Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 192

Wicked Wednesday–Thankful for Books

Thankful for Our Readers: The Wickeds’ November giveaway continues. For a chance to win A Christmas Peril, by our own J. A. Hennrikus, leave a comment below.

One of the things all who read this blog have in common is a love of reading and books. Books can be friends when we’re lonely. They can open up a wider world for us when we are stuck in one place. They can sooth and distract us during times of stress. They can stimulate our minds, open our imaginations and make us think about people and places in new ways.

Wickeds, tell us a story about a time a book was particularly meaningful to you.

Liz: When I was in grad school, I read Joyce Carol Oates’ We Were the Mulvaneys. It’s a book about a family that imploded after something happened to one of the children. It was one of her best books, and one of the best books I ever read – one of the few that I would re-read. It’s so raw and emotional and is such a great window into the way family tragedies happen and how things affect people. Makes me cry every time.

[image error]Edith: When I lived in Burkina Faso for a year in 1998-99, it was difficult time for me personally on all kinds of fronts. My sister sent me The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is set in tropical central Africa and I was in the arid west, but the writing, the storytelling, the depth of characters – she let me lose myself entirely to the story, for which I was grateful. She writes so thoroughly in four different characters voices the reader knows instantly in whose voice a particular chapter is, and I learned from that. Thank you, Ms. Kingsolver.

[image error]Sherry: When I was going through a rough period in my life I came across Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky. It is the first in her amazing V. I. Warshawski series. V.I. is a strong, independent woman who also has a vulnerable side. I thought if she can be strong and independent so can I. Fortunately, I didn’t come across any dead bodies, no one beat me up, and no one set me up. But V. I. helped give me the courage to face life full on. A couple of years ago, I met Sara at Malice Domestic and got to thank her in person.

Jessie: This is such a great question! I’m not quite sure how anyone survives life without books. Certainly how one would survive childhood! When I was six my appendix ruptured in the situation ended up being very complicated. The surgeon was not certain I was going to survive the ordeal. While I was in the hospital recovering my mother read to me every night from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. I thought it was so delightfully funny that I couldn’t help but laugh which unfortunately tore at my surgical staples. The book was so wonderful that having them replaced was worth the pain. I think knowing the world was full of as much magic as books provided gave me a great deal of incentive to make a full recovery.

Julie: I love this question. During the summer of 1990 I was running the box office for the Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment exhibition at the ICA. On my commutes, I read The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. I would also read it during breaks in the box office. Soon other folks were reading it as well, and I had to leave it there once I was done so that everyone could keep reading. I remember my sister (hello nepotism) wouldn’t leave until she finished it, so she sat on the floor of the box office sobbing. I loved Pat Conroy’s writing. He painted water colors of emotion with words. Just an amazing book, and memory.

[image error]Barb: These stories are terrific and you’ve called out some wonderful books, too. I remember vividly turning the last page of Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry and sobbing and sobbing because the book was over, because I couldn’t live in that world anymore, and because I could never again read that story for the first time.

Readers: For a chance to win A Christmas Peril, tell us about a time in your life when a book was particularly meaningful or just say hello!

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Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Barbara Kingsolver, Indemnity Only, Joyce Carol Oates, Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, Poisonwood Bible, Sara Paretsky, V. I. Warshawski, We're the Mulvaneys

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Published on November 08, 2017 02:23

Happy Book Birthday, Sheila Connolly!

Thankful for Our Readers Giveaway: For a chance to win A Late Frost, leave a comment below wishing Sheila a happy book birthday or letting her know what you love about this series!

[image error] The Wickeds are excited to celebrate the book birthday of A Late Frost the eleventh book in the Orchard Mystery series by Wicked Accomplice Sheila Connolly! Here’s a little about the book.

The usually quiet town of Granford, Massachusetts, is even drowsier during the colder months. But this year it’s in for a jolt when Monica Whitman moves into town. She’s a dynamo who wants to make friends fast in her new home, and she throws herself into community activities. Meg Corey, now Chapin after her marriage to Seth Chapin, is intrigued by the new arrival, who has already sold the town board on a new, fun way to bring in visitors during the off-season: WinterFare, which will feature local foods (such as Meg’s apples) and crafts, as well as entertainment.

Tragically, Monica falls ill and dies after the event in what looks like a case of food poisoning. When all the food served at WinterFare has been tested, including Meg’s apples, it becomes clear that there’s a more sinister explanation for the older woman’s sudden demise.

