Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 259

The Detective’s Daughter – How Does Your Garden Grow?

By Kim, enjoying the warm weather in Baltimore.

Me as a child in my garden.

As a child I lived in a row house on the end of the block with a yard that ran the length of our house. There were rose bushes at one end and tulips along the fence. It was my grandmother’s pride and joy, though my grandfather kept it going. I helped him. It was my job to hold his beer as he mowed the grass or weeded around the flowers. Summer was the best season. We would sit in the yard after dinner, shaded by the tree, reading, talking, or just listening to the Orioles game on the radio.

I miss that house, but mostly I miss being in the garden. The house was built in the 1860’s and our family had been its only owners. Every occasion, big or small, was marked by a photo next to the gate. I believe all families have a special place where they gather to take their photographs. I have hundreds of photos of my own children standing on our front steps. I wish I had taken more of them in the garden at my father’s house.

My great grandmother in 1867.

My grandmother and her brother in the early 1900’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After my grandfather passed away Dad became the caretaker of the garden. He put in a fish pond and planted bamboo that overtook the flowers. My grandmother was suffering from dementia and only seemed to notice that Dad had taken our statue of the Blessed Mother from the garden. He’d wrapped it in a Hefty bag and stored the statue in the basement.

Dad as a boy in the 1930’s.

The statue didn’t survive the fire, not much did. Dad was at a restaurant when the blaze started. My grandmother had died a few years before and he was now living in the house alone. I was in my own home fixing dinner with the television on when I saw the Action News helicopter hovering above a burning building that looked oddly familiar. By the time I reached the house the firemen had been evacuated and were standing across the street with Dad smoking cigarettes. The fence melted, the tree was charred and only the brick walls and marble steps remained.

I thought of snapping a photo the next day when I went back to see the damage, but I knew I wouldn’t need a reminder, it was forever burned on my brain. As hard as I tried I couldn’t salvage the house, but I was able to rescue the rose bushes that now grow in my own yard.

Readers, where is your special place to take family photos?

Filed under: The Detective's Daughter Tagged: bamboo, fires, gardens, photographs, The Detective's Daughter, tuplips

Wrestling

By Sherry who is so happy to see blooms on the hydrangeas this year!

I confess, writing book three in the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries was more like wrestling a greased pig, than writing a novel. I’ve tried to figure out why and boiled it down to three things.

1. Major change in the plot. When I wrote the proposal for the series the synopsis for book three was this:

Winter in New England means no more yard sales and Sarah Winston had to find a way to keep her fledgling business afloat. Sarah decides to expand her business to include estate sales but her lack of experience makes finding jobs tough. Sarah has to team up with Lexington antique dealer Barney Hightown because competition is stiff. But not as stiff as Barney Hightown’s body when Sarah stumbles over it in a remote barn when she’s bidding on a project. Sarah must find the killer before he finds her.

When it came time to start writing All Murders Final last fall, I felt like there were other books out there about estate sales and wanted to try something different. Two years ago my friend’s daughter, Amanda, told me about a virtual garage sale in her town. It was a site for re-selling high-end clothing that was in good condition. Amanda told me when people posted clothes that weren’t nice enough, comments got catty. That intrigued me. Around the same time a new neighbor, Ashley, moved in across the street from me. She is the administrator of a local virtual garage sale site that has 6,000 members. Her stories went beyond catty to actual threats. Be still my fiction writing heart.

So I wrote a new synopsis. Sarah still has the same problem with what to do in a New England winter but this time her solution is a virtual garage sale site. Problem solved, right? No, of course not (otherwise there wouldn’t be three things on the list.)

2. Book launch. Several authors, including Jan Burke and Ellen Crosby, told me: You are only a new author once. I pondered what they meant but didn’t really understand until recently. The weeks leading up to a launch are filled with emotional ups and downs. I couldn’t wait to see Tagged for Death on the shelves, but I also dreaded being reviewed. In a panicked moment I wondered if it was possible for me to buy every copy and keep them for myself. It almost felt like I was taking my beautiful baby out in public for the first time and complete strangers could come up and criticize her: that nose is really big, why doesn’t she have more hair, that outfit is awful. You get the picture.

