A Dead Guy Talks To You - Guest Peg Herring

First, thanks to Maryann for hosting me on It’s Not All Gravy!

Schedule: Peg Herring’s Blog Tour for May (and one post in June) consists of a mix of interviews with Seamus, the Dead Detective, and posts on writing. Yesterday’s stop was at http://terryodell.blogspot.com. The next stop will be on May 21 at http://criminalmindsatwork.blogspot.com/

A full schedule is posted at my blog http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com/. 

When the tour is over (June 11^th), the complete Seamus interview will be posted on there as well.

Prizes: People who comment on any blog post on the tour will be entered in drawings for several prizes: Dead Detective T-shirts, copies of The Dead Detective Agency and Dead For the Money (paperback or e-books available), and the chance to be a character in the third of the series Dead For the Show. Multiple winners will be drawn.

 A Dead Guy Talks about You -Part 6

Interviewer: It’s been very informative to talk with you, Seamus. I just have a few more questions for you to complete our interview.

Seamus: Sure.

Interviewer: I’d like to know why you do what you do. Why do you keep coming back to earth?

Seamus: I like helping the clients out. You know, giving them answers that make things easier for them.

Interviewer: But what do you get out of it? You said it’s painful, and you’ve said it isn’t easy to operate here. Yet you’ve been at it for a long time.

Seamus: (after some thought) I guess I like it here better than there.

Interviewer: (incredulous) But Seamus, you died and went to heaven!

Seamus: Technically It isn’t heaven. I can’t talk about that. Let’s just say I like it here.

Interviewer: But you’ve told us how heavy the human body is, how hard it is to read a person’s mind, how different your hosts’ perceptions are from what yours were.

Seamus: Yeah, yeah. All that’s true. I can’t explain it, but I want to be here, even if it’s tough.

Interviewer: Tough to know you don’t belong here anymore?

Seamus: Yeah. It’s hard to see what you left undone. Hard to think you might have done lots of things better. Hard to admit that you aren’t going to get any more chances. (A pause) You know, all your life you tell yourself “Tomorrow I’m going to—whatever.”

Interviewer: Lose weight? Take a chance? Be nicer to others?

Seamus: Exactly. Then one day there isn’t any tomorrow. You didn’t do it, and now you can’t. Ever.

Interviewer: I see.

Seamus: That’s what’s bad about dying, knowing you can’t do those things you said you’d do tomorrow. You had a chance, just one chance, to be who you are—who you were. When it’s over, you can’t fix any of it.

Interviewer: “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,/Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor 

Wit/Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

Seamus: What?

Interviewer: It’s from Gibran’s The Prophet. It sums up what you were saying. (Tiny laugh) 

Sorry, that’s my degree in world literature talking.

Seamus: Oh. Sure. I guess he said what I said, only better.

Interviewer: I’d like to thank you for being our guest over the course of these interviews.

Seamus: I guess it wasn’t too bad. You didn’t ask anything too embarrassing.

Interviewer: Oh, that reminds me. Would you please tell us about hosting with a rat?

Seamus: You said the interview was over. If they want to know about that, Peg covered it in The Dead Detective Agency. Now, I have to get back to work. See you around.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Peg Herring lives in Michigan and writes two series, the critically acclaimed Simon & Elizabeth (Tudor) Mysteries (Five Star Publishing) and the award-winning Dead Detective Mysteries (LL-Publications). When not writing, Peg enjoys directing musical groups, gardening, and talking about writing.

Dead For the Money  (e-book) 

The Dead Detective Agency (paperback)

Peg’s website  

Book Review - Dead For the Money by Peg Herring

Dead For the Money

Peg Herring

LL Publications

Had I known the concept of this Dead Detective series, I might not have agreed to read the book for possible review. When I was telling my husband what the book was about, he gave me this one-eyebrow-raised look. "A dead guy is a detective."

"Yeah."

"Okay…" with that he went back to reading the newspaper.

This is the second book in the series that debuted with The Dead Detective Agency and introduced Seamus, a man long-dead, who doesn't care to go to whatever awaits him beyond the portal. He'd rather go back to the living and solve crimes. So that is what he does. The concept sounds a bit too far-fetched when simply explained like that, but in this series the concept works. I was surprised to discover how well it works.

One key to effective reader engagement is to give her a character that she can like and relate to. Now, I can't relate to the dead aspect of Seamus, but his desire to do right and seek justice is something that resonates with me. And Seamus is just enough of a quirky sort of guy that you want to stick with him to see what he is going to say or think next. He is a bit of a philosopher and shares bits of wisdom like this, "That's what  it's like to get old, Seamus thought. Tiny victories over a rebellious body. Small achievements that help you believe it isn't over."

Cases to investigate spring from an issue that a newly "departed" person has with thinking his or her demise was not an accident or due to natural causes, and that person is given the opportunity to talk to Seamus to see if he would be able to determine who did the dastardly deed. To accomplish this, Seamus travels back to earth, or his spirit does, and enters a "host" body. He can move from one host to another, so he becomes privy to thoughts that can help solve the puzzle.

