Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 28

From Sussex to the Cotswolds and Back Again

by Julie, still de-Christmasing in Somerville

Last fall I rediscovered Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series. I’d read the earlier books years ago, but hadn’t kept up with the series. I did an interview with her on the Sisters in Crime Writers’ Podcast and was inspired by our conversation. Then post-Covid I wanted to take a journey with a new series, and started with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. I fell in love with the prose, and her incredible storytelling. As a writer I was inspired. As a reader (listener in this case) I was transported starting in Sussex, and then traveling around the globe in the 1920s with Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

When I finished the series, I was a bit bereft. The next book comes out in February, but until then what? This was early December, and I desired cozy. Or, as they say in England, cosy. That’s when I took a trip to the Cotswolds. Specifically, to Cherringham.

The Cherringham series are short books. Less that four hours listening time, 130 pages or so. Novellas. Here’s the premise:

Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly – but with a spot of tea – it’s like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby. Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick read for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa.

The series is written by Neil Richards and Matthew Costello. The narrator is Neil Dudgeon, who is wonderful. His American accent is good, he acts out each character with gusto, and is wonderful to listen to. Thanks to Cherringham, I didn’t watch television at all in December, but I was entertained. And I got a couple of knitting projects done, the house clean, and hundreds of steps logged.

When that series was done, I followed the authors Richards and Costello back to Sussex in 1929, this time to Mydworth in the Mydworth Mysteries:

Sussex, England, 1929. Mydworth is a sleepy English market town just 50 miles from London. But things are about to liven up there, when young and handsome Sir Harry Mortimer returns home from his diplomatic posting in Cairo, with his beautiful and unconventional American wife, Kat.

This series is narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Another wonderful English actor who narrates with gusto. His American accent isn’t as wonderful as Neil Dudgeon’s, though to be fair he’s acting as a 30 year old woman from Brooklyn, so the challenge is real. His Bunberry Americans are better. I’ve been listening to the bundles of audiobooks, so I only listened to six of these. They’re also shorter books/audio books. An evening of entertainment.

Next I decided to follow the narrator back to the Cotswolds, to Bunberry. Nathaniel Parker narrates the Bunberry Cosy Mystery series by Helena Marchmont, the pseudonym of Olga Wojtas. Another novella series with an evening’s worth of entertainment. Delightful.

Miss Marple meets Oscar Wilde in this new series of cosy mysteries set in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Bunburry. In “Murder at the Mousetrap,” the first Bunburry book, fudge-making and quaffing real ale in the local pub are matched by an undercurrent of passion, jealousy, hatred and murder – laced with a welcome dose of humour.

When I’m writing, my attention span is limited. Novella length listens are perfect. I can listen to them in one or two sittings, so I don’t have to keep the story in my brain. But the visits to English villages put me in the right frame of mind to write about my own village in Trevorton, MA.

I feel like I should have known about this publishing option, but I didn’t. (How do I sign on for one of these gigs?) By the time the next Mary Russell is released next month, I’ll be ready to immerse myself back in her world. But for now, my jaunts to the the Cotswolds and Sussex are a delight.

Do you listen to or read any of the series I mentioned? Or other novella length series (with delightful narrators) to suggest?

Looking Forward To . . . Shows/Movies

This month we’re getting 2024 started the right way.

Wickeds, the strikes this past fall will throw schedules off, but are there any television shows or movies that you’re particularly looking forward to this year? Or shows you’re going to rewatch?

Edith/Maddie: I always look forward to new installments of Call the Midwife, and I’m grateful the show has been renewed through 2026. New episodes of Grantchester are coming up, as well. I’m hoping for another season of Somebody Somewhere, one of the funniest and most touching shows I’ve watched lately.

Sherry: I’m really hoping the next season of Emily in Paris comes out this year. I know things were delayed by the writers and actors strikes. It’s a bit of fluff that takes me away from reality with beautiful clothes, beautiful people, and Paris.

Liz: I love Emily in Paris, Sherry! I also hope there’s a new Ginny and Georgia – that show is really good too. And of course, Bosch Legacy and Lincoln Lawyer – both faves.

