Ellen Byerrum's Blog

It happened again. A complete stranger asked me if I was someone else, someone she knew, someone named Rosemary. “No? Are you sure? You look exactly like Rosemary!” The woman based her identification on the resemblance of the back of my head in the movie theater to that of the mysterious Rosemary. “Do you ride horses? Rosemary rides horses. You look just like Rosemary!” I don’t ride very much, but my lookalike Rosemary sounds like she would be a fine friend. I could use more friends with...

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Congratulations to Helen Kiker, the winner of my book giveaway, which I held this past weekend in conjunction with the Stiletto Gang’s Hallopalooza Scavenger Hunt. Helen won signed copies of Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover, the first and third books in my Crime of Fashion mystery series, which were filmed for and aired on the Lifetime Movie Network earlier this year. My thanks go out to everyone who stopped by and commented during the scavenger hunt.

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Ellen Byerrum   - Post #9   http://ellenbyerrum.livejournal.com/

 

The mayor and his wife were dressed as a Hispanic version of George and Martha Washington. 

Juan Reyes still had the chiseled good looks of the television star he'd been fifteen years earlier. He smelled of musk, fine brandy, and Cuban cigars. Reyes had starred in a popular cop show that ran for four years that still played in reruns in the early morning hours. He prided himself on his realistic portrayal and still...

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This Halloween I'm joining the great authors at The Stiletto Gang for Hallopalooza, an online mystery scavenger involving 23 blogs. The gang has written a short murder mystery for the event. All you have to do is follow the clues, one of which I'll be posting on this blog by 8 a.m. Eastern, Friday, Oct. 30. The game ends at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Winners will be announced by the Stiletto Gang on Monday, Nov. 2

It works like this: You start the scavenger hunt at The Stiletto...

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Believe it or not, the third Crime of Fashion book in my mystery series, Hostile Makeover, is now available as a hidden-object computer game. A what? Quite frankly I’m not quite sure what that means, but I’m sure it’s lots of fun. I have never played a computer game and don’t like board games. The very mention of Monopoly will send me fleeing from the room. I can’t play Trivial Pursuit because I don’t know anything about sports. Crossword puzzles make me feel inadequate. Scrabble makes me ...

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Autumn is the perfect time for long walks in the leaves, sipping cider, and settling down in front of a fire with a good book. And it’s the time to win books by the Book Belles, four authors penning everything from tales of murder and mayhem to young adult and women's fiction. Yes, the Belles are  hosting a fall contest to win a tote bag of signed books by The Book Belles, Nancy Cohen, Laura Durham, Susan McBride, and moi, Ellen Byerrum.

 

All you have to do is sign up and provide some...

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The final book signing at one of my favorite independent bookstores, Creatures ’n Crooks in Richmond, Va., scheduled this Saturday, Sept. 13, is a sad sign of the times. Creatures 'n Crooks will close at the end of September. 

I will be participating in the signing with a group of fine fellow authors, including John Lamb, Ellen Crosby, and Marcia Talley. I have such mixed feelings. While I’m always delighted to be at events with other writers, I’m devastated to see this fine bookstore...

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Autumn has always been my favorite season, with the leaves, the peppery scent in the air, the crystal clear days, mugs of hot apple cider sipped near the fire, and cozy sweaters. I love it, all of it. But this year, I’m mourning the fact that the outdoor pool in our complex, where I’ve been swimming almost every day this summer, closes in three weeks. This summer, freed from the yoke of the old day job, I had a chance to really enjoy the steamy season in our pool on the banks of the Potomac Ri

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This weekend I will be attending an in-service class to maintain my private investigator's registration in Virginia. Encouraged by a friend, I first took a certified PI course several years ago, for writing research purposes. It turned out to be both enlightening and a lot of fun, even for a "remedial surveillance" kind of student. And I ended up a registered private investigator, though I don't do it for a living (writing about it is hard enough). Those of you who have read Armed and Glamorous,

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First of all, I want to thank all of you who have written to ask me if and when there will be another book in the Lacey Smithsonian Crime of Fashion series! I am so grateful that you love the characters and want more. So do I. While I’m not sure exactly when the next book in my series will be coming out, I'm delighted to announce that I will be writing more mysteries about my favorite fashion sleuth Lacey Smithsonian. I’m going forward with another contract with New American Library's Obsidian i

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