Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 129

Kensington Cozy Con — Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

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Sherry here and I’m so excited about this event sponsored by Kensington Publishing and Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop.

Julie, Barb, and I will be at the Kensington Cozy Con on April 4, 2020 along with a great group of authors! There are lots of activities and it’s all free, but you do have to register. Here’s the link: https://www.mysterybooksonline.com/kensington-cozyclub-con

Saturday, April 4th, 2020, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Bookseller: Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop, Mechanicsburg, PA

Venue: Shiremanstown United Methodist Church, 125 E Main St., Shiremanstown, PA 17011

NOTE ON VENUE: Your GPS may tell you that the venue location is “Camp Hill.” Shiresmantown does have a Camp Hill zip code, so it’s still the correct place.

Barb will be on this panel:

2:00 – 2:30      PANEL: The 9-to-5 Sleuth: When amateur sleuths have a day job

Join Mollie Cox Bryan, J.D. Griffo, Barbara Ross, Misty Simon, Carlene O’Connor, and Annelise Ryan as they discuss cozy mysteries that juggle a protagonist’s day job and her penchant for solving crimes.

Julie and I will be on this panel:

2:45 – 3:15       PANEL: The Craft in a Cozy: Weaving crafts into a cozy mystery storyline

Join Christin Brecher, Peggy Ehrhart, Sherry Harris, Julia Henry, Arlene Kay, and Cheryl Hollon as they talk about cozies with a craft or hobby theme.

Here is the full schedule:

Event Schedule

10:30AM         Author Meet Up

11:00 – 12       Registration

Registered attendees will check in and receive gift bags.

  12:00 – 12:30 WELCOME TO COZY CON EAST

MC will kick off festivities by introducing the CozyCon, thank sponsors, and a little speech about the cozy mystery genre

  12:30 – 1:00    PANEL: Criminally Delicious: What’s the scoop on food-themed cozy mysteries?

Join Ginger Bolton, Lynn Cahoon, Maya Corrigan, Krista Davis, Libby Klein, and Karen Rose Smith as they discuss culinary cozy mysteries and why food and murder blend so well.

  1:00 – 1:15      BREAK

Will announce Raffle Winner #1

  1:15 – 1:45      PANEL: Where History Meets Mystery: The art of writing a historical mystery

Join C.M. Gleason, Kathleen Marple Kalb, and Darcie Wilde as they discuss balancing their mysteries with historical fact.

  1:45 – 2:00      BREAK

Will announce Raffle Winner #2

  2:00 – 2:30      PANEL: The 9-to-5 Sleuth: When amateur sleuths have a day job

Join Mollie Cox Bryan, J.D. Griffo, Barbara Ross, Misty Simon, Carlene O’Connor, and Annelise Ryan as they discuss cozy mysteries that juggle a protagonist’s day job and her penchant for solving crimes.

  2:30 – 2:45      BREAK

Will announce Raffle Winner #3

  2:45 – 3:15       PANE:: The Craft in a Cozy: Weaving crafts into a cozy mystery storyline

Join Christin Brecher, Peggy Ehrhart, Sherry Harris, Julia Henry, Arlene Kay, and Cheryl Hollon as they talk about cozies with a craft or hobby theme.

  3:15 – 4:15      SPEED DATING

4:15 – 5:00     ADDITIONAL BOOK PURCHASING

Will announce “Grand Prize” Raffle Winner

  AUTHORS ATTENDING:

Ginger Bolton, Christin Brecher, Lynn Cahoon, Maya Corrigan, Mollie Cox Bryan, Krista Davis, Peggy Ehrhart, C.M. Gleason, J.D. Griffo, Sherry Harris, Julia Henry, Cheryl Hollon, Kathleen Marple Kalb, Arlene Kay, Libby Klein, Carlene O’Connor, Karen Rose Smith, Barbara Ross, Annelise Ryan, Misty Simon, Darcie Wilde

Readers: Are any of you close enough to stop by and say hi?

 

Wicked Wednesday — Our History — Musical talents

[image error]We are celebrating Women’s History Month by sharing bits of our history.  This week we are talking about our musical abilities. Wickeds answer the following questions:

1. Do you (or did you) play a musical instrument?

Edith/Maddie: I played the cello for four years until it was a choice between wearing mini-skirts to high school or playing the cello (the two don’t mix). I picked fashion!

Liz: Piano for 15 years!

Jessie: I played the flute for five years.

Julie: I don’t, but I just bought a ukulele.

Sherry: Julie, I want to hear more about the ukulele! I took piano lessons for several years.

Barb: I took piano for several years, but you guys have heard about my fine motor skills in relation to typing, so you can imagine how piano went.

2. Did you want to? If so what?

Edith/Maddie: I wanted to play the bass but they didn’t have one small enough!

Liz: I wanted to learn piano. Also thought guitar would be cool.

Jessie: I did want to play an instrument. I was more interested in oboe or the saxophone but we already had a flute in the house so that was the one that I ended up learning to play.

Julie: I always wanted to be able to play the piano. I have very talented friends who do, and it is amazing to watch them fill up a room with music.

Sherry: I can’t remember if I wanted to or if I was told to. I liked playing but I didn’t like practicing. My sister was a much better player than I was.

Barb: I really admire people who can play instruments and I love to listen to my friends play. But what I would really like to be able to do is write a great little pop song.

3. Can you sing?

Edith/Maddie: I can carry a tune and love singing in groups, but don’t ask me to solo.

Liz: God no.

Jessie: I think everyone can sing, at least enthusiastically if not melodically! I am not at all gifted but I love singing made up songs to my dog, Sam, as we go about our day.

Julie: One of my great regrets is that when my fifth grade chorus teacher told me I couldn’t I believed her. I want to feel comfortable singing in public, which I’ve never done.

Sherry: I always say I have a fabulous four note range.

Barb: I can, or actually I could. Pretty rusty. But I have soloed. “Oh Holy Night,” in six grade chorus. And when I worked for WebCT we put on elaborate skits at the end of our annual users conference which involved both singing and wearing costumes in front of hundreds of people. How did this happen to me of all people? One year I soloed to “Blackbird” while dressed as Yoda. “Blackboard support is gone for the night…”

4. Did you sing in a chorus?

Edith/Maddie: I sang in church choir as a child and after every meal at girl scout camp. I love singing rounds.

Liz: Once, I made the school chorus.

Jessie: I sang in the high school chorus one year. It was fun.

Julie: No, see above.

Sherry: I sang in our church choir as a kid and in school chorus until tenth grade. In sixth grade I was selected to sing in a small group for a special city-wide teachers meeting. One of the songs was “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I still sing that song.

Barb: I sang in church choir in junior high and high school. Cute guys in my church choir, is all I’m sayin’.

5. Do you sing for fun? Karaoke?

Edith/Maddie: If “for fun” means to myself, yes, Karaoke, never.

Liz: Again, God no. In the car, yes. In front of people? Never.

Jessie: I sing along in the car and to my dog. I can hold my own if I find myself in a church so long as there is a hymnal to use. I sing in my shower, especially if the water starts to run cold!

Julie: Again, no. But would like to.

Sherry: I love to sing and have gone to karaoke a couple of times. Once some friends and I jumped up on the stage when a guy was singing Ride Sally, Ride and became his backup singers. I don’t think he was amused, but we had fun.

Barb: Only to my grandchildren, which for some reason chokes me up terribly. I can hardly make it through a song.

6. Should we form a band?

Edith/Maddie: Only if I get to be backup singer with the option to whip out a kazoo.

Liz: LOL. Only if it has a cool name.

Jessie: You ladies feel free to go on that trip without me!

Julie: I can lip synch and could do backup choreography

Sherry: It seems like we are going to need a lead singer. Barb’s our only hope at this point.

Barb: I’ll do it, but only if I don’t have to wear a Yoda costume.

