Sherry Harris's Blog, page 11

Opening Lines

Write an opening line for the photo below:

Sherry: I thought the breakfast buffet menu said Ham and Eggs, not Hand and Eggs.

Julie: I asked him to lend me a hand. Yeesh. Hate to see what happens if I tell him to blow it out his ear.

Edith: When I hired a handyman I found on Craigslist, this was not what I expected.

Jessie: Suddenly Polly understood her husband’s uncharacteristic offer to have her brother over for dinner.

Barb: It wasn’t until I went off to the Hanson Preparatory School for Gifted Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves that I finally had a good meal.

Liz: The only thing worse than finding the hand in the silverware drawer was finding the rest of the body in my brand new dining room.

Readers: Add yours!

Filed under: Opening Lines, Uncategorized

Welcome Leslie Budewitz!

Wicked lunch post Crime Bake. From lower left clockwise, Julie, Sherry, Leslie, Barb, Sheila, Liz, Jessie

NEWS FLASH: The winner of Joyce Tremel’s To Brew or Not to Brew is Ruth Nixon! Joyce will be contacting you, Ruth.

Sisters in Crime (SinC) president’s hat at the New England Crime Bake. Since Sisters in Crime (the New England chapter) is one of the reasons the Wickeds know each other, I (Julie/Julianne) thought I’d talk about this wonderful organization a bit.

How long have you been a member of Sisters in Crime?

I joined in 1995, after a friend spotted a piece in the book section of the Sunday paper on SinC and MWA. I lived in rural Montana at the time, far away from other writers and groups, and SinC—which was all by mail then—was my first real introduction to writers’ groups.

Tell us about your writing journey and your path to publication.

I started writing at 4, on my father’s desk. Literally – I did not yet understand the concept of paper. But while l always wanted to be a writer, I didn’t actually think it was something you could do. In my late 30s, I decided I really did want to write seriously, though it took more than fifteen years before I held my first book in my hands. In the interim, I wrote several unpublished manuscripts, although a few were agented and came close, and published half a dozen short stories.

Elizabeth George and Leslie Budewitz at Crime Bake. Photo: Mo Walsh

As an English major turned lawyer who always preferred research and writing to the courtroom, I started reading everything I could about mystery writing. I went to mystery conventions, and in 1999, took a week-long intensive mystery writing workshop with Elizabeth George, which changed my writing life. It’s not her fault that I didn’t get a book published for another twelve years! And it was super-wonderful to reconnect with her at the New England Crime Bake.

 

Along the way, other writers started asking me questions about using the law in their fiction—how does their fictional police officer get a search warrant, can one character inherit from another, who is Miranda and why are we always warning her? I wrote columns for several writers’ newsletters, including the Guppies’ First Draft and SinC National’s quarterly, InSinC. I was inspired by D.P. Lyle’s Murder and Mayhem: A Doctor Answers Medical and Forensics Questions for Mystery Writers to create a book proposal, which eventually became Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Linden/Quill Driver Books), winner of the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction.

While I was writing Books, Crooks, I realized that as much as I love helping other writers get the facts about the law write—er, right—I wasn’t through telling my own stories. I love the light-hearted subset of traditional mystery sometimes called the cozy, and decided to try that genre. Foodie fiction is popular, and I love to eat and cook, so I created a village obsessed with food—in Montana, of all the unlikely places. Erin Murphy manages Murphy’s Mercantile aka the Merc, a specialty regional foods market in her family’s hundred-year-old building in the village of Jewel Bay. The village is inspired in part by the town I live in, and while there are even more great places to eat on the page than on our streets, it’s actually not too far from the mark! Happily, the locals have embraced the books. The first, Death al Dente, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, which still gives me the thrills!

And now I write a second series, the Spice Shop Mysteries, drawing on my love of Seattle, where I went to college and practiced law for eight years.

They are both such great series! Several of us are also Guppies, and by that I don’t mean fish. You are one of the founders of the Guppies. Tell us about the creation of the group, and where it is now?

