August 2016
On Sale: August 2, 2016
Featuring: Ruth Clagan
304 pages ISBN: 0425275531 EAN: 9780425275535 Kindle: B01839Q4HM Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Last spring I was on a panel at Malice Domestic, and Margaret Maron was
moderating. She was asking questions about JUST KILLING TIME, the
first book in this series. She wondered if anyone in my family was a clock
maker, since my protagonist Ruth Clagan had such a palatable love for clocks.
No one in my family is a clock maker. But research for this series has made me
passionate about them, and I’m happy if that spills onto the page. What has my
research taught me?
Being a clockmaker takes years of learning and
apprenticeship. Like writing (or acting, or playing a musician), talent
is important. But as important, maybe more, is spending time learning your
craft. I admire people who dedicate themselves to learning as part of how they
make their living. Especially when actually making a living isn’t a given.
Clocks are beautiful on the outside. If you go to the
American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol Connecticut, you will see dozens and
dozens of clocks and watches. Some clocks are “just” clocks, but most are also
pieces of art unto themselves. Cabinetry, painted faces, choice of clock hands,
size, style. Details matter on clocks, and they speak volumes about the owners
of the timepieces.
Keeping time is an amazing thing. Think about it—a hundred
years ago, clocks were the only way people could tell time. Now, we are all
synched to the second with our cell phones, but for a long time there was an
“ish” factor about clocks. (“What time is it?” “Twoish.”) Precision wasn’t
necessary, but the desire to capture time has been part of us for a long time.
Once the industrial revolution started, two things happened. First, trains
started running all over the country. Second, timing of the trains had to be
precise. So a standard for railroad watches came into practice, so all
conductors would be able to be on the same schedule. I find that amazing—we had
to capture time, and made watches that did just that.
As the need to capture time, some of the artistry of timekeeping has been lost.
More and more clocks are electric, which puts clockmakers like Ruth Clagan out
of business. Except that old timepieces are passed down from generation to
generation, and keeping them running isn’t just about keeping time. It is about
preserving memories.
I love writing the Clock
Shop Mystery series, and learning more about clocks. I used to take them for
granted, but no longer. I always stop and look, ask questions, listen to
stories. I am passionate about clocks, and glad that spills over onto the page.
Julianne Holmes is the author of Just Killing Time, the debut
novel in the Clock Shop Mystery series and is the pseudonym for J. A. (Julie)
Hennrikus, whose short stories have appeared in the award-winning Level Best
Books. She serves on the boards of Sisters in Crime and Sisters in Crime New
England, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America.
Expert clockmaker Ruth Clagan has another murder on her hands in the
second Clock Shop Mystery from the author of Just Killing Time.
Ruth has three days to pull off four events—including the grand reopening of
Cog & Sprocket, the clock shop she inherited from her grandfather—so she
doesn’t have time for Beckett Green’s nonsense. The competitive owner of a new
bookstore, Green seems determined to put other businesses out of business
by also carrying their specialty items. He’s trying to steal Ruth’s new
watchmaker, Mark Pine, not to mention block her plans to renovate the town clock
tower.
Ruth is already all wound up when she’s alarmed to discover Mark’s dead body.
As the denizens of Orchard each chime in as to who they think the murderer is,
Ruth needs to watch her back as she investigates on her own. Despite the danger,
Ruth won’t stop until the killer is behind bars and serving time...
Mystery Cozy [Berkley Prime Crime, On Sale: August 2, 2016, Mass Market
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780425275535 / eISBN: 9780698164307]
Not entering but loved this interview! I have two antique clocks and am fortunate enough to have a clock maker to tend them (Kathleen Bylsma 4:29pm August 15, 2016)
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