Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 161

Priming the Pump

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the holiday spirit is finally wafting through the house!

[image error]I don’t know about all of you but I have had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year. I don’t know if it is the chaos that a new puppy in the house has brought or the fact that my kids are all getting older and most of the things on their Christmas lists are utilitarian or technology and this hold little charm for me as a giver. Whatever the reason, I find I am decidedly in arrears this season.

Usually by now I would have wrapped many, if not most, of the gifts. I would have sent out the cards and would have made several batches of cookies. The gift knitting would be well in hand and so would any other handmade gifts.

But this year I still have a large project on the knitting needles and another yet to be cast on. In fact, I haven’t even decided on the right yarn for the job. I have four pairs of pajama pants that need cutting out and stitching up. I’ve only baked a single batch of cookies, and a small one at that. Not only are the gifts not wrapped, most have still not been purchased.

On Thurdsay I decided to take myself firmly in hand and to apply the same strategy to the holidays that I do to my writing projects. After all, both involve strict deadlines and creativity. As soon as I dropped the aforementioned puppy at the groomer I returned home, turned some holiday music and pulled out a pile of fabrics destined to become a picnic blanket for a dear friend.

When I started snipping and stitching I did not feel inspired. But just like with my writing sessions after a few minutes dedicated to the task the joy of creating took over. Before I knew it the blanket was made. I even felt inspired to do some decorating in my dining room after my sewing session. Who knew how much the writing life could come in handy!

Readers, how do you motivate yourself when you are not feeling enthusiastic about a task at hand? Writers, do you find your writing techniques help you in other parts of your life?

 

A Wicked Welcome to Clea Simon!

A wicked welcome to Clea Simon! She’s here to celebrate the launch of a new series. And to talk about cats, both very Wicked topics.

A LIFE IN CATS

[image error]I have a thing for cats. This, I know, will come as no surprise to readers of any of my four cat-themed mystery series. It hardly seems newsworthy, even as I launch a fifth with A Spell of Murder, the first in my new witch cats of Cambridge series, this month. But it seems time to finally own my particular feline fanaticism, and just maybe explain how I got this way.

Am I a crazy cat lady? I like to think of myself as a sane cat lady, not simply because I don’t want you to cross the street to avoid me but because I believe in a rational kind of cohabitation with these most irrational of animals. For starters, I only have one cat. My husband and I currently live with Thisbe, a rescue kitty, who is neutered and up on her shots. She stays indoors and hopefully will enjoy the same long life of her predecessor Musetta, also a neutered, indoor-only rescue.

I specify these conditions – neutering, vetted, indoor-only – because these weren’t always the norm. The first cat in my life came via my older brother. I was about 10 when Daniel went off to college and adopted a black and white tom, whom he named James from Nashville. Life being what it is, James ended up living with me and my parents at the family home. This was the ‘70s. James was unaltered and allowed to wander. He routinely got into fights with various other animals, and I don’t think it was just my imagination that gave many of the neighborhood kittens his dapper tuxedo and extra toes. At least, that is, until he went out one night in a storm and was never seen again.

James was succeeded by Thomas, a sweet-natured tabby, who ended up being a Tara – and being spayed, because my parents didn’t want more kittens. But then Tara was hit by a car, and that was it for me. No more “indoor/outdoor” cats. By the time I adopted Cyrus, the longhaired grey runt of a friend’s cat’s litter, neutering was the norm. Keeping cats in maybe not so much, but I wasn’t risking that heartache again.

Somewhere during Cyrus’s reign, I became journalist. Then I started writing books, but they were nonfiction – I wrote to convey information, framed by some questions or point of view that was of interest to me but that also seemed like it might be important to others. That worked for two books, at least. And then… I was stuck. Finally, a friend – a woman who does not care for cats – said to me, “Why don’t you write about cats? Everyone loves cats.”

The resulting book, The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats, allowed me to go cat mad. I researched myths and legends, interviewed vets and feline genome researchers. I even found a scholarly report on cat predation in an English village, in which researchers convinced townsfolk to keep whatever prey their free-roaming cats brought home in their freezers. And they did it! The unsurprising conclusion was that cats like to hunt, even when they’re well fed. (More reason to keep Fluffy inside.)

