Murder By the Hook Done

 Thanksgiving is over and now it's straight through to Christmas.  The decorations at Costco are no longer too early.  The Christmas tree lots are open for business.

I finally, finally wrote The End for MURDER BY THE HOOK and sent it in on Monday. It was a great relief to send it off.   I was so focused on it that I ignored everything else and can now get caught doing things like updating my website for DEATH AMONG THE STITCHES which comes out at the beginning of January. 

I got a notice that the e-book of ONE FOR THE HOOKS  is going to be on a special deal in December  and need to get the word out.  

I find it hard to read when I'm working on a book, but now that it's finished, I finally read THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ.  All  I have ever known of it was the movie and I wondered what the book was like.  I was surprised at how much killing there was in the.  They were all bad guys, but still the Tin Man did a lot of whacking with his axe.

There's a lot online right now since WICKED came out.  There was an awful story about Margaret Hamilton who played the Wicked Witch of the West.  Her face got burned and they had to scrub her skin because the green makeup was toxic.  Needless to say it was painful.  And then after the movie was done, she still had a greenish tinge to her face.   

The first Tin Woodman was Buddy Ebsen, but he got sick from the aluminum dust in his costume and was replaced..  And then there are countless stories about how Judy Garland was treated.  It makes it hard for me to watch the movie without thinking about the actors.