Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 134

Guest Victoria Thompson

Edith here, basking in having family around me. Our guest today is the fabulous Victoria Thompson. City of Scoundrels, her third Counterfeit Lady Mystery, came out last month and I just finished reading the latest adventure of Elizabeth Miles. I wanted to be sure our Wicked fans knew about it too, so I invited Victoria back on the blog. She’s giving away a copy, too!

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Imagine getting sick with a deadly disease for which there is no treatment or cure. Then imagine hundreds of people getting sick with the same disease at the same time, whole families, whole neighborhoods.  Then imagine this happening in every city and town in the entire world! Sadly, we don’t have to imagine this because it actually happened in the fall of 1918, and at least 50 million people died world-wide.

In my new book, City of Scoundrels, con artist Elizabeth Miles and her fiancé, Gideon Bates, are holding down the home front while WWI rages a continent away.  Gideon knows he will be drafted soon, so he’s spending his time helping soldiers write their wills before they ship out. When a widow of one of these men gets cheated out of her inheritance by her scoundrel of a brother-in-law, the law is on his side, so Gideon and Elizabeth must go beyond the law to get justice.  Using Elizabeth’s skills as a grifter, they must outwit not only the brother-in-law but a gang of German spies into the bargain.

But as Gideon and Elizabeth work desperately to beat their adversaries, a new disease begins striking down their friends and neighbors. The influenza epidemic began in an army camp, and it quickly spread, going with the troops as they shipped out across the world.  The press—restrained by war-time censorship—fails to adequately warn the public, and thousands die.  The flu finally strikes very close to home for Elizabeth, and takes someone near and dear. 

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New York City lost more people to the flu than to the war. To this day, no one is really sure what strain of flu it was that proved so deadly. We like to think something like that could never happen again, outside of a horror movie, but can we really be sure?

I’ve been amazed at how many fans had a relative who died of the flu back then.

Readers: Did your family lose someone in the great flu epidemic, or in WWI? Leave your comments below.  I’m going to give away a signed copy of City of Scoundrels to a randomly selected commenter.  US residents only, please.

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Victoria Thompson is the USA Today bestselling author of the Edgar® and Agatha Award finalist Gaslight Mystery Series and the Sue Grafton Memorial Award finalist Counterfeit Lady Series. She has published 24 mysteries. She currently teaches in the Master’s program for writing popular fiction at Seton Hill University.

Contact Victoria through her website, www.victoriathompson.com, on Facebook at Victoria.Thompson.Author or twitter @gaslightvt.

Wicked Boxing Day

We let Wicked Wednesday be quiet yesterday on Christmas (but seriously – didn’t you love the graphic?). Today is Boxing Day in England and former British Empire countries. So let’s riff on boxes. Do you or your characters observe Boxing Day? Do your cats love boxes? Do you have a series sold in a boxed set? Do you (or did you) have a music box? Have you ever put on boxing gloves and lit into a bag or a sparring partner? Extra credit for pictures. Go!

[image error]Edith/Maddie’s Birdy, the Country Store Mysteries cat.

Jessie: Since my Beryl and Edwina books are set in England most of my characters do celebrate Boxing Day. In my house, the 26th always feels more like unboxing day since we usually have a stack of them from the day before to either recycle or fold up for use another year!

Julie: Delia Greenway from my Garden Squad series loves boxes. She loves order, and creates order. Her work with the Goosebush Historical Society is all about records, boxes, what goes in them, and what should be in them and is missing. My cats are surprisingly uninterested in boxes, isn’t that odd? I thought sitting in boxes was part of being a cat.

Liz: I thought it would be fitting to post Snowy after she scaled a particularly tall box. This is funny because this 23-year-old gal is usually IN a box (seriously, there is a box at all times in my kitchen – it’s where she sleeps) but this particular day she was feeling energetic.

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Readers: Tell us about boxes!

Seasons Greetings!

A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and warm wishes for Kwanzaa to all our dear readers.

[image error]Photo by Meg Manion Sillier, added magic by Jennifer McKee

Stay warm, eat yummy food, enjoy your loved ones, and if you received a new book as a gift (even from yourself) – read on!

That's what Christmas (Eve) means to me

By Liz, waiting for Santa Paws with Penny and Molly! (The cats are kind of cynical at this point…must be old age.)

I love Christmas Eve. It’s kind of a given as an Italian – it was always the biggest part of the celebration. When I was a kid, we always had Christmas Eve at our house and my parents made it special every year. My grandparents were there, and while sometimes we had relatives from my father’s side of the family, more often than not it was me, my brother, my parents and my mother’s parents.

