Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 18

Guest Molly MacRae plus *Giveaway*

Edith writing from north of Boston on the penultimate day in May!

I’m excited to bring you Molly MacRae, my fellow blogmate from Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, as today’s guest. Come Shell or High Water, the first book in her new Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, will be out in a month, and you get a sneak peek at all of it today! I was lucky enough to read an early copy. I had to gush and glow in my endorsement, which included, “Nobody does ghosts like MacRae.” Mind you – I don’t write paranormal books and I don’t normally read that kind of story. But when Molly writes one? I’m all over it.

Plus, Molly’s giving away two ARCs to lucky commenters here.

Check out the blurb: When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . . As a professional storyteller, Maureen Nash can’t help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it’s the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop’s owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she’ll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery . . .

How Wicked?

Cozy mysteries are the gentler, kinder mysteries, with no overt sex or violence, right? So just how wicked can a cozy main character be without turning off readers? Pirate wicked? Hmm.

That question started worrying me as soon as I signed the three-book contract for my new Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries. The ghost in the series is an 18th century pirate. Both my agent and the new editor like the idea of this pirate in the shell shop, and I do too, because there’s a definite aura of romance about those parrot-loving, rum-drinking, treasure-burying, scurvy dog rascals. But real-life pirates didn’t tend to be cozy people, so I began to wonder how I could justify letting one into my cozy books.

Before I tell you how I solved the problem, you might like to know the origin story of this problematic character. It’s a cozy story too. A bedtime story. It all started one night while I was brushing my teeth . . .

Our bathroom sink, at the time, was one of those faux marble things (very faux). It was beige (oh so beige) with random swirls of white running through it. So there I was, brushing my teeth, getting ready to spit, when one of the random white swirls became a picture the way clouds do on a fine summer afternoon. Just like that, staring out at me from the sink, was the face of a pirate with a big moustache, plumed hat, and staring, hollow eyes. My first thoughts were, “The ghost of Blackbeard!” and “Our sink is haunted!”

(Edith: Maybe ya had to have been there…)

The idea of a pirate ghost was too good to waste. The idea that he haunted an object in a house or a shop appealed to me too. Just maybe not a sink.

And so the ghost Emrys Lloyd came to life. Emrys was a Welshman who sailed to the colonies with his two older brothers to seek a better life. The three became successful merchants in the Virginia colony. They had contacts up and down the coast, including on Ocracoke, one of the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. Emrys met his death at Ocracoke. Now he haunts The Moon Shell, a shell shop, in Ocracoke Village. More exactly, he haunts the large helmet shell in the shop.

In Come Shell or High Water, book one in the series, Maureen Nash arrives on Ocracoke at the tail end of a hurricane. After tripping over a dead body she meets Emrys. Due to events in between tripping and the meeting, Maureen isn’t sure he exists. The two end up sleuthing together, but Maureen can’t help wondering about the ethics of working with a pirate.

Isn’t it interesting that she has the same question I did? Thankfully, Emrys answered the question for us. He was only a pirate by accident, he says, and only once, and it didn’t it didn’t work out well for him. Maureen has decided to trust him and I’ve decided that works for me too.

Readers: what do you think of “wicked” main characters in cozies? Who are some of your favorites? I’ll send two of you an advance copy of the new book!

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” In addition to the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, Molly writes the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. You can connect with Molly on her website.

Wicked Wednesday: May I?

Edith/Maddie here, looking forward to the New England farm produce season.

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For this fifth Wicked Wednesday of the month, let’s finish our riffing on permissions talking about societal permissions and how we use those in our fiction. Obviously, murder and other crimes are not permitted – otherwise our protagonists would have nothing to do!

But what other kinds of actions do societies and subgroups within cultures permit or forbid? What have you found useful for your characters to transgress by doing or not doing? Are some permissions more expectations than hard rules?

Jessie: Because I write mostly historical fiction there is a lot that has changed over the years. I love exploring the way that what is acceptable for women in societies has changed. I enjoy creating characters that are interested in stretching their roles and are reaching towards some of the rights the women of today have, or used to have. I would say that many of the challenges my characters face are more about expectations, although some, like a lack of suffrage, are hard legal rules.

Julie: Jessie, I love reading historical fiction for that reason. I also read novels of the day, for example I reread Jane Austen regularly, and enjoy the exploration of manners in what was for them current day. Austen was especially good at making fun of the rules while showing why they were so draconian for women. Agatha Christie also uses the rules of the day to help explain motivations, and to thwart investigations. As a writer, setting up the expectations of how a character behaves is part of my job. Having them behave differently is part of the story telling. Such an important part of what we do!

Edith/Maddie: I’m right there with both of you in gently stretching the boundaries for the historical women I write. I like to shake up the current era a bit, too. Mac Almeida in the Cozy Capers Book Group series is a female bike mechanic. Aunt Adele in the Country Store Mysteries owns a shotgun and a pistol and knows how to use both. And I always try to make all my characters fully fleshed out, even the bad guys, who tend to have a soft spot for rescue animals, flowers, contra dancing, or reading to shut-in seniors.

Barb: What an interesting question. I do think about societal rules as I write–my characters live in a context after all. In Hidden Beneath, the owners of the homes on Chipmunk Island live, at least in the summer, in a closed society. Real estate never goes on the open market. Houses are inherited or sold privately to friends and family of people already living there. As an outsider, Julia observes the romanticism of the summers these residents enjoy, but also the constraints. She makes judgements, pro and con, that help her understand her own life and goals.

Liz: I do think island living has a whole set of rules, like Barb said. In Maddie’s world, there’s definitely some of that outsider perspective as someone who’s lived a lot of years away. I think she’s able to see things differently than most of the people, including her family, who have lived there all their lives. She understands that helping broaden people’s ideas, especially on what outsiders should and shouldn’t be allowed to do on the island (like run businesses and build new homes) are helping move the people of the island forward rather than stay stuck in the past that will eventually hinder them.

Sherry: In the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries I was able to talk about military life and the constraints on families. It’s a wonderful way of life, but also different with a whole different set of rules.

Readers: Thoughts about what is permitted in society and what isn’t – and what you want to read about?

Endings and Beginnings with Ellen Byron *giveaway*

Edith/Maddie edging into June north of Boston.

I’m so happy to welcome my talented and hard-working friend Ellen Byron back to the blog with lots of happenings, a new series beginning in July, and a double giveaway!

I got to read an advance copy of A Very Woodsy Murder, and this fourth-generation Californian loved it.

Here’s the scoop: Down-on-her-luck sitcom writer Dee Stern is flipping the script. Twice divorced and wasting her talents on an obnoxious kids’ show, the lifelong Angeleno embraces the urge to jump in her car and keep driving north. It’s a road trip with no destination—until she pulls into a mid-century motel filled with cobwebs and retro charm. Nestled in the shadow of a national park, the village of Foundgold is a time capsule of a place that, like her, could use some work. So, in the most impulsive move of her life, Dee teams up with best friend, Jeff Cornetta—who happens to be her first ex-husband—to transform the aging ranch into the Golden Motel-of-the-Mountains, a hiker’s oasis on the edge of the wilderness . . .

But Dee and Jeff soon realize there couldn’t be two people more unprepared for the hospitality business. There’s also the panic-inducing reality of prowling bears and a general store as the only shopping spot for miles. Living and working in the middle of nowhere takes some getting used to—especially when a disrespectful guest ends up murdered! Now, with the motel duo topping the suspect list, Dee must steer clear of a meddling park ranger, face her past in show biz, and determine if the killer is a local or tourist. Because as she quickly finds out, there are many things worse than a one-star review.

Endings and Beginnings

2024 is the year my mother died. It’s also the year my Catering Hall Mysteries ended and my new series, the Golden Motel Mysteries, will begin. All three events are connected.

The Catering Hall Mystery series was a tribute to Mom and her endlessly entertaining Italian family. Mom came to America at the age of three. After surviving the Great Depression, her family eventually saved enough money to buy a two-family house in Astoria, Queens. The series is so personal to me that my protagonist, Mia Carina, lives in that exact house where my nonna— Mom’s mom—lived until her dying day. The catering hall Mia co-runs with her father is literally the catering hall cousins by marriage ran where my husband Jer and I had our New York wedding reception.

The series is also a love letter to my roots in New York. I’ve always been one of those people who proudly – and sometimes annoyingly! — trumpets her connection to the Big Apple. When people ask where I’m from, I generally respond, “I’m from New York but I live in Los Angeles,” where I moved in 1990 to write for television. But something hit me after I finished emptying Mom’s townhouse for the new owners. Her loss also meant the loss of my strongest link to NYC. As my husband Jer and I boarded our flight back to L.A., I said to him, “The next time I come back, I’ll be a visitor.” Hyperbole or not, something has irrevocably changed for me in terms of my connection to the city.

