What Do You Do In Your Free Time?

 By Kait Carson

A friend asked me that question, and it gave me pause. It wasn’t one I expected or had anyone ask before. Unless you are a well-known author or under contract to a publisher, the more usual question is: But what do you do all day? Writing is work, hard work, but it doesn’t entail regular hours or punching a time clock, and years can go by before a writer’s efforts bear fruit, so civilians may not recognize our labor. Those of us in the trenches know better. My friend is not a writer, but she was a full-time mom. She understands that perception often differs from reality. Her husband once asked her what she did all day. She had a wonderful, pithy response, but not one I can share in this space.

Because most people think writing is what I do in my free time, the question took me by surprise. And I had to think about it. The answer is: a lot. I haven’t thrown pots in a while, but if I can find a place to rent kiln time, I hope to get back to it. I crochet and have graduated from afghans to sweaters. Living in Maine, I’ve paused scuba diving in favor of snowshoeing in the winter and hiking in the snowless seasons. Wildlife and nature photography is another passion. And let’s not forget baking, much to my waistline’s detriment. Spring is coming, and that means gardening. I’m grateful for the sixteen-hour days we have in my part of Maine. Lots of time to write all day and still head to the garden after work. So, that about wraps up what I currently do in my free time, but wait, as they say on daytime game shows, there’s more!

I’ve got a fistful of bucket list projects. My mom was a fantastic knitter, but she never had the patience to teach me. Last week’s Wirecutter (the product review section of the New York Times) featured the best fiber craft kits for adults, including two scarf knitting kits. Coincidence? I think not. Now I’m on the hunt for a needlepoint kit. That’s a skill I’d like to refresh. And while I’m at it, embroidery sounds pretty good.

What about you? What do you do in your free time?

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, a member of Sisters in Crime, and Guppies.

 

In Which I Solve a Mystery of My Own by Nancy L. Eady

It is a dark and stormy night here in Alabama; thunderstorms are rumbling through periodically. Both my dogs are on high alert—they go to opposite ends of the house to hide once they hear thunder—and my well of topics has run dry for the month, so I thought I would, on this blog by writers who write mysteries, share with you a story about a mystery I solved in my own kitchen. 

If you have never had to raise a fourteen-year-old girl, count yourself lucky. My mom raised three, and she always said that girls at that age should be marooned on a shrinking ice floe. I am sure there is the rare girl-child out there with a uniformly calm, sweet, and helpful demeanor through her early teens, but I wasn’t one, and neither was my daughter. 

Our mystery opens when my child is fourteen and in her bedroom. I am in the kitchen, staring at several round white spots, maybe two inches in diameter, along with a long smear of white between them, that mysteriously appeared on the floor three weeks earlier. Both my daughter and I tried mopping and vacuuming them in the intervening weeks with no luck.

Tired of looking at them, I sat down on the floor and started working on getting those spots up. The spots were made by a thick, hard substance, and the only way to remove them was to scrape the substance off with a knife. It was too thin, too uniform, and not stretchy enough to be gum, but it was too tough to be something like sugar or icing.

After a while, Kayla surprised me by joining me on the floor to help. Volunteering at home and fourteen-year-old girls rarely appear in the same sentence. She wanted to know if I knew what the spots were. I told her I wasn’t sure, but I was beginning to think I might be better off not knowing. Realizing I was talking about substances deposited by unwanted critters, she said, “Eeee-youuuuuuuuuu!” We live in the South, so imagine that word spoken with twenty separate syllables and diphthongs.

We continued to scrape together in silence. Many mystery books mention that silence can be a good interview technique. 

After a while, she said, “These spots look exactly like someone got mad and slung the stove top cleaner bottle around without realizing that it wasn’t shut good.”

I sat back to look at her, and she added, “Not that I did anything like that!”

I had enough for a conviction, but I let her off on a technicality. 

Have a great weekend! 

Have You Ever Solved a Real-Life Mystery? by Connie Berry

 I solved a real-life mystery in 2019 when I tracked down a long-lost Scottish relative and discovered

 what happened to her after she’d vanished in Scotland, leaving two children, a boy and a girl, behind in

the States. The children were my Aunt June and my Uncle Jack.

June and Jack’s mother left the family home when her children were ten and twelve. She promised to send for them when she was able, but they never heard from her again.  The abandonment was made worse by the fact that she left the children with their alcoholic father, who brought in a series of “aunties” to babysit. Eventually, they ended up in separate orphans’ homes and were reunited only as adults.

Naturally, June and Jack always wondered what happened to their mother. Why had she never sent for them? Was she dead or alive? Did they have half-siblings in Scotland?

After months of research, I found the answer in the Scotland’s People database, using her maiden name, Hannah. The document was her death certificate. June and Jack’s mother had indeed returned to Scotland, where she remarried (although she had never divorced—the reason, I suppose, she never acknowledged the children that weren’t supposed to exist) and followed her new husband to Australia for his diplomatic career. They had no children. After his death, she returned to Scotland where she lived for another ten years. Amazingly, I also located her neighbor and friend, Miss Mina Cheape, a single lady in her nineties, still living in the tiny cottage where she was born. We met in that cottage in the village of Burrelton near Perth. Miss Cheape had kept a number of her friend’s possessions, including three generations of gold wedding rings, a photograph, and several antiques. These she entrusted to me to return to June and Jack. One item she kept back. I saw her sort of shuffle it out of sight—a signed photograph of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. No way was Miss Cheape going to part with that. I didn’t mind.