Meg’s investigation uncovers a bushel of potential suspects, one of whom is rotten to the core.

Liz: Wow – the 11th installment! Congrats and happy book birthday, Sheila!

Edith: Way to keep a series going, Sheila. Congratulations! As always, I’m looking forward to reading this one – and then passing it along to my older sister Barbara, who is one of your biggest fans.

Barb: Congratulations, Sheila! Eleven. It’s hard to imagine. Best of luck for continued success.

Sherry: I love how you’ve continued to grow Meg as a character throughout the eleven (wowsa) books! Congratulations!

Julie: Congratulations Sheila! I remember the day you told us about this series. Now, wowsa. 11 books!

Readers: Tell Sheila what you love about the series, congratulate her, or ask her a question to enter to win a copy of the new book!

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Published on November 07, 2017 01:40

Where is Home?

Thankful for Our Readers Giveaway: Sheila is giving away a copy of A Late Frost, the newest book in her Orchard mystery series. Leave a comment below for a chance to win.

by Sheila Connolly

Writers are often asked “what kind of book do you write?” and we’re stuck either with trotting out a term that we know readers will recognize (“cozy,” “thriller,” “suspense,” “paranormal, “romance” and so on), or we find ourselves splitting hairs (“well, it’s kind of a cozy, but there are no pets and there are three bodies in the story who died gruesome deaths, but there’s a happy ending”). There is no rule book that sets the absolute standards, and even if there were, publishers change their minds a lot about how they categorize (and shelve) their books.

Those of us who write multiple series also have to try to make each series distinct. You can’t just keep writing the same story, but changing the name and the profession of the heroine and the name of the adorable scenic small town with at least two good-looking single guys hanging around and a soaring murder rate that began when our heroine moved to town.

I think I write in a sub-sub-genre: the young woman who has been slapped in the face by adversity (lost a job/a fiance/family) and comes crawling back to (her old home town/a beloved relative’s house/a place where nobody knows her) and sets about making a new life for herself—while solving murders, of course.

I have my own personal reasons for taking this route, mainly because my family moved from town to town or sometimes state to state about every three years when I was young. That meant I was always the new kid, having to figure out a new school and make new friends. (Throw in entering the teen years and things get even worse.) Plus my mother hated my father’s side of the family and refused to have anything to do with them, and on her side, she had no siblings, her mother was an orphan, her father was an only child—so the net result was no close family anywhere.

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A 19th-century print of Henry David Thoreau’s house in Corcord

Is it any surprise that what I wanted most in life was (no, not another sibling—one was plenty) a place to call home? A place where I could feel a sense of belonging? And that’s not always easy to come by. So I create my own: I write about places like that. I write about women who face difficult situations and overcome them. These are ordinary women, not super-heroines, or doctors or lawyers or law-enforcement officials. They are people who were living an ordinary life of their choice when they somehow got kicked off the rails, through no fault of their own, and they have to struggle to define themselves again, to figure out what they want out of life. And since I write fiction, in my books they succeed. It doesn’t matter whether they end up in the city or the country, or even in a foreign country: my heroines’ path is the same. They look for and find their place in the world.

I find that satisfying to write (as I said, for my own personal reasons), and I hope other people do too.

My only problem these days is that I’ve discovered not one but two “home” places: Massachusetts and West Cork in Ireland. Maybe I didn’t have much in the way of recent family members anywhere, but I have a lot of ancestors in both those places. So in a way I’m surrounded by family in either place.

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This is Meg Corey Chapin’s house–which happens to be a real house in Massachusetts, built by my 7x-great-grandfather. It’s still there, minus the barn.

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My Irish cottage, close to where my Connolly ancestors came from.

[image error]Tomorrow is the release day for A Late Frost, the eleventh book in the Orchard Mystery series. My heroine Meg started out according to my standard plan, but eleven books later she has a new profession, a new husband (Seth Chapin from next door) and her own niche in her small-town community. Now she’s the one people turn to, to find their way. Oh, and she’s still solving murders.

I’ll be giving away a copy of A Late Frost to someone who submits an answer to my question (by the end of Wednesday, November 8th): Readers, where do you call “home”?

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Published on November 05, 2017 21:15

Thankful for Our Readers–Week One Giveaway Winners

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That’s right, folks, it’d the end of our first week of giveaways for Thankful for Our Readers, the Wicked Cozies all November (plus a couple of extra days) giveaway. We used Random.org for all our drawings.

Drum roll please.

