Taking 'Lies Agreed Upon' Discussion Beyond Genre

One of the key ingredients of a good book club meeting is a set of good discussion questions. Thought-provoking talking points help readers to go beyond plot, style and personal experience. They get readers to "think out of the box" to consider deeper, universal themes and to look at a book from different and perhaps uncomfortable angles. My book club doesn't usually deal with genre mysteries, romances or sci-fi because genre books don't often lend themselves to much discussion. I wanted my mystery, Lies Agreed Upon, to be an exception. So, in putting together discussion questions for the book, I tried to avoid a focus on the plotted "how" of crime, investigation and solution, or even the "who done it," since these questions generate little debate. I tried to direct the reader to think about the "whys" of tragedy: the ambiguity and malleability of character, the impact of social and historical injustices, the role of toxic family dynamics, the universal vs. the local viewpoint, and the shadows cast on the present by the past. Hopefully, these are issues that rouse differing opinions and reveal nuances in the story that enrich the reading experience. At the same time, I tried to craft discussion questions to avoid "spoilers." To see my suggested discussion questions, go to http://authorkatherinesharma.com/discussion-questions-1.html. I invite readers to share and post more talking points, of course!

Read the Kirkus Review of 'Lies Agreed Upon'

Kirkus, a trusted authority in book discovery since 1933, has posted a review of my self-published debut mystery, Lies Agreed Upon, and it's a generally positive assessment of my Indie effort. Quoting from the review: "Sharma portrays New Orleans as beautiful, corrupt, complicated, secretive and tragic—far more than just an atmospheric backdrop for Tess’ genealogical investigations. She skillfully shows how the family betrayals, murders, lies and vengeance Tess uncovers are inextricably linked with New Orleans’ history, racial and sexual politics, and geography. The author handles dialogue (and dialect) well, which gives vitality to her large, varied cast, and she depicts Tess herself [my protagonist] as likable, enterprising and sympathetic." There is criticism for the extra effort required to follow the "complicated family relationships," even with the family tree supplied for reference (which unfortunately doesn't render as well in e-readers). That's something some readers have also noted in their review posts on Amazon and Goodreads. But the Kirkus reviewer still concludes, as do most Goodreads and Amazon review posts, "That said, Sharma paces the novel well, gradually unfolding layers of mystery until the final truth is revealed." The novel is summed up as "an often engaging New Orleans mystery with romantic and humorous touches." To address the one recurring point of criticism, I am mulling whether to scatter excerpts of the family tree at strategic points in the book. Would it overemphasize genealogy and drag at pacing further, or would it help? What do you think, readers? For the full review, go to https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/katherine-d-sharma/lies-agreed-upon/

When a 'Bad' House Joins the Cast of Suspects

Without giving away my next mystery plot, I can reveal that a strange old house is going to figure among the murder "suspects." I'll be drawing in part on memories of an old Victorian home that my parents rented briefly when I was a teen. The "gray elephant," as they dubbed it, had many unsettling quirks. For example, my bedroom was upstairs at the back and was pierced by four doors: a door from the upstairs hall, a door to the servants' stair from the kitchen below, a door to a cavernous closet under the eaves, and a door to narrow steps up to the attic. At precisely 2 a.m each night, all those doors, if not firmly closed, would open together on their own, with eerily groaning hinges and sighs of musty air from their black portals! It was definitely scary, and it became my nightly ritual to carefully check that every door was tightly shut before climbing into bed. There was probably a logical explanation, but it was natural to suspect unseen, hostile forces. And like most old places, the house had its share of unhappy past occupants and deaths. Many people believe houses can develop a "negative energy," whether paranormal entities or the lingering aura of past residents. Just witness the success of modern "paranormal investigators," feng shui planners, and the "space clearing" services featured in a June article in the elite New York Times. I don't believe the old "gray elephant" was haunted in the usual sense, but it did seem to have the sort of dark magnetism that would repulse positive, upbeat buyers and so favor unhappy histories. I will leave it to future readers to decide whether my fictional house is the cause or the result of unpleasant human energies. Have you ever experienced a "bad vibe" house? If so, for a rather tongue-in-cheek NYT article on space clearing, see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/garden/scrubbing-the-house-right-down-to-the-vibes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Life's Disturbing, Inexplicable 'Coincidences'

"Coincidence? I think not" has become a parodied dialog line in paranormal tales. It is inspired by "synchronicity," which is a fancy way of describing the experience of seeing two or more events as meaningfully related, even though they are unlikely to be causally related and may not be simultaneous in time. For example, suppose you are reminiscing about a beautiful rose garden when a total stranger hands you a bouquet of roses and walks away. Suppose you dream that a friend is in the hospital, and the next day you learn the friend has just been in a car accident. The concept of synchronicity was first described by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in the 1920s. Skeptics say the human mind is programmed to find patterns, to the point of connecting random events. Others see evidence of worlds beneath or beyond the everyday. I'm not a writer of paranormal fiction, so I generally use the plot spice of synchronicity sparingly. But since most of us have experienced inexplicably interconnected events at some point, a fictional world without any "synchronicity" also seems both unreal and uninteresting. Have you experienced "synchronicities" that impacted you significantly? For more explanation, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity