Hardcover Vs. Paperback - And A CONTEST

My first published novel came out in hardcover, from St. Martin’s Press. It had an unusual but perfect cover and, because it took dead aim at a particular set of people who are enthusiastic readers -- members of the Society for Creative Anachronism -- it did well. It had a peculiar title: Murder at the War. The paperback version, from Walker, had a better title, Knight Fall. It did well, too.

I was surprised when MATW came out in hardcover, because what I thought I was writing was a book you buy at the airport or at a bus depot, read on your trip, and leave behind on the seat when you arrive. I meant it to be light but highly-entertaining, full of interesting characters, with a clever plot, and having a satisfying ending, but nothing deeply literary -- just the sort of thing to make the enforced inactivity of travel bearable. But I didn’t think it was the sort of book you buy to treasure and re-read over and over.

It was an honor as well as a pleasure to discover I was wrong, that people liked the books in the Peter Brichter series enough to buy them in hardcover.

There is a certain amount of prestige to having a book come out in hardcover; my current Betsy Devonshire series began as paperback originals, but has now graduated to hardcovers followed, about a year later, by paperback versions. Both versions, unlike my first series, come out from the same publisher, Berkley/Prime Crime.

Speaking of romance, which we seem to be doing this week, Murder at the War featured a happily married couple; the prequel, The Unforgiving Minutes, told the strange and exciting way they met and fell in love. (Sort of like the lines from a song in the musical “Fiorello!” “You remember her, she detested you; you remember him, he arrested you.”) The Dame Frevisse series featured a medieval nun who was above such nonsense as falling in love. My current series has Betsy being pretty much of a dud at finding and holding onto a good man -- though she is currently doing a lot better with Connor Sullivan, who is introduced in my novel Blackwork, and will be prominent in the forthcoming Buttons and Bones.

A CONTEST: You can win a copy of the just-released paperback version of the thirteenth Betsy Devonshire mystery, Blackwork! Suitably autographed, of course. Just answer this question Yes or No by five p.m. Friday, October 9: Are the terms “Counted Cross Stitch” and “Needlepoint” describing the same kind of needlework? In case of multiple correct answers (and I anticipate lots of them, this is an easier question than in my last contest), I will draw the winner at random.