Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 68

Happy 4th of July!

All the Wickeds wish you all a happy 4th of July! Have a beautiful day with family and friends – hopefully on the beach! – and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Guest Leslie Wheeler – Location, Location, Location plus #giveaway!

Edith/Maddie here, enjoying the start of summer north of Boston.

I’ve known Leslie Wheeler through the New England crime fiction community for many years. She’s a tireless contributor to the New England Crime Bake, to the Al Blanchard short story conference, and to the Sisters in Crime New England chapter. Now she has a new book out in the Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries, one of my favorite series, and one lucky commenter will win an ARC of Wolf Bog!

Here’s the blurb:

In the drought-ridden Berkshires a group of hikers that includes Kathryn Stinson discover the perfectly preserved body of a local teenager, missing for forty years, at Wolf Bog. Who was he and what happened between him and Kathryn’s close friend, Charlotte Hinckley, to make her distraught and blame herself for his death? Searching for answers, Kathryn learns of the fabulous parties held at a mansion up the hill from her, where local teenagers like the deceased mingled with the offspring of the wealthy. Other questions dog the arrival of a woman claiming to be the daughter Charlotte gave up for adoption. But is she really Charlotte’s daughter, and if not, what’s her game? Once again, Kathryn’s quest for the truth puts her in grave danger.

Location Scouting My Mysteries

One of the things I especially enjoy about writing my mysteries is searching for the right places for the action to take place in the same way a location scout does for a movie. For the three books in my Miranda Lewis Living History series, I spent many hours at the various sites where the stories unfold: Plimoth Plantation, a Gettysburg reenactment, and Mystic Seaport (for Murder at Spouters Point). Since my new series is set in the Berkshires, where I have a house, I figured I wouldn’t have to travel very far afield. This was true for the first two books, but not so much the new one, Wolf Bog.

As the title indicates, important action occurs at a bog. There is no bog in my town of New Marlborough, upon which my fictional town of New Nottingham is based. However, there is a Wolf Swamp that’s part of a large area of wetlands and woods known as Thousand Acre Swamp. The idea for the book actually came to me on a hike there with members of the town land trust. As we stood on the shores of East India Pond, looking across the water to the far side where the swamp is, a male voice behind me said, “People have gone in there and never been seen again.”

His words piqued my interest. I knew then I’d probably write about someone who disappears into a swamp, with the difference that my swamp would be a bog, so the victim’s body would be perfectly preserved after many years. In doing so, I thought I could afford to take a little literary license. Still, I felt I needed to visit a real-life bog. An online search led me to the Hawley Bog, just across the border from the Berkshires in Franklin County.

Filled with the spirit of adventure, I set out for Hawley Bog from my home in Southern Berkshire County on a crisp fall day. I drove north to Pittsfield, continuing on until the city and its environs gave way to sleepy small towns and villages, where I sensed little had changed over time. They were replaced by meadows and woodland, with the occasional house plopped down seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The trip from my house to the bog was supposed to take an hour and a half, but the journey through unfamiliar, underpopulated countryside seemed to last longer. Finally, I got on narrow, winding East Hawley Road, which brought me to my destination.

From the parking area, a trail through the woods took me to the entrance of the bog. Before me lay a vast expanse of floating plant matter, mainly sphagnum moss, interspersed with areas of black water, and with a boardwalk stretching into it. My research told me that this was a “quaking bog” because the 30-foot-deep mattress of plant life actually moves! With some trepidation, I stepped onto the boardwalk with my camera and trusty hiking pole. Fortunately, I felt no earthquake-strength tremors that day. Perhaps the bog mat was napping.   

Along the way, I noticed some of the carnivorous plants that populate bogs. These plants rely on insects for nourishment, which the highly acidic bog soil, or peat, doesn’t provide. They include the dark purple pitcher plant that lures its insect prey with its brilliant color only to trap and devour it. Bogs are, however, home to more benign plants like orchids and cranberries that can tolerate the acidic soil. And this same acidic soil, composed of layer upon layer of decayed plant matter, has the effect of embalming the bodies that land in it.

As I returned to my car, I said a silent thanks to the Nature Conservancy, which maintains the Hawley Bog, for providing me and many others with a safe means of experiencing this type of wetlands. You’d think I would have stopped there, but not long afterward I felt a strong urge to visit Wolf Swamp itself. No easy feat because the swamp can’t be seen from any of the several trails that crisscross Thousand Acre Swamp. Also, I knew from previous experience that it’s very easy to get lost there. I enlisted the help of a local historian and land trust member to serve as my guide. We followed a trail that got us close to the swamp, but with no view. We then left the trail to bushwhack our way to a place where we could see it, stepping from one fallen tree trunk or boulder to another. Although we never made it to a decent viewpoint, I did have the experience of having my hiking pole sink deep into the soggy ground. That was enough for me. No way was I going to risk being sucked into the quicksand! My guide and I returned to the trail.

Readers: Have you visited a place that you think would make a good setting for a mystery? One of the commentators will receive an ARC of Wolf Bog.

An award-winning author of books about American history and biographies, Leslie Wheeler has written two mystery series. Her Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries launched with Rattlesnake Hill and continue with Shuntoll Road and Wolf Bog. Her Miranda Lewis Living History Mysteries debuted with Murder at Plimoth Plantation and continue with Murder at Gettysburg and Murder at Spouters Point. Her mystery short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. Leslie is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and a founding member of the New England Crime Bake Committee. She divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Berkshires, where she writes in a house overlooking a pond. Find her at her website.

A Wicked Welcome to Jennifer J. Chow

by Julie, summering in Somerville

I love discovering new series, and am thrilled to welcome Jennifer J. Chow to the blog today so that she can tell us about her new LA Night Market series. The premise is wonderful, and Jen lets us in how it all started.

Canai and Chai

By Jennifer J. Chow

Roti is best when there is more than one

It all started in Malaysia. My family and I loved eating the flaky flatbread, roti canai, for breakfast. You could order them with egg or other toppings, but our go-to was the plain version with a side of savory curry sauce. To add to their allure, roti canai was super cheap to buy. And who doesn’t love a deal on tasty food?

That’s when my brother, along with my hubby, came up with their café idea. They tossed around different names, wanting to pair something alliterative with the starting ch-sound found in canai. That’s how Canai and Chai was born. (Spoiler alert: Great name but poor execution since the café never came to fruition.)

What kind of drink did we get to go with the roti? Hand-pulled milk tea, also known as teh tarik. Nothing really beats its warm and frothy combo. If only we could take all this back with us to the States…

When I embarked on writing a culinary cozy series, I knew I needed to include their stellar idea. That’s why the two cousins in my new L.A. Night Market Mysteries run a food stall with the same name. It happens that they sell their food and drinks not at breakfast time, but in the evenings. Why?

Well, I’ve had experience checking out various night markets in East Asia, the United States, and in Canada. They’re like nighttime festivals filled with good eats, exciting entertainment, and trinkets galore.

I have a strong love for good food and a fondness for fun activities. I’m still amazed that I can combine these two joys in my newest mystery books.

Share your fave foods and festivities with me!

Bio:

Lefty Award-nominated author Jennifer J. Chow’s most recent cozies are the Sassy Cat Mysteries and L.A. Night Market Mysteries. Mimi Lee Gets A Clue was one of BuzzFeed’s Top 5 Books by AAPI authors. She serves as VP of Sisters in Crime and is active in Crime Writers of Color.

Website: www.jenniferjchow.com

Book Summary:

Two cousins who start a food stall at their local night market get a serving of murder in this first novel of a delicious new cozy mystery series by Jennifer J. Chow, author of Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.

When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale hasn’t cooked in years, and she hardly considers Celine’s career as a social media influencer as adequate experience, but because she’s just lost her job at her local bookstore, she feels she has no choice.

Yale and Celine serve small dishes and refreshing drinks, and while business is slow, it eventually picks up thanks to Celine’s surprisingly useful marketing ideas. They’re quite shocked that their bubble tea, in particular, is a hit—literally—when one of their customers turns up dead. Yale and Celine are prime suspects due to the gold flakes that Celine added to the sweet drink as a garnish. Though the two cousins are polar opposites in every way, they must work together to find out what really happened to the victim or the only thing they’ll be serving is time.

Buy Link:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673133/death-by-bubble-tea-by-jennifer-j-chow/

Wicked Wednesday: Celebrating MUDDLED THROUGH and GONE BUT NOT FURGOTTEN

At long last, Barbara Ross fans get to celebrate the release of the latest Maine Clambake book, Muddled Through! The book takes place during mud season, a rite of spring in the northeast.

We’re also celebrating Book #6 in Cate Conte’s Cat Cafe Mystery Series, Gone But Not Furgotten. Maddie James has big plans for the summer season at JJ’s House of Purrs.

Wickeds, there’s so much good about spring and summer, but what bugs you? Besides the mud? And the occasional murder?

Let’s congratulate Barb and Liz/Cate, and finish up our June bugs series!

Sherry: I got to read an early version of Muddled Through and thought it was one of Barb’s best books. I can’t wait to get my hands on my copy of Gone But Not Furgotten! I love revisiting Daybreak Island! The heat bugs me in the summer. I used to be a hotter the better person but that has changed dramatically.

Liz/Cate: Thanks, Wickeds, and congrats, Barb! Looking forward to reading Muddled Through! I love pretty much everything about summer except mosquitos and black flies. But honestly, I’d gladly suffer through them longer if we could have more warm weather!

Edith/Maddie: I’m so excited to read both these books! So many congratulations, my friends. What bugs me about spring is how long it takes to warm up. We’ll get a few days of nice weather and then, boom. Back in chilly gray days, sometimes even a frost or a late snow . Summer? What’s not to love? Fresh produce and bare feet!

Jessie: Super congratulations Barb and Liz! It is so inspiring to witness all your successes! I tend to like each season in its time so there is nothing that comes to mind other than actual bugs, like ticks, that I dislike! By the time I am ready for the heat of summer to end the autumn with its cooler temperatures has usually arrived!

Barb: Thanks, Wickeds! I have to agree with Edith. The thing that bugs me about spring in Maine is it takes so long to get here. Long after friends in the northeast are talking about picnics and summer, we’re still riding the rollercoaster of cold, foggy days. Congratulations, Liz! I can’t wait to read Gone But Not Furgotten.

Julie: Congratulations Barb and Liz/Cate! What wonderful additions to my summer pile of books to be read. What bugs me about summer? Nothing. Honestly. Summer in New England is a joy.

Friends, what bugs you about summer? What are you looking forward to in Muddled Through and Gone But Not Furgotten?

Happy Book Birthday, Barb & Cate!

The Wickeds seem to have more and more simultaneous book releases. It’s like it is in families when the birthdays cluster together. Today, we’re celebrating the release of Muddled Through, the tenth book in Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake Mystery series and Gone But Not Furgotten, the sixth book in Cate Conte’s (Liz Mugavero’s) Cat Cafe Mystery series.

Muddled Through

In the tenth installment of Barbara Ross’s award-winning mystery series starring Julia Snowden and her family’s coastal Maine clambake business, a heated feud over a proposed pedestrian mall leads to murder–which means it’s up to Julia to clean up the case.

Mud season takes on a whole new meaning in the coastal town of Busman’s Harbor, Maine, when local business owners sling dirt at one another in a heated feud over a proposed pedestrian mall. Vandalism is one thing, but murder means Julia Snowden of the Snowden Family Clambake steps in to clean up the case…
 
When Julia spots police cars in front of Lupine Design, she races over. Her sister Livvie works there as a potter. Livvie is unharmed but surrounded by smashed up pottery. The police find the owner Zoey Butterfield digging clay by a nearby bay, but she has no idea who would target her store. Zoey is a vocal advocate for turning four blocks of Main Street into a pedestrian mall on summer weekends. Other shop owners, including her next-door neighbor, are vehemently opposed. Could a small-town fight provoke such destruction? When a murder follows the break-in, it’s up to Julia to dig through the secrets and lies to uncover the truth…

Barb says…

It’s been sixteen long months since the release of Shucked Apart, the previous novel-length Maine Clambake Mystery. I hope you’re as excited this new book as I am! Muddled Through is about mud season in New England, the art and commerce of pottery, Miss Rumphius and lupines, and the friction caused by development in a resort area that must retain its unique nature yet offer the kind of hospitality today’s tourists demand. It’s also about the New England town meeting, which some say is the purest exercise of democracy on earth, others say is a total crapstorm, and is frequently both.

I loved researching and writing this book and I hope readers enjoy it.

Gone But Not Furgotten

In Gone but Not Furgotten, the sixth in Cate Conte’s Cat Café beloved cozy mystery series, Daybreak Island has a killer on the loose…and this villain isn’t afraid to use their claws.

Maddie James has big plans for the summer season at JJ’s House of Purrs. But when her friend, master meditator and Tai Chi teacher Cass Hendricks, brings a potential animal hoarding situation to her attention, Maddie has to refocus her attention on the furry felines who may need a helping paw.

Cass has brought his Zen teachings to Fisherman’s Cove―a tiny, working class town on Daybreak Island―and one of his students, Laurel, has been on the receiving end more than one hissy fit from her neighbors, mostly because of her cats. When Maddie and Cass go to Laurel’s to check out the situation, not only do they find a plethora of cats in need, but also a dead body. Laurel appears to have had an unfortunate accident falling down her stairs, but Maddie gets a sneaking suspicion that something more sinister might be behind her death. When she voices her concerns, she’s horrified that it’s Cass who falls under suspicion.

With Grandpa Leo’s help, Maddie has to dig into the secrets this small community is keeping close to find out why Laurel really died before Cass is put behind bars . . . or the killer strikes again.

Cate/Liz Says…

This was such a fun installment of the Cat Cafe books to write! I got to spend time with one of Maddie’s sidekicks, the mindfulness master Cass, who is based on a real-life Cass who made a huge difference in my life. It also explores the difficult subject of cat hoarding, and what that can look like–for the hoarder, and for the rescuers. Much like Barb’s book, there’s a lot of small-town New England drama involved too, including some local politics and government craziness.

I had so much fun writing this one – and I hope you all enjoy it!

Readers, what’s a small town tradition that you love – or love to hate? Leave us a comment.

A Wicked Welcome to Debra Goldstein **plus a giveaway!**

by Julie, summering in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome FOTW (Friend of the Wickeds) Debra Goldstein to the blog today so that we call celebrate the release of Five Belles Too Many tomorrow!

Really Wicked? Acts of Kindness. by Debra H. Goldstein

Although I know that The Wickeds write “Wicked Good Mysteries,” I also know that behind the scenes, The Wickeds aren’t particularly wicked. In fact, they’re downright nice.

The first time I went to Malice Domestic, I knew no one. I happened to stand behind several Wickeds also attending the conference. They were patiently waiting to sign up for a banquet table. Turning to me and sensing my confusion, Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day suggested I join them at the table they signed up for. An act of kindness. Later, when I went to Crime Bake, their home state conference, I wasn’t quite sure why each was walking around with Dru Love’s head on a stick (she had won the honorary Wicked fan who wasn’t at the conference, so they brought her along), but I understood when they adopted/befriended me throughout the weekend. Another act of kindness. Later, Julie Hennrikus and I paired up for speed-dating at Malice Domestic, Barb Ross co-wrote three blogs with me, and Sherry Harris was my comic foil when we sat together at a Kensington signing where all my books had been lost so I could only give out swag and recommend her books. More acts of kindness.

What I’ve learned from all this is that behind-the-scenes people and actions may be far different than their monikers. That is part of the premise for my new book, Five Belles Too Many, which finds Sarah involved in the behind-the-scenes world of a reality TV show which is offering five finalists the opportunity to win a perfect Southern wedding. Although her age is the same or close to four of the finalists, Sarah is drawn into the show when her sixty-plus-year old mother, the fifth finalist, is required, like the other finalists, to have a chaperone.

Not wanting to bother any of her friends and because Sarah’s twin, Chef Emily, works at night, Mother Maybelle “enlists” Sarah. It’s bad enough that Sarah must juggle her day job and take care of her own furry pets, RahRah and Fluffy, but the show contracted for rooms for the belles and their chaperones at her all-time nemesis, Jane Clark’s, bed and breakfast. Despite Sarah’s protests, her mother assures Sarah that she can survive the few hours a night she’ll have to be at Jane’s Place, especially since she’ll be sleeping. What neither Mother Maybelle nor Sarah foresaw was that on the very first night they’d find the show’s producer dead, with Jane, blood on her hands, leaning over him.

This situation forces Sarah, who has been involved in solving several murders in Wheaton, Alabama, to face a dilemma. She hates Jane. Jane is the bimbo that broke up Sarah’s marriage, forced her to go from a life of luxury to an efficiency apartment, tried to steal RahRah, the Siamese cat that was the only thing she got out of her marriage, and has been a consistent thorn in her side, but Sarah doesn’t think Jane is a murderer. One part of Sarah wants to avoid helping Jane, but Sarah’s loyalty and fear for her mother’s well-being prompt her to get involved before Mother Maybelle or any of the other contestants are permanently eliminated from the competition.

Will her decision prove to be an act of kindness or the beginning of something wicked?

Rather than telling me something else that is wicked, for a chance to win a copy of Five Belles Too Many, please share an act of kindness either by a member of The Wickeds or that someone has done for you.

BIO:

Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (Four Cuts Too Many, Three Treats Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, and One Taste Too Many). Her short stories, which have been named Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer finalists, have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Malice Domestic Murder Most Edible, Masthead, and Jukes & Tonks. Debra served on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and was president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters. Find out more about Debra at https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com .

ABOUT Five Belles Too Many:

When Sarah Blair’s mother participates in a reality show competition for brides in Wheaton, Alabama, things get a little too real as a murderer crashes the wedding party . . .

Sometimes Sarah’s mother, Maybelle, can be higher maintenance than her Siamese cat RahRah. Maybelle and her friend, Mr. George Rogers, have been chosen to be one of five couples competing for a small-town “perfect” wedding and dream honeymoon on a Southern Belles reality show—and guess who has to be chaperone. Even more vexing, the producers have decided to put up the crew and participants at the restaurant/bed and breakfast owned by Sarah’s nemesis Jane Clark.

But when someone turns up dead with Jane kneeling by the body with blood on her hands, she goes from being Sarah’s chief rival to the police’s chief suspect. Neither Sarah nor her twin, Chef Emily Johnson, can stand Jane—still, they don’t think she’s a murderer. The producers vow the show must go on, but to protect their mother and the other contestants, Sarah vows to find the true killer before someone else gets eliminated . . .

Nessie No More — Welcome Back Catriona McPherson!

I love welcoming back Catriona McPherson who has a brand new book out–In Place of Fear! Here’s a bit about the book: Helen leaned close enough to fog the mirror with her breath and whispered, ‘You, my girl, are a qualified medical almoner and at eight o’clock tomorrow morning you will be on the front line of the National Health Service of Scotland.’ Her eyes looked huge and scared. ‘So take a shake to yourself!”

Edinburgh, 1948. Helen Crowther leaves a crowded tenement home for her very own office in a doctor’s surgery. Upstart, ungrateful, out of your depth – the words of disapproval come at her from everywhere but she’s determined to take her chance and play her part.

