The Montanari Universe

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The Montanari Universe

My third book with Varus Publishing is now available! CurseLocked is book three in the Montanari Universe series.  Each novel in the series is connected by the character of Dante Montanari, a four-hundred-year old dragon shifter. When I came up with the idea for the series I intended to use Dante simply as a spark to ignite each story.  I liked the idea that we all make waves in the world and we don’t know what shores they will reach.  So as Dante moves through the world his actions have impact on individuals in both positive and negative ways.

The Series So Far

Heart's Curse, book 1 of the Montanari Universe seriesIn Heart’s Curse, Dante puts his employee Lucas Kane in charge of the Lucky Heart Hotel & Casino.  Lucas has one goal—make the Lucky Heart a success and prove to Dante that he’s capable of being in charge of the Vegas portfolio.  Unfortunately for Lucas – the Lucky Heart is cursed and only Charlotte Auvray, a witch with no powers, can save him.

In Forged in Flame, Dante’s nephew Dalton Rosetti doesn’t want to go to Hawaii for the wedding of a business associate—until Dante forces him to go. Dante needs someone to follow up on the daughter of an old associate.  But when the wedding rehearsal dinner goes disastrously wrong, Dalton ends up meeting his mate, only to find out that she’s being hunted by dragon slayers.

And now in CurseLocked, Dante’s acquires an ancient dragon-crafted jade key is stolen by one of his employees—Rose Ashfield.  But Rose is desperate, hunted, and cursed.  But when Dante sends his top tracker Jace Kormos after her, Rose and Jace discover that they may be fated mates.

Dante Montanari

But as the series has continued, I have discovered that Dante’s character is far more interesting than I had originally intended. And I’ve also started having to keep a timeline document as the stories start to overlap.  Being a mystery writer has helped with this portion because I have a good deal of practice keeping track of timelines and clues.  And with all those dangling threads and overlapping storylines there (of course) needed to be an info graphic.

I can also tell that at some point Dante will require his own book because with a lifetime that stretches centuries there are a lot of adventures to share. So with each book I share a little more of Dante’s personality and past and I hope that everyone will enjoy reading the easter eggs and clues that I reveal. Or perhaps they will simply wonder how this dragon guy got involved in their perfectly good love story.

What do you think? Is it fun to have a linking character in a series or do you prefer each book to truly stand alone?

**

Bethany Maines is an award-winning author of mysteries and romance. Bethany brings a fierce sense of adventure—and humor—to everything she does from world travel for the snacks to Cerberus cosplay and baking for the plot. When she’s not wrangling a daughter, a deadline, or a spreadsheet of character arcs, she’s usually found teaching karate or working on her next novel / screenplay. But whatever the problem she’s got a plot—and a spreadsheet—for it. A member of the Mystery Writers of America Northwest Chapter, a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and the co-runner of The Stiletto Gang blog, Bethany writes under the names Bethany Maines and Sirena Corbeau. You can find her at: bethanymaines.com or catch up with her on Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Learn more about the Stiletto Gang: About Us

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

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The Lost Art of Letter Writing: When was the last time you wrote a letter, or received one?

With texting, email, and Facebook messaging as popular (and expedient) forms of communication, people rarely write letters today. Why bother, you might ask? I was fortunate to have had a friend who preferred to communicate this old-fashioned way. We met several years ago when I interviewed her for a book I was writing about her father. Although she used email, she did so mainly for business. We chatted on the phone, but we also wrote letters to one another. I have kept every letter she wrote me, as well as copies of those I wrote to her.

I think letter writing is rare because it takes time and effort.

Getting started is especially hard. I could begin with a comment on the weather, how I’m feeling, or what I’ve been up to, but those topics seem humdrum. What helped me get past “Dear Alice,” was a reminder to start with a quirky thought that’s been brewing in my brain—something like why I choose two olives with my martini one night and three the next. Or whine about an annoying neighbor who reads her mail in her car while parked next to my bedroom, listening to loud music. After that first paragraph, I’m off and running, pounding out three or four pages in a few minutes.

Electronic communication fosters little forethought as to what to say, or how to say it.

“I have a question; here it is.” Or, “I have some information you need; read this quickly.” I also find that when I send an email with too many questions, most go unanswered. No one seems to have the patience to read lengthy emails. I once had a publisher who consistently ignored most of what I asked. I soon learned to ask just one question per email.