October 31, winner of Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott is Barbara Wallace! Please send your mailing information to jessie@jessiecrockett.com

November 1, winner of Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott is Stormi D. Johnson! Please send your mailing information to jessie@jessiecrockett.com

November 2, winner of Blackbird Burial by Sharon Farrow is Mary Jane H. Please send your mailing address to to barbaraross at maineclambakemysteries dot com.

November 3, winner of The Pickled Piper by Mary Ellen Hughes is CozyNookBks! And the winner of Wreath of Deception by Mary Ellen Hughes is Dee White! Please send your email address to sherryharrisauthor at gmail dot com and I will get it to Mary Ellen.

Thank you, readers, and good luck next week!

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Published on November 04, 2017 01:49

A Wicked Welcome to Guest Mary Ellen Hughes

[image error] Thankful for Our Readers Giveaway: Mary Ellen is giving away an ebook of The Pickled Piper, the first book in her Pickled and Preserved series, and an ebook of Wreath of Deception, the first of her Craft Corner series!

Welcome Mary Ellen Hughes! Her brand new Keepsake Cove mystery series debuts on November 8th from Midnight Ink. The first book in the series is A Fatal Collection !

Have you noticed that quite a few cozy mysteries center around a shop? I have, and in fact I’ve written several myself! Why shops? Well, there’s a reason.

Many cozies revolve around a particular theme. It might be food, gardening, crafts, or clothing that the main character earns a living from. But she/he can’t just be sitting in their workshop or kitchen all by themselves. Much as they’d like to do their weaving, cooking, or crafty projects in a solitary manner, we want them to also investigate murders. To do that, they need to be out and about, talking to lots of people. Investigating! How to do both? Set up a shop.

[image error]Shops have the advantage of bringing people to our protagonists. And there’s no limit to the types of people who might walk in. Customers who’ve stopped in to buy a piece of beaded jewelry can drop a few clues in the process, or a killer, who thinks he’s there only to purchase a book might give himself away with a careless remark.

In my Craft Corner mystery series, Jo McAllister offered various craft classes. This brought together a small group of women who began discussing the latest murder and sharing information as they worked at creating their wreaths or scrapbooks.

Piper Lamb made and sold pickles in my Pickled and Preserved series, and her customers quickly became co-investigators as they also bought home-made Gherkins, watermelon pickles, and brandied cherries.

[image error]My new series – the Keepsake Cove mysteries—takes advantage of similar opportunities. In A Fatal Collection, Callie Reed has inherited a music box shop that is set among dozens of other shops that sell collectible items: things like unique salt and pepper shakers, collectible glass figurines, and vintage sewing or cooking items. The other shop owners knew Callie’s Aunt Melodie well and help Callie get to the truth of her aunt’s unexpected death.

The same goes for her customers. Collectors tend to patronize their favorite shops often, and Callie’s Aunt Mel had many loyal customers who were shocked at her death. So Callie isn’t alone in refusing to accept the official ruling of accidental death. Gathering information, therefore, on an aunt who she hadn’t seen in years becomes much more possible.

Of course, Callie has to step out of the shop once in a while. Readers want to see and get to know the town she now lives in—and so does she! With an assistant to take charge of the place, Callie can do that, especially when most places are within walking distance. And of course, there’s her off-hours, when the shop is closed and she’s free to venture farther.

So you see, setting a cozy mystery in a shop, or sometimes a restaurant or gardening center has many advantages. I, in fact, have always felt comfortable writing about a shop setting since I’ve worked in a couple myself. In my teen years, I clerked at my dad’s small, independent drug store, and I once did a stint in a book store. I’ve met plenty of interesting people while dishing up a hot fudge sundae or ringing up a sale and have no doubt that some of them have appeared in my fictional shops.

Though I’m not aware that I ever waited on a murderer (scary thought!), I did pick up a several useful ideas that worked their way into my plots, or my subplots. Cozy mystery murders, you know, never involve serial killers or hit men. They center around the kind of people you could run into every day and who might be hiding secrets that lead to terrible actions.

The next time you step into a shop, you might think about that. Is that man, who’s looking so thoughtful as he waits in line to pay for his newspaper, planning something that you might read about in the paper’s crime section next week? Or is the woman handling the cash register going to make someone—who looks just like you—a victim in her future book? She might if you’re not very nice to her. Criminals and mystery authors aren’t always easy to spot. So… be careful.

[image error]Mary Ellen Hughes is the bestselling author of the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries, the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries, along with several short stories. A Fatal Collection is the first in her new Keepsake Cove mystery series..

A Wisconsin native, she has lived most of her adult life in Maryland, where she’s set many of her stories, raised two children, and a few cats and vegetables. She credits her husband with being her greatest inspiration as well as top supporter. You can visit her at http://www.maryellenhughes.com

Readers: Do you have a favorite shop or restaurant where people gather?

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Craft Corner mysteries, Keepsake Cove mystery series, Maggie Olenski mysteries, Mary Ellen Hughes, Midnight Ink, music box, music box shop, Pickled and Preserved mysteries

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Published on November 03, 2017 01:43

Writing Tips from Autumn by Guest Sharon Farrow

[image error]Thankful for our Readers Giveaway: Guest Sharon Farrow is here celebrating the release of her latest Berry Basket Mystery, Blackbird Burial. She’s giving away a copy to one lucky commenter below.

I love autumn so much that I chose to be born on Halloween, although my parents insist on taking full credit for this. And I don’t think there is a single thing I don’t like about the season, other than it leads directly into winter. Even that prospect can’t curb my delight in the blazing foliage, cider mill visits, and gently cooling temperatures. After many years spent savoring the delights of fall, I’ve realized my favorite season has life lessons to impart about letting go and embracing change. These lessons can also be applied to writing, especially the writing of a mystery series. So here are a few helpful tips inspired by autumn.

Add Color

Keeping things fresh, colorful and interesting in a series is crucial. This can be especially true for a cozy mystery. Unlike a hardboiled detective series or police procedural, the drama in a cozy never turns too dark or lurid. At the same time, there must be enough suspense and surprise to keep the reader coming back. Yes, a crime will be committed in each book, but that should only surprise the main character, not the reader. After all, this is a mystery. In a cozy, local color is literally built into the genre, which is marked by quirky characters, unusual shops, and regional idiosyncrasies. However, eccentric postmasters and pumpkin carving contests can’t be the sole source of local color.

[image error]Regular characters should reveal new facets as the series goes along. After several books, the reader may think they know all about the village shopkeeper or small town baker. But what if the story showed that one of them has been dogged by a crippling phobia or a family past they’re ashamed of. As a recent example, the character of Mary Morstan on the PBS series Sherlock was presented to the viewer as the no nonsense, likable nurse who captured Dr. Watson’s heart. Only later in the series do we learn that Mary worked as an assassin for the CIA. That revelation changed everything for the other characters and future storylines. We all enjoy watching the changing leaves of fall. It can be just as satisfying to see a fictional character reveal their true colors.

Cool Things Down

[image error]Cozy mystery heroines are often romantically involved with someone in the town. Expectations are that things between the fictional couple will grow stronger, sometimes leading to marriage. But going down such a well traveled path may not be the most creative choice. Just as readers expect a wedding to be imminent, the romantic interest could show himself to be someone the heroine has been mistaken about. Cooling a romance down – or ending it altogether – reminds the reader that life in a small town is complicated. And not only because dead bodies keep turning up. In the mystery series Grantchester, the romance between Sidney Chambers and Amanda provides just as much uncertainty as the crimes that need solving in the village. Although I doubt I was the only one who felt relieved when Amanda finally made her exit.

Cooling things down isn’t confined to romance. An unpleasant character in the series may not be as nasty as everyone believes. If romances in a series can come to an end, so, too, can enmities and small town feuds. A future plot may depend on former enemies joining forces, even becoming friends. While strong emotions, such as love and hate, are fodder for high drama, high drama isn’t always what’s necessary. Now and again, cool off the more intense relationships in a series. Like the first crisp breezes of autumn, it provides a welcome breath of fresh air after a hot, steamy summer.

Rake the Literary Dead Leaves

As sad as it is to see those colorful leaves fall, all good things come to an end . . . at least for a little while. Shedding their leaves allows trees to conserve energy and survive the long cold winter. The leaves served their purpose and it’s time to begin again the following spring. An author needs to look at the elements in their series which need rethinking. Maybe three books was ample time to explore the troubled relationship the heroine might have with a sibling. Resolve the problem in order to make room for future conflicts, preferably with a different character. Perhaps the main character has dealt with financial insecurity since the beginning of the series. Such a subplot can provide interesting conflicts and opportunity for growth. But how much time and space does that issue deserve in a long running series?

