Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 30

Maine Clambake Mysteries at the Governor’s Mansion

by Barb, home in Maine where it looks a lot like Christmas

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Pam Johnson, a member of the Kennebec Valley Garden Club. The club decorates the Maine Governor’s Mansion, known as Blaine House, every holiday season. This year the decoration theme was Maine authors, and Pam had chosen my novella, “Nogged Off” from Eggnog Murder for her decorations. Could I send along a book?

Could I? Of course. And then, reader, I couldn’t resist. I signed Bill and me up for a tour. After all, how often do these things happen in your lifetime? I was so eager that I initially signed us up for a tour of the Governor’s Mansion in Augusta, Georgia instead of Augusta, Maine. Bill pointed out my mistake when the email confirmation arrived.

I don’t know what I expected. I had some vague notions about a lot of Stephen King, and maybe writer pals Paul Doiron and Julia Spencer-Fleming would be included? I could let them know and send photos. It would be fun.

When we got there, it wasn’t that at all. But it was wonderful.

I found myself included with some of the greatest and most famous American authors of all time. I was honored, flattered, and a little bit embarrassed. But not so embarrassed that I’m not going to tell you all about it.

Just these writers (among others)

Robert McCloskeyE. B. WhiteEdna St. Vincent MillaySarah Orne JewettDahlov IpcarHenry Wadsworth Longfellow

And me

Didn’t Pam capture the cover of Nogged Off beautifully? (see below) Don’t I look delighted?

As an almost 50-year resident of New England, I was initially baffled by the Yankees paraphernalia. Until my own husband reminded me that the novella opens with my main character Julia traveling to New York City to clean out her apartment and say good-bye to her old life.

Two of the other women on the tour told me (while laughing) that they were in “the most powerful book group in Maine.” Naturally, I gave them bookmarks.

There were other fun connections, too.

I used Blaine House as the model of Windsholme on the map of Busman’s Harbor I had made a few years ago.

Blaine House

I added the porch and the third floor dormers to fit with descriptions of the house that had appeared in several of the books. I had the hardest time picking an image for the mapmaker to use for Windsholme. You can read all about that process here.

And then there’s this. Right next to the Nogged Off decorations.

The guide described it as James G. Blaine‘s desk when he served in the U.S. Senate, but I recognized it right away and confirmed my suspicion after consulting online auction sites and the book, Modern Gothic: The Inventive Furniture of Kimbel and Cabus, 1863-82. The desks and chairs were used in the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning in 1857. One hundred and thirty-one of the chairs, designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, architect of the Capitol Extension, 1851-1865, were hand-carved, assembled and finished by the firm of Bembe and Kimbel. Anton Kimbel, the cabinetmaker in the partnership, was my great-great grandfather!

How’s that for synchronicity? The desks and chairs were retired in 1873, when Blaine was Speaker of the House, so it makes sense that it was that set that he brought home.

Bill and I had a great time touring Blaine House at Christmas and I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along for the ride.

I bought a Blaine House Christmas ornament as a souvenir

Readers: Have you ever received an unexpected recognition? Or taken a tour filled with lovely concidences?

Favorite Musicals

I love musicals from Singing in the Rain to Mama Mia to Once to Hamilton and everything before and after. Wickeds, do you have a favorite musical? Do you have the songs memorized and sing along?

Edith/Maddie: Growing up, our three bedrooms for four kids were clustered around an open hallway room where we had a record player. I would fall asleep listening to Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, The King and I, and The Music Man. I can still sing along to most of the songs, especially from the first two. Yes, some of the themes are pretty dated and even racist, but as a little proto-feminist, I tuned right into the “I can do it better” message from Annie Get Your Gun. In my adult life, I have enjoyed Mama Mia and Once, but I doubt any musicals will replace those childhood favorites.

Liz: I like musicals for sure but never got around to memorizing any one in particular. I do love Wicked, though, and Defying Gravity was a pretty cool song that I did fangirl over for a while!