Tagged for Death book launch.

And in the midst of all that anxiety and joy, you have blog posts to write, appearances, and books to sale. Fortunately, all the good things: the book is on shelves across the country! People showed up to the launch party! Strangers bought my books at signings! Tagged was nominated for an Agatha! outweighed the stupid anxieties. But all of it takes time away from writing especially if you are a pantster with procrastination tendencies like I am. (I don’t know what I’d do if I had a day job like Liz and Julie do!)

3. Is this it? syndrome. My contract is for three books. Of course I hope my contract will be extended but I won’t know until after book three is done and turned in. So just in case the contract isn’t extended, this book, book three, has to be the best book I’ve ever written (not that I wouldn’t want it to be even if I knew I was writing ten more). It has to wrap up the story arc but at the same time it has to leave room for future stories. There are relationship decisions to be made. There are people to kill and mysteries to solve. There’s the launch of the second book and the continuing promotion of the first. No pressure. (Wickeds and other authors out there with more than one series, I don’t know how you do it.)

Before and after Barb Goffman’s editing!

Last Friday morning around 11:02 the wrestling match with book three was over and I won — with a ton of help from freelance editor Barb Goffman. Oh, it still needs to be read through by my beta readers and polished so Sarah isn’t shuddering or shivering every other sentence. But I finally felt like I wrapped my arms around that greased pig and lifted her triumphantly into the air. I spent Friday afternoon reading for pleasure. I had dinner with a couple of friends, went to a book signing for Kathryn O’Sullivan, and did a Skype meeting with a book club in Illinois. And all I can think today is I am one lucky lady!

Readers: Have you ever had a hard time with a project that you thought might be easier the third time around?

Filed under: Sherry's posts Tagged: Agatha awards, Barb Goffman, book launch, Ellen Crosby, garage sales, hydrangeas, Jan Burke, Kathryn O'Sullivan, pantster, procrastinating, Sarah Winston, The Longest Yard Sale, Wrestling

Tasers, SWAT Teams, and K9s – Just Another Day in Willimantic

By Liz, enjoying my first week out of Book Jail!

Speaking of jail, I had a big moment recently: I graduated from the Citizen’s Police Academy in my town. 

I jumped at the chance to participate in the 11-week program because, well, you know me—I love this stuff. Crime, law enforcement, the whys of murder and mayhem, how it all fits together. I take every chance I get to do a deeper dive into how law enforcement works, the things cops  see and how it affects them.

Like the time Edith and I went to Lee Lofland’s fabulous Writer’s Police Academy. We did building searches, shot guns and dug up bodies from a shallow grave. Or the time when, as a journalist, I was asked to participate in a weekend-long SIG SAUER Academy program on handguns. Then there was the (now retired) chief of police whom I drafted as my consultant for another book. All of those experiences were invaluable.

Research like this has a huge impact on how I come up with ideas for a book and how I write about investigating a crime and other tactics. But it also helps me plot the book, develop characters, and ensure my setting fits with the story and the crime.

So I went into the program with the attitude of, Cool, I get to do more research, have more hands-on training, get to know some local police and hopefully get a contact on the force who’ll take my never-ending questions.

I have to admit, I was also curious about what I would find—both in town, and on the force. Willimantic has a reputation. I’ve lived here since 2008, and really only pass through on my way to work and home, or visit the food co-op, the gas station or a restaurant.

(Note – It’s kind of complicated, but I live in the larger town and am not covered by the local police. Only the city district has its own force, and the rest of us are covered by the state police.)

One of the K9s sniffing out drugs.

But it’s always good to get some understanding of your surroundings, right? So off I went, buoyed by the promise of SWAT teams and K9s and maybe, just maybe, getting to taser someone. I was like the nerdy kid looking forward to the first day of school.

I wasn’t disappointed. Sgt. Glode and Cpl. Miller, who ran the program, did a phenomenal job. This was the second iteration of the academy. There were about 30 of us—double the amount they expected, but they didn’t want to turn anyone away. The whole point, they said, was to educate the people of the town so they could take the message about what they do and how they do it back to the rest of the population.