There are only so many pages in each mystery, and the crime rightly takes center stage. Subplots and characters that provided energy and interest earlier in the series may run out of steam. Pull out your literary rake and remove the dead weight. And don’t let the bare branches of the next book scare you. Look closer and you’ll see the buds of new subplots, new crises, and new characters. Autumn goes out in a blaze of glory, but always with the promise of rebirth a few months later.

[image error]Sharon Farrow is the latest pen name of award winning author Sharon Pisacreta. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Sharon has been a freelance writer since her twenties. Published in mystery, fantasy, and romance, Sharon currently writes The Berry Basket cozy mystery series, which debuted in 2016 with Dying for Strawberries. She is also one half of the writing team D.E. Ireland, who co-author the Agatha nominated Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins mysteries. Visit Sharon at sharonfarrowauthor.com, on Facebook @SharonFarrowAuthor, or Twitter @SharonFarrowBB.

Readers: Are you a fall lover or a fall hater? Is it a season of death and dessication for you or an energizing season of renewal. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Sharon’s new release, Blackbird Burial.

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Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Berry Basket Mysteries, Blackberry Burial

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Published on November 02, 2017 01:19

Wicked Wednesday–Thankful for the Odd Couples

Thankful for Our Readers Giveaway: For a chance to win Murder in an English Village leave a comment below. Tell us about an odd pairing in your life–or simply wish Jessie the best with this new series!

[image error]We’re celebrating the launch of Jessie’s series debut in the Beryl and Edwina Mystery series from Kensington, Murder in an English Village.

Here’s the blurb:

As friends, the boisterous and brash American Beryl couldn’t be less alike than the prim and proper British Edwina. But as sleuths in an England recovering from the Great War, they’re the perfect match . . .

1920: Flying in the face of convention, legendary American adventuress Beryl Helliwell never fails to surprise and shock. The last thing her adoring public would expect is that she craves some peace and quiet. The humdrum hamlet of Walmsley Parva in the English countryside seems just the ticket. And, honestly, until America comes to its senses and repeals Prohibition, Beryl has no intention of returning stateside and subjecting herself to bathtub gin.

For over three decades, Edwina Davenport has lived comfortably in Walmsley Parva, but the post–World War I bust has left her in dire financial straits and forced her to advertise for a lodger. When her long-lost school chum Beryl arrives on her doorstep—actually crashes into it in her red motorcar—Edwina welcomes her old friend as her new roommate.

But her idyllic hometown has a hidden sinister side, and when the two friends are drawn in, they decide to set up shop as private inquiry agents, helping Edwina to make ends meet and satisfying Beryl’s thirst for adventure. Now this odd couple will need to put their heads together to catch a killer—before this sleepy English village becomes their final resting place . . .

Everyone loves an odd couple. So Wickeds, I’m wondering are you a part of an odd pairing like the original Felix Unger and Oscar Madison? Were you influenced by a friendship like Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s and the late Antonin Scalia’s? Have you written about a duo like Samuel Beckett and Andre the Giant? Tell us all..

Edith: Congratulations, Jessie! I truly can’t wait to read this debut. As for odd couples, I’ve had a few very tall good female friends (before Julie, that is). My dear friend Sarah, whom I met when we were both technical writers in the same hi-tech firm, used to have to start loping when I walked too fast for her. My short legs could go faster than her much longer ones. Fictionally, my teetotaler and religious Quaker midwife Rose Carroll has the very unconventional Bertie Winslow as her best friend (that is, sidekick). Bertie, a lesbian and the postmistress in town, rides her horse astride rather than sidesaddle and is irreverent and outspoken to Rose’s more conventional – albeit independent – behavior. I love that they can respect their differences and still be best buds.

Liz: Jessie, yay! So excited for you and this series. I always think of me and my friend Glenn as an odd couple. Some of you may remember Glenn from one of our Ask the Experts blogs – he runs a few funeral homes. We’ve been friends for over 20 years and mostly, we’re nothing alike. But our friendship has lasted through a long, strange journey and I know he’s one of the very few people I can call if I’m every seriously in trouble, and he’d be there in a second. Plus, we make each other laugh wicked hard – and I guess that in itself is enough!

Barb: Congratulations, Jessie. I am so excited about this book. I think of my former business partner, Carol Vallone, and me as an odd couple. Carol is the ultimate extrovert, a born salesperson, and person unafraid to ask for, and to fight for, what she wants for her business. She’s slim, and dark, and always beautifully turned out. I’m the insider who likes to figure stuff out, work with employees and people I know to make things happen, sit for long hours writing a speech or preparing a presentation. And I look like, well you all know. I’ve always believed that’s why our partnership worked, because we wanted and enjoyed different things, and made up for each other’s deficits.

Sherry: I’ll go with a fictional pairing — Sarah Winston and Mike “the Big Cheese” Titone. Sarah Winston spent half of her life as a military spouse. It’s a world of rules and order. To top that off her ex-husband CJ was also part of the Air Force security police and police chief of Ellington, adding more layers to her rule driven world. In All Murders Final! Sarah meets Mike, a man from the North End (the Italian section) of Boston. She knows he’s gotten off racketeering charges, but he doesn’t seem like a bad guy. When she needs help, Mike helps but at a huge personal cost to Sarah. Mike is mentioned in the first two books, but comes alive in the third one. I love it when their worlds intertwine.

Julie: First of all, huge congratulations Jessie!! SO excited!! RE odd couples–I don’t know. I think of people who compliment me, or push me out of my comfort zone, but those differences make us better friends. Friends who are too much like me are boring. Not sure what that says about me.

Jessie: I think I have a thing for odd couples! My first book’s protagonist and her sister are opposites in most ways. In my Change of Fortune series my sleuth con artist/ psychic Ruby Proulx is nothing like the alternate viewpoint character, straight-laced policeman Warren Yancey. And now I’ve imagined Beryl and Edwina, a boisterous American adventuress and a genteel English country woman. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve often thought there are two vastly different sides to me and one or the other will come out to play depending on the circumstances. No matter what the reason, I do love odd couples!

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Readers: Tell us about your odd-couple selves and your favorite fictional odd couple!

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Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: A Beryl and Edwina Mystery, Murder in an English Village

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Published on November 01, 2017 01:27

Launch Day and Giveaway- Murder in an English Village!

Jessie: In New Hampshire where a recent storm has downed trees and ended the foliage season abruptly!

[image error]Today is the launch day for my seventh published novel. Seven. Seven whole novels! As I type this I am hugging myself with delight. How is life such a wonderment?

Not only is it the launch of a novel but it is the debut is a whole new series. I cannot tell you how much pleasure this new imaginary world has brought me! Murder in an English Village simply poured out of me with a flow I had never before experienced. It was magical. It was almost entirely fun.

I am utterly in love with Beryl and Edwina, the dual protagonists of this series. They represent the things I love, the things I am and the things I most long to be. They live in a time and a place I have so often imagined through deep dives into the magic of the Golden Age of Detection and the beguiling works of E.F. Benson and P.G. Wodehouse.

But it is more than that. It isn’t just the era and all its alluring accoutrements like soda siphons and Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts. It is the characters themselves with whom I am totally smitten. They feel so much like two sides of the same coin to me and I have loved tipping and tossing them this way and that. I love the way they play off each other and highlight the strengths or weaknesses of the other. I love how they each have expertise and preference. I love discovering what those things are.

Cards on the table, I really want to be Beryl when I grow up. Well, minus the string of ex-husbands. After all, I told my husband, before we married, that the only man I would ever consider leaving him for was Hercule Poirot. Beryl has no such compunctions which, not surprisingly, baffles spinster Edwina. I admire Edwina’s deep connection to place and understand her love of her gardens and her feeling of responsiblilty for the small creatures that live there like wild birds and families of rabbits.

I adore writing about gnarled jobbing gardener Simpkins and gossipy postmistress Prudence Rathbone. I wish I owned Beryl’s motorcar or Edwina’s hat collection. I would love to shop the High Street of imaginary Walmsley Parva with my wicker basket draped over my arm and Crumpet the dog capering along at my side snuffling at the hedgerows and generally making merry. I wish I could stop right this minute for a cuppa and a scone at Minnie Mumford’s Silver Spoon Tearoom.

And although it is all in my mind, I still cannot quite believe I get to spend my time with such delightful imaginary friends. I am even more astonished that others are able to visit with them too through the wizardry of books. I can only hope you enjoy it all as much as I do!

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Murder in an English Village! I’d love to hear about your favorite characters from books, your favorite historical era or your favorite part of your own job.

Filed under: Beryl and Edwina Mysteries, Book Birthday, Book Release, giveaway, Jessie's posts, Uncategorized Tagged: 1920s mystery, Beryl and Edwina, Britain, EF Benson, england, Golden Age of Detection, Jessica Ellicott, Jessica Estevao, Jessie Crockett, PG Wodehouse, Post WWI

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Published on October 31, 2017 01:00

Launch Day- Murder in an English Village!