Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 52

A Wicked Welcome to Vicki Delany!

By Julie, moving through February

I’m delighted to welcome the prolific Vicki Delany back to the blog today!

Sherlock Holmes and Me

There is, as we are always being told in creative writing classes, no such thing as a new idea.

It’s all been done before. Take the story of an orphaned boy: a lowly (and lonely) childhood; a hidden, ever-watchful guardian; dangerous times; an eternal enemy; the big reveal of the boy’s true identity; then, armed with knowledge of his destiny, boy saves world.

It’s been written a hundred times, from the tales of King Arthur to Star Wars to Harry Potter.  (Why it’s always a boy, is a post for another day.)

The trick is not to come up with an original idea, because you probably can’t, but to make it your own.

Enter Sherlock Holmes. I don’t have to tell you how popular Sherlock is right now, from movies to TV to more books than you can count. Colouring books, puzzles, mugs.  Old books reissued and re-illustrated, new ones being written.

Favourite characters reimagined.

Make it your own, they say.

And so I created Gemma Doyle and the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium.

I’m a cozy writer and I’m also a keen mystery reader. When I was looking for inspiration for a new series, I thought a bookstore would be fun.  The idea popped into my head: A bookstore dedicated to all things Sherlock Holmes.

When I started to do some research on that, I quickly discovered it’s not such an unfeasible idea.  You could easily stock a store with nothing but Sherlock.  Not only things I mentioned above but all the stuff that goes with it: playing card sets, tea towels, games, puzzles, action figures, cardboard cut-out figures. The list is just about endless. Throw in all the modern pastiche novels, nonfiction works on Sir Arthur and his contemporaries, maybe a few books set in the “gaslight” era. And, presto, a fully operational bookstore. What would a bookstore be without a cat?  In this case, one Moriarty, who has a strange antipathy to Gemma.

I’ve enjoyed stocking my bookstore, and as befits a book about a bookshop, I drop a lot of names of real books.  Many I have read, some I haven’t, but I enjoy fitting the book to the imaginary character buying it.

Because cozy lovers (and me) love food to go with their reading, I put Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room next door, run by Gemma’s best friend Jayne Wilson.

My original intent was that the main character would be a normal cozy character. A nice young woman who owns an interesting bookshop, lives in a pleasant community (in this case, on Cape Cod), and has a circle of friends.

But, by the time I got to page two, Gemma Doyle had become “Sherlock”.

And that’s been enormous fun to write. Gemma has an amazing memory (for things she wants to remember), incredible observational skills, and a lightning fast mind. She is also, shall we say, somewhat lacking on occasion in the finer points of social skills. Jayne is ever-confused, but always loyal.

Like any modern Sherlock, such as Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation, Gemma deciphers cell phone signals and finds clues on the Internet. Like any Sherlock, her relationship with the local police is complicated, but in her case it’s because she’s in love with Ryan Ashburton, the town’s lead detective, and he with her, but the relationship is difficult because it’s hard to be with a woman who seems to be able to read your mind. Detective Louise Estrada (Estrada/Lestrade. Get it?) doesn’t trust her one bit.

But Gemma Doyle investigates nonetheless, because:

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

But Gemma Doyle, in the manner of Sherlock Holmes, observes.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, reimagined as modern young women just trying to get on with life. And solve mysteries.

The newest Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery is now available. In THE GAME IS A FOOTNOTE Gemma and Jayne are invited to spend the night in a historical re-enactment museum, which some say is haunted.  The skeptical Gemma agrees, if only to prove that “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”  Instead, nothing is eliminated and  Gemma is forced to consider that perhaps something beyond her powers of deduction is at work. 

Wicked readers: Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?  If so, who’s your favourite on-screen adaption?  I’ll go first: No one beats the incredible Jeremy Brett. Not a fan?  Tell us that too.

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S.  Author of more than fifty books, she is currently writing the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates). Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario. 

Follow Vicki at www.vickidelany.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. You can sign up to receive Vicki’s quarterly newsletter at Vicki Delany – Canadian Author of Mystery Novels and Suspense Novels » Contact

Book Lovers Love Love Giveaway

by Barb, from Key West, where my husband and I are going out for Valentine’s dinner tonight to avoid the rush

Edith/Maddie and I are participating in a multi-author book giveaway. Keep reading for a chance to enter and win.

Not long ago I was contacted by author Kate Carlisle’s admin, Jenel, about participating in a multi-author book giveaway Kate is sponsoring. Kate regularly and very generously offers these giveaways to others. Many Wickeds have participated at various times in the past.

The theme for this giveaway is Valentine’s Day. Jenel was looking for each of us to include a book with a significant romantic event like, “first kiss,” “first time,” “engagement,” “wedding,” “honeymoon.”

I wrote back that I’d be happy to participate (because I always am) but… um… er, the romantic event that most people comment on in my series is a break-up.

Jenel wrote back that she thought that would be hilarious. She was making little pink heart-shaped candies to put on each author’s part of the entry form to indicate the part of the romance included, and she would make mine black.

So, I included Shucked Apart in the giveaway. (I’m assuming enough time has gone by this is not a spoiler for you Wickeds readers.)

I hope people find this funny and the winner enjoys the book, though I admit I’m a little nervous about it.

The authors/books included in the giveaway are

The Book Supremacy by @katecarlislebooks – honeymoon Deadly Ever After by @vicki.delany – engagement party Murder in a Cape Cottage by @maddiedayauthor – wedding It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder by @ellenbyronmariadirico – first kiss One for the Books by @mckinlayjenn – wedding Shucked Apart by @maineclambake – breakup Till Death Do Us Tart by @ellie_alexander – wedding Bones of Holly by @carolynhaines – sexy times on the beach Murder of a Diva at Honeychurch Hall by @hannahdennisonbooks – they’re officially a couple The Loch Ness Papers by @paigebooks – wedding Careless Whiskers by @dieselharristhecat – engagement Crimes and Covers by @amandaflowerauthor – wedding

The contest runs from February 9 to 13. The winner will be announced on Valentine’s Day. One lucky winner will receive all these books. The contest is open internationally, but if the winner lives outside the US, the prize will be a $50 gift card.

To enter, click here.

Readers: What do you think? Did I make a mistake, or do you think people will be amused by including a break up story?

When Love Kills: Unrequited Love

Though February is a month for love, we’re crime writers so we’re going to have a different discussion.

Wickeds, unrequited love is one sided, and is a great motive. Does unrequited love play a part in any of your novels? Is it part of your character’s backstory? How long do you like to work with unrequited love before it gets solved one way or another?

Jessie: Unrequited love does play a role in a few of my novels. In the Sugar Grove series a local taxidermist is obsessed with the protagonist, or any of her available female relatives. In my Beryl and Edwina novels the village solicitor, Charles Jarvis, is completely smitten with Edwina. As the series has gone on he has become less reticent about displaying his feelings. It is a lot of fun to see how this will all play out as I write each one!

Edith/Maddie: Rose Carroll in the Quaker Midwife Mysteries had her love for David Dodge returned, but both his mother and Rose’s own Quaker congregation threw so many obstacles in the way of their marriage, her love was nearly doomed. I realized with this question that I’ve never written a stalker. I might have to remedy that!

Sherry: The third Sarah Winston book, All Murders Final!, is all about unrequited love and someone stalking Sarah. It is a fun concept to play with. It comes up again in the third Chloe Jackson book — Three Shots to the Wind. Until this moment I didn’t realize I’d used that topic–in very different ways– in the third book in each series.

Barb: Two sides of the unrequited love conundrum play out in the Maine Clambake Mysteries. As a middle-schooler, Julia had a terrible crush on Chris Durand, a high school god. As she says, he was polite when she was directly in his path, and couldn’t have picked her out of a lineup the rest of the time. On the other hand, as an adult, Julia’s childhood friend, Jamie Dawes, develops romantic feelings for her. Julia loves him, but not in that way. She realizes she has to deal with the situation at the end of Muddled Through. The story-line is resolved in “Perked Up,” my novella in Irish Coffee Murder, which just came out.

Liz: In the Cat Cafe series, Maddie comes back to the island and almost picks up where she left off with her high school boyfriend Craig Tomlin, who’s now a cop. But she decides not to “go backward” and instead gets together with Lucas, the hot dog groomer. Even though Craig ends up with a new love, part of him is still pining for Maddie, which we see in Whisker of a Doubt when Maddie and Lucas run into a rough patch.

Julie: I love these responses, and the way unrequited love can show itself. I haven’t worked with unrequited love in a published novel, though I am working on one where that seems to be a character arc I didn’t expect. Those characters have their own way of doing things! As a reader, I don’t have a lot of patience for long-running unrequited love in a series, though I am listening to Hamish Macbeth and between Priscilla and Elsbeth he’s dealing with a lot of pent up feelings.

Readers, do you enjoy unrequited love in a series? Writers, have you explored it in your books?

Hurricanes and Guest Ellen Byron

Edith/Maddie writing from a wintry north of Boston. I’m already packing for my trip to Puerto Rico in a week, but I’m never too busy to welcome great friend Ellen Byron. She has a new book out and you won’t want to miss Wined and Dined in New Orleans!

It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her business, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. In this second Vintage Cookbook Mystery, Ricki has to help solve a murder, untangle family secrets, and grow her business, all while living under the threat of a hurricane that could wipe out everything from her home to Bon Vee. 

Repairs on the property unearth crates of very old, very valuable French wine, buried by the home’s builder. Ricki, who’s been struggling to attract more customers to Miss Vee’s, is thrilled when her post about this long-buried treasure goes viral. She’s less thrilled when the post brings distant family members out of the woodwork, all clamoring for a cut of the wine’s sale. When a dead body turns up in Bon Vee’s cheery fall decorations, Ricki is determined to uncover the culprit, but she can’t help wondering what kind of secret her mentor has bottled up, and fears what might happen if she uncorks it.

Take it away, Ellen!

On October 29th, 2020, the day after Hurricane Zeta had blown through New Orleans, my husband and I left Los Angeles to visit our daughter, then a junior at NOLA’s Loyola University in New Orleans. We arrived at midnight to a half-dark city; half-dark because the hurricane’s path had been capricious, leaving the lights on some places and pitch-blackness in others. Unfortunately, the power for our daughter’s apartment took a hit. We spent a cold night sleeping in our clothes on the floor of her living room, on a mattress one of her roommates happened to be getting rid of.

That was just a warmup to Hurricane Ida.

I returned to New Orleans at the end of August 2021. My plan was to do research for Wined and Died in New Orleans, my second Vintage Cookbook Mystery, and then segue into a mother-daughter weekend with my kid.

I arrived on a Wednesday to murmurs of an impending hurricane named Ida. The murmurs became a drumbeat, prompting an agonizing debate: evacuate or stick it out? I passed employees boarding up French Quarter storefronts and families throwing their belongings into cars.

I wanted to stay. Having attended the city’s Tulane University, I’d had my own brushes with hurricanes that never made landfall in the city, veering in another direction at the last minute. I made my case to my daughter. But she put her foot down. “We’re leaving.”

We evacuated to Houston.

Ironically, the agonizing debate of whether to stick it out or evacuate became the research I needed for Wined and Died in New Orleans. I transferred my experience and emotions to my protagonist, Ricki James-Diaz. I took literary license, of course. There’s a gripping scene near the end of the mystery that’s pure fiction. But it’s based on the reality of what could happen when a hurricane collides with New Orleans’ notoriously deep potholes. (Picture shows a pothole hiding under an orange traffic thing.)

