Stuff I Learned at Malice--Announcing The Jane Eyre Chronicles--and a CONTEST!

Busy weekend up here in the DC area with Malice Domestic over, but the drive up to Festival of Mystery starts at crack o'dawn tomorrow. Malice always feels like a huge house-party, a get-together with 498 of your dearest friends. There are lots of hugs and chances to catch up with people you email or follow on Facebook, but only see once a year.

This Malice was particularly exciting for me because my agent had just announced my new series--The Jane Eyre Chronicles, which features Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. I'll be writing these for Berkley. I met my new editor, Shannon Jamieson Vazquez. We had a lovely discussion about the books, and I can already tell Shannon will be a tremendous asset to my career. She's both thoughtful and insightful. My agent, Paige Wheeler, continues to astound me with her laser-sharp mind. She's just brilliant! What a dream team.

Here's what I learned this year at Malice:

1. Berkley hosts a great dinner for their authors. (I always wondered if it was as cool as I imagined. It was.)
2. Walking on grated sidewalks in high heels is not fun.
3.  If the Metro train you're in breaks down, they'll make all of you get out. The conductor will check to see that the cars are empty, and you'll have to wait for a new train.
4. Bethesda is a northern suburb of DC. Really, it's right next to DC. The NIH (National Institute of Health) is in Bethesda, and it has a huge campus.
5. Margaret Maron writes hilarious doggerel.
6. Nancy Pickard is always gracious and sweet. But not that nice. She loves killing Kansans. (Okay, the not nice part is a joke, people!)
7. Elaine Viets does amazing research. (Her PUMPED FOR MURDER came out in time for Malice. You can win a copy. Keep reading.)
8. Hank Phillippi Ryan once said Kryptonite when she meant Krypton and has never lived it down.
9. Dorothy Cannell's mother-in-law was a real piece of work. (That's putting it nicely.)

10. Sue Grafton has been knitting since she was in high school. She doesn't like to count, although she will, or use patterns, although she can do that, too. She was making a sweater for her granddaughter.

CONTEST--

You can win an autographed copy of PUMPED FOR MURDER. Just share with us...what did you learn this week?

Murder Most Crafty

I’m still working on my niece’s album…sigh. Here’s a rendition of the teddy bear I’m planning to use. If you’d like a copy, email me at savetales@aol.com and I’ll send the file to you. He’s cute enough for a card topper or to use on a layout or to paste onto an inexpensive gift bag.

I’m not happy with how the album is coming, however. I’m getting better and healthier every day, but I don’t have the stamina I’m accustomed to having. The good news is…I’m getting a lot of reading in. (Sometimes I’m not as astute of a reader as I usually am, but that’s okay.)

I picked up Murder Most Crafty, an anthology edited by Maggie Bruce, at the local library. It’s touted as “15 All-New Stories of Criminal Handiwork and the Art of Detection.” Included is information about papermaking, gourd art, macaroni crafts, mosaics, the sewing of an okesa (a Buddhist robe), knitting, lanyard, fly tying, basketweaving, wreathmaking, indigo dying, candlemaking (two times), potpourri, and collage. It's always hard without pictures to really help people go step-by-step, isn't it? The authors are Susan Wittig Albert, Maggie Bruce, Jan Burke, Dorothy Cannell (always an absolute hoot), Susan Dunlap, our own fabulous Monica Ferris and Denise Williams (with a crackerjack story), Parnell Hall (he’s a very nice man, very generous with his experience), Victoria Houston, Judith Kelman, Margaret Maron, Sujata Massey, Tim Myers, Sharan Newman, Gillian Roberts, and Paula L. Woods.

The stories are great fun. A glance at these names will tell you why. The contributors are all top-notch writers. The ways the authors have chosen to weave crafts throughout the stories are ingenuous. Monica's was a fascinating Sherlock Holmesian bit of detection. I also liked the one by Sujata Massey which was set in Japan. I’ve traveled through that county, and I find the culture fascinating. Sujata also did a great job portraying the rigid hierarchy in Japan, and some of the ways people incorporate Buddhism in their workplaces. I really love when I learn new factoids, and the story about the making of the okesa was a good example.

Jan Burke injected a real spotlight of humor with her craft-impaired Irene Kelly. When pushed into coming up with a craft project, Irene resorts to coloring macaroni and letting the women glue it to paper plates. Shades of summer camp!

While I’m on the subject of book reviews, I’ve just learned that Kirkus Reviews has said that Paper, Scissors, Death, “Kiki's debut, a well-turned cozy with loads of scrapbooking tips, will drive many a like-minded reader to indignation on her behalf.” Hip-hip-hurrah! Okay, I might not be 100% but I’m positively glowing about the kind words.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get organized. (Right, like that's EVER going to happen). I'm working on the baby album, an afghan for my son in his new school colors, a Rastafarian cap for him as a birthday gift, and I have a new Work-in-Progress (WIP) set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

I'm curious... My new heroine is a breast cancer survivor who teams up with her guardian angel to solve a crime she's accused of. How would you expect a guardian angel to act? What might defy your expectations, but be fun or exciting?

Meanwhile...tonight is the return of The Closer and Saving Grace. I'm psyched!