And the reality is that I’ve now lived in the Golden State longer than I lived in the Empire State, even if it’s only by a few months. Last spring, Jer and I took a research trip to Gold Rush Country, where my new Golden Motel Mystery series is set. We started in the mountains at the foot of Yosemite National Park.

We followed Highway 49 through the golden hills of Gold Rush country, marveling at the state’s extraordinary and diverse beauty.

At one point I looked west and realized if we’d driven straight in that direction, we’d be in the state’s spectacular central coast in only a few hours.

The road trip cemented my connection to CA.

A few years ago, I was in New York having lunch with my cousin Marie. We were talking about our various geographical connections and Marie said, “You’re a Californian.” I immediately pushed back and said, “No, I’m not. I’m a New Yorker.” But Marie was right. I may be “from New York.” But after basically living in the shadow of the Hollywood sign for thirty-four years, I am a Californian.

And proud of it.

Edith/Maddie: The Sierra Nevada mountains and the Gold Rush hills of California are some of my favorite parts of the state, and I miss them. Except I’m the reverse settler from Ellen – I’ve now lived in Massachusetts almost twice as long as I lived in California.

Readers: where do you live? Is it different from where you grew up? Do you feel a special connection to either or both locations? Leave a comment to be entered to win either a copy of The Witless Protection Program or an ARC of A Very Woodsy Murder.

Ellen Byron is a USA Today bestselling author, Anthony nominee, and recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her Cajun Country Mysteries, Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, and Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico). Her new series, The Golden Motel Mysteries, debuts in July. She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents, but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. Visit her at Cozy Mysteries | Ellen Byron | Author

Memorial Day 2024

Edith reporting in from north of Boston, where I’m coddling my schedule by repurposing our post from five years ago.

Today is Memorial Day, a remembrance of people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

The holiday began with decorating the graves of Civil war victims. According to PBS, “During that first national commemoration, former Union General and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there. “

After World War I, Memorial Day became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America’s wars and was then more widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States.

Photo credit TSgt Michael R. Holzworth via Wikimedia Commons

Let us honor those who sacrificed their lives for the principles of democracy: free speech, the balance of power, and an independent electorate.

Sherry: Neither my dad or his father died while serving but they both served, my dad during World War ll and my grandfather in World War I. And of course as a military spouse I honor all of those who have served or are serving. Look at how young they all look!

Jessie: My maternal grandfather fought in WWII and both of his sons served during the Vietnam era. I have thought of them and of all those who have given so much for the rest of us often over the time I have been writing and researching books set just after WWI. The older I get the more I realize what all of them risked and are risking by serving their country.

Edith: My father’s father served in WWI – and lost his only brother to the conflict – and my father was drafted out of college into WWII. The following picture shows Daddy in his uniform, probably at around twenty. The Army trained him in Italian but then sent him to a remote outpost in India where he passed along radio communications. They must have realized this scholar wasn’t well suited for the infantry.

Liz: My grandfather had to leave the army because of a knee injury during WWII, but he and my grandmother both volunteered for the war efforts. It meant a lot to him because I know he truly wanted to serve. My mother recently told me that his whole troop was killed during a tour. That really stuck with me. I know that must have affected him for the rest of his life.

Barb: My dad, Richard Morrow Ross, Jr., served in Korea in 1953-54. In spite of four years of ROTC, 3 years on active duty, and then ten years in the reserves, this is the only photo I have of him in any military setting. After he got home he never spoke about Korea again. He obviously sent this photo to my mother. The note on the back says, “Your own at home. Really living it up in the Far East.” The pictures on the shelf above his head are my mom and me.

Julie: When I think of Memorial Day, I think of my father’s cousin, David Holmes. He was the only son of Albert and Frances, my dad’s aunt and uncle on his mother’s side. David was adopted after many years of trying to have a family, and was the apple of his parents’ eyes. He and my father were around the same age, so they grew up together. In 1966, his plane was shot down over Laos in Vietnam and his was considered MIA. He left a widow, Marilyn, and two children. My father was very close to his Aunt Frances and Uncle Al, both of whom I remember with great fondness. As an adult, I cannot even imagine their loss.

Readers: What’s your Memorial Day weekend ritual? Who do you honor?

