Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 74

Wicked Wednesday- Prose and Cons

Jessie: Glad each day that the weather is warming!

I have to confess, I do love con artist stories. I love them so much that the protagonist in my Change of Fortune series is one! Have you ever written about either a con artist or someone who has been conned?

Julie: I’ve been working on a book about three women in their fifties who help people get revenge, and cons are the center of the story. Cons within cons. They are so hard to write! How can you help unpack the con for the reader so that they are surprised by some of the twists? What’s the true purpose behind the con? And how do you con a con artist? Needless to say, it’s making this book hard to write, but a lot of fun. Hopefully I can pull it off, and send it out.

Edith/Maddie: I love that premise, Julie. My story, “Blue Motel Room” in Beat of Black Wings (edited by Josh Pachter) features a con artist of the Robin Hood variety and was so much fun to write. The narrator in “One Too Many,” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2020) is also something of a con artist. I guess the message is – I like to write con artists in my short fiction!

Sherry: I love a could con story too. In my Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries one character is conning people over several books. And A Time to Swill has a con artist who meets his match with Chloe Jackson.

Liz: I haven’t written one but I would love to! I do love a good con artist. I need to think about that for a future book, for sure.

Barb: I love con artist stories. I just finished watching Inventing Anna and loved it. My novella “Scared Off” in Halloween Party Murder is a con artist story.

Jessie: I am so glad I’m not the only Wicked who loves this sort of story! As I mentioned in the opening, my Change of Fortune books feature a con artist. The book I just turned in to my editor, the second WPC Harkness mystery has some of that too. I think my 8th Beryl and Edwina may also. I am looking forward to it immensely!

Readers, do you love con artist stories?

Guest Nancy Herriman and a Giveaway!

Jessie: At the coast of Maine on a writing retreat with a dear friend

Nancy Herriman is one of those writers who are just fabulous at setting a scene and transporting readers to another place and time. I have had the pleasure of getting to know her better over the last few years on the Sleuths in Time group on Facebook as well as at some in-person events. It is my great pleasure to welcome her here today to talk about her work and to give you all the chance to peek at the gorgeous cover of her latest release! She is offering a signed copy of any one of her San Francisco books, including her most recent release, NO REFUGE FROM THE GRAVE to one lucky commenter. Take it away, Nancy!

In the mysteries that you read, do you find that certain locations are tailor-made for murder? Where I went to college, there was an old gabled house just off campus painted completely black. A strange and hair-raising place, especially at night, but what a great setting for a horror movie! I think lonely cabins located deep in impenetrable woods are ideal, too. Or busy large cities where everyone is a stranger. Even a bucolic village can hide dangerous secrets behind pretty flower gardens and cheery front porches, right?

So why did I pick 19th-century San Francisco as the setting for my mysteries? I don’t have a personal connection to the city, aside from having visited it many times. But it certainly is a large, bustling metropolis with an intriguing—and very colorful—past. It’s the city where Mark Twain made his name and Levi Strauss became famous. Just two of the thousands of people who’d streamed into California to ‘strike it rich’ during the Gold Rush. When they succeeded—or failed—they often ended up in the ‘Golden City’ rather than return to wherever they’d come from.

By the 1860s, when my books are set, the growing city boasted imposing buildings, fancy theaters, city parks, and a host of museums and fine restaurants. But alongside the fine buildings stood saloons and brothels, ramshackle hotels for men desperate to make a buck, and dark side streets housing gambling dens and worse. Each day, the boats docking at the wharves unloaded more new arrivals to rub alongside those already struggling to make a living in the city. A perfect time and place for murder, don’t you think?

I’ve made use of a variety of locations, some rather creepy. An insane asylum, for instance. The back alleyways of Chinatown and the notorious Barbary Coast. The interior of a Roman-Turkish bath house (men only!). A variety of saloons, some rougher and seedier than others. A facility where a person can receive the ‘water cure’ or, unfortunately, end up robbed or dead. The musty confines of a partly abandoned warehouse. Darkened houses that may or may not be occupied when my sleuth has decided to break in and snoop around. In my recent release, No Refuge from the Grave, I step inside a gymnasium where men learn the art of fencing and boxing, skills that might come in handy if they’re looking to commit a crime.

So readers, tell me—which settings have you most enjoyed in the mystery books that you’ve read? Are there any you’d like to see that you feel haven’t been used often enough?

