Kate Collins's Blog, page 309

Please Pass the Syrah, Merlot ... or the Mystery White Wine

by Leann

I signed my new release at Murder By the Book yesterday. Very fun. In the past, when I was writing my Yellow Rose mysteries I always sent a bouquet of yellow roses to the store and the vase of flowers would sit at the signing table next to me. Then, my cousin told me about a New York state wine called "Abby Rose." For those who don't know, she's the heroine of the Yellow Rose books. I took a bottle of that wine to a signing or two at the store.

As I considered what to do for the cat series, I realized that the last couple times, I'd taken nothing but bookmarks to offer to those in attendance. It's not like my cats would be welcome. There is a darling resident dog in the store, after all, and who knows what chaos would reign. But then it dawned on me. Wine again! Three main character cats named after wine. What could be better?

But I soon discovered that one of the wines I named my cats after has gone the way of vampire books. Pinot grigio and sauvigon blanc are the favored "white." In the words of a famous super model, "Your either in or you're out." Chablis is definitely OUT. For someone who no longer drinks anything alcoholic, this was a surprise. Oh, you can get it in boxes, but a big, old box of wine at my signing was not what I had in mind. So, there was merlot from the Yellow Tail winery, syrah from Kendall Jackson and the mystery white. It's called "House White" and who knows what grape created it. But since there is a lovely house on my book cover, it was the best fit.

Will chablis, like vampires, make a comeback? Will anyone care? Or is the wine I used to drink gone, gone, gone?

Shhhhh! It's supposed to be a secret (until Monday, anyway)

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

A long time ago, before I found "success" (being relative that is) as a cozy mystery author, I wrote a mystery series (under the name L.L. Bartlett) about a troubled insurance investigator who got viciously mugged and became a teensy bit psychic.

(Okay, maybe not quite teensy, but the guy is in denial.)

Everything that could go wrong for the launch of that series WENT wrong.

The hardcover edition was a dismal failure and I cried buckets of tears to no avail.  The book found a second life (and a nice print run) in paperback, but only to a book club audience.  The second book came out and did well in hardcover, but the paperback publisher wouldn't buy it.  (Can you say sink like a stone?)

My big-name publisher wouldn't pick up the series.  "Niche audience.  We can't make enough money."  My agent advised me to self-publish the rest of the series.  And so I did.

Still, my cozy audience didn't seem interested in the books.  Why?

"It's paranormal!" many of them cried in fear.  To them paranormal ONLY means vampires, zombies, and werewolves.

Um, Jeff Resnick doesn't suck people's blood, he isn't "undead," and he doesn't turn into a scary creature when the moon rises.  Okay, he drinks a little too much, but he has a devoted brother, a cat, a girlfriend, and senses death.  And he relies on his background as a crack insurance investigator to solve crimes. (You can read more about him here.)

The books are:

Murder On The Mind 
In print at Amazon / Barnes & Noble
E book:  Kindle ~ Nook ~ Smashwords


Dead In Red
In print at Amazon / Barnes & Noble
E book:  Kindle ~ Nook ~ Smashwords



Cheated By Death
In print at Amazon / Barnes & Noble
E book:  Kindle ~ Nook ~ Smashwords


Bound By Suggestion
In print at Amazon / Barnes & Noble
E book:  Kindle ~ Nook ~ Smashwords



Shhhh!  It's a secret.  Well, it was supposed to be . . . until Monday when the BIG reveal comes about. (But then Kindle jumped the gun.)

What's that?

Murder on the Mind will be on sale at Kindle, Nook and Smashwords* (with Coupon Code PN68D) for just 99¢ until the end of April.

If you've got an e reader, I'd appreciate you giving Jeff a chance.  Hey, it's less than a buck -- not much to lose, and you might find you like my slightly psychic, crusader for good (okay, he has no cape but his heart is in the right place).

The books are not cozy mysteries.  They're psychological suspense.  But if you like character-driven stories (like my Booktown and Victoria Square mysteries), and you don't mind an edgier storyline, I hope you'll give Jeff a try.  For e readers, it's cheaper than a cup of coffee.
-------------------------
* Wait!  I have a Sony E Reader/Kobo/Diesel -- I can't get the book at 99¢!!!
Sure you can--at Smashwords with the coupon code of PN68D.  They offer all e formats.  Just go to Smashwords, use the coupon code at check out time, select the file that can be read on your reader and the book will be yours for 99¢.

Crazy Is as Crazy Does

By Heather Webber / Heather Blake

I may have mentioned a time or two that I'm not really a spontaneous kind of person. Keep that in mind as you imagine me and Mr. W at Kroger, doing our weekly grocery shopping. It's late. The store isn't very crowded (just the way we like it) but has enough people so it's not a creepy ghost town.

Our cart is full.

The checkout lanes don't have long lines, only one or two people in each.

Then there were the self-scanners.

Mr. W looked at me.

Him: Do you want to give it a try?
Me: What?
Him: Self-checkout.
Me, suddenly reliving my glory days as a Purity Supreme cashier: With this full cart?
Him: I'll bag.
Me: Okay.

So, there we were. I was scanning all our groceries. He was bagging them (some of the best bagging ever, too!).

It took about 15 minutes. There were stares from all the store workers. (I'm sure our pictures are hanging somewhere in the "security" section of the back offices. Our final total: $188 dollars of groceries.

And as we left...a promise from each other that we'd never scan another full cart of groceries again. But I have to admit—it was kind of fun.

Have you done anything absolutely crazy lately?

Ghosts & Writing Fiction

By E.J. Copperman

E.J. Copperman is the author of the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series, which began last year with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEED, and continues now with AN UNINVITED GHOST. The paranormal/comedy/mystery follows Alison Kerby, a divorced single mom who buys a Jersey Shore Victorian to turn into a guesthouse and finds it haunted by two very opinionated ghosts. In AN UNINVITED GHOST, Alison investigates the murder of an octogenarian in her house and has to deal with a reality TV crew who invades her home to film its new season.

I have a friend who is a very famous journalist and has been for a good number of years. (I'm not dropping names here because I'm not a namedropper, but the fact is, it's all over my new book An Uninvited Ghost, published last Tuesday.) And when she decided to dip her toes in the concept of fiction, she called up one day to ask a question, not because I'm the next Kurt Vonnegut, but because I have, in fact, written fiction before.

She said she was setting her story in a region that had conflicting legends about it, and the origin of those legends would play a part in her intricate plot. But given all the research she'd done on the area, and the great number of possibilities the local folklore had to offer, my friend was stumped—how to proceed when you don't know what's true?

"It's fiction," I reminded her. "Use the one that works best for your plot."

This was a revelation to my friend. She didn't have to go with every fact she found; she could make stuff up! Professional (and terrific writer) that she is, she has not looked back and is still typing away, as far as I know. I'm waiting to see which legend she chose.

The point is to indulge the cliché—never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Yes, research adds authenticity, and you don't actually want to make errors that will take a reader out of the story and ruin all your good work. But there's a reason our stuff is shelved in the Fiction section, and we should embrace that concept and lie like rugs whenever possible.

"This is the West, Senator," says a newspaperman in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. "When the legend becomes truth, print the legend."

I'm not a huge fan of research, although I do what I need to do in order to keep my story at least seem realistic. But I'm writing about a woman who lives in a house with two ghosts who can change their clothes at will (and no, I don't know why they might want to), float through solid objects, manipulate other solid objects and in general do whatever I've decided they should be able to do—or not—depending on what suits my story.

Forgive me if this intrudes on your sensibility, but I'm not going to talk to everyone who has ever claimed to feel the presence of an undead spirit just to find out what their experience might have been. My character Alison Kerby is going to have her experiences with ghosts. I don't want them based in fact.

So if you're writing a story and you can't decide which legend to use, remember: It's fiction. Use the one that fits your story best.

And if someone complains after the book has been published, remember this: It's been published. That's got to stand for something.

Traveling With a Safety Net

Life Insurance, health insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance...geez, the list goes on and on. So when someone asks me if I want extra insurance on anything I say, "NO!"

Except this time. When I booked the flight to Santa Fe for Left Coast Crime, a fun mystery convention and romantic getaway for my husband and me, and the travel insurance ad popped up on my screen, I actually bought it. Eighteen bucks each. Thirty six extra dollars.

Off we went for five glorious days. When it was time to go home, we arrived at the Albuquerque airport to learn that our plane was delayed in Aspen due to a snow storm. That meant we would miss our connecting flight in Denver. And since it was weather related, the airline wasn't going to pop for our additional expenses. After a serious whining fit, I remembered the travel insurance and called them.

They tried to get us out. When they couldn't, they offered to find us a room in Albuquerque. They assured us we each had $100 to spend that night due to the interrupted flight. $200 play money. Okay, maybe this wasn't so bad after all. We stayed in a hotel near Old Town. We walked the sun-baked streets, explored the small shops. We sipped sangria at the Church Street Cafe. It was our most memorable part of the trip.

So next time you're offered travel insurance, take the gamble. Go for it. With a little luck, you just might miss your flight.

Count Them. . .Not One, But Two CONTESTS!

Do you like appetizers? I do. I LOVE appetizers. I often order yummy appetizers plus salad or soup when I'm at restaurants instead of an entree. To tell the truth, sometimes, the appetizer choices are more enticing than the entrees.




Right now. . .I need appetizers. As you already know (if you're r eading the Kelly Flynn Knitting Mysteries), I put a recipe, sometimes two, in each new Kelly Flynn mystery. I include the recipes along with a knitting pattern. In each case, the recipe item and the pattern have been mentioned in the novel.

I've decided to feature appetizers in some of the upcoming Kelly Flynn mysteries. I've featured several delicious and fattening desserts in the last few books, so I decided it was time to let appetizers have center stage for a while. Instead of using some of my old favorites, I decided to ask you folks for your suggestions.

What are your favorite appetizers? Hot or cold. I'm running TWO contests, one for Hot Appetizers and one for Cold Appetizers. For each, I'll need the recipe, and let's PLEASE keep it simple, folks. Ease of preparation will be taken into consideration when I choose winners. There will be THREE winners for each category. And I will personally send to each winner a copy of last November's newest release of the Anthology, DOUBLE KNIT MURDERS, which contains the first two Kelly Flynn mysteries. This book is an excellent way to introduce new readers to the series.

The contest will run from today, Tuesday, April 5th, through the following Tuesday, April 12th. That way, I'll have time to pick winners and announce them here on Cozy Chicks and on Facebook before I leave for Malice Domestic mystery conference in Washington, DC near the end of this month. I will also be announcing this contest on Facebook, folks, so send in your entry. To submit, please email your appetizer recipe suggestions to my email address: maggie@maggiesefton.com. So, check your recipe files, find one of your faves, and send me your suggestions!

LAUNCH DAY--TOMORROW

Tomorrow two of the Chicks have new releases.

 Leann Sweeney's The Cat, The Lady and the Liar is available from:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble.com

The Book Depository.com

Independent Booksellers

And as an ebook for:


Kindle

Nook

Sony E Reader  ~ Kobo  ~ Diesel



 Kate Collins's Night of the Living Dandelion is available from:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble.com

Independent Booksellers ~ The Book Depository.com

And as an ebook for:

Kindle

Nook

Sony E Reader  ~ Kobo  ~ Diesel

The Book Readers Helped Me Build

by Leann

Last year, as I plotted the book that debuts on Tuesday--The Cat, The Lady and The Liar-I asked for a little help. I needed a name for a very special cat, one who was pampered and spoiled and full of herself. You picked the name Isis and Isis she is! Long black hair, green eyes and on arrival in the story, she is wearing a diamond collar. Fitting for a goddess, don't you think?

That name helped me picture her and develop her character--because as any cat lover knows, each cat has their own unique character. I hope in the coming weeks, you will send me feedback about what you think of Isis. I like to believe that my cat characters parallel humans with similar traits. Isis feels entitled and I'm sure you know a few folks exactly like her.

I interact quite a bit on CozyArmchair, a yahoo cozy discussion group. One particular member is a strong animal supporter and her name just seemed to fit the rich southern lady from the title. Yes, Ritaestelle, came to life with the help of that woman's name. Of course I have no idea what the real Ritaestelle looks like or if she has enough money to pay the Bill of Rights like my fictional creation. But the name was perfect. So thank you parents of Ritaestelle. You helped me--and Ritaestelle, I thank you for letting me borrow your name.

There are more "borrowed" names in my series. My real life sister's name is Candace Carson. My daughter's name is Jillian. My son's name is Shawn. My husband's name is Mike. If I'm going to leave something of myself behind, they belong there with me. Now, I believe in the book I am currently writing, I must name a cat Agatha Christie, after my own sick baby. I don't know if she will be with me when the The Cat, The Wife and The Weapon (working title) comes out next year. But she will be in my heart forever.

I have no questions this week, just many thanks for all the support I receive from readers every single day. Thank you for buying my books. It means so much.

Let Sleeping Dogs (and Cats) Lie

By Lorna Barrett / Lorraine Bartlett

A recent news article told of the dangers of sleeping with pets. Danger as in--it can kill you.  You can read about it here.  Still, I don't suppose that changed many people's sleeping habits.  It didn't change ours.

Just about every night, there are five of us in bed.  Me, Mr. L, and three of our four cats.  (Believe me, if they got along better, we'd have all four of them with us.)  This wasn't my idea . . . but, marriage is all about compromise, right?

Mr. L's boy Chester is a snuggler.  He snuggles up to his best friend and that's it for the night.  He doesn't usually move.  Betsy likes to plunk in between us.  Fred likes to sit on or sleep on pillows, so he has his own at the bottom of the bed.  (He likes to sleep in, too.  We'll be up for quite some time while he languishes in bed. (Hey, he's got a tough life chasing other cats and getting into trouble on a regular basis.))

The worst thing is having that thirty pounds of cat in the middle of the bed.  It means that  Mr. L and I are relegated to the far edges with no covers.  Hey, the calendar might say it's spring, but it's still darn cold at night.

So, do your pets sleep with you?

Ah, Comfort Soup

by Lucy Arlington

What a long winter it's been! And it seems that the weather just can't seem to decide to let spring arrive. My family and friends in Ontario feel as if the snow falling from the sky is never-ending. Friends in Virginia are teased with spring-like weather only to be assailed with another storm. They've even been building snowmen in California!

I'm currently living in Bermuda, so when I comment on our cold winter, those same friends and family members roll their eyes. "You live in paradise," they say. "Stop complaining." I don't complain, really, because I do appreciate the fact that we haven't had to shovel snow or pile on the heavy coats and boots this winter. And we were gifted frequently enough with a warm, sunny day during the winter months.

But the reality is that Bermuda is only semi-tropical, and unlike the Caribbean islands that stay warm most of the winter, we get rain, wind, and cool temperatures during that season. And without central heating, the main source of cold is our house. Built for hot summers, the thick limestone walls and ceramic floors keep that cool dampness inside, making it feel much colder than it should be.

We put up with it, knowing that soon the hot Bermuda days will be the norm (today is the first of April after all!), but until then, we wear sweaters and eat comfort food to stay warm. What better comfort food than a warm soup, with chunks of tasty goodness in every spoonful. This soup has been a family favorite for years. I hope you enjoy it, too.

CHUNKY TOMATO POTATO SOUP

2 tbsp butter

2 onions, chopped

4 cups peeled cubed potatoes

1½ cups chopped celery

1½ cups chopped carrots

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp corn starch

2 cups milk

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1¼ cups chicken broth

2 tbsp tomato paste

½ cup chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onions and cook over medium heat until tender. Add potatoes, celery, carrots, garlic and seasoning and cook for 4-5 minutes.

2. Stir in cornstarch. Add milk, cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Add tomatoes, broth and paste. Return to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Add fresh basil. Season to taste.