I also got to spend time with a borderline cat hoarder – aka, a real crazy cat lady. She was on the watch list of the local animal control officer, who checked in with her, making sure that her living conditions had not degraded to the point of being dangerous to her or the cats. Granted, when I visited, I wondered how much further she’d have to go. But she did serve to reassure me that I, at least, was sane – and she provided the victim to my first mystery, Mew is for Murder.

These days, it’s the odd book of mine that doesn’t feature a cat. Talking or non, natural or super, cats just seem to by my thing. And while Thisbe is still a kitten, I have great hopes that she’ll settle into her role of muse as all her wonderful predecessors have. I may be a relatively sane cat lady, but she knows full well that I am hers.

Do you have a pet? Does that pet inspire you? Do you read mysteries with pets in them – pets you have or pets you’d like to get to know?

[image error]The author of more than two dozen cozy/amateur sleuth mysteries featuring cats, three nonfiction books, and one punk rock urban noir, World Enough (Severn House), Clea Simon likes to keep busy. The Boston Globe best-selling author’s latest is A Spell of Murder, the first in a new “Witch Cats of Cambridge” cozy mystery series out this month from Polis Books. Clea lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband and one (1) cat. She can be reached at www.cleasimon.com and on Twitter @Clea_Simon

Holidays Cozy Style

[image error]by Julie, who will eventually deck the halls in Somerville.

Yesterday we talked about odd holiday traditions in our series, or in our lives that will be borrowed. Or in your lives that will be used in our books.

I’m working on a synopsis for book #3 in the Garden Squad series, and have decided I need to leverage more holidays. I was going to jump right to Christmas, but I’m going to focus on Halloween for this one. The Wickeds helped me brainstorm winter gardening activities, so I feel more confident that I don’t need to rush through winter. There are a couple of other reasons for the Halloween focus.

First, holidays are a good anchor for readers, and have all sorts of trappings associated with them. If I focus on Halloween, I still have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years to explore. Though that would be a body pile up, wouldn’t it?

Second, tension tends to run high around the holidays, which is a great opportunity for a mystery to be hatched. Even when you love your family, the holidays can add that extra something. The comedian Bonnie Hunt used to call it the “what did you mean by that?” moment at every family gathering. Add to the mix the boyfriend no one likes, and you’ve got yourself a mystery.

Third, I’m not a Halloween person per se, but many of my friends are. My sister Caroline decorates her house to the nth degree. She includes atmospheric music and items that move when folks approach. She is a gardener, and loves to use her mums as props for the decorations. She let me know that late October is still a good gardening time for a mystery. I’m already thinking about salt hay and manure, so this may get messy.

Lastly, holidays are great for cozies. They are good for crafts, recipes, community gatherings, and other cozy friendly themes. Holidays are also a good reason to get together, and gathering folks is a necessary part of the process. Even when it all goes terribly wrong.

How about you, dear readers? Do you like mysteries set around the holidays?

Wicked Wednesday: Odd Family Traditions

[image error]Wickeds, have you created any odd family traditions for the characters in your series? Any tics that resonate with you personally? Even if you haven’t included it in a book (yet), can you imagine any family traditions your characters might have in the holiday season?

Edith: I had carefully avoided using Christmas in a book – until my editor asked me to write a Christmas novella! Robbie Jordan is at her boyfriend Abe’s parents’s home. She notices a little Snoopy, Bert from Sesame Street, and a plastic chicken mixed into their Nativity scene. I stole this directly from my own creche scene, where the traditional characters are the plaster ones my mother hand-painted many decades ago (we have Gumby’s horse Pokey, too…).

[image error]Look for Christmas Cocoa Murders next fall! Of course, Quakers of 130 years ago didn’t celebrate holidays, so we’re not going to see those traditions in that series.

Sherry: I haven’t written a book set in December yet. If I did I would include having Sarah write letters to soldiers. It’s not exactly odd, but not something every family does. If you are interested in sending letters to soldiers here’s a link to organizations who coordinate then put them together.

Liz: Of course, Christmas was full of murder in Frog Ledge. The town has a tradition of Santa riding across the town green in a sleigh for the annual Christmas tree lighting. But in Purring Around the Christmas Tree, he showed up DOA. Other than that, I haven’t had my character establish any of their own traditions yet.

Julie: A Christmas Peril takes place at Christmas time, but there aren’t any odd holiday traditions in it. Just a theater company doing a production of A Christmas Carol. I do have some odd holiday traditions I could add to a book, and probably will at some point. We watch White Christmas Thanksgiving night. We have to have turkey for Christmas dinner. Even if we also have ham, or roast beef, there has to be turkey. There are more, but I’m saving them for a book.

Barb: Clammed Up, the first Maine Clambake Mystery takes place in the spring and in it the Snowden family make strawberry rhubarb jam. I write about how Julia’s mother is an awful cook and how Julia and her sister were mortified to deliver the brown sludge, with a happy red bow around each jar, to their neighbors at Christmas time. In “Logged On,” in Yule Log Murder, I finally pay that off when Julia delivers a jar to their next door neighbor, Mrs. St. Onge, who says to put it in her pantry. High on the pantry shelf Julia sees twenty years of full jam jars, some still with fading bows attached.

How about you, dear readers? Any odd holiday traditions we could borrow for our books?

Welcome Back, Debra Goldstein!

[image error]The Wickeds are thrilled to welcome back to the blog our friend Debra H. Goldstein. Debra’s newest book One Taste Too Many (first in a new series!) releases one week from today. We can’t wait.

Takes it away, Debra!

My Kind of FUN – Songs and Words by Debra H. Goldstein

I love Broadway musicals. When the orchestra plays the first notes of an overture, I lean forward in my seat anticipating the curtain rising. For the next few hours, I am transported to a world different than my own. The transformation may be historical (Hamilton, 1776), geographical (South Pacific, Aida, Fiddler on the Roof), emotional (Evan Hansen, Come From Away), or humorous (Hello Dolly, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum).

What makes each musical special is its unique story and how song develops or enhances the plot. For me, even if a play has serious or sad moments, the entire experience created through the score’s lyrics is “fun.”

Reading cozy mysteries gives me the same “fun” release as attending a musical, but with a book. Sharing the “fun” is why I chose to write cozies. The only problem with my choice was most cozies deal with cooking or crafts – two areas I am woefully challenged in. In fact, when I got married, my friends threw me a kitchen shower to see if I could identify what was in the box.

Because my legal career trained me to be a good researcher, I read and tried faking cooking and/or craft expertise. The result was boring. The pages lacked pace, humor and weren’t even “fun” for me. If pretending wasn’t going to cut it and I still wanted to write a cozy, I had to change my tactics. I couldn’t use other people’s words and experiences.

[image error]There was only one choice – write what I and so many others know – a book about a woman who hates the kitchen. From that thought, Sarah Blair, my cook of convenience, was born. Unlike her perfect twin sister, Chef Emily, Sarah will do anything to avoid cooking. Her kitchen experience involves bringing take-out in or using prepared ingredients. In One Taste Too Many, the first book in this new Kensington series, Sarah finds herself with a cat named RahRah, a penchant for recipes like Jell-O in a Can and Spinach Pie made with Stouffers spinach souffle, and the need to figure out who killed her ex-husband with a taste of her twin’s award-winning rhubarb crisp.

The more Sarah came from my pen, the more I tingled with the excitement and joy I have when a musical unfolds. I couldn’t wait to see what song she would next sing. Sarah may live in my cook of convenience world, but writing her took me beyond my norm. For me, the process and the outcome were “fun.”

Readers: If you get an opportunity to read One Taste Too Many, drop me a note to let me know if you found it “fun,” but in the meantime, tell me, are you a cook or cook of convenience and what makes reading or writing cozies a “fun” experience for you?

About Debra:

Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of One Taste Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery

Weekly.

Contacts:

Website – http://www.DebraHGoldstein.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DebraHGoldsteinAuthor/

Twitter – @DebraHGoldstein

Buy Links:

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Many-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719476

Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-taste-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1128297322?ean=9781496719478#/

Books a Million – http://www.booksamillion.com/p/One-Taste-Too-Many/Debra-H-Goldstein/9781496719478?id=7404412233291

Indiebound – https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781496719478

Hudson Booksellers, Target, Walmart, and other indie bookstores.