In the summer of 1996, a beginning writer who was part of the Internet chapter put out a call for new writers to form a support and information group. I responded to the call, along with half a dozen others. In those pre-Internet days, we communicated mainly by mail, sending each other round-robin packages crammed with articles we’d found and chapters for critique. Eventually, we grew large enough for a real mailing list and newsletter, and in 1997, went online. The name came at about that time, from the nickname, The Great Unpublished. We formed the first Guppy Steering Committee in 1997, and I was the first treasurer. Official chapter status came a few years later.

The Guppies is now the largest chapter of SinC, typically reaching 600 members by year-end. It’s such a welcoming place that many members stay in the group long after they become published, as I have. When we started, the challenge was finding information about craft and the business of writing. Now, the problem is too much information, and the Guppies, along with SinC National, does a great job helping writers navigate those crowded waters.

I truly would not be published today if not for the support and encouragement of my friends in SinC, especially in the Guppies. I wrote in my essay for the marvelous anthology Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey that, while writers spend a lot of time home alone in our rooms, every opportunity and achievement I’ve had as a writer is the result of something I learned or someone I met in a group. And it’s absolutely true.

It is true! Other writers make the journey a lot more fun, that’s for sure. Tell me, what do you wish you’d understood at the beginning of this journey?

Honestly, I’m glad I didn’t know how long it would take me to get published, or I might not have kept going, and that would have been a sad thing. I’m a happier, healthier person because I spend so much time alone with people who only exist because I made them up. I kinda wish I’d figured that out a few years earlier and gotten started seriously sooner!

Or maybe your timing was just right, since both your series are so much fun. Tell us about the new book!

Guilty as Cinnamon is the second Seattle Spice Shop Mystery, following Assault and Pepper (March 2015). I fell in love with Pike Place Market as a college student in Seattle, a squillion years ago, and as a young lawyer working downtown, ate my way through the Market regularly. It’s a marvelous setting for a series—a city within a city, a historic place that’s always new, a place where anything can and does happen.

When one of Pepper’s potential clients, a young chef named Tamara Langston, is found dead—possibly from ingesting the dangerously hot ghost chili, a spice Pepper carries— Pepper is drawn in.

I wanted to explore the relationships between the Spice Shop staff and show Pepper struggling a bit with certain aspects of her business. She’s no longer confident in her personal judgment when it comes to romantic relationships, so I wanted to delve into that. I knew that Tag, Pepper’s ex-husband and a bike patrol officer, does not get along with one of the homicide detectives; this book gave me a chance to find out why.

As in all my books, but especially the Spice Shop series, there’s an underlying social justice issue as well. And I wanted her to have fun with that dog!

It is on my TBR pile! Thank you for coming to visit the Wickeds today, Leslie. Readers: questions for Leslie? Ask away.

—

More about Guilty as Cinnamon:

Pepper Reece knows that fiery flavors are the spice of life. But when a customer dies of a chili overdose, she finds herself in hot pursuit of a murderer…

Murder heats up Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the next Spice Shop mystery from the national bestselling author of Assault and Pepper.

Springtime in Seattle’s Pike Place Market means tasty foods and wide-eyed tourists, and Pepper’s Seattle Spice Shop is ready for the crowds. With flavorful combinations and a fresh approach, she’s sure to win over the public. Even better, she’s working with several local restaurants as their chief herb and spice supplier. Business is cooking, until one of Pepper’s potential clients, a young chef named Tamara Langston, is found dead, her life extinguished by the dangerously hot ghost chili—a spice Pepper carries in her shop.

Now stuck in the middle of a heated police investigation, Pepper must use all her senses to find out who wanted to keep Tamara’s new café from opening—before someone else gets burned…

—

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. She fell in love with the Pike Place Market as a college student in Seattle, and still makes regular pilgrimages. The president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher. Connect with her through her website and blog, www.LeslieBudewitz.com, or on Facebook.

Filed under: Book Release, Guest posts, Interview, Uncategorized Tagged: Guilty as Cinnamon, Leslie Budewitz, New England Crime Bake, Sisters in Crime, Sisters in Crime New England Chapter, Wicked Cozy Authors

Wicked Wednesday: 2015 Sprint

Well, Wickeds, it is December! The last month of the year. So, here’s the question of the week–what does that mean to you? Any goal sprints you still want to tackle? Or are you all about getting through the holidays, and starting fresh in 2016?

Edith: That was a fast year! One of these days this month I’ll be getting copyedits on Delivering the Truth, so I’ll be sprinting to finish those after they arrive. I have a few weeks of revision and polish to accomplish on When the Grits Hit the Fan, and plan to get that done before Christmas. Some cookies to bake and a tree to trim in there. Oh, and several gifts to come up with and obtain. Why do I always leave it so late? But our holidays are pretty low key these days, and I mostly just want to enjoy my son when he’s here. The rest can slide.

Barb: I’ve learned that all the excitement of the holiday season makes it challenging to finish out the 2015 goals, much less take on new ones. I’ll be treading water, and resurfacing with new goals in 2016.

Liz: Yikes. It’s a long story, but I’m still working on book one in my new cat cafe series with St. Martin’s Press. My goal is to have that wrapped up by the end of the year. Gulp. Wish me luck!

Jessie: I’ve got some goals on my list for the year that I won’t complete before the calendar turns but I can say that all of them are further along than they were at the beginning of the year. For me, that is the point. My goals help me to live with more intention and to spend my time and energy mindfully. Even if I don’t reach a goal on schedule, I am usually far ahead of where I started or where I would have been if I hadn’t tried in the first place. So, I’ll use these last four weeks to make the progress I can and then look forward to what 2016 will hold.

Sherry: Tagged for Death came out a year ago this Friday! I still can’t believe an entire year has gone by! I plan to enjoy the holidays more this year because last year I was on pins and needles. My proof pages showed up for book three All Murders Final! so that is an unexpected task to complete before Christmas. And I really hope to have the first draft of book four done by mid January so I have a lot of words to write before the end of the year.

Julie: Definitely sprinting a bit. I’ve plotted Book #3, and want to get more words written before the end of the year, for sure. Also have copy edits for Book #2, and a couple of other small projects to get done. That said, December is busy, so I need to enjoy the season as well.

Readers, do you have any goals or plans you’d like to reach before the end of the year? Do you give yourself a pass instead when it gets to be this late in the game?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: All Murders Final, Delivering the Truth, goals, Tagged for Death, When the Grits Hit the Fan

Guest- Kathy Lynn Emerson

Jessie: In New Hampshire where the Thanksgiving leftovers are now just a fond memory. Once again the Wickeds are delighted to welcome multi-published, and versatile Maine author, Kathy Lynn Emerson. Kathy has a rare ability to bring settings and characters to life whether they are modern residents of rural Maine or historical figures of England. Thanks for visiting with us  today!

For Wicked Cozies, the story of a wicked woman.

I admit it. I have a soft spot for the Elizabethan underworld. Of course, the Elizabethans didn’t call it that, but they certainly had one—vagabonds, beggars, thieves, prostitutes, players and spies. Since what the distaff side was up to has always been my focus when studying history, I tend to pay particular attention to anything written about women who ran afoul of the law. It was far too easy for a woman to end up in gaol. Often this was through no fault of her own, but there are also some spectacular examples of women who turned sin into profit and avoided, for the most part, the perils of arrest and punishment.

One of the most infamous went by the name Black Luce of Clerkenwell. Since she was in her heyday during the period when my Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries take place, I couldn’t resist making her a featured player in the second in the series, Murder in the Merchant’s Hall. I created a character that has some basis in fact, but one that also contains a heaping helping of imagination. You see, the real Black Luce is something of a mystery woman.

By 1576, a woman called Black Luce was running a bawdy house in St. John Street, Clerkenwell. Whether she was actually a black woman, simply dark skinned, or only black-hearted, is unknown, but her nickname led Leslie Hotson, in Mr. W.H.(1964), to suggest she might be the dark lady who inspired Shakespeare to write his sonnets. He also identified her as having once been a gentlewoman (Lucy Morgan) at the court of Queen Elizabeth. For decades, no one did any further investigation. Then Gustav Ungerer, in his “Prostitution in Late Elizabethan England: The Case of Mary Newborough,” and Duncan Salkeld in Shakespeare among the Courtesans discovered that Black Luce was married to a man named Baynham and, while they don’t completely discount her connection to the players, they do disprove Hotson’s claim that she was Lucy Morgan.

There was a real Lucy Morgan, a gentlewoman at the court of Queen Elizabeth from 1579 to 1582. She may have married a man named Parker and been the Lucy Parker who, at Yuletide 1588/9, gave the queen a box of cherries as a New Year’s gift. And this same Lucy Morgan does appear to have fallen on hard times and turned to a life of sin. The records of Bridewell for May 3, 1598, include charges brought against her for living at the house of Edward Tilsley at Pichet Hatch at the upper end of Aldersgate, where she was visited by Tilsley once a fortnight and also visited by friends of his. Tilsley gave her three shillings a week for her maintenance and paid the rent on the house. There is no record that she was imprisoned for immoral behavior, perhaps because the testimony also revealed that Sir Matthew Morgan gave her an allowance of ten pounds when he was in England and had sent her five pounds at Christmas. Sir Matthew was undoubtedly a relative, although the connection is unclear.

Luce Baynham, however, as Black Luce, was far more notorious. She shows up frequently in court records. Shortly before January 2, 1576/7, for example, her house was raided at midnight and the occupants forced to flee to another establishment in Westminster, where a Mrs. Stallis operated as a bawd. Luce occasionally entered into a partnership with Gilbert and Margaret East, who ran a brothel in Turnmill Street. By 1595, Luce was well-established as an underworld figure. In that year, she entertained students from Gray’s Inn with her choir of “black nuns.” She seems to have managed to avoided prosecution until January 15, 1600, when she was committed to Bridewell for being a “notorious and lewd woman.” She was released on January 31st and was soon back in business. Just after Christmas 1604, she was living in the Boar’s Head tenements on Bankside, apparently with Gilbert East, and paying an annual rent of twenty shillings.

In the seventeenth century the career of Black Luce was celebrated more than once in print. One satirical epitaph, “On Luce Morgan,” claims that she became a Roman Catholic late in life and that she died diseased.

My Black Luce is young—it is only 1583 when Murder in the Merchant’s Hall takes place. I paint Luce as a sharp businesswoman but as someone who has a sense of humor. Rosamond Jaffrey’s attempts to gain information that will prove a friend innocent of murder amuse her, but she’s also quick to step in when Rosamond herself is faced with arrest. Given the choice of helping another woman or turning her over to a corrupt officer of the law, Luce doesn’t hesitate to come to Rosamond’s aid. She may be a wicked woman, but she’s wicked clever, too.

Readers, are you fans of Wicked Women? Do you love historical mysteries? Writers, do real people inspire your own work?

How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (The Scottie Barked at Midnight)(Murder in the Merchant’s Hall)Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award in 2008 for best mystery nonfiction for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2014 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (The Scottie Barked at Midnight) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries as Kathy (Murder in the Merchant’s Hall). The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KathyLynnEmerson.com and www.KaitlynDunnett.com

 

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Black Luce, historical mysteries, kaitlyn dunnett, Kate Emerson, Kathy Lynn Emerson, maine, Murder in the Merchant's Hall, Wicked Women

Guest – Joyce Tremel

Edith here, delighted to welcome debut cozy mystery author Joyce Tremel to the blog. Take a look at this bio![image error]

Joyce Tremel was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. Her flash fiction has appeared in Mysterical-e, and her non-fiction has been published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Magazine. Her debut novel To Brew or Not to Brew is nominated for a 2015 Reviewers’ Choice Award for best amateur sleuth by Romantic Times. The second book in the series, tentatively titled Tangled up in Brew, will release late next year.

She’s going to give away a signed copy of To Brew or Not to Brew to one lucky commenter, too.  Take it away, Joyce.

First, I’d like to thank Edith for inviting me to write a guest post (and Julie who asked me after Edith did!). This is one of my favorite blogs and I really appreciate the chance to be here—especially today. You see, tomorrow is my BIG DAY—the release of my first novel, To Brew or Not to Brew!

When debut authors talk about the “roller coaster of emotions” that go with launching a book it’s one hundred percent true. Just in the past couple of weeks I’ve experienced elation, excitement, nervousness, and panic. Fortunately, all the negative emotions take back place to the positive ones. Part of the reason for this is because of the support from fellow writers.

Just like how you Wickeds stick together, I belong to a great support group of my own—the Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime. When I first joined way back in 2001 or 2002, I was a new writer. I’d dabbled with writing for years and finally decided it was time to take it more seriously. We didn’t have many published authors back then. Most of us were newbies. I was completely in awe of our president, Nancy Martin, who had numerous published novels (and now I’m on panels with her!). In the years since then, many of us have crossed the threshold into published authordom (I may have just made up that word!).

Joyce, Annette Dashofy, Jeff Boarts, and Martha Reed at Malice Domestic 2015.

We’ve talked each other off the ledge after getting the umpteenth rejection from an agent, we’ve rejoiced for each other when short stories were published, and we’ve just about sung the Hallelujah Chorus when books were accepted for publication. I actually cried I was so happy when my good friend, Annette Dashofy told me her first book was going to be published. And I’m pretty sure I heard her scream from the next county when I emailed her that mine sold!

When I started writing this post, I had no idea what it was going to be about, but I kind of like where it’s gone. The writing community—especially the mystery community—is like one big family. Maybe it’s because we writers all experience the same highs and lows. We know exactly what it feels like to get that fiftieth rejection letter or when someone tells us they love something we’ve written. And readers are our extended family. Maybe they’re even the patriarchs and matriarchs. After all, what good is a writer without a reader?

I guess this is a pretty long way to say thanks to all my writer friends—Wickeds included. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Readers: Who is your extended family? Have you ever met a brewmaster? Ask Joyce a question about her debut experience! Remember, she’s giving away a copy of the book!

About the book: The Allegheny Brew House is a dream come true for Maxine “Max” O’Hara, who is preparing to open her own craft brew pub in a newly revitalized section of
Pittsburgh. But before she can start pouring stouts and lagers to thirsty throngs,
there’s trouble on tap. Suspicious acts of sabotage culminate in Max finding her
assistant brewmaster and chef  strangled in one of the vats. With a homicide detective for a dad, Max comes to criminal investigation naturally. And if someone is desperate enough to kill to stop her from opening, Max needs to act fast—before her brand-new brew biz totally tanks…
Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Annette Dashofy, Joyce Tremel, Pittsburgh Sisters in Crime, To Brew or Not to Brew [image error]

Black Friday Stew

Susannah/Sadie/Jane here, writing from her cabin high above a lake somewhere in the boondocks…

Hello, Wicked People! As my status may tell you, I’m not home in Connecticut for Thanksgiving. As long as there’s not too much snow, we travel to our cabin, where we watch the Macy’s parade (the only time we ever watch broadcast television there—not that that’s a big hardship or anything. We only get two stations.). We stay until mid-afternoon on Turkey Day, then head out to my mom’s house for a big dinner with my sisters and their families. After dinner, we break into two groups: the turkey coma victims and/or television special watchers, and the card players.

Doing the can-can-can on the deck, with the lake in the background

Since none of us are Black Friday shoppers, the next day everyone comes here, to Camp (yes, we think of it with a capital C). About ten years ago, I threw together a big, easy meal with the turkey leftovers, and Black Friday stew was born. We’ve been having it ever since. Today, I’m sharing the recipe with you.

 

Black Friday Stew

1 cooked turkey carcass (any size), meat picked off and refrigerated for later

1 onion

2 carrots

2 parsnips

2 stalks celery

1 bay leaf

Place turkey carcass in your largest stock pot. If you can, break up the carcass a bit so it will fit better. Add the vegetables and bay leaf. Cover most of the carcass with water, bring to a quick boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for at least three hours on medium-low heat. Allow to cool to a temperature that won’t burn you, then strain out the solids and discard. Measurements don’t have to be exact, but I usually end up with about 2 to 3 quarts of stock.

Place strained stock back into the cleaned pot and add:

2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup, or 1 family-size can (straight from the can)

2 cans of creamed corn

1 can of drained niblets (or leftover corn from yesterday’s dinner)

Leftover gravy and mashed potatoes (if you have them)

Bring up to a slow simmer, and when the stew is hot, add about half a box of angel hair or spaghetti, broken up. Simmer until the pasta is cooked.

Serves a crowd (recipe is easily halved). Serve with buttered fresh-baked French bread—I use the Pillsbury kind that startles you when the tube of dough pops open. But any delicious roll or bread will do. Because what’s a few more carbs, right?

This is a very forgiving recipe. I’ve even added a bit of leftover stuffing and green bean casserole at the last minute, and it was quite tasty.

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, I hope you all had a lovely Thursday and will have a peaceful weekend. Hugs from the boondocks!

Filed under: Jane's posts, Recipes, Sadie's Posts, Susannah's posts, Uncategorized Tagged: Black Friday, recipe, Thanksgiving, turkey

Gathered Round

Jessie: In New Hampshire, feeling grateful that unlike last year on Thanksgiving, the snow has not yet started to fly.

One of the things I am grateful for this year is the sense of community built up around this blog. And nothing seems to reinforce the feeling of community like time spent together round a table, sharing stories, experiences and a good meal.

Since we can’t all be together the physical world today I thought it might be nice to imagine seeing all of you around a cyber table. I am imagining a gathering of all of those readers who comment and all of those readers who simply enjoy reading and nodding their heads quietly. I’d love for any of you to join in by mentioning in the comments which favorite food you would like to bring to the feast and maybe a thing you are thankful for this year.

I’m planning to bring my protagonist Dani Greene’s Maple Pumpkin Butter. Dani likes to beat it together with some cream cheese and use it as a dip for pretzels. It is also great on hot toast or spread between the layers of a cake. The recipe comes from my book, A Sticky Situation. Its main ingredient is pumpkin and it always makes me think of Thanksgiving every time I make it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Maple Pumpkin Butter

30 ounces canned pumpkin puree

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves and cardamom

Spray a slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl combine all ingredients then add to the slow cooker. Cook on low setting for 6 hours or until the mixture is reduced to a thick, spreadable consistency.

Filed under: Jessie's posts Tagged: A Sticky Situation, Dani Greene, grateful, Maple, New Hampshire, Pumpkin Butter, Thanksgiving

Wicked Wednesday–Knit One, Purl Two

We’re celebrating the release of Sadie Hartwell’s Yarned and Dangerous. So Wickeds, here’s a question for you. Do you knit? If yes, tell us why. If no, have you ever tried? Done it? Success or no? What were the results?

Sherry: My mom had someone give my sister and I knitting lessons once upon a time. For years I moved the two needles with the twenty rows of not-so-neatly knitted pink yarn attached around the country with me. I don’t think I ever made it beyond knit to purl. I admire the dedication and concentration it takes to knit. Who knows maybe some day I’ll give it another try.

Liz: I’m hopeless at stuff like this. My mother had tried to teach me to sew and crochet, but I really just wanted her to leave me alone so I could read…

Julie: I do indeed knit. My grandmother taught me, and I’ve kept it up. In fact, I have rediscovered it lately–it is meditative. I have been mostly tackling hats and socks lately–quick projects. But I think I may work on a sweater for one of the nieces. PS, Sherry, we have a couple of trips coming up. Maybe I’ll teach you how to knit at LCC.

Jessie: I am a passionate knitter! I agree with Julie about its meditative properties. I keep a ball of yarn that I like the feel of and a pair of needles on my desk and whenever I get stuck whilst writing I just knit back and forth, making nothing at all. Something about it unlocks my brain. I also love how it is an entirely different sort of creative pursuit than writing and yet the two practices have so much in common. Each is built on one small unit, a stitch or a word, placed with other and another and another until you have created something wonderful to share.

Barb: My paternal grandmother was a fabulous knitter. I still have some of the things she made me, 35+ years after her death. She tried to teach me, but I have the manual dexterity of the six-fingered sloth. (They probably have great manual dexterity–but with six fingers. Which is how I type.) My sister-in-law, Ann Ross, however, is a tremendous knitter. She teaches and is an all-around knitting maven at GoshYarnIt, a yarn boutique in Kingston, PA. (She took these beautiful photos.) Ann coached me enough that I could put a knitting clue in “Bread Baby,” my Agatha-nominated short story. Julia knits in the next Maine Clambake Mystery, Fogged Inn, but not with good results, I’m afraid.

Edith: I learned to knit in high school. And promptly got kicked out of senior biology for knitting in class (there was some attitude attached to it, you can be sure). In the winter I always have a longing to knit, but since I only pick it up every five years or so, I kind of have to reteach myself. Made a couple of sweaters with spectacularly long sleeves for my sons when they were younger, and realized I really should just stick to scarves. I am a much better seamstress, though, in my defense!

Readers: Do you knit, crochet, needlepoint, sew? Do you like mysteries that incorporate these skills?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Ann Ross, Goshyarnit, knitting, Sadie Hartwell, Tangled Web Mysteries, Yarned and Dangerous

Happy Book Birthday, Sadie Hartwell!

Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are celebrating the release of Yarned and Dangerous, the first book in Sadie Hartwell’s Tangled Web Mystery series. It’s a special occasion because Sadie Hartwell is our own Wicked Accomplice, Jane Haertel, aka, Susannah Hardy. That’s right, this hard-working author had her first pub this year, then earlier this month released Olive and Let Die, the second book in her Greek to Me Mystery series, and now her third book this year.

Here’s the low down on Yarned and Dangerous.

Time has not been kind to sleepy Dorset Falls, Connecticut, where an erstwhile resident is hoping to bring a tattered yarn shop back to life—but with a murderer on the loose, the whole town is in knots…

Josie Blair left Dorset Falls twelve years ago in hopes of making it big in New York City. But after earning an overpriced master’s degree and getting fired by a temperamental designer, she finds herself heading back to her hometown. Her great-uncle was injured in a car accident, and newly unemployed Josie is the only person available to take care of him. Uncle Eb’s wife didn’t survive the crash, so Josie is also tasked with selling the contents of her Aunt Cora’s yarn shop. But the needling ladies of the Charity Knitters Association pose a far bigger challenge than a shop full of scattered skeins…

Miss Marple Knits is one of the few businesses still open in the dreary downtown. Josie can’t imagine how it stayed open for so long, yet something about the cozy, resilient little shop appeals to her. But when one of the town’s most persnickety knitters turns up dead in a pile of cashmere yarn, Josie realizes there’s something truly twisted lurking beneath the town’s decaying façade…

INCLUDES ORIGINAL KNITTING PATTERNS!

Wickeds, wish Sadie a Happy Book Birthday!

Sherry: I don’t know very much about knitting but this sounds deliciously creepy! I love the sound of a town that’s decaying and the contrast of this wonderful yarn shop. Congratulations, Sadie!

