Welcome to the first penitential season of the year. It was Shrove Tuesday yesterday and today is Ash Wednesday. “Shrove” is past tense for “shrive,” an archaic term “to confess.” It was a day to be absolved, to prepare for the penitential season of Lent ahead. This day is more recently known as “Fat Tuesday” because … Read more
Sometimes you come across something that peaks your interest. And the bobbin hat is certainly one of them. I was watching an episode of BBC’s The Repair Shop in which everyday British people bring in family heirlooms that are treasured by them; a metal toy car from when they were a kid, a doll received … Read more
I care. Perhaps I care too much. But I get invested in my characters. Why shouldn’t I? I mean, my readers get invested in them, so I owe my readers that. I care about the lives of my characters, all the details of their backstory and all their hopes and dreams, some of which only … Read more
Do you know your vampires? Do you know what they look like, what their characteristics are? My former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger set up a detecting agency with friend and partner-in-detecting Ben Watson, under the mentorship of Sherlock Holmes. They encounter a man who claims his village neighbors are harassing him since they believe … Read more
It was Victorian recycling. Rolled up old letters, envelops, rolled pieces of shaved wood. You would keep them on your fireplace mantel to light your candles, your oil lamps, your pipes from the fireplace, because your fire was always lit, or banked with embers beneath for easy starting, especially when the maid came to light … Read more
Now that I have to watch out for oxalates (those crystals that can form in one’s kidneys that give you kidney stones, and believe me, you DON’T want those!) I have to be careful of the kind of foods I consume. Before I got my first AND second kidney stones in so many months back … Read more
From Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-leggedly Beasties and Things that go Bump in the Night. –Cornish and/or Scottish prayer. I’ve always liked that phrase. It says so much about the things in the shadows that we can’t see, and how that plays with our imaginations. And nothing quite plays with our imaginations as much as … Read more
When I was a kid, I had a more or less ordinary upbringing but for one thing; in our house, medieval English history was king. We had conversations about the British monarchy at the dinner table. We had books of English literature, history, and historical fiction on our bookshelves. And we had Geoffrey Chaucer. I … Read more
Are you writing a mystery to a niche market? You know what I mean. Maybe you’re writing a cozy about quilting, or dog breeding. In my case, I write Tudor mysteries, Sherlockian mysteries, and medieval mysteries. Whether you write with a large publisher or a small one, promotion is all in your hands. Let’s take … Read more
My husband Craig and I are hands-on people (keep it clean, folks). We build things. If it can’t be found it can still be made. And thus it was with my Booke of the Hidden prop. With money a restrictive part of it all, I knew I couldn’t quite get the leather I wanted for … Read more