Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 36

A Bit of Fun!

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the evenings are becoming cool and the hydrangeas are blooming!

I love using online generators for a bit of fun! I had the idea to create a word cloud using text pulled from this website and below is the result. I found it so interesting to see the words it pulled from the blog and how frequently they were used. I hope that you enjoy it too! In case you are not familiar with them, the larger the word displayed in the cloud, the more frequently it appears on the blog. I don’t expect any of us would be surprised to see that the word mysteries was the most used!

And, I thought it would be fun to create a digital jigsaw of the word cloud too. If you would like to play it, just click this link!

Readers, which words do you think you use the most in your work or in your private life?

Genre Hopping with Andrea Johnson **giveaway**

I am delighted to welcome Andrea Johnson to the blog today. Some of you may know Andrea from her Victoria Justice Mysteries about a trial stenographer turned amateur sleuth. But today I’ve invited her to the blog to talk about her other writing career. Andrea writes books for writers. She’s written How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery, Mastering the Art of Suspense: How to Write Legal Thrillers, Medical Mysteries, & Crime Fiction, and her most recent book How to Craft Killer Dialogue for Fiction & Creative Non-Fiction. I’m delighted she agreed to write a post for us.

What Makes Dialogue Memorable?

“He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.”

This classic line comes from The Untouchables (1987), written by famed playwright David Mamet, which chronicles a group of police officers tasked with bringing down Al Capone and his Chicago-based bootlegging empire. Spoken by Irish cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery), the line is delivered to help Prohibition agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) understand that the only way to beat Capone is to play dirtier than Capone.

The Untouchables. Dir Brian DePalma Paramount Pictures

This line’s ability to perfectly capture the moment has been praised the world over, even paraphrased by Barack Obama during a 2008 Presidential fundraising campaign in response to his upcoming battle against Republicans.

But why make such a fuss over a movie line—not to mention, one that’s more crime thriller than cozy? Well, it’s just one of the many pieces of magically memorable dialogue that almost kept me from becoming a writer. It took me well over 40 years before I had enough courage to put pen to paper because no one had told me the simple truth:

Writing effective dialogue simply requires having a clear picture of what information you’d like the scene to convey and an understanding of how that speech will deepen your character’s personality and propel the plot. In other words, what do you want the exchange to accomplish both internally and externally? Answering this simple question will ensure that the dialogue you write moves the narrative forward, which results in a significant change in the characters’ attitudes and their situation.

Another key is to write dialogue where the characters are either in disagreement or discovery. Use subtext to highlight the opposing agendas, hidden resentments, or subtle tensions bubbling under every exchange. That way, you’re constantly sharing new data with the reader by setting up situations where your characters are able to express their desires, grievances, and motivations—after all, such clues and confessions are essential to every whodunit.

In fact, traditional mysteries often include extensive recaps or explanations of motive by the sleuth (and villain), especially during the finale. However, to avoid turning those crucial moments into monotonous speeches, find ways to create breaks within those monologues by emphasizing external actions such as the sleuth pulling out evidence to support her claim or having her quell physical confrontations among the accused. In addition, you may find it helpful to divide the explanation across several scenes or chapters, revealing parts of the solution in each. Or better yet, break up long blocks of speech by having the other characters interrupt or ask for clarification. This helps to synthesize the information for the audience while ensuring the scene has a steady pace. You can also include the actions and reactions of the listeners as well as moments of internal reflection from the viewpoint character to comment about how things are progressing. This ensures your story evokes a sense of realism, which prevents your reader from getting bored.

But most importantly, just as I learned while watching and rewatching The Untouchables, don’t feel obligated to start conversations from the beginning or to end them with polite finality. Just like a good movie, a good story should cut to the heart of the matter and leave the audience wanting more.

Readers, what would you consider memorable dialogue? Is there a passage from a book or a quote from a film that kicks you in the gut every single time? Post your reply in the comments within 48-hours of this publication for a chance to win all three books in the Writer Productivity Series.

Author Biography:

Andrea J. Johnson is the author of the Victoria Justice Mysteries, a courtroom whodunit series. She also teaches Creative Writing at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and has penned three productivity guides: How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery, Mastering the Art of Suspense, and How to Craft Killer Dialogue.

Buy her books online through your favorite retailer using the following links:
https://books2read.com/craftkillercozy
https://books2read.com/MasteringSuspense
https://books2read.com/KillerDialogue

To gain more advice, join Andrea’s mailing list for a copy of her FREE 38-page Writer Productivity Bundle, which includes tips on dialogue, synopsis writing, comp titles, agent queries, and much more! – https://ajthenovelist.com/sign-up/

You can also follow Andrea on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter @ajthenovelist or learn more about her and her fiction books at ajthenovelist.com.

About the Book:

Ever wonder what techniques Elmore Leonard used to create masterful dialogue for his highly quotable crime stories? Want to create the same heart-warming character introspections as found in the works of Judy Blume? Or maybe, you’d prefer to plumb the depths of layered subtext as powerfully displayed in the works of artists like Toni Morrison? With How to Craft Killer Dialogue, you will reach all of those goals as well as master your own approach to enhancing characterization through vivid dialogue. You will also learn everything you need to transform the spoken language in your book—from how to develop tension and suspense to techniques for representing accents and dialects effectively. So whether you’re writing a novel, memoir, or something in between, How to Craft Killer Dialogue is your go-to resource for creating, revising, and perfecting conversations that your readers will quote for years to come. Learn more: https://ajthenovelist.com/book/dialogue/

Wicked Wednesday_ Curiosity

Jessie-In New Hampshire where the mornings are cool enough to need a sweater to walk my dog.

Curiosity is our theme this month and it happens to be one of my very favorites! I adore research and giving my curiosity its head and I know that most of you are endlessly curious about certain things too. I wondered this week what sort of rabbit holes your curiosity sent you tumbling down that ended up in one of your novels.

Barb: For Iced Under: I knew for a long time that Julia Snowden’s mother’s ancestors made their money in the frozen water trade. Those wily entrepreneurs who cut ice on frozen ponds and rivers and sent it of to New Orleans, Havana, and Bombay. But I knew next to nothing and loved learning about it. For Steamed Open, learning about Maine shoreline property rights which descend from an Ordinance from 1641 and are probably not what you think they are. And for Shucked Apart, learning about oyster farming.

Liz: For the book I’m working on right now, I stumbled upon something called the shellfish group on Martha’s Vineyard, which is apparently a group that preserves the island’s shellfisheries. So of course now I need to learn more about this and how the presumed infighting between the reps from each town could result in murder.

Julie: For the Clock Shop series, I had to learn about clock making. There was a ton of research, very little of which ended up in the books. But the passion of the clockmakers hopefully did. My recent rabbit hole is con artists. I’m reading The Big Con by David W. Maurer, which explains how cons work. I’ve also rewatched all of the Ocean movies. Needless to say, I’m pondering a new idea…

Sherry: Julie, I remember how amazed I was when I read Just Killing Time and the depth of knowledge you had about clocks. No one reading it would ever guess you didn’t know anything about clocks when you started writing it! I loved learning more about tramp art for one of my Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries. It started with a piece that my sister found in my grandparent’s basement tucked behind many other things. And I confess I really enjoyed going to beach bars when researching the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries!

Edith/Maddie: I was about to write, No fair, Sherry, setting a series in a beach bar. Then I remembered I am just about to debut one with a wine bar setting! Yes, that is extreme-fun research, especially the hands-on (glass) type. But I’ve also dug into the Pomo Indian culture in the Alexander Valley, and learned that Blacks migrated there, started businesses, and built houses in the later part of the nineteenth century. And did you know many wine grapes in the region are picked at night when the temperatures are cooler? The harvest, which happens during September and October, is the very hottest time of the year.

Jessie: Julie, I love con artist stories! All of this research is so interesting it makes me itch to hop down some rabbit holes of my own! As for me, I think the trip I took to Lily Dale, NY to the Spiritualist enclave was my deepest dive so far. It was fascinating to attend group sessions, private readings, and reiki healing circles. Even the gift shop proved a source of information and inspiration!

Readers, do you end up tumbling down rabbit holes when you are on the internet?

Guest- Liz Ireland

Jessie: In NH where the weather fluctuates between abysmal and heartbreakingly delicious!

Today we are lucky to have Liz Ireland as our guest. I had the pleasure of meeting her some time ago and am pleased as punch to have her with us today! Over to you Liz!

Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, a writer was sweating bullets over her latest historical mystery…

Okay, the kingdom was a duplex in Victoria, British Columbia, and the writer was me. I’m not a perfectionist by any stretch, but as I wrote those stories I buried myself in histories and old reference books, trying to weed out every anachronism and factual error. If I didn’t find them, I knew that sharp-eyed readers would.

Then came the call. It was my editor, offering me a chance to write a cozy holiday mystery featuring a Mrs. Claus character. She could be the owner of a Christmas store, he suggested, or a bakery, or a—

“No, she’s the real Mrs. Claus,” I said. No question. I was headed to Santaland, a place that couldn’t be Googled, without a single element to be fact-checked! I envisioned a golden future where the most intense research I had to do involved reclining on my couch and watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the squillionth time. Easy peasy.

Ha.

Ten minutes into working on the first story, I realized that I couldn’t simply plop my characters into a cartoon universe. Obviously, this place needed to have its own geography, history, and social structure. I began by constructing the world: A bit of Bavaria, a touch of small towns I’d lived in, and also a few places I’d only dreamed of visiting (looking at you, Neuschwanstein castle). To organize the society of the book, a bit of The Crown seeped into the Claus family hierarchy, and a touch of Downton Abbey made its way into the upstairs-downstairs world of Castle Kringle, where Santa Claus lives. Instead of researching history, I was inventing a history. Every fictional world, I discovered yet again, is its own reality. 

The more I built the world, the more I saw its possibilities. How would it be to be dropped into the North Pole as an outsider newly married to Santa Claus? What does it mean to live in a single-industry town, especially if the industry is Christmas? And how would a murder affect such a close-knit, determinedly merry community? Murder is a serious business, after all, even when it takes place in the coziest of cozy villages.

In other words, all of the issues raised in crime fiction applied to this off-center Santaland world taking shape in my imagination. And as for my research-free crime writing? Just a dream. So far in writing the Mrs. Claus series, I’ve tumbled down research rabbit holes about poisonous plants of the arctic, and time zone issues involved in round-the-world sleigh trips, and I now feel as if I could host my own David Attenborough-style documentary on reindeer. 

Maybe you can’t Google a street map of Christmastown, but if you’re a crime fiction reader, the themes and issues won’t be unfamiliar. Only with elves, and talking reindeer, and sentient snowmen.

Readers: Have you enjoyed any mysteries with a touch of fantasy? I’m a huge fan of Gigi Pandian’s Accidental Alchemist series, among others. If you have any recommendations, leave them in a comment for a chance to win a print copy of Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys. (North America only, please.)

And thank you so much, Wickeds, for inviting me to be a guest today! 

Short blurb: In Santaland, it’s beginning to look a lot like…Thanksgiving…and in between the festivities, April Claus must track down a killer hiding amid a parade of suspects…

Book Details

https://lizireland.wordpress.com/

Liz’s bio: Liz Ireland grew up in Texas, where she experienced nothing but green Christmases for most of her life—until she moved to Canada. She also writes books under the names Elizabeth Bass and Liz Freeland. She currently lives on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Guest- CJ Connor

Jessie: In New Hampshire where, thankfully, Hurricane Lee gave us a miss!I am absolutely delighted to welcome CJ Connor as a guest today. One of the things that I love about the Wickeds is that we have the opportunity to introduce new authors and series to mystery enthusiasts. I hope that you will join me in greeting CJ Connor and his new series here today! Take it away CJ!

My debut novel Board to Death–a cozy mystery with Kensington Books set around a Salt Lake City board game shop–came from my wish for more cozies starring queer characters. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I fell hard for the genre. I loved the close-knit feeling they brought and the clever puzzles. The knowledge that no matter what happened, the sleuth would turn out alright was also comforting when real life offered no certainties.

But I could find very few cozy mysteries about LGBTQ people. My husband and I eloped during those months, and I longed for books about queer people and couples. That my favorite genre had very few to offer disappointed me as a reader, but it also offered an opportunity–maybe I could help improve belonging for queer readers in the genre by writing one myself.

Thankfully, the “quozy mystery” genre–a term coined by Edgar Award-winning author Rob Osler–has grown rapidly over the past few years. It brings me a lot of joy to see cozy mystery publishers making space for queer stories and that readers have a greater selection than they did even three years ago. I hope to see the quozy mystery genre continue to grow and am grateful my debut is a part of it.

Everyone needs more quozies in their life! Read on for queer cozy mystery book recommendations on where to start, perfect for those new to the subgenre as well as more seasoned readers. There’s a little something here for every reader–ghoulishly delightful paranormal cozies, hobby mysteries that dive deep into fascinating niches, historical mysteries with gentle romantic subplots, and more!

Quozy (Queer Cozy) Mystery RecommendationsDevil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler

Starting off with a debut novel by the author who created the term “quozy mystery” in 2022! Rather than a murder, this cozy mystery is centered around a missing persons case. When teacher Hayden McCall’s date Camilo Rodriquez disappears and the police refuse to take it seriously, Hayden investigates for himself. Along the way, he dives deep into Seattle’s queer community and befriends Hollister and Burley, two lesbian women and friends of Camilo, who help him with the case.

Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective by Katie Siegel

Charlotte Illes was once a renowned teen detective whose achievements would have gained her a spot right next to Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown one decade ago. Now in her midtwenties, she feels aimless and worries that her best days are behind her. A call to her old help line changes everything, however, and she soon finds herself entangled in a murder investigation with much higher stakes than the cases she handled as a kid.

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

If you prefer your cozies on the spookier side of things, you’ll want to check out this debut starring reluctant medium Claire and her unusual sidekick Sophie, the ghost of her best friend. When Claire is called to perform a seance at a party in an atmospheric English mansion, she senses a spirit with unfinished business that could be linked to any of the guests.

A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonnette

Written by an avid Murder, She Wrote fan, this cozy mystery is set around a Hollywood antiques shop and brings together wonderfully nostalgic vibes and a clever whodunit. Formerly married sitcom stars Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper remain best friends and are grateful that they can live openly as queer people more so than they could in the 90s. Shortly after opening a Hollywood memorabilia antiques store, they 

Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian

Readers who love cozies with romantic subplots will find it easy to fall for this historical mystery set in post-WWII England. After the war, Jamie Sommers retires to his childhood village in the hopes of building a quiet life as a country doctor. But when murder strikes–as it tends to do in idyllic English villages–Jamie crosses paths with Leo Page, a spy called to investigate who intrigues Jamie in unexpected ways.

Readers: what are your favorite cozy mysteries starring queer leads? If you are new to the quozy mystery subgenre, which book are you most excited to check out?

Short bio: CJ Connor (he/they) is an author from Southern Utah. His debut novel Board to Death is the first in the Board Game Shop series with Kensington Books. He is an EBSCO NoveList advisor, a Book Riot contributor, and a member of the League of Utah Writers.

A Wicked Welcome to Linda L. Richards

by Julie, still summering in Somerville and keeping on eye on the weather

I am delighted to welcome Linda L. Richards to the blog together. Linda is a multi-published author who I met through the Sisters in Crime board, where she serves as the Grant Liaison. I’m delighted she agreed to join us on the Wickeds.

Making Choices: Maybe Just Duck

Recently someone asked me about the career path I followed to get to the place where I am. This person was exploring possibilities for career change. He had a job that did not fulfill him, but that enriched him in other ways: good money, benefits, retirement possibilities after what currently seemed like an endless investment of years. And he figured he had a book inside him. So how to get it out?

So what path had I taken? I sat and looked at the words for full minutes before I could formulate anything that resembled an answer.

It took me a while to realize: there had been no path. “Path” suggests something sane and sensible. Something well schemed. My life hasn’t been like that. My life is precarious. It has always been. You take this particular path because you have stories to tell that will make you bleed if they go untold. They reverberate so starkly inside you that you need to do whatever you have to to get them out. That’s not a way of being that describes anything as sane as a “path.” More like a force that pushes and/or guides you.

So paths: the best most sensible path for someone to take if they already have a job that they perhaps do not love but that pays is simply to get up earlier. Don’t do less, do more. Writing doesn’t need to be one or the other. But it can be the salve that makes the rest of it work.

I didn’t explain that well. I’ll try again.

I have heard from many, many people that they wrote their first book while doing a job that did not please them. They carved an extra hour from their day and used it to write their first book. After their writing time, they would go to their job where they’d be able to use some of their workday ruminating on what they’d written and what they would write next, moving the book forward in that way.

That would be a sensible path for someone considering change. But is it the correct one? I don’t think there is a correct path for someone wanting to be a writer. And no clearcut one. The journey is always deeply personal and dictated by your own needs and desires and — yes — gifts and talents.

So my own ragged path looks something like this:

In the first place, one should be writing because one has to. One continues to work if there are bills to pay. One meets with disaster if they don’t take that into consideration. (I did some of that early on.) And if one wakes up one morning and the money from the writing is equal to or greater than the bills, one quits the job.

That is the sensible course. But is it the right course? Maybe one day you’ll let me know.

About the Author

Linda L. Richards is the award-winning author of over a dozen books and a national board member of Sisters in Crime. The founder and publisher of January Magazine and a contributing editor to the crime fiction blog The Rap Sheet, Richards is best known for her strong female protagonists in the thriller genre. Richards is from Vancouver, Canada and currently makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Her latest book, DEAD WEST, was published by Oceanview Publishing September 5, 2023. Linda’s 2021 novel, ENDINGS, was recently optioned by a major studio for series production. Richards is an accomplished horsewoman and an avid tennis player. Website: http://lindalrichards.com/

About Dead West

Rule #1 of being a hired killer: never get to know your target . . . and definitely don’t fall in love with them

Taking lives has taken its toll. Her moral justifications have faltered. Do any of the people she has killed—some of them heinous, but all of them human—deserve to die?

Her next target is Cameron Walker, a rancher in Arizona. When she arrives at his remote desert estate to carry out her orders, she discovers that he is a kind and beautiful man. After a lengthy tour of the ranch, not only has she not killed him—she’s wondering who might want him dead.

She procrastinates, instead growing closer to Cameron. She learns that he’s passionate about wild horses and has been fighting a losing political battle to save mustangs that live on protected land near his ranch—he’s even received death threats from his opponents.

Suddenly, she’s faced with protecting the man she was sent to kill, encountering kidnappers, murderers, horse thieves, and even human traffickers along the way. Can she figure out who has hired her before they take matters into their own hands?

What Is the Magic Number?

by Julie, enjoying the waning days of summer

I have been rewatching Bones this past week. I’ve been under the weather, and not up to much else, so I’ve watched a lot of episodes. There is something about rewatching a show from the beginning that lets you enjoy it again as a fan, and dissect it as a writer. Did the character arcs ring true till the end? Are the story lines satisfying? Did the series sag in the middle? Was it satisfying all the way through?

I could write a blog post about Bones over twelve seasons. But instead the question I’ve been asking myself is what’s the magic number? Robert Wagner always thought that five seasons was the magic number for television shows, so he ended Hart to Hart after five seasons. Carl Reiner wanted to go out on top, so he ended The Dick Van Dyke Show after five seasons. Now, there are lots of examples of shows that remain great after five years, but there also examples of shows that would have been well served to call it at five.

Last week I thought about the John Ceepak series by Chris Grabenstein. I love that series, which went to eight books. I recently reread them and would have happily kept reading more. The characters kept growing, but the core of the series remained the same. Grabenstein kept it fresh. Alas, I believe it’s done at eight.

Elizabeth Peters wrote twenty plus Amelia Peabody books, and kept the quality up throughout. There are other long running series that have held up for me . But I have found, as a reader, I sometimes lose steam with a series between books 6-10 if the characters feel static.

So, I’ve been wondering about that magic number. You know the one. The number of books in a series that completely satisfies the reader, but leaves them a little sad it’s over. The number of seasons of a TV series where the characters feel true, and the stories still feel fresh? The number where commerce has not run over creativity, and the art isn’t being forced to meet a bottom line. Not that I don’t get the lure of the offer of more money. I hope to have that creative dilemma some day. But I digress.

There is, of course, no right number. And there are so many factors out of a creator’s control. Series get canceled before they’re done. That’s a fact of life. But as a creator, I can’t help but think that thinking about my number as I plan a series would serve me well. Early on in my career, I wouldn’t have thought about that as much. But now, how many books are the number I need to tell the characters’ stories? I will say that of my three series to date, none of them hit the magic number. Which is frustrating, but that’s also the business.

This blog post isn’t an opportunity to trash series (TV or books) that went past their number. Instead, it’s an opportunity for us all to celebrate the long running series that worked till the end, and to sing the praises of the series that called it while they were still at the top of their game.

Let the celebrations begin!

Wicked Wednesday-Curiosity

Jessie-In New Hampshire where the nights have turned crisp and cool.

This month we are talking about curiosity so immediately the phrase “Curiosity killed the cat” came to my mind. This got me to thinking about favorite and or least favorite sayings. So, ladies, which sayings do you love? Hate?

Barb: My mother and her mother had a host of colorful expressions. I wish now that I’d used more of them when my kids were growing up and passed them along through another generation. One I remember particularly is that on a cloudy summer day, my grandmother would go out into the front yard and look at up the sky. If there was a patch of blue, or better two, she would pronounce, “There’s enough blue to mend a Dutchman’s breeches. Let’s go to the beach.” We were in New Jersey at the time, settled by the Dutch, so I thought maybe it went back to that, or came from illustrations of the voluminous blue pants in stories like Hans Brinker. Jessie’s question got me curious enough to look it up. Like so many of our expressions, it comes from the age of sail.

Liz: I hate anything to do with killing animals! I don’t like “kill two birds with one stone” either. I’ve been trying to change that to “feeding two birds with one loaf of bread.” There are also a lot of corporate phrases that I have grown to despise, including “out of pocket,” “Let’s circle back,” and anything to do with the word “leverage.”

Julie: My grandfather used to say this about someone who complained a lot: “He’d kick at a football game.” That makes no sense, and was likely a misquote of another phrase. But now it is family shorthand.

Edith/Maddie: I love this topic. Hugh and I agree a hundred percent with Liz that “killed the cat” has no place in anybody’s speech. I can’t remember any colorful phrases my family used. Walking along a sidewalk, kids always recited, “Step on a line, break your mother’s spine; step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” My mom’s been dead eleven years, and to this day I avoid stepping on lines and cracks.

Sherry: I love reading all of these sayings and have never heard Barb’s or Julie’s. My dad was a great one for telling jokes. I can’t even remember the joke any longer but it involved tapping one’s head and saying, “kidneys.” For a long time when someone did something silly, we’d tapped our head and say, “kidneys.” We tend to tease my husband about things–lots of things. He always pronounced “theater,” the-ATE-her and with kind of a Southern accent. One day we were driving down a road and he said, “is that a movie house?” because he didn’t want to be mocked for his pronunciation of theater. So now we tease him about that too, adding our own Southern accents.

Jessie: My parents used to mention the sky patching saying too, Barb, but they always said sailor instead of Dutchman. And, whenever he thought someone was a chronic complainer my father would declare that “he would complain if they hanged him with a brand-new rope”.

Readers, what are your favorite sayings?

Welcome Guest Mary Karnes #giveaway

  Sherry — I’m delighted it’s not as hot as last week and that we are getting some much needed rain.

I am so happy to welcome Mary Karnes to the Wickeds. The Wickeds have known her for a longtime and have been cheering her writing on since we met. Her debut novel in her Wedding Planner mysteries, Wedding Bride and Doom, released on August 22nd!

Mary: I have always wanted to be a writer. I found out early on that dream came with a healthy dose of rejection. My first rejection arrived when I was six. I sent in a poem to the lady’s magazine, Redbook. I’m not sure if that publication is even still around – I’m dating myself here. I’m fairly confident my mom sent in that submission, and heaven knows I’m no poet.

        Next up was a neighborhood newspaper when I was seven. I could barely spell, and it showed. But it was a moderate success, probably because my dad solicited subscriptions from work.

        As I grew, my passion for writing, (and reading), only expanded and I was a writing major  in college. But as life does, it got in the way of my dream…or did I just not want it badly enough? I got married, had four children, and moved many times for my husband’s career. We started in California and ended up in New England.

         And just like that, the kids were grown, (four daughters, say a prayer for me tonight!), and I started my second act. I wrote a mystery about a wedding planner. At the same time my daughter number two began planning her wedding to her high school sweetheart. The next year daughter number one got married. The main thing I gleaned from planning these two weddings is that everyone needed a wedding planner. My manuscript was okay, but I need more wedding expertise. What if I became a wedding planner and wrote my book at the same time? That’s just what I did.

Credit: Sara McIngvale

         Was it instant success? Well, for the wedding planner part, kind of was! I had more business than I knew what to do with.

But the writing, part, not so much. It took me two years to find an agent. There was one particular agent who I really wanted. She was a perfect fit for me and for my cozy mystery genre. But…she had already rejected me twice. But what the heck! Part of getting published is tenacity…and luck. I queried my now wonderful agent, (Dawn Dowdle from Blue Ridge Literary Agency), a third time, and I guess I wore her  down, because she signed me! Then the hard part began, getting that manuscript ready to submit to publishing houses. A significant amount of time later, and we sent it to editors. I was lucky enough to land with Level Best Books.

        On August 22, 2023, the first in my ‘Wedding Planner Mystery Series,’ WEDDING BRIDE AND  DOOM, was  published. I’m very proud of it and I hope you give it a read and love it!

Readers: Do you enjoy receiving lines when you attend a wedding? Did you have one when you got married? Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy (US only) of Wedding Bride and Doom!

AUTHOR BIO:         

Mary Karnes, a college English major and former teacher, is the mother of four who raised her family though six corporate moves. She always dreamed of being an author and dabbled with writing throughout the years. Once the children were grown and out of the house, she started a wedding planning business, while simultaneously chasing her dream of being a traditionally published author. Her ‘Wedding Planner Mystery Series’ was born, with her business providing delicious subject matter for her books.

Mary resides in New England with her husband, Ken, and her mini-dachshund, Lucky. Her door is a revolving one with her children and grandchildren visiting frequently.

Author website: https://www.marykarnesauthor.com

Short blurb:

California wedding planner, Kate Ludlow, moves back home to New England after her marriage implodes. In tow is her teen daughter Ellis, unhappy and nervous about the move. Suddenly, Kate’s responsible for turning her part-time wedding planner gig into a full-time business. Kate’s off to a good start, too, when she books the society wedding of the year. The prosperity of her business is dependent on the success of Marcy Simpson’s wedding. The joy of an unlimited wedding budget is intoxicating. But when Kate’s best florist is murdered, her focus changes from pulling off the year’s most glamourous wedding, to saving her own skin – for Kate’s suspect number one for the murder. Further complicating her life, Kate’s old high school flame, Brian McAllister, is the police detective assigned to the murder case. The spark is definitely not gone from their connection, as they have unfinished feelings. Throw in a scavenger hunt for an antique missing family ring, the job transfer of Kate’s ex to New England, and quirky and endearing townsfolk, Kate has more than she can handle – almost.

Social Media:

Author Instagram: @marykarnesauthor

Wedding Instagram: @marypkarnesweddings

Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/people/Mary-Karnes-Author/100093538822010/

Buy links:

Amazon  e-book: amazon.com/dp/B0C8C118WN

Amazon print book: https://www.amzn.com/1685124038

Barnes and Noble Print: barnesandnoble.com/s/9781685124038

Also available on bookshop.org

Deep Fried Death Cover Reveal

Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston.

I’m having the kind of month I like. Mostly unscheduled, no more travel until mid-October, a few fun non-authorly events planned, great summer produce still in abundance, and a new book to write. Oh, and a novella releases on the 24th!

But first I attended Bouchercon, the year’s biggest mystery convention, this year in San Diego. I arrived home a week ago on September third. San Diego is a favorite city in my native state, and I made sure to get outside and walk along the marina every day. Shown here is the view the first evening from my balcony on the 15th floor, yes, with sliders that opened (this will horrify Sherry’s husband Bob, but I didn’t close the sliders once for the rest of my stay, day or night…).

I got to hang with Julie some, which was delightful, and schmooze with lots and lots of fans and fellow authors. I didn’t see Liz more than a couple of times but I could tell she was enjoying herself, too.

As was our beloved FOWA (Friend of the Wicked Authors) Dru Ann Love, the Fan Guest of Honor, who I snapped a picture with at registration, plus another FOWA, Nikki Bonanni.

I also got to meet Linda Johnson, my audio narrator for Murder Uncorked, which was exciting. I’ve never met one of my narrators before, and I was able to answer a couple of questions for her.

And now I’m back, blessedly COVID-free (although others weren’t so lucky), and working hard on writing Deadly Crush, my second Cece Barton mystery – yes, before the first in the series is out.

But what’s this about a cover reveal, you ask? Indeed. Jennifer M, the fabulous assistant I share with the other Wickeds, prompted me recently. “Have you done a cover reveal yet for Deep Fried Death?”

Um, no, I realized. And so, here it is!

(Don’t ask me how Birdie got on top of the decorated outhouse. Other bits, including the title, also don’t match the book contents. Let’s just not go there. It’s a fun cozy cover and that’s enough.)

Here’s the blurb for the twelfth book in the Country Store Mysteries series:

A killer strikes during Nashville, Indiana’s annual Outhouse Race festivities, landing Pans ‘N Pancakes owner Robbie Jordan on the suspect list…

Many residents of South Lick, Indiana, claim the Outhouse Race, in which competitors push old-timey outhouse replicas on wheels at the annual Abe Martin Festival on Memorial Day, is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Just because country store and restaurant owner Robbie Jordan has too much to do managing her new deep fryer as well as an old lover reappearing, she’s not going to miss out on the fun. Plus, it’s good for business.

But when a dead body and a cast-iron skillet tumble out of the Pans ’N Pancakes outhouse entry on the race route, it seems someone is trying to frame Robbie—in a most unconventional way. Now she’ll need to be privy to the townsfolks’ secrets as she races to flush out a killer.

And look what arrived two days ago – a box full of ARCs!

Of course I want to give some away. September is the ninth month, so I’ll send NINE commenters an advance copy, hoping with fingers crossed you like it enough to give it a positive review on Goodreads before the December 26 release date.

Readers: What goofy parades have you watched – or participated in? Are you all caught up on Country Store Mysteries one through eleven?