Book Review: Her Deadly Web

Her Deadly Web is a true crime by Diane Fanning. It's the story of Raynella Dossett Leath who found her husband in bed, dead from an apparent suicide. There were some concerns, though. For one thing, apparently 3 shots were fired. And this wasn't the first husband Raynella had lost. And she doesn't wait too long before tying the knot again.

Rather than tell you the ending, I'll tell you what I liked about the book. Diane Fanning has written many true crimes. As in the past, she does extensive research, which shows in the pictures, detailed interviews, and court records. The people are real. Diane does not let you forget that these are real people.

But this story isn't just about the suspicious deaths of one woman's husbands. It's also the tale of how status in a community can act as a barrier between a high-standing suspect and police arrest.

I don't read much true crime, but when I do, I read ones written by Diane Fanning. She does so much research and has such a way of using the truth to bring the people to life.

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If you like true crime, I can recommend Her Deadly Web by Diane Fanning. If this had been fiction, I wouldn't have believed anyone could get away with such crimes for so long. I give Her Deadly Web a rating of Hel-of-a-Story.

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FTC Disclaimer: I bought Her Deadly Web with my own money. I don't like to spend money, but doing so did not influence my review. If Diane Fanning had given me the book, I would have liked it just as much. Either way, I consider Diane a friend. Which, when you think about it, is rather scary. She knows how to kill people. She's written and researched a lot of true crime books. Even been on TV shows as an expert. So she not only knows how to kill, she's probably figured out how to do it without getting caught. And she knows where I live, although I don't think she's ever been to my house. But I'm pretty sure she has GPS. Must stop. I’m scaring myself.

Diane Fanning

 Diane Fanning writes true crime books and mystery. And she’s really good at both. You might have caught her on TV programs like 48 Hours, 20/20, and Forensic Files, the blog, Women in Crime Ink, her personal blog, or at book signings or speaking engagements. She not only writes nonfiction and two mystery series, she’s a strong promoter, which authors have to be if they want to continue writing and selling. (We’ve talked a lot about that here on SFH.)

You might be thinking, well, it’d be fun to switch around. Write a true crime this year. A mystery next year, then a different mystery the next. That’s not Diane. She puts out multiple books each year - and when a true crime is gone to print, she’s not through because in a year or so she’ll most likely have to do an update on the book.

Today, she’s going to talk about her split personality. How she can switch from doing hours and days of hard-core research on horrific crime to making fiction characters come alive in readers’ minds.

Please welcome Diane Fanning.

SPLIT PERSONALITY

Maybe it’s because I was born on a cusp. Or maybe because my moon is in Gemini. Or maybe, simply, because I’m just not right. But I find myself very comfortable leading a double life.

I feel at home assuming two writer identities—one in non-fiction as a true crime writer, another in fiction as an author of mysteries. I seldom get confused about which hat I am wearing except for the times, like many writers, I forget that my fictional characters are not real people.

 My dual authorship, however, seem to befuddle a lot of folks. It is most evident at the release of a new fiction book. Now that MISTAKEN IDENTITY, the third in the Lucinda Pierce mystery series, is available on-line and in brick-and-mortar stores, I find myself explaining my dual writing roles quite often.

A lot of people make the assumption that because I have started writing fiction, I will stop writing true crime. In fact, I regularly get email from my True Crime fans pleading with me to continue writing those books. At this point in time, I have no intentions of abandoning that genre. Working in two worlds, teaches me something new nearly every day and makes me feel complete and fulfilled.

The first lesson I learned was that writers need to be voracious readers of every genre. I learn something about the craft from every book I read, no matter the genre or area of focus. A writer can pick up a useful tool from a nonfiction book about butterfly migration that can be used to add uniqueness and complexity to a fiction endeavor. Although constrained by reality, you can learn much about plotting and character development in a novel that can be applied to true accounts to keep the reader turning pages. Most important of all of these lessons, in my opinion, is the value of suspense.

Anything and everything that you read needs a strong element of suspense—something that keeps your reader turning the page because you’ve raised questions in your readers’ minds and made an unspoken promise to provide answers. Take a simple children’s book like ARE YOU MY MOTHER? by P.D. Eastman. Despite the cute drawings and continuous repetition, the book contains a very existential question about identity. And Eastman promises an answer by the time the book ends.

