How a Rural Colorado Sheriff’s Office Works

I'm blogging over at Inkspot, the blog for Midnight Ink authors, today about how a rural Colorado Sheriff's Office works. Please read the post and leave a comment there for me about your own experiences with and impressions of your local Sheriff's Office or Police Department.

Three Months to Launch for FATAL DESCENT!

In three short months, Fatal Descent, the third book in my RM Outdoor Adventures series starring whitewater river ranger and rafting guide Mandy Tanner will be released by Midnight Ink. Here's the blurb:

"A fast-paced locked-room mystery in Utah’s awe-inspiring canyon lands

River guide Mandy Tanner and her fiancé Rob Juarez, owners of RM Outdoor Adventures, are leading an off-season rafting and climbing trip on the Colorado River. The unfamiliar topography and a lecherous local climbing guide have Mandy on edge — but that’s nothing compared to the trouble the clients bring. When a young man is found dead, everyone on the trip is a suspect. Since there’s no way out of the Colorado River’s steep canyons, it’s up to Mandy and Rob to solve the mystery before the murderer strikes again."

I've already heard from one reviewer who received access to a NetGalley copy of the Advanced Reader Copy, and he's giving Fatal Descent 4 stars! And, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have a special preorder price for the trade paperback of only $8.51 (save 43% off list)!

I'm busy making plans to promote the launch, writing articles for mystery magazines and blogs, setting up signing events, organizing contests, etc. I hope some of my blog readers will be able to join in the fun! Stay tuned here and to my website and sign up for my email newsletter, if you aren't already, to be privvy to the plans!

Action Shots from the Summit County Senior Winter Games

On February 22nd, I blogged about participating in the Summit County Senior Winter Games. Tim Orwick, the event photographer, recently made available to the participants all the action shots he took of us during the games. I selected three to share with my blog readers. The first photo below is of me in the giant slalom race that occurred during a snowstorm, which is why I have my hood up.

The photo below is of me running the obstacle course.

And below is the start of the short snowshoe race. I'm fifth from the right, wearing bib number 11 and a white and light blue hat. As you can see, I was second out of the starting gate.

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Colleen Collins

As promised yesterday, fellow Colorado mystery author Colleen Collins is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Also, Colleen is running a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release, The Next Right Thing, with TWO winners, US addresses only. Tomorrow evening, she will pick the winners from those who comment on this post.

In The Next Right Thing, tough-minded private investigator Cammie Copello always gets results, even if it means stepping into a gray area where rules are broken. That gray area is what caused the breach between her and high-profile attorney Marc Hamilton. But when his career is on the line, and the only one who can save it is Cammie, she has to make a choice that will either redeem or shatter both their worlds…for Cammie, what is the next right thing?

“Colorful, skillful description and lively, fully fleshed-out characters contribute to this great read.”
     - Romantic Times Book Reviews

Sounds like a yummy read to me! Below is Colleen's guest article. Please leave a comment for her, and if you have a question for her, ask it!

Looking Under the Alibi: The Work of a Legal Investigator

by Colleen Collins

Hello, everyone!  Thank you to Beth Groundwater, a friend and fellow writer, for welcoming me to her blog. Besides being a writer, I am also a private investigator. In The Next Right Thing (Harlequin Superromance, March 2013) the protagonist is a female private investigator who, like me, specializes in legal investigations. Because many of you are mystery writers, or love reading the genre, I thought it would be of interest to discuss legal investigations; chat briefly about V.I. Warshawski, a legal investigator character created by author Sara Paretsky; and describe some tasks a legal investigator might tackle.

What Is a Legal Investigator?

In a nutshell, an investigation is the gathering of facts to form a cohesive and well-reasoned picture of a given situation. Legal investigation is also a gathering together of facts for a given situation with the addition that these facts will be presented in a court of law.

The legal investigator applies her evidence/fact gathering through exacting requirements, called rules of evidence, which must be met for their admissibility for the judge and jury to see and hear.

V.I. Warshawski: A Fictional Legal Investigator

I view V. I. Warshawski, a private investigator character created by writer Sara Paretsky, to be a legal investigator. V.I. attended law school and worked for several years as a public defender, which attests to her understanding and passion for the law. She became a PI in 1982. For fans of the V.I. Warshawski books, you know she works independently as well as for attorneys (not uncommon for real-life legal investigators, too).

A Legal Investigator’s Job

Some legal investigators work in-house at a law firm, public defender or district attorney’s office, while others work as independent contractors (under the umbrella of their own investigations agency). A legal investigator’s tasks might include:

- Locating and interviewing witnesses
- Drafting witness interview reports for attorneys
- Reconstructing scenes of crimes
- Helping prepare civil and criminal arguments and defenses
- Serving legal documents
- Testifying in court
- Conducting legal research (for example, drafting pleadings incorporating investigative data, devising defense strategies and supporting subsequent legal proceedings)
- Preparing legal documents that provide factual support for pleadings, briefs and appeals
- Preparing affidavits
- Electronically filing pleadings.

A legal investigator’s training and skills often include:

- Good people skills, sincere interest in people
- Understanding people’s rights to privacy, city ordinances, statutory laws
- A passion for righting wrongs.