Each week they focused on a different topic, and every officer on the force contributed. Some weeks had more than one topic, depending on subject matter. SWAT week, for instance, took the whole three hours. We got to see the weapons, sit in the MRAP (mine resistant, ambush protected military vehicle donated to the town), and even beat down a steel door with a battering ram.

During K9 week, we got to meet the three police dogs, all sworn officers, and watch them sniff out drugs their handlers had stashed for our benefit. During Use of Force week, we did drills—facing off with potential assailants and handling whatever situation arose. Some were able to talk their way out of it, others had to fight, still others had to taser. (Yes, I got to use the taser.) It was fun. It was also scary when you saw how fast things could go wrong.

Given the amount of news coverage lately about police use of force, this exercise was definitely timely. And so important, especially for people who have no experience with law enforcement and how they do their jobs. Experiencing it, even in a role-playing capacity, gives you a whole new perspective. Then you can sort through the facts of a specific incident before passing judgment on either party for their actions. As another police officer so succinctly put it, “All lives matter.”

So what’d I learn, aside from the mechanics of tasering someone? Here’s a few:

You can’t judge a community by reputation alone. Every place has its problems. This place is lucky to have such a dedicated group of men and women protecting its citizens.

Riding a police bike through an obstacle course is really, really hard. You have to go wicked slow. For the record, I didn’t do it. I knew I would fall off the bike. Or take out most of the cones.

Cops get scared, too. I suppose I knew this already, but in a sure, everyone gets scared sort of way. These officers have to deal with serious, sometimes deadly situations. I give them major credit for hitting the streets every day. Give them some support and respect, eh?

We all need to be part of the solution. Towns and cities won’t improve if everyone is fighting each other. Citizens who’ve taken courses like this can help simply by bringing the message to the rest of the public. Get everyone talking to each other and working together. It’s got to make a difference.

Getting my diploma from Chief Lisa Maruzo-Bolduc.

I may have told some of you that my grandfather was a policeman for nearly 30 years. He started out walking the beat and finally became a detective. He shared some stories with me, but not nearly enough before he died nearly 16 years ago. Every time I get to do something like this, I feel like he’s finding a way to share more of his stories with me. I’m thankful I got to be part of it.

And I’m thankful to all the officers of the Willimantic PD, and all police officers, for their service.

P.S. The ride-along was fabulous, too!

Readers, any experiences with a Citizens Police Academy?

Filed under: Liz's posts Tagged: K9, law enforcement, SWAT, Willimantic CT Citizens Police Academy

The Right Tool for the Job

Jessie: In New Hampshire, outnumbered by black flies.

Every year I make a list of things I want to accomplish. I’m an avid knitter and this year I have included completing a lace project on my list. For some reason, despite years of intermittently trying, I haven’t managed to conquer lace. I’ve made cabled, Fair Isle and Icelandic sweaters. I churn out socks. I’ve whipped up blankets, shawls and hats. I’ve even produced a toy pug.

But lace knitting has defeated me utterly. For years I’ve had a beautiful skein of midnight blue heathered merino wool in my stash just begging to be made into a light and drapy shawl. About once a year I pull it out and give it another go. I dig out needles, find a simple pattern, take a deep breath and tell myself that this time it will be different.

On the first row, I am hopeful. On the second I am less so. By the twelfth, fifteenth or on the luckiest of years, twentieth, I know I’ll be unraveling the whole mess and putting it away until the memory fades once more.

About a month ago I decided the time had come once more for me to face down the dragon. I pulled out a ball of lace weight yarn, this time a beautiful turquoise alpaca and silk blend. I plucked a couple of pairs of needles from my collection and found a four-row pattern on the knitting website, Ravelry.

As I sat down and cast on I could feel things getting off on the wrong foot. My usually adept hands felt clumsy and rather than the soothing rhythm of stitch after stitch sliding across the slick needles I just felt my shoulders creeping up around my ears.

