For Linus of Peanuts fame, Halloween was all about the pumpkins—and unshakable faith in one in particular. Would you, too, wait through the night in a worthy patch for the mysterious Great Pumpkin’s annual return? Or go for the candy? It’s said that Jack of lantern fame was once a real person who made a bad deal with the devil. He ended up forever doomed … Continue reading The Great Pumpkin Lives!
Lisa here, with an updated version of a post I wrote 6 years ago about the publishing world and its relationship with ever-evolving and “improving” tech. GRWM (Get Ready with Me) and see How it Started/ How It’s Going … Continue reading Merrily We Roll Along
These days, every time we venture online–or open our email–we’re bombarded with information. True or false, all those details must be processed by our frazzled brains and sorted into a cerebral in-box system: Keep, Ignore, Discard. But what happens when SOME people’s brains refuse to let go? Continue reading Trivial Pursuits
Just how much do writers’ childhood memories shape the people–and authors–they become? Oh, hardly at all. Really. Take Lisa, for instance… Continue reading Mystery on Cherry Street
Lisa here, breathless after a whirlwind library tour. Well, maybe that’s a wee bit of hyperbole, but here’s her report from 3 bookish events—and 2 very different New England libraries… Continue reading A Tale of Two Libraries
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday…Having trouble remembering exactly what day it is? Well, good news! You can easily rule out Sunday… Continue reading Sunday Scaries, We Want You Back
Titanic. Forrest Gump. Jurassic Park. Harry Potter. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Clueless. Pulp Fiction. Whitney. Grunge, prep, and hip hop. The 90s nostalgia is real. Did we ever really say Bye-Bye-Bye? Continue reading The 90s Called: They Want (the Real) You Back
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is pub day for BURIED IN SHAMROCKS, Lisa’s second book in her Irish Bed and Breakfast Mysteries. With Winter Storm Hernando bearing down on the Northeast, she considers the super-positive, flip sides of Things That Go Wrong… Continue reading Silver Linings (Author) Playbook
Lisa here, with exclusive life updates on 8 bratty but beloved characters from kid lit classics. Many of them grew up to be (spoiler!) bona fide members of the mystery community. Did your childhood literary idols make the list? Continue reading Sleuth, Author, Villain, Brat: Where are Your Fave Kid Characters Now?
Perched at my kitchen counter with a mug of late morning coffee as I delete endless marketing pleas from every retailer I failed to stroll or scroll past fast enough, I’m in the depths of holiday prep despair. Christmas is indeed coming, and I am…nowhere. Continue reading Cold Case of the Missing Christmas Villagers: 2025 Update
Lisa here, just back from the weekend’s amazing-as-always New England Crime Bake 2025 conference. Since it’s my day to post here on Chicks, and I’m still bleary-eyed (in a good way), I thought I’d share a few of my terrible but heartfelt photos. (Apologies to all up front.) Continue reading New England Authors on a Roll: Crime Bake 2025
Whether you fill giant bowls with candy in hopes of trick-or-treaters at your door—or hide in your living room with the lights off—you know they’re out there: gleeful, greedy goblins dressed in costumes funny, frightening, or foxy. Not a dress-up fan? Bet you remember at least one costume you wore as a kid (or more recently)… Continue reading Go As Alice: Ghosts of Halloween Costumes Past
