Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 60

Going Back to High School with Judy Penz Sheluk

Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston, where all the leaves have turned, all the sandals are stashed, and all the tomatoes are above average – albeit green.

I’m so happy to welcome friend Judy Penz Sheluk back to the blog. Her new Marketville mystery is out today!

Here’s the blurb for Before There Were Skeletons: The last time anyone saw Veronica Goodman was the night of February 14, 1995, the only clue to her disappearance a silver heart-shaped pendant, found in the parking lot behind the bar where she worked. Twenty-seven years later, Veronica’s daughter, Kate, just a year old when her mother vanished, hires Past & Present Investigations to find out what happened that fateful night.

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is drawn to the case, the similarities to her own mother’s disappearance on Valentine’s Day 1986 hauntingly familiar. A disappearance she thought she’d come to terms with. Until Veronica’s case, and five high school yearbooks, take her back in time…a time before there were skeletons.

Going Back to High School

After seven years of splitting our time between our condo bungalow in Southern Ontario and our place on Lake Superior, my husband Mike and I decided it was time to try lakeside living on a fulltime basis. There were a lot of reasons for the decision, though the eight-hour drive between the two and ever-rising gas prices was certainly a factor.

Judy’s pup Gibbs looking out onto Lake Superior, one of his favorite swimming holes

Anyone who has ever downsized can tell you that it means a lot of purging, not just dishes and furniture, but personal stuff. Now, I’m a minimalist by nature, buy a t-shirt, get rid of a t-shirt, that kind of thing, but Mike tends to hang on to things, even if those things are stored in boxes he never opens.

Before this move, he had the luxury of keeping those unopened boxes stashed away in a basement closet, promising to get to them “one day.” Knowing we’d be moving into a 1200 square foot house with limited crawl space, that day had come. We decided to treat the whole thing like a bit of a treasure hunt and began to dig.

While we didn’t find any gold or silver beyond some loose change, we did discover old report cards and a box filled with Mike’s high school yearbooks. Gosh he looked young and innocent. And having skipped a grade in elementary school, he also looked much smaller than a lot of kids in his class, especially in the early years.

After my initial fascination with the geeky guy in the pictures, I realized this really was a treasure trove. I found myself randomly selecting a handful of his classmates from grade 9 and tracked them through the years. Some remained throughout, joining sports or clubs, their achievements photographed and journalized (Mike played hockey and joined the wrestling team). Still others disappeared without a mention. Perhaps they’d moved, dropped out, changed schools…anything was possible.

And that’s when the idea struck me. Anything really WAS possible. I’d been looking for a way for my protagonist Calamity (Callie) Barnstable to learn more about her mother’s high school years. Her mother, you see, had dropped out of high school in her final year to have Callie. She’d also long ago dropped out of Callie’s life. But yearbooks…that might just be the “in” that I needed.

I decided that Callie’s estranged grandmother would be doing some downsizing of her own, and in so doing, come across her daughter’s Lakeside High yearbooks. And despite their fractured relationship, or perhaps because of it, she wants Callie to have them. Despite her reservations, Callie finds herself accepting them, albeit reluctantly.

It isn’t long before she’s going through the pages, night after night, getting to know her mother’s life pre-teenage pregnancy, one friend, and one secret, at a time.

Readers: Do you still have your high school yearbooks? If so, when was the last time you looked through them and what, if anything, stood out to you?

A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served as Chair on the Board of Directors. She lives in Northern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior. Find her at judypenzsheluk.com.

Going Back to High School with Judy Sheluk

Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston, where all the leaves have turned, all the sandals are stashed, and all the tomatoes are above average – albeit green.

I’m so happy to welcome friend Judy Penz Sheluk back to the blog. Her new Marketville mystery is out today!

Here’s the blurb for Before There Were Skeletons: The last time anyone saw Veronica Goodman was the night of February 14, 1995, the only clue to her disappearance a silver heart-shaped pendant, found in the parking lot behind the bar where she worked. Twenty-seven years later, Veronica’s daughter, Kate, just a year old when her mother vanished, hires Past & Present Investigations to find out what happened that fateful night.

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is drawn to the case, the similarities to her own mother’s disappearance on Valentine’s Day 1986 hauntingly familiar. A disappearance she thought she’d come to terms with. Until Veronica’s case, and five high school yearbooks, take her back in time…a time before there were skeletons.

