Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 160

Wicked Excellent 2018 Memories

[image error] Wickeds, 2018 is almost over! Today let’s look back at the year, and celebrate some of the wonderful writing memories from the year.

Edith: I had a pretty remarkable year. Four novels published in three series, plus a short story. Two contracts signed for three-book series extensions. Three books, a novella, and two short stories written. No wonder I’m tired…

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But best of all? Meeting and hearing from fans, and celebrating the successes of my fellow Wickeds!

Liz: It was a crazy year – lots of good along with some not-so-good. I think my biggest accomplishment this year was actually finishing two books…but also starting a new series (which you’ll all hear more about soon!). It was also really awesome to hear that Cat About Town, the first Cat Cafe Mystery, went into its fourth printing a couple months ago!

[image error]Barb: It was a fabulous writing year. I handed in two books and a novella. Like Liz I started a new series, and like Liz, you’ll get more info in the new year.  By far the thing that really got my heart going was a mention in the Sunday Book Review of the New York Times. It popped up as a Google alert on a Thursday at midnight. I couldn’t believe it. Bill was already getting ready for bed and I ran down to tell him. I could barely get the words out. I was so emotional he thought someone had died! The only thing that makes me sad was that my parents aren’t here to see it. They would have been so proud.

Sherry: My biggest moment was becoming president of Sisters in Crime in September. I’m overwhelmed with emotion when I think of all the wonderful, smart women who have held this position before me. I’m lucky to work with an amazing board and wonderful staff. So many dedicated people working hard for the betterment of women writers. On the writing front, I turned in two books and started writing the first book in the Chloe Jackson Redneck Riviera mystery series. It has been so much fun learning about Chloe and the people around her. I’ve been surprised  by Chloe so many times already.

Julie: I loved our trip to Kensington, and meeting the folks there in person. I’m the newest Wicked to join the Kensington family, and couldn’t be more thrilled. No new books in 2018, but one written, and several others in the pipeline. Can’t wait for Pruning the Dead to kick off my new year!

Dear readers, any favorite book memories from 2018? Writer friends, let us know about your 2018 writing memories!

The Adventures of Molly and Wizzy – Christmas Edition

Our first Christmas: By Molly and Wizzy

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Hey hey! We’re commandeering the blog today because, why not? And because we just do whatever we want anyway, despite what Mom says…. Anyway, we just celebrated our first Christmas! Here’s our account of how the whole Christmas holiday went. Enjoy!

Molly: So it’s kind of cold here for us southern gals, but I like it. There was some of that white stuff flying around this morning, but not enough that I could stick my face in it like the other time! That was fun. I guess I’ll eat some mulch instead.

Wizzy: I don’t know why we’re outside so early. I just peed in the hallway so I’m good. And technically I didn’t pee in our house, so I shouldn’t have gotten in trouble. Can I have a treat anyway?

Molly: Wizzy, shut up. Anyway, we had a nice weekend. Mom took us to the pet bakery. I’m assuming the really pretty Christmas cookies were good. I only had a little taste because Wizzy busted into the bag and ate all of them when Mom ran into the other store. All of them except the one we were supposed to give to our friend Zach. So I got that one. Mom said she’d buy me extra when we went back.

Wizzy: Hey, no one said not to eat them. I’m an opportunist! Are there more cookies?

Molly: You ate all the cookies!! I stayed in the backseat like a good girl. I’m getting the next batch of cookies. And I’m getting the next batch from the litter box before you do!

Wizzy: Whatever, goody two shoes. You’re so perfect. I’m gonna go chase the cat. Hey speaking of cats – Mom keeps saying someone named Santa brought the cats a new tree, which is stupid because I saw her get the box and bring it upstairs. And the cats were right there watching her put it together. Which took her twice as long because I kept stealing the pieces and running around with them and sitting on all the other pieces. [image error] .               [image error]

Molly: Right, good job. You’re the reason we went to bed early that night even though Mom said it was in case that Santa guy showed up and we couldn’t be up or he wouldn’t leave us stuff.

