Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 8
October 11, 2024
A Wicked Welcome Back to Nikki Knight! *giveaway*
by Julie, considering getting a coat out in Somerville
I am delighted to welcome Kathleen Marple Kalb back to the blog today!
SHE (AND THE MOOSE) PERSISTED
“Never Surrender”
It’s 1980s power ballad my Vermont DJ Jaye Jordan would happily spin for someone who needs a little encouragement.
And it’s also why you’re seeing her again this fall.
Persistence is my superpower.
Another way to say that is: I have a really hard time giving up.
When my first historical series, and a second standalone with series potential got dropped by my first two publishers (thank you, pandemic debut!), I dusted myself off and started looking for new homes for my work.
Landed happily and safely at Level Best Books, to start one new contemporary series, and continue the historical series. All good.
A smart writer probably should have pulled everything she had on submission and focused on her good fortune. And that’s exactly what I would have done.
Except that my favorite characters were still out in the cold.
Well, literally, since they’re in Vermont.
In real life, Vermont is the place I learned how to be a professional, a journalist, and not incidentally an adult. It’s where I got my first full-time on-air job as a one-person news department. Morning newscasts, nighttime school and selectboard meetings, covering fires, floods, and visiting politicians in between. Brutal hours, insane workload, the skills and the ethics and the job just beaten into my bones. I didn’t love every second while it was happening, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Or the friends and found family I knew and loved up there.
When I first started trying to write a mystery, I set it at a tiny Vermont radio station. The first version – think Stephanie Plum with moose – didn’t work. The second version did. LIVE, LOCAL, AND DEAD featured New York DJ Jaye Jordan starting over after her life exploded when her husband survived cancer and their marriage didn’t, and her dream job evaporated in a format change.
Jaye’s Vermont became my happy place.
A happy place where the right things happen, and the only breaks are lucky ones.
Unfortunately, it was not a happy place for book sales, and the series wasn’t picked up.
It’s worth mentioning here that Jaye’s world is also a diverse, open-minded, accepting happy place. A small but significant number of readers of that first book took it as a political statement and were highly – and vocally – offended.
I believed then, and I believe now, that it’s not a political statement to say every town deserves its own radio station serving local listeners. Or that anti-Semitism, homophobia, racism and just plain being a jerk are bad. And yep, all that figures in the Vermont books and stories, along with radio, scenery, and the farting moose…so consider yourself warned.
Bottom line, I loved Vermont too much to leave it alone.
Jaye kept popping up in short story ideas, and I kept writing and selling them, maintaining a presence and the characters alive. Even a CatsCast Podcast in first-person feline featuring the Boss Cat, Neptune. (He kills someone who threatens his family!)
And then the Wild Rose Press accepted LIVE, LOCAL, AND LONG DEAD.
By now, five years into a rather challenging publishing career, I know how rare second chances are, and how lucky I am.
Luckier than you know. When the first Vermont book came out, my husband was in the hospital for complications in the middle of a brutal two-year cycle of cancer treatment. He got a good laugh out of the review that said Jaye didn’t take cancer seriously enough. And the one that said she shouldn’t be feeding candy to the moose.
Now? He’s in deep remission. My son is a snarky teenager, but loving and loyal as ever. Our lives are settling down, and I finally get to invite you back to my happy place.
Bring some candy for the moose.
Question: Readers, do you have something in your life you just can’t give up on?
(One randomly-chosen commenter gets an e-ARC of LIVE, LOCAL, AND LONG DEAD.)
Bio: Nikki Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the Vermont Radio and Grace the Hit Mom Mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, and Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies – and been short-listed for Black Orchid Novella and Derringer Awards. As Kathleen Marple Kalb, she writes the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mystery series. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.
LIVE, LOCAL, AND LONG DEAD: Vermont DJ Jaye Jordan’s Green-Up Day ends in murder when not one, but two, bodies turn up in an old park — and one of them was much too close to both her ex and her current man when it was alive and bodacious. Now Jaye, with the help of a colorful (and diverse) cast of townies, will have to clear her men’s names, unravel a World War II-era mystery…and get Grandpa Seymour to the Senior Prom on time.
The Wild Rose Press, October 9, 2024.
Buy: Live, Local, and Long Dead – The Wild Rose Press Inc
Or Amazon:
October 10, 2024
Shiny Object Syndrome
by Julie, watching Perry Mason from the beginning in Somerville. Squirrel!
Shiny objects distract squirrels. Which is why, when distracted, some folks say “squirrel”. As if saying it aloud makes the distraction go away, or be manageable.
Would that were so.
To be honest, there is a lot going on in my life right now. I’m thinking of friends and family’s in Milton’s path. The November 5 election is distracting me. As the ED of Sisters in Crime, October is the board turnover, so I’ve been working on that. I’m teaching this semester, and when I read an article that may be good for class I start chasing it down. Family is coming and going and visiting. Birthdays abound. And then there’s the writing.
The writing. Sigh.
I’ve gone through dry spells of creativity, but not now. Now I have too many ideas bumping into each other. None of them have the gravitational pull to keep me focussed. Instead they’ve got me chasing shiny objects like art forgeries, Boston theater in 1890, cooking for large crowds, how much it costs to remodel a kitchen, and needlework patterns from the 1940’s.
Would that these would all gel into one idea, but instead they keep splintering.
More shinny objects.
“Squirrel!”
Nevermind that I hate squirrels (they are rats with nice tails), so every time I think of squirrels I think of con artists. Another shiny object with not even gravitational pull.
