WILL UNWOUND #359: “Will’s Mystery Project – ‘Hasty Retreat’ by Kate Gallison”
February 12, 2011The author-reader dynamic is one that librarians have been trying to figure out for eons. Ranganathan put it this way: “every reader his book” and “every book its reader.”
Basically, that’s what librarians try to do – put the right book in the hands of the right reader. This ensures that the book gets a proper reading and that the reader has a satisfactory experience.
But that’s no small challenge. It requires librarians to have a thorough knowledge of authors and patrons. Often times that’s not enough. Both parties can be unpredictable. That’s why the best readers advisors have a strong sense of intuition, that sixth sense that book A is perfect for patron B.
Sometimes readers advisors have to break all the rules. What’s the oldest rule in the library science book of rules? You can’t judge a book by its cover. Is that why academic libraries strip all books of their dust jackets before putting them on the shelf? Is that why J.D. Salinger forbade his publisher from putting anything on the cover of his books but the title and author? Perhaps.
On the other hand why do public libraries go to the great expense of preserving the dust jacket with a protective mylar covering. Is that just about preservation? No! It’s really about the author’s photograph.
Choosing a book to read is making a commitment to spend time with the author. That’s why publishers go the expense of providing the photo. Is this the type of person you want to hang out with? That’s the question the photo poses to potential readers. Would you go on a blind date without looking at your intended’s photo?
In library school I developed a theory that different readers are attracted to different author pictures and if a reader has a negative feeling about an author based upon the dust jacket photo, nothing will motivate that reader to surrender a sense of intimacy to the book. What I did to test my theory was take a series of 8 photographs of various everyday noncelebrities and show them to 150 randomly selected library patrons. I asked each patron 4 questions about each photograph: Would you read 1) a cookbook, 2) a mystery, 3) a romance, and 4) a general nonfiction book by the person in the photograph?
What did I find? These patrons preferred to read cookbooks by overweight people, mysteries by skinny people, and nonfiction books by people with a scholarly, elitist look about them – pipes, bow ties, wire framed specs…that sort of thing. The romance results came back inconclusive so I did some follow up research and found that older women preferred romances written by dignified, white haired ladies wearing furs, and younger women preferred romances written by younger, sexier women wearing plunging blouses and short skirts.
Now that I have reached the midway point of my mystery project (25 out of 50 books), I decided that I would choose book #26 solely on the basis of the author photo, and I knew exactly what I was looking for: an older women with a serious side (glasses would help) but with a glint of glee in her face. My experience over the past 6 months has been that the best mystery writers fit that profile.
The author I chose was Kate Gallison. Her dust jacket photo fit the image I was looking for …oversized glasses, a pronounced look of glee (as in “I know who the murderer is and you don’t), and best of all a stylish hat. I’m a hat person. Hats give panache.
The photo fit the mystery perfectly. This is a woman with a mischievous sense of humor, which always fits in well in a religious setting, especially one set in a monastery. The book is Hasty Retreat and the amateur sleuth is an Episcopalian priest, Mother Lavinia Grey. The writing is crisp, witty, at times edgy, and at other times a bit over the top. Mother Grey is as irreverent a cleric as you will find. She’s plainspoken, which inevitably tends to get her in trouble with the hierarchy and some of her parishioners, but the free thinkers among you will appreciate her sense of independence and her sharp sense of irony.
The great irony of this book is that Mother goes on retreat to the monastery to recharge her spiritual batteries in the calm and quiet of a very strict order. Watching Mother try to keep the vow of silence within the hallowed halls is a bit of a howl. Of course, by chapter 3, everything goes to hell in a hand basket and the last thing to be found on this retreat is peace and quiet. Amen.
I give Hasty Retreat four stars.
Hats? So what would you make of this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorklib/3007370557/), or this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorklib/3119086266/), or my “Unshelved homage to Robert Parker” one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorklib/3210579638/).
I got sucked into the Steig Larsson vortex a few weeks back & have re-read “The Girl Who Played With Fire” a couple of times.
Oops– Stieg Larsson (darn transposition errors)
Love the hat. I would read your mystery!
I’m so glad you’re keeping us up to date on the mystery project. I really enjoy reading these posts.
Jessica, I was thinking about updating my research on the author photos. It’s been exactly 40 years since I did the study referred to in the post.
I love that study and not only think you should do it again, but publish it! My students would love reading it
Will, if you do the study again, keep something in mind…Photo Shop
What is photo shop?
Photo Shop is a program used to take digital pictures and enhance them or clean them up. There’s a commercial on tv right now where a woman has multiple pictures of her, her husband, and their three young sons. All of the photos has something wrong – one kid sticking something in his ear, another making faces, etc. So she sits at her computer and cuts and pastes them into one good photo. It can also be used to delete wrinkle lines, double chins, spots, etc from photos. In other words, it takes a decent real picture and can turn it into an unreal glamor shot.
Interesting. I rarely look at photos of the author until I finish a book, maybe because the photos are often on the inside of the back cover. I almost always choose women authors (and women characters) with a couple of exceptions (Henning Mankell, Thomas Perry, Robert B. Parker). Sometimes I am surprised when the photo doesn’t match the writing. Some writers I steer clear of because they are SO popular; but I finally started reading Norah Roberts and liked most of what I read. I guess she is popular for a reason; my bias is possibly not rational. Ditto Jayne Ann Krentz / Amanda Quick. Her Arcane Society series is very good; though it is a bit confusing because the books are under both author names.
Lynne…that’s precisely my point: our choices are not always rational.
A woman with a mischievous sense of humor. Yep, that’s me! Glad you liked the book.
Kate, we’re honored to have you in our blog, and I’m thrilled to finally have a mystery author respond to my project. Given that the subject of my little post was the interface between author and reader, I couldn’t ask for more than a comment from you. Congrats on a great book, a great series, and the wonderful talent you possess. You can be sure that as soon as my little project is done, your books will be the ones that I will devour in their entirety.
Sweet. The books I wrote as Irene Fleming (THE EDGE OF RUIN, THE BRINK OF FAME, see my website for details, http:/www.kategallison.com) have an author picture that was taken forty years ago when I was playing Liza Doolittle in community theater. My editor liked it. I said, “But it’s forty years old.” He said, cringing, “Oh. I had no idea.” Guess he wasn’t born yet. But, hey, it’s a great hat.
Just visited the web site. I see that Ms. Gallison is married to a librarian. Could explain why Will liked her so much.
I didn’t even know that. I went strictly by the photo!
Okay, Susan, I just went to her website and discovered that Kate Gallison is also directed descended from a convicted Salem witch. Now that’s the secret behind the mischievous grin! I like it. Photos tell all.
Doesn’t the project end in June? Will you be able to read the remaining books in that time? If, so it will have to be more than one a week. I’m looking forward to more reviews.
I was never a detail guy as a manager. Vicki, can I have an extension? Please.
Of course you can have an extension. I’d rather you appreciate the books rather than rush through them.
Thank you. And I won’t be charged any fines for my lateness?
Another book to add to my read-when-I-get-the-chance list! I must say I never thought I cared for mysteries but after reading several of the that Will has recommended via his great mystery project — I’ll amend that and say I sometimes like mysteries!
Linda…join the club of reformed mystery haters.
Okay, that is cool — that the author herself, Kate Gallison, has seen this specific blog discussion!
After I saw the author’s comment I went to Amazon and purchased an e-copy of the title for my iPad and I’m sure I’ll enjoy reading it as I work out tonight.
I knew from her photo that Kate Gallison was cool.
Very cool to see Kate respond — I love the Internet just for that, being able to interact with favorite authors.
Now, Will, I only have one problem with your mystery project. I am very much a Virgo, series need to be read in order. To get to Kate’s “Hasty Retreat” I need to read three books before that! So, what exactly are you doing to my Mt. TBR? Making it taller and heavier and a bit more “tippy”.
Thanks for the recommendation, this sounds like an author I will love.
pma…I’m a Libra. I can balance your book mountain.
My roommate is a Gemini – she’ll divide things out for us.