SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE CONSOLATION BLONDE

"The Consolation Blonde" by Val McDermid  (first published in Mysterious Pleasures, edited by Martin Edwards, 2003; reprinted in Ink and Daggers, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, 2023)

As an author, John Treadgold was riding high.  His latest novel, the concluding volume in his King's Infidel, trilogy had broken all records for a fantasy novel, with reviews saying the book was the first novel since Tolkien to make fantasy respectable; fans and booksellers calling it their book of the year, and literary critics gushing over the novel.  Now, tonight, the novel was up for Best Novel in the Speculative Fiction category at the US Books Awards -- one of the most prestigious prizes around.  The book -- everyone said -- was a shoo-in to win, and along with the prize was a $50,000 award.  John knew he deserved the award but a little nagging voice kept telling him the anything could happen.  And it did,  The award went to another book.

Raging inside, he stopped at a nearby bar to drown his sorrows with Cassie, the manager of the city's best sf and fantasy bookstore.  One thing led to another and they spent the night together.  John wanted to see more of Cassie but she demurred, saying she would rather be a one-night stand than the other woman in John's marriage.  But John had never been married -- the fictional wife just part of a long-standing public relations ploy.

Once that problem had been ironed out, the two began dating, and John found true happiness.  "I found a sense of completeness I had never known before.  I'd always scoffed at terms like 'soulmate'. but Cassie forced me eat the words baked into a humble pie.  We matched.  It was just as simple as that."  They blissfully moved in together.

About a year later, John had a meeting with his agent, who was negotiating John's next novel with his publisher.  They were getting so close to a deal that the publisher was reviewing their miscellaneous expenses occurred with John's last novel.  John's agent was not supposed to see those expenses but his editor at the publishing house was a "cyber-idiot."  John looked over the expenses.  Along with the typical hotels, taxis, air fares, author escorts, and so on, there was one item that stood out.  Consolation Blonde, $500.  And the date matched that of his US Book Award loss.

It's a dirty little trade secret, but a Consolation Blonde is what a publisher discretely provide to an author whose having a bad time, most often without the author's knowledge.  and it turned out that Cassie -- his Cassie -- was his Consolation Blonde.

And what is John  going to do about this?

Val McDermid is the international best-selling author of "Tartan Noir."  Her 1995 novel The Mermaids Singing was the first in her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series; the book won a CWA Gold Dagger and the series has been filmed as Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green.  Her Karen Pirie series has also been filmed for television, starring Lauren Lyle.  Other series by McDermid include those about journalist Lindsay Gordon, private investigator Kate Brannigan, and investigative reporter Allie Burns. Her stand-alone novel A Place of Execution won a Dilys Award and was shortlisted for both the Gold Dagger and the Edgar Awards.  She has published other standalones, as well as two children's books and four nonfiction titles.  

McDermid has been inducted into the Detection Club.  She received a Diamond Dagger from the CWA for her lifetime contribution to crime writing.  McDermid is also co-founder of the Harrowgate Crime Writing Festival and the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award.  She has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edenborough and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.  She had been a board members of the Raith Rovers Football club (her father had worked as a scout for the club), but severed ties with the club after they signed a player who had been ruled to have raped a woman.  The Raith Rovers women's team also severed ties with the main club and renamed themselves McDermid Ladies; McDemid transferred her sponsorship to the new women's club.

In 2022, the estate of Agatha Christie threatened to sue McDermid's publishers if they referred to her as the "Queen of Crime," saying that they had a copyright on the term.