An Interview with Krista Davis by E. B. Davis

  

Old Town Virginia’s entertaining guru and occasional sleuth Sophie Winston – a young Martha Stewart in the making – juggles Fourth of July fireworks, a houseful of guests, and homicide in the latest Domestic Diva culinary mystery from New York Times bestselling author Krista Davis.

With a big crowd descending on her Northern Virginia home, it’s a good thing event planner Sophie Winston is an expert at entertaining. Whipping up patriotic pastries is as easy as pie for her, though meeting the man her widowed Aunt Melly just impulsively married in Las Vegas is a little more awkward. Especially when Melly’s longtime, now-heartbroken secret admirer is there too, which could lead to some fireworks.

But the house party really gets explosive when Sophie’s favorite tour guide falls victim to a killer—and evidence points to Sophie’s own father. Will DNA really incriminate her dad? And what’s the real story with her new uncle-by-marriage and the mysterious pal he’s brought along with him? Some of the secrets Sophie’s discovering are raising flags—and while the police department casts suspicion on her father, she has to declare her independence as a detective to find the real culprit, and serve justice along with her red, white, and blue cupcakes . . .

Amazon.com

 

Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva mystery series never gets old for me. It’s more like coming home to friends and family. The Diva Hosts a Murderer is the nineteenth book in the series and was released yesterday. The story takes place over the Fourth of July in Old Town Alexandria. I was glad for the heat given off in the book since it’s been a cold spring, and it made me long for the warmer days of summer, soon to come, but not soon enough!

 

Second-chance romances versus the single life seem to be a topic that Krista explores for the middle and older characters in this book. It’s an interesting topic with no one answer as the characters find. And there are a lot of characters because Sophie is hosting her family: mother, father, sister, plus an aunt with her newly-wed husband and his friend, along with two men from Sophie’s hometown of Berryville, VA, where her family still lives. With that crowd, even a domestic diva can find being the perfect hostess problematic.

 

Please welcome Krista Davis back to WWK!                      E. B. Davis

When I started to read, I thought this was the first book in which you showed Sophie’s family. But over the years/books, you must have brought them into the story. Did you?

They were in the first two books and then occasionally showed up in holiday books.

 

Does Hannah, Sophie’s sister, still live with her parents in Berryville?

 

Hannah has been living in Berryville but not with her parents. She’s been in transition, spending a lot of time in Old Town, but not with Sophie!

 

Is Sophie being nosy by wanting Hannah to account for her whereabouts in the wee hours of the morning or is she just being an older sister?

 

Sophie lets her sister be an adult and do her own thing. But when someone comes home closer to the crack of dawn, and the bars closed at 2AM, it’s natural to wonder where she has been.

 

Sophie and Hannah don’t seem to have much in common. Is Sophie the extrovert and Hanna the introvert?

 

They just have different interests. Sophie loves entertaining, after all, she’s a professional event planner. But Hannah is a computer whiz.

 

Nina’s pathologist husband is usually off testifying somewhere. Although he doesn’t stay for long, he does make an appearance. Has he been in other books before?

 

He makes his sole appearance in this book! After all, it’s a holiday so he’s finally home for a few days.

 

Why does Officer Wong dismiss Sophie’s older neighbor Dollie’s account of seeing a dead man in her house?

 

Dollie has a record of calling the police to report sounds like creaking floors and footsteps in the night. But there’s never anyone there and no sign of a break-in, so the police think she has an active imagination. Her family has owned that house for generations, so there’s always the possibility of ghosts or just a creaky old house.

 

Are the Masonic Temple and the Apothecary Museum real and open to the public?

 

Yes, they are! Old Town Alexandria is often on lists of great places to visit. Good food, lovely old architecture, and loads of history. One of the popular restaurants was a hospital during the Civil War. And for history buffs, Alexandria found itself between the South and the North, so it was packed with spies!

 

Why did Natasha throw a 1820s costume party?

 

The 250^th celebration of the Declaration of Independence was coming up. Natasha was all in with a huge party. She asked guests to dress in the type of clothes people would have been wearing at the time. Even the menus were based on a typical dinner in the 1820s. Natasha always has a scheme in mind and this is another one of them.

 

What was the story about burying politicians in unmarked graves so their enemies wouldn’t find them and then the locations of the unmarked graves were lost?

 

The most notable story (true or false, it’s a fun legend) was about John C. Calhoun from Charleston, who was the Vice President of the United States twice. The story goes that he died in Washington DC and was buried there. But due to the Civil War, they feared his foes would disturb his grave, so in the dark of night they dug him up and moved him to an unmarked grave. His wife then asked that he be moved to Charleston, but apparently there was some confusion about which grave he was actually occupying at that point. Eventually, they dug him up again and moved him to Charleston. But he had been born upstate, not in Charleston, so he was buried across the street from the church, in the Stranger’s Graveyard for visitors and non-locals, not in the proper cemetery. Eventually, he was dug up again and finally moved to the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church cemetery.

 

It's a story that a lot of tour guides enjoy embellishing.

 

After her father is arrested for murder due to his DNA found on the victim, Sophie researches DNA evidence and finds that it may not be conclusive evidence since DNA could be spread by mere contact and not necessarily during the time of death. Since the victim was Sophie’s family’s tour guide, they were on his bus and in his proximity for several days. Would the police arrest him on just that evidence?

 

They did, based on the DNA. There is a difference between DNA from skin cells and DNA from blood, which yields a higher quantity and quality.

 

What is a Dunlap Broadside? Why do they call them that?