And of course, that meant a lot of traditions. This year especially, I’ve been thinking a lot about the holidays and their different iterations over the years. I think no matter what form they’ve taken during different times in my life, the feeling of Christmas – and especially Christmas Eve – was seared into my person by the first 20+ years of my life doing it my family’s way. And despite our differences over the rest of the years, when I think of what the holidays feel like, I’ll always think of our house in Methuen, with the two trees (one upstairs, one down), the massive amounts of decorations, the Christmas classics on the stereo.

So today I thought I’d do a few top five lists of my favorite things, in honor of all those Christmases past. Starting with overall traditions:

Picking out a real tree at a neighborhood farm and decorating it on my birthday weekend (the last weekend in November)Watching Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on Christmas EveMy mother’s homemade fudgeA game (or three) of 45’s (if you’re not from Methuen or Lawrence you probably don’t know what this is, but it’s a card game – my grandfather’s favorite)Going out to look at Christmas lights at least twice during the season (I found this gem below this weekend by chance!)



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Of course, there are the Christmas carols. My top five classics, in honor of my dad:

The Christmas Song – Nat King ColeHolly Jolly Christmas – Burl IvesSuzy Snowflake (my mother and I used to play this on the piano together)Rockin Around the Christmas TreeSleigh RideHonorary mention – Blue Christmas (not my favorite, but my dad always sang it)

And finally, a tradition we started when I was older: Watching Christmas movies on Christmas Eve before dinner. Some of our faves:

It’s a Wonderful LifeA Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version)Dr. Seuss’s aforementioned The Grinch Who Stole ChristmasFrosty the Snowman, because what’s Christmas without Frosty?And one of mine – Love Actually.

Finally, since we’re in the Christmas spirit, I thought it fitting to share with you the cover of the next Cat Cafe book, since it’s Christmas-themed.

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Thanks for letting me share some memories with you. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and happy holiday season!

Share some of your favorite holiday memories with us below!

Baking up Some Love, & #giveaway

Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston, delighted to have my entire brood home for the holidays. I’ll send one lucky US commenter a copy of Christmas Cocoa Murder!

Anybody who knows me knows I like to cook. It’s no surprise two of my three series include recipes. And I particularly like to bake. My mother wasn’t an accomplished savory cook, but boy, could she bake sweets. I grew up making cookies and pies with her, and watching with wonder as she decorated cakes like a professional – she could even make icing roses.

[image error]Marilyn Muller in about 2000.

For Christmas, like our own Wicked Barb, I always bake cookies. The 3″ x 5″ cards I’ve had since I was a teenager hold the recipes I copied out from my mom, who in turned learned them from her mother and her mother-in-law.

I stock up on pounds and pounds of butter, make sure I have containers of red and green sugars and powdered sugar, and dig out the box of cookie cutters and the Spritz press.

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I (as Maddie Day) included one easy stand-by in my novella, “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse” in Christmas Cocoa Murder. The recipe for Mexican Bridecakes came down from my father’s mother, Dorothy. My cousins on that side and my sisters bake these, too. You can make the dough ahead of time.

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When you need a plate of fresh cookies, press them out, bake, cut, and dust with powdered sugar!

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Besides Bridecakes, I cut out sugar cookies and decorate with red and green sugars. I press out Spritz cookies, finding exactly the right dough temperature and pressure to make sure they stick to the pan.

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I make gingerbread men and women, using chocolate chips for eyes, noses, and buttons (and sometimes, irreverently, body parts…). We don’t frost Christmas cookies in my house.

[image error]A few of the less fortunate gingerbread people – still yummy!

Four years ago my son Allan and I attempted to bake a Buche de Noel. It came out okay, but it was SO much work and not really worth the effort, so it hasn’t joined our repertoire.

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I’m ever so grateful not to have anyone in the family who can’t eat white flour, sugar, or butter, even if we try to avoid those foods at other times of the year. Vegetarians, we have, but it’s a lot easier to make a tasty meatless dinner than a gluten-free cookie.

Having an assortment of cookies baked to share with dear ones and take a plate of to neighbors feels like love to me.

I hope you experience love this holiday season – and find a cookie to enjoy, too!

Readers: What’s your favorite holiday treat? If you bake sweets, what’s your special recipe? If you don’t, share your favorite bakery. I’ll send one of you (sorry, US only) a signed copy of Christmas Cocoa Murder.

