Books up for grabs

[the_rck]

I don’t know if anyone who reads me is interested in writing mysteries, but I’ve got three volumes from The Howdunit Series of books that were written as references for mystery writers. They’re all at least as old as Cordelia (so twelve years or older), so the information is decidedly dated, but I thought I’d ask if anyone here wants them. The books are:

Blythe, Hal, Charlie Sweet, and John Landreth. Private Eyes: A Writer’s Guide to Private Investigators.

Wingate, Anne. Scene of the Crime: A Writer’s Guide to Crime-Scene Investigations.

Stevens, Serita Deborah with Anne Klarner. Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons.

I’m willing to ship these within the US, singly or all together. For international shipping, I’d need help to meet the cost. Also, I’m pretty sure that the information in the books is very US centric, so that and that datedness may make them not worth international shipping.

If I get more than one person wanting these, I’ll look for some sort of random number generator, but I’m kind of not anticipating much interest.

Comments

[melannen]

I occasionally play with writing mysteries! The chances of me ever finishing one are pretty low, but I'd be especially interested in the poisons one, I think. (I'm trying to write a poisoning in a fanfic right now and getting stuck on whether I want to bother picking a real poison, or just making up something that does what I need.)

[the_rck]

My guess is that the poison book is the one that has aged best. Detecting poison has likely changed, but symptoms and methods of administration probably haven't changed.

The crime scene book is from around 1991. I haven't looked at the date on the private detective book.

I'll give this 24 hours and see if anyone else is interested. Right now, it's just you.

[melannen]

Yeah, at this point those two are probably only useful to people writing really specific period pieces (unless they have historical info too?) but the poisons one might still at least be useful for picking a poison.

[the_rck]

The PI book is from 1993.

It doesn't look to me like either book has a lot of history in it.

I looked at reviews on GoodReads, and, over and over, people say how much they wish that someone would write books like this for right now.

As I recall, the crime scene one did have some details like talking about why someone who dealt with corpses wouldn't be likely to have long hair. Some smells get into long hair and don't come out easily. There may also have been some tips for dealing with nausea at a crime scene, but I may be making that up.

[the_rck]

I can't tell-- Are you interested in all three books or just the poisons one? heavenscalyx is interested in the other two (and possibly in the poisons one, but I'm not sure) because she's writing a mystery set in the 1990s.

I will flip a coin for whichever book or books you both want. I'll do a different coin toss for each book because sending two packages isn't any bigger trouble than sending one.

[the_rck]

The poisons book is yours if you still want it. Please PM me your shipping address. I'm not sure how long it will take us to actually get to the post office, but I'm hoping not more than a week or two.

[melannen]

Oh, sorry, your previous comment got lost in the inbox! If you want to send me the poisons book, I'll PM you the address, but if you haven't packaged them yet, you can go ahead and add it to heavenscalyx's package! It sounds like they'd get better use than me.

[the_rck]

I'm happy to send the poisons book to you if it could be at all useful. heavenscalyx doesn't want it, and mailing two packages isn't more trouble than sending one.

[heavenscalyx]

I'd actually be interested. The mystery/genre mash novels we're working on right now are set about ten years after the book dates, so may be more relevant than most.

[the_rck]

I think melannen only wants the book on poisons. If you're interested in that, I go to flipping a coin (possibly literally) for that.

I'll confirm that she's not interested in the other two. If she's not, they're yours. If she is, then I do a coin toss for each book. I don't see sending two packages as any more challenging than sending one given that the big barrier, for me, is getting to the post office to begin with.

[heavenscalyx]

I can live without the poisons one. :) We have the Poisoners Handbook, plus Way Too Many Years Of Chemistry Class.

[the_rck]

Okay. Good to know. melannen hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'm going to give them a day or two more since a lot of people don't deal with such things over the weekend.

[the_rck]

I still haven't heard from melannen, so at this point, I'm going to assume that they're only interested in the poisons book.

I have found another book in the series, down in the basement. This one is called Police Procedural and is by Russell Bintliff. The date on that is 1993. If you want it, too, I'm happy to send it along.

Please PM me your mailing address. I'm not sure when we'll get to the post office, but it shouldn't be more than a week or two.

[heavenscalyx]

Suuurrre. Sounds good. :) Thank you!

[havocthecat]

I am not interested in writing mysteries, but I hope you have found some takers!

[the_rck]

I've got, if I understand what people are saying correctly, two potential takers for the book on poisons and one for the other two. I just need to clarify that and then figure out who gets what.