Kate Collins's Blog, page 30

I'm not a YouTube star ... but I could be!

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett


Did you know I have a YouTube channel?

I do -- and I've got booktrailers for many of my books (and have playlists for each of my series so you can binge-watch). The Cozy Chicks have a page for past videos, but since only I seem to be making them these days, it seemed weird to me to keep posting only my own, hence--I got my own YouTube channel


I've also started making videos of my thrifting treasures. You can check all of them out by clicking this link. And please do check out the playlists, too.

You could make me the next YouTube star! If you like what you see, please subscribe and click the little bell to be informed when I upload a new video.

Wearing Cats

by Karen Rose Smith



Every time I get dressed to go out--whether it be just to a doctor's appointment or perhaps to a book signing--the last thing I do before leaving the house is to use tape or a lint brush to remove any cat hair that accumulated on my clothing while getting dressed.

Having five inside cats, it is a given that you will be wearing cat hair if you don't remove it.  So my theory is--if I'm going to wear my cats anyway, I might as well do it in style.  Many of my daytime outfits feature cats, whether it is a simple necklace and earrings or a slogan on a T-shirt.  Often these items capture the attention of those I'm around and they make great conversation starters. It doesn't take long to determine if you are speaking to a cat lover.  And they are usually more than willing to share their pet stories with you. 


When my husband was still working, I often gifted him with neckties that had a feline theme.  Since he retired, my gifts switched to T-shirts.  He has become much more involved with our furry family since he is around them all day.  I often try to combine other favorites of his with the feline themes.  Retirement and coffee teamed up well with cats on my most recent finds.  He often returns home from running errands and says that he received a comment on his T-shirt.







I always include Daisy's two felines, Pepper and Marjoram, in my Daisy's Tea Garden Mysteries.  They add dimension to Daisy's home life and give her someone to talk to when she is home alone.  Often they listen as she hashes out clues for the latest mystery that she is trying to solve.  I'm sure there are cat-themed items of clothing hanging in her closet, like her fleece jacket with a cat pattern.

So the next time you are stuck on the perfect gift to buy a cat-loving friend, help them "wear their cats."  It is a gift that will surely be appreciated and worn with pride.



Daisy’s Tea Garden in Pennsylvania’s Amish country is known for its elegant  finger foods—but now owner Daisy Swanson has to finger a killer . . .
Restaurant critic Derek Schumaker, notorious for his bitter reviews, is about to visit Daisy’s Tea Garden, and Daisy and Aunt Iris are simmering with anxiety. A bad word from the culinary curmudgeon could really hurt their business, but Daisy tries to stay confident. After all, how can he resist her cucumber sandwiches with pimento spread—not to mention the cheesy cauliflower soup and strawberry walnut salad?
Schumaker takes a to-go order when the afternoon tea service is done, which Daisy hopes is a good sign. But when he perishes from a seizure, it looks like his food was dosed with something deadly. Considering a threat that recently appeared on his blog—and whispers of scandal in his past—Daisy has quite an assortment of suspects to sift through . . .

MURDER WITH CUCUMBER SANDWICHES on Amazon

MURDER WITH CUCUMBER SANDWICHES on Barnes and Noble

Scoring the best deal ever!

Reagan Summerside here, the owner of the Prissy Fox in the Consignment Shop mystery series.

Consignment shopping is the fun of wearing designer clothes on the cheap. I could never afford a Coach handbag or an Armani jacket but when married to Hollis...my no-good, rotten, low-rent, cheating ex...I had to look nice. His slogan was you had to look successful to be successful. For me the best part was bragging to my friends how much I paid for my designer outfits! The conversation went something like, “Oh, isn’t that a great Kate Spade purse.” And my reply would be, “I got it on eBay or a consignment shop for forty bucks!” instead of the usual three-hundred and fifty!
     For years I shopped consignment stores and now that I need money to pay bills on my partially-restored Victorian, I decided I’d resell all those Hollis clothes I no long need. I’ve opened a consignment shop of my very own here in Savannah, the Prissy Fox. 
     Don’t you love the name Prissy Fox! Auntie KiKi came up with the name and she also helps me run the place. For me consignment shopping is all  about the hunt for the perfect scarf, skirt or shoes. I think that’s why mystery and the Consignment: Murder series seemed like a perfect fit. The hunt is on!
     So what about you? What stores in your neck of the woods do you shop for deals? Is there one deal that was your all-time best score that you still have bragging rights on?
     

SCANDALS, SECRETS AND MURDER

by Maggie Sefton









For those of you who didn't know that I also write Historical Mysteries in addition to
the Kelly Flynn Mysteries, I  thought I'd include an introduction.  SCANDALS, SECRETS AND MURDER is the first in the Widow and the Rogue Mysteries, set in 1890 Washington, D.C.  Check out the description below.













SCANDALS, SECRETS AND MURDER: The Widow and the Rogue Mysteriesby Maggie Sefton

The 1890s ---A time of Robber Barons and Reformers, Suffragettes and Swindlers.  Wall Street millionaires made fortunes overnight only to lose them the next day. They all came to Washington, D.C. Some to plead their causes, others to bribe the politicians who held power.  America was changing and re-inventing itself in time for a new century, and Washington was the center of it all.
Powerful and corrupt U.S. Senator Horace Chester is stabbed to death in a Murder Bay brothel, wrapped in the arms of his evening’s entertainment.  His assailant escapes into the crush of unwashed bodies filling the streets of 1890 Washington’s notorious red light district---a dense warren of taverns, gambling dens, and bordellos just a few short blocks from the President’s house.  There, the wicked and the wretched alike find myriad vices to tempt their darkest desires. Anything is for sale in Murder Bay---including murder.
Hero/Sleuth:  Devlin Burke, English investor, aristocratic family, amateur scientist and sometime sleuth.  He’s in Washington to oversee his family’s investments and rescue his wayward nephew Freddie who’s gone bankrupt in Sen. Chester’s risky investment scheme.  In a fit of rage, Freddie attacked Chester in a crowded Capitol Hill hallway only days before the senator’s gruesome murder. Freddie has no alibi for that night and is now the police inspector’s prime suspect.  
Heroine/Sleuth:  Amanda Duncan, wealthy young Washington widow, has spent years trying to ignore the clairvoyant visions that flash unbidden before her eyes, but she can no longer.  If only her husband had believed her vision of the fiery train crash, he and her young daughter would still be alive.  Since she couldn’t save her own loved ones, Amanda turns her back on Washington society and deliberately treads where no respectable lady would dare---into the grimy and violent world of Washington’s tenement alley slums.  Perhaps her visions can help others.  This latest vision, however, was most troubling.  She saw a man stabbed to death by a shadowy assailant and a young girl screaming.  
Not surprisingly, the police scoff at Amanda’s visions.  But Devlin does not.  Her account of the murder causes the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end.  He had been present in London two years earlier when the famous psychic Robert James Lees led Scotland Yard to the very door of the Ripper--only to be ignored.
Devlin and Amanda form a prickly partnership to find Senator Chester’s murderer, which takes them from the Capital’s poshest salons into the crime-infested streets of Murder Bay.  Devlin’s sleuthing instincts and Amanda’s psychic detection lead them ever closer to the truth.  But the closer they approach, the more desperate the killer becomes---and the more dangerous.  

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

By Mary Kennedy
                                                                           

  A friend in real estate tells me that locations is everything. Location can sell a house (just like kitchen and bathrooms do.) In the novel biz, location is equally important. Some books just demand a particular setting or they won't make sense. For example, I once wrote a piece for USA today on political novels--books that absolutely had to be written in Washington, DC. (just like House of Cards would never work if it were filmed in Des Moines!)
I chose Savannah for the Dream Club Mysteries because the city has a certain woo-woo quality.                                                                          
When the members of the Dream Club meet for their weekly dream analysis (with lots of southern desserts) they often reference landmarks and districts in the beautiful city. And of course, I leave it up to the reader whether or not it's just a coincidence that the ladies find clues in their dreams that help the Savannah PD solve murders.                                                                           


The Hollywood Nights (a young adult series) is set in Hollywood and South Beach, Florida since all three books revolve around young people and the exciting world of film. The books just couldn't happen anywhere else.
                                                                             

                                                                     



And for some reason, the fictional town of Cypress Grove in sunny south Florida just seemed like the perfect choice for the Talk Radio Mysteries. Notice the Florida colors on the book covers?                                                                               



Hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my favorite locations! Happy reading.Mary Kennedy

A Darker Side of Cozy Mysteries

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

When I wrote my third Booktown Mystery (Bookplate Special), I presented my (then) editor with a synopsis that included not only food insecurity, but a way some people choose to solve it. That is: Dumpster diving. Yes. People who voluntarily climb into garbage bins to rescue food that has passed its expiration date and or (in the case of produce) was less than optimal.

He felt this was quite the dodgy subject. I asked him to to trust me and I was rewarded with an Agatha nomination for best book of the year. I didn't win, but that's another story. He never questioned me again.

I did extensive research into both those subjects. I learned that most food pantries will distribute canned (and other goods) up to two years beyond their "best by" dates. It turns out that these dates are totally arbitrary because food manufacturers are in the business of selling food. Toss out what seems "bad" and buy more. Except--most of those foods are NOT inedible, they just not optimum. As long as canned goods have not "bulged" they are safe to eat--even a decade or more after their "best by" date. The whole concept of "use by" and "best by" dates are now under heavy government scrutiny.

In my current mystery, I'm taking on a very dark subject indeed--the genesis of the me-too movement. I don't want to post spoilers here, but let's just say the incident I refer to is almost three decades old. The fact that sexual assault is just as prevalent (if not more) today speaks volumes.

Yes, I have lost readers because I've approached controversial subjects in my books and short stories, and maybe it's uncomfortable for some readers to take in, but as someone who has experienced some of the things I've written about, I hope that in the future things will change. That can't happen until we address the darker side of life.

Cozier stories may just be the way to do that.

Summer Harvest

by Karen Rose Smith



I begin planting tomato seeds when there is still snow on the ground.  Nurturing the seedlings and watching them slowly grow their third leaves, transplanting them into bigger pots, staking them and slowly moving them outside when the warmer spring weather arrives is a lengthy process, but I know when they start bearing vine-ripened tomatoes in July that my hard work will be worth it all.  I like to start my garden plants from seed so I can grow them organically and control the pesticides and soil additives that are used on many plants bought at my local garden center.  I usually raise cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini from seed.  This year, I did purchase two pepper plants and a market pack of Brussels sprouts at the nursery.


This week the garden began to produce and the basket on my counter is filled with zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.  Eventually, I will freeze tomatoes for my winter soups, but now I'm just excited that we have fresh-from-the-garden vegetables for our daily meals.  So far I've served sauteed zucchini with bacon, pasta cucumber salad, fresh zucchini bread, and stewed tomatoes. 

I like to create new recipes for my Daisy's Tea Garden series using the fresh items from the garden.  I know Daisy would offer items featuring garden-fresh items on her summer menu.  Fresh cucumbers can be used to make the cucumber sandwiches with a pimento spread in my latest release, MURDER WITH CUCUMBER SANDWICHES.  The recipe for the spread can be found in the back of the book.
 











The garden sometimes needs a splash of color, so I always plant a row of zinnia seeds around Memorial Day and they also burst into full bloom around the same time that the garden starts to produce.  My St. Francis statue stands guard over the garden, welcoming creatures who need protection. 



The past two summers, groundhogs and deer have helped themselves to my giant sunflower plants, so this year I planted the sunflower seeds in the center of the raised tomato bed where they are protected by the tomato plants and cages.  They are now peeping over the tops of the vegetable plants and will soon be in full bloom.


Autumn is usually referred to as harvest time, but my summer harvest of fresh garden vegetables is my favorite.



Daisy’s Tea Garden in Pennsylvania’s Amish country is known for its elegant  finger foods—but now owner Daisy Swanson has to finger a killer . . .
Restaurant critic Derek Schumaker, notorious for his bitter reviews, is about to visit Daisy’s Tea Garden, and Daisy and Aunt Iris are simmering with anxiety. A bad word from the culinary curmudgeon could really hurt their business, but Daisy tries to stay confident. After all, how can he resist her cucumber sandwiches with pimento spread—not to mention the cheesy cauliflower soup and strawberry walnut salad?
Schumaker takes a to-go order when the afternoon tea service is done, which Daisy hopes is a good sign. But when he perishes from a seizure, it looks like his food was dosed with something deadly. Considering a threat that recently appeared on his blog—and whispers of scandal in his past—Daisy has quite an assortment of suspects to sift through . . .