Recipe for a Good Cozy — Welcome guest Maureen Klovers

By Sherry — I met Maureen through a manuscript exchange through the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime in 2013. She’s amazing and I’m so glad I said yes to that exchange! Maureen’s latest books is Murder in the Moonshine, the third book in her Rita Calabrese Culinary Mystery series.

[image error]Here’s a little about the book: When her twin sister asks for help drumming up interest in her newest real estate listing—a mothballed old mansion that was once a Prohibition-era speakeasy and FDR hangout—Rita readily agrees. Planning an over-the-top Jazz Age-themed soirée, she dusts off her vintage recipes for lemon cake and oysters Rockefeller, casts her son Vinnie and his best friend Rocco as the G-men who will stage a “raid,” and even enlists the culinary services of Rocco’s mom, the beautiful but troubled Fran, who has just been released from prison.But when Vinnie and Rocco stage their “raid”, what they find in the old dairy barn behind the mansion isn’t moonshine…but a dead body. The citizens of Acorn Hollow are eager to point the finger at Rocco and Fran, but Rita isn’t buying it. Like the multi-tasking mother she is, she’s determined to prove their innocence—all while mentoring a sulky teen-aged intern, unmasking the identity of the newspaper’s new male advice columnist, and encouraging her daughter’s fledgling romance with a hunky teacher.Featuring mouth-watering recipes for Italian classics, including bruschetta and tiramisu!

Maureen: Take one bucolic small town, add in a slightly (but lovably) flawed sleuth, and bring the tension to a boil with shocking (but not grisly) murder. Season with a few eccentric characters and, if desired, spice it up with a little romance, a light history lesson, and a few intriguing subplots…and voilá! You have a cozy mystery.

Sounds easy, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not. Just like the recipe for your favorite baked good, there’s chemistry involved. Here’s how I try to bring these ingredients together:

The town. The series I most enjoy feature towns that are almost characters in themselves, and whose history and culture—and the unique residents—help propel the action. For my series, I chose the fictitious Acorn Hollow, set in New York’s real Hudson Valley. Why? Because the area is incredibly scenic, steeped in Italian-American culture and cuisine, rich in fascinating colonial and American history (home of FDR!), and dotted with small towns and wineries—the perfect setting for an Italian-American matriarch turned small town reporter who loves to garden and cook. And I love using the region’s history as a source of inspiration—a “Secret in Thyme,” for example, opens with Acorn Hollow’s three hundredth anniversary. When the town’s time capsule is flung open to reveal a skeleton, the plot thickens!
The sleuth. There are so many considerations when creating a new sleuth—he or she needs to be interesting, likeable, relatable…and have some compelling reason to solve mysteries! The author needs to know the main character inside and out, and the character needs to solve the case in a way consistent with her character, motivations, and abilities. My protagonist, Rita Calabrese, is very much a product of Acorn Hollow’s Italian-American community; she cooks Italian, speaks Italian (mostly to her dogs, Luciano and Cesare), and even has an operatic ring tone. She makes secret deliveries of gnocchi and biscotti to down-on-their-luck neighbors, which means that while she doesn’t have the same resources the police do, she has insights into her neighbors that they lack – plus her second act as a reporter gives her a reason to investigate! An important part of Rita’s identity is that she is a fiercely proud Italian mamma. A lot of the series’ humor and most of its subplots involve her attempts to “problem-solve” – what her grown children would call “meddle.” She’s smart, sassy, determined, vulnerable, good-hearted and yes, sometimes exasperating – that’s what makes her fun…and a character I never get tired of writing.
The murder. An unusual murder weapon is always good, but to me the most important thing is a great motive – a compelling but unusual reason for murder that is completely in keeping with the relationship between killer and victim. As a reader, I love discovering new and surprising things about the victim…each of which continually cause the sleuth (and the reader) to adjust their assumptions. In “The Secret Poison Garden,” the victim is the town’s beloved, soon-to-be-married football coach…or is he really that beloved?
Eccentric characters. I’m a sucker for a lovably eccentric supporting cast, especially when these characters have unique perspectives or abilities that help the sleuth solve the mystery. Many readers say their favorite character in my series is the much-feared Widow Schmalzgruben, a centenarian who sits in the cemetery, day after day, reading the newspaper to her three deceased husbands. She’s actually based on a real person who lived in Staunton, Virginia, and did indeed read the newspaper on her husbands’ tombs. What I love about the character is that—as someone even older than Rita—she has an encyclopedic knowledge of every family in town. She also has a wry sense of humor.
The food. Cooking scenes work best, I think, when they (a) showcase what the character would really cook, (b) move the plot or character arc forward, and (c) make readers’ mouths water. That’s not an easy thing to pull off! Rita cooks mostly Italian food, of course, often with produce from her garden. Sometimes, her cooking moves the plot along; in “Murder in the Moonshine,” the act of making tiramisu jogs her memory about a key event the night of the murder. Other times, they’re a vehicle for expressing her emotions; in “The Secret Poison Garden,” she’s furious with her husband and son for keeping secrets from her, so she cooks up some really, really spicy pasta all’arrabbiata!

