What Readers Want to Know About Dirty Rotten Tendrils

Dirty Rotten Tendrils, the 10th Flower Shop Mystery, hit the bookstores on October 5th. Quite frankly, there are several unanswered questions in this reader’s mind, including, why does florist Abby Knight keep finding corpses? It’s like Grandma always said. “Nice girls don’t associate with dead bodies.”

I couldn’t come straight out and interrogate author Kate Collins; Grandma also claims that direct questions are rude. It did occur to me that Kate’s fellow authors on the Cozy Chicks blog might be forthcoming with details about Abby Knight and Kate Collins if only I asked nicely, so I approached Deb Baker, Maggie Sefton, JB Stanley, Heather Webber, Lorna Barrett, and Leann Sweeney. I began with the most pressing query and phrased it as delicately as possible.

Ten-plus murders! Ten! That’s an awful lot of bodies surrounding florist Abby Knight. And in “Shoots to Kill”, she’s even arrested for murder on page one! She admits to having a short fuse. Is Abby really so unlucky, or is author Kate Collins trying to cover up her protagonist’s nefarious past?

From Leann Sweeney: Unlucky? No. Who wouldn't want a smart, curious, intuitive woman ready to step in and solve a murder? We all have things we like to do besides work at the day job. Like quilting or painting or gardening or catching murderers.

Abby Knight is both a florist and a crusader. Her mother teaches kindergarten and engages in a long list of creative endeavors, such as making designer candy. Are energetic, multi-tasking women like these purely fiction? And what exactly is a Dancing Naked Monkey table, one of Maureen Knight’s many creations?

From Maggie Sefton: Abby Knight delights readers with her creativity, her crusading
spirit, and her tenacity in finding clues and figuring out murders. She
may even take after her energetic, multi-tasking, and creative mother,
Maureen. As for the Dancing Naked Monkey table? Only Maureen really knows.

Abby’s fiancé, ex-Army Ranger Marco is described as tough and sensitive--a man who could cook up an omelet and take down a killer in the same day. The couple has already called it quits once. Any guesses on whether we’ll hear wedding bells in the future?

From Lorna Barrett/Lorraine Bartlett: Does this give you a clue: Dum dum de dum. Dum dum de dum. Dum dum de dum dum de dum dum de dum. (And Abby's had the wedding flowers designed for ages.)

This is just between friends, and I’m not asking because I’m jealous (my thumb is a distinct shade of brown), but is author Kate Collins actually good with plants?
Deb Baker/Hannah Reed: Kate is the queen of green thumbs and can dish dirt better than anyone else! Uh, I mean, mix dirt.

Abby seems a little self-conscious that she flunked out of law school. I’m all too familiar with that feeling of failure. What advice would you give me--I mean Abby--to help her get over her perceived failure?

From JB Stanley/Ellery Adams: I’d tell Abby that when one door closes, another opens. After all, if she hadn’t flunked out of law school, how could she have become the engaging sleuth and skilled florist that we all know and love? Her “failure” has become a source of delight and enjoyment for readers across the globe!

For readers who haven’t enjoyed the Florist Shop Mysteries, can they jump right in with book #10? And what kind of read can they expect?

From Heather Webber: As with all Kate’s books, Dirty Rotten Tendrils is filled with humor, fantastic characters, twisty-turny plots, a bit of romance, and a warmth that’s just Kate’s natural voice. You absolutely don’t have to start at the beginning of the series to enjoy Kate’s books. Jump right in with Dirty Rotten Tendrils, and then once Kate has you hooked (and she will), go back and fall in love with the rest of the Flower Shop Mysteries.

The Last Bouchercon Story

It’s been a week of Bouchercon stories. My trip was a little longer. I spent a few days before and after in Chicago. When I finally got home, I awoke in the middle of the night and thought I was in a hotel somewhere and was worried about check out time. What a relief to realize I was in my own bed.

Like Monica, I was worried no one would show up for my crochet project in he craft room, or if they did, I wouldn’t know how to teach them. I’m glad to say I was wrong on both counts. There was a nice turn out and I was able to help those that needed it. Then just like any group of crocheters, we sat around and talked while we worked. I certainly enjoyed it.

