One of my writing books says that if a scene appears absolutely brilliant, then it's got a higher chance than normal of being deleted later

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Thanks, Deb, for making clear what I was trying to say.

And I think you should hold onto it, too, Susan. There will most likely be a place --even a need--for it sometime.

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One of my writing books says that if a scene appears absolutely brilliant, then it's got a higher chance than normal of being deleted later

I'd say that's true when I'm deliberately showing off as I write, but most of the time when something comes to me in a flash of inspiration and I think, "Wow, that's GOOD," it really is. Which is why I'm still feeling a little pouty about my prologue--it was a total flash of inspiration experience.

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WOOT! First review of Famous Flower of Serving Men is in. From Kirkus Reviews:

A mournful French ghost haunts a London theater.

Small-scale theatrical producer and actress Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes is surprised and thrilled to learn that she has inherited a beautiful London theater from distant French aunt Marie-Therese, who attended Penny's recent productions of three classic French tragedies. The unused Bellefield's prime location has Penny dreaming of a less nomadic existence for her troupe. When she visits the building, she notices a pervasive foul smell but isn't disquieted until the odor's gone on her next visit. Meantime, Penny's longtime lover, traveling musician/sometime contractor Ringan Lane, agrees to help with needed renovations. On their first visit together to the Bellefield, Penny hears muted French voices. Ringan does not, but when he's thrown roughly from a ladder after a more insistent auditory assault, the couple is uncomfortably reminded of their encounter with ghosts the previous year (The Weaver and the Factory Maid, 2003). A little digging unearths the story of Eleanor, the Bellefield ghost. Still, plans for the inaugural production, Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, proceed apace until Penny gets in hot water with investor David Harkins when he learns that she's kept Eleanor from him. When workman Ray Haddon dies of a fear-induced heart attack, Penny knows she must release the ghost.

Welcome darker undertones expand the range of the debut's refreshingly offbeat sleuthing, more focused this time on unraveling an academic puzzle than exposing a killer.

Publication Date: 11/17/2004
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 0-312-33387-0
Price: $22.95
Author: Grabien, Deborah

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Hooray for Deb!

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Oh, very nice, Deb!

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Deb, that ROCKS!!!

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I've often wondered, after years of reading reviews of my own books, if there's some sort of regulation that makes certain a book reviewer will get at least three facts wrong.

In this one? The ghost isn't Eleanor, it's her mother Agnès. The "recent performance" was eleven years earlier. And David Harkins isn't an investor, he's the senior actor in her troupe.

Still, I will so very much take this one.

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That's cool, Deb. The reviewer liked it and she spelled your name right. That's about all you can ask for.

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Okay, I'm a little late to the game. Just emailed you the Kirkus Review!

Woot!

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