Rick Ludwig's Blog

Those of you who follow this blog will remember that before I was a full-time writer, I was a full-time scientist. This week I had two wonderful reunions of sorts with my colleagues from those days.

On Tuesday, May 13, I had a Zoom conversation with a group called Lilly Friends, who were interested in how I made the transition from Biotech, to Large Pharma, to mystery writing. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture. But Sheila, Brigitte, Mai, Bob, and Joe it was great seeing your faces on my computer.

On Saturday, I travelled down to San Diego for a reunion of alumni from the fantastic Biotech where I began my career as a professional scientist, Hybritech Incorporated. I even managed to take some pictures with dear friends from those days. [See to the right] We all wrote name tags to help with identifications, as you do after so many years.

I was at Hybritech from 1985 - 1993 and at Eli Lilly and Company from 1994 - 2008. Wonderful science, wonderful friends, and wonderful memories. [See pictures below]

A picture of me as head of Biotechnology Research at Eli Lilly and Company.

My Hybritech badge from 1985

One of my bosses and good friends from Hybritech days. Dr. Bob Hussa. He was the one who made me think I might be able to write a novel by following his example.

A dear friend and colleague from Hybritech days, Kate Beidler. Her work was amazing there and subsequently at other groundbreaking companies. She did the impossible, when we worked together, creating molecules that had only been figments of our boss Gary David’s imagination.

Our group at Hybritech in the early 1990s.

Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Individual print editions available for purchase below

About the pictures:

Top picture: Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Bottom Picture: Improvised Trilogy sets we put together for Writer Con in September, 2024

To order the boxed set as an eBook from Amazon today! Click here!To order the final book Soul of a Sleuth in print format from Amazon today! Click here!To order the earlier books in the series in print format, Eyes of the Beholder and Voice of the Victim from Amazon today!! Click here!But remember, each is available from all of the major online sites as well! See note on right. The boxed set is just right!

I have always felt that the Maui Mysteries trilogy told one story in three parts. I’m ecstatic that now all of you who have loved these books can obtain the entire saga as one package for a very low price, $9.99. I went ahead and ordered the boxed set collection as an eBook and was enchanted to find that all of the updates in format and content for all three books are incorporated.

Follow Keone Boyd’s evolution from a tough, single, Detective Sergeant with the Maui Police department who is focused on physical facts to a more mature, husband and father who is forced by his experiences investigating crime on the Valley Island to consider evidence that doesn’t neatly fit into his view of the world. In the process, he becomes more caring, more enlightened, and more Hawaiian.

Maria Navillo Saravia at BeauteBook has provided the illustrations for the cover, and I have had the chance to go through all three books and make sure all the typos have been repaired that you folks and I have caught over the past three years. I am grateful to Lara Bernhardt for and Bill Bernhardt for formatting the box set in an easy to read style.

If you’ve read and loved one or more of the stories, here’s a great way to share your experience with friends for the holidays, for one low price.

As for all my books, the boxed set will be available from all the usual online bookstores (click on the vendor of your choice to order the boxed set):

Amazon (Kindle), Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Fable, OverDrive, Smashwords, Gardners, Odilo, Tolino, Vivlio, BorrowBox, Baker & Taylor, cloudLibrary, Everand, Hoopla, and Palace Marketplace

Buy it, read it, enjoy it, and let me know what you think at rickludwigwrites@gmail.com

Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Individual print editions available for purchase below

About the pictures:

Top picture: Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Bottom Picture: Improvised Trilogy sets we put together for Writer Con in September, 2024

To order the boxed set as an eBook from Amazon today! Click here!To order the final book Soul of a Sleuth in print format from Amazon today! Click here!To order the earlier books in the series in print format, Eyes of the Beholder and Voice of the Victim from Amazon today!! Click here!But remember, each is available from all of the major online sites as well! See note on right. The boxed set is here!

I have always felt that the Maui Mysteries trilogy told one story in three parts. I’m ecstatic that now all of you who have loved these books can obtain the entire saga as one package for a very low price, $9.99.

Follow Keone Boyd’s evolution from a tough, single, Detective Sergeant with the Maui Police department who is focused on physical facts to a more mature, husband and father who is forced by his experiences investigating crime on the Valley Island to consider evidence that doesn’t neatly fit into his view of the world. In the process, he becomes more caring, more enlightened, and more Hawaiian.

