Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 29

Molly and Penny’s Christmas Update

By Liz, back in Book Jail

Happy between-holiday week! While you’re all making New Year’s plans, I’m wrapping up Cat Cafe #8 – also known as Shock and Paw (cute, right?). And since I’m a little busy, the dogs decided to come on in and give you all an update on their lives. Five years ago they took over the blog to tell you about our first Christmas together. (That’s when Penny was still Wizzy, the name the rescue sent her with!) They wanted to let you know how it’s going. Take it away, girls!

How it started…

Molly: Hang on, I’m ripping the blinds off the door to try to get the roller blader guy—seriously, who roller blades in the winter? Penny, you go first.

Penny: Who would’ve thought you’d get in more trouble than me for barking, Molly? Things have changed around here! Anyways, hi, everyone! The last time you heard from us, we were about to get a trainer and get our butts whipped into shape. I’m not sure that happened exactly, but Mom says we’re much more well-behaved. Actually she says I am. I only go Tasmanian devil-level crazy every now and then instead of, like, every five minutes. Although I do still try to attack every dog I see on TV. 

Molly: That’s because you had the worst behavior in the first place. I’m just scared of everything, which admittedly makes me a little nutty sometimes. But I do love the beach! We get to walk on it every day. I love the sand and it’s nice and quiet. 

Penny: Except for those seagulls. I’m gonna get them someday, I swear. But otherwise, I love it. I get to dig holes and throw sand around and jump on Molly. She’s not that great at playing, but I try.

Molly: That’s not playing, that’s being annoying. Anyway, we really like it here at the beach. And we get to sit on the balcony when it’s nice out and bark at everyone.

Penny: Yeah, you’re really freakin’ loud, Molly. Like, worse than me. 

Molly: Well, no one’s perfect. And what else are we gonna do besides sit at the door and bark? We have no more cat friends to play with.

Penny: Yeah, no more cats to chase around and steal their food. It’s really a bummer. Mom needs to get more cats. Mom? 

Molly: Yeah, Mom? More cats, please. I miss cleaning out the litter box for you. 

Penny: I think she’s ignoring us. She’s so boring when she’s trying to write books. She hasn’t even played ball with me in days. 

Molly: Jeez. It’s always all about you. She took the time to go get us the fancy cookies from the fancy bakery for Christmas. And raincoats! We got raincoats. They’re pink and so pretty! I love mine. 

Penny: The raincoats are stupid. I hate wearing clothes…

How it’s going

Happy holidays from all of us! What was your favorite memory this year? Tell us in the comments!

Celebrating Releases with Holiday Music

We are celebrating the release of Deep Fried Murder by Maddie/Edith set at Memorial Day and the mass market paperback release of Irish Coffee Murder set at St. Patrick’s Day, which includes Barbara’s novella Perked Up.

From patriotic songs for Memorial Day to Irish songs on St. Patrick’s Day, many holidays include music. Do you have a favorite holiday song?

Julie: Congratulations to Barb and Edith/Maddie! Holiday songs are laden with meaning as life progresses, aren’t they? Choosing one, I’d say “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Such a simple song that can make me weep, yet fill me up with warm memories.

Jessie: Congratulations Barb and Edith! I love most versions of “What Child Is This?” because it is set to one of my favorite tunes, that of Greensleeves. I also adore the perhaps now considered a bit creepy song Baby It’s Cold Outside as covered by Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart.

Sherry: Woo-hoo Barb and Edith! More books for us to read! I love Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. If I’m thinking of St. Patrick’s Day Oh, Danny Boy sure gets to me every time I hear it.

Liz: Congrats Barb and Edith! Yay! Can’t wait for the books. I love “The Christmas Song” by Bing Crosby – it reminds me of childhood Christmases when my dad was alive.

Edith/Maddie: Thank you all! Since my new book is set on Memorial Day weekend, I need to go with parade music. I know some have militaristic overtones, but I love a rousing band number played outdoors with people marching in step. I don’t know if “Seventy-Six Trombones” is actually played in parades, but it’s about one, so that gets my vote.