Opening Lines, DC Edition

Wickeds, add your opening line for this photograph.

Edith/Maddie: My pulse doubled when I saw the killer running toward me through the arches. Good thing I knew how to quick-hotwire a golf cart.

Julie: I ambled through the arches carefully looking for Fred, trying to avoid the assassin looking for us both. Halfway down I found Fred slumped behind a column, blood oozing out of his temple. As I bent down, a shot rang out, hitting the space where my head was. Now what?

Barb: Ordinary life. Ordinary day. Then I glanced down a long corridor framed by arches and saw a woman, gray and shimmering, dressed in a Victorian traveling costume. She headed for the platform. I followed.

Jessie: It was funny how the sound traveled along the corridor, bouncing off the stone arches and funneling towards the open courtyard. She reminded herself to move as quietly as possible as she tried to keep out of sight.

Sherry: There he was. My target. Blue shirt, white shorts, and a ball cap. It was go time.

Readers: Add yours in the comments!

Why hurting animals in cozies is NOT cool – and a giveaway!

By Liz, loving the early summer weather at the beach!

Someone told me recently they’d read a cozy where an animal was killed.

I was floored. Not just because I can’t imagine how it would give any writer joy to write that, but also because there’s kind of a code in cozies where you don’t EVER hurt the animal.

I mean, have you heard of the Save the Cat series of writing books? They’re called that for a reason!

Listen, I’m not much for rules in general – but this is one that I get very upset when someone breaks. I am one hundred percent one of those annoying people who will shut off a show or movie if something happens to an animal…or even if it looks like something may or could happen to said animal.

I know this is an annoying character flaw because most people aside from me understand it’s fiction, and because usually when I’m watching a show or movie with someone and we get to that point, whoever I’m watching with is now invested in this drama and doesn’t take kindly to me turning off the TV. 

It’s been a problem. But I don’t care. I can’t take it.

I also realize that this sounds INSANE coming from someone who not only murders people for a living in her books, but also spends much of her leisure time reading about or watching other murders, both real and fictional.

But I’m good with however many people you want to kill. Just don’t hurt an animal–or even come close. 

I was recently reading our friend Edwin Hill’s latest book, Who to Believe (which is awesome, btw) – but I had to stop in the middle and email him. I was worried about the pit bull in the book. 

His response? “Never worry about the animals in my books. They always survive!”

Phew. 

I got to keep reading, which was great because I was loving the book – and the payoff related to the dog in the end was the best I’ve read. 

So, back to the cozy that allegedly poisoned a dog. There are many things wrong with that concept, in my opinion.

It wrecks the zen of the book or the series. We come to cozies to feel good. Yes, there’s a murder, but we have faith that the murder will be solved and all will be well in the town again without a lot of lasting collateral damage. We believe the foundation of our town will hold together and the people we’ve come to love and care about will be mostly okay in the end. A twist like this gives us a whole different feeling – in my opinion.

It breaks trust with the reader. if you kill off an animal or a kid in a cozy, you’re breaking that code I mentioned earlier. People come here for comfort (again, aside from the one or two dead bodies they encounter). They trust that the characters they love will be unscathed. And if you kill someone’s dog or child, how do you ever come back from that?

It changes the fabric of the town and the series. An event like this leaves a black cloud hanging over the people it happens to, and the place itself. Which means people are less likely to return. I’ve had friends who’ve lost animals in terrible ways and as true animal people who love those furbabies like they ARE human kids, it’s altered their lives unimaginably.

By the way – for me, this goes beyond cozies. Even in a thriller or a different book where the code isn’t as sacrosanct, I’ll still put the book down.

Readers, what do you think? Will you read a book where an animal is hurt or killed? Tell me in the comments. I have five Pawsitively Organic audiobook codes to give away!

Wicked Wednesday: May I?

Edith/Maddie here, amazed it’s the middle of the month.

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For this week’s discussion on permission, let’s talk about yard games. Yes, I’m talking about Mother May I? Red Rover, Red Rover. Capture the Flag. Freeze Tag. And anything else you might have grown up playing on the lawn with siblings, friends, or young neighbors. Did you play yard games? Were there mishaps, favorites, or forbidden games? Did you go back outside after dinner in the summer and play into the dusk? Share your memories. Bonus for a picture of you as a kid!