Hopefully my mind will quiet soon. Or one of these ideas will take over, and become worth chasing. Until then, bring on the shiny objects.
Friends, how do you control your distracted mind?
October 9, 2024
Wicked Wednesday: Spooky Movies
by Barb–fall in New England, got to love it
Wickeds, tell us about a movie that scared the bejesus out of you. I know some of you don’t like horror movies–not that your answer has to be horror–but it could be the movie that convinced you the genre wasn’t for you.
Edith/Maddie: I have an image of a terrifying show from my childhood – maybe the last Twilight Zone I watched before my mother forbade it? – where the aliens that had gotten into people’s bodies started coming out of their mouths as snakes or worms or something. STILL gives me the creeps. In recent years, I had to stop watching the second season of Dark Winds. I am a huge Tony Hillerman fan, but that horrible killer in season two, who kept escaping and was so awful and destructive and menacing and was after my man, Joe Leaphorn (and all the other good guys)? Too scary for this girl.
Liz: The first Halloween movie scared the CRAP out of me when I was a kid. Michael Meyers still gives me the creeps and I love scary movies!
Sherry: The Shining is the last scary movie I watched. I get the chills when I get any reminder of it. I’ll never forget Jack Nicholson hacking through the door and saying, “Here’s Johnny.” I can’t even stand watching commercials for scary movies and spend a lot of October changing channels to avoid creepy commercials.
Edith: Sherry, I should have led with The Shining! I saw it in 1980 and still shudder when I think of it.
Julie: Liz, I saw Halloween in college. Actually I saw my coat over my head, and heard the Star Spangled Banner, which I always hum while putting my fingers in my ears. I don’t like horror. The movie Poltergeist scared me a lot. Not sure if that’s horror, but it is really scary. Can’t say if it hold up because I’ll never watch it again.
Barb: Sherry and Edith, I would have to put The Shining on my list, too. The only time I remember screaming out loud–involuntarily, it just came out– in a theater full of people was watching The Haunting with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom, the first movie made from Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House. I was in college, in very gothic theater, which probably didn’t help. It must have been about ten years after the movie came out. I haven’t seen it since but still remember little moving images from it.
Jessie: I cannot remember the name of any off the top of my head, but like many teenagers, I remember sleepovers with friends where we watched at least one every time we got together. Nowadays, I prefer a straight-up murder mystery without too many horror elements!
Readers: How about you? Do you like scary movies? Scariest one you ever saw?
October 8, 2024
A Wicked Welcome to Emily Karmazin
by Julie, welcoming fall in Somerville
Today we’re welcoming Emily Karmazin to the blog! I love the dynamics of older women, and can’t wait to read this book!
Friendship and Mystery: Writing About Middle-Aged Women and the Bonds That Bind
As we age, our friendships evolve and deepen in ways we might not have anticipated in our younger years. For women in particular, the bonds forged through shared experiences, laughter, and support become even more vital as we navigate the complexities of middle age and beyond. It’s no wonder that stories centered around middle-aged female friendships and the mysteries they unravel have captured the hearts of readers and writers alike.
When I sat down to write the first book in the series, The Case of the Filthy Beast, I knew I wanted to feature middle-aged women as the protagonists. Why? Because I am one and we offer a unique view of like It allowed me to delve into the complexities of relationships that have weathered the storms of life, showcasing the unwavering loyalty, unspoken understanding, and shared history that bind Lexi and Zelda together. Amid a puzzling mystery, these friendships become a source of strength, resilience, and unwavering support.
The middle-aged female protagonists of these stories are far from the stereotypical portrayals often found in mainstream media. They are vibrant, intelligent, and resourceful individuals who refuse to be defined by societal expectations or limitations. Lexi and Zelda embrace their age and the wisdom it brings, while also navigating the challenges and joys that come with this stage of life. Their friendship serves as a reminder that we are never alone, that there are people who know us deeply and love us unconditionally.
The mystery element adds another layer of intrigue. The protagonists work together to unravel the mystery, their individual strengths and vulnerabilities are revealed, showcasing the depth and authenticity of their relationships.
Writing about middle-aged women and their friendships is a celebration of the enduring power of connection. It reminds us that as we age, the bonds we forge with other women become even more precious. These friendships provide a sense of belonging, a safe haven in which we can be our true selves, and a source of unwavering support through life’s ups and downs. In the world of mystery fiction, these friendships become a force to be reckoned with, capable of solving crimes, uncovering secrets, and ultimately, triumphing over adversity.
Reader QuestionWhat’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about friendship as you’ve aged?
Visit www.emilykwriter.com and join the mailing list to be entered into a drawing for Fall Friendship Goodies! Open to North America residents only. Offer is valid October 8 – October 10, 2024. Open to new subscribers only.
About the book:Nurse Lexi’s life is comfortably predictable until a teenage patient’s shocking death reveals a sinister truth. Buffy wasn’t just sick – she was murdered. Teaming up with her best friend, Zelda, a high school teacher with a penchant for the supernatural, Lexi plunges into a chilling investigation. As whispers of a mythical beast and long-buried town secrets surface, Lexi and Zelda find themselves in a race against time. Can they unmask the real killer before becoming the next victims?
The Case of the Filthy Beast is a gripping blend of small-town intrigue, supernatural suspense, and the enduring power of friendship. Perfect for fans of Charlaine Harris and Janet Evanovich, this debut novel promises a thrilling ride.