Barb: Thanks, everybody! Jessie, I am not on the whole Baby It’s Cold Outside-is-a-terrible-song bandwagon. Every interpretation I’ve ever heard makes it clear the woman is completely in on the joke. The objections assume women never have agency and are always victims –and, and, don’t get me stahted. (As we say in New England.) Anyway, on a slight tangent (another tangent?) my daughter texted sometime in early November, “What’s that Christmas song that’s a man and a woman singing back and forth?” and Bill and I are, of course, “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” No, no, no, she says. More recent. From the eighties. Finally she comes back, “Oh yeah. Fairytale of New York by the Pogues.” Bill and I listen to it and both swear we’ve never heard it before. Which is odd since it’s a hugely popular song, a Christmas favorite in the UK and Ireland–from whence cometh most of our entertainment. In fairness to me, I gave birth to two kids in the eighties and the whole decade is a blur. Anyway, it was one of those things where you’ve never heard of something and suddenly it’s everywhere. Clearly, I had been living under a rock. Then on November 30, Shane MacGowan, the lead singer and co-writer of the song died. At his funeral, Glen Hansard, the remaining Pogues, and other musicians did a rousing version (the song is rousing in the first place), which I have been watching on YouTube in a loop. Now my YouTube algorithm is completely %^& and I hear the song in my head all day long.

Readers: Do you have a favorite holiday song?

Double Release Day!

Edith/Maddie here, coasting after Christmas into another book birthday.

Deep Fried Death releases today, as does the paperback version of Irish Coffee Murder, which includes Barb’s novella “Perked Up.” I’m delighted to share the book birthday with Barb. But she’s on route to warmer climes today and turned the post over to me.

Deep Fried Death is my twelfth Country Store Mystery, which kind of boggles the mind. Last winter when I was writing the story, I was casting around for an event to anchor it on. Ongoing fans of the series know that my fictional town of South Lick isn’t far from Nashville (not THAT Nashville), the county seat of Brown County, Indiana.

As you can see by the cover, a goofy outhouse is involved. I had read about Nashville’s Abe Martin Festival, which includes an outhouse race called Nashcar. It’s all in good fun, and a fake outhouse seemed like an excellent place to stash a body.

But who was Abe Martin? According to Wikipedia:

Abe Martin was an American newspaper gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Kin Hubbard and published from 1904 until 1937 in The Indianapolis News and other newspapers. Abe Martin was an anti-hero character, making wisecracker jokes and uttering sayings which became popular over the country. He made his first appearance on December 17, 1904. Originally the character’s locality wasn’t specified, but in a strip from February 3, 1905, he announced: “I’m goin’ ter move ter Brown County Tewmorrow”, which he did.

(Photos are public domain from Wikimedia Commons.)

My father and his family were from Indiana, going back to my great-great-great grandfather, the founder of Indiana University, who moved into the territory from Kentucky around 1810.

I remember Daddy and my grandfather occasionally putting on a folksy accent and citing Abe Martin.

Here’s a saying from the Irvington Historical Society‘s collection: “I wuz out t’ th’ poor farm yisterday t’ see a feller that used to print a paper that pleased ever’buddy.”

I did more research so I could include a scene in Deep Fried Death with Robbie Jordan’s staff joking around ala Abe Martin.

I smiled at Turner. “Abe Martin was a Hoosier cartoon character drawn by an artist and journalist named Kin Hubbard more than a hundred years ago. Abe, who ostensibly was from Brown County, doled out folksy wisdom often mixed in with political commentary.”

“Like, ‘Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature,’ for example.” Danna spoke in her best twang.

“Or, ‘Flattery won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it,’” I added.

A few more: “You can’t stop a thing by making a crime out of it.” “Nobuddy kin talk as interestin as th’ feller that’s not hampered by facts er information.” “The feller that agrees with ever’thing you say is either a fool er he’s gittin ready to skin ya.”