Going Back to High School

After seven years of splitting our time between our condo bungalow in Southern Ontario and our place on Lake Superior, my husband Mike and I decided it was time to try lakeside living on a fulltime basis. There were a lot of reasons for the decision, though the eight-hour drive between the two and ever-rising gas prices was certainly a factor.

Judy’s pup Gibbs looking out onto Lake Superior, one of his favorite swimming holes

Anyone who has ever downsized can tell you that it means a lot of purging, not just dishes and furniture, but personal stuff. Now, I’m a minimalist by nature, buy a t-shirt, get rid of a t-shirt, that kind of thing, but Mike tends to hang on to things, even if those things are stored in boxes he never opens.

Before this move, he had the luxury of keeping those unopened boxes stashed away in a basement closet, promising to get to them “one day.” Knowing we’d be moving into a 1200 square foot house with limited crawl space, that day had come. We decided to treat the whole thing like a bit of a treasure hunt and began to dig.

While we didn’t find any gold or silver beyond some loose change, we did discover old report cards and a box filled with Mike’s high school yearbooks. Gosh he looked young and innocent. And having skipped a grade in elementary school, he also looked much smaller than a lot of kids in his class, especially in the early years.

After my initial fascination with the geeky guy in the pictures, I realized this really was a treasure trove. I found myself randomly selecting a handful of his classmates from grade 9 and tracked them through the years. Some remained throughout, joining sports or clubs, their achievements photographed and journalized (Mike played hockey and joined the wrestling team). Still others disappeared without a mention. Perhaps they’d moved, dropped out, changed schools…anything was possible.

And that’s when the idea struck me. Anything really WAS possible. I’d been looking for a way for my protagonist Calamity (Callie) Barnstable to learn more about her mother’s high school years. Her mother, you see, had dropped out of high school in her final year to have Callie. She’d also long ago dropped out of Callie’s life. But yearbooks…that might just be the “in” that I needed.

I decided that Callie’s estranged grandmother would be doing some downsizing of her own, and in so doing, come across her daughter’s Lakeside High yearbooks. And despite their fractured relationship, or perhaps because of it, she wants Callie to have them. Despite her reservations, Callie finds herself accepting them, albeit reluctantly.

It isn’t long before she’s going through the pages, night after night, getting to know her mother’s life pre-teenage pregnancy, one friend, and one secret, at a time.

Readers: Do you still have your high school yearbooks? If so, when was the last time you looked through them and what, if anything, stood out to you?

A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served as Chair on the Board of Directors. She lives in Northern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior. Find her at judypenzsheluk.com.

Guest- Bookseller Sarah Young

Jessie: In New England where she is noodling yet another story and knitting away on another sweater.

I am just delighted to welcome Sarah Young to the blog today! I met her last month at Bouchercon in MN and found her to be completely charming. I was so pleased when she agreed to be our guest here on the Wickeds! I am sure that you will enjoy a peek into the life of booksellers as much as I did! Take it away, Sarah!

The Raven Delivers!

Hello, Wickeds! I loved meeting so many of you at Bouchercon this year. Thanks, Jessie, for inviting me to contribute to the blog. I am a bookseller and co-owner at the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas, and I thought you’d like to know a little about what’s been happening on the bookstore beat. The Raven just closed a month of actual in-person events IN the store with actual people—albeit still masked—present in bodily form. Our return to in-person events corresponded with our 35th anniversary in Lawrence and our one-year anniversary in a new space. That’s right, we renovated a new space and moved in the middle of a pandemic. Crazy, right? In addition, we have become a partially bookseller-owned business, when owner Danny Caine sold 49% of his share in the bookstore to several long-time employees.

Now approaching my 21st year at the Raven, I’m amazed at the upheaval we survived in the last two years. When the world shut down on March 13, 2020, we closed the doors, and said “see you on the other side.” I went home, taking the two store cats with me and waited just like everyone else. After about a week, Danny Caine implemented a pivot, and we leaned into our phone and web orders setting up a shipping desk in the middle of the store. In addition, we began free delivery within the city limits and surrounding county. At one point we had two delivery drivers three or four days a week, one for the east part of town, another for the west.

Spring became summer and it was a strange time here in Lawrence just as it was around the country. This is a college town, home of the University of Kansas, but college students were gone, and stores were closed. About two days I week, I shut down my computer and the endless Zooms at 3:00 and headed out to deliver books. Sometimes I think the Door-Dashers and I were the only ones on the go. As I took books to shut-in customers, I marveled at the beautiful spring, with everyone planting flowers like mad. 