Maria Navillo Saravia at BeauteBook has provided the illustrations for the cover, and I have had the chance to go through all three books and make sure all the typos have been repaired that you folks and I have caught over the past three years. I am grateful to Lara Bernhardt for and Bill Bernhardt for formatting the box set in an easy to read style.

If you’ve read and loved one or more of the stories, here’s a great way to share your experience with friends for the holidays, for one low price.

As for all my books, the boxed set will be available from all the usual online bookstores (click on the vendor of your choice to order the boxed set):

Amazon (Kindle), Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Fable, OverDrive, Smashwords, Gardners, Odilo, Tolino, Vivlio, BorrowBox, Baker & Taylor, cloudLibrary, Everand, Hoopla, and Palace Marketplace

Buy it, read it, enjoy it, and let me know what you think at rickludwigwrites@gmail.com

Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Improvised Trilogy sets we put together for Writer Con in September, 2024

About the pictures:

Top picture: Cover design for new Maui Mysteries Boxed Set

Bottom Picture: Improvised Trilogy sets we put together for Writer Con in September, 2024

You can order the Soul of the Sleuth eBook and paperback from Amazon today! Click here!You can also order the earlier books in the series from Amazon today! Click here!But remember, each is all available from all of the major online sites as well!! The boxed set is coming!

At WriterCon we put together five improvised trilogy sets to access interest. We were pleasantly surprised when they sold out quickly. Now we are putting together the official boxed set for sale before Christmas. I will keep you posted on how this develops. Maria Navillo Saravia at BeauteBook has provided the illustrations for the box, and I will have had the chance to go through all three books and make sure all the typos have been repaired that you folks and I have caught over the past three years.

As for all my books, the boxed set will be available from all the usual online bookstores:

Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Fable, OverDrive, Smashwords, Gardners, Odilo, Tolino, Vivlio, BorrowBox, Baker & Taylor, cloudLibrary, Everand, Hoopla, and Palace Marketplace

The current target for launch of the boxed set is November, 2024,

From August 30 - September 2, WriterCon 2024 was held in Oklahoma City. I was honored to present a talk on Sunday, September 1 from 10:30 AM to 11:15 PM that was very well attended. I’ve included some pictures from my talk “Creating Mystery: Posing Questions Your Readers Want Answered” in this post. This weekend, I will post my handout on this website under Presentations.

I also had an Author Table at the conference and was very pleased at the discussions I had with those who stopped by. There were a lot of younger writers this year, who asked fascinating questions. I’ve included a couple of pictures from the Author Table as well in this post. Please note that my wonderful wife Christy attended as well and helped me man the table. We also had two of my daughter Jennifer’s wonderful fantasy novels on sale, Bloodfall Arena and Blood Embers. I sold some of my books, too, and had the pleasure of signing them and adding a personal note for those who stopped by.

I also participated in a wonderful dinner for Babylon Books Writers, provided by our publisher. And even tried my hand at karaoke, singing (or trying to sing) Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. The final set of pictures show these activities.

All in all, it was a great conference where I made new friends and renewed old acquaintances. I participated in the Mystery Roundtable and did a special signing at the Babylon Books table.

This is the friendliest and most supportive writers conference I have ever attended, which explains why so many of us return year after year. It also a wonderful first conference for new writers because everyone is so encouraging and happy to see new talent enter the field.

I’ll have more to say about my favorite seminars and activities in subsequent blogs.

WriterCon 2024 - My talk

WriterCon 2024 - My talk

WriterCon 2024 - At Author Table with Christy

WriterCon 2024 - Babylon Authors and Keynote Speakers 

WriterCon 2024 - Signing Books

WriterCon 2024 - Karaoke

About the pictures:

The top image is the advertising for my talk at the conference.

The bottom image is more of the same.

Next Tuesday, August 27, 2024 I leave for WriterCon 2024 in Oklahoma City. I love this conference and look forward to seeing some old friends and making some new ones there.

I will be giving my talk “Creating Mystery: Posing Questions Your Readers Want Answered” on Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. CDT

10:30 am-11:15 am

Creating Mystery: Posing Questions Your Readers Want Answered

Fiction

Ballroom B

· Rick Ludwig, Writer

Mystery! The word itself evokes images in a reader’s mind. Multiple genre’s and subgenre’s include the word in their names. Mystery Fiction includes Sensation Mysteries, Quest Mysteries, FairPlay/Traditional Mysteries, Inverted Mysteries, Specialized Knowledge Mysteries (Great Detective, Science of Detection, Police Procedural) , Specialized Setting Mysteries. (Cozy, Gothic, Noir, Macabre, Supernatural, Historical). There are even mysteries that fall into other major fiction genres (Spy, Legal, Medical, Sci-Fi, Humor) and Non-fiction Mysteries. Does your story have to have a murder, a detective, or a Gothic setting to contain mystery? In this talk, I'll briefly review of the history of mystery as a category of fiction, share how I write a mystery, and discuss the importance of posing questions to create mystery in your reader’s minds. I will also discuss the importance of providing  answers to posed questions to hold onto your readers. Preview: It’s not just Whodunnit anymore!I truly love this conference. It is just the right size and allows for a great deal of interaction with other authors, editors, agents, and publishers.

