Cathy Spencer's Blog, page 5

A Holiday Mystery: Tidings of Murder and Woe

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, someone is mysteriously dying! That's right, who doesn't want a juicy murder mystery to read when you need a break from shopping at the malls?

Anna Nolan and friends are back in this award-winning series. Tidings of Murder and Woe is a page-turner with plenty of plot twists, dashes of humour and romance, and even a little Christmas baking.


Christmas can be murder on families, especially when your mother is Julia Moreland, the CEO of a big oil company. Julia has a secret she’s about to announce to the press, but someone is sending her threatening notes, warning her to keep her mouth shut.
Anna Nolan’s boss, Magdalena, is dating Julia’s stepson. Soon she’s asking for Anna’s help to keep her boyfriend out of jail. But Anna doesn’t want to get involved. Two criminal investigations in one year are already more than her nerves can handle.

Will Anna get the peaceful Christmas of her dreams, or will it be filled with murder and woe?
4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon
To read an excerpt, click here.
E-book from Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and others.Overdrive for libraries.
Paperback can be ordered from CreateSpace, Amazon, Amazon Europe, and your favourite bookstore.Canadian readers please purchase paperbacks directly from the CreateSpace store to avoid delays.
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Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

#9
It's Halloween night, and I've left my husband to do the duties at the door, now that the trick-or-treaters seem to be calling it a night. It's time to write about the ninth thing I love about Halloween . . . jack-'o-lanterns.

I just have a wee one this year, carved on the fly and not very elaborate, but I have to have one at my door to welcome all the ghouls, goblins, and princesses coming for a visit. I am proud, however, of the two pumpkins I carved for my second Anna Nolan mystery cover, Town Haunts. I wanted the pumpkins shot in front of a mausoleum. My husband, who once earned a living as a professional photographer, took the pictures. We were both scared that a cemetery employee would suddenly appear, demanding what we were doing there with a couple of pumpkins, but since we had chosen a secluded part of the graveyard, no one disturbed us. We were very respectful, by the way. Not even a burnt match was left behind.

But I digress. Here's a shot of the pumpkins for my book cover.



And later when it got darker.



And here's how the cover finally appeared.

To round out this post, I've collected a few pictures of jack-'o-lanterns carved by some very talented and clever folks. 










Until next year. Happy Halloween!



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<jack-'o-lanterns> <pumpkins> <Halloween>

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

#8
Halloween candy - yum! Not just for children. How many people hold back a selection of their favourites so they can veg out on the couch with an assortment of candy and watch TV after all the trick-or-treaters have gone home, the light's blown out in the jack-o-lantern, and the front door's locked? 

One particularly good thing about Halloween candy is its size. You can sample a variety of stuff without feeling as guilty as if you had just consumed 4 candy bars.


Do any of you remember the days when people use to make their own Halloween treats? Not that everyone did when I was growing up, but you used to scurry to Mrs. Brown's house first for her home-made fudge, and on to Mrs. Green's for her popcorn balls. Then some nutso started putting razor blades in apples - yes, some folks handed out apples back then - and the whole trend of handing out homemade candy came to a crashing halt. Sigh.

When I was a kid, my favourite place to trick-or-treat was at my grandmother's house. Not only did she give my sisters' and me a full-sized chocolate bar, but she also gave each of us a quarter! Then my dad would take us across the street to my grandmother's neighbour. The four of us would ring the bell and say "trick-or-treat" when she opened the door. She'd peer past us to my father standing on the dusky sidewalk and say, "Is that you, Maxie? Come on in for a few minutes." Then we'd get the good stuff she'd been holding back for us, like the full-size bags of Cheesies. Although my dad never did take us to the corner grocery store before they ran out of candy. You have to know your trick-or-treat priorities on Halloween night and plan accordingly.

Hope you all have a sweet night tomorrow. Happy trick-or-treats!

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<Halloween candy>

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

#7
Halloween takes place in the autumn, my favourite time of year. In Ontario, we have such wonderful tree colours, from golden yellow to orange to scarlet. And when the sunlight hits the leaves, it takes your breath away.

The palette for Halloween decorations matches the autumn landscape: pumpkin orange, fire yellow, and shadowy black. Take a look at my dining table centrepiece in the picture above to catch these colours. You'll see pumpkins, ghosts, skulls, and a raven, some of the main Halloween images. Throw in a witch and a skeleton, and you've pretty much got them all. Wait! I forgot the skeleton who greets you inside my front door. There he is.



My decorations are pretty pedestrian compared to some I've seen. They don't groan, dance up and down, or screech. And these are just indoor decorations. Some people really go all out when it comes to their outdoor decorations, second only to Christmas in their scope and expense. Have you seen anything like this in your neighbourhood?




Graveyards, tombstones, bloody severed body parts - check!

Spiders, witches, ghosts suspended in the air - check!

A giant face staring at you from inside a window. I saw one of those for the first time this year.

Wait a minute . . . I've never seen anything like this before.

Nor this lit giant spiderweb.

Wow!
This year, why not have some fun by taking a walk around your neighbourhood or going for a drive to see what people are up to. It seems like the sky's the limit!
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<Halloween decorations>

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

#6
I love a spooky ghost story. Not too gruesome, and nothing that's going to keep me awake at night listening to the house creak. Just the kind of story I could imagine telling to my husband or my daughters while sitting around the fire one night. One of my favourite ghost stories is Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters.



I wrote my own ghost story. Town Haunts, the second novel in the Anna Nolan mystery series, not only has a ghost, but a witch too. As a matter of fact, the tagline on the cover, which you'll see pictured at the top of this post, is It takes a witch to catch a ghost. For more information, click on the tab that says "The Anna Nolan Mysteries."

Who has the best voice for telling a ghost story? I vote for Vincent Price. Here's a little treat, a short audio track of Mr. Price's voice-over for Michael Jackson's classic video, "Thriller." Listen right through to the ending where Mr. Price finishes the session with an "All right!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSip-frDcGM
Then watch the "Thriller" video, a Halloween classic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

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<spooky Halloween ghost story> <Michael Jackson> <Vincent Price> <Thriller> <Elizabeth Peters>

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

The Author#5
Yes, that's me in my witches' costume. Once a year, we adults get a chance to put on some goofy get-up and look downright silly. Here's a few pictures of adults looking goofy, sexy, and just plain strange.


Shrek and Shrekette
I like this one. Very clever.
Peace, sisters

Um, he really likes baby dolls.
But Halloween really belongs to children. When those little ones are nudged forward by their moms and dads into your open doorway, not exactly knowing what's going on, but ready to accept whatever candy comes their way, it's downright adorable.
Big brother lion and little sister zebra
Those glasses are just too big, Clark.

Ah, it's a baby taco!
Just give her all your candy.
Can't wait to see who turns up at my door this year. Trick-or-treat!
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<Halloween costumes>

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Things I Love About Halloween

#4
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was an animated television special that was first broadcast on October 27, 1966. Based on the popular Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz, The Great Pumpkin and its predecessor, A Charlie Brown Christmas, are television classics. I was just a little girl when they first appeared, and I waited eagerly for them to be rebroadcast each year long before videotapes and DVDs let you watch them whenever you liked.

The story is simple:  the Peanuts gang are celebrating Halloween with "tricks-or-treats," followed by a Halloween party at Violet's house. Poor old Charlie Brown. One of the running gags is that, while everyone else is given a candy bar, gum, or a popcorn ball during trick or treating, all he ever gets is a rock.






Meanwhile, Linus waits in a pumpkin patch for the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, who will bring him toys if his pumpkin patch is "sincere" enough.



Then there's Snoopy, who always has a great imagination. This time he's a World War I flying ace who's shot down over enemy-controlled territory and infiltrates the Halloween party to enjoy some WWI classic songs. 



The story is funny and charming, and I enjoy it every year. In fact, it doesn't feel like Halloween until I've seen it. If you haven't seen it, do watch it. And if you have seen it, find a young child to share it with.

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Countdown to Halloween: 9 Things I Love About Halloween

#3
I can remember learning three songs in Grade One which have stuck with me for my entire life. One of them was a Halloween song based upon a poem by Nancy Byrd Turner entitled  Black and Gold . 

When I was researching the song on the internet, I discovered that other people had also learned it in elementary school, so it must have been part of the music curriculum in Ontario. These people seemed to remember it fondly, so I decided to record a simple a cappella version of it and turn it into a video. The video includes the lyrics and some Halloween images I found on the internet. I've uploaded Black and Gold, Halloween Song to YouTube so that the song would never be lost. 

If you learned it in elementary school and want to reminisce, or if you have children or grandchildren you'd like to teach it to, here's the link: https://youtu.be/Scw4FHcKOkY
I hope that you enjoy it.

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Countdown to Halloween: 9 Things I Love About Halloween

#2
You'll always see someone dressed up as a witch at Halloween because they're so closely associated with the holiday. I love books and movies about witches. Being a witch is such a great fantasy, to think that magic really exists and can give you special powers - to do good, of course.


Here are some of my favourite witches.


Terry Pratchett's Granny Weathwax and Nanny Ogg in the Disc World series. They're two such different women - Granny with an inner core of steel who lives an austere life alone in a woodsy cottage and is brave enough to battle vampires and even The Grim Reaper himself - and Nanny, who's been widowed more than once, is a mother and a grandmother, can drink almost anyone under the table, and loves to sing about the sex lives of hedge hogs. Together they make a formidable and hilarious team.
One of my favourite Disc World books featuring the witches is Carpe Jugulum. Here's a quote about Granny that sums her up so well: “Granny was an old-fashioned witch. She didn’t do good for people, she did right by them.” 


The Strega Nona stories by Tomie dePaola, which we used to read to our daughters when they were little. Strega Nona is the name of a folksy, Italian, grandmother-style witch who helps the people in her town with their troubles. She's like a child's version of Granny Weatherwax, a witch who doesn't do fancy magic, but cures headaches "with oil and water and a hairpin." The illustrations are colourful and homey too.




Well, you certainly have your choice of witches in the Harry Potter series, books that our oldest daughter introduced to us while she was in elementary school. Soon my husband was reading them aloud to us, giving voices to the characters that made my daughters giggle. He does a mean Dobby the house elf, I can tell you! Hermione, Professor McGonagall, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix Lestrange, and many more. They're a wonderful assortment of characters; good and evil, and weird and wonderful.




The Wicked Witch of the West from the movie, The Wizard of Oz. She was my first encounter with a witch and she scared me silly, as she continues to do to generations of children. Played by the actress Margaret Hamilton, who had to endure that foul green makeup, she got to say things like, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" Brrr. She's the classic evil witch. 




The nose-twitching Samantha Stevens in the 1964-1972 television series, Bewitched. A modern young witch who was a lot older than she looked, Samantha fell in love with a mortal, Darren, and tried to give up magic to live as a housewife in the suburbs. Played by the beautiful Elizabeth Montgomery, Samantha had a lot to put up with - her interfering mother, Endora, who didn't like her son-in-law, a nosy neighbour, Gladys Cravitz, who was always trying to convince her husband that the nice blond next door had magical powers, an adorable but forgetful aunt, Clara, whose spells rarely went right, and a host of other characters who were always creating havoc as they popped in and out of the Stevens' lives. It was a lot of fun to watch when I was a kid.




Gillian Holroyd in the movie Bell, Book, and Candle. Played by the sexy and luminous Kim Novak, Gillian is a modern witch living in New York City with a Siamese cat, Pyewacket, as her familiar. She meets the fiance of an old school adversary and decides to lure him away with magic, only to fall in love with him herself. With a great cast, including James Stewart as the love interest, Elsa Lanchester and Jack Lemon, it's a spell-binding comedy that was released in 1958.


Well, that's just a sampling of witches from the vast number I had to choose from. I hope I've introduced you to some you're not familiar with so that you'll have the fun of getting to know them better yourself. 

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Countdown to Halloween: 9 Things I Love About Halloween!

Halloween is really for kids - what could be better than dressing up in a costume, running around in the dark with your friends, and getting free candy! - but there's still plenty of things that adults can enjoy about the holiday.

Starting tonight, by the glow of a guttering candle next to my computer, I'm going to countdown one thing I love about Halloween from now until the great day. So sit down with a cup of your favourite witches' brew and enjoy them with me.




#1
I get a real kick out of pets in costumes. It's a new craze, really. Part of the modern tendency to treat our pets like people, or even like children. But, darn it, some of those costumes are really clever, and so cute! Even if our pets feel embarrassed. Let's look at some of my favourite pictures.




Look at how those cute little kitten ears fit into the hat ear holes! And how calm that kitten is. Could she be any more adorable?




Wow, a dog impersonating Elvis! Who knew that the golden retriever has just the right profile for a fifties rock-and-roller. Love the wig, the ears, and the cool shades.




Oh my gosh, someone help that poor beagle, he's being eaten by a crocodile!. No he's not! It's just a clever deception. You'll notice the dog's not going for it. He's way too calm.




Here we have the team approach. It's those two caped crusaders, Superdog and Batdog! You'd swear that they were just about to spring into action to save the day.



It's the headless horseman riding a dog! Spooky! This costume wins my vote for best design.



Even a hamster can get into the act. So cute!




Speaking of spooky, how do you like this ghastly spectre riding her ghost horse? What a great team they make! Do you think that's make-up on the horse, or some kind of fabric overlay?
I couldn't leave this list of pets in Halloween costumes without giving you the link to SA Wardega's video of a mutant giant spider dog! The video went viral in just one day. I really feel for those people who encountered the spider-dog at night. Even knowing that it's a dog inside that costume, I still felt creeped out when I watched the video! Brrr. Watch it, if you dare!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoB8t0B4jx4
I hope you enjoyed today's countdown to Halloween. Please come back tomorrow night to check out the second thing I enjoy about Halloween. Until then, spooky dreams!

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