Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 136

Lea Wait’s Last Book Released

by Barb, in a B&B on Cape Cod with 20 of her closest family members for Thanksgiving

Many of you know the Wickeds lost a good friend this summer. Lea Wait was the author of two mystery series, along with several books of historical fiction for children.

The last book in her Mainely Needlepoint series, Thread and Buried, was released on Tuesday.

[image error]Our friends over at Maine Crime Writers have run a series of posts to celebrate the release of Thread and Buried. Lea’s dear friend Kaitlyn Dunnett provided a lightly edited series of the emails Lea sent her as she wrote the book here and here. And Lea’s editor, John Scognamiglio (also editor to all the Wickeds except Sherry), wrote a lovely tribute about working with Lea here.

Our friends over a Miss Demeanors reproduced the words I spoke about Lea at the recent New England Crime Bake here. I was honored to be asked to do this by the 2019 co-chairs Edith Maxwell and Michele Dorsey.

Reviewing Thread and Buried here, Kaitlyn Dunnett says she was concerned about the quality of the book because she knew how sick Lea was as she wrote it. However, Kaitlyn reports, “I worried for nothing. True professional that she was, with a clever, inventive mind and incredible determination, she left us with yet another excellent mystery. There are plenty of twists and turns and a satisfying conclusion, plus a couple of tasty recipes added on at the end.”

[image error]Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett, Lea Wait/Cornelia Kidd, Barbara Ross

So if you’re a fan of Lea’s books, purchase Thread and Buried or borrow it from your library. If you don’t know the books, to celebrate the new release Kensington has put most of Lea’s backlist in the Mainely Needlepoint series on sale for $1.99 on Kobo and Amazon.

Readers: We hope you enjoy Thread and Buried and that in this crazy, holiday season you get a little time to do something you love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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All of us at Wicked Authors wish all of you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. We’ll see you tomorrow a few pounds heavier than we are today.

Wicked Wednesday: The menu

Wickeds, what is a dish your main characters traditionally eat at Thanksgiving? Something beyond turkey and potatoes.

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Sherry: Since Sarah is eating at the DiNapoli’s house there are a lot of Italian dishes along side the traditional turkey and sides. Sarah can’t resist Angelo’s award winning lasagna but wonders how she will be expected to eat anything else.

Edith/Maddie: Robbie Jordan’s boyfriend Abe told her not to be surprised that his father always prepares fried catfish with Cajun sauce along with turkey for the Thanksgiving table. Since she loves the crispy Southern treat, she’s not complaining. Instead of turkey dressing, Mac Almeida’s family has a tradition of serving Cape Verdean Arroz de Marisco, a delicious rice and seafood dish. And Mac’s grandmother Abo Reba makes a mean southern spicy kale side dish.

Liz: Maddie’s mom is a health nut and loves to try new dishes that she reads about. This year, along with the traditional turkey, she’s making a vegan mac and cheese side dish, with cashews and almond milk, nutritional yeast, soy sauce and lots of roasted veggies. And of course, gluten-free pasta!

Julie: Lilly makes a cranberry jello mold. It has raspberry jello, cranberry sauce, pineapple, apples, a dab of mayo and cream cheese. She makes it because it is delicious, and it often horrifies her guests. She enjoys keeping people on their toes. Lilly is Maddie’s mother’s worst nightmare.

Jessie: Since Beryl is not a cook and is often away from the States when Thanksgiving rolls round, more often than not she either makes a meal of local fare or makes the best of things with a tin of beans settled next to a campfire. Edwina is a Brit and is not sure what all the fuss is about. She always lays on a spread at Christmas.

Barb: At Julia’s mother’s house Sonny and Chris are having some kind of manly competition that involves brining the turkey and cooking it on the barbecue. Julia wishes they would just put the bird in the oven, for heaven’s sake. They’re having oyster stuffing since the best oysters come from the Damariscotta River nearby. (Expecting pushback from people from Massachusetts to Louisiana on that assertion.) Did you know one of the largest rutabaga farms on the East Coast is in Corinth, ME? Of course, as the farmer jokes, not many people like rutabaga so it doesn’t take much to be the biggest.

Readers: What’s on your Thanksgiving table?

Cover Reveal – Witch Hunt!

Hey readers! Happy Thanksgiving week! I’m grateful for so many things this year, and my new series is one of the them. The Full Moon Mysteries by Cate Conte debuts in July 2020, and I just got the new cover. Isn’t it a beauty?

