In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
Today marks the release of Killing in C Sharp, Alexia Gordon‘s third Gethsemane Brown mystery, following 2016’s Murder in G Major and 2017’s Death in D Minor. Alexia’s debut made quite a splash: It won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and was named one of Suspense Magazine‘s Best Debuts.
Alexia and I have crossed paths and chatted at a couple of mystery conferences in recent years, including Bouchercon and Malice Domestic; we’re both authors with Henery Press; and we’re both whiskey drinkers… so how come we’ve never sat down and done a taste test of favorite bourbons? …or with a nod toward her series’ Irish setting, a bit of Irish whiskey?
Hosting her here is the first step toward arranging that get-together. (And hey, Alexia, my own favorite Irish whiskey is Green Spot. What’s yours? …just to make a good second step forward too.)
While Killing in C Sharp is the newest book in the series, Alexia looks back in the essay here to the First Two Pages of Murder in G Major—not just as setting up the novel and series but setting up the character’s introduction too.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay here to read off-line.
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