After the conference, I will post my talk on this website under Presentations. I’d be really interested in your thoughts about creating mystery.

I’m not taking my laptop with me to the conference this time, but I will post some blogs with pictures when we get back. See you then.

WriterCon 2024

WriterCon 2024

About the pictures:

The top image is the advertising for my talk at the conference.

The bottom image is more of the same.

eBook and paperback versions of Soul of a Sleuth

Rick Ludwig’s Maui Mysteries Series.

About the pictures:

Top picture: eBook and paperback versions of Soul of a Sleuth.

Bottom Picture:Rick Ludwig’s Maui Mystery Series

You can pre-order the Soul of the Sleuth eBook and paperback from Amazon today! Click here!You can order the earlier books in the series from Amazon today! Click here!But remember, they are all available from all of the major online sites as well!! It’s not just Amazon anymore!

In a previous blogs I’ve provided links for purchasing the paperback and eBook versions of my books from Amazon, but Babylon Books places my books on multiple online bookselling sites. Here is a list (with links):

Live status updates for this book :

Kobo - Published @ Kobo on August 5, 2024, 17:08 PM

Apple - Published @ Apple on August 5, 2024, 17:24 PM

Fable - Published @ Fable on August 5, 2024, 17:38 PM

Barnes & Noble - Published @ Barnes & Noble on August 5, 2024, 18:09 PM

OverDrive - Published @ OverDrive on August 5, 2024, 18:19 PM

Odilo - Published @ Odilo on August 5, 2024, 18:26 PM

Tolino - Published @ Tolino on August 5, 2024, 18:28 PM

Vivlio - Published @ Vivlio on August 5, 2024, 18:28 PM

BorrowBox - Published @ BorrowBox on August 5, 2024, 18:31 PM

Smashwords - Published @ Smashwords on August 5, 2024, 18:36 PM

Gardners - Published @ Gardners on August 5, 2024, 18:36 PM

Baker & Taylor - Published @ Baker & Taylor on August 6, 2024, 16:10 PM

cloudLibrary - Published @ cloudLibrary on August 7, 2024, 23:38 PM

Everand - Published @ Everand on August 13, 2024, 8:25 AM

Hoopla - Published @ Hoopla on August 13, 2024, 14:34 PM

Palace Marketplace - Published @ Palace Marketplace on August 14, 2024, 8:11 AM

If any of you wondered why I am so happy to be published by Babylon Books, maybe this will help explain. But it’s not just the breadth of coverage they provide my books. Their person to person style makes every step in the process of publishing easier and much more fun. Mahalo nui loa to everyone at Babylon Books!

Rick Ludwig’s Maui Mysteries Series.

eBook and paperback versions of Soul of a Sleuth

About the pictures:

Top picture: The Maui Mysteries

Bottom Picture: Visiting friends from Lahaina in December

You order the Soul of the Sleuth book or eBook from Amazon today! Click here!You can also order the earlier books in the series from Amazon today! Click here! The day has arrived!

[Today, August 13, 2024, Babylon Books launched the final book in my Maui Mysteries Trilogy, Soul of a Sleuth . ]

Today is a day of celebration in the Ludwig house. A glass or two will be raised in recognition of this accomplishment. But we will also be remembering and celebrating others.

I am very proud of Soul of a Sleuth . I always try to put my heart into each of my books, but I think this one is special in this regard. Although I started writing this book in 2014, while on Maui, I was still doing rewrites a year ago on August 8, 2023, when a terrible fire destroyed my favorite little town in the world, Lahaina.

I thought about stopping work, as many of the sites described in the book were now ashes. But I decided instead to enhance those sections and add more about the Hawaiian love for the land, the ’aina. I want people to remember Lahaina as it was and look forward to Lahaina as it will be. I also added much more about Keone’s love for his island home and his Tutu (grandmother). I also made sure to list contacts to groups involved in the recovery and restoration of Lahaina and the other areas affected by the fires in my acknowledgement section (I reproduce that at the bottom of this post).