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I think they did a fantastic job, and the detail in the crystal shop window is so cool. I had to show my crystal lady and she loved it too. I don’t have the official cover copy yet, but here’s a short synopsis I shared with my publisher:

V iolet Mooney  is a 32-year-old witch—who has no idea she’s a witch. At least, until her life is turned upside down when a disagreeable town official is found dead, strangled with Violet’s favorite scarf, in the neighborhood courtyard. After the two had an argument in front of half the town. In the chaos that follows, Violet not only finds herself a suspect in a murder, but is also reunited with some long-lost family members, who have a big secret to share with her. They also have a job for her, if she’s willing. 

In the days that follow, Violet has to clear her name in the mortal world–with no magical help–but also face the truth of her heritage, and accept that she has to assume a powerful role in a world she never even knew existed. 

I’m so jazzed for this series – I’ve always been obsessed with witches (even before I went to college in Salem, Mass. – and I am completely obsessed with crystals. So this is the perfect match for me. I can’t wait to share the book with you next year.

Meanwhile, what do you think of the cover? Tell me below in the comments!

Tricks for Moving On

Edith here, in the cold stark dark of a New England late fall.

I was trying to come up with a meaningful post for today about writing, something that would engage you all and spark thought-provoking discussion. I failed. This has been one of the most difficult autumns of my life, both personally and professionally. It included deaths, health issues, and conflicts with which I am ill-equipped to deal. Almost all of it was out of my control.

So how did I cope? And now how do I brace up, as the British say, distract myself, and move on? Here are some of the ways I came up with. I hope you can add more, and I have a reward for one of you!

Bake bread. The sourdough starter in my fridge, in a little jar on the front of the top shelf, speaks every time I open the door: “Bake me! Don’t let me die!” Is there anything more comforting than the smell of fresh-baked bread?

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Watch something good. Luckily, the next season of “The Crown” blew into town last week, and it has moved to Netflix. I love Olivia Colman as the new Elizabeth and Helena Boneham Carter as Princess Margaret.

Go for walks in the sunshine. I am not a serious sufferer from SAD, but sunshine always helps my mood, and I am regular walker. Being in nature has always held a bit of being in church about it for me. Which leads me to…

Sit quietly. I’ve taken more time to sit with my thoughts, in meditation and in the worship room of the beautiful, historic, spirit-imbued Friends Meetinghouse that is my church (and Rose Carroll’s, of course).

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Run away. Regular readers of this blog know I take myself away on solo retreat from time to time. I thought about doing that, but also didn’t have the energy to arrange a place, pack up food and drink, and get myself there. So I’ve been holing away in my office, instead.

Hang out with children. As I no longer live with children (which can be its own kind of difficult!), I draw great joy from hanging out with my two-year-old great goddaughter (who is DARLING but her parents don’t allow her picture on social media except this one from a day her grandma and I took her apple picking).

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I love that my young friend Miss B – tall, willowy, and nearly fourteen – still wants to have after school “play dates” with me, too.

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Write something different. I have a first draft going (Murder at the Lobstah Shack, Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries #3) and developmental edits to wrestle down (Taken Too Soon, Quaker Midwife Mysteries #6), and I am working on both. But I carved out time this fall to write a short story featuring entirely new characters, setting, and era. I sent it off on submission and of course the whole concept is still knocking at my brain, so I might try another story along those lines.

Read more: I’m always reading, but lately I’ve been making more space for it. I just finished (and loved) Paula Munier’s new Blind Search, and have started my good friend Ang Pompano’s debut mystery, When It’s Time for Leaving. Most evenings, you’ll find me on the couch with my nose in a mystery.

Readers: how do you move on from the tough stuff? Please share, and I’ll send one commenter one of the brand new ARCs of Murder at the Taffy Shop!

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A Wicked Welcome to L.A. Chandlar and Giveaway!

The first time I met Laurie, aka L.A., Chandlar was at the Toronto Bouchercon. She and I were on a panel that had decided to act out scenes from each other’s books. It was a lot of fun, terrifying, and a bonding experience for us all. Since then I’ve loved following Laurie’s publication path. Her series is so much fun, and takes place during a really interesting time. But let her tell you more about that.

Enjoying 1930s New York City Today
by L.A. Chandlar



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The more the city changes, the more it stays the same. Despite towering sky scrapers going up in every direction, there are so many side streets where if you swapped out the cars and fashion, it could be any era.

I love that about big cities, but specifically New York. In The Art Deco Mystery Series, I bring in many real places that were around in the late 1930s and are still here today. I love to write things that help you experience an era, a place, perhaps get to witness events that we can only hear about in a bland textbook. Today, I’m going to show you some of my favorite places in my books that you can you still go to today. Thanks for joining me!

