My throat starts to close and my hands get clammy whenever friends at a gathering start talking about board games. “Scramble! Boggle! I bet Naomi’s good at that,” someone usually says.
Well, quite the contrary. I stink at Scramble. I’m a little better at Boggle but not much. Crossword puzzles, not for me. It’s embarrassing to admit this, but I’m not much of a wordsmith. Nor do I produce words well under pressure. I could never be an advertising copywriter like my Murderati mate Louise Ure because 1) I’m not clever and 2) composing anything in public gives me heart palpitations.
The one word exercise I do find fun is word jumble. Maybe it’s because it’s more of a solitary activity. I also enjoy chaos, so attempting to make sense out of a mess is more my nature perhaps. (And like word search, it’s pretty darn easy.) So in subbing today (J.T.—not to mention Tony and Alex—are at Book Expo in NYC, those lucky dogs), I’m going to offer you a Murderati Word Jumble.
So this is how it works:
Each of these jumbled words needs to be rearranged into a word in a Murderati blogger’s title. You need to not only rearrange the word correctly but also note the title of the book which contains the word. (To be fair, there will be no proper nouns or foreign words—especially Japanese ones!) Every single current Murderati contributor, including guest bloggers, are represented once. The bonus jumble at the end contains a word in the title of one of Michael Maclean’s short stories (you can link to his website to do a search).
If you think that you have all the answers, including the book titles, e-mail them to me by Saturday, 9 a.m. PST at nhirahara@juno.com. The fourth person to provide the right answers will be the winner! (This will make some allowances for the time difference.) I will post the answers as well as the winner in the comment area later that day.
What does the winner get? A signed, first edition/first printing of the Edgar Award- winning SNAKEKSIN SHAMISEN! How about that?
And ’Ratis, feel free to join in as well. (If you win, though, no book for you—you get only my undying affection. The next non-‘Rati to answer correctly will get the prize.)
If this word jumble leaves you wanting more, feel free to create your own and post it in the comment section so we can continue to play.
After all, it’s Friday, right?
YRVE
TIGRH
GRIFCON
TEYRPT
THIHC
DYOBGEO
TIWIGNA
URASGRD
KKNNAISSE
WHIGROARN
BONUS: Maclean Madness
ATHGRTIS
Normally, word jumbles and I don’t fare very well together. It’s usually better for me to stick to cryptograms ( http://www.geocities.com/cryptogramcorner/ ). This, however, was fun (and also introduced me to all ‘Rati book titles)!
Auuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh! Yet another excuse to procrastinate. Thanks for nothing, Naomi (heh heh heh).
I love it, Naomi! My usual wake up exercises are two crossword puzzles (done in ink) and then the word jumble. This one was great fun.
But, as much as I wish I’d been a copywriter, I was not. I was on the management side of the ad agency business — evaluating all those headlines and 30 second TV commercials and trying to figure out how to get the client to pay for them.
Well, doing crossword puzzles in ink is enough evidence of your wordsmith wizardry!
Wow, this is impressive. How long did you spend crafting this?
I could never do these things. On Wheel of Fortune, I’d be the guy who couldn’t figure out the puzzle even when only two letters were missing—the guy you scream at through the TV.
Famous suspense director
AL__RED HITCHC__CK
“Hmmmmm. Pat, could I buy a U please?”
Thanks Naomi
Took me about a half an hour. Ever since third grade, I’ve had a knack for devising silly games. My so-called skillz have been called into service in recent years for whatever reason. In other words, if you lived closer, I’d be whipping up some girlie games for your daughter’s b-day parties in no-time flat. Murder mystery for a bat mitzvah, anyone?
you hurt my head…
I did do it, I really did. But…”some errors occurred while…” yeah yeah yeah. But I had a blast doing it, so thank you, Naomi! What a fun way to wind down on Friday!
“… feel free to create your own and post it in the comment section …”
OK. Using two award winning/nominated titles by each of the first ten authors:http://www.awarannals.com/wiki/Honor_roll:Mystery/Suspense_authors ,gives these scrambled words:
AMRGIAREDMCFSITROOEASRCDESDKRANSGTINSEOMHHDETUAGRNRECOOUSCOADMNDIOIACNARTONGIDIOONNMHOEYOSNLHODBODUOYCEOTRDEAIASPRPOIINTEDSDALINSUHRCTEBTGRNEEICFLTIIWTGLHTOLRUEB
I’ll send a book TBD to the third person who sends me the correct answers — which must include the book title and author. The books used are from those listed by clicking the authors’ names.( oldbeeg asperand aol stop com )
Thanks, B.G. I’m spending the weekend watching DVDs (just saw BRICK and am watching/listening to the director’s comments–fascinating–next up is ASK THE DUST).
I’ll make some time to do your word scramble as well. And with no further ado, I’ll be announcing the winners of the inaugural Murderati Word Jumble . . .
The official winner is Sue Trowbridge! But as she also is my very talented webmistress, I will also award an autographed SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN to the next person in line–Sandra Kisner, a DorothyLer.
Thanks to all who participated! And sorry that I made one mistake. I guess my future as a professional jumble creator looks bleak.
Here are the answers:
YRVE: Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day (Toni McGee Causey)
TIGRH: The Devil’s Right Hand (J.D. Rhoades)
GRIFCON: Forcing Amaryllis (Louise Ure)
TEYRPT: All the Pretty Girls (J.T. Ellison)
THIHC: The Belen Hitch (Pari Noskin Taichert)
DYOBGEO: Kiss Her Goodbye (Robert Gregory Browne)
TIWIGNA: Accidents Waiting to Happen (Simon Wood)
URASGRD: Guards (Ken Bruen) sorry–I had one too many r’s!
KKNNAISSE: Snakeskin Shamisen (Naomi Hirahara)
WHIGROARN: The Harrowing (Alexandra Sokoloff)
BONUS: Maclean MadnessATHGRTIS: “Straight Razor Girl”
The link for my list of authors should be:http://www.awardannals.com/wiki/Honor_roll:Mystery/Suspense_authorsI have no idea why pasting it in here deletes an interior letter (which I had to add back in to this link).
Ooh, I’m excited to be the winner!! As for being Naomi’s webmistress, well, it’s a small world… and I do the Jumble in the newspaper every morning, so I had a leg up there.
There were no e-mailed entries, but here are the answers for the curious:
AMRGIARE: MARRIAGE Is Murder (Pickard)DMCFSITROO: Southern DISCOMFORT (Maron)EASRCD: SACRED (Lehane)ESDKRANS: A DARKNESS More Than Night (Connelly)GTINSEOMH: SOMETHING Wicked (Hart)HDETUAGR: Bootlegger’s DAUGHTER (Maron)NRECOOUSC: CONCOURSE (Rozan)OADMNDI: DIAMOND Dust (Lovesey)OIACNART: The Monkey’s RAINCOAT (Crais)ONGIDI: INDIGO Slam (Crais)OONNMHOEY: HONEYMOON with Murder (Hart)OSNLHODBODU: BLOODHOUNDS (Lovesey)OYCEOT: The Last COYOTE (Connelly)RDEAIASP: Damned in PARADISE (Collins)RPOIINTED: Road to PERDITION (Collins)SDALIN: Shutter ISLAND (Lehane)SUHRCTEB: BUTCHERS Hill (Lippman)TGRNEEICFL: REFLECTING the Sky (Rozan)TIIWTGLH: TWILIGHT (Pickard)TOLRUEB: In Big TROUBLE (Lippman)