Wizzy: I love this new cat tree. I can actually climb this one and sit on the ledge, so it’s even easier to eat all the cat food! Which I think Mom doesn’t like. She kept saying the new tree was supposed to make things better. It definitely made it better for me.

Molly: I really want to take a nap with my new toy.

Wizzy: Hey Molly! Want to play? [Wizzy dive-bombs Molly and starts chewing her face]

Molly: [Big sigh] Not really, but I guess I’ll go along with it. Hey, there’s a cat! I love cats! I don’t get why they get so mad at me when I try to give them kisses.

Wizzy: Molly, you stole the treat ball. That was MY present.

Molly: Whatever. You ate all the Christmas cookies, remember? Plus Mom bought the wrong size treats and they got stuck in the ball anyway. That was kind of stupid, Mom. But hey, I love my new bed!

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Wizzy: Me too! I hope I don’t poop in mine by accident. That happens sometimes. Especially when I have to spend extra time in it because I stole food off someone’s plate. If I can reach it, I should eat it, right?

Molly: Wizzy, the only time I get in trouble is when I follow your lead. You really should get it together.

Wizzy: Hey, man. Be your own dog. That’s what I do. I still think we should’ve gotten more treats for Christmas. I mean, my new skull and bones leash is cool and all, but I like to eat.

Molly: Yeah – you ate all your other leashes so you had to get a new one!

Wizzy: Oh yeah.

Molly: Plus Mom said our big present is going to be a trainer. The only reason we need a trainer is because of you.

Wizzy: So? I heard you get lots of treats with a trainer….

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Merry Christmas everyone! Tell us how your furry friends spent the holidays in a comment below. 

Do The Right Thing

Jane/Susannah/Sadie here, who put off writing this post as long as she could … 

First off, I hope everyone is having a wonderful celebratory season, whatever form that takes for you. I have been on a staycation, getting lots of little projects done around the house (with a few more to go over the next days until January 2).

Did you ever have to do a thing that you knew was right, but that still broke your heart a little? Well, that’s where I am right now. This will be my last regularly scheduled post as a Wicked Accomplice. It’s been an amazing few years here, blogging one Thursday a month with some of the most dangerous, talented, and accomplished female sleuth-wranglers out there.  The time has come, though, for me to take a break. I’ll tell you more at the end of the post, but I thought it might be fun to tell you some of the not-real reasons first:

Not-Real Reason 1: I am now choosing to spend my time playing with the Instant Pot I got for Christmas. Do any of you have one? I wasn’t sure about it, but man oh man can it do a lot. I’ve already made bone broth from a rotisserie chicken, and the results are far superior to using the slow cooker–the broth came out very tasty and clear, without any of the little sludgy protein bits that never strain out completely and make the liquid cloudy.  I also made crème brulee (just the crème, not the brulee yet) and the custards came out perfectly. (They’re in the fridge waiting to be torched tomorrow). Next up: beef short ribs.

NRR2: I won the lottery, retired from the day job, and bought a villa on a Greek island. If only! When that happens, I’ll let you all know and you can come and visit me. Bring books so I can build a library that overlooks the ocean.

NRR3: I am obsessively knitting. Well, true, but not the Real Reason. I have been going through closets and drawers (avoiding thinking about the 3-generations-of-stuff pit that is my basement and must be addressed at some point), and one of those was my craft closet. I made a commitment to myself that everything had to fit into that one not-very-big space, but I also committed to either finishing or tossing UFOs (Unfinished Objects, for you noncrafters). So far I’ve finished a hat, a small shawl, and right now I’m working on the mate to a fingerless glove–again. I dropped a bunch of stitches on the thumb opening–enough that when I tried to pick them up, I made a bigger mess and the stitches ran like a cheap pair of pantyhose. Clear nail polish on the run wasn’t going to help, so I frogged it (Knitspeak for ripping out stitches) down to the cuff and started it again from that point.  Oh, and the craft closet is unstuffed, neat, and organized. Now to maintain it!