I stopped and and looked down at what I was doing feeling the familiar sense of frustration  that I just was not going to be able to produce anything that would satisfy me, anything like what I had imagined. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the problem might be that I had chosen the wrong tools. The rounded tips and slick surface of my favorite needles might not be the best choice for beginning lace making. I sorted through a batch of infrequently used needles and found a wooden pair in the right size with pointy tips. Sure enough, that was the problem. It was so easy to solve if I had just looked at it a little differently.

The same thing happens in my writing. I’ll encounter a tangle in my plot, a dropped stitch in my story, a thread in the tale that has gone all wonky and I can’t resolve it by trying and trying to use the same tools the same old way. Sometimes, I have to move from the computer to a stack of index cards to jostle an idea into place. Other times I need to write in the afternoon instead of the morning. Frequently, I need to set the project aside long enough to have forgotten what a mess I had made.

But writing, like knitting draws me back again and again despite the disappointments and frustrations. In the end both crafts just need patience, determination, passion and a willingness to fail until you finally succeed.

Readers, are there things in your life that you are determined to learn? I’d love to hear about them!

Filed under: Jessie's posts Tagged: failure, Jessie Crockett, knitting, lace, persistence, the right tool for the job

Wicked Wednesday: Spring Cleaning

Before we get into our Wicked Wednesday topic, we wanted to announce the winners from Chrystle Fiedler’s recent guest post! Penny Marks and Shannon Malloy, message us your addresses on Facebook and Chrystle will get your books right out. Now back to spring cleaning….

Spring is a relative term here in New England, but we think it is a safe to put away our winter jackets. Maybe. But with open windows and changing of clothes comes spring cleaning. Wickeds, what  do you do for spring cleaning? Anything writing related? Readers, chime in with your favorite seasonal switch routines.

Julie: I have definite spring rituals. The gradual putting away of cold weather gear, though I always carry gloves and a scarf with me–you never know. I change out my curtains, and my comforter cover. Regarding writing–I get a real boost of energy. I suspect it is because I can go out and walk, and it isn’t miserable. Spring is my day dreaming season–so glad it is here!

Edith: Opening the windows. Planting my vegetable garden. Hurrying to apply anti-tick stuff on the cats. Putting away flannel sheets and bringing out smooth cotton ones. And this year exulting in the three-year-old asparagus bed finally yielding a pound every other day. I don’t change out much besides sheets and wool coats, because with the see-saw in temperatures – swinging from 85 to 50 and back, and back – the shorts and the scarves have to coexist. Oh, look, there’s the first mosquito! For writing, I find nice weather way too distracting. Have to chain myself to the desk.

Jessie: When the temperatures start to warm and the birds start to sing, I feel the need to lighten up on possessions. I go through all the closets and dressers and pull out the things to donate to charities. I clear books I won’t re-read and I sort magazines into the recycling. I even put off trips to the grocer and plan menus that use up all those things that keep getting shoved to the back of the pantry. By the time summer arrives I feel like my house is ready for the most laid back season.

Liz: Spring shopping, of course! Which I was tremendously successful at this past weekend. And finding pretty new spring shoes. But also purging old clothes to donate, like Jessie, and general decluttering.

Barb: I do many of the same things. Changing out my clothes and donating things that weren’t worn over the last season, taking coats to the dry cleaner and putting them away. I change some of the household the decor seasonally–little things around the place that signify the season. I’d love to be cleaning out drawers and cupboards, but the last two years I’ve had a book deadline June 1, which has interfered with the heavy lifting. Next winter will be tough, with deadlines January 15 and March 1, but the spring will be glorious!

Sherry: Well, I feel like a slacker. I don’t have any rituals or routines. I did take a lot (and I mean a lot) of papers to a local shred event last weekend. But to me spring means an opportunity to go to garage sales!

 

Readers– what are your favorite seasonal switch routines, and does spring affect your work?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: asparagus, Decluttering, garage sales, lightening, spring rituals, summer ready, Wicked Wednesday, yard sales

Top Ten Things I Learned at Malice Domestic

Hello, Wicked People. Susannah here, back from Malice Domestic and ready to catch up with you…

This was my first ever Malice Domestic. I’ve been to large conferences before, RWA (Romance Writers of America) Nationals, for example, but this was my first reader-centric conference. And it was super fun! I loved meeting so many readers who are as crazy about cozies as I am. And I met lots of writers as well. Win-win, all around.

