1940s

****AVAILABLE NOW ON AUDIBLE****

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-Noir meets the supernatural in this thrilling first installment in a brand new series.-

“Forever’s Too Long”

-written by Helen Krummenacker

-narrated by Allan Krummenacker. 

Available on Audible and Amazon or just $14.95 or 1 Audible Credit.

UltimateFinalCoverForeversTooLong

In 1947, hard-boiled detective Rafael Jones’ first job is to investigate a shady cult as well as some possible stolen Russian Art. 

Soon he finds himself coming face to face with a historic figure who was supposedly strangled, shot and finally drowned back in 1916. Is it really the same man? And if so, how can he still be walking the Earth? And is he involved both the cult and the art smugglers?

Rafael is about to find out, but the answer could leave him a changed man forever…

What readers are saying:

5.0 out of 5 stars – A Great Twist
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

“This is an interesting take on both hard-boiled mysteries and urban fantasy…”

Diane Bouse rated it 5.0 out of 5 stars – It was amazing

“I listened to this on audio and loved it. Helen has done a superb job with her characters and story… Allan did the reading and it was wonderful. Voices spot on, all the time and such a variety.”

You can find out more and listen to a sample from the book, as well as get a copy for yourself or a friend, at the following links:

Audible Link: Forever’s Too Long – Audible

Amazon Link: Forever’s Too Long – Amazon

AmazonUK Link: Audible Link: Forever’s Too Long – Audible

AmazonCA Link: Forever’s Too Long – AmazonCA

AmazonAU: Forever’s Too Long – AmazonAU

“Forever In Deep” Just Got Its 1st Review

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CoverForeverInDeep
 
Marian Diane
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this 3rd in a series
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2020
 
“Helen has done it again. Her characters are engaging and somewhat quirky. The story line had me guessing until the end. :Loved the supernatural aspects. While this is 3rd in a series it also stands alone. The story is complete on it’s one but the interaction and history of the characters is enhanced if you read the other books.”
 
Interested in checking it out or reading a sample for yourself? Just click on one of the links below and start reading. You’ll also find links to books 1 and 2 for this 5-Star series as well.
 

****RELEASE DAY – “Forever In Deep****

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Book 3 of the Forever Detective Series
is now available

Rafael Jones is always a little out of his depth in rural settings, but he’s not just a detective, he’s also undead. He can’t ignore the call from the Saratoga County coroner when she mentions the bite marks found on several drowning victims during the spring and summer of 1947.

However, he knows his weaknesses (sunlight, running water, and a woeful lack of country manners), so he isn’t working alone. His slowly developing powers and quick wits may not be a match for something old, strong in magic, and completely cursed.

Available now in all e-book formats for $3.99 at:

Kindle link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0894513Y4

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forever-in-deep-helen-krummenacker/1137077012?ean=2940164087760

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/forever-in-deep

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1024000

Kindle UK Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0894513Y4

Kindle CA Link: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0894513Y4

*Also available in Trade Paperback for $12.99 at Amazon OR “Signed” copies available by contacting/e-mailing the author at: helenkrummenacker@gmail.com * 

Countdown to release: These are a Few of my Favorite Things.

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I mention in the acknowledgments that I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. But the names I list might not be familiar to everyone.

Marlowe

Raymond Chandler was the creator of Phillip Marlowe. He didn’t create the hard-boiled detective genre, but he saw untapped potential in it. He started writing his own, bringing in a more sophisticated style of writing. He believed that people could enjoy exciting plot twists and still get literary touches.

Dan Curtis was a television producer, but not just a producer. He came up with and developed ideas for shows. His first foray into fiction was based on a dream that a friend told him sounded like gothic horror. He’d never heard of that genre before, plunged into it, and came out with a successful gothic soap opera that saved a television network. One of his followup projects, Kolchak, the Nightstalker, features a classically abrasive investigative reporter who keeps finding paranormal dangers at the heart of strange events in Chicago. It was brilliant and funny, and I was delighted to be compared to it.

Marv Wolfman might seem like the most obscure name I gave, but he’s been a tremendous influence on comic books and has wrtiten television shows. One of his specialties is re-imagining classic monsters into contemporary stories. He’s also remarkable for working out how to fix inconsistencies in an ongoing story line..

I’d also like to say Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books helped me see there is a market for this kind of old-fashioned character and cross-genre writing. Unlike the Dresden books, this is actually set back in the heyday of the private eye’s he emulates. And my detective, rather than starting out as an expert on the occult, begins blissfully unaware.

Less directly, I’m sure Terry Pratchett has been an influence, if only because he’s my favorite writer and I’ve read the Watch books over and over.

And… Star Wars. No, really. Watching The Force Awakens, I thought, “This guy doing Poe Dameron would be good as one of those smart-alec detectives.” And the idea of doing a Latino detective in period was intriguing. I’ll get into that in my next post.

Countdown to release: Film Noir?

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Can a book be film noir? Well, given that “film” is in the genre title, I’d say not.

But, there are many film noir movies that are based on books.The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, for instance, came from novels by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler respectively. Thus, it may be useful to categorize a book style as film noir. There are many kinds of detective stories: police procedural, cozies, analytical, and forensic, to name a few approaches. Film noir gives you an idea of what to expect.

Some of the defining aspects of the film noir cinematic style are visual– tilted camera angles and dramatic lighting. That isn’t readily captured in a novel… but it helped me choose my author photo.

hair rumple (3)

One of the absolute requirements of film noir is sexual tension. I’ve kept that in mind while writing these. Many characters are attractive and there are complications in their interactions with each other that keep it interesting. First person narration means that, although the protagonist is himself a very attractive man, the descriptions focus more on the female characters.

Of course, film noir also dwells on the darker side of social behavior. Usually, it has to do with crime. Not all film noir stories are mysteries. Some are capers; some are escapes; some are thrillers. But at heart, there’s generally a legal line being crossed or contemplated. Rafael has plenty of that to deal with, mostly from others, although he has to skirt the line himself in a few ways.

Finally, while this is not genre defining (film noir movies have been made since), the bulk of film noir movies were made from 1944-1954 in AMerica. Forever’s Too Long is set in 1947, in New York City, so describing it as film noir (or just noir), helps imply the setting.

Film noir movies have an air of fatalism, pessimism and menace, though, and… The Forever Detective moves in and out of that. Rafael faces a heavy menace. There are hints that he’s following a fate he knows nothing about, but others do. More will be explored about that in the sequels. As for pessimism, Rafael is torn between hope and fear. However, action helps him keep his focus emotionally and his warm personality and sense of humor contrast with the noir aspects.

So…. noir light? A dance/action number in shades of grey? Read it and decide.

Writing in a different time period

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research

The internet makes doing basic research so much easier for many things.

I was going to use the phrase “coloring inside the lines” and then had to ask myself– would a guy in his 30’s in the 40’s use that phrase? When were coloring books invented? They seem like something that’s just been around forever. Well, it only took about a minute to do the research to find out they’d been around about 100 years by then, so yes, it was fine to use.

fireman-my-trusty-axe-paul-ward

Likewise, I needed to see if a fire-axe back then fit my mental image of one… even though I don’t describe it in detail, there was a possibility I would use it on the cover. Another question I had was if a passport problem would legitimately be used to delay someone leaving the country.

Back before the internet, I’d have needed to look for very, very specific history books for images of fire axes, an encyclopedia for the coloring book history, and as for the passport issue, I’d probably need to look into procedural handbooks from the New York-New Jersey Port Authority from 1948. Finding those sources would all have been difficult.

There’s something wonderful about having so much information at our fingertips.