NRR4: I’ve become a great aunt for the first time! Also true. My niece just birthed a tiny baby boy (only 6.25 pounds, but healthy)–a couple of weeks early, on Christmas Day. Am I the only one who thinks “Great Aunt” sounds like someone older than a “Grandma?” No matter–I can’t wait to see the baby in a few weeks, even though I actually AM older than the baby’s grandma (my younger sister). I will call her “Granny” and that may make me feel better.

The Real Reason. I wish it was more exciting, but the fact is, in my heart (the one that’s breaking right now, remember?), I just knew it was time. Now that I’ve gone back to work (especially because my job is in the publishing industry), I’ve found it challenging to maintain my focus on the thing that really matters to me: writing stories. And in order to do that, just like the closets and drawers in my house, I have to let go of some things in order to make room for the new. Sadly, my monthly date here is one of them, a sacrifice I need to make for my own greater good.

But I’m not really going anywhere. I’ll still pop in and comment from time to time (I couldn’t give up this wonderful blog completely!), and I may do an occasional guest post. Look for a new Susannah Hardy novella, The Poseidon Misadventure, coming out in March (ebook only; I should have it up for preorder soon)!

So, in closing, I want to thank the Wickeds for letting me hang out with them, and even more I want to thank you all, Dear, Dear Readers, for coming along with me on this journey. It’s been a joy and a privilege.

Now, so I don’t cry, tell me something that’s bringing you joy in your life!

 

 

 

 

Wicked Wednesday: Book Club Picks

[image error]In Murder on Cape Cod, Mac Almeida runs a bicycle repair shop. She’s also part of the Cozy Capers Book Club. Let’s help Mac out and suggest some cozy series for her to bring to the group. It’s a given that we’d include the Wickeds, so let’s think about other series we enjoy. And remember, winters are long in New England, so a nice long series would be a good thing to recommend to the group.

Jessie: I would highly recommend the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. The voice is charming, the mysteries filled with twists and turns and the characters are endearing. I also adore the Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley. From the first paragraph the beguiling narrator pulled me in and kept me cheering for her with each turn of the page!

Liz: Given my love for coffee, I would have to say Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mysteries. I love the NY setting and being behind the scenes at a coffee shop. It’s a great way to escape a cold day.

[image error]Sherry: Congratulations on the new book, Edith! Incorporating the book club into the series is really fun. I love Kellye Garrett’s Detective by Day mysteries. The first book,  Hollywood Homicide, won an Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Agatha Award for Best First Novel, 2018 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel and 2018 Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) Gold Medal for Best First Book – Fiction! It’s set in Los Angeles and since we lived there for four years, I always love to read series set there. Plus, they are well written and fun!

Julie: Huge congratulations Edith! I would suggest Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody series. I love that series, which mixes Egyptology with mystery, and a little bit of romance. I’m also a Joanne Fluke fan–the bonus is that her recipes are quite delicious. There are so many series to choose from!

Barb: I am a devoted fan of Alexander McCall’s Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. There are nineteen books, so plenty for the book group to choose from. These gentle mysteries (there’s not always a murder) take place in modern Botswana and like all good series center on a group of wonderful characters. (I’m devoted to Smith’s Scotland Street series as well, but those aren’t mysteries.)

Edith/Maddie: Thanks, Sherry. The group is reading a Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery in Murder on Cape Cod! Readers, if you’re not in a book group but are thinking about starting one, check out my essay – “How to Start a Book Club” – that appeared over at Criminal Element last week on how to! I consulted with several long-running groups on all the things to consider and plan for. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Readers, a reminder that Murder on Cape Cod is a Barnes and Noble exclusive, so you can order it from them, or go to your local B&N. Do you have any suggestions for the book club?

How Do You Celebrate?

[image error] Book birthdays, holidays, and an approaching new year. Wickeds, any special celebratory practices you’d like to share? Are there any interesting practices your characters have?