Barb: This post did me the favor of driving me to those “Shows to Watch in 2024” articles that appear this time of year. Maybe we are finally nearing the end of the “is this show cancelled or is it just the pandemic/strikes that are delaying it?” conversation. I am particularly looking forward to Slow Horses, season 4, True Detective, season 4, Bridgerton, season 3, Outlander, season 7B, Bluey, season 3, part 3, The Bear, season 3, The Diplomat, season 2, Emily in Paris, season 4, Vera, season 13.

Julie: I am amazed at how few of these shows I’ve seen, and am grateful for the list. Looks like I need to watch Emily in Paris! I am a Clive Owen fan, and am looking forward to Monsieur Spade. I haven’t watched A Murder at the End of the World, and look forward to that as well. I do love being able to rewatch previous seasons, and will do that in prep for Slow Horses. Also hoping for another season of Only Murders in the Building.

Jessie: Julie, I want to watch Monsieur Spade too! I’m looking forward to the next season of Whitstable Pearl on Acorn and Miss Scarlett and the Duke on PBS. I am certain I will continue to rewatch old favorites like Justified and Endeavour.

Readers, what are you looking forward to watching in 2024?

A Wicked Welcome to Delia Pitts! **giveaway**

by Julie, relieved there wasn’t too much snow in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Delia Pitts back to the blog today! She’s got a new book coming out in July, and since this month is about looking forward I asked her to stop by and say hello. She’s also offering one commenter an ARC of the new book!

Lists for the Year Ahead

End of year lists blossom in December. When the days dwindle down to a precious few, pundits churn out best-of compilations that summarize the events and achievements of the preceding months.

But this is January, a time for looking forward, in anticipation or dread, but always ahead. So, I thought it would be fun to up-end that tradition. Instead of gazing backwards, why not look toward the favorites of 2024? The best of what’s to come. So, in these briefest of January days, I’ll offer prospective lists of things I hope to see and do this coming year.

Ten best walk-off wins in Major League baseball. I’m skipping over the sports extravaganzas of the Super Bowl and March Madness in hopes of speeding the arrival of spring.Ten best airings of favorite classic movies. I’ll break this down as follows: four Casablancas; four Maltese Falcons, and two Wizards of Oz.Ten best new mysteries. Any genre, any length, any format.Ten best clap-backs to microaggressions. These could include a retort when the bookshop owner demonstrates her inability to tell apart three Black authors – who are standing in front of her. Or a comeback when the store clerk trails a Latino customer, offering harassment without any actual assistance. Or a rejoinder when the after-dinner speaker serves anti-queer “jokes.” Or a side-eye to yet another rendition of “I didn’t realize…I’m sorry if anyone felt hurt.” Or a riposte to puncture that sly antisemitic remark. Or a crisp get-lost to the latest mansplaining harangue. Dehumanizing acts – small and big – are not acceptable in 2024. Everyone can do better.Ten best meals out. Fancy restaurant, local diner, or dive bar, if it’s scrumptious, the feast will make my list.Ten best home-cooked meals. Who am I kidding? Any food prepared outside of a microwave qualifies.Ten best book referrals. From TikTok or Instagram or the local librarian or the indie bookseller, bring on those recommendations.Ten best online seminars, classes, or readings. Yes, Zoom still rules us all. Financial and physical accessibility is critical, so I’m on the look-out for top quality experiences of the remote kind.Ten best in-person conferences or meetings. Nothing beats the chance to lock eyes across a crowded room. And listen, learn, and enjoy together.Ten best backyard wildlife encounters. I’ve already seen deer, groundhogs, hawks, foxes, and rabbits. Not gonna count the squirrels, woodpeckers, cardinals, and jays who grace our house. I’m thinking a black bear sighting is overdue.Ten best champions of democracy. American democracy is on the line this election year. We all have a responsibility to protect it. We can do our part by voting, campaigning, contributing, and encouraging our neighbors to vote. But there will be some true heroes – election officials, journalists, poll volunteers, judges, civil servants, donors, political candidates, activist citizens – who will rise to ensure our democracy prevails. These are the people I’m adding to my list of democracy defenders. I hope there are more than ten.

What events or activities are you looking forward to as 2024 unfolds? Drop your thoughts in the comments for a chance to win a signed ARC of my newest mystery, Trouble in Queenstown. It comes out July 16 from Minotaur Books. Available now for pre-order everywhere.

