Book Details:

Genre: Suspense

Published by: Witness

Publication Date: July 29, 2014

Number of Pages:

ISBN: 0062338927

Purchase Links:

Synopsis:

A rash of high-profile murders all point to reporter Gabriella Giovanni’s boyfriend, Detective Sean Donovan, when investigators uncover a single link in the deaths: Annalisa Cruz. A decade ago, Cruz seduced Donovan away from a life as a monk, and though their relationship soured long ago … her passion for him has not.

As the investigation continues, it becomes increasingly clear that any man who gets involved with Cruz soon ends up dead, including a dot-com millionaire, the mayor of San Francisco, and a police officer. Donovan, the only man to have dated Cruz and survived, is arrested for the murders and dubbed a jealous ex, leaving Gabriella scrambling to find the real killer without ending up as the next body headed for the morgue.

Gabriella’s search ultimately unearths a dark secret that Donovan had intended to take to the grave. Faced with the knowledge of this terrible truth, Gabriella must tie the past and present together to clear Donovan’s name.

How to Avoid the Rejection Blues

(Guest Post from the Author)

Let’s talk rejection. I am somewhat of an expert on it.

After I wrote my first novel, BLESSED ARE THE DEAD, a writing teacher told me it was ready to see the world. It was not.

But I didn’t know this at the time. I’d written a book to the best of my capabilities. I did not know how to do any better. So I queried my first New York agent.

To my surprise, he answered right away and requested the full manuscript be sent his way.

Within a week, he had read it. And told me it sucked.

Well, he didn’t use that term exactly, but that’s what he meant. He told me my novel did not measure up to the “heavy hitters” in my genre (mystery).

I broke the rules and shot him an email back asking for advice on how to improve my novel. (Apparently this is a huge faux pas with agents). He responded curtly: “Read bestselling mystery books.”

I refrained from taking photos of my stack of mystery books on my nightstand and/or shooting back a one-word response of “Duh.”

Instead, I sought critiques from other writers and considered the idea of hiring a developmental editor to teach me to write and show me where I needed to improve.

I didn’t have money for an editor, but I did find a stellar group of people to critique my novel. With their insight, I began to learn and finally SEE where my novel was lacking. I spent about a year revising it over and over again. Throughout that year, I kept submitting to agents. Instead of “you suck” I started getting emails saying “I really appreciate the energy of your writing but expected there to be more suspense in the last scene” and other specific, helpful comments that allowed me to revise even more.

At the same time, I was reading every mystery book I could and studying every book on the writing craft I could get my hands on.

So for more, I handled rejection as a challenge: I needed to get better if I were ever going to see my book in the world. I looked at every rejection as one step closer to publication.

At the end of my journey to publication, I had been rejected dozens of times. By the time I had to choose among several agents who wanted to represent me, I already had queried more than 100 agents. Yes, you read that right—more than 100 had turned me down by the time it was my turn to pick and choose.

So the short answer to how I handled rejection is this: I never let it get me down. Sure, I’d sulk for a day (or two), but I soon realized that rejection is part of the writing business.

First, you get rejected when you try to find an agent. Then, you get rejected when your agent tries to find an editor to buy your book. And, then, get ready, there is more: you get rejected when critics don’t see the awesomeness of your book.

Rejection goes hand-in-hand with being a writer.

The only way I know how to deal with rejection is this: Keep writing.

When you are querying your first novel, be busy writing your second book.

When that first novel is out on submission with editors in New York, be busy writing.

When your first book is released into the world, stay busy writing another book.

The solution to everything is why I got in this business in the first place. To write.

Author Bio:

Kristi Belcamino is a writer, photographer, and artist who also bakes a tasty biscotti. In her former life, as an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca, watched autopsies, and conversed with serial killers. During her decade covering crime, Belcamino wrote and reported about many high-profile cases including the Laci Peterson murder and Chandra Levy disappearance. She has appeared on Inside Edition and local television shows. She now writes fiction and works part-time as a reporter covering the police beat for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Her work has appeared in such prominent publications as Salon, the Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, and Chicago Tribune.

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