Edith: I’m not sure about my characters. Certainly not Rose Carroll. Quakers traditionally didn’t celebrate holidays. I don’t think I’ve shown Robbie Jordan celebrating particularly, or Cam Flaherty. I don’t think I’ve even shown Mac Almeida celebrating on Cape Cod yet. This is a good [image error]prompt to be sure I include a celebration in my WIP with Robbie back in her native California.

But me, I like to pop a bottle of bubbly, as I did last Tuesday! And maybe take the day off, go for a walk somewhere special, have a really nice meal someone else cooked. That’s celebrating.

Sherry: We have a long standing tradition in my family [image error]of having pizza on Christmas Eve and then going out to look at Christmas lights. It started when I was a kid. We were snowed in one year and couldn’t travel. Last year we started a new tradition with neighbors. My daughter met them at the winery she works at and realized they lived a few blocks from us. We’ve since become friends. Last year we took the pizza (my husband makes it) over to their house and then we all went out to look at lights. That’s what we will be doing this year too. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Liz: Christmas Eve was always the big celebration night in my family, with fish and eggnog and lots of anticipation. When my grandparents were alive, my brother and I would spend hours playing 45s (a Boston-area card game) before dinner. In later years, we’d watch Christmas movies. We would open most of our presents that night, leaving all the big “Santa” gifts for Christmas morning, even when we got older. I’ve always loved the feeling of Christmas Eve.

Julie: As my sisters have families of their own, celebrations have changed over the years. Over the holidays we try and get together for a few days, which is lovely. I am very fortunate that my Maryland brother-in-law is an extraordinary baker, so celebrations include wonderful cookies. In my Clock Shop mysteries I celebrated New Years in the shop, and that a fun scene to write. The book I’m working on now takes place over Halloween, and I may make my way through the entire holiday season. It’s fun to make “new” traditions for my characters and their families.

Barb: We have so many traditions and rituals, many handed down from when I was a child, others for when my kids were children and now some new ones. Everyone opens one present Christmas Eve. My five-year-old granddaughter has been here since Friday and she has been debating which present to open several times every day as new presents appear under the tree. Then cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, a reading of A Night Before Christmas, and to bed for the little ones. The adults madly assemble the Santa presents and fill the stockings. (We do adult stockings, so it’s a little crazy.) Today we’ll have thirty people for dinner, thirty-six for dessert. I’ve written two Christmas novellas about the Snowdens, and I know they have a big meal with friends, extended family,  and the occasional stranger on Christmas Eve.

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Jessie: Even though the kids have grown older most of our traditions and celebrations  have remained the same.  We wait to decorate the tree until we can all be together even if it means waiting until Christmas Eve, as it did this year. I lay out a spread of appetizers and sweets as well as eggnog and champagne and we have an old Big Crosby album we play while we trim the tree. Christmas Eve, evening, we spend with my sisters and their families. Christmas Day we open stockings then have a sit-down breakfast and then open gifts.  We have a leisurely dinner in the late afternoon, usually with my husband’s family. We often celebrate the new year up at the beach where there are fireworks on New Year’s Eve and viewing The Lobster Dip on New Years Day, a plunge in the ocean to raise money for the Special Olympics.

Readers: Do you have any special holiday celebrations this time of year?

Musing on Eves

Edith here, pondering Christmas Eves and other kinds, too.

For those of us who celebrate Christmas, today and tonight is a special anticipatory day. Every family and culture follows different customs. When I was growing up, we got to open one present on Christmas Eve, and somehow it was always the one from our grandmother who lived far away. She was a master seamstress, so every year the package contained new nightgowns or pajamas. For years I made or gave my sons new PJs to be opened on Christmas Eve, too.

[image error]Jammies I sewed for them. They loved the nightcaps! (With their father in about 1993.)

Another custom was for John David and Allan to read “The Night Before Christmas” aloud.

[image error]Still new PJs, different styles for older boys.

Many people all over the world go to a midnight or candlelight church service to celebrate Christ’s birth. In some countries the tree doesn’t go up until Christmas Eve. When I was an exchange student in Brazil many decades ago, we sat outside on a warm Southern Hemisphere night singing Christmas carols with the family’s uncle until midnight while the parents decorated the tree inside.