 

Remember that we’re talking about 1776 when there were no computers or copy machines that could copy papers in a minute. So a Philadelphia printer named John Dunlap churned out 200 copies overnight. They were the very first broadly distributed copies of the United States Declaration of Independence, now referred to as Dunlap Broadsides. Today, there are only 26 known copies still in existence. But every once in a while, one turns up in a basement or box of old papers. The last auction of one brought in $8.14 million.

 

What’s the difference among a buckle, crisp, cobbler, crumble, and a betty?

 

That’s a tough question. They are all baked desserts with fruit. According to the Farmer’s Almanac and St. Louis Magazine, these are the distinctions. https://bit.ly/42Iwc0H and https://bit.ly/4ulsGFG

 

A buckle has a streusel topping. The berries are folded into the batter.

A crisp usually has oats in it. Often confused with a crumble. It has a crumb topping and sometimes nuts.

 

A cobbler has a biscuit topping, sweetened fruit, and spices.

 

A crumble never contains oats, unless it does. Major confusion on this issue!

 

A Betty is like a crisp but has no oats. There are crumbs inside as well as on top in a buttery crumb topping.

 

Whew! Still confused? Me, too. LOL! They’re all delicious!

 

What’s next for Sophie?

 

Hmm. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but a lot happens in the next book! Stay tuned!

Polish to Perfection by Martha Reed

“Trim the words but keep the story.” – Martha Reed

This month I enjoyed a challenging writing craft exercise. Answering an open call for a new crime fiction anthology, I decided to take a break from my current novel-length WIP (work-in-progress) and try my hand at quickly drafting something shorter.

The anthology’s stated eligibility guidelines included a maximum threshold of five thousand words. Usually, my short fiction drafts run short, and then I flesh out the story as needed from there. Imagine my surprise when I sat back and discovered that my new draft manuscript clocked in at six thousand words.

Yikes! And this was my short story in its roughest form. Somehow I needed to delete almost twenty percent.

I found the idea of deleting one thousand words daunting. How did I ‘kill my darlings’ and do it?

1.     The setting and the reason the characters were gathering was to attend a family wedding. The introductory paragraphs included a description of the protagonist’s trip to get to the wedding and what she saw as she approached the venue. First, I deleted all of that travel description. As the writer, I needed to know the wedding details, but it was unnecessary information for the reader. With this ruthless edit, I dropped the reader straight into the action. Then, in a final desperate act, I deleted the bride. (Never fear, I sent Callie to Aruba to enjoy her honeymoon.)

2.     Next, I deleted other unnecessary characters (apologies to Benton Overbeck and the Big House staff members). I needed to shut my eyes to make this edit because I adored reading about these funny and oddball people. I had spent hours having fun imagining them and the trouble they were getting into, especially the hired bagpiper who got caught stealing Junior Senior’s Cuban cigars. In the end, calling the wedding venue ‘a madhouse’ was all the description that the story really needed.

3.     I ruthlessly deleted descriptive adjectives. In the original manuscript I created a ‘cozy reading nook’ which included a tasseled silk-upholstered chaise longue plush with needlepointed pillows, a marble fireplace filled with sweet pine logs ready for a rare but chilly Florida winter night, and a Tiffany stained-glass floor lamp. I kept the chaise longue because my protagonist needed something to sit on, but bye-bye Italian marble fireplace and the Tiffany dragonfly lamp.

In the end, after too many delicious pots of coffee and three intensely satisfying days of joyful editing, I hit the mark at 4,998 words.

How about you? Share your editing tricks for trimming those pesky and unnecessary words.

And, in case you’re interested, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Pittsburgh Sisters in Crime is hosting an open call for short crime fiction for “Gold Bridges, Dark Rivers,” our new anthology. Visit our website www.pghsinc.com for the eligibility guidelines, sharpen your pencils, and good luck!

Updates by Nancy L. Eady

One of the exciting things about a holiday weekend is snatching a couple of hours all to myself to write. Alas, this morning, as I be-bopped into my temporary office (otherwise known as the den sofa), my plans came to a screeching halt when I received the dreaded “update” message. My iPad recently updated itself, and Microsoft, not to be outdone, pushed one out at me as well. 

How software companies update my devices has changed over the years. Way back at the beginning, when computers ran off of DOS and we stored data on 5.25 - inch floppy disks, updates didn’t happen automatically. The internet did not exist. If you wanted the newest version of a program, you had to go to a store and buy it. The wisdom of the day was that you never wanted to buy a program when it was just released. You needed to wait at least six months to give the programmer a chance to discover, and fix, all the bugs in the program. Over time, the programs got bigger, which meant that the medium storing them had to hold more data. At first, the programs were on large floppy discs; then the vendors moved to smaller, plastic, solid “floppy” discs; then CDs. 

As the internet continued to grow, programs were sold online. The first Windows version sold online was Windows 8. We could still avoid updates by refusing to buy the newest program but the writing was on the wall. Even once updates and security patches started being sent over the internet, we could choose whether we wanted to update immediately or be reminded later. I guess too many of us asked to be reminded later and never got around to updating, because we no longer get to choose. 

Now, updates begin automatically when you start or turn off your computer. If it happens when I turn off my computer, and I am trying to close out a laptop to head home, I receive dire warnings inferring that I will destroy the laptop and most of the Eastern Seaboard if I dare to turn it off without letting those updates get installed. One day, though, I was trying to head home, and I did the unthinkable—turned the computer off in the middle of the update. The Eastern Seaboard and my laptop survived. Windows got a little snippy about forcing the update on me the next time I opened the laptop.

