Release Day for Pretty Dead

Release Day!! 

From New York Times bestselling author Anne Frasier comes her newest SERIAL-KILLER THRILLER!

 500 COMBINED 5-STAR SERIES REVIEWS.

What reviewers are saying:

"A great read. Would recommend to any fans of KARIN SLAUGHTER and LISA GARDNER."

"This thrilling page-turner will keep readers intrigued and on the edge of their seat."

"By far the best of the three books. I laughed, I was almost bought to tears and I couldn't put my kindle down till I'd read every last page. After being approved for this book, I went to Amazon and downloaded the first two books. The first first two books are good, but there is something about this one that leaves them in the dust. I loved the use of misdirection, angst, betrayal, attraction, and suspense.. I can't wait for what comes next for Elise, David and their merry band of misfits."

"The story line and the characters were gripping. Would highly recommend this book and author."

"This is my favorite book from the Elise Sandburg series. Once again Anne Frasier kept me captivated from the beginning to the end."

"A working girl is dead at midnight under the moss draped square. And the story never stops. Elise Sandberg's world collapse in the aftermath. From opening to denouement, you will not put this book down."

"This was possibly the best book of this series, and one can only hope there are more to come. Riveting."

PURCHASE PRETTY DEAD: http://amzn.to/1PIKtfW

PURCHASE STAY DEAD: http://amzn.to/1Lf7k4d

PURCHASE PLAY DEAD: http://amzn.to/1KcFSUI

Author website: http://bit.ly/1Rj2836

Newsletter signup: http://bit.ly/1N02ozG

About PRETTY DEAD

A serial killer stalks the streets of Savannah...

Homicide detective Elise Sandburg and her partner, profiler David Gould, are all too familiar with the terrible costs of chasing evil. Despite their wounded psyches, the detectives delve into the deranged killer’s twisted mind, determined to unravel the clues in the taunts he leaves behind.

A city gripped by fear...

When his daughter becomes the killer’s next victim, a grief-stricken mayor comes down hard on the police, demanding that they catch the psychopath—now. Feeling the pressure, department officials enlist the aid of both Elise’s estranged father and an FBI profiler who has unresolved business with David.

A cunning and elusive madman...

In a heart-pounding race to stop the next homicide, the detectives uncover their own role in the madman’s deadly game. Will they outsmart the killer before another horrific murder takes place in their beautiful city? Or have Elise and David finally met their match?

PRETTY DEAD

Pretty Dead, the third Elise Sandburg book, will be released September 1. Please keep in mind that this is a Thomas & Mercer title, which means the ebook will be available exclusively through Amazon. Print copies can be ordered through other vendors like B&N, or brick-and-mortar bookstores. 

The ebook is available for pre-order, and will be delivered to your Kindle on September 1. 

ORDER LINK

About the book: 

A serial killer stalks the streets of Savannah...

Homicide detective Elise Sandburg and her partner, profiler David Gould, are all too familiar with the terrible costs of chasing evil. Despite their wounded psyches, the detectives delve into the deranged killer’s twisted mind, determined to unravel the clues in the taunts he leaves behind.

A city gripped by fear...

When his daughter becomes the killer’s next victim, a grief-stricken mayor comes down hard on the police, demanding that they catch the psychopath—now. Feeling the pressure, department officials enlist the aid of an FBI profiler who has unresolved business with David.

A cunning and elusive madman...

In a heart-pounding race to stop the next homicide, the detectives uncover their own role in the madman’s deadly game. Will they outsmart the killer before another horrific murder takes place in their beautiful city? Or have Elise and David finally met their match?

WRITING TIPS

I’m going to talk a little bit about building suspense around and under your suspense, about building suspense even if you aren’t writing suspense.  I think all stories contain suspense no matter the genre.  The basic formula of romance is suspense, or rather the question or questions that carry the reader along. With romance, we can boil it down to one basic thing: Will these two people get together? And how? Even though almost all romances end in happily-ever-after, the question is always there in every romance, and the reader plays along even though she knows it will most likely end in a satisfactory way.  With The Orchard, one of the big questions: Will this person stay in this relationship? A lot of readers hoped she wouldn’t, and they wanted to see her break free. I say she because I don’t think of that person as me. I’m no longer that person.

The big question is closely tied to conflict, and can often be the conflict. EVERY STORY HAS CONFLICT.  I don’t care what you’re writing.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this: “I’m not writing suspense so I don’t need conflict.”

 Conflict doesn’t need to be external. Good suspense (the genre) has both internal and external conflict.

  I’m always talking about unpublished writers not giving the reader enough information. Thinking the reader will magically figure it out. Or worse, the writer thinks she’s creating suspense with this lack of information. So it’s a delicate balance. It’s knowing what to use and what to keep in your pocket for later.


 In my book Play Dead, I hinted at something that had happened to one of the homicide detectives.  We knew he was on medication, knew he had a drinking problem,  and we knew he'd been sent to Savannah to start fresh.  But I didn’t reveal exactly what had happened to him until maybe the halfway mark.


  But you can wait too long. If you wait too long, the reader becomes impatient and annoyed. You keep dropping these tantalizing hints, but the payoff comes too late. The reader is already annoyed.  So annoyed that she might not even care anymore. Someone who often waits too long for the payoff is Joss Whedon. IMO. Love him, but the payoff comes after the annoyance hits.  You’re engaging us, and we’re following you, but you can’t keep slamming the door.  And once our annoyance is engaged, the payoff and satisfaction isn’t as strong. And sometime we actually forget what the question was in the first place. Oh, yeah. I remember being really curious about that in episode one. And episode two. And episode three. But episode eight? Not so much. Which reminds, me, you might need to remind the reader at well-placed intervals (part of pacing). But anyway, rambling here. Again. Every story should have questions that keep the reader turning the page.

Note-to-self: Plant some questions for the reader. It doesn’t have to be anything big. It can be the history of the character. It can be something that happened recently.  It can be something that the character has been unable to face, maybe something she will have to deal with in order to grow.

Note-to-self: Don’t forget that readers are reading because of the characters. Even in suspense, readers are reading because of the characters. Yes, they want a good mystery, but they really want to live with these people.

The reason I’m saying note-to-self is because I tend to get caught up in the storytelling and I sometimes forget to employ these important story-telling devices. They tend to hide under the surface of the story, and don’t seem that important, when in reality they could be what keeps the reader (or agent or editor) turning the pages. THE DEVICES DON'T CHANGE THE STORY, but they change how the reader engages with the story.


What is this about?
story structure
pacing
conflict
characterization
building suspense
creating tension