Readers: Answer the same questions!

Welcome Back Guest Julie Mulhern

I’m delighted to welcome back author Julie Mulhern. I love both her series! Look for a giveaway at the end of the post!

[image error]Here’s a bit about the book:

Springtime. Love is in the air. So is murder.

When Ellison Russell, reluctant finder of bodies, chairs a gala in conjunction with the museum’s Chinese funerary exhibit, she expects disaster. So, she’s not remotely surprised when a body turns up.

Ellison is willing to leave the investigation to the police till an attempt is made on her life.

Now she’s juggling evading a killer, her aunt’s overly-amorous beau, her dog’s new love interest, and Mother’s displeasure.

With bodies piling up, if Ellison’s not careful, staying alive might be impossible.

Julie: I am in a book club and recently it was my turn to select the book.

I chose The Dry by Jane Harper, an excellent mystery set in Australia. The Dry tells the story of a man coming to terms with his past and a horrible murder.

Everyone enjoyed the book, with several women noting how much they looked forward to reading at the end of their busy days. One seemed surprised the book was good.

“I don’t read genre fiction,” she explained, apparently forgetting that’s what I write.

She reads to challenge herself.

I read to escape. I want to giggle, puzzle, cheer for the heroine, hiss at the villain, and step away from deadlines, dishes, and what’s for dinner?.

Between divisive politics, the coronavirus, and (for me) a professional bump in the road, that escape is more important than ever.

My latest release, Stayin’ Alive may not challenge readers with angst-ridden characters and dark subject matter, but it does make people laugh. I’m proud of that.

Here’s a peek:

“Sorry, I’m late!” Daisy burst into the card room like a whirlwind. Her slip showed. She needed a comb. A lollipop and multiple tufts of hair stuck to her sweater (the candy on the sleeve, the hair everywhere). “I’ve had a morning.”

“Sit.” Libba held out her wine glass.

Daisy sat, took the glass, gulped, and handed it back. “Thank you.”

“Which kid, and what did he do?” asked Jinx.

Daisy closed her eyes.

 “How bad can it be?” Libba didn’t have children. She’d never experienced bad.

“David snuck into our bathroom. He knows it’s off-limits, ever since the lipstick incident.” The lipstick incident had translated into new wallpaper for most of the house. “He stole my razor from the shower and—” She paused for a shuddering breath.

“And?” I asked. One of Daisy’s offspring running loose with a razor was a terrifying proposition.

“He shaved the cat.”

“He what?” Jinx’s brows touched her hairline.

“The cat fell asleep on his lap and he shaved off its fur.” Daisy rubbed her face. “There’s cat hair everywhere. And the poor cat, it’s hiding under the bed.”

“He shaved the whole cat?”

“The side that was exposed.”

“So the other side still has hair?” Jinx’s mouth twitched.

“Yes. The poor cat is humiliated.”

“It’ll grow back.”

That wouldn’t comfort the cat.

Readers: What makes you laugh? Be warned, it may show up in my next book! Julie will give an ebook of The Deep End to someone who leaves a comment.

[image error]Bio: Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders and the Poppy Fields Adventures.

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is–she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Links:

Amazon – http://bit.ly/CCM10220

Barnes & Noble – http://bit.ly/CCM10bn

iBooks – http://bit.ly/CCM10ap

[image error]Kobo – http://bit.ly/CCM10kb

Don’t miss out on Poppy Fields next adventure that is out on March 31! Here’s a bit about the book:

Poppy Fields, Hollywood IT girl and super-secret spy, travels to Egypt looking for answers.

But amidst assassination attempts, money launderers, and missing treasure, answers are hard to come by.

Poppy must trust new allies, forgive old wrongs, and find a forgotten pharaoh or the next tomb she enters may be her own.

Wicked Spring Reads

Breaking News: Ashley Montgomery and Candace Knight are the winners of Witch Hunt ARCs! PM Liz/Cate on Cate Conte’s FB page!

What are you reading or looking forward to reading this Spring?

Edith/Maddie: I’m reading my way through a crop of new books! I finished Rhys Bowen’s Above the Bay of Angels and am halfway through Lori Rader-Day’s The Lucky One. Today I’m traveling to Puerto Rico for a week off with my sons and am delighted to have The Lucky One, plus Annette Dashofy’s Under the Radar and Maria DiRico’s Here Comes the Body in my suitcase!

Barb: I’m reading my third book in a row for a blurb and after that I have a lot of reading to do for a short story contest. So it’s been awhile and it will be awhile until I get to pick my own book. However, there are several books I’m excited about for the spring, including Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Hid from Our Eyes, coming in April, and Paul Doiron’s One Last Lie, coming in June, so I’ll be busy and happy reading then.

Sherry: Hid from Our Eyes is at the top of my list too! I can not wait. But while I do I’m reading American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson and books by Tina Whittle, Ingrid Thoft, and Julie Mulhern.

Julie: I’ve just finished a biography of Dorothy Sayers that I really enjoyed. She’s so fascinating. I’m also looking forward to Julia Spencer-Fleming’s new book! Stamped From The Beginning by Ibram X Kendi is next up on my Audible queue, and I’ve got Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia at the top of my pile.

Readers: What on your nightstand these days? The top of your TBR pile?

A Wicked Welcome to Guest Ellen Byron aka Maria DiRico!

Sherry here, delighted to host Ellen Byron who is writing her wonderful new series as Maria DiRico. Look for a giveaway at the end of the post. Here Comes the Body is the first book in her new Catering Hall Mystery series. I was lucky enough to read an early version! Here’s a bit about the book: After [image error]

her philandering husband’s boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she’s got a whole new life—including some amateur sleuthing . . .

  Mia is starting work at Belle View, her father’s catering hall, a popular spot for weddings, office parties, and more—despite the planes that occasionally roar overhead on their way to LaGuardia and rattle the crystal chandelier. Soon she’s planning a bachelor party for a less-than-gentlemanly groom. But it goes awry when the gigantic cake is wheeled in and a deadly surprise is revealed . . .

  Since some of her family’s associates are on the shady side, the NYPD wastes no time in casting suspicion on Mia’s father. Now, Mia’s going to have to use all her street smarts to keep him out of Rikers Island . . . 

FROM A SMALL ITALIAN VILLAGE…

In the shadow of Italy’s majestic Abruzzo mountains sits a small village called Orsogna. It’s where my mother was born, and her family lived for countless generations prior.

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[image error]I’ve yet to visit Orsogna. I know it only through photos, and stories shared by the steady stream of Orsognese who left the village and immigrated to America. From my grandmother, who was born in 1906 and didn’t come to this country until 1930, I know it was a hard life. I once asked Nonna what she did as a young girl in Orsogna and she said in her broken English, “We pick up lu sticks.” (“Lu” was her dialectical way of saying the pure Italian masculine and feminine plurals “i” and “le.”) What she meant was that she spent a lot of time gathering sticks to feed the fires that provided heat for cooking and warmed the village’s stone homes. Nonna also told me her family kept animals “in the basement,” by which she meant the ground floor. I asked her why. She shrugged and said, “Meh, where you gonna keep them? In the kitchen?”

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The Orsognese who didn’t leave Italy before World War II endured bombings and depravation. Many left the village and sheltered in nearby caves. Some died, killed by landmines on forages for food to feed their families. But by the 1960s, pretty much all of my mother’s extended family had made it to New York, settling in Queens. My childhood memories are often set in the basement of a two-family house in Astoria, a thick cloud of cigarette smoke hovering below the ceiling as the men drank wine and argued in Italian while the women deposited giant bowls of homemade pasta and meatballs on a long table covered with an oil cloth. Other memories are set in the churches where family christenings, communions, weddings, and funerals took place, followed by grand – or somber – parties at Astoria Manor or the Grand Bay marine, the banquet halls that two cousins managed.