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The first is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, built in 1872. I have many scenes that take place there in all three books. I love the soaring main entrance and on Fridays and Saturdays the museum is open late. They have a live classical band playing on the second floor rotunda looking down on the entrance where they also happen to have a wine bar. I give a tour of the locations in my book and then a little talk on the colorful and interesting 1930 America Today mural by Thomas Hart Benton.

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In The Pearl Dagger, a favorite scene happens at Ophelia Lounge. In the 1920s, it was a women-only lounge, but later in the thirties, they opened it up for men. Lane takes Finn there one night after a sleuthing engagement at the El Morocco. The place was refurbished recently and gives you quite a taste of Art Deco charm. It’s at the top of the Beekman Building on First Avenue at 49th and offers three-sixty views around the city, a gorgeous bar, and divine velvet settees and vintage cocktails. 

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In all three books, Bryant Park is a favorite place. I took some artistic liberty to make it an amalgam of today and 1930s. If you’re in the mood for Thanksgiving and Christmas, book 2 The Gold Pawn takes place during that season and features Bryant Park’s Winter Village full of little shops, eateries, ice skating, a large Christmas tree and my favorite: Southwest Grill at the west side of the park. It’s an outdoor restaurant –even in winter—with fire pits placed around where you can roast marshmallows and chestnuts under the stars. 

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If you really want to feel like you’re going back in time, you can visit the place where I held my book launch party. The speakeasy called UES is on Second Avenue between 88th and 89th streets. The outside is a diminutive and functional ice cream shop. “Storage” is the speakeasy behind the walls. And it’s gorgeous. They have vintage cocktails and an incredibly artful interior with brick arches, booths, and loads of romance. With Sinatra playing in the background, it feels as if you’ve slipped back in time to another world.

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To celebrate being on the Wickeds and that The Pearl Dagger just won Suspense Magazine’s highest honor of Crimson Scribe, the best book of 2019, I’m going to have a big giveaway! Enter by commenting on the blog and sharing on your Facebook. For each comment and each share, you’re entered to win (be sure to tag me -L.A. Chandlar- on Facebook). I’ll have TWO winners who will get a copy of The Pearl Dagger, fun swag including a silver dagger necklace, and Lane’s favorite chocolates. 

Comment on the article or here are a couple of questions for you: Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do or see in New York? If you could go back in time to visit any era, what would it be?

Good luck and thanks for joining us!

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Bio: L.A. Chandlar is the National Best-selling author of the Art Deco Mystery Series with Kensington Publishing. Book 3, The Pearl Dagger, is the winner of Suspense Magazine’s Crimson Scribe Award, best book of 2019. Laurie speaks for a variety of audiences including a women’s group with the United Nations.

Ten Books! — Welcome Back Guest Valerie Burns

[image error]If you are lucky you’ve read books by and met Valerie Burns. I love this inspiring story about her writing path. Look for a fabulous giveaway at the end of the post! Here’s a little about her new book (releases November 26) , Bookmarked for Murder, is the fifth book in the  Mystery Bookshop Mystery series:

A mateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . .

After some post-Christmas retail therapy in the Windy City, mystery bookshop owner and historical whodunit novelist Sam Washington is returning home to North Harbor, Michigan, on a chartered bus. With Nana Jo and her gal pals Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae from Shady Acres Retirement Village along for the ride, it’s a lively trip. But one passenger is not so lively—a gentleman Irma befriended is found dead in his seat after an unscheduled stop. The ladies immediately shift gears to find out who punched his ticket, while Sam slips into the driver’s seat to make sure Nana Jo and her crew steer clear of fatal conclusions . . .

Valerie: I’ve worked in corporate training for three decades (yeah, I’m that old). I’ve trained everything from DOS (remember that?) to Windows, Macs, software programs, customer service, sales and tons of other things. It’s hard to work in the training/education field without learning a few things along the way, even if it’s only about yourself. One of the things I’ve learned over time is that I have a need to analyze. So, here’s my latest analysis.

November 2019 marks my two-year anniversary as a published writer (where has the time gone?). My debut novel, The Plot is Murder, released in November 2017. On, November 26, 2019 Bookmarked for Murder will release. This will be my 10th book. Yes, I said 10th ! You’re probably asking how on earth I wrote 10 books in 2 years? The answer is, I didn’t. I absolutely did not write 10 books in 2 years. I published 10 books in 2 years (there’s a big difference). I started writing my first book, Travellin’ Shoes, back in 2008, but it took me 10 years to find an agent and a publisher interested in publishing it.

