Cynthia Hamilton's Blog: Reading and Writing

I hope you are enjoying your summer so far and are finding many wonderful books to read.

My husband and I just returned from a month-long road trip through the Southern states, starting and ending in New Orleans. We spent time in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and a one-nighter in a charming town called Opelika, Alabama. The journey was lots of fun and it was a much needed break from all things writing related.

I’m easing back into work, as scenes from the next book have been creeping into my thoughts. As soon as I take care of all the loose ends, I will follow Madeline, Mike and company as they take on new challenges.

Even though there are times when I wonder what propels me to write twisty mysteries, the truth is I can’t turn off that side of my brain. The storylines come to me, and as I work my way through them, all the twists and turns that present themselves eventually lead to a satisfying conclusion. Being a Pantser – flying by the seat of one’s pants – does present some angsty moments, but it all somehow comes together nicely. Knock on wood!

Wishing you lovely summer days with lots of wonderful books to read!

Cynthia

Well… this post is a long time in coming! I’ve been off the air for several months, and I can tell you I really miss the interaction with the Goodreads community.

I’m a little encouraged by the fact that I’ve been able to post a book review here and there lately. To me, that’s a sure sign I’m starting to reestablish habits that fell by the wayside due to publishing deadlines for new books and monthly newsletters.

In the last five months, I’ve done a full revamping of the Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series with intriguing new covers and blurbs. My cover designer and I had a lot of fun tweaking a few of the old covers from years ago, but most of them are new.

Also, there are two new audio books in the Madeline series. In addition to the SPOUSE TRAP audio, A HIGH PRICE TO PAY is now available, and GIRL TRAP is in the review process on ACX. Both of these additions were narrated by fantastic voice actress Marnye Young, Audio Sorceress. She really knows how to bring a book to life!
https://amzn.to/3Xtw9T8

My new website is up and running now, with all kinds of material that was missing on the previous site. For me, a big part of having a website is being able to provide insights into my books and offer a way for readers to connect with me. If you have a chance, check it out and let me know what you think of it. I’d really appreciate your feedback!
https://cynthiahamiltonbooks.com

Now that most of the regrouping and republishing is behind me, I’ll be able to get back into the reading/writing groove, something I’ve really missed. If I’m not reading a book, I want to be writing one, and vice versa. I look forward to spending more time checking out what my Goodreads friends are reading. Such a great source for new reading material!

Until next time, I wish you good health and great books!

Cynthia

Happy New Year! I’m a little late to the celebration, since I spent the first four days of 2023 obsessing over the latest book in the Madeline Series before sending it to the publisher.

Fortunately, I’m really happy with the way the three cases resolved in BREACH OF TRUST, though I just about lost my sanity in the process. Never have I written/obsessed over a book as hard or as quickly as I did with this one. I was under the gun and I had to get it written in eight months. Fortunately, the MDPI gang was very helpful in playing their parts, as usual.

What can you expect this time around? Three very different cases come to Madeline and Mike the same morning: A very acrimonious divorce; a missing eighteen year old victim of sexual and physical abuse; and an upscale retirement complex with a poison pen writer in their midst.

Looking back, I can’t tell you where the inspiration for these separate story lines came from. I was really winging it, from the beginning to the end, and somehow it just all magically came together. I read it seventeen times before I could relinquish it, and by then my brain was just mush. I am happy with the way it worked out, and that’s an achievement in itself.

I’m in recovery mode now, reading some wonderful books, slowly trying to work my way back into some sort of routine. Plot lines have been meandering around in my head, but I still need a little time to air out my brain before I leap into the next book. A little R & R is definitely in order.

While I recoup my energy and sanity, if you have any fabulous books you’d like to suggest during my recovery period, please let me know. And though it’s late in coming, I wish you all a very happy 2023, filled with outstanding new stories to fall in love with!

Until next time, happy reading!

All the best,

Cynthia

It took me months to get back in the saddle after I finished OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY, Book 7 in the Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series. But the cause of the delay wasn’t due to lack of inspiration. It was having to prepare for moving out of the house we’ve been in for 35 years. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I never expected it to take for four solid months.

Fortunately, since our move, I’ve started working in earnest on BREACH OF TRUST, doing my best to meet my deadline. But in order to do that, I’ve had to let social media slide, which I really miss. I love to connect with fellow readers and writers here on Goodreads, and on Twitter and FB. I now realize that I’ve been so focused on making deadlines, I’ve missed out on the joy of sharing my reading experiences with others. I’ve also let all forms of self-promotion slide, a task I’m really not crazy about to start with.

With that in mind, when I had the chance to do a book signing at Chaucer’s Bookstore here in Santa Barbara, I took it. Half of the event was spent in a Q&A, the other half signing books and chatting with the attendees.

