This Tuesday At The Tiki Hut - Shirley Tallman

Even as a small child, Shirley Tallman, dreamed of being a writer. Now, this multi published, award-winning author dreams of having more time to write!

Shirley, who has ten contemporary romances published under the pseudonym Erin Ross and several television and movie scripts sold and in production with her screenwriting partner Nancy Hersage, is currently hard at work on her new historical mystery series for St. Martin's Press.

The Sarah Woolson Mysteries, which started with MURDER ON NOB HILL, have all the charm of a nineteenth-century Legally Blonde and have earned Shirley a good deal of acclaim. The second book in the series, THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS, sold out its first hardcover printing in just seven weeks and the third book, THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGLER, has been chosen as a July 2007 selection by The Mystery Guild Book Club.

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Welcome to the Tiki Hut, Shirley!

Hi Everyone!

What a thrill it is to join you here today in the Tiki Hut. Author Island is one of my favorite websites! DeNita does such a super job of taking care of her readers, as well as her authors. There are always fun things to do and exciting places to explore on the Author Island website.

Today, I have exciting news! The first two books in my Sarah Woolson historical mystery series – MURDER ON NOB HILL and THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS – have been released as Trade Paperbacks. For those of you who are still confused about the difference between mass paperbacks and trade paperbacks, mass paperbacks are small, pocket-size books, while trade paperbacks are the very popular soft-cover versions of standard-size hardcover books.

But before I go any further, maybe I should tell you a little bit about myself. I started writing over twenty-five years ago with a weekly newspaper column titled, PENNY PINCHERS. It featured articles on how to feed your family well – and nutritiously – on a budget. After that came a hardcover book – written with a good friend of mine, Nancy Hersage – titled, PLEASE STAND BY – YOUR MOTHER’S MISSING.

While Nancy went on to write stage plays, I wrote ten Harlequin/Silhouette contemporary “Desire” romances, set all over the world. Then came yet another change as Nancy and I once again teamed up to write TV movies. Blithely unaware of how difficult (read impossible) this was to achieve, we sold movies to NBC, CBS, ABC and HBO. Our movie, THE BABYSITTER’S SEDUCTION, starring Keri Russell, Stephen Collins and Phylicia Rashad, did extremely well at NBC, and still continues to play regularly on the Lifetime Network.

As I said earlier, I now write the Sarah Woolson historical murder mysteries set in 1880s San Francisco: MURDER ON NOB HILL, THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS and THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGLER. My heroine is a lovely and intelligent young woman who has always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. The trouble is, everyone believes women belong in the home, that it is against God’s will for them to seek a career. But Sarah is undeterred by the all-male legal establishment and their blatant chauvinism.

In MURDER ON NOB HILL – the first book in the series – Sarah finagles her way into one of the most prestigious law firms in San Francisco, only to find herself embroiled in shady legal maneuvers, multiple murders, a daring Chinatown raid, and a secret and very scandalous sex club. In THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS, Sarah manages to become only the second woman in the city’s history to defend a man accused of murder in a court of law. No one, including the judge and prosecuting attorneys, are the least bit happy to see her there, and she ends up very nearly losing her life! THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGER finds Sarah attending a séance at San Francisco’s famous Cliff House, only to discover at the end of the session that one of the participants has been strangled. Pressured into defending the accused murderer, Sarah becomes involved in a complicated murder plot involving ghosts, gypsies and City Hall.

All three books in the Sarah Woolson series have sold out their first two hardcover printings, and as I mentioned earlier, MURDER ON NOB HILL and THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS are now out in paperback. Yay!! To celebrate this great news, today I’ll be giving away a signed copy of MURDER ON NOB HILL or THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS. Your choice.

While I’m here in the Tiki Hut, I’d love to hear from as many readers – and would-be writers – as possible. My interests are varied – novels, mysteries, movies, newspaper journalism, publicity, and tips on how to get your writing career up and going. So please log on and let’s get a good discussion going!

Best wishes,

Shirley

PS Don’t forget to visit my website for more fun contests, and an opportunity to purchase SIGNED copies of my new trade paperback books at a great discount! You’ll also find special sale prices for the award-winning hardcover third book in the Sarah Woolson series, THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGLER.