Easter Eggs from HIGH & DRY by Sarah Skilton

My second YA book, a desert-set mystery called HIGH & DRY, comes out today, woo-hoo!

What's it about? Framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a mysterious flashdrive everyone in school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured by his shady best friend to throw an upcoming game, high school soccer player Charlie Dixon spends a frantic week trying to clear his name, win back the girl of his dreams, and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems.

"A dark, well-constructed mystery with a strong voice." - Kirkus Reviews 

To celebrate the book's release, I thought I'd share some behind-the-scenes Easter eggs with my fellow sleuths.

1) Lead character Charlie Dixon is named after Dixon Steele, Humphrey Bogart's character in the film In a Lonely Place.

2) Charlie's scheming ex-girlfriend, Bridget Flannery, is named after Brigid O'Shaughnessy in THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett.

3) Mr. Donovan is the name of a teacher at both Charlie's school in Palm Valley, California, and at Imogen's school in Glenview, Illinois (the setting of my first book, BRUISED). One of the Donovans teaches history, the other, statistics. This was simple human error on my part. OR WAS IT? Perhaps one of the Mr. Donovans is an imposter! Perhaps there are clues placed carefully throughout one or both books... You decide.

4) There are three possible references to Breaking Bad in the book. This is fairly bizarre considering I hadn't seen a single episode of the show when I wrote HIGH & DRY. Since then, I've become a big fan, which is why I noticed that...

 a) In Breaking Bad, Skyler White's maiden name (and Walter White's alias) is Lambert. In HIGH & DRY, Charlie's father teaches new media journalism at a local liberal arts college called Lambert College.

 b) In Breaking Bad, Flynn is the name that Walter, Junior occasionally demands to be called. In HIGH & DRY, a Flynn Scientific baseball cap is evidence in a crime.

 c) Breaking Bad was originally set in Riverside, CA. Palm Valley is based on locations near the same Inland Empire locale.

You can pick up HIGH & DRY at any of these fine retailers:

Barnes & Noble

Indiebound

Powell's

Amazon

Sarah Skilton is the author of BRUISED, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and which the Horn Book called, "nuanced and honest." She lives in southern California with her magician husband and their young son.

The Queen of Teen Screams

I was inspired by Ashley's post the other day, What Would Sidney Sheldon Do? and realized I had never really written about one of my favorite authors growing up, and that's Lois Duncan.

As a kid I was obsessed with anything creepy and unexplained—ghosts, astral projection, reincarnation—and Scooby Doo just didn't cut it. I wanted seriously scary mysteries and Duncan's books were the best around. By the time I read Down a Dark Hall, Killing Mr. Griffin, Stranger with My Face and I Know What You Did Last Summer, these books were already a decade (or nearly so) old, yet they felt incredibly fresh and timeless. The plots were original without seeming farfetched and they always kept me turning the pages.

A few years ago, Little, Brown reissued ten of Duncan's paperbacks. I reread Down a Dark Hall, just to see, and it totally held up. (It didn't hurt that Duncan updated the technology and fashions involved.) It struck me that one of the reasons her stories endure—and it seems like Hollywood is still making movies out of them—is because Duncan does such a great job setting up not only a compelling mystery or suspense story but also in building incredibly relatable, sympathetic characters that demand emotional investment. Most are dealing with family drama like icky stepparents, abuse and alienation (you know, on top of the murderous classmates, secret twins and discoveries that they're unwitting subjects for educational experiments). This is a great reminder for those of us trying to write thrillers, mysteries or even horror books for teens or tweens. At the end of the day, what readers are going to respond to is how well we can capture the experience of adolescence, which, it hardly needs restating, is harrowing enough in its own right.

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Elisa Ludwig's debut young adult novel PRETTY CROOKED (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins), was released in March 2012. It's the story of Willa Fox, a teen girl who goes Robin Hood on her rich classmates, and it's the first of a trilogy. The sequel, PRETTY SLY, will be released in March 2014. Elisa lives in Philadelphia with her husband Jesse.

Fresh Blood: Sarah Skilton Discusses Why Mystery Elements are Vital in Non-Mystery Books

Okay, you twisted my arm. Confession: my upcoming debut novel, BRUISED (Abrams/Amulet Books) is not a mystery.*

However, it does contain mystery elements. I've come to believe every kind of book, no matter the style or genre, can benefit from the use of mystery techniques. That's because writing a page turner requires posing questions readers must want to get answers to.

Carrie Arcos' extraordinary Young Adult novel, OUT OF REACH (Simon Pulse, 2012), is about a teenage girl, Rachel, searching for her missing brother, a meth addict who has disappeared. The story isn't labeled a mystery, but readers are immediately wondering three things: Why did the brother run away? Where did he go? And most importantly, Will Rachel find him?

With only one clue to go on -- an anonymous email -- Rachel and her brother's friend, Tyler, set off on their search. The book is considered contemporary YA, and it contains excellent characters and backstory, but the mystery elements are what drive the plot.

Likewise, in Sarvenaz Tash's terrific middle grade adventure book THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST (Bloomsbury, 2012; out in paperback March 26), 11-year-old Goldenrod Moram has decided to draw a map of her town. While in the woods, she overhears a group of kids who are up to no good, and she needs to figure out what they're scheming or her younger brother could pay the price. Readers, too, will be curious about the gang (whose entertaining nicknames include Brains, Snot Shot, and Lint).