When Christy and I visited our son on Maui, just four months after the fire, we met and spoke with a number of our friends who lost everything in the fire. They advised us to stay away from the affected area to respect the sensitive feelings of so many, who lost family, friends, homes, and irreplaceable belongings. We respected their advice and met with them instead in South Maui for lunch and a chance to catch up. (See photo)

I was astounded by their resilience and determination to be Maui Strong. They will survive this and rebuild Lahaina, better and safer than ever. But it will take time and lot’s of Aloha. And some of that Aloha needs to come from those of us who love Maui from afar.

Tourism is a major portion of the economy on Maui and the people love to share the beauty of their island, so please visit. But when you do, respect the need for privacy of those diligently rebuilding their lives, homes, historic sites, and businesses. Avoid the damaged areas and the waters nearby, there are plenty of other lovely places to see and experience. If you want to go a step further, contact Maui Strong or any of the other groups listed below to see what you can do to help while you are there.

An effective way to help is to send a donation to one of the organizations below or many, many others:

Maui Strong Fund: This major effort is coordinated by The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation at the website: https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening/maui-strong-fund.

Peoples Fund of Maui - Launched by Oprah Winfrey and Duane Johnson after the fire Peoples Fund of Maui is a component of the EIF, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and can be found at the website: https://www.eifoundation.org/partners/peoples-fund-of-maui/.

Maui United Way: a long-established group that is helping fire victims. It can be found at the website: https://www.mauiunitedway.org .

Lahaina Action Committee: another long-established group, which sold my early Maui Mysteries in their gift shop, are an excellent resource for multiple groups supporting the fire victims. A list of resources helping Maui fire victims can be found at this webpage:

https://visitlahaina.com/maui-fires-resources/

Rick Ludwig’s Maui Mysteries Series.

eBook and paperback versions of Soul of a Sleuth

About the pictures:

Top picture: eBook and paperback versions of Soul of a Sleuth.

Bottom Picture:Rick Ludwig’s Maui Mystery Series

You can pre-order the Soul of the Sleuth eBook from Amazon today! Click here!You can order the earlier books in the series from Amazon today! Click here!But remember, the paperback of Soul of a Sleuth will be available from all of the major online sites on August 13—Just two days away!! From Featured Supporting Player to Co-Star

In a previous blog I gave you an in-depth look at my protagonist, Det. Sgt. Keone Boyd. This time I want to focus on Sergeant Angela Anelahokulani Beyers, MPD, who enters the Maui Mysteries trilogy as a featured supporting player in the first book, Eyes of the Beholder. Her name means Angel Star of Heaven. By the second book she is carrying out her own investigation on Maui, while Keone Boyd is off on his honeymoon in the Mediterranean. By the end of the trilogy, Angela and Keone are equal partners in complex investigations that threaten their island home.

Angela’s story before the trilogy: Angela was born in the hospital in Wailuku, Maui in 1985, and lived with her Filipino/Hawaiian family on Maui until she moved to Irvine, California in 2003 to study criminology in the in the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine. She graduated in 2007 and attended the Maui Police Academy, becoming an officer in 2008 and a sergeant in 2011. After her initial rotations, she was stationed in Lahaina. During this period she became friends with her neighbor at Ka’anapali Plantation, Nancy Lister and her family. Angela first met Keone Boyd when she was at Irvine and he was a detective with LAPD. They worked together often when she was in Lahaina and he became a mentor and friend. Since she transferred to the Hana station, they’ve stayed in touch from a distance. Her best friend and roommate is Linda Carroll, with whom she bought a home in 2009 in Lahaina. Angela has been commuting to and from the Hana station since 2010.

Eyes of the Beholder : We find out in this book that Angela has secretly wanted to be a detective for years. She and Linda surprise Keone while he is eating lunch at Lahaina Coolers. Linda tells Keone that Angela has passed the detective exam, and Keone buys them lunch to celebrate. Later: Angela stops by to see Keone at his station to warn him about rumors circulating regarding him and a key witness in one of his investigations. Near the end of this story, Angela receives a call from Keone, who is on the road to Hana chasing a kidnapper and his victim. She discovers the location of the two and arranges a helicopter to bring him to the site. Angela reaches the cabin first and waits for Keone. She watches the victim run from cabin and the kidnapper catch her and pin her to the ground. Angela lines up a shot at the kidnapper’s head, but the victim gives him a knee to groin just as Angela fires. Angela and Keone make the arrest, and she drives the victim to the Hana station.

