The Chicks: Thanks for paying us a visit, Seven Sinister Sisters!
The Seven Sinister Sisters: Thanks so much to Ellen Byron for inviting us, and to all the terrific Chicks on the Case for hosting the Seven Sinister Sisters on our grand blog tour! We are seven mystery authors, all members of Sisters in Crime, with new books launching this spring.
Our question for today: Which character from your own mysteries would you want to hang out with in real life?
“So many of my characters are ridiculously autobiographical,” says Becky Clark, “I’d like hanging out with all of them. (I am, as you might have heard, a constant delight. And I smell like vanilla and newsprint.) But very close to my heart is Charlemagne “Charlee” Russo, the protagonist in the Mystery Writer’s Mystery series. She’s a writer so she enjoys lots of free time, always a plus in a BFF. She gets free coffee and pastries at her local coffee place, and I’m sure she’d share. Plus, she has an eclectic group of writer friends, and who doesn’t like hanging out with writers??”
Pat Hale would hang out with her PI Britt Callahan, “because it would be a day I’d remember. Britt’s passionate about her cases and fights for her clients like a dog protecting a bone. You never know where you’ll end up when you’re on a mission with Britt. And though she always lands on her feet, it can be a roller coaster getting there. Her approach to wrongdoing is tagged the path less taken. It’s justice for her clients, no matter what, but Britt’s idea of justice is often to the left of center. At the end of the day, a good cigar and a glass of Pinot Grigio and she shifts her focus to family. Who doesn’t want a day like that?”
According to Edith Maxwell, “as much as I love my historical Quaker midwife and amateur sleuth Rose Carroll, I would want to hang out with her non-Quaker friend, Bertie Winslow. Bertie, who loves fancy hats, is the postmistress of Amesbury, Massachusetts, and an unconventional woman for 1888. She lives with her partner Sophie Ribeiro, a lawyer, in what people call a Boston Marriage—two single ladies cohabiting. For Bertie and Sophie, it’s a marriage in all senses except the legal one. Bertie rides astride her horse Grover (named with typical irreverence for President Cleveland), helps Rose in her sleuthing, and enjoys a spot of drink every day.”
Leslie Karst would pick her protagonist Sally’s Aunt Letta. “But it was only after I killed her off in chapter one of the first in the series, Dying for a Taste, that I realized how much I loved her. Letta was the black sheep of the Solari family, leaving town to work at the famous Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, then traveling the South Pacific, and finally returning to Santa Cruz to open her French-Polynesian restaurant, Gauguin. She was feisty, witty, and loved nothing more than whipping up a cheese soufflé or batch of Schezwan shrimp, then sitting down to dinner with a nice bottle of wine to talk the evening through. So why the heck did I kill her off?”
For Shawn McGuire, “it would be fun to follow Jayne around and observe her as she analyzes clues and walks through crime scenes. Morgan is so calm and in control, I’d love to be with her while she performs one of her Wiccan rituals. Then there’s Meeka, Jayne’s West Highland White Terrier. I keep telling my husband that when our youngest moves on to college in a year and a half, I want a dog to keep me company during the day. Problem is, I don’t want just any dog, I want Meeka! Wait, was I supposed to pick only one?”
“Gramps,” says Sue Star, “who is Nell’s dad, sees life through the lens of a bygone era. He’s lovable and surly, funny without meaning to be funny, and Nell—my protagonist—is lucky to still have her dad in her life. I miss my dad, and I feel as if I’m with him again in spirit when I write about Nell and her dad. Gramps is a bit spunkier than my dad was, but he cares just as deeply. Both of them are down-to-earth, self-made men, and they hail from the farm, a simpler way of life. Gramps makes me feel comfortable, just like my own dad did.”
Finally, Cathy Perkins notes that, while Detective JC Dimitrak turns heads, “I’d choose to hang out with Holly (from the Holly Price mystery series). She’s smart and funny, qualities I admire, but what makes her so appealing is her loyalty. If you’re family or a close friend, she’s got your back.”
So now it’s your turn: What character from a mystery novel would you want to hang out with in real life, and why?
And to celebrate our new releases, the Seven Sinister Sisters are having a giveaway! Enter to win by leaving a comment below. Seven lucky winners will receive an ebook from one of us. And one GRAND PRIZE winner will receive a signed copy from each of us!
Our tour runs from January 6th to May 2nd and we’re answering a different question at each blog. Leave a comment at each blog for more entries! We’ll draw the winners from all the combined comments at the end of our tour.
If the grand prize winner is out of the United States, we’ll send an Amazon gift card for the equivalent amount.
Watch our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/sevensinistersisters for the next stop on the tour.
http://www.lesliekarstauthor.com
http://www.BeckyClarkBooks.com
https://www.dmkregpublishing.com/
Chicks on the Case 
Fun post, 7 Sisters!! Definitely sounds as if you all are in great company with your BFF choices. Condolences to Leslie, who immediately killed hers off–should we all be a little more careful around you? And Edith, I’d never heard the term “Boston Marriage” before. Cathy, your book title is one of my favorites ever! COngrats to all (and yes, Becky, you are always a complete delight!)
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I heard that term a while ago and loved it.Seems so appropriate somehow.
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Thanks Lisa! I love that the meaning changes when you emphasize different words in the title. 🙂
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For my Cajun Country Mysteries, my vote would be Gran’. I feel like she’s got stories she hasn’t even begun to tell. But I’d do that hanging out in the Crozat manor house kitchen so Gran’ and I could feast on some of Ninette’s fab Cajun dishes. BTW, I’d say my protagonist Maggie, but since she’s pretty much me on a lot of levels, we’re already hanging out!
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Great post. It makes me want to read your new books even more! (Also, I love the smell of vanilla. Newsprint? Not so much.)
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I remember first hearing the term “Boston marriage” back in the 1970s. Wonder why Boston gets to claim the relationship, lol! And Lisa, I’ve been much more careful about whom I’ve killed off in subsequent books.
Thanks to all the groovy Chicks for hosting us today!
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I came up with a way for More Aunt Letta: you can write a prequel! Not to assign you any homework or anything… 🙂
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And since each of the books deals with one of the senses, if I ever write one about the sixth sense, I’m sure I could manage to get Letta back in somehow…
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Leslie, I love this: “So why the heck did I kill her off?”
If I spent the day hanging out with Jim Duncan, I’d be on a ride-along or a day at the lake, either one of which would be good by me. But I have a funny feeling hanging out with deputy coroner Tom Burns would keep me laughing.
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I would like to hang out with the investigating team from The Alienist — they are such a wonderful mix of very different characters and personalities, yet they gel perfectly together (most of the time). Out of these characters, I would enjoy hanging out with the unconventional and no-nonsense Sara Howard. I was really sad that this series had only two books as I could have read about these characters forever ~
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These all sound like great choices to me. And, Leslie, if it is any consolation, you got a great book out of killing off your BFF.
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Thanks, Mark! I guess that does make it all worth while.
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Hello, Seven Sisters! So happy that you’re here. Congrats on your latest books and thanks for a great post. I think everyone you described would be fun to hang out with. So my answer will be that I’d like to have a party and invite all of your people! (And of course you’d be invited too and so would the Chicks and all the people who come here and talk to us, so basically, it will be a BASH.)
Also, I’d like to hang out with Eve and her team from Killing Eve (completely addicted to that show already…are you watching it?)…but NOT Villanelle.
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I’d love to hang out with Sally at the restaurant. I love this series and actually, quite of few of these series! Thanks for a chance to win!
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Sally says she’d love to hang out with you, too, Lori! Stop on by if you’re ever in Santa Cruz!
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Thanks, Seven Sisters, for visiting the Chicks! Sue, I’d love to hang out with any character who reminded me of my late dad. And, since we have moose here in the U.P., although I’ve only spotted two since we’ve lived here, I’m very much intrigued by your title!
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Wow! What great answers! If I had to pick which of your characters you chose, I’d pick Gramps. We can learn so much from their wisdom! And the chance to hear stories we can’t get now? Heck yeah!
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Very interesting learning how the authors feel about their characters from their books. I would like to hang out with Reagan from The Consignment Shop Mysteries by Duffy Brown. She always gets herself in trouble and Walker Boone comes to rescue her.
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What a fun post! There are so many characters I’d like to hang out with, including these! A couple more would be to meet up with Miss Marple, or hang out with Madison Night.
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Sherlock – see him solve mysteries
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Sorry I’m late to the party, but what a fun post! I’d hang out with all your characters!
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I am torn between Mrs. Pollifax and Jessica Fletcher but then there are so many characters I wish I could hang out with. Fun post and I enjoyed hearing everyone’s choices.
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
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Too many but I would like to hang with Mrs Pollifax- my first trip into mysteries.
kckendler at gmail dot com
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Thanks for hosting us! It’s always fun to hang out with “The Chicks.”
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What interesting answers and what a great giveaway! legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com
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Interesting to see which characters from your books that you would like to hang out with. Is it because you feel a special connection with those characters?
diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
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Any of the crew from the Fairy Tale Cupcake series by Jenn McKinlay so I could just sit and chat and eat their cupcakes all day.
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Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, Mrs. Pollifax, or Hannah Swensen from Joanne Fluke’s books.
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