About the author:
Emily Karmazin, an avid reader and traveler, currently resides amidst the breathtaking Wasatch Mountains of Utah with her husband and their dog, Lilo. Her passion for writing blossomed at an early age, penning her first book, a captivating “Little House on the Prairie” fan fiction, in the third grade. Emily’s interests span a fascinating spectrum, encompassing true crime, literature, the pursuit of knowledge, hiking, the peculiar and the ordinary, and the art of baking. She holds a master’s degree in education and is a published author of two novels and an entrepreneur.
Website Link & Social Media
October 7, 2024
Writing Advice: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent
by Barb, still in Maine where it has been the most glorious fall
Welcome to my fifth post about what I’ve learned in fourteen years of being a published author and a lifetime of writing. The first four posts are about Voice, Emotion, Narrative Distance, and Dialog Tags. In this post, I’m going to pass along the bits of advice I (and almost every other fiction writer) have received along the way along with my (current) judgement about how useful the advice was. As I side note, I did examine several pieces of advice related to dialog tags in my previous post, so I’m leaving that topic out here.
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
When people ask me what books I recommend on writing, I always answer Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, and Stephen King’s On Writing : A Memoir Of The Craft. The quote above is one of the central tenets of Bird by Bird, that you need to tackle overwhelming writing tasks by breaking them down into manageable chunks. It took a couple of runs at this and a good friend reinforcing it before I incorporated the discipline into my writing and my entire life. But once I learned not to think in terms of writing an entire book, but in terms of writing 1000 or 1200 words or a scene or a chapter at a sitting, I was a happier and more successful person and writer.
That being said, one of my personal eccentricities is that I have never, ever typed, “The end.” I know there will always be more drafts, and copy-edits, and page-proofs, and publicity, and reviews, comments, and e-mails. Your relationship to your book never ends.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.”
Two other central tenets of Lamott’s amazing work are the idea of “shitty first drafts” and the enemy to creativity that is perfectionism. Most of us who begin writing have been reading heavily for years, some of it the great works of literature. Thinking that what flows from our fingers has to be that good from the get-go is one of the great barriers to writing. Understanding that you can get it done and you can (and will) fix it later is a key to finishing and to success.
“I began to stalk around his living room, like a trial lawyer making her case to the jury, explaining various aspects of the book, some of which, in my desire not too appear to obvious, I had forgotten to put down at all.”
This is a much less often cited quote from Bird by Bird. In fact, it’s not Googlable, but it is terribly meaningful to me. I was, and remain, a sparse writer, especially in first drafts. But in the beginning I also suffered from the unconscious belief that what the character had to be thinking or feeling must be so obvious that I didn’t need to put it on the page. I was young, and now that I’m older, I have a better appreciation that what is glaringly obvious to me is not obvious to everyone. Not because they are not smart but because their lives and experiences are different from my own. As a friend of mine says, “When my mother says ‘No one would ever do such a thing,’ what she means is ‘No one who lives within eight square blocks of me would ever do such a thing.'” Our contexts are unique.
Also, as I said in my post on emotion, in fiction, particularly crime fiction, readers need to see how point of view characters are reacting to and processing information both intellectually and emotionally, in order to know those characters and to root for them. I come back to the quote above all the time to remind myself not to leave out the things that seem obvious to me.
“Pow! Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis came together, and I had an idea.”
Since I cited On Writing as my other north star, I wanted to include advice from it as well. It’s not so much an advice book. Like Bird by Bird, it’s part autobiography and it also contains advice about how to be in the world as a writer. Not that many (or any) of us can be in the world like Steven King, but I found it helpful nonetheless. The quote above relates to Carrie, and how two unrelated ideas can come together to create a premise. I’ve since heard Tom Perrotta say this too–that it takes two concepts to make an interesting idea. This advice has been very helpful to me, especially when I’ve had an idea too thin to be a book, or, minimalist that I am, I’ve been tempted to reject that second idea as something that will muddy the book instead of make the book.
“Start with your character in motion.”
I’m not sure who said this to me. I think it might have been in a class I took with Hallie Ephron, whose excellent book is Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel Revised and Expanded Edition: The Complete Guide to Mystery, Suspense, and Crime. This advice has been very helpful too me. Sometimes my character starts in literal motion, going out a door, driving up a driveway. But the more important thing to remember is that stories are about change, things that happen outside the norm.
On the other hand I feel free to ignore advice like “Never start with the weather.” Or “Never start with a phone call.” The weather thing might be good advice for beginners, especially those who are tempted to “set the scene.” But in more adept hands starting with the weather is fine. The phone call thing I’ve never gotten. What can set events in motion more than a a phone call in the middle of the night?
“If you’re going to tell a lie, tell it fast, tell it straight, don’t justify, don’t explain.”
This advice comes from my friend and fellow writing group member for 20 years, Mark Ammons. What he means is that if you need the reader to buy something, dithering around and shoring it up with all sorts of explanations, only calls attention to it, which makes the reader suspicious of your motives. If you say it quick the reader may move on without questioning it.
“You can put the Statue of Liberty in New Orleans if you can convince the reader.”
This piece of advice was given to me by fellow Wicked Sherry Harris, who was paraphrasing John Dufresne, whose amazing book is The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction. For me, what this means is, when a reader says, “I didn’t find it believable,” what they are actually saying is, “The writer didn’t sell it to me.” Convincing readers of improbable, unlikely, and unbelievable things is what writers do everyday. But the world-building and the character development have to be there to make it believable.
This piece of advice might seem to contradict the one above–don’t justify or explain. But to me the two go together. Justifying or explaining when an event happens or a character makes a decision in a book will undermine it. But if the foundation is already there, you don’t need to do that in the moment. Mark also says, “You get one gimme per story,” meaning that you can ask the reader to swallow one improbable thing, no more. But that’s meant to be one moment in a story and it had better not be something like, “He looked up from his porch in New Orleans and saw the Statue of Liberty,” unless you’ve laid the foundation, or you want to shock the reader into reading further.
“You know more about your story than you think you do.”
Speaking of Wickeds, this is not so much something Jessie Crockett says when running her Polka Dot Plotting coaching sessions or workshops, but something that she models. Using Jessie’s methodology, which she walks you through, you discover that you do, indeed, have all sorts of assumptions about your story embedded in your subconscious dying to come out. Some will be good, some bad. Some will make it to the final draft, some will not. But they are there and once you’ve had the courage to articulate them, they will be much easier to write.
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.”
This piece of advice from E.L. Doctorow kept me going on many a day. It was especially helpful when I was a pure pantser, but even in the later stages of my career when I did some plotting (see Polka Dot Plotting above) I could never come up with all the scenes, and though my list of scenes might have included the what and the why, they never included the how. So I treasure this advice.
“When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”
This piece of advice from Neil Gaiman always makes me laugh because it takes me back to my 20 happy years in my writing group. It is always more fun and so much easier to write someone else’s book. And while there are times and places for brainstorming, (exclusively when the writer asks for it) the fun other writers in a group have making suggestions of the “you know what you should do,” type is not anything you should pay attention to. Let them have their fun. Keep your own counsel.
“Show don’t tell.”
An old chestnut and good advice for the beginner but of limited value. As Julia Glass, the brilliant author of Three Junes said in a seminar I took with her, “Sometimes you just tell it.” I always think of showing and telling like a camera in a movie, zooming in and pulling out. Pulling out for the establishing shots, viewed from a distance, the details fuzzy or obscured. The B roll. It’s a pacing thing, mostly.
“Describe the fast things slow and the slow things fast.”
This bit of advice is attributed to Lee Child. I think it is a human-being thing as much as a writing thing but very good writing advice that relates to the above. Say you have an hour long commute. The first time you drove it, to the job interview, you were white-knuckled and noticed every sign, building, and vehicle along the way. By a month on the job, you often arrive in the parking lot wondering how you got there. That commute will be a single phrase for your character, “By the time Jack arrived at the office…” But my husband and I were in a car accident a year and a half ago. For insurance reasons, we asked for the read-out from the car’s computer. I was astonished to see the car had careened with my husband fighting for control for a total of nine seconds. I remember every beat as the passenger, not knowing what was happening, screaming, seeing the plastic picnic table explode as we plowed into it and being thankful even then there was no one sitting there. My husband, trying to control the car, making decisions, hearing me screaming and pleading, undoubtedly remembers it differently but in the same slow-motion, goes-on-forever mode.
“No head-hopping.”
This is common advice everyone will give you when you’re new. What it means is that when telling the story from one character’s point of view you shouldn’t suddenly jump into another’s point of view revealing things the original character couldn’t know or feel. The most common place to change point of view characters is at a scene break.
I’m not as doctrinaire about this as some. I’ve enjoyed many books by authors who change point of view mid-scene or who hide the point of view in a new scene for a couple of paragraphs to keep you guessing. As long as the reader is not unintentionally confused I think both of these techniques are okay.
What’s not okay is some of the tortured constructions that result from the over-interpretation of this guideline. We look at other people all the time and think, “Joe is sad.” As sentient beings we are constantly drawing conclusions about other people’s status. We don’t think “Joe appears to be sad.” That is stupid. Cut that out.
I am always amused by new writers who greet advice like this simple guideline about heading hopping with responses like, “But in the fourth section of The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner…” To which I always reply, “If you think your skills and talent are at the same level as Faulkner, go for it.” Some day I will meet someone brimming with self-confidence who will take my up and this and be right about their abilities. I look forward to having that happen.
“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”
This guideline, recorded in letters by Anton Checkov, is an old saw but deservedly so. To me it means that every detail must serve the story in some way. Nothing is random or has no purpose. It also helps me think about payoff for the reader and character. Often when writing you don’t know why something is there or someone is in a scene or the story keeps returning to the same place. Then in a later draft, when you know what you are doing, you discover the reason. Your subconscious knew all along.
Readers and Writers: What bit of advice have I forgotten, one that means something to you? I am sure there are many. Are any of these new to you?
October 4, 2024
Kim Davis: Crafting Cozy Mysteries with Essential Oils
by Barb, enjoying a glorious New England fall
Please welcome Friend of the Wickeds, author Kim Davis. I first got to know Kim as the force behind her wonderful recipe blog, Cinnamon and Sugar and a Little Bit of Murder. If you’re not reading this blog, you should be. Kim’s photos are so amazing I originally suspected she had been a food stylist in a previous life.
Kim’s here today to celebrate her book Essentials of Murder, first in her new Aromatherapy Apothecary Mystery series! Comment on the blog below to be entered to win a copy.
Take it away, Kim!
Thanks so much for having me on The Wickeds today, Barbara!
