"The Rich and the Dead"

By Pat Remick

By the time you read this, I will be en route to New York City for tonight’s launch party for the new Mystery Writers of America anthology “The Rich and the Dead” edited by Nelson DeMille and featuring 19 additional mystery writers, including Michael Connelly, Lee Child, S.J. Rozan and Frank Cook.

 You might be wondering about the last guy, but he's the one I’m most interested in seeing at The Mysterious Bookshop tonight because he’s my spouse -- and critique partner. And now the man I occasionally refer to as Husband No. 1 also will be known as the author of the fabulous short story “The Gift.” We were ecstatic when the Publishers Weekly review named it as a standout in the anthology.

Tonight he and Nelson DeMille will be together not only in “The Rich and the Dead,” but also at the launch party. If you look at the alphabetical list of authors, he’s next to Michael Connelly, too. How cool is that? Here’s the list:

Ted Bell, Peter Blauner, K. Catalona, Tim Chapman, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Frank Cook, David DeLee, Nelson DeMille, Joseph Goodrich, Daniel J. Hale, Roberta Isleib, Harley Jane Kozak, David Morrell, Caroli Mullen, Twist Phelan, S.J. Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Elaine Togneri and Angela Zeman.

For those of you unfamiliar with the MWA anthologies, they are published annually and edited by a well-known mystery author who asks nine colleagues to contribute stories. The remaining 10 slots are filled with tales selected by a panel of judges from a pool of  “blind submissions” by MWA members.



Pat Remick & Frank Cook

Frank and I both sent in stories for consideration after each reviewed the other's story. We've been editing each other's work for over three decades now and I can truly say that everything I write is better because of him. We've successfully co-authored two professional development books but when we attempted to write a mystery novel together, we concluded our marriage was more important. Now we stick to editing only when it comes to fiction.

As you might imagine, there was great rejoicing when his story was chosen for the anthology (as was a story by my fellow New England Sister in Crime Roberta Isleib), although I admit to a tinge of regret that mine was not. But I laughed when Frank explained, "This just shows I know more about being rich and dead than you do."

Since Frank hasn't shared the "being rich" -- or dead -- things with me, perhaps I need coaching in these areas. Last week I read about a new web site, ExpertInsight.com, that offers one-to-one video chats with "coaches" who are leaders in their fields. For example, you can video chat with Nobel Price-winning economist Gary Becker for $5,000 an hour, according to the Bloomberg News article. I doubt he could provide any insight into being dead, but I bet he could tell me about the rich part.

There aren't many authors on the site yet, but it got me thinking. If I had an extra $5,000 and could talk to any author in the world about writing, who would it be? There are so many wonderful possiblities that it's likely I'm still pondering that question even as you're reading this.

Who would you choose -- and why?