So my new book is a bit of an homage to my Maxwell roots. But who stuffed a dead body into the Pans ‘N Pancakes outhouse? You’ll have to read the new book to find out! I hope you enjoy the story in this calm post-holiday period.

Readers: Share your favorite folksy saying or proverb.

Merry Christmas!

I thought I’d share some of my vintage Christmas postcards that were given to me by a friend.

Here is the back of this one. I love the penmanship and that it says Nicetown Station.

I love the greeting: Many happy years, unbroken friendships, and cheerful recollections.

I picked this one for its unusual color scheme. Its postmark is from 1906!

The next two surprised me because they use Xmas instead of Christmas. I had no idea Xmas was used in the early 1900s, but with a little research found out it appeared as early as the mid-1500s. The first is postmarked 1913 and the second 1910.

The last card seems British to me because they usually say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas.

Dear readers no matter the holiday, the Wickeds wish you a wonderful one!

Welcome Back, Author Devon Delaney

by Barb, currently touristing somewhere in New York City

Today, Devon Delaney is here to celebrate her new book, Serving Up Spite, the eighth book in her Cook-Off Mystery series.

Doesn’t that cover look tempting?

Welcome, Devon!

From an early age, I was a firm believer that everything I needed to know to live a productive life, I learned in the kitchen. Wink, wink. I did learn many life skills in the kitchen, thanks to shadowing my father while he cooked. From about age 5, I could manage several skills I’d otherwise be too young to master. Measuring, weights, math, decision-making, common sense applications are just the tip of the culinary skills iceberg. As I got older, I realized kitchen skills can only take you so far in life. The smarts I couldn’t obtain in the kitchen, I researched. That was a life skill I have found invaluable in writing my cooking competition cozy murder mystery series.

For my latest book in the series, Serving Up Spite, I wanted to take the readers on a journey to Iceland and teach them about their people’s cuisine. I researched Icelandic food traditions and culture. What I found was Iceland has a fascinating culinary culture beyond fish and, well, more fish. The results of the research took on a life of their own. As the facts unfolded the concept began to drive the plot. No spoilers, but did you know rotten shark is a delicacy up there? Not a haphazard decision to feature the pungent flesh in my book’s plot, it was a necessity. Can’t tell you why, sorry. When food preparation is more of a survival technique than a choice, I’m on board to dig deeper. I’d struck gold in my search for a captivating addition to my cooking competition mystery. I wove the culture into the plot in order to expose motives, culprits and, most importantly, the layers of my characters’ strengths and weaknesses.

My kitchen life lessons have come full circle. From humble beginnings, playing sous-chef to my father while he prepared dinner, to the studying the world’s kitchens, I continue to be astonished by what can be learned. The world’s kitchens and the home cooks who toil in them are the best classrooms and teachers I can ask for. Browse around the food world and do some research on why the cuisines are what they are, and you’ll agree.

Readers: What would you say is a life skill you learned while cooking in your kitchen?

Happy Holidays, everyone! May the New Year be filled with cozy moments of killer fun!

Barb again: Since this is our last post before Christmas Day, I’ll add my warmest wishes for you and yours as well.

About Serving Up Spite

With international cuisine on the menu for her next cook-off, Sherry Oliveri experiments with one dish after another looking for that perfect killer recipe. But her competitive drive gets put on the back burner when her friend Patti calls in a panic: her new boyfriend has vanished, and signs of foul play suggest he may have been killed. Then the police begin investigating the disappearance as a murder, and they’ve got Patti pegged as the main suspect.

Still, the man’s body has yet to be found. Slipping out of her apron and into her sleuthing cap, she learns that the man had numerous issues. Did he fake his own death to get out of a jam? Determined to find the truth and get her friend off the hook, Sherry follows the clues until one final surprise brings her face-to-face with a killer. 

About Devon Delaney

Devon Delaney is life-long resident of the Northeast and currently resides in coastal Connecticut. She is a wife, mother of three, grandmother of two and accomplished cooking contester. She taught computer education and Lego Robotics for over ten years prior to pursuing writing. Along the way Devon has been handsomely rewarded for her recipe innovation over the last twenty-plus years. Combining Devon’s beloved hobby of cooking contesting with her enthusiasm for writing was inevitable.

