Tag Archive for: Debra H. Goldstein

Interview with The Stiletto Gang’s Newest Blogger – Meri Allen

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Interview with The
Stiletto Gang’s Newest Blogger – Meri Allen by Debra H. Goldstein

I’m delighted to introduce
you to The Stiletto Gang’s Newest Blogger, Meri Allen, through this “Three
Things” interview.

Meri Allen is the
author of the new Ice Cream Shop mystery series. Her debut, The Rocky
Road to Ruin, stars Riley Rhodes, a former librarian for the CIA who takes
on management of a friend’s ice cream shop in the charming New England
village of Penniman, Connecticut. When a body is discovered in the barn
behind the shop, Riley discovers that she has a talent for sleuthing.

Three Things with
author Meri Allen:

Three favorite foods:  Tacos,
strawberry shortcake, cherry vanilla ice cream from Buttonwood Farms

Three places I’ve
lived:
Connecticut, Virginia, Massachusetts

Three jobs I’ve had: waitress, library
page, writer

Three things I can’t
do without:
Family, books, cardigan sweaters

Three favorite places: the beach,
Disney World, Venice

Three favorite hobbies: Traveling,
Antiquing, Going out to eat (I’m not a cook!)

Three favorite books
(non-mystery): Jane Eyre, Harriet the Spy, The Reapers Are The


Angels 

Three things I’m
looking forward to: Gathering with family at the holidays (I’m a Christmas nut),
Going back to the theater, The release of my second Ice Cream Shop
mystery, Mint Chocolate Murder

One Thing That Might
Surprise You:
Meri Allen is the pen name of Stiletto Gang blogger Shari Randall, author of
the Lobster Shack Mystery series.

Follow Meri on social media:

Instagram @meriallenbooks

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Meri-Allen-110203361174899

Sign up for The Scoop, Meri’s newsletter chock
full of New England cozy goodness and book fun. https://meriallenbooks.com

Buy the book: https://us.macmillan.com/author/meriallen/

Are there three more things you’d like to know about Meri or Shari?


 

Clicking Our Heels – Summer Vacation Preferences

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CLICKING OUR
HEELS – SUMMER VACATION PREFERENCES

Can you
believe summer is almost over? Three more days and no more white shoes or white
pants! Before summer ends, the Stiletto Gang members thought we’d share our favorite
summer vacations – indoors/outdoors, beach/mountains, or staycation.

Debra H.
Goldstein:  The Beach! Something
about the white capped swirling water and glistening sand is my nirvana.

Anita Carter:
Definitely outdoors. One of my favorite vacations was when my husband and I
traveled to Hawaii for 10 days. We island hopped. We had the best time at the
beach and hiking through the mountains and around the volcanos. I’d love to go
again.

T.K. Thorne:
I have to see the ocean regularly or something inside doesn’t get fed. Also, I
live on a mountain, so I get my tree and fresh air fix every day.

Debra
Sennefelder: Staycation. I really don’t like summer weather. I much prefer
air conditioning.

Kathryn Lane:
My husband and I spend the summers in the mountains of northern New Mexico near
Taos, where we enjoy outdoor adventures as well as watching wildlife drift by
from our cabin deck.

Dru Ann Love:
I like sightseeing various locations, so outdoors. Staycations are good as well.

Kathleen
Kaska:  It’s the beach for me –
anytime.

Robin
Hillyer-Miles: Beach or staycation!

Lois Winston:
I much prefer a warm getaway in the winter, but I’m not a beach person. I love
exploring museums, ancient sites, and foreign cities.

Linda
Rodriguez: Anymore, I’m a stay-at-home person most of the time, thanks to
health issues. In summer, you’ll find me inside in the air conditioning or
sitting on my spacious porch, spinning or knitting and chatting with my
neighbors.

Shari
Randall: I’m a culture vulture, so I’d love to somewhere with great museums
and theater. I live near a beach, so I’ll admit it, I’m spoiled.

Mary Lee
Ashford: My summer vacation preference would be outdoors with a beach and a
book! Staycations are fun but since I’ve been working from home since March
2020, I am more than ready to see some walls that aren’t my own.

Gay Yellen:
Mountains. Hiking in a cool mountain forest is the best break from summer in
the city.

Lynn McPherson: I love the beach and the mountains. I’m home most of the
time so when vacation time rolls around I’m ready to go explore new places.

Cathy Perkins: What is a vacation these days? When I can travel again, definitely the beach!

Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion)

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Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion) by Debra H
Goldstein

The Olympics produced many discussions from what is the
twisties to whether Americans have the wrong mindset in terms of medals. The
reality is that we celebrate winning the gold, but don’t have the same excitement
for silver or bronze. Who ever saw a bronze medalist on the “Breakfast of
Champions” Wheaties box?

 

An August 9, 2012, Scientific American article, “Why Bronze
Medalists are Happier Than Silver Medalists,” noted that both silver and bronze
medalists focus on what might have been. The silver medalist frets about how
close to winning the individual came and consequently is disappointed. The
bronze medalist is happier because that winner’s comparison is the person who
finished fourth-out of medal contention. The thrill for the bronze medalist is having
squeaked through with a medal victory.

 

As a semi-finalist for the 2021 Silver Falchion cozy award
for Three Bites Too Many, the third book in

Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery
series about a woman who is more frightened of the kitchen than murder, I am
excited. I’d like to win, but I’m honest enough to admit that I’m in good
company in the cozy heat. Tina deBellegarde, Kay DiBianca, Bonita Y. McCoy,
Lori Robbins, Colleen J. Shogan, Maggie Toussaint, Cathy Tully, Becki Willis,
and Lois Winston are all tough and worthy contenders. I’d love to hear the
Killer Nashville announcer call out “Debra H. Goldstein,” but I think any of us
should consider ourselves gold medalists. Why? Because somewhere and sometime
this past year, the books we are nominated for brought readers joy. A medal
would be nice, but what’s better than touching other people by giving them a
few hours of fun and escape from their daily lives? What do you think?

 

 

Why Do You Read Blogs? by Debra H. Goldstein

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Why Do You Read Blogs? by Debra
H. Goldstein

In the past, I’ve written about the reasons I write blogs.
Some include interacting with readers, hoping to attract new readers, sharing
my thoughts in a forum that reaches more people than journaling would, and
because I enjoy it.

I also subscribe to several blogs and read them religiously
for their humor, insight, or because I like the people who write them. At this
point, I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t sign up for another blog, but I
feel an obligation to follow friends or people who interest me. Of course, if
they tend to be too longwinded, I merely glance at the heading and hit delete
(do you ever do that?).

 

To me, the soft spot for a blog is 300-500 words. Just
enough to take in immediately. Just enough to make one major point that the
reader should leave with. Although a lot of bloggers do giveaways or share
personal tidbits, that’s not why I follow them (okay, maybe for the personal
tidbits. Let’s be honest, I also read People magazine and TV Guide from cover
to cover).

 

Why do you read blogs? Why do you follow this specific
blog? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my new Sarah Blair mystery,
Four Cuts Too Many (mass market or e-book, but U.S. only). I’ll look forward to
reading your answers.

Looking Forward to Mystery in the Midlands

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by Paula Gail Benson

Dr. Kathy Reichs

Next weekend, on Saturday, June 26, from 10:00 am to 2:45 pm ET, the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime, are proud to present their second virtual Mystery in the Midlands. Until Covid, we gathered in Columbia, S.C., for a celebration of authors and readers. Hopefully, an in person gathering will be possible next year, but until then, we are going to delight in being with a fabulously talented group of writers and hearing what they have to tell us about their craft and lives.

Our wonderful participants include Dr. Kathy Reichs, who will be interviewed by Debra H. Goldstein (today, she talks about preparing for their talk on Writers Who Kill) and three panels that will be moderated by Dana Kaye. The panelists are Frankie Y. Bailey, Michael Bracken, and Barb Goffman, talking about short stories; Laurie R. King, Lori Rader-Day, and Caroline Todd, talking about historical mysteries; and Yasmin Angoe, Robert Dugoni, and Alex Segura, talking about suspense.

We would love for you to join us. You can register through this link. If you can’t attend the program, by registering you can watch the recording. At $5, it’s a bargain!

Following is a little game to match our participants with fun facts about them. See how much you know about our distinguished authors and check your results with the answers at the end.

Hope to see you on Saturday! Don’t forget to register:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mystery-in-the-midlands-2/register?fbclid=IwAR2i_QEHxLdD3yd8WgAumPOv2lfPVQWyEQS0KsNBOdWdOz19tlI4rtbHUxM

AUTHORS

1. Yasmin Angoe

2. Frankie Y. Bailey

3. Michael Bracken

4. Robert Dugoni

5. Barb Goffman

6. Laurie R. King

7. Lori Rader-Day

8. Dr. Kathy Reichs

9. Alex Segura

10. Caroline Todd

FUN FACTS

A. Writes about contemporary and historical detectives

B. Criminal Justice Professor

C. Sales on 2 books recently passed $250K and $50K

D. Debut novel, to be released in November, has already been optioned for television

E. Expert witness at the Casey Anthony trial

F. Marketing Director for the Waco Symphony Orchestra

G. Left-handed vegan who has been to space

H. Story awarded the EQMM Readers’ Award has been nominated for an Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity

I. Married on top of the Empire State Building

J. Loves traveling, history, mystery, and collaborating

ANSWERS

1. D

2. B

3. F

4. C

5. H

6. A

7. I

8. E

9. G

10. J

Better Than Christmas! – Mystery in the Midlands is coming!

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 Better than Christmas! –
Mystery in the Midlands is coming!  by Debra
H Goldstein

 Mystery in the Midlands is coming virtually, and I can’t
wait! 

 

Last year, over nine hundred (you read that right – over 900)
readers and authors attended the virtual four and one-half hour Crowdcast conference
co-sponsored by Southeast Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA) and the Palmetto
Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The line-up, led by Charlaine Harris was
phenomenal —- but in some ways, for me, this year is even more exciting.

 

Why?  Because I’m a die-hard
fan of every panelist and I’m getting to interview the keynoter, Dr. Kathy
Reichs. Who hasn’t seen Bones, the television show that was based upon her
books and her life? As if it wasn’t a thrill to be interviewing her, I’ve been
given the extra treat of being able to read an advance copy of her upcoming
book, The Bone Code. You can bet it will be one of the things we’ll be
discussing.

Dana Kaye will be moderating Mystery in the Midlands’ steaming
three panels: Searing Suspense, Hot for Historicals, and Scorching Short Stories.
How can you go wrong with hearing Robert Dugoni, Yasmin Angoe, Alex Segura,
Laurie R. King, Caroline Todd, Lori Rader-Day, Barb Goffman, Michael Bracken,
and Frankie Y. Bailey – especially when the entire cost (merely to defray
expenses) is $5 (once again, yes, you read that right – simply five dollars)? Look
at their pictures below, but don’t close your browser. Hurry and guarantee your
spot by registering now! https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mystery-in-the-midlands-2/register
 #Mystery in the Midlands




Bidding Farewell to a Dear Friend by Debra H. Goldstein

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Bidding Farewell to a Dear
Friend by Debra H. Goldstein

This year, I said good-bye to my personal library. Our
aging physical infirmities and our old house no longer matched. Our new house,
which we can’t believe we built during the pandemic, is perfect for us.
Although there is a guest bedroom and bath upstairs, everything we need is on
the main level.

 

I have a garden room office that lets me have natural light
and look at trees when the writing isn’t going well. My husband, on the other
side of the house, has a man cave that features a television covering an entire
wall. We meet in the middle to eat but have an unspoken rule that those two
rooms are our private sanctuaries – off limits to each other.

 

When we were building this house, I knew from the floor
plans that it lacked the space for me to move my entire library. My library,
which was arranged alphabetically by author, contained sections for biography,
mystery, general literature, children’s, young adult, theater, Judaica and
other religious studies, how-to-books, law books, writing reference books, crime
reference books, cookbooks, and my TBR bookshelf (which usually spread to my
dresser). There were thousands of books. I identified my library as being a
part of me.

 

Giving away my library was akin to giving away one of my
children. I have good memories of when my daughter was 6 and had to count
something for school that would be at least 100. I gave her a pad and pencil
and told her to count books. When I suddenly realized she’d been quiet for too
long, I found her nearing 2000. We decided she could stop counting. My memories
include loaning books to people that introduced them to new authors or answered
questions they posed to me. There were also special

ones that commemorated
events – like the Dr. Seuss one everyone gets for graduation or books that contained
the first published poems of my children.

 

Without flinching, I parted with my dining room furniture
which we’d purchased as a wedding present to ourselves, bedrooms sets, dishes,
pots and pans, and various other pieces of furniture, but the books remained.
It was easy to offer my children any books they wanted to take and to let a
dear friend raid the mystery section. The trouble came with what to do with the
remainder. I vowed to take the children’s books that I might read to my
grandchildren or that they might want to read in the future. I also put aside a
handful of the writing and crime resource books, as well as a few books of
poetry my father and I read together when I was a child. Then, I started making
phone calls. A librarian friend told me about a library in an economically
challenged part of Alabama that had an excess of space, but a limited
collection and a lack of funds. When I called, I knew it was a match made in
heaven.