Julie: I could write a book with this question as a prompt. I adore musicals. When we were young my parents bought us records that told the story of the musical and played the songs. That’s how we could sing the score to Fiddler on the Roof at the age of eight. We didn’t have a ton of money, but every year we’d go to a touring musical. We’d get the album for Christmas, and usually go in January. We saw the A Chorus Line that way. I also love movie musicals–a difference beast but as important to my life. All of this is an end run to say if I had to choose one, I’d choose The Band Wagon. I sense the confusion, but let me lay out the reasons. Fred Astaire, my favorite. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Music by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz. Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Cast includes Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan. Produced in 1953 by Arthur Freed. If you haven’t seen the movie, you likely have still seen a number from it.

Jessie: Despite mentioning my own narration-type singing last week I have to admit that I am not a fan of actual musicals. I have enjoyed attending live musical productions, but as for those on film, count me out.

Barb: Like Edith I grew up with records from all the musicals. The lyrics are stored somewhere in my lizard brain. They’ll probably be the last thing to go. I’ve gone to live musicals right along and continue to do so. We’re seeing Merrily We Roll Along on Christmas Eve day. As for a favorite–impossible! But I have a vivid memory of my mother dancing in a community playhouse production of Oklahoma! when I was about three. Her sequined and petti-coated costume for the can-can number weighed thirty pounds!

Sherry: That’s funny, Jessie. And Julie, I’m going to have to check out The Band Wagon! I’ve asked another question that I have a hard time answering. I loved the music in Once and especially love the song Falling Slowly. Listen to it here. The harmonies in it are so beautiful.

Readers: Do you have a favorite musical? Do you sing along?

FALL in Chicago, but It’s Really Winter — Welcome Back Tracy Clark

Sherry here — we went from 60 degrees Sunday evening at 6:00 to snow in the morning!

It’s my pleasure welcoming back Tracy Clark! I loved Hide the first book in the Detective Harriet Foster series. Harriet has been knocked down by life but keeps getting back up. I’m really looking forward to reading the second in the series, Fall!

Tracy: FALL, book 2 in my Detective Harriet Foster police procedural series, just released. Yay. I had a semi-okay time writing it.

An outline probably would have helped. A linear-thinking mind would have helped, even better. But, alas, I am what I am (a pantser), and like Popeye, the sailorman, “That’s all that I am” … or I suspect ever will be.

Anyway, I finally got FALL done. I think it’s okay. I hope it is. I always worry. All writers do.

In FALL, I have Harri and her dedicated team of Chicago homicide detectives pursuing a killer who is dropping dead aldermen all over town.

Three aldermen.

When I talk about the book with people not from Chicago, the mention of three dead aldermen barely raises an eyebrow. I don’t know where these people are from or what kind of municipal representation they’re working with, but I get quite a different reaction when I talk about FALL in my neck of the woods.

It goes something like this:

“In FALL,” I say, “Harriet and the team must find a killer who is murdering aldermen and leaving thirty pieces of silver on their bodies.”

My Chi-town peeps (eyes wide, mouths agape): “Whoa!!! No way!!!”

Then I go, “I know, right?”

Then we share a moment of conviviality, not that we’re blood-thirsty or maladjusted in any way, but rather because, to the man, every one of us has spent hours on the phone trying to get our alderman’s office to fix a busted streetlight on our block that went dark on Easter Sunday and would have stayed out past New Year’s Day if we hadn’t called the local television station and threatened a little press coverage.

But it’s all in good fun, right? Just fiction. No harm no foul. Just a little idea I had. Writers get ideas all the time. We use what works, we toss what doesn’t. Hahaha. Fun, fun, fun. (That last bit was in case my alderman is reading this.)

Moving on.

In addition to the aldermen, FALL is also about the turns we humans make in life and the journeys back many of us have to take. The aldermen fall, one by one, with the silver piling up. But Harriet, my main character, my cop, has also fallen. She is living a half-life profoundly impacted by loss and grief. And other characters in the book have taken dramatic falls, too. There are falls from grace and prideful falls. Each character is different afterward, but not all change is for the better. I like complicating the lives of book people. It makes me think, and I hope the complications give readers something interesting to think about too.

If I’d been thinking, I would have set the book in fall to match the title, but, again, pantser. We don’t think too far out on these things. Therefore, FALL takes place in February when it’s as cold as the dickens in Chicago.

So, Harri and her partner, Det. Vera Li, and the rest of their team, must hunt this politician-murdering killer across the gray-tinted city fighting slush, and snow, and freezing temps. In one scene, I have them slip-sliding their speeding unmarked car up Lake Shore Drive behind a lumbering city snowplow spitting rock salt all over their grimy windshield. That’s winter in Chicago.

I love it. A Chicago winter builds character … if it doesn’t kill you.

FYI. I capped the alderman death count off at three. I’d had my fun. And, quite honestly, I want my garbage picked up next Friday. Best not to antagonize.

Readers: What are local politicians called in your area?

Bio:

Tracy Clark is the author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series and the Detective Harriet Foster series. A multi-nominated Anthony, Lefty, Edgar, Macavity, and Shamus Award finalist, Tracy is also the 2020 and 2022 winner of the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award and the 2022 Sara Paretsky Award. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Rogue Women Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and is a Bouchercon National Board member and a board member of the Midwest Mystery Conference. The Cass Raines and Detective Foster series grew out of her desire to see capable, competent, African American females on the page as major players in their own stories.

X, @tracypc6161

Instagram, tpclark2000

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/tclarkbooks

website: http://www.tracyclarkbooks.com

Cover Copy:

In the second book in the Detective Harriet Foster thriller series, author Tracy Clark weaves a twisted journey into the underbelly of Chicago as Harriet and her team work to unmask a serial killer stalking the city’s aldermen.

The Chicago PD is on high alert when two city aldermen are found dead: one by apparent suicide, one brutally stabbed in his office, and both with thirty dimes left on their bodies—a betrayer’s payment. With no other clues, the question is, Who else has a debt to pay?

Detective Harriet Foster is on the case before the killer can strike again. But even with the help of her partner, Detective Vera Li, and the rest of their team, Harriet has little to go on and a lot at risk. There’s no telling who the killer’s next target is or how many will come next.

To stop another murder, Harriet and her officers will have to examine what the victims had going on behind the scenes to determine who could be tangled up in this web of betrayal…and who could be out for revenge.

Let There Be Light

By Julie, decking the halls in Somerville

It’s been a while since I decked my halls. The pandemic started the spiral, and then some family challenge came up, and then and then and then. It felt as though taking the ornaments out, hanging up the lights, dusting off the creche, it was all too much. But this year I decided to do a little bit, just to add some light to the apartment. Then I remembered how wonderful it can be.

As this artsy photo taken from my couch shows, I’ve now got two trees, lights in the bow window, and a fabulous outline of a tree. All connected by two clickers. I’ve also got lights in vases in the kitchen. I may try and get them all on one clicker by the end of the season.

The trees are heavy with ornaments. I’d forgotten how many I had, and how precious some of the memories are. Passed down by my grandmother, made for me by nieces and nephews, made by me when I was a child, bought during travels, given to me as gifts, collected by me.

I’ve also gone a bit nuts on advent calendars. Every day I’m folding oragami and adding some stitches to a cross stitch project that will hopefully make sense by Christmas. I also bought this advent calendar, which delights me. Brownie points for those who recognize it.

Decking the halls when you live alone is a lot of work. Too much work, I’d decided for three years. But this year I’ve gone for it, and I couldn’t be more delighted.

I’ve also been working on my third Theater Cop book, which is taking some interesting twists and turns. I think that project has been cathartic. I’m setting it five years later–post pandemic. I want to talk about how the pandemic affected theater, but I also want the novel to be fun. There are true crime podcasters, bodies under the smoking porch, and a bit of a Midsommer Murders vibe. I’m going with it. I’ll be publishing it myself, which will take a while, but it will come out in 2024.

Having fun writing (which I discovered during NaNoWriMo) led me to decorating, which had led me to a good mood that has kept me writing. The lights by the window are less Christmas and more holiday. I think they’ll be staying up to keep me smiling, and writing, well into the new year.

Friends, are you in the holiday spirit this year? Who else is hanging lights? Happy Hanukkah, a celebration of light, to those celebrating.

How Visiting Ireland Changed My Life — Welcome Daphne Silver!

Welcome Daphne! She is here to celebrate the release of her first novel — Crime and Parchment! I first met Daphne through her husband Matt who was a librarian at my local library. (Matt has since moved on to bigger and better things in our library system.) And I’ve been delighted to watch her journey to published fiction author! If you like your mysteries to have a dash of history, you will love Crime and Punishment!

Daphne: Has your life ever been changed by a trip?

In 2013, I visited Ireland with my husband Matt. I knew going would be an incredible experience, but I had no idea how it would plant the seed for my first cozy mystery CRIME AND PARCHMENT (Level Best Books and Blackstone Audio, 2023). Matt and I had met working in museums, so art and history are important to both of us. While I was still working in the museum world at the time, he’d migrated over to become a librarian. At the top of our list was seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

If you’re not familiar with the Book of Kells, it’s a truly spectacular illustrated Gospel created around the 9th century. The Book contains 680 pages of gorgeous artwork: interlacing decorations, curvilinear forms, abstract patterns, and intertwined animals. It’s a masterpiece. Although I’m Jewish like my main character, the rare books librarian Juniper Blume, I agree with her that while “Kells might not have been my sacred text, but it was still sacred to me.”

No one is sure where in the British Isles it was created, but the fact that it has survived is a miracle. Kells Abbey was pillaged by the Vikings multiple times. In 1007, a reference to the Book of Kells in the Annals of Ulster describes “how the great Gospel of Columkille [a reference to Saint Columbia]” had been “wickedly stolen during the night from the western sacristy of the great stone church at Cenannas on account of its wrought shrine.” The wrought shrine is a reference to its bejeweled cover. The manuscript inside the book was amazingly discovered several months later “under a sod” but missing its ornate cover, which was never seen again.

That story stuck with me. I always wondered what happened to the book’s ornate cover. Over the years, a seed of an idea began growing slowly in my brain. For many years, I worked at various history museums like the Jewish Museum of Maryland and Historic London Town and Gardens, just outside Annapolis. I also wrote history books under my legal name, Lauren R. Silberman, including Wicked Baltimore: Charm City Sin and Scandal (History Press, 2011) and Wild Women of Maryland: Grit and Gumption in the Free State (History Press, 2015). During those times, I learned a lot about Maryland history. I started wondering… what would have happened if those ornate covers somehow came here?

I know it sounds ridiculous, especially given that the covers have been missing for a thousand years – long before Maryland started, but I couldn’t let go of the idea. I mean, Maryland was started as a Catholic safehaven. What if the covers had been found, held in secrecy, and then brought here for safety reasons in the 17th century? I also pictured a tenacious librarian who is driven by her insatiable curiosity to discover the truth behind a literary mystery – and who won’t give up even when a not-so-historic body is found. Soon Juniper Blume was born.

Life got in the way of writing. I changed jobs, had my son, and couldn’t focus on my story. However, the seed kept sprouting. When my son was a few years old, I came back to my idea, and suddenly, it poured out of me. Not Juniper and the Book of Kells, but a whole new world: Juniper’s sister Azalea, their late grandmother Nana Z and her historic home on the Chesapeake Bay, and the charming town of Rose Mallow. Maybe it’s because of my museum background, but I wanted to know more about all of them. Writing Crime and Parchment allowed me to explore history’s mysteries in my own backyard, but it was all inspired by that trip to Ireland.

So, readers, I return to my original question – has your life ever been changed by a trip?

About Crime and Parchment

Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much… an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn’t be in a Maryland cemetery. But that’s exactly what her brother-in-law claims.

Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth.

Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper’s avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover.

Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother’s Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn’t much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother’s legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?

About Daphne Silver

Daphne Silver is the author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. She’s worked more than twenty years in museums and has the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When she’s not writing, she’s drawing and painting. She lives in Maryland with her family. Although she’s not much of a baker, she won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.

Sign up for her newsletter and get the free short story “A Midsummer’s Night Scheme” at www.daphnesilver.com.

Visit her at www.facebook.com/daphnesilverbooks and www.instagram.com/daphnesilverbooks. Purchase Crime and Parchment in print, ebook, or audiobook at https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CKWHQZ66

Decisions

From Sherry where we seem to be swinging between early fall and late fall weather wise and I’m okay with that!