When Devon is not preparing for her next cook-off, she may be found pursuing her other hobbies, including playing competitive USTA league tennis, gardening, needlepointing, painting, jarring her produce, and hooking rugs. Her standard poodle, Rocket, is her pride and joy and keeps her on the path of sanity. 

Genre Hopping with Tara Laskowski

I’m thrilled to welcome Tara Laskowski to the blog. She’s a friend, sort of neighbor, an amazing writer, and person. If you ever get a chance to be on a panel with her or here her on one, jump on it! We are celebrating the release of her latest book The Weekend Retreat.

Name (s) Tara Laskowski

Genre(s) suspense/thriller

What drew you to the genre you write?

I like the creepy. But I don’t want to write super violent things. I like the subtle things that scare us. The creaks, the bumps, the flash of a shadow we can’t quite find. The unexplained stuff that gives us shivers.

What sets your book apart from what is out there?

This is a tough question! The Weekend Retreat is kind of along the lines of the “locked-room-style” thrillers, where a small group of people get trapped somewhere and bad things happen. A lot of these seem to be set on islands, or on top of wintery mountains. But in visiting wineries—and always losing cell service as we loop our way up small remote roads—it occurred to me that a winery would be a great place for this locked-room style book. Cell service is spotty, sometimes only one road provides access in and out, there are lots of places to hide… So that’s what I did!

Also, the ‘research’ involved in writing a book in which the characters drink copious amounts of wine was VERY difficult, as you can imagine.

What are you currently writing?

I’m currently working on my fourth standalone novel of suspense. I’ve just started it, so everything is new and fun and the possibilities are endless! But soon I will be at that stage where I question everything about it and run into all the roadblocks and plot problems. So I should enjoy this stage while it lasts, right?

Do you write a series or standalones? Why?

I write standalones. I guess I don’t really know why exactly, that’s just what I do. I think there’s something exciting about starting new with a whole new set of characters and situation, though the world-building and character development is so hard!

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m bingeing a lot of wintery suspense books like Shiver by Allie Reynolds. Maybe it’s because we’re hitting prime cold weather season and I like to be inside with my sweaters and my fireplace and a warm bourbon while characters run around outside in the snow dodging killers and making trouble.

What is your favorite deadline snack?

I’m always scrounging around in the kitchen for salty things. Tortilla chips with salsa, kettle chips, popcorn. I’m hungry typing this!

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto?

Whenever I get in my ‘comparing myself to others’ mood, I try to remind myself that every writer has a different journey.

Favorite writing space?

I’m boring. I like my office. It’s a cluttered mess, but it’s all my favorite stuff. And I have a space heater. And candles. And it’s as quiet as I want it to be. And occasionally, my cats will nose their way in and beg to be picked up.

What do you see when you look up from writing?

Bookshelves. Creepy dolls. And beautiful, tall, swaying trees in my backyard.

Readers: What gives you the creeps?

Bio:

Tara Laskowski

TARA LASKOWSKI is the author of the suspense novels The Mother Next Door and One Night Gone, which won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award. Her third novel The Weekend Retreat will be published in December 2023. She also wrote two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders. She has won the Agatha Award and Thriller Award for her short fiction and was the longtime editor of the online flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. She lives in Virginia with her husband, crime writer Art Taylor, and their son Dashiell.

Follow her on Instagram @TaraLWrites

http://www.taralaskowski.com

Newsletter: https://taralaskowski.substack.com/

Favorites in Music

Music has always had a big impact in my life from listening to rock on a transistor radio to going to symphonies. Do you have a favorite group or artist? What about your first or favorite concert?

Julie: I have lots of answers to this. I love going to listen to classical music, and have heard Yo Yo Ma play Bach, a sublime experience. I’ve attended Messiah sing alongs at Trinity Church that will always be a favorite memory. I remember listening to Bohemian Rhapsody on my round transistor radio, and falling in love with Queen. Over the past forty-three years I’ve seen Springsteen more than a dozen times. Lots of different choices here, but they all can be added to my favorite list.

Edith/Maddie: First concert has an easy answer for me: the Beatles! They played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on August 28, 1966 when I was thirteen. My two older sisters and I were huge fans and knew we wanted to see them live. Tickets were wildly expensive at six dollars a seat (I know…), but we three, plus a friend each, came up with the funds. Even though my oldest sister had her driver’s license, our dad volunteered to drive us all in the Rambler station wagon from our Pasadena-area suburb . During the concert, he sat in the car and caught up on his reading. We screamed and also despaired of hearing the music because of all the other screamers. Seeing the Beatles live was, if not life-changing, a major moment in my young life as a music-loving girl.

Sherry: I love that you saw the Beatles, Edith! I’ve heard other people say they couldn’t hear them because of all the screaming. My first concert was also my first date. It was a double date and we went to see the groups Sugarloaf (Green-Eyed Lady was a big hit) and Crow (who sang Evil Woman). I’m still friends with the boy I went on the date with and the other boy (well, they are both men now). And whenever we are together we talk about that experience.

Barb: My first concert was a bust. The Strawberry Alarm Clock in Kingston, PA. The band was fine, though I don’t remember a single song beyond Incense and Peppermints, but the arena was mostly empty. My mother made me go and take friends because it was a fundraiser for the Junior League. (Talk about a mismatch of sponsor and act! No wonder the arena was empty.) I sat there resentfully thought the whole thing. Luckily, as an adult I have been to many wonderful concerts with acts large-the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Billy Joel and Elton John– and small, so the whole concert format has redeemed itself in my experience.

Jessie: I have two favorite music experiences and they are both related to home. Two years ago my youngest son gave me a Christmas gift of a pair of high-quality headphones and a dev-amp. I listen to masters of recordings I love through the streaming service Tidal and it is enchanting! It almost sounds like the artist is singing directly into my ears. The effect is especially convincing on old recordings where the quality had not yet become so polished. I’m listening to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong as I type this! My other favorite experience is to listen to jazz, Parisian cafe music, or bossa nova out on the patio or in the screen house during the warm months. The sound of outdoor speakers carries on the wind and our nearest neighbor has commented how much she enjoys the music I generally play on Sundays as I sip coffee and plan out the upcoming week.

Liz: My first concert was Whitesnake…and my friend and I had to be escorted by my father because we were like, twelve. But, it was awesome. Those were my hair metal days. After that, in my twenties, I became obsessed with the Goo Goo Dolls and have been seeing them in concert for about 27 years. They make me so happy and I love their music. But also like Jessie I love jazz and cafe music out on the deck during summer, even just at night when I want to chill with some tea and a book.

Readers: How about you? Favorite group or artist? Favorite concert?

So Hard to Say Goodbye with Guest Olivia Matthews

Brrrr! The temperature has dropped from the fifties to the thirties in just two days! But it’s perfect for welcoming back Olivia Matthews and her Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries because who doesn’t want something warm and spicy in this weather! Olivia is here to celebrate the release of Coconut Drop Dead on December 26. Yes, we all have to wait a week but it is up for pre-order!

Olivia: I want to thank The Wickeds Blog authors for inviting me back to spend today with your community. It’s always such a pleasure hanging out here.

I talked about my Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries during my last visit. The stories are centered around the Murrays, a multi-generational West Indian American family who opens a bakery in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The main family members are:

Lyndsay, our baker lead amateur sleuth,Her older brother, Devon,Her parents, Cedella and Jacob,Her maternal grandmother, Genevieve Bain.

Aunts, uncles and cousins are regularly added to the mix. We get to know the bakery’s regular customers and all their moods. And there are two homicide detectives who turn up the heat on the investigations: Lyndsay’s high school crush and current love interest, Bryce Jackson, and his partner, Stanley Milner.

Against the Currant is the first book in the trilogy. Hard Dough Homicide is the second. Both are available now. Coconut Drop Dead is the last book in the trilogy. It releases Dec. 26, 2023.

I’ve enjoyed writing this trilogy and sharing some of my West Indian culture—food, music, colloquialisms and folklore—through the stories. Now I’m in what traditional publishing insiders call “limbo.” Will the publisher want additional Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries or will I have to say goodbye to the Murrays?

This is always such a tense, bittersweet time. My previous cozy mystery series—Sister Lou Mysteries and the Peach Coast Library Mysteries—ended before I was ready to say goodbye. In Sister Lou, I’d wanted Chris and Shari to at least get engaged if not married. And in my Peach Coast Library Mysteries, I’d wanted to solve the cold case I’d referenced in the first book, Murder by Page One.

What cozy mystery series do you believe ended too soon? Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to reading them.

About the Author

Olivia Matthews is the mystery pseudonym of best-selling author Patricia Sargeant. She’s written the Sister Lou, Peach Coast Library and Spice Isle Bakery mysteries. National publications such as Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, Suspense Magazine, Mystery Scene Magazine, Library Journal and Book Riot have reviewed Patricia’s work.

Website: https://PatriciaSargeant.com

Twitter: @BooksByPatricia

Facebook: @AuthorPatriciaSargeant

Coconut Drop Dead: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery, Book 3

By Olivia Matthews

This case is going to be a tough nut to crack.

Brooklyn’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Festival is finally here, and Spice Isle Bakery is thrilled to be one of the event’s food vendors. After all, the Murrays have been attending the festival for years. Co-owner Lyndsay Murray hopes their West Indian pastries and finger foods draw people back to the bakery in Little Caribbean. She’s looking forward to having fun, connecting with customers, and celebrating with her family.

The day’s festivities are cut short when Camille, lead singer of an up-and-coming reggae band, dies. The police think it may be a tragic accident. But Lyndsay’s cousin Manny was close to Camille, and he believes someone cut her life short. Now Manny needs Lyndsay’s help to make sure a killer faces the music.

Buy link: https://bit.ly/48bkOLy

Cover Reveal-Murder at an English Seance

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the mood is festive even though the holidays are green rather than white!

Today I’ve decided it is the right time to share the cover for the next Beryl and Edwina mystery, Murder at an English Seance. What do you think of this one?

And here’s the back cover copy:

American adventuress Beryl Halliwell and prim and proper Brit Edwina Davenport team up once again as enquiry agents to investigate a suspicious psychic in this historical English village mystery set just after World War I.

Hidden beneath her British reserve, Edwina has a secret: she’s finished her novel and is bravely mailing the manuscript to a publisher. Beryl also has a secret: as thanks for solving a case, the American adventuress has been gifted an airplane. After swooping over the fields and hedgerows of Walmsley Parva, livestock scattering beneath her, she flamboyantly lands the plane on the village green, prompting a startled Edwina to consider a stiff gin fizz.
 
Beryl’s aircraft is not the only disruption of village peace. Miss Dinsdale, a psychic medium, has started holding séances. After the church organist resigns to serve as musical accompaniment for the séances, the vicar’s wife hires the enquiry agents to expose the medium as a charlatan. Beryl is confident she can spot the fraud, having learned from Harry Houdini himself some tricks of the trade. The dubious Miss Dinsdale claims her spirit guide is an Egyptian princess whose mummy resides in a sarcophagus in the room. But the only body in the sarcophagus belongs to a murdered villager impaled with a dagger.
 
As the sleuths begin to investigate, Beryl discovers her plane has been sabotaged and wonders if there’s a connection. Whether in the air or on terra firma, Beryl and Edwina must go round a circle of suspects to divine the culprit . . .

I had a great deal of fun imagining my sleuths at a seance as well as buzzing above their bucolic village in a 1920s airplane. I would venture to say that both Beryl and I had a good time with this story! It is available now for preorder and will be released on June 25, 2024. I hope that you will enjoy their rollicking adventure as much as Beryl did!

