Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 81

Out With the Old for 2022

The theme for this month is a good one for January–Out with the Old. Implied is “in with the new”. Wickeds, the question for this week is what new are you hoping for in your writing life in 2022?

Edith/Maddie: I’m hoping to finish crafting my new historical project and land a publishing contract for it. Also hoping for a Country Store Mysteries series contract renewal, and for two or more short story acceptances. Otherwise I’m hoping my writing mojo keeps on keeping on and that readers continue to love my stories!

Liz: Oooh, I have high hopes for 2022! I hope readers love the newest installment of the Full Moon Mysteries featuring Violet and her witchy friends, and that their adventures continue for a long time, and that the Cat Cafe series continues to entertain people–I have a lot of ideas for Maddie’s next adventures. And most of all, I will finally bring a long-awaited project to fruition.

Sherry: I’m going to finally finish the romance I started three years ago and work on a thriller. It’s a blank slate ahead for the time being and I’m excited to see how it fills in!

Julie: I’ve got a new idea that has been knocking on my imagination. I’m looking forward to finishing this draft so I can see what I’ve got. I’m hoping for success in my publishing life. I’m also hoping to see many friends in person at events–let’s hope!

Barb: Early January brings both the new year and my birthday–so you’d think it would be a perfect time for me to be taking stock and making resolutions about writing. However, for the last several years (except last year–which was a wash, let’s face it), I’ve had a March 1, deadline. When the new year comes I am so deep in that project I have trouble looking ahead. So, I am putting the revelation of my intent for the year on account and will get back to you in March.

Jessie: I am looking forward to all your new projects! Like Barb, I have a March deadline this year so I am deep into the work on that novel. I also have an outline for the seventh Beryl and Edwina mystery due to my editor in February so I will be noodling up another adventure for that intrepid pair!

Friends, what are you hoping for in your reading and writing life in 2022?

A Wicked Welcome to Alyssa Maxwell! **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, enjoying mild weather in Somerville

I’m delighted to welcome Alyssa Maxwell back to the blog today!

A Deadly Endowment
by Alyssa Maxwell

Hello all you wonderful Wickeds and your fabulous readers! Thanks for having me on today, I’m delighted to be back. I have a question for everyone:

Which Kind of Person are You?

I maintain there are two kinds of people: puzzle people and game people. Now, that doesn’t mean puzzle people can’t enjoy playing games, or that game people can’t enjoy doing a puzzle now and then. But I think most people have a preference as to which they enjoy more. Now me—I’m a puzzle person. I love the solitary challenge of fitting pieces together, whether it’s actual jigsaw pieces or the number patterns in Sudoku, the turns and twists in a maze, or the letters in a word search or crossword. The patterns must fit together to complete the whole, and I enjoy watching a kind of story unfold as I work to solve the puzzle.

So, when it came to games growing up, I tended to like the ones that also told stories as you played. In Monopoly, the story is about buying real estate and managing your money. In Life, you earn a college degree (or not), start a career, get married, have children, etc. And in Clue, aways my favorite, a murder is committed and we must deduce who done it, how and where. We walk through the rooms of a manor house and interact with the other characters/suspects.

When I started writing A Deadly Endowment, I didn’t mean to channel my favorite boardgame, but that’s kind of what happened. I had a rather lengthy cast of characters, first of all, and needed to make each one distinct so my readers wouldn’t get confused. Clue makes it easy for us by color coding each character: Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard, etc. Along with each color are their personalities, depicted on the playing cards. You couldn’t confuse who was who. I didn’t color code my characters exactly, but I made each one very different from the rest both in appearance, temperament, and social strata. So, for example, we have semi-retired and somewhat bumbling Dr. Bishop (Professor Plum?); the young and fashionable magazine writer, Ophelia Chapman (Miss Scarlet?); the dowdy widow, Arvina Bell (Mrs. Peacock?); her skittish ex-soldier son, Hayden; and so on.

