K.P. Gresham's Blog, page 13
January 3, 2022
Book Review: Benjamin Capps’ The Heirs of Franklin Woodstock
Book Review: Benjamin Capps’ The Heirs of Franklin Woodstock
by Kathy Waller
George Woodstock received the peculiar phone call on his sixty-sixth birthday… He let the phone ring twice, then answered, “Woodstock Machine Shop.”
It was Helen’s voice. “Clara called, George.”
“Where is she?”
“Your sister. She’s out at Woodstock where she always is. Your papa has escaped from the nursing home.” …
“What in the hell does escaped mean? Did you ask any…
December 27, 2021
Sisters in Crime, Thank You!!!
Sisters in Crime, Thank You!!!
By K.P. Gresham
First off, the best job I ever had (short of writing mysteries) was teaching. And yes, I taught Middle Schoolers, which most people think is the worst possible teaching job you can have. Not me. I loved the students, and I loved my fellow teachers and staff. The kids were sponges. As long as you weren’t a jerk to them, they weren’t a jerk to you. And when they succeeded, both…
December 20, 2021
FLIGHTS OF FANCY AND IMAGINATION
FLIGHTS OF FANCY AND IMAGINATION
BY FRANCINE PAINO
PBS television presented a new musical production by Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award winner John Mauceri: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, written in 1816. Mauceri conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with Tony Award-winning Alan Cumming narrating this original tale in three parts.
The story written by E.T.A. Hoffman, is about a young girl who saves a prince,…
December 6, 2021
Historical Fiction–Literary Time Travel
Historical Fiction–Literary Time Travel
In 1986, Random House New York published Through A Glass Darkly, netting its first-time author, Karleen Koen, a hardcover rights record for a new author, $350,000. Random House picked a winner when the paperback rights later netted an additional $755,000. Not long after that, it was chosen by the Book of the Month Club (Los Angeles Times). When asked about her book set in the 18th century,…
November 28, 2021
….And Then What Happens?
….And Then What Happens?
By Helen Currie Foster
If you haven’t read Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, or his latest, The Man Who Died Twice, fear not—no spoilers here. Oh, maybe a couple of teases, but that’s my theme today: curiosity as a driver of mystery…
November 22, 2021
End of Year Assessments and Thanksgiving
End of Year Assessments and Thanksgiving
by N. M. Cedeño
For writers, setting and meeting goals can be done in a variety of ways. Some people count words produced in a given year. Others count finished manuscripts. This year I have been focused on my short stories, specifically on getting stories published, so I set goals for submitting my work to markets.
At the beginning of the year, I set a goal of submitting a minimum of two…
November 6, 2021
A Little Hitchcock, Two Stories, Plus Spoilers
A Little Hitchcock, Two Stories, Plus Spoilers
by Kathy Waller
The summer I was six, my cousin of the same age was visiting our spinster great-aunt and bachelor uncle who lived up the street. Uncle called one evening. Cousin was being a major pain. It was a weeknight, and the only amusement our miniscule town afforded, a roller skating rink, was open only on weekends. Great-aunt and uncle weren’t accustomed to dealing with children of the…
November 1, 2021
Book Review: FULL DARK, NO STARS by Stephen King
Book Review: FULL DARK, NO STARS by Stephen King
“From the start … I felt that the best fiction was both propulsive and assaultive. It gets in your face. Sometimes it shouts in your face. I have no quarrel with literary fiction, which usually concerns itself with extraordinary people in ordinary situations, but as both a reader and a writer, I’m much more interested by ordinary people in extraordinary situations. I want to provoke an…
NORTH BY NORTHWEST –
NORTH BY NORTHWEST –
Alfred Hitchcock at his Best
Francine Paino AKA F. Della Notte
North by Northwest, a mystery thriller filmed in the 1950s, was Alfred Hitchcock at his best, and the movie received the 1960 Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture.
The plot: “A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman…
October 25, 2021
Curiouser and Curiouser!
Helen Currie Foster, October 25, 2021
At book groups I ask the beloved readers: “Why do we read mysteries?”
After a pause, for modesty, one honest person says: “We like to figure it out!”
Yes, we do. Why? Writer Patricia Cornwell, who created the forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta, gives this answer as to why readers are fascinated by murder forensics: “To me, this goes back to our tribal…
