Hues are shades of colors.

For example, azure is a shade of blue.

A mid-tone that lists slightly from center, toward the paler end of the blue spectrum; a skotch closer to straight up blue than baby blue and nowhere near navy.

In the Color Book Mysteries, hues are clues.

The series’ protagonist Maeve Clarke is an artist.

Her nature, and her training as a graphic designer, lead her to search for patterns and shapes and colors in the world around her.

Chroma, tint and pigment color the way Maeve sees her surroundings and relates her story.

And, since my books are murder mysteries, no random thought or characteristic can be presumed innocent. As it should be, every direction and every misdirection are suspect. Any bit of information my readers pick up could prove important to the solving of the whodunit, including the color I choose for the book’s title.

Call it foreshadowing. Or call them clues. Either way, my books start with the title.

 

 

The Color Book Mysteries

Are the Color Book Mysteries about people obsessed with gel pens and coloring pages?

No!

Well, not exactly.

Main character Maeve Clarke is a creative being who likes to dabble in art mediums of all sorts. She does not, however, spend her days bent over coloring books.

Although she probably prefers coloring to finding dead bodies and being framed for murder.

The Color Book Mysteries are funny, smart and puzzling reads about people from Texas (and other places : ) [that’s for my friends who are baffled by Texans’ die-hard devotion to the state and it’s shape] that find themselves in upsetting, life altering situations and whom may or may not be obsessed with gel pens and coloring pages.

I do have FREE Color Book Mysteries color-ready printables available. Click here for details.

Then why name the series the Color Book Mysteries?

Pursuing my dream of writing a murder mystery started ages before the coloring book craze and slow death of the local bookstore. While conjuring up my color concept I had an idea that I could draw simple graphic novels to promote my color saturated mysteries to bookstores.

I imagined black & white illustrations telling an abbreviated, condensed version of the story that would assist store clerks in relaying a snapshot of my book to potential readers. The little book would be delivered with a single crayon, labeled with the name of the book.

“Bellissima!” I thought to myself as I patted my own back for my clever marketing idea.

How could I possibly anticipate the explosion in popularity of coloring pages?

But, I must admit, I’m thrilled with this unexpected twist.

Though not a graphic novel, coloring pages lifted from the stories are available for FREE right here on this website. Click here for details.

 

Hues are Clues

Even though murder mysteries are wrought with clues, color hues are atypical.

Sure, colors have long been used symbolically in fiction. Take The Great Gatsby. Who didn’t write a high school paper on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of color imagery?

The man painted with a master’s brush.

So taking a page from his book, or a crayon from his box, colors play a big part in my Color Book Mysteries. Partly because they set a tone. Largely, because the protagonist in my series is a right brained, visual person.

The story, from Maeve’s perspective, is 4-D in a 2-D medium. She notices things. Views the big picture. Responds in unusual ways and tells her part of the story in a detailed, color-infused way that makes the title choices integral to the tale.

Hues are Clues, Part Two

Language, being what it is, gives many of the words we use for hues two meanings.

A shade on the color wheel and something else entirely. A color can be a girl’s name or place to visit or a vintage photograph or my cocktail of choice.

I like that the titles I’m choosing have alternate meanings. Just as Fitzgerald named his character Daisy so the colors white and yellow bring freshness and joy to mind, I hope the titles of my books will tickle the imagination of my readers.

Let’s start with azure.

Azure is a hue of blue AND what we call a cloudless sky.

Murder mysteries are clouded by design. Which makes a cloudless sky an unusual starting spot in a murder mystery.

What? No storm is on the horizon?

Threatening clouds are where murder mysteries tend to begin. Dun dun dun. And there are storms a plenty as AZURE Death in the Texas Hill Country opens.

So see if Maeve can do what meteorologists can’t. See if she can clear the clouds and reveal an azure sky.

Ta dah! The Color Book Mysteries

Azure . Blonde . Crimson . Denim . Ecru . Flamingo . Gold . Heather . Iris . Jade . Khaki . Lapis . Mocha . Neon . Olive . Peach . Quicksilver . Raspberry . Sepia . Tangerine . Ultramarine . Violet . Wine . Xanadu . Yam . Zinc

I’d love to report that I have written all twenty-six books in the Color Book Mysteries series, but that, my lovelies, would be fake news.

At the time I’m writing this post, one book AZURE Death in the Texas Hill Country is in print and available as an ebook.

Maeve has traveled from Dallas to the Texas Hill Country for a corporate retreat. Has sorted through an elaborate embezzlement scheme, met a handsome stranger and discovered she’s not suitable for framing.

In book two, BLONDE, Maeve is back in Dallas. The story finds Tiffany Albright in a jumble of mistaken and stolen identities. The novel is in the editing stage and I’m excited to have you read it! Book three, CRIMSON, is a very rough outline.

All the other titles are subjected to change.

Really depends on the direction Maeve’s story takes. But I can imagine ECRU leading to a wedding. Although, GOLD could too. QUICKSILVER sounds like the name of a band to me and I love bands. Anyone who knows me, knows why I chose WINE.

Cheers!

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Do any of these titles set your imagination reeling?

Let me know in the comments below.