Janice Law has published several new stories: "A Work of Art" in Still Waters, an anthology from Level Best Books, "Golden Years" Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (Jan-Feb 2008), and "Ideas in My Head" in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ( Sept-Oct 2007). Other recent stories include one in Paraspheres, the anthology of futuristic/ slipstream writing from Omnidawn. In "Side Effects", a seemingly miraculous spinal chord surgery changes a man's life in quite unexpected ways.
She also has a story, Tabloid Press, included in the fifty year anthology from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense, edited by Linda Landrigan.
She is currently finishing up a new mystery novel.
Janice's novel, "Voices" was a finalist for the Connectcut Center for the Book Fiction Award, which will be given in December. Booklist calls it "A quietly compelling suspense novel with a satisfying end," Kirkus calls it "thoughtful," and the Hartford Courant praises the books "depth and grace," Based on a disappearance near the author's childhood home in eastern New York state, "Voices" concerns a young woman's search for her lost family and her efforts to reconcile herself to the people who raised her, to her husband, and to the life she's made.
Other recent stories include The Chant of the Powwow and The Limner's Masterpiece both of which appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and By Design which ran in Riptide, an anthology of mystery stories published byLevel Best Books.
Law's previous novel was"The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed" from Forge Books. Publisher's weekly calls it a "superbly written thriller," while The New York Times praises the novel's humor and sympathy, and Kirkus Reviews declares "The Lost Diaries", "Law's best so far."
Set in a Connecticut college town, "The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed" concerns a philandering professor who pays dearly for his one romantic failure and a young writer of great talent who lives in her pickup truck and who longs to have an interesting and complicated life.
An earlier novel,The Night Bus, a well received contemporary suspense novel also from Forge Books, is now in trade paperback. Look for it your local bookstore or at your favorite .com book site.
The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed and Night Bus are now available as e-books, too.
Janice Law has also published nine mystery
novels, most involving her series character, Anna Peters,
one of the earliest of the modern women detectives, who
debuted
in 1975. Thanks to modern print-on demand and the new online
publishing
companies the early Annas are back in print. The Big Payoff, Gemini Trip, The
Shadow of the Palms" and Death
Under Par and Under Orionare
now available from iUniverse.comand
from both online and conventional booksellers. This first Anna Peters novel was
inspired
by the then on-going Watergate investigation. I assumed some
underpaid
and overlooked secretary knew all about what was going on. I
moved
my secretary to an oil company, gave her a shady background,
and
cooked up malfeasance in the executive suite. iUniverse has also reissued my
historical novel, All the King's
Ladies, about an historical
mystery involving poisoning and black magic at the court of
Louis
XIV. In addition, Infected be the Air,
a non-Anna mystery, set in eastern Connecticut and involving
toxic waste and a mysterious murder-suicide, has been
reissued. Look for it at iUniverse and bookstores soon. Besides novels, I publish short
stories for major mystery publications. Watch for
"Listen to Your Mother", in the August issue of Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine. The last set of Anna Peters mysteries include:
Cross-check, St. Martin's Press,
1997.
Copyright 1997 by St. Martin's Press.
Anna Peters knows little about ice hockey when she agrees to help Jurgen "T-Rex" Parkes, star center of the NHL expansion Orlando Showmen, clear his name of involvement in a teammate's murder. She soon finds out that the game is exciting, but that her client is dubious and Central Florida, dangerous.
" A great sports mystery," Midwest Book Review
"[Anna] Peters remains among the most complex, fully drawn female series leads in crime fiction." Booklist.
Backfire,
Worldwide
paperback, 1996
Copyright 1996 by Harlequin Books S.A.
A high profile arson-murder case is not in her usual pro bono line, but Anna Peters is intrigued by the anonymous caller soliciting her aid in clearing an immigrant housekeeper in the death of her wealthy employer. Anna soon find a trail from Washington, D.C. to Tucson that's littered with dirty money, deception, and death.
"Brisk pace, appealing characters, and good plotting...make this another winner." Booklist.
"This is a smoothly well-done book with terrific plot twists that fans of the series will relish..." Mystery News.
A Safe Place to Die,
Worldwide
paperback, 1995
Copyright 1995 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The posh Estates at Branch Hill, CT offers its wealthy residents state of the art security, but a local girl is found murdered within yards of her home, Anna finds that the gilded Estates have their own secrets and corruption. When another death occurs, she begins to put together a complicated and tragic puzzle.
"A palpable sense of rural claustrophobia informs this mystery..." Publishers Weekly
"The Peters' own apparently solid, loving marriage...serves as a contrast to several 'disunions' Anna discovers in her sleuthing." The Armchair Detective
Time Lapse, Worldwide paperback, 1998
While shooting The Lazarus Gambit, on location in a small upstate New york town, the superstar actor, Henry Brook drowns mysteriously. Since both the actor and the film were insured by Independence Mutual, the company wants to make sure the accident was just that. Anna Peters, the head of Executive Security and a film buff, is hired to look into Henry Brook's death and soon learns more than she wanted to know about his megastar ego and unsavory personal habits.
"Sophisticated and believable entertainment..."Publisher's Weekly
Although now officially out of print, Cross-check, Backfire,A Safe Place to Die, andTime Lapseare still available at Amazon Booksand Barnes and Noble
Other links you might enjoy are the excellent Cluelass site with its abundance of useful links, Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America webpages. ,Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines, and Whitestone Books, which has a substantial list of links to other mystery authors pages.
Other Author's Guild authors' pages are available at
the Authors' Guild website.
You can communicate with Janice Law by e-mail at halfyank@aol.com.