 

I had movers pack the books I wasn’t keeping in boxes that
could be lifted. Neatly stacked, they filled my dining room and spilled into my
living room. The librarian sent her husband, who owned a flatbed truck, and her
daughter to pick up the books. In the end, most were added to their collection
or were put on a bookmobile. Very few were marked for the Friends of the
Library sale. The empty bookcases found a home, too.

 

It’s been six months and I still feel the loss, but I’m
glad that in a sense, I’m now sharing a part of who I am with others.

F8, F2, and no, they aren’t football commands by Debra H. Goldstein

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F8, F2, and no, they aren’t football commands by Debra H.
Goldstein

I bet I know something you don’t know! It’s something I’m not
even sure the protagonist of the Sarah Blair series I write for Kensington
knows. For those of you who don’t recall, Sarah, as she demonstrated in One
Taste Too Many, the first book in the series, is more frightened of the kitchen
than she is of murder. Although her amateur sleuth skills improve in Two Bites
Too Many, Three Treats Too Many and the upcoming Four Cuts Too Many, the
reality is that she still doesn’t really know the difference between a walk-in
freezer and a regular one or between a butcher’s knife and one used for
de-boning. That’s why I’m certain she doesn’t know what it means when an oven
stove combination flashes F8 or F2.

Sadly, I do.

I say sadly because I learned about each of these flashes
the hard way. My story, and I’m sticking to it, is that a few years ago, I
decided to clean my oven. I locked the door, turned the buttons accordingly,
and waited. Nothing seemed to engage properly, so I flipped the knob to off and
tried to start again. Suddenly, there was a sizzling sound, a slight flash and
everything was silent. The only thing out of

place was the F8 where the time on
the clock had been. I’d blown the brain of my oven. That one took about three
weeks from diagnosis to receipt and installation of the parts.

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking. Because my
usual fare was getting boring, I decided to try a service that my daughter
uses. For the past five weeks, I’ve ordered 2-4 dinners that come complete…and
luckily the ingredients are labeled because I don’t recognize half of them. My
husband and I have been pleased with the results and actually amazed that most
of the dinners look exactly like the pictures they send as a model for plating.

This is where the F2 comes in. One of the meals was small steaks,
a vegetable, and an au gratin type potato. The instructions called for slicing
the potatoes into thin slices, putting them in a tablespoon of oil on the stovetop,
coating them a bit, and then putting the cast iron frying pan or whatever one
used into the oven to finish them off while the steaks cooked – all at 350
degrees. Well, I don’t have a frying pan that I wanted to put in the oven, so I
took a cookie sheet – put the steaks on one side and the coated potatoes now
topped with some butter on the left and put everything in to bake. There was no
question that the potatoes got done like they should, but the steaks weren’t
the way we were going to want to eat them. They needed more time to cook.

I took the potatoes out, leaving the residue of them on the
cookie sheet, and turned the dial from bake to broil. Only problem, I forgot
the rack was higher than it usually is for broiling. Sitting in my sunroom, I
looked up at the oven and didn’t even need to put on a light to see the flames
coming off the part of the cookie sheet where the potatoes had been. Needless
to say, I put the fire out. As I did, I noticed that where the time is usually
reflected on the stove, it now read F2 – the universal message for the oven is
on fire.

Need I say anymore? Sarah Blair comes by her skills
naturally. Oh, and the steaks – perfectly seared. My husband thought it was one
of the best meals I’d made.  

Getting the Word Out by Debra H. Goldstein

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Getting the Word Out by Debra H. Goldstein

I’ve been so busy balancing the pandemic, mentioning that the
fourth Sarah Blair book, Four Cuts Too Many, is available for pre-order, and writing
the fifth book for 2022, that I haven’t given quite as much love to recently
published Three Treats Too Many.

Part of my seeming neglect of Three Treats Too Many is that the
very day it came out in August 2020, is the same day we moved into our new house
(I know, only a fool builds a new home during a pandemic). Consequently, I was
balancing unpacking boxes, figuring out new appliances, reviewing edits for
Four Cuts, writing blogs, and doing virtual appearances. I can honestly say
there were days I whipped off my t-shirt, grabbed a nice top, and barely made
it on to the computer looking like a human being from the waist up. And then, I
found myself glued to the news.