Christmas Cookies and Co-workers

by Barb, in Portland, Maine, where we’re making our lists and checking them twice

[image error]I’ve written before, many times, about how I always bake six kinds of cookies at Christmas time. My grandmother made five of them, and the recipe cards I follow are written in her hand. The sixth recipe is in my scrawl, as dictated to me by my mother.

I’ve been making these cookies for so many years, that I’ve gotten to know them and their personalities. I was thinking, as I arranged them on a plate to take to a family party, the cookies are like co-workers. Each is a distinct office type.

[image error]Hazelnut wreaths. The hazelnut wreaths have a delicate flavor created entirely by the nuts. They’re rolled and cut and minimally decorated to let the flavor shine through. My family and I have made them through hazelnut droughts, when you couldn’t find one in a store, particularly, the shelled, but skin-on ones we most prize, to hazelnut gluts, like today when you can have hazelnut coffee while dipping your hazelnut biscotti in your hazelnut gelato.

If a hazelnut wreath were your co-worker, she would be that mysterious woman of a certain age who speaks several languages and has an unplaceable accent. She dresses not for the job she has or the job she wants–she dresses better than the boss.  And you’re always dying to ask why on earth she accepted a job that is clearly levels below what she’s capable of. Unsought divorce? Untimely widowhood? Or a coup in that country where the unplaceable accent comes from? She is pleasant and competent and she will never give you an opening to ask your many questions.

[image error]Butter cookies: These are the first of the cookies. The only ones I am certain my great-grandmother made. The are rolled and cut with small cookie cutters and minimally decorated. They taste buttery (three-quarters of a pound of butter, five egg yolks), with a hint of lemon.

If a butter cookie was your co-worker, she would be the undisputed grande dame of the office. She would know everyone’s birthdays, and the names of their partners and children. Though her actual title might be modest, in times of crisis everyone looks to her to know how to behave. Even more than the big boss, she sets the tone.

[image error]Nut puffs: A lot of people make these cookies, which are also called pecan puffs and Russian tea cakes and all sorts of other things. I will tell you honestly, mine are the best you have ever tasted. I have witnesses, tongue-witnesses, who will vouch for this. Nut puffs are not sweet, they contain a mere tablespoon of sugar in the cookie dough. All the sweetness comes from the confectioners sugar they are rolled in after baking.

The nut puff is the quiet workhorse of the office. He is that fellow you hired or promoted because no one better came along, who then absolutely shocked you with the quality of his work, his devotion to the job, and his wry sense of humor. You were unsure in the beginning, but now you love him.

[image error]Jewel Brooch cookies: Lots of people also make these cookies. They are called gems or jewels. I tell you, casting aside false modesty, mine are better. They don’t look any better, but they taste better. I suspect my grandmother and mother added these to the mix to fill out the plate with a colorful cookie that is relatively easy to make.

The jewel brooches are the dazzling young women of the office. They are smart and funny and pretty and wear great clothes. Brightening up the dark corners of the cubicle farm, they do their jobs well and then run out for evenings of theater and restaurants and shopping and laughter with their many friends.

[image error]Chocolate toffee squares: Another relatively easy to make cookie. The only one made with brown sugar instead of white. The dough is spread on a baking sheet, a task you can approach with many different tools, and ultimately have to do with your hands. While they are baking, there’s a double boiler on the stove and in it is the most delicious chocolate you can find. As soon as the sheet comes out of the oven, the melted chocolate is spread on top of the cooked dough so the layers fuse together.

The chocolate toffee squares are the young men in khaki pants who work the phones, selling, or providing support to customers. They flirt with the pretty jewel brooches, but few romances bloom. When they do, it is glorious and everyone in the office is invited to the wedding.

