Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 78

Love Kills — Greed

Julie mentioned greed to me recently, reminding me that greed is love of an object, business, or idea. I looked up the definition and it said greed is the: intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. Have you ever written about greed or used it as a motive? Is there a TV show or movie or book that focused on greed that you loved?

Julie: I think that greed is an underused motive in my books. Sometimes it’s tough to explain why someone loves an object enough to cause harm, but then I think of people who pay millions of dollars for a work of art, or a historical artifact, and I wonder how they’re react if that thing was in jeopardy. Greed often hides itself behind other motives, like pride, or lust, but pure greed? It certainly is a character flaw worth exploring and exploiting in our books.

Jessie: This is a tough one! Depending on your background, greed can be one of the worst character flaws to be accused of having. I used it in my very first novel, Live Free or Die, and again in a more minor way, in Whispers Beyond the Veil. Now you’ve got me to thinking, Sherry, about how I could incorporate it in my next novel!

Edith/Maddie: Sherry, you are asking hard questions this month! I vaguely think of The Great Gatsby or The Talented Mr. Ripley when I hear the word “greed,” but my reading of the books and/or viewing of the movies is so long ago I might have the motivation wrong. I’ve used greed for fame, credit, or status in my books, for sure. As Julie says, it can hide behind other motives.

Sherry: When I wrote Tagged for Death my editor asked me to include a statue similar to the jewel-encrusted falcon statue like the one in The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Something that brought bad luck to all who owned it. At first I was stumped by the request, but I loved the challenge of working a statue into the plot. When someone wants something another person has it often doesn’t end well. I also loved that they put the statue on the cover of the book.

Barb: I’ve used greed a lot in my books. Greed for property in Steamed Open. Greed for love in Boiled Over. In some ways, most of my guilty parties (guilty of something, if not necessarily the murder) are motivated at least in part by greed. To me, greed is when “want” spills over to be “need”–and then “need” is used to justify getting the result using any means–including murder.

Readers: Is there a book, movie or TV show you like that involves Greed? Writers: Have you used greed as a motive? Try to avoid spoilers!

Wickeds Upcoming Books

We are so excited about the books we have coming out this year!

Barbara Ross: Muddled Through releases June 28.

Halloween Party Murder, mass max paperback releases August 23.

Logged On, the standalone novella originally published in Yule Log Murder, releases September 27.

Cate Conte: Gone But Not Furgotten releases on June 28th.

Witch Way Out releases December 2022 — cover reveal to follow!

Jessica Ellicott: Death in a Blackout releases on Feb 24 in the IK and May 3 in the US

Murder Through the English Post releases on July 26 — cover reveal to follow.

Julia Henry: The Plot Thickets releases October 25.

Maddie Day: Batter Off Dead releases February 22.

Murder in a Cape Cottage releases September 27.

“Scarfed Down” in Christmas Scarf Murder (with Carlene O’Connor and Peggy Ehrhart) releases September 27.

Sherry Harris: Three Shots to the Wind releases March 29.

Readers: What are you reading right now?

Library Love

Jessie, in NH where, as usual, Valentine’s Day is cold and the ground is covered in a blanket of snow

Since my post this month fell on Valentine’s Day, the topic of love naturally came to mind. It took me a bit of time to decide which variety of love would be of the greatest interest to discuss with all of you. And then, as I looked out the window of my office and my gaze alighted on the beloved public library next door to my home, I knew I had the answer.

Since you are a reader of this blog I can only assume you have fond memories and an enthusiastic relationship with libraries. After all, which reader does not? I often think that the notion of a library represents some of the best aspects of humanity. In a world where things have gone a bit haywire of late, considering the way libraries have risen to recent challenges gives me a much-needed boost of hope.

According to the ALA, the first library in the States was created in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and was a subscription service with fees paid by members. I think of it as a sort of early kind of Netflix. Also according to the ALA, the very first public library in the US to be supported by taxpayers was started in Peterborough, NH. I feel rather choked up to think such a thing occurred in my very own state!

Like love, libraries come in a wide variety. There are the grand, big city library systems with large budgets and vast collections like the NY Public Library. There are tiny libraries like the one my grandmother patronized in her later years. Prisons have libraries, as do many churches. Mobile libraries have included those pulled by horses, in railway cars, or aboard ships. In Colombia, there is a program that uses donkeys to bring books to remote areas.

And what about Little Free Libraries? There is one in my own village and another at a lakeside playground a few miles away. In the UK, some iconic red telephone boxes have been converted to Little Free libraries. Home libraries are so loveable too. Which avid reader doesn’t cherish the notion of carving out a corner of their home, no matter how small, as a dedicated space for books?

Libraries have moved with the times and now, more than ever, they seem to me to make trusted sources of quality information and entertainment available to so many. While the pandemic temporarily closed many, if not most, libraries to in-person patronage, the digitized response to the situation has broadened the reach of collections to a remarkable degree. The Digital Public Library of America, the Bodleian, the Library of Congress, and the British Public Library all have a dazzling array of resources available online.

I have so many fond memories of the libraries I have visited over the years. One of my early childhood memories involved riding an elevator in a library in the Detroit area. I can still remember the swoosh and the hush and the smell of so much paper all in one place. I think from time to time of the library where I borrowed my first Nancy Drew. I remember the one at my high school where I spent every lunch hour. One of my most powerful memories is of being in the Bodleian Old Library with one of my sons and realizing that tears were rolling down my face from the beauty of it. And for the last 27 years, there is the ongoing love affair I have had with the library next door to my own home. Through the years I have loved patronizing it in person, attending storytime with my kids, joining the knitting group it hosts on Friday afternoons, and even holding my first and second book launches there. I could not have asked for a better neighbor.

This year, I think I’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day by heading next door to check out something new!

Readers, tell me about one of your library loves or a fond library memory!

Welcome Back Mia P. Manansala!

I so happy to welcome back Mia! It’s been such a joy to watch her go from unpublished to published author. And I’ve been lucky enough to work with her on Sisters in Crime’s two big awards — the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color and the Pride Award for Emerging LBGTQIA+ Crime Writers. Mia is here celebrating the release of Homicide and Halo-Halo.

The Dreaded Second Book Syndrome (plus giveaway)

By Mia P. Manansala

Hello, everyone! Mia P. Manansala here, on the release week of my second book, Homicide and Halo-Halo, to talk about something many writers dread: Second Book Syndrome.

I knew what it was before I got my book deal. I’d been lucky enough to build a writing community long before I sold my first book, and had the guidance of friends who were further down the path than me to warn me about the various ups and downs of publishing. And part of that guidance was hearing about Second Book Syndrome and how they were dealing with it.

For those of you not familiar with the term, Second Book Syndrome is when writers learn that writing their second book is often much, MUCH harder than their first. It can also refer to an author’s second book not being as good as their first, but that can usually be explained by the first definition.

To be clear, when I say second book, I mean second book under contract. Many authors write multiple books before finding an agent to represent them and/or managing to sell a book to a publisher. Arsenic and Adobo was my debut, but it was the second book I ever wrote and the easiest book I’ve written so far. Go figure.

Anyway, why is that second book so much more difficult? After all, you’ve already proven that you could complete a book. You’ve even proven you could sell the book. Shouldn’t it just get easier every time? To that I say, Oh you sweet summer child…

All joking aside, the reason second books tend to be more difficult is due to two things: Time and Pressure.

Before you sell your first book, you have all the time in the world to make it right. It took about two and a half years to finish my first book (which got me my first agent but never sold) and close to two years to finish and polish the book that would become Arsenic and Adobo. Do you want to know how much time I had to write Homicide and Halo-Halo? About nine months. Which doesn’t sound too terrible, until you take into account that I’m a slow writer. I was also editing and promoting my debut, not to mention working a day job (for part of it, more on that later) while drafting this second one.

This brings me to the pressure aspect. Before my deal, I focused on writing books that I wanted to read. I got into mystery writing because I loved the genre but couldn’t find books that featured people like me or rang true to my life. So when I started writing, the only person I had to please was myself, and hope that was enough to get the attention of an agent and editor. Amazingly, it was! But now that I was a soon-to-be published author, the expectations for my books changed completely.