It was wonderful to submerge myself in something like that again, and I realize that being out of the loop with likeminded readers and writers isn’t for me. I need to see what others are reading and writing; it’s something that feeds my imagination and my soul. I like to support other authors and I need to share my love of reading with fellow book lovers, who always have great suggestions on what to read next.

If you click on the link below, you can hear the interview at Chaucer’s. If there was ever anything you wanted to know about my writing―what inspires me and how I got started―you’ll find it here. I can be quite the chatterbox when I’m asked about my writing or my favorite books, so feel free to reach out to me anytime!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEaLu...

Until next time, I wish you happy reading!

Cynthia

Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara is one of our favorite stomping grounds. It’s also where I found the inspiration for two characters in Madeline’s latest adventure, “Other People’s Money.” Crystal Blue came to me while I was taking a solitary walk on a foggy day, enjoying the peace and tranquility while I debated who I wanted to cast as the landlord of a missing woman.

I was going back and forth between a grease-covered motorcycle enthusiast and an elderly man who was very hard of hearing, when this woman appeared on the horizon, walking toward me as she emerged from the fog. We were the only two souls on that quiet stretch of the beach. I remember the lighting and rhythmic slap of the docile waves at low tide, the eerie stillness of the damp air as this large-boned woman approached, her head held high, her stride purposeful but unhurried. I was impressed with her confidence and her abundant silver jewelry, which brought to mind an aging warrior princess.

We silently acknowledged each other as we passed, and in that moment, I knew I had found my character: a quirky landlady with a creative bent and a penchant for colorful displays of whimsy. She’s a throwback to the 60s, and she really owns her persona.

The idea to introduce Samir’s cousin as a new addition to the MDPI team came from missing a fascinating acquaintance we ran into almost daily while walking on the beach. I was so intrigued by his free spirit and his enthusiasm for life, his obvious physical capabilities, and his knowledge of all things technical, which will always earn my respect.

After a several-month absence, he appeared in his usual spot, resuming his martial arts exercises on the sand, his smile as big and bright as ever. I was so thrilled to see him again, I told him about “Nigel” and his new role in the series. I also learned that the sleek motorcycle he rode so confidently was responsible for his long absence. He’s good as new, and back to his routine, minus the bike. I will do my best to make sure Nigel doesn’t meet the same fate as he fearlessly tears up the highways!

As I embark on the 8th book in the series, I can’t help wondering what will spark imagination this time around. I could be anything!

Until next time, I wish you happy reading and wonderful inspirations!

Cynthia

Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara is one of our favorite stomping grounds. It’s also where I found the inspiration for two characters in Madeline’s latest adventure, “Other People’s Money.” Crystal Blue came to me while I was taking a solitary walk on a foggy day, enjoying the peace and tranquility while I debated who I wanted to cast as the landlord of a missing woman.

I was going back and forth between a grease-covered motorcycle enthusiast and an elderly man who was very hard of hearing, when this woman appeared on the horizon, walking toward me as she emerged from the fog. We were the only two souls on that quiet stretch of the beach. I remember the lighting and rhythmic slap of the docile waves at low tide, the eerie stillness of the damp air as this large-boned woman approached, her head held high, her stride purposeful but unhurried. I was impressed with her confidence and her abundant silver jewelry, which brought to mind an aging warrior princess.

We silently acknowledged each other as we passed, and in that moment, I knew I had found my character: a quirky landlady with a creative bent and a penchant for colorful displays of whimsy. She’s a throwback to the 60s, and she really owns her persona.

The idea to introduce Samir’s cousin as a new addition to the MDPI team came from missing a fascinating acquaintance we ran into almost daily while walking on the beach. I was so intrigued by his free spirit and his enthusiasm for life, his obvious physical capabilities, and his knowledge of all things technical, which will always earn my respect.

After a several-month absence, he appeared in his usual spot, resuming his martial arts exercises on the sand, his smile as big and bright as ever. I was so thrilled to see him again, I told him about “Nigel” and his new role in the series. I also learned that the sleek motorcycle he rode so confidently was responsible for his long absence. He’s good as new, and back to his routine, minus the bike. I will do my best to make sure Nigel doesn’t meet the same fate as he fearlessly tears up the highways!

As I embark on the 8th book in the series, I can’t help wondering what will spark imagination this time around. I could be anything!

Until next time, I wish you happy reading and wonderful inspirations!

