Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 33
November 3, 2023
Welcome Back Michelle Corbier!
by Julie, falling in Somerville
I am delighted to welcome Michelle Corbier back to the blog today to tell us about her new book, Hollow Voices!
Creativity from AdversityWriting a book about toxic workplaces isn’t interesting. Who hasn’t worked for a boss they wanted to throttle? Therefore, I never considered writing a book based on my work life—until I did.
To decompress after an especially difficult shift, I would express my frustration by writing. While struggling with an obnoxious employer, I satisfied my thirst for justice by journaling. I actually continued journaling for over a year.
I shared the idea of creating a story from this journal with an editor. She was brutally honest and explained that the concept was boring. That was the best investment ever. The editor stated no one wanted to read about my workday unless I presented the tale in an entertaining manner.
Exit truth, enter fiction.
At that time, writing was a hobby. So, I toyed with writing this story from the first person perspective. Perhaps not a big deal for most authors, but I generally write in third person. In addition, I wanted to develop a psychological thriller. Mysteries and fantasy are my comfort zones. This provided an opportunity to push my creativity.
After crafting a meager story, I tabled the project and returned to mystery and paranormal. The WIP would gather dust for five years before I re-explored the concept. Two developmental editors later, Hollow Voices materialized.
In the story, Julia Toussaint becomes depressed after her son’s death. A hostile work environment compounds her stress. How she deals with loss and handles a narcissistic boss makes the story unique and relatable. The story explores not only toxic workplaces but mental health. An achievement as my first psychological thriller and first novel in first person.
For me, writing is cathartic. Creating novels exploring different aspects of humanity brings me joy. Hollow Voices is a triumph in my writing career. To craft something satisfying from a tremendously difficult time is to come full circle and close a chapter. And the book’s ending is also gratifying.
About the Book:Dr. Julia Toussaint is recovering after the death of her son, Evens, when she catches her psychiatrist in a lie. Now, she doubts many things from her past, particularly surrounding the death of the woman who murdered her son.
Julia starts over in a new city with a narcissistic boss harboring his own dark secrets. Suddenly, the past catches up with her in the form of a blackmailing police officer. Fighting to maintain her sanity, Julia struggles to protect the people she loves.Time is crucial and Julia must remember what happened after Evens died because her actions will have fatal consequences.
https://books2read.com/u/bpYwng
About the Author
As a military dependent, Michelle moved between California and South Carolina. She enrolled at the UC Santa Cruz before attending Michigan State University. After twenty years in clinical medicine, Michelle works as a medical consultant. If not writing, she’s outside gardening or bicycling.
TikTok: @MrsDoctorWrites
Website: www.MichelleCorbier.com
November 2, 2023
The Evolution of an Opening
Sherry — it’s gone from summer to late fall in just a couple of days in Northern Virginia! We are supposed to have our first freeze tonight!
Many, many years ago I decided to enter a short story contest. The first fiction I’d written in years (unless you count all those TV/radio/newspaper ads and marketing pieces I used to write as fiction). At some point I realized I was writing a novel instead of a short story and trust me it was a mess. Here’s the opening:
On Friday morning, the June sun almost blinded me as I walked downstairs into our shop. It radiated through the faceted glass of our antique front door. The walnut and glass door was one of two French doors from a mansion in Magnolia Bluff that succumbed to a mudslide. The doors were heavily damaged when we found them at the flea market in Fremont but we managed to restore them with a lot of hard work and good luck. The second door leans up against the wall of our office waiting for a chance to be useful.
If that isn’t a boring mess, I don’t know what is. Several drafts later I came up with:
Most of us go through life without ever being truly, gut-wrenchingly terrified. Usually we experience fear in little jolts cause by near misses on the highway, turbulent airplane rides, or phones ringing in the middle of the night.
I confess I still like this first line. However, I wrote it right around the time that everyone decided adverbs were bad and there I was with truly and wrenchingly.
So eventually I landed on this:
I didn’t want to tell Camille her diamond was fake. I studied the necklace for the third time with my loupe, willing the damn thing to change. Maybe one of Seattle’s triple threat natural disasters–earthquake, tsunami, volcano–would occur so I could yell: duck, swim or run instead of what I had to say. I paused a moment, then two, but no luck.