Letter writing, on the other hand, takes thought, creativity, and consideration for the recipients.

You don’t want to bore your recipients with mundane information. You want to make them laugh, share the quirky thoughts going on in your head and your life. I look back on the first letters I wrote to my friend; most contained questions about her father’s activities. But after my book was published, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story, Alice Allen and I  began communicating on a more personal level, and a true friendship developed. I enjoyed reading her letters, holding them, and carrying them in my purse so I could reread them later. I knew she put time and effort into her letters to me—and that made me feel special. I hope she felt the same way when she received one of mine. When the pandemic struck six years ago, I could no longer visit a close friend because she was sequestered in the home of an elderly lady, who was also a friend, whom she was caring for. I started writing them letters to cheer them up and bring some light to their isolated world.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with all of Alice Allen’s letters, but I’m glad I kept them. My friend passed away almost three years ago, but rereading her letters allows me to feel her presence.

Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series set in the 1950s and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. She also writes mystery trivia, including The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book. Her Holmes short story, “The Adventure at Old Basingstoke,” appears in Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street. She founded The Dogs in the Nighttime, a scion of The Baker Street Irregulars.

OtherWorlds Podcast Host announcement

Creative Process

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Embracing the Process

Recently, someone asked me about my inspiration for one of my books, and I hesitated to answer. Investigating the creative process can be fascinating, but also a little bit terrifying. Exploring how my brain processes and generates ideas can help guide my process toward fresh ideas. Or it could make me realize that the entire thing is built on a scaffolding of matchsticks. Perhaps it’s better not to look into what made this happen?  And if I do look, will it make the entire thing grind to a halt? Like Schrödinger’s cat, as long as we don’t look into the box, we can assume everything is fine, and no one has to know we killed a cat to make this story happen.

The Truth

Because the truth behind what causes a story inspiration to flourish into a plot is deeply personal and delves into my philosophical and political opinions, my romantic kinks, my thoughts on how to get away with murder, and what I feel about my relatives. But in another—but equally valid—way, the answer can also be boiled down to… I saw this movie in 2005, and then I talked to this one guy at a networking social last year, and then one morning in April my brain connected the two. I think that the second answer is the one readers are more interested in, but as a writer, I’m more interested in the first.  Which is why I’ve been enjoying my latest adventure as a Podcast Bro.

The OtherWorlds Podcast

The OtherWorlds Podcast from Authors on the Air Global Radio Network focuses on all things fantasy, magical, supernatural and maybe even a bit speculative.  And with me as the new host, I’m diving into my special interests — crime and romance — and how they interact with all the magic each author brings to the table.  It’s been so much fun to ask each author about their inspiration and take a look under the hood to learn more about their creative process.  From Ben Shepherd who turned from politics and diplomatic service to writing about vampires and crime in London with “Blood Drunk” to Emily Krempholtz who has been helping other authors with their own journey of creativity and her upcoming novel “Prudence Marsh is Not a Nobody Anymore,” it’s been a treat to see how other writers chase down their ideas and pin them to the page.

We’re All Fine Here

And what I’ve learned in my brief foray into interviewing is that I’m perfectly normal as long as I stand next to the right people.  If I tell someone that my inspiration for my upcoming book CurseLocked is the movie Psycho, Harrison Ford, the comic book character Venom, and Miss Havisham from Great Expectations there are lot of people who will look at me a little oddly.  But if I sit at the paranormal author table, then I’m doing just fine because they’re also exploring their own mish-mash of inspirations.

But what do you think?

Do you think it’s better to thoroughly understand the creative process?  Or do you like to trust the magic and not know how the machine works?

**

CurseLocked: Cursed by a stalker’s spell, Rose Ashfield can’t let anyone close without unleashing deadly shadows. But when wolf shifter Jace Kormos is sent to capture her and the mystical jade key she’s stolen, desire ignites into something neither can deny. To break the curse, they’ll have to risk their lives—and their hearts—in a battle against darkness, magic, and fate itself.