In my own BRUISED, a 16-year-old girl skilled in martial arts freezes up at an armed robbery and blames herself for not preventing a shooting. The incident is so upsetting that she buries part of it away so it can't hurt her. The main focus of the novel is her relationships -- with her parents, friends, martial arts instructor, and the boy who also witnessed the crime -- but readers will hopefully be compelled to discover what Imogen's missing memories are.

Using mystery elements in non-mystery books provides a feeling of suspense as well as a reason for a reader to commit to the story.

*How did my riff-raff self get invited to join Sleuths, Spies, and Alibis? The easy answer is that my second book, HIGH AND DRY, is an actual mystery.

Sarah Skilton lives in California with her magician husband and their young son. BRUISED received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and comes out March 5th, 2013, but you can enter to win Sarah's very last ARC (advance readers copy) at GoodReads right now!

If you live in L.A., consider attending Teen Author Night at LAPL.

Time After Time

***Sleuth Alert: Malcolm at Midnight by our very own W.H. Beck is in stores now...be sure to grab a copy!***

We tend to focus on the aspects of mystery here at SS&A. Crimes, clues, research. Today, I want to discuss another aspect of the books we write, the 'Young Adult' part.*

The precise subjects and age ranges that justify a Young Adult classification can vary depending on who you ask. But, it's safe to say that the Sleuths on this site are a bit older than the target YA age range (for the record--and this may sound coincidental--we're all celebrating our 21st birthdays this year). Lately, I've been thinking about the ways I tap into the memories and emotions of my own teenage experiences (just a few years ago, really...yes, really) and channel those thoughts into my writing with hopes of touching today's youth.

I write darker things, so I find myself accessing the painful, angsty memories most often. When it comes to character emotions, that tactic is effective, though sometimes uncomfortable. Seriously, who REALLY wants to go back to high school, even if it's just in your memory? Obviously, that's not enough, because things do change, and unless I want to write a series of period pieces set in the [actual year/decade redacted], I need to do an accuracy check with some modern teens. And I do. With interesting revelations...

Timeless YA Attributes:

• First love hasn't changed much over the years. 
• Neither has being an outsider.
• Parents still don't know anything (until they do)

The Future is Now:

• Tech is so very important. "No one talks on the phone anymore," says my high school senior sister via text.
• The internet makes being mean a superpower.
• The world feels more dangerous (things like school shootings have more relevance when you actually go to a school everyday).

This list goes on, but I'd like to hear from readers and writers out there. If you're a young reader, are there any specific books that you feel most true to your age and experience? If you're a not-as-young writer, how do you stay tapped into the group you write for?



*Sorry Middle Grade sleuths, just speaking from my own experience here.

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Lamar "L. R." Giles writes for adults and teens. Penning everything from epic fantasy to noir thrillers, he's never met a genre he didn't like. His debut YA mystery WHISPERTOWN is about a teen in witness protection who investigates his best friend's murder and stumbles on a dark conspiracy that leads back to his own father. It will be published in Summer, 2013 by HarperCollins. He resides in Virginia with his wife and is represented by Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Find out more on his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Under Cover #15

Time to check in and see what our detectives are reading!

Diana Renn: 

I just finished RUSH FOR THE GOLD, an Olympics mystery by bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein. I've been caught up in the Olympics on TV -- especially swimming -- so this one jumped off the shelf and demanded to be read. 

It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at elite swimming and the Olympics in general, as a high school girl, Susan Carol Anderson, gets a chance to compete at the 2012 Olympics in London, and is quickly caught up in a whirlwind of media, sponsors, and sleazy agents hoping to make money off her if she wins gold. The book is told in alternating viewpoints, between her and her boyfriend Stevie Thomas, an aspiring sportswriter, who tries to get to the bottom of high-stakes behind-the-scenes operation. 

The mystery takes a while to get underway, and there's no central crime to kick off the story. The swimming details initially pulled me in, and before I knew it I was caught up in the slowly unfolding mystery of the sponsors' and agents' strange behavior. I'm going to go back and read the previous five sports mysteries involving Stevie and Susan Carol, one of which won the Edgar Award in the YA Category (LAST SHOT, 2006). 

I've found the "Final Four" mystery series shelved with middle grade, and I think I see why -- the crimes are not violent, the romance is light -- but I think they could appeal to YA readers too who are looking for fast-paced mysteries set in the world of sports and sports reporting. 

Kristen Kittcher:

I recently read THE CABINET OF THE EARTHS by Anne Nesbet, a stunning middle grade fantasy/mystery with a timeless feel. 

When twelve year old Maya and her family move to Paris so her father can take a job with the “Society of Philosophical Chemistry,” she and her charismatic younger brother stumble upon a sinister mystery linked to her family history and a mystery cabinet that seems to hold the key to immortality. 

Nesbet’s prose is as magical as the book itself, and I was struck not only by the novel’s inventiveness but by the depth with which it explores ideas about betrayal and power.  This is a great book for precocious middle schoolers who enjoy a bit of the fantastical, but nonetheless crave mystery.