[image error]Readers: What’s your idea of a recipe for a good cozy?

Bio: Maureen Klovers is the creator of the Rita Calabrese Italian-American culinary cozy series set in New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as a traditional mystery series set in Washington, D.C., featuring bellydancer-turned-sleuth Jeanne Pelletier.  A former spy and middle school teacher, she has a keen sense of adventure: she’s hiked through the jungle to Machu Picchu, toured a notorious Bolivian prison with a German narco-trafficker, and fished for piranhas in Venezuela. She’s the mother of a toddler and a black Lab and enjoys testing recipes and speaking Italian.

What Scooby-Doo Taught Me About Writing Mysteries — Guest Libby Klein

Sherry — If you need a funny post to warm you on a cold almost winter’s day read on. Guest Libby Klein is visiting to celebrate the upcoming release of Theater Nights Are Murder, the fourth book in the Poppy McAllister Mystery series. Look for a give away at the end of the post. Here’s a little about the book: The last thing gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister needs in her life is more drama—or more murder . . .

Poppy thought her toughest challenge this winter would be sticking to her Paleo diet and filling all her orders for her gluten-free goodies, but now she has to choose between two suitors. She’s not the only one with boyfriend drama. Aunt Ginny’s long-ago high-school beau, Royce Hanson, a retired Broadway actor, has returned to Cape May, New Jersey, to star in a Senior Center staging of Mamma Mia. Leaving Aunt Ginny to wonder: What’s his motivation?

Slated to open February 13th, the problem-plagued production seems to be cursed—with stolen props, sabotage, and even a death threat. But when a cast member plunges to his death from a catwalk, it soon becomes clear a murderer is waiting in the wings. Now Poppy, Aunt Ginny, and a supporting cast must take center stage to catch the killer—before it’s curtains for someone else . . .  

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Libby: I’m a child of the 70s. And like every other red-blooded American kid of the decade, the highlight of my week revolved around brightly colored breakfast cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. Of all the technicolor offerings from Hanna-Barbera, Scooby-Doo was hands down my favorite.

Over the past few months, one of my grandsons visited me every week, and I had the pleasure of introducing him to Shaggy and the gang on DVD. It became our thing. Friday mornings, watching Shaggy make giant sandwiches that Scooby would snarf down in one gulp. Watching my grandson eat his weight in goldfish crackers and chocolate milk. (don’t tell his mother) I came to realize just how many ways Scooby-Doo and the gang had influenced my Poppy McAllister Mysteries.

First, you need a good sidekick.

Scooby and Shaggy go together like peanut butter and jelly – or sardines and marshmallow fudge if Shaggy is to be believed. Everyone needs a buddy when you’re locked in a museum in the middle of the night and a creepy mummy crawls out of the Egyptian sarcophagus.  Fortunately, Poppy has Sawyer, her lifelong best friend. Poppy and Sawyer tend to dive headfirst into sticky situations just to back each other up. So far, they’ve faced the high school reunion from hell, the midnight romp of the snack bandit, and a chef competition so traumatic you’ll want to order delivery for the rest of your life. Like Shaggy and Scooby, Poppy wants nothing to do with finding bad guys. She just wants to hang out with her friends and maybe have some snacks.

Add in a dash of snappy dialogue

 Fred: “Stay here Scoob, we’re going to go check out these weirdos.”

Velma: “There’s a very logical explanation for all this.”

Shaggy: “Quick, tell me.”

Velma: “The place is haunted.”

[image error]Fred: “We’re going back to find out what it was.”

Shaggy: “Swell. I’ll wait here and when you find out, send me a telegram.”

If you’ve read my series, you can clearly see that my dialogue is on par with the words of Shaggy and the gang. I’ve aspired high and I believe I’ve reached the pinnacle of success that only a select few have mastered.