As a writer we have to make a lot of decisions—from the big ones like who’s the killer to the little ones like what is my protagonist going to wear or have for breakfast. I had an interesting conversation with a reader recently via email. She’d just finished reading the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries and she had questions! It was a fun conversation and I always love to hear readers thoughts.

This reader was impressed with the information about being a military spouse. She had a good friend who was a military spouse and thought Sarah’s experiences in the book were very similar to what her friend had lived. I think many of you know that my husband was in the military for almost 22 years. Most of the stories in my books are things I experienced (sans the murders), things friends experienced, or came from questioning spouses I knew.

The pink ruby ring! Spoiler alerts. If you haven’t read beyond book eight, Sell Low, Sweet Harriet and intend to, you might not want to read this paragraph. My reader asked about the pink ruby ring Sarah admires near the end of book eight Sell, Low Sweet Harriet. Wow! Did it cause a lot more stir than I intended it to! I hadn’t even thought of it as an engagement ring until lots of people wrote me after they’d finished reading book eight and said that’s what they hoped it was. The series is set over two years. In Tagged for Death Sarah is freshly divorced after a twenty-year marriage. I didn’t feel like she’d been on her own long enough to be engaged and thought she needed to stand on her own two feet for a bit longer. Sarah needed to know and trust herself first.

My reader loved Mike “the Big Cheese” Titone and wondered about how I came up with his character. I stuck him in there as kind of a joke to good friends of ours — Mike and Mary Titone. People at work started calling him “the Big Cheese” once they found out about the books. Mike evolved in the series. He doesn’t even speak until the third book, but then bam, he became quite the character and I love how he helped Sarah when she was in trouble.

She also asked me why I never mentioned who replaced CJ as police chief. The only reason I never mentioned CJ’s replacement was because he or she was never important to the story.

The love triangle. Oof! When I started writing Tagged for Death, I never meant there to be a love triangle with CJ, Seth, and Sarah. I heard from many readers who believed Sarah should be with one or the other and, whew, deciding which way to go meant disappointing readers. When I finished writing All Murders Final, I didn’t have a contract for more books. If I’d known there would be more, I probably would have ended it differently.

What I did want to do was look at complicated relationships. In Tagged For Death, Sarah is put in a position that she has to help her ex-husband clear his name when he’s accused of murder. She thinks he’s a schmuck, but she knows him well enough to know he wouldn’t kill someone. After Sarah had a one-night stand, I wondered how to further complicate her life. That happened by having the one-night stand be the DA who would be prosecuting her ex. It all just took off from there and a triangle was born. And then I found out how many readers HATE love triangles.

And lastly, there’s the cliffhanger at the end of book four, A Good Day to Buy. The mystery is wrapped up, but something else is unresolved. I wrote a post about them in 2017. You can read about it here. Another thing I found out–lots of readers hate cliffhangers!

Readers: Have you ever written an author with a question? Do you hate or love cliffhangers and love triangles?

Music that Inspires You

Holidays and music seem to go hand in hand. Is there a song that the lyrics have inspired you? What song would be your theme song?

Edith/Maddie: Listening to Joni Mitchell always inspires me. Any Joni, any era, any song. Her music played a pivotal role in my life from my college days on, with her lyrics and her voice touching me deeply over the decades – they still do.

Liz: I have long been a Goo Goo Dolls addict – it’s going on 30 years now (and wow I feel old when I say that!) As a lover of words, I discovered that band in my late twenties when I heard a song of theirs – and the lyrics were just everything that was in my heart. I was immediately hooked. But my theme song? That changes daily! I love that question too because Stan Connor, my Pawsitively Organic Mysteries protag, had theme songs too. I think currently mine would be Fight Song – Rachel Platten.

Sherry: Even though I asked this question, I’m having a hard time answering it! I think different songs inspire me at different times. I do love Chris Stapleton’s song Millionaire which is about love makes you rich. His voice is so amazing. I love all of his music. As for a theme song, I’ll take the music Miles composes for Iris in the movie The Holiday.