Starting a New SeriesSeveral years ago, my literary agent offered me some writing advice. She said the market was flooded with culinary cozy mysteries—which I adore—and said I should look for a new hook for a new series if I wanted to further my career. It took some time and thanks to the efforts of my special needs granddaughter’s mom exploring ways to bring natural relief and comfort to her daughter, I landed on aromatherapy. Not knowing much about it myself, I began researching, experimenting, and talking to people “in the know,” and became convinced that there was a lot of merit in the practice. I had my “hook” for my Aromatherapy Apothecary Mystery series.
But a good story needs an equally appealing setting. It’s safe to say we’re beyond Cabot Cove and we don’t want to kill off the entire population of a town. I needed a place that would attract a lot of fresh bodies, err, tourists. I also wanted it based in Southern California (my first series is in Newport Beach, CA, close to where I live and used to work) and at least based on somewhere I knew well or could easily visit to get the “flavor”.
And then inspiration struck: I could base my setting on the small tourist town (population less than 8,000) I grew up in until the age of 14, when my parents moved us to an even smaller town with less than 1,500 residents (which would not make for a good setting for a murder mystery series). Ojai (pronounced OH-HIGH) is about 80 miles from Los Angeles and attracts movie and television studios for on location filming.
The Spanish-style architecture and the mountains surrounding the town make for a gorgeous backdrop, whether for filming, weddings, or vacationing. There are wineries, spas, artists’ retreats, and outdoor attractions like golf, tennis, and horse and biking trails. In addition, the city hosts a variety of annual festivals that attract people from all over. It would give me an excellent source of victims, bah-hah-ha.
I’d like to say I’m a pay attention to details kind of person, but I’m not. One of the first things I did was turn Ojai into the fictional town of Oak Creek Valley. I didn’t want sharp readers to find errors in my directions or street names and unless the sun is rising or setting, I’m not sure I know if I’m headed east or west. Forget about north or south directions…which is why I can’t drive anywhere new without my navigation system blaring directions at me.
As I began developing my character, Carissa Carmichael, I added some small things that I’d experienced during my time in Ojai. I have her living in an avocado orchard, just like a couple of my friends did. Carissa and her dad spent long hours in the saddle, trail riding in the surrounding Topa Topa mountains. I, too, spent a lot of afternoons horseback riding with friends.
I also liked that Carissa could use the bounty from the orchards and farms in the area, from avocados to olives to citrus to lavender, in her essential oils. When I revisit the area, I adore driving with the windows down to breathe in the fragrant blossoms. In short, writing the Aromatherapy Apothecary mysteries is like taking a step back into time for me and reliving some of my childhood memories…which thankfully did NOT include murder.
Many thanks to my cousin and fellow former Ojai resident, Mary Karnes, for allowing me to use her photos today!
Readers, would your hometown be a good setting for a murder mystery? If so, tell me why, and if not, tell me about a place that would make a good setting. I’ll pick a winner from the comments to receive a signed copy of Essentials of Murder. Giveaway ends midnight on Sunday,10/6/24, and is limited to U.S. residents only.
About Kim Davis
Kim Davis writes the Aromatherapy Apothecary cozy mystery series, the award-winning Cupcake Catering cozy mystery series, and the middle grade The Board Game Chronicles series. She also writes the Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder blog. Kim Davis is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Website: https://kimdavisauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimDavisAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimdavishb/
Twitter (X): https://x.com/Kookiesandbooks
About Essentials of MurderAfter a scandalous arrest in San Francisco, Carissa Carmichael has moved back to her small Southern California hometown to start over as she opens her Aromatherapy Apothecary shop and reflexology services. A tourist destination, Oak Creek Valley, seems the perfect place to put the past behind her, but it seems no one will let her forget. When she finds the man who threatened to drive her out of business murdered in her shop, Carissa becomes the primary suspect, especially when her fingerprints are found on the murder weapon. Despite her father’s position as Oak Creek Valley’s chief of police, most townspeople assume she’s guilty.
Refusing to run again, Carissa knows she must prove her innocence to save her shop and save her father’s career when the investigating detective turns his focus on her. With suspects acting as slippery as the essential oils she distills, it’s up to Carissa to apply pressure and sniff out the truth before it’s too late.
Includes essential oil and reflexology tips.
Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/49XDWJ
October 3, 2024
Nothing in Australia Tried to Kill Me Except For…
Everything you hear about Australia seems to include the statement, “and everything there can kill you.” A reference to the number of venomous creatures and predators that inhabit the country. If you don’t believe me, read this. When anticipating our trip, I fully expected to have daily encounters with said creatures and spend much of my time fending off giant spiders and slithering snakes. Alas, that never happened and in five weeks I saw just one tiny, innocuous-looking spider. I killed it just in case!
The morning we boarded.What I didn’t expect was to survive a train collision. That sounds dramatic, right? We had the opportunity to go on The Ghan. A train that goes down the middle of Australia from Darwin to Adalaide. In the moment the crash wasn’t bad. I was sitting in our room and felt a hard bump. Then another. The train screeched to a halt and the power went out.
I went out in the hall and chatted with neighbors as staff beginning running through the halls and outside.
We heard we’d been hit—WHAT?—by a road train which is what they call big semis that carry three to five trailers behind them. The one that hit us had three trailers filled with cows – the cows survived. (Although, I suspect that since they were being transported their life expectancy wasn’t good.)
Courtesy ABCWe were in the middle of nowhere about forty miles from the nearest town, Alice Springs. Somehow no one was seriously injured. The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital to be treated for shock. You can read the news story here.
The crew rapidly put a plan together. The chefs who weren’t expecting to have to feed 200 people, threw together a late lunch. Buses came to pick us up and take us to Alice Springs. If not for the crash, we would have spent the day there. We couldn’t do the planned tours because it was mid-afternoon. But they took us to a beautiful, scared site to the indigenous people called Simpsons Gap.
We were bussed back to the train station to see the train sitting there and everyone cheered. We also got a closer look at the damage. It doesn’t look too bad, right? I was two cars behind the one hit. On the train we were told we’d be taken to the planned dinner under the stars and after we’d leave for our next stop of Coober Peaty.
The dinner under the stars was at a sand quarry. A beautiful place and a fantastic night filled with delicious food, stunning views, the funniest and most informative talk about the stars, a wonderful band, and dancing. It was a highlight of the trip. The photos below: the staff loaned Christine and I their hats for the photo, our new friends from New Zealand and Seattle, the backdrop for our dinner, and the last one is when they turned all the lights off but the moon was illuminating the table. I’ll spare you the dancing photos.
Back at the train, people drifted back to the lounges – four cars per lounge. We’d already made new friends, and I think the experience made us closer. Talk turned to the crash. The what ifs. What if it had happened five seconds earlier and we’d plowed into one of the massive cow trailers? What if it had happened five seconds later and the truck had plowed into a passenger car instead of the locomotive taking the brunt of the hit? Either scenario meant a probable derailment and a good chance that I wouldn’t be writing this.
The train didn’t end up taking off that night because the rail people decided the cars had to be inspected. And since Australia is such a big country an inspector had to fly in the next morning. Even though the locomotive didn’t look too bad, it was deemed too damaged to use. Fortunately the other locomotive was fine, so we continued on our journey with just one. Because of the delay we had an extra day on the train with our new friends and a great day at the opal mining town of Coober Peaty which included lunch in an opal mine.
The staff on The Ghan was amazing under extremely difficult circumstances. They were our heroes and had to work an extra, unplanned day but did so cheerfully and with grace. Below is a picture of me at the Majestic Breakaways near Coober Peaty, happy to be out enjoying the day.
There was much joking about me being a mystery author, the book Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, and how two hundred passengers could plan to kill someone in a train accident.
Readers: Have you been on an adventure that took an interesting turn or had a day that made you think what a difference five seconds could make?
October 2, 2024
Spooky Tales: Hair-Raising Experiences
by Barb, loving fall in Maine
It’s October and time for spooky.
Wickeds, tell us about a time when the hair positively stood up on the back of your neck. What were you doing? Who was there? Does it still creep up on you now and then?
Edith/Maddie: A friend staying overnight in our guest room said she woke up in the middle of the night and saw a woman in a white nightdress standing silently at the end of the bed. Even though this didn’t happen to me (and never has since), I got chills then and still do when I think of it.
Sherry: A friend of mine growing up lived right next to a cemetery. We loved walking through it and looking at headstones. We’d also clean off the old, neglected looking ones. I loved it during the day, but after it got dark was a whole different story. When I spent the night, I always made sure the curtains were completely closed as if they alone could keep out the spirits I was sure wandered outside. If it was a windy night, I was convinced it was ghosts calling out to me.
Liz: My best friend in high school lived across the street from a cemetery too – and my cousins grew up next to one when I was much younger. When I was really young my mother used to get freaked out going to visit my cousins and so I was always expecting something scary. It never happened. When I was older, though, my friends and I would spend a lot of time walking the cemetery at night hoping for something scary – but alas, it never happened there either.
Barb: One summer night a couple of decades ago, Bill and I, new to the miracle that was the DVR and binge-watching, stayed up way too late watching Prime Suspect. It was a summer Sunday night and all the windows and doors were open. At last, we decided we had to stop. Work and school the next morning. Bill went outside to make sure the grill was cold. I will never forget the look on his face when he came back in the house. Wordlessly, he held out 3 glossy, black and white, 8 x 10 photos. I took them and looked. They were autopsy photos! The photos had numbers and stamps on the back and were obviously official. We called the local police. A fresh-faced young man in a uniform appeared at our door right away. “You found some, too!” He was laughing. It turned out a man who had been convicted of murdering an organized crime figure in our town 20 years before had escaped from state prison. For some reason, the police thought he might return to the scene of the crime. A detective had been reviewing the paper file for the case while parked in a cul-de-sac half a block from our house. He’d stood outside the car, looking through the paper file on the car roof, enjoying the beautiful summer day. He got an emergency call, jumped in the car, and sped off. The young policeman said people had been finding the file contents all day. I never found out what happened to the detective, but the escapee was caught in his own hometown many miles away. And though there was a logical explanation for the photos, remembering the look on Bill’s face when he came through the back door still gives me the willies.
Readers: What about you? Do you have a story that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck?
October 1, 2024
Guest-Traci Hall and a Giveaway
Jessie: Looking forward to what October might bring!
Today’s guest, Traci Hall is here talking about one of my favorite topics, research! Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of her latest release! Take it away, Traci!
I love, love, love being on the Wickeds Blog—it is always fun to be here, and thank you to Jessica for the invite!
I am celebrating the release of Murder at a Scottish Christmas, available now. This is book six in the Scottish Shire series and honestly, I am gobsmacked by it. Stunned, grateful, and ready to write more.