MURDER WITH CUCUMBER SANDWICHES on Amazon

MURDER WITH CUCUMBER SANDWICHES on Barnes and Noble

Perfect Place for a Murder

The perfect combo…Savannah in the winter then trot off to Mackinac Island for the summer. Both are totally walking cities. In Savannah you park your car and walk/eat your way across the city…at least I do. People go to Savannah for the food, the flowers, the big old Southern houses, the parks and Spanish moss, love of things haunted, and did I mention the food. My must-eat restaurants are the Pink House. Through the years, the building has survived fires, wars and plagues. The two things remaining are the pink exterior and James Habersham Jr who hanged himself in the basement in the 1700s and never quite left the place.What to order...shrimp and grits!If you want the best fried oysters go to Tubby’s on River Street and eat outside overlooking the Savannah River. The best sandwiches…Zunzies for a Conquistador with special sauce that drips down your chin. Order pecan chicken at the Pirate House, oldest house in Savannah and where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island and where you can go through the tunnels underneath that lead to the Savannah River and where pirates kidnapped drunken sailors and dragged them to waiting. Ask the waiters at the Pirate House about ghosts...everyone has a ghost story. For down home food wait in line at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House and eat greens and grits and the best fried chicken biscuits on Earth. You have to wait in line for an hour just to get in but it’s so worth it Where to stay...an old Southern home of course. Many are now B&Bs and haunted like mad. The Marshall House, The Kehoe House & The 17 Hundred 90 Inn & Restaurant are all three fine places to stay and are known to be the most haunted inns in Savannah. I’ve stayed at the Marshall House and had my cell phone go off in the middle of the night, the alarm went off, our door key refused to work the radio came on by itself in the middle of the night. The maid said that ghosts love electronics. Keep that in mind when you stay in Savannah.The city squares are terrific. There are 23 of them and they are small parks in the city and have huge live oak trees with Spanish moss. General Oglethorpe designed the layout of Savannah in 1733, streets interrupted by public squares. Every city should have this kind of green space.  Forsythe Park is so lovely at night you need to stroll it to appreciate it. For more of the real South take a walk through Bonaventure Cemetery. Just an FYI…Voodoo is not a tourist gimmick in Savannah, it’s the real deal and you’ll see fresh fruits and vegetables on certain tombstones as “offerings.”Many of the old homes are named after the person who designed it or lived in it or died in it. Most famous is the Juliette Gordon Lowe house, founder of the Girl Scouts and of course Juliette is still around to keep those Girl Scouts in line and when you pass but the Davenport House, look in the window for the ghost cat. The Sorrell Reed house is the most haunted house in Savannah. People buy  it,t they sell it, it’s always on the market. No one lives there now…they haven’t for years and it’s prime real estate in Savannah. Okay, I gave you a tiny glimpse of my fav city, so what’s yours? Las Vegas? New York, Miami, Disney World? 

Great Faces

[image error] by Maggie Sefton


I was browsing through my large photo files and was captured by some of my favorite "animal faces."  Sheep faces, particularly.  For some reason, sheep actually come up to fences, stick their fuzzy faces over or through fences, and pose.  it's like they're asking to have their photos taken.  Because of that, I've collected lots of "sheepy faces" over the years.  Here are two of my favorites:






An earlier visitor to Lambspun---a baby lamb that inspired me to write scenes involving Carl and the baby lamb.  :)

MY NEIGHBOR'S GARDEN, PART TWO

by Mary Kennedy       
                                      
More photos from my neighbor's lovely garden. She's turned her backyard into a little piece of paradise! 
Pots of plants are everywhere...

Lovely beds of shrubs and plants..
She has a great eye for color and interesting combinations...
An old shoe makes a fun flowerpot!

Color, color everywhere....


Hope you've enjoyed this look at my friend's garden. If you'd like to read the original post, with more photos, just click here. 
Thanks for stopping by!
Mary Kennedy