Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a warm, safe, and fun holiday celebration. And I hope those who don’t celebrate Christmas were more amused than annoyed by those of us who do. I wasn’t sure whether I’d get to read and review a holiday mystery this month, because my hands were always full with work, …
Pull up a beach chair and join me at Island Confidential for today’s stop on our blog tour. My fellow mystery author Frankie Bow from Hawaii is hosting me for a guest post all about my philosophy of writing, plus a book excerpt and a recipe for Mottley’s favorite cocktail. Come chill out with me …
Cheers! Mottley’s Favorite Cocktail Recipe, the Gimblet Read More »
Tweeeet! En voiture, mesdames et messieurs! Today we depart on a tour of cozy mystery blogs, under the gracious auspices of Lori Caswell at Escape With Dollycas. Each day’s stop will feature a review, spotlight, guest article, or interview with Yours Truly about the new paperback release of Mister Mottley and the Dying Fall — and a …
…or rather, Tey for four. I’ve been on an author binge this summer, and I don’t regret a single minute of it. After reading Nicola Upson’s marvellous mindbender An Expert in Murder, I went out collecting original Josephine Teys, to refresh my memory on her effortless, masterful style. My first find was her 1950 novel, To Love and …
“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.” –P.G. Wodehouse Maia Chance and I are going to be very good friends. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone stalkery. But when I opened Teetotaled and saw a P.G. Wodehouse quote as the epigraph, I knew I’d just made two new …
What better way to enjoy a mystery (especially about the Jazz Age) than with a cool vintage bevvie? Mottley’s favorite drink is the vodka gimblet, distinguished from its better-known cousin the gimlet by its use of unsweetened lime juice for a bracing tang. In the short story “Key of D,” Mottley also visits Harry’s Bar in …
Literary Libations & Character Cocktails – Guest Post by Sarah Miller Hill Read More »
One of the best parts of writing vintage-style fiction, is that hours of research on my favorite topics all count as “work”! I use Pinterest to organize my visual reference material, which means surfing Pinterest also counts as “work.” Vertically integrated, you see? Here’s a delightful article I found while “working,” which describes General George …
![By Silar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://ellenseltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/01464_vintage_Russian_Soviet_silver_cup_tea_holder-224x300.jpg)
Along with Sirop de Cassis, cocoa at breakfast, and other drinks considered by Hastings to be “noxious”, Hercule Poirot is often seen drinking his tisane, to which he attributes health and the acuity of his “little gray cells”. This recurring theme led me to wonder, what flavor of tisane would Poirot like best? I often …
The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D. MacDonald My rating: 3 of 5 stars A quick, enjoyable read. Travis McGee stands smack in the tradition of the likeable hard-boiled gumshoe. A rough and ready, very sympathetic protatonist, MacDonald writes McGee with humor, verve, and an appealing narrative voice. He invests enough emotion …
Review: The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D. MacDonald Read More »
The smooth, flowing lines and glossy finish of Art Deco style turn up everywhere in the Golden Age period – even in hairstyles: For writers and re-creators, Swing Fashionista gives some useful background on the role of the salon in the period, how women of different economic means prioritized their hairstyles, and tips from a …