We also traipse through the house featured in my series, Foxwood Hall, just like in Clue. With finances having taken a frightening downturn since WWI, Phoebe and Eva are conducting a first-ever house tour of Foxwood Hall to try to generate extra income to help with repairs on the tenant farms and to bring more people into the village to shop. Although Phoebe’s grandmother is horrified by the idea, her grandfather reluctantly agrees, and on the big day a busload of local schoolchildren plus six members of a local historical society eagerly pull up on the drive. We start in the Great Hall. Then it’s into the library, the dining room, drawing room, conservatory . . . Room by room, people lag behind or sneak off elsewhere, and it’s all Phoebe and Eva can do to keep track of everyone. Just as they lead their guests back outside and think they’re home free, they realize someone is missing: Arvina Bell (it’s in the blurb, so no spoilers here). Eva goes in search, and finds her . . .

In the library, strangled with a drapery cord (or in Clue, with the rope).

From there, the story branches out to the village of Little Barlow and it’s surrounding areas. I take Phoebe and Eva—and readers—to places they’ve never been before in the series, for a closer look at how people might have lived based on their wealth and position in society. It was an adventure for me as well as I discovered, for instance, a book store and a new tea shop I never knew existed in the area before, along with another grand estate—although, times being what they are, perhaps not so grand, despite the owners’ attempts to keep up appearances. Every suspect has a secret, some going back decades, but there are also secrets at Foxwood Hall itself, from a stolen 70-year-old photo to a member of the Renshaw family who’s gone missing. Phoebe and Eva need all their wits about them as they play a deadly game of sleuthing and attempt to solve several devilish puzzles!

So, for a chance to win a signed hardcover copy of A Deadly Endowment (U.S. residents only due to shipping costs), tell me, are you a game person or a puzzle person? And have you ever dealt with a real-life mystery you needed to help solve?

Blurb:

The lean times following the Great War continue to require creative solutions for England’s noble class. But Lady Phoebe’s proposal to open up the Renshaw estate to guided tours for additional income strikes many in the family as a “vulgar enterprise.” Phoebe’s grandfather, the Earl of Wroxly, however, reluctantly concedes the necessity.

Their first tour group consists of members of the Historical Society, a magazine writer, and a flock of students. It’s a large group for Phoebe, her sister Amelia, and Eva to manage, and when the widow Arvina Bell goes missing, Eva goes in search of her—only to find her in the library, strangled with a silken drapery cord.

The schoolchildren are promptly sent home, but the members of the Historical Society—many of whom also wandered off at times—remain for interrogation. There is also, curiously, a framed photo missing from the library. As the police hastily zero in on a suspect, Phoebe and Eva weigh the clues. Does the crime have to do with rumors of hidden treasure at Foxwood Hall? But they must make haste to solve the widow’s murder—before someone else becomes history . . .

Bio:

Alyssa Maxwell knew from an early age that she wanted to be a writer. Growing up in New England and traveling to Great Britain fueled a passion for history, while a love of puzzles drew her to the mystery genre. She is the author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries and A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries. She and her husband live in Florida, where she is a member of the Mystery Writers of American-Florida Chapter, Sisters in Crime-Treasure Coast Chapter, and the Florida Romance Writers. You can learn more about Alyssa and her books at http://www.alyssamaxwell.com and connect with her on social media at these links:

https://www.facebook.com/gildednewport

https://www.facebook.com/AlyssaMaxwellauthor/

https://twitter.com/Alyssa__Maxwell

https://www.instagram.com/alyssamaxwellauthor/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7163135.Alyssa_Maxwell

https://www.pinterest.com/alymaxauthor/

A Wicked Welcome to Janet Raye Stevens! **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, enjoying the new year in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Janet Raye Stevens to the blog today! We’ve known each other for a number of years through Sisters in Crime New England and Crime Bake, and I’m thrilled that we can all help her celebrate her 2021 publishing debut(s)!

Playing Favorites

After many years of fits and starts, I published three books in 2021. They’re all wonderful books, and I know, like a doting mother, an author isn’t supposed to have a favorite among her book children, but since I’m with friends, I’ll confess—I like my most recently released book, A Moment After Dark, the best. An historical suspense with a paranormal twist, set in the week leading up to Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, the story has spies and intrigue, a ruthless villain, a tough guy hero with a tender heart, and a resourceful heroine with the ability to see the future. The book was so much fun to write, how could I resist playing favorites?  