The thing I like about this opening is it tells us something about the protagonist. She’s a gemologist or at least someone who knows something about gemology. She’s compassionate. She doesn’t want to tell Camille that her diamond is fake for some reason. And we know the book is set in Seattle. We get a lot more information in this opening than the others.
If you’re wondering why you’ve never read any of this, it’s because Diamond Solitaire never sold. The picture above is some of my many rejection letters. I sent it out before it was ready – see the first opening. And then, even with the progression, it just was never quite good enough. I learned a lot writing that book in its various iterations so all is not lost. There are some characters, I love in the book and I may have to find a way to use them. Emily, the protagonist, was a former military wife, like Sarah. And both were divorced so, I borrowed bits of Emily for Sarah although both are very different.
Readers: What is something you’ve kept working to improve?
November 1, 2023
Joy in Objects
Wicked friends, the theme for November, this month of gratitude and thanksgiving (small t and large) is JOY. We’re going to look at things that give us joy.
Marie Kondo, queen of tidying and decluttering, recommends that when deciding what to keep or pitch, you should pick an object up and see if “it sparks joy.” She defines joy as unique to every person, but describes it as “…a little thrill, as if the cells in your body are slowly rising.”
Wickeds, tell me about one object of yours that can always be can always be counted on to spark joy. And then tell me about one character of yours and one object the always sparks joy for that character.
Edith/Maddie: This might sound odd, but I’m going for our couch. It was Hugh’s when I met him nearly twenty years ago, and is a dark blue leather more than five feet long – I know, because I can stretch out on it for a Sunday afternoon nap. I spend a lot of time curled up in one corner next to a good reading lamp, often with a cat curled up next to me. For Cece Barton, it’s her backyard garden (also not quite an object). She putters in it nearly every morning, does her Pilates and meditation on the patio gazing at the garden, and generally finds it a place of solace and peace, plus home-grown veggies and herbs.
(On a side note, I love the meme that cycles around: “Kondo told me to get rid of things that don’t bring me joy. So far I’ve ditched the bra, the to-do list, and the husband.”)
Sherry: Laughing, Edith! I had a tough time with this one because our home is filled with things I love. But I finally boiled it down to a painting that a friend of ours painted for us about thirty years ago. It’s a painting of a vineyard our friends used to own and we’ve visited. Plus I love the colors and the style. Sarah Winston loves sitting in her grandmother’s rocking chair. It sits by a window that overlooks the town common. If she’s worried she rubs her hands across the smooth wood of the arms and she thinks through problems.
Julie: We are in the process of selling our parents’ house, which means I’m inheriting a lot of objects that give me joy, all because of memories. Right now I’ll include the old oak dresser that was my grandmother’s, and likely her mother’s. My mother used it to hold hats and mittens and wrapping items. I’m using it to hold knitting and needlework items. Since my grandmother taught me how to do both, I think of her a lot. As for characters? Sully Sullivan in the Theater Cop series has her father’s chair. In the Garden Squad series, Lilly has the art pieces in her garden that serve as memorials to her loved ones.
Barb: You know I’ve heard a lot about this “sparking joy” thing but never really thought too much about it. Then, just the other day, I was tossing a small L.L. Bean catalog that came in the package with a sweater I ordered. We had a bit of a tradition when my kids were in school of visiting their grandmother in Boothbay Harbor, Maine on a fall weekend, and on the way home, stopping in Freeport to shop for winter coats or boots or backpacks or whatever they needed that year. As I held the catalog in my hand all the happiness of those days came rushing back to me. I’m sure at the time we were harassed and harried, worried about jobs and mortgages and did the kids do their homework for tomorrow? But the memory the catalog sparked was one of pure joy. I had no trouble throwing the catalog out, however. About two hours later, sitting in my room as the afternoon sky grew dark, I was flooded with sadness by the very same memory, missing those days so long gone and missing my younger self. So joy and sadness and funny how we invest both, and all sorts of emotions in objects.
Julia Snowden in the Maine Clambake Mysteries loves pulling the few objects her mother inherited from her once-wealthy family out of the china cabinet and setting the table for a feast with family and friends.
Jessie: I love reading about all of your joyful items! For me, there are so many things! If I have to choose just one at this very moment it is a knitted shawl that I am creating for the sweetheart of one of my sons. Knitting things and imagining how much someone else will enjoy them makes me a bit giddy! As for my characters, I would have to go with Beryl Helliwell. She adores piloting her red convertible along winding country roads almost as much as I love driving mine! We both love to put the top down on sunny winter days, just because!
Readers: What is an object that sparks joy for you?
October 31, 2023
Halloween Fun with Guest Gigi Pandian (and some carnivorous plants)
I always love it when Gigi visits the Wickeds! She’s an amazing writing and advocate for the writing community. Gigi is one of the co-founders of Crime Writers of Color. It is one of my favorite sites to find great crime fiction! Today, Gigi is here to celebrate the release of The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem!
Gigi: I’ve always adored Halloween, and my costume is always spooky and supernatural. Yes, I was the kid who was a vampire in the first grade! (Truly, and I have the photos to prove it.)
It’s really no surprise that I ended up writing a supernatural cozy mystery series featuring a centuries-old alchemist with a gargoyle sidekick. Nor is it a surprise that I continue to find ways to get additional spooky fun into the books. Last year’s release featured a supposed haunting by a woman who loved riddles. And the new book in the series, The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem, features the spookiest fun to date: topiary in the shape of monsters and a conservatory filled with carnivorous plants—one of which might be a murderer.
I had so much fun researching carnivorous plants. They go way beyond the Venus flytrap from Little Shop of Horrors.
Did you know that carnivorous plants will die if you care for them with nourishing soil? They thrive in inhospitable conditions, so don’t prepare nutrient-rich soil for them—or you’ll kill them.
Carnivorous plants were so fascinating to Charles Darwin that he studied them for years and wrote a book about them. His book Insectivorous Plants was published in 1875. (His hands-on research was with the Drosera species, not Venus flytraps.)
I haven’t tried growing carnivorous plants in real life, but my fictional carnivorous plants in The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem are thriving in a conservatory protected by topiary monsters that might come to life at night. When a murder takes place after a tea club meeting in the conservatory, the body is staged to look like carnivorous plants killed him.
But carnivorous plants can’t really kill… can they?
Alas, I don’t have a carnivorous plant costume for Halloween this year, though I wish I had thought of that ahead of time! Instead, I’m going with my standard costume: a vampire with my custom-made vampire fangs from Gargoyle Statuary, one of my favorite little shops in Seattle.
Readers: What are you up to for Halloween?
p.s. There’s a Halloween book sale taking place today! In honor of Halloween, you can grab the first book the series, The Accidental Alchemist, for only 99¢.
And the new book in the series is available now:
The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem by Gigi Pandian
Murder in a conservatory of carnivorous plants. Bewitching topiary terrors. A sabotaged tea shop. Can Zoe untangle the truth before someone close to her takes the blame?
Alchemist Zoe Faust is no stranger to magical mayhem, but when her boyfriend’s new tea shop is vandalized and his special tea blends stolen, she plunges into a baffling mystery to save him. The clues lead Zoe and her gargoyle sidekick Dorian to an eerie mansion high in the Portland hills, filled with creeping carnivorous plants and enigmatic topiary monsters.
When they stumble across a corpse in the conservatory that appears to have been killed by sinister shrubbery, an estranged member of the family is implicated in the murder. Can Zoe use her alchemical skills to catch the real killer while navigating crafty alchemists and killer plants?
Find out more here!
Bio:
GIGI PANDIAN is a USA Today bestselling and multiple-award-winning author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. She writes the Accidental Alchemist mysteries, Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, and Secret Staircase mysteries,. Gigi has won Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Derringer awards, and was a finalist for the Edgar Award. She lives in Northern California with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the backyard garden. Learn more and sign up for her email newsletter (which includes a free short story and free mini cookbook) at www.gigipandian.com.
Other ways to stay in touch:
October 30, 2023
STARLING ARTIST — Welcome Back Wendall Thomas
Welcome back to the funny, talented, and very kind Wendall Thomas! She’s here celebrating the release of Cheap Thrills the fourth book in her fabulous Cyd Redondo mystery series!
Wendall: It all started with a news story about a man stopped at LAX with a monkey down his pants and snakes in his socks. Ever since then, my screwball mysteries, which star Brooklyn travel agent Cyd Redondo, have tried to walk a fine line between Bringing Up Baby and PBS, and to shine a light on the plight of endangered species and wildlife crime around the world.
In each book, Cyd stumbles across a threatened creature she knows nothing about, and winds up having to protect it on the run, usually employing her red vintage Balenciaga bag and all the essentials—including various pieces of Tupperware—she carries inside it. That’s the screwball part.
But the endangered species part is deadly serious, and perhaps never more than it is in Cheap Trills, which is set in Bali and focuses on that island nation’s only indigenous bird, the Bali starling.
The Starling is treasured for its songs and its incredible beauty, and is so important to Balinese culture that it appears on their 200 rupiah coin. This is Cyd’s description: “The bird was a snowy, almost arctic white, with a Lone Ranger mask of cobalt blue skin around its black eyes, an Andy Warhol quiff—in a good way—on its head, and just a tiny hint of black at the end of its tail.”
bali mynahAt the time the book is set—2007, in the immediate wake of Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestseller, Eat Pray Love—there were reported to be only seven Bali Starlings in the wild. Seven.
So when Cyd witnesses the poaching of two of that seven, she takes on the responsibility for their eggs, and later their chicks. They are, as you might imagine, high maintenance, especially when it comes to their “every two hour” feedings. She goes to her grudging compatriot, animal activist Grey Hazelnut, for instructions:
“For the first couple of days, bugs only. Crickets are best, but you have to pull the legs off or they get stuck in their throats.”
“The crickets will be dead, right?”
“No, alive. Everything they eat has to be alive.”
“I have to pull the legs off live crickets?”
“They have a high pain threshold.”
“Really? And you know that, how?”
“I wrote a paper on it. The chicks eat mealworms, too, but for the first few days they can’t handle the exoskeleton of the adults, so you’ll need to sift through the worm basket to find the molted white ones.”
“I’m not sure I heard anything after worm basket.”
In the end, Cyd thwarts the villains and delivers the chicks to the newly established Starling Sanctuary on the island of Nusa Penida. Thankfully, that Sanctuary still exists and there are now an estimated 100 starlings in the wild, with around 1000 in captivity in zoos and breeding programs.
But, they are still critically endangered and are threatened on a daily basis by not only poachers, smugglers, and songbird collectors, but by natural predators, like snakes and geckos, who live beside them on protected land.
If you are interested in knowing more about the Bali Starling, or making a contribution by “adopting” one, you can find info here: https://www.fnpf.org/what-we-do/nusa-penida-bali/wildlife/bali-starling-conservation-project
Otherwise, I hope you’ll join Cyd on her “Eat, Pray, Barf” trip to Bali in Cheap Trills.
Readers: Do you have a cause that’s dear to your heart?
After her mother sneaks off on an Eat, Pray, Love tour to Bali that goes horribly wrong, travel agent Cyd Redondo must fight a ring of songbird smugglers and take on a killer, all while trying to keep three orphaned, endangered Bali Starling chicks alive in her purse.
BACK COVER COPY:
It’s 2007 and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn has Eat, Pray, Love fever. Every book club in town is devouring the bestseller and all of Cyd’s Redondo Travel senior citizen clients are dying to head to exotic Bali. But the travel agent in Cyd only sees its dangers—three active volcanos, six venomous snake species, no wheelchair ramps, about fifteen possible tropical diseases, the death penalty for smugglers, and only one hospital.
So she’s hurt and furious, but also terrified, when her mother Bridget sneaks off with two friends on a Bali tour booked by Cyd’s arch nemesis, Peggy Newsome. Not surprisingly, Bridget and her friends wind up stranded, and smack dab in the middle of a local murder investigation, where Bridget is a suspect.
Now Cyd must navigate the complex Balinese culture, battle songbird smugglers, thieving monkeys, and snake removal experts, commandeer a funicular railway, infiltrate an underground Tupperware network, frame Peggy Newsome, and find the real killer, all while trying to keep three orphaned, endangered Bali Starling chicks safe and alive.
Bio:
Wendall Thomas teaches in the Graduate Film School at UCLA, lectures internationally on screenwriting, and has worked as film and television writer. Her Cyd Redondo mystery, Lost Luggage, garnered Lefty and Macavity nominations for Best Debut, Drowned Under was nominated for a Lefty for Best Humorous and an Anthony for Best Paperback Original and Fogged Off also nominated for Best Humorous Mystery Lefty. Her short fiction appears in LAdies Night, Last Resort, the Anthony nominated Murder A-Go-Gos, and Crime Under the Sun. Info at www.wendallthomas.com and you can find her at @ewendallthomas on Twitter and Instagram as well as @Wendall Thomas, Author on Facebook.
October 27, 2023
Welcome Guests Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski
I met both Dru Ann and Kristopher at Malice Domestic. For some reason both instances are ingrained in my brain. I met Dru Ann at the Sisters in Crime Breakfast when Edith asked me to take a picture of the two of them. Interestingly enough, I also met Kristopher Zgorski at Malice Domestic when someone told me he was a book blogger and I handed him a copy of Tagged for Death, not knowing his true passion and the focus of the blog was thrillers. But he graciously took it. Both are beloved in the writing community and I’m delighted to have them guest to celebrate their first short story, Ticket to Ride!
It Takes a Village Metropolis
By Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski
As you may have heard, we—Dru Ann and Kristopher—have a short story called “Ticket to Ride” in the new anthology Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles. It is the first published short story for both of us, but it didn’t happen alone.
If you read the acknowledgements at the back of any novel—and really, you should always be reading those—you get a sense of how many people are involved in the creation of a book. The same holds true for a short story.
Yes, it is true that the two of us conceived of and crafted the words that now appear on the printed page, but that never negates all the other people who were involved along the path.
Inspiration
We are lucky enough to call many very successful authors our friends. We hang out with them at conventions. We gather with those local to us at meals and events. We celebrate their every accomplishment. We look up to them as though they are rock stars doing the impossible—creating entire worlds out of words. It is because of them—because of many of you who are reading this very post—that we know this is even possible.
Opportunity
So, when Josh Pachter—the editor of many great “Inspired By” anthologies—first approached us about writing a story for his new collection celebrating the music of The Beatles, we discussed it very seriously. Dru Ann really had no aspiration to write fiction but is also one who never backs away from a challenge. While Kristopher did want to do some creative writing, he recognized that this collaboration would be very different from anything he might write alone. With a bit of a leap of faith on both our parts, we eventually agreed to give it a try. In the end, we enjoyed our first foray into writing a short story for Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles edited by Josh Pachter.
Execution
Having been steeped in the publishing community for years, we knew the next part was critical. First there was the writing itself—which was both a challenge and a joy. Writing your first work as a collaboration with someone else probably is not the soundest advice for most newbies, but with our long-standing bond and undeniable respect for each other, we certainly found a way to make it work. In bringing the story of Lester and Lizzy to life, we played to each of our strengths and many drafts later, we had something we thought was good. Given the back-and-forth nature of our writing process, we knew it was essential that someone else read what we wrote to ensure it made sense. So we employed (i.e., begged) two beta readers to take a look. Beta readers come in handy as they can find your typos, they can tell you if the pacing of your story is flawed, and they can also tell you if the subject matter has veered completely off-course. One of our beta readers informed us that we needed more crime. LOL. In our defense, our story had a crime, we just needed to expand on that and get a little gritty. Anyone who knows both Dru Ann and I will attest that “gritty” is maybe not the first word they would associate with our loveable personalities. Fortunately, this beta reader even had some invaluable suggestions on how we could accomplish this goal without necessitating a total re-write. The other beta reader focused on making sure we were consistent with our tense—the story takes place in two time-periods (with the present day in present tense and the past in past tense [shocker!]) But the truth was, that can become confusing and some errors and oversights were pointed out. As such, we both highly recommend the use of beta readers.
Then “Ticket to Ride” was off to our editor for his first look. Josh Pachter is very hands on and always trying to make sure any story is the best it can be. After he read “Ticket to Ride,” he suggested that our third-person telling would be stronger (and more closely emulate its song inspiration) if it were written in first-person. Thanks Josh (@#*%)! But you know what? He was right! Shout-out to all the editors out there. Josh also made some suggestions like adding some deeper characterization and making the story shorter (@#*%). Is there some magical Hogwarts-like school where editors learn to suggest changes that are diametrically opposed and seemingly impossible? We are kidding, the story is better for all this advice and we thank Josh for his guidance.
Achievement
It is hard to quantify the mixture of excitement and embarrassment when it was announced that we had written a short story that was going to be published. This occurred at Left Coast Crime in Tucson and many of our friends were there and immediately sounded truly eager to read our first story. Not to sound humble (we really are very proud of what we accomplished), but we still have to wonder: Is it really any good? Are we scared to death of what others will think of “Ticket to Ride”: Heck yes. But we also know that this is a community that excels at celebrating its members. We learned so much along the way and we will continue to grow—both as people and as writers—moving forward. Thank you for taking the ride with us!
Readers: Who would you want to take a ride with on a new adventure?
__________________________
You can find out more about Dru Ann Love at Dru’s Book Musings (https://drusbookmusing.com/) and Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books (https://bolobooks.com/)
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY THE SONGS OF THE BEATLES can be ordered at Down & Out Books (https://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/pachter-happiness-warm-gun/). If you purchase the Trade Paperback, the digital version is included free of charge.
Anthology Description:
Happiness Is a Warm Gun is the sixth of Josh Pachter’s “inspired by” anthologies, following volumes of stories inspired by the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon…and by the films of the Marx Brothers.
For this collection, the lyrics of the Beatles’ inspired the contributing authors to imagine a world in which murder, kidnapping, blackmail, and theft are as common as meter maids and yellow submarines. Each story was inspired by a song from one of the Fab Four’s studio albums: seventeen albums, seventeen songs, seventeen stories—by a total of eighteen authors (since one was written collaboratively by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, two of crime fiction’s leading bloggers).
Many of the contributors, like the Beatles themselves, come from England—including award winners Martin Edwards, Paul Charles, Vaseem Khan, Christine Poulson, Marilyn Todd, Kate Ellis, and Tom Mead—while the American authors include such popular crime writers as John Copenhaver, Michael Bracken, John M. Floyd, David Dean, Joseph S. Walker, and Robert Lopresti.
So roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour—step right this way! After all, when it comes to crime, all you need is…motive, means, and opportunity!
October 26, 2023
Literary London
By Liz, enjoying a rare 74-degree weather day in October in New England
I took a little trip last month and it became largely a literary expedition. I visited five of the best bookstores in London and took home a new book from each of them (yes, to add to my already ridiculous TBR pile). My goal was to get something a little different (so basically not heading straight for the mystery section) and I succeeded!
Here are the stores:
And here’s the stash I had to figure out how to get home:
And a coffee, of course!
We wrapped up the day with an Agatha Christie play – Mousetrap. So good, you guys! The whole trip was amazing. Now I want to do a bookstore tour in every European city 
What’s your favorite bookstore? Let me know in the comments!
October 25, 2023
Celebrating the Release of Murder Uncorked
We are so excited to celebrate the release of Maddie Day/Edith’s first book in a new series, Murder Uncorked! Here’s a bit about the book:
Raise a glass to Cece Barton, a widowed single mom and recent L.A.-to-California-wine-country transplant who suddenly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation in this sparkling new mystery series from Agatha Award-winning author Maddie Day.
As the manager of Vino y Vida Wine Bar in Colinas, Cecelia “Cece” Barton’s first Alexander Valley harvest is a whirlwind of activity. Her twin sister, Allie Halstead, who owns a nearby Victorian bed & breakfast, is accustomed to the hustle and bustle of peak tourist season. But Cece barely has a moment to enjoy her new home in between worrying about her estranged college-age daughter, juggling her responsibilities at the bar, and navigating the sticky politics of the local wine association. Just when it seems things can’t grow any more intense, Colinas is rocked by a murder within the wine community . . . and Cece is identified as a possible suspect!
With her reputation and her livelihood on the line—and the Sonoma County deputy sheriff breathing down her neck—Cece has no choice but to open up her own murder investigation. Tensions are already high in the valley, as a massive wildfire creeps toward Colinas, threatening homes, vineyards, and the vital tourist trade. And now, with a murderer on the loose, and Cece’s sleuthing exposing the valley’s bitterest old rivalries and secret new alliances, Colinas feels ready to pop! But with Allie’s help, Cece is determined to catch the killer and clear her name before everything she’s worked so hard for goes up in flames . . .
Wickeds, have you ever been to California wine country? Do you have a favorite winery? A favorite wine?
Julie: I have not been there, and always intend to remedy that some day. I can’t wait to read this series, and live vicariously through the characters. I’ve also enjoyed hearing about Maddie/Ediths’s research trips. I am a wine drinker, and love dry roses, malbecs, and oaky chardonnay. But I also love finding new wines thanks to friends and adventures. Congratulations, Edith/Maddie!!!
Jessie: Super congratulations, Edith! I have been to California wine country several years ago and enjoyed myself very much! We visited several wineries including Korbel. Since I adore sparkling wines it was a delightful experience!