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My new Catering Hall Mystery series is inspired by the nonnas, nonnos, zia’s, zio’s, cugini, and cugine who made such an impression on me as a child. When I write, I’m taking the walk down Ditmars Boulevard from the subway to my nonna’s house. I’m dancing in a gaudy Astoria Manor banquet room. I’m watching boats bob at the docks behind the Grand Bay Marina. And I’m saying a prayer of thanks to a small village in the shadow of large mountains that beget some of the most wonderful people I will ever be lucky enough to know.

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Readers: How has your family or a friend inspired you? Or just say hi! Ellen is giving away a copy of Here Comes the Body to someone who leaves a comment!

[image error]BIO: Maria DiRico is the pen name of mystery author Ellen Byron. She is first-generation Italian American on her mother’s side. While growing up in Queens, Maria/Ellen’s cousins ran the Astoria Manor and Grand Bay Marina catering halls. MARDI GRAS MURDER, the fourth book in Ellen’s bestselling Cajun Country Mystery series, won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. The series has also won multiple Best Humorous Mystery Lefty awards. Fun fact: she worked as cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing. Maria/Ellen loves to translate what she learned from Martha into recipes for her books. You can reach her at:

http://www.ellenbyron.com/

https://www.ellenbyron.com/catering-hall-mysteries

https://www.facebook.com/ellenbyronauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/CateringHallMysteries/

HERE COMES THE BODY is available at your local bookstore, as well at https://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Body-Catering-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07R8WYLSC/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=here+comes+the+body&qid=1579493893&sr=8-1

And https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/here-comes-the-body-maria-dirico/1131426996?ean=9781496725349

A Wicked Welcome to James Ziskin!

I first met Jim at Left Coast Crime in 2016, when I was a debut author. That’s when I met Ellie Stone as well, and I love reading this series. I’m delighted to welcome Jim back to the blog to talk about Turn to Stone , the latest Ellie Stone

Three Interesting Research Challenges for TURN TO STONE



by James W. Ziskin

I write a series of traditional mysteries set in the early 1960s, featuring plucky young newspaper reporter Ellie Stone. In the latest installment, TURN TO STONE, I send Ellie to Florence, Italy, where she investigates the mysterious death of the man who invited there to accept a posthumous award for her father.

Since the series takes place in the early 1960s, research presents challenges at every turn. These turns can be fascinating. In the case of Italy in 1963, the research was even harder due to the language, but also the availability of documentation.

The straight historical research was the easy part. Much of the book’s plot centers on what happened during the twenty-year Fascist era in Italy and the Second World War. The dates and events are well documented. But there were a few other areas that made for a difficult time in getting the facts right. I’ve decided to concentrate on three of those today: food, transportation, and music.

Food. This may seem straightforward at first, but my motto is “know what you don’t know.” That goes for writing and anything else. Many smart authors have tripped over their own misconceptions, and readers love to point it out when they do. I try to question every sentence, every word I put in my novels. I may miss some, but it’s a wise strategy nevertheless. It also helps in the line editing stage. You’d be surprised how many errors, plot holes, and typos can be discovered by challenging every word. For the food in TURN TO STONE, I relied on restaurant menus from the era to pick popular dishes my characters would be eating at Villa Bel Soggiorno. And, lucky for me, I remembered very well that Americans did not generally use the Italian word “pasta” back in the sixties, except in dishes like “pasta fasool” (pasta e fagioli). The word pasta came into popular usage in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. Google’s Ngram Viewer is a handy tool that aids in this kind of research. https://books.google.com/ngrams



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And here is a menu from the period, including prices in lire.

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Transportation. I wanted the air travel to be as accurate as possible in this—and all—my books. Americans have a great love affair for nostalgia, and it’s obvious to see by surfing the Internet. I found actual Pam Am flight information for the time period of TURN TO STONE, and I used it. Google searches often turn up treasures, especially the photos. But there’s also eBay. Lots of historical items can be found there.