Voice of the Victim: Angela is a co-protagonist in this book.  Before leaving on his honeymoon, Keone recommends Angela to his boss, Lt. Alcala. When Tony discovers that Angela used to be neighbors with a man who has been injured in the ‘Iao Valley during a shooting, he asks her to pick up the injured man’s wife and take her to the hospital. At the hospital, Angela gets another call from Alcala and must rush to the crime scene. where Alcala quizzes her about the victim’s family, updates her on the details of the shooting, and assigns her the case. Angela works on the case from Keone’s desk becomes friends with Det. Lindsay Kalani, and develops three possible scenarios about the crime. Back at the scene of the crime, she finds critical evidence everyone else has missed. and shares this with CSI Ed Jenkins. With Alcala’s approval, Angela interviews her friends, the wife and daughter of the shooting victim, searches their home, and takes items to the station. When Angela leaves, she has the wife look at a file that she’s found on the husband’s computer. Angela receives a call from the wife confirming the file has clues. Angela reads a little of the file and is overwhelmed but feels a need to check out the details. She also asks Linda to read the entire MS and point her to any parts relevant to her investigation. Her detective work leads her to the shooter, who she captures. She prevents Tony Alcala from being kiilled, is wounded in the process, and proves her worth as a detective.

Soul of a Sleuth: Now partnered with Keone, Angela investigates a murder, deals with acceptance by her family of a life partner, addresses the impact of her previous case, and helps Keone deal with his own demons. One investigation leads to another, uncovering connections with older cases and a new criminal conspiracy involving drug dealers and developers in the islands. Through it all Angela demonstrates her bravery, her friendship, and her ability to take and give advice. In the end, she’s as instrumental in solving each mystery as she is in helping Keone determine his core beliefs.

Marketing and me.

I know! Your probably already tired of hearing from me about my new book, Soul of a Sleuth. But most folks don’t understand that for an independent author like me, even publishing through a vital independent publisher like Babylon Books, most of the marketing falls to the author. This creates an interesting Catch 22. 

I can rely on word of mouth from my friends and previous readers, like you, or I can pay someone or someones to publicize by books. There are few inexpensive and safe ways, like boosting my posts in Facebook, which I do, but most other approaches cost money, usually much more money than the profit I expect to make on my books, and include risks. So, why do I bother publishing?

The answers are simple. I love to write mystery novels. I like the stories I create and want to share them with people to see what impressions they make. So why don’t I just put them up on my blog for free?

If I did, my stories would last as long as I do. In case you don’t know. I’m almost seventy-four years old. All authors, present company included, would like to think their stories might outlive them. By selling them through Amazon and the other online sites as actual books, I can be sure they will exist in physical form after I’m gone. By working with an ethical and helpful publisher, like Babylon, I can make sure that they are of a quality that will enhance and not detract from what I’m trying to say in my stories. For some reason, I find this reassuring.

Like most people, I have values that guide everything I do in my life. One that I personally value very highly is humility. I try to never over-promise and under-deliver. This was true when I worked as a research scientist, and it’s true today. But for marketing people this is a significant drawback.

I believe that my books can take you on an exciting trip to Maui and introduce you to some interesting characters and mysteries that you otherwise wouldn’t experience. I also hope that some of the events described will get you thinking about some important issues that might stay with you after you finish reading my stories. If that happens, please let me know, and let others know. That is the best marketing money can’t buy.

If you enjoy your trips to Maui with me, you can let me and others know by posting a review on Amazon, or Goodreads, or elsewhere. These really matter. The various vendors look at how many good reviews a book gets, especially those from people who actually bought the book or eBook, and that can lead to them promoting it as well.

For this book that means more than ever because in the acknowledgements section I provide links to various groups that are providing support for the hundreds of people who lost everything in the terrible Lahaina Fire of 2023. If your review entices someone to read my book and contribute to one of these funds, you will have not only had a good read, but helped make a difference.

Next time: I will tell you about another major character in my stories, Sergeant Angela Beyers of the Maui Police Department.

Front cover for Soul of a Sleuth.

Front and back cover for Soul of a Sleuth.

About the pictures:

Top picture: eBook cover for Soul of a Sleuth.

Bottom Picture:Front and back paperback covers for Soul of a Sleuth

You can pre-order the eBook from Amazon today! Click here!