by: Joelle Charbonneau Yikes! There are gifts to buy and packages to wrap. Cookies to bake and a toddler too excited to nap. I have trees to trim and trips to the post office to make. Oh and did I mention the gingerbread houses to bake? It’s the holiday season which is sparkly and bright. […]
Our first mystery, Murder Off the Books was published in 2007. It introduced three memorable characters: Mac Sullivan, retired D.C. cop and newly-minted private detective; Whiskey, his adorable canine sidekick, an Irish wolfhound who could tackle a cheeseburger and a murderer with equal ease; and Rachel Brenner, makeup artist in a funeral home whose clients […]
By Laura Spinella Panic mode. I owe a blog. It’s two plus weeks until Christmas; I haven’t bought a single gift, and I owe a blog. My regular part-time job at the newspaper stops for no one. Ever work at a newspaper? News staffs endure worse hours than the ER at Cook County Hospital. My […]
When we were young, we had a host of animals, mostly cats and dogs, but with a couple of Guinea pigs and hermit crabs thrown in for good measure. One of our best, and most ill-behaved, pets was a sixty-pound Golden Retriever named Dusty who had a habit of escaping at the first sound of […]
The day after Thanksgiving I jumped on a virtual tour bus with 13 other mystery authors on a 14 day book tour. Of course we started long before the tour began by sending each other information about what we wanted to be sent for each blog post, and then of course we had to comply […]
Around this time of year the discussion inevitably turns to the crass commercialism of the holiday season; the need for everyone to get a grip on the amount of money spent; the debt incurred; the environmental impact of wrapping paper; the need to focus on the less fortunate. And it’s all absolutely true. Which is […]
by Susan McBride’s Second Cousin Once Removed, Tiffany Van Cleef Arpel My dear cousin, Ms. Susan, has to get cracking on a book deadline, so I told her I’d fill in on the blog today, offering my always fabulous holiday shopping tips. If I’d left Susan to discuss the subject, she’d be all about “Take […]
By Kris Neri Do you ever long to raid your characters’ closets? I do, though only when that character is Samantha Brennan the fake psychic featured in my Magical Mystery series HIGH CRIMES ON THE MAGICAL PLANE and the newly-released, MAGICAL ALIENATION. I don’t long to borrow any duds from her co-protagonist, Annabelle Haggerty because, […]
I’m doing things a little different this month. I have just one book I am going to share with you. The reason being is that it is, hands down, one of the best books I’ve ever read! And it wouldn’t be fair to any other book I happen to recommend in the same space. The […]
By Laura Bradford If you’ve ever seen the movie, A Christmas Story, you know that Ralphie wanted a Red Ryder BB Gun in the worst way. It didn’t matter how many people told him he’d shoot his eye out. He wanted one. Plain and simple. So Santa did what all good Black Friday shoppers do… He […]