[image error]Marangoons: My mother called these “trash cookies.” Their sole purpose is to use up all the egg whites leftover after making the other cookies. Besides the egg whites, they contain confectioners sugar, corn flakes, chocolate chips, coconut, and a dash of vanilla. We’ve upgraded to better chocolate chips from the original Nestles my mother used, but the cookies have resisted any other attempts to upscale them. The corn flakes have to be Kellogg’s. The ones from Whole Foods turn into a soggy mass. And the coconut has to be sweetened. The real stuff, dried, is a disaster. Some things, like marangoons and green bean casserole, are best in their original, mid-century form. Like real macaroons, these cookies don’t last long, though I serve them stale and no one in my family has ever turned one down.

The marangoon is the office schlub. That guy who looks like a slob, no matter what you do. Even if you give up a lunch hour to help him clothes shop, he will come to work the next day looking every bit as schlubby as the day before. But, he’s a nice guy, and he does his job, albeit with a lot of grumbling, so you get used to him, and then you get to be friends, and the next thing you know, you’re crying a his good-bye party.

Readers: Do any of these office types sound familiar? Would you like to contribute any of your own?

The Wicked Favorite Things Giveaway Winner Announced!

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And the winner is Mary Duffy of Indiana!

Congratulations, Mary. Your prize package will be making its way to you soon. We hope you have a cozy winter of reading.

Thank you to all who entered and to all of you who follow the blog. You give us so much happiness every day.

A Wicked Welcome to Paula Munier!

This year our friend Paula Munier became a debut novelist with A Borrowing of Bones. That’s in addition to being a non-fiction author (her Plot Perfect has saved me more than once) and an agent. We’re thrilled to welcome her to the blog today. Here’s a bit about the book:

The first in a gripping new series by Paula Munier, A Borrowing of Bones is full of complex twists, introducing a wonderful new voice for mystery readers and dog lovers. Grief and guilt are the ghosts that haunt you when you survive what others do not…. After their last deployment, when she got shot, her fiancé Martinez got killed and his bomb-sniffing dog Elvis got depressed, soldier Mercy Carr and Elvis were both sent home, her late lover’s last words ringing in her ears: “Take care of my partner.”

Together the two former military police―one twenty-nine-year-old two-legged female with wounds deeper than skin and one handsome five-year-old four-legged Malinois with canine PTSD―march off their grief mile after mile in the beautiful remote Vermont wilderness. Even on the Fourth of July weekend, when all of Northshire celebrates with fun and frolic and fireworks, it’s just another walk in the woods for Mercy and Elvis―until the dog alerts to explosives and they find a squalling baby abandoned near a shallow grave filled with what appear to be human bones.

U.S. Game Warden Troy Warner and his search and rescue Newfoundland Susie Bear respond to Mercy’s 911 call, and the four must work together to track down a missing mother, solve a cold-case murder, and keep the citizens of Northshire safe on potentially the most incendiary Independence Day since the American Revolution. It’s a call to action Mercy and Elvis cannot ignore, no matter what the cost.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE A FOREVER HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

[image error]It’s that time of year again in New England. Time to shovel the first snow, spike the first eggnog with bourbon, read the first merry mystery of the season.

My favorites don’t just serve up a fruitcake-size slice of murder and mayhem, victims and suspects, heroes and villains, they come with a whipped cream dollop of dogs and cats and other animals. Partly this is because I’m an animal lover, and partly this is because I love dogs and cats and other animals in my mysteries—the ones I read and the ones I write. In my Mercy and Elvis series, retired MP Mercy Carr and her bomb-sniffing dog Elvis pair up with game warden Troy Warner and his search-and-rescue dog Susie Bear to solve mysteries in the Vermont wilderness. And yes, there are cats, too.

A HOLLY, JOLLY DOGGONE GOOD READING LIST

Here’s a quick round-up of the holiday-themed mysteries graced by furry characters on my bookshelf:

Santa 365, a Chet and Bernie eShort Story, by Spencer Quinn

If you’re short on time and long on dog love, you’ll enjoy this short story, starring the one and only Chet, K-9 school drop-out and better half of the private investigation team headed up by hapless human Bernie. Together they solve crimes in Southern California—and this time it’s a light-fingered Santa’s helper on the run.

Fair warning: The Chet and Bernie mysteries are addictive. You can’t read just one. Lucky for you, you’ll have all winter to read the whole series.