I went to one of the other craft room events, as well. Sally Goldenbaum had a knit a square to send to South Africa project. I quickly realized I’d forgotten how to cast on, but Sally showed me a new way and I was able to get started.

It’s very humbling to try something you’re not good at. I can fly with a hook, but I stumble with needles. Everyone else was making fancy variations to their square, while I kept taking out mine and starting again. When I finally got going on it, I realized I didn’t know how to end it. The only knit project I completed was a coin purse that kept decreasing until you had just one stitch. It ended just like crochet, by pulling the yarn through.

Sally showed me how to cast off, but the lesson went out of my head as soon as left the room. I ended up finishing it while in Chicago where I had a book on knitting that explained how to do it. I sent my not quite square square to Sally. I hope good intentions count for something, because my lopsided square is full of them. It’s a happy thought that it will become a part of a blanket for scarf to keep someone warm on the other side of the globe.

Since my deadline is looming, I spent a good deal of Bouchercon writing. I had left my computer in Chicago, so it was all yellow pad and pen, but I wrote 30 pages.

My favorite part of Bouchercon was meeting all the people. Even with the cold drizzle, I enjoyed talking to Camille and Ann Parker on our way back from the Etlejorg museum. I pushed myself to circulate at the Berkley party and was surprised at how many people I knew. Afterwards, Maggie Sefton, Sheila Connolly, Kate Collins, Kate Carlisle, Darryl Wood Gerber and I went to the revolving restaurant on top of the hotel and had a fun dinner. We stayed long enough to make two complete revolutions.

There was breakfast with Sandy Harding, who I would like even if she weren’t my editor. I met James Scott Bell in the elevator who it turns out to lives in a nearby San Fernando Valley community. I rode to the airport with Mike Befeler who I seem to run into everywhere. Last time was at Left Coast in Hawaii. I introduced myself to Charlaine Harris and told her how much I enjoyed her panel. Everywhere I went, I found people I liked, to talk to. Mystery writers and fans are the best.

I felt like the ugly ducking who’d finally found the swans.

Learn a New Craft at Bouchercon!

This year at Bouchercon (http://www.bouchercon2009.com/), the world's largest mystery convention, we will be trying something new — a Craft Room! This is a chance for readers to participate with authors as we create and teach the hobbies we love so well. Below is a run-down of who will be teaching, what will be happening, and when. If you are attending Bouchercon, please sign up for your time in the Craft Room well in advance. I’d hate to see you disappointed, and I know these sessions will go fast. Killer Hobby Blog Sisters participation is denoted by an asterisk:

Thursday, October 15
10:30-11:25 am
Monica Ferris* : Crossed-stitch Bookmark

1:30-2:25 pm
Margaret Grace* : Miniature Flowers

3-3:55 pm
Betty Hechtman* : Crocheted “Molly Pink” Dishcloth

Friday, October 16
9-9:55 am
Maggie Sefton: A Simple Scarf

10:30-11:25 am
Penny Warner: Nancy Drew Sleuth Kit

3-3:55
Penny Warner: Party invitation/Memory Book Favor

Saturday, October 17
9-9:55 am
Sally Goldenbaum: Knit squares for Quilts

10:30-11:25 am
Beth Groundwater: Designer Gift Baskets

1-1:55 pm
Joanna Campbell Slan* : Scrapbook Page

2:30-3:25 pm
Cricket McRae: Fizzing bath salts


Here’s a bit more about your crafty author-hosts and their projects:


MONICA FERRIS*

Accidental Hoosier Monica Ferris was born in Terre Haute, but only because there was the closest hospital to her parents' home in Marshall, Illinois. She now lives in Minneapolis. After publishing novels as Mary Monica Pulver and Margaret Frazer, Monica began a new series for Berkley/Prime Crime. The titles include Crewel World, Framed in Lace, A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by A Thread, Cutwork, Crewel Yule, Embroidered Truths, Sins and Needles, Knitting Bones, Thai Die and Blackwork.
In the Craft Room at Bouchercon this fall, Monica will teach a simple two-color argyle pattern for a counted cross stitch bookmark. Visit Monica at www.monica-ferris.com

MARGARET GRACE (Camille Minichino)*
Camille Minichino is having a great time as Margaret Grace, even though MINIchino seems more suited to MINIature