Some also believe that animals can talk at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure what Preston and Cristabel would say, but they do like sitting under the tree!

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Other nights-before provide that tingly feeling of expectation, too. Think of the night before Halloween (which itself is a shortening of Allhallow-even, “Eve of All Saints”). Houses are decorated, it’s dark, kids are excited about their costumes (and the prospect of tons of candy).

For authors, we experience the nail-biting eve of a book release day – will readers like it? Will it zoom to the single digits on Amazon because of all those great pre-orders? Barb and I both had a Release Day Eve last Monday!

In recent years Hugh and I spend Christmas Eve with dear friends an hour away. I’ll bring a platter of decorated cookies. They’ll have out drinks and noshing delicacies. If my sons are home, they come along, of course. This year there’s a darling one-year old girl in our friends’ family, so the mood will be less adults sitting quietly and more about her. What would Christmas be without kids?

What about you? What are your plans for today? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, how is it dealing with all the hype from everybody else? For all of you, our dear readers and fans, the other Wickeds and Accomplices, I wish you a safe, cozy, and delicious Christmas and holiday season.

 

 

 

The Detective’s Daughter -My Christmas Angel

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Kim in Baltimore thinking that lights on the tree is good enough this year.

Many people start the Christmas season on the first Sunday of Advent, but at our house the real festivities began on December 23rd. That was my grandfather’s birthday. This year he would have been 108 years old.[image error]

Pop-Pop was a gentle soul who did not like to be fussed over and preferred to stay in the background of things except for when he was performing. He had a beautiful voice and would sing to us while he played his guitar or banjo. For years he, along with three of my uncles, had a radio show and they often played in small clubs. This was before my time, though it was spoken of often and people still requested to hear him play when we went to Bissert’s or Schaefer’s for dinner.[image error]

I wasn’t a part of his life when he was playing cards with Cab Calloway or accompanying Billie Holiday as she sang. I hadn’t been born when he was in Europe and Africa as a combat engineer, going ahead of our troops to secure communication lines during the second world war. It was years and years before I learned of how my grandmother had broken their engagement and married another man. Heartbroken, Pop-Pop entered into a disastrous first marriage that ended when he came home on leave and discovered his wife with another man. By the end of the war Pop-Pop was divorced and Nana was widowed and they were finally married. [image error]

These details were not a part of my life with him, nor did any of those things matter to me. In my eyes he was a star, my knight in shining armor, my hero. It was Pop-Pop who walked me home from school every day, who taught me to sing and dance, who showed me the importance of following directions and, most importantly, he taught me the value of kindness. Kindness, even then, was underrated, but still remains the most valuable gift anyone can give.

I carry in my heart all he taught me and have passed his lessons on to my own children. My son is named Louis in honor of him. I believe Pop-Pop still watches over me and is my angel, not only at Christmas but everyday.

On this Sunday, the twenty-third of December, I will lift a glass of beer in remembrance of the man I adored, a man who brought happiness to all who knew him.[image error]Dear Reader, who is a special person you remember during the holidays?

 

Living in a Cozy World by Maureen Milliken

Hi All. Barb here. Slightly freaked out by the imminent arrival of Christmas

I am so happy to welcome back to the blog my friend and fellow Maine Crime Writer, Maureen Milliken. I love Maureen’s Bernie O’Day mysteries about a newspaper owner and editor in small town Maine.

Take it away, Maureen!

[image error]There’s a photo of a smiling guy holding a big fish in my town’s only year-round restaurant. I realized, shortly after moving here in 2011, that he’s the same guy who installed my kitchen and built my porch.

[image error]“It’s the house next to the old health center.” (Maureen Milliken photo)

I’ve learned to tell people my house is “next to the old health center.” It’s easier than giving address.

At a recent party attended by most of the town’s population, I was introduced several times as The Writer. It was flattering, but very surreal.

It’s small-town living, straight out of a book.

[image error]I wrote Cold Hard News, the first book in my mystery series, while living in Manchester, N.H., a fair-sized city by New England standards. My familiarity with small-town life came from decades at daily newspapers — small towns are the bread and butter of northern New England newspapers, no matter how big the city they’re based in.

I now live in a village squeezed between two lakes. Victorian homes line Main Street. The country store, complete with two resident springer spaniels, sells groceries, booze, pizza, ice cream, books, bait, loon figurine salt and pepper shakers, fishing lures, maps, hunting decoys and fudge. In the summer people are as likely to get there by boat as by foot or car.

If a Currier and Ives postcard and a cozy mystery had a baby, it’d be my town.

[image error]The Belgrade Lakes Region information booth. (Maureen Milliken photo)

I volunteered at the town’s tourist information booth this spring and summer, which is south of the village on a two-lane state highway. Many of those who stopped there were people who were afraid they were lost because they hadn’t seen much of anything but woods, lakes and wild turkeys since they got off the highway eight miles before.

[image error]Working there was not only an ideal gig for getting revisions done on Bad News Travels Fast, which was released in October, but as fodder for future books.

While I may have a great load of ideas, detail and more from three-plus decades in the newspaper business, living in central Maine has given me so much more.

Among other things, I’m a copy editor for a company that publishes 17 weekly free central and western Maine community newspapers. That means I rewrite emailed news releases. It’s exactly what you think — church suppers, tag sales, concerts at the gazebo.

It’s mystery writer nirvana.

Take the ubiquitous phrase “Light refreshments will be served.” What a great title for a cozy. So polite, yet with so many possibilities for menace. I picture a cover with a pretty lace tablecloth, and on it, mini-cheesecakes scattered around a large bloody knife.

[image error]Main Street, Belgrade Lakes. (Maureen Milliken photo)

Those lost (but not lost at all) people are a great illustration of one of the things that makes small towns great mystery settings — there’s menace in the mundane. It’s when you’re not on your guard — hey, there’s no danger here — that danger strikes.

The foundation for any genre is why characters do what they do and how they interact. In mysteries, someone did this awful thing. The who and why is so much more interesting with a limited population to draw from.

[image error]Main Street Kingfield — my fake town may be close to here, and have some similarities, but it’s not based on Kingfield. (Maureen Milliken photo)

The town in my book, Redimere, is about 50 miles north of here, and people around here like to guess what town it “really is.” It’s not based on any specific town, I tell them. Few believe me.

It does exist to me — drawn from what I see, hear, read, feel, make up and often live. I take the fact people are so sure they know it must be based on a real place as validation I’m getting it right.

QUESTION: What’s a seemingly mundane phrase you often come across that would make a good title for a cozy mystery novel?

About Maureen

Maureen Milliken is the author of the Bernie O’Dea mystery series, set in Franklin County, Maine. She’s currently working on a stand-alone, also set in Maine. A longtime journalist, she’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and blogs with other Maine authors at Mainecrimewriters.com. She co-hosts a podcast, Crime & Stuff, with her sister, artist Rebecca Milliken. Her website is maureenmilliken.com.

Wicked Wednesday: Neighbors

[image error]In Steamed Open, Barbara Ross’s latest Maine Clambake mystery, a new neighbor moves in and blocks access to the beach. This creates a pretty solid motive for a lot of folks in Busman’s Harbor. For those of us in New England, issues around beach access are fairly common, and litigious.

Today’s Wicked Wednesday topic is neighbors. How important are good neighbors in our books? Conversely, how helpful are bad neighbors to our plotting?

[image error]Liz: I could talk about this topic forever. Neighbors have been an ongoing theme for me ever since I moved to Connecticut. There was the crazy lady in the condo complex I lived in for a very short time who used to mind everyone’s business. She was literally Mrs. Kravitz. And since she was home all the time she had nothing else to do anyway. I came home at an odd time one day and found her in my driveway, pretending to sweep but looking in the garage windows. Then she ran to the next condo and hid behind the little alcove, like I couldn’t see her do it. I eventually had to put that plastic stuff on the windows that was like a mirror if you looked in from outside…it was seriously disturbing. I killed her in an as-yet-unpublished short story.

Edith: In my new Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, my protagonist Mac Almeida lives and works on the main drag of Westham on Cape Cod. Her own grandma, the diminutive Reba, lives on the second floor a block away and uses her spyglass to monitor what goes on in town. All the other shopkeepers within a block radius are neighbors, too. As in any small town, this is both good and bad!

Jessie: Neighbors make the mystery world go round! After all, often neighbors are more a part of daily life than farther-off family members. Good neighbors or bad there is a great deal of fodder for a mystery brewing in those relationships. And who really knows what goes behind closed doors? The neighborhood nosy parker may think he or she knows but do they really? The possibilities are endless!

Sherry: Congratulations on Steamed Open, Barb! I love all of the neighbor problems you created in it. In my series, Sarah has one wonderful neighbor — her opera singing landlady and friend Stella Wild. She also has a neighbors who are rarely in town but create problems for Sarah when they show up unexpectedly in A Good Day To Buy. I just realized I’ve never explored who lives in the houses around Sarah. Stay tuned!

Julie: Neighbors are the gift that keeps on giving in cozy series. In my new series, Lilly Jayne has a new, mysterious and handsome neighbor. In the Clock Shop series, all of the neighbors and business owners added a lot to stories. In real neighbors are great character studies, for good and for ill.

Barb: Thanks so much everybody. I’m excited about Steamed Open. Fee and Vee Snugg who live across the street from the house Julia Snowden grew up in have been in the books from the beginning. They are dear friends and honorary great-aunts who were inspired by my parents’ neighbors of many years who were lovely to my brother and me, our spouses and kids. In Yule Log Murder I introduce a new neighbor, Odile St. Onge who lives next door. And there’s local cop Jamie whose parents’ house backs onto Julia’s mother’s house and who grew up with Julia and her sister Livvie. Neighbors, particularly year-rounders, are so important the the Maine Clambake Mysteries.

How about you, dear readers? Any good neighbor stories to share with us?

A Double Book Birthday!

[image error]Today on the blog we’re celebrating a double book birthday! Steamed Open is book #7 in Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake series. Murder on Cape Cod is the first in a new series by Maddie Day. Here’s a bit about each book.

Steamed Open

[image error]It’s summertime in Busman’s Harbor, Maine, and the clamming is easy—or it was until a mysterious new neighbor blocks access to the beach, cutting off the Snowden Family Clambake’s supply. Julia Snowden is just one of many townspeople angered by Bartholomew Frick’s decision. But which one of them was angry enough to kill?

Beachcombers, lighthouse buffs, and clammers are outraged after Frick puts up a gate in front of his newly inherited mansion. When Julia urges him to reconsider, she’s the last to see him alive—except the person who stabs him in the neck with a clam rake. As she pores through a long list of suspects, Julia meets disgruntled employees, rival heirs, and a pair of tourists determined to visit every lighthouse in America. They all have secrets, and Julia will have to work fast to expose the guilty party—or see this season’s clam harvest dry up for good.

Murder on Cape Cod

[image error]In the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, Mac (Mackenzie) Almeida runs a bicycle repair and rental shop in the fictional Cape Cod village of Westham, and also hosts a weekly cozy mystery book group.

It’s just after Memorial Day in Westham, Massachusetts. Business is still a little slow, but that doesn’t stop the weekly Cozy Capers book group from starting their summer reading list. As Mac walks home afterwards, she finds a body on the path behind her house. When it turns out to be murder, and her own half-brother is a prime suspect, Mac – with help from the book group – has to assemble more parts than a bike derailleur to find the real killer.

Murder on Cape Cod is a Barnes and Noble Exclusive, so go to your local B&N or order it.

Huge congratulations from the rest of the Wickeds!

Friends, join Edith, Barb, and Debra Goldstein TONIGHT on
Facebook 7-10 EST to celebrate their releases.
We’ll all be stopping by, so make sure to say hello!