The book is also my favorite because it’s a mash-up of my life-long interests in both the paranormal and WWII history.

Blame it on my childhood. I grew up in a public housing project, populated for the most part by WWII veterans. Practically every dad, and some of the moms, had served in the war in some capacity. As a kid, I heard their stories and became steeped in the history of that singular moment in time. I also loved supernatural TV shows like The Twilight Zone and especially the spooky and soapy daytime drama, Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966-71). I’d run home from school every afternoon and plop myself in front of the TV, eager for the show to begin. How I loved the gothic settings, the suspense-filled plots, and the seaside town of Collinsport, Maine, populated by ghosts, werewolves, witches, and one compelling vampire, my first TV boyfriend, Barnabas Collins (played by the badly coiffed and unlikely sex symbol, Jonathan Frid).

When I began writing fiction years later, it made sense my childhood memories, my life-long interests in history and things that go bump in the night, and a little bit of Barnabas Collins would show up in my stories, particularly in the genre blending A Moment After Dark.

Readers: Did you have a favorite, never-miss show like Dark Shadows when you were a kid? Tell us all about it! I’ll send one commenter, chosen at random, a copy of A Moment After Dark. 

About A Moment After Dark:

She sees the future with a touch. A powerful gift in a time of war.

The enemy wants her. The Allies need her.

When Addie Brandt touches someone, she sees their future, and it’s rarely good. Mocked and teased her whole life, Addie hides from the world in her family’s funeral home. But when her second sight shows her a horrific vision of an attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval base, the gruesome images are too intense to ignore, and she tries to raise the alarm. Will anyone listen?

Federal agent Jack Dunstan needs a miracle. He’s still reeling from the betrayal that nearly decimated his team of agents with paranormal powers, a vengeful Nazi spy with a terrifying ability of his own is out to destroy him, and he knows it’s only a matter of time before America is drawn into war. Hearing rumors of Addie’s vision, he seeks her out, hoping she could be the miracle he’s looking for.

Addie’s not sure she trusts Jack Dunstan. He’s rude, cocky, and insists on calling her curse of second sight a “gift.” But if she wants to save lives and prevent a terrible disaster, she has to put aside her fears and embrace her ability. With the US on the brink of war and an enemy agent hunting her for her power, Addie must learn to trust Dunstan—and herself—to stop an attack that could change the course of history.

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Moment-After-Dark-Paranormal-Suspense-ebook/dp/B09MDQL14Z/ref

Other Booksellers: https://books2read.com/u/bOJBkN

Bio:

Meet award-winning author Janet Raye Stevens, mom, reader, tea-drinker (okay, tea guzzler), and weaver of adventurous, suspenseful, and stealthily romantic tales. A Derringer Award nominee and winner of RWA’s Golden Heart® and Daphne du Maurier awards, Janet lives in Massachusetts with her handsome better half and their equally impressive children.

Website: https://janetrayestevens.com/

Happy New Year of Reading Ahead!

Happy New Year from all the Wickeds! We wish you a fabulous year with lots of great books to read and time to read them! Below is a recipe for a classic daiquiri and a mocktail daiquiri!

To make a mocktail substitute two ounces of sparkling lime-flavored water for the rum. It’s refreshing!

Readers: What is going to be your first read of the New Year?

Opening Lines

Wickeds add an opening line for this photo:

Barb: They stood on the storeroom shelves like dismembered sentries–the lines of arms, legs, torsos, and heads. “How do we get rid of these, Dad?” I asked. He rubbed his hand across his grizzled chin. “One at a time, buddy. One at a time.”

Liz: At first glance, it looked like a sad, discarded mannequin in the trash bin. But when I looked again, it was halfway out of the bin…and looking right at me.

Edith/Maddie: Sawyer slammed on the brakes when he spied, there for the taking, the perfect thing to practice his dismembering technique on.

Sherry: Qendrun quietly edged her pod open wondering where she was this time.

Julie: She’d thought it would be funny to dress a mannequin up and have it sitting in the front room waiting for her philandering husband to come home. She’d figured out how to use the portable speaker after her third glass of wine. What she hadn’t figured on was it all scaring him, well, to death. She’d tried not to hum too merry a tune as she threw the torso out.

Readers: Add your opening line!

Dark Days — Two More De-Light-ful Releases

I love this time of year when each day the daylight gets a little bit longer than the day before. And now we have two more books to read —Witch Trial by Cate Conte and the wide release of Jane Darrowfield and the Mad Woman Next Door by Barbara Ross. What fun things have you done in the dark? Star gaze? Night time walks? TP a house back in the day? Explored a cave?

Jessie: Super congratulations, Liz and Barb! Last winter I went with one of my sons to a spot he had found on a dark skies map and looked at the stars and some planets through his high-powered binoculars. It was simply magical! Cold, but magical!

Edith/Maddie: I can’t wait to dive into both these new books. Congratulations, Liz and Barb! I grew up stargazing in the Sierras with my mom during our annual camping trips, and it was amazing – magical, as Jessie says. I didn’t manage to get myself up at three AM earlier this month to watch the Geminid meteors, though. I’ve been wanting to go spelunking in southern Indiana so I can set a Country Store mystery in that mileu, but between COVID and my claustrophobic tendencies, I doubt that will happen.

Sherry: Congratulations, Barb and Liz! I love watching meteor showers and have seen some fabulous ones including one at my husband’s family home in a small town in Idaho where it’s very dark. I also have been to the cave from Tom Sawyer in Hannibal several times along with Luray Caverns in Virginia.

Barb: All of those things. I stargaze, sadly with a spotty sense of what I’m looking at. I love walks at night. I’ve explored caverns in Virginia and in Colombia. I love sitting around a campfire, telling ghost stories in the dark. You name it!

Liz: Thanks, all! I love doing things like that. One of my favorite nights was a full moon circle I did outside with a bunch of ladies, some crystals, incense, herbs, and flowers. I also like to walk through cemeteries at night. My best friend in high school lived right across the street from one and we spent a lot of time there after dark…

Readers: How about you?

Two New Releases for the Wickeds!

Hi. It’s Barb and Liz here today with two releases: the brand new Witch Trial by Cate Conte (Liz) and the wide release of Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door by Barbara Ross.

Witch Trial Here’s the blurb

In the second installment of Cate Conte’s charming new series featuring crystal shop owner and witch Violet Mooney, the murder of one of her customers launches her into a case that conjures up both supernatural and mortal enemies…

Double, double toil and trouble,
A witch’s life is quite a muddle.
 
The Full Moon crystal shop in North Harbor, Connecticut, offers healing stones for all sorts of ailments. Unfortunately, there’s nothing among the gems that can help owner Violet Mooney learn how to wield the magick she inherited from both sides of her family—the legendary Ravenstar and Moonstone clans. As if being an apprentice witch weren’t difficult enough, Violet’s tutors are her estranged mother Fiona, a sister she never knew she had named Zoe, and a familiar in the form of a black cat, Xander.
 
Between learning spells, Violet is being investigated by the Magickal Council. A reporter out to debunk spiritualists was “genied”—her soul imprisoned inside a bottle—in Violet’s shop, and she can’t prove she didn’t do it. Meanwhile, her non-magickal life has become complicated when one of her crystal shop customers, Nicole St. James, goes missing and turns up dead, a victim of murder.
 
Determined to solve both crimes, Violet taps into powers she doesn’t understand, much less control—and finds herself conjuring up both supernatural and mortal enemies…

Cate says…

I’m so happy this book is finally out! It’s been a while since Witch Hunt debuted, and I’m so excited for this next installment to be out in the world. Violet is knee-deep in both mortal and non-mortal mysteries in this one, and it’s been so much fun to write. I hope you all enjoy!

Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door The blurb

Jane Darrowfield is using her retirement years to work as a professional busybody, with most of her business coming from her West Cambridge, Massachusetts, community. This time her client is right next door . . .

Megan, who’s purchased the house next to Jane’s, needs some help from her snooping neighbor. Megan’s been having blackouts, hearing voices—and feeling like someone’s following her. Are these symptoms of an illness—or signs that she’s in danger?

Considering the extensive security system in Megan’s house, it seems like she should be safe—yet she soon vanishes into thin air. Some think she’s run away, but would this ambitious young lawyer on the partner track really miss a meeting with an important client? And where’s Megan’s cat?

The mystery is about to deepen when the cat is finally located in a hidden panic room—and as Jane and the police look into Megan’s friends, family, and past, it may be time to sound the alarm . .

Barb says

Jane Darrowfield began the professional busybody phase of her life as a Barnes & Noble exclusive, available only in the U.S. and only in print. I am so excited that Jane will now reach a wider audience. I’ve loved writing these books and hope you enjoy Jane’s adventures.

Readers: Thank you to all the faithful readers of the Wicked Authors. We hope you had a great year in reading. Is there a book you’re particularly excited about digging into in the new year?

A Different Kind of Week

Edith here, writing from an appropriately winter-cold day north of Boston.

This week feels like a bit of a mish-mash. Christmas is over, for those who celebrated it – or mostly over. Schools are on break, K though PhD. The roads are mostly quiet, at least if you didn’t hit the malls the day after Christmas (for me, that is the stuff of nightmares – I am SO not a shopper).

In my house, we won’t see my older son and his wife until Thursday, because they were with her family for the holiday. I’m leaving up the decorations, most of which my mom made with her talent with fabrics.

I’m giving myself until next year (that is, next week) to ignore my work-in-progress. I’m going to work on a short story, read a lot, clean out my bedroom closet (ugh, not done since we moved in here in 2012, and which will probably make me sneeze my head off), go for walks, see friends, and try to get caught up – but also refill the well.

I love quiet weeks. That said, I do have a new book coming out in a short two months. I did a cover reveal of my next release, Batter Off Dead, here back in September. Now I realize my next mystery releases on 2-22-22! How felicitous can that be? And it’s the tenth book in the Country Store Mysteries. Stay tuned for a big tenth-birthday celebration.

Plus, I have a stack of advance copies to give away. As Barb said years ago, we never want to get to release day with ARCs still in hand.

In Batter Off Dead, Robbie Jordan and her new husband Abe O’Neill are enjoying a summer evening in the park with fellow townsfolk excited for some Friday night fireworks. But when the lightshow ends, one of the knitters who sat with Lieutenant Bird’ s father Roy is found dead, a puncture wound in her neck. The poor woman’s death echoes that of Buck’s mother— Roy’s wife—as an unsolved homicide. To help find the killer, Robbie’s going to have to untangle knotty relationships deep in the victim’s past as well as those in the present.

Readers: Who wants an ARC to read in this mishmash week, and where will you review it?

Favorite Holiday Decorations

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! We are sharing our favorite decorations.

Barbara: For this post, I chose something new, not a cherished family heirloom. One of the few renovations my husband and I have done in our current place is an upgrade of the lighting on the living floor, including this chandelier over the dining table. Last year I had the idea to add Christmas balls to it during the holiday season. Normally, I think it looks like a cityscape, but with the balls added, it looks to me like icicles.

Julie: I really struck gold with my sisters. We’ve been juggling a lot of family stuff this year, but we’ve remained united, supportive, and friends. I bought them this ornament because it made me laugh, we all love White Christmas, and because it’s true. There were never such devoted sisters.

Edith: My nativity scene holds so many memories, past and present. My mother painted the traditional figures, and they were the ones we set out every year when I was a child. My older sister, Barbara (a big fan of all the Wickeds’ cozies) got the set and used it with her four sons, but after I had my own young family, she passed it along to us. She also sent me the red yarn elves when we lived in Mali for a year and had zero Christmas decorations. About ten years ago I found Snoopy in a box and added him, and then Garfield and Bert. Now I love to add other figures as I come across them (which is how RBG and Obama joined the birthday party).

Liz: I lost all of my old, meaningful decorations. I guess I can say it was the first decoration I got to start my new collection. Plus, he’s very regal and I love that about him.