Given the toll these regular disasters take on the Big Easy, I am in awe of the city’s resilience, so well summed up in their motto, Laissez les bons temps rouler—”Let the good times roll.” I’m so grateful I got a chance to pay tribute to that resilience in Wined and Died in New Orleans. And pray that catastrophic weather disasters are in the city’s past, not its future.

Readers: have you been through a weather-related emergency? Comment to be entered to win a copy of Bayou Book Thief, Vintage Cookbook #1 (US only).

Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won two Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Wined and Died in New Orleans is the second 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. Please visit her at https://www.ellenbyron.com/

A Wicked Welcome to G.P. Gottlieb

by Julie, surviving the cold snap in New England

I am delighted to welcome G.P. Gottlieb to the blog today. The third book in her Whipped and Sipped Mystery series will be released on February 16.

A Few of My Favorite Things: Playing Piano, Baking, and Writing

I loved playing piano as a child, but when I got to the music school at Indiana University, it seemed like everyone else was a better musician. I still liked playing, but I got nauseated whenever I had to perform.  I finished my degree in piano and psychology and stopped playing.

Playing piano stopped making me happy.

I did my graduate degree in voice, worked in various musical and non-musical positions, and occasionally sat down to play, but it was frustrating because I’d lost the dexterity that I’d worked hard to achieve. Recently, after over thirty years, I’ve come back to it, and now I’m playing a little, nearly every day. I warm up my fingers and read through one Chopin prelude, one Bach fugue.

It makes me happy, playing piano again.

The children grew up, and just when the last one went off to college, I was diagnosed with cancer. It took over a year, but they eradicated it. During my recovery, I recognized that it was time to start doing those things I’d always dreamt of doing, while I still could. Like taking baking classes. Like writing a book. Even before the ordeal, I wrote a little every day – a poem, a song, a 500-page manuscript that meandered in all directions.

It makes me happy, writing.

I found a wonderful editor who helped me polish the pages of a mystery and guided me through the publishing process. We became good friends, and she invited me with two other writers to be part of an accountability squad. We try to meet each week to share what we’ve accomplished and commit to what we want to accomplish in the following week – it used to be in person, but for the past few years, we meet online. I came to love these women and value their distinct talents, their generosity, their warmth. I have them listed on my calendar as “Indispensables,” or “The Squad.”  

Having them in my life makes me happy.

After my first book was published, I joined Sisters in Crime Chicagoland. Soon after, I volunteered to do communications for the board, and I liked meeting other writers and writing engaging posts to encourage people to attend our events. Last year we decided to write welcoming letters to all our members.

Building new relationships makes me happy.

That’s how I met Tracey, who did her undergrad degree at Berklee College of Music (down the road from where I did my masters at New England Conservatory). She teaches piano, and her debut novel was published in 2019, the same year as my debut novel. We started emailing back and forth, and she let me read a draft of the follow-up book to her debut, which is now enticing me, sitting on my bed table). Tracey’s got writing chops, and as soon as it’s ready, I plan to recommend her follow-up novel to my publisher. I’ve already sent two authors to him.

It makes me happy, connecting people with each other.

Turns out that Tracey founded the Blackbird Writers, a group of crime and mystery authors who band together to support each other’s book marketing efforts. Tracey couldn’t have known that it was my dream to be in a supportive group of crime writers who review each other’s books, share each other’s good news, and jointly host a blog (among other things). When she invited me, I nearly wept with joy and immediately started downloading and reading my fellow Blackbird writers’ books.

It makes me happy, having a group of writing friends who support each other.

I hope I can continue playing piano, finding indispensable friends, connecting friends with each other, baking, being part of a group of colleagues, and writing murder mysteries. I wake up each day knowing that I’m going to make time for these and more of my favorite things, like stretching every morning while my husband reads out loud to me, cuddling on the sofa with a juicy novel, interviewing authors of literary fiction for the New Books Network, playing my guitar and singing only for myself, spending time with my adult children and cuddling with my daughter’s baby.