Another benefit of having a split personality as an author is that it fulfills so many of my loves and needs in life. Writing non-fiction gives me the pleasure of digging with abandon into infinite piles of documents, musty newspapers and vignettes of history—I’ve loved research since my first high school term paper. Certainly there are some opportunities for research in writing contemporary fiction but you must always be on guard to not let it consume your writing time. With a True Crime book, the research is the life blood of your work.

Additionally, in writing non-fiction, I have to speak to a lot of different people in diverse walks of life for assistance in the research aspect, for interviews, and for observation in various settings—there is simply no end to the one-on-one contact. And, in general, I really like people and enjoy the social interaction in the work sphere.

Finally, with True Crime, I know that I can make a concrete and positive difference in people’s lives. There is nothing more fulfilling than a mother telling me that one of my books saved her daughter’s life or getting an email from a domestic violence center who finds one of my true accounts important and an essential read or knowing that one of my books helped obtain a new trial for a wrongfully convicted woman. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Fiction writing, however, satisfies different needs. At times, I crave solitude and there is nothing more solitary that working week after week crafting and polishing a novel. It gives me a break from reading autopsy reports, looking at crime scene photos, crying with victims’ family members. It’s an escape to a welcoming world where I as a person cease to exist.

Writing fiction also provides an outlet for limitless expressions of creativity. In my non-fiction world, I am tied to facts, constrained by circumstances, bound tight by the truth. With fiction, the facts are of my choosing, the circumstances of my making and the truth only what I say it is and nothing more. If I don’t like the bad news in chapter four, I simply re-write it. If I don’t like my main character’s new best friend, I cut her from the manuscript. If someone is really getting on my nerves, I bump them off using any method I want without causing any grief to real people.

With a foot in fiction and another firmly planted in non-fiction, it might sound as if I am straddling a great divide. But to me, it feels like one place—a world of my own. I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

Thank you, Diane!

Diane’s latest book, Mistaken Identity, is now available online and in your favorite book store. Here’s the cover blurb:

In a cozy suburban home a woman’s body has been carefully laid out on a bed. She looks perfect, except for a single gunshot wound to the head. In the bathroom a bloody male corpse, missing both its head and its hands, is in the tub. When the victims’ thirteen-year-old son reacts to the deaths in a strange way, claiming his father is immortal and has sold his soul to the devil, Homicide Investigator Lucinda Pierce suspects that this family has something to hide.


Lucinda must uncover the secret that holds the key to the investigation, but news from her home town brings back painful memories and she must first overcome her emotional wounds, if she is to solve the case.

The comment section is open for you to ask questions or tells us about your own split personality.

A Savage Wisdom by Norman German

Today, our guest blogger is Dr. Norman German, a Professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University, Fiction Editor for Louisiana Literature, and Winner of the Deep South Writers' Contest for No Other World.

A specialist in twentieth-century American literature, he has also published award-winning short stories, poems, and literary criticism. His stories have appeared in commercial and literary magazines, including Shenandoah, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Sport Fishing, and Salt Water Sportsman. His scholarly articles cover a wide range of major American authors including Ernest Hemingway, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Raymond Carver, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, James Dickey, and Anthony Hecht.

You can also find him on Facebook.

He’s here today to tell us about his third book, A Savage Wisdom, his research and the trail that led him to write the book. Plus, he has a special purchase price for his book for Straight From Hel readers, so be sure you check the end of the post.

Welcome, Dr. German.

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“The Detective Work of a Writer” by Norman German

Put to death in 1942 for the 1940 Valentine’s Day murder of a Houston businessman, Toni Jo Henry is still the only woman ever executed in Louisiana’s electric chair.

Toni Jo’s story has intrigued me since childhood, when I would read about her in special features in the Lake Charles American Press, which tantalized readers with reproductions of her leggy portrait as a coddled death-row inmate.

When I decided to “novelize” her life, my four-year research led me to the newspaper archive room, legal documents, and Toni Jo’s gravesite.

First, I read dozens of newspaper articles on the murder, capture, trial, and execution. To create the dense, “textured” world of a novel, I immersed myself in magazines and popular histories from World War I to 1963 (JFK’s assassination).