Sherry: I have a lot of Santas but my latest obsession is vintage spaghetti-trim Santas. My mom has a couple that she’s had for years. I bought a Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shaker set at a church sale a long time ago. I confess that last year I bought two on Etsy and gave one to my daughter and one to my husband and said, “Give this to me for Christmas.” I sent a link to my mom for one for this year so fingers crossed!

Jessie: I love seeing all your decorations, old and new! Our house is always decorated for Christmas with a collection of sentimental ornaments acquired over the years, especially craft projects my children have created. One of my very favorites was made at school by my youngest many years ago. It has hung on the door to our front porch at the holidays every year since and never fails to make me smile when I catch a glimpse of it. Here’s hoping there are things that make each of you smile this season!

Readers: Do you have a favorite decoration? Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Genre Hopping — Guest John Nardizzi

We met John at Crime Bake a long time ago. Before we knew his name we called him “the man with the great shoes who’s a PI.” He’s also a great writer and I’m happy to welcome him back to the blog. The first time he visited, in 2014, John talked about being a private investigator. You can read that post here. We should probably have John back to talk about being a PI now and how things have changed. John’s newest book, The Burden of Innocence came out December 5th.

Name (s)

John Nardizzi

Genre(s)

Crime fiction / noir

What drew you to the genre you write?

Growing up, I always loved reading books, especially anything with a mystery or fantasy theme. I loved J.R.R. Tolkien, classic fairly tales, the Hardy Boys mystery adventures. Then I started digging into my dad’s bookshelf and came across Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. That put me onto the trail of contemporary crime fiction, (if the 1970s can be called contemporary).

What sets your book apart from what is out there?

People tell me my writing evokes vivid imagery of real PI work—walking up to people’s homes, the verbal kung fu of the interview. I’m not prolific. But I’m passionate about getting the words exactly right. I work as an investigator, so my stories come right from the source—conmen, criminals, police, witnesses. I hear the dialogue first-hand and tweak it to fit the book (in other words, I steal…) I try to become each character and then get out of the way. Let them tell their story.

What are you currently writing?

I am working on the third book in the Infantino Files series. And I’m writing a non-fiction account of starting out as an investigator working for the controversial PI Jack Palladino.

What are you reading right now?

My Heart is a Chainsaw.

What is your favorite deadline snack?

Wine. Usually leads to a new deadline.

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto?

“If I read a book… If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.

Favorite writing space?

A heavy leather chair in my office, music playing.

What do you see when you look up from writing?

Darkness over the ocean.

Here’s a bit about Burden of Innocence:

Investigation is continuing with the return of PI Ray Infantino in a crime thriller written by “a bold new poet of American noir – This is the book Chandler would have written if he’d been a real-life private eye.” – Ellen McGarrahan, Author of NYT Editor’s Choice Two Truths and a Lie

Innocence is pain-when you’re locked in a cage.

Private investigators Ray Infantino and Tania Kong take on the case of Sam Langford, framed for a murder committed by a crime boss at the height of his powers. But a decade later, Boston has changed. The old ethnic tribes have weakened.

As the PIs range across the city, witnesses remember the past in dangerous ways. The gangsters know that, in the new Boston, vulnerable witnesses they manipulated years ago are shaky. Old bones will not stay buried forever. When a vicious gangster and a corrupt cop team up to derail the investigation, the stakes are higher than ever.

Can Ray and Tania solve the case in time to free an innocent man?

Readers: Is there a city or town that fascinates you that you love to read about in books?

Bio: John Nardizzi is writer and investigator. His crime novels have won praise for crackling dialogue and pithy observations of detective work. He speaks and writes about investigations in numerous settings, including World Association of Detectives, Lawyers Weekly, Pursuit Magazine and PI Magazine.

His work on innocence cases led to the exoneration Gary Cifizzari and James Watson, as well as million dollar settlements for clients Dennis Maher and the estate of Kenneth Waters, whose story was featured in the film Conviction. Prior to his PI career, he failed to hold any restaurant job for longer than a week. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts.