~ NONFICTION ~
by
Kathy Lynn Emerson
NEW EDITIONS FOR 2023
*******
HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES
The Art and Adventure of
Sleuthing Through the Past
winner of the 2008 Agatha
Award for best mystery nonfiction
out of print with Perseverance
Press
but now available in updated e-book and trade paperback editions
2022 Edition
e-book: ISBN 979-8201-15965-8
$4.99
trade paperback: ISBN 979-8223-76137-3
$15.99
Subtitled The Art and Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past, this useful guide will inspire and delight writers and readers of historical mystery fiction. The popular genre features the amateur sleuth or early PI/police-equivalent confronted with crime at any period during the last few thousand years, and is an enjoyable and memorable way to experience history up close and personal, combined with an intellectual puzzle. Ranging from Samurai Japan to turn-of-the-twentieth-century New York, from Medieval and Renaissance Europe to the American frontier, these books open a vast historical panorama to the curious reader who enjoys murder and mayhem along with past mores and morals.
Veteran historical novelist-nonfiction author Kathy Lynn Emerson
published her first mystery back in 1985. How to Write Killer Historical
Mysteries is her thirty-sixth published book, and it draws on her
experience in researching, writing, selling, and sustaining both her Lady
Appleton series, set in Elizabethan England, and her Diana Spaulding series,
taking place in the U.S. in the 1880s. This unique reference book also includes
the contributions of more than forty other historical mystery writers. Emerson's
book includes the authors' anecdotes, practical advice, and suggestions for
research as well as additional input from assorted editors, booksellers,
reviewers, and fans.
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries is a useful, complete,
and fascinating guide that no mystery or history buff should be without. For
the published or the aspiring historical fiction writer who wants to bring the
past alive, it's a must-read.
From the Reviewers:
review by Marv Lachman in Deadly Pleasures:
"Kathy Lynn Emerson's HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES from
Perseverance Press is the best book about writing mysteries that I have ever
read. Even if not read as a how-to book, it is a splendid introduction to this
sub-genre of the mystery, at all times informative and lively reading."
review by Jon L. Breen in Mystery Scene:
"One of the best specialized technical manuals in the crime fiction
genre."
review by Susan Cook in Historical Novels Review:
"I actually had to remind myself to write a review of this book, as I was so
busy putting it to use. It is an excellent introduction for writers starting
out in the genre as well as a handy reference guide and encouragement for the
more experienced."
review by Christine Zibas in Reviewing the Evidence:
"This wealth of information is a gold mine for anyone interested in the
world of historical mysteries, whether he or she is a would-be author or
not."
THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO EVERYDAY LIFE IN
RENAISSANCE ENGLAND
Originally published by
Writer's Digest Books (1996)
now available in a revised and expanded edition
Trade paperback
2023
ISBN 979-8223-18586-4
$15.99
"Even if you're not
writing historical fiction, this volume is full of fascinating period
information."
(Booklist)
OTHER
NONFICTION IN PRINT
I KILL PEOPLE FOR A LIVING
A Collection of Essays
by a writer
of Cozy Mysteries
e-book: ISBN 978-1-393-33251-0
$5.99
trade paperback: ISBN 978-1-393-71534-4
$12.99
From
the cover copy: In this unique compilation of 115 essays written between
2011 and 2021, Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of over sixty traditionally-published
books in a variety of genres and under several names, writes about everything
from how to conquer the sagging middle of a work-in-progress to the adoption of
her current cat-in-residence. Other topics highlight eccentricities: her own, a
few from her family tree, and those to be found in the rural Western Maine
mountains where she lives. Best known for her cozy mysteries, written as
Kaitlyn Dunnett, and for historical mysteries written under her own name, Kathy
Lynn Emerson has also been published in non-fiction, including the
award-winning How to Write Killer
Historical Mysteries.
A WHO'S WHO OF TUDOR WOMEN
AVAILABLE AS AN EBOOK
$7.99
ISBN
798-1393-38350-5
"An invaluable reference book for scholars of the Renaissance
as well as for librarians, genealogists, and Women's Studies specialists."
(Virginian Pilot and Ledger-Star)
A Who's Who of Tudor Women contains over 2300 mini-biographies of
women who lived at least part of their lives between 1485 and 1603. Entries are
arranged alphabetically by the maiden name of the subject or by married surname
if her birth name is unknown. Each entry is cross-referenced by married
surnames. Also included are a list of "Titles Used in Tudor Times"
and "Lists of Women at the Tudor Court."
A Who's
Who of Tudor Women began as a project to update and correct the
author's very out-of-date collective biography, Wives and Daughters: The
Women of Sixteenth-Century England, published by a small scholarly press
in 1984. Various editions online from 2010 until September 2020 have now been
incorporated into this e-book. It is not meant to be scholarly or
all-inclusive. The goal has always been simple: to identify women who lived
during the Tudor era and consolidate what information could be found about each
of them.
For more information, click here
THE LIFE OF A PLODDER
Independently published memoir/local New
York State history
available in print and e-book editions
for more details click here
NELLIE BLY, A
BIOGRAPHY
available in print and e-book formats
written for young readers ages eight to
twelve
originally published in 1989 as Making Headlines, a Biography of Nellie Bly
for more information, click here