My father lectured his children on the importance of completing a task. Love it or hate it, nothing in life should be left unfinished. Thinking of this now, at the age of eighty, I smile. The journey that ended with the publication of my first mystery, The Curtain Falls in Paris, began in 1996. (Yes, 1996, that’s no typo!)

After having lived in Paris for nearly five years, I moved back to the States, settling in Silicon Valley. (I was supposed to stay there for three months to study the language, but… well, it was Paris.)  Before Paris, I was earning my living as a freelance writer for high-tech companies, and I was able to fall back into that work within weeks. And why not? I was brilliant at writing with knowledge and authority about new technologies. The fact that I understood absolutely nothing never got in my way.  

I awoke one morning, turned on the PC, and got to work. I think it was a user manual for a new Hewlett Packard integrated software system. It was a total mystery to me, but I wrote as if my financial life depended on it… which it did. As I conjured reader-friendly text, a thought passed through my head. While sleeping, had I dreamed something? A story? I went back to the HP work, but the thought persisted. Had I awakened myself in the middle of the night, turned on the PC and typed the story? I looked at the desktop and there it was, a Word file called mystery…. three single-spaced pages describing a murder that takes place in a Paris theater.  

So, here’s where my father’s advice comes in. Over the next twenty-eight years, I wrote the story, revised, tore it apart, and revised it again… and again. During that time, I created seven anthologies. My agent loved all of them, but not my Paris mystery. She criticized with kindness, but told me with sadness that she couldn’t send it out. She was right. It was disjointed; there was no continuity. I kept editing. Finally, when it was clear she couldn’t get behind the novel, I sought another agent.

It was my great fortune that agent Darlene Chan, from the Linda Chester Literary Agency, loved the story. We both knew something was amiss, but couldn’t decide exactly what. With great hope, it went out to editors. Many of the rejections came with praise about the writing, the story, the characters, and several of these editors noted that something was missing… but they weren’t sure what.  

When it was sent to Level Best Books, everything changed. Shawn Reilly Simmons came back with an offer. And not only an offer, but an editing suggestion. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Chapter Four, describing the murder, should be Chapter One. Who couldn’t see that? Well, for starters, me!

And so my relationship with Shawn and Level Best Books began. On May 13, nearly thirty years after that dream, The Curtain Falls in Paris was published.

Does the final product resemble the 1996 dream? I’d say as much as 90% of the original story is in this novel. Same characters, a few name changes, a few country villages added, but the plot is the same.

So, what’s the story?

San Francisco-based journalist Aria Nevins is on the cusp of international prominence with her series on drug abuse. When she suffers a lapse in judgment and short-cuts the fact-check process, an innocent woman dies. She’s dismissed from the paper, removed from Pulitzer consideration, and faces a civil suit from the victim's family. Georges de Charbonnet, a major player with the Paris police, needs to stop the bleeding after weeks of bad press around the death of a young man in custody. He hires Aria to follow a homicide team, led by Noah Roche, and write about their diligence.

With French parents and much of her life in France, Aria sees a way out of the spotlight, a break from the shame brought upon herself and her family. She learns that Roche has attained a high rank without the benefit of the bourgeois family ties many have used to get ahead. He’s respected, but he is not liked, especially by de Charbonnet. She senses that if she writes about Roche’s failings, de Charbonnet can justify appointing someone more fitting to take his job. Before she even meets Roche, she feels trapped in the middle of the judgments of these two men.

Roche bristles at Aria’s arrival. He resents an outsider—an American, a journalist, and a woman—subjecting his team to round-the-clock scrutiny. And he knows how much de Charbonnet would love to demote him.

At Roche and Aria’s first meeting, there is mutual dislike. And then she mentions attending a play that night and Roche is gobsmacked. It's a one-night-only performance of Hamlet’s Father and the hottest ticket in Paris. The lead actors are iconic octogenarians Solange and Bertrand Gabriel, whose careers were launched in these same roles fifty years earlier—and who happen to be old friends of Aria’s family, as is the play's preeminent director Max Formande. Aria has an extra ticket—her mother is too ill to join her—and hopes that her largesse might soften Roche a bit. She gives him the ticket.

They meet at the theater and the tension remains, not helped when, during a quick intermission, she pulls out her recorder and begins to interview him. As Act II of the play begins, Solange Gabriel throws out a cue for actress Camilla Rodolfo, but it goes unanswered… twice. She exits stage left. Director Max Formande finds Roche and begs him to come backstage. With Aria close behind, they go to Camilla’s dressing room and find her brutally murdered.