Below are three photos--of my Aunt June as girl, around the time her mother disappeared; of my beautiful aunt as an adult (she was a model in New York City); and of me with Miss Cheape in 2019.

Today, in the age of computers, cell phones, credit cards, and online databases, disappearing without a trace is much more difficult. But even in cases such as my aunt’s, old records reveal old secrets for those willing to put in the research time.

In case you’re looking for a mystery to solve, here are five unsolved mysteries to consider:

1. The Identity of Jack the Ripper

2. The Fate of the Roanoke Colony

3. The Final Resting Place of Cleopatra’s Tomb

4. The Lost Treasures from the Gardner Museum Heist

5. The Location of The Amber Room

Good luck! If you find any answers, let us know.

For now, have you ever solved a real-life mystery?

Something For The Easter Basket By E. B. Davis

  

Since 2018, I’ve been reading Leslie Meier’s holiday themed anthologies. Each anthology contains novellas or novelettes of about 100 pages each. It’s hard to estimate length on Kindle where locations are given without page or word counts. So far, Lee Hollis has consistently written one of the two other stories. Peggy Ehrhart or Barbara Ross have provided the third. The start of this year’s anthologies is Easter Egg Murder, which was released yesterday by Kensington Cozies.

 

The authors write within the perspective of their series’ main characters, providing side trips to different venues, historical background details, and the continuation of backstory. Leslie Meier’s main character is Lucy Stone, part-time reporter in Tinker’s Cove, Maine; Lee Hollis’s is Hayley Powell, restaurant owner in Bar Harbor, Maine; Peggy Ehrhart’s is Pamela Paterson, textile expert, and Bettina Fraser, small-town newspaper columnist, both of Arborville (we assume Maine).

 

Prior to 2018, the anthologies featured authors Joanne Fluke, Leslie Meier, and Laura Levine. Reading the anthologies always gets me into the spirit of the holiday celebrated within. Some of the older ones are now on Kindle Unlimited.                                                                                                                        E. B. Davis

 

 

EASTER EGG MURDER by LESLIE MEIER

 In Provence to visit her daughter, part-time reporter Lucy Stone is soaking up the atmosphere, even if it includes one Carole Capobianco, the empty-nester she encountered on the flight over. Not exactly two peas in a pod, they’re both amused by the tale of a neighbor’s chickens refusing to lay eggs. The decoy eggs he’s set out to encourage the egg-centric hens are not only gorgeously Faberge-style, they’re being stolen! That’s confusing enough, but what’s happened to the cook is deadly serious. 

 

DEATH BY ANOTHER EASTER EGG by LEE HOLLIS

When an ambitious young reporter dies mid-meal at Hayley Powell’s Bar Harbor restaurant, Hayley is horrified. Determined to save her eatery’s reputation, Hayley scrambles to crack the case wide open like an egg, discovering that the victim was about to break a juicy story—one that a number of people (er, suspects) did not order off the menu. Which makes finding the killer more than devilishly hard . . .

 

AN EGGY WAY TO DIE by PEGGY EHRHART

Cleaning up after the Easter egg hunt in the Arborville park, friends Pamela and Bettina are startled to find something else hidden—the dead body of a local cookbook author, surrounded by broken shells and slippery yolks. The pair are far from hard-boiled detectives, but as they search for clues, they find that the whole case smells distinctly like rotten eggs . . .

Amazon.com

Things That Make You Go "Hum" by Martha Reed

Three years ago I left Florida’s tropical Gulf Coast and returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my city of origin. It was the right thing to do. I’d wrapped up my corporate career, and I loved reconnecting with family and friends daily versus only seeing folks on vacations and special holidays. Everyone assured me that due to global warming Western Pennsylvania’s climate had changed, that the weather’s lake effect had mellowed, and that “We don’t get big snow anymore.”

It’ll be fun, they said. You’ll love it. It’s like living in North Carolina.

And then Snowmageddon hit. 21 inches of snow fell on Pittsburgh in two days. Lucky me. I was here to catch the fourth largest snowfall in the city’s history.

Sidebar for total disclosure: I was also living in Pittsburgh during the Blizzard of 1993 when 24 inches of snow fell in one day. In my defense I was much younger then, and it felt more like a snow day adventure.

Being of a naturally sunny and optimistic disposition – and being retired so that I didn’t need to go anywhere I settled in with my books. I’m delighted to report that I cleared my TBR (To Be Read) stack to the point that once the snowplow did clear the parking lot I needed to visit the library to get something to read.

I picked Margaret Atwood’s latest tome, Book of Lives, A Memoir of Sorts from the Recommended New Releases carrousel. Her memoir is a fat stack and meant to be savored. Being in no hurry I slowed my usual reading pace and uncovered some surprising parallels and perspectives between our two completely different writing lives. She stopped me with this quote:

“There’s a set of emotions familiar to anyone who has been the victim of a con artist. First, anger at the perpetrators. Why have they been so mean? But also anger at oneself: Why have you been so stupid? You ought to have figured it out sooner. Also again: Being conned has been a violation of your trust, and trust is a thing you will never extend so easily again. You will be endlessly wondering about hidden motives and stories: the ones you’re being told, and the other one.

“You might become a detective. You might become a con artist yourself. Or, a blend of the two: you might become a novelist.”

Margaret Atwood, Book of Lives, A Memoir of Sorts.

Now pause for a moment and give her quote some thought. Why did you become a writer? When did you know that’s what you wanted to be? Why did you choose the crime fiction/mystery genre? And did anyone else influence or guide you to make this choice and follow this life path?

Absent-Mindedness Strikes Again! by Nancy L. Eady

I have written about my absent-mindedness before, in 2018 and in 2023. But I wouldn’t want you to think I am now free of the condition.

Have you ever lost something important, like your keys? Losing your keys at work is maddening because you know they have to be there SOMEWHERE or you never would have made it to work.

That happened to a friend of mine. She noticed about 10 in the morning that her keys were gone, and by 5:00 p.m. that day everyone in the office had looked for those keys - on her desk, in her desk, in file folders, behind her desk, under the two stuffed chairs in her office, under rugs, in the parking lot, in her car, in envelopes she had put in the mail, everywhere in the office she had been and everywhere in the office she had not been. By the time we left work at five (fortunately my friend had a spare key to her car), I was beginning to think that elves or aliens had spirited the keys away. I asked her to text me when she found them.

No texts came to me that night. Instead, she got a phone call the next morning. 

Leaving the house the morning after she lost her keys, I reached into the outer pocket of my purse and pulled out my keys to lock the front door. I looked through the keyring a few times, trying to figure out why my house key was missing, when the penny dropped. I was holding my friend’s keys in my hand! Remembering that I had been in her office the day before., I realized I must have put my hands on the keys and, without thinking, slipped them into my purse because that’s where keys go. I would prefer to believe that aliens or elves or Bigfoot or the Tooth Fairy slipped those keys into my purse when I wasn't around, but my friend and I know the truth. The mind like a steel sieve struck again! 

Heartbreak and Heros: Lessons from the Olympics by Annette Dashofy

Like many of us, I’ve spent a lot of time the last two weeks watching the Winter Olympics. 

With apologies to the hockey fans out there, that is the one sport I just can’t get interested in. Everything is very fast, but nothing much happens. I even prefer to watch curling, where everything is very slow. I don’t understand it, but all the plotting and planning fascinates me. It reminds me of pool mingled with chess. And with a little shuffleboard thrown in. 

Of course, the highlights always surround the Olympians themselves. Some come in with high hopes and expectations only to fall apart on the ice. 

Others are merely there for the experience with no thoughts of a medal and then skate the program of their lives and end up with gold. 

All of this makes me think of writing (because, let’s face it, everything makes me think of writing.) 

The Olympics are a prime example of how an otherwise ordinary story can become a page-turner with the use of high stakes and emotional investment. 

Take figure skating, for example. To some, the event is little more than people gliding around inside an arena, jumping and spinning, accompanied by music. And that may be the basis of the story. But pay closer attention to the skaters. Their expressions range from excitement to anxiety to effervescent joy. Dig deeper and we uncover the story behind the story. The recent death of a family member. The parents who were also figure skaters and who provided a lifetime of support, culminating in this moment. The skater who is known for having performed his heart out on a broken foot. 

Suddenly, there’s meaning behind the expressions. There’s heart behind the routine. We’re now invested in the results. Those skaters carry our own dreams and hopes with them. 

Even the music and choreography can offer lessons to the observant writer. Some skaters’ programs appear to only use music as a backdrop to the jumps and spins. A few, those who truly draw a viewer in, seem to sink into the music and the ice, taking us deeper. They don’t just tell us a story. They bring us along on the journey. 

I think writing an impactful novel is much the same. I’ve read some that provide a good story, like a skater who’s a skillful jumper, but it’s not enough. If they don’t add emotion to their performance—or to their novel—I don’t feel invested. I’m not compelled to keep turning the page. But when a writer takes the reader deeper into the characters’ hearts, lets us feel the longing to succeed and the fear of disappointing loved ones, I want to follow that character through all their trials and tribulations. I desperately hope they triumph. I weep when they don’t. 

This depth of emotion that draws us in and makes us connect on a heartfelt level is also why some stories stick with us days, weeks, sometimes months after we finish the book. Just like Ilia Malinin’s sorrow following his long skate continues to haunt me. Just like Danny O’Shea’s smile brings a grin to my own face simply by thinking about it.

 

So, fellow Writers Who Kill and readers, have you been watching the Olympics? Have there been any stories from the games that touched you deeply? If so, why?

Rocking the Baby by Judy L. Murray

I’ve been rocking this baby for far too long. The baby, my fifth book in my Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series, is making me crazy.

She is impossible to please. A stuffed rabbit, a music box, a bottle. Never right. I am a mass of indecision. As a result, far too few words are on paper. I’ve tossed out ideas, one after another, and I’m never happy with any of them. The baby has colic and I’m stuck walking the floors.

I suppose I put myself in this position. Or shall I say I put my protagonist, Helen Morrisey, in this position. With the idea of sending Helen out beyond her Chesapeake village at the end of Villain in the Vineyard, I’m now frozen in fear that my readers will miss all my secondary characters they enjoy. I can hear my fans now. “Where is Tammi? Where are Lizzi and Shawn? Where are our favorite shops?” I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them. As a result, I’m getting nowhere and my deadline is creeping closer and closer like the Chesapeake shoreline at high tide. No wonder I’m not sleeping.

The past year has caused so many personal disruptions. We’ve all experienced them. I need to return to a creative routine. Yet, I want to have time for family. I’ve put together a few bits of advice to replace my misgivings and procrastination with decisions and words. Hopefully, they will help you if you hit the same wall.