I know I am not the only author who has been a little off
my game, so I’m inviting you to mention your new books in the comments below. Let’s
give ourselves a round of applause for being published during these crazy
times!!!

Oh, and here is what Three Treats Too Many is about:

When a romantic rival opens a competing
restaurant in small-town Wheaton, Alabama, Sarah Blair discovers murder is the
specialty of the house . . . 
 
For someone whose greatest culinary skill is
ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her
Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah
and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the
building inspector to get around to them, an attention-stealing new
establishment—run by none other than Sarah’s late ex-husband’s mistress,
Jane—is having its grand opening across the street. 
 
Jane’s new sous chef, Riley Miller, is the talk
of Wheaton with her delicious vegan specialties. When Riley is found dead
outside the restaurant with Sarah’s friend, Jacob, kneeling over her, the
former line cook—whose infatuation with Riley was no secret—becomes the prime
suspect. Now Sarah must turn up the heat on the real culprit, who has no
reservations about committing cold-blooded murder . . .
 
 Includes quick and easy recipes!    Try it…. You might like it….

 

Recognition, Writing and the Ladies Room

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 Recognition, Writing and the Ladies Room by Debra H. Goldstein

Do we write for recognition? Or, is it something in our
blood that makes it impossible to do anything else?  I’ve heard many people say, “I write because
I have to” or “Even if I never become a New York Times bestseller, I have
stories that need to be told.” These remarks may be true, but let’s face it,
even the shyest among us loves to be recognized.  Of course, there are preferred time and
places to be singled out.

When I was doing my first Sarah Blair book tour for One Taste Too Many, I flew from Alabama to Michigan for
two speaking engagements.  In the waiting
area, I noticed a compact curly white haired woman. Her multi-colored plaid
shirt made her standout from the grey crowd waiting for the plane to load. When
we got on the plane, our eyes met for a moment, but we both looked away.

After we landed, I did the age old action of jumping up,
grabbing my stuff, deplaning and heading for the restroom. As I was coming out
of my stall, she exited the one across from me and said, “Debra?”

“Yes/”

“I’m Becky.” How nice. 
I had no idea who Becky was, but I could tell she believed herself to be
a long lost friend. “I loved that mystery conference in Birmingham.”

Clue number one – she attended Murder in the Magic City in
February. She must have remembered I was a panelist this year. 

“I was sorry to miss that conference with Reed Coleman conference.  I just love that Reed Coleman.”

I hastened to agree with her. While she gushed on about Reed
and his books, I racked my brain trying to remember how we knew each other
while sticking my hands under three different sink soap nozzles before one
finally worked.   Distracted wondering
about some of the people wandering the airport who had been in this bathroom, I
glanced up to see she was already drying her hands.

“You spoke to our book group years ago, before we disbanded.
I liked your Maze in Blue book and your talk was funny.”

 Eureka, now I knew
where we’d met. “If you enjoyed that book, you might like my new one, One Taste Too Many.  It was released a few weeks ago. In fact, that’s why I’m here in Michigan.  I’m doing two book talks and signings”

“Can I get it on my kindle? 

After I replied in the affirmative and pointed out it was
only $3.99 for the e-book, she smiled. “I’ll have to get it. I’m on my way to
my vacation house for three weeks. What did you say the name of the book is?”

“One Taste Too Many.” Thinking like the marketer I
have had to become, I asked: “would you like a bookmark?”

“Oh yes,” was the answer. 
Only problem, she was ready to walk out of the bathroom and my hands
were still under the running water.

“Um, here, let me dry my hands.”

Another woman and I grabbed for the small piece of exposed
paper towel.  I won, but it wasn’t enough
to do the job.  In the meantime, the
other woman got the next two sheets. I finishing the drying process on my
jeans, searched inside my purse for a bookmark, and proudly presented it to
her.  She smiled and slipped it into her
pocket.

We walked out of the bathroom together – a fan and an author
whose only thought was “Now, I know why they say never approach an agent in the
bathroom.”

—-Since then, Two Bites Too Many and Three Treats Too Many have been published. Four Cuts Too Many comes out May 25, 2021, but is already available for pre-sale.  And here’s a secret, Kensington is running One Taste Too Many on various promotions for $1.99 for the e-book —a better price than Becky paid.