Roche gets to work. His first move is to call his two dedicated young detectives, Anuj Kumar and Tenna Berglof. Again, Roche expresses resentment when he sees Aria recording everyone. But how can she not? This has the makings of a big story; she can feel it in her bones. And dogging Roche and his team is what she was hired to do.

The plot, as they say, thickens. (Who “they” are, I’ve no idea!) First there’s the dead actress, and then the attempt to kill young Joseph, the lighting technician. Why is actor Anton Delant making this investigation so difficult? Clearly, he has much to hide. And the elderly Gabriels? Outrageous as it seems, all evidence points to them. As Aria and Roche peel away the layers, they discover that appearances are not only deceiving, they can be deadly.
 
It gives me great pleasure that nearly every reviewer admits to being surprised when they learn who the killer is. I’m reminded of mystery writer Anne Perry’s comment about revealing the murderer: surprise is great, as long as it makes sense. So, the response “I didn’t see that coming, but there were hints all along the way!” is truly satisfying. I hope The Curtain Falls in Paris offers a few good surprises for all readers.

Sometime in my fifties, my mother told me that I was a late bloomer. Now that I’m eighty, and with several novels coming out in the next three years, I wonder what she’d say. As for my father? His insistence that I never quit, never give up, and follow every project to completion has paid off.
 
Victoria Zackheim is the author of novels "The Bone Weaver" and "The Curtain Falls in Paris" (May 2025), with two sequels (2026, 2027).  She is the creator/editor of seven anthologies, including the international bestseller "The Other Woman", adapted to the theater and performed in several dozen theaters across the United States, and Faith. She wrote the documentary "Where Birds Never Sang: The Story of Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps", which aired nationwide on PBS. She teaches creative nonfiction in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and is a frequent conference speaker and writing instructor in the US and abroad. A freelance editor, Victoria has worked with many authors on their novels and memoirs. She is a San Francisco Library Laureate and lives in Northern California.   

Winston Churchill is credited with saying “Never, never, never give up.”  Even though attempting to be a published author isn’t the same as surviving the Nazis’ bombings, Churchill’s mantra has echoed in my head for decades and has helped me keep my spirits afloat through pages and years of rejection letters, or worse, the echo of silence.

While I often say that I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was seven, it wasn’t until I received my MFA in my 40’s that I felt worthy enough to officially try. Did I need the MFA to write? No, but I did need it for courage, community, and a push—I had to write to justify the graduate school expense. Also, craft, as we know, can be taught, and I did have a lot to learn. I still do.

But, two, three, four years out of graduate school, and I still hadn’t published my original novel. No agent had an interest in me, and I grew tired of rewriting it over and over and over to make it better. (Was I actually making it better, anyway?) 
Then, by chance, I took a seminar given by Steve Berry, successful thriller writer. He shared that his first seven novels were still in a drawer. “Keep writing,” he said to the class.

His comment gave me permission to start a new story. That novel didn’t sell either. 
I wrote a third one. It also didn’t sell.

So, I wrote a fourth. Then a fifth. 
With the sixth, I thought I had a winner. Who isn’t intrigued by the Lizzie Borden saga? Nope. Struck out again.

All six novels are still in a “drawer,” so to speak.

Another turning point came when I gave up my search for a literary agent. I’m not anti-agent, at all, but coming up with a different mindset was freeing. The first glimmer of this idea came from a zoom conference that had representation from the three main avenues to publication: self-published, traditionally published with an agent, and traditionally published without an agent.  The latter had had an agent, for years, who never sold his book. He finally struck out on his own and landed a contract with a small press.

I also attended a conference where multiple writers spoke of agents who had found editors who were interested in publishing their work, but the editorial board of the publishing houses voted the works down. 
I thought of my years of struggling to find an agent to only have another round of disappointment heaped on if the agent never sold my work. “Why let two hundred and fifty people dictate my writing career?” I said to myself.  I know there are more than two hundred and fifty agents, but it seemed for my genre, I kept running into the same ones online and at conferences. Going beyond the agent process mentally opened me up to new possibilities. 
My friend and fellow writer, Cheryl, always says that until we actually land a book contract, we write in the dark. Even though we have feedback in our writers’ groups, we never know if what we’re really doing just needs a tweak here or there, because, commercially, agents and editors dismiss us. We have no true validation of our work.

