Press Kit
Quick Bio
Like her heroine, Corrie Locke, Lida Sideris hails from Southern California and worked as an entertainment attorney for a film studio. She has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles, a poem or two and a teleplay. She shares her home with her family and an assortment of dogs and chickens. She was the recipient of the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America scholarship for mystery writing. She is very excited to also call herself a picture book author, a long cherished dream. Her children, a naughty Dalmatian and the recent fires near her home served as the inspiration for her children’s book.
Download Press Kit lidasideris presskit.
Not-So-Quick Bio for A Southern California Mystery series
Lida Sideris was born in Southern California, where she spent her childhood days and went to school. Her first legal job was in the entertainment industry – she started out as a law clerk for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and ultimately landed her dream job as a Business Affairs Director at Lorimar-Telepictures.
After exiting her studio job, Lida had the opportunity to try her hand at writing a teleplay, acting in a small role in a major motion picture (reality check: she was an extra), teaching writers’ workshop to grammar school students, and running a café, before helming a legal non-profit. In between it all, she wrote articles for numerous newspapers and magazines.
It was during her most recent legal stint that Lida began writing a mystery novel, reliving moments of her entertainment attorney experiences and reinventing them to fit into her book. She won the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of American scholarship for her first novel. She is currently at work on the seventh in the series.
Lida resides in the northern tip of Southern California with her family and their Shepherds, Barbie (short for Barbarian), Duncan and Chico, along with a flock of uppity chickens.
Connect with Lida
Lida@LidaSideris.com
www.lidasideris.com
Twitter: @LidaSideris
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lidasideris
Media
Click to download larger versions of each image:
Book Excerpt MURDEROUS MEANS (#6 in the Southern California Mysteries):
Most people think the worst when they spot a shadowy figure lurking outside in the middle of the night. But there’s often a perfectly reasonable explanation. Take tonight, for instance. I was previewing my next job at a time carefully selected to avoid interruptions.
It was the quiet hour, halfway between sunset and sunrise, when sharp-fanged critters weren’t the only ones in stealth mode. Although breaking and entering was one of my favorite past-times, I carried a key for tonight’s visit, provided by a prospective client. Except she wasn’t expecting me till
much later, like in twelve hours. I was checking out the place to determine if the job was worth taking. Plus, I did my best thinking and investigating in the dark, when hunches flowed freely, fully formed and primed for action.
I knelt behind an overgrown shrub at the bottom of a driveway leading to Means Well Ranch. The house was one of three structures on twenty-nine acres at the end of Old Canyon Road in Los Ranchos, population 1300. The tiny town was nestled between two powerhouse communities with small town vibes of their own: Calabasas and Malibu. Just far enough away from Los Angeles to make residents forget the worries and bustle of city life, but close enough to grab a bite at a top-notch Italian eatery in Century City. Los Ranchos was a hidden pocket of relief in the massive overcoat of L.A.
Crouching, I crept my way up the pebbly dirt driveway to an old, but sturdy Victorian home sitting dead center of fenced-in pastures. The siding was painted a stark white; gingerbread trimmed the eaves. I inserted the key and stepped inside a tall, narrow, and dark foyer, with my penlight leading
the way. Floral wallpaper stirred up the interior. The antique furnishings were the real deal, fashioned by expert craftsmen. From Windsor chairs to walnut corner pieces, it was like stepping back in time, circa 1900, except ladies back then didn’t dress in black sweats or don suede ankle boots. Nor did they stash pistols in their crossbody bags and Japanese throwing stars in
their belt buckles. Well, maybe the pistols.
A mission style, upright player piano pressed against one wall in the living room. Oriental rugs scattered around tongue and groove floors, quieting my footsteps. Not that anyone would hear me. The house sat unoccupied ever since…I dove behind a small velvet settee and froze, penlight off. A
floorboard creaked on the porch, a weighty creaking that lasted a tad too long. Was somebody out there?
————————————————————————————————————————————
Book Excerpt (Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters, #1 in the Southern California Mysteries):
I veered out of the parking lot and bounced onto the cavity-ridden dirt road. The mystery car appeared out of nowhere from beneath the tall pines, eclipsed by the darkness. Now it raced away somewhere ahead.
“Why didn’t we hear it start?” I asked James.
“It’s a hybrid.”
“We’re in a car chase with a Prius?” A car chase with a Porsche or Ferrari was respectable, but with a battery operated car? All bragging rights vanished.
I shifted into warp speed and surged downhill. Seconds later, we faced the hybrid’s rear bumper. The spot for the license plate sat empty.
“He’s not getting away,” I said.
The hybrid turned and launched up a hill, kicking up pebbles and a dusty haze. It fish-tailed and I nearly nipped it in the rear. I executed a sharp left and ran over something large. And lumpy.
“Stop,” James said.
I skidded to a halt, a cloud of dirt trapped in my headlights. The Prius escaped through an open gate and onto La Paz. My eyes cut to the rearview mirror. My tail-lights illuminated the road behind us in an eerie red glow. As I surveyed the scene, not a trace of saliva remained in my mouth.
Book Blurb (Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters)
Watch out Southern California! There’s a new entertainment attorney in town and she’s got game. Only problem is, it’s not the one she should be playing. Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead she’s hot on the trail of a murderer. Luckily, she’s the daughter of a late, great private eye and she’s inherited his love of sleuthing…and illegal weaponry. It doesn’t help matters that her gene for caution is a recessive one. Corrie finds herself in the center of a murder case, unearthing suspects in shocking places. With a cold-blooded killer on the loose, Corrie will have to up her game, or die trying.
————————————————————————————————————————————
Interview Questions for the Southern CA Mystery series
- Why did you write a mystery novel? Where did you get the idea?
- What is your typical writing day like?
- Authors project parts of themselves into their main characters. Does your heroine have any of your qualities?
- If you had three words to describe your main character, what would they be?
- Would you call your protagonist a truth-seeker or a thrill-seeker?
- What themes did you visit in your book?
- How do you find/make time to write?
- How did you come up with the title?
- Your main character has a cache of weaponry. Do you have a cache of something?
- What’s the hardest part about writing? The easiest?
- How do you keep your written world from encroaching on your life?
- Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?