From antique stores, I bought ten copies of magazines from the period, including Life, Look, Collier’s, and Saturday Evening Post. I read every article and studied every ad in order to realistically recreate the clothing, slang, and pop-culture icons of the era.

Two indispensable histories were Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s and Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America, both by Frederick Lewis Allen. However, my most valuable source was written by a hobbyist historian. New Orleans in the Thirties, by Mary Lou Widmer, includes hundreds of photographs chronicling the interior décor, men’s and women’s clothing styles, cuisine, and social customs reproduced in the novel.

For the 1950s, I ordered legendary journalist David Halberstam’s The Fifties. From Time magazine’s special issue “Time Capsule: 1950, The Year in Review,” I became familiar with everything from automobile models and colors to whiskey brands.

The authoritative source for the trial was the Southern Reporter, a series containing summaries of regional court cases—dull reading, indeed, but it led me back to the newspaper accounts describing the various parties in the courtroom. For example, during Toni Jo’s three trials, members of the courtroom audience often made slitting motions across their throats.

For years, I had heard the rumor that Toni Jo’s grave was not marked by a headstone for fear of vandalism. I went on my scavenger hunt in the Orange Grove-Graceland Cemetery on Broad Street, thinking to walk in concentric squares until I found her tombstone or proved the rumor valid.

I had two surprises. The first was coming upon the headstone within five minutes. The other was discovering that the name of Louisiana’s most notorious murderess had been misspelled. Annie Beatrice McQuiston, carved as “Anna,” adopted the name “Toni Jo” as a prostitute and became Toni Jo Henry upon marrying Claude “Cowboy” Henry, himself a murderer on the lam when he met Toni Jo.

From my research what I ultimately discovered was that Toni Jo was not a sympathetic character I could build a true-crime novel around, so I became interested in the idea of “rewinding” her life and recreating her as an ingénue deceived into a type of high-class prostitution. A Savage Wisdom thus became a study in deception and an exploration of identity development.

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Thank you, Dr. Norman. So many years of research, and it seems as though what you discovered changed your entire approach to her story.

If you’re interested in getting A Savage Wisdom for yourself or to give as a Christmas gift, I have good news. This month, to commemorate the gruesome anniversary, Dr. Norman is offering free shipping plus a discount on his book for orders placed at http://www.asavagewisdom.com through November. So instead of $14 plus shipping, paperback purchase is a flat $10.

Dr. German will be stopping by during the day to answer questions or say hi. You can also chat with him on Library Thing from now until November 26.

How about you? Have you done research that, in the end, changed your thinking or even your entire approach to the book?

Bookmark It!: Tru Crime Library

Do you write True Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller? Then you’ll probably want to bookmark Tru Crime Library.

You can research serial killers, gangsters, notorious murders, terrorists, even the criminal mind. Want to know more about the famous Son of Sam? You can study that case, and more, here on Tru Crime Library.

You might find a real criminal to pattern your antagonist after, or get ideas of motivation for your bad guy.

Be careful though. This site isn’t for the squeamish. And you might not want to read the stories alone in the house before going to bed!

Book Winner: Herise Poland Wright

Herise Poland Wright is the winner of The Trophy Exchange by Diane Fanning.

Diane Fanning was Straight From Hel’s July Featured Author and she held a drawing for a copy of the debut in her Lucinda Pierce series.

In November, Diane Fanning has a new true crime coming out – The Pastor’s Wife. This is the true story of the woman who killed her husband, Pastor Matthew Winkler. Diane goes beyond the headlines, into the whys and what really happened.

If you’d like to know more about Diane Fanning or any of her mysteries, true crimes or nonfiction, visit her website. And be sure to check out her home page for the announcement of Wright’s win of The Trophy Exchange.

Congratulations to Herise Poland Wright.

Featured Author: Diane Fanning

I’m so excited to have Diane Fanning stop by today. She’s a friend of mine and the hardest working writer I have ever met. The woman has a whole slew of true crime books and two mystery series! Plus, she’s a sought after speaker and expert, a blogger and an activist.

The Trophy Exchange, the first in her Lucinda Pierce mystery series, is hot off the presses. Kirkus Reviews said:

Fanning has produced an exciting, emotionally intense story with a complex heroine whose future adventures will be widely anticipated.

