Amanda McCabe's Blog, page 6
November 11, 2023
Weekend Links
Happy middle of the month! Thanksgiving is just week after next (and I need to start my pies--my holiday assignment), and Christmas looms ahead, along with my birthday and the stress of moving house. (Fingers crossed, we will close on our new house Dec. 10!). I also just turn in one book (the 4th 1920s Santa Fe mystery), and am starting on another (the second Matchmakers of Bath story). Whew!! This is always a wild time of year, but I think it will be doubly do this year. Any time management advice??
In the meantime, a few fun things to read and distract ourselves:
9 signs you're a complex thinker whose mind works differently
The oldest bookstores in London
400 Years of Shakespear's Folio
Tiara of the Month: The Danish Ruby Wreath
Sofia Coppola's Stymied Attempt to Bring Undine Spragg to the Screen
Researcher uncovers possible new works from Louisa May Alcott
Two very different tiaras at a state banquet
26 Christmas recipes from the 1920s
First look at Agatha Christie's "Murder is Easy"
November 4, 2023
Weekend Links
Happy autumn, everyone! Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend. I confess I sometimes have a tough time with the early darkness and cold, but I do love cozy quilts, cashmere shawls, and holiday lights, so it's hygge time! Also reading and writing time. I have a deadline this week (book 4 of the 1920s Santa Fe mysteries), and finally got the top of my library's holds for Tom Lake. What are you reading this week??
In the meantime, some fun tidbits...
First look at Agatha Christie's "Murder is Easy" cast
How Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group Unbuttoned Britain
Maria Tallchief quarter released
An early Charlotte Bronte story
October 28, 2023
Book Release!!!
Do you feel ready for snow, cocoa, presents? Romance??? Do you love the opulent sopa opera-ness of "The Gilded Age"?? I have the book for you! My new Christmas anthology, "A Gilded Age Christmas" is out now! (I have an enormous love for all those things, too, as well as Edith Wharton books, so I loved writing this story)
Two festive romances set in the glamorous Gilded Age
Two short romances
Celebrate a Gilded Age Christmas!
In Amanda McCabe’s A Convenient Winter Wedding: marrying Connor O’Neill is about survival for penniless heiress May Van Der Berg. The distant self-made millionaire is far from the passionate husband she’d once dreamed of…except for that scorching kiss! In Lauri Robinson’s The Railroad Baron's Mistletoe Bride: after years of estrangement, romance blooms when Kurt invites store clerk Harper and their shared niece to spend Christmas at his mansion. But are they just a family for the holidays?
"Amanda McCabe's historical romances never disappoint and A Convenient Winter Wedding is a superb Gilded Age novella full of wit, passion and emotion written with plenty of style and flair. With characters readers will love and plenty of drama and intensity to keep them hooked, A Convenient Winter Wedding is an enjoyable historical novella from Amanda McCabe's very gifted pen." --Amazon Review, 5 stars
Weekend Links
Happy Saturday, everyone! It's my favorite time of year--almost Halloween! I love the crisp leaves, the cooler nights, the lovely apples (and apple pies) at farmers market, getting out my (copious) collection of scarves. And watching spooky (not gory!) movies and reading creepy books (just finished "Small Angels," it was delightfully creepy...). What are some of your favorites? Let me know in the comments, and in the meantime here's a few things to read...
(I'm also hoping to have some more "Heroine of the Week" posts soon! Let me know who you might like to see profiled)
The opulent film locations of "The Gilded Age"
How protect your local library (from Ask a Manager, a wonderful advice site!)
A designer lover's guide to Venice
The British Library digitizes its collection of Chaucer
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (how did films get the battle right or wrong?)
Birthplace of the Bronte sisters goes up for sale
12 best things to do in Santa Fe
They said it was a masterpiece...when they thought a man painted it
The Francophile gift guide (for the Francophile in the your life, cough cough, me)
October 15, 2023
Weekend Links
My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in peril this week. The news is heartbreaking. I'm so glad I have all of you.If you're in need of some diversion for a few minutes, here's some reading:
12 best things to do in Santa Fe
They said it was a masterpiece--when they thought a man painted it
Want the Empress Sissi look? Jewels go to auction
In John Singer Sargent's Portraits, the Fashion Comes First
BBC to broadcast show celebrating 400th anniversary of the First Folio
September 24, 2023
Weekend Links
Happy (sniffle, cough) weekend! Or not so much around here--after over 3 years of good luck, I have covid!!! Luckily, it just feels like a no-fun cold and is getting better, but my writing was set back for a few days and I spent far too much time watching videos of dogs and cats pretending to talk (that Penny the cat, hilarious!). But here are a few other reads I found, and happy autumn! I love this time of year. Crisp breezes! Beautiful colors! Apple cider! Striped sweaters! Best of all...Halloween
Shop once owned by Anne Boleyn's father up for sale
Marie Antoinette's Wardrobe Book
The home science labs of 18th century English noblewomen
September 15, 2023
Weekend Links
Happy almost-autumn! It's finally cooling down here after a scorching dry summer, and I'm so excited! It was also Fiestas time here, and Kate got very into it. Here are a few fun reads to take us through the weekend...
What Oppenheimer's Los Alamos looked liked
New Agatha Christie statue unveiled in Torquay!
Royal Jewelry Collection Up For Auction
Authors who work as booksellers
European Cities That Appear Most in Literature
One Year On: Queen Elizabeth II's most elegant ensembles
The Age of Innocence (one of my favorite movies)
Book Release!
Flora and Cho-Chou are back for another adventure!
1889
With the wild chase for the late unlamented duke's diamonds finally over, business is booming for Flora Flowerdew's seance society, but she's bored with summoning ghosts with the help of her psychic Pomeranian Chou-Chou. She longs for adventure, like what she had with Benedict, and her Cockney maid Mary and journalist Evie as they chased across England and France in search of the diamonds. A late night visit from Benedict, Duke of Everton changes that. He was the last man she ever wanted to see again, with his frosty green eyes and rough laughter. But he needs her help. His great-aunt Imogen is being blackmailed--and it might turn London politics upside-down! Not to mention Ben's own matrimonial prospects.
Lady Imogen begs Flora to help her hide her naughty past. She insists they attend a country house party at Windermere Abbey, where all the thieving suspects will be gathered. A tangle of politics, passion, fear hang heavy in those lavish corridors, and Flora must sort it out before it's too late! And before her heart is lost, too...
"I fell in love with Flora Flowerdew in the first book: Flora Flowerdew and Mystery of the Duke's Diamonds. So, of course, I absolutely had to read Flora Flowerdew and the Mystery of the Purloined Papers as soon as I could get my hands on it.
I was right.
A wonderful Novella, it is light, easy to read, and full of mystery (and even some mayhem!). It was so wonderful to spend time with characters from the first book. Especially our reluctant duke: Benedict.
I sincerely hope we will be seeing more of Flora, Benedict, Chou Chou the psychic Pomeranian, and Mary the best friend any music-hall-dancer-turned-medium(ish) could have!" Goodreads Review
August 3, 2023
Book Release Day!!!
The third in my 1920s Santa Fe mysteries is out NOW!!! I am so excited about this book. I put so much of my love of this place, my love of Maddie and her quest to find herself, into these stories, I love having them out in the world...
Former New York darling turned amateur sleuth Madeline Vaughn-Alwin is once again thrown into a colourful yet deadly web of secrets, lies and soirees to die for!
It's the week of Fiesta in Santa Fe and Maddie is looking forward to enjoying the celebrations. But as 'Old Man Gloom' Zozobra goes up in flames, so too do Maddie's hopes for a carefree life . . . Human remains are found in the dying embers of Zozobra, and then Maddie and her dashing beau Dr David Cole find a body washed up in the arroyo at the edge of town.
Soon identified as Ricardo Montoya, a wealthy businessman and head of one of the most affluent families in Santa Fe . . . the plot starts to thicken. While his beautiful wife Catalina and her complicated children seem less than heartbroken at his untimely demise, and with many disgruntled locals crawling out of the woodwork, Maddie is surrounded by suspects.
With the celebrations of Fiesta continuing around them, Maddie and her 'Detection Posse' get busy infiltrating the best parties and hobnobbing with old and new faces - but can they bring the murderer to justice before they strike again?
Santa Fe, a place of beauty and artistic inspiration, provides the perfect backdrop for the sympathetic sleuth. --Kirkus Reviews
July 30, 2023
Weekend Links
Happy almost August! (ugh, where did the summer go??) It's been crazy here, with the day job at its busiest and a book launch coming next week (Death Comes to Santa Fe, third in my 1920s mystery series!!!). Hope you are staying cool and getting your reading in.
Speaking of reading, here's a few fun links I've found lately. Enjoy!
Happy birthday, Emily Bronte! (July 30, 1818)
Pompeii's ancient fast-food markets
Tudor tapestries returned to their former glory
Barbie and "the cinematic history of weaponized pink"