I saw how excited other Filipinos were to see themselves in a mainstream book. I remembered all the kindness and help I’d received from other mystery writers. And I thought about my pub team, who believed in me and were doing their best to push my book and make it a success, and I just…couldn’t bear the thought of letting any of these people down.

I believed in Arsenic and Adobo. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good, solid book that I was (and still am) immensely proud of. But what if I couldn’t do it again? What if I gained readers only to lose them immediately with a shoddy second book? What if I’d finally achieved my dream of being a published author only to lose it all because it turned out I didn’t have any other books in me?

Take these feelings of anxiety and throw in a global pandemic, plus a bit of job insecurity for good measure (the entire branch of my former company got laid off the same day I signed my contract, yikes, but I eventually got a part-time job), and it’s a wonder I got any writing done at all!

BUT I DID IT. It was unbelievably difficult and there were many times where I thought it was never going to happen, but now my second book is out in the world and I love it. Hope you all do too!

To celebrate, I’m giving a signed paperback copy of HOMICIDE AND HALO-HALO (U.S. only)! To enter, please comment and let me know of a series whose later books are just as good, if not better, than their first. I’ll start: Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series. I don’t understand how every single book is so darn good (I think it’s up to six now?) but it’s my current favorite.

Here’s a bit about Homicide and Halo-Halo:

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.

Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can’t bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt’s Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.

To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila’s little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.

Bio: Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer and certified book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture. Her debut novel, ARSENIC AND ADOBO, is nominated for the Agatha, Barry, and Lefty Awards, and the sequel, HOMICIDE AND HALO-HALO, just came out.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @MPMtheWriter Or check out her website: www.miapmanansala.com

Cover Reveal **and giveaway**

by Julie, enjoying the 40 degree heatwave in Somerville

Drum roll, please! I am delighted to share the cover for Garden Squad #5, The Plot Thickets, with all of you!

Another fabulous cover in this series! Here’s the blurb about the book:

The ever-quintessential New England town of Goosebush, Massachusetts truly shines in springtime, but when an underhanded undertaker digs herself an early grave, it’s up to sixty-something gardening sleuth Lilly Jayne—and her fellow Garden Squad members of course— to unearth the cryptic killer…

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…

Chronologically, in Goosebush time, this book takes place a year after Pruning the Dead. and several months after Wreathing Havoc. It will be released on October 25, 2022, and I can’t wait for you all to read it!

You can pre-order it from your favorite bookstore, Bookshop.org, Amazon or Barnes&Noble!

Readers, I want you to be able to comment, but I don’t want to make this too taxing, so how about this–how much do you love this cover? To celebrate, I’m giving away 3 copies of Wreathing Havoc to a commenter!

Love Kills — Love Songs

I didn’t realize that Freddie Mercury had a solo song called Love Kills. Do you have a favorite song about love?

Edith/Maddie: Showing my age here, but I had fun going on a little nostalgia trip re-listening to a slew of Beatles songs about love. Check out this funny video with real footage of them singing “Words of Love” or this lovely version of “If I Fell” or “It’s Only Love.” You might not want to pay too close attention to some of the lyrics, though, especially on “Run for Your Life” – yikes, that fits the theme of Love Kills, all right.

Sherry: I love songs about love. It doesn’t matter if they are romantic, sibling, friends, or family — they make me happy. The one that makes me think most of my husband is Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts. I love this part of the chorus: That every long lost dream led me to where you are Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars pointing me on my way into your loving arms. Here’s a link to the entire song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vZlrBYLSU

Liz: I LOVE love songs too! And Sherry, that is so sweet. I really love James Arthur’s Say You Won’t Let Go. I think the lyrics are the sweetest. I also love Shallow from A Star is Born, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Although I’d love anything they sang together, I think!

Julie: Did you ever listen to Carly Simon’s album Torch? I wore out one of my LPs of that. Such an amazing emotional journey, plus her voice.

I’m a sucker for love songs as well. But mostly heartbreak love songs. They are so cathartic. This Sondheim, Losing My Mind, is one of my favorites:

Guest Liz Milliron on Character

Edith writing from north of Boston, not sure if winter is coming or going.

Either way, I’m always happy to welcome Liz Milliron back to the blog, especially when she has a new Betty Ahearn Homefront historical mystery out! I love this series, and I know you will, too.

March 1943. As the Buffalo winter ends, the father of Betty Ahern’s friend, Lee Tillotson, disappears. At first his absence is a relief, providing Lee, his mother and sisters refuge from the man’s frequent drunken rages. But when Mr. Tillotson is discovered drowned in the Buffalo River and the police charge Lee with the murder, the family’s newfound peace shatters.

Worse, Lee becomes secretive and unwilling to cooperate with Betty or the police. Betty is certain of Lee’s innocence, but there she has very little time to investigate before he must enter his plea in court. To prove Lee’s innocence, Betty digs into Mr. Tillotson’s life, discovering a seamy and dangerous underside to Mr. Tillotson, and to Buffalo itself. With time running out, Betty soon learns who her friends really are, how much Lee loves his family and friends and is loved in return, and just how far the corruption leaking from Buffalo’s City Hall has reached. But can she prove Lee’s innocence before it’s too late?

As Maddie Day, I’m also delighted to be sharing a virtual launch event with Liz next week at Mystery Lovers Bookshop.

Register here. Now, take it away, Liz!

Thanks for having me back, Edith. It’s always great to visit the Wickeds.

As a reader, one of the things that brings me back to a beloved series is character. Once you spend three hundred pages, give or take, with a group of people (even if they are fictional), you can’t help having some opinions about them. It doesn’t matter if they are characters you love – or just love to hate.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying I want my characters to have some growth, too. Even the not-so-nice ones (well, usually). This is especially true of protagonists. I want to see her learn from her mistakes, take new roads, and do new things. Real people do this, at least ideally. Why not fictional ones?

At the same time, a character has to stay true to who she is. If one of her deeply held beliefs is in fairness, she can’t take a left turn and suddenly start thinking or doing things that violate that belief. It’s a change all right, but not a particularly good one.

I feel I know Betty Ahern pretty well. She’s still capable of surprising me, but they are generally good surprises. She and I have very firmly held beliefs. And we aren’t shy about expressing them, either.

You will not be surprised, therefore, when this comment came back from A Trusted Reader I was a bit taken aback: “Betty is being too disrespectful. I don’t like her here.”

(Okay, a “bit taken aback” is an understatement. I was actually quite upset.)

To me, Betty wasn’t being disrespectful at all. She was asserting herself. Standing her ground and not shying away from what was a potentially uncomfortable situation. How can you not like that? Too much has been written about the necessity of “likable” female characters, and I’m not going there in this post, but would the same comment have been made of Lee?

I fussed. I grumbled. I gnashed my teeth. How dare this person say that? Doesn’t she get it? Why does every woman have to be likable every moment? I wanted Betty to have her moment of brashness. After all, she’s not quite nineteen. How many young people are perfectly polished at that age?

I sure wasn’t.

But then I calmed down. Trusted Reader had my best interests at heart, after all. I’d be foolish to disregard the feedback just because I didn’t like it. After all, I’d rather hear it now than, heaven forbid, after publication in a reader review when it was too late to do anything.

I reworked the passage. Betty kept her boldness, but she chose a few different words. Used a different tone of voice, different body language. I adjusted the subtext.

If all of this sounds like hard work, it was. But the truth is, there are always at least two visions of a character: mine and the reader’s. It doesn’t do any good for me to insist that my vision is the only right one because readers own the story as much as I do. I may have written it, but it only really lives once someone picks up the book.

It’s a balancing act, really. How do I stay true to the character (because she is my creation and no one knows her better) and honor my contract with the reader? After all, after three books, readers feel they know Betty pretty well, too. They have expectations. Betty needs to make mistakes and grow – but not in such a way that her fans are disappointed.

Hopefully, Betty and I can meet them – and not lose what makes her a special person in her own right.

Readers, has a much-loved character ever let you down? Writers, how do you keep your characters “true to form” and still give them room for mistakes and change?

Liz Milliron is the author of The Laurel Highlands Mysteries series, set in the scenic Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and The Homefront Mysteries, set in Buffalo, NY during the early years of World War II. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Pennwriters, and International Thriller Writers. A recent empty-nester, Liz lives outside Pittsburgh with her husband and a retired-racer greyhound.

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Other Formats, Other Covers

by Barb in Key West, where I can’t complain (because everyone would jump on me if I did.)

One thing I haven’t been good about publicizing is the covers, some of them so well done, that are created for my books when they come out in other formats, like audio books or large print. When these alternative formats are released simultaneous with the print and ebook editions, I tend to use the print covers for publicity. When the other formats come out subsequent to a book’s initial publication, I don’t usually mark the release in any particular way.

So I’m going to make up for that now in one swell foop.

Sometimes the covers of all the formats are the same. For example for the novella collection Eggnog Murder.

Eggnog Murder Hardcover Eggnog Murder Trade Paperback Eggnog Murder Audio Book

Sometimes the covers are different.

Halloween Party Murder Hardcover Halloween Party Murder Mass Max Paperback, coming August 23, 2022 Halloween Party Murder Large Print

For Halloween Part Murder, the publisher, Kensingon, has changed the color of the lettering from the hardcover for the mass max paperback. They did this once before (with Yule Log Murder). I suspect it may be because the original color didn’t show up sufficiently in the smaller format, but I don’t really know. I kind of like the large print cover from Thorndike Press.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody Mass Market Paperback Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody Audio Book Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody Large Print, coming March 9, 2022

I really like the audio book and large print covers for Jane Darrowfield, Professonal Busybody. Of course, it’s weird to talk about covers for ebook and audio book downloads because they’re not physical objects and therefore can’t be “covered.” I suppose “cover” is better than “image by which we identify a specific collection of ones and zeros.”

Madwoman Next Door Mass Max Paperback Madwoman Next Door Audio Book Madwoman Next Door Large Print coming April 6, 2022

On the other hand, yikes! What is going on here? They’re all terrible and way too busy considering the amount of text required by the title, Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door. (Which is entirely my fault. My editor tried to warn me.) Sorry about the small size of the large print cover. That’s all that’s currently available

Steamed Open Large Print Stowed Away Large Print Shucked Apart Large Print, coming March 6, 2022

Large print covers are generally big and blocky with bright colors for the same reason the text is large–so people with low vision can see them. However, the publisher has gone a whole new way with the cover for Shucked Apart. I have no idea if it’s across the board change or particular to the Maine Clambake Mysteries.

New Clammed Up Audio Book Cover from Tantor Media New Boiled Over Audio Book Cover from Tantor Media Fogged Inn Audio Book Cover from Audible

The rights to the audio books for Clammed Up and Boiled Over, the first two books in the Maine Clambake Mystery series, recently reverted from Audible. Tantor Media picked them up. Tantor kept the same recordings, but gave the audio versions spiffy new covers, which match the rest of their line. The audio books are selling better since the move, if my most recent royalty check is any indication. It’s probably not because of the covers. Tantor owns the rights to books five through ten, so it’s in their interest to get people started on the series. I hope they pick up the rights for Musseled Out and Fogged Inn when they become available.

Readers: What do you think? Any particular covers catch your eye? Do you hate any of them? Let me know in the comments.

Welcome Back Guest Catriona McPherson

Catrionia never fails to make me laugh and this post isn’t any different. She’s celebrating the release of Scot Mist, the fourth book in her Last Ditch mystery series. Here’s a bit about the book:

March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are  preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel’s spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary.

While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found.

As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven but now it seems as if everyone’s in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside?  Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.

Catriona: A Roderick by any other name, would smell as sweet.

I’ve never named a child. (When I was having fertility treatments I did tuck some names up my sleeve but, even though it’s twenty years later, they still don’t feel like something to share.)

I have named kittens, and it’s been suggested that I gave them baby names (I didn’t.)  Maggie and Arthur were first, then Clive and Poppy, Carrie and Spud (See? Who’d call a baby Spud?), Dennis and Rachel.

And now there’s a pond outside I’ve had to name fish: Gloria aka Lumpy, Biggles, Max, Tiddles, and Imogen Brocklehurst. If you can work out the policy there, you’re doing better than me.

Of course, mostly I name characters. I gave Leagsaidh Campbell – the heroine of the Last Ditch series – her name in an effort to fictionalize how it feels to be called Catriona in the USA. Her name is pronounced “Lexy rhymes with sexy”, like my name is pronounced “Katrina like the hurricane”, but she gets called “ . . . pause . . . Lego-what?” like I get called “Cahhh . . . what?”

It made me really happy to hear a British podcaster correctly call Caitriona Balfe “Katrina like the hurricane” recently. She must go through a lot.

It wasn’t an issue as long as I stayed in Scotland. (There were three Catrionas in my class at school.) And I wasn’t entirely joking when I asked my niece and nephew whether they named their baby daughter to make sure she never emigrated. As long as she stays in Scotland, or goes no further than Ireland, Eilidh will be called “EH-ly” with no fuss. If she ventures over here, she’d need to get used to “Eyelid” till everyone was trained.

All this thinking about baby names is because there are four of them in SCOT MIST. Two of the new characters who come to spend the lockdown at the Ditch bring babies and toddlers with them.

It was a new experience in character naming for me: baby names so recently chosen reveal a lot more about the parents than the children. What I mean is, I think the woman who called her kids Navy and Salem is definitely different in some way from the woman who called them Bob and Joan. Right? Paltrow and Cusack names, these. Cusack after the acting family with John, Joan, Bill, Anne and Susie, not the one with Sinead, Niamh, Padraig and Saoirse, obvs.

As Noleen, owner of the motel, says – “There’s gotta be a happy medium.” Or, as Ricky Gervais (I think) once said – “If you want someone in your family to have a funny name, change your own.”

How do people ever do it? How does a decision that momentous ever get made?

 One friend of mine was so sure she was having a boy that she struck a deal whereby her husband could name a girl. It was a girl. She’s hated her daughter’s name for twenty-five years.

Parents can pass on their own names. Like Nigel Lawson did, when he was an obscure back-bench politician. Then he became a very high profile chancellor of the exchequer and his daughter, Nigella Lawson, sounded like a drag queen. She one-upped him by becoming even more famous, of course. “Nigel Lawson” just sounds weird now.

Sometimes parents outstrip even Gwyneth Paltrow to wield their ultimate power. Jamie Oliver’s kids are called Poppy Honey Rosie (sounds like it was chosen in the “never again” zone, if you ask me), Daisy Boo Pamela, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Buddy Bear Maurice, and River Rocket Blue Dallas (or “Seriously this time never again”.) Who are Maurice and Pamela, is all I want to know.

In the end it doesn’t matter what someone’s called, does it? Names leach of all meaning when you get to know their bearer. (This isn’t true of Navy, Salem, Bob and Joan, by the way. Their names do some work in the plot.) But still it’s a big responsibility and I’d love to know, if you’ve done it, how???

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

Cover Reveal for Rum and Choke!

I’m so excited to share the cover for the fourth book in the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries! I love the vintage vibe. I also love that it depicts a scene in the book. My editor did say this might not be the final version, but that it’s close. He also came up with the title. Look for a giveaway at the end of the post.

Here is the back cover copy:

Chloe Jackson runs a saloon in Emerald Cove, Florida—and she also happens to be an expert at putting people behind bars . . .

LAST CALL

The Florida Panhandle Barback Games are coming up and Chloe’s been drafted to represent the Sea Glass Saloon—competing in various obstacle-course events that conclude with rolling an empty keg up a hill. The rivalries are so fierce that some of the participating bars even stoop to bringing in ringers.

Meanwhile, Chloe’s friend Ann—a descendant of the famed pirate Jean Lafitte—asks her to come along for a boat ride as Ann dives into the Gulf of Mexico. She’s found some old papers that may identify the location of sunken treasure. Instead, she finds a sunken body—of one of the ringers hired for the Barback Games.  Now that murder is in the mix, Chloe has to figure out whether one of the competitors went overboard . . .

Rum and Choke comes out on January 23, 2023. I’ll let you know when it’s up for preorder.

Readers: Have you ever run an obstacle course? Or just say hi! I’ll give an ARC of Three Shots to the Wind to someone who comments.