Shaded Light wasn’t my first published book, but it was my first mystery. And it took a lot of sweat, and a lot of time.

I believe I’ve loved mysteries for as long as I can remember. When I was young, one of my very favorite games was, “How many marbles are in my hand?” On Sunday afternoons when my parents and I visited with my Grandmother and my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Albert. Uncle Albert and I played Chinese Checkers. After he got tired of letting me win, he would take a bunch of marbles, arrange some of them in his hands, and shake his hands. I would have to guess how many marbles he had. Of course he would try to trick me by keeping all the marbles from hitting the others or going fast so a few sounded like more. I loved trying to guess the right number.

And I went right on loving anything that involved having to follow clues and discover the “truth.” Of course, I read a ton of mysteries! That’s the background.

My inspiration

The day after Christmas, 1982, I was reading a mystery I had picked up at the library. It was a dud. I threw it to the (carpeted) floor, and began complaining. In the course of my complaints, I said, “I could do better than this.”

My helpful husband said, “So, why don’t you then?”

I took the challenge and spent the Christmas holidays writing (in longhand). Dreaming up a plot wasn’t difficult. Everywhere I go, I’m always thinking, “This would be a good spot to find a body.” I brainstormed and made a list of possibilities. And I remembered the garden.

Some years earlier, we’d been walking in a beautiful Japanese garden in Vancouver, and as we came around a corner, I saw a beautifully shaped bush and the thought that jumped into my mind was, “That would be a great place to see two feet sticking out.” (No, it wouldn’t really—trust me—but writers tend to have weird thoughts.) So now I remembered the garden and decided to use it for the setting.

Characters and Plot

But then I needed a reason for people to go to the garden, and a victim, and detectives. I decided who the victim would be. Then I needed to figure out where the garden would be, and who all the possible suspects would be.

And, the big question, whose point-of-view would I use?

I decided first on a bystander character POV. In this case, it turned out to be Lorry. Then I needed a guy or two (to get a little romance in) and chose Nick and Kendall (their names were different to start with).

We needed a location, so I gave Kendall a family and made his dad a lawyer, and gave them a new estate with a Japanese garden—and then it just started to flow.

So I wrote a first draft from Lorry’s point of view. But I realized there was a problem. Having a bystander’s point of view was too limiting. So I decided I should try writing it from the point of view of the detective.

I decided to go with police people because I likely know more about them than I do PIs. Which isn’t a whole lot. But I found all kinds of books on homicides and forensics, and so on.. And later I talked to some real police people.

Now I had to choose my own personal police people. I decided I wanted to have two people because that allows for more discussion and arguing and all that good stuff. Enter Manziuk and Ryan. I had them both the moment I started to put something on paper. They just seemed to flow, as thought they were real people.

I’ve known several very “big” men, and always felt a little intimidated when they looked “down” on me. And I have a friend who is a little like Jacquie—prone to jump in where angels wouldn’t go. I could see Paul and Jacquie arguing with each other, her making up in energy what she lacked in size, him feeling if she would just take it slower and listen, it would all work out. So, I wrote a second draft using the police point of view.

Then Christmas holidays ended and I was back to homeschooling.

For almost 10 years, I left my work, then called A Setting for Murder, in a filing cabinet.

In 1991, I pulled it out and read it. Not bad. I began to work on it, this time combining the two viewpoints and adding others. And I changed the title to Shaded Light.

When I had the first third of the book written, I took it with me to a writer’s conference and found an editor who liked it. But he couldn’t convince his publishing company to go with it. He did, however, give me some good suggestions to make the book stronger.

I continued to work on it.

When it was more or less ready, I had an agent try to find it a home. However, it proved difficult. (Long story there.)

Hardcover Book

Then, in 1998, a writer friend suggested I try a small new publisher, St Kitts Press. They read it and made some suggestions. I followed most of their suggestions. And they decided to publish the book, even keeping my title.

So, 18 years after I first started the book, it was finally in print! And the first print-run, in hardcover, sold out quite quickly, mostly to libraries and avid mystery fans and collectors. And the book got great reviews from places like Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

Because I was also writing inspirational novels for teens, and non-fiction for adults and teens, I had thought long and hard about using a pseudonym, and almost did. But in the end decided not to. I regretted my decision within a few months. It was just too confusing for people. But it was too late.

Trade Paperback

But then came the bad news. St. Kitts decided that they really didn’t have the distribution in place to the the promised trade paperback version.

So my book was technically out of print within a year of being published.

St. Kitts was nice, and they gave me back the  copyright. I had an agent who spent several years trying to find another publisher, but despite the great reviews I’d received and the success of the hardcover, no one wanted to take over the book.

Meanwhile, I had people asking me where they could get a copy of Shaded Light.

In 2000, at the same time that Shaded Light was coming out from St Kitts, I published teen novels for teens (with guys as the point-of-view characters). Tired of being told “boys don’t read” and other idiocies, my husband and I started an independent publishing company called That’s Life! Communications. To date, we’ve published five novels for teens.

So in 2004, I decided to publish the trade paperback version of Shaded Light myself under an imprint, MurderWillOut Mysteries. At least I’d have books to sell when I was speaking.

So that’s what happened. I also did yet another edit. Between myself and the editor I hired, we took out about 5,000 superfluous words without changing anything to do with the characters or plot. Just tightened it up.

And Shaded Light got more great reviews, and won two awards.

Again, I thought seriously about using a pseudonym, but I decided it was too late.

But after the book was published, I continued to regret not having used a pseudonym in the first place.

E-Publishing

And then people started asking if the book was available as an e-book, so we’ve recently taken the next step.

And this time, I decided to use a pseudonym. Although since the name is technically my name (another long story I’ll talk about later), I call it my alter ego.

And while it’s a bit confusing because of the previous versions of the book, I’m very happy I listened to my gut instincts this time.

So MurderWillOut Mysteries has just released the e-version of Shaded Light with a brand new cover and a brand new author name. It’s available on Kindle, Kobo, and other platforms. Or you can get it right here.
“Shaded Light: A Manziuk and Ryan Mystery” by J. A. Menzies on Ganxy

Sylvia is the founder of “National Association Women on the Rise,” a global association for aspiring and established women entrepreneurs and authors and CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual boutique small business consulting firm. Her mission is to provide professional and personal resources while uplifting and empowering women entrepreneurs through collaboration, education, mentoring, spiritual and peer support, leadership and networking.

An excerpt from the interview:

Sylvia: What marketing techniques have you used to sell your books and which ones have been most successful?

J.A.: For me, I see each individual book as a unique product that needs to be promoted and sold to its target audience. Even my two Manziuk and Ryan mysteries are different in that the second one is set in the world of professional baseball and its surrounding media, so people who aren’t necessarily fans of mysteries but love baseball might read it. So it has a kind of slightly expanded audience.

My father owned a clothing store in a small town when I was growing up, so I’ve always known what it was like to run your own business. Back in 1992, when my first book (a novel for teens) was published, I was a bit naïve—for about a month. Then I realized I not only had to be involved, but I also had to drive the process. Over the years, I’ve sent out review copies; hired a publicist to get booksignings and radio and TV interviews; been on panels at mystery conventions; done readings alone and with other writers; taught workshops for writers and aspiring writers; joined Twitter, Facebook, etc.; and of course, maintained a website.

Strong reviews in places like Publishers Week and Library Journal have probably sold the most books. The most effective thing I’ve done on my own is speak. Even if I’m not specifically talking about my books, when I speak, I sell books.

Read the entire interview.

“What a treat it is to return to the “old-fashioned” murder mystery–the country house party–in the style of Agatha Christie, but with modern techniques. The first intriguing aspect is that this book, among a plethora of American whodunits, is set in Toronto, Canada.

“The firm of Brodie, Fisher and Martin is jubilant when Kendall Brodie, the son of George–El Supremo–agrees to join his father and partners in the well established and high-flying law firm.

“In celebration, George and his wife, Ellen, invite the partners and their wives for a weekend house party. Ellen is working hard to hook up her son Kendall with her niece and he is still trying to persuade his friend, Nick, to join the firm and has still not advised his mother that he is “otherwise romantically engaged.” A black-sheep cousin, who turns up hoping for a financial handout prove to be a pleasant, “dark-horse” surprise!”

Read the review and the interview – you also might win a free book

“For novel people, I like to include at least one novel in each of my “What I’m Reading” features, and this month’s is a great one: Shaded Light, by J.A. Menzies. I read a lot of Christian romance because I’m sent them, and my daughter likes them, and I like to keep track of what she’s reading. But honestly, I find most of them rather boring and a little predictable. I don’t know why so much Christian fiction has to focus on 18-20-year-old girls in the 19th century. What about 40-something women in the 21st century trying to navigate the pressures of modern life?

And so the Christian fiction I tend to enjoy the most are thrillers. And yet most of those are written by men, and most are courtroom dramas. I like a good courtroom drama, but often it gets a little, well, repetitive.

That’s why I loved Shaded Light. Think Agatha Christie with a modern twist. Just like P.D. James, too, It’s a true detective novel, focusing on relationships and characters rather than blood and gore, and it leaves you guessing until the final page….”

Read the rest of her review. (It’s 3rd in the books she reviewed in May.)

A few days later, I got an email about it and deleted it. Several weeks passed. Then, one day while my husband and I were babysitting our grandson, Leif, we got talking, for some reason, about Christmas and about some of the traditional foods we eat, like julekake and potato lefse. All of a sudden, I slapped myself upside the head and shouted, “Scandinavian Mysteries!”

My husband, naturally, was confused.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve lived for 35 years in a house where everyone else is Scandinavian!” I said. “And for all we know, my Scottish ancestors owed more than a few of their genes to the Vikings.”

He continued to look confused.
“True—” I walked around the room, stopping to look at the plaque that says ‘Tack För senast.’ “—my mysteries aren’t set in any of the Scandinavian countries, and my main characters are of Ukrainian and Jamaican ancestry, but surely there’s been some kind of Scandinavian influence on me in all those years!”

He nodded politely, and picked up a Dr. Seuss book to read to Leif.

And I began the fascinating, never-before-attempted task of trying to analyze the extent of that presumed Scandinavian influences on me and my writing.

My husband’s mother’s parents, Jacob and Agnes Nelson, came to North America from Norway as children. His father’s parents, Peter and Emma Lindquist, came from Sweden. All four eventually ended up in the area of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, where they married, farmed, and raised their families.

I first met them when I was 21, and married into the family three years later. But in all that time, I’d never once thought about the effect they’ve had on me. Until now.

Practicality:

Of course, I can’t speak for all Scandinavian people; only the ones I’ve had personal contact with, but what strikes me the most, and what I think has probably had a cumulative effect on me and my writing, is the contrast between their extremely practical, prosaic nature and their high degree of integrity, and their love of fun and frivolous things. I mean, how else do you explain a people who eat both lutefisk and rosettes? One a plain cod fish, soaked in lye—yes, lye, as a preservative; the other a delightful deep-fried concoction of flour, sugar, and eggs with almond flavouring that has nothing to justify it except its wonderful taste?

The funny thing is, I don’t really associate fiction, including mysteries, with my husband’s family. It’s almost as if they’re too practical for such things. I know there are Scandinavian mystery writers, and I’ve even read some of their books, but for me there’s almost a disconnect. The Scandinavian people I’ve known love to tell stories, but the stories are usually true ones, with only a little exaggeration. There’s a reverence for the past, for the heritage that’s brought them this far, and also a confidence in the future. And most of the stories show their very practical, “If it has to be done, let’s get to it,” philosophy.

Stories—all of them true—leap to my mind.

My father-in-law loved reading and would have preferred to go to university, but as the only son, he had to take over the farm when his father died. It was poor farming land, and he had to work long hours. And he had limited carpentry skills. With four young children and a house that had to be replaced, my mother-in-law realized they were never going to be able to get a new house built on the farm and they had no money to pay anyone else. So she decided to build the house herself. With a young girl to help with the children, my mother-in-law put walls together on the ground during the day and had her husband help her put them in place in the evening. And slowly but surely, she built a house.

When her third child was born with cerebral palsy, she did everything she could to help him. She even invented a walker so that he could get around more easily.

At the age of 60, she decided it was time she learned to swim, and she continued to swim laps several times a week into her late 80s.

Her sister became a doctor at age 50 after deciding nursing was too restrictive.

I’ll never forget going over to visit Les’s Norwegian grandparents, then in their late 80s, only to find the two of them alone at the church manse, up on a ladder painting the ceiling to get the house spruced up for the new pastor.

Or Les’s Swedish grandmother, also in her 80’s, determined to keep on crocheting and knitting sweaters and other items for other people even though she could barely see and had to have someone sit beside her reading the instructions.

And then there’s the story of how their Swedish grandfather actually changed his name after coming to Canada. You see, there were two Peter Peterson’s in Swift Current Saskatchewan, and the mail was getting mixed up. So our Peter Peterson simply changed his name to Lindquist, which means “from the linden tree.” (Apparently there were quite a few linden trees where he grew up.) And he had no more difficulty getting his mail.

Any time I think I can’t do something, I think about some of these stories and realize I can do anything if I want to enough.

Impracticality:

Julekake (yule cake) is actually a bread with raisins and gum drops which you often toast.

The Scandinavian people I know have a great love for laughter and good food. I have to say that the recipes passed down to me by Les’s grandmothers and mother are, for the most part, quite elaborate, and often require special equipment: a variety of different implements for deep-frying rosettes and timballs, a krumkake iron, lefse grills, molds for kransekake (a totally neat layered cake in the shape of a Christmas tree), special tart pans for sandbakkeles, several types of lefse rollers, etc., etc.

The contract between the practicality and even stoicism on one side and the amount of time and effort the women were willing to spend creating these very elaborate (and very good-tasting), but highly transient delicacies has always amazed me.