Cynthia

When I saw a social media post by an author friend who was touting Margaret Mizushima’s “Hanging Falls” mystery, I immediately downloaded it, not even bothering to find out if it was part of a series or a standalone novel. It turns out it was book 6 the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery Series. Fortunately, like I try to do with each installment of my Madeline Dawkins series, Margaret provides enough relative backstory in each book, so I was never lost or in the dark about what was happening and who the players were.

From the moment I waded into treacherous turf in the mountains of Colorado, my attention was riveted to my Kindle. When I wasn’t working, cooking or cleaning something, I was following Mattie, Cole and Robo through treacherous encounters with characters real enough to materialize in my mind’s eye. The action was shift, the scenes were perfectly described, and the odd assortment of characters kept me guessing. It goes without saying that Margaret’s got herself a new fan!

I’m delighted to share Margaret’s story behind this captivating series:

Whenever I give an author talk, the question always arises—where do you get your story ideas? The general answer is everywhere, but I know that readers want something more specific, so I usually go into detail about how I discovered the premise for the Timber Creek K-9 mysteries, the first plot, and how characters Mattie Cobb, her K-9 partner Robo, and Cole Walker came to life.

I’ve been married to a veterinarian for almost forty years and although I worked at my own career by day, I’ve been called on countless times to assist my husband with emergencies and surgeries after hours. I’ve noticed that whenever we arrive at a stable or barn, people gather around to watch him work. This led me to believe that readers would also want to “watch” a vet work, and I decided to include a vet in my mystery series.

I wondered if my vet should be an amateur sleuth or if law enforcement should be involved in the story. A couple things occurred serendipitously at that point. My husband told me that one of his clients who trained police and protection dogs was willing to talk to me about his work, and I also met a retired K-9 handler and trainer from Bellingham, Washington, a woman who later became a friend. These two people gave me the resources to research and write about a K-9 officer, so I decided to create a police procedural featuring a K-9 team. It took only a few leaps between synapses to arrive at the conclusion that my police officer should be a woman—since female handlers are less common—my veterinarian a man, and that there should be a love interest between the two.

My setting—a fictional, small town in the Colorado high country—flowed naturally from my past, since I grew up on a cattle ranch near this type of town. Developing that part was easy, but then I needed to get started on the plot.

The K-9 trainer my husband worked for came into the clinic one day needing a health exam and certificate on a dog that he was transferring to the state forest service. He told my husband about how the forest service was initiating K-9 narcotics detection units to combat drug traffic through the Colorado forests.

Boom! We’d discovered the premise for my K-9 team. Having grown up in a rural community, I was aware that these county sheriff departments don’t always have the financial resources of their urban counterparts, so I decided that local merchants and ranchers would band together to purchase the first Timber Creek County narcotics detection dog.

And that led to the development of Robo, who often becomes the star of the show. By this time, I’d been able to observe our client train dogs and work with groups of K-9 officers, and I’d
noticed behaviors and mannerisms of various police dog breeds—the responsiveness of the German shepherd and the eager enthusiasm of the Belgium Malinois (pronounced mal-in-wah).

When I had the opportunity to shadow my new friend from Washington as she trained dogs for AKC tracking, she told me countless stories about the prowess of her late partner Robo, a German shepherd originally trained in narcotics detection and patrol that she’d later trained in evidence and gunpowder detection.

It seemed like her Robo could do it all, which I know is very unusual. I decided to recreate this wonderdog, and I gained her permission to use his name. Now, whenever my Robo needs to learn new skills, this trainer is only a phone call away to help me discover the how-to’s. It also helps that I’ve trained dogs for search and rescue and obedience before, so I’d had experience with basic tracking and trailing, as well as training dogs in incremental steps.

I owe my husband a great big hug for helping me with story plot lines. We brainstorm together over meals, while driving in the car, and even in the middle of the night. I also glean ideas from crime show documentaries on television, other veterinarians and police officer friends, and the news. My family and I talk about Mattie, Robo, Cole and his kids like they’re real people. One daughter who works in public health and my sister who’s actively involved with a mental health organization both recommend resources to help Mattie (who came into the series with a great deal of emotional baggage) achieve healing and health.

Characters are often said to “come alive,” and that’s what has happened for us with my series. Each individual book’s plot springs from what’s happening in the lives of the Timber Creek characters, and I strive to center the investigation on Robo’s skillset and some type of veterinary work that Cole has to do.

Robo is a working dog, and he is characterized as such. He doesn’t have human characteristics, because he’s better than that. Like his trainer once told Mattie: “If you never learn to trust this dog, you’ll only be as good as a human cop can be; but if you can learn to trust him, there’s no limit to how good a team you can become.”

The seventh book in the series, Striking Range, is set to release September 7, 2021. Each mystery stands alone, but if you want the full effect of the characters’ backstories, start with book one, Killing Trail. Please join Mattie, Robo, and Cole for a Timber Creek K-9 Mystery adventure.

Many thanks to Margaret for sharing the story behind the story!

Until next time, I wish you all happy reading!

Best,
Cynthia

It honestly doesn’t seem that long ago that I was beating my brains out on Madeline’s 6th adventure, “Houses of Deception.” Yet, here it is, release day, and I’m nearly halfway through the 7th book in the series. It makes me wonder—am I addicted to writing? Do I have no life outside of my imagination? Do I just like to punish myself??

I’m not actually a masochist, and I do have a life outside of writing, but I think I’ve become so caught up in Madeline’s world that I miss being there. I enjoy watching the way she tackles the unusual cases and circumstances that come her way. And as weird as it may seem, the storylines are always a mystery to me. After I set a few loose ideas into motion, I never know which direction they will head or how they will expand and change the storyline. The truth is, I don’t actually care—I’m really just along for the ride. Fortunately for me, the stories always manage to come together, but not without a few anxious moments here and there.

So, on this day, I take a deep breath and thank the powers that be for the way “Houses of Deception” has turned out. I ended up reading it 13 times before I felt comfortable handing it over to my publisher. This is payback for being such a…let’s call it “discriminating” reader. Knowing how anything that interferes with my reading pleasure gets my hackles up, I have to make sure I haven’t missed anything that might provoke the same response from another discriminating reader.

To all of you who have followed Madeline’s rise from the ashes and into her dual careers, I thank you with all my heart. I hope you enjoy her latest adventure in sleuthing!

As always, I wish you all happy reading!

Until next time,

Cynthia

I became connected with up and coming novelist Kimber Silver when I first got on Twitter a few years back. I was drawn to her as a fellow book lover and I loved her reviews of books she felt passionately about. What I didn’t know about her at the time was her pitch-perfect ear for short-story writing. I could tell from the first piece she shared that she had a real grasp of what made short fiction work. And with every subsequent piece she posted, I knew she had real talent.

I was thrilled when I found out Kimber had written her first novel, which is now with a literary agent. I was fortunate enough to be a test reader for the first chapter and I was very intrigued, and not content with just a sample. I know my Goodreads friends have the same reverence for a good story, otherwise they wouldn’t be connecting with others in cyberspace to share their love for the written word and searching for their next book. And that is why I wanted to share Kimber’s journey from reader to writer, for all of those fellow readers—like me—who feel they could never make the transition from reader to writer. Kimber and I are both proof to the contrary.

It’s my pleasure to introduce Kimber Silver:

I grew up in a small farming community where nothing out of the ordinary happened. We ate meatloaf every Tuesday and rarely met anyone new—not the ideal place for a child with an overactive imagination and energy to burn. I suspect that in the name of self-preservation, my grandmother introduced me to reading early in life; I discovered that a world of possibilities lay between the covers, and I was hooked.

I exercised my fertile imagination via a boy and a black stallion on a beach in a faraway land. In the pages of a novel, I could be best friends with a teenage detective as we solved all manner of crimes together. Stories were my ticket out of Podunk Nowhere, and I never looked back.

My love of reading sparked my journey into writing. I’m never certain where I’m going to find inspiration. Something as small as a random comment made by a friend will send me off to research a new tale. Or perhaps an unusual building glimpsed through the window of a taxi, while exploring a new city, will set my imagination ablaze. Whatever brings an idea to life, I sincerely believe that there is always a little magic involved.

Goodreads Blog Post: Interview with Pat Rullo

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with author, narrator, and radio show host Pat Rullo. She’s a dynamic woman and a wonderful interviewer. I felt so comfortable talking to her, the 30-minute interview just flew by. We spoke about how I got into writing and where I've gotten the inspiration for the books I’ve written.

In addition to her multi-faceted career, Pat also formed a charitable organization that supports women and children in long-term shelters, and she uses her “Firebird Book Awards” to fund it. When the interview was a rap and we spoke afterwards, Pat told me about how she got her mother to start making pillow cases for our soldiers abroad after she had a long stint in the hospital. It was something they could do together when Pat wasn't working, and it gave them both joy to be providing a little comfort to those far away from home.

Her mother has since passed away, but Pat still makes the pillow cases. She now sends them to women's homeless shelters. When I saw them online, I got how comforting those beautiful cases would be when they laid their heads on them at night. Sometimes it's the little things that have the most impact.

To listen to the interview, click on the link below. You’ll learn everything you never knew you wanted to know about my life as a writer, and then some! ; )

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/cynt...

To learn more about Pat Rullo, click on this link:

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/about/

Until next time, I wish you all happy reading!

Cynthia