The Lady Killers

Paris at night

Cara here on Friday,

Ok so you're walking down this staircase late at night in Montmartre,

a cat slinks by, there's shouting in a nearby passage and then who do you want to

see but...?

Speaking in Contra Costa

I'm one of those who loves cold, wet, weather, as long as I'm inside most of the time.  But I think that Rhys is in the majority.  Australia never had any allure for me, except perhaps the wine country.

That's a sort of segue for telling everyone that I'm going to be speaking at the Contra Costa Jewish Book and Art Festival on Sunday at 11:00 am, in Walnut Creek.  They asked me to talk about the Da Vinci Code again and I'll probably start with that and move on to the mysteries with the underlying theme being mythology -- why most of us are more likely to believe myth than facts.  Since I've been dealing with this most of my working life, I've quite a few opinions on the subject.  Part of my reason for writing the medieval mysteries was clearing up some of the myths about the period.  But an awful lot of reviewers seemed to ignore that part.

Now I'm telling people that there was never a Priory of Sion, the Templars weren't secret pagans and Nostradamus didn't think the world would end in 2012.   But the myths are just so darn much more interesting to most people.  I sometimes feel that I'm sweeping sand off the beach at low tide.

Still, here I go again, the Dona Quixote of history.  If you want to know more about the festival, here is the link.

http://63.151.43.13/bookfest2009/home.html

(you may have to cut and paste)

Sharan

Past Lives

Rhys on Wednesday.

If I had a past life, then I think I must have been a swallow. As soon as the first signs of fall are in the air, as soon as the leaves turn yellow and the nights turn chilly, I start thinking of flying south.

Other people tell me that they love living in a place with four seasons. They'd hate it if the sun shone all year, they say. They actually look forward to raking leaves and stomping through snow and curling up by a big fire. Not me. Any day I wake up and there are clouds I feel annoyed and cheated, which is strange when you think that I grew up in England where most mornings were cloudy and rainy and a clear blue sky at sunrise would prompty my great aunt to mutter, "Fine before seven, rain by eleven."

My childhood memories are of standing at bus stops with the wind whistling past and the rain dripping down the back of my neck. Of trudging home the half mile from the bus to a house that was little warmer than the outside--long drafty hallways, a living room so large that the fire at one end only warmed those who sat in the two arm chairs a few inches away. And my bedroom--up on the top floor and thus miles away from the nearest fire--well, the windows were often frosted up in the winter and I learned to get dressed in ten seconds flat.

Most of my childhood I dreamed of Australia. I had an uncle who had emigrated there and sent me books every Christmas --Wonderful Australia in Pictures, Australian Wildlife in Color. And you know what? The sun was always shining. I resolved to go there as soon as possible. I graduated from college, got a good job and then headed Down Under, where I should probably have lived happily ever after, but romance intervened. I met a man. He was on his way to California, which is why I wound up here. At least he was headed somewhere equally warm and sunny. If he'd told me he was on his way to North Dakota or the Yukon, I don't think I'd have married him.

So I've enjoyed California sunshine for most of my life, but you know what? It rains in the winter where I live. It gets cold and the wind blows. And my thoughts turn to the south. So three years ago we bought a condo in Arizona. That's one place I can guarantee sunshine all winter. I'm thinking of it now. We are normally in Arizona by now, but John is undergoing medical treatment so we're stuck here until the New Year.

And I'm wondering what made me so different from the rest of my family. What made me crave southern skies and sunshine and gave me wanderlust? Was I really a swallow in a past life? So do any of you believe in past lives? Anyone have any proof?

Signing schedule: SHEER FOLLY and BLACK SHIP

I have a few signings/talks/discussions/whatever coming up, having rescheduled after having to cancel when my back quit on me:

SEATTLE Mystery Bookstore, Nov. 13th at noon. Friday 13th has always been a lucky day for me!
http://www.seattlemystery.com/Events/events.html

SAN DIEGO Mysterious Galaxy, Nov. 20th at 7 pm
http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

LOS ANGELES Mystery Bookstore, Nov. 21st at noon.
http://www.mystery-bookstore.com/blog/archives/author_events_nov2009.html

Hope to see some of you one place or another.

Back news: I walked down to the river on Saturday for the first time in 6 weeks. Wonderful!

Dog news: The new six-foot fence went up last Wednesday. Trillian figured out how to open the gate this morning. It's now fastened with a leather strap. Anyone want to bet on how long it takes her to work out the buckle?

New chair news: Love it!

Carola

PP webcon to return in 2010

Ann Parker here, Monday's child for the Lady Killers, staggering into the beginning of what looks like a busy work week. So, I'll make this a quick one...
It's now official: There will be another PP webcon in 2010, so mark November 6, next year, for the event. I plan to be there, and hope to "see" a lot of familiar faces (virtually speaking) when the time arrives.

Okay ... that's it for me on this Monday. Will attempt to be more scintillating next week!

Inviting guests

I think guest-blogging is a great idea.  I'm in stasis right now with the new book just finished, except for some difficult reproduction rights.  I'm busy clearing the decks, desks and floors to get ready to start something new and all I've been working on seriously is green tomato chutney and plum jam.

I'll have to see if anyone I enjoy reading has a new book out they'd like to tell us about.

Other than that I've been amused by the ads for the film "2012".  One of the things I found when researching the end of the world is that most people think that the world may end but they, personally, will survive.  So, this morning I heard that a TV series is being planned as a spin-off, a post-apocalyptic 2013.   I imagine that the world has ended except for an intrepid few, one of whom will no doubt be a brilliant scientist and another a mighty hunter. Now I know what all those survivor shows have been preparing for!

And a Happy Guy Fawkes to those of you who enjoy bonfires!

Sharan  (ps. I just found out that poor Guy was framed)

Welcome to Gayle Trent

Rhys here on Wednesday:

Today I'm doing something a little different and inviting a fellow writer to take the spotlight. Her name is Gayle Trent, author of the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Mystery Series. Gayle's latest book is Dead Pan. In Dead Pan, several people fall ill at a company Christmas party. When one of the victims dies, police intensify their search for the culprit,
including the cake Daphne made for the occasion.

Rhys:: Gayle, I'm unfamiliar with your publisher, Bell Bridge Books. Tell me more about them.

 

Gayle: Bell Bridge Books is a subsidiary or imprint of BelleBooks. BelleBooks is owned by women's fiction author and Tennessee business consultant Debra Dixon; award-winning, bestselling author Sandra Chastain; New York Times bestselling author Deborah Smith; and award-winning author Martha Shields. These veteran Southern authors created BelleBooks to showcase other Southern writers. With the Bell Bridge Books imprint, the publishing company has branched out to encompass fantasy, horror, young adult, mystery and general fiction as well as Southern fiction.

 

Rhys: How is their distribution system?

 

Gayle: It's great. I also write for NAL/Penguin under the pseudonym Amanda Lee (my first book for them is due to be released August of 2010); but working with Bell Bridge Books is like having small publishing house attention with large publishing house distribution. I can e-mail a question to my editor and have it answered the same day--often within the hour! But, like the larger publishers, they list rights at Publisher's Marketplace, place color ads in RT Book Reviews (look for Dead Pan in the November issue) and make many other promotional efforts. Large-print rights to the first book in the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Mystery series, Murder Takes the Cake, sold to English publisher BBC Audiobooks and to U.S. publisher Thorndike. The hardcover, large-print Thorndike book released on October 16, 2009, and Thorndike has already asked to see Dead Pan.

 

Rhys: Are your books available on Kindle?

 

Gayle: Yes. They're also available in other e-book formats on Fictionwise.

 

Rhys: Do you think this is the publishing model of the future?

 

Gayle: I'd like to think so. As I said, with Bell Bridge Books, a writer has the best of both worlds. But, then, maybe that's because the principals of the company are writers themselves and understand and empathize with writers more than many other publishers would or could.

 

Rhys: Some of our readers might want to write for Bell Bridge Books themselves. Are they currently accepting manuscripts?

 

Gayle: They are, and writers can get more information at the website (http://www.bellbridgebooks.com/writers/whateditorswant.html).

 

Rhys: So, how did you come to write a mystery series from the perspective of a cake decorator?

 

Gayle: My daughter and I took a cake decorating class a few months before I began writing Murder Takes the Cake, and we really enjoyed it. As we became more enamored of the cake decorating world, I began to see the possibilities. In Dead Pan, Food Network Cake Challenge judge and Sugar Artists Hall of Famer Kerry Vincent makes a cameo appearance! She is really great fun to work with.

 

Rhys: Anything else you'd like to share with us?

 

Gayle: Just thank you so much for having me visit your blog!

 

We thank you for visiting, Gayle, and for letting us know that the publishing world isn't confined to New York, that new and vibrant publishers are springing up all over the country. So we wish Gayle the best of luck with her new book. 

Readers interested in reading an excerpt from Dead Pan may visit Gayle's website (http://www.gayletrent.com) and fill in the form at the top of the page. Also, those readers who Twitter, can enter a contest to win a signed copy of Dead Pan, a signed copy of Murder Takes the Cake and a red Murder Takes the Cake apron. The contest runs through "black Friday," November 27. To enter the contest, Twitterers should follow Gayle at http://twitter.com/gayletrent and re-Tweet (or RT) the contest announcement. There is no limit to how many times a person can enter the contest.

 

Gayle will also be giving away five signed copies of Dead Pan on November 13 (yes, Friday the 13th) on Free Book Friday (http://www.freebookfriday.com).

 

Check out an interview with Gayle at Fascinating Authors and be prepared to hear a Southern drawl and lots of laughter.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday again?

Where does time go? (not sure whether that's an existential or a cosmological question)

I know where most of mine goes--sitting at the computer. And at last I'm going to be able to sit in my new chair. Today the longer screws arrived in the mail and I've stuck the arm on. Just have to wait for someone to help me set the whole thing into the socket of the wheels, if you see what I mean. Normally I could do it but I don't want to risk my back--which is healing nicely, thank you very much.

There's been some chat on one of the e-lists about reading series in order. Someone complained that publishers don't list all the books because they don't want readers who pick up a later book to put it down again when they find out it's not the first. I'm happy that St Martin's and Kensington have always listed all the Daisy series, in order, in my books. Now I find my UK publisher, Constable & Robinson, lists not only the books they've published, or the books they've bought the rights to, but the whole series. A good omen? They've starred those that they're doing, so with any luck they'll get people enquiring about the missing ones!

Time to take the dog out before it's completely dark--I can't make it more than a couple of hundred yards yet, but it's getting better all the time.

Manna from Hades is now out in large print--different cover--not as attractive as the hardcover, I think:  but who's complaining?

Carola

Halloween: Now and Then

 

Ann Parker here, Monday's child at the Lady Killers, bloated from too many Smarties and Almond Joys (such is the curse of not having enough young'uns stop by on Saturday night to take up the slack on the sweets).

What with Halloween and all, I started to wonder in my over-sugared frame of mind when I might find the earliest mention of Halloween in my favorite Leadville resource, The History of Leadville and Lake County, Colorado, by Don and Jean Griswold. Lucky for me, I have not only the two-volume set but a searchable CD.

So in the CD went and around it whirled. I typed in Halloween and the numbers flew past. Finally, on page 2252 out of 2272, here comes this passing reference:

...In the days preceding Halloween, all halls and homes in which dances and parties were given were adorned with crepe paper pumpkins, black cats, witches riding on brooms, and orange and black streamers. By 1916, the Turners’ Harvest Dance, which had beenstarted earlier in the zinc era, had become a tradition...

Okay, so I'm guessing this is sometime during the 'teens. I was surprised that this first mention of Halloween popped up so late. I decided to try Historic Colorado Newspapers online. I searched pre-1900 ... Only one reference popped up, in the Akron Weekly Pioneer Press, Friday, November 19, 1897:

"Has that young man proposed yet whose face Julia saw in the mirror when she went down cellar backward Halloween night?"
"No; but her brother is going to chase him up and ask him why he doesn't."

What's THAT all about? I poked around the internet and found a site listing some fascinating superstitions regarding Halloween, including this one:

On Halloween go down the cellar stairs backward, carrying a mirror into which you look. A face will be seen over your shoulder which will be that of your future husband.

This is part of the fun and whimsy of research. One thing leads to another. How easy it would be, I think, for someone to *ahem* "accidentally" fall down the cellar stairs while trying to ascertain the face of a future spouse in a mirror. There's a mystery in this...

A world without plastic?

Jane here, on a day that began with torrents of rain and high winds, and has now subsided into high winds with occasional showers, still torrential. A typical Yorkshire autumn day, in fact.

I had to take the two dogs for their morning walk in the worst of the deluge; I can’t say I was keen, and the older of our spaniels, Copper, doesn’t like the rain one bit. When I opened the back door he stood just inside it with an expression that clearly said, “You cannot be serious!” Young Rosie, by contrast, ran out, tail wagging, nose to the ground to see what interesting scents were still available to explore.

I wore a thick jacket made of tough nylon, rain- and wind-proof, brilliant for bad weather. My ancient dog-walking trousers are nylon too, and on my feet were rubber Wellington boots. As we splashed along, I wondered whether I’d have kept myself so dry if I’d ventured out in a rainstorm two thousand years ago, along with my sleuth Aurelia Marcella.

Of course everybody knows that Ancient Rome didn’t have modern materials like polythene, nylon, synthetic clothing fabrics, or rubber. I’m not claiming that as a revelation! But I am claiming that life without these things takes a bit of imagining in this 21st-century world. You can make clothes and shoes of leather or animal skins, OK; but when it comes to waterproofs, give me a modern synthetic that keeps me bone dry.

When I got back from our soggy walk, I discarded my jacket and boots, and put on comfortable shoes – leather uppers but firm rubber soles – and a pair of clean trousers, polyester mix, which were washed yesterday and didn’t need ironing. Then I went into the kitchen, and wondered how I’d cope if I were suddenly transported to a first-century Roman house to provide food for a hungry family, not to mention hungry guests at an inn, like Aurelia’s cook.

Oddly enough, I’m pretty sure it isn’t the gadgets I’d be pining for; I can remember life before dishwashers and microwaves. I cooked then. And in a Roman kitchen, I’d doubtless find much to admire: pottery, and wooden items, some of which might fit nicely into the trendiest modern home. That would take me all of ten seconds, before I started yearning for plastic. Plastic strainers and cooking-spoons, polythene bags for keeping vegetables fresh, and especially easy-clean melamine cupboards and work-tops.

OK, you’re all saying, this woman is seriously old-fashioned. Everyone now goes for kitchens with wood panelling and surfaces of tile or granite. They’re too labour-intensive for me. To each her own. To me, a kitchen is a workplace, and the less time and elbow-grease I have to expend on after-work cleaning up, the better.

A world without plastic? I can imagine it, and hopefully, I can write about it convincingly. But live in it? Thanks, but no thanks.