Calgon Take Me Away

on September 3, 2020

By Julie Seedorf We live in in a topsy-turvy world these days. It’s easy to get flipped upside down just by turning on the news or reading our news feed each morning. For my husband and I it meant hunkering down, staying in and figuring out our routine so we don’t kill each other by… Read More

Julie Seedorf

Julie Seedorf

As human beings, we are always a work in progress. From birth to death we live, hurt, laugh, cry, feel, and with all of those emotions we grow as people, as family members, and as friends. I am a dreamer and feel blessed to have the opportunity in my writing to pass those dreams on to others. I believe you are never too old to dream and to turn those dreams into a creative endeavor. I live in rural Minnesota and I am a wife, mother, and grandmother. I have worn many hats throughout my life such as working as a waitress, nursing home activities, office manager and finally computer repair person eventually owning my own computer repair business. I never forgot my love of writing and quit my computer business in 2012 after signing a contract with Cozy Cat Press for Granny Hooks A Crook, the first book in my Fuchsia, Minnesota Series. Using my imagination with fictional communities in Minnesota in both the Fuchsia Series and Brilliant, Minnesota Series hopefully will spark imagination in others bringing laughter and joy to my reader’s lives. I also dabble a bit in watercolor painting bringing another passion to my life. When we lose our infinite imagination and passion we lose a little bit inside of ourselves. Oh, and did I tell you I like to be a little bit silly.

https://julieseedorf.com

OUT OF THE SHADOWS …

on January 30, 2019

Madness does not always howl. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “Hey, is there room in your head for one more?” That tongue-in-cheek quote sits on the shelf behind the desk in my office. It always makes me smile, but it also contains a certain amount of truth… Read More

Alexis Morgan

Alexis Morgan

USA Today Best-selling author Alexis Morgan has always loved reading and now spends her days imagining worlds filled with strong alpha heroes and gutsy heroines. She is the author of over forty-five novels, novellas, and short stories that span a variety of genres: American West historicals (as Pat Pritchard); paranormal and fantasy romances; and contemporary romances. She is excited to say that next year will also see the release of her first cozy mystery series. Alexis has been nominated for several industry awards, including the RITA, the top award in the romance genre.

http://www.alexismorgan.com

Multiplicity and Milestones

on July 10, 2018

by Linda O. Johnston Writing in multiple genres. I’ve blogged about that here before, and now it’s on my mind again enough for me to create another blog post about it. Why? Because I’ll be attending the Romance Writers of America Conference in Denver later this month. The focus there? I’m sure you know: romance…. Read More

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, currently writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Her stories include the upcoming Shelter of Secrets miniseries and the K-9 Ranch Rescue miniseries, as well as stories for the HRS ongoing Colton series. She also writes mysteries, which have included the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery Series and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Pet Rescue Mystery Series and Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime---with more to come. And nearly all her current stories involve dogs.

https://www.lindaojohnston.com

Linda O. Johnston Contest

Linda O. Johnston is giving away a copy of UNDERCOVER COWBOY DEFENDER to one winner. (winner's choice of print or Amazon eBook)

Enter Here

Pick and Chews

on May 3, 2018

by Linda O. Johnston Happy May, everyone!  I’m certainly happy.  My latest Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, Pick and Chews, is a May release.  It’s the fourth book in my Barkery & Biscuits mystery series for Midnight Ink. I just attended Malice Domestic, a wonderful conference for writers and readers of traditional mysteries, held each year… Read More

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston

Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, currently writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Her stories include the upcoming Shelter of Secrets miniseries and the K-9 Ranch Rescue miniseries, as well as stories for the HRS ongoing Colton series. She also writes mysteries, which have included the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery Series and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Pet Rescue Mystery Series and Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime---with more to come. And nearly all her current stories involve dogs.

https://www.lindaojohnston.com

Linda O. Johnston Contest

Linda O. Johnston is giving away a copy of UNDERCOVER COWBOY DEFENDER to one winner. (winner's choice of print or Amazon eBook)

Enter Here

It’s Time to Get Cozy

on January 8, 2018

Five years ago I was the least likely person I knew to be a reader of cozy mysteries.  Okay, maybe my son and husband are actually the least likely people. Their tastes run to science fiction, classics, and grittier stuff. But as a writer of supernatural suspense novels and stories, I was pretty darned unlikely… Read More

Laura Benedict

Laura Benedict

Laura Benedict is the Edgar- and ITW Thriller Award- nominated author of eight novels of mystery and suspense, including The Stranger Inside (Publishers Weekly starred review), and the Bliss House gothic novels and stories. Her latest book is a compilation of her short fiction, When I Make Love to the Bug Man: Collected Stories. Her stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Strand Magazine, and in numerous anthologies. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, she lives in Southern Illinois with her family.

https://www.laurabenedict.com

A Step Back in Time

on April 15, 2015

Have you ever been to a Renaissance Faire or a living history museum? I’ve been to both, and I find them fascinating. At the Renaissance Faire I attended with my family many years ago, my son was knighted Sir Scooby of Doo (because he was wearing a Scooby Doo shirt) by the queen. In lieu… Read More

Amanda Lee

Amanda Lee

Amanda Lee is a pseudonym Gayle Trent is using for the new cozy mystery series featuring a heroine who owns an embroidery shop. The series is set on the Oregon Coast and features Marcy Singer, a spunky, thirty-something, entrepreneur who is handy with a needle.

Amanda/Gayle lives in Southwest Virginia with her husband and two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. She’s a full-time writer/editor/mom/wife and chief cook and bottle washer, and she loves every minute of it. Okay, not the bottle washing so much, but the rest of it is great.

http://www.gayletrent.com

Sofie Ryan

Sofie Ryan

New York Times bestselling author, Sofie Kelly, writes the Magical Cats mysteries, set in the small town of Mayville Heights, Minnesota. As Sofie Ryan, she is the author of the popular bestselling Second Chance Cat mysteries that feature repurpose shop owner, Sarah Grayson, a group of senior sleuths and the world’s oldest computer hacker. Sofie has been a late night disk jockey—which explains her love of coffee—and taught absolutely terrified adults how to swim. Like Kathleen Paulson in the Magical Cats books, she practices Wu style Tai Chi. Sofie is also a mixed-media artist and likes to prowl thrift shops looking for things to re-purpose in her art.

http://www.sofieryan.com

What’s New in Cape Willington, Maine?

on March 5, 2014

by Wanda Boyle Community Correspondent, the Cape Crier as told to B.B. Haywood Author’s Note: Cape Willington, Maine, serves as the setting and background for the Candy Holliday Murder Mystery Series. The scenic coastal village is home to blueberry farmer Candy Holliday and her father, Henry “Doc” Holiday, who run Blueberry Acres—and often work together… Read More

B.B. Haywood

B.B. Haywood is the author of the Candy Holliday Murder Mystery Series, featuring Candy and Henry “Doc” Holliday. Titles in the national bestselling series include Town in a Blueberry Jam, Town in a Lobster Stew, Town in a Wild Moose Chase, Town in a Pumpkin Bash, and the upcoming Town in a Strawberry Swirl. The first four books in the series are currently available in print or as ebooks from Berkeley Prime Crime. Large print editions of the first four books, as well as an audiobook of Town in a Blueberry Jam, are also available. For more information on the series, visit www.hollidaysblueberryacres.com.

Nancy Drew Started It All

on March 3, 2014

I blame Nancy Drew for my life of crime. Reading it and writing it, that is. I was ten when I borrowed The Secret of Shadow Ranch from a cousin. It was the first mystery I ever read, and I was hooked. Then, to my delight, I discovered this was only one of a long… Read More

Miranda James

Miranda James

Miranda James is the pseudonym of Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian long transplanted to Texas. A mystery fan since the age of ten, he wrote his first novel at the ripe old age of twelve. The only copy of The Mystery of the Willow Key vanished years ago, but since it was highly derivative of the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series, that’s probably a good thing.

A medical librarian for nearly twenty years, Dean has published articles on topics in library science, the history of science/medicine, and mystery fiction. His first book, which he co-wrote with fellow librarian Jean Swanson, was By a Woman’s Hand (Berkley; 1994). Jean and Dean won an Agatha Award for Best Mystery Non-Fiction and were nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar for Best Critical-Biographical work for this popular reference book. A second edition followed two years later, and Dean and Jean collaborated on two further projects, Killer Books (Berkley; 1998) and The Dick Francis Companion (Berkley; 2003). In all he has co-authored or co-edited six works of mystery reference and one short story anthology. With Elizabeth Foxwell he wrote The Robert B. Parker Companion (Berkley; 200).

His first novel, Cruel as the Grave (Silver Dagger Mysteries) was published in 2000. Since then he has published eighteen more novels, writing under his own name and the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans and Honor Hartman. In August 2010 he launched a new series writing as Miranda James. The first book under this name, Murder Past Due (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) spent four weeks on the extended New York Times bestseller list for mass market paperbacks. The next book in the series, Classified as Murder (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99), published in May 2011, also hit the NYT list. The third book, File M for Murder (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) is out now. The fourth book, Out of Circulation (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) debuted at no. 11 on the bestseller list. Book five, The Silence of the Library (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) is just out, and there are more books to come in the series.

Dean lives with two young cats, thousands of books, and thinks frequently about killing people — but only in the pages of fiction.

http://www.catinthestacks.com

I’M A WRITING ADDICT

on February 25, 2014

Hello, my name is Sheila Connolly and I write three ongoing mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. In my spare time I write short stories and self-publish single-title mysteries. And suspense. And romance, with a little paranormal stuff thrown in. And I am an addict. People look at me and ask, how do you do… Read More

Sheila Connolly

Sheila Connolly

After collecting too many degrees and exploring careers ranging from art historian to investment banker to professional genealogist, Sheila Connolly began writing in 2001, and has now published over thirty traditional mysteries, including several New York Times bestsellers. Her series include the Orchard Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), the Museum Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), The County Cork Mysteries (Crooked Lane Books), the Relatively Dead Mysteries (Beyond the Page Press), and beginning in 2018, The Victorian Village Mysteries from St. Martin’s Press. Her first full-length, standalone eBook, Once She Knew, was published in October 2012. Connolly has also published a variety of short stories: "Size Matters" appeared in the 2010 Level Best Anthology, Thin Ice; "Called Home," a short prequel to the Orchard series, was published by Beyond the Page in 2011; and "Dead Letters," an e-story featuring the main characters from the Museum series, will be published by Berkley Prime Crime in February 2012. Beyond the Page also published "The Rising of the Moon," and another Level Best anthology includes "Kept in the Dark," which was nominated for both an Agatha award and an Anthony award for 2013. She is passionate about genealogy, both American and Irish, and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. She is also an Irish citizen and owns a cottage in West Cork. She lives in a too-big Victorian in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband and three cats.

http://www.sheilaconnolly.com

In Search of the Perfect Christmas

on December 9, 2013

I always get a little nostalgic around Christmas time—longing for a simpler, gentler time when Christmas wasn’t commercial.  That was one of the main reasons for writing my Lady Georgie book, THE TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS. It’s set in a little English village in Devonshire. Stone cottages, a brook running through it, a hunt on… Read More

Rhys Bowen

Rhys Bowen

Rhys Bowen’s mysteries have been nominated for every major mystery award, including the Edgar for best novel, and she has won nine of them. She currently writes the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New York City and featuring a feisty Irish immigrant woman. In 1997 she began a new, lighter series, this one about a minor royal in 1930s England. The first book was called Her Royal Spyness. It has been described as Bridget Jones meets Charade as told by Nancy Mitford and described in a Booklist starred review as "A smashing romp." The first book has appeared on many bestseller lists and award nomination slates, including the Dilys award for the book that independent booksellers most enjoyed selling. A Royal Pain and Royal Flush are now in stores and Royal Blood comes out this fall.

Rhys was born in Bath, England, of a Welsh/English family, and educated at London University. She worked for the BBC in London, as an announcer then drama studio manager. She sang in folk clubs with luminaries like Simon and Garfunkel and Al Stewart, and also started writing her own radio and TV plays. Needing to escape from the dreary London weather, she accepted an invitation to work for Australian Broadcasting in Sydney. While Down Under she met her future husband John, who was on his way to California. She married and settled in the San Francisco area, where she has lived ever since, raising four children. (Although she now spends her winters in her condo in Arizona.)

Finding nothing like the BBC in California, Rhys started writing children’s books. Her first picture book was named a NY Times best book of the year. More picture books followed, then Rhys moved to young adult novels, writing many best selling titles. She also wrote some adult historical sagas and some TV tie-ins. When she felt she had exhausted her enthusiasm for writing for teenagers, Rhys decided to write what she likes to read: mysteries with a great feel for time and place. Her childhood memories of her Welsh relatives were the inspiration for her first mystery series: the Constable Evans novels. The stories were immediately well received. The second book, Evan Help Us, was called "a jewel of a story" by Publishers Weekly and nominated for a Barry Award. Evan’s Gate received an Edgar Best Novel nomination.

Wanting to try her hand at something different and edgier, Rhys conceived Molly Murphy—brash, fearless Irish immigrant in New York City. The first book in this series, Murphy’s Law, won three awards including the Agatha. Every subsequent book has received starred reviews and award nominations. For the Love of Mike won the Anthony Award at the world mystery convention. Oh Danny Boy won a Macavity. The ninth book, The Last Illusion, will be published in March 2011.

Rhys also enjoys writing short stories and has achieved much critical acclaim for them. Doppelganger won the Anthony award and was included in the world’s finest mystery and crime stories anthology. More recently her story Voodoo was chosen to be part of the anthology of the best of 50 years of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

Rhys is a past national board member of Mystery Writers of America. When not writing she loves to travel, sing, hike, play her Celtic harp, and entertain her grandchildren. She blogs at Jungle Red Writers and Rhys’s Pieces.

http://www.rhysbowen.com