So today I thought I’d give you my Top Ten Things I Learned at Malice, in no particular order:

Everybody knows (and loves) Dru Ann, and it was an honor to be able to give her a hug and say thank you in person for all she does.
It is worth publishing a book with Berkley Prime Crime just to be able to attend the publisher’s dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Seriously, great company, and that pecan-topped sweet potato casserole, and it’s a wonder I even went back to the hotel instead of setting up camp and waiting for next May to roll around.
I could listen to Catriona McPherson’s fabulous Scottish burr all day long. And I discovered that she and I share a love of shopping at Dress Barn!
A very nice hotel room all to one’s self for a few days is a luxury I hope everyone can manage at some point in their lives.
The women of the Wicked Cozies are, well, Wicked Fun to hang out with. Okay, I knew that already. But it bears repeating. Come find us at a conference and you’ll see what I mean.
Next year, I’ll take some time and explore outside the hotel a bit more. Bethesda, Maryland, where the conference is held, has some very fun-looking restaurants and stores, including a chocolate shop I meant to go back to and didn’t. Drat!
I still haven’t unpacked my bag of conference swag. I wonder what’s in there? That will be something I learn after the conference.
Next year, I will bring more swag of my own. I didn’t realize how much I’d need or that people would actually want it, so I hardly had anything to hand out. Readers, I’m not cheap. Just clueless.
Coffee–don’t drink so much of it at future conferences. I was up half the night. On second thought, maybe it was okay, since I got to enjoy that solo hotel room for that many more waking hours.
Malice has been added to my list of Must-Go conferences. See you next year!

What conferences are on your Must-Go list?

Filed under: Uncategorized

Contest winner Jacki Goes to Malice

We have so much fun running our “Stick With The Wickeds” contests and then taking our winner with us to conferences. This time we took Jacki York to Malice where we all had a blast!

Dinner with the Wickeds and author Laura Bradford.

 

Jacki helps stuff the goody bags for Malice Go Round!

Jacki meets attendee Elaine Naiman.

Jacki with blogger Dru Ann Love, Aimee Hix, and friends.

Jacki with Agatha nominee Lea Wait!

Jacki takes a break with Jessie Crockett. All that talking makes a girl thirsty.

Jacki has a fan girl moment with Rhys Bowen and Dorthy Cannell!

Donna Andrews is happy to meet fan Jacki!

Hank, Edith and Susannah hang with Jacki at the New Author’s Breakfast cheering Sherry on!

Jackie enjoys breakfast!

Kate Flora, Liz and Jessie take Jacki to the banquet!

The lovely Dorothy Cannell gets to meet Jacki!

Hallie Ephron and Lucy Burdette had a great time meeting Jacki.

Jacki at the Opening Ceremonies with Edith and Sherry.

Kiki the Lemur and Laura Morrigan do Malice Go Round with Jacki.

Sherry, Julie and Jacki enjoy a quiet moment together.

Jacki was honored to meet Cynthia Kuhn, Malice grant winner. Julie introduced them.

Jacki meets reader Jan Kurtz.

Jackie hangs with Guppies Debra Goldstein and Marilyn Levinson.

 

 

 

 

 

Rhys Bowen

Malice Memories

Last weekend, 5/6 of the Wickeds and all three of our accomplices were in Bethesda, Maryland at Malice Domestic, a fan conference that celebrates the cozy and traditional mystery novel. It is wicked and Wicked friendly. Lots of other writers, and lots and lots of readers.

We will probably touch on Malice a couple of times this month, but let’s start the conversation here: what new experience did you have this year at Malice? How did it go?

Edith: Two big new experiences. A – I was nominated for an Agatha Award for my short story, “Just Desserts for Johnny.” I didn’t win, but it was an honor and a thrill to be part of the illustrious group of nominees. B – I got to meet Sara Paretsky and tell her she was one of the reasons I started writing mysteries in the first place! She came and sat right next to me during the opening ceremonies. She’s a delightful, vigorous, articulate, progressive woman and one of my favorite authors. So pleased to have met her in person.

Liz: What a great time! This was my second year, and aside from getting to chat with some of my favorite readers and writers, a couple of things stand out: One, I was asked to jump in on an animal-related panel where they were missing a writer, and it was great fun. Two, I got to finally meet and chat with Dorothy Cannell – and I absolutely adore her! I want to go have tea with her now. Think she’ll invite me?

Jessie: I think the new thing for me this year was how not new it all felt. This is the fourth time I’ve attended and I was so pleased to look around and to see so many familiar faces. It felt like a reunion of sorts. Considering how much time is spent in solitude writing, it felt so lovely to thoroughly enjoy visiting with those kindred spirits I only get to see once a year and adding some new friends to the mix. I can’t wait until next year!

Sherry: As I started thinking over the weekend at Malice I realized I could write a whole blog on the topic. I finally met all the authors nominated for the Agatha Best First Novel panel. What a great group of women and authors, (find out more about them here) — being on a panel with them was a hoot. The picture below is my view from the panel.

Then I met Sara Paretsky and told her how her books helped me through a difficult period in my life. I almost cried and Sara said she almost did too. Getting the certificate for the Best First at the opening ceremonies was unforgettable.

And nothing beats meeting readers, authors, old friends, and spending time with the Wickeds!

Julie: Well, new for me was moderating a panel. (Thanks Sherry for the photo!) It was a crafty cozy panel, and I loved the homework. Wonderful panelists, and a special hat tip to Molly MacRae who asked me what was next for me. Besides being kind, she is a riot. I also went to the Berkley/Obsidian dinner, and when I introduced myself and said my book was coming out in October, folks clapped. Thrilling. It wasn’t new to have my friends nominated for Agathas, but it was thrilling nonetheless. Great weekend!

Readers, who else was at Malice? What stood out this weekend? And who’s planning on coming next year for the first time?

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: Agatha award Best Short Story, Malice Domestic, Sara Paretsky

It’s a Horizontal Life

by Barb Ross, who wishes she were out in the sunshine enjoying New England’s first sustained visit from spring.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

Randomly selected winners from their comments on Our Second Anniversary Blog post are: Ruth Nixon, Tiger Wiseman, Sandy Bartles, Jane Werthmann, Mary Feliz, and Nancy Roessner. Please contact Edith at edithmaxwellauthor at gmail dot com if you haven’t already heard from her. We need your mailing address. And congratulations!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

It’s been wonderful celebrating the release of Musseled Out this week with my Wicked sistahs. It’s been especially wonderful, because I’ve been doing it from my bed. Right before Malice Domestic, I did something excruciating to my knee. I’ve been mostly in bed with my leg up, with occasional breaks on the couch, with my leg up, ever since.

“How terrible. And you’re launching your book this week,” my friend Lucy Burdette said.

“Barb can launch a book from a horizontal position,” my friend Kate Flora reassured her.

After an extended pity party while everyone was a Malice, I realized Kate was right.

Barbara Cartland writing

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve visited Dru Ann’s Book Musings in the persona of my character Chris Durand. I’ve had a lovely chat with E. B. Davis over at Writers Who Kill. I had another conversation, this one over Skype, with Stephen Campbell at CrimeFiction.FM. And I shared a recipe for mussels at Mystery Lovers Kitchen and recipes for shrimp and lobster polenta and hot lobster dip on Kensington’s site.

Edith Wharton writing in bed.
Note: This is a recreation. Though EW did write in bed, it’s hard to imagine her allowing herself to be photographed there.

Lots of people have weighed in with their reactions to Musseled Out, including Sandra Martin at RT Book Reviews, Katrina Niidas Holm at Crimespree Magazine, Dru Ann Love at Dru’s Book Musings, Mark Baker at Carstairs Considers, Beth Kannell at Kingdom Books and many others, (For a more complete listing, click here.)

Mystery writers who were first published in the era before mine often wax nostalgic for the days when authors were sent out on tours and there were many, many independent mystery bookstores to visit. I get caught up in that, too, because I still miss Kate’s Mystery Books just down the street from me. But now all I can say is, “Thank goodness things have changed.” I never could have gone on tour.

Mark Twain writing in bed

Do you think we’ll ever sit around reminiscing about the “good old days,” you know, when we used to launch a book using ezines, blogs, podcasts, e-mail newsletters and social media? The youngsters will probably roll their eyes and sigh at our old-fashioned notions.

Filed under: Barb's posts Tagged: Maine Clambake Mystery, musseled out

WICKED WEDNESDAY: MUSSELED OUT–It’s a Family Business

Musseled Out is the third in the Maine Clambake series, and we are so glad that we are visiting the Snowden family again. Julia needs to save the family business once more, and she also needs to decide if she wants to stay in Maine. That made us think about small businesses, and the role they play in our lives. Wickeds, do you have any fond memories of a family owned or small business? Let us know!

Julie: I have a lot of small businesses, mostly family owned, that I go to every day. The hardware store down the street. The restaurant around the corner. The coffee shop (actually, three of them) near my office. But one small business I want to give a shout out to–our own Kim Gray (the Detective’s Daughter) own the Gift Cellar in Baltimore Maryland. What a great shop! I bought a wonderful pair of earrings there, and am planning my next visit soon!

Edith: I also love Kim’s shop. I owned a small family business twenty years ago: the Five Star Organic Farm (here I am with my garlic crop one summer). It was both glorious and tough. Great to work outside on my own land when my sons were little, grow organic vegetables, sell to enthusiastic customers. But it was also tough, as any farming enterprise is: weather or critters can devastate a crop. Your lettuce wilts on the table at the farmers’ market. And the same issues arise as confront authors: the need to publicize, market, sell the concept of your business to bring in customers…and money. Not for the faint of heart! I finally decided to rejoin the hi-tech desk-job market. What will Julia decide?

Sherry: Barbara’s books are so realistic that I keep forgetting I can’t really go on a Snowden family clambake! A couple of years ago I had an idea for a consumer product. I mentioned it to some close family friends and we joined forces. We started the patent process and fingers crossed it looks like it’s going to be approved.

Barb: Julie, I love this topic! I want to give a shout-out to a few family businesses that have been key to the Maine Clambake Mystery series. First of all, the Cabbage Island Clambakes. The Moore family who run them are nothing at all like the Snowdens, and Cabbage Island is not physically like Morrow Island, but visitors get the same delicious meal. Second of all, for Boiled Over, I visited Welch Blueberry Farm in Roque Bluffs, Maine, Downeast. The farm has been in the Hanscom family for four generations, and they also run a (very) small blueberry processing operation. 99% of wild blueberries are processed and frozen by large Canadian companies. Finally for Musseled Out, I went lobstering with Captain Clive Farrin. Lobstermen are the small businesspeople of the sea. The captains usually own their own boats, and they usually only go out for the day.

Jessie: I love to support local nurseries. Box stores sell seedlings, trees and shrubs but their plants can’t hold a candle to those grown with love, by people in the know, which can always be counted on to thrive in my tough climate. I eagerly await the open flag at my favorite local greenhouse, 4Js Earthworks, in Rochester, NH. The owner, Joan, always has a wide variety of herbs and heirloom vegetables along with a beautiful palate of perennial and annual flowers.

Liz: I haven’t had a chance to get to Kim’s shop yet, but it’s on my list! Although I do have a lovely wine glass that Edith got me there. I have a soft spot for family-owned businesses also. My father used to run a driving school (and for those who’ve driven with me, you can attest that our idea of driving is VERY different). Although that’s not a business that’s remained in the family, I saw how important it was for the community to get behind you. Today, my favorite local business is the Devon Point Farm, where we get a summer farm share. It’s such a great atmosphere to go there and see how the owners and their children live and work, and the veggies are some of the best I’ve ever had. Looking forward to this year’s kicking off!

Readers, what’s your favorite local business?

Filed under: Book Release Tagged: 4Js Earthworks, Barbara Ross, clambake, farm share, Gift Cellar, local, Maine Clambakes, nurseries, patents, plants, small businesses, vegetables