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, by David Rosenfelt

If you love Golden retrievers—and who doesn’t, really?—you’ll love Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter mysteries, which are clever and fun and full of good cheer and evil deeds and dogs, dogs, dogs. This Christmas story is one of his best—and very in keeping with the spirit of the season.

The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett

Nick and Nora Charles, Asta the wonder Schnauzer, and all the martinis you can drink during Christmas in Manhattan…what more do you want? (Re)read the novel, (re)watch the movie, and (re)stock up on gin.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Okay, so this isn’t really a mystery and the dog dies in the end (not a spoiler, as the entire story is written from dying dog Enzo’s point of view and you know that from the beginning) but you’ll fall in love with Enzo and his family and the message of this moving and inspiring novel. Promise.

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver

Okay, Okay, so this isn’t a mystery either, it’s not even a novel. It’s a poetry collection about human’s best friend. I read a lot of poetry because it inspires me as a writer and as a person. If you love poetry and you love dogs, you’ll love Dog Songs. The fabulous Mary Oliver at her best.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mewed, by Alan Bradley

(Well, you know I had to have at least one cat title on this list. Or my persnickety tabby Ursula would never forgive me.) Bradley had me at the title (as I’m always a sucker for anything Shakespeare), and this Flavia de Luce mystery opens with the quote from Macbeth. Bradley’s young sleuth Flavia has been called a combination of Eloise and Sherlock Holmes, and while she may be an acquired taste, once you fall for her you’ll come back for more. I’m in the middle of reading this one, so here’s hoping the cat prevails. Although you never know with Bradley.

Happy holidays—and happy reading! May you and your two-legged and four-legged friends and family have a warm and bright December and a very happy new year.

 

[image error]Paula Munier is the author of the bestselling Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, Writing with Quiet Hands, and the acclaimed memoir Fixing Freddie. Her debut mystery, A BORROWING OF BONES, was named one of Library Journal’s Best Debuts of Fall/Winter 2018/2019 and made Dru’s Book Musing’s Best Books of the Year. The second, BLIND SEARCH, will be out next autumn. The Mercy and Elvis series was inspired by the hero working dogs she met through Mission K9 Rescue, her own Newfoundland-retriever-mix rescue Bear, and her lifelong passion for crime fiction. In her fabulous day job as Senior Literary Agent and Content Strategist for Talcott Notch Literary, she represents many great writers. Her specialties include crime fiction, women’s fiction, upmarket fiction, MG and crossover YA, high-concept SFF, and nonfiction. She lives in New England with her family, two rescue dogs and a rescue cat.

Readers, do you have any pet themed mysteries you’d add to Paula’s list?

A Peek At My Office

Hi, Sherry here — trying to stay warm in Virginia

I was sitting in my office staring out the window yesterday and trying to think of something to write about for the blog today — yes, I procrastinated. I looked around and decided to share some of the things that surround me as I write — the things that make me happy — minus the messy bits. And anyone who’s visited my house knows there are messy bits.

The first thing I see when I walk in my office is a present from my mom. A great review of Tagged for Death in Mystery Scene magazine came out just as the Agatha Award nominations were announced. Mom had the articles clipped and framed.

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Right below it is a TV tray that my parents got as a wedding gift.

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When I’m sitting at my desk and look straight ahead I see the painting below. It’s between  the two windows in my office. I love it because of the message and because I found it at a craft show I attended with two dear friends. [image error]

This is the window on the right side of the office. My mom made the valance for me out of a piece of vintage fabric I found in an antique store in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. This was long before I thought about writing a series set there. The curtain is a set a friend gave to me. And the view — well thanks Mother Nature. I confess the view out the other window is of my neighbor’s house. [image error]If I look to my right I see the target from graduation at the Fairfax County Citizens Police Academy. When my husband saw the target he thought I hadn’t done well because the other participant’s targets were full of holes. However, when I told him I’d only shot twice he was impressed. It was the first (and probably last) time I’ve ever shot a gun. It’s hard to see in the photo, but one shot is in the shoulder under the gun and the other is in the chest in the middle box. [image error]Also to the right is a painting my daughter painted in fifth grade of our family. I love it and still have that red jacket!

