Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 48

How Slippers Led to a Book, by Ellen Byron

Edith/Maddie here, celebrating April in northeast Massachusetts.

And part of that is celebrating a new Catering Hall Mystery from Maria DiRico, aka Ellen Byron!

Here’s the blurb for Four Parties and a Funeral: The June events schedule at Belle View, Mia Carina’s family’s catering hall in Astoria, are busting out all over, including a casting call for the pilot of Dons of Ditmars Boulevard. Belle View quickly becomes the site of a sea of wanna-be goombahs and phony girlfriends trying out for the cheesy reality show, and some of Mia’s friends insist on getting in on the action. The production company owner and his executive producer ex-wife—who’s also very minor British royalty—have assembled a motley crew that does as much infighting and backstabbing as the on-screen “talent.” Even so, it’s a shock when a dead body is found in the pool house of a local mansion rented by the show . . .

Murder might boost the ratings. But Mia intends to make sure the killer gets jail time, not airtime. . . 

The Slippers that Led to a Storyline

My late Italian grandmother was a gifted crocheter. But for decades, crocheting wasn’t a hobby – it was survival.

Nonna, Papa, and their baby – my mother – immigrated to America at the start of the Depression. They were desperately poor, so Nonna put her crochet talents to use. “She made little rosettes that went on top of baby hats,” shares Mom, who used to help Nonna by picking up dropped stitches. “We’d get on the bus and take them to the knitting factory under the Hellgate Bridge in Queens. She got paid $1.55 a gross.”

Eventually, the family’s economics improved. As a retiree, Nonna was finally able to crochet for pleasure. But her thrifty habits stayed with her. Unused yarn from one project got recycled into the next. Which is how I wound up with these slippers.

The slippers are fifty years old and indestructible. When I was in college, a slipper fell out of my laundry basket onto the street and by the time I retrieved it, a dozen cars had run over it. After a good washing, the slipper bounced right back to life. (Sidebar: this slipper pattern must have been native to Italian nonnas because a friend and I once discovered we had slippers crocheted in the exact same style and pattern.)

Nonna’s use of yarn scraps is also evidenced in the odd color combination of the blanket below. Notice where she ran out of one color along the edge and simply switched to another color… twice.

[Edith: In my family we would call that being Scottish – “waste not, want not!”]

But Nonna didn’t always crochet from scraps. She often worked with thin white cotton, creating works of art like these antimacassars for the arms of a sofa I found on a New York street and claimed for my apartment:

In Four Parties and a Funeral, protagonist Mia’s nonna Elisabetta crochets a variety of biliously colored, ill-fitting garments with yarn from “surprise” bags sold for cheap at her local shop, to the amusement of friends and family. As I write in the book, “The craft shop had clearly found a way to foist unsellable merchandise onto their senior clientele – shove it into plastic bags, label them a ‘surprise collection,’ and sell the bags for a dollar, offering a deal that knitters and crocheters like Elisabetta would be unable to resist.” But Elisabetta gets the last laugh when a dress she crocheted for Mia helps trap a criminal.

I treasure everything my nonna ever crocheted for me. And I honor her with the affectionately humorous storyline in Four Parties and a Funeral, as well as my pen name, “Maria DiRico” – Nonna’s maiden name.

Readers: do you have a craft item made by a relative that you cherish? Do you have a crafting hobby?

Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won two Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Bayou Book Thief is the first book in her new Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. She also writes the Catering Hall Mystery series under the name Maria DiRico. 

Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. She serves on the national board for Mystery Writers of America, and was the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster. Visit her at Cozy Mysteries | Ellen Byron | Author

On Reading and Watching plus a giveaway!

Ah, spring in Northern Virginia. We are having wild temperature swings and keep switching from heat to air conditioning.

I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve been reading and watching this spring. If you have time to read, I’m giving away a copy of one of my Chloe Jackson books. If you’ve already read them, I’m happy to send one to a friend or family member.

Books:

I’ve mentioned this before but I loved Hide by Tracy Clark. Detective Harriet Foster is a fabulous protagonist. I can’t wait until the second book

A book that grabbed me because of its title — Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. It was an interesting read.

A series that I love — I recently read Slough House the seventh book in the Slough House series by Mick Herron. I don’t like to binge read books so I’ve been spreading these out as much as possible.