She’s barely begun when she stumbles over a murder and learns that, in this most respectable of cities, no one will fight for justice at the risk of scandal. As Helen resolves to find a killer, she’s propelled into a darker world than she knew existed, hardscrabble as her own can be. Disapproval is the least of her worries now.

Catriona: I feel like I might have griped here before about the problem of naming a book. So, for a change today, I’m going to gripe about the problem of naming the characters in a book.

(Apart from anything else, naming IN PLACE OF FEAR was a breeze. I only went through three discarded working titles before I hit on the keeper.)

The first problem for anyone writing a novel set in Scotland is that in real life everyone would be called McSomething or MacSomeone but, in a book, you can’t have Mcs and Macs all over every page. It’s distracting to the eye as well as a challenge to the memory, as you try not to mix up the Macs when you’ve maxxed out on Mcs.

So I tend to keep them to walk-ons and cameos. Here, Bessie McNulty’s cousin gets spoken of once or twice and Mrs McIrnie’s daughter has two pivotal scenes. Other than that, the book is populated by Sutties, Downies, and Crowthers in the tenements, by Dr Strasser and Dr Deuchar at the surgery, and by the Sinclairs in the big house. All good Scots names and not a superscript c amongst them.

The Downies were a late substitution, mind you. I had called my heroine’s birth family “Begbie” but my editor said the long tail of Trainspotting meant that “Begbie” still resonated with the air of a scary hardman who might set about you with a broken bottle. And, while the Edinburgh tenements in the book are hardly St Mary Mead, that wasn’t what we were going for. I’m still not sure I agree, but it wasn’t much trouble to think up a different name, so “Downies” it is.

I had already caved on my heroine’s first name. I called her Nessie. My editor responded with a ‘LOL’. I responded to the LOL with a ‘?’. That got another ‘?’ and we had a phone call. A phone call in which I learned that “Nessie” is a funny name to non-Scottish people. It means “green monster” and could only be the name of the heroine in a humorous cozy, where the plight of being called Nessie was a running gag.

Hmph. I know people called Nessie. My sister’s got a friend called Nessie. It doesn’t strike me as a comedy name at all. The most interesting thing about it is that it’s short for Agnes, even though it’s longer. I think Agnes is a beautiful name, but in Scotland it’s shortened as a matter of emergency by pretty much everyone who bears it. My mother-in-law is Nan, short for Agnes, and other Agneses become Aggie, Netta, and even Senga (Agnes backwards). I think that’s the only case of a whole name being flipped to make a nickname out of it.

Anyway, Nessie Begbie as was is now Helen Downie, Nelly for short, Crowther once she marries, and everyone’s happy.

And, since I gave in on these two points, I got to keep Helen’s mammy, daddy and wee sister as Greet, Mack and Teen even though my editor reckoned they sounded like something out of Old Norse poetry. I think of their names as being: Greet short for Marguerite (my granny’s name; she got Greta), Mack short for a middle name based on a mother’s Mc/Mac maiden name (like my dad’s got), and Teen short for Christine and sometimes lengthened again to Teenie-bash (a frequent alternative to Catriona when I was wee).

Strangely enough the name that I made bothersome all on my own, with not a peep out of my editor, was Helen’s husband, Sandy, Billy, no wait – Sandy, hang on – Billy. Sandy. Billy. I have no idea why I kept changing it back and forth or what factors were in play. It wasn’t to make it less similar to someone else’s name, or to change the sociological echoes of age, class, religion or anything. Sandy and Billy were both plausible young Protestant working-class men in the 1940s. I annoyed myself with my indecisiveness before I finally settled on one.

Readers: I’d be interested to know if anyone can find any meaningful difference between the two names. Also, what names – besides Nessie – do you think are unusable for characters because of a single association? I’ll start: Kermit. But what say you?

Bio: National-bestselling and multi-award-winning author, Catriona McPherson (she/her), was born in Scotland and lived there until immigrating to the US in 2010.