Lawyers as Legal Investigators

Sometimes lawyers become legal investigator rather than practice law. That’s certainly true for the PI-character V.I. Warshawski. It’s also true in my private investigations agency. For eight years my husband, who had a lengthy, former career as a criminal defense attorney, was my PI partner. His knowledge of the law was a boon to our investigations business; in fact, many of our first cases came from defense attorneys who had worked with him in the past.

He has since returned to the practice of law, but he tells me that sometimes he misses being out on the streets and investigating cases. On his law blog bio, he writes that he is “proud of the many hours he has spent on the streets working as a legal investigator” because he knows that “not-guilty verdicts and huge jury awards are won on the street as much as they are won in the courtroom.”

As for me, I’m still on the streets (and in the office) conducting investigations.  Or writing about them.


Thanks, Colleen! Now, who has a comment or question for her? Good luck in the contest!

Tomorrow's Guest: Colleen Collins

Tomorrow, fellow Colorado mystery author Colleen Collins will be a guest on my blog. Also, Colleen will run a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release, The Next Right Thing, with TWO winners, US addresses only. Colleen will choose the winners from among those who leave a comment.

Colleen Collins has written several dozen novels for Harlequin and Dorchester, as well as an indie-published mystery, The Zen Man, and two indie-published nonfiction books on private investigations, How Do Private Eyes Do That? and How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths. Her current release, The Next Right Thing (Harlequin Super Romance, March 2013) features a female private eye protagonist, and is available in print and ebook.

Colleen's books have placed first in the Colorado Gold, Romancing the Rockies, and Top of the Peak contests, and placed in the finals for the Holt Medallion, Coeur de Bois Readers Choice, Award of Excellence, More than Magic, and Romance Writers of America RITA contests. Colleen graduated with honors from the University of California Santa Barbara and completed graduate work in telecommunications. She has worked as a film production assistant, improv comic, telecommunications manager, technical writer/editor, speech writer, and private investigator. All these experiences play into her writing.

In her guest post tomorrow, Colleen talks about "Looking Under the Alibi: The Work of a Legal Investigator", and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what she has to say. Then, please make a comment or ask her a question in the comments, and good luck in her contest!

Having Fun at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference

I recently spent six days in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to speak at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference, which took place Friday, February 21st, to Sunday, Frebruary 24th, at the local library, Biblioteca Los Mangos (see two photos below). Thriller author David Lyons was the keynote speaker, and presenters other than myself included author James Callan, editor Terra Mar, publisher Billie Johnson, mystery author Jinx Schwartz, and literary agent Suzie Townsend.

My husband and I arrived Thursday, and after lunch and a chance to unpack and unwind, we were whisked away by our hosts, conference organizer Douglas Danielson and his wife Karen to the Sea Monkey Bar for a beachfront gathering of the conference committee and speakers. The bar is next to the town's new artistically designed pier that looks beautiful lit up at night.

On Friday, after helping Karen with food preparation for the conference's Friday evening reception, I headed over to the library for a relaxing and inspirational visit with my muse, a workshop led by Terra Mar. Then I sat in on a fun "guess the author" session led by Ginger Tindall and Gina Lopez, the leaders of the local "Sweaty Ladies Literary Club." After a conference welcome by Douglas and a Keynote Speech on "Writing and the Writer's Life" by David Lyons, it was time to break and eat all that wonderful food prepared by Karen (a petite powerhouse, as shown with me in the photo below).

On Saturday, I went to work. I presented two workshops on "Unleashing Your Inner Schmoozer" and "Series Writing for the Organizationally Challenged" twice each to the two different conference tracks of about 25-30 people each. During my break in the middle of the day, I listened to James Callan's talk on "Character Development."

That night, some of the speakers and conference committee members got together again for dinner at a restaurant alongside the Cuale River, a lovely setting and yummy food.

Sunday morning at the conference, fellow mystery author Jinx Schwartz and I presented a panel on "Internet Marketing for Dummies" that was followed by a sharing of personal stories by attendees about overcoming obstacles for success. Then it was time for the Book Fair and a dancing show put on by a local children's troupe. In the fourth photo, I'm sitting next to my husband, who took all of these wonderful pictures.

After that excellently organized conference, on Monday we got to be tourists and spent the day along Puerto Vallarta's Malecon (boardwalk), taking photos of the excellent statues there, relaxing over a seafood lunch and touring the old town.

On our last day, we went with our hosts to a marina at the north end of the bay, where Douglas had to survey a damaged sailboat and check out another one that he and two crew mates are currently moving for the owners, sailing it from Puerto Vallarta to San Diego. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I enjoyed my last fresh seafood meal there, shrimp ceviche. What a great trip!

$1.99 Kindle Sale for Wicked Eddies!!

No one told me this was coming or had happened, but I discovered recently that Amazon has the Kindle version of my Wicked Eddies mystery that was nominated for THE ROCKY award at the Left Coast Crime conference on sale for a measly $1.99. I have NO IDEA when the sale ends, but here's the link if folks want to take advantage of the deal:

WICKED EDDIES on Amazon

Last time I looked, the sale had pushed me up the ranks of Kindle mystery authors to less than 300. I'm hoping to bust through 200, so if you could help out by buying a cheap copy of one my mystery books for less than many cups of coffee cost, I'd really appreciate it!