Daisy Jones and the Six is very different. It’s all interview and no exposition. A reporter is interviewing Daisy and the other band members who are looking back on their lives. At first I wasn’t sure I liked the writing style, but was quickly drawn into the store. I’m not sure if I’m going to watch the TV version. It seems like it would be harder to see than to read about.

Next for a bit of enjoyable fluff — Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan. My neighbor loaned it to me and it was delightful. Interestingly, my agent met her at a bookstore in Oxford, MS.

I also just read Finlay Dovovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano and really enjoyed it. I actually laughed out loud a few times.

Next up is The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer. I haven’t read a political thriller that I saw on someone’s list. I’m also looking forward to Red London by Alma Katzu. It’s the second book in a series featuring a female CIA agent. Red Widow was fantastic so I’m looking forward to this.

TV:

We just finished watching the second season of Slow Horses based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron. The casting for this show is perfection! So often I watch something and think, that’s not how I pictured that person, however in this series it’s been, that’s exactly how I pictured that person.

We also watched Jack Ryan season three and started watching The Night Agent on Netflix. My husband and I both read the book by Matthew Quirk and love it. We’re only a couple of episodes in on the show but so far they are doing a fantastic job with it.

For some fluff, I’ve been slowly working my way through season three of Emily in Paris on Netflix. If you love fashion it’s worth watching just to see the clothes. It’s not just the women’s clothes Julian wore a lavender suit that was fabulous in a recent episode. Plus — Paris! Sigh.

I also seem to love singing competitions and have been watching American Idol and The Voice. I think I like the audition rounds the best.

Readers: What have you been reading or watching? Leave a comment for a chance to win one of my Chloe Jackson books!

Wicked Wednesday-Prose and Cons

Jessie: In New Hampshire where there are real signs of spring!

All this month we are discussing prose and cons. I know that one thing most writers struggle with, almost always at the beginning of their careers, but often throughout it as well, is imposter syndrome. Did you ever feel as though you weren’t a “real” writer? Did you feel like you were conning everyone when you were awarded your first contract? Does it ever happen now? If so, when and why?

Barb: I think every writer experiences imposter syndrome, probably most of the time. For one thing, there’s no formal induction into the field: no white-coat ceremony. (White quill ceremony?) There may be a day you become a published author, but the day you became a writer is known only to you. Strangely enough, just as I prepared to answer this question, I read a story in the New York Times about Aaron Sorkin, who is writing a new book for a new production of Camelot on Broadway. Here’s a quote:

“I wrote 86 episodes of ‘The West Wing,’ and every single time I finished one, I’d be happy for five minutes before it just meant that I haven’t started the next one yet, and I never thought I would be able to write the next one. Ever… I worry that if I stop worrying then I won’t do it. That it’s the worrying that’s driving me to do it.”

Edith/Maddie: Aaron SORKIN? That’s a stunning quote, Barb. Sometimes I do feel like an imposter, even now. That self-doubting inner voice nags, “Nobody’s going to want to read this drivel.” Or when it’s time to start a new book (which is happening right now, gulp), I wonder if I even have another story to tell. The voice was definitely a lot louder ten years ago when I was starting out, but it’s still there. And yet, at other times I’ll think, “Maybe this book isn’t so bad, after all.”

Liz: Wow – good to know the company is good here in imposter-syndrome land! I’ve always struggled with this – in writing and lots of other areas. I’ve learned you just have to keep going, no matter what. And it helps to realize most people feel that way at some point!

Julie: I remember back when I was writing what was going to be my second published novel, Hallie Ephron let me know that every writer struggled with the first draft, but over time you knew that you can do it. If I’m writing a cozy, I have that knowing. But when I try a different genre, or a short story, the doubt creeps in. For writers (and other artistis) I wonder if it is less about not feeling like an imposter, and more about moving forward anyway.

Sherry: Oh, before my first book came out, I was racked with insecurities. It’s not as bad now, but like everyone else there is that voice in the back of my head saying, “You can’t do this. You’re no good.” And then there is the pressure of always wanting the next book to be better than the last. Fortunately, the joy of being published outweighs all the bad stuff.

Jessie: It always amazes me how pervasive this feeling is for humans! Thanks for the quote, Barb! It really brought things home! I agree with all of you, but especially about feeling it poke up its ugly head when working in less familiar territory. The only thing I have really found that helps is to tell myself the story that I want to be true until I believe that it is. It works for me for writing and for the rest of life!

Readers, have you ever felt like an imposter?

Rose Lives On

Edith/Maddie writing from northeast MA, where flowers are trying to bloom.

Big news – my Quaker Midwife short story collection is out today! I introduced you to it here in January, and it’s finally release day. Read down for a giveaway.

But first some background. The Quaker Midwife Mysteries series began with a short story originally titled, “Breaking the Silence,” which appeared in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold. The story won an Honorable Mention in that year’s Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction contest. Oddly, it precedes Rose and is told by her niece Faith Baily.

After the first book in the series came out, I kept writing short stories including Rose and her amateur sleuthing in Amesbury, Massachusetts. They appeared in subsequent Level Best anthologies, Malice Domestic and Bouchercon collections, Kings River Life Magazine, and elsewhere. Two stories – “A Questionable Death” and “The Mayor and the Midwife” – were nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Short Story.

But I knew many fans of the novels hadn’t had a chance to read the short stories. What better way to keep the love for Rose alive than collecting and publishing her shorter tales? I wrote a short intro for each story, too.

For this collection, I wanted to bookend the stories with Rose’s origin story while she’s an apprentice to her midwifery teacher, Orpha Perkins, and with a story that takes place well after the last book in the series. “In Pursuit of Justice” opens with John Greenleaf Whittier, a character in each series book, asking for Rose’s assistance in the suspicious death of a fellow Quaker in 1886, two years before the first book in the series. The victim is a father whose wife gave birth six months earlier with Rose in attendance, and Rose agrees to help.

In the “The Management of Secrets,” the last story in the collection, Rose is urged to come out of sleuthing retirement in January of 1900 to work on a stubborn case again involving members of her faith. Now a mother of four, she agrees.

These Crippen & Landru collections also include a chapbook story, which is printed separately and included with the signed, numbered, hardcover edition of the book.

For the chapbook I wrote “Labor’s Peril,” which was inspired by Amesbury’s history of strikes against the horribly abusive practices of textile mill owners in the era. George Edwin McNeill, the “Father of the Eight-Hour Work Day,” was born in Amesbury and is widely regarded as responsible for prodding the labor movement into life.

What could be more appropriate than labor and social justice to include in a story about a Quaker midwife?

Besides Victoria Thompson’s fabulous introduction to the collection, for which I am so grateful, I’ve gotten a few other glowing endorsements.

“For lovers of Call the Midwife, Edith Maxwell’s A Questionable Death is a must read! The book’s ten midwife Rose Carroll short stories, featuring history, birth, and murder, will leave you wanting more.” —Award Winning Author Debra H. Goldstein

“I so enjoyed spending time with Edith Maxwell’s beloved sleuth, Rose Carroll, in these astute and thought-provoking stories!” —Alyssa Maxwell, author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries

“Edith Maxwell’s Rose Carroll is more than a Quaker midwife in late 19 th  century New England. She’s a moral compass, an astute observer, and a staunch advocate for women in a time when women’s rights were more trampled than honored—and a fine detective who uses her ability to go where the police can’t to work tirelessly for justice. The compact, compelling stories in A Questionable Death will satisfy the mystery lover and the history lover alike.” —Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award-winning author of the Spice Shop Mysteries and the “Stagecoach Mary” Fields short stories

Ever since I ended the series, I’ve heard from so many fans about how much they miss Rose – a lot – and hope I’ll continue writing the books. New books are not in the cards right now, but I hope sinking into a few fresh shorter tales helps.

And remember,  if you are in New England, please reserve the early evening of May 6 for an in-person launch party at Amesbury’s fabulous Industrial History Center. We will have wine and cheese and books and conversation!

Readers: If you’ve read the books, who is your favorite character from the Quaker Midwife series? Anyone, have you followed other favorite novelists to short stories they’ve written? I’ll send one lucky winner a copy of the paperback edition of the collection.

Congratulations, Edith on A Questionable Death!

Jessie, in New Hampshire where the robins are flitting about the garden!

Today we are celebrating Edith’s release of A Questionable Death, a collection of short stories featuring her sleuth, Quaker midwife, Rose Carroll. Edith’s enthusiasm for writing short stories is well-known and well-regarded so this release should prove a delight! So, Wickeds, do I hear a hip, hip hooray?

Barb: Congratulations, Edith! What a great idea to collect all these stories in one book. I love the cover, too.

Jessie: I am always so impressed, Edith, by your short story output! Congratulations on this collection!

Liz: Congrats, Edith! This is great. The cover is very cool!

Julie: Congratulations, Edith! What a gift to your fans–a collection of Rose’s short stories. And hats off to Crippen & Landru for the wonderful cover. So exciting!

Sherry: This is so exciting, Edith! What a great idea and the cover is fabulous. It makes me wonder what is going on!

Edith: Thank you, dear Wickeds! Yes, Crippen & Landru (looking at you, Jeffrey Marks) has done a fabulous job with all aspects of the production. Sherry, you might find a clue in that cover. ;^) I’m also delighted Rose has some new life, and I do love the short form to change things up from novels. Tomorrow’s post will flesh out a few more details.

Readers: What do you think about short stories? Any questions for Edith?

Guest Harini Nagendra

Edith writing from north of Boston on the last day of March.

I’m so pleased to host Harini Nagendra today. She made big waves (and award noms) with her debut mystery, last year’s historical The Bangalore Detectives Club. Read what Sarah Weinman wrote in the New York Times: “This is a treat for historical mystery lovers looking for a new series to savor (or devour).”

The buzz is already up for book two, Murder Under a Red Moon, which released this week!

Here’s the blurb: When new bride Kaveri Murthy reluctantly agrees to investigate a minor crime to please her domineering mother-in-law—during the blood moon eclipse, no less—she doesn’t expect, once again, to stumble upon a murder.

With anti-British sentiment on the rise, a charismatic religious leader growing in influence, and the fight for women’s suffrage gaining steam, Bangalore is turning out to be a far more dangerous and treacherous place than Kaveri ever imagined—and everyone’s motives are suspect. Together with the Bangalore Detectives Club—a mixed bag of street urchins, nosy neighbours, an ex-prostitute, and a policeman’s wife— Kaveri once again sleuths in her sari and hunts for clues in her beloved 1920s Ford.

But when her life is suddenly put in danger, Kaveri realizes that she might be getting uncomfortably close to the truth. So she must now draw on her wits and find the killer . . . before they find her.

How intriguing is that? I was also delighted to hear that my son John and Harini – wearing her day-job hat – work on related ecological issues. Harini will send a copy of of Under a Red Moon to one lucky US commenter!

Writing about Gardens and Ecology in Crime Fiction

Agatha Christie worked as a pharmacist’s assistant in World War I. Drawing on her experience, she wrote a number of mysteries where poison was the murder weapon of choice, including a number of toxic chemicals extracted from innocuous-looking garden plants. Edith Pargeter, writing under the name of Ellis Peters, had her famous amateur sleuth Brother Cadfael, the 12th century Welsh monk, manage a herbarium used to prepare potions – some that could be misused to harm, while others were used to heal. Pargeter also worked as an apothecary’s assistant, but perhaps – like Christie – she was also a keen gardener. Her love for plants is evident in the detailed descriptions of the lush plant garden that Brother Cadfael and his fellow monks so carefully tend, just like many of Christie’s descriptions of homes with heritage gardens are believed to be inspired by her .

I’m not a pharmacist, nor would I consider myself an especially skilled gardener – though I do love my plants, and have a garden with a number of trees and herbal plants that we use to prepare home remedies for minor ailments. I am an ecologist though, and as such, plants and animals make their way into my non-fiction a great deal. I was surprised when I found my favourite trees – like the rain tree, a spectacular import to Bangalore from central America – and birds, like the black shouldered kite or the gloriously plumaged kingfisher – making their way into my historical crime fiction.

Rain tree in a Bangalore cemetery

Nature can be very atmospheric, and useful for establishing mood. When my amateur sleuth, Kaveri, goes for a walk near a local lake with her husband – if they see sunlight glinting off the lake, it means success is in sight. But if they hear the keening of a kite hunting for prey, or see an owl swoop down and carry away an unwary mouse – then we know disaster is close at hand. A half-sawed branch can be a powerful weapon in the hands of a dastardly villain, and the seeds of a castor or datura plant can have terminal side effects.

But I think the main reason I add nature into my books is because I am writing about 1920s Bangalore – a time filled with nostalgia for a better past. This was the era when Bangalore still deserved its title as India’s Garden City. It still had its spectacular tree-lined avenues, idyllic waterscapes and rich animal life, with monkeys, squirrels, snakes and leopards competing for attention.

