Tomorrow is the day

I'm not sure whether I feel elated or scared stiff. After the positive experience I had with the First Chapter Romance Writers contest, I figured it was worth a shot to try the First Chapter Mystery Writers contest. Tomorrow is the big day when voting starts. My mystery novel, A Dance of Shadows has been submitted and accepted. I even managed to photoshop a book cover for it. Trust me - that was almost as big an accomplishment as actually writing the novel. I am soooo computer challenged.

An acquaintance once asked me to define my work. I found myself grabbing at straws for a definition. I'm not a romance writer, though my books have romance in them. I'm not a mystery writer, though there is usually a mystery, crime, or thriller component. I'm not a paranormal/fantasy/sci fi writer though there is a touch of one or all themes inherent in my stories. Sometimes the story leans more heavily toward one genre than another and "gets labeled" that way. I suppose the easy answer is that I am a writer with a busy imagination and lots of stories to tell. A Dance of Shadows developed into the story of a cold case murder, kidnapping, and vengeance gone wrong. Check out this summary of the book:

Mists rising from the bayous shroud the naked body of a young woman. Yellow crime scene tape hangs listlessly in the damp air. Men speak in hushed tones. In the gloom of a prison cell, a man gasps for breath. On the streets of New Orleans, people dance through the shadows, unknowing and uncaring of the drama unfolding around them…

Late-night radio talk show host Katherine Parr thought she’d heard it all - until a voodoo queen from New Orleanscalls her show to talk about death. In the space of a day, Katherine loses her condo to an explosion and a long-time fan to murder. Following a hunch, Katherine heads to New Orleansright before Mardi Gras.

New Orleans native Guy Gerard left New Orleans’ finest to drive a cab and go to law school. When he picked up the pretty blond fare at the airport, Guy had no clue what her presence would mean to his life.

With Guy’s help, Katherine manages to unravel the tangled threads of a thirteen-year-old murder while surviving numerous attempts on her life. But in the end, will she learn to dance with the shadows?

If A Dance of Shadows sounds like a book you'd want to curl up with and read, then come back tomorrow and check out the first chapter here:  http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977158904