Although there were few cars, there were walkers everywhere. Walkers with weights, wearing ear buds, pumping their way furiously down the sidewalks; walkers with strollers; walkers with eyes glued to the phones in their hands; walkers with dogs, dogs, dogs, and more dogs! Every dog in town must have thought it had somehow reached a canine walkies nirvana.

Pretty soon, my mother began accompanying me on deliveries. Eighty-eight and eighty-nine years old at the time, she was going stir crazy at being shut in. When I said, “We have books to deliver,” her eyes lit up and she was on her feet, ready to go. We carted books all over town on the virtually empty streets, passing yard signs saying, “We Got This”; “Stay Strong” and “Hang in there, World.” As that endless summer of 2020 stretched on, “Black Lives Matter” signs dotted neighborhoods along with ever-increasing evidence of the upcoming election. I learned street themes in Lawrence neighborhoods: Western TV shows are represented by Ponderosa Road, Bonanza, Maverick and Rawhide streets; the golf course streets–Nicklaus, Turnberry, and Inverness–have mansions with lots of windows to clean; Stockade, Wagon Wheel Road, and Saddlehorn Drives are in a neighborhood of steep hills fed by Trail Road and Stetson Drive; Wildflower, Tamarisk, Bluestem, Larkspur, and Helianthus are streets in the southwest part of town, with views still dominated by uncultivated fields sloping out toward the lake. 

I delivered out in the county, bumping down dusty roads and swinging into a long, tree-lined drives, temporarily interrupting someone’s country isolation. One day I was working in the store, helping with order fulfillment, and I got a phone order at the end of the day. I asked if they wanted it delivered. “Oh, that would be wonderful, but we live out in Lone Star.” “No problem,” I said. “I’m about to leave and driving in that direction anyway.” Lone Star is an unincorporated community with about seven houses, anchored at its intersection by the Lone Star Church of the Brethren. When the trusty GPS took me to their driveway, the couple ran to greet me. “We can’t believe you drove all the way out here! Thank you so much! We’ve been looking forward to getting that book!”

Raven customers like them kept the store going. They greeted me—from afar—leaning out their front doors to pick up their paper bags full of books. “Thank you!” “I’m so glad you do this!” “I can’t wait to get back to the store!” They loved getting their books. Repeat customers were so frequent we didn’t need GPS to find their familiar front doors. We were not a rain or shine operation, however. After we got a call from a very angry customer because his book had gotten soaked in a rainstorm on his porch, we generally suspended deliveries in the rain or snow. But books eventually got delivered to grateful customers who waved and smiled and thanked me for the trouble. 

The Raven staggered its reopening, stumbling along like so many businesses, trying to decide how to survive in a world of the unvaccinated and semi-vaccinated. For months we had a pick-up table outside the store tethered to a special cell phone number and served by two parking spots specially reserved for us by the city. People pulled up and called, and we ran the book out, setting it on a wooden tray table that gradually scarred and warped in the weather. We transitioned to a walk-up window, often guarded by the cats, who kept a wary eye out for people stepping to the opening. Slowly we reentered the retail world, and we are open in our new, beautiful space, full of customers—still masked—but enthusiastic. We now have sixteen booksellers, up from ten or eleven during the shut-down, but no Raven bookseller was furloughed or lost a job during the pandemic, mostly because of our customers, who dived into online and phone ordering from us with enthusiasm. 

Our online business is still robust, and our new store space now has a dedicated shipping space. Deliveries are down to one route three times a week, but we have a steady, happy batch of folks awaiting brown paper packages at their doors. The future for independent bookstores is looking bright through our shiny new windows and open front door.

Website: https://www.ravenbookstore.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ravenbookstore
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ravenbookstore/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ravenbookstore

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RavenBooksSarah

Readers, do you have a favorite independent bookseller in your area? Give them a plug here so that others may find them too!

Wicked Wednesday-Signs

Jessie: Glad to be wrapped up in a cozy sweater, even indoors!

For our third installment on the topic of signs, I wanted to turn the topic to the sort that grace storefronts and commercial buildings. Do you ever catch yourself spotting grammatical or spelling errors on signs? Have you ever seen one that tickled your funny bone? Any that inspired feelings of nostalgia?

Edith/Maddie: I always spot the errors in signs. Always. And have to slap my hand not to fix a misplaced apostrophe or quotation marks (although once, waiting hours with my mother-in-law – a retired English teacher – for her to go into surgery, we spotted an error in a hospital poster on the wall. Bette approved when I got out the red pen…). I got a giggle out of the Booby Marché I spotted in Burkina Faso once, and from the signs for places like “Praise the Lord Auto Mechanic and Funeral Parlor” that are everywhere in Ghana.

Sherry: The most memorable sign error I spotted was during a search for preschools for my daughter. I’d been visiting various preschools and saw a sign at one that said, “No Smoking Aloud.” I thought about pointing it out to the person showing us around, but decided not to so it would be a warning for others that this just might not be the place you wanted to send your child to.

Barb: I was on the Isle of Man this summer. A strange place in the Irish sea between Ireland and England, it has its own language and money, a Viking castle, and Manx cats. The island isn’t short on atmospherics. That’s why I particularly appreciated this sign on a local bulletin board.

Liz: Sign errors drive me crazy. The worst ones are the random apostrophes that people use when there is NO possessive anything in the words…

Julie: Barb, that sign makes me laugh! I tend to fix errors in my head, so I can move past them on signs. Though they can be jarring. And, as in Sherry’s case, give you more information than you realized.

Jessie: I love all of your comments! I tend to notice errors in signs too, but my favorite is nostalgic signs with old-fashioned type or imagery. Maybe it is the historical writer in me that explains why I adore spotting “ghost signs” on brick buildings. There is one on an old building at an intersection in Maine that I pass on my way to the beach. Every time I see it I think of the way life must have been back when that sign was freshly painted on the brick, high above the street. Charming!

Readers, how about you? Have you encountered any memorable signs?

A Wicked Welcome to Judy Copek!

by Julie, changing seasons in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome friends of the Wickeds Judy Copek to the blog today. We love celebrating new books, and books by friends give us extra joy.

Reading, Writing and Research

By Judith (Judy) Copek

Such Stuff As Dreams

In 1928, the twenties roar with Prohibition and partying. Carla Curby, a young teacher and photographer, arrives in Southern California from rural Kansas to visit girlhood friends. Carla anticipates an exciting summer away from her staid Mennonite town, a summer where lipstick, bobbed hair, and dancing the Charleston are normal. She doesn’t anticipate the graft and corruption that permeate life in the Golden State where many dream of discovering gold or hitting oil.

Carla is drawn into the local art scene and becomes friendly with a pair of Bohemian artists who admire her photography. When her mother insists that she return home to help with summer chores, Carla, in an act of uncharacteristic defiance, sells her return ticket, sends her mother the money, and determines to stay in California.

Her choice haunts her, but romance beckons as she becomes involved with two men: one, a painter who doesn’t believe in marriage, and the other a get-rich-quick dreamer. On the uncertain road ahead, Carla travels far from her staid Kansas life. A young woman with gumption and perseverance, she will be required to make hard decisions and to face challenges that were never part of her dreams.

Dressed for the hike

The idea for Such Stuff As Dreams came from my late mother’s documents: a photo album, a scrapbook, and letters. I knew she had spent a summer in the Los Angeles area visiting two sisters from a family she had once been friendly with in her small Kansas hometown.

Girls with Attitude

From the photographs and the scrapbook, I knew the friends had shared a wonderful summer, but a wonderful summer does not a compelling novel make. Something besides fun and girlish camaraderie had to happen. From the letters, I knew that one of the male characters had died. It became part of my story.

Still, I needed to flesh out my rudimentary plot. I researched the Web and read books about the times. I checked out the colorful slang of the era, and discovered the disturbing corruption of a society on the make. Prohibition had made flaunting the law normal.

I began writing with Carla, my main character, the Santa Fe train en route to California. But something was missing. I didn’t have a good grasp of 1928 suburban L.A. Boots on the ground research was required.

House in Pomona

My husband and I landed at LAX in October and found a boxy gray KIA Soul awaiting us. We headed for the centrally located town of Arcadia.

The first pleasant surprise was that we found the house in Pomona where my mother had lived that summer.

The Freyne Mansion

We had a list of places to check out, from Mt. Baldy, where the old dance hall had been, to the Freyne mansion where the heiress lived. We spent time in Pasadena. We looked at Arts and Crafts houses. We visited the historical society and rad old newspapers. We wandered through museums and gazed at beautiful en plein air paintings which related to my story.

The Arroyo Seco near Pasadena

In the San Gabriel mountains, we discovered another spot for a dramatic scene. We explored the famous Santa Monica pier, and I wrote about that. Our cup runneth over. Not only was it fun, but rewarding to come upon the perfect locations for my novel.

At week’s end, we said goodbye to the KIA Soul and flew home with pages of notes and dozens of photographs.

Research can be dangerous

Without on-site research, my novel would have lacked crucial details. Research is heady; research is cool; and often, research is mandatory.

If you are a writer, do you enjoy doing research? If you’re a reader do you like to learn about new locales and historical times? Do you like the author to transport you to an era and a setting you’ve never visited?

Author Bio for Judith Copek

Such Stuff As Dreams is a leap into another genre for Judith, a historical novel set in the twenties. She discovered that bad guys and scary situations are not limited to mystery fiction. Judith belongs to The Historical Novel Society, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. In addition to five crime-fiction novels, she’s published memoir, poetry, and short stories.

National Dictionary Day

Jessie: In New Hampshire where we are finally receiving some much-needed rain!

I love the kooky holidays listed online on sites like this one. Every year I make a list of the ones that pique my curiosity. As a novelist, yesterday’s holiday, National Dictionary Day, captured my interest. It was created to celebrate the birth of Noah Webster of dictionary fame, born October 16, 1758. I don’t know about all of you, but I adore dictionaries.

When I was a child my family owned a wide variety of dictionaries. There was the large blue one that was almost too large to lift that graces my personal library all these years later. We had rhyming dictionaries, Biblical dictionaries, and a Cassell’s French/ English dictionary from my mother’s college years. I used to love to pull one down from the shelf at random and then sprawl out on the floor with it opened in front of me in order to simply explore the treasures held on the page.

When I met my husband, who basically only spoke Portuguese at the time, I made one of my most valuable purchases ever; a Portuguese/English dictionary. Although my husband now speaks English fluently and with little accent, we still treasure that dictionary as a family heirloom. Recently, I added Dictionary of the Strange, Curious and Lovely by Robin Devoe to my collection and have enjoyed dipping into it during my morning reading sessions.

In the last few months, we have had some changes to our living space that have allowed me to fulfill the lifelong dream of creating a designated library in my home. I could not be more pleased with how it has turned out, especially as there is room enough to add to my collection of dictionaries. I can just imagine how much pleasure it would be to have copies of The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary, The Reader’s Digest Illustrated Reverse Dictionary, , and The Word Lover’s Dictionary: Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words, right at hand!

And although it might have been difficult for Noah Webster to have imagined the Internet when he published his first dictionary in the 1800s, there are some truly wonderful online dictionaries available. I love to use Merriam-Webster Online, One Look, Online Etymology Dictionary, Rhyme Desk, and a particular favorite, Visuwords, which makes mind maps of connected words.

It seems to me that for readers, and writers, there could be few things more delightful than access to dictionaries whatever the kind or format. I may celebrate, a day late, sprawled out on the floor as I did as a child, wandering through the pages of a dictionary!

Readers, do you have a fondness for dictionaries? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever tried any of the online ones I mentioned above?

Guest-Colleen Cambridge

Jessie-In New Hampshire, furiously knitting away on a warm sweater in an effort to ward off the inevitable cold!

I am pleased as punch to welcome Colleen Cambridge to the Wickeds today! She is fun and energetic and full of ideas. So, it is of no surprise to me that her new series is just as engaging and as much a pleasure to spend time with as its creator. Without further ado, take it away, Colleen!

Agatha Christie, Amateur Detective?

Agatha Christie is the author of some of the most twisted, cunning, and unexpected murder mysteries, but would she be just as good investigating real-life crimes?

In my book, Murder at Mallowan Hall (the first in my Phyllida Bright series), Ms. Christie says certainly not—even when a dead body shows up in her library during a houseparty. “It’s difficult enough to write the dratted things,” she says when the idea is proposed by her housekeeper and friend Phyllida Bright. “I’m not about to try and follow clues in real life—mainly because I can’t put them where I want them!” 

As a murder mystery writer myself, I concur with this position. It’s far easier to construct a mystifying puzzle—and a surprise solution—on paper than to attempt to discover clues in real life. After all, we writers are known for going back into our stories to “pepper” them with clues in order to lead our detectives—and readers—to the proper solution. Attempting to find relevant information about actual murders would surely be frustrating—and, let’s be honest, quite boring. Real life crimes rarely have the twisted, unexpected solutions of a Christie novel.

Agatha Christie had plenty of her own real-life drama when she famously disappeared for eleven days, and it seems obvious that, having lived through the ensuing public uproar, she would avoid anything related to newsworthy events—including getting herself involved in investigating a murder. In fact, she was always quite shy, but after her disappearance, she became even moreso—and one can hardly blame her, for every interview or story about her after those events always focused on why she went away, what she did, and where she was for those eleven days. She came to dislike the press and publicity—although even in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, it was expected for a popular writer to participate in the promotion of their works.

Thus, when Phyllida Bright proposes the idea that Agatha should follow in M. Poirot’s or Miss Marple’s footsteps and attempt to find out who murdered someone in the home she shares with her second husband, Max Mallowan, it seems logical that Agatha would shut that idea down quite firmly. In fact, she suggests that Phyllida should take on the investigation—because neither Phyllida nor Agatha want the press hovering about, and clearly the authorities need assistance.

Needless to say, Phylllida Bright turns out to be an extremely capable detective. Already with her thumbs on everything happening in the household at Mallowan Hall, she has a built-in opportunity to poke around the guests’ bedchambers, looking for clues. Aside from that, as housekeeper of a very large estate (think Downton Abbey; although Mallowan Hall is quite fictional), Phyllida is required to be organized, proactive, and very efficient—all characteristics of an excellent detective as well. She also has the sources of her own staff, who are meant to be unseen and unnoticed as they go about doing their business. The fact that people ignore servants and forget they’re present leaves plenty of opportunity for a maid to overhear something while straightening in the sitting room, or a footman to notice something while helping to serve dinner. And they’re far more likely to share that information with another servant than the authorities.

One might think that Phyllida wouldn’t have the time to properly investigate a crime when running such a vast household, but, surprisingly, that’s not the case. An excellent housekeeper (which of course Phyllida is) would employ a competent staff, and therefore she would leave the bulk of the work to the housemaids, kitchen maids, footmen, and outside staff. She’s responsible for meeting with vendors and suppliers, paying their bills, and managing the menu, but most exceptional housekeepers had a surprising amount of time on their hands. In fact, they usually rose later than the rest of the household staff and would be served their meals and tea by lower-ranked servants. Only the butler would rank higher than the housekeeper—a fact that Mr. Dobble, Mallowan Hall’s butler, never hesitates to remind Phyllida. 

As it turns out, all of these characteristics—along with the fact that Phyllida adores mystery novels—do assist her in solving the murder of Mr. Waring at Mallowan Hall. She manages to do so while continuing to manage a busy household filled with guests—even when one of her maids is murdered, and a footman goes missing. 

Thus, in my mind, Phyllida was the far better choice for detective that Agatha Christie—even though the celebrated author was able to glean some ideas for her own works during the murderous events at Mallowan Hall. Whatever works, right?

______________________

Murder at Mallowan Hall has just been released in paperback. The second book in the series, A Trace of Poison, will be released in hardcover, audio, and ebook format on October 25. 

Colleen Cambridge can be found on most social media platforms as Colleen Gleason (her alter ego, and the author of a number of different series in various genres). You can visit her website at www.colleencambridge.com

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

Snag your copy of Murder at Mallowan Hall here, and don’t forget to pre-order A Trace of Poison!

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/buy-local/9781496732446

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/murder-at-mallowan-hall/id1553356672?itscg=30200&ls=1

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mallowan-Phyllida-Bright-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08VFBTXVB?tag=colleengleaso-20

BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-at-mallowan-hall-colleen-cambridge/1138700528?ean=9781496732460

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Colleen_Cambridge_Murder_at_Mallowan_Hall?id=6uQXEAAAQBAJ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/murder-at-mallowan-hall

Julie & Sherry Cozy-Con!

by Julie, enjoying stunning weather in Somerville

Last Friday night Sherry Harris and I met up in Mechanicsburg, PA. Spa weekend? Writing retreat? Research adventure?

No, none of those, dear friends. We were going to Cozy-Con on Saturday.

Cozy-Cons are put on by our publisher, Kensington in different regions around the country. Saturday’s was the first such meet-up in a couple of years, but we came out of the gate strong with eleven authors, dozens of readers, and a well planned event by publicist Larissa Ackerman.

Front Row from right to left:
Darcie Wildside, Maya Corrigan, Tina Kashian, Libby Klein, Lynn Cahoon
Back row from right to left:
Christin Brecher, Sherry Harris, Julia Henry, Gabby Allan, Peggy Ehrhart, Darcie Hannah

The day was a full one! There were a dozen tables, and we took turns going from table to table to talk about our books for five minutes. The room was terrific for this, and we were able to have great conversations with readers.

Julie talking books!Sherry talking books!The room was full!

Then there was trivia, and signing books. And boy, did we sign! The wonderful Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop was the bookseller for the event, and they made sure our books were there, and there were plenty of them. Which was a good thing, because the people who attended were buying a lot of books.

Early sighing of THE PLOT THICKETS!My signing station!New dagger earrings!Signing books!

How excited was I to see The Plot Thickets available for sale? Very! The book officially goes on sale October 25, but happily Kensington made it available for the event.

Sherry and I always love spending time together. Sherry’s thoughts on the weekend:

The Kensington Cozy Con was so much fun. Kensington, senior communications manager Larissa Ackerman, and the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop put on a fabulous event. Getting to meet readers I’ve only met online, seeing friends, and meeting so many new readers who love mysteries as much as I do was a thrill. We did two rounds of speed dating where we went from table to table and had five minutes to talk about our books. There was also a fun trivia game. Along with time to buy and sign books. The icing on the cake was getting to spend time with Julie. We drove up Friday afternoon — Mechanicsburg is in such a pretty area and the leaves were just starting to change. That meant we got to have dinner with Julie and talk for hours. There was more talking, talking, talking, Saturday morning before and after the event. I hate the goodbyes but know I get to see Julie again at Crime Bake and I can’t wait.

Sherry Harris

All in all, a wonderful weekend with Sherry, her husband Bob, writer friends and meeting readers. Thank you to Larissa Ackerman and her team at Kensington–you throw a good party!

Larissa joining the authors!

Readers, do you attend events like Cozy-Con? Do you enjoy meeting authors?

Wicked Wednesday- Signs

Jessie: In Northern New England where the leaves are putting on their autumnal show!

Last week we chatted about signs concerning life in general. This week I am wondering what serves as a sign in reference to your work. What sort of signs clue you in that an idea is big enough to spark a book? What about a sign that lets you know you have gone off track with a project?

Sherry: When I was getting ready to write A Time to Swill, the second Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon book, I pulled out a file of news articles about the Florida Panhandle a friend had given me. There was an article about a ghost boat (an abandon boat) that had washed up on Miramar Beach near where my books are set. The boats name was Phantom of the Aqua! I got a tingly feeling and ideas flowed out of me. When I’m off track words won’t come — that is a big sign!

Barb: A lot of people talk about getting up in the middle of the night, or climbing out of the shower, and jotting down images, situations, sentences–any little scrap of an idea. I’ve always believed the good ideas are the ones you keep coming back to, that you keep niggling over in your head. For me, that’s the sign that says, “Dig here.” Of course, now that I’m getting older, maybe thinking the ideas you remember are the good ones is not such a great strategy. And who knows how many potentially brilliant things I’ve blissfully forgotten over the years?

Liz: I’m so sad I missed last week’s blog – I SO believe in signs. Dragonflies are my animal sign for sure, and lately dragons have been a big one. As far as my writing goes, I definitely subscribe to the scrap of ideas you mention above, Barb. I get a lot of ideas while I’m walking every day, and I’m always frantically leaving myself voice notes. The ones that stick and capture my interest when I go back and look at them are the ones I pursue.

Edith/Maddie: I’ve had that sparkly feeling Sherry mentions at seeing a news clip, hearing a vignette, or seeing a notice on a town Facebook group. The ones that stick I write on my office whiteboard. Some might make as a book, some a short story, some might never appear. Right now the list includes “Twist of Fate,” autocorrect, flashlight corn-maze, red hot-tub. Make of it what you will!

Julie: What an interesting conversation! For my writing, I get a germ of an idea and I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. Then I start reading, watching, thinking, dreaming and more and more will be added to the germ. That’s less of a sign, and more of a process. I’m not sure of a sign per se, but I do get the “this is it” feeling in my gut that helps me keep going.

Readers, what about your own projects? Do you ever have the feeling that something will or will not work?

Guest- Clara McKenna, and a Giveaway!

