Valentine's Day Blog Hop

Happy Valentine's Day to all my fellow YA & Mysterybook lovers.

In honor of Valentine's day, I am giving away an Ebook or paperback (You choose) of my new YA mystery novel, Unraveled.

Sixteen year old math whiz, Autumn, spends her days reading about serial killers and dreaming of becoming an FBI Profiler. She never dreams her first case will be so personal. Her world is shattered when she comes home from school and discovers her murdered sister’s body on the living room floor. When the initial evidence points to a burglary gone wrong, Autumn challenges the police’s theory because of the personal nature of the crime. Thinking that finding the killer will bring her family back together, she conducts her own investigation using her affinity for math and forensics, but her plan backfires and her obsession with the case further splinters her family.

When her investigation reveals the killer is someone she knows, Autumn offers herself up as bait and sets a dangerous trap to unmask his true nature and to obtain a confession for her sister’s murder

 

 

To win  just leave a comment with either your favorite YA or mystery novel and the author's name and I'll choose a winner at random on Feb 18th, so please include your e-mail..

 

Please visit my fellow Evernight Teen author's websites to win more prizes. Click the links below.

 

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Unraveled is Released

 

My young adult mystery is out Friday, Feb. 8, 2013.

 

Available in Paperback and E-book from major retailers.

 

 

Unraveled Cover is Revealed

Forensic Friday is being replaced with Freak-Out Friday.

Unraveled now has a cover and is on the front page of www.evernightteen.com

It's a milestone as a writer to see your book cover. I wish this feeling on all the writers out there.

Forensic Entomology

Forensic Entomology is the study of insects found in and/ around a dead body. Think of Grissom on CSI: Las Vegas. He loved his bugs and used them to solve crimes.

• Necrophagous are the insects that are found on corpses.

• Insects can disturb and affect the crime scene. They can walk through blood and leave tracks. They can ingest blood, and then leave deposits elsewhere.

• Insects found on a body may point to a specific location based on the natural habitat of the insect and the material they eat.

• You can determine time of death based on insect activity and life cycle stage

• Forensic entomology can be used in helping to solve criminal, civil, food contamination, and abuse cases.

• The use of forensic entomology was started in the 14th century in China

• In the novel, Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris, the rare moths were one of the ways the FBI was able to find the serial killer

• Child killer, Kevin Neal, was convicted using forensic entomology

• Dr. Neal Haskell is one of the most renowned forensic entomologists and has participated in hundreds of trials.

• If you are a forensic entomologist, you can join NAFEA (North American Forensic Entomology Association.


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Resources:

http://www.forensic-entomology.com/

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/forensics/kevin_neal/13.html

http://www.saintjoe.edu/academics/biology/haskell.html

http://www.nafea.net/

All About the Digits

1. The study of fingerprints is called Dactylography

2. Fingerprints are identified using three patterns: whorls, loops, and arches.

3. No two fingerprints are alike even on identical twins.

4. Most commonly used forensic evidence worldwide

5. The AIST (Academy of Investigation Services & Training) offers a fingerprint identification course.

6. IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) database is used by more than 20,000 agencies worldwide for the identification of fingerprints

7. Fingerprints are produced by the sweat and oil in your fingers

8. Normally, when you injure a finger, the same fingerprint pattern appears on the new skin. If you damage the inner skin layer, you may have a new fingerprint pattern.

9. Gangster John Dillinger tried removing his fingerprints but dipping his fingers in acid. It didn’t work

10. Fingerprints are the “pegs” that connect your outer skin to the inner skin layer

Resources:

http://www.forensicsciencecentre.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=48

 http://odyb.net/forensics/5-facts-about-the-fingerprint/

http://fingerprintcourse.com/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2004-08-06-wonderquest_x.htm

My First Novel Being Published by Evernight Teen

I'm so excited to announce that my first young adult mystery will be published by in Spring 2013. I plan to resurrect my blog and chronicle the journey to publication while working a full time job, plus being a mom, and continuing my MFA from Seton Hill.

How to Critique with Finese

One of my favorite things about my Writing Workshop class is reading the amazing work of my classmates. One of our directives is to note three things that we love and then we post three questions we have about the pages. I like this approach alot better than picking out something positive then picking out something negative, then ending with something positive.

I don't think it's our place as a critiquer to point out the negative. Is there really a negative? Isn't it really about helping the author produce the best manuscript possible? That's why I like the question approach. Maybe something isn't clear or it didn't come across as the author intended.

For my own critiques, I plan to focus on the similar comments that several people mentioned. Those are the areas that obvious aren't working.

It's interesting that I feel like I'm becoming a better writer by critiquing 70 pages a week. I also love reading the critiques that I'm getting from my classmates and an instructor. I'm always amazed that I have looked at my pages hundreds of times and have not seen something so obvious.

There's such a level of trust in handing over your literary babies and saying "Okay, tear them apart, so I can make them better." It's scary but it's so worth it.

So go out there and find a great critique group.