Sherry: Congratulations, Edith! I love that you set the book in the Alexander Valley because it’s such a beautiful part of California with so much interesting history. We were just out in that area in June. Our friends took us to Foley Sonoma winery. They opened just for the four of us and we were spoiled. Their sparkling wine is one of the best I’ve ever had. Below is a picture of their beautiful tasting room.
Barb: Congratulations on Murder Uncorked, Edith! I have never been to California wine country though Bill and I have talked about it for years. I don’t know what’s holding us back. I do enjoy visiting wineries, most recently in Bordeaux.
Edith/Maddie: Thanks so much, dear Wickeds! I will be back in the Alexander Valley Saturday for a winery launch party and more (details on the CA events here), and I can’t wait. I might stop by that Foley winery too, Sherry – the tasting room is lovely.
Readers: Have you been to California wine country? Does your state have wineries?
October 24, 2023
Murder Uncorked is Uncorked!
Edith/Maddie here, on a crisp, sunny day north of Boston.
A perfect day to celebrate the launch of a brand-new series, my Cece Barton Mysteries, with Murder Uncorked! Read down for a special giveaway.
Photo by Becky Sue Epstein, with clarifying by Jeremy Kezer
Funny thing is, I had no intention of writing a third cozy mystery series. A few years ago my agent had said a publisher was looking for someone to carry on a long-running and much beloved cozy series written by an author who had died. I said I wasn’t interested. I wanted to keep writing historical mysteries for my third series.
But then, as I’ve mentioned previously, my fabulous editor at Kensington asked me to write a new series set on the west coast. As I’m a fourth-generation Californian, I was thrilled by the offer and couldn’t say no. I headed out to the Alexander Valley a year ago in the fall to fine tune the details, which I described here.
I discovered that my Massachusetts friend Rick grows the murder weapon, and he sent me some after the plant matured. Handle with care!
I also wrote a novella introducing Cece, which came out last month (so many releases, so little time) in Christmas Mittens Murder. I talked over at the Chicks on the Case blog about how all that came to pass.
And so we have reached release day. I thank so many people in the Acknowledgements. It takes a lot of people to help put a book together. First among them is my uncle, author and journalist Richard Reinhardt, and his sons, my Bay area cousins (and their spouses). Then two of Uncle Dick’s friends in Alexander Valley. The chief of police of a small town nearby. An auction high bidder who became this book’s county sheriff’s homicide detective. Sherry Harris’s daughter, who runs a winery tasting room in Virginia. And more, including my Wicked Authors blogmates, always, plus my agent, the fabulous team at Kensington, and my beloved family.
In a fun coincidence, I’m only a couple thousand words away from finishing the first draft of Deadly Crush, the second Cece Barton mystery, which will be out (I think) late next year.
So let’s celebrate! I’d love to send a commenter here one of my special wine tote bags and a wine-themed tea dish towel (wine and book not included).
And now I think I’ll put my feet up, enjoy a glass of Alexander Valley Chardonnay, and read somebody else’s writing!
Readers: What’s your favorite way to celebrate an accomplishment or milestone?
October 23, 2023
The Perfect Halloween-Themed Literary Tour — Welcome Back Maureen Klovers
I’m delighted to welcome back Maureen Klovers who recently released the sixth book in her Rita Calabrese culinary cozy, The Legend of Acorn Hollow! We met through a critique group born from an email through the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I think one of the ideas for this series might have been born from a discussion in that group.
Maureen: What inspired me to create a modern twist on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?”
A visit to the real Sleepy Hollow, NY, and the bucolic riverside estate of the legend’s creator, Washington Irving. The old stone bridge where Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman had their fateful encounter is still there, with the steeple of the Old Dutch Church rising behind it and the eerie three hundred year old graveyard stretching just beyond. You really can picture the headless horseman galloping across the bridge toward you…
And just a mile away, is Sunnyside, Washington Irving’s bucolic riverside estate, where I listened to master storyteller Jonathan Kruk, who recited the tale from memory…and left me wondering how I could weave it into my Italian-American culinary cozy series.
Fortuitously, my protagonist—the indomitable matriarch turned reporter Rita Calabrese—already lives in Irving’s neck of the woods, in the (fictional) Hudson Valley hamlet of Acorn Hollow.
And so I began to wonder, what if the citizens of Acorn Hollow thought that their town was the real inspiration for Irving’s tale? And what if there hadn’t been just one disappearance by the old stone bridge but three…and one of them involved the nephew of the town’s notorious centenarian “black widow”?