Given my personal history, I understand why software manufacturers have had to ramp up their methods of getting consumers to upgrade. Without their coercion, I would still use Windows 98 and save data on floppy discs. But I wish they’d avoid such updates on holiday weekends. 

What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever been help up by a Windows or other update? Am I the only person who disabled the “new” Adobe Acrobat look to go back to “classic” as soon as that update finished? Mac users, does Apple manage your updates the way they do the iPads? 

 

Staycation Writing Retreat by Annette Dashofy

As I’m writing this, my husband has just left for a four-day fishing trip with his buddy. That leaves me at home with Kensi Kitty, who some of you know was very sick a few weeks back but is doing great now. 

This means I have four days with no meals to prep, no questions to answer, and no “Can you give me a hand for a minute” requests. Yes, I do have to eat, but I have a curbside grocery pickup this afternoon, consisting of microwave meals. 

My to-do list, beyond the grocery run, is simple: WRITE. 

I’m currently at 59,000 words of what I unaffectionately call my Frankenbook. It’s basically a hot mess. I’ve written, rewritten, copied and pasted scenes from one chapter to another, and slashed large chunks completely. Okay, not completely. I have a separate “clip file” where I stash those cut pages, just in case. I have high hopes of adding several thousand more words before my husband rolls back into the driveway. 

I’m not giving a solid wordcount goal because lately the Universe has been looking at my plans, only to laugh hysterically and say, “Hold my beer.” I will be happy with what I get. 

Some writers (myself included) go on writing retreats away from home. I’ve attended group retreats with my Sisters in Crime chapter at various rental houses. 

Pgh SinC Retreat House

I’ve also driven nearly nine hours to join writing friends, including the late Ramona Long, at a spiritual retreat center run by nuns, who didn’t seem to mind that crime writers were doing fictional dastardly deeds while holed up on their property. 

Spiritual Retreat Center near Philadelphia

Dinner at Ramona's retreat 
with Martha Reed & Edith Maxwell

My writing nook at Ramona's retreat

One big benefit of a staycation writing retreat is no travel time and no sticker shock from filling up the gas tank to get there. Another benefit is having my personal library of research books within easy reach. 

I do miss the camaraderie of sipping wine with fellow mystery authors after a long day of torturing our characters. The only living being I can discuss plot holes with is Kensi Kitty, who frankly doesn’t care about anything but getting pets and snacks. 

By the time you read this, my husband will be home, and I’ll be doing mountains of his laundry. And hopefully, I’ll be considerably closer to the end of the Frankenbook. 

Dear readers, have you ever taken a staycation? Did you enjoy it? And fellow Writers Who Kill, have you ever attended a writing retreat, either alone, with other authors, or simply holed up in your house? Did you find it productive?   

How Fast Do You Write?

By Kait Carson

“The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by.” — E. B. White

“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” Ernest Hemingway

“Writing is easy: All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.” — Gene Fowler

I always knew I wanted to be a writer. My parents were great readers and my dad taught me to read at age 2. In his defense, teaching me to read was his best offense. He hated the Prince Valiant comics in the Sunday paper and, being possessed of curly hair, I loved the Prince’s stick-straight do. Toddlers pitch epic fits, and he turned mine into a teaching moment. Once I discovered that all those marks on the page made words, I was hooked. And I wanted to make my own marks.

By the time I turned nine, I had read Little Women and set my goal higher. I proclaimed I would be just like Jo March and write for a living. Every day after school, I would hurry home, put on the remains of my mother’s wedding dress (she had cut the train for chair covers years before, but kept the gown), pull out my fountain pens and ink, and write. I don’t remember any of the stories, but I remember lots of gigantic exclamation points.

Writing, I decided, was easy. I mean, look at all the books out there. How hard could it be? A monster stroke of luck confirmed my assessment. I wrote a letter to the editor, and the publication resulted in an offer of representation. I accepted. The poor guy never knew I was twelve when I signed the contract. What followed were sales to various teen fashion and lifestyle magazines. All that changed when I went to college. My agent passed away, and I put writing aside in the name of fun and experience.

The writing bug remained dormant until I hit middle age when it returned with a vengeance. In my memory, the only requirement for churning out stories was sitting at a typewriter. No plotting, planning, or even a topic required to unleash the flow of words. I can’t say if maturity, or computers and keyboards changed my style, but suddenly, the Gene Fowler quote made perfect sense.

Writing, I discovered, is not only hard, it’s glacial. At least my writing. I have writing friends who write ten to sixteen books every year. Good books, well-written and edited books, and since I’m writing this in 2026, I need to emphasize the books are NOT the product of AI. How can I know that? Easy. They’ve been keeping up the pace since before AI was a gleam in Silicon Valley’s eye. These authors are simply fast writers. And I envy them.

As for me, my writing speed stalls at a book every two years. At first, I blamed the day job, but that hasn’t been an issue since 2020. And I’ve taken steps to speed up the process: classes, how-to books, bullet-point outlines, detailed outlines, no outlines but shooting from the cuff. Nothing works. I putter along at the same snaillike pace.

If you’re looking for a big reveal here about how I solved my problem, you’ve come to the wrong place. I finally accepted that every writer has their own style and pace, and wishing does not change that. All of this introspection and speaking with another writer friend offered a clue to my less than snappy pace, and it’s one I’m fine with. Against all writing advice, I edit as I write and refuse to leave any chapter until it’s as polished as I can make it. Slow in the execution, but fast in the editing.

Have I gotten faster? Yes. Part of that is learning the craft, but most of it is consistency, and it’s possible that my secret sauce is working on more than one project at a time. Right now, I have two books in the works, and I get up every day looking forward to reconnecting with the characters and stories of each book. Variety is the spice of my creativity.

I will never write sixteen books in a year. Heck, I can’t type that fast!

Writers, do you stress over your production? Readers, how do you feel about slow writers?

 Kait Carson writes the Hayden Kent Mysteries, set in the Fabulous Florida Keys, and is at work on a new mystery series set in her adopted state of Maine. Her short fiction has been nationally published in the True Confessions magazines and in Woman’s World. Kait’s short story, “Gutted, Filleted, and Fried”, appeared in the Silver Falchion Award-nominated Guppy Anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. Her nonfiction essay was included in the Agatha Award-winning book Writing the Cozy Mystery. She is a former President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a current member of Sisters in Crime and Guppies.

Living Vicariously by Nancy L. Eady

Marilyn Levinson’s post yesterday about how she decides on the victims in her novels got me thinking about how I choose my characters in toto. My sleuths and their supporting cast tend to be individuals I create, although sometimes they may inherit individual traits from the people I admire, and a collection of my own and other’s insecurities, to humanize them. Some insecurities are universal—who hasn’t wished they were prettier, more handsome, had different hair, had a differently shaped body, or had a pony as a child? (Okay, I made the last one up. Neither my parents nor my husband’s parents bought either of us a pony, and we turned out okay. At least we think so.) 

I have a hit list in the back of my mind I am working through. People who harmed people I love are on it. The physician who was rude to one of my dearest friends at a particularly vulnerable time is on it, too. Anyone who I’ve seen take joy in tearing someone else down is on it. I try to obey the stricture to “turn the other cheek,” but does it count when I take vengeance on someone on paper in a fictional setting? What fun to make them villains or victims! 

Redemption can be a theme as well. I combined several high school nemeses into one character, put her through painful life experiences, and forced her to apologize to my sleuth for systematically bullying her in high school. Then I made them best friends. 

I also live vicariously through the books I read. When I’m stressed financially, as happens to all of us from time to time, it’s a relief to read novels where the main characters never have to worry about money. When I’m scared by the madness in the real world, I sink into a good book and enter a different world. When my favorite college football team is sinking into a losing season, I pick up a “Win One for the Gipper” book—Whoops!  I got carried away.  I can’t erase a bad football season with a book. I have to tough it out and hope next year is better. A character flaw on my part, I’m sure. 

The magic of being a writer comes in the ability to channel our pains, irritations, joys, rewards, and sorrows into fictional characters and send them on journeys that make our readers feel better. And if we knock off a few bad guys vicariously along the way, that’s a bonus. 

Who Will Live and Who Will Die? by Marilyn Levinson

 Until recently, I've never given much thought to how I select the murder victims in my mysteries. I don't usually go along with the popular cozy trope of killing off the character everyone loves to hate because part of maintaining suspense is keeping readers wondering who will be the first victim. But I will confess I couldn't wait to do away with my most recent murder victim because he has harmed so many innocent people.

There are many reasons why characters become homicide victims. In some of my books, the murder has occurred before page one. The first victim in Death Overdue, the first book in my Haunted Library series, died fifteen years ago, and the second victim is murdered to prevent him from announcing the killer's identity. In Giving Up the Ghost, my ghost Cameron Leeds wants Gabbie Meyerson to find out who murdered him in the previous year.

Very often a murder victim has no idea why she's been targeted. In Death on Dickens Island,  Missy Faraday's killer hears Missy asking questions about her family background and feels threatened enough to murder her. 

Jealousy is often a reason why a killer offs his or her victim. In A Murderer Among Us, Claire Weill has no idea that her killer's in love with her husband. 

Blackmailers sometimes fall prey to their victims. That's what happens to Ilana Reingold in Checked Out for Murder, the fourth Haunted Library book, when she sees the murderer kill someone and tries to blackmail her.

Lastly, some victims are simply unlucky and are murdered by accident. Which is what happens in Murder a la Christie when poor Sylvia Morris drinks the poisoned refreshment meant for someone else.

A final word: I have killed off a few characters I'd grown to love, but I never murder my sleuth or anyone close to her. 

How do you decide who will be murdered in your mysteries?

Killer Questions - Favorite Home Improvement or Cooking Show

Killer Questions – Favorite Home Improvement or Cooking Show

You can tell a lot about people by the television shows they watch. Let’s see what you think about our respective favorite home improvement or cooking shows.

Martha Reed - Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

Susan Van Kirk – The Great British Baking Show

Debra H. Goldstein - Top Chef

James M. Jackson – Never watched; never will.

Annette Dashofy – Farmhouse Fixer. I want them to come to my house! Also, I want to move into one of the houses they’ve already fixed up.

Heather Weidner - Maine Cabin Masters, Motel Rescue, and a blast from the past, Trading Spaces

Sarah E. Burr - I will always have a soft spot for the original Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines. Joanna has my kind of style, and I love how they design houses.

Kait Carson - House Hunters, Log Cabin Living. I have never watched the Great British Bakeoff, but it’s on my bucket list.

E. B. Davis - I watch cooking and home improvement clips on Facebook. My favorites, Ina Garten, Joshua Weissman, and Alton Brown. There are a lot of fixer upper shows, but Julie Jones, designer—space planner is my favorite.

Margaret S. Hamilton - Love it Or List It

K.M. Rockwood - Can't remember ever having watched one.

Korina Moss - The Great British Baking Show is by far my favorite cooking show. It’s so cozy and heartwarming.

Lori Roberts Herbst - Fixer Upper. I don’t watch often, but it always makes me smile.

Grace Topping - Nancy Birtwhistle's online posts. Nancy won one season of the Great British Bakeoff and gives terrific baking advice. She also features natural, homemade cleaning products for everyday use. 

Shari Randall - My favorite is the Great British Baking Show. So inspirational! How I would love a Paul Hollywood handshake!

Mary Dutta - I don’t watch any.

Centering and Focusing

by Paula Gail Benson

Lately, I’ve been facing days with a lot of tasks coming to me at once. I’ve had to clarify the order and set priorities. Unfortunately, I’ve often been told all matters are urgent and do the best I can. So, I do, and hope for the best.

After a flurry of activity, writing is a much stiller, calmer course. Its quietness in fact can be disconcerting and make me wonder, am I able to do this? Can I be alone with my thoughts and create when no one is imposing requirements upon me?

The empty page becomes a frightening thing because it makes no demands upon me. It simply reflects the demands I make upon myself: to produce, and hopefully to do so brilliantly.

When I dispel the feeling of possible failure and convince myself to write, I begin to recognize what a gift it gives me. The time and words are mine to explore. I can center myself on the topic I select and then focus on the elements as I uncover them.

Thanks to the Internet, I can stop briefly to look up definitions; historical, mechanical, or scientific facts; or verify that I’m remembering something correctly. Then I push myself back to my waiting page and develop what I’ve determined to create.

At this moment, I don’t let the pressure of finishing or summarizing make me frantic or turn to AI. These will be my words carefully considered, my discovery new and fresh.

I may be able to visit a place I’ve never seen or return to a familiar spot. Like an actor, I can walk around in a character’s shoes, focusing on what I might fail to notice in the hustle and bustle of everyday existence—maybe even regretting that I might not ordinarily see it.

With pen in hand, I feel the flow of the creative process through my body. I guess I feel it also when my fingers are poised over a keyboard, just in a different way.

I am centered. I am focused. I pursue the creative process alone, but hopefully I will share the results of that process with others.

How is it for you when you come to write after being involved in another experience?

When the Groove Comes Back or Being in the Zone

When the Groove Comes Back or Being in the Zone by Debra H. Goldstein

Since I moved to Atlanta on July 4, 2025, I’ve been busy participating in social activities that have allowed me to make new friends and spending quality family time with my little readers who live here. I’ve learned canasta, perfected my Mah Jongg, eaten out more than my waistline needs, worked with a trainer to balance the eating out, babysat, and also attended numerous lectures, musical events, theatrical performances, religious service and study groups, and participated in various volunteer opportunities. What I haven’t been doing, which has created quite a bit of anguish for me, is writing.

Oh, I’ve performed by post writing and other duties for the four blogs I am part of (Writers Who Kill, The Stiletto Gang, Booklovers Bench – Where Readers Are Winners, and my own, It’s Not Always a Mystery). I have faithfully gotten out my monthly newsletter (which you can subscribe to from my website, https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com … while there, you

can also download a free copy of the cookbook Kensington made from my Sarah Blair series – Simple Recipes for the Sometimes Sleuth) and responded to emails from readers. What I haven’t done is write.

Although I have several short stories being published this year, until the beginning of this month, I’d only written one new one since I’ve been in Atlanta. Two weeks ago, I stopped fretting about not writing. I took a week off to simply read for fun. I relaxed. When I decided to rejoin the real world, I saw an open call for a story. It sparked an idea. I spent days researching the background materials I would need to write the story and then I sat in my favorite chair, with show music playing, and wrote. 

The words flowed. I lost track of time. I was in that special zone. When I finished, I put it aside to edit the next day. Several re-readings and revisions later, I submitted the story. I smiled. My groove is back!

The Joy of Revisions by Sarah E. Burr

There is a particular kind of relief that comes with finishing a first draft. The story exists. The characters have made it from the opening scene to the final reveal. The clues are on the page, the body has been found, the suspects have been gathered, and the killer has been named. For a mystery writer, that alone feels like a triumph.

But for me, the real joy begins in revision.

I’m currently working on revisions for the next Glenmyre Whim Mystery, and it has reminded me how much I love this stage of the writing process. For me, drafting is discovery. It’s messy, instinctive, and sometimes a little nightmarish. Revision is where I get to take everything I uncovered during that first pass and shape it into something stronger, clearer, and more emotionally resonant.

With the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries, revision feels especially rewarding because these books are built on several layers at once. There is the central mystery, with all the suspects, motives, secrets, and red herrings that need to hold together. But there is also Hazel Wickbury’s personal journey, the history of the Glenmyre family, the magical rules of their “whims”, and the relationships that give the series its heart.

Those pieces don’t always arrive neatly in the first draft. Sometimes a clue appears too early. Sometimes a character’s motivation needs more pressure behind it. Sometimes a scene does the job mechanically but lacks emotional weight. And sometimes, the draft gives me a gift I didn’t fully understand while I was writing it. A passing line becomes important. A minor interaction reveals a deeper tension. A character says something that points toward the heart of the book before I’ve consciously identified it.

Revision is where I get to recognize those gifts and make them intentional.

One of the most satisfying parts of revising a mystery is tightening the structure. Mystery readers are wonderfully sharp. They notice details. They remember what was said three chapters ago, sometimes even three books ago. They follow the emotional logic of a character’s behavior and the practical logic of a clue trail. That means every scene needs to earn its place. During revisions, I look closely at what each chapter is doing. Is it advancing the investigation? Deepening character? Increasing tension? Revealing something about the world? Ideally, a scene does more than one of these things at once.

