Tag Archive for: Terrie Farley Moran

The Legacy of Angela Lansbury

by Paula Gail Benson

Angela Lansbury from Wikipedia

On October 11, 2022, just five days before what would have been her 97th birthday, Angela Lansbury passed away at her home in Los Angeles. She did not appear at the 75th annual Tony Awards ceremony on June 12 to receive a lifetime achievement recognition; but, according to Wikipedia, over her career, she won 5 Tonys for acting and, in the 1960s, the New York Times referred to her as “the First Lady of Musical Theater.” My first appreciation of her work came from listening to her voice on the cast albums for Anyone Can Whistle, Mame, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd. I also delighted to hear her interpretation of Madame Armfeldt in the 2009 Broadway revival of A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Desiree and Ramona Mallory (daughter of Victoria Mallory and Mark Lambert, who played Anne and Henrik in the 1973 production) playing the role her mother had originated.

Some will remember Lansbury’s work from Hollywood’s Golden Age, when with her mother and twin brothers, she came to America to escape the Blitz, and was signed by MGM to play the maid in Gaslight, Elizabeth Taylor’s older sister in National Velvet, and a tavern singer and early love of Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the 1960s, she played the mothers of men only a few years her junior, Elvis Pressley in Blue Hawaii and Laurence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate. She received three Oscar nominations for supporting actress and was given an Honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.

For American audiences, she may be most recognizable for voicing and singing the role of Mrs. Potts in the animated Beauty and the Beast and for her performance as retired teacher and mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. I actually learned about her passing from a retired friend who regularly watched Murder, She Wrote reruns each day. He sent me a message that the station had interrupted the program with the breaking news.

The remarkable thing about Murder, She Wrote and Lansbury’s portrayal of Jessica Fletcher was that it started about the same time as Sisters in Crime organized and began focusing attention on women mystery writers, who often had been overlooked by reviewers. Jessica Fletcher became a symbol for several causes: (1) that middle-aged and older women could be protagonists; (2) that women could thrive in second careers; and (3) that women wrote excellent mysteries.

Terrie Farley Moran and me

I contacted my friend Terrie Farley Moran, who now co-writes (with Jessica) the Murder, She Wrote novels (a task previously taken on by Donald Bain, his wife Renee Paley-Bain, and Jon Land). So far, there are 56 books in the series. Terrie began with Book 53, which takes place in Columbia, S.C., where Terrie came to participate in the Mystery in the Midlands conference.

Terrie was a wonderful choice to continue the series due to her devotion to and familiarity with the television program. I hope she will continue for many more years and I’m sure fans do, too.

When I contacted her to offer sympathy, Terrie told me that “the torch had been passed” to a new generation to enjoy mysteries from the Fletcher family. Just this month, Scholastic Press published Stephanie Kuehn’s By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Gone, the first of a new Murder, She Wrote series featuring Beatrice Fletcher, who like her great-aunt Jessica, lives in Cabot Cove and is drawn into solving mysteries. Hopefully, this young adult series will introduce a new group of readers to the Jessica Fletcher legend.

Personally, I’m grateful to Angela Lansbury for crafting such a memorable character in Jessica Fletcher, who continues to be an inspiration to mystery writers.

The Year of the Short Story

by Paula Gail Benson

From right, Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein, Cathy Pickens and husband Bob, and me.

Like
Debra Goldstein, I’m a writing conference junkie. I completely understand the
attraction that compels so many sci fi and graphic novel enthusiasts to flock
to cons. First, you’re surrounded by people who have as great a love of the
subject as you do, and second, you draw inspiration from proximity to the
practitioners.

I’ll
never forget my first visit to Malice Domestic about fifteen years ago. Everything about it seemed to
spell impossible expectation. The time of year. The distance to travel. Getting
leave from work. Arranging for my mother to travel with me. Yet, Mary Higgins
Clark would be there, and I was obsessed with her books. When I imagined my
future, it was writing novels like Mary Higgins Clark’s.

Somehow,
all the pieces came together. Impossibility became reality. I went. Standing in
line to get my picture with Mary Higgins Clark, I met Dana Cameron, who has
become a wonderful, supportive friend. The photo with Mary Higgins Clark and
her daughter Carol Higgins Clark has become a talisman for me, a symbol of what
I can achieve. When one of my relatives asked who those people were (not
recognizing me), I convinced myself I looked enough like an author to be
mistaken for one. I’ve continued that happy delusion ever since.

I
dub this year’s Malice “a celebration of the short story.” Malice revived its
tradition of publishing anthologies with Malice Domestic’s Murder Most
Conventional
, with twenty two original stories and one reprint all set at
conventions. (Another anthology is planned for next year featuring historicals.)
While I missed lunch with the Guppies, I had a wonderful time with Debra Goldstein, Barb
Goffman, and others. Barb won her first Agatha this year for “A Year Without
Santa Claus,” her first publication in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
At
the SinC Breakfast, the announcement of a new initiative, “We Love Short
Stories,” organized by Debra Goldstein, was met with applause and great expectations.
I thoroughly enjoyed being on a short story panel with James Lincoln Warren (a first class moderator who brought his panelists California wine), Teresa Inge, K.B. Inglee, and Jayne Ormerod. We missed being with Eleanor Cawood Jones, a contributor to the new Malice anthology, who had became ill. During our discussion time, we explored the diverse themes, characters, and settings for mystery short stories. Jim kindly read selections from each panelist’s stories to the audience.  
At the banquet, so many attending had backgrounds as both short story writers and novelists. Terrie Farley Moran, who won an Agatha for best first novel last year, was nominated in the short story category this year. B.K. Stevens, who broke her arm and sadly could not be there, had a table full of supporters, cheering her nominations for short story and young adult novel. (Notice in the photo below that B.K.’s daughter Rachel and publisher Carla Coupe are holding up Her Infinite Variety, a new collection of B.K.’s short stories.) I had the pleasure of celebrating with Art Taylor when his novel in short stories, On the Road with Del and Louise, received the teapot as best first novel.
Hurray for another wonderful Malice and double hurray for the recognition of the importance of the mystery short story. It’s going to be a wonderful year for reading! 

Meet the Authors of the 2015 Agatha Best Short Story Nominees!



Each year at Malice Domestic,
writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards. This year’s nominees for
Best Short Story are:
“A Joy Forever” (PDF)
by B.K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2015)
“Suffer the
Poor” (PDF)
by Harriette Sackler, History & Mystery, Oh My (Mystery
& Horror, LLC)
“A Killing at the
Beausoleil” (PDF)
by Terrie Farley Moran (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
Nov. 2015)
“A Questionable Death” (PDF) by Edith Maxwell, History
& Mystery, Oh My
(Mystery & Horror, LLC)
“A Year Without Santa
Claus?” (PDF)
by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
Jan./Feb. 2015)



Please enjoy the opportunity to read
these stories, if you haven’t already. We are so fortunate to have with us
today B.K. Stevens, Harriette Sackler, Terrie Farley Moran, Edith Maxwell,
and Barb Goffman.
All are not only fabulous writers, but also delightful people. Thanks, Bonnie,
Harriette, Terrie, Edith, and Barb for stopping by to share your work and
thoughts with us!
Paula Gail Benson
What are your writing habits?
B.K. Stevens
B.K. STEVENS:         Usually,
I spend a lot of time planning, especially if I’m working on a whodunit and
have to make sure all the evidence will come together. I may or may not make some
sort of outline, but I almost always take a lot of notes on the
computer—exploring various plot possibilities, planning clues, writing profiles
of characters and describing their backstories, and so on. Usually, my notes
are much longer than the final story; for the last story I submitted to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,
they’re over three times as long. I like to have a clear idea of where I’m
headed before I begin to write, even though I usually end up making lots of
changes during drafting and revising. I draft fairly quickly and try (often not
successfully) to resist the temptation to revise while I’m drafting. Once the
first draft is done, I put it aside for at least a week and then spend a long
time revising and editing. For me, revising always involves a lot of cutting—my
first drafts are always much too long. I try to have at least two projects in
progress at all times. That way, if I get stuck on one, I can put it aside for
a while and focus on the other.
HARRIETTE SACKLER:      Since
I’m involved in many different projects, I write when I can. Once I have a
kernel of a story idea in my mind, I put it down on paper. I do seem
to accomplish more when I’m under deadline. I’m a great procrastinator.
Terrie Farley Moran
TERRIE FARLEY MORAN: I write
seven days a week. I get up every morning leave the house and do some kind of
exercise (walking, visit the gym, water aerobics or bike ride) then I come home
and sit at the keyboard. I write until I break to eat lunch and watch a few
minutes of news. Then I go back to the keyboard until about six o’clock when I go
out for a walk or a bike ride. If I am falling behind on a deadline I write
after dinner until bedtime. Under the heading “writing” I include all writing
related chores: editing, research, website, blog posts, etc. And, of course, I
still try to have an actual life!
EDITH MAXWELL:  I am a full-time
fiction writer now and I treat it like a job. I’m always up by six AM and am
working by seven. Whether I’m working on the first draft of a book, a short
story, or revision, I do my creative work before noon. Then I head out for my
brisk long walkoften plotting the next day’s
scene as I go – and reserve the afternoon for admin jobs like writing blog
posts, arranging author events, and other items of author business. So far it’s
workingI have three multi-book contracts, so
I have to write three books a year, plus one or more short stories.
Barb Goffman
BARB
GOFFMAN:    When I come up with a story
idea—be it organically, or more often, in response to a story call—and don’t
have the time to write the story immediately (that’s ninety-nine percent of the
time), I’ll write some notes about the idea: the beginning, the end, maybe a
bit of dialogue or the voice I hear in my head. Then those notes will sit,
sometimes for a long time, until I find the time to write that story. I prefer
to write in large chunks rather than a few minutes a day, so I can go a long
time between writing stretches when my day job keeps me busy.
Once I
start writing, I’ll write a few paragraphs, then read them out loud, revising
them before I go forward. Any time I take a break or get stuck, I’ll re-read
the last few paragraphs out loud, trying to get a feel for what comes next
(and, of course, revising as I go). While I’m writing a story, I may also sleep
on it, take a short drive, or a hot shower, trying to think on it—consider if I
have plot holes, how I could spice up the dialogue, create a plot twist, and
more. Once I finish, I try to let the finished story sit for a few days (or
longer if I have the time) before I read it again and try to spot and fix any
problems. And then I send the story out to a trusted friend or two for feedback
before I revise once more and then send the story out for submission. (Though I
must admit I’m often so eager to see what my friends think that I may send a
story to them before I’ve cleaned it up perfectly. Letting the story sit for a
few days is hard, even though I know that’s the best way to proceed. I keep
trying to reign myself in. It’s a work in progress.)
How long does it take to plan and complete
a short story?
B.K.
STEVENS:         Generally, it takes a
long, long time. Once in a while, I’ll get an idea, do only a little planning,
and sit down and write the story straight through. That doesn’t happen often,
though—maybe four or five times in the last thirty years, usually for flash
fiction stories, and even then I’ll spend days cutting and revising. Most of
the time, depending on the length and complexity of the story, the whole
process takes several weeks or several months. (But remember, I work on more
than one project at a time.) If I’m not satisfied with a story, I may put it
aside for months or even years until I think of a way to fix it. Right now,
I’ve got a half-written story that’s been sitting in a folder for at least
three years, waiting until I come up with a better murder method.
Harriette Sackler
HARRIETTE
SACKLER:      I’m not one to churn out
stories in a short time. It takes me a while from conception to finished story.
But that feels fine to me.
TERRIE FARLEY
MORAN: I am a very slow writer and writing
is a very contrarian occupation. If I think a story is going to take a long
time to write, it usually gets itself down on paper without a problem. If I
expect the story to be a quick slam dunk, it generally turns out to be
torturous to write. Basically when I see a call for submissions that interests
me, or when I get an idea for a potential story, I tend to think about it for a
good long while. Once I think of a direction the story could take, I begin to
research anything that could possibly relate. I do far more research than
necessary because…I love research. Then I think some more. While all this
thinking and research is going on I am generally working on another project or
two. Eventually I write the story. I don’t outline, I just plunge into it. Of
course if there is a deadline that sets the time frame.
Edith Maxwell
EDITH
MAXWELL:  That really varies. Once the
story emerges in my head, sometimes I can talk it through on my hour walk (see
previous question, and yes, I’m the crazy author lady who talks out loud to
herself on the rail trail). Then I take a day or two to write the first draft.
But the finishing, editing down, and making sure it works can take a lot
longer. And with historical stories set in a real location, there’s always more
research to be done, too.
BARB
GOFFMAN:    It varies. If I get a detailed
idea, I might finish the first draft in a few days. (That’s how I prefer to
proceed. I like to know the beginning, a few high points, and the end before I
start writing. It makes the process easier.) But sometimes I’ll hear a voice in
my head—a story’s beginning—and I’ll start writing. I might write a couple of
paragraphs or a page or two, and then I’ll get stuck, really stuck, because I
have no plot to go with the voice. Those stories can become big problems
because I’ve found my writing flows best when I come up with conflict first and
let character react to it, and the plot unfolds from there. When characters
show up first without the conflict—those are my problem children.
That’s
what happened with my nominated story “A Year Without Santa Claus?” I saw a
call for whodunit stories set in New Jersey. I woke up soon thereafter with the
main character’s voice in my head. I wrote the first page, and that was all I
wrote on that story—for years. Whodunits are hard to write (at least for me). I
needed a mystery and suspects and all that good stuff. I needed a plot in which
my character could solve the crime when the police couldn’t. And I had none of
that. Perhaps three years later, one morning out
of the blue, I had an idea in the shower—a plot that worked. I hurried to my
computer (thank goodness I had the time to write that day and week) and banged
out a solid draft within a few days. So sometimes it takes a few days to come
up with an idea and write a story. Sometimes the planning can take a few years
and then the writing a few days. It’s nice when it all comes together fast.
What shoes would you, your protagonist, or another character from
your story wear to the Agathas banquet?
B.K. STEVENS:         I’ll wear boring,
sensible shoes, because I always wear boring, sensible shoes. Gwen seems like
the type to wear boring, sensible shoes, too. Considering the way the story
ends, though, this time she might just wear stilettos.
HARRIETTE SACKLER:      I’m at the age when comfort is my most
important priority. Gone are the days of high heels and pointed toes.
I’ll be at the banquet in a pair of
strappy and low-heeled shoes.
TERRIE FARLEY MORAN: I intend to wear this pair of MUNRO AMERICAN bright
red shoes. I think Sassy and Bridgy would wear similar bright red shoes but with
fewer straps and a higher heel.
EDITH MAXWELL:  I’m SO not a shoe person. And my Quaker
midwife Rose Carroll from “A Questionable Death” would wear something very
modest, as well. But her unconventional friend and co-conspirator, postmistress
Bertie Winslow? She loves fancy hats and colorful clothes. She’ll wear these
satin embroidered evening slippers to the banquet.
BARB GOFFMAN:    Kyle Coyote, my main character’s security chief, would wear
rocket skates from the Acme Company because when something goes wrong, he needs
to reach his destination fast. Plus, he loves Acme’s innovative products (how
many companies are selling rideable rockets?), despite his boss’s concerns
about defects.
I’ll be wearing open-heeled black
shoes with a tiny heel because I believe in comfort.

Meet the Authors of the 2014 Agatha Best First Novel Nominees!


Each
year at Malice Domestic, writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards.
This year’s nominees for Best First Novel are:
Circle of Influence by Annette
Dashofy (Henery Press)
Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris (Kensington Publishing)
Finding Sky by Susan O’Brien (Henery Press)
Well Read, Then Dead by Terrie Farley Moran (Berkley Prime Crime)
Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber (Midnight Ink)
Today,
the Stiletto Gang welcomes
Annette Dashofy, Sherry Harris, Susan O’Brien, Terrie Farley Moran, and Tracy Weber. All are not
only skilled and talented writers, but also charming and caring people. Thanks,
Annette, Sherry, Susan, Terrie, and Tracy, for stopping by to share your work
and thoughts with us!
What was the idea or inspiration that led you to write your
nominated novel?

ANNETTE:

Years ago I happened to overhear a
snippet of conversation regarding a local political brouhaha. The person said,
“Someone should just kill him and put him out of my misery.” No one actually
did, but you can’t say something like that around a crime fiction writer and
not have it end up in a story! In my case, it spun out a bunch of “what if”
questions that ultimately became Circle
of Influence
.

SHERRY:

My story is a little
different. An editor in New York was looking for someone to write a garage sale
series. Through a series of fortunate events the chance to write a proposal for
him landed in my lap. I’ve always loved garage sales and the proposal
synopsis of the first three books, first three
chapters, cast of characters, and marketing plan
poured out of me in four days.

SUSAN:

I’ve
wanted to be an author since childhood, and I’m not sure why. I don’t remember
ever not wanting to be an author! My
love of mysteries grew over the years, and by the time I was ready to write
one, I was a parent. My protagonist Nicki is a mom, and I wanted her to be
honest about the funny, overwhelming nature of parenting—while solving
mysteries that I hope parents and non-parents will enjoy. Also, I planned to
donate part of my royalties to organizations that serve missing kids and their
families. It’s almost surreal to have these dreams come true!

TERRIE:

I
wrote the book I wanted to read. If I could create my own world, (Oh, wait—I
can) I would have my home away from home be a book store/restaurant just like
the Read ’Em and Eat—all books all the time, with book-themed food served on
author-themed tables. Book clubs meet there regularly, and I wondered what
would happen if a beloved book club member was tragically murdered. In Well Read, Then Dead that is exactly
what happens.

TRACY:

A homeless lady—I’ll call her Susan—used
to hang out near the entrance to my neighborhood grocery store, and she always
had a large Rottweiler mix in a crate next to her. Over time, I got to know
them both, and I asked her about the crate. She told me that the Rottweiler
would sometimes lunge at other dogs that walked by on the sidewalk. The
crate—which she stored behind the building at night—allowed her to keep the dog
with her, in spite of its reactivity.
Susan adored that dog and went to great
lengths to take care of it, in spite of her own financial issues and living
conditions. She was as dedicated to her pet as most people are to their
children.
I started to wonder: What if her dog had
an expensive health condition as well as its behavior issues? What would she
do? What could she do? That’s when
Bella and George formed in my head. Unfortunately, Susan disappeared from the
neighborhood long before I wrote the first draft of Murder Strikes a Pose. I haven’t seen her almost two years, so I’ll
probably never know what she would have thought about being my muse. I hope she
would have felt complimented.
What advice would you give to writers?

ANNETTE:

Don’t ever give up. Keep studying the
craft of writing. And finish the book.
SHERRY:
Don’t give up and study the
craft. I have stacks of rejection letters
from back in the day when everything was still done by snail mail.
I have two and a half books written that never sold. I kept writing, went to
lots of conferences, met people, and learned. When the opportunity finally
came, I was ready. Also, I wish someone would have told me that maybe it was
time to move on from the series that didn’t sell and to try something new.

SUSAN:

If
you believe your work is meant to be published, stay positive and don’t give
up! The journey to publication can be long and difficult—yet incredibly
rewarding. Keep your options open, too. I ended up working with a small
publisher and an attorney (not an agent).
TERRIE:
My
best advice for every writer is: Trust your own judgment. Keep on writing.
Submit. Don’t wait to hear back. Write something else. Submit that. The more
you write, the more comfortable writing becomes until you can’t imagine your
life without pounding the keyboard or picking up the pen.

TRACY:

Don’t give up, and don’t procrastinate. Write every day. Write
what you love. If you spend every day working on what you love most, even if
you never get published, you’ll have had a good time. That’s what matters most.
For the Agatha banquet, what kind of shoes would you (or if
you prefer, your protagonist or a character from your story) wear? [This is,
after all, The Stiletto Gang!]
ANNETTE:
This is such an appropriate question
since it’s one I’m currently pondering. I bought a great dress, but it’s white
and all my dressy shoes are black or dark brown. I was thinking of getting
taupe pumps, but lately I’m considering getting crazy and going with ruby red
or animal print pumps!

SHERRY:

Ah, lovely stiletto wearing
folks of the world, I envy you but I gave up heels a long time ago. I will look
for a pair of snazzy flats! However my protagonist Sarah would wear something
with a peep toe and a three inch heel.
SUSAN:
My
protagonist Nicki and I are both uncomfortable walking in high heels. (Her next
adventure actually relates to this topic!) Honestly, I wear orthotics, so I’ll
probably wear my only pair of dress shoes—with a moderate heel—that
accommodates them. If you see me, please understand! Thanks!

TERRIE:

Shoes!!
Having grown up in the era where a lady’s shoes and purse must match, and heels
were worn every day, I once owned stilettos in half a dozen colors. (We also
wore white gloves on the subway, but that’s a story for another time.) Due to
an ancient softball injury, compounded decades later by a broken ankle, I will
be wearing a pair of very low-heeled pumps to the Agatha Banquet. But, never
fear Stiletto Gang, I still have a pair of gray suede three-inch heels in my
closet that I cannot bear to give away. Sometimes I put them on and hobble
around the house, with my cane in hand for safety. They still look fabulous and
I feel fabulous when I have them on my feet. Alas, my left ankle wobbles if I
try to walk in them.
TRACY:
Given that Kate and I are both yoga
teachers, we would really prefer to go barefoot. But if that won’t work, a pair
of comfy Birkenstocks will work quite nicely!