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Popular music. When writing a book set in the past, I find it’s important to include some of the popular songs from the era in question. It helps create a sense of time and place. But just as not all cars on the street today are from 2020 or 2019, so music tends to hang around when it’s no longer brand new. That’s a why I always try to include some music that predates the year in question. For TURN TO STONE, I used popular Italian songs from 1962 and 1963, but also some from the fifties, like “Volare.” One interesting detail that emerged from my research of the Italian hit parade of 1963: Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Andy Williams, and Petula Clark all had hits that year. And they were all sung in Italian. Can you imagine Beyoncé recording songs in Italian today? The world has changed, and Italians seem quite willing to listen to American music in its original language.



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An added treat in TURN TO STONE is Ellie’s discovery of the Beatles. They were not yet well known in the US in September of 1963. They hit it big with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in December of 1963. It went on to be their first number 1 record in America.

These are just three of the fascinating research areas that made TURN TO STONE a lot of fun to write. There were plenty of others as well. I hope readers will find the same enjoyment reading about them as I had writing about them.

About TURN TO STONE:

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It’s September 1963. Ellie is in Italy to attend an academic symposium honoring her late father. Just as she arrives in Florence, she learns that her host, Professor Alberto Bondinelli, has been fished out of the Arno, quite dead. Then a suspected rubella outbreak leaves ten of the symposium participants quarantined in a villa outside the city with little to do but tell stories to entertain themselves. Making the best of their confinement, the men and women spin tales and gorge themselves on fine Tuscan food and wine. And as they do, long-buried secrets about Bondinelli rise to the surface, and Ellie must figure out if one or more of her companions is capable of murder.

About James W. Ziskin

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James W. Ziskin (Jim) is the author of the Anthony and Macavity Award-winning Ellie Stone Mysteries. His books have also been finalists for the Edgar®, Barry, and Lefty awards. He was the director of NYU’s Casa Italiana before spending fifteen years in Hollywood running international subtitling and visual effects operations. He speaks Italian and French. Jim can be reached through his website www.jameswziskin.com or on Twitter @jameswziskin.

Wicked Wednesday: Other Passions

Wickeds, our main characters are passionate people, otherwise they wouldn’t care about solving mysteries. Frequently they have other passions as well, like their businesses. So here’s my question. Can we talk about a secret passion they may have? Something you know about as you write, but the readers may not know about?

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Jessie: I love this question! My sleuth, Edwina Davenport, is secretly writing a novel. She has a passion for westerns and has always wanted to write. At least, she thinks it is a secret passion. In fact, her dear friend, Beryl, is well aware of what is keeping her secreted away at the Remington Portable typewriter but she is too kind to mention it straight away.

Liz: So fun Jessie. Maddie James in the Cat Cafe books has a passion for singing. She mostly kept it hidden, but her new kind-of boyfriend outed her by having her join him on stage when he was performing with his band, the Scurvy Elephants, and she had a blast.

Edith/Maddie: The name Scurvy Elephants cracks me up, Liz! Mac Almeida loves classical music. She played the cello as a child and secretly wants to take lessons again if she can find the time – and a place to store a big instrument like a cello. Robbie Jordan never learned to knit and has been planning to ask Aunt Adele to teach her. Rose Carroll secretly wishes she could be employed as a Pinkerton detective, but her calling as a midwife is a strong pull in the opposite direction.

Barb: What a great question. In the Maine Clambake Mysteries, Julia Snowden has committed to life in Busman’s Harbor, after two decades away at boarding school, college, grad school and work. She’s settled down and happy for the break from the constant travel her old job required. But really, truly, after staying put for three years her feet are itchy again and she dreams of Europe, Asia, Africa…

Sherry: Very interesting that Julia has itchy feet! I understand that. On the other hand, Sarah has a longing to put down deep roots like the people in Ellington have. She wants to run into the same people at the coffee shop and spend time with old friends.