That process can be demanding, but it’s also deeply satisfying. There is a real pleasure in seeing the machinery of the mystery begin to work more smoothly. A clue lands better. A suspect becomes more layered. A twist feels less like a trick and more like an inevitable surprise. The goal is not simply to hide the answer from the reader. It’s to create a fair and engaging puzzle that rewards attention while still delivering a satisfying reveal.

Hazel’s adventures also ask me to think carefully about how the magical elements interact with the mystery. Her whim and her family lore cannot function as shortcuts. Hazel, Poppy, and Holden (the three living Glenmyres) need rules, limits, and consequences. In revision, I pay close attention to whether their magical abilities add depth and tension rather than solve problems too easily. The magic should complicate their lives as much as it helps them understand it.

That balance matters to me. I want whims to feel meaningful, but I also want Hazel’s intelligence, courage, and persistence to drive the story. She is not passive in her own series. She is a business owner, a niece, a friend, a partner, and an amateur sleuth learning how to carry the weight of what she knows. Revisions give me the chance to sharpen that emotional arc and make sure Hazel is not simply reacting to events, but growing through them.

There is something deeply rewarding about returning to a manuscript with fresh eyes and seeing not only what needs fixing, but what is already working. Revision is not punishment for an imperfect draft. It is an invitation to make the book more fully itself.

And with every pass-through, I get to understand Hazel, Poppy, and the Glenmyre legacy a little better. For me, that is the joy of revision: taking the raw material of inspiration and shaping it into a story that feels polished, purposeful, and alive.

And speaking of a story that feels alive, check out the book trailer Get a Candle on Crime below!

AI and Highways by Nancy L. Eady

The Florida Everglades are suffering from a surfeit of invasive Burmese pythons. Because the pythons have no natural enemies there—except maybe alligators, although pythons busily digesting alligators have been found—the snakes are destroying the already fragile ecology there. 

The state has tried many tactics to deal with them. I say “deal with them,” because Florida won’t let you shoot the things. Instead, they have to be caught and “humanely disposed of.” If you catch a note of skepticism in my tone, you’re not mistaken, but that’s a topic for another day. (I am not, and never will be, an ophiophilist.) 

One of the more unusual tactics was the dispatch of robotic marsh rabbits, solar-powered, designed to have the movements and heat signatures, and various other characteristics of live marsh rabbits. The rabbits, kept in clear pens, were to sense pythons drawing close and send out a signal to call a snake disposal expert (whatever one is called) to retrieve them.

It worked at first, but there was a flaw. The same rabbits that attracted the pythons also attracted alligators. The pythons weren’t able to destroy the pens the robots were in, but an alligator? When a six- to ten-foot alligator crashed into a pen, the pen became toast, as did the roughly $4000 robotic rabbit. 

But then a bright soul realized that even if the rabbits were toast, the data generated from them was not. The scientists fed the data to a powerful AI program, which discovered a hidden pattern. The pythons and other predators were following regular routes through the waters of the Everglades, slithering superhighways. Armed with this information, the python hunters have been able to find and remove more pythons than they were before. This doesn’t mean that the python problem is solved, but it is a step in the right direction. 

Now press pause. 

As you may remember, my family recently moved. My daily commute was cut down from two hours each way to one hour each way. My route is sixty-odd miles, straight interstate, between one small city and another medium-sized city separated by farmland. Piece of cake, right? 

Resume play. 

No. The interstate is two lanes in both directions and should have been three-laned on each side two decades ago. It connects Atlanta to I-65 and thus Birmingham to the north and New Orleans (via Mobile and I-10) to the south and west, all huge metropolitan areas. Like any other bottleneck, when more traffic squeezes through than the original design anticipated, strange things happen. 

Like many people, I rely on my phone to help guide me through the ever-swirling fog of traffic. Siri is exceptionally good at giving me alternate routes when there is a traffic snarl due to an accident or construction. 

The thought hit me this afternoon—with every user, Siri is collecting bunches of data points about travelers on my stretch of interstate, just like the robot rabbits in Florida. What kind of hidden patterns might an AI program sorting through that mass of data discover?

And then my brain tries to spin that idea into a story… 

Amanda Flower's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

 

 

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

 

Amanda Flower’s historical mystery featuring the poet Emily Dickinson is the first in a proposed series. The book takes place in winter and spring, 1855, and is set in two locations, the Dickinson family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, and at a hotel in Washington, D.C., when Emily, her mother, and sister Lavinia visit Emily’s congressman father while Congress is in session.

 

The book is narrated by the household second maid, Willa Noble, an intelligent, diligent, and educated older teen, who is the guardian of her younger brother, Henry. Emily is twenty-four, an avid gardener and poetry writer, usually accompanied by her Newfoundland dog, Carlo. Emily selects Willa as the new family maid. Willa soon becomes Emily’s companion, and while solving the death of Henry, her confidant.

 

Willa’s narrative tone is perfect, walking a narrow line between mid-nineteenth century colloquial speech and modern English. Flower distills a veritable mountain of research into the sensory details of Amherst in the middle of winter, and then the hustle-bustle of Washington, D.C., as spring emerges.

 

Emily is not yet a recluse. In the book, Flower lays the fictional groundwork for her later poems. Emily is bright, well-educated, enjoys a correspondence with friends and relatives, and is an advocate for justice. When Willa is devastated by the death of her younger brother, Emily pounces on the uncertainty surrounding the events of Henry’s death. With Willa and Carlo at her side, Emily launches an investigation which leads to identifying the true culprit.

 

Flower focuses on three elements of Amherst society: class, status, and politics. Emily has enjoyed the best education offered to young women in the mid-nineteenth century, including attending what would become Mount Holyoke College. Mr. Dickinson is a prosperous lawyer in Amherst and a Whig representative in Congress. Emily’s brother, Austin, is a Harvard-trained lawyer, engaged to Emily’s best friend, Susan Gilbert.

