The Fifth Day of Bookmas #12daysbooks

Bookends has another installment in the contest today. As usual, if you think you know the answer, go to the link and put it in the comments. There will be lots of additional links with clues there, too, so check it out. Let them know how popular I am by clicking in the link. My clue is way down below.

As an editor I loved creating ideas for new books or series. In fact, as an agent I do the same today. The difference is that as an editor I could get pre-approval from my boss, which meant if I found the right author I knew I could buy the book. As an agent it’s more of a risk. I am often asking the author to write a proposal in the hopes that we can sell it to an editor. However, we’ve come up with some great ideas at BookEnds and we’re proud of the authors who have been able to execute them with a great deal of success.

The thing about an idea created by someone else is that it’s not your idea; the truth, though, is that it is your book. No matter how great an idea, the success or failure depends entirely on the author’s ability to make it so. I can have the most amazing, marketable idea in the world, but if the author can’t execute it brilliantly, it’s not going to be that great. And of course, the success of a book depends entirely on the author’s brilliance to create the characters and stories that will grab the readers.

Many years ago I read Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and fell in love. I was a young editor in a terrific new romance, a romance with New York City, and I couldn’t get enough of anything to do with that city, especially the city’s history. I read The Alienist, all of Edith Wharton’s novels, The Mole People by Jennifer Toth, and Low Life by Luc Sante, to name a few.

During that period of time I developed an idea for a series of books based on this romance of mine. Can you name the series that is still being published today and its author? Keep in mind, other than coming up with the idea, I take no credit for its success. That’s entirely in the hands of brilliant writing.

My clue: A tough turn-of-the-century cop forms an unlikely alliance.