Readers, are you a daredevil like Beryl or more of a homebody like Edwina? Are you some of each depending on the situation?

Loving Those Jane Austen Adaptations — Welcome Celeste Connally!

Welcome back, Celeste Connally aka S.C. Perkins! I am so happy she’s here to celebrate the release of a first in a new series, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord!

Celeste: One of the perks of writing historical mysteries is that I can legitimately re-watch my favorite Jane Austen adaptations for the umpteenth time and call it research. (Not that I ever had any shame in said umpteen viewings, but still. “Research” sounds so much better, yes?)

Whether they be movies or TV miniseries, I love historical dramas in general, but my favorites are those taking on Austen’s few, but brilliant, novels. Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, I love them all.

Well, OK, let’s get this out of the way:  Mansfield Park is my least favorite—and appears to be most people’s—and it’s the one adaptation of her six finished novels that I’ve only watched twice, and not recently.

In its place, however, I have watched the PBS series adaptation of Austen’s partially finished novel, Sanditon, and more than once. At first, I wasn’t the biggest fan, but once I stopped thinking of it as not anywhere as good as any of the other Austen miniseries and just let myself enjoy the Regency-era story and the performances, I really got into it. Though I realize I may be in the minority here…

Nevertheless, it was watching these adaptations during the pandemic—along with others such as Bridgerton—that gave me the idea for my mystery set in the Regency era and featuring the daughter of an earl who becomes an amateur sleuth after she shockingly decides to remain unmarried.

As it was Austen’s Emma Woodbridge and her initial desire to remain unmarried who was one of the inspirations for my main character of Lady Petra Forsyth, of course that meant I needed to watch my two favorite adaptations of Emma again. One being the 2009 miniseries starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller—the former who is a delightful Emma, and the latter who is my favorite Mr. Knightly. The other being the 1996 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, who showcased Emma’s big-hearted yet spoiled nature to utter perfection (and that is a movie-related hill I am willing to defend).

Then, of course, it was important to have excellent visuals of dresses, hairstyles, houses, furnishings, carriages, and every other little Regency thing you can think of, so that merited watching Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility again. Various adaptations of both novels have merit, of course, but I’m firmly a fan of the 1995 miniseries starring Colin Firth, and the 1995 movie starring Emma Thompson. Neither could have been made better, in my opinion. And is there any actor who can show so much emotion in his eyes whilst looking Regency-single-man-in-possession-of-a-good-fortune haughty better than Colin Firth? Really, I think not.

But when it came to steadfast love and heartbreak, for me, it’s Persuasion. And for me, the 1995 version starring Ciarán Hinds and Amanda Root cannot be matched. She was the perfect Anne Elliot, and he was the most dashing Captain Wentworth. That scene at the end where she slides her hand into his is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen! The only actor who’s ever matched Hinds in playing Wentworth is Rupert Penry-Jones in the 2007 PBS movie version. Seriously swoon-worthy and played stoically lovesick well, both of them.

What’s clear to me is that half of why I re-watch these adaptations with such gusto are the handsome men, and I’m completely fine with that. Bring on the “research,” I say!

Readers, which Jane Austen adaptation is your favorite?

Author bio:

Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee, and a former freelance writer and editor. A lifelong devotee of historical novels and adaptations fueled by her passion for history—plus weekly doses of PBS Masterpiece—Celeste loves reading and writing about women from the past who didn’t always do as they were told.

You can also find Celeste on Instagram and Facebook at @celesteconnallyauthor and at www.celesteconnally.com

Buy links:

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/act-like-a-lady-think-like-a-lord-celeste-connally/19473490?ean=9781250867551

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/act-like-a-lady-think-like-a-lord-celeste-connally/1143870209?ean=9781250867551

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Like-Lady-Think-Petra-Inquires/dp/125086755X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LWHL6QW95EV0&keywords=act+like+a+lady%2C+think+like+a+lord&qid=1699489421&sprefix=act+like+a+lady%2C+%2Caps%2C520&sr=8-1