There’s been a snafu with the audio version, but it is coming. Beverley A. Crick, the narrator for the series, does an incredible job. I like to listen to her version of the last story I wrote as prep for the next book, which will be Murder at the Scottish Games, out in 2025.
The research I did for those games of brute strength involved watching buff men in kilts tossing the caber or lifting stones (literal rocks lol) while at the Loch Norman games in North Carolina—it was sweaty work, but I did it all so I could bring those muscles to the page.
Which brings me to my topic: Research Rabbit Holes.
When I started off with the idea of a Scottish Christmas, I wanted to include puppies. Big red bows, happy families, maybe Wallace should get a fur sibling. The danger with writing cozy mysteries is that the holidays and murder go hand in hand. What kind of crimes might happen around Christmas morning? Or the new year…
Hogmanay is the Scots celebration of the New Year, and it is a big deal—like American New Year on steroids. Lots of fireworks go off. Fireworks could cover up the sound of a gun. But who can we kill? At this point, my main characters are like family, so we need to bring in other family…Amelia Henry. She’s got a shady past. She’s dark haired, as is her brother McCormac.
A handy thing, as another Scots tradition involves the first-footer. Yes, Scots are superstitious folks. In order to ensure good luck for the following year, a tall, dark-haired man bringing gifts of black bun, coal, coin, salt, and whisky, must cross your threshold at midnight. These items might vary but they are meant to represent prosperity.
Anybody who is caught up with the series knows full well that Paislee’s had a string of bad luck and while she invited Hamish, her handsome dark-haired friend, to come for Christmas and New Year, he has to cancel at the last minute, leaving Paislee in a desperate bind. Amelia offers up McCormac. Because Paislee’s house isn’t finished yet to move in, they decide to share Christmas dinner together at the Muthu Newton Hotel. Paislee, Brody, Grandpa, Amelia…and McCormac. He’s all about the flash, and had given Amelia a pedigreed white Pomeranian for Christmas. He’s driving a brand-new Mercedes, and drunkenly ditches Amelia with Paislee to leave early and have “dessert” with one of his lasses, dropping cash on the table. He offers a bargain if Paislee wants a designer pup for Brody, who nods, until he hears the price of thousands of pounds. Paislee is not all that surprised that someone shoots McCormac under the cover of fireworks on Hogmanay but will help Amelia as she discovers that her brother hadn’t really turned over that new leaf as he’d promised.
While researching cute Christmas pups I discovered that puppies had been smuggled from Ireland to Scotland, and around the UK. It was a legit problem. Smuggled puppies? Sadly, this happened without thought to the puppies’ welfare during transport. The mom used for breeding was kept in a constant state of pregnancy, again, without thought to her health.
My hero in this story, besides DI Zeffer, Paislee, and Amelia, turned out to be the veterinarian for Wallace, Dr. Kathleen McHenry. She is a fierce advocate for the pups and for shutting down puppy mills—which, because this is a cozy mystery, we get to have that happy ending <3 They are cracking down around the world too.
While I was researching things people smuggled, I was shocked by the variety of items. Watches and drugs were at the top of the list, and designer fish cleverly transferred in an apron under a woman’s skirt, tied with a stolen dinosaur skeleton for something I can’t forget.
I am a big believer in rescue pups. I’ve included a photo of our chihuahua mix, Pazia. She was rescued from a hoarding situation in Puerto Rico. Dogs require patience and love. They deserve food, water, and health care.
I used to have Pomeranians myself and so I understand wanting a certain breed of dog. My toy pom, Pippa, was an adorable hot mess. Her hips were bad, she had an overbite, and she required surgery that permanently ruined the use of her back leg. We bought her from a strip mall puppy store. She lived to be 17, and used that back leg like a kick stand, lol. They have websites dedicated to certain breeds of pups that still need homes, so if you are in the market for a dog and have your heart set on a certain breed, you might want to check them out.
Readers, I would love to hear about your pup—rescue or not! Share in the comments. If you don’t have a dog, do you have a cat? Bird? Fish? Pet rock? I’ll choose a winner for an autographed copy of Murder at a Scottish Christmas. Thanks again for joining me here today at the Wickeds!
Traci Hall bio: From cozy mysteries to seaside romance, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her readers. As a hybrid author with over sixty published works, Ms. Hall has a favorite story for everyone.
Mystery lovers, be on the lookout for her Scottish Shire series in seaside Nairn, or her Salem B&B Mystery series as Traci Wilton, or third, her Irish Castle mystery series as Ellie Brannigan. Whether it’s her popular By the Sea contemporary romance series or a fun who-done-it, Traci finds her inspiration in sunny South Florida, by living near the ocean. Reach her here: traciella@aol.com
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Murder at a Scottish Christmas
The holidays in the charming seaside village of Nairn hold bright hope for sweater shop owner and knitting enthusiast Paislee Shaw—but a fireworks celebration provides cover for a killer in the sixth installment of USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall’s Scottish Shire Mystery series.
All Paislee wants for Christmas is for her new home to be finished, but it looks like she’ll have to wait for New Year’s Day. Whether the paint on the walls has dried or not, she’ll host a feast for her twelve-year-old son Brody, Grandpa, their black Scottish terrier Wallace, and friends—including police station receptionist Amelia Henry and her brother McCormac, whose black locks can fulfill the Scottish first-footer tradition that a tall, dark-haired man should be the first person to enter your home on New Year’s to bring good luck.