Learn more about CurseLocked: https://amzn.to/4cm1FLn

Learn more about The OtherWorlds Podcast: bethanymaines.com/otherworlds

**

Bethany Maines is an award-winning author, graphic designer, and sixth-degree black belt, who brings a fierce sense of adventure—and humor—to everything she does, from world travel for the snacks to Cerberus cosplay and baking for the plot. Bethany is the Mystery Writers of America Northwest Chapter Treasurer, the co-runner of The Stiletto Gang blog, new host of The OtherWorlds podcast, and writes under the names Bethany Maines and Sirena Corbeau. You can find her at: bethanymaines.com or catch up with her on Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Learn more about the Stiletto Gang: Our Books

A New, New Car and a Windfall

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1985 Honda

Some say that bad things come in threes, but not in this case.

Thirty years ago, I finally admitted my faithful 1985 Honda Accord was nearing the end of its remarkable life. After almost 250,000 miles, it had earned a dignified retirement. My husband had been urging me to replace it, especially since I drove twenty miles each way to my teaching job. I resisted by buying a cell phone instead. If the car broke down, I’d simply call him to rescue me. Problem solved—or so I thought.

That plan lasted until the mechanic informed me the transmission needed replacing.

Reluctantly, I went car shopping. To this day, I have no idea why I walked into a Saturn dealership. I loved Hondas, yet somehow that day I drove home in a brand-new Saturn.

Within days, I knew I’d made a mistake. The Saturn was perfectly fine. It just wasn’t a Honda. I tried convincing myself I’d get used to it. After all, I kept cars forever. My little red Volkswagen Beetle lasted ten years, and I cried when I sold it. I cried again when I traded in my beloved Accord for a car named after a planet.

A few weeks later, while my husband was out of town, I headed to my favorite coffee shop. Except I never got there. Instead, I found myself pulling into the Honda dealership. There, gleaming in the afternoon sun, sat an eggplant-colored Special Edition Honda with a sunroof. I walked inside and told the salesman, “I’d like to trade my Saturn for that dark purple Honda.”

He looked out the window at my Saturn, then back at me. “Your Saturn looks brand new.”

“It is,” I said. “I just don’t like it.”

He smiled. “Let’s take the Honda for a test drive.”

“I don’t need a test drive.”

1997 Honda

He laughed and later admitted it was the easiest sale he’d ever made. We completed the paperwork, but I told him I’d return the next morning. I always sleep on major decisions. Driving home, guilt crept in. Shouldn’t I call my husband first? Could I really afford this? Was I being completely impulsive?

I decided I needed a sign from God. Without looking, I grabbed a CD—you remember those—and slid it into the player. The first song was Fred Astaire singing:

“Heaven, I’m in heaven…”

Well…that certainly seemed encouraging. Still, the guilt lingered. I walked through my front door, and within ten minutes the phone rang. My agent was on the line. He’d sold my second book—an Alfred Hitchcock trivia book—and the publisher was offering a $4,000 advance. Remember when publishers paid advances?

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. The publisher of a brand-new magazine called AustinFit had gotten my name from another publication I occasionally wrote for. They needed a staff writer and wondered if I was interested.

“Absolutely.”

Then the phone rang a third time. A science textbook company wanted to know if I’d write three chapters for a middle-school science textbook.

“Sure,” I said, figuring it might pay around $3,000 a chapter.

Then they told me the fee for all three chapters. Thirty thousand dollars! I nearly dropped the phone. With that one assignment, I had almost doubled my annual income, and it was more than enough to buy the car.

The next morning, I arrived at the Honda dealership five minutes before it opened. I drove home in my beautiful Honda Accord. I thought about calling my husband. Instead, I decided to surprise him.

Looking back, I like to think those three phone calls were God’s way of saying, Go ahead. Buy the Honda. For the next several years, every time I slipped behind the wheel of that car, I knew I’d made the right decision. Since then, I’ve owned three more Hondas. One of them drove my husband and me around the country on our 47,000-mile retirement trip.

“American Honda Motor Company, I’m available for promo videos.”

Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series, which won the 2025 PenCraft Award for Best Series, and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. Her trivia book, The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book, is in its third printing. Kathleen recently won the Amity Literary Award for her upcoming novel, Death Without Dignity, set for release in January 2027.

Her latest Sydney Lockhart mystery is scheduled for release on September 8, 2026. Visit Me

Pre-sales sites: 

Amazon: https://shorturl.at/J7AuZ

Smashwords: https://shorturl.at/mDuyO

Barnes and Noble: https://shorturl.at/g89CU

Bookshop: https://shorturl.at/3hyjr

Kobo: https://shorturl.at/cBKpZ

Everand: https://shorturl.at/PaDaD

 

I Failed a Lie Detector Test

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I’ve confessed this to only a couple of people, but I’m now making it public: I failed a lie detector lie detector (polygraph) test.

This happened in the early ’80s, when I was young and naïve—long before I began writing crime fiction. Back then, I believed lie detector tests were infallible. When I failed, I didn’t just feel embarrassed—I questioned my own sanity. Was I a chronic liar and didn’t know it?

Years later, as a mystery writer, I know better.

It started when a friend asked me to bartend Sunday nights at a pricey hotel in downtown Austin. Someone had quit without notice, and he was in a bind. I’d bartended in college, so I agreed to help.

There was just one catch: new employees had to take a lie detector test.

No problem, I thought. It might even be interesting.

It was—but not in the way I expected.

I was sent to a private company across town. My internal alarms went off the moment I saw the man who would administer the test. “Creepy” is putting it mildly. He had greasy, dyed-black hair, dirt under his fingernails, and a stained dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down, exposing a thicket of chest hair. Cheap rings crowded his fingers.

At the time, I didn’t yet have the instincts of a crime writer—but I had enough sense to feel uneasy.

When he took my hand to attach the sensors, I shivered.

The questions began.

Had I ever stolen from an employer? No.
Had I ever been convicted of a crime? No.
Had I ever taken illegal drugs? No.

Then he lingered on the drug question, circling back again and again, rephrasing it each time. Today, I’d recognize that tactic immediately—pressure the subject, unsettle them, look for physiological spikes. But at the time, I was simply confused.

Finally, he asked if I was currently using drugs. I said I’d recently taken antibiotics and occasionally used Motrin.

He moved on, then returned to the same line of questioning.

If I were writing this scene today, I’d have my detective note the repetition, the shifting language, the way the examiner controlled the rhythm of the interrogation. I’d build tension there—because that’s where it lives.

But back then, I was just irritated—and certain of one thing: I had told the truth.

The following Sunday, as I was getting ready for work, my friend called.

I had failed the test.

If this were fiction, that would be the inciting incident—the moment everything tilts. The innocent protagonist accused. The system revealed as flawed. The first crack in what’s supposed to be objective truth.

My friend told me not to worry, said I could come to work anyway, maybe even retake it later.

I told him not to bother. I wasn’t coming back.

Years later, after writing crime novels and researching investigative techniques, I learned what I wish I’d known then: lie detector tests don’t always detect lies. They detect stress.

And stress can come from many places:

  • Anxiety
  • Fatigue or illness
  • Medication
  • Confusing or manipulative questioning
  • Even the examiner’s own bias

In other words, the very conditions designed to “find the truth” can distort it.

That realization changed the way I think about interrogation scenes. In fiction, a lie detector can be a powerful tool—but not because it reveals truth. Because it reveals vulnerability. Because it can be wrong.

And wrong can be dangerous.

I recently discovered that lie detector tests were actively used in courtrooms in the 1950s—the world of my Sydney Lockhart mysteries. Which raises a delicious possibility.

What happens when Sydney—sharp, observant, and far less naïve than I was—is strapped into that chair? When she knows the machine is flawed, but the people watching believe it isn’t?

That’s not just a test.

That’s a setup.

And in crime fiction, setups are where the real story begins. I can’t wait to put Sydney in this uncomfortable situation and then watch her wiggle out of it. She’d do a much better job than her creator.

Have you ever been falsely accused?

 

Believe in your Story and Never Give Up

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By Donnell Ann Bell

I do not consider myself a vain person. Uncertainty follows me on a daily basis. And like most authors insecurity has me on speed dial. But if I write something that corresponds with the vision in my head, then I develop a strong belief in my project. It doesn’t happen with every manuscript. I have a drawerful of attempted projects that haven’t quite measured up.

My debut book, however, the unpublished title Walk Away Joe, earned me a Golden Heart nod and agent representation. Afterward, I set to work on book two. Based on the plot, the title Deadly Recall came to me almost immediately. The story was a romantic suspense spinning off from my elementary Catholic school days and my court reporting legal experience.

The characters in Deadly Recall came to me equally fast. I was so confident in that book, I almost ignored the advice offered by Donald Maass, renowned literary agent and author of Writing the Breakout Novel. I attended a seminar in which Maass warned writers that if they knew who the killer was throughout the book, the reader would too.

What did he know? I remained steadfast in my belief I’d chosen the right antagonist for my story. Yet as my page count increased, reality intruded on my pipedream. I was a brand-new author; Donald Maass was an expert. I remember the precise moment I flipped the script and changed my killer’s identity. It was near the end of the book. To this day, I credit Donald Maass’s advice. Thanks to him Deadly Recall became a more cohesive and suspenseful story.

After I finished the novel, I entered writing contests but didn’t send it to my agent just yet. She hadn’t sold Walk Away Joe, and if Deadly Recall did well, I hoped to convince her I wasn’t a “one-book wonder.” Deadly Recall won several contests, one of which included agents and editors as the final round judges. I confess my head was the size of a pinata when one contest coordinator wrote, “This is so good. Can’t wait to see it in print.”

I was still flying high until weeks later I opened my entry to learn I’d received an honorable mention. Obviously, my writing peer judges liked the story, New York professionals, not so much. Needless to say, I was disheartened. Still, I believed in that book. So, when a well-known editor from a respected house announced she was accepting on-line pitches, I participated. Her response to my pitch? “Nice idea. But Catholic stories don’t sell. Put it under your bed and never get it out again.”

I don’t have to tell you that left a mark! At the same time, I was smarting from that rejection, my agent wrote me about Deadly Recall. She said she’d shared the book with her team, and they all agreed with her that it “wasn’t my best work.” At that, I sent her a 30-day termination notice and cancelled our agency agreement.

Along with the Deadly Recall rejections I was receiving, I was still hopeful for Walk Away Joe. At a writer’s conference, I pitched the book to an acquiring editor of a major house, and she asked me to send it. I sent it, knowing I was engaging in a proverbial longshot as New York publishers rarely, if ever, accepted unagented submissions.

About this time, RWA’s 2010 Golden Heart calls went out, and I was both happy and stunned to learn that Deadly Recall was a finalist in the organization’s largest and most respected contest. This was my second Golden Heart final, so some (not all) of my confidence was restored as I felt it gave me some street creds.

A short time later, I queried BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books about Walk Away Joe and Vice President Deborah Smith wrote me back saying, “Send it. Send Deadly Recall while you’re at it.” I’ll never forget when BelleBooks sent me an offer letter for both books. I had huge respect for Debra Dixon and Deborah Smith, both legends in publishing, and decided to accept. As a courtesy I wrote the New York editor with whom I’d submitted Walk Away Joe. All my rejection bruises seemed to fade when she wrote back, “Congratulations. This is our loss. I love Melanie and Joe.” FYI, Melanie and Joe are characters from the WAJ manuscript that BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books subsequently renamed The Past Came Hunting.

In the early days of my publishing career, Amazon, had a marketing tool called Deal of the Day on Kindle. Both The Past Came Hunting and Deadly Recall hit the top ten of the overall paid deals. I was on my way to Santa Fe when Deborah Smith messaged me to tell me Deadly Recall had hit #1 in the overall paid category! For a brief time, my book was listed alongside John Grisham and Clive Custler. Typically, I couldn’t get a signal to capture a screen shot but did manage one a couple days later in which the book still held the #1 spot in three genre categories.

I tell you this long drawn-out story to remind you that while others may not believe in your work, if you’re passionate about it, never give up. Deadly Recall remains my bestselling book. Imagine if I had done what that editor suggested and put it under my bed. Deadly Recall is one of the books in The Stiletto Gang’s Summer Bonanza. The log line is: A terrifying memory is locked deep inside her. A Killer wants to keep it that way. https://donnellannbell.net/books/romantic-suspense-thrillers/deadly-recall/   Now that you know its history, I hope you’ll give it a try. And remember this business is subjective. Whatever you’re passionate about, it’s important to believe!  Happy Reading!

 

“Just One More Thing”

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When you hear the phrase “just one more thing,” what comes to mind? If you were around in the 1970s, you probably remember Columbo, starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo of the Los Angeles Police Department. The series won 22 awards and received 68 nominations, with Falk earning four Primetime Emmy Awards. It aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 and has since been rebroadcast on numerous networks.

What I liked most about the show was its structure: viewers knew the killer from the start and then watched Columbo patiently unravel the crime. Each episode featured a guest star as the murderer—Martin Landau, Janet Leigh, Ruth Gordon, Vincent Price, Roddy McDowall, Leonard Nimoy, even Johnny Cash, to name a few.

I recently rediscovered the series after making a practical—if slightly risky—decision: changing hairdressers after fifteen years. When I learned my husband’s barber had begun cutting women’s hair for less than half what I’d been paying, I decided to give her a try. I only needed a trim—no shampoo, no styling. The first visit took less than ten minutes, and I was pleased with the result.

On my most recent visit, I didn’t have an appointment. Four people were ahead of me, and I thought about leaving—until I noticed the television was tuned to Columbo. I stayed. The episode featured Ricardo Montalban as a matador in “A Matter of Honor.”

When Columbo arrives on a scene—hair rumpled, trench coat wrinkled, cigar in hand—he’s easy to underestimate. His suspects dismiss him as absentminded, even inept. But his polite, seemingly scattered questions are deliberate. Columbo is a meticulous strategist, noting every clue and quietly assembling the truth. He wears his suspects down with persistence, circling back again and again until—almost as an afterthought—he says, “Just one more thing.”

Alfred Hitchcock also used this technique in his movies Rope, Dial M for Murder, A Shadow of a Doubt, and Frenzy. His forte was suspense rather than surprise. The audience knows what happened as they watch the story unfold. Suspense builds tension, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as they participate in solving the crime.

Back to my barber. I waited nearly an hour that day and didn’t mind at all. I was hooked as soon as Columbo began his investigation. I knew he’d solve the mystery, and I couldn’t wait to find out how he did it. Next time I need a trim, I may skip the appointment altogether. I’ll take a seat, request Columbo on TV, and bring my writing journal. I’ll study the master detective at work and take notes for the next mystery.

Have you ever written a reverse whodunnit?

What’s a Freedom Plane?

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In the government’s growing penchant for giving events names that have little relation to what they actually are, our Museum of Natural History announced the arrival of The National Archive’s “Freedom Plane Tour,” a display in honor of the 250th anniversary of  the United States of America. The invitation to the opening of the exhibit had me wondering where they’d be parking a Boeing 737 in the museum’s urban setting.

Silly me, to think there was a plane in the exhibit.

The plane never left the airport. Only its precious contents are on display in a very small, darkened space at the museum. We joined the long line of folks slowly snaking into and through the closet-sized, curtained enclosure, surrounded by security. Only a dozen or so gawkers at a time were granted a brief view of some of the most important original documents that forged our nation.

At first, I was disappointed that only a few items were there. But as I took my turn before each one, I was transfixed. I began to imagine what it must have been like for those who struggled to produce them, and the compromises and sacrifices that had to be reckoned with in order to forge a new nation, founded on radical principals of liberty and freedom, at least as they were perceived 250 years ago.

I imagined what fortitude and courage it took to reach enough consensus to have laid it out on a page for all posterity.Oaths of Allegiance to King George I wished I was allowed more time to read the difficult script and each signature, and especially, to ponder those last minute, hand-written edits on what became the final drafts.

It was definitely a messy business, and it’s not difficult to understand why we’re still debating many of the particulars today.

Which may be why, at the outset, the founders must have known how important it was to insert the word “more” between “a” and “perfect union.” They understood that, hard as we humans may try, achieving perfection is only a pipe dream.

And yet, bless our little hearts, we still try.

Every citizen learns at least an elementary version of how life was back then. But many of the details, as evidenced in the few documents displayed here, were new to me. More than any history book or TV documentary I’ve ever come across, these few items on display brought the struggle to life.

Treaty of Paris 1783In adding their names to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, these colonial representatives still had to unite and then muster the wherewithal to engage in a long, costly war. A  peace treaty with Britain was not signed until 1783.

But that’s not all.

They still had to figure out how to form a unified nation among the independent colonies, each of which had varying economic and social needs and philosophies.That task took well over a decade to accomplish.

The final draft of the U.S. Constitution was not ratified until 1783, and at the actual signing, representatives from only eleven the thirteen new states were present.

Fast forward to current times

As I walked out of the exhibit, the day was dreary. So was my mood. I mourned the spirit of so those who stood up for their lofty principles and fought battle after battle, both intellectually and physically, to create a country that has been, for almost all of its 250 years, the envy of the world.

It’s difficult these days to remain positive about the future of our country, what with the seemingly constant turmoil within and outside of our borders. While it’s tempting to believe that, since we’ve always been able to pull ourselves away from the brink of collapse, things will always work themselves out. But great civilizations before us have thrived and withered. Let us not be complacent.

I’ve included photos of every document in the exhibit; the pictures aren’t great, but given the crowd, the lighting, the height of the display, and the short time allowed, t’was the best I could do. Like our country, much is still a work in progress.

If you want to experience the exhibit in person, the official itinerary is here: Freedom Plane. 

Read more about this award-winning author at GayYellen.com.

 

Behaving Badly: Out of the Drawer

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Dear Stiletto Gang Readers: I am so proud to know today’s guest. Read on; I have no doubt you’ll understand why. ~ Donnell Ann Bell  

Out of the Drawer

By: Rochelle Staab

Author Rochelle Staab

Most every writer keeps one or more unwritten novels somewhere in a drawer/file/box, waiting, hoping for the enthusiasm to finish. Most drawer stories wait forever. Some resurface then fizzle again. My new novel, Behaving Badly, spent ten years in the drawer before the escape. Inspiration didn’t reappear overnight. Unwittingly, my personal journey away from writing, fed into the story and setting and made me a better writer.

After a series cancellation and my frustration in trying to please an editorial team who liked me but not the ideas I pitched, I decided to write what I really wanted to write: noir set in depression/prohibition-era Los Angeles. Using a working title of Above the Fold, I created a gritty, recently widowed female crime reporter who chased front-page headline stories about crime and corruption in 1930s Los Angeles without the convenience of a cell phone or a computer.

I loved the idea. Like so many women who found and claimed their power through the 1920s into the 1930s, my heroine had guts. Tess—my protag’s name has always been Tess—had a character profile, a supporting cast, solid research, and a complicated abduction plot involving a silent screen star lookalike.

Seventeen chapters in, Tess claimed her ground. I deflated. My agent gave me a mediocre response when I pitched a historical noir mystery featuring a female reporter. I feared the same reaction from my editor. I needed to shake off rejection and self-doubt and do something to make me feel good about myself.

Rochelle Staab and hiking buddy Barbara Beck at Escondido Falls, Malibu, California

I had always felt less than because I didn’t have a college degree, something I knew I had the power to fix. I enrolled in the local community college to see if I had what it took to erase my insecurity. My major would be English, because, you know, writer? But a required history class seduced me. One more, and I became a history major. I graduated and moved on to Cal State Northridge to complete my credits. I read primary sources; I wrote essays about world history. I formed opinions. Despite being the oldest history major at CSUN, I did a summer internship at the Autry Museum. I built a blog on the history of chocolate and co-wrote a video about the history of Los Angeles State Historic Park. Without planning, the classes I took, like the history of Weimar Germany, added context to the world surrounding Tess. My Sunday hikes around L.A. gave me a sidewalk-up familiarity (setting!) with Los Angeles infrastructure during the city’s growing years, the city Tess lived and worked in.

During my last semester at CSUN, I had a casual conversation with an acquaintance at my gym, a man who read hard cover novels on his daily stationary bike routine. I told him I wrote three books. A week later I spotted him reading my first book, Who Do Voodoo? on the bike. Seeing him turn the pages of my book fired a spark. I wondered if I would ever have the courage and creativity to write another novel.

Two weeks before I graduated with Honors, the gym guy and I had dinner. He asked what I would be writing after I graduated.  Just so I could call myself a writer and still believe it, I told him about Tess, my 30s reporter. That night I opened the “drawer” in my computer and figuratively pulled out Tess and what soon became Behaving Badly.

I started editing the seventeen chapters I wrote ten years ago and fell in love with the story all over again. Worried about failing Tess one more time, I logged my daily word count but without specific goals. From then on, each day when my gym friend asked how the writing was going, I had an answer. I found my pattern. Editing the seventeen chapters gave me courage. From there, I tried to write a new chapter each week, building the rest of the story without pressure or deadline. My friends smiled at me with that patient “will she ever finish the damned thing?” look. Twenty-eight chapters later, and a much richer story, Tess tied up some loose plot ends, and I typed THE END.

