“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” — Albert Einstein As we welcome the arrival of 2026, we can’t help but reflect on the past year with all its ups and downs. And twists and turns. So we’d like to take a moment to say thank-you. To our readers, our supporters, friends and […]
by Sparkle Abbey Today we’re excited to welcome Kari Lee Townsend, a long time friend and national bestselling mystery author, who is going to tell us a bit about her writing process and her latest project. Welcome, Kari! We met you at a conference many moons ago and have been friends ever since, but for […]
by Mary Lee Ashford It’s October and it seems like Autumn vibes are everywhere. From pumpkin themes, to hardy mums, to sweater ads – fall has been unleashed. It’s not feeling much like fall here in the Midwest as we’re have temps in the high 80s as if Mother Nature is not ready to let […]
by Sparkle Abbey As we come to the end of summer and head into fall there are so many things happening in our lives and in the world. And so much going on in the publishing world. It’s hard to keep up with everything. A new series is still in development but with happenings in […]
by Mary Lee Ashford Here in the Midwest it’s been hot, hot, hot recently. I know that’s been true in a lot of other areas as well. With the triple digit heat indexes making it uncomfortable outside, I find myself saying to people, “It’s great weather to stay inside and read!” But then I realized […]
by Sparkle Abbey Malice Domestic 2025 is in the books and if there was a theme this year it was surely the kindness and connectedness of the mystery writing community. It was heard in the stories from each of the honorees highlighting how much being a part of Malice has made all the difference. It […]
from Mary Lee Ashford * It’s been a busy month or so here with a new book coming out in May (Night of the Living Bread), a book festival, preparing for Malice Domestic and beginning work on the next book in the Sugar & Spice mystery series. Maybe because I’m at the very beginning of […]
by Sparkle Abbey As we dig out from winter here in the Midwest, our thoughts turn to spring. And for us spring brings not only spring flowers and much nicer weather (we hope) but also great opportunities to get out to book events. It kicks off the season for mystery conferences, such as Left Coast […]
by Sparkle Abbey Today we welcome our friend and fellow Iowa author, Winter Austin! We have some questions for her but before we get started with those, Winter, please share with our readers a little bit about yourself. I wear many hats; Author, Veteran’s Wife, NG-Army Mom, Awesomest Aunt Ever, Goat & Cattle Wrangler, Fluffy […]
by Sparkle Abbey Today we welcome a very special guest to the blog – our friend and fellow Iowa author Clara Mckenna who is has a fantastic release coming out later this month, Murder at Glenloch Hill. More about that later. First, we had some questions for Clara about her writing journey, her process, and […]