Hm. I got a less than stellar review on Mr. Mitnick's Harem (A Central Coast Mystery) because my mystery was a mystery.
It's difficult to respond to this unsatisfied reader. It says it's a mystery. Nowhere does it say it's a romance. Just like Dream Horse never claimed to be an adult book and was given a poor review because it wasn't.
I spend quite a bit of time trying to come up with the best description I can for each book. Misleading the audience is never on the table.
So was Mr. Mitnick's Harem a good mystery or not? No, it wasn't a good romance. I have had readers say they couldn't imagine who the killer was and they were completely surprised at the end. I don't know if that's true and I would be surprised if a lot of people actually thought that but okay I'm glad to hear it. At least that has something to do with the book itself.
But this is a review of something that doesn't exist--the story of the romance between....who? Berry and Coco? Berry and Mark? Berry and the owner of the vineyard?
I created this book as the first in a series. My then agent sent it around and there was admiration for the writing but it didn't have enough hook--the ol' yarn shop mysteries, donut shop, pet shop, blah blah. If anyone wants to know who Berry did wind up with, email me and I'll be glad to tell since I sincerely doubt I will ever go back to this book series. Do cozy mysteries have a digital following? Since editors refer to this audience as "the Large Print Crowd" and that's not a demographic that's likely to adopt the technology RSN (Real Soon Now), I don't sense much urgency in dropping more viable projects.
I had someone write me to ask if there is ever going to be a Blue Raja 2. That was another leader in a trilogy.
Hopefully I will get to that but since I've sold 11 copies and 1 person has been compelled to ask about it, I'm not putting it at the top of my to-do list.
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