Again, that seems to stretch believability to the breaking point, but if a reader simply enters into this with a spirit of fun and adventure, it works. This is a well-written book, fast paced, and filled with interesting characters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My regular followers know that I am a tough reviewer and very hard to please. I've probably spent too many years editing and have a hard time overlooking mistakes in books I am reading. If I had a rating system here, like some review sites, I would rarely give a book five-stars. For me to do that, the book has to be outstanding and without a single flaw. On Amazon, I will give a four-star rating to a book that is very good, definitely a cut above the average and also without any problems with craft or editing.  A three star rating is for books that are good and well worth someone's time to read, but there may be a few flaws. I would give this book 3 and a half stars, because some of the plot points were just a little too convenient and not set up as well as they could have been. Keep in mind, though, that is a subjective opinion, and should not keep a reader from trying this fun book.

I hope you can come back on Wednesday when Peg Herring will be my guest and will answer some questions from Seamus. I'm sure it will be very interesting. How many people get to talk to dead guys?

Welcome Peg Herring

Thanks to Maryann for hosting today’s stop on Peg’s Blog Crawl. Yesterday’s post, “Idioms”, is at http://wwwgeraldineevanscom.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~

Eccentric Phrases

If your toaster stopped working, you would probably go out and get a new one. When a phrase stops working, we’re stuck with it. We can’t send out a memo, “Stop using that one, folks.” So we’re left with phrases that confuse rather than explain. Sometimes there just isn’t a good replacement for an expression, and until a better one emerges, we use the old, broken one.

How many times do we actually “roll down” the window of our cars these days? It isn’t a rolling action on modern cars. Should we say, “She lowered the window”? How about “She pressed the lower button”? Neither sounds quite right, even if we admit that rolling doesn’t happen.

Do we “dial” the telephone? No, but what is a good alternative term for what we do? “Punched in the number” sounds rather violent. “Keyed in” might be a better term, but I think there will soon be something else, something more descriptive and creative.

We no longer put words and images “on tape”, either. I suppose “recorded” still works, since the dictionary says it is “to register for reading or future reference”.

Then there are phrases we use that are inconsistent with similar phrases, making ESL speakers confused. We have deer season, bear season, turkey season…and tourist season. We have wheat crackers, saltine crackers, rye crackers…and animal crackers.

Many terms just plain don’t make sense. We have Grape Nuts Cereal, which is neither grapes nor nuts. We have guinea pigs, which are neither pigs nor from Guinea. Your nose runs but your feet smell (not yours, but somebody’s). We park on the driveway and drive on the parkway. You might want to be known as a wise man but certainly not as a wise guy. You fill out a form by filling it in, your house burns us as it burns down. People recite at a play and play at a recital, and they send shipments by truck and cargo by ship.

And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same thing? Fat chance that you can explain that one!

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The Poser: Name 3 books/series where the author shares recipes with readers.

The Prizes-Weekly prizes (your choice of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY in e- or print format) drawn from the names of those who comment on the blogs as we go. Comment once/day, but the first commenter each day gets entered twice in Saturday’s drawing!

The Pitch: THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, First in The Dead Detective Mysteries, paranormal mystery. Tori Van Camp wakes in a stateroom on a cruise ship with no memory of booking a cruise, but she does have a vivid recollection of being shot in the chest. Determined to find out what happened and why, Tori enlists the help of an odd detective named Seamus. Together they embark on an investigation like nothing she’s ever experienced. Death is all around her, and unless they act quickly, two people she cares about are prime candidates for murder. Read more about this book and the author at http://pegherring.com or buy the book at http://www.ll-publications.com/deaddetectiveagency.html.

The Perpetrator: Peg Herring writes historical and contemporary mysteries. She loves everything about publishing, even editing (most days). Peg’s historical series, The Simon and Elizabeth Mysteries, debuted in 2010 to great reviews. The second in the series will be available in November from Five Star.

The Pathway: The next entry, “Being Precise” and the answers/comments to the Poser will be at http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=pegfish

Guest author tomorrow- Peg Herring

I am pleased to announce that mystery author, Peg Herring, will be my guest tomorrow. She has been doing a blog crawl for the month of February, guesting on a different blog each day with new content. Wow, what an amazing endeavor. I am hard pressed to keep up with this blog and the three others that I regularly contribute to.

Topics have varied along the crawl, but Peg seems to enjoy "playing with words." She has done some fun posts pointing out the idiosyncrasies of the English language.

Tomorrow, Peg will share Eccentric Phrases, and I hope you will come back to read her post. It is a lot of fun. Plus, Peg is giving away weekly prizes, as well as a grand prize at the end of the blog crawl.

Her schedule for the rest of this month is:

Feb. 21 Jeff Marks-And What About Contractions? http://www.thelittleblogofmurder.com 

Feb 22 Geraldine Evans-Idioms  http://geralineevanscom.blogspot.com
Feb. 23 Maryann Miller-Eccentric Phrases  http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com 
Feb. 24 Peg Herring Being Precise http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=pegfish 
Feb. 25 –Peg Herring Open Topic http://criminalmindsatwork.blogspot.com/

Feb. 26 Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 4

Feb. 27 Weekend

Feb. 29 Stacy Juba-Why Do We Say That? Part III  http://stacyjuba.com/blog

March 1-Final Drawing for Prizes from All Entries