Julie: What fun answers! Roddy (in the Garden Squad series) is a painter and draws. That’s starting to come out, but he has secret passions. Being an artist gives him another point of view that inspires and intrigues.

Readers, wasn’t this fun? Do you like learning about the secret lives of characters? As writers, we know a lot we don’t share, but may.

Witches, murder and crystals – and a giveaway!

By Liz, super excited that Witch Hunt is coming to life!

I got my ARCs of my new series last week.

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Aside from the fact that I love the cover and that everything is purple, I’m just really thrilled about this series. It brings together all the things I’ve been fascinated with for most of my life: witches, cats, murder (of course) and maybe one lesser-known obsession. Rocks.

Yep, I’ve been obsessed with rocks and crystals since I was little. In one very famous story my mother told for years, I had this doll carriage and some lovely dolls to put in the carriage. But I chose to use it for other purposes. One day when we were out for a walk, a woman stopped to ask me if she could see my dolls. I happily pulled down the blanket and showed her my rock collection.

Apparently, she thought I was weird. I have no idea why.

As I got older, I stopped picking up rocks off the street (mostly) and instead turned to crystal shops. I became fascinated with the stones and their meanings, and their many healing properties. Since it was getting to the point where I needed a tax write-off for my many purchases, of course I had to make Violet Mooney a crystal store proprietor.

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That means she gets to spend all day with beauties like this lepidolite, a stone that promotes spiritual transcendence, emotional balance, prayer and goodness, as well as grounding and balancing mood swings. Which means that I get to spend extra time in crystal shops too, learning about different stones and about the business overall.

I’m lucky enough to have an awesome shop nearby, The Funky Hippie, with an amazing proprietor, Nicole, who has not only become my primary supplier, but who is happy to also share her wealth of knowledge.

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In the book, Violet is happily running her crystal shop and knows she has a talent for helping people by prescribing the right crystals for their particular situation. What she doesn’t know is that she’s a witch, and that it’s very likely her dormant powers have been working under the surface to help her along the way.

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Violet and I both believe crystals are amazing tools that bring so much good into the world. One of the reasons I’m so happy about writing these books is that I get to share that information with people. One of the best things about being an author, for sure.

Readers, do you have a favorite rock, crystal, or other obsession? Leave a comment below for a chance to win! I’ll be giving an ARC to two commenters!

Double Cover Reveal!

Edith/Maddie here, admiring how much light has returned to the sky despite the still cold temperatures of a New England winter (even with climate change, it’s chilly out there). Read down for a giveaway!

I’m excited to present the next two covers in the Country Store Mysteries. I realized the cover of Nacho Average Murder, book seven, has already slid out into the public eye, but I never gave it a coming-out party, so, voila!

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Isn’t that fabulous? While looking forward to her high school reunion back in California, Robbie’s anticipation is complicated by memories of her mother’s untimely death. At first, she has fun hanging out with her old classmates and reuniting with the local flavors—avocados, citrus, fish, and spicy Cali-Mex dishes. But then she gets wind of rumors that her mother, an environmental activist, may not have died of natural causes. With the help of friends, Robbie starts clearing the smoke surrounding the mystery—but what she finds could make it hard to get back to Indiana alive . . .

I had a delicious time doing the research (yes, IN Santa Barbara a year ago) and testing the recipes. If you were to preorder it, I would be delighted! It releases at the end of June.

And now, so the next cover doesn’t also slide out without fanfare, may I present #8 in the series, Candy Slain Murder?

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Robbie’s back in South Lick and pretty amazed there hasn’t been a murder in town in nearly a year. But...a man raises eyebrows at Pans ‘N Pancakes when he claiming to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie’s assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic. Helplessly intrigued, all Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare. With a decades-old mystery taking shape, plus a new murder in the present, can she run as fast as she can in pursuit of a killer who’s harder to crack than a stale gingerbread man?

This one is up for preorder, too, of course, and will be out September 29. And, as our friend Hank Phillippi Ryan likes to say (with an only half-joking tone), “It’s only my career.”