The world hasn’t been equally kind to everyone, and I wish I could bottle everything I’ve been blessed with; a loving family, an FDA approved cure for my cancer just a year before my diagnosis, the ability to live in warmth and comfort. I’d gladly pour it like wine for those who are struggling with loss, depression, loneliness, or poverty. I’d share it with those who are angry, seeking revenge, or unable to compromise.

If you’re battling any of that, I’d recommend that you focus on a few of your favorite things and do them every day. It could make you happy.

About the book:

Alene Baron is dealing with frustrated employees, closed schools, and a homeless man who harasses customers outside the door of her café. Then, two dead bodies turn up in the burned remains of buildings owned by the husband of Alene’s best friend and pastry chef, Ruthie. Both bodies are wearing jackets that once belonged to Ruthie and crumbled in the pockets are the café’s distinctive wrappers. At the same time, Alene’s uncle, a convicted felon, has resurfaced after disappearing for 22 years. It’s all too much for the owner of the Whipped and Sipped Café.

About G.P. Gottlieb:

GP Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series, which centers on a single mother of three who owns a fabulous vegan café in Chicago. Book #3, Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery will be published Feb 21, 2023, by DX Varos Publishing. Gottlieb has performed, taught, composed, and administrated while writing stories, songs, and several unwieldy manuscripts. She also fed her family and developed lots of healthy recipes. After recovering from breast cancer in 2015, she turned to writing in earnest, melding her two passions: nourishment for mind and body and recipe-laced murder mysteries.

A Wicked Welcome to Keenan Powell! **giveaway**

by Julie, wintering in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Keenan Powell to the blog today! Her new book, Implied Consent, is garnering great reviews, and I’m delighted she’s here to tell you about the book and her process.

Why I Write Legal Thrillers

Unlike many authors, I did not always aspire to a writing career post my maudlin-poetry-writing phase in high school. At first, I aspired to a career in broadcasting. After college, I realized that I had failed miserably at leveraging myself into that career. Maria Shriver, who is exactly my age, was co-anchoring NBC Sunday Today while I worked for slightly more than minimum wage at a small sound studio. We were both twenty-one. There I was in my studio apartment, eating peanut butter sandwiches, watching her on the tube, and feeling very sorry for myself.

So I decided to take my grandmother’s advice and go to law school.  A few years later, I found myself getting off the plane in Anchorage, Alaska, where I continue to practice law to this very day.

Years rolled by with no interest in writing stories but I’d become hooked on Tony Hillerman and Agatha Christie. In 2009, there were twelve homeless deaths in Anchorage during the summer months. This was particularly odd because winter was the more deadly season for those who live without shelter. People wrote letters to the editor, insisting that a serial killer was afoot. The police responded that the medical examiner had concluded each death was the result of natural causes. The public was unswayed.

In 2012, I was sitting in a continuing legal seminar listening to two old war horses bicker about a case they’d had when the world was young. The issue was whether the decedent had died of natural causes or whether his demise was the consequence of his job. Working together (for once), they quickly filed a petition in court to prevent the medical examiner from disposing of the remains because of a little-known quirk in the law. In Alaska, the medical examiner is empowered to determine the cause of death without doing an autopsy and further is entitled to dispose of (cremate) the remains within 72 hours if unclaimed.

I literally slapped my forehead, crying aloud, “That’s how he did it!” – startling the lawyer in the next chair who busy knitting. I had realized the serial killer had murdered these men in a way that looked like a natural death. This was the inspiration of my first book, Deadly Solution. The reason I wrote that book is because I wanted the world to know what I’d discovered.

Based upon Deadly Solution, I received the 2015 William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic grant. It was then published as the first of my three-book Maeve Malloy series, and nominated for a Agatha, Lefty, and Silver Falchion awards for best debut. 

Still practicing law, I see cases that don’t turn out the way I had hoped. Writing legal thrillers give me the opportunity to fashion justice, sometimes legal, sometimes poetic. My second Maeve Malloy, Hemlock Needle,  was published in January 2019. It was inspired by a rash of missing and murdered Native Alaskan women, the same crisis that inspired a series of newspaper articles published two months after Hemlock Needle was released which went on to become the basis of the ABC series, Alaska Daily. My third Maeve Malloy, Hell and High Water, deals with the fallout of Church sex abuse scandal.

This month, I released Implied Consent, a story about a fictional #metoo case. I am thrilled that so many of the Netgalley reviews averaging five stars commenton the authenticity of the legal scenes and that I made the law understandable for them. And I’m honored that Booklife gave it an Editor’s Pick Review.

Thank you so much, Julie and the Wickeds, for having me on today!

Question to readers: If you had a chance to peak behind the curtains the practice of law, what would you want to know?

Giveaway: For a chance to win one signed paperback of Implied Consent, comment below (US only). 

About Implied Consent

Lawyer Maureen Gould has a dark secret and a need to prove herself. When a young woman walks into her office with a Hollywood #metoo case, Maureen spots the chance for redemption. 

Enter the opponent: Maureen’s father, Frank Gould, a man as evil as the movie producer he defends. While Frank pulls every dirty trick known inside the courtroom, someone behind the scenes is engineering Maureen’s defeat. Doors are slammed in her face. Disturbing photographs are “discovered.” A witness dies mysteriously. Clearly someone means to silence her.

Will Maureen muster the strength to free herself from the past, reveal the truth, and win justice for her client?

Buy: Implied Consent: A Maureen Gould Legal Thriller – Kindle edition by Powell, Keenan. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

About Keenan Powell

Keenan Powell is a Lefty and Agatha nominated author. Although she was one of original Dungeons and Dragons illustrators, art seemed an impractical pursuit – not an heiress, wouldn’t marry well, hated teaching – so she went to law school. The day after graduation, she moved to Alaska where she has vowed to practice until she gets it right.

Visit her at: www.keenanpowellauthor.com.

Wandering

To celebrate my husband retiring last summer, we decided to go on an extended trip. It started by visiting my mom in Destin, Florida for Christmas. After ten days with her we moved to a beach condo not far from her.

We spent the next two weeks visiting mom, seeing old military friends and neighbors, making new friends, walking the beach, watching sunrises and sunsets, and enjoying life. A mimosa or two may have been consumed. Then we started visiting places we’d never been.

First up was Amelia Island, Florida which is just north of Jacksonville. It was beautiful. Author Maya Corrigan told us about a park to visit and we saw some amazing birds. We spent most of our days there walking the beach or sitting and watching the ocean. Friends of ours from Virginia were in the area so we saw them one day. I decided that watching pelicans should be a sport. They are fascinating whether they’re gliding over the waves or diving into the water.

The oldest bar in Florida!

We spent a couple of nights in Savannah, Georgia, did the hop on hop off tour, and walked around the city. Blogger Kristopher Zgorski told us to eat at The Olde Pink House and it was fantastic.

We then headed to North Myrtle Beach wending our way on back roads. We had more lovely, long stretches of beach to walk on, shells to pick up, and sunsets to watch.

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

Our next stop was the Outer Banks – another place we’d always heard of but never been. If any of you are military check out the Armed Forces Vacation Club – for active duty and veterans. We got an incredible deal on a place near the beach. It’s old and there are a lot of steps but it’s quiet and spacious. We also have Virginia friends here Ruth and Mark Bergin.

They took us to look for the famous wild horses in their Jeep. It was an amazing adventure! The drive on the long stretch of deserted beach was so fun. Then we turned into the neighborhoods and started looking for horses. There was a lot of poop talk. It turns out one way to find the horses is to look for fresh horse poop! I’m not sure that the poop led us to the horses, but we did see some. It was such a fun day.

One of these days we will head home—we have to because we have company arriving soon. But what a lovely time away it’s been for us.

Readers: Do you love a back road or would you rather get to where you are going? Or maybe like for me it depends on the trip.