Krumkake (crumb cake), for instance, requires a round iron something like a waffle iron except flat. You put a little of the dough in the middle of the sizzling hot iron, then close the iron and flatten the dough. After a minute or so, you carefully take out the flat piece of krumkake and roll it on a special round wooden spindle, then let it cool to make a spiral log-like item. You don’t just make one, but dozens. And trust me, it can keep you hopping! All very time-consuming.

You can fill the krumkake with fruit, or sprinkle with powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar.

And I wonder how to explain the two sides—the practical and the impractical—except, perhaps, to say that we all need both. We need the serious moments and we need the frivolous, fun times, too.

And you’re thinking, what has any of this to do with my writing mysteries?

Up until now, I’d have said not much. I’d have said the biggest influences on my style of writing were the books I’d read by Christie, Sayers, Heyer, and the like. But in the past month, I’ve come to realize that a good deal of my interest in people, and what makes them tick, has come, not from the books I’ve re

ad, but from the people I’ve come to know in my extended Scandinavian family. I’ve realized that everyone, and I mean everyone, has a story to tell; that sometimes there are contradictions; and that circumstances affect people, but no more than people affect circumstances.

And I am inordinately pleased that reviewers of my latest book, Glitter of Diamonds, have noted both the humor and the compassion in it. Yes, there is a murder and all that encompasses, but far more important to me than whether people like my writing or not is that we recognize that every person has a story to share, and that every story matters.

To my Scandinavian family, who welcomed me without reservation, “Tack För senast.” (thanks for the hospitality).

You know, my husband has always wanted to travel, but I’ve never had much interest in flying around the world. Fortunately, he’s been able to make some trips through his job, so we’ve both been happy. But I’ve just realized that I’d like to make a trip soon—to Sweden and Norway. Maybe I can even set a book there!

(By the way, I actually missed the deadline for Mystery Reader with this. Ah well…)

The second book in my Manziuk and Ryan Mystery series, Glitter of Diamonds, is now available as e-pub and mobi files.

Glitter of Diamonds was published originally in hardcover and paperback by MurderWillOut Mysteries under my real name, N. J. Lindquist. It’s now been updated and republished as an e-book with a new cover and my new pseudonym, J. A. Menzies.

The story isn’t changed at all, except that I did move the opening of Part II to the front to create a bit of an opening prologue where you meet Paul Manziuk and Jacquie Ryan prior to the crime.

If you haven’t read Glitter of Diamonds, you can now download it as either e-Pub or mobi format right here or you can get it at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. It will be available at other locations shortly.

To buy the paperback, go to the publisher’s store.

More information on Glitter of Diamonds

Reviews of Glitter of Diamonds

The books nominated include Barbara Fradkin’s Dead No More; Lou Allin’s Contingency Plan; and Vicki Delany’s A Winter Kill.

I’ve read Barbara’s but not the other two – yet. And yes, my local library has most of them from what I can tell.

Rapid Read Books are short books – or novellas – intended for reluctant readers or adults with low reading skills. Or, as Booklist said, “The Rapid Reads series for adults is designed for reluctant or low-literacy readers and features low page counts, swiftly moving plots, short chapters, and uncomplicated language and sentence structure. Even avid readers, though, may enjoy losing themselves in the accessible stories, many of which feature underrepresented voices in fiction.”

“In Shaded Light I felt like I was reading a game of Clue.

“Author J. A. Menzies (the new ebook edition is published under the author’s pseudonym; original edition under N. J. Lindquist) sets up the game board and player pieces in the first part of the book as members, wives and various hangers-on of the Toronto law firm Brodie, Fischer & Martin meet for a relaxing weekend at the lavish new home of senior partner George Brodie and his wife Ellen. The cast of characters is large.

“Menzies delves into the past and present of each just enough to get us caring for them but not to the point of distraction. (The Kindle edition I read had a linked table of contents which included a list of characters—most helpful in keeping everyone straight through the information-heavy first part of the book.)….”

Read the entire review

Buy Shaded Light

Janet Sketchley, who blogs at Tenacity, says:

“Shaded Light reads like a contemporary Agatha Christie novel. Instead of Hercule Poirot, readers meet Detective-Inspector Paul Manziuk (man’s-hook) and rookie detective Jacqueline Ryan. He’s experienced, old-school and white, she’s young, female and black.

Manziuk’s under pressure to catch a serial killer who leaves no clues, and now he’s handed the Brodie case too. He doesn’t have time to find out if Ryan can do the job… or if she’s just a political appointment.

To solve the case, Manziuk and Ryan must pierce the suspects’ outer facades and untangle the secrets within. It’s fun to watch them learn to work together along the way.”

Read the entire review at Tenacity

Buy Shaded Light