Tony Robbins, Harvard ranked motivational coach, author Awaken the Giant Within
I attended his three one-hour zoom sessions last week. Tony had 62,000 people attending from around the world. Participation never dropped from the first minute to the last. “Beliefs create and beliefs destroy. Taking action makes fear go away.”

Kate Quinn, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Alice Network, The Rose Code “Give yourself permission to be bad. Silence that little voice in your head, the one that says… this is terrible, what am I doing, I can’t let anyone see this and just finish. Your first draft will be terrible, and that’s fine. Everyone’s first drafts are, mine included, and that’s fine! Just finish that first draft and fix it later.”

Lisa Scottoline, New York Times Bestselling Author, Edgar award-winner, author of 36 novels “How do you begin writing a new book? I pray, and then I start. Horrible first drafts are the secret to great writing.

Barbara Kingsolver, Pulitzer Prize winner “I write a lot of material that I know I’ll throw away. It’s just part of the process.”

E.L. Doctorow, three time winner National Book Critics Circle Award ‘Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights. You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.”

Stephen Pressfield, author of the international bestseller The War of Art, ranked #3 Amazon in Creativity since 2012, Gates of Fire, The Legend of Bagger Vance “Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

I’m tossing this baby into your hands. If you have ideas on how to blend a storyline between an original location with a new one, love to hear them. If you think Helen needs to stay in her original world, let me know. If you have suggestions about how you got back into a writing routine after disruptions, I’d love to hear them too.

All the best to my writing comrades,

Judy L. Murray
Author, The Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series
PenCraft First Place Awards
IPPY Gold and Silver Medalist
Silver Falchion Int'l Award
Agatha Award Nominee

Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence by Nancy L. Eady

Last month, I posted a short short story I called “Customer Complaint” on this blog. A few days later. I was searching for something unrelated when a critique of the story I had posted popped up spontaneously—generated by the search engine’s AI program. I’m not sure why. The AI program told me it liked the story, even calling one or two elements of the story “comedy gold.” I don’t know what measure it used to evaluate the story, and because it is AI, and on my computer, I wondered if it gave me its honest opinion (if AI can have an opinion), or if it was just telling me what it thought I would like to hear. 

I don’t trust AI yet. Part of that is my native skepticism of all things mechanical—any office worker knows that copiers, for example, cannot be trusted. Never let the photocopier know you are working against a deadline. Doing so increases the chance of a serious malfunction bringing your work to a screeching halt past 90%. Part of my mistrust stems from my understanding a bit about how it works, while another part stems from not knowing enough about how it works. And as a writer, I have major concerns about how you can control plagiarism of your work by AI. 

The AI that has burst most spectacularly onto the world stage are the large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot. But LLMs are more like probability engines than basic search engines. LLMs look at your question, sort through the many ways other people have answered similar questions in the past, and put together the response that is most likely to be relevant. That doesn’t mean that an LLM will come up with the right answer. The legal profession, for example, is inundated with stories of lawyers who used something like ChatGPT to write a brief and ended up turning in a brief that looked good but had citations to non-existent cases. The term “hallucinated cases” describes this illusory case law. To put it mildly, judges are not amused when lawyers submit such briefs. The sanctions for doing so are becoming increasingly severe. One lawyer I know uses a Chat GPT type platform as an aid, not as a substitute for doing his own research. He tells an amusing story about arguing with the AI program about its hallucinating cases. He told the program it was hallucinating cases, and the program “shouted” back at him (all caps) “I AM NOT HALLUCINATING CASES.” (But it was.) 

The search for the most relevant answer also has another side effect. The one answer an AI LLM program is not likely to give is “I don’t know.” Their programming insists that they provide an answer, and they will do exactly that, regardless of whether the answer provided is correct.  

The part of the technology I don’t understand is what allows AI to have conversations with people. We recently upgraded our Amazon Alexa devices to Alexa Plus, which is AI-based. (We did that to stop fighting with the bedroom Alexa over the differences between the phrase “turn on the bedroom lights” and “turn on bedroom lights.”) I have had two tentative conversations with Alexa Plus where I was asking her/it questions with no right or wrong answers; questions about what she likes or feels, just to see what would happen. (My daughter gave me some weird looks when she walked in on those). I felt as if I were talking to a person.  

I use ProWritingAid to help me edit my work. It also has an AI option, but for now, I leave that feature alone. But the availability of AI writing aids is growing because AI can be useful. That usefulness will only increase with time as the technology develops further. If you can trust the AI program you use to keep your work confidential rather than adding your work into its repertoire of training material, it could be useful in proofreading. It also might be helpful in generating ideas on how to promote your work and in providing research sources you may not have considered.

Are there any ways you use AI to help you with your writing efforts, whether it is in proofreading, editing, promotion, marketing, or something else? If you have tried AI, what do you think of it? What is your general impression of the technology?

Series Canceled by Marilyn Levinson

 That was the message I received a few days ago regarding the fate of my new cozy mystery series. Certainly not what any writer wants to hear, no matter how kindly the words are strung together.

Death on Dickens Island, the first book in my Books on the Beach series, had been released in October, 2025 in four formats: e-book, hardcover, paperback and audio. The Large Print edition came out this past week. I had high hopes for my new series set on an island I'd created in the middle of the Long Island Sound. I enjoyed writing about my new characters--their adventures, their relationships--and murder and mayhem.

Readers liked the book, judging by the many five-star reviews it received on BookBub. Though I could see by the book's Amazon ratings that sales weren't great, I remained optimistic and started writing the second book in the series.