Between 2008 and 2017 I sent out a lot of queries to agents and publishers and got a lot of rejections. Over the years, I thought many times about giving up. Today, I’m very thankful that I didn’t give up. Whenever the desire to quit hit, I reminded myself about other authors who were rejected. Publishers rejected J.K. Rowling, Herman Melville, even Agatha Christie was rejected. Can you imagine that? Reading about those famous, highly successful authors who were rejected taught me that publishing is subjective. Just because one agent/editor doesn’t like a particular story doesn’t mean the story is bad or that another agent/editor won’t love it. Publishing is also a lot about timing. Getting the right book idea into the right agents’ hands at the right time is critical. Lastly, I learned the importance of perseverance.

During my 10-year waiting period, I wasn’t idle. I made a lot of revisions to my first book (I probably rewrote it at least 5 times). I read a lot of books on craft and I went back to school to get an MFA. I’m not saying writers need an MFA degree to be successful, I’m merely recounting my 10-year journey. Through everything, the one thing that I think helped me the most was that I kept writing. I wrote the sequel to my first book, Motherless Child. I even started another mystery series, my Mystery Bookshop Series. Eventually, in 2015 when I sold my first book, The Plot is Murder, it wasn’t the first or even the second book that I wrote.

So, as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, I am thankful for my soon to be released 10th book, Bookmarked for Murder. I’m also thankful for the many rejections that I received which helped me to get to this point. I’m especially thankful for the agent and the publisher that finally said, YES.

Readers: I’d love to celebrate Thanksgiving by giving someone a set of books in my Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series. For a chance to win the first four books in this series (U.S. ONLY) tell me one thing that you are thankful for this Thanksgiving Season.

[image error]About the author

V.M. Burns was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Seton Hill University. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers Association of America, Thriller Writers International and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. V.M. Burns is also the Agatha Award nominated author of The Plot is Murder, the first book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series; and the RJ Franklin Mystery series.

She currently resides East Tennessee with her two poodles. Readers can keep up with new releases by following her on social media.

Website: http://www.vmburns.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns

Available for Preorder—- BuyLink

Wicked Wednesday: The unexpected guest

Wickeds, who is likely to show up unexpectedly at your main character’s Thanksgiving celebration? Will they be welcomed unreservedly or will the appearance cause tension among the other guests?

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Sherry: I’m writing the ninth Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery and Rosalie DiNapoli’s nephew showed up in the first scene. All I know about him right now is he’s about Sarah’s age, an international businessman, and Rosalie is very fond of him. So he’s the unexpected guest at the Thanksgiving table this year. I can’t wait to find out more about him.

Edith/Maddie: In the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, David Dodge’s estranged brother Currie popped up in Taken Too Soon, book six (releasing Sept 2020). Quakers in the day didn’t do anything special for Thanksgiving, but David’s family would, so we’ll see if Currie is invited! Down on Cape Cod (I’m writing Murder at the Lobstah Shack, book #3, now), Mac’s great-aunt Bessie is about to make an appearance – and cause some trouble while she’s doing it.

Liz/Cate: In the Cat Cafe series, we know a lot about Maddie’s mother’s family, but not much about her father’s. While her dad is an accomplished, respected pillar of the community, his family may have some skeletons in the closet…he has a brother he hasn’t seen in many years who might turn up on the island.

Barb: Oooh, that’s intriguing, Liz. Throughout the Maine Clambake Mysteries, Julia’s boyfriend Chris has said many times, “My family’s not like yours.” We find out some of what that means in Steamed Open, and there’s more of the story coming in Sealed Off. I think the unexpected guest at the Snowden family Thanksgiving table is Chris’s brother Terry.

Julie: Barb, I can’t wait to learn more about Chris’s family! Intrigue… In the Garden Squad books, Pete, Lilly’s first husband, would likely show up hat in hand at some point during the day. I want to write a Thanksgiving dinner book with the unexpected as part of the intrigue. It’s such a fun holiday, usually. But boy, can cans of worms be open when certain folks show up.

Jessie: I am feeling a little sheepish at all the holiday merrymaking In all your books, ladies! Since my Beryl and Edwina series is set in England, Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday. Even though Beryl has spent her life rattling around the globe she still notices the holiday and would welcome just about anyone who would like to celebrate with her!

Readers: Tell us a story of an unexpected guest. It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving, and gathering or outing will do. How did it turn out–happy surprise or the opposite?

The Detective’s Daughter -These are the Days of Our Lives

 

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Kim, in Baltimore, writing up lists and a menu for a gluten-free Thanksgiving.