[image error]Everyone needs the voice of reason

Poor Velma did all the work. Week after week, figuring out that bad guys did it with smoke and mirrors and luminescent paint. But did she ever get the credit? No. Fred set up some lame trap that Shaggy and Scooby barreled into and accidentally unmasked the villain by falling on them. Then it was all shaking fists and, “You meddling kids!” Aunt Ginny is Poppy’s eighty-ish year old great aunt, and she’s often the voice of reason. No one listens to her either, but in their defense, it is difficult to take someone seriously when they’re dressed in a Little Bo Peep costume because, “it’s Tuesday.”

Have a good Incentive plan.

Fred and the gang can get Scooby to do just about anything by waving a box of scooby snacks under his nose. Scooby has been the bait used to lure the villain towards one of Fred’s traps enough times to learn to just say no. But still he gives in to the lure of temptation. Sir Figaro Newton, Poppy’s black smoke Persian, can sniff out trouble like Scooby sniffing out a box of scooby snacks.  And just like Scooby, he’ll also work for treats. Figaro is smarter than Poppy gives him credit for. He knows when people are trying to hide secrets, and he’s a very good judge of character. Most of the time. He can be bought with bacon. Other than that, his detecting skills are sharp.

Everyone likes a little side romance.

We’re talking about you, Fred. You’re not fooling anyone. We know why you always suggest you and Daphne go “search for the ghost” in another room. Even Velma is tired of your shenanigans. Poppy has more romance than she can handle. Her life is right back in the same romantic crossroads she found herself in twenty-five years ago. This is her chance for a life do-over and she’s trying to listen to her heart. When she can hear it over everyone impatiently pushing her to choose. Give the girl a minute!

[image error]Finally, people are never what they seem

If we learned anything from Scooby Doo, this is the big one. In the end, every villain had to be unmasked – sometimes more than once – to reveal their true identity. They were never who you first suspected, and their motives for murder always seem justified in their minds.  Sometimes the bad guys are just good guys with bad ideas. People are complicated. They usually only show you what they want you to see. Poppy’s biggest challenge in solving mysteries is digging deep to find out who’s behind the mask.

That’s where the gang comes in. You need a good support system to handle life’s trials and disappointments.  A cast of friends who love and accept you for who you are. Each having their own role in bringing justice back into the world. Plus, it helps to have someone along who always has a box of snacks.

Readers: Did you love Scooby Doo? Which character was your favorite? Libby is giving away two of her ebooks to one person who leaves a comment! A winner will be chose by 5:00 pm eastern on Saturday the 21st.

[image error]About Libby Klein: Libby Klein graduated Lower Cape May Regional High School sometime in the ’80s. Her classes revolved mostly around the culinary sciences and theater, with the occasional nap in Chemistry. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten free goodies, and befriend random fluffy cats. She writes from her Northern Virginia office while trying to keep her cat Figaro off her keyboard. Most of her hobbies revolve around eating, and travel, and eating while traveling.

Wicked Wednesday: Holidays

‘Tis the season of holidays. Our characters got through Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. Many will be celebrating Christmas next week. Do we have any celebrating Hanukkah or Kwaanza? Winter solstice? What are your fictional folk up to in the holiday season, Wickeds? Are they baking, decorating, or trying to avoid the whole thing?

[image error]Photo by  Markus Spiske temporausch.com  from  Pexels

Jessie: The holidays are on my sleuths, Beryl and Edwina’s minds. I gave a behind the scenes peek at their gift-giving plans in my latest newsletter. Edwina is knitting socks for Simpkins and has purchased new driving gear for Beryl. Beryl has ordered a Mah Jong game for Edwina and a silver-plated flask for Simpkins. They have put up a tree and Edwina is busy with holiday baking. She is planning a large Christmas dinner and has retrieved the set of trinkets to hide in the plum pudding from a top shelf in her scullery cupboard.

Liz: Maddie is in a bad mood this holiday season! Her almost boyfriend kind of ghosted her and she’s still sorting through that…although he may make a reappearance around Christmas. Other than that, she’s looking forward to her first Christmas officially back on the island, and a big family celebration – with the cafe cats, of course.

Edith/Maddie: What’s up with ghosting? That apparently happens to so many online daters in real life, too! Over in South Lick, Robbie’s still getting over having her Mexican hot chocolate packets confiscated by the police. But she and Danna did a tiptop job thinking up a different festive breakfast and lunch special each day, including eggnog oatmeal. Mac Almeida in Westham can’t wait to see her niece Cokey’s expression when she opens the dinosaur books Mac got her. Cokey is nuts for dinosaurs.

Sherry: Sarah wishes she could eat at Robbie’s restaurant! Sarah has been busy collecting vintage Shiny Bright ornaments to make a wreath for her mom. Her aunt had one that her mom admired so Sarah is trying to recreate it for a Christmas present.

Readers: What’s your favorite thing to do for the holidays?

The Detective’s Daughter – Lovely as a Tree

 

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Kim in Baltimore organizing birthdays, college graduations, and Christmas!

 

When I was a child I remember watching a holiday show called The House Without a Christmas Tree. I couldn’t imagine such a thing. We had two -sometimes three- trees right in my own house. My family in a neighborhood that’s now referred to as Federal Hill, but back then it was just plain old South Baltimore. Everyone I knew celebrated Christmas and had a tree in their living room that you could see from the street at night when the decorations were lit up.

[image error]Our trees were always artificial, but beautiful. My grandparents had a silver one that sparkled as the color wheel turned casting shades of blue, red and green onto the branches. Upstairs, in my parents’ apartment, the tree was a normal green.

The first year I was married my husband took me to a tree farm. We trudged along through the snow with our dog in search of the perfect tree. If you’ve ever seen the Chevy Chase movie Christmas Vacation, you’ll have a good idea of how that all turned out. My husband did bring the saw, but left it in the car!

I believe you can never have too many lights on the tree, and when my children were very small, there were times when lights were all I could manage. The year my son was born our tree was completely bare. [image error]

[image error]This year my husband and I took a trip to New York City where we had the opportunity to visit Rockerfeller Center. The tree was magnificent! The historic Hotel Edison also had an elegant tree on display in their lobby and we were fortunate to see it on our way in and out of the hotel every day. [image error]

This week the tree at my house was put up and adorned with lights. Like my parents before me, I am now decorating an artificial tree for the holidays. Pine or plastic, it’s still magical to me.

As this year comes to a close, so does my time here on the Wicked Authors blog. It has been wonderful sharing my stories with all of you and I have appreciated the many sweet notes and responses I’ve received. Thank you for reading.  I will continue to periodically post The Detective’s Daughter on my Facebook page Kimberly Kurth Gray – Author, if you would like to follow me there.[image error]

I wish you all a happy holiday and a healthy, peaceful 2020!

Dear Reader, please share with us your favorite holiday symbol.

Reading-A Holiday Tradition

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the houses are festooned with twinkling lights and evergreen boughs.

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Every family has activities and traditions that make holidays feel like holidays and my family is no different. We decorate our dining room and kitchen with silver and purple glass balls and white candles. We wind tiny lights round the bannister. Most years I rememberers to pot up an amaryllis or two early enough to force blooms for Christmas through New Year’s Day.

We buy a live tree and wait for all four kids to be home to decorate it, an event that has gotten trickier over the years with college exams and work schedules to factor in. Often times I will make a gingerbread house or two or three.

But, as much as I love all of those things, I think the decorating I love most of all is the gathering up of the Christmas books from around the house into one location where I still read some of them aloud each year to my kids. There is just something so cheering about being swept back to other times and even places through the pages of a treasured book, especially as my family grows and changes and moves into lives of their own.

I love remembering stretching out on a top bunk reading with one of my sons who particularly loved the Horrible Harry books by Suzy Kline. I would read one page and he would read the next. He was a wriggly little guy but somehow he managed to be so engrossed in the stories of a boy, not unlike himself, that he stopped moving for just a few peaceful moments.

One of my other sons loved to be read The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza by the wonderful author, David Shannon. He loved the artwork and the moral of the story even as a young child.

My youngest brought a bright glow of maternal pride to my heart when last year at this time. He asked if he could borrow a book from my shelves for a school paper. I handed him Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. He finished it in only a day and handed it back proclaiming it to be really enjoyable!

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As for me, each Christmas Eve I read A Jolly Christmas at the Patterprints by Vera and Helene Nyce to my family before we head to bed for the night. I think they might be indulging me since they all know my mother read the same book to my sister and me on Christmas Eve when we were children. I feel truly blessed by their patience! I also make time, most years, to read A Redbird Christmas by Fanny Flagg. It strikes all the right notes for me this time of year!

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I even find that I love to include writing about what my own fictional characters are up to for the holidays in my newsletter. I love to report on their gift-giving ideas and what all else they might be up to in preparing to celebrate the holidays that mean so much to each of them.

Readers, do you have any holiday books you love to read each year? Writers, have you ever set one of your books or stories at the holidays?