Liz: I confess I’m not a knitter either but this series might convert me! Sounds great, Sadie. Wishing you a great launch!

Julie: Happy Book Birthday!! I am a knitter, and love yarn shop mysteries. Can’t wait to visit Miss Marple Knits, and get to know Josie!

Barb: I was lucky enough to get to read this in advance. Spoiler alert! I loved it. Here’s what I said. “A tale of murder and intrigue that will ensnare knitters and non-knitters alike. I couldn’t put it down.” You guys are in for a treat!

Jessie: I’m a passionate knitter and, of course, a lover of mysteries. What could be better than combining two of my favorite things? I’ve really been looking forward to this release!

Edith: I love the name of the yarn store! And got my own copy of the book yesterday from Sadie, complete with autograph. Top on the TBR pile. Congratulations, Sadie/Susannah/Jane.

Readers: Doesn’t this book sound awesome? Doesn’t anybody want to know about Sadie’s yarn skills? Ask her a question!

Filed under: Book Birthday Tagged: Greek to Me Mysteries, Olive and Let Die, Sadie Hartwell, Susannah Hardy, Tangled Web Mysteries, Yarned and Dangerous

On Being Grateful

Edith here, perched in my second floor office watching the sun come up, somewhere north of Boston.

Yes, I know everyone and her fourth-cousin-once-removed is going to write about gratitude and thankfulness this week. I, too, am feeling exceeding grateful, but some of the reasons are a bit quirky. I’m going to try to explain as only a language geek can.

The root of the words grateful and gratitude is the Latin grātus: “pleasing, favorable.” According to my favorite (and well-worn) American Heritage Dictionary, the Indo-European root for grātus is gwere: “to praise aloud.” Which makes gratitude directly related to the words agreeable, congratulate, ingrate, and ingratiate. It’s also related via Celtic to bard: “he [sic] who praises.”

Since I left my day job to write fiction full time two and a half years ago, money has been tighter than when I earned a plush salary writing technical manuals in high tech companies. But that’s okay – I know how to live on a shoestring. So the first people whose praises I want to sing are my late parents. Daddy was a high school teacher and our mom stayed home with us four kids until we were in high school ourselves. We had enough, but life was not luxurious. And I had a very happy childhood. I’m grateful I know how to scale back and live simply (I’m also grateful for being a Quaker, a faith which also stresses living with simplicity).

Many writers have a spouse or partner who is their first reader, who provides a valuable sounding board and helpful comments. Mine? Doesn’t even read fiction. Has no idea what I’m doing, really. He’s a dear, and brilliant in many areas. Commenting on fiction is not one of them. So I could be upset by that and wish for something different. Instead I find it agreeable to be left alone to type away on my books. Hugh is glad I’m happy (and that I’m starting to bring in a bit more cash) and that’s enough.

I  hope I don’t sound like an ingrate when I say I’m grateful the muse continues to be with me. Friday I finished the first draft of my eleventh novel. I’d hoped to have it done by the day before Thanksgiving. Instead the last ten thousand words just poured out. Plot problems resolved themselves. Suspense, tenderness, even killing in self-defense – it almost wrote itself. I’m not sure if this happens because I’m getting better at it from experience or if I’m just channeling some creative spirit out there. I know I would not be able to write three books a year if this didn’t keep happening, and I’m way grateful for that.

We Wickeds talk a lot about appreciating each other – because it’s so true – so I’m not going to go on too long. But singing the praises of my closest author pals and congratulating them on their many successes is one of my favorite things to do. So I guess that makes us all bards.

What about you? Anything negative in your life that is really a blessing? Whose praises would you like to sing? Also – Happy Thanksgiving a few days early to all! We’re all grateful for having readers come to our cozy blog.

Filed under: Edith's posts Tagged: cozy mystery, gratitude, Kensington Publishing, The Bard, the muse, When the Grits Hit the Fan