This may look like an idyllic Bangalore waterscape, but it’s teeming with threats – predatory kites, poisonous snakes and more.

Today, hundreds of thousands of trees have been cut down to make way for the growing city, and many of the lakes have been filled in. But it is still important to remember how the city once was, and could be again, to inspire new imaginations of the way people and nature can live together. Thankfully, Bangalore now has a number of citizen movements to protect trees and restore lakes, which brings some hope. If I ever write an urban fantasy set in the future, mine’s going to be an optimistic future, not a dystopian one.

Readers: do you have memories of time spent with nature in a beloved place? How has the place changed over time? What’s your favourite tree, plant or bird? I’ll send one US commenter a copy of the book.

Buy links:

Bookshop.org

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Harini Nagendra is a professor of ecology at Azim Premji University. Her non-fiction books include Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future, and the award winning Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities, with Seema Mundoli. The Bangalore Detectives Club is her first crime fiction novel. The sequel, Murder Under a Red Moon, will be published in March 2023. Harini lives in Bangalore with her family, in a home filled with maps. She loves trees, mysteries, and traditional recipes.

You can contact Harini on her website www.harininagendra.com and connect with her on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook

Leslie Karst Genre Hops with Justice Ginsburg

Edith here on the New Hampshire border, looking forward to real spring (come on, New England, you can do it…).

But we don’t need spring flowers and sunshine to welcome foodie mystery author Leslie Karst to our Genre Hopping feature . This time she brings not a crime novel but a foodie memoir you are going to want to scarf down without delay. Pre-order your copy quickly – Justice is Served comes out next week! Read down for a giveaway, too.

I read an earlier draft of Justice is Served. a few years ago. I loved the narrative, and I, among others, urged Leslie to find a publisher. It took a while and more revisions, but she did. Here’s the blurb:

In this true-life Julie and Julia meets Notorious RBG mash-up, former attorney Leslie Karst recounts how finagling her way into hosting an intimate dinner party for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sends her on a journey of culinary discovery—and, ultimately, completely changes her life.

Justice is Served is Karst’s light-hearted, earnest account of the journey this unexpected challenge launched her on—starting with a trip to Paris for culinary inspiration, and ending with the dinner itself. Along the way, she imparts details of Ginsburg’s transformation from a young Jewish girl from Flatbush, Brooklyn, to one of the most celebrated Supreme Court justices in our nation’s history, and shares recipes for the mouthwatering dishes she came up with as she prepared for the big night. A heartfelt story of simultaneously searching for delicious recipes and purpose in life, Justice is Served is an inspiring reminder that it’s never too late to discover—and follow—your deepest passion.

I asked Leslie our stock questions for the genre-hopping feature, plus a few more!

What genres do you write in?

Justice is Served is a memoir, but I also write the Sally Solari culinary mysteries, a series I like to describe as “snarky cozies.”

What drew you to writing a memoir?

I hadn’t planned to write a memoir about the events contained in Justice is Served. But on the trip back home to Santa Cruz from Los Angeles the morning after the dinner, as my then-partner (now-wife; thank you RBG!) Robin and I were reliving all the marvelous, amusing, and occasionally downright bizarre occurrences leading up to and including the big night, we both came to the same conclusion: I had to write it all down. Right then, before I forgot the details. So I grabbed a pen and the sheaf of office paper we kept in our truck, and as Robin navigated Highway 5, the two of us brainstormed regarding everything we could remember of the previous nine months—including all the conversations from the night before.

Leslie and Ruth during the Big Night

As soon as I was home, I commenced writing the memoir. The draft was finished within a few months, but then there it sat for years on my computer while I was sidetracked, first by my work as a research and appellate attorney, then by writing and promoting my Sally Solari mysteries. Finally, after much egging-on by Robin, her mother, and various others who knew of the manuscript’s existence, I concluded that they were right. The extraordinary story needed to be out there, for others to read.

So, in sum, I guess the simple answer to this question is: I wasn’t so much drawn to the memoir, as it was drawn to me!

What sets your book apart from what is out there?

When I was asked by my publicist to provide “comps” (comparable titles) for Justice is Served, I laughed out loud. Because as far as I can tell—and my research confirmed this—mine was the only book out there about both food and the law. As a result, I was reduced to offering combinations of books, such as calling my memoir “a true-life Julie and Julia-meets-Notorious RBG mash-up.”

So, yes, I’d have say the book is pretty darn unique.

Do you write a series or stand-alones? Why?

Well, Justice is Served is a stand-alone, because it tells the story of one momentous event in my life, and how it changed me as a person. But my Sally Solari mysteries are a series, with five published so far. And I knew as soon as I completed book one that I had to write more. The family dynamic surrounding the two restaurants—her dad’s old-school, traditional Italian-seafood eatery; and the trendy French-Polynesian place that Sally inherits—involved a far more complex story than could be told in merely one book. Not to mention the fact that I had all sorts of murders up my sleeve for the intrepid Sally to solve!

Mario’s Linguine with Clam Sauce (recipe in Dying for a Taste)

What are you currently writing?

I’ve been finishing up the copyedits for the sixth book in my Sally Solari series, called A Sense for Murder, in which the dining room manager of a restaurant-and-culinary bookstore is found murdered on the night of a benefit dinner, and the primary clue is the simultaneous theft of a boxed set of signed first editions of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The book releases this coming August, from Severn House.

What are you reading right now?

I’ve been charged with moderating the “Mysteries Featuring Food and Drink” panel at this year’s Left Coast Crime in Tucson, AZ, so for the past two weeks I’ve had the great pleasure of reading books by all my panelists: Leslie Budewitz’s Peppermint Barked, Emmeline Duncan’s Flat White Fatality, Ed Lin’s Death Doesn’t Forget, and Jenn McKinlay’s Strawberried Alive. Nice work, if you can get it! (Though it does make me awfully hungry….)

What is your favorite deadline snack?

Does coffee count as a snack? If not, then cheesy poofs—the cheesier the better.

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto?

Plan for tomorrow but live for today.

Favorite writing space?

My office here in Santa Cruz. It has a door that I can close for peace and quiet, shelves and shelves of books (along with a lifetime of knick-knacks), and its two large windows let in plenty of light.

What do you see when you look up from writing?

Out the window, I see my Jack Russell mix, Ziggy, dozing in the sun on our Saltillo tile patio. From the way her nose and paws are twitching, I can tell she’s dreaming about chasing squirrels.

How did the process of writing a memoir differ from creating a mystery, a work of fiction?

Besides not killing someone off in chapter one?

But, seriously, it was indeed quite a change. Memoirs are similar to novels in that they tell a story, have a narrative arc, and tend to contain the same elements as their fiction cousins: dialogue, discrete scenes, dramatic highs and lows, and a payoff at the end. But writing Justice is Served felt very different from writing my Sally Solari series. For this story was about me; I had to be honest about myself in a way not required of fiction. No easy feat. It’s scary to put your own personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions out there for all the world to read and to analyze. But, of course, this very personal nature of memoirs is what sets them apart from other genres—and what makes them so very compelling.

I learned so much about Ginsburg, the law, and history from your book. I appreciated how well you wrote those parts, weaving in the law with the food, to keep my interest. Was educating readers part of your goal?

It was. Once I started writing, it became obvious that the memoir concerned not just me. The underlying tale, of course, was about my being tasked with hosting this momentous meal and my planning and preparation of (and angsting and obsessing over) the coming event, as well as detailing the dinner itself. And I also wanted it to be an account of my personal journey separate from the dinner itself—how the experience affected me, as a lawyer, as a romantic partner, as a daughter, as a person.

But it became quickly apparent that this was also the story of the celebrated and iconic Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which needed to be woven throughout as part of the structure of the memoir. Hence what I term the “interludes,” that occur in each chapter: snapshots of RBG’s life and life’s work, each of which relate back to what was going on at the moment in my own life.

This might be in the book, but what do you think was Justice Ginsburg’s favorite part of the meal you cooked?

Well, I don’t want to give too much away about the dishes served, since how and why I came up with the menu plays a big part in the story, but I will say that she did call the scallops (which are in the title, so no spoiler there) “scrumptious.”

Do you have any other memoirs planned?

No. This one was plenty!

Readers: Have you shared a meal with a role model, famous or not? Leslie will send one lucky commenter an advance copy of Justice is Served.

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst waited tables and sang in a new wave rock band before deciding she was ready for “real” job and ending up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as a research and appellate attorney that she rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking, and she once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, Leslie spends her time cooking, cycling, gardening, observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock, and of course writing.

In addition to Justice is Served, she is also the author of the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari Mysteries, a “snarky cozy” culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. Leslie and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz, California and Hilo, Hawai‘i. Visit her at LeslieKarstAuthor.com

Wicked Wednesday: Strong Paranormal Women

We’re still celebrating yesterday’s release of Witch Way Out by Cate Conte (aka Wicked Liz Mugavero) – congratulations, Cate/Liz!

Wickeds: Let’s chat about a fictional or real strong woman who might have some connection to other spirit worlds, be she a witch, a seer, a psychic, a healer, or an ordinary lady who always seems to know a bit more about your thoughts or the future than she should.

Julie: Congratulations Liz/Cate! I love this series, and can’t wait to read this new book. I’ve mentioned before that I’m reading (listening) to the Hamish Macbeth books right now, and there’s a character in the series, Elsbeth Grant, who has the second sight. She was engaged to Hamish at one point, but is now his friend. I love the way she responds to people, and gives unexpected insight into characters.

Edith/Maddie: So many congratulations, Liz/Cate! I will venture to suggest one of my own characters. Orpha Perkins from my Quaker Midwife Mysteries is midwife Rose Carroll’s elderly teacher, mentor, and friend. She delivered Rose herself, and has an ability to see into her inner thoughts and heart as well as those of others. While not paranormal exactly, Orpha is a healer and a woman who brings forth life. She can sense other people’s motivations and, while kind, doesn’t abide fools.

Jessie: Congratulations, Liz! These books are such fun! Like Edith, I am going to mention one of my own characters. I absolutely adored writing the books in my Change of Fortune series which is chock-a-block full of characters with paranormal abilities. I love the series protagonist, Ruby Proulx, a con artist who happens to also be truly clairaudient. I was also smitten by her aunt, Honoria Belden, a woman who had prophetic dreams.

Barb: Congratulations, Liz! Okay, so you guys are going to get me to mention my love of time travel books again. Time travel stories are most often classified as sci-fi, not paranormal. But think about it, if all time exists all at once, if we could tap into that, what insights would we gain? I am forced therefore to go with Claire Fraser from the Outlander books.

Sherry: Yay! A new book to read by Liz! So I guess I’m the only one naming real people today. I’m wondering if all of you have some mystical connection to me. It seems like one or the other of you will reach out at times I need a boost–even when I haven’t said anything out loud.

Liz: Thanks all! I have to go back to what started this whole series – Samantha and Endora from Bewitched. I always loved the relationship between them and it was a huge influence on how I approached Violet and Fiona. I’ve always kind of pictured Fiona like Endora

Readers: Who is your favorite character – fictional or real – who has a connection to the unknown?

Everyday Magic

By Liz, celebrating the release of Witch Way Out!

I am so, so happy for Witch Way Out to hit shelves today. I love this series for so many reasons – but mostly because it’s so full of magic. And it’s really authentic to who I am, which has been super fun to bring into my writing.

First, witches. I’ve been obsessed with witches and all things paranormal since I was a kid. One of the first stories I made up to entertain myself outside when I had no one to play with was making the woods behind my house a “witches’ wood” where all kinds of magical things happened, including trees coming to life and gateways to other worlds in a pile of leaves. So much fun.

As I got older, Salem became my favorite destination (and my college town). I got to study the history on the daily and just be there absorbing the energies. And, of course, the shopping. It’s one of my favorite places to this day, and being so close to it again has been so much fun. And the shopping, well, that’s just an added bonus.

Some of my recent purchases…yes that’s a coffin purse!

Also, I was so excited to get to write about crystals – something else I’ve been obsessed with for many years. I have a collection that probably rivals Violet’s store at this point, and writing about them has given me an outlet for all the dabbling and the research I’d done to date. Also an excuse to buy more, of course.

A rose quartz, green Himalayan quartz, and a shell from my beach.

And finally, this series has allowed me to explore mother/daughter relationships in a completely different way, but with a lot of the same themes that I’ve explored in the past. This is a subject that’s endlessly fascinating to me and it’s been a fun container in which to do it. Anything with a hint of humor and magic takes on a whole new meaning, I think.

So, this series is magic for me in a lot of ways. I hope you’re finding the magic in it as well and enjoying reading it as much as I’m enjoying writing it. Thank you, as always, for reading.

Readers, where are you finding more magic in your life?

Four Charming Spells from Guest Lynn Cahoon

Edith/Maddie here, writing from nearly April north of Boston.

The prolific Lynn Cahoon has a charming new book out, and she’s giving away a copy to a lucky commenter! Take a look at this cover.

Here’s the blurb: Before Mia Malone can sip tea at Time for a Cuppa, the charming new shop in Magic Springs, Idaho, her life changes course in downright supernatural ways. First her blossoming catering business and cooking school get a boost with the addition of an enchanting cake decorator. Then she catches the attention of the tea shop owner herself, local coven member Mahogany Medford, who’s set on immersing Mia in a twisted mystery that appears all but unsolvable without a special kind of help . . .

Still reeling from the recent loss of her mother and believing there was more to the abrupt death, Mahogany urges Mia to cast light on the truth. But old secrets might come back to haunt her in an investigation that demands conjuring up phantoms from the past on the property of Mia’s Morsels. Now, wearing Gran’s protective stone and empowered by a circle of trusted confidants, Mia must reveal who—or what—killed Ms. Medford as another deadly surprise brews!

Uprooting Everything While Still Writing

Hi, I’m Lynn Cahoon and I was born in Idaho. Moved to St. Louis after a time. Now, I live 10 miles from the North Carolina border in eastern Tennessee. My next (and final) move will be to a cottage by the sea.

I write cozy series set in California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, and Arizona. And I’ve got one that keeps hanging around my head that will probably be set on the North Carolina coast in my all-time favorite vacation spot – the Outer Banks. I like to travel and have talked to my husband about my  bucket list. He’s not interested in most of my plans, except Scotland and New Zealand.

Then the year (or two) of No Travel occurred so I’m just now getting back to going to readers events and signings. The last event I did in 2020 was in February and Nashville had a tornado a few days after I left town. (It wasn’t my fault, really.)

Anyway, I did a couple of events in 2021 and then four in 2022. This year I’m doing a lot more. As I’m writing this, I’ll be driving to Suffolk Mystery Festival tomorrow. Then the next week, flying into Arizona for a writer/reader convention. With two local(ish) events in North Carolina and Kentucky on my schedule for after that, I’ll end my FOUR CHARMING SPELLS release tour.  With the local event I attended in February, I’ve already surpassed last year’s trip count.

I have a trip to California and a family trip to OBX planned. Like I said, I love traveling, but I’m looking forward to May when I’ll be at home for at least a month.

So what does this travel discussion have to do with writing? A lot. One, as an author, we visit readers where they are. I love meeting new readers and have made several long-distance friendships from events like the ones I’ve attended. At one event, I met up with a cousin for dinner that I hadn’t seen in forty (?) years. Building a reader base is part of the job description so as my promo button says – TRAVEL IS MURDER.

But also, I start thinking about plots and settings and new series as I travel and see new things. The Kitchen Witch series is set in Magic Springs, Idaho. The actual town may be fictional, but the Sun Valley area isn’t. It’s beautiful in all seasons and was (is) a popular place for California movie stars to buy ‘cabins’ and hang out in the mountains. My husband swears he met Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in the bar they owned when my husband was locating utilities in the area. It was before we were married so I can’t verify the tale.

My first visit to Sun Valley was for a high school state convention for Future Homemakers of America. I was a state officer. After we had our meetings, we ran to the outdoor hot tub and climbed in. It started to snow. The woods were quiet, and it was magical. Until we had to get out and run to our rooms.

Magic Springs is a place where you’d expect magic to be real. And in my town, half the locals attend the coven but not my main character. She likes being independent. Her focus is getting her catering business going. Her grandmother is busy whipping up potions in her bathtub. Yep, it’s that kind of place.

So what about you? Are you a homebody or a traveling soul?  Leave a comment and enter to win a signed print copy of FOUR CHARMING SPELLS (US Only – but if you’re outside the US and win – I’ll send you a digital copy of another book.)

Lynn Cahoon, author of FOUR CHARMING SPELLS, a Kitchen Witch mystery, is a NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Kitchen Witch, Cat Latimer, Farm-to-Fork, and Survivors’ Book Club mystery series. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. Find out more at her website www.lynncahoon.com