And so “The Legend of Acorn Hollow” was born!
In homage to original legend and my more modern take, I’ve devised a delightful Halloween- and fall-themed weekend tour of the Hudson Valley:
Saturday 9 a.m. Start at Olana, the Moorish-style home of painter Frederic Church, one of the leaders of the influential Hudson Valley school of painting. The art inside is impressive, but it pales in comparison to the landscape outside, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead of Central Park fame. The fall foliage here is stupendous.
Saturday 11 a.m. Make a slight detour north to the Kinderhook one-room schoolhouse where Jesse Merwin taught; Merwin was reportedly Irving’s inspiration for the character of Ichabod Crane. Then take a tour of the home of Martin Van Buren, our nation’s only non-native English-speaking president (he spoke Dutch as a child, like many Hudson Valley residents of the time), who was a friend of both Washington Irving and Jesse Merwin.
Saturday 1 p.m. – At Millbrook Vineyards, sample a flight of wines while enjoying the spectacular fall foliage from their patio. While Rinaldis’ Winery in “Of Masques and Murder” (#4 in the Rita Calabrese series) is fictional, it’s based on Hudson Valley wineries like this one.
Saturday 2 p.m. – In nearby Millerton, pop in to Harney & Sons to sample dozens of hot teas and enjoy a lovely lunch.
Saturday 3:30 p.m. – Head to Bash Bish falls, the largest single-drop waterfall in Massachusetts.
Saturday 6:00 p.m. – Just as the sun sets, you’ll arrive at the Culinary Institute of America in time for your reservation at one of the student-run restaurants. Rita often stops at the bakery here to pick up a pain au chocolat, which is not very Italian, but is very delicious! If you want to continue with the Italian food theme, nab a spot at the Tuscan-themed Caterina de Medici overlooking the rose garden.
Sunday 9:00 am -After pastries at La Delicioza, an old-school Italian bakery in Poughkeepsie’s Little Italy, head to Sleepy Hollow for a day of Irving festivities. Your first stop should be Irving’s estate at Sunnyside, where you will learn about the origins of Irving’s tale (like Shakespeare, he borrowed on older traditions) and the fame he enjoyed as the United States’ first internationally-known writer.
Sunday noon – After a delicious lunch at Stone Barns farm just outside of town, head back to Tarrytown for a stroll over the old stone bridge and a tour of the graveyard at the Old Dutch Church.
Sunday 6 p.m. By night, explore the almost endless options for Halloween-themed entertainment, from haunted hayrides to performances of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Readers:
If you could retrace the footsteps of one of your favorite fictional sleuths, who would you choose and where would you go?
Bio
Maureen Klovers is a former spy and middle school teacher. She has hiked through the jungle to Machu Picchu, toured a notorious Bolivian prison with a German narco-trafficker, and fished for piranhas in Venezuela. She lives with her family in Arlington, Virginia, and enjoys testing recipes and speaking Italian.
Blurb for “The Legend of Acorn Hollow”
The locals insist that Acorn Hollow was the real inspiration for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” But is that a blessing…or a curse?
As the Hudson Valley’s best garden-to-table home cook, fiercest Italian matriarch, and most dogged reporter, Rita Calabrese has many reasons to look forward to fall. Her garden is bursting with the ingredients for chicken cacciatore, apple crisp, and pumpkin cheesecake. Her son is starring in the local community theater production. And Acorn Hollow is at its most festive as it celebrates “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which the townspeople insist was inspired by their own bucolic hamlet.
But as the fall foliage peaks, so does the drama. First, a series of mysterious accidents befall the actor portraying Ichabod Crane. While most of the townspeople are willing to chalk it up to the supernatural antics of the headless horseman, the police have a far more mortal suspect in mind: Rita’s son, Vinnie.
Then the notorious “black widow” of Acorn Hollow offers Rita tantalizing new clues about a pair of cold-case Halloween disappearances bearing the hallmarks of the original legend, right down to the smashed pumpkin by the old stone bridge.In exchange, the widow asks Rita to cater her funeral—and she’s already set an exact date.
As the clock ticks down to the appointed date, Rita cooks up a fabulous funeral feast. But she begins to suspect that the widow is cooking up something of her own, and it just might be an elaborate trap to catch a killer…
Featuring drool-worthy fall and Italian recipes!