Edith/Maddie: We had a big front yard and lots of kids on the block. I have so many memories of the long summer evenings playing games on the lawn. We played Mother May I? and Red Rover, Red Rover, but also simple tag, croquet, and cops and robbers (or maybe it was cowboys and Indians, influenced by the culture of the times).

This picture shows me at girl scout camp with my canteen at about age eight, looking tidier than usual, I must say.

Julie: Croquet was popular, though we didn’t follow the rules. Tag, of course. We also had lawn darts at my grandfather’s house. No one died, and they were fun. We had a tire swing, swing set and whirling thing. Think four tricycle seats on a slight angle that you used your feet to propel. We’d make it go so fast we’d fall off, feeling sick. We were allowed to stay out until it was dark, which meant long summer evenings. So much fun!

Barb: This is one of those sense memories that makes me so nostalgic. Or actually two of them. Me, running around in the long summer twilight, playing multiple variations on tag or red light, green light. And then listening in the evenings as our kids, summer visiting kids, and the neighbor kids ran around our cottage doing the same.

Sherry: We played many of the same games, but our favorite was Jailbreak which we played after dark. I crawled through many a bush playing that game. Everyone hid and if whoever was “it” found you, you had to go to jail which was someone’s porch. But then while whoever was “it” was out looking for more people, someone could sneak up, let everyone out of jail and we all yelled “Jailbreak.” I always loved Statues too.

Readers: What outdoor games did you play when you were young?

A Wicked Welcome to Jessie Chandler! *giveaway*

When I heard that Jessie Chandler had a new book in her Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series coming out, I couldn’t wait to invite her to the blog. This is such a fun series–I’m grateful Jessie agreed to come on and talk about Shanghai Murder.

After an entirely too long absence, coffee-shop owner Shay O’Hanlon and her crazy crew of loveable misfits are finally back! May 21st brings the release of Shanghai Murder, the sixth book in the Shay series. I’m incredibly excited this book will see the light of day, thanks to my publisher, Bella Books.

The Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series, set mainly in Minnesota, has been described as a triple cross between Scooby Doo and the gang, Carol Burnett for her physical comedy, and Clive Cussler, because what fun is a book without a ticking timeclock? I’ve always loved creepy, old, rundown places, so in each of my books, Shay and company wind up in, and sometimes must escape from, some awesomely spooky and goosebump-inducing locations. A sampling: an abandoned hockey rink used in the Mighty Ducks movie, a casket factory, a defunct, crumbling in-patient state hospital for the mentally ill, a country store turned museum, and in Shanghai Murder, the legendary Shanghai Tunnels underneath Portland, Oregon, my new hometown.

During all of these sometimes-deadly adventures, Shay surrounds herself with blood family, and her family of choice. The cast includes Eddy, Shay’s mom-figure—a feisty Black woman-of-a-certain-age—who must wear her neon high tops to break into places; Coop, Shay’s six-foot-four, ex-chain-smoking, tree-hugging, vegetarian bestie; JT, a Minneapolis homicide detective recently engaged to Shay, which is still kind of a shock to them both; Lisa, the newly-found half-sister Shay is trying hard to accept, Rocky, a short, round sprite who’s very similar to Dustin Hoffman’s Rainman, with a photographic memory and kindness oozing from his pores, and his beloved wife, Tulip, an ex-New Orleans balloon animal street hawker.

In Shanghi, Shay, visiting Portland to attend the Big On Beans Coffee Conference, witnesses something super nefarious and winds up kidnapped, then trapped in the tunnels beneath Portland’s Old Town, along with a very, very dead body. Up above, Coop and JT grow increasingly frustrated attempting to follow Shay’s very spotty Trip-A-Go-Go signal, not realizing she’s right beneath their feet.

Meanwhile, Tulip heads off on an adventure to Portland’s Witch’s Castle with New Orleans “friends” Scary Mary, and her freaky sidekick, Pretty Boy Robbie. As these things tend to go, Tulip vanishes. Rocky, in a panic, along with Eddy, who’s trying her best to stay awake, launch a rescue mission that culminates at the top of a Ferris wheel at Oaks Amusement Park. Never a dull moment for Shay and her erstwhile posse.

**GIVEAWAY!!!***

If you want to join in the fun, drop a comment below to be entered into a giveaway, with two Shanghai Murder e-books up for grabs! I’ll draw for the lucky winner in two business days. 

Also, check out my website at www.jessiechandler.com

 FB: @jchandlerauthor

Instagram: @jchandlerauthor and @theauthorpaints.

About the book:

Shay O’Hanlon and her team of friendly misfits travel from Minnesota to Portland to attend the annual Big on Beans Convention—in search of a new joe for Shay’s café. The crew is poised to spend the weekend flying high on Voodoo Doughnuts and a surplus of caffeine. But bad java, stolen ammunition, and an overheard conversation throw all the fun right out of the Oregon Convention Center’s window.

Shay finds herself thrust into the middle of a deadly deal-gone-wrong, and soon she’s on the run through Portland’s underground Shanghai Tunnels.

Meanwhile, when Rocky’s wife, Tulip, disappears while checking out Witch’s Castle, Mom-to-all Eddy must shake off her lethargy and do something before Tulip is toast.

Shay knows that the differences between life and death are a very fine line. For Tulip, Shay, and a little girl named Lira, that fine line couldn’t be any thinner.

About the author:

Jessie Chandler is the author of seven novels, including the humorously suspenseful Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series. Her crime fiction has garnered a Lambda Literary finalist nod, three Golden Crown Literary Awards, three USA Book Awards, and an Independent Publisher Book Award.

As a kid, Jessie honed an interest in crime and punishment by avidly reading Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators series under the covers with a flashlight.

Now the fall and winter seasons find Jessie feverishly writing, and she spends springtime knee deep in edits and revisions!

Deadly Crush Cover Release and #triplegiveaway!

Edith/Maddie here, loving spring north of Boston.

Murder Uncorked, the debut of the Cece Barton Mysteries, came out last October. I loved introducing it in person locally and in northern California wine country, plus virtually everywhere else. I hope you got a chance to read about Cece, the wine bar she manages, and her family in the Alexander Valley north of San Francisco.

And now book two in the series is up for preorder! Here’s the blurb:

It’s the beginning of a new year, and for widowed single mom and recent L.A. transplant to California wine country, Cece Barton, that means green hillsides, flowing streams from winter rains, pruned vineyards—and a murder to solve . . .

After a mostly stress-free Christmas with her college-age daughter, and despite enjoying a current budding romance with fellow newcomer, Benjamin Cohen, it’s time for Cece to focus on Vino y Vida, the Colinas wine bar she manages. The place needs electrical work and an outdoor security camera, and she’s hired local electrician Karl Meier to do the job, along with his helper, nephew Ian. But she regrets her choice when she witnesses Karl needlessly berating Ian in her presence. On top of that, Karl leers at her, then presents her with an inflated bill before the work is complete. Still, she’s shocked when she gets a call from Karl’s ex-wife, Josie Jarvin, that she’s found Karl . . . crushed to death beneath the lift in her automotive shop.

Cece convinces Josie to call the police, even though Josie is terrified. After all, Karl was an abusive husband, was threatening her, and she has no alibi. With Josie’s future on the line, and maybe her own, Cece starts her own investigation. From the customers Karl cheated to the other women he harassed, she finds there’s no lack of suspects—other than the shelter kittens with whom he was an uncharacteristically sweet volunteer. With a bouquet of motives and unanswered questions, Cece is going to need the help of her twin, Allie, who owns a nearby B&B, as she dives into Karl’s past—before the killer catches up with her, and the lights go out for good . . .

Vintage car mechanic Josie is a character I tried to build an entire series around a few years ago – except my editor didn’t think it was cozy enough. I’m delighted to include her and JJ’s Automotive in this book and the series going forward as important secondary characters.

And now, without further ado, I present the cover for Deadly Crush.

What do you think? Thumbs up or down? Thoughts?

(Alas, the art department took a bit of artistic license – they didn’t pay attention when I specified the book takes place in January when the vines are being pruned and are as yet WITHOUT LEAVES. Oh, well.)

In celebration of Deadly Crush now being available to preorder wherever books are sold, I’d like to give away three copies of Murder Uncorked – and a special wine tote bag to go with each! (US only, and wine not included…)

Readers: How do you feel about a cover that has a mismatch with the story inside? Does it matter?

A Wicked Welcome to Harini Nagendra *giveaway*

I loved a recent conversation I had with Harini Nagendra on the SinC Writers’ Podcast, and was delighted when she agreed to come back to the blog to celebrate her latest release, A Nest of Vipers. Welcome Harini!

Making your voice heard

Thank you Julie, for hosting me on Wicked Authors – and thank you to all the Wicked writers and readers for joining this conversation! I’m thrilled to be back again, speaking about my 1920s historical mystery series, set in 1920s colonial India – The Bangalore Detectives Club.

The first book, The Bangalore Detectives Club, features 19-year-old Kaveri Murthy, a new bride who has just moved to Bangalore to live with her doctor husband Rama Murthy, and her troublesome mother-in-law Bhargavi. Young and feisty, Kaveri loves mathematics, and wants to study further, but there are few opportunities for women to enter college and take up mathematics or science at the time. She swims in a sari at her favourite club, and learns how to drive her husband’s beloved Ford – but frets about wasting her time and intelligence in purely domestic pursuits.

When she stumbles across a dead body at dinner in an influential local club, her new career as an amateur detective takes off. Kaveri sleuths in her elegant saris, criss-crossing the bungalows, brothels and cowherd quarters of Bangalore as she searches for clues to the murderer. In book 2, Murder Under A Red Moon, Kaveri is pulled into investigating an embezzlement – but ends up investigating the murder of a wealthy industrialist Sharma – in the backdrop of growing calls for Indian independence.

Book 3, A Nest of Vipers, opens in January 1922, at the time of the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales to India. When Edward visits Bombay and Calcutta towards the end of 1921, he is greeted by widespread protests, riots, and calls for the British to quit India. The British respond by packing the jails with Indian protestors, while violence continues to ratchet up. According to sanitized newspaper accounts, Edward’s visit to Bangalore was relatively peaceful – but that seemed unlikely. It got me thinking – what if there was a plot to derail the Prince’s visit to Bangalore with riots and explosions?

I also wove in other themes. I have always wanted to write a book about Indian jadoo, street magic, which was co-opted by many western magicians such as Harry Houdini and exploited outside India, while dismissed within the country as acts carried out by charlatans and tricksters. A Nest of Vipers begins therefore with a circus performance, a few days before the Prince’s visit to Bangalore. A famous Indian magician performs an act that veers dangerously close to what the British would term sedition – and then vanishes from stage. His son approaches Kaveri for help – but her friend Inspector Ismail turns strangely hostile, warning her to stay away. This book takes Kaveri into territories that are far more dangerous than she has encountered before. And it gave me an opportunity to explore the debates around choosing violent vs peaceful approaches to protest against the British Raj, which were especially intense in the early 1920s with Mahatma Gandhi calling for non-violence.

Readers, there may be many issues that each of us would like to raise attention to – whether climate change, issues of race and gender, or anything else. I choose writing as my way to call attention to environmental issues that are closest to my heart, but I have many friends and colleagues whose work I deeply admire, who take to the streets, use social media and move the courts – using non-violent, peaceful means.

What issues do you feel most strongly about, and how do you choose to make your views known? Do you think the path of violence could ever be justified for a larger goal? I don’t, but I’d love to hear your views on the topic.

One US hardcover copy of A Nest of Vipers will be given away to a commenter, selected at random. To enter, leave a comment – any comment, it could be as simple as a ‘hello’ . This giveaway is only applicable to readers living in the USA.

About A Nest of Vipers

Death stalks the streets of Bangalore when the Circus comes to town . . .
January 1922.

The Bangalore Constabulary is on high alert as The Prince of Wales is scheduled to visit the city to redeem his reputation after disastrous visits marked by violent anti-British riots.

Kaveri has none of these concerns on her mind, not when she has just been given VIP tickets to the famous Bangalore circus. But when a celebrity magician, shackled in an iron cage filled with deadly snakes, disappears into thin air, she is stunned to discover her friend and favourite policeman, Inspector Ismail, is telling her to leave the case well alone.

After solving two murder cases, Kaveri Murthy thought she had cemented her reputation as Bangalore’s favourite lady detective. But when death threats are left at her doorstep, former friends become foes, and the bodies start to pile up, Kaveri realises she has never been in this much danger . . .

About the author:

Harini Nagendra is a professor of ecology at Azim Premji University, who features in Stanford University’s list of the top 2% cited scientists in the world. The Bangalore Detectives Club, her first fiction book, is in the New York Times list of Best Books since 2022 – and is followed by two sequels, Murder Under A red Moon, and A Nest of Vipers. She has also written a number of non-fiction books – most recently, Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities. Harini lives in Bangalore with her family, in a home filled with maps. She loves trees, mysteries, and traditional recipes.

More about the book, including links to purchase, at my website – A Nest of Vipers – Harini Nagendra