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This is the sign on my doorknob — not that anyone pays attention to it.

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Behind my desk is a big poster of Tagged for Death — my first book.

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To the left of my desk is a bulletin board of things I love. I’m not sure I can fit one more thing on it.

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Also to the left are some favorite pictures and a bookcase I bought at a thrift shop for thirty dollars. The white stuffed seal is the “official” seal of Sisters in Crime. It’s passed from president to president.

And last is the upper right corner of my desk. Just little things people have given me or that I’ve collected. They all make me happy. [image error]Readers: Do you have a room where you are surrounded by things that make you happy? What’s your favorite thing in that room?

 

 

 

 

 

Wicked Wednesday: Community Events

[image error] Wickeds, part of the job of writing a series is building a community. In your books, have you created any unique community events or celebrations? Did you base them on anything that you’ve experienced? Or did the idea spring from your imagination?

Edith: Death Over Easy features several scenes at the Brown County Bluegrass Festival in Beanblossom, Indiana. In her new B&B rooms, protagonist Robbie Jordan lodges several musicians performing at the festival. The Beanblossom Bluegrass Festival and the Bill Monroe Music Park are real things in the real town of Beanblossom, but I altered the name of both the park and the festival just in case I needed to change any part of the layout or the festival dates – and so nobody would be murdered at or near the real festival! I didn’t create a unique event, exactly, but I had fun including the sounds and sights of hundreds of bluegrass musicians and fans.

[image error] Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Barb: I’ve included all kinds of community events in the Maine Clambake series, including Founder’s Day in Boiled Over, which is a kind of combination of the Fishermen’s Festival and Windjammer Days as they are celebrated in the real Boothbay Harbor.  But, because I’ve now written two Christmas novellas, my favorite things to incorporate are holiday traditions. In “Nogged Off,’ in Eggnog Murder, I included Santa coming in a lighted boat parade, the Festival of Trees, Gentleman’s Night, and the day everyone shops in their pajamas. In “Logged On” in Yule Log Murder I included the Illuminations at the Maine Coast Botanical Gardens, which is really Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Jessie: I have a jumble sale featured in the first Beryl and Edwina book, Murder in an English Village. In Murder Flies the Coop the folks of Walmsley Parva celebrate May Day with a fete in the center of the village complete with a tombola and a May Pole. Village fetes adn May Day celebrations were a very real part of village life in 1920s England. In my second Change of Fortune mystery, Whispers of Warning, the town of Old Orchard, ME is celebrating the opening of the worlds’s longest pleasure pier. I based much of the scene of the pier opening on the real event that took place there in July, 1898.

[image error]Sherry: Jessie, I love the celebration of the pier in Whispers of Warning! The New England’s Largest Yard Sale featured in The Longest Yard Sale is based on lots of local flea markets and antique fairs I’ve attended over the years. In The Gun Also Rises Sarah puts together a community fundraiser for a veteran with PTSD. While he was station in Afghanistan he adopted a street dog and his wife and friends think it will help the veteran if the dog can be brought to Ellington. Here is a link to an organization that helps vets bring home: https://pawsofwar.org/worn-torn-pups/

Liz: In my Pawsitively Organic series, there are a lot of fun community events, most of which are based on real things that happen in the town after which I modeled Frog Ledge. The Christmas tree lighting in Purring Around the Christmas Tree happens every year on the green, although Santa usually makes it out alive.  However, the Groundhog Day celebration in The Icing on the Corpse was completely made up. However, I really wish I’d found a way to work this one in:

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Julie: I love creating festivals and gatherings for characters. In Chime and Punishment, the third of my Clock Shop series, Winding Day is when the old clock tower is going to be wound for the first time in years. It’s a big deal, and Ruth and her team need to solve a murder first. In A Christmas Peril opening night of A Christmas Carol looms over the book. That’s always festive. Pruning the Dead starts with a garden party, and also includes a park cleanup. Community plays a huge role in my Garden Squad series.

Readers, we’re always in need of inspiration. Tell us about some unique celebrations in your community?