About the book:

Evander “Vandy” Myrick became a cop to fulfill her father’s expectations. After her world cratered, she became a private eye to satisfy her own. Now she’s back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It’s a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in “Q-Town,” and worth guarding.

For Vandy, that means working plenty of divorce cases. They’re nasty, lucrative, and fun in an unwholesome way. To keep the cash flowing and expand her local contacts, Vandy agrees to take on a new client, the mayor’s nephew, Leo Hannah. Leo wants Vandy to tail his wife to uncover evidence for a divorce suit.

At first the surveillance job seems routine, but Vandy soon realizes there’s trouble beneath the bland surface of the case when a racially charged murder with connections to the Hannah family rocks Q-Town. Fingers point. Clients appear. Opposition to the inquiry hardens. And Vandy’s sight lines begin to blur as her determination to uncover the truth deepens. She’s a minor league PI with few friends and no resources. Logic pegs her chances of solving the case between slim and hell no. But logic isn’t her strong suit. Vandy won’t back off.

About the author:

Born and raised in Chicago, Delia Pitts graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor’s degree in history. After working as a journalist, she earned a Ph.D. in African history from the University of Chicago. She is a former U.S. diplomat and university administrator. After assignments that took her from West Africa to Mexico and from Texas to New Jersey, Delia left academia to begin writing the Ross Agency mysteries about a neighborhood detective firm in contemporary Harlem. Between writing her full-length novels, Delia has also found success with briefer crime fiction. Her short story, “The Killer,” was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Another story, “Talladega 1925,” was published in The Chicago Quarterly Review’s Anthology of Black American Literature.

In 2022, Delia signed a book deal with St. Martin’s Minotaur Books to write her new Queenstown mystery series featuring Black private investigator Vandy Myrick. The first book, Trouble in Queenstown, will be published by Minotaur in summer 2024. Delia is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color. She also serves on the advisory committee for Bouchercon, the mystery and crime fiction community convention.

Delia and her husband live in central New Jersey and have twin sons living in Texas. To learn more about Delia and her books visit her website, deliapitts.com.

Christmas in New York City

by Barb, first post of 2024, first post of the year from Key West

This was the year our kids and their families spend with their in-laws, so Bill and I were on our own. For a lot of good logistical reasons, we planned to spend Christmas in New York City, along with Bill’s sister, and her daughter (who lives there). Then, one by one, the logistical reasons faded away, logistical challenges took their place, and I started to lose my enthusiasm for the idea.

But then, as the days counted down, my mood changed again and I began to get excited.

We arrived in the city on Thursday night, December 22nd. Our hotel was the Tempo by Hilton, just opened in August, right in Times Square. The address was on Broadway, but the hotel was on 47th and 7th. Bill and I spent the hour between 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm driving through massive numbers of people and traffic and blocked off roads trying to find the entrance. Snarky words may have been exchanged between the driver and the passenger (and vice versa).

But then we got there and it was marvelous. The valets know how to unload a car on a busy street and whisked it off. The hotel was bustling with holiday tourists. Our room, typical of Manhattan, “wasn’t big enough to swing a cat.” (Note to cat lovers: This expression is not a reference to an actual cat, but to a cat o’nine tails, a multi-tailed whip used as punishment in the British Army and Navy. Maybe an almost as unpleasant reference, but invariably the expression my mother used to refer to a small hotel room. I carry on her legacy here.) But we looked right over Times Square. (And motorized room-darkening shades when needed.)

The next day, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for no particular reason except that we hadn’t been in quite awhile.

There was a special exhibit on Manet and Degas, a happy find for me because I love to see how creative people influence one another, both contemporaries (as in this case) or across generations.

Bill and I started a new thing in Paris this year. When we return to a museum we’ve been to several times and have seen all the “highlights,” we wander around, without a map or guide, completely lost to see what’s around the next corner. You can stumble across some delightful surprises that way. At one point, we were so lost we had to ask a guard how to get out. He pointed out the way, but then frowned a little and said, “Unless you want to see the Christmas tree. Then go that way.” Did we? Of course.

The tree is surrounded by 130 or so 18th century Neapolitan creche figures. Pretty amazing.

That night we walked around Rockefeller Plaza and the surrounding area.

The spectacular display by Dior on the Saks Fifth Avenue building. The windows were wonderful, too,……including this one of the display above us.Rockefeller Center tree I remember skating here as a child. There was a restaurant downstairs where we would go for hot chocolate afterwards.

The weather was perfect the whole time we were in New York. Cool enough so you remembered it was Christmas, but not cold. None of the nose-reddening, cheek-chapping freezing wind that can happen in the city.

Rockefeller Plaza Christmastime selfie. In 2009, I was working in New York City and lived in an apartment right behind this scene. (If you kept going back through the walkway to 48th Street. I watched the lighting of the Christmas tree from under my bulding’s portico.)

Both Bill’s sister and our niece work jobs with variable schedules and it took a long time to know who would be available to do what, when. By the time we were booking things, there weren’t many tickets to mutually agreeable shows to be found. Finally, I said that for nostalgia reasons going back to my childhood, I would be happy to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, so that is what we did.

We went to a matinee. I thought we might be the only people there without kids. (We weren’t.) I was a little worried when they announced the show was 90 minutes with no intermission but the kids around us were completely entranced and incredibly well behaved. Their gasps of appreciation added to our enjoyment of the show.Dinner at Tavern on the Green.Gingerbread Tavern on the Green. Reminds me of two years ago when I posted about the gingerbread house at the Biltmore estate.

But then, when schedules did solidify, something amazing occurred. A Christmas Eve day matinee of Merrily We Roll Along was added and there were tickets! It felt like it was done especially for us. My niece was convinced it would be all understudies, but the main cast was there.

The mid-century modern set. Very Versatile. The musicians are in the penthouse above.The show was as great as we expected–and I could totally see why it was a flop in 1981.Christmas Eve dinner at a great Italian place in Greenwich Village.And Christmas brunch the next day at La Grande Boucherie

A good time was had by all!

The day after Christmas it was time to get back on the road to wend our way to Key West, stopping to see my brother’s new house in Baltimore and my daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Roanoke along the way.

Readers: Did you do something special or fun over the holidays? Were you on the road? Tell us about it in the comments.

Most photos by Bill Carito. https://www.billcaritophotography.com/

A Wicked Welcome to Mindy Quigley *giveaway*

by Julie, easing into 2024

I moderated a panel at the Midwest Mystery Conference last November. Mindy was on the panel, and in preparation I read her first Deep Dish Mystery. Then I read the second, and the third is on the TBR pile. What a fun series. Welcome to the blog, Mindy!

When I pitched my Deep Dish Mystery series, I wanted to set the books in the birthplace of deep-dish pizza—Chicago. One of the main characters, police detective Calvin Capone, was conceived as the great-grandson of the legendary Chi-town gangster, Al Capone. The series, I proposed, would take place in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, a Capone hangout.

The publisher loved the pitch—the characters, the vibe, Butterball the chonky cat, and the deep-dish pizzas. The only thing they didn’t love was the setting. Cozy mysteries, my editor said, should take place in small, tightly-knit communities where readers can unwind and take a mental vacation. I balked. How could I do a deep-dish murder mystery series without setting it in Chicago? But in order to close the deal, I needed to figure out a new setting, fast.

Enter Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, or “Geneva Bay” as the thinly-disguised locale in my books came to be called.

Lake Geneva is nestled in rolling countryside about 90 minutes’ drive north of Chicago. The Chicago connections are myriad. A big driver of the area’s growth was the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The fire, which urban myth attributes to the errant kick of a lantern by one of Mrs. O’Leary’s cows, killed 300 people.

Although the bovine origin of the fire is almost definitely false, what isn’t disputed is the devastation caused by the blaze. It destroyed more than 3 square miles of the downtown and 100,000 people were left homeless. As parts of the city would be uninhabitable for years after, many of Chicago’s wealthiest families shifted their operations to Lake Geneva. By the time Chicago was back on its feet, the reputation of Lake Geneva as a ritzy resort getaway had been cemented.

One of the well-to-do weekenders was none other than Al Capone, who’d become a billionaire in today’s money by controlling the illegal booze supplies that poured into the Lower 48 from Canada during Prohibition. Capone also ran any number of other criminal enterprises, from brothels to casinos to protection rackets, and the availability of booze underpinned those businesses as well. The vast majority of Chicago’s alcohol came via routes through Michigan and Wisconsin. Lake Geneva and its surroundings proved a convenient pit stop along this smuggling route, and a great place for gangsters like Capone, Baby Face Nelson, and Bugs Moran to lay low when things in the big city got too hot.

Today, the Chicago-Lake Geneva connection is as strong as ever. About 80% of the tourists that the lake’s economy thrives on are visitors from the Windy City.

After I got over my initial reluctance to move the Deep Dish Mysteries out of Chicago, I realized that I could keep all of the Chicago elements I loved (pizza, mobster history, characters’ backstories, etc.) and still make the setting a small town. I hope readers agree that glamourous, idyllic Lake Geneva/Geneva Bay is the perfect place for a murder spree.

PUBLIC ANCHOVY #1 is available now, wherever books are sold.

Readers, answer for your chance to win a print copy of PUBLIC ANCHOVY #1. US winners only. Winner will be chosen by midnight on 1/6/24: Do you like your mysteries served with a side helping of history?

About the Book:

While Geneva Bay’s upper crust gets ready to party down at a Prohibition-themed fundraiser, pizza chef Delilah O’Leary is focused on seeing her struggling restaurant through the winter slow season. The temperature outside is plummeting, but Delilah’s love life might finally be heating up, as hunky police detective Calvin Capone seems poised to (finally) make a move.

But Delilah’s hopes of perfecting a new “free-from” pizza recipe for a charity bash are dashed when a dead body crashes the party. Soon, Capone, Delilah, and her entire staff are trapped in an isolated mansion and embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

To catch an increasingly-desperate killer, Delilah will have to top all of her previous crime-solving accomplishments, and a few pizzas, too.

About the Author:

Mindy Quigley is the author of two cozy mystery series, and her short stories have won awards. Her non-writing career has been stranger than fiction—she worked as the personal assistant to the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep and as project manager for a research clinic founded by J.K. Rowling. She lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Web: https://mindyquigley.com/
Instagram: @minty_fresh_books
Facebook: @mintyfreshbooks

More

Julie’s post about what she wanted for this year – more fun in her life – made me think about what I wanted in my life for this year. Last year was a very fun year for me. As I’ve mentioned before, my husband retired, and we spent a lot of time traveling.

Last year started and ended in the Florida Panhandle and it did this year too. Seeing family, new places, and long-time friends made me want more of that for this year. Below: I got to see Barb and Jessie in New Hampshire. Christine (the Wickeds Australian friend) in Colorado, sorority sisters in Missouri, and many others as we traveled.

Fortunately, the world is handing the family part of that to me today. Our daughter flew to Florida yesterday. And I know we will get to see friends who we were stationed with as well.

Nature – I saw a lot of beautiful sunsets across the country and a few sunrises. Along with seeing birds, deer, mountain sheep, dolphins and so much more. Maybe this will be my year to see a bear — from a safe distance!

Writing – after almost a year off from writing, except for writing one short story, (I needed a break) I’ve written half of a new novel. The idea for this book has been floating around in my head for a long time. I love the main character and her family. I hope to finish and sell it before the end of the year. I have so many more ideas and partially started projects floating around in my head or on my computer that there isn’t time to write them all. Picking the next one will be fun.

Walking – the app on my phone says I walked more this year than last year. I want that trend to continue.

Reading – I probably average a book a week – sometimes more if it’s really good – sometimes less if it’s a slog. (I do quit reading if I don’t like a book. Why is that so hard?) I’d like to branch out more. I usually read thrillers, mysteries, a bit of women’s fiction, and romance. If you have ideas for me, drop them in the comments.

Readers: What do you wish for more of this year?

Looking Forward To . . . Books

In an effort to get 2024 off to a great start, this month we’re going to talk about what we’re looking forward to this year. According to the Cambridge dictionary, looking forward means “to feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen.”

Wickeds, we have so many talented friends, and are also fans. What books are you looking forward to this year?

Edith/Maddie: I can’t wait to read Edwin Hill’s newest, Who to Believe, which will be out in three weeks (and catch him here on the blog on January 18). Keep Your Family Close, Annette Dashofy’s second Detective Honeywell mystery is out in ebook, with paperback coming along soon. I love Rhys Bowen’s historical Molly Murphy series, and In Sunshine or Shadow drops in March. Leslie Karst debuts a new series in April with Molten Death, and Ellen Byron does the same with A Very Woodsy Murder in July. But today I am having cataract surgery, so my reading for the next couple of weeks will be via audiobook, starting with Victoria Thompson’s latest Counterfeit Lady historical, City of Betrayal.

Sherry: Of course I’m looking forward to all of the books by the Wickeds coming out this year. I’m really excited to read Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett. I’ve loved her other books and have been hearing about this one since she had the original idea. I’m also looking forward to Everyone On This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. It’s the follow up to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. The first one was very quirky so I’m interested to see what happens on the train. And it’s about murder mystery writers.

Liz: All of the above! There’s a new Tana French book coming out in 2024, which I’m super excited about – The Hunter. I am a huge fan of hers and it’s been a while since she’s had a new one. There’s also a new Finlay Donovan book coming out – Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice. I love this series!

Julie: All of the above as well. My list is getting longer and longer. Delia Pitts has a new series debut this July, Trouble in Queenstown. She’ll be on the blog later this month to give away an ARC. I’m looking forward to the sequel to Kimberly Giarratano’s Death of a Dancing Queen, Devil in Profile, coming out in September. Amina Ahktar’s Almost Surely Dead comes out February 1, and is a Kindle first read this month. I became a rabid Mary Russell fan this past fall, having listened to all of the books. I can’t wait for Laurie R. King’s next installment, The Lantern’s Dance, due out mid-February. And Deanna Raybourn is giving us another Veronica Speedwell this March, A Grave Robbery.

Barb: In 2024 I want to read more and read more out of my genres. I’m feeling pretty good about that goal, because I started doing it in the latter part of 2023, so I come into the year with some momentum. Part of reading more widely has meant following up on recommendations from friends and family. Right now I’m reading a book for a blurb, but I’m looking forward to Brother of the More Famous Jack, recommended by my sister-in-law and Hello Beautiful, recommended by my daughter. Like Liz, I have the new Tana French book on preorder. That’s a good example of following up on recommendations from friends. Liz raved about her books for years, and I always thought, “Those sound good. I’ll read them someday.” Then I did, and they were fantastic!

Jessie: I loved reading your lists, ladies! I am looking forward to a novel that released at the end of November that I just haven’t read yet. I loved The Maid by Nita Prose and I am itching to get to her latest, The Mystery Guest. The protagonist is simply delightful, and I am eager to catch up on all her news!

Readers, what books are you looking forward to this year? Writers, let us know about your 2024 releases in the comments.

The Games Afoot

by Julie, ringing in 2024

I don’t love the idea of “resolutions” per se, but I do enjoy thinking about how I’d like to feel about 2024 on December 31, 2024, and what I can do to get there.

One thing I’d like more of in 2024? Fun.

I work full time and also write. Balancing the two is always challenging, and I’ve found that “doing nothing” time is difficult for me. As a writer, reading is seldom a relief from my writing brain, though I do enjoy reading or listening to books every day. And then thinking about how the author did what they did, why and how it worked (or didn’t), and what I could use for my own writing. Even taking a walk means that characters and plot points visit. I can’t stop working.

So I’ve set a challenge for myself in 2024. How can I have more fun? I’ve come up with a list.

Puzzles

A friend gave me an Agatha Christie puzzle. I also have a Jane Austen puzzle. Both are large, so during the holidays making space was challenging. But the plan for the new year is to make the space, and work on the puzzles.

Cribbage

My grandfather taught me how to play cribbage, and my sister and I have started playing when we see each other. She also suggested an app for my phone, which has been helpful at getting rid of counting cobwebs. There are other games that are fun, but cribbage is active while also social.

Painting

I’ve written about my forays into painting before. Fun, but I’m not great at it. How about if I let go of perfectionism, and paint for fun? What a concept.

Knitting/Needlework

I love to knit. While it doesn’t shut my writing brain down, combined with listening to a book or music, I find it very relaxing. I’m knitting afghans for folks, so the projects are bulky but satisfying.

Evidoozle

Friend of the Wickeds and fellow author Sharon Daynard and her husband developed an online game during the pandemic, Evidoozle. According to Sharon, “Basically, it’s an evidence board that’s solved in reverse. Instead of seemingly random collage of media on an evidence board and the items are linked together with string to mark connections, in Evidoozle the strings are different colored lines on the evidence board and the player has to place playing cards in the correct spaces along those lines based on relationship they have to the line. For example, pink lines join card pairs, green lines connects sequential cards of the same suit, etc.”

Every day they feature a book cover from a different crime novel, giving authors a unique opportunity to promote their book. Again, from Sharon: “the idea was to provide a fun and challenging game for players and a venue other than the traditional social media, blog, book signings to promote their books.”

You can play the game at evidoozle.com. Happily, there are tutorials and practice boards.

Physical Activity

My days of running are over. My knees are wonky, and I have some residual Covid fatigue. That said, getting out and about is a tonic. Walks alone, or with friends. I went axe throwing with friends recently–a surprisingly fun way to spend an evening. I haven’t bowled in years, but am going soon. Yoga classes are in the offing. Dance breaks during the day. Pickleball intrigues me. I don’t take being able to do things lightly, and plan on enjoying moving this year.

Readers, are you good at having fun?

Happy New Year!

Dear Readers,

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! We are so grateful that you’ll spend part of it with us!

This month we’ll be “looking forward” to 2024, while also celebrating the present. Here’s hoping today is a restful one,

The Wickeds

Saying Goodbye to 2023

Thanks for spending another year with the Wickeds! Wickeds, share a memory of something good that happened to you this year.

Julie: What a great question, Sherry. For me it’s the quiet moments that were good this year. Spending precious time with family. Finding new series to enjoy. Having fun writing. Seeing the Wickeds at various times.

Jessie: I’ve had several lovely experiences this year. I went on two trips with dear friends that were enormously fun. I also got to witness one of my sons as he graduated from a program he had long dreamed of being a part of. And, I spent many hours over the summer hill walking with my youngest and often my dog, Sam. All of those opportunities led to good conversations and strengthened relationships.

Liz: I had some great experiences this year also. I got to go to San Diego twice, which was amazing, and I took a quick trip to London, visited many bookstores and saw an Agatha Christie play. I also got my first tattoo (better late than never!) and of course, got to walk on the beach every day with my dogs. I am blessed!

Barb: Bill and I had a great year. We began with our usual 3 months in Key West, followed by a fun home renovation, a solo visit from our ten-year-old granddaughter, a week at the beach, a three-week trip to France and Spain, and then having our kids, their spouses and their kids here for a terrific Thanksgiving weekend. We’re off to New York City for Christmas and then on to Key West. Happy New Year to our blog readers! I’m so looking forward to 2024.

Edith/Maddie: I’m sensing a theme here of travel and family, and I can easily chime in on that. I kicked off the year with my son John David’s Puerto Rico wedding to the talented and lovely Alexandra. Malice was great (other than passing on COVID to a couple of extended family members after the con), as was Bouchercon in San Diego. Then I launched a new series with fabulous book events in northern California along with cousin visits, all happening as I became a grandmother for the first time! I had to then head out to Phoenix to meet sweet tiny Ida Rose and hang out with her devoted parents. And I followed that trip by a pre-scheduled return to Puerto Rico to visit with John David and Alex and give my Spanish a good workout speaking with her family. Wishing happy trips and family visits in 2024 to all our wonderful readers.

Sherry: My husband retired in the summer of 2022 and we spent a lot of this year traveling. We saw family, made some new friends, and saw lots of longtime, dear friends. One of our happiest days was in Cheyenne, Wyoming where we went down memory lane of where we met, married, and lived along with seeing a friend who was with me the night I met Bob. She claims I said I’d never date him. Ha! And we also saw our maid-of-honor. We saw the beauty of mountains, plains, lakes, and oceans–all beautiful in their own ways. We ranked beaches by their walkability. We were blessed to spend that time with so many people we love.

Readers: What is something good that happened to you this year?