LOWCOUNTRY CRIME: Available NOW!

Tai Randolph is accustomed to murder and mayhem. As a tour guide in Savannah, she’s learned the tips are better when she seasons her stories with a little blood here, a little depravity there. She’s less experienced in real life criminality, however, preferring to spend her days sleeping late and her nights hitting the bars.

But when she gets the news that her trouble-making cousin has keeled over while running a marathon, Tai finds herself in a hot mess of treachery and dirty dealings. Worst of all, the clues lead her straight into the moonshine-soaked territory of the most infamous smuggler in Chatham County—her Uncle Boone.

“Trouble Like a Freight Train Coming” is a prequel to the Tai Randolph mysteries. It's set in Savannah several years prior to the inheritance of her Atlanta gun shop and her first encounter with security agent Trey Seaver, who ultimately becomes her partner in both romance and crime solving.

For readers familiar with the rest of Tai’s adventures, this story is a chance to watch her develop her sleuthing chops. For those meeting Tai for the first time...welcome to her slightly reckless, somewhat hungover, not-quite-respectable world. 

It’s just one of the stories in Lowcountry Crime: Four Novellas, which features crime fiction set in and around the coastal lowlands of Georgia and South Carolina. I'm honored to have writers Jonathon M Bryant, James M. Jackson, and Polly Iyer joining me.The anthology is available in both print and Kindle e-book; Tai’s novella is also available as a $1.99 standalone on Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Google Play.

Fine Print for Giveaways

As always...

The fine print: No purchase is necessary. You must be at least 18 years old to enter and must supply a mailing address in the continental US - if the winner does not have an address in the continental US, an e-book of the same edition will be offered as the prize. The winner will be notified through Facebook. Tina Whittle is not responsible for transmission failures, computer glitches, or lost, late, or returned email. Prize must be claimed within 5 days or it will be forfeited.

February is for Book Lovers!

To enter the Booklover's Bench drawing for the Samsung Galaxy Table A, click HERE.

To enter the drawing for the print or e-book copy of Lowcountry Crime: Four Novellas, click HERE.

To get your free copy of Not Even Past, a Tai & Trey Valentine's Day novella, click HERE.

 

Newletter Subscribers: Win a copy of LOWCOUNTRY CRIMES!

Tai Randolph is accustomed to murder and mayhem...of the fictional variety. As a tour guide in Savannah, Georgia, she’s learned the tips are better when she seasons her stories with a little blood here, a little depravity there. She’s less experienced in real life criminality, however, preferring to spend her days sleeping late and her nights hitting the bars. But when she gets the news that her trouble-making cousin has keeled over while running a marathon, Tai finds herself in a hot mess of treachery and dirty dealings. Worst of all, the clues lead her straight into the moonshine-soaked territory of the most infamous smuggler in Chatham County—her Uncle Boone.

Enter to win your copy of Lowcountry Crimes, featuring the Tai Randolph novella "Trouble Like A Freight Train Coming," a prequel to the series and just one of the four novellas in this anthology. The contest begins February 1st at midnight and runs until 11:59 on February 19th. Get your entry in today!


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The fine print: No purchase is necessary. You must be at least 18 years old to enter and must supply either an e-mail address compatible with Amazon Kindle US or a mailing address in the continental US. The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter from all entrants for the prize. The winner will be notified by email. Tina Whittle is not responsible for transmission failures, computer glitches or lost, late, or returned email. Prizes must be claimed within 5 days or they will be forfeited.

Win A Copy of "Small Favors"!

Threats. Stalkers. Sexy pirates. It's just another day on the job for Tai Randolph and Trey Seaver in "Small Favors," a between-book novella releasing October 25th for Amazon Kindle. And you can win your very own copy! See the entry below for all the ways that YOU can enter.

The contest begins at 5:15 Tuesday, October 11th and runs until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, October 19th.

The fine print: No purchase is necessary. You must be at least 18 years old to enter and must supply an e-mail address compatible with Amazon Kindle US. The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter from all entrants for the prize. The winner will be notified by email. Tina Whittle is not responsible for transmission failures, computer glitches or lost, late, or returned email. Prizes must be claimed within 5 days or they will be forfeited.

Winners to be announced Monday, October 24th.

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Secret Subscriber Only Giveaway

Thank you for being a newsletter subscriber, and for supporting my Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver mysteries. The 6th book in that series—Necessary Ends—is scheduled for an April 2018 release from Poisoned Pen Press.

Until then, please have a free short story on me! I've made all my independent works FREE on Tuesday, September 26th FOR ONE DAY ONLY! (except for "The Seventh Rule of Swimming" which will be free Wednesday 9/27, but which you can go ahead and read for free HERE).  See them all at my Amazon Author Page. But remember, this is just between us, so I'm keeping it on the QT.

Don't forget to enter the drawing below! The contest starts September 17th (my guy Trey's birthday) and runs through October 1st.

PS: Thanks again. You are appreciated. 


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For All The Pantsers Out There

*This is a re-post from 2011, but I got several questions at Murder Goes South about my very pantsy outlining process, so I'm sharing again.

Are you an Outliner or a Pantser? My guess is you know.

As a former English teacher, I'm supposed to be a fan of outlines. But here's my dirty little secret—I hate the things. I taught my students how to create them, use them, revise them, but deep inside I was all bletch.

And then I wrote a mystery novel without an outline, flying—as it were—by the seat of my pants. I went Pantser all the way, baby. It took me seven years to get the thing in somewhat novel-shaped form, and I swore I'd never do another mystery novel that way ever again. Outlines started looking pretty sexy.

But they're not. Outlines are mean snippy things, the schoolmarms of pre-writing. My Muse went on vacation. I was alone with the blank page, and the Outline was just sitting there, mocking me.

But then I got a visit from that other Muse—Desperation—and she suggested something radical. And so we have this thing now (see right).

This is my version of a timeline—the eight-day span of my novel with descending business card-sized chunks of the scenes that happen each day. I can see the WHOLE book this way, plus move bits and pieces around as I see fit (or even take them out). I still get to write like a Pantser—just diving right in, scribbling scene after scene, letting the story go where it will—but when I'm done, I have a very tactile, spatially-coherent way to give those scenes some order.

I stole this idea from Trey, one of my main characters. He likes things organized and linear (he loooves outlines) and this is one of his ways of making sense of a whole lot of information. And surprisingly enough, it worked for non-linear me. I could never create a book this way, but it sure helped while revising it. And I'll take all the help I can get (thanks, Trey. You're a mensch).

PS: For you word mavens out there, here is an interesting explanation of where the phrase "flying by the seat of your pants" actually originates.