I’ve traveled to two graduations in the past few weeks, and it’s been loads of heart-warming fun—but tiring! I wonder how I traveled for work 50 weeks of the year and still managed a home life, a social life, exercise, etc. Now when I’m out of town, I can’t wait to get back to my manuscript.
I’m often asked what my writing space looks like.
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
This is a little like my office. Except I work on a large desktop computer. Sunlight pours in from a window to my right. I don’t drink coffee, but right now I have a large mug of raspberry-lime sparkling water next to me. My desk is messier than this one. I’m surrounded by books and other reference materials, sticky notes, calendar, to-do lists, notes I’ve taken from webinars or critique group sessions, and one or another of my dogs.
The most important feature of my writing office is quiet. For me, writing fiction requires me to disconnect with the real surroundings of the room I’m in and to enter the zone of the chapter I’m working on at the time. I cease to be Saralyn Richard and become someone else who is so close to the characters and setting of my manuscript that I can breathe in its smells and textures and sounds. I have to be there if I’m going to put readers there.
Going to “the zone” was particularly wonderful during Covid lockdown, when I wrote BAD BLOOD SISTERS in nine months, my shortest time for any book. I wrote night and day, because I wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything else, but also because I was so involved with Quinn’s story that I literally couldn’t put it down.
I feel the same way about the book I’m finishing right now. (Actually, I’m that involved with each of my books when I’m writing them.) You may know, this one’s about Galveston in 1905, and, although it’s fiction, some of the characters are real people, including my grandparents. I become emotional when I think of how I’ve reconnected with them and with my hometown that I love, but I also love the story’s topics and themes. There are so many parallels with things that occur in today’s world. It’s been fun to add the historical dimension to mystery writing.
Meanwhile, are you a fan of the New York Times puzzles? My husband and I do them every day, and one of our favorites is Connections. If you’re not familiar with it, the game gives you 16 words, and you figure out which four have a connection that the others don’t have.
For example, in a recent puzzle, the 16 words were:
PUBLIC WRITER SALT PEPPER
OIL VINEGAR KITCHEN TEMPERA
PANACHE GOUACHE RUN TOWN
BEASTIE VERVE ACRYLIC GUSTO
The answers were:
TEMPERA GOUACHE ACRYLIC OIL (PAINTING MEDIA)
GUSTO PANACHE VERVE VINEGAR (ESPRIT)
KITCHEN PEPPER TOWN WRITER (GHOST ___)
BEASTIE PUBLIC RUN SALT (STARTS OF CLASSIC HIP-HOP GROUPS)
If you didn’t get them all right, neither did I, but it was fun trying.
So, here are 16 words that have connections in the Detective Parrott series. Can you get them all?
MANSION NYPD MOTIVE POWER BAR
SUSPECT CHILI HORSES CORONER
HOAGIE CHIEF FORENSICS BLACK COFFEE
ROCKS SUSPECT BARN RED HERRING
Answers are at the bottom of the newsletter. Don’t peek! Did you get them?
If you aren’t already following me on book sites or social media, here are the links where I’m hanging out. I’d love to add you to my friends and followers.
https://twitter.com/SaralynRichard
https://www.facebook.com/saralyn.richard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralyn-richard-b06b6355/
https://www.instagram.com/naughty_nana_sheepdog/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7338961.Saralyn_Richard
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/saralyn-richard
Or signup for my monthly newsletter at https://saralynrichard.com.
Also, if you want to spice up your summer reading, enter the Stiletto Gang Summer Bonanza Giveaway. Sign up at http://thestilettogang.com.
Solution:
HOAGIE CHILI BLACK COFFEE POWER BAR (PARROTT’S FAVE FOODS)
RED HERRING SUSPECT CLUE MOTIVE (TROPES OF A MYSTERY NOVEL)
CORONER CHIEF FORENSICS NYPD (PARROTT WORKS WITH THEM)
BARN ROCKS HORSES MANSIONS (FEATURES OF BRANDYWINE VALLEY)
Happy June, happy reading, and happy puzzle-solving!