One day, I also asked Cheryl for creative advice. “Should I rewrite my fifth or sixth novel, or start the Midcoast Maine Mystery series?” I had pages of notes for the 3M series, as I call it.

“Start fresh,” she said. “Start that series.” 
As she said the words, a raven sat on a branch outside of my window. 
“Ok,” I said, “and my protagonist’s name is Raven.”

Raven Oueltte was born in my seventh novel, Blaze Orange. The book was set up to fit into a series mold, not to compromise myself or to write to the market, but to recognize that if I wanted to be a true mystery writer, I could follow a character-driven plot formula with all the ideas that I had been gathering. Yes, Maine is a character too. There’s a reason so many mystery writers live here. 
Finally, my story worked! Level Best Books will publish Blaze Orange, the first in a series, in January.  I couldn’t be more elated.  Fourteen years and seven novels later. While I always say to never give up, and I hadn’t, it still all feels like a dream.

If you have a dream, whatever it is, keep at it—keep learning, and listening to feedback, and trying again, and again, and again. Unless it’s becoming a ski jumper in the next Olympics, chances are it’s never too late for you either.

​Allison Keeton lives in Maine with her muse, Tom, and their two dogs. 

She has twice been accepted into Rutger University’s invitation-only writers’ conference and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. Additionally, she received an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University.

Besides writing mysteries, she has written numerous business articles and published a book on job hunting called Ace that Interview. She also writes a creative non-fiction blog, Largest Ball of Twine.

It’s hard to believe it’s already the end of 2023, and the new year is only a few days away. Time has passed quickly, and while that’s a cliche, it seems especially true this year.
It’s been twelve months since I wrapped up my cancer treatments, having spent all of 2022 going back and forth to Baltimore every week until I finally turned the corner at Thanksgiving that year. While some memories are beginning to fade around the edges from that traumatic time, much of it still feels like it just happened, even though I now have the whole of 2023 under my belt without anyone poking me or pumping me full of chemo yuck.
My focus this year has been on rebuilding, repairing, reevaluating, restoring, and reassessing every aspect of life and work.

It’s been a lot of hard work to catch things up, get back to normal, and rebuild every aspect of life from zero, all the while dealing with the small whispers in the back of my mind I could be called back down to Baltimore any minute to start treatments up again. But after each checkup, I gained more confidence that I was truly done with all that and out of the woods. PTSD is common among survivors, and I’m here to tell you, it’s a thing.
As a former runner, it was such an achievement, both mentally and physically, to simply start walking every morning. I could only make it to the corner and back at first, then around the block, and now I can go as many miles as I want.

That training came in very handy when I made it to Bouchercon in San Diego, where I connected with over forty “Besties.” I was fit and ready to meet with so many of you for one-on-one meetings on multiple days. Our “selfie” photos were so popular I had people messaging me when they hadn’t seen one of you yet (I even had one person ask if I could do one with Rhys Bowen….not a Bestie…). We went “mystery world viral” at Bouchercon! It truly was a magical trip and a highlight of my year, spending time with so many of our authors. We’re so proud of you. Seeing so many of you in one place was amazing. 

In November, I was invited to be the keynote speaker at an oncology/hematology conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The attendees were all healthcare professionals, everyone from medical staff to insurance firms to legislators who advocate for cancer patients and research funding on Capitol Hill. The theme of my speech was staying positive through cancer treatments. It was my first time giving an hour-long speech, an experience I’ll never forget. The audience consisted of people who have dedicated their careers to helping people like me, people who deal with this devastating disease on a daily basis and I had them laughing and crying at different points during my speech. But the main point was they appreciated hearing about my experience and what things are like from a patient’s perspective, especially a patient who remained positive through some of the worst medical experiences you can imagine. The title of my speech was “What Kind of Life Do You Have?” and my answer is I have a pretty great life, regardless of everything that’s been thrown my way from the very beginning to today. It’s a well-known thing in their line of work: patients who stay positive almost always fare better through treatment than those who don’t. I believe this concept applies to everything we choose to take on in life.

Writing this speech (9,000 words!) wasn’t hard for me. I have always lived a life of gratitude and thankfulness. Every morning, it is my habit when I first wake up to say “Thank You,” and then I list all the things I’m grateful for. My list begins with the new day, my good health, and my loving family, then radiates out to include things like living in a beautiful and safe place, owning a home, having friends I can count on, working in a career I love…the list goes on. Every day on my list, I offer thanks and gratitude for Level Best Books, those of us who own and work at the publishing house, the business we’ve built, the relationships we’ve developed, and the ever-growing list of talented authors we publish.

Verena and I could not have predicted what this year would look like eight years ago when we decided to take on this press that was ceasing operation. I saw a post on Facebook, and for some reason, I knew we had to have it. A few weeks later, I was on my way to Boston to sign the papers to take ownership. Acquiring LBB was one of the luckiest and best decisions ever.
Each year, we grow by learning, improving, and refining, all while remaining grateful for all those stages of growth. It’s a business, so there are some days that are less fun or more challenging than others, like everything in life, but overall, we are so proud of where we are right now. Most of all, we are incredibly excited about the future. 

This was also a year of transition and change. We went from three partners to two and reassigned those affected authors to new primary editors. I am so grateful to be working with my newly acquired writers, and now the LBB workload is evenly distributed. In May, right after the convention, with a full year’s notice, I resigned from my paid position at Malice Domestic, at which time I turned over all duties, passwords, assets, sites, platforms, etc., and had multiple meetings, zooms, and calls to help ease the transition to my replacement(s). It was a difficult decision to leave a position I’d held for so long, but once you’ve been through what I have, things become very clear in the aftermath. While giving up a regular salary, I was stretched thin workwise, and the workload on the Malice board was nowhere near evenly distributed. I decided my focus going forward will always be on my health (physical and mental), my family, my writing, and our publishing business. That’s more than enough for anyone to manage well.

My “retirement” from convention planning didn’t last long, however. Two months later, Bouchercon recruited me to join their board, and I will co-chair Bouchercon in Washington, D.C., in 2027, along with Cheryl Head. I’m honored to have been asked and am excited to be working with a professional group of mystery convention planners—with an evenly distributed workload! 

In 2023, Level Best published 138 books. Each was read multiple times: to be acquired, for developmental edits, line edits, and proofread. Each book was formatted for publication in multiple formats by our wonderful production editor, who will always and forever remain nameless and anonymous. Cover art was created in-house for all but a handful of our titles (by me!).  In most cases, two to three designs per title were created for consideration (400 or so cover designs!). While, as the publisher, we have the final say on cover art, we like to see what our authors think and offer a variety of choices. Advance Review Copies were created, printed, and shipped to assist our authors in the promotion of their titles. We submitted our titles for review and award consideration and kept our fingers crossed for you all.

We were so proud this year to have had titles nominated for the Agatha, Lefty, Silver Falchion, Shamus (winner!), and Anthony Awards (I hope I’m not missing any!). We are thrilled by every nomination and good review our books receive. We are so excited every time we hear something has gone well for one of our authors, that they’ve had a new success, found a new fan, or gotten some well-deserved recognition, local press, or shout-out for their hard work. Our daily focus is to maintain the good energy going forward and keep the tide rising, the one that’s lifting all of the boats.

All of this is possible due to the dedicated staff at LBB. Verena and I are very grateful for Deb, the rest of our staff, and our wonderful in-house agent, Cindy Bullard. They all work hard daily to move the business forward, keep things under control, maintain editor sanity, and all matter of other things that may come up, no matter the situation.
We’ve been working on things behind the scenes to ensure 2024 is our best year yet. We’re very excited about the new marketing initiatives we’ve been developing, and as always, we are seeking new opportunities for our authors. More to come on all of that.

Now, when anyone asks me what kind of life I have, I do not hesitate. I’m grateful for everything that has happened, good, bad, and otherwise, and I’m very excited to see what this new year brings us all. 

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2024!

All the best and big love,
​
Shawn
​


Shawn Reilly Simmons is the author of nine novels in the Red Carpet Catering mystery series featuring Penelope Sutherland, chef-owner of a movie set catering company. She’s also written several short stories which have been published in various anthologies, including “Burnt Orange” in Passport to Murder: the 2017 Bouchercon Anthology; “The Prodigy” in Mystery Tour, the Crime Writers' anthology.

In addition to her own writing, Shawn is President and Managing Editor at Level Best Books, a crime fiction press with a roster of roughly two hundred authors. She hosts a weekly podcast, Five Compelling Questions with Shawn, where she chats with writers across all genres about writing.  She is also a co-host of the YouTube series We Are What We Read, which features authors highlighting books that have inspired and influenced them and their careers.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers’ Association in the UK, and a founding member of The Dames of Detection. Shawn served on the Board of Malice Domestic for over twenty years (2002-2023), where she welcomed hundreds of mystery writers and fans to the Washington, D.C. area each spring to celebrate the genre of Traditional Mystery and Agatha Christie. 

Shawn lives in historic downtown Frederick, Maryland, with her husband, son, and Dino, their very huggable French Bulldog.    

As I write this, I still can't believe my first cozy crime just published this December.
 
I love mysteries and always wanted to write one myself.
 
At the beginning of the pandemic, I had a lot of time on my hands, as many people did.
 
So I got to writing. Three and a half years later, Death in the Ozarks will be published by Level Best Books December 12.
 
So how did I get here?
 
My writing journey began with a novel idea way back in March 2000. That book became my Jewish LGBTQ historical fiction novel Caged Time I self-published with Mirador Publishing in February 2021.
 
From my research, I realized to get a literary agent and a publisher could be a bit easier if I already had something published, even self-published.
 
In June 2020, I self-published my business book, The Accidental Change Agent, a curated series of essays on a wide range of topics from communications, digital transformation, living abroad and more.
 
As the pandemic began, I sat down to write a murder mystery/cozy crime. I love reading mysteries and always wanted to my hand at my own. I did outline the basic story and the characters before I began writing. In a cozy crime, it is important to be clear on who could be the murderer and why and where before you begin. I sketched out several scenarios as I wasn't quite sure. But I also used the ideas to sprinkle clues throughout the book. The mark of a good mystery is allowing the reader to help solve the crime. You shouldn't hide key details or clues from them, in my opinion.
 
I was astounded that I finished the first draft in about 3 months. The writing just flowed, which it doesn't always.
 
So what next?
 
I reworked it myself but I believe it is essential to have an outside editor. You are too close to your writing.
 
I found a great editor through Reedsy and she helped me rework the story dramatically.
 
That's another important thing about writing. Your goal is to tell a great story, not cling to every word in the first draft. You won't be successful. Believe me, I know!
 
The editing and rework took some time, but by the beginning of 2021 I felt I was ready to try and pitch Death in the Ozarks to literary agents and small publishers.
 
I kept an extensive spreadsheet of people I had contacted once I started querying April 2021. In total I contacted 66 publishers or agents. I was so lucky to find my wonderful literary agent Cindy Bullard at Birch Literary. Finding her was really a quirk: it was through PitMad on Twitter (now X). Writers pitch with hashtags and agents and publishers like posts that they want to find out more about.
 
She has been such a strong supporter and was able to sell Death in the Ozarks to Level Best Books (in a three-book deal) in May 2022 and to Blackstone Audio for the audio version in July 2022.

Writing is a business. You, as a writer, need to treat your work that way. Also, writers need to understand that publishing is a business.

Book stores get hundreds of requests for signings. They have to outlay time and money for events for staffing, stocking books, and promotion. Many are choosy or reluctant to host unknown authors. Some will not host authors whose unsold books are not returnable. Find ways to sell your proposed signing (e.g. book talk on a subject that their shoppers would be interested in, providing a group of authors who can bring readers to the store, a marketing campaign for publicizing the event). Find out if they will let you provide the books on consignment.

Agents, editors, and publishers sign authors that they think they can sell their work. Sometimes, it’s not your writing. It could be that the topic/subject has been done before, and it will be hard to sell in your genre. Do your research of what is out there before you write the next bookshop or knitting mystery.

Publishers are looking several years ahead to fill their slots, and there are not a lot of openings on the dockets. It takes months/years sometimes for a book to be published traditionally. Make your manuscript the best it can be before you start querying.

Always be professional. It sounds like a no-brainer, but you want to be easy to work with. People tend to avoid the whiners, divas, and complainers.

Make sure that you are polished and that your marketing materials look professional.

• You need a professional headshot (not a selfie).
• Your social media sites, websites, newsletter, and business cards should have the same look and feel. (One shouldn’t be red while the others are pink and mint green.) The similar look and photo let people know that it’s your site.
• Make sure you have business cards with you at all times. You never know when a networking opportunity will appear.
• Have a press kit on your website with short and long biographies, headshots, your book credits, and a way to contact you.

​

Writing is a tough business. Everyone has feedback, and there are a lot of rejections. But there are things you can do to be prepared. Professionalism is key.