Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 67

Poisoned Pens and a Giveaway!

Jessie: On the coast of Maine, hurtling towards a book launch, a revisions due date and a manuscript deadline, all by September 1!

My sixth Beryl and Edwina mystery, Murder Through the English Post, releases on July 26 and I must confess, I have a very soft spot for this one. It provided me with the chance to write about beautiful gardens, romantic gifts and secrets aplenty.

When I first conceived of the plot I was startled to realize I had not yet written a mystery centered around a poisoned pen campaign. After all, it is one of the juiciest sorts of stories to write, at least to my way of thinking. It is especially well suited to village settings like Walmsley Parva where everyone knows each other as well as most of their private business. Or at least someone does.

As I started in on the research one of the most interesting things that I encountered was the sheer volume of poisoned pen cases that actually took place between the world wars. Novels with hateful missives are a trope in mystery fiction, but it turns out that has something to do with the fact that such plots were inspired by local newspaper headlines as well as stories tucked away on the inner pages of the national rags. The more I read through 1921 editions of papers at the British Newspaper Archive the more astonished I became. From unbalanced bachelors to meddlesome pensioners the UK seemed rife with those bent on that particular brand of mischief.

In many ways, the anonymous nastiness felt eerily similar to the sorts of things one encounters online so often of late. I have often wondered about some of the parallels between our own times and those of a hundred years ago. Technology changes, but people don’t seem to as quickly. Pandemics, social upheaval, and unrest between nations on a global level might go a long way to explaining hostilities at the personal one as well. Personal motives like envy, greed, and lust haven’t really changed at all. The things people feel and what they do with those feelings make as much, or as little, sense to us now as they did in 1921. I think that explains the continuing popularity of the crime novel, as well as its tropes like poisoned pens, over the decades. As I prepare to release my 13th mystery, I couldn’t be more grateful!

Readers, do you love a poisoned pen mystery? Writers, have you ever written one? I have three hardcover copies to give away to randomly chosen commenters!

Opening Lines from Guest Leslie Budewitz plus #giveaway

Edith/Maddie writing from a hot July north of Boston. And so pleased to host my second Leslie this month, my dear friend Leslie Budewitz!

Peppermint Barked, her latest Spice Shop Mystery, releases next week. I can’t wait to read the newest in this fabulous series set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. One lucky commenter wins a copy of either the new book or the first in the series, Assault and Pepper!

Here’s the blurb: A Dickens of a Christmas turns deadly…

As the holiday season lights up Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece’s beloved Spice Shop is brimming with cinnamon, nutmeg, and shoppers eager to stuff their stockings. Add to the mix a tasty staff competition—a peppermint bark-off—along with Victorian costumes for this year’s Dickensian Christmas theme, and Pepper almost forgets to be nervous about meeting her fisherman boyfriend’s brother for the first time. But when a young woman working in her friend Vinny’s wine shop is brutally assaulted, costumed revelers and holiday cheer are the last things on Pepper’s mind. Who would want to hurt Beth? Or were they looking for Vinny instead?

The vicious attack upsets everyone at Pike Place, but none more than Pepper’s own employee, Matt Kemp. At first, Pepper is baffled by his reaction, but his clandestine connection to Beth could hold the key to the assailant’s motive. Or perhaps it’s Vinny’s ex-wife who knows more than she’s letting on . . . and what about the mysterious top-hatted man with whom Pepper saw Beth arguing that morning?

As the secrets of the market come to light, long-held grudges, family ties, and hidden plans only further obscure the truth. Is it a ghost of the past rattling its chains, or a contemporary Scrooge with more earthly motives? Pepper chases down a killer, but someone is chasing her, and in the end, the storied market itself may hold the final, deadly clue.

Opening Lines

When you crack open a novel, often the first words you read are not the author’s, but a quote chosen to set the tone for what you’re about to read. I love those little hints. Some give a clear sense from the start of why they matter to the author—maybe the epigraph is the source of the title. Others are like puzzle pieces. When you finish, you flip back to see how the epigraph forecast or sums up what you’ve just experienced with the characters.

In my Spice Shop mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, I skipped that introductory quote and open each chapter with a bit of Seattle or Market history. A fun fact about spices or cooking. A recurring image or motif that relates to the plot.

Like the cast list at the beginning and the recipes at the end, they add an extra layer to the story. And they’re fun.

So where do they come from? For years now, I’ve kept a collection of spice trivia and facts. If I hear an NPR story on the aphrodisiac powers of nutmeg or the many ways the unscrupulous try to fake saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, you can bet I’ll be making a note and sneaking that in. I’ve got a couple of shelves of books on spice history—closely linked to the Age of Exploration—and books on Seattle and Market history. Three volumes on Seattle ghost stories. I often quote Brother Cadfael, the fictional 12th century monk and herbalist Pepper considers her spirit guide, or Ellis Peters, his creator, and the book, Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden by Rob Talbot and Robin Whiteman has been as valuable as the books themselves.

Peppermint Barked, the 6th Spice Shop mystery (out July 19th), starts on Black Friday, and I was curious about the origins of the phrase. Turns out it had nothing to do with its contemporary meaning of the day merchants turn a profit—shop owner Pepper and her pal Vinny agree, it’s more a day for browsing and idea-gathering than actual shopping—so I split the facts about the term into three quotes, scattered throughout the book.

Similarly, peppermint candy and the candy cane itself are steeped in both history and legend, and worked bits of each into the epigraphs. It’s even more fun when I can tie something into the story itself, as I did with the famed Altoids mints and the classic tins they come in, so good for hiding spare keys and other small objects.

When Mr. Right and I got Covid in November of 2020, my sense of taste was temporarily tangled (it didn’t last long and we’re fine now, thanks) and that sent me researching its impact on taste and smell. Our sense of smell is closely linked to memory—both are located in the limbic brain, one of the earliest parts of the brain to evolve. The ability to smell danger, and to remember it, was key to early humans’ survival. That led me to a series of articles and quotes about the importance of the sense of smell—as one neurobiologist said, we don’t think about it much until we lose it, and then we’re terrified.

Finding just the right quote for each chapter is a quirky little literary puzzle. But the best origin story relates to Assault and Pepper, first in the series. A couple of months ago, reader Joyce Donley wrote to ask about two quotes from what I termed a traditional American folk song.

“It’s a poor man who can’t see the beauty in the sun and the wind and the rain. And it’s a sad man who can’t love his neighbor and always finds cause to complain.”

“I thank the Lord that I’m not a poor man. I’m not a sad man, no, not me. I’ve got the sun and the moon and the wind and the rain. And I never lack for good company.”

Joyce and her sister love to sing traditional songs, but weren’t familiar with this one. What could I tell her about it? I learned “Poor Man,” as we called it, in Girl Scout camp in 1970, according to my notes in the handwritten song collection I started keeping as a young Scout who loved to sing and later, play my guitar. As for the source, “traditional” was all I knew. Many of the songs I learned then were brought to camp by our counselors, young women in their late teens and 20s, who came from all over the country, bringing songs they’d learned in other camps as well as on the radio or from recordings. When I first quoted “Poor Man” in the manuscript, I did a google search and came up with nothing. Neither had my reader. I sent her a picture of my notebook page.

A few weeks ago, she wrote me again. She’d found “Poor Man” in a folk song pamphlet she bought on line, titled Sing We Now, later called Pocket Folk Song Library Unit 18, originally published by Cooperative Recreation Service in Ohio, and later reprinted by World Around Songs. She also found it listed as “Poor Man Who Can’t See Beauty” in a book called Camp Songs, Folk Songs by Patricia Averill, which popped up on a Google search and listed it in a chapter on songs Girl Scouts often sang. She sent me a shot of the page, showing lyrics and music. There’s one slight variation in the tune I learned—not bad considering the long trip that song took to get to me and then to Assault and Pepper. http://books.google.com/

Readers: do you have a favorite quotation? Enjoy extras like cast list, epigraphs, and recipes? And if you come across a fun fact about spices, Seattle, or the Market, send it my way! I’ll send one commenter your choice of Assault and Pepper or Peppermint Barked.

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop mysteries set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, set in NW Montana. Watch for Peppermint Barked, the 6th Spice Shop mystery, in July 2022. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody suspense, beginning with Bitterroot Lake in April 2021 and continuing with Blind Faith in October 2022. A three-time Agatha-Award winner (2011, Best Nonfiction; 2013, Best First Novel; 2018, Best Short Story), she is a current board member of Mystery Writers of America and a past president of Sisters in Crime. She lives in northwest Montana.

www.LeslieBudewitz.com

www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitzAuthor

http://www.Instagram.com/LeslieBudewitz

A Maximalist Lives Here **giveaway**

by Julie, summering in Somerville

What do you notice about this picture?

My books for one, all ten. More on that later. Also:

Wooden JH’s glued to the bookends.To the right, mini canopic jars, souvenirs from a trip to EgyptA German beer stein, a souvenir from a trip to GermanyA movie poster from my favorite movie of all time

What do you also see?

The house of a maximalist.

It took me a long time to embrace this about myself. I bought Marie Kondo’s book, and watched her on Netflix. I did an online course on minimalism. I dreamed of white walls, streamlined furniture, and uncluttered surfaces.

But then I realized none of those things would make me happy. Family photos, my bobbleheads, dozens (hundreds?) of books, walls covered with art, a full craft closet, scarves that I’ll never wear but my grandmother did, the cards my nieces and nephews made me over the years, notebooks full of scribblings–these are the things that make me happy. A friend helped me realize I was a maximalist.

From maximalist to scary is a short jump, but let me clarify the difference. I go through my belongings, and try to pare down on a regular basis. I take great joy in displaying them. I have yet to rent a storage space for overflow. I do keep what give me joy.

I’m embracing my maximalism these days, but am getting rid of things when I can. That includes ARCs of The Plot Thickets, the next Garden Squad mystery!

Readers, weigh in below on whether you are a maximalist or minimalist below. I’ll draw three names on Sunday and send each person an ARC of The Plot Thickets. Sorry, for mailing they’ll be US only. However, the book is also available on Netgalley!

About The Plot Thickets

With spring’s arrival in Goosebush, Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. A cleanup of the historic Goosebush Cemetery may be in order, after Lilly and Delia find the plots there sorely neglected and inexplicably rearranged. Lilly soon discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford snapped up custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. But before Lilly can get to the bottom of the tombstone tampering, she stumbles upon Whitney’s body at the Jayne family mausoleum . . .

Though at first it appears Whitney died by suicide, Lilly has doubts, and apparently, so does Chief of Police Bash Haywood, who quickly opens a murder investigation. Plenty of folks in town had bones to pick with Whitney, including her stepdaughter, Sasha, and funeral home employee, Dewey Marsh—all three recently charged with illegal business practices. But when the homicide inquiry suddenly targets an old friend, Lilly and the Garden Squad must rally to exhume the truth before the real killer buries it forever . . .

Wicked Wednesday – Casting away bad habits

Welcome back to our Cast Away series! This week, we’re talking about casting off the things that don’t serve us.

Oftentimes it’s difficult to cast away toxic habits, even for fictional characters. Wickeds, have your protagonists changed any of their bad habits? If so, name one. Was it a challenge? Why or why not?

Sherry: If being overly curious is wrong my protagonists don’t want to be right. Chloe does love to eat but she compensates by running and doing water sports.

Barb: Jane Darrowfield, the protagonist in my Jane Darrowfield Mysteries, has a new man in her life after decades without one. He doesn’t live with her, but they frequently cook dinner together at her house. He’s been moving things around in her kitchen, making it more “logical and efficient.” Jane is trying very hard not to be reactive, controlling, or negative about things just because they’re new. She’s trying to fairly assess the value of each change. She is occasionally succeeding.

Edith/Maddie: Mac Almeida is trying to lessen her obsession with everything being neat and tidy. So far she’s not too successful, although getting involved with solving homicides can be messy to the extreme. Robbie doesn’t have too much toxic going on, unless it’s her fondness for Four Roses bourbon. Stay tuned for news on that!

Jessie: My sleuth Edwina is trying to be more flexible and enthusiastic about trying new things. And she is working on her backseat driving! Beryl, on the other hand, is not a fan of even the notion of a habit being bad!

Julie: Lilly Jayne is trying to open up to new experiences. In Wreathing Havoc she doesn’t love the idea of the plant sculpture competition in Alden Park, but she supports her friends. In The Plot Thickets (out this fall) she’s trying to let go of her need to know and control all. Though solving the mystery depends on just that.

Liz: I love these! Maddie’s bad habit is drinking too much coffee, clearly. And she has no desire to change that. Also, she can’t say no to any animal in need, which is definitely not a bad habit, but one that sometimes puts her in precarious positions! Violet, meanwhile, is trying not to doubt herself as much.

Readers, what about you? Any bad habits you’d like to cast off?

Getting started: better late than never – Welcome Guest Rosalie Spielman

Getting started: better late than never – Rosalie Spielman

I turned 49 recently. I’ve seen a few times in the last couple months videos of people saying “did you know we are closer to 2070 than 1970” and their reactions are right in line with my own. My count down these days, instead of being when I can strut into a bar or sit behind a steering wheel, is how long until we can move into one of those 55+ communities?

Have you realized kids today don’t know what a dial tone is?

Several months ago, an old friend/fellow mil spouse contacted me about sharing photos of my creative space. Leslie’s an amazing artist and has her own studio now. I shared photos with her and on Leslie’s Instagram story, I recognized other military wives. That’s when it occurred to me: we were all women over forty. I also have a friend from high school made her love of sewing into a life’s calling and started a clothing business. Another military spouse owns a quilt store. And another started medical school at thirty-five and is now a PA.

So, why were we all making changes in career and goals, older? Why did we all wait? It’s not that our nests were empty—all of these friends and myself had kids at home still.

I was a military spouse for 24 years. For military spouses, unless you are in a portable field, like nursing or teaching, it’s hard to maintain a career with normal progression due to all the moves. But then our service member retires and we are finally allowed to stay in one spot. Starting a career that late is possible, but difficult. But I don’t think it is that.

Fear of impending death can be a motivator. But I don’t think it’s that either. I mean, I come from good Swiss stock. I’ve got a good fifty years to go. Maybe sixty, if I hydrate better.

Sudden growth in confidence? Mmm, no. I will be the first to admit that writing can be a soul-crushing confidence destroyer. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel some serious imposter syndrome.

My husband, a golfer, said “You miss 100 percent of the putts you don’t take.” I think he paraphrased that from somewhere, but regardless, I saw his point. Getting a book published isn’t just about the great dialogue that magically comes to you in the shower, or knowing how to spell “Punxsutawney,” but starting. I was certainly never going to get published if I didn’t try. Thinking about it, or wishing, or dreaming, wasn’t going to make it happen. Maybe that’s what my friends realized as well.

And so, I started. And in the hard times, when self-doubt raised its stupid head, the thing that kept me going was my absolute favorite quote in my Big Book of Motivation, where I stick memes, quotes, and pictures. My favorite quote isn’t Winston Churchill or Carrie Fisher, but rather, my daughter. She snuck in a little message for me to find later, in her little fifth grade scrawl atop one of the pictures:

“I love you mom, keep trying!”

“I love you mom, keep trying!”

So, there it is. I did what she encouraged me to do. There is a powerful motivation in wanting to show your children that you can achieve if you try. So that is why I kept trying—and perhaps why I started in the first place.

Readers: What is the thing your self-doubt says you can’t do? And what are you waiting for?

Bio: Rosalie Spielman is a mother, veteran, and retired military spouse. She was thrilled to discover that she could make other people laugh with her writing and finds joy in giving people a humorous escape from the real world. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband and four creatures—two teens and two fur babies. For more information on her books or to subscribe to her newsletter, go to www.rosalie-spielman-author.com

Welcome Home to Murder, the first in the Hometown Mysteries series, was released in June. Death on a Cliff, Rosalie’s second contribution to the multi-author Aloha Lagoon series, will be released on 9 August. You can find order and preorder links via her Amazon author page or website.

Amazon profile link: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B09FP95WC8

The Potters of Muddled Through

By the time you read this, I should be on the Isle of Skye. That is, if I was able to produce a negative covid test while we were in Dublin so we could get on the cruise ship. When Bill and I toured Cuba in 2013, our tour guides had a saying whenever someone asked if it was possible to see or do some particular thing. “Everything is possible. Nothing is certain.” Bill and I find this saying applies well to these covid times, too. So, I’ll probably be reading your comments, but not attempting to respond to them. Unless I’m quarantining in some dreary booked-at-the-last-minute hotel in Dublin, in which case I’ll be responding to every single one of your comments, immediately.

I knew for awhile before I wrote Muddled Through that I wanted to write a book about a pottery business in Maine. We have so many splendid potters and artist-entrepreneurs in this state. Scattered through some of the previous books in the Maine Clambake Mystery series, you’ll find the information that my main character, Julia Snowden’s sister, Livvie works as a potter in the off-season. Until I wrote Muddled Through, I had only the vaguest notion of where she worked, who she worked for and what she did.

I’m not a potter. My manual dexterity is–not one of my strengths. And if my eighth grade experience of trying to control a sewing machine with a foot pedal is any indication, I’m extremely ill-suited to the potter’s wheel. So I wasn’t going to try throwing pots myself. Julia, my point of view character, isn’t a potter, either, so I figured I could get away with it.

If you’re a regular reader of the acknowledgments in my books, you’ll know that when I don’t know something, I very often turn to books. For example, I had two fabulous books about the female photographers of National Geographic that I used extensively in my research for Muddled Through. But I didn’t find any books about pottery that were really helpful.

I watched The Great Pottery Throw Down on HBO Max. It’s very much in the style of the Great British Bake-Off and it was interesting and fun.

But I got most of my information from three potters, who were extremely helpful and generous with their time.

Malley Weber Photo credit: Malley Weber https://www.malleyweber.com/

I sought out Malley Weber because I had a notion I wanted to include information about using local clay in pottery. Malley has a pottery practice that includes digging for and using wild clay. She was able to answer questions like: How do you know where to look? When do you dig? How to you get permission to dig? How do you process the wild clay once you have it? How much wild clay yields how much usable clay?

Malley also talked to me about her business and her art. She teaches, and does special projects as well as selling her work. Every potter I talked to had some variation on this sentiment, but Malley was the one who said, “Pottery is therapy but in the end you get art.”

You can see Malley in videos here talking about digging and processing local clay. You can buy her beautiful artwork here.

Alison Evans Photo credit: AE Ceramics https://aeceramics.com/

Alison Evans is the creative and business force behind AE Ceramics. I wanted to talk to her because she runs a business of the size and scale I imagined for my fictional character, Zoey Butterfield and her Lupine Design. Alison was so helpful with questions like: How many people work there? What do they do? How did you find your retailers? Where do you buy your clay? What’s it like to ship these fragile pieces all over the country? Alison very generously sent me photos of her studio. I may also have borrowed tiny aspects of her shop and her color palette for my fictional business. However, she does not share her space with a cantankerous old Mainer and no one has ever discovered a body in her basement. (I hasten to add.)

You can browse and buy AE Ceramics beautiful pieces here.

Behind the scenes at AE CeramicsJan Thomas Conover Photo credit: JTC Pottery https://www.facebook.com/jtcpottery

Jan Thomas Conover of JTC Pottery is married to my mother’s first cousin, which makes her my ? Like me, Jan is in her second act, though hers is pottery. I’ve had the privilege of watching Jan’s art blossom via her social media posts over the years. She is truly amazing. Jan walked me through the full process of making the pottery stage by stage, and the many decisions and experiments that happen along the way.

You can see Jan’s beautiful pottery on her business Instagram page here and her business Facebook page here.

Each of these woman creates in unique ways, and each has a different business model and approach to the commerce side. Yet they all spontaneously expressed the same joy about working with clay and mastering the many techniques and stages that creating pottery demands.

It was fascinating to me how, unprompted, each spoke about the constant failures one experiences when working with pottery. Failures at every stage of the process and every stage of a career. They talked about how some people can’t handle the constant failure and abandon the art. But for those who stay with it, the ultimate lesson of pottery is about learning from failure and facing the future with resilience and optimism.

Reader question: Do you have things you’d like to learn about but never actually do? What are some of them?

Welcome Back Daryl Wood Gerber: The Child Within

By Liz, happy to welcome Daryl Wood Gerber back to the blog! She’s talking about holding on to your magic today. Take it away, Daryl!

Do you remember what was truly going on in your mind when you were growing up? Did you have an active fantasy life? I did. I was always making up stories and such. We had a short ledge in front of our fireplace, and I’d stage dances and plays for my parents. When we went on vacation to Lake Tahoe, to entertain myself, I would go to the weir of rocks jutting out into the lake and dance and sing and carry on long conversations with me, myself, and I. I didn’t care if it was in the middle of a rainstorm. I was out there creating and having a blast.

I remember my costume wardrobe was filled with items—some were purchased costumes but most were things like shirts, jackets, pajamas, and hats. My favorite pictures in our family albums (of myself, of course) are when I dressed up for Halloween. One year, I wore my “silky” pajamas to be a genie. I was very alluring.  LOL

And I’m pretty sure, starting at the young age of three, I believed I could communicate with butterflies and dragonflies. I’ve always been fascinated by them. 

So did I believe in fairies, too? Did I see one? Is that why, when I went to the Renaissance Fair and saw my first fairy garden, I simply HAD to make one? Is that why I felt a fairy-like presence in my yard the moment I started putting it together?

It was while making the garden that I came up with the idea for the Fairy Garden Mysteries. I wanted it to feature a woman who’d lost her ability to see fairies when she was young, but then, at the tender age of thirty, she spread her wings and opened her own business, and in the process, came to believe in fairies once more. I set to work immediately, writing an overview and chapters to submit to my agent. I remember him pooh-poohing the idea. It was too fantastical, he said. It wouldn’t sell. 

Well, bah, humbug. Some people will never believe. But I did. I do. I love writing a magical series. Whenever I sit at my computer to create, I feel like a kid again. I hope that my gentle mysteries not only stir the little gray cells by giving the reader a chance to solve a whodunnit, but also encourage the reader to embrace the possibility that magical beings exist and are in this world to help.

What do you do to stir the child within yourself? 

Leave a comment and I’ll give away a choice of any of my books, paper or ebook. 

Bio:

Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Fairy Garden Mysteries, Cookbook Nook Mysteries, and French Bistro Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she penned the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. In addition, Daryl writes the Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Daryl loves to cook, fairy garden, and read. She has a frisky Goldendoodle who keeps her in line. And she has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and hitch-hike around Ireland alone. You can learn more on her website and sign up for her monthly newsletter, where there is always a GIVEAWAY to one (or more) subscribers, a recipe, a bit about Sparky the Goldendoodle, and more.

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

I have to start by saying Happy Birthday to my husband Bob—the man who makes me laugh, who always has my back, and who loves me no matter what.

It’s a big week in our lives. Tomorrow is Bob’s last day of work with his corporate job. This is the first time since he was fourteen that he hasn’t had a job. But it’s not only a big change for him, but for me. I’m used to being home alone—a lot. And I like that time. I have my little routines. All of that is going out the window.

I’m the one who encouraged Bob to retire. He’s worked his butt off for the entire thirty-two (almost) years of our marriage. Because of his hard work and support I was able to stay home with our daughter which was a joy (most days)! It allowed me time to write and rewrite and go to writer’s conferences and take writing classes. No one was happier when I got my first publishing contract than Bob.

But I confess, when Bob followed me from one room to the other one day recently, I got a little worried.

The first week of his retirement will be easy. Our friend from Australia, Christine, and her two sons are coming, and we have lots of activities planned. Two weeks after that we are going to Ohio to watch one of Christine’s sons play Ultimate Frisbee in an international tournament. We have various other travel plans arranged, but at some point we will have to settle in to a new normal. I guess that’s the part that worries me. And him.

Don’t tell him but his birthday and retirement gifts from me are mostly books. That will help keep him occupied, right? I also ordered him this mug:

Most of his coworkers have asked him, “But what are you going to do?” His response (to me at least) has been “why do I have to do anything?” A friend of his who retired a couple of years ago told him that for the first week (possibly the second week for Bob because of said company) he might wonder what the heck he’s done. However, other friends have assured him he’ll be delighted.

All that said, I’m looking forward to this new phase of our life. One where we can pack up on a whim and go somewhere or we can read or take walks or go out to lunch on our schedule instead of corporate America’s.

Readers: How do you handle big changes in your lives? Any advice for me?

Wicked Wednesday – Cast Away

Happy Wednesday, readers! We’re well into the summer months, which makes me so happy…and our theme for July is Cast Away. Let’s have some fun with this one!

Fun fact: As a kid, I LOVED watching Gilligan’s Island. It was so silly but so fun, and also I loved imagining what I’d do if I ever got shipwrecked. And also how Ginger thought ahead to bring all those clothes!!

So Wickeds–imagine yourself shipwrecked and on an island with the cast of Gilligan’s Island. Which of those characters would become your best friend? 

Sherry: When I was little I had to go to bed before Gilligan’s Island came on although somewhere along the way, I did watch the show. Mary Ann would be my pick as best friend although I would have loved Ginger’s wardrobe.

Edith/Maddie: I don’t know, Gilligan was so zany and fun, as I recall. I think I might have wanted to hang out with him.

Jessie: I only watched this show a time or two so I am not sure that I am qualified to pick anyone. If I had to choose I might enjoy the professor for company.

Barb: The professor, of course.

Readers, what about you? Which character would you like as a best friend? Leave a comment below.

Who decides what “Wicked” means? Guest Debra Bokur, and a #giveaway

By Liz, excited to welcome Debra Bokur to the blog! Debra’s new book, THE LAVA WITCH, the third in the Dark Paradise Mysteries, recently came out and she’s here to talk about a very apropos topic: What being wicked means! And, she’s got a giveaway, so make sure you leave a comment. Take it, away, Debra!

The word wicked is rife with associations. Ask a random stranger (I asked 20 for this post during an impromptu street and café survey in Boulder), and you’ll get the expected number of references to green-complexioned, warty-nosed witches scampering off on broomsticks with someone’s else’s little dog. A fair number of responses alluded to Disney movies, politicians, and scallywag celebrities (including some I’d never even heard of), but the response I found most interesting was from a gentleman who must have been around 80 years in age. He just grinned at my question and said, “That’s what we used to call bold girls like you who talked to strangers on the street.”

I’ve worked as a professional journalist for more than 30 years, so asking people questions comes naturally to me. And at first, I admit I was absolutely delighted to be called a girl, since I’m no longer without my share of gray hairs and eye crinkles. But as I started to deconstruct the man’s answer, I realized that when he was his generation’s version of hipster, too many women probably didn’t offer their opinions or perspectives unless they first watered them down to be “acceptable.”

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunts or the other female members of my family, who worked hard, loved harder, and took life’s blows in their stride—and never gave quarter to anyone who tried to silence them because they were women. If it’s wicked to be strong, my female ancestors and I are guilty. When I created the character of Detective Kali Mahoe for my Dark Paradise Mystery series, there was no question that she would be tough, smart, opinionated, unafraid of bullies, and resolute in her convictions.

I’ll add that this doesn’t mean she isn’t also kind, sensitive, and funny (because she is); what it means to me is that she doesn’t define or limit herself to stereotypes thought up by the world around her. She has an advanced degree in cultural anthropology, which helps her make connections between the crimes she investigates and the Hawaiian myths and legends she grew up with; she has an enormous dog that she loves and would protect with her own life; she’s sensitive to the struggles of the people she encounters; she’s fiercely loyal to her friends and family; and she’s familiar with grief and loss — emotions she carries with dignity. In The Lava Witch (book 3 of the series), Kali encounters a malevolent force wreaking havoc on the island of Maui, but she’s totally up to the challenge, and uncompromising in her pursuit.

When I was a pre-teen (and, okay, for a long time after that), I was often sentenced to my room for having a smart mouth, or admonished by my grandfather and uncles for not being a proper lady, which meant speaking back, questioning the status quo and giving elder male family members what they described as “sass.” In college, I was removed from my Shakespeare class for challenging an arrogant male professor in what I thought was a legitimate point of debate over a plot line in a play we were studying. I still ask questions and expect answers; I never back away for my beliefs, but am perfectly comfortable changing my mind when new evidence presents; and I always, without fail, apologize if I inadvertently cause someone else distress or hurt.

Am I a little bit wicked? Perhaps — but that doesn’t make me a bad witch (or any of the words that rhyme with it). These days, I’m having fun hanging out with Kali as she solves crimes and wraps up mysteries. I suspect that the gentleman who answered my question that morning on the street would say that Kali’s bold, too; and my grandfather would absolutely consider her to have more than her share of sass. And that’s all just fine with me.

Readers, what does “wicked” mean to you? Leave a comment below for a chance to win a gift bag of Hawaiian skincare products!

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