Clicking Our Heels – Our Favorite Ice Cream Flavors
/in ice cream, Uncategorized/by DebraMary Lee Ashford – Much to my family’s chagrin, I’m not an ice cream fan. I don’t hate it but would never seek it out. However, I do like sorbet and raspberry would be my favorite.
Donalee Moulton – Currently Häagen-Dazs mango raspberry. But I am leaning towards Chapman’s Black Cherry.
Donnell Ann Bell – Hands down German Chocolate… okay, strike that, I’ll go with Coconut pecan. They’re cousins, right?
Gay Yellen – Butter pecan. Love the flavors!
Debra H. Goldstein – Coffee, but I’m not adverse to mixing it with chocolate chip mint
Bethany Maines – Strawberry. But good strawberry, not weird chemical strawberry. I like fresh berries and the mix with good ice cream is perfection. If I think it’s icky cheap ice cream then I go with Mint Chocolate Chip, which is harder to screw up.
Lois Winston – It’s a toss-up between Ben & Jerry’s Steven Colbert’s Americone Dream or Cherry Garcia. Why? I love chocolate, cherries, vanilla, waffle cones, and caramel, but I don’t think I’d want to mix cherries and caramel.
Judy Penz Sheluk – Chocolate chip mint. I also like chocolate mint candy bars. A solid combination.
Kathleen Kaska – Anything with chocolate, peanut butter, maple, and espresso, because real ice cream shouldn’t be fruity.
Saralyn Richard – Back in the day, I loved Baskin-Robbins chocolate cheesecake ice cream. I used to buy it in three-gallon packages. That flavor evokes memories of college and dating and the early years of marriage.
T. K Thorne – Expresso. It’s like the best of coffee and cream, but strangely, I drink my coffee black. Go figure.
Guest Mystery/Thriller Author Luke Murphy
/in Guest Blogger/by Lois WinstonToday we welcome Mystery/Thriller Author Luke Murphy to The Stiletto Gang.
From Shawville to Port Hope: Finding Inspiration in Small-Town Life
Writers are often asked where their ideas come from. The truth is, inspiration can come from anywhere, in many forms—a conversation, a news article, a memory, or a place that never quite leaves you.
For my newest novel, Dark Horse, some of that inspiration came from growing up in Shawville, Quebec.
While the fictional town of Port Hope, Mississippi, bears little resemblance to Shawville on the surface, both communities share something important: the feeling that comes from living in a small town where everyone knows everyone.
In small towns, people know your family. They know your history. News travels quickly. Sometimes, so do rumors. There is a strong sense of community, but there is also a sense that everyone has stories they don’t always share.
Those dynamics fascinated me as a writer.
One of the early scenes in Dark Horse involves the discovery of a body along a trail. While the story itself is entirely fictional, the setting was inspired by memories of walking home from school along the Cycloparc PPJ route in Shawville.
Like many kids growing up in the Pontiac, and going to the high school in Shawville, I walked that trail that led down into town, and explored the surrounding area. But like many familiar places, it took on a different character after dark. What seemed ordinary in daylight could feel mysterious at night.
That contrast stayed with me.
When I began writing Dark Horse, I wanted to capture that feeling—the sense that beneath the surface of an ordinary community, secrets can exist unseen.
The town in the novel is fictional, but the atmosphere was shaped by years of living in a place where relationships run deep and people know far more about one another than they might admit.
At the heart of the story is Calvin Watters, a former football star turned private investigator who arrives in Port Hope to investigate the murder of a young woman. What he discovers is a town struggling to keep its secrets buried.
Like all fiction, Dark Horse is a product of imagination. But the emotions, observations, and experiences that helped create it were very real.
Growing up in Shawville gave me a lifelong appreciation for small-town life—its strengths, its challenges, and the stories that exist behind closed doors.
And in many ways, those experiences helped bring Port Hope to life.
A Calvin Watters Thriller, Book 5
Guilt brought him there…
Port Hope, Mississippi—a town soaked in old sins and quiet hatred. Beneath the town’s tranquil charm lies a web of corruption, greed, and racism that stretches from the sheriff’s office to the church pews. Port Hope is a place where secrets rot beneath the surface and justice is often bought or buried.
…the truth might destroy him.
When the sister of his former teammate is found murdered, former football star Calvin Watters finds himself in the heart of the Deep South—to find justice no one else seems willing to seek. The local police are more interested in cover-ups than clues, and the townspeople have made it clear: Calvin is not welcome.
Calvin must navigate a community desperate to protect its image—even if it means silencing the truth. In a town where everyone claims to be righteous, who’s really pulling the strings—and how far will they go to keep their sins hidden?
Buy Link
~*~
How Mowgli Made a Marine: A Confession and an Ending
/in Thorne/by TK ThorneFirst, the confession: I have posted this story (but not this ending) before, but it is an important one about children and the power of story and presence.
The new ending: Last week, my husband and I attended a ceremony where our Marine was promoted to the highest rank possible in his career line: Master Gunnery Sergeant. His beautiful wife arranged a party. His two sons attached his rank insignia. I tried not to cry.
So now you know it is a happy ending. This is how the unlikely tale began:
Read More
PS Summer Book Bonanza Giveaway is ongoing until the end of this month! Check it out HERE!
My award-winning HOUSE OF ROSE (about a police officer who discovers she’s a witch!) is included.
ePub Software Woes! Oh No!
/in ePub software/by Lois WinstonBy Lois Winston
I have a love/hate relationship with computers. Recently I’ve been mired in ePub software woes. Oh no!
Fifteen years ago, I decided to enter the world of indie publishing. I first spent time as a hybrid author, one foot still in traditional publishing while dipping a toe into the indie world. Eventually, I went all in as an indie author.
There was a learning curve involved.
Because I didn’t want to pay people to do what I knew I could do, I needed to acquire certain skills. That meant this dinosaur from another era had to venture out of the kiddie pool (where I routinely cursed Word after every update) and plunge headfirst into the deep end of more complex computer programs.
After hours of research, I found programs that didn’t require a home equity loan.
I discovered learning how to make ePub files wasn’t that hard. Mastering Photoshop was another story. Although I hold a degree in graphic design and illustration, I’m a woman of a certain age who went to art school back when we designed with pen and pencil on paper, not with vectors and pixels on a computer screen. However, after quite a bit of hair-pulling and more than a little cursing, I taught myself enough to be able to create cover art on the computer.
Of course, in the world of computers, nothing ever stays the same for long.
When Adobe moved to a subscription model, I wasn’t willing to take out that home equity loan to continue using Photoshop. I found Affinity with its modest one-time fee, free upgrades, and Mac compatibility.
Recently Canva bought Affinity, and the software went through a huge redesign. I decided to stick with Affinity Designer 2 instead of moving to the newer version because I really don’t need all the bells and whistles that they’ve introduced. I just hope Canva doesn’t stop supporting Designer 2. My woman of a certain age brain has neither the time nor patience to master new software that I only need to use occasionally.
And that brings me to what recently happened with my ePub software.
For fifteen years I’ve used LegendMaker with no problems. It has enabled me to create clean ePub files free of the odd formatting glitches I often come across in eBooks. But…
Step into the Way Back Machine to two weeks ago.
I needed to update an ePub file. I clicked on my LegendMaker software and received this popup message.
ePub Software Woes!
Huh? Snow Leopard is an old iOS, introduced back in 2009. Tahoe is the most recent iOS, and that’s what I use. Why couldn’t I open the program? It had worked fine the previous week.
I sent off an email to the software developer. The few times I’d contacted him years ago, he’d responded within hours, but I hadn’t needed customer support in more than a decade. He still hasn’t responded. Why? Because Google has been unable to deliver the email. Had he not survived Covid? Retired? Gone bankrupt?
After further online research, I discovered that LegendMaker was developed using Intel/64-bit processors and is no longer compatible with Macs. But as I mentioned above, it worked fine only a week earlier!
Aaargh!!!!
Now, for all future ePub files and older ones I want to update, I have to use different software. My pre-computer dinosaur brain is vociferously voicing its objection. But I’ve soldiered on because I have no choice. I found another program and after more hair-pulling and cursing, reformatted the ePub I wanted to update. Hopefully, now that I figured out how to get the results I wanted, future file updates won’t take as long.
I’m convinced, though, that the computer gods are currently rolling around up in clouds LOLing their bums off at my expense.
Do you have a love/hate relationship with technology? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of any of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or Empty Nest Mysteries.
~*~
Sisterhood of the Traveling Book
/in Uncategorized/by Saralyn RichardWhen Pesky Things Catch Up With You
/in Uncategorized/by DebraWhen Pesky Things Catch Up With You by Debra H. Goldstein
I tend to overbook my calendar. It normally works out because my mind remembers each of the things scheduled for a given day. In fact, it’s often like I have a photographic memory for the activities on my calendar and, if I don’t, a quick glance refreshes my recollection.
That’s true except for certain random things where I have my assignment way in advance and the task necessitates addressing something days before whatever it is pops up on my calendar. The two things that most often fall through the cracks is writing this blog every other month for The Stilleto Gang and posting my book cover during my Writers Who Kill week. It’s almost like I have a mental block which results in me scrambling at last minute.
Why? I don’t know. I had no problem posting on time for The Stiletto Gang when I was responsible for one blog a month. Do you ever have a regular task that falls through the cracks, only for you to rescue it at last moment?
Keeping in mind that pesky things sometimes need to be caught up, here’s my most recent book cover that I wasn’t timely with on Writers Who Kill. At least, I wrote this blog on time.
Paws, Whiskers, and Witnesses: Why Animals Are at the Heart of Cozy Mysteries
/in Cozy Mysteries, Uncategorized/by Lois WinstonToday, we’re joined by cozy mystery author Jacqueline Vick, author of the Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic Mysteries.
There’s a long tradition of animals playing important roles in mysteries—especially cozy mysteries—and readers never seem to get enough of them. Why is that?
Illustration Courtesy of Pixabay
Consider these beloved series:
Even Agatha Christie used Bob, a wired-haired fox terrier, in Silent Witness.
Each author uses animals differently. Braun’s cat, Koko, nudges reporter Jim Qwilleran toward the truth with subtle clues. Babson’s cats are often part of the mystery but remain on the sidelines. Quinn’s lovable dog Chet narrates the story, while Brown’s Sneaky Pie is a full-fledged detective.
Since the animals play such different roles, their popularity can’t simply be explained by what they do in the story.
I think the answer is much simpler.
Dogs, cats, birds, horses, and even the occasional turtle are there for us through good days and bad. They listen without interrupting. They never criticize our life choices. (Well, dogs don’t. Cats absolutely do.) They somehow know when we need comfort, and they often repay our affection with the kind of quirky behavior that makes us laugh out loud.
Illustration Courtesy of Pixabay
Most of all, they represent safety, loyalty, and home.
That sense of comfort is a perfect fit for cozy mysteries. Even while a murderer is lurking about, the presence of an animal reminds us that we’re visiting a gentler world—one filled with friendship, humor, and hope.
When I created the Frankie Chandler Mysteries, I decided to turn the usual mystery-animal formula upside down.
Instead of making the animals detectives, I made them witnesses.
Frankie Chandler, an animal behaviorist and reluctant pet psychic, receives clues from animals who have seen the crime. The catch? They don’t communicate in words. They share impressions, images, emotions, and memories filtered through an animal’s perspective.
Illustration Courtesy of Pixabay
As you can imagine, that can lead to a few misunderstandings.
In Barking Mad at Murder, Frankie spends much of the book baffled by a clue from a golden retriever. She only understands it after ending up flat on the floor and suddenly seeing the room from the dog’s point of view.
Every animal experiences the world differently, which means every mystery requires a different approach. That also means a lot of research.
So far, Frankie has worked with dogs, cats, a Fiji crested iguana, a chicken, a goat, a cockatoo, a pair of gerbils, and even a white tiger. In my latest book, Giddy Up for Murder, Frankie teams up with two very different animal witnesses: an American Bashkir Curly horse who saw the crime and a service dog who may hold the key to identifying the killer.
My readers seem to enjoy meeting a new animal in every book, and I love figuring out how each species would interpret the clues they observe.
So now I have a question for you:
If you could choose any animal to witness a murder, what would it be? I’m always looking for ideas for Frankie’s next case. (Seriously. Leave your pick in the comments.)
While you’re ruminating over your favorite furry or feathered friend, I’ll settle into my armchair and read about Lois Winston’s Catherine the Great, The Dog Formerly Known as Manifesto, and Ralph, the Shakespeare-Quoting Parrot—pets who are definitely in her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries for comic relief.
A Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic Mystery, Book 9
Pet psychic Frankie Chandler saddles up for murder in the 9th Frankie Chandler mystery. America’s 250th anniversary Revolutionary War reenactment was supposed to mean muskets, tricorn hats, and enough colonial drama to keep the locals busy for a weekend. Instead, the most unpopular man in Wolf Creek ends up dead in the middle of a historical battle, and the only witness is a horse with a vendetta against someone who couldn’t have committed the crime.
Buy Link
~*~
Marie-Joseph Angélique – May you rest in peace
/in Historical Mystery, History, Mystery, Uncategorized/by donalee Moultonby donalee Moulton
This is spectacle. Angélique is being wheeled through the streets of Montréal in a cart. In her hand, she holds a burning torch, an acknowledgement of her crime. Someone, as is tradition, has stripped her bare and placed a white chemise over her body.
This is humiliation. The hand cart that carries Angélique on her final journey is usually used to transport garbage. I look at the people who look at Angélique as she makes her way to the hanging post, and I wonder if this is what they see: garbage. If this somehow gives them a sense of justice. On Angélique’s white shirt is embroidered: incendiaire. A life has been reduced to a single word.
This is revenge. We have won. Justice has prevailed. Angélique stops at Notre-Dame, one last chance to make things right with God, the King, and the crowds who throng the streets. Her amende honorable. I do not know if Angélique believes in God, our god. I can hear my mother’s voice, “There is only one god.” Would the Negress slave agree?
This is power. We have decided Angélique is guilty. She most likely is. The evidence, such as it is, supports this conclusion. There are no other suspects. Does that give us the right to decide what happens to her soul?
On Monday, June 21, 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique is hanged in front of the house she is said to have burned. Her body will be displayed on a gibbet for two hours. Then it will be placed on a pyre. Her ashes will be collected and scattered to the wind. It will be the final degradation.
Writing Fun and Games by Saralyn Richard
/in Author Life, Detective Parrott Mystery Series/by Saralyn RichardI’ve traveled to two graduations in the past few weeks, and it’s been loads of heart-warming fun—but tiring! I wonder how I traveled for work 50 weeks of the year and still managed a home life, a social life, exercise, etc. Now when I’m out of town, I can’t wait to get back to my manuscript.
I’m often asked what my writing space looks like.
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
This is a little like my office. Except I work on a large desktop computer. Sunlight pours in from a window to my right. I don’t drink coffee, but right now I have a large mug of raspberry-lime sparkling water next to me. My desk is messier than this one. I’m surrounded by books and other reference materials, sticky notes, calendar, to-do lists, notes I’ve taken from webinars or critique group sessions, and one or another of my dogs.
The most important feature of my writing office is quiet. For me, writing fiction requires me to disconnect with the real surroundings of the room I’m in and to enter the zone of the chapter I’m working on at the time. I cease to be Saralyn Richard and become someone else who is so close to the characters and setting of my manuscript that I can breathe in its smells and textures and sounds. I have to be there if I’m going to put readers there.
Going to “the zone” was particularly wonderful during Covid lockdown, when I wrote BAD BLOOD SISTERS in nine months, my shortest time for any book. I wrote night and day, because I wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything else, but also because I was so involved with Quinn’s story that I literally couldn’t put it down.
I feel the same way about the book I’m finishing right now. (Actually, I’m that involved with each of my books when I’m writing them.) You may know, this one’s about Galveston in 1905, and, although it’s fiction, some of the characters are real people, including my grandparents. I become emotional when I think of how I’ve reconnected with them and with my hometown that I love, but I also love the story’s topics and themes. There are so many parallels with things that occur in today’s world. It’s been fun to add the historical dimension to mystery writing.
Meanwhile, are you a fan of the New York Times puzzles? My husband and I do them every day, and one of our favorites is Connections. If you’re not familiar with it, the game gives you 16 words, and you figure out which four have a connection that the others don’t have.
For example, in a recent puzzle, the 16 words were:
PUBLIC WRITER SALT PEPPER
OIL VINEGAR KITCHEN TEMPERA
PANACHE GOUACHE RUN TOWN
BEASTIE VERVE ACRYLIC GUSTO
The answers were:
TEMPERA GOUACHE ACRYLIC OIL (PAINTING MEDIA)
GUSTO PANACHE VERVE VINEGAR (ESPRIT)
KITCHEN PEPPER TOWN WRITER (GHOST ___)
BEASTIE PUBLIC RUN SALT (STARTS OF CLASSIC HIP-HOP GROUPS)
If you didn’t get them all right, neither did I, but it was fun trying.
So, here are 16 words that have connections in the Detective Parrott series. Can you get them all?
MANSION NYPD MOTIVE POWER BAR
SUSPECT CHILI HORSES CORONER
HOAGIE CHIEF FORENSICS BLACK COFFEE
ROCKS SUSPECT BARN RED HERRING
Answers are at the bottom of the newsletter. Don’t peek! Did you get them?
If you aren’t already following me on book sites or social media, here are the links where I’m hanging out. I’d love to add you to my friends and followers.
https://twitter.com/SaralynRichard
https://www.facebook.com/saralyn.richard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralyn-richard-b06b6355/
https://www.instagram.com/naughty_nana_sheepdog/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7338961.Saralyn_Richard
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/saralyn-richard
Or signup for my monthly newsletter at https://saralynrichard.com.
Also, if you want to spice up your summer reading, enter the Stiletto Gang Summer Bonanza Giveaway. Sign up at http://thestilettogang.com.
Solution:
HOAGIE CHILI BLACK COFFEE POWER BAR (PARROTT’S FAVE FOODS)
RED HERRING SUSPECT CLUE MOTIVE (TROPES OF A MYSTERY NOVEL)
CORONER CHIEF FORENSICS NYPD (PARROTT WORKS WITH THEM)
BARN ROCKS HORSES MANSIONS (FEATURES OF BRANDYWINE VALLEY)
Happy June, happy reading, and happy puzzle-solving!
Lessons from Older Movies
/in Uncategorized/by Paula Bensonby Paula Gail Benson
During this summer, I’ve taken some time to indulge in the joy of watching older, black and white films. I remember when I was growing up, a channel ran Bette Davis movies every Saturday afternoon. I learned to love her in Now, Voyager, Watch on the Rhine, The Little Foxes, Jezebel, The Corn is Green, and, my personal favorite, All This and Heaven, Too, before I ever heard about What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? or Death on the Nile.
Hepburn’s character in The Sea of Grass became estranged from her husband and had an affair with another man, leading to a child being born. During the birth, the Hepburn character in distress revealed the child’s true father. In a more modern film, I could imagine seeing the childbirth scene, but in this 1947 version, the doctor consoled Tracy’s character afterward. Tracy’s character insisted on raising the child and banishing the mother, which led to unfortunate results.
According to Wikipedia, Elia Kazan, who directed the film, initially was excited by the prospect, but became disappointed when he learned they would not shoot on location but use stock footage of the grassy plains. Clearly, a viewer can tell the actors were standing in front of a taped image.
Life was going well. A young girl fell in love with him. They planned to be married.
But, what had happened to the Greer Garson character?
Then, during a scene at his office, she appeared. She had been working as his secretary, never telling him about their past together. Never telling him their son had died.
Hearing wedding music from his ceremony with the entertainer stopped the marriage to the young girl taking place. Then, he offered to marry his secretary in name only.
Oh, the twists and turns! How could they ever truly get back together?
Greer Garson said it was her favorite film. I enjoyed seeing how it all flowed together.
Are you a watcher of older movies? What have you learned from them?