Agatha Christie

I've been watching the new season of Miss Marple on PBS and once again I've been filled with wonder when I see how complicated Agatha Christie's plots are.  Just when I think I've figured out "whodunit", she pulls the rug out from under me once again.  It seems like everyone has a motive in her stories and I love when her Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, gathers all of the suspects together in one room at the conclusion of the stories and drills them one by one in front of everyone else.

The first book my husband and I wrote together was in the spirit of Agatha Christie.  We took my experiences of working in a library and put together a cast of suspect librarians, each of whom has a motive for killing the U.S. Depository Inspector who comes to see if the library meets the exacting requirements of the depository program.  In our story, the victim dies when the mechanism that electronically opens and closes the compact shelves malfunctions and crushes him.  I was witness to a friend almost getting crushed between them, so it does happen.  I'll never forget her blood-curdling scream; luckily we were able to save her!  You will never look at librarians and library shelving the same after reading our homage to the "Queen of Mystery".

Death Among the Stacks: the Body in the Law Library

eBook at $2.99 at all your favorite online bookstores

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Honeymoon in NewOrleans

I wrote this romance novel and included all the fun places and experiences my husband & I have had in New Orleans and Louisiana.

Honeymoon in New Orleans

eBook available at most online bookstores for $1.99

New Orleans

I went to New Orleans for the first time on my 25th birthday.  Up until then, the farthest place from my home in Southern California where I had ever been was Colorado.  My husband and I arrived in New Orleans before dawn, and when the taxi drove us through the French Quarter to our hotel, I was amazed.  It was nothing like I'd seen before, and reminded me of what I'd always dreamed Europe would be like.  It was the first of many subsequent trips and the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

 Here are some of my favorite places:

Oak Alley Plantation  http://www.oakalleyplantation.com

Commander’s Palace  http://www.commanderspalace.com

Creole Queen  http://www.creolequeen.com

Palm Court Jazz Café  http://www.palmcourtjazzcafe.com

Park View Guest House  http://www.parkviewguesthouse.com

Lamothe House  http://www.frenchquarterguesthouses.com/lamothe-house-en.html

Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar  http://www.felixs.com

#NewOrleans #Travel #Louisiana 

#Environmentalists against the #CatholicChurch

Here is Southern California, an ongoing protest movement against the building expansion plans for St. Michael's Abbey is a story that just won't go away.  There are very few open spaces left in Orange County and some people think that the priests shouldn't be allowed to build a nunnery, a cemetery, and a vineyard on their property in Silverado Canyon.  I would love to live next door to them any day.  I've lived here all my life, and have realized that the County is going to keep on developing more homes as long as people continue wanting to live here. You can't stop progress here in "The OC". More protests about the abbey's plans were scheduled for today.

Here's an interesting article about it:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/09/norbertine_silverado_canyon.php

We wrote about this controversy in our murder mystery novel entitled Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery.  It's available as an eBook or paperback at your favorite on-line bookstores.

#Savannah

1. In 1994, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a non-fiction story about a murder trial in Savannah, Georgia, became a best seller on the New York Times best seller list for 216 weeks following its debut.  It reigns as the longest standing best seller in their history.  What is it about this book that captivates readers? There are so many reasons I like it: first and foremost, is how it describes the physical beauty of Savannah, a town built upon a system of public squares with beautiful gardens, fountains, and statuary.  The homes surrounding each square are wonderful, too.  The last time my husband and I went there, we went on a home and garden tour in the Spring and got to look inside these houses.  Wow! What a world they displayed; if only we lowly ones could live like that, too.  I love the cast of characters in the book, especially Jim Williams and The Lady Chablis. We went to one of Chablis' performances the last time we were there and were treated to a night we'll never forget. Our murder/mystery, Honeymoon in Savannah: A Detective Santy Mystery, is about this beautiful city, where our homicide detective, Clarrisa Santy, and her husband go on a "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" pilgrimage and end up involved in a murder investigation when a famous chef is murdered while they are in Savannah.  Available at your favorite online bookstore for $2.99.  Also available in paper at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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#Savannah

My husband and I have been lucky enough to do a lot of traveling in the United States and Europe through the years, but we both agree that our favorite city in the United States is Savannah, Georgia (with New Orleans coming in as a close second).  What is it about this Southern city that has captivated us so much that we've traveled from our home in California four times to visit it?  What we love is its beauty; its people; and its history.  It is that quintessential southern town that reminds me of where Scarlett O'Hara might have gone to see her elderly aunt. It's the old South, with its beautiful moss-draped trees, sweet smelling tea olive bushes, red azaleas, and creepy yet beautiful cemeteries.  It's so different from Atlanta, which was mostly burned to the ground in the Civil War.  When Sherman marched to the sea to plunder and burn everything in sight at the end of the war, he was met at the gates in Savannah and told that the city would surrender, as long as Sherman's army left it unspoiled.  Thank goodness it was spared.

Here is a list of some of my favorite things to see and do, starting with our favorite hotel there, The Ballastone Inn.  For fans of the wonderful book: "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," this is the hotel where Kevin Stacy stayed when he was starring in the film version. If you'd like to see "where the scene of the crime" took place, be sure to visit  the Mercer Williams House. There are guided tours of the interior.   For a tour of the places mentioned in the book, try "All About Savannah Tours".

If you'd like to see one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world (outside of Pere Lachaise in Paris) be sure to visit Bonaventure Cemetery.  It's more like a park than a cemetery.  If you'd like to eat at someplace besides Paula Deen's, try Elizabeth's at 37th.  It's our favorite.  Definitely see a Home and Garden Tour during the Spring when the kind residents of Savannah open their doors and allow us to peek inside their homes and get a taste of what we're missing. I hope you will like it as much as we have.

Do you use real criminals in your fiction?

     Writing teachers always tell their students, "Write what you know.  Everyone has their unique story to share." Taking their advice, I based a suspect in my murder mysteries upon someone I briefly knew when I was 13 and he was 11.  I met him at a miniature golf course and he came over to my house a few times.  I had forgotten all about him until one day I read in the newspaper about a particularly savage murder committed by him when, in his early twenties, he attacked his ex-girlfriend and her husband with two claw hammers, shot them, and left them both for dead.  The husband died and the ex-girlfriend now is brain-damaged.  I remembered him as a nice kid and couldn't imagine him doing something so brutal; but it was true, and he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.  He became quite notorious when he escaped from the local jail and ended up clear across the country before he was finally caught.  

     I wanted to try to show the humanity in someone who had committed such a barbaric act.  I asked myself, 'What if he had a daughter, who's a homicide detective, and she lets him live with her and tries to help him when he gets out of prison?'  My sister told me, "Aren't you afraid he's going to come looking for you when he gets out?"  I seriously doubt that: it's not like my books are famous or anything and I don't use his real name.  He shows up in three of the murder mysteries my husband and I have written.

All are available as either eBooks or paperbacks at your favorite on-line bookstores.