I had promised myself that if my agent still didn’t like historical noir ten years later, I would take charge of my writing future, self-publish Behaving Badly, and reclaim my agency. When he told me that the historical fiction genre had no audience, and perhaps I should write about hiking instead, our gracious parting made me a publisher.

A chance meeting with another author while on a basement tour of speakeasys in downtown L.A.—where else would authors bond?—led to a self-publishing conversation. He offered to school me. I took him up on it, followed the process, commissioned a cover, formatted the document, and within weeks uploaded Behaving Badly to Amazon. The feeling of publishing my own book exhilarated me.

On April 30, Tess and Behaving Badly debuted at #14 on Amazon’s Depression History of the U.S. chart and hit #10 the next morning. Today Amazon named Behaving Badly the “Top New Release” in Depression History of the U.S. Tiny category, but fitting, I think, for a historian, noir mystery author and publisher with her 1930s drawer novel.

Never give up, fellow writers. Never give up.

About the Book:

In 1932 Los Angeles, crime has no consequences

Recently widowed crime beat reporter Tess Hammond turns grief into purpose when her editor assigns her a seemingly small missing-teen story that balloons into murder, corruption, violence, and white slavery in Depression-wrought, Prohibition-era 1932 Los Angeles. As the search for the young woman leads Tess from an underground speakeasy to a Poverty Row studio, from Hollywood Boulevard nightlife to a gambling ship at sea, she encounters a world of mobsters, corrupt cops and, eerily, the chain of duplicity and corruption that cost her detective husband his life and almost ends her own.

About the Author: Rochelle Staab is a Los Angeles mystery writer, avid hiker, trail blogger, and historian with a deep background in the radio and music industry. She returned to the writing community in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus to earn a BA in history with an emphasis on America and Los Angeles. Using Mother Nature as a tour guide, Rochelle has blogged about over 300 different hikes in the mountains, urbs, and burbs of Los Angeles, exploring L.A. from the ground up. Rochelle’s fourth novel, BEHAVING BADLY, the first Tess Hammond historical noir mystery novel set in 1932 Los Angeles, released in May 2026.  ~ https://rochellestaab.com/

What’s the big idea?

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One of my favorite lines from a film is during The Trouble with Angels when Hayley Mills who plays a troublemaker teenager says, “I have a scathingly brilliant idea!”

Mine may not be scathingly brilliant but for many a spark or an idea can be a figurative pot of gold. I got my idea for The Past Came Hunting after listening to Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley’s country song “Walk Away Joe.” The lyrics surround a seventeen-year-old girl who refuses to listen to her mother and runs off with her bad-news boyfriend. As the song goes, the girl waits in the car while the young man robs a gas station.

During a police ride-along, I asked the officer I was riding with what would happen to the girl?

“Seventeen. In the commission of a felony,” he replied. “She might be charged as an accessory—might even be tried as an adult and go to prison.” My kids were near that age at the time and I was appalled.

Later I asked him, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to you as a police officer?” Without hesitation, he answered, “If an ex-con moved next door to me.”

Boom! I had my story.

I researched how some authors came up with ideas and discovered:

J.K. Rowling got her idea for Harry Potter from a delayed train journey.

J.R.R. Tolkein, creator of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, got the idea for the Hobbit from a random sentence he wrote while grading papers.

Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games, was channel surfing and watching young people compete for a million-dollar contest.

Still, ideas can be nebulous and are often fleeting. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan and I discussed this during an interview. She said her muse show up at a restaurant. She reached for a napkin, then her pen and started writing. All I can say is if an idea or inspiration strikes, be ready to focus and find a way to jot it down.

Finally, my favorite anecdote about ideas and inspiration has to be from musician John Tesh who shared his backstory when he created Roundball Rock, the Chicago Bulls theme song, which in 2025 became the overall theme song for the NBA. The story as well as the score is breathtaking. Here’s the Youtube link and well worth a listen:

https://youtu.be/V_h7Lm7C9Nk?si=L-qVONhk5fTx3ej1

How about you? Got any goldmine ideas you’ve encountered to write a book or otherwise? Where do you get your ideas?

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