Booklist called Fanning the “one to watch.”

Welcome Diane. Let’s get started!

Helen: You are the author of seven true crime books, a nonfiction book, and now you have two mystery series going. So far this year, if I'm counting right, you have two new True Crime Classics coming out, the first in your Lucinda Pierce mystery series premiering this month, a new true crime book, The Pastor's Wife, coming out in November, and you've already turned in the second in the Lucinda Pierce series to your publisher. Then there's the marketing and speaking engagements. Have I missed anything and how in the world do you juggle it all?

Diane: Helen, I wish I knew. It really makes no sense to me. Most days, I accomplish less than I want or expect. When I look at my daily output, I don't know how I ever managed to finish one book--let alone ten. Day-to-day, I am a big disappointment to myself but when I look out over the last six years at the body of my work, it blows me away.

And, by the way, the second Lucinda book, PUNISH THE DEED, is written and scheduled for release in the UK this December and in the US in March 2009

Helen: You recently signed a movie option for your 2007 true crime, Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case that Shocked America. (That may be in the running for the longest book title!) This is not the first time you've jumped into the media pool, though, since you've been on TV many times talking about the crimes you research. Tell us a bit about how Hollywood came a'calling.

Diane: It used to be that the books of true crime writers were in high demand in the Movie of the Week arena. Now, with the blossoming of reality television, few books are optioned with that purpose in mind.

When OUT THERE was optioned by the company that made THE QUEEN into an acclaimed movie, I was thrilled. The option itself is nice because it is like found money--not a lot but definitely appreciated. Of course, if is actually does become a movie, I'd get a lot more. But I think I'm even more excited about the prospect of seeing how my book is interpreted on the screen than I am with the cash.

Helen: You put a lot of effort into marketing your books. You sign, you speak, you have a page on MySpace and Facebook as well as an extensive website plus you blog. What advice can you give other writers on marketing and book promotion?

Diane: Sometimes I resent the time I spend on marketing because it takes me away from my writing and research. Then I remind myself that being a writer is part art and part business. When I approach it with a positive attitude, I find I actually enjoy a lot of what I do.

Most of all, I like speaking to groups large and small. I love the interaction with my readers and I love the opportunity to share what I've learned along the way with other writers or aspiring writers.

Blogging would make me nuts if I were engaged in a solo venture but I have been lucky enough to find the perfect niche for me. Women in Crime Ink is a blog with a team of other women--prosecutors and a defense attorney, cops and a private investigation, true crime writers and crime novelists, and even a psychologist. I get a lot of the benefits of having a blog without having to keep on top of it at all times as you do.

The most important thing to remember about being an author--particularly in the beginning--is that your name is your brand. Creating awareness of your brand is essential. Channel your energy into having fun with marketing yourself and your books instead of griping about the marketing tasks you need to do.

Helen: Your latest mystery, The Trophy Exchange, came out this month. I think the heroine, Lieutenant Lucinda Pierce, breaks the mold on protagonists. Unlike some lead characters who are "beautiful but don't know it," Lucinda has a "flaw" for all to see. She's been in an accident and is blind in one eye and her face is scarred, yet she keeps going. Most leads have a flaw, but they can usually be kept under wraps. What made you decide to put Lucinda's on constant display?

Diane: It wouldn't have worked any other way with Lucinda. If her flaw was not obvious, she would be able to hide it from others and deny it to herself. With damage that she can't conceal, she is forced to deal with it in her relationships with others. She can't run from this problem but has to actively work to overcome obstacles and defy any limitations it imposes on her.

Beyond that, there is a personal answer to the question. Like a lot of people I know, I'm not pleased with my physical image. All my adult life, I've battled weight gain. When anyone looks at me, it is pretty obvious that I am not at the ideal. I know that there are people who meet me and immediately make the assumption that I must be lazy. They don't know that I work out at Curves three times a week, go to yoga class twice a week and do additional exercise on my own. They simply look at my excess weight and assume that I sit around stuffing my face all day. Because of that, I could relate to a character with a flaw that she could not conceal, with receiving advice she did not want and with assumptions that are not true. It made Lucinda more real to me.

Helen: It seems to me that you were brave to write her that way. If you had one bit of advice for aspiring writers, what would it be?

Diane: Never, never give up. Persistence is your ally. While you wait to find the right agent/publisher at the right time with the right project, continue to polish your craft.

Write, write and write some more. And save it all. You never know when you'll be able to pluck the perfect phrase out of the scrap pile and use it elsewhere.

And read. Reading is vital. Read from every genre. You can learn from it all. What you learn in other genres can be brought to your own work and used to create a unique voice, style or technique that will make your work stand out from the others. To get an idea of the scope of my reading, visit my website, www.dianefanning.com, I have pages for my favorite reads of the last three years along with a page for my favorite books for writers.

Finally, always write to your passion. Don't write about something or in a specific genre just because it's popular. If you are not passionate about what you are writing, it will show. As Joseph Campbell said, "If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

Helen: I like that advice – both yours and Campbell’s. Thank you very much, Diane.

Here are a couple of things you may not know about Diane Fanning. She has a degree in Chemistry. And she’s won over 70 Addy Awards for her work in advertising.

Oh – she’s also very generous. She’s giving away a copy of her book.

To enter the drawing for a free copy of THE TROPHY EXCHANGE, go to this page on Diane’s website: http://www.dianefanning.com/lucindapiercenovels/readchapterone.html

Find the last word in the first paragraph and place it in the subject line of your email to Diane@dianefanning.com

In the body of the email include your mailing address.

Winner will be announced on the home page of her website on August 1, 2008.

If you have any questions or comments for Diane, post them here in the Comments section. Thanks Diane for stopping by!

Author Diane Fanning Stops By Next Thursday

True Crime/Mystery/Nonfiction author Diane Fanning is coming to Straight From Hel next Thursday, the 24th. Here’s your chance to hear from and ask questions of a prolific and truly skilled writer. Booklist called Fanning the

one to watch

Her book out this month, the first in her Lucinda Pierce mystery series, is called The Trophy Exchange. Diane has created a complex, tough, yet approachable protagonist. As you look around her website, stop in to read the first chapter of The Trophy Exchange.

While you’re there, stop by her page of links. It’s a great resource. And, yes, that’s Diane petting a starfish!

Then come back next week for the interview. I’m asking Diane about the movie option for her true crime, Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case that Shocked America, and her advice for writers – among other things.

Plus, she’s going to be giving away a copy of The Trophy Exchange to a lucky reader!

The Fanning Inspiration

Yesterday I went to a book signing by Diane Fanning. She talked about each of her seven true crime books, as well as her first mystery which will be out July 18 and her next true crime called Out There about astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak.

Diane always has fascinating stories to tell about her experiences researching and writing true crime. And the audience had lots of questions about her books and about cases they know of and would want her to write about. She said she doesn’t have to look for cases any more since her agent or editor usually has cases lined up for her.

My questions focused more on the writing and publishing aspect of what she does. For instance, I asked her about the extremely fast turnaround on the astronaut book. The story broke in early February of this year. The day after the news, her agent called to ask if she wanted to write the book. Within just a few days of that, St. Martin’s had bought the proposal. Within a week or so, the movie treatment had been optioned. Since then she’s been writing and researching. I knew all that already. What was new to me was that Diane had a sign up saying that the pub date for Out There is early October (the 10th, if I remember correctly). That’s basically eight months from the event to book publication. Wow! Most fiction books with a big publisher take 18 to 24 months to come out – after the publisher gets the manuscript.

Diane said true crime books come out faster than fiction, but she agreed this was a very quick turnaround.

She also mentioned that her first mystery did not take the usual 18 to 24 months, but that’s because she and her agent went with a smaller publisher, Five Star Mysteries, for it. Her true crimes are all with St. Martin’s.

Diane said she felt true crime is a little easier to break into, but she had tons of rejections before she found her agent, whom she’s been with since the beginning. She got her agent with the help of another true crime writer, who offered to recommend her to her own agent. Diane sent in a chapter and the agent immediately signed her, saying it was the best murder scene she’d ever read.

Diane’s first book was Red Boots and Attitude. She’s published seven true crimes. Has a mystery coming out next month and another in the works. She has the astronaut book coming out later this year and is working on another true crime. Plus, she updates all the true crimes every year or so, as things develop. Although she now writes full time, she wrote the first four while holding down a full-time job.

Someone else asked about her daily schedule. She said she gets up about 4:30 and gets caffeinated. Then she goes to work. In the morning, she writes. In the afternoon, she may do phone interviews or research. In the evening, she often continues working on writing or editing. She also does quite a bit of traveling to do interviews and research, as well as talks. I also happen to know that she makes time to exercise – she’s the friend who inspired me to get an elliptical trainer.

If you get the chance, go hear her speak. She may just inspire you to write.

The Criminal Mind

Busy day around here. Went to a talk by Diane Fanning at the University of Texas this morning. Now I should be packing for my 7 a.m. flight tomorrow for D.C. Then tonight I have a birthday party to go to.

But wanted to take a minute to tell you about Diane’s talk. I’ve heard her speak before at book signings. Today was a talk geared toward a big crowd signed up for a six week class on the criminal mind in fiction and real life. Diane had slides, interesting stories, and expertise to share. It was fascinating to hear details about the research she does, the insight into the criminal mind she has gained over the years, and her personal experience with the killers and criminals she’s written about.

For anyone who might think she can’t be an expert since she’s not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, she’s a writer … think of how much you learn with each book you write about whatever your theme is. Now, imagine writing book after book after book on the same topic – the criminal mind. Not only writing the books, but getting up close and sometimes personal with the killers. Some of her subjects continue to correspond with her after the book is done. She goes to death row and interviews the killers.

The audience had lots of questions, including on cases Diane has never written about.

If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, do so.

True Crime Writing

If anyone watched 20/20 last night, you saw true crime writer Diane Fanning. She played a significant role in the story they were reporting. In the process of writing a book about a completely different murder, Tommy Lynn Sells confessed to the murder that no one suspected him of doing. Diane wrote about the confession and, as a result, broke open the other case. Kudos to her.

I know Diane, but have no idea what it would be like to be a true crime writer. Mystery, thriller, and suspense writers get into the mind of their antagonists, which are often killers or really bad sorts. But that’s different from sitting across from an actual serial killer, of talking to one for hours, establishing enough of a rapport that he/she will open up to you. Diane even gets letters from some of her subjects long after the books are done. And when the book is done, she can’t just set aside the case and move on. She has to keep up with new developments so she can write updates in future editions of her books.

And despite that, Diane is a warm, funny, beautiful person. Go figure.

On a personal note, I’m o.d.ing on paint fumes. The only room left in our house re-painting, at least the downstairs, is the closet in my office. We started on it today. Took everything out, ripped out the shelves and clothes rods, measured and marked for the new shelves, then did some sanding and started painting. I’m doing it all in yellow, except the shelves and trim will be a cream/beige color. I’m on a break now because we ran out of paint. But my husband’s on a Lowe’s run, so it’s a short break. I’ll have floor to ceiling shelves along the back wall for books. Yea.

Silly husband thinks we might be done by the end of the weekend.

Diane Fanning News

Yesterday I had lunch with a good friend, author Diane Fanning. She was in town to have a meeting with a lawyer concerning some documents she had requested. What is amazing is that she had requested the documents, under the Freedom of Information Act, six years ago. Six years. That’s how long it took for the information to be made available to her. Six years. What that shows is that Diane doesn’t give up. When she’s researching, she isn’t deterred when someone says no or when the information is difficult to find. She perseveres.

Diane will be writing the true crime book on the Lisa Nowak (NASA astronaut) story. Here’s the write-up that was in Publishers Lunch this week:
Novelist and true crime author Diane Fanning tackles the bizarre case of Lisa Nowak, the astronaut accused of attempting to murder a fellow astronaut's girlfriend because of her obsession with her colleague, to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's…

Diane is well-known for her true crime books. She’s been nominated for the Edgar Award; she’s been on Court TV as well as network TV. She’ll be on 20/20 before long. I’ve mentioned Diane before, so you know she also has the first in a new mystery series coming out this year, and has another mystery series in the works.

But don’t think projects just fall in her lap. She’s a hard worker and dedicated writer, with a very organized mind and work ethic. This is just my opinion, but I see her as “at the tipping point.” That point where your “star” takes off. Keep an eye on her. And buy her books now while you can get first editions.