 

In 1855, the Whig party is neither pro-slavery nor anti-slavery. Henry’s death is connected to the actions of local citizens assisting slaves fleeing north on the Underground Railroad. Complicating matters are the bounty hunters who routinely grab both escaping slaves and free Black citizens and sell them. Combined with the chaos of local residents thwarting the actions of the bounty hunters, the coverup of Henry’s death blows up.

 

I enjoyed Amanda Flower’s historic cozy and anticipate Emily’s next case in the Emily Dickinson Mystery series.

 

Readers, do you enjoy historical fiction, particularly fiction that focuses on real characters?

Writers, do you write historical fiction, and if so, do you include real characters?

 

Margaret S. Hamilton is the author of forty short stories, the first two books in the Jericho Mystery series, and a novella, Erased, set in 1972.

 

Home - The Official Website of Margaret S. Hamilton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Libby Klein's Gimme Shelter: A Review by E. B. Davis

  

For Vader, my emotional support puppy. And Tony, my emotional support human.

I’d thank the cat but she’s really just in it for herself.

                                                                        Libby Klein, Gimme Shelter, Dedication

 

As the song says, you can’t always get what you want. Maybe that’s why, instead of fulfilling her youthful dream of being a rock star, Layla Virtue is living in a trailer park while playing third-rate gigs, including a stint at a seventies ABBA brunch. Given everything else she’s been through lately, she’s not complaining (much) about satin ruffles and go-go boots. She has a squad of supportive new BFFs, and she’s reclaimed a relationship with her famous rocker dad. His recent diagnosis has brought them even closer—sharing the trailer park’s lake house, which he’s had remodeled in typically over-the-top style.

Layla’s dad loves his new community and the feeling seems mutual. So, why is one of them blackmailing him? It’s a mystery almost as baffling as the assignment Layla receives from her former commissioner. Look into the brutal murder of a mild-mannered school teacher. Archie Wilkins was bludgeoned with a candelabra, shot up with drugs, and stuffed into a church confessional. Not the kind of outcome expected for a guy reputed to be the world’s nicest.

Perhaps Archie had secrets. Perhaps everyone does, including Layla’s one-time cop colleagues. She’s been blaming herself for a deadly ambush that destroyed her career and her peace of mind, but as her new friends help Layla regain her memories, a different picture emerges, and it’s one that forces her to question so much that she’s taken as truth . . .

Amazon.com

 

There’s something about Libby Klein’s humor that just hits my funny bone. I laughed through most of Gimme Shelter starting with the above dedication. I was happy to see that Libby had started a new series, although I was also dismayed that I missed the first book, Vice and Virtue, which was released April, 2025.

 

In this book, the backstory and plot intersect for character-driven mystery resolution and provides the impetuous for the next book’s plot. Because Libby has two other subplots, those are solved, but while the character-driven main plot comes to a head, the truth isn’t fully revealed.

 

Libby’s main character, Layla Virtue, is the daughter of a rock star, a former police detective, and she is an alcoholic—like her father. In Gimme Shelter, we get the backstory of how Layla was thrown off the force when her sting operation ended in disaster, an explosion that ended the lives of her team. Layla wasn’t killed because she was dead drunk in a bar during what was supposed to be the takedown of a drug syndicate. She’s down on herself big time—and yet—what she thinks happened may not be the truth. Her posse of gals she met at Alcoholics Anonymous prod her to find out the truth. In addition, her old police commissioner asks her to get information about the murder of an elementary school teacher who seemed to be everyone’s friend.

 

In her personal life, rock-star Dad has dementia and has moved from Malibu to the Northern Virginia trailer park that he bought for Layla. He fixes up the one real house on the property by bringing in his CA designer. She turns the house into a fairy tale/Hobbit house. His dementia is coming on fast, which is worrisome to Layla. But the other man in her life, an ex-marine fresh from three tours in Afghanistan suffers from PTSD. They are attracted, but the time is not right for fresh starts. Not until each of them can slay their demons. Hopefully, they will help each other’s conquests.  

 

Layla is a strong character, and the secondary characters display a variety of human pitfalls that beleaguer mankind from dementia, alcoholism, PTSD, drug abuse, criminality, and the frailty of human relationships. I hope this series takes off. Libby’s writing is superb. 

 

 

Should I Consider Self-Publishing? by KM Rockwood

The publishing world has changed dramatically from the days when “self-published” was shorthand for amateurish, poorly edited,

or couldn’t get a real publisher. Back then, even authors who poured care into their work often found themselves dismissed by peers and ignored by readers.

That era is gone.

Today, both debut and veteran writers self-publish. Many produce books every bit as polished and professional as those released by traditional houses. And readers—far more open minded than the industry once assumed—have embraced the idea that some of the most original, memorable, and enjoyable stories come from outside the Big Five.

Which brings me to the question I keep circling: should I consider self-publishing?

I have a backlog of previously published stories I’d love to gather into a collection, along with several nearly finished pieces that have never seen the light of day. My work tends toward the quirky, the off center, the not-quite-marketable—traits that don’t exactly thrill the major U.S. publishers. Agents, ever attuned to what sells, pass. Small presses, who are usually more welcoming of unusual material, have also declined.

I’d like to believe this isn’t a referendum on the quality of my writing—though of course that doubt whispers in the background. Are those “encouraging” rejections simply polite brush offs? Possibly. But that’s not the point.

The real question is: should I take the leap into self-publishing?

I write because I love it. I’ll keep writing whether anyone reads my stories or not. But sharing them—seeing them land in someone else’s imagination—brings a satisfaction nothing else quite matches.

Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart. Some authors thrive at it. Some earn real money. Some break even. And some end up with boxes of unsold books tucked behind the extra toilet paper in the back of the linen closet.

Is that where mine would end up?

The considerations feel endless.

Establish a small “private” press? Plenty of writers have found success doing exactly that.

Editing is non-negotiable. Nothing screams “incompetently self-published” like sloppy line editing. Weak content editing may be less obvious at first glance, but it still undermines the work. I don’t want to release anything I’ll later be embarrassed to claim as my own.

Fortunately, I do have a network of people who can help with that. And I know some very capable editors whose rates are not totally outrageous.

Would I contract someone else for formatting? Many people quite successfully format their own work. My tolerance for that type of work is limited. After the fiftieth “What did I do wrong this time?” incident in the past hour, I’m likely to seriously consider tossing my computer through the window. Which would not bode well for the computer, the window, or the piece on which I was working.

I know I’m totally incapable of coming up with illustrations, either for a cover or to accompany text. Some of my stories cry out for illustrations. Definitely an area where I would have to contract out anything I needed.

Whether a work is published by a press or not, marketing in today’s world falls directly on the shoulders of the author. Some people excel at marketing. Some people even enjoy it.

Since childhood, I have always had a deep innate dread that any attention is a direct prelude to being in serious trouble, so my inclination is to fly under the radar as much as possible. Not the best basis for establishing a successful marketing campaign.

And beyond those considerations lie other steps: ISBNs, distribution, copyright, metadata, reviews, discoverability—the whole ecosystem that traditional publishers handle behind the scenes.

It’s a lot.

But maybe it’s time to explore it seriously.

Reading for the Day After Mother's Day

 by Shari Randall

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon.

If you're expecting the story of two prim and proper ladies of the late 1700s and early 1800s, look elsewhere. This mother and daughter were passionate trailblazers who continually pushed against the limits placed upon them by society. And the drama! Romantic Outlaws reads like an opera (and even a soap opera), with heightened passions, life and death stakes, and a cast of characters that's a who's who of Enlightenment and Georgian Europe.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a philosopher and author of the groundbreaking A Vindication of the Rights of Women. She died in 1787 after giving birth to daughter Mary.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin grew up to become Mary Shelley, wife of the Romantic poet Percy Shelley and author of the groundbreaking 1818 novel, Frankenstein. 

The biography's dual structure, with one chapter about Mary Wollstonecraft alternating with one about Mary Shelley, underscores the similar challenges each woman faced in her unorthodox personal and professional life. Though Mary Shelley never knew her revolutionary mother, her mother's writings were a North Star she followed, for better or worse, all her life. Far from being a dry biography, Romantic Outlaws reads like a juicy and surprising historical novel. 

Highly recommended.

Have you read a good biography lately?

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series and, as Meri Allen, the Ice Cream Shop Mystery series. She loves biographies.

STIRRING MY MUSE by Korina Moss

In last month’s blog post, My Full Circle Journey, I wrote about the Malice Domestic Fan Convention I was about to attend and how it would be different for me this year going as a dual cozy mystery author/ freelance editor. I hadn’t written in a while, and my personal goal for the conference was to stir my sleepy muse. Whether that would happen or not, there was so much to look forward to.

Author Leslie Karst & SinC president Raquel Reyes
showing their love, lol 

I watched like a proud auntie while a client of mine, Megan Gerig, looked like a pro on her first author panel to talk about her first novel, Beatrice Ophelia is Flickering Out. 

I chatted with another client at her first Malice, Faith (pseudonym Tanzy Kohl), readying herself for the submission process. 

I got to watch my dear friend, Ellen Byron, charm the crowd as toastmaster, and my friend and our fellow Writers Who Kill member, Annette Dashofy, give her heartfelt speech as Guest of Honor. I cheered when my close friend Mindy Quigley won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel for At Death’s Dough. 

And I jumped out of my chair next to my friend and client, Adrian Andover, as he won Best First Novel for Whiskey Business. (Click here for the full list of honorees and Agatha Award nominees and winners.)

Of course, getting to spend four days with dear friends and new friends always lifts me up. Among the laughs and the personal catching up, one-on-one or in small group settings, it’s no surprise that we talk a lot about writing and publishing. It’s encouraging to hear everyone’s stories—where they are in their journey, how they’re feeling about it, and what’s changed. We have real talks—it’s not all rainbows and unicorns, as most every writer knows. But it’s still our common passion. There are writers who are just getting their careers started, while others are taking a break. Some writers are busier than ever, and others are changing course. It doesn’t matter. Our shared goals and challenges are what bond us. Celebrating and supporting each other no matter where we are in our journey is what makes the mystery writing community so special. 

Back L to R: Jackie Layton, Rosalie Spielman, Korina Moss, Annie McEwen
Front L to R: Daphne Silver, Tiffany Krieg (The Beachbum Bookworm), Tricia Maniaci, & Holly Pirtle (Short, Sweet, & Cozy)

It’s been two weeks since I dragged myself and my luggage home from those whirlwind four days. As for my personal goal? I left inspired with my muse awakened. 

Writers: What stirs your muse? 

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series, which includes the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, as well as two novels short-listed for Best Contemporary Novel. Listed as one of USA Today’s “Best Cozy Mystery Series,” her books have also been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer’s Digest. Korina is also a freelance developmental editor specializing in cozy mysteries. To learn more or subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit her website korinamossauthor.com.