Some time back, I entered Murder by the Acre in a contest. Today in the mail, I received MBTA's score card. Here's what the nameless judge said:
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning "poor" and 5 meaning "excellent," please evaluate the following:
Plot: 3
Grammar: 3
Character development: 3
Production quality and cover design: 2
Judge's commentary:
What did you like best about this book?
I'm a big fan of mysteries, and Stephen B Bagley's Murder by the Acre is, for the most part, a very effective one. The characters are solid and convincing, and the plot, while occasionally getting bogged down, is believable. What's perhaps best about the book is the way in which Bagley utilizes the setting, which is almost a character in and of itself. I know very little about Oklahoma, despite having grown up in Texas, and Bagley paints a convincing picture of the place and its people. I would guess he has first-hand knowledge of the place because the writing paints a vivid picture.
How can the author improve this book?
I sometimes felt as though I was missing something, and this might be due to the fact that Murder by the Acre is the second book in the series, and I've not seen the first book. Occasionally I suspected that there might have been material in that first book that I would've needed in order to follow along with this one, though that's a fairly minor complaint. The plot does, as I mentioned above, often get bogged down in details, and the pace sometimes slows. I would encourage Bagley in the future to work on pacing and plotting, bearing in mind that the key to successful mystery thriller is never letting the pace lag.
So I guess MBTM is a 3, which means the judge thought it was average. Sigh. Oh well. The judge gave a 2 to the cover, and I'd have to agree to that. Floozy & Other Stories is the first of my books that I really liked the cover, although I thought the cover EndlesS was good, too.
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning "poor" and 5 meaning "excellent," please evaluate the following:
Plot: 3
Grammar: 3
Character development: 3
Production quality and cover design: 2
Judge's commentary:
What did you like best about this book?
I'm a big fan of mysteries, and Stephen B Bagley's Murder by the Acre is, for the most part, a very effective one. The characters are solid and convincing, and the plot, while occasionally getting bogged down, is believable. What's perhaps best about the book is the way in which Bagley utilizes the setting, which is almost a character in and of itself. I know very little about Oklahoma, despite having grown up in Texas, and Bagley paints a convincing picture of the place and its people. I would guess he has first-hand knowledge of the place because the writing paints a vivid picture.
How can the author improve this book?
I sometimes felt as though I was missing something, and this might be due to the fact that Murder by the Acre is the second book in the series, and I've not seen the first book. Occasionally I suspected that there might have been material in that first book that I would've needed in order to follow along with this one, though that's a fairly minor complaint. The plot does, as I mentioned above, often get bogged down in details, and the pace sometimes slows. I would encourage Bagley in the future to work on pacing and plotting, bearing in mind that the key to successful mystery thriller is never letting the pace lag.
So I guess MBTM is a 3, which means the judge thought it was average. Sigh. Oh well. The judge gave a 2 to the cover, and I'd have to agree to that. Floozy & Other Stories is the first of my books that I really liked the cover, although I thought the cover EndlesS was good, too.
Here's the cover for Murder by the Acre:
Here's Floozy:
Here's EndlesS:
How do I feel about what the judge said. Well, I feel rotten. But that's okay. I've felt rotten before. Will again. Doesn't make me want to give up my dream. I'll just hunker down and keep plugging. That's what I think writers do. They keep going even when it's tough.
How was your day? Was it tough? I hope not. I hope it was excellent. Talk to you later.
8 comments:
I love your Endless cover, Floozie is wonderfully and creatively done.
It's ok to feel awful about what the judge said. Thank you for posting the results even though you're disappointed. It took courage to enter and courage to post a commentary you're less than thrilled with.
I love the series, but I've read it so long ago that I don't remember if I experienced anything like the judge mentioned.
Perhaps, more importantly, do you see anything you can benefit from by applying to future volumes in the series?
At least on the cover, I can, Jean. I always felt my covers lacked. The cover for "Murder by the Mile" will be radically different from the covers before.
As for the details ... I don't know. "Murder by the Acre" was a mystery of details. It was complicated from the outside, but once you knew the truth, not so much. Without the details, MBTA wouldn't have been much of a mystery. As for the pacing, once again, I don't know. Cozy mysteries have a certain pace to them that I thought I followed well.
I don't understand how it can be a very effective mystery and only be a 3. Shouldn't "very" be a 4? I would have been happy with a 4.
Oh great, now I'm going to obsess about it ... :)
The thing is, MBTA is my baby, warts and all. It stings that someone doesn't like it as much as I did.
Oh, one thing I'm already doing is trying to provide enough background in "Murder by the Mile" so that a new reader can pick it up and not feel a lack. In my mind, I've considered it a "reboot" of the series.
Yes, I'm obsessing. Time to let it go. After all, it's not a terrible review. It's just an average one.
I wasn't very specific in my review, but I enthusiastically loved the book: http://polarbear60.org/randr/2008/12/04/murder-by-the-acre-contest/
Thanks, Jean! I value your opinion over the faceless judge anytime. :)
You're welcome.
By the way, did you intend the title of this post to read MBTA: 3?
I think you had Murder by the Mile on your mind when you posted. :)
Good catch, Jean. Title has been corrected. :)
I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but I'd buy Endless for the cover alone. The poems are a bonus.
Ii was a lucky day when I took that photo of the sky.
Post a Comment