Learning that my publisher will not be continuing my new series has left me very sad. My first reaction was maybe it was time I stopped writing books and enjoyed a life of leisure. That didn't last long. I began to wonder: should I finish the book I'm writing and find a home for it? Should I start a new series? Too many possibilities, which led me to believe I needed to take a break from writing and writing decisions. For a week or more.

To my relief, this latest development hasn't made me doubt my writing abilities. I've written too many books for that. When I posted about my series' cancelation on Facebook, I was touched by the many who had written to tell me they loved reading Death on Dickens Island. And by the wonderful support I received from many of my fellow authors. So many suggested that I self-publish the series, but I don't have the time or the energy to do that. Eventually, I'll come up with the right decision regarding what's next in my writing career.

Rejections and cancelations are a part of the publishing industry. It can happen to any author. After all, it's not as though we're ever given tenure to keep on writing books until we retire. We write books because that's what we love to do, and we want to get our books out to as many readers as we can. 

Killer Questions - Our Favorite British Crime Shows

Killer Questions – Our Favorite British Crime Shows

Mary Dutta - Broadchurch, Happy Valley, Inspector Morse

Shari Randall - My all-time favorite is the original Marple series starring Joan Hickson. My current favorite is Shetland. 

Grace Topping - There are so many excellent British crime shows that it makes it hard to select just one. I would have to go to an old favorite, Midsomer Murders.

Debra H. Goldstein – Vera

Lori Roberts Herbst - Slow Horses. Love Gary Oldman. The entire entourage cast just works.

Korina Moss - This is a hard one, since I love so many, I know I’ll forget some. I really loved Sherlock (with Benedict Cumberbatch), Dalgliesh, and The Chelsea Detective. Midsomer Murders was a show I could always count on, and I also enjoyed both of M.C. Beaton’s series adaptations: Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth. The early seasons of Father Brown and Death in Paradise were favorites. The show that’s newest to me that I really like is Beyond Paradise. Lately I’ve been re-watching all the Marple episodes on BritBox, which are my comfort shows.

K.M. Rockwood - Hamish MacBeth

Elaine Douts - I wish I had time to watch TV. There are a lot of shows on Brit Box that look really good. But I read for interviews and enjoyment. I’m not sure I could even get to sleep without reading. The last movie I saw was “The Thursday Afternoon Murder Club.” It was fun.

Susan Van Kirk - Line of Duty, Murder Before Evensong, Miss Marple, Sherlock

Kait Carson - Happy Valley, Lynley, Rosemary & Thyme, Midsomer Murders (although I’ll never catch up with it, there’s so many!)

Sarah E. Burr - I’ve been enjoying Death Valley, which features a retired actor who portrays a detective on TV helping out a young upstart detective in her Welsh hometown.

Martha Reed - Either one of the two BBC1 adaptations of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy L. Sayers starring Ian Carmichael or Edward Petherbridge available for free on YouTube. These and Time Team got me through 2020.

James M. Jackson - Shetland, but to be fair, I hardly ever watch TV.

Heather Weidner - Vera, Sherlock, and Broadchurch

The Year of the Fire Horse

by Paula Gail Benson

This year a series of February celebrations follow each other closely on the calendar. Valentine’s Day on February 14, Washington’s Birthday or President’s Day (or Family Day in Canada) on February 16 (see background in my post on The Stiletto Gang), Mardi Gras’ Shrove Tuesday on February 17, and Ash Wednesday on February 18 (I still remember the scene from Julie Smith’s Skip Langdon novel New Orleans Mourning where Skip takes a break from an investigation to go to the service where ashes are imposed at the St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square).

Right in the middle of all these events, also on Tuesday, February 17, is Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, which, this year, is the Year of the Horse. The Smithsonian website indicates that February 17 (when the new moon appears) begins a fifteen-day Spring Festival (celebrating the transition from winter) that ends with the Lantern Festival (where children traditionally go out at night taking lanterns to solve riddles). Many lanterns are simple, with the emperor and nobles having more intricate ones. Often, they are red in color, symbolizing good fortune, and in the shape of animals. According to Wikipedia, “The lanterns can symbolize the people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones, which they will let go of the next year.”

The China Highlights Travel Guide explains that the “Chinese Zodiac or shengxiao (/shnng-sshyao/), [which means] ‘born resembling,’ has a twelve-year cycle of animals, each representative of a successive year. In order, they are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.” Also, the animals may be characterized by the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.

According to the Smithsonian website, the horse represents hard work, bravery, and resilience. The Year of the Horse occurred in 1990, 2002, 2014, and 2026.

This is a unique Year of the Fire Horse, which takes place every sixty years. The English edition of the Economic Times (indiatimes.com) indicates that fire “is associated with passion, intensity, courage and transformation.” Following a Year of the Wood Snake (wood being associated with trees and growing matter that can fuel fire and snake like a shedding of skin), “astrologers say 2026 could be a year of bold decisions, rapid progress and dramatic change. It is also a Yang year, traditionally linked to outward action and assertiveness.”

Hoping to understand what previous Years of the Fire Horse have brought about, I looked back to see when they occurred: most recently, 1906 and 1966.

Significant events that occurred in 1906 include the San Francisco Earthquake, beginning work on the Panama Canal, the first ever feature film being shown in Melbourne, Australia, the oldest African American Greek letter intercollegiate fraternity opening at Cornell University, and President Theodore Roosevelt winning the Noble Peace Prize. Persons born that year included Bugsy Siegel, Ozzie Nelson, Roberto Rosselini, Josephine Baker, Anne Morrow Lindberg, Estee Lauder, Satchel Paige, and Grace Hopper.

In 1966, several NASA launches took place, “It’s a Small World” ride opened at Disneyland, Walt Disney recorded his final message talking about the plans for EPCOT, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Miranda warning case, and Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California. A few well-known actors, directors, musicians, and sports figures were born in 1966, including Helena Boham Carter, Jon Favreau, J.J. Abrams, Janet Jackson, and Kurt Browning.

One development from 1966 that has continued to evolve is the Star Trek franchise, celebrating sixty years in existence with its latest series, Starfleet Academy, which was contemplated in earlier times and explored briefly in J.J. Abrams’ alternative Star Trek with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban. Wouldn’t that be incredible to write something that continues to be a source for the imagination more than a half century after its inception?

Are you a Trekkie or a Star Wars fan? What challenges and opportunities do you foresee for this Year of the Fire Horse?

Fire Horse Journal Available on Amazon

 

Writing Southern Style

Writing Southern Style by Debra H. Goldstein

I am a transplanted Yankee. Although I am proud of my northern roots, I’ve come to love the language and cadence of the south. Being honest, despite loving the writings of many southern authors, I must admit my adoption of the “Southern Style” took me a while.

My first trial as a litigator in the south for the U.S. Department of Labor took place in Mississippi. The day before I was leaving Alabama for the trial, one of my colleagues very seriously asked: “Can you do a bit of Magnolia Lady?”

Sadly, I had to explain to him that I was still working on the difference between y’all and ya’ll. For those who don’t know, y’all is the correct contraction, but it doesn’t always come naturally to northern ears.

Soon though, I learned there were phrases, like “Bless Your Heart,” which when said with a smile were delightfully wicked. Other southern cultural phrases that I learned to work into my daily interactions include: “madder than a wet hen,” “if I had my druthers,” “I’m all tore up,” “hush your mouth,” and “fixin to.” The origins of each of these and many other cultural phrases is the stuff for another blog. 

But, for today, let me tell you the biggest difference of how northern and southern authors tell a fairy tale (with thanks to an unsigned internet meme). The northerner begins by saying, “Once upon a time. . .” The southerner gets right to the point: “Y’all ain’t gonna believe this . . .”

Do you have any favorite cultural phrases?

Love, Mystery, and Murder: Celebrating the Couples of My Series This Valentine’s Day by Sarah E. Burr

Valentine’s Day may bring to mind roses and chocolate, but in my fictional worlds, love is just as likely to bloom in the middle of a crime scene, during a snowstorm, or beneath a glittering chandelier in a royal ballroom.

Over the years, I’ve written about many things—murder, mayhem, secrets, and scandals—but at the heart of every series is something softer and far more enduring: partnership. The couples in my books don’t just fall in love. They weather storms together. They grow. They challenge one another. They choose each other, again and again.

Today, I want to celebrate four couples who hold very special places in my heart.

Coco Cline and Hudson Caruthers: Trending Topic Mysteries

Coco Cline lives her life in the public eye. As a stylish influencer with a sharp eye for branding and trends, she understands the power of perception. Hudson, on the other hand, is steady, grounded, and deeply private. Where Coco sparkles, Hudson steadies.

Their greatest strength is balance.

Coco brings vision and vibrancy into every room. She is bold, ambitious, and unafraid to pivot when things go sideways. Hudson offers calm logic and quiet confidence. He is thoughtful, dependable, and protective in a way that never overshadows her independence.

But that contrast is also where their challenges lie.

Coco’s world moves fast. It is public and performative. Hudson’s instincts lean toward caution and discretion. Navigating a relationship where one partner thrives online and the other values privacy requires communication, trust, and constant recalibration.

Yet what makes them work is that neither tries to shrink the other. Hudson doesn’t dim Coco’s light, and Coco doesn’t push Hudson into a spotlight he doesn’t want. They choose partnership without sacrificing individuality. In a world of viral drama and trending chaos, their love feels like something solid.

Hazel Wickbury and Ezra Walters: Glenmyre Whim Mysteries

Hazel’s life in Crucible may seem warm and steady on the surface. She runs her candle shop, cherishes her community, and carries herself with quiet strength. But beneath that calm exterior lies something she cannot fully share: a secret ability that she calls her “whim.”

Hazel has the power to see when someone will die. Not only must she conceal this morbid gift, but she also carries the knowledge it gives her. That burden shapes her in ways Ezra cannot fully see. It makes her cautious, protective, and at times, distant. Loving someone feels risky when loss is not theoretical, but something you can sense in the air.

Part of Hazel’s struggle throughout the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries is learning how to build intimacy while holding something that heavy inside. The secret creates a subtle wall around her heart. And yet, Ezra remains.

His greatest strength is patience. He does not demand access to every hidden corner of Hazel’s life. He does not push for explanations she is not ready to give. Instead, he offers steadiness. A place where she can set down the weight she carries, even if only for a little while.

Their foundation is friendship. It always has been. That friendship becomes their saving grace. Hazel may feel she has built walls around her heart, but Ezra does not try to tear them down. He waits. And in doing so, he gives her the courage to open the door herself.

Their love is not flashy. It is chosen, quietly and consistently, in the spaces between doubt and devotion. And for Hazel, that choice means everything.

Winnie Lark and Teddy Caine: Book Blogger Mysteries

Winnie Lark lives in a world of stories. As a book blogger with a thoughtful heart and a curious mind, she processes life through narrative. She sees symbolism in everyday moments and finds comfort in fictional worlds.

Teddy brings her back to the present.

Winnie is introspective, occasionally anxious, and deeply empathetic. She feels everything. Teddy offers grounding energy and practical support. He believes in her intellect and her instincts, even when she doubts herself. Their strength lies in emotional honesty.

Winnie’s world is shaped by family dynamics, personal insecurities, and the ever-present pull of her past. Teddy does not attempt to “fix” her. Instead, he listens. He reassures. He shows up.

But their relationship is not without strain.

Winnie’s investigations put her in risky situations. Her drive to uncover the truth sometimes overrides caution. Teddy must reconcile his worry about her safety with his respect for her autonomy. That tension creates real, human moments between them.

What makes Winnie and Teddy so dear to me is that their love feels gentle and intentional. It is rooted in shared laughter and quiet understanding. In a world of twists and suspects, they are each other’s constant.

Duchess Jacqueline Arienta Xavier and Lord Perry Pettraud: Court of Mystery

Jax and Perry inhabit a world of politics, alliances, and dangerous ambition. Their love story unfolds against a backdrop of power struggles and royal expectations. Nothing about their relationship is simple. And that is precisely what makes it compelling.

Jax is formidable. Intelligent, strategic, and fiercely protective of her realm, she carries the weight of leadership with grace and steel. Perry matches her strength, not by overpowering it, but by respecting it. He is ambitious in his own right, yet deeply loyal.

Their greatest strength is mutual respect.

Perry does not see Jax as a symbol or a crown. He sees the woman beneath it. Jax, in turn, trusts Perry with her vulnerabilities, something she offers very few people. But love in a royal court comes with consequences.

Every decision is scrutinized. Every alliance questioned. Their challenges are not merely emotional; they are political. Trust must extend beyond the personal into matters of state. Missteps could cost more than heartbreak.

And yet, their partnership thrives because it is built on choice. In a world where marriages are often strategic, theirs is intentional. They stand beside one another not out of obligation, but out of devotion.

As you may have noticed, across my contemporary small towns and glittering fantasy courts, my couples share one common thread: love is not passive. It is active. It requires courage. They communicate. They stumble. They forgive. They grow.

In stories filled with secrets and suspense, romance becomes the emotional anchor. It reminds us that even in dark moments, connection endures.

So, this Valentine’s Day, I’m celebrating not just fictional love, but the kind of partnership that supports growth, respects individuality, and stands firm when life becomes unpredictable. After all, even in a mystery, love might just be the greatest plot twist of all.

Who are your favorite couples in literature? 

St. Valentine’s Day: A Gift for All . . . Except the Day’s Namesake

 By Lisa Malice, Ph.D.

Happy Valentine’s Day! As my gift to you, I offer a murky tale, one alleging crimes against the state, two murky suspects, summary judgment of guilt without a trial, and hasty and bloody execution. “What the heck?” you might exclaim. “Why would you post something so gruesome on this day of all days, which is devoted to love and brotherhood?

Because, my dear friends, this is the tale of the day’s namesake—St. Valentine.

The identity of the man who would be canonized as St. Valentine by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD and later celebrated as the patron saint of lovers (epileptics and beekeepers, too) is not just murky, but dark—blood red dark. The Catholic church canonized more than thirty historical and religious figures throughout its early history with the name Valentine, but only two are connected specifically to February 14, two men, who were martyred for evangelizing Christian beliefs, a crime against the Roman empire throughout the four centuries that followed Jesus’ birth. 

The first suspect claiming the honor as St. Valentine was a physician and Catholic bishop of Terni, who was put under house arrest in the palatial estate of Judge Asterius for spreading Jesus’ teachings. The two educated men found much to talk about, especially Valentine’s beliefs in the healing power of Christianity, so Asterius called for proof. As the legend goes, the judge said, “If your God is so powerful, heal my daughter of her blindness, and I will do whatever you ask.” Valentine complied, laid his hands on the young woman’s eyes, and prayed. Her sight instantly returned.

The judge, humbled at the miracle he had a just witnessed, stayed true to his word. At Valentine’s behest, Asterius freed his Christian slaves and those he’d jailed for evangelizing, destroyed every pagan (Roman) idol on his estate, fasted for three days, then underwent the sacrament of Christian baptism with forty-four members of his family and estate.

Once released Valentine continued to evangelize, leading again to his arrest at the hands of the Roman guard. This time, however, he was hauled into the court of emperor Claudius II and asked to renounce his Christian beliefs. Valentine not only refused, but he tried to convert Claudius. Enraged, the emperor sentenced Valentine to death. Later that night, under cover of darkness, Valentine was executed—taken beyond the gates of the city, beaten with clubs, then beheaded, and left by the side of the road (the famed Flaminian Way). The date of his bloody execution? February 14, of course.

There is not much of a story to tell about our second suspect, also a priest from Terni, except that he aggravated the efforts of Emperor Claudius II to rebuild his dwindling army by marrying young men and women in secret Christian ceremonies.

At the time, only single men were eligible to be conscripted into the military, as men with wives and families were deemed not strong enough in devotion, physical prowess, or mental capacity. Claudius had the last laugh, though. He had Valentine arrested for evangelism and executed for refusing to renounce his Chistian religion. The date Valentine was beaten and beheaded? February 14, 269 AD.

What does this have to do with Valentine’s Day as we know it now, a day filled with colorful hearts and expressions of love? Let’s get back to our first suspect and his story. Legend has it that before his execution, the condemned bishop wrote a loving letter to Judge Asterius’ daughter and signed it “from your Valentine.”  

Similarly, legend follows our second suspect. Purportedly, Valentine gave each man he married something to remind him of his vows and God’s love—a heart cut from a sheet of parchment paper.

Fact or fiction? Who knows? It is possible these two suspects are one in the same man, but even the Catholic Church wasn’t convinced enough to official retain February 14 as the feast day of St. Valentine in modern times.

There is more to the story of how St. Valentine came to be associated with romantic love, but it has little to do with the historical reason for his martyrdom. The famed 14^th century poet, Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as to celebrate passionate love in his 1375 poem, “Parliament of Foules,” writing, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day/Whan every foul commeth there to choose his mate.”

Lovers started exchanging valentines in the 1400s. By the 1600s, Valentine’s Day was readily recognized as the day to celebrate romantic love, so much so that Shakespeare referenced the day celebrating romantic love in three of his plays.

By 1848, the yearly exchange of valentine cards in America was made possible by Esther Howland, who mass-produced and sold handmade cards featuring silk, glitter, and lace.

I hope this little tale fascinated you as it did me. Have a wonderful celebration of love today with those who mean the world to you.

 

Superstitions around My Favorite Number 
by Heather Weidner

It’s my birthday, so I celebrate when it lands on Friday, the 13^th. I was curious about the superstitions around triskaidekaphobia, and not surprisingly, there are still a lot of mysteries and murders that swirl around the possible origins.

The earliest literary reference to the date is in the Revue de Paris in an article by the Marquis de Salvo in 1834. It is about a Sicilian count who killed his daughter on Friday the 13^th. In the same year, the play, Le Chateau de Carini made a reference to the date being unlucky. The date is not considered universally unlucky. In Spain, Tuesday, the 13^th is.

Many tie the superstition to the number 13. Twelve is considered the complete or “perfect” number while 13 can often represent imperfection, the introduction of evil, or even death. In Norse mythology, Loki crashed a banquet of 12 gods, and murder and mayhem ensued. The Code of Hammurabi omitted the thirteenth law, and high-rise buildings to this day usually don’t have a thirteenth floor or a room thirteen. As early as 1565, the Death card in a Tarot deck was numbered thirteen.

There are some Christian traditions that have been linked to the superstition, too. Like Loki, Judas is often considered the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper. Eve was supposed to have tempted Adam on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday.

Friday the 13^th also is a day tied to a variety of tragedies. In October 1307, King Philip arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, and many were eventually executed. In 1888, Jack the Ripper killed his last victim on the thirteenth. The Germans bombed Buckingham Palace in September 1940. In November 1970, a cyclone decimated parts of Bangladesh, killing over 300,000 people. Tupac Shakur was murdered in September of 1996. Franklin Roosevelt was so concerned about Friday the 13^th that he refused to travel on that day. Friggatriskaidekaphoia is the term that was coined to describe the fear of the date.

Thirteen also appears in a variety of pop culture references. Thomas William Lawson’s wrote Friday, the Thirteenth in 1907, and the Friday 13^th horror movie franchise launched in 1980, making the serial killer Jason a household name. It also spawned its own cultural references in shows like The Simpsons, Highway to Heaven, South Park, Scream, and scads of video games. Countless songs reference the date or the serial killer, including those by artists, TuPac, Alice Cooper, Elvira, Eminnem, and Lynard Skynard.

The date never bothered me, and I was pleased to discover that people who were born on the thirteenth or celebrate a birthday on the date often feel immune to the superstition.

The tradition of “unlucky” thirteen has permeated our culture for years. Do you have a superstition or something that you regularly avoid?

Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries. 

Her short stories appear in a variety of anthologies, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a crazy Mini Aussie Shepherd. 

BRITISH CRIME TV SHOWS

 

                                                         by Margaret S. Hamilton

 

 

It’s February, Cincinnati has ten inches of snow and below zero temperatures, so it’s time to catch up on British Crime TV shows. Here’s a list of what we’ve been watching before the Olympics:

 

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (Netflix), starring Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. A new remake of the 1929 murder mystery set at a country house. I’m looking forward to comparing the remake to Christie’s original story. Bonham Carter as Bundle’s mother and Freeman as Superintendent Battle deliver memorable performances.

 

The Game (Britbox), starring Robson Green and Jason Watkins. Retired detective Huw is convinced his new neighbor is the serial killer he failed to capture during his law enforcement career. A cat-and-mouse game ensues with the deliciously creepy Robson Green. Some violence.

 

Shetland, season 10 (Britbox), starring Ashley Jensen and Alison O’Donnell. The setting in Shetland always steals the show, accompanied by a present-day murder with roots in the past death of two island boys. Ruth and Tosh identify and arrest the culprit. First rate plot and secondary characters.

 

The Night Manager, season two (Prime), starring Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, and Olivia Colman. Season One was based on Le Carre’s 1993 espionage novel about an undercover operation to bring down an international arms dealer. Season Two is set primarily in Colombia, ten years later. As soon as Hugh Laurie appears, it becomes a psychological thriller. British intelligence and arms dealing shape the plot. Laurie delivers another outstanding performance as Richard Roper, a powerful and flawed villain.

 

Bookish (PBS), starring Mark Gatiss. Set in post-war 1946 London, antiquarian bookseller Gabriel Book “assists” the police with their investigations. Book is a charming eccentric amateur sleuth.

 

Readers and writers, what crime shows have you enjoyed on TV?

 

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