Where do fictional characters come from? More often than writers would care to admit, they come from real life, whether consciously or unconsciously, as a whole or in part. Take HUSH MONEY‘s Russ Dinsmoor for example. Here is my eulogy to the real-life Don Mike Anthony.
He passed away on June 1.
The art director of Minotaur Books posted this fascinating entry about the evolution of the cover and packaging of HUSH MONEY, the first in a series.
When the subject of cover art for HUSH MONEY first came up, I immediately thought of a Pasadena artist named R. Kenton Nelson, whose work I admire greatly. I went as far as to contact Kenton, who expressed interest, but, alas, too late, as the folks at St. Martin’s Press had already begun working with John. Continue reading
Wherein a debut author provides a few snapshots from his first-ever book tour:
Lynda (my wife) and I depart at noon from our home outside Cortez, CO, pointing our Porsche southward toward Santa Fe, NM, the fabled City Different, where we lived from February of 2006 through January of 2012, and where Hush Money was actually written. Our plan is to meet friends for dinner and spend the night at their home before reading and signing Hush Money at Collected Works Bookstore on Monday evening.
Our plans very quickly go awry. Continue reading
The self-proclaimed world’s toughest b
ook critics at Kirkus Reviews have called HUSH MONEY an “auspicious debut.” Read what they had to say here:
Greaves’ ebullient first novel asks who killed a beloved horse and how—and shows some interest in human casualties as well.
Because Jared Henley, the founder’s grandson who usually carries water for horsey Pasadena dowager Sydney Everett, is off on vacation somewhere, Henley & Hargrove’s director of litigation, Russell Dinsmoor, persuades Jack MacTaggart, who’s Of Counsel to the firm, to step in when Hush Puppy, Sydney’s Holsteiner stallion, dies suddenly and the pencil-pushers of Metropolitan Livestock Insurance decline to pay her claim. And no wonder, since Sydney made a tidy profit from the conveniently timed death of her injured horse Creole some years back, and veterinarian George Wells tells Jack that Hush Puppy’s death looks equally squirrelly. Jack tears himself away from the lawsuit he’s filed against the even less sympathetic insurer Hartford Allied on behalf of leukemia-stricken trash collector Victor Tazerian long enough to involve himself with Tara Flynn, stable manager at the Fieldstone Riding Club, and unearth an unholy paper trail leading right back to Henley & Hargrove. He can only wonder what Russ Dinsmoor would say about the whole mess, since Dinsmoor is as dead as Hush Puppy, brained by someone who evidently thought he knew too much about a densely layered scam involving blackmail, off-the-books medical research and serial equine murder. Don’t let all the legal shenanigans put you off: Jack, a highly unselective wiseacre, has a lighthearted anecdote for every occasion, including attacks on his own august person.
An auspicious debut. Jack would be welcome back in the winner’s circle any time.
Calling HUSH MONEY a “delightful debut,” Library Journal has given it a starred review, which you can read right here:
When Sydney Everett’s Olympic-caliber jumping horse, Hush Puppy, dies suddenly, her law firm jumps into action, sending out young Pasadena, CA, attorney Jack MacTaggart. Sydney is worth watching because another horse she owned died under suspicious circumstances just a few years earlier. Jack follows a circuitous paper trail and learns that Sydney was guilty of insurance fraud that first time, and someone within the club has been blackmailing her ever since. Jack knows he’s hot on the trail when the next death turns out to be that of his mentor at the law firm. Stable manager Tara Flynn clues in Jack to the riding club’s dirt and also provides romantic interest and an investigative assistant he can trust. Meanwhile, Jack’s other case, about medical insurance, gives him the break he needs. VERDICT Winner of the SouthWest Writers (SWW) grand-prize Storyteller Award for 2010, trial lawyer Greaves’s delightful debut, which the SWW also named Best Mystery of 2010, cleverly intermingles equestrian show jumping, insurance claims, and high-tech science in this sunny California thriller. Great readalikes for tone would be Jack Fredrickson and Spencer Quinn. [Greaves’s second book, Hard Twisted, was named best historical novel of 2010 by the SouthWest Writers and will be published by Bloomsbury USA this fall.—Ed.]
My first book review–ever–is a starred one from Publishers Weekly. I’m thrilled! Here it is:
Near the outset of Greaves’s stellar first novel, Hush Puppy, a healthy champion show horse, suddenly drops dead. Hush Puppy’s vet suspects the horse was poisoned and the animal’s owner, Pasadena socialite Sydney Everett, faces charges of fraud. Attorney Jack McTaggert agrees to defend Everett, but his doubts about his client’s innocence increase after he learns that another of her animals died five years earlier, netting Everett a $1 million insurance payout. Meanwhile, the lawyer must deal with a civil case involving a blue-collar worker suffering from terminal leukemia unable to get coverage for a new procedure. The insurance fraud case soon turns deadly for humans as well, placing McTaggert directly in the crosshairs both of the police and the criminal behind the plot. Greaves makes the most of his 25 years as a trial attorney in relating courtroom tactics. The combination of confident writing and a determined and ethical protagonist add up to a winner.