandmother, who runs a filthy puppy mill; and Fairview's gambling-addicted bank manager, who tries to frame Riley's mom. Throw in one stolen goldendoodle, two bumbling bank robbers, and plenty of duct tape, and the action never flags.

Want to know more about RILEY MACK or writing mysteries? You have the chance to ask Chris for advice on Twitter's live #mglitchat  this Thursday at 9 P.M. - EDT.

Past Interrogation Room suspects, including Sheela Chari (VANISHED) and Ben H. Winters (SECRET LIFE OF MS. FINKLEMAN, THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING EVERYTHING), will be joining in, as well as our own detectives, W.H. Beck (MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT) and Kristen Kittscher (THE WIG IN THE WINDOW). Click "Read More" Below to pull up the Rafflecopter widget and enter!

Under Cover #6

Time to check in and see what our detectives are reading! Maybe they can uncover a last minute holiday gift idea or two?

L.R. Giles: I'm reading THE SHOTGUN RULE by Charlie Huston. Though typically not a YA author, Huston takes his dark brand of storytelling into the lives of four 1980's teens who have too much time on their hands during their summer vacation and make the bad decision to break into the wrong house. What happens next is a chain reaction that unveils violent secrets resonating all the way back to when their parents were teens making equally bad choices. An incredible book from an incredible writer, but not recommended for young or sensitive readers.

Kristen Kittscher: I'm reading Maryrose Woods' The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery and have the same perpetual silly smile glued on my face as I did throughout her hilarious first book in her middle grade series, The Mysterious Howling. While not a book for kids who prefer traditional, fast-paced mysteries, The Hidden Gallery  is a wonderfully absurd, mad-cap romp with a good deal of heart. Miss Penelope Lumley, a fifteen year old governess trained at Agatha Swanburne's Academy for Poor Bright Females, continues her efforts to civilize the three wolf-like children in her charge -- this time in London, where she must marshal all her courage and resourcefulness to keep things from going terribly awry and solve a puzzling mystery. We'll have to wait for the third installment to get to the bottom of all the mysteries, but -- if you're like me -- you'll have so much fun reading it, you won't even mind. This would make a great holiday gift for any precocious young readers you may know.

Talia Vance: I'm reading UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi.  This book is a little bit sci-fi, a little bit fantasy, a little bit romance, and a lotta bit action-adventure.  Don't let the genre-blending scare you.  The writing is beautiful, and the story is as powerful as it is entertaining.  Told in alternative points of view of Aria, who is cast out from a society that lives in virtual spaces, and Perry, a savage from a primitive tribe on the outside, it is a page turner.  Aria and Perry each have mysteries to solve, and their personal journeys intersect in surprising ways. LOVE.

Diana Renn: I'm a few chapters in to Half a Life, a memoir by Darin Strauss. I got hooked by this simple line: "Half a life ago, I killed a girl." The memoir is a compelling study of guilt and responsibility, as Strauss grapples with a tragic event that occurred when he was a teenager. While driving his friends to play mini-golf, he collided with -- and killed -- a girl on his bike, who turned out to be an acquaintance from school. As a mystery writer, I like to read memoirs sometimes to tap into certain emotions; I'm writing something at the moment that involves a character who wrestles with guilt. So far this memoir simmers with guilt and other emotions, without wallowing. I like the honest, precise writing in this book, and the ways in which Strauss constructs his narrative to traverse the past and the present.