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the trees are heartbreakingly beautiful at this time of year!

I am not sure how many years have passed since I first met Clara McKenna. I do remember that it was in the lobby of the hotel where Malice Domestic was being held. She was friendly and pleasant and funny as well. It has been a great pleasure to get to know her better over time through our joint participation in the Sleuths in Time group as well as at in-person events. If you are not already familiar with her latest series you are in for a treat! I hope you will enjoy reading the interview as much as I did in conducting it. Leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway. Clara has offered to send the winner a copy of her upcoming release, Murder at the Majestic Hotel or a copy of one of her novels of the winner’s choosing.

Jessie: Your series prominently features horses. Did you make this choice based on a historical figure that inspired you or was it prompted by a personal interest in horses? 

Clara: I have always loved horses. As a child in Upstate NY, we would attend races and I would dream of having a horse of my own. Every Sunday morning, I’d comb the horses for sale in the classified ads in the newspaper, hoping to find one I could afford. I finally did, only to be reminded that we lived in a city neighborhood and I’d have to pay for boarding too. Needless to say, I never did buy one- Birthday money only went so far. But I took horseback riding lessons at summer camp and went riding at nearby stables every chance I got. Having said that, I also wanted to find a unique way for Stella’s family to have come by their fortune. Racehorse breeding in Kentucky fit the bill perfectly.

J: The developing relationship between Stella and Lyndy is a particularly engaging part of these books. How did you come to create the situation between them?

C: In my original proposal, Stella and Lyndy were to be married in the first book with Stella suspected of Lyndy’s murder. An editor, I hoped would offer me a contract, suggested I rethink that scenario and consider making them a bickering couple. Overall it was a good idea- writing them as a couple created more storyline opportunities and lots of possible conflict. But I couldn’t imagine them as antagonistic. If they were stuck together (and I was stuck with them), they would have to eventually fall in love. That particular editor passed on the series, by the way, but Stella and Lyndy persevered, as they do, nonetheless. 

J: Readers of historical mysteries often love the manners, mores, and fashions of days gone by. What is it that you most enjoy about writing historical novels?

C: I often say that until someone invents a time machine, reading, and in my case, writing historical novels is the closest thing we’ll ever get. Whether I’m researching paint colors available for 1905 car models or describing the embellishments on an Edwardian lady’s hat worn at afternoon tea, I’m immersed in that time as much as I can ever be. It’s wonderful!

J: Clearly, you enjoy the era in which these novels are set, but is there another you also would like to write about? If so, what draws you to it?

C: I’m a history buff so there aren’t too many eras I don’t like but I’d have to say the Victorian period is one of my favorites.  While the Edwardian Era, being as short as it is, is a bit of the calm before the storm, the Victorian period is wonderfully rife with social, technological, and ideological upheaval. Such drastic changes are the perfect vehicle for the conflict necessary for an entertaining mystery.

J: It makes perfect sense that this series is set in England. Do you consider yourself to be an anglophile?

C: Absolutely! I can’t remember a time I didn’t love all things British. I love the landscape, the accents, the people, the culture, the history, and the food. I can’t live without Britbox or afternoon tea! I’ve visited the UK multiple times, including a trip to Scotland this past July, but it all started when I was ten.  I told my mom that I wanted to go to England. She opened a bank account for me, saying that if I saved my money I could go. When I was 17, I told her I’d saved enough. “For what?” she’d asked. “To go to England.” She admitted she never thought I was serious. 

When I told my agent that story, he said, “Sounds like a series idea to me.” And thus my series about an American in England was born. Where else would I want to spend the day, even if only in my head?

J: Are you able to give us a hint as to what is in store next for Stella and Lyndy?

C: I’d love to. In book #4, Murder at the Majestic Hotel, (releasing on October 25th), newly married, Stella and Lyndy are off to Yorkshire for their honeymoon. They encounter the owner of Britain’s largest chocolate company, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, and Lyndy’s maternal aunt. But in typical fashion, when a dead body throws a wrench in their plans, Stella and Lyndy solve the crime and still manage to salvage what they can of their time together.

J: How can readers keep up-to-date with your new releases, appearances, and other news?

 C: They can visit my website, www.claramckenna.com, or by following me @claramckennaauthor on Facebook, Instagram, and Bookbub. 

Readers, are you, like Clara an anglophile? Do you have another lifelong enthusiasm? Leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway!