Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Guest Author: Deanna Raybourn

I'm so pleased to have Deanna Raybourn visiting here today. We were both double RITA finalists with our first books, and I think we always hold a special place in our hearts for authors who jumped at the same time with us on this crazy publishing bandwagon.

She's a wonderful writer, a lovely person, and she has a new book out in her Lady Julia Grey mystery series. So enough from me. Here's Deanna. ...


This is the month that Dark Road to Darjeeling hits bookstores, and I could not be happier to share this book with readers!

For me, writing Dark Road to Darjeeling was a chance to combine three of my favorite things—tea, travel, and mystery. It was also a chance to revisit my series after my stand-alone release, and I was absolutely thrilled to write about these characters again. I am very comfortable in my late Victorian series, and my main characters--the aristocratic Lady Julia Grey and the private enquiry agent, Nicholas Brisbane--have become old friends at this point. In writing this book, I reached 450,000 words in the series! It is an unbelievable luxury to be able to spend almost half a million words writing about the same characters. It has given me a chance to explore them much more fully than if I had written a single book about Lady Julia’s adventures as an amateur sleuth, and I certainly would not have had the space to delve into her fascination for Nicholas. Their relationship has been able to evolve slowly over the course of the books, and it has been an incredible tease for readers to keep turning pages, wondering if they will ever get together.

Dark Road to Darjeeling answers that question definitively. The now-married sleuths are still on their honeymoon when Julia’s eccentric family appeals to the newlyweds solve a murder. They travel to the furthest reaches of the sub-continent of India--into the very foothills of the Himalayas to a tea plantation where the atmosphere is thick with secrets--in order to save an old friend. There is danger and intrigue around every corner, and for the first time, I have introduced an arch-villain whose greatest pleasure would be to thwart Nicholas and Julia at every turn.

This book also marks the first time I have helped make a book trailer video for the Julia Grey series. It was a tremendous amount of fun to choose the images and the music, and my husband assembled the pieces. Just to make it interesting, we set ourselves the challenge of making it with absolutely no budget whatsoever. We used photos we had taken during our various trips, and found royalty-free music to set a perfect mood. I hope you enjoy this exotic and atmospheric peek at Dark Road to Darjeeling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WkMTB_GafI

Deanna

9 comments:

Helen Brenna said...

Again, Deanna, welcome!

Awesome trailer - some really great old photos!

I love that you've been able to marry off your characters and still keep interest high in their relationship and adventures. Kudos!

Did you have any input for this cover? It's stunning.

Michele Hauf said...

Welcome, Deanna! Nifty trailer! And that cover is absolutely gorgeous. Congrats on the new release!

Christie Ridgway said...

Deanna: Gorgeous images on the trailer. The book sounds wonderful. My mom is a big mystery fan and I'm definitely going to pass the word along to her as well.

My husband could probably get into the trailer-making...I'm going to show him what you and yours were able to do!

Debra Dixon said...

First...how perfect is your author picture? I'd have to hate you but Helen says your aces. So, I'm going to pretend you don't look like that when you get out of bed in the morning and the photo shoot only produced this one anomalous pic, which happened to be perfect.

I'm so glad you're guesting today because we just got my mom a Kindle. It should be arriving today and guess what I'll be downloading?

SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY is the first book, right?

Cindy Gerard said...

Hi Deanna
I agree with Deb. GREAT photo.
And I loved your trailer.
Welcome to the 'vert and I have no doubt this book will sell like crazy.
Congrats!

Kathleen Eagle said...

Deb, SILENT IN THE GRAVE was the first book in the series, and it's fantastic. The first sentence is one of the best hooks out there. When we talk about hooks in my classes at the Loft, that's one of the best examples I offer. The best part is that the book lives up to the hook. LOVE Brisbane. I've recommended that book to literally hundreds of...

Oh, hello, Deanna. We were just talking about you. Welcome to the convertible! Great trailer. Great promo picture. Dandy cover. REALLY great news about your new book. On my next journey I'll be taking the Dark Road to Darjeeling. Can't wait!

Keri Ford said...

Congrats on the release! These books sound like a lot of fun and nothing you normally hear about.

Anonymous said...

That was a lovely trailer! And the cover art is stunning! I'm probably way off here but I keep imagining that Julia and Nicholas are a Victorian version of Nick and Nora (2 of my all time favorite characters). This series is definitely going on my birthday list:)

Deanna Raybourn said...

OMG, I was so engrossed in my research for Julia Grey #6, I completely missed that this went up!! So sorry to be late to the party--and thanks for the warm welcome.

Helen is on my list of favorite people ever because at this year's RWA, she offered me a place to crash when all the rooms were full. I didn't have to take her up on it, but she still gets full brownie points for the offer!

Christie, the trailer-making is a thing we love doing together. If you want some tips to get started, give me a holler. You can email me at deannaraybourn(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Debra, I have a superb photographer. I give her all the credit--along with Lancome! ;-)

Helen, I didn't have any input in the cover at all, but I think it's divinely lovely. They've been very good to me!