I’d love to send a commenter any one of books two through six (sorry, I’m out of the first one). And since I just got in a box of ARCs, I’ll send one of those to another FOW (Friend of the Wickeds). Let me know if you’ve already read all the Country Store Mysteries.

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Readers: What’s your favorite season for a book to be set in? What places off the beaten track have you learned about from a mystery?

A Wicked Welcome to Mary Lee Ashford! **giveaway!**

by Julie, waiting for winter in Somerville

I’ve met Mary Lee Ashford at several conferences over the years, and have so enjoyed getting to know her. A lovely person, and wonderful writer. I’m so happy to welcome her the blog!

Who Are You? 

by Mary Lee Ashford

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Have you seen the PBS show, FINDING YOUR ROOTS? I confess, I’m completely hooked on it! Hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., it explores the ancestry of celebrity guests. The stories are often surprising, sometimes upsetting, and always interesting. Often, they don’t match up with what has been passed down by family members through the years. At times, they reveal talking about the past was taboo. As a writer, I find the show endlessly fascinating. The family histories spark ideas. The places, the journeys, the people. Their stories speak to the storyteller in me. Their stories cause me to look at the characters in my stories and ask, “Who are you?” 

Though we each take different approaches to character development, all of us who write consider the backgrounds of our story people in one way or another. When I first started writing, I used lengthy character sheets, with everything from the obvious details of name, age, and physical descriptions to an inventory of likes/dislikes, favorite foods, and, of course, pets. My info sheet also often included parents, siblings, and family history as well. And that has definitely come into play in many of my books. However, what I’ve found is that the more important question is, what do the characters think about the past and what they know or don’t know. How does the background of their parents or grandparents impact their world view? 

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Sugar Calloway in my Sugar & Spice series was affected by her parent’s divorce and by her mother’s need to keep moving. Sugar longs for roots. Her father, a writer, died before sharing any of his history. Dixie Spicer, her business partner, has family roots that are deep. The Spicer family has lived in the St. Ignatius community for generations. Both of those backgrounds play into their actions and reactions. 

In the most recent installment in the series, QUICHE OF DEATH (out in July 2020) Sugar learns more about genealogy methods, familial DNA and about the impact of surprise discoveries. Working with the Abbott family on their cookbook, she learns a lot about their background. But Sugar, much like celebrities on the television show, has only small pieces of her own history.

I recently did one of those DNA tests and discovered, according to the results that I’m 84% British. Who knew, right? Well, I did know that I had some UK in my background – my maiden name was Salsbury after all – but I didn’t know how much. I’ve had fun on some of the genealogy sites making connections and filling in missing branches on my family tree. I knew we were related to Daniel Boone on my mother’s side and to candy maker Russell Stover. I did not know about the John Milton connection, so that was a fun discovery. 

Now, I don’t think I necessarily inherited my love of adventure or my love of chocolate from those relatives, but I do wonder about the choices made by the people who came before me. I wonder about the why. Why did they choose the paths they did? And how did that impact life decisions made by my parents and grandparents? Like Sugar, in my books, I have some of the pieces of my history and I wish I knew more.

What do you think? Have you done any research into your family’s history? And what kind of impact do you think family history has on our lives? 

Readers, Mary Lee is going to give away a copy of either Game of Scones or Risky Biscuits to one commenter on the blog!

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Mary Lee Ashford is a lifelong bibliophile, an avid reader, and supporter of public libraries. In addition to writing the Sugar & Spice mystery series, she also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey. She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime-Iowa and a former board member of Mystery Writers of America Midwest. She teaches a university level class on creativity and loves encouraging other writers as well as connecting with readers. 

Website: www.MaryLeeAshford.com
Game of Scones – Sugar & Spice Mysteries Book 1
Risky Biscuits – Sugar & Spice Mysteries Book 2
Quiche of Death – Sugar & Spice Mysteries Book 3 – Coming July 2020
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