When Love Kills: Obsession

Though February is a month for love, we’re crime writers so we’re going to have a different discussion. It’s been said that there are three motives for murder: love, revenge and greed. Love can manifest itself in many ways, and we’re going to talk about that these coming Wednesdays. First up, let’s talk about obsession.

Wickeds, obsession is defined as “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind”. This can certainly be a motive for crime, but it can also motivate characters. Do your main characters have obsessions? Do they drive them, or get in their way?

Jessie: I love this take on love! I guess that is why am attracted to crime writing rather than romance! As to obsession, I would say my protagonist Beryl might well be accused of that sort of emotion when it comes to anything involving speed. In her case I would say a thirst for adventure and adrenaline drive her.

Barb: Obsessed is a word we use easily nowadays. “I’m obsessed with that leather jacket.” “I’m obsessed with that streaming show.” “I’m obsessed with that video of my cousin.” Here’s a dialog from my granddaughter’s third Christmas:

Viola: I am possessed with the gifts.

My son, her dad: Do you mean possessed or obsessed?

Viola: Yes, that one.

I’d guess there are several things Julia might say she is obsessed with. The primary one is solving mysteries. After ten books and five novellas, most of Julia’s friends and family don’t try to stop her. They simply acknowledge it and nod knowingly as she digs into a case.

Edith/Maddie: Mac Almeida in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries is seriously obsessed with neatness, keeping things tidy, following check lists, and generally being borderline compulsive about order. While she can be a bit of a pain about it, it’s an obsession that serves her well in solving crimes. She has a drive to put things right, which includes tying up all the loose ends in an investigation.

Liz: I think it’s pretty obvious that Maddie James in the Cat Cafe Mysteries is obsessed with cats and cat rescue – which gets her into trouble sometimes. Lots of dead bodies associated with cats…but she’s always able to solve the crimes and save the cats.

Julie: I love these character insights! Speed, neatness, cats and solving mysteries. What a perfect mix. Lilly Jayne is a master gardener, but even more than her gardens she’s obsessed with fixing things if it is within her power, which it usually is. What’s fun about her is that she’ll do what needs to be done, from guerilla gardening to clandestinely supporting individuals and small businesses to using her clout to sway a committee.

Sherry: Viola is so funny, Barb! And Julie, I’ve always loved the guerilla gardening Lilly and her friends do! Chloe is obsessed with water sports born from a tragic incident when she was ten. That incident also makes her run every day to stay in shape because she doesn’t want to feel as vulnerable as she did then. Chloe is also dogged about fixing other people’s problems which often leads to trouble.

Readers, how do you feel about character obsessions–do they add to your enjoyment? How about you, do you have any obsessions? Fair warning, one of us may use it in a book!

Valentine’s Day Gone Terribly Wrong – Welcome Amanda Flower

Liz here, welcoming Amanda Flower back to the blog. We started out the month with a Valentine’s Day-themed book and now we’re closing out with one! Amanda’s here to talk about the latest book in her Amish Matchmaker series, Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous. Take it away, Amanda!

In Honeymooons Can Be Hazardous, Amish sixty-something Millie Fisher and her very non-Amish best friend Lois Henry are back for another case. This one hits close to home for Lois. After being married four times, Lois is ready to find husband number five, but she has to deal with some unfinished business when it comes to ex-husband number four, AKA Rocksino Guy, before that can happen. For good or ill, Rocksino Guy is in the Amish village of Harvest where Millie and Lois live on his honeymoon with his new much younger bride. To make matters worse, Lois is faced with her ex and his new bride on Valentine’s Day! Let’s just say, Lois doesn’t take his appearance in the village well and she tells him just what she thinks of him and his new bride. Things go from bad to worse when Millie and Lois find the bride’s body the next morning at local resort. From the start Lois is the prime suspect, which puts Millie and Lois on the case. The deeper they dig the more they learn about corrupt and greedy side of Amish Country.

Sugarcreek, Ohio, a real village not for from my fictional Harvest, Ohio, boasts a giant cuckoo clock. It is the showpiece of the village, and due to the German Swiss heritage of the Amish in the area, cuckoo clocks are popular souvenirs. I always wanted to use this piece of local history in one my novels set in Harvest. The Harvest books include both the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries and the Amish Matchmaker Mysteries. I finally had an opportunity to use the clock in a novel in Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous. I realized that it would be an excellent murder weapon. However, the real clock in Sugarcreek is beloved, and not wanting to upset the people living in this very real town, I mention the clock but create a rival clock at a fictional resort for the crime in this novel. You can see many photos of the real clock online, but here’s a link to a favorite.

I hope you will give this latest mystery with Millie and Lois a try to find out how I combine Valentine’s Day, a shifty ex-husband, a giant cuckoo clock, and some peculiar sheep all together in this murder. I believe it’s one of the best Harvest novels to date! And never fear, between the two series there are at least five more Harvest novels to come after this book! Enjoy!

Readers, I’m curious – what do you think of cuckoo clocks? Would love to know!

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Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over forty-five mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for fifteen years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their six adorable cats.

Stories from the Past

Edith/Maddie here, writing from a who-knows-what kind of weather day north of Boston. What I do have is an exciting announcement.

But first, a quiz. If I had titled this post, “Quaker Shorts,” what would have been your reaction?

A – New England in January is too cold for shorts.

B – Maxwell is now shilling single-serving oatmeal?

C – It must be some new socially responsible investment scheme … or maybe an invented poker game.

D – Wait a sec. Is Edith collecting her Agatha Award-nominated Rose Carroll short stories into a published volume?

Bingo to whoever guessed the fourth option! Drumroll, please. I have signed a contract with Crippen & Landru to publish a collection of my Rose Carroll historical short stories. Since 2013, they’ve been published in all kinds of publications, and only the most dedicated of fans would have sought them all out. This way the tales will all be in one place, and I’m delighted to keep nineteenth-century midwife Rose in front of readers’ eyes.

Some of the anthologies the stories have appeared in.

Last year I approached Crippen & Landru to ask if they’d like to publish a collection of the previously published stories, plus a couple of new ones. I hold the rights to all the stories, and Crippen & Landru publishes only single-author collections of short crime fiction. Among other books, their catalog lists two by FOW (Friend of the Wickeds) Art Taylor, whose new The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions will be out in mid-February. It seemed like a good fit.

Publisher Jeffrey Marks was delighted at my idea, telling me he’d already been thinking of approaching me about the same project.

The series of Quaker Midwife Mystery novels ended in 2021 with A Changing Light, which takes place in 1890.

For this collection, I wanted to bookend the existing stories. On the front end is “In Pursuit of Justice,” Rose’s sleuthing origin story (newly written), which takes place in 1886 while she’s an apprentice to her midwifery teacher, Orpha Perkins. The collecition finishes with the 1900 tale, “The Management of Secrets” (in Deadly Nightshade: Best New England Crime Stories, edited by Susan Oleksiw, Leslie Wheeler, and Christine Bagley, Crime Spell Books, 2022), which shows Rose as a mother of four coming out of sleuthing retirement to work on a case.

I’m super excited to also announce that Victoria Thompson has agreed to write an introduction to the book.

Vicki and me at Malice Domestic, the year she accepted the
Lifetime Achievement Award

Her Gaslight Mysteries series, which feature a New York midwife sleuth in the early 1900s, was part of the inspiration for my own historical stories, and she was kind enough to write a glowing blurb for Delivering the Truth, Quaker Midwife Mystery book one.

C&L also puts out a limited release signed hardcover edition to go along with the paperback and ebook. The hardcover includes a chapbook, which will feature another new story, “Labor’s Peril” (hint: this involves both mill labor and birthing labor).

I don’t have a preorder link to my new collection yet, nor a cover, but both are coming, as are ARCs . I just wanted to share the news with you all, since I’m so excited about extending Rose Carroll’s longevity with readers. You’ll hear more about it here closer to the late April release date!

Readers: What’s your favorite short story, historical or otherwise?