But McCormac’s luck is about to run out. During Hogmanay—when the Scots welcome the New Year with dancing, bonfires, and midnight fireworks—he collapses as the sky brightens in a blaze of color. A shooter has used the noise of the fireworks to hide a gun’s blast. Amelia is inconsolable, and Paislee vows to do whatever she can to help DI Zeffer solve the murder—even if it puts her in the killer’s sights next . . .
September 30, 2024
Guest- Andrea Penrose and a Giveaway!
Jessie: Enjoying the slowly turning leaves!
Andrea Penrose joins us today with a fascinating post on the darker side of the Regency. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!
I write a mystery series set in the Regency. As most of you know, that’s Jane Austen’s era. However, my books don’t revolve around polite drawing room teas or fancy balls at country estates . . .
Now don’t get me wrong—I love drawing room gossip and the colorful whirl of couples twirling across the dancefloor! But these elements are just a small part of the Regency. The era is is such a richly textured, fabulously interesting time and place. It’s a world aswirl in silks, seduction and the intrigue of the Napoleonic Wars. Radical new ideas were clashing with the conventional thinking of the past. People were questioning the fundamentals of society, and as a result they were fomenting changes in every aspect of life. Politics, art, music, science, social rules—the world was turning upside down!
Technology was disrupting everyday life as the Industrial Revolution began cranking into high gear. Interest in science was exploding as people were suddenly wanting to understand the world around them and how it worked. In so many ways, it was the birth of the modern world, and for me, its challenges, its characters and its conflicts have such relevance to our own times.
Many real-life women of the Regency, like Ada Lovelace, Mary Shelley and Caroline Herschel, were challenging convention and daring to pursue their passions. I tend to write offbeat women who would be bored to flinders doing nothing but drinking tea and making polite conversation. They tend to do things they’re not supposed to do— so I love that I can be true to history and yet have a real emotional connection with women of our own times, who still face many of the same challenges and prejudices as they look to fulfill their dreams.
The ongoing heroine in my series is Charlotte Sloane, a satirical artist, who uses a pen name to keep her real identity a secret—as a woman she would never be allowed to criticize the leaders of Society. In the Regency, the satirical artists were the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued social commentators—the equivalent of Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel. The individual artists became well-known in their own right, and created large, beautifully detailed color prints, which were sold at local print shops—the general public looked at them like they like at the newspapers today to see what was really going on in society. Charlotte’s network for learning secrets (which include the two young orphan guttersnipes that she has informally adopted) proves invaluable when she’s drawn into solving a gruesome crime.
rectoThe ongoing hero, Lord Wrexford, is a rich, irascible aristocrat—but a brilliant man of science and who possesses the ability to look at problems with a coldly dispassionate logic. The pairing of Reason and Intuition has been really fun to develop. Lord Wrexford analyses everything. Charlotte Sloane trusts her intuition. They both are very careful observers, but see things in different ways. In the first book, circumstances force them into a very unwilling partnership to solve the crime. (Wrexford has been accused of a murder, and Charlotte happens to know from being the first to visit the scene of the crime that he is innocent.) To their surprise, they come to have a grudging friendship . . . Murder at King’s Crossing is the 8th book in the series, so their relationship has really evolved—in ways that they never expected. (But no spoilers!)
My question for all you readers is, do you like unconventional historical heroines who break all the rules of their Society? Or do you enjoy women sleuths who follow the strictures of proper deportment . . . but are simply clever enough to solves crimes discreetly? I’ll be giving away an e-book copy Murder at King’s Crossing to one lucky winner chosen at random from those who leave a comment here. (Or if you would prefer to start the series at the beginning, you can opt to receive the first book.)
Andrea Penrose is the USA Today bestselling author of Regency-era historical fiction, including the acclaimed Wrexford & Sloane mystery series and The Diamond of London. Published internationally in eleven languages, she is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including two Daphne Du Maurier Awards for Historical Mystery.
A graduate of Yale University, Andrea fell in love with Regency England after reading Pride and Prejudice and has maintained a fascination with the era’s swirling silks and radical new ideas throughout her writing career.
Website: https://andreapenrose.com; Instagram: @AndreaPenroseBooks; Blog: https://wordwenches.com/
Murder at King’s Crossing- Blurb:
Celebration is in the air at Wrexford and Charlotte’s country estate as they host the nuptials of their friends, Christopher Sheffield and Lady Cordelia Mansfield. But on the afternoon of the wedding, the festivities are interrupted when the local authorities arrive with news that a murdered man has been discovered at the bridge over King’s Crossing, his only identification an invitation to the wedding. Lady Cordelia is horrified when the victim is identified as Jasper Milton, her childhood friend and a brilliant engineer who is rumored to have discovered a revolutionary technological innovation in bridge design. That he had the invitation meant for her cousin Oliver, who never showed up for the wedding, stirs a number of unsettling questions.
Both men were involved in the Revolutions-Per-Minute Society, a scientific group dedicated to making radical improvements in the speed and cost of transportation throughout Britain. Is someone plotting to steal Milton’s designs? And why has her cousin disappeared?
Wrexford and Charlotte were looking forward to spending a peaceful interlude in the country, but when Lady Cordelia resolves to solve the mystery, they offer their help, along with that of the Weasels and their unconventional inner circle of friends. The investigation turns tangled and soon all of them are caught up in a treacherous web of greed, ambition, and dangerous secrets. And when the trail takes a shocking turn, Wrexford and Charlotte must decide what risks they are willing to take with their family to bring the villains to justice . . .