Jessie: What a range amongst us! I love Big Band and Swing music, jazz, and The Great American Songbook in all its forms. I particularly adore Rod Stewart and his version of it. But the music that is my theme song tends to be whatever I am singing myself. I don’t have a lovely voice, but I am forever singing to my kids or my dog like the lead in a musical. I make up silly songs about whatever we are doing, or going to do, or wish we were doing. It probably sounds insane to others, but it just flows out of me unbidden.

Barb: The music that most inspires me is music I associate with an emotional occasion. It can be as big as Bruce Springsteen singing, “My City of Ruins,” at the Tribute to Heroes concert 10 days after 9/11. Or as trivial as Auld Lang Syne at the end of “When Harry Met Sally.” (Or almost any time.)

Readers: Is there a song that inspires you? Do you have a theme song?

Deck the Halls with . . . this year’s fashions? Welcome Back Guest Catriona McPherson

I always know that when I see an email with a post from Catriona that I’m going to have a laugh and this one was no different! Catrionia is here to talk Christmas and the sixth book in her Last Ditch Motel series, Hop Scot.

Catriona: All of the books in the Last Ditch Motel series start on a holiday: July 4th, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Friday 13th March 2020 (bit of a swerve there), Thanksgiving, and now in HOP SCOT, Book 6, Christmas! Lexy and the rest of the Ditchers leave California and hop (gerrit?) over to Scotland for the holidays. It was a joy to write, more or less in real time since I finished the first draft on the 18th of December and edited it starting in January.

I love Christmas – the food, the traditions, the music, the traditions, the twinkling lights and flickering candles and traditions – so it always amazes me that there are people in the world who love Christmas as their chance for innovation and change.

After end of summer every year, flipping through magazines at a busy check-out or clicking when you should be working (we all do it), you’re sure to find words like these:

Looking to update your festive style?Excited for the design-forward trends of the year?Tired of the same old Christmas look?

From me, the answer is a resounding NO. Flip a bit further in the same magazines or click on a different link, and they’re at the food!

Try an easy twist on the classics this year25 ways to re-invent your Christmas menuTweak that turkey and spruce up the sprouts (I made this one up)

Again, my answer is “No, thank you” and I don’t mean the thank you. Christmas dinner is a meal we only eat once a year. (British Christmas dinner is more or less the same as US Thanksgiving dinner as far as its iconic status goes. There are differences in the actual menus of the two meals. Marshmallows spring to mind.) Anyway, once a year, right? So how tired can you get of it?

Same with the decorations. The house looks how it looks for eleven months and we cope. How can it be the one-month-long extra sparkles that we can’t bear to see again?

Not me. I’ll be decorating my house with the stuff I started collecting in the mid-80s when I got my first flat, and have kept adding to – but not subtracting from – ever since. Part of the joy of the season for me is unwrapping those faded bits of newspaper from the Thatcher years and reuniting with baubles, Santas, fairies and angels. The yellow cab we bought in New York in 2003, the glittery “big fork and spoon” that matches the actual “big fork and spoon” that we’ve got in the kitchen like Frank and Marie off Everybody Loves Raymond, because it’s funny. The candy cane that our niece knitted at Brownies, that’s strung the wrong way up, so it looks like a hockey stick, because Scottish kids then didn’t know what candy canes were . . .

And on top of the living room tree, the fairy from my childhood: in all her Bakelite and cardboard glory. She’s got extra purple glitter that one of my sisters added in the 70s and there’s a lot of sticky tape holding her together. But she’ll always be the boss of my main Christmas tree. I have another tree in the bedroom, because I spend so much time reading in bed at Christmas and on the top of that is a rescue angel. We found her at a yard sale, discarded, priced $1. She deserved better. And now she’s got it. As long as I can lift my arm high enough, there she will stay.

Just for a laugh, though, I did a bit of research on this year’s hottest trends in Christmas décor. Here’s what’s popping for 2023.

“Nature”: I read an article advising that pine cones and evergreen branches are in this year. Well, you don’t say! Who’d have thought it?

“Pink”. Maybe because of Barbie, pink is supposedly huge for Christmas this year, only it’s blush pink paired with bronze, not the eyeball-shredding Barbie pink. I wonder what Oppenheimer-themed Christmas decorations would look like . . .

“Minimalism”. They keep trying with his, don’t they? Surely it never works. Certainly it will never work on me. Maximalism is my watchword. Far too much is almost enough and more is more.

But, gentle reader, if you have a minimalist aesthetic, or are going pink for this year, or if you change your décor every December, I would love to hear from you. Do you mix it up? Do you try new recipes? And what do you put on top of your Christmas tree?

This is the last think I added.

Bio:

Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes preposterous 1930s private detective stories, realistic 1940s amateur sleuth stories, and contemporary psychological standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes  modern comedies about the Last Ditch Motel in a “fictional” college town in Northern California. HOP SCOT is number six in the series. Catriona’s books have won or been shortlisted for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Lefty, the Macavity, the Mary Higgins Clark award and the UK Ellery Queen Dagger. She is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.  www.catrionamcpherson.com

What’s in a Name — Kallie E. Benjamin #giveaway

It’s a joy to welcome/welcome back Kallie aka read on to find out what her other pen names are! She’s here celebrating the release of Sniffing Out Murder which I had the pleasure of reading early! You are in for a treat with this first in a new series book!

Kallie: Thanks, Sherry Harris and all of the Wicked Cozy Authors for inviting me back to spend time with all of you today to celebrate the release of my new cozy mystery series.

WHAT’S IN A NAME

Many of you may recognize me as V. M. Burns, the author of the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, RJ Franklin Mystery series, and the Dog Club Mystery series. You may also know me as Valerie Burns, the author of the Baker Street Mystery series. Now, I hope you will take a moment and check out my newest series, Bailey the Bloodhound, which I am writing under a new pen name, Kallie E. Benjamin. Why the name change? Good question.

Authors often write under different pen names for a variety of reasons. Some authors use a pen name to protect their personal identity. Visions of Kathy Bates in Stephen King’s Misery come to mind. However, that isn’t the only reason an author may opt to use a pen name. Sometimes, authors use a pen name as a way to reboot their careers. If one series was unsuccessful, using a pen name can feel as though you’re starting over fresh. A new persona and hopefully, a new chance at success.

Another reason authors use a pen name is to differentiate when writing for different publishers or when writing different genres. Anyone looking for a steamy romance will recognize the name Nora Roberts. However, if that same reader picks up a book by J.D. Robb, they may get a shock. They will get a thrilling contemporary mystery with plot twists, plenty of clues, red herrings, and a dead body or two. In cases like this, a pen name can help readers know exactly what type of book they’re getting.

In my case, my Mystery Bookshop Mystery, Baker Street Mystery, and Dog Club Mysteries were all published by Kensington.  Bailey the Bloodhound is a new series with a new publisher. This series is with Berkley, a division of Penguin Random House. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to write for Berkley Publishing. So, when asked if I would be willing to use a pen name, I agreed.

The hard part was thinking up a good pen name. After a great deal of thought (surfing the internet, and harassing my family and friends), I landed on Kallie E. Benjamin. I wanted a name that would be meaningful to me. Kallie was my great-grandmother’s name. My grandmother died before I was born and I never knew her. I did know my mother’s grandmother. She was a wonderful woman and I called her, Mama Kallie. My mother’s name was Elvira, not a great author pen name. It always reminded me of the actress from a bad B movie, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, from the 1980s. So, I went with her initial instead. Lastly, Benjamin is my dad’s name. That’s how the name, Kallie E. Benjamin came about.

What can readers expect from books by Kallie E. Benjamin? One look at the cover will answer that question. Sniffing Out Murder is a cozy mystery and there’s a dog on the cover. The author’s name may be different, but the heart of who I am as a writer hasn’t changed. I love cozy mysteries and I love dogs. So, if you’ve read (and enjoyed) any of my other books, then I hope you will give Kallie E. Benjamin a try.

Readers: Do you like to try books from new authors? Let me know in the comments. One commenter will be randomly selected to win a copy of Sniffing Out Murder. To be entered in the giveaway, leave a comment or type YES in the comments. If your comment is anonymous include your email address for a chance to win. The giveaway is open to everyone (regardless of where you live) until midnight on December 7th. The winner will be announced on December 8th.

About the book: When a murder unleashes a widespread investigation through Crosbyville, children’s book author Pris and her trusty bloodhound, Bailey, must sniff out the truth before the whole town goes to the dogs.

After deciding that life as a teacher wasn’t right for her, Priscilla found inspiration for her first children’s book in her three-year-old bloodhound’s nose for truth, and so The Adventures of Bailey the Bloodhound was born. After the book’s massively pawsitive response led Pris to move back to her hometown of Crosbyville, Indiana, to continue the series, she’s surprised by how things have changed in the town, but even more so how they haven’t.

Pris is frustrated to discover that newly elected school board trustee Whitney Kelley—a former high school mean girl—is intent on making Crosbyville more competitive by eliminating “frivolous spending” on the arts and social programs, including Pris and Bailey’s beloved pet-assisted reading program. A minor altercation between them isn’t anything unusual, but after Bailey sniffs out Whitney’s body in a bed of begonias, locals start hounding Pris and Bailey as suspects for the crime.

With Bailey’s sharp senses and Pris’s hometown know-how, can they prove to the community that they’re all barking up the wrong tree?

Buy Link—- Amazon, B&N

About the author

Kallie E. Benjamin is Valerie (V. M.) Burns. Valerie is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop Mystery, Dog Club Mystery, RJ Franklin Mystery, and Baker Street Mystery series. She is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles.

Connect at:

Website: http://www.vmburns.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Behind the Scenes with Raquel V. Reyes #giveaway

I’m delighted to welcome back Raquel V. Reyes! She is here today to celebrate the third book in her Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal. These books will make you long to be in Miami and eating everything she writes about! Look for a giveaway at the end of the post!

I write the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series featuring food anthropologist Miriam Quiñones. Each book requires a lot of research as it includes historical, cultural, and culinary elements. Book three in the series, Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal, is set in Puerto Rico. I lived on the island and met my spouse there. So, doing the research for the story was like a visit home!

As I write the story, I jot down all the dishes I mention. I do not know which ones I will include in the back of the book. After completing the manuscript and sending it to my editor, I take a hard look at the list. I’ll spend about a week developing and testing the recipes. There are criteria. It needs to be home-cook friendly—meaning no expensive equipment or Michelin Star chef techniques. The dish has a story that is either culturally/historically significant or personal. The ingredients are ‘relatively’ easy to acquire.

Photo credit: Raquel V. Reyes

One of my favorite dishes in Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal is Miriam’s Sorullitos. It is an appetizer/street food /snack. This is the introduction to the recipe from the book:

Sorullitos are sweet corn fritters. They can be made with or with­out cheese and are usually served with mayo-ketchup. The name translates to little cigar because the shape resembles the small hand-rolled tobacco.

Corn was cultivated in Puerto Rico by the Taíno, and there is evidence of it in the pre-Arawak Antilles since at least 2950 BCE.

The Miriam, in this case, is my mother-in-law. Yes, my main character is named after my angelic MIL, who is the polar opposite of the passive-aggressive MIL in the series. When it came time to write the recipe, I gave her a call and asked her how she makes her sorullitos. The recipe is pretty standard from one to the next. They all have butter, sugar, salt, water, milk, and pre-cooked corn meal. The trick to molding the fritters she shared with me is wetting your hands so the batter doesn’t stick to them. The savory yet sweet fried snack is delicious. I did not mind taste-testing that recipe!

Photo Credit: Raquel V. Reyes

Another perk of research is the cookbook library I’m building. Of course, I use the internet to find and compare ingredient and preparation differences. I also watch YouTube cooking demos. But nothing beats a GOOD cookbook. For me, that means the author includes the why and how of the dish. Why is it special? How did it come to be part of the culture? And the book must have photographs!

Readers: Do you have a favorite cookbook? What makes it special? Raquel is giving away an audiobook of Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal. The audiobook will be on the audiobooks.com platform.

BIO:

RAQUEL V. REYES writes Latina protagonists. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and Spanglish feature prominently in her work. Mango, Mambo, and Murder, the first in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, won a LEFTY for Best Humorous Mystery. Her work has been nominated for an Agatha Award, an Anthony Award, optioned for film, and won a gold International Latino Book Award. Raquel’s short stories appear in various anthologies, including The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022.

Find her across social media platforms as @LatinaSleuths and on her website LatinaSleuths.com