Let’s be honest. We don’t always follow every gem of literary advice we’ve been given, even if we probably should. Today we’re talking about the rule we Chicks break on a regular basis—and we invite you to join the conversation in the comments below!
Continue reading “Which Writing Rules Are Made to be Broken?”
Ask any mystery author what books she read as a kid, and there’s a 99.79 percent chance she’ll answer, Nancy Drew. But after everyone else grew up, I was still hanging out—every day—with the intrepid girl detective and her chums. It was my job, because I was a Nancy Drew book editor. Nancy was the perfect crime solver. Maybe a bit too perfect: uber-intelligent, brave, … Continue reading Partners in Crime Solving
Happy Book Birthday to PERMANENTLY BOOKED by our own Lisa Q. Mathews! In Book #2 of The Ladies Smythe & Westin series, odd-couple co-sleuths Summer and Dorothy start a book club to lure the killer of a dedicated librarian. To celebrate its release, we’re sharing our own book club experiences, which thankfully don’t involve murder!
Continue reading “Better Read Than Dead: Our Book Club Stories”
Weddings: Love ’em or hate ’em, they often make for a good story—especially when things go wrong! To celebrate Marla Cooper’s entertaining debut mystery, Terror in Taffeta (in which things go really, really wrong) we’re sharing a few of our favorite real-life “I do’s.”
A wonderful benefit of becoming a mystery writer is that you’re exposed to new books in your favorite genre all the time. You meet so many other authors, talented men and women who write books you really want to read. And so you buy them. And buy them. And buy them. And your TBR pile grows. And grows. And grows. (TBR means Too Be Read. … Continue reading So many author friends, so little time.
Happy Book Birthday to Terror in Taffeta, the newest release from Chicks on the Case! The first in a series, Terror in Taffeta is about a destination wedding planner who has to investigate when one of the bridesmaids falls dead into a flower arrangement right in the middle of a ceremony. Read on to learn more! Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper From Minotaur Books Kelsey … Continue reading Introducing Terror in Taffeta
Today’s the day! Terror in Taffeta is now officially a real book. You’d think a girl would get a break, but I went straight from finishing Book Two to publicizing Book One, and during the last couple of weeks I’ve been writing blog post after blog post to spread the word. With each post, I found myself thinking, I wish I could share this on Chicks. So you know what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do!
When it comes to planning weddings in dream locales, Martha Stewart and The Knot have nothing on us Chicks. To celebrate the impending release of Terror in Taffeta—Marla Cooper’s debut novel about a destination wedding planner—we’re sharing the places we’d love to walk down the aisle. Read on, because we’ve got those nuptials covered!
I promised my fellow Chicks a recap of my first “live” author promo event on Saturday, and since it’s my turn to blog, I thought I’d share my experience with everyone. Maybe it will be helpful to some newbie authors out there, especially those with e-book series. If not, well, there is a cute animal pic at the end. This was the eighteenth New Hampshire … Continue reading Adventures in Promo Land – Part 1
The picturesque St. Mary Mead village created by Agatha Christie. Sue Grafton’s Santa Barbara, aka Santa Theresa. Louise Penny’s Three Pines in the woods of the Quebec province. (Which is kind of like a French-Canadian St. Mary’s Mead, isn’t it?) Setting paints a picture in any mystery, and the Chicks weigh in on how it affects what we write and what we read.
Continue reading “Location, location, location”
Some of my favorite events at Left Coast Crime 2016 were the Author-Reader Connections, where authors hosted readers for various activities. I participated in two: a lunch co-hosted with fellow Crooked Lane authors Leslie Karst and Chris Goff, and a Sunday morning “Bagels with Ellen Byron.” And that’s where things got really interesting. I invited my conference roomie, prolific author Linda O. Johnston, to join … Continue reading My Readers Bought a Serial Killer’s House
Though it may not feel like it in some places, Spring Break is right around the corner. The Chicks decided to celebrate by sharing our favorite beach reads, which include everything from Whodunnit to Who Wore it Best?
Continue reading “Our Favorite Beach Reads”
