Larissa Reinhart's Blog, page 237

Using Route 66 to Write Murder #bookgiveaway

Glad to be visiting your blog today, Larissa. You’ve offered me the opportunity to talk about setting—one of my favorite topics.
I’ve had several opportunities on this tour to babble on about how locations grab me. Indeed, to quote myself: “For each of my novels, my inspiration and first kernel of an idea has come from a location that has reached out, grabbed me, and wouldn’t let go. Sounds a bit silly, and it’s not the whole story, but truly, so far, I’ve been inspired to start a story because a location said, ‘Me! Me! Write about me!’ So, location/setting are central to my stories and writing.
From the location, I’ve then wondered—who would have lived there, or come that way? What is their story? And in the case of my first, Uncle Si’s Secret—the compelling thought at a particular place along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail on my dog walks also kept returning—‘What a perfect spot for a murder!’ (Another reason why exercise is good for you)
For Reticence of Ravens, there is a mini-mart at an I-15 exit I often pass, and for me is still most compelling—even though the book has long entered the world of published words. The gas pumps still don’t work, and food and beverage offerings remain minimal. And even now, every time I pass, something about the place sings to my heart.
In Lies of Convenience, my latest—the most wonderful view from my cousin’s apartment on Michigan Avenue and an aged Quonset hut in California’s Mojave Desert—combined in a most wonderful way to produce the “kernel” of Margot Madison-Cross’s adventure. In this adventure Route 66 “Roadies” have parts to play.
Which leads me to your interest in international life and travel. My last two novels have focused on Route 66, and I’m finding out about—with happy amazement—Route 66’s international appeal and following. There are auto, motor-cycle, van, and escorted tours—individuals and groups—from around the world who “do” the road. Indeed, I’ve personally met “Roadies” from Germany, France, Japan, and Australia at events, or at The Barn in Newberry Springs. Also in Newberry Springs is the restaurant The Bagdad Café (a cult-movie was made there), and buses, full of excited travelers stop there from myriad countries!
And for me, most important regarding setting, is “To take the reader there!” Be it the soggy rain forests of Washington, the wind driven and sand permeating California desert areas, or the world of Route 66!
Thanks so much, Larissa, it’s been great visiting with you today. One of the wonderful things about our blog tour is meeting new (to me) authors and readers!
Madeline’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Smashwords, in paper and e-book formats. You can visit her online at her website http://www.mmgornell.com, or her BLOG http://www.mmgornell.wordpress.com or email her directly at mmgornell@earthlink.net 
Book Giveaway:Buster, Dobie, and Mugs (the latest) are each drawing a name from comments for free copies of Lies of Convenience (or a M.M. Gornell title of your choosing).Check M.M.'s blog on December 11 to see if you've won!
Madeline (M.M.) Gornell has four published mystery novels—PSWA awarding winning Uncle Si’s Secret (2008); Death of a Perfect Man (2009); Eric Hoffer Fiction finalist and Honorary Mention winner, the da Vinci Eye finalist, and Montaigne Medalist finalist Reticence of Ravens (2011); and PSWA award winner and Hollywood Book Festival Honorary Mention Lies of Convenience (2012). Both Reticence of Ravens and Lies of Convenience are Route 66 mysteries.
Madeline is also a potter with a fondness for stoneware and reduction firing. She lives with her husband and assorted canines in the Mojave Desert in a town on internationally revered Route 66.

Senior Sleuthing in Tadium, MI #bookgiveaway

When I chose a setting for my first cozy mystery, Armed and Outrageous, I looked no further than my home state of Michigan. Tadium was born and located on the eastern side of the state on the shores of Lake Huron. While Tadium is fictitious, nearby East Tawas, MI, certainly isn’t. It is one of my favorite stops on summer vacation as a child.
What makes Tadium unique is that its residents are primarily of a certain age or senior citizens. Don’t let the surroundings fool you; these are a lively bunch of characters that are full of life and full of it. Romance and more are explored in this mold breaking mystery. 
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the northern Michigan locale.

 Madison Johns ~ Amazon bestseller ~ Armed and Outrageous.
As a child, Madison Johns preferred to distance herself from other children her age, and had been described as a dreamer. Even as a small child, she remembers staying awake many a night fighting dragons, whisked away to foreign lands, or meeting the man of her dreams.

She was a voracious reader of historical romance in her teen years and has always wished to one day journey to England, France, Ireland, and Scotland.

The writing bug bit her at the age of 44 and she pounded out three books since that time. As the publishing climate changed she took a risk and decided to self publish, first a collection of two horror short stories geared for YA, Coffin Tales Season of Death.

Madison's caring nature had led her to work in the healthcare field, where she was employed as a nursing care assistant at a nursing home, and it was there that she was inspired to write her first mystery, Armed and Outrageous, introducing amateur detective Agnes Barton. The book depicts two elderly ladies digging up clues with enough laugh out loud antics to make James Bond blush.
Armed and Outrageous buy link http://www.amazon.com/Armed-Outrageous-Barton-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007Z5Y30Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353372849&sr=1-1&keywords=senior+sleuth
Senior sleuth — Grandma Mazur meets Murder She Wrote — cozy mystery.
Agnes Barton is not your typical senior citizen living in Tadium, MI, on the shores of Lake Huron. She drives a red hot Mustang, shops at Victoria's Secret, rankles local police officials, and has a knack for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.
What does a murder that happened forty-three years ago have to do with missing tourist Jennifer Martin? Agnes makes it her personal mission to find out, and she's not letting the fact she's seventy-two get in the way. Butting heads with Sheriff Clem Peterson is something she's accustomed to, but lately Clem seems to be acting even more strange, making Agnes wonder what he may be hiding ala the Martin disappearance.
Agnes’ partner in crime, Eleanor Mason tags along, Watson to her Holmes. Together, they unearth clues. If only Eleanor would behave, as although lovable, she has a knack for getting into trouble by tangling with her rival, Dorothy Alton, or flirting with anyone—male or female—and gossiping! She's incorrigible, but she does carry a Pink Lady revolver in her purse, one that has proved useful at times.
Life for Agnes and Eleanor is shaken up when Agnes' former boss and secret crush comes to Tadium. Before long, the lady sleuths have more on their hands to contend with as goons roll into town and bullets begin to fly.

International Murder, Collin Kelley #bookgiveaway

The Venus Trilogy of mystery/suspense novels was born on a trip to London and Paris in the summer of 1995. Conquering Venus, Remain In Light and the final book, which I’m writing now, were influenced not only by those cities, but by the music, cinema and writers I immersed myself in while creating the novels. 
The story that links the trilogy is this: In 1968, Irène Laureux's husband was murdered during the Paris riots and his body dumped near Notre-Dame cathedral. Thirty years later, she finally catches up with his killer. With the help of American writer Martin Paige, Irène will illuminate decades of secrets and lies only to discover that her husband's death is part of something far more sinister. 
The spirit of Lewis Carroll, Marcel Proust, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Carl Jung and good old Agatha Christie are alive and well in my novels. There is a gumshoe detectives, a hint of the paranormal, Jung's theory of synchronicity and wayward Americans who discover that Paris has a dangerous underworld that most tourists never see.
If you're a music fan, you'll probably notice that chapters in both Remain In Light and Conquering Venus are named after some of my favorite songs. The music of Miles Davis, Kate Bush, Vanessa Daou, Massive Attack, Samuel Barber and Bjork was constantly playing while I was writing.
The trilogy has a purposeful cinematic quality because I've been greatly influenced by directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Wim Wenders, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Sally Potter, Louis Malle, Jane Campion, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. If you love those old black and white New Wave films, mixed with an edge of danger and menace, chances are you'll get into The Venus Trilogy.
Collin will giveaway an eBook edition of each of his novels, Conquering Venus and Remain In Light, via Smashwords to a lucky winner. The eBooks will be available for download in multi-formats including versions for the Kindle, Nook and other devices. Make sure to leave a comment and Collin will randomly draw a winner, which will be announced at his Modern Confessional blog (www.collinkelley.com) on Dec. 11.

Collin Kelley is the author of the novels Conquering Venus and Remain In Light, which was a 2012 finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. His poetry collections include Better To Travel, Slow To Burn and After the Poison and the forthcoming Render. Kelley is also the author of the eBook short story collection, Kiss Shot. A recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Deep South Festival of Writers Award and Goodreads Poetry Award, Kelley’s poetry, essays and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies around the world. He lives in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit www.collinkelley.com, find him on Facebook at CollinKelleyWriter or follow him on Twitter @collinkelley.
Conquering Venus and Remain In Light are available in ebook and trade paperback formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, Smashwords and through your favourite local bookstore.

Chocolate Fix: Scotch Cake and #bookgiveaway

Chocolate, just about everyone loves it. And, as Cande says in Dark Descent, “There’s no such thing as too much chocolate.” Here’s one of her favorite ways to get a chocolate fix. 
Scotch Cake
2 Cups Sugar2 Cups Flour  
Sift together in bowl.
In pan add:1 stick Butter, ½ Cup shortening4 Tablespoons Cocoa1 Cup Water
Bring to boil, then pour over flour/sugar mixture and mix well.
Add
½ Cup Buttermilk2 Eggs1 Teaspoon Vanilla1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Mix well.

Pour into 9x13 pan and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting
1 Stick Butter4 Tablespoons Cocoa6 Tablespoons Milk
Bring to boil and pour over 1 Box Powered Sugar. Add 1 Teaspoon Vanilla. Mix and pour over hot cake.

This recipe has been handed down for several generations now and while it’s a bit of work, the end result is well worth the effort, especially with a cold glass of milk.
Thanks for having me on you blog today.  

Jean Lauzier has always been a writer though life just recently settled enough so she can spend the time needed at the keyboard with her characters. Jean writes mystery and fantasy for the most part but enjoys playing with romance and western genres ever so often. When not writing, Jean spends her time trying to keep her Bonsai alive, learning Spanish and training the cat.
Her short story collection, Six Pack of Murder is available on Amazon.  She is president of the East Texas Writer’s Association. Learn more at www.jeanlauzier.com. Jean is also on Twitter @JeanLauzier and Facebook jeanlauzier2319. You can email her at jeanlauzier @ gmail. com (no spaces).
During the tour, Jean will be giving away at least three copies of Six Pack of Murder and three copies of the soon to be released Dark Descent. Be sure to leave a comment along with your email address to be entered in the drawing.  Check http://underthetrollsbridge.blogspot.com on December 11 to see if you won.

Graveyard of the Atlantic: Outer Banks, NC #bookgiveaway

My Missing Pieces Mysteries are set at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The area developed the name, Graveyard of the Atlantic, because of the many shipwrecks that happened in the coastal waters. Many wealthy captains, with ships burdened by gold and other precious materials, lost their lives here through the years.
The area is rich in folklore dating back to its past as the original English settlement in America in the 1500s. 
It’s the place where the first colony, created by Sir Walter Raleigh, became the Lost Colony when he returned several years later to find all of its occupants missing. No one has ever solved the mystery of what happened to those people.
The islands were cut off from the state’s mainland for years before the first bridge was built. Bankers, as the inhabitants of the island were known, had to fend for themselves. They were scavengers, in many cases, living by their wits to survive. 
The islands were virtually lawless, becoming the home waters for many pirates, Blackbeard being the most famous. Bankers also had their own share in tricking some ships to their doom in order to seize their cargo. 
Hurricanes, and wild horses left behind by the Spanish, left their mark on the island. The place is still filled with ghost stories and legends. 
It would be impossible as a writer not to feel your imagination touched by this remote spot. The Missing Pieces Mysteries, with protagonist Dae O’Donnell, makes use of this hauntingly beautiful area. 
Dae is the mayor of Duck, a real town of 500 people. She is a finder of lost things. Her gift was handed down by her grandmother. She can find lost keys, missing watches, and in A Haunting Vision, she must find a small girl who has been kidnapped.

A HAUNTING DREAMThe mayor of Duck, North Carolina, Dae O’Donnell, is a woman with a gift for finding lost things. When her boyfriend Kevin’s ex-fiancée Ann arrives in Duck looking for a second chance, Dae suddenly finds herself facing certain heartache. And while her romantic life is in shambles, she’s even more concerned by the sudden change in her gift. After touching a medallion owned by a local named Chuck Sparks, Dae is shocked when her vision reveals his murder—and a cry for help. Dae doesn’t know what to make of the dead man’s plea to “Help her,” until she has another vision about a kidnapped girl—Chuck’s daughter, Betsy. With a child missing, the FBI steps in to take over the case. But Dae can’t ignore her visions of Betsy, or the fact that Kevin’s psychic ex-fiancé might be the only person who can help find her.

Joyce Lavene writes bestselling mystery with her husband/partner Jim. They have written and published more than 60 novels for Harlequin, Berkley and Charter Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. She lives in rural North Carolina with her family, her cat, Quincy, and her rescue dog, Rudi. Visit her at www.joyceandjimlavene.com, Facebook/JoyceandJimLavene.com. Twitter: @authorjlavene, http://romanceofmystery.blogspot.com.
Purchase: A Haunting Dream at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-haunting-dream-joyce-and-jim-lavene/1111363964
Win a copy of A Haunting Dream, the fourth book in the Missing Pieces Mysteries, by leaving your name at my blog: http://romanceofmystery.blogspot.com  

Mountain Mysteries with Retirees #bookgiveaway

Unusual Novel Settings with Jean Henry Mead
A novel setting is important because it not only adds color to the plot; it serves as a secondary character. People against nature themes have created countless adventures, from ”Into the Wild” to “The Old Man and the Sea.” Stranding someone in the middle of the Sahara Desert is far more challenging than having a car stolen from a city street, so novel settings should be given considerable thought. 
 My amateur sleuths travel in a motorhome about the West and settings change with each book. Although Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty began solving murders in their California retirement village,  Dana inherited her sister’s mansion in Wyoming, a dramatic change of scenery. Both 60-year-old widows are feisty and determined to get to the bottom of each murder they encounter. They usually accept help from Dana’s journalist daughter and Sheriff Walter Grayson, who’s in love with Dana and pursues her throughout the Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series, no matter in which setting he finds her.
In my fourth and most recent novel, Gray Wolf Mountain, the setting is Wyoming’s Laramie Mountains, an area I know well because I live there on a small ranch with my husband and Australian Shepherd. I’ve also set a children’s mystery, Ghost of Crimson Dawn, on our ranch for the Hamilton Kids’ series. The possibilities are endless in the mountains and have provided me with the backdrop for a mystery which includes the unwarranted killings of wolves by trigger-happy hunters. I researched the problem here in Wyoming, and was shocked to learn that the situation exists in other states as well as Canada. Wolves are shot en masse from helicopters in the Yukon to increase the Caribou herds to 100,000, solely for the benefit of big game hunters. The Yukon is an unusual setting that few writers have ventured to write about.
I don’t go into graphic detail about the killings in the book, and because I live in sheep and cattle country, I briefly wondered why we should care about the wolves’ demise. Further research informed  me that by killing keystone predators—wolves and grizzly bears—big game animals increase in number and subsequently consume most of the vegetation that smaller animals and birds need to survive. In other words, massive wolf and bear kills unbalance nature. So wilderness settings affect every living creature on the planet.
My themes usually encompass social problems and I incorporate humor and light romance to prevent the storyline from becoming dreary. By setting each plot in an unusual area, it hopefully enhances reader awareness and interest by educating as well as entertaining them.Gray Wolf Mountain is available in print and on Kindle.
I'll be giving away a copy of my recent release, Gray Wolf Mountain, fourth novel in the Logan & Cafferty series, to a visitor who leaves a comment during the blog tour. The winner will be announced at my blog site: http://mysteriouspeople.blogspot.com/ December 11.

Jean Henry Mead is the author of 18 books and is a national award-winning photojournalist, published domestically as well as abroad. Her Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series consists of A Village Shattered, Diary of Murder, Murder on the Interstate and Gray Wolf Mountain. Her Hamilton Kids’ mysteries include Mystery of Spider Mountain and Ghost of Crimson Dawn. She also writes western historicals. Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, has been her bestselling book to date, and will soon be followed by No Escape, The Sweetwater Tragedy. Her nonfiction books include interviews with celebrities and bestselling authors as well as history books, one of which served as a college textbook.

Murder in the Sierra Mountains #Bookgiveaway

Bear Creek in the Southern Sierra
Though my setting is not in a foreign country, I have a hunch it’s a place that most of your readers have never been—and maybe never heard about.
My Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series is set in the mountains—the Southern Sierra to be exact. The small town itself is called Bear Creek, named after the river that runs through it. Tempe is the resident deputy of the entire area. This is a fictional community, but it is similar to where I live.  Higher in the mountains is a stand of old growth Sequoias—huge trees that have been here for hundreds of years.
The Yokut Indians once hunted and fished all over this land. Now many live on a reservation tucked away in a beautiful valley surrounded my huge mountains. A casino has changed their way of life, lifting them out of poverty and given them the opportunity to open many other businesses. In my book, the reservation is the Bear Creek Reservation and the Indians, the Yanduchi. The tribe has many wonderful legends and stories and I’ve used some in different books in the series.
Tempe has left Bear Creek at times to investigate other murders. Once she traveled to the beach community of Oxnard and Eagle Rock (in Los Angeles) while trying to find out information about a widow and possible murderer. 
Another time, she was sent to the town of Crescent City on coast next to the Oregon border to speak with relative and friends of a murdered artist. There she met and heard about the Tolowa people and had a near encounter with Big Foot.
In another book she learned that the Indians close to home had their own version of Big Foot called the Hairy Man—and had more than a near encounter with him.
Tempe also has Indian roots though her education into Native American ways was lacking until she met Nick Two John, the owner of the local Inn. With each book, Tempe has learned more and more about her heritage including the spiritual side.

Do enter my giveaway contest for a copy of the previous Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, BEARS WITH US. Leave a comment and you're automatically entered. Include your email addy so I can get in touch with you should your name be selected at random. The winner will be announced on my blog (http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com) on December 12, 2012. Good luck!
Raging Water  Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s investigation of the murder of two close friends is complicated when relentless rain turns Bear Creek into a raging river. Homes are inundated and a mud slide blocks the only road out of Bear Creek stranding many—including the murderer.
Find Raging Water on Amazon.Other books in the series: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Intervention, Wing Beat, Calling the Dead, Judgment Fire, Kindred Spirits, Dispel the Mist, Invisible Path, Bears With Us, Raging Water.




Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Raging Water from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel us No Bells , the forth from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/Marilyn borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area.

Cotton Candy and Murder @RionnaMorgan #bookgiveaway

*** Giveaway Alert*** a Rafflecopter giveaway
Joining us today is Rionna Morgan. Growing up out West, Rionna Morgan followed her love of horses to the rodeo arena and her love of English to the classroom and to writing. She has been looking forward to sharing her stories with you her whole life. Rionna is a founding member of Montana Romance Writers; she reads as much as she can possibly hold, and she loves most of all combining the chilling edge of a knife with the sweet surrender of romance. Rionna shares her home in Missoula, Montana with her husband, her four children and the mountains outside her window.

In her just released romantic suspense Love’s Justice, the characters Sarah and Justin attend a street fair in Eugene, Oregon where cotton candy is a treat they enjoy. Rionna wants to share a video of a cotton candy pro…didn’t know there was such a thing!
  Look for Love’s Justice anywhere online books are sold!
Buy on Amazon Sarah Johnson is a profiler in Portland, Oregon. She thinks she has successfully moved beyond the pain of her mother’s death 15 years ago. Her mother, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, died in an Alabama women’s prison while on an undercover assignment. However, when Justin Breslow shows up at her office claiming to be an investigative reporter from Dallas wanting to do a feature on her mother, Sarah realizes the pain has just been dormant. She agrees to work with Justin; she’s always wanted to retrace her mother’s final days, but she has no intention of sharing family secrets with a perfect stranger. Sarah and Justin unravel a plot more complex and sinister than they expected. They pursue a trail of  deceit and corruption to a women’s prison in Alabama, a centuries old hotel in Georgia and a family ranch in Texas. Nothing is simple or as it seems. Along the way, Sarah tries not to fall for Justin’s Southern charm, and Justin fights to resist Sarah’s beauty and sharp intellect. This unlikely duo will find more than they ever hoped to—in the prison, in their own backyards, and in each other’s arms. Whether they survive to enjoy their discoveries is the final mystery. 

Excerpt from Love's Justice “What if I didn’t go as a snoopy reporter?” Justin closed the small space, successfully trapping Sarah between the refrigerator and the counter. “And just went as a man?” With a smooth shift of his body, he slid into an amazing fit against her. Sarah drew in a quick breath. The air-cooled kitchen suddenly became a furnace. His hands gripped the counter on either side of her. His face was so close she could see her reflection in his eyes. “That is exactly what I don’t need.” “Don’t need, but maybe want?” Justin moved closer. Their lips were just a breath apart. “Don’t,” Sarah breathed. Her heart rapped hard in her chest. Justin smiled, enjoying watching her eyes cloud to darkness. This was going to be easy. “Don’t what.” His lips brushed hers. “Tell me. Don’t what?” Sarah fisted her hands in his shirt. To pull him closer or push him away, she wasn’t exactly sure. Panic and need and she didn’t know what all, tumbled around in her stomach. Instead of taking the time to decipher what to do, she just acted and tugged him to her. He caught her bottom lip, soft and warm, between his teeth. He felt her body give against his. He savored the taste of her, the warmth. “I’m going with you,” he whispered against her lips. She nodded her head, but his words never registered. My plan is working perfectly, he thought as he pulled her deeper into the kiss. 

Below are ways to catch up with Rionna. Drop on by…she loves the company!
Please be invited to visit my blog to Enter to Win a Piece of Montana! WebsiteTwitterFacebookGoodreads What is your favorite treat from a fair or downtown gathering.

The Mystery We Write Blog Tour Begins November 26. Y...

The Mystery We Write Blog Tour Begins November 26. You'll find me at the following blogs chatting about writing, books, and Cherry Tucker related bits on these days. I'm offering a e-book giveaway of PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY for some lucky commenter who follows my tour and leaves a comment at the blog sites. The more  blogs you comment on, the greater your chance of winning! I'll announce the winner here on December 11.
Here's the schedule below. While I'm away, I'll be hosting various mystery authors on the Expat Returneth. Many will share their international and local adventures with you.
Monday, November 26: http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/Tuesday, Nov. 27: http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com
Thursday, Nov. 29: http://evelyncullet.com/blog/
Saturday, December 1: http://wsgager.blogspot.com/Sunday, Dec. 2: http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/
Monday, Dec. 3: http://mmgornell.wordpress.com/Tuesday, Dec. 4: http://mysterywritermadisonjohns.blogspot.com/Wednesday, Dec. 5: http://www.collinkelley.blogspot.com/Thursday, Dec. 6: http://www.jeanlauzier.comFriday, Dec. 7: http://www.romanceofmystery.blogspot.com/
Saturday, Dec. 8: http://mysteriouspeople.blogspot.com/Sunday, Dec. 9: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/Monday, Dec. 10: http://chantingofmuses.blogspot.com


Kizoa slideshow: Mystery We Write Blog Tour Giveaways

Happy Thanksgiving!

[image error] Happy Thanksgiving from the ExPat Returneth!