She writes historical detective stories set in the old country in the 1930s, featuring gently-born lady sleuth, Dandy Gilver. The latest of these is 2021’s THE MIRROR DANCE. After eight years in the new country, she kicked off the comic Last Ditch Motel series, which takes a wry but affectionate look at California life from the POV of a displaced Scot (where do we get our ideas, eh?). Book 4, SCOT MIST, came out in January. She also writes a strand of contemporary psychological thrillers. The latest of these is last year’s A GINGERBREAD HOUSE.

Catriona is a member of MWA, CWA, Society of Authors, and a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.  www.catrionamcpherson.com

What it’s really like to live on the beach – and a #giveaway

By Liz, who can’t tear herself away from the windows these days

Those of you who know me well may remember times when I would wistfully talk about how I would love to live right on the beach, with an office overlooking the ocean – a place where I could constantly create in that amazing water energy. 

Usually, after I said it, I would say something like, “I have no idea how that’s going to happen because I don’t think a multi-million dollar mansion on [insert waterfront area] is in my budget right now.” 

Well, it still isn’t – but somehow I manifested an ocean-front place to live anyway. You guys – don’t ask me how I did it. But here I am. 

I cannot believe I live here. This is the view from my desk.

This will be either very good for my writing career, because I’ll never leave my desk, or it will be very bad because I’ll be staring out the window the entire time. 

I’m a complete beach bum. I’ve been this way my whole life. If you stick me in a chair on the sand with a book and a boogie board, I’ll stay on the beach (and in the water) until someone kicks me off. After having lived a decent drive away from it for so long, having it right at my fingertips is amazing. 

I can’t say enough about having my sliding door open all night, hearing the waves and smelling the salt air. Taking 2-3 walks along the boulevard with the dogs every day. Every time I’m feeling kind of cranky, or overwhelmed, or need a break from working on something, I just step outside for a few minutes and I feel like a new person. 

So all I really wanted to do today is show you pictures of the new spot, since you had to hear me talking about the move so much. I knew life would be way better on the other side!

It really is true – everything’s better in the salt air. 

Readers, what’s your happy place? Leave a comment below. I’ll send one commenter a special gift

June Bugs: Surveillance

Wickeds, continuing our discussion of June bugs, let’s talk about surveillance and spy craft. Do your characters use technology to help with their sleuthing? Are you tempted to use ring doorbells or tiny cameras? How about in your own life? True confessions, do you have any interest in spying on people?

Edith/Maddie: The only surveillance I do is from my second floor office windows, monitoring what goes on on our quiet street, which is kind of spying on people (we get a lot of walkers). I do love to people watch and listen in on conversations, but with my restaurant-going still not quite resumed, I miss that. In Murder in a Cape Cottage, Mac installs cameras at the back of her shop and Tim’s bakery after a rash of thefts on Main Street. None of my characters has ever bugged an office or attached a tracking device to a car.

Barb: I wrote a book about digital gaslighting (Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door), which caused me to delve into the uses and potential misuses of home security systems. We do have one at our house and that was part of the inspiration for the book. Often with a couple, one will take charge of the system and really understand it and the other will be, “Whatever. As long as I can get in and out of the house.” I am that latter person. So it was creepy to me how a lack of knowledge like that could be used against someone.

Liz: Barb, that would totally be me too…and I agree it’s creepy! None of my characters have ever used any kind of digital tracking device, although it’s probably something Maddie would enjoy very much. In the Full Moon books, Violet was the victim of magickal electronic surveillance – which is a plot thread that will likely be revisited.

Sherry: In one of the Sarah Winston books she used a thermal-imaging device to see how many people were in a house when CJ had been kidnapped. And the upcoming Rum and Choke has a thread about locks and security systems. As for me? I’ve always been curious about people’s lives and loved people watching — is that spying? Nope — at least that’s what I tell myself.

Jessie: Since I write historical mysteries the technology is of an earlier era and I can ignore things like surveillance cameras for the most part. I I have to admit that I prefer it that way! I am not all that interested in alarm systems and am like Barb in preferring to be the one who isn’t the expert! That said, I did use a photographer with a hidden camera gadget in one of my Change of Fortune novels and found it rather fun. I also loved a visit to the Spy Museum in Washington D.C. with two of my sons a few years ago! I loved creeping through an air duct like a spy in a movie!

Julie: In The Plot Thickets, a doorbell camera plays a role in the plot, as does Lilly’s inability to access the camera. Delia and Roddy are there to help. My condo is installing a new buzzer system, and I’ll be able to see people and buzz them in with my phone. I love technology, but will admit that the widespread use of cameras freaks me out a bit. I watch a lot of British television shows, and I’m not sure how anyone gets away with anything these days.

Readers, how do you feel about tech in your mysteries? Is it a cop out, or do you love gadgets coming to the rescue?

Mistletoe Can Be Murder and a #giveaway

I’m so excited that Mistletoe Can Be Murder: Every Wife has a Story, the tenth book in Susan Santangelo’s “funny with point” Baby Boomer Mystery series is out today!

Susan is giving away a copy to one lucky commenter below!

About the Book

Carol Andrews is planning her grandson CJ’s first Christmas down to the last detail. What she didn’t plan for is a furnace fiasco, the unexpected appearance of CJ’s Other Grandmother, Margo, and her new boyfriend, a family feud, a stolen credit card, and murder. When Margo’s boyfriend becomes the police’s chief suspect, Carol is forced to add crime-solving to her holiday to-do list before Santa can come down the chimney.

Take it away, Susan!

Several years ago I attended my first writers’ conference and signed up for an in-person agent critique of my first mystery, Retirement Can Be Murder. Although I was very nervous, I was also secretly confident that my manuscript would dazzle the agent so much that she’d immediately sign me to a long-term contract and discuss the movie rights. After all, my friends had read it and everyone loved it.

Imagine my joy when the agent told me I’d written one of the best opening sentences she’d ever read. I’m sure I had a silly grin on my face, but then she delivered her punch line. “Unfortunately, the sentence is in Chapter 14.”

A teachable moment, for sure. Then she gave me a homework assignment before I went back to my own manuscript. She told me to pick five or six mystery authors whose work I admired and only read the first chapter of their books. I learned a lot from that agent, and I learned even more when I completed her homework assignment.      

Each of my Baby Boomer mysteries starts with the murder. Because I am a pantser, not a plotter, sometimes even I don’t know who the victim is until the plot really starts to develop. 

Here’s the opening of Mistletoe Can Be Murder.

“It was a dark and stormy night. No, that’s not true. It was a dark and freezing night. My husband, Jim and I should have been warm and cozy fast asleep in bed like normal people. But, sad to say, we’re not normal people. We’re dog people. Our lives are ruled by two English cocker spaniels, Lucy and Ethel. When they have doggy needs that must be attended to, no matter what the hour is…I’m sure you get the idea. Which was why, as I explained to the policemen, we happened to be outside in the middle of the night to discover the dead body.”

My own two English cockers, Boomer and Lilly, insisted I use this opening line as an homage to Snoopy, whose writer’s block is the stuff of legends thanks to masterful cartoonist Charles Schultz. Yes, dogs rule in my house, too.

Boomer and Lilly

Recently I happened to overhear (okay, I moved closer so I could properly eavesdrop) a discussion between two patrons in my local library about their reading habits. One said she gives each book 38 pages to hook her into the plot, and if she doesn’t like it by then, she gives up. The other said she gives a book 50 pages. I couldn’t help inserting myself into their conversation and asked if either of them had ever broken their “pages rule” and ended up loving that book after reading more. They both said no. 

Boomer, Lilly and I are now wondering how many other readers have a similar rule.            

Readers: Do you have a similar 38 pages or 50 pages or some number of pages rule? Have you ever broken it and ended up loving the book after reading more? Comment below or simply say “hi” to be entered to win a copy of Mistletoe Can Be Murder.