Book 5 in the Mystery of Old San Francisco series once again pairs nurse Celia Davies and Detective Nicholas Greaves, who discover that sometimes the past refuses to stay buried.

When yet another fire destroys a struggling business in the heart of San Francisco, Detective Nick Greaves is fairly certain they’ve got an arsonist on their hands and that lucrative insurance claims are the motive. But before he can act on his suspicions, Celia Davies alerts him that she has discovered the dead body of a notorious loan shark, murdered and left on the doorstep of the very insurance agent Nick suspected of fraud. An agent whose wife has only recently hired Celia to retrieve a stolen locket, accusing an old rival of being the thief.

As she and Nick pursue their few murky leads, they discover a shadowy network that counts some of San Francisco’s most prominent businessmen as members. And when a policeman at the center of it all is found dead, Celia and Nick must sort through the ashes of a conspiracy to bring down a ruthless killer.

Bio:

Nancy Herriman has fronted a bar band, acted on stage, and worked in the tech industry as an engineer. Writing is her current and most long-lasting passion. Her work has won the Daphne du Maurier Award, and Publishers Weekly says her ‘A Mystery of Old San Francisco’ series “…brings 1867 San Francisco to vivid life.” After two decades in Arizona, she now lives in her home state of Ohio.

You can find more at www.nancyherriman.com

Novellas, Novellas, Novellas, Novellas

by Barb, first post of 2022 from Portland, Maine

Happy spring! I am back from Key West with some novella news.

As regular readers know, in addition to the Maine Clambake novels, I’ve been lucky enough to have four published novellas, with two more under contract, all part of the Maine Clambake series. The novellas are themed around holidays and are packaged in hardcover and then mass market paperback, along with novellas by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis.

I love writing these stories. For one thing, there’s the holiday theme. So far the holidays–two novellas related to Christmas, two related to Halloween, and (coming) one related to Saint Patrick’s Day and one to Easter–all take place in the off-season, when the Snowden Family Clambake isn’t open. The novellas give me a chance to check in on the Snowdens and find out what’s up with them when they’re not so busy with tourists. In the fall-winter-spring there’s more time for family and friends and definitely more time for sleuthing.

The novellas are 25,000 to 30,000 words long, between a third and a half the length of a typical Maine Clambake novel. They may be structured like a traditional whodunnit, or may use a different type of structure, more like a short story.

Kensington recently announced that two of the novellas, originally published in anthologies, will be released this year as standalone ebooks. Another collection will released in mass market paperback format this year, and still another is brand new for next year.

Here’s a brief review of the novellas, including news about the upcoming standalones, and the new release.

Nogged Off

Nogged Off is the first novella I wrote. In the Maine Clambake canon, it falls between Fogged Inn and Iced Under. Nogged Off has been available as a standalone ebook since 2019. In anthology form, Eggnog Murder is available in hardcover, mass market paperback, trade paperback, ebook, large print, and audiobook, so something for everyone. In Nogged Off, the subtenant in Julia’s New York apartment, Imogen Geinkes, takes the entire Snowden family on a wild Christmas ride. When I wrote it, I had no idea if I would ever be asked to write a Christmas story again, so I threw the kitchen sink at it–every Christmas tradition from my little Maine town and a few more.

Logged On

Logged On is the second Christmas novella. It appears in the anthology Yule Log Murder and will be published as a standalone ebook on September 27, 2022. No cover yet for the standalone, but the ebook is up for pre-order on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple, and Google Play. In other words, the usual suspects. This story falls between Stowed Away and Steamed Open, though I had a lively discussion with a reader on Goodreads, who insisted it was misnumbered and came between Steamed Open and Sealed Off. I admit that since I had to write this story out of sequence, I was completely flummoxed as to the chronology. I’m not convinced, though, that moving it as the reader suggested solves the entire problem. The assignment was to write a mystery around a Bûche de Noël. Not being a cake baker, I was immediately out of my depth. Then I studied Bûche de Noël recipes and completely freaked out. But, in a silver lining. that very complex process of baking, filling, rolling, icing, and decorating the cake became the structure for the story.

Hallowed Out

This is the cover reveal for the standalone ebook Hallowed Out, which will be released on July 26, 2022. This novella, originally published in the anthology Haunted House Murder, begins before the events in Sealed Off and largely takes place after them, (which I thought was a pretty neat trick). I was initially skeptical when I moved from Christmas to Halloween. I love the Christmas season and I hate, hate Halloween. (Though life has conspired, primarily by the production of children and grandchildren, to keep sucking me back in.) I ended up really enjoying the research this novella got me to do about Maine during Prohibition, when places like Busman’s Harbor were primary sites for smuggling hard liquor from Canada.

Scared Off

No news on a standalone version of “Scared Off,” (nor would I expect there to be), but the mass market paperback of the anthology it appears in, Halloween Party Murder, will be released on August 23, 2022. This novella falls in the timeline between Shucked Apart, and the next Maine Clambake Mystery to be released on June 28, 2022, Muddled Through. This novella about a preteen party run amok, a ghost, and a mysterious bookkeeper was really fun to write.

Perked Up

This is the cover reveal and announcement for the next novella collection from Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and me, Irish Coffee Murder, to be released in February, 2023. It’s not up for pre-order yet, but don’t worry. I’ll let you know when it is, probably here and in a thousand other places. Since my stories are always in the third position in these books, I figured poisoning someone with Irish coffee would already have been done. Instead, I came up with a group of friends and family, gathered around a fire on St. Patrick’s night, during a blackout, drinking Irish coffee and talking about an historical murder, with each storyteller offering a different theory of the case and and a different killer. What really happened? Of course, Julia has to find out. “Perked Up” takes place in March, after the events of Muddled Through and before Maine Clambake #11, as yet not officially titled.

So that’s the (rather long, apologies) novella update from me.

Readers: Do you enjoy these peeks at what characters are doing between books? Yay or nay? Let me know in the comments.

Welcome Debut Author Korina Moss! #giveaway

I’m so delighted to welcome Korina Moss to The Wickeds! There isn’t anything more fun than celebrating an author’s first book. I remember all those feelings when Tagged for Death came out and have loved Korina’s posts on social media this week. It’s a joy to see someone go from unpublished to published author. It’s a lot of work and Korina stuck to it! And I adore her clever titles! Look for a giveaway at the end of the post!

Korina: Thank you, Sherry, for inviting me to the Wicked blog today! Since Cheddar Off Dead’s debut on March 29th, I’ve been in a lovely, chaotic whirlwind of speaking with cozy mystery readers about my Cheese Shop Mystery series. I continue the series with Gone For Gouda and am currently writing Book #3.

Creating a new series is kind of like being invited to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. When I started the first book, Cheddar Off Dead, I was like one of those golden ticket winners—able to enter a world of pure imagination. I was as exhilarated as any of those children walking into the Wonka Chocolate Factory, overwhelmed and amazed by the bounty before them. Just look at all the options I’d have for creating characters, mapping out my fictional town, designing my cheese shop… everything down to choosing the town gossip. But just as the children shouldn’t have given in to their impulses, I would also face consequences if I didn’t use forethought. Once I handed in the completed manuscript to my publisher, it would go through copyediting, layout, binding, etc. Everything it takes to turn a manuscript into an actual book would be happening while I was working on Gone For Gouda. This meant that nothing from Cheddar Off Dead could be changed anymore.

All the characters (well, the ones who didn’t get bumped off or do the bumping off) would still be living in my fictional town of Yarrow Glen. Since there must be fresh characters and new suspects for each book, much like Violet after she stole Mr. Wonka’s 3-course dinner gum, it could get quite overinflated. [INSERT PHOTO VIOLET]

While making sure Cheddar Off Dead was a fulfilling book on its own, I also needed to create the beginning of a wider, more subtle arc to the whole series. As much as I wanted to lap at that Chocolate River and allow every dazzling willy-nilly idea I had to spill over into that first book, I had to refrain or else face the consequences. Augustus Gloop’s consequence was falling into the chocolate river and getting sucked out through a tube to the fudge room. Mine could be just as messy—the books could lack focus and I’d have less creative freedom in telling the stories that my characters would eventually demand.  [INSERT PHOTO CHOCOLATE RIVER]

To keep myself in check while still making Cheddar Off Dead satisfying and delicious, I concentrated on my cheesemonger protagonist, Willa, and her two shop employees—retired high school drama teacher Mrs. Schultz and nineteen-year-old Archie. Willa lives in the snug apartment over her shop; therefore, next-door neighbor Baz was introduced. A limited suspect list—the five small business owners who attended her cheesemaking class after hours—allowed me to fully portray those characters and their shops and businesses in downtown Yarrow Glen. Of course, the handsome detective gets plenty of screen time while still maintaining a bit of mystery about him.

As a writer, I like to hang out with my characters for a while, live with them, find out their backstory, and know how they interact with each other before deciding what comes next for them. Although I had to give a general plot description to my publisher for the following books in the series, I had a lot of leeway for the growth of my characters, their relationships, and the town itself.  

Keeping the bigger series picture in mind allowed my subsequent books to grow organically from the story told in Cheddar Off Dead. Like Charlie, with a little bit of patience, all my ideas were able to take flight.

Readers: What draws you into reading a series? I’ll send one U.S. commenter a copy of Cheddar Off Dead.

About the Book

Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is proving that sweet dreams are made of cheese. She’s opened her very own French-inspired cheese shop, Curds & Whey, in the heart of the Sonoma Valley. The small town of Yarrow Glen is Willa’s fresh start, and she’s determined to make it a success – starting with a visit from the local food critic. What Willa didn’t know is that this guy never gives a good review, and when he shows up nothing goes according to plan. She doesn’t think the night can get any worse… until she finds the critic’s dead body, stabbed with one of her shop’s cheese knives. Now a prime suspect, Willa has always believed life’s problems can be solved with cheese, but she’s never tried to apply it to murder…

About Korina Moss

SONY DSC

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series set in Sonoma Valley. Korina’s short stories are included in the anthologies Crime Travel and Death By Cupcake. She also blogs on Writers Who Kill. You can find Korina and links to buy her books at https://www.korinamossauthor.com/

@wickedcozys #cozymystery #cheese #mysterybooks

Credits for both Willy Wonka images: Fandango movie clips.

Launch Week Fun!

A big thank you to everyone who helped me launch Three Shots to the Wind! I am so blessed to have so many people in my life who support my writing career.

The week started with A Day in my Life post on Dru’s Book Musings. It was fun to write something from Vivi Slidell’s point of view.

On the day Three Shots to the Wind released I had two exciting events. The first was a radio interview for Joy on Paper. Author Rita Moreau interviewed me and the time flew by! You can listen to the interview here. Scroll down on the website just a bit for a link to the interview!

That night I did my first in-person bookstore event in over two years at the amazing One More Page in Arlington, Virginia with author Libby Klein. The seventh book in her Poppy McAllister mysteries, Antique Auctions Are Murder, came out at the end of February. I was flustered and panicked just before leaving for the event. This is live. I need bookmarks. I need shoes! But I pulled it all together and we had so much fun chatting! You can watch the interview here. It’s a bit jumpy in the beginning but settles down.

Then I was on fabulous author Tara Laskowski‘s blog What Scares You? She asks such great questions. You can find out what scares me here.

Yesterday I visited Jungle Red Writers. I talk about two of the things that inspired Three Shots to the Wind. Here’s a link to the blog.

A special thanks to my readers, reviewers, bloggers, and people who shared my social media posts. It meant so much to me! Wickeds, I love you and can’t wait to see some of you at Malice. A big thanks to my family who go out of their way to make me feel special.

Readers: Do you have a favorite kind of launch event?

Wicked Wednesday-Prose and Cons

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the birds sing that it is spring

During the month of April, our theme is Prose and Cons. Great prose, at least to me, is one of the hallmarks of novels I want to reread even though I know how the story ends. Which book or books, would you reread just for the beauty of the language?

Julie: Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides. Persuasion by Jane Austen. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. These are four that came to mind. I love beautiful words, and prose that makes me jealous because of its beauty.

Edith/Maddie: These aren’t classics like Julie’s, but whenever I read a book by either Catriona McPherson or Julia Spencer-Fleming, I say to myself, “I wish I could write like her.”

Liz: I’m going to also point to current authors. I think Tana French has such a compelling way with language and aspire to write like her. Also R.J. Ellory has a style that I find gorgeous – A Quiet Belief in Angels is the best example of this.

Sherry: I have to agree with Julie that I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a book that sticks with you. More recent reads that made me think “I wish I’d written that line” include Like A Sister by Kellye Garrett, Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day, and Necessary Blood by Deborah Crombie.

Barb: I agree that great prose is a key to a great novel or short story. It’s an understanding of the rhythms and complexities of language, the use of le mot juste, the seductive voice that whispers, “Follow me. I am going to tell you a great tale. Not one second of your attention will be wasted.” Prose is great because of what it does-deepens character, illuminates setting, tells story. For the perfect words in the perfect order on the perfect page, I am going to go with a short story writer, Alice Munro. I don’t need to reread her stories. They’re still with me.

Jessie: I love all of your answers and am so glad I asked the question! I have reread The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and several novels by Fannie Flagg for the prose. Beautiful prose us one if life’s great pleasures!

Readers: Which book or books, would you reread just for the beauty of the language?

Opening Lines

Jessie, in NH watching the birds flit by heavily laden with nest building material!

We love a good opening line both in novels and here on the blog. And, we love it when readers add their own!

Sherry: Samantha had come to realize that killing was the easy part. It was getting away with it that took planning.

Jessie: Now was his chance, while her back was turned and her attention lay on something below and not on the danger closing in from behind.

Edith/Maddie: I watched him uncover the body, one leaf at a time. He glanced up, looking grim. When he saw my pistol, I watched him dive for the leaves. I didn’t stay to watch him die.

Liz: I come here every day because it’s true what they say about returning to the scene of the crime. If only the unsuspecting neighbors knew what was beneath this bridge, in this serene spot they walked over every day.

Barb: I would have thrown myself off the bridge, but I figured I’d only break a leg. Instead, I stood in contemplation of my many sins, most of them recent.

Readers: Add your opening line!

Guest Clara McKenna- and a Giveaway!

Jessie, in New Hampshire where the crocuses bloom throughout the lawn!

I first met Clara McKenna several years ago at Malice Domestic. In the intervening years, it has been a pleasure to get to know her better at other events and most notably through our joint participation in the Sleuths in Time group. I am just delighted to welcome her to the Wickeds today to reveal her latest gorgeous cover for her Stella and Lyndy series! She has offered a winner’s choice” of any book in the series to a randomly chosen commenter.

Thanks for having me on the Wickeds, Jessie! I think this is perhaps my favorite cover in the series so far. Don’t they just look like a couple on their honeymoon? What could possibly go wrong?

Clara McKenna returns with the latest book in a historical cozy mystery series sure to appeal to fans of Alyssa Maxwell and Anna Lee Huber.

Against all expectations in Edwardian England, newly married American heiress Stella Kendrick and British aristocrat Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst are bucking traditions—and investigating murder—on their honeymoon . . .
 
Leaving behind tragedies surrounding their wedding at Morrington Hall, travel-worn Stella and Lyndy arrive at the grand Majestic Hotel in York to more misfortune—their stately honeymoon suite has been given away to Horace Wingrove, owner of England’s largest confectionery. Stella refuses to let an innocent booking mistake spoil the mood, but her optimism vanishes when Horace suffocates in the room where she and Lyndy should have stayed . . .
 
Unlike authorities on the scene, Stella can’t believe the business magnate’s death can be explained away as an accident. Troubling signs are everywhere—strange murmurs in the hallway, tight-lipped hotel staff, and a stolen secret recipe for Wingrave’s famous chocolate. Then there are Horace’s murky intentions for visiting the historic cathedral city, and those who were closely watching his every move . . .
 
As Stella and Lyndy tour Yorkshire and mingle with royals as husband and wife, they face a sinister mystery that puts their vows to the test. Can the couple work together to discover the truth about their romantic destination and the strange happenings haunting their trip before they’re treated to another terrifying surprise?

Readers, have you ever had a mix-up with your travel plans? A hotel reservation that was bungled? A missed or canceled flight? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of one of Clara’s novels!

www.claramckenna.com

claramckennaauthor@gmail.com

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Clara McKenna writes the historical Stella & Lyndy Mystery series, about an unlikely couple who mix love, murder and horse racing in Edwardian England. Murder at Keyhaven Castle, the third book in the series was a Historical Novel Society’s Editor’s Choice and voted one of a Suspense Magazine’s Best of 2021. Murder at the Majestic Hotel, fourth book in the series releases in October 2022. 

Clara is the founding member of Sleuths in Time, a cooperative group of historical mystery writers who encourage and promote each other’s work, as well as a member of Sisters in Crime. With an incurable case of wanderlust, she travels every chance she gets, England being a favorite destination. When she can’t get to the UK, she’s happy to write about it from her Victorian farmhouse in Iowa.

A Wicked Welcome to Molly MacRae **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, springing in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Molly MacRae to the blog today. The first time I met Molly was when she was doing a Malice-Go-Round, pitching her book Last Wool and Testament: A Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery. She made me laugh, which not only sold me her book, but added a person I’m always happy to see at conferences online and at conferences. I also love hearing about her new books, and am delighted she’s back on the blog today so that we can celebrate Argyles and Arsenic.

Where Do Your Ideas Go?

Writers are often asked where their ideas come from. The answers vary, but ideas tend to come from newspapers, conversations, eavesdropping, and out of thin air. Some of my favorite ideas are the ones friends bring me. These ideas are like the shiny trinkets a crow might bring, or like the mouse a cat leaves on your pillow (fun, and possibly endearing, but not always useful).

I’m enjoying an unusual break, between the end of one manuscript and the start of another, so I cleaned my writing space this weekend. My desk feels ten pounds lighter. As I sorted through clutter, it occurred to me that another question for writers might be where do our ideas go?

Boxes of stashed ideas

The best place for them, when they’re shiny and new, is straight into our stories. For instance, a friend at the library told me about The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning; How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, by Margareta Magnusson. She knew I’d get a kick out of the book. I did, and I combined its premise with a tidbit from another friend about downsizing. From those two ideas came the setup for my latest book, Argyles and Arsenic.

But what about the ideas that don’t immediately find their place in a story? Tell me, do you know a single quilter or knitter who doesn’t have a stash of fabric or yarn? A painter who doesn’t have canvasses in every corner and boatloads of brushes and paints? I bet most writers have their stash of ideas, too. Depending on how long they’ve been writing and how they’ve recorded their ideas, they might have quite a few stashes.

Notebooks and blank books stash.

I have notebooks and blank books (no longer blank) full of them. Shoeboxes. Old stationary boxes. There’s usually a note in my pants pocket. My bathrobe pocket, too. And that’s just the tip of the idea-berg. My computer files bristle with ideas. Ideas for stories, characters, titles, ways to kill someone and ways to discover who killed someone.

The great thing about having a big stash of ideas is that the ones toward the bottom of your archaeological midden heap are new all over again when you excavate.

And that’s why you have a stash. You write your ideas down because your brain—my brain—won’t retain all of them. Some leak out your ears and others just wither away because you had to remember to buy bread. It’s heartbreaking. What scintillating, fabulous ideas are gone?

Ideas are still gone, though, if you don’t take an occasional expedition into your stash.* That’s how I came across four gems when I was cleaning. For some reason, between January and August in 2008, there was a spate of international rat articles in the local paper, and for some other reason I cut each one out. I haven’t used them. Yet.

Now, here’s my present to you—if four articles about rats spark an idea and you can’t live without these articles in your stash, let me know and I’ll send you scans.

*Sad to say, some ideas are gone even if you did stash them. You scribbled them in the middle of the night or they’re too cryptic to make sense five years (or two weeks) later. That’s okay. Don’t fret. You’ll have more.

Writers, what’s your favorite way to stash ideas? Readers, what do you stash? I’ll send one US commenter a signed copy of Argyles and Arsenic.

About the Book

About Argyles and Arsenic – book 5 in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries:

After 93 well-lived years, Violet MacAskill is ready to simplify her life. Her eccentric solution? She’ll throw a decanting and decluttering party at her family home—a Scottish Baronial manor near the seaside town of Inversgail, Scotland. Violet sets aside everything she wants or needs, then invites her many friends in to sip sherry and help themselves to whatever they want from all that’s left.

But a murder during Violet’s party leads to a poisonous game of cat and mouse—with the women of Yon Bonnie Books playing to win.

Argyles and Arsenic is available at your locally owned, independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or ask for it at your public library.

About Molly MacRaeMolly MacRae

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the Highland Bookshop and Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she won the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Find Molly at mollymacrae.com.

Guest Nancy Coco plus #giveaway

Edith/Maddie north of Boston, winding down a long month and looking forward to a warmer April.

Following our celebration this week of Sherry’s new Sea Glass Saloon mystery, I welcome the prolific and talented Nancy Coco. She’s also talking about the coast – any coast – and she has a new Oregon Honeycomb Mystery out this week!

W hen a bee wrangler is bludgeoned, Let It Bee honey shop owner Wren Johnson makes it her beeswax to solve the crime . For the picturesque town of Oceanview on the Oregon Coast, May brings blossoming fruit trees and the annual UFO festival. As Aunt Eloise tries out alien costumes on their Havana brown cat Everett, Wren is off to meet with a bee wrangler, her go-to guy for local fruit tree honey.

But when she arrives, Elias Brentwood is lying on the ground amidst destroyed hives and a swarm of angry bees. The bees didn’t kill him, a blow to the head did. As blue-eyed Officer Jim Hampton investigates and the town is invaded by its own swarm of conspiracy theorists and crackpots, Wren and Aunt Eloise decide the only way to catch the bee wrangler’s killer is to set up a sting .

There’s Something Wonderful About a Coastal Setting and Candy!

There seems to be a theme for me when choosing a setting for a cozy mystery series. That theme is coastal. I grew up along the shores of Lake Michigan, which we call a “Great Lake” but is really a freshwater sea and it’s not even the largest of the Great Lakes.

But I digress. For some reason – maybe my childhood home – I have set half of my six cozy mystery series near a beach.

My Perfect Proposals mystery series (written as Nancy J Parra) was set in Chicago along Lake Michigan.  And both of my Nancy Coco mystery series – The Candy-coated Mysteries and The Oregon Coast Mysteries – are set near water, with the former on Mackinac Island in the straits of Mackinac, and the later along the coast of Oregon.

Why is water such a great setting for a cozy mystery? Beyond my own love of water, there is something about the beach that makes a mystery even more mysterious. Perhaps it harkens back to the old Gothic stories one the Moors with fog and water. Then there is something isolating about an island. It’s like an old manor mystery, everyone knows who is on the island and gets on or off the ferries.

It could be the wildness of waves and wind that help drive a great setting. Or the warmth or lack thereof in the water. Death on The Nile by Agatha Christie was set on water. It’s a perfect and somewhat awful way to bring loneliness, isolation, and fear into a book – even if it is only implied. I mean, my cozies are far from dark. They are fun and warm and contain great communities. Still there is something about a coastal setting that draws fun characters, adventurers and craftsman. Small business owners who serve tourists and locals alike and take daily walks along the beach.

Maybe beaches seem exotic for those of us who live on the plains, or near mountains. Maybe it’s what draws vacationers that also draws a great setting for mystery and mayhem.  Or maybe in the end I just like the energy of water and need to get myself a house on a beach. Happily, there are plenty of great cozy series set near water.

Readers: Do you have a favorite setting? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of A Matter of Hive and Death.

Just for fun, here’s a wonderful recipe you can make at home that harkens back to the beach and my protagonist, Wren Johnson’s honey store:

Honey Saltwater Taffy

Ingredients:

Pad of butter to grease pan

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 ¼ cup of honey

1 cup of water

1 ¼ teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons butter

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan mix the sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in honey and water and bring the mixture to boil over a medium heat. Continue cooking until a candy thermometer reaches 225 degrees F. Be patient as this can take 15 minutes or more. Then remove the pan from heat and stir in salt and butter. Pour the mixture onto a buttered large, rimmed cookie sheet. Let this cool just enough that you can touch it without burning yourself.

Then grease your hands with butter and remove the candy from the pan and start pulling it. To pull taffy you must stretch it, fold it, stretch it, and fold it until it cools off enough that you struggle to stretch it. Then roll into ½ inch wide rolls and cut with greased kitchen scissors into 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces.

Wrap each piece in wax paper, twisting the ends and store in a cool, dry place. Enjoy!

The second in the Nancy Coco Oregon Coast mysteries, A Matter of Hive and Death, released widely on March 29. The next Nancy Coco Candy-coated mysteries, A Midsummer Night’s Fudge, is out May 24, 2022. For more information, go to www.nancyjcoco.com.

USA Today Bestselling Author, Nancy J Parra AKA Nancy Coco AKA Nell Hampton is the author of over 30 published novels which include five mystery series: The Oregon Honey-comb Mystery Series (Kensington), The Candy-Coated Mysteries (Kensington), The Kensington Palace Mystery Series (Crooked Lane), The Wine Country Tours Mystery Series (Crooked Lane) The Gluten-free Baker’s Treat Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), and The Perfect Proposal Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime).  Her writing has been called witty and her protagonists plucky by reviewers around the world.  Nancy is a member of Sisters in Crime and loves to hear from readers.