[The winner of the anthology Over the River and Through the Woods is Susan Sportiello. Send me your info at kkurthgray@gmail.com]

Last week I read online that the daytime soap Days of Our Lives was going off the air. I watched nearly every soap opera on television, but Days was not one of them. Still, it made me sad to learn of its demise. I grew up watching a lot of television. A Lot. If ever I’m on Jeopardy and all the questions involve 1970’s television, I’m sure to be a Jeopardy champion.[image error]

Mom was not a soap opera fan, but Nana loved them and would tell me how she’d been following The Guiding Light since it was on the radio. When Nana came home from work we would watch The Edge of Night and Dark Shadows. I was about six years old when she retired from McCormicks and that’s when our addiction really kicked in.

[image error]In the summer, we’d begin our day with Love of Life, followed by Search for Tomorrow, All My Children, The Young and the Restless, Bold and the Beautiful, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and General Hospital. We switched from channel to channel during commercials, trying to watch them all. Our favorite was One Life to Live. I recall clearly how Nana and I cried when Meredith died and left Dr. Larry a widower with a young son.

Pop-Pop was even in on our stories, as we called them. During the school year he would watch whichever program was running a particularly interesting story line and take notes for me. One of my all-time favorite’s was in the early 1980’s on Guiding Light and involved the characters of Tony and Annabelle. The plot was similar to the movie Ghost Story. It involved a few of the older gentlemen in the town of Springfield who, when younger, had inadvertently caused a woman’s death. Harley Jane Kozak played the part of Annabelle and I cant begin to tell you how thrilled I was to meet her at Malice Domestic when she won the Agatha for Best First Novel [Dating Dead Men].[image error]

I know that soaps get a bad rap and people make fun of them, but they are also a good writing tool. What keeps viewers tuning in everyday? How do you keep a plot interesting? It’s easy to tell what works and when the writers have gone too far. The soaps are also a good way to look at character development and character arcs. How did Erica Kane go from villain to heart of the show? There’s a lot to be learned here.

I miss those days of watching television with my grandparents and the lively discussions we would have about our favorite – and not so favorite – characters. I never watched soaps with either of my children. My daughter and I made a habit of catching every episode of The Gilmore Girls and I guess you could argue that’s similar to a soap. We planned our entire evening around that show and still talk about the episodes.

it’s been many years since I’ve watched a soap opera. I think I watched the final episode of Guiding Light, but that was mostly out of sentimentality. Occasionally I flip through a soap magazine while waiting in the check out line, but I couldn’t truthfully tell you what shows are still on. It’s funny how things that were once so important can fade away. Looking back, I believe it was more about the time spent with my family than the shows. And I’m thankful to have those memories.

Dear Reader, Please tell us some of your favorite shows or pass times you shared with your family while growing up.

 

 

 

Guilt Free

Jessie: In New Hampshire where it well and truly feels like winter is on the way.

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Yesterday, as my husband and I set out in the car on some errands he remarked that it certainly looked like fall. I replied that it really looked like November. To me, there is just something so melancholy about November.

In Northern New England the leaves have all tumbled to the ground save those clinging tenaciously to the odd beech tree. The ground has started to freeze to a gelato-like consistency of lumpy hillocks about the lawn. The afternoons are bleak, and often bleary, just past three o’clock. Salad seems too chilly to eat.

And while all that may seem discouraging to people who cannot get enough of the warmer months, to me, honestly, it is a bit of a relief. You know those things your parents say, that their parents likely said, and you, in turn say to those people younger than yourself? In my family those things often included admonishments concerning the weather. In my family, squandering a beautiful day by lurking about inside the house has always been practically a form of sinfulness.

Don’t get me wrong; I love to be outside. I adore walking the beach, grilling over an open flame and pottering about in my garden. Those first warm evenings in spring when it is possible to sit on the deck without a jacket are a reason to celebrate. But, in my opinion, so is November.

As the days grow shorter and the cold wraps round the house like a boa constrictor, squeezing ever more determinedly, I feel a sense of lightheartedness. I happen to love lots of activities that make me feel guilty indulging in if the weather is fine. What Yankee worth her salt can justify whiling away a beautiful summer’s day on the couch knitting a sweater, even if it is for a loved one? Or reading books tucked up in a wingback chair inside the house for the afternoon?

With no gardening to do there is more time to attend to those little indoor projects that crop up, like sorting out the pantry or writing a newsy letter to a friend. Or feverishly working away on a new novel. For me November starts the season of research and planning as much as doing. It is a time for gathering in and sorting through and honoring a quieter rhythm.

By April I am quite certain I will once again be telling myself, and my younger loved ones, not to waste a beautiful day withindoors. But for now, I am eager to indulge in November and all that entails, blissfully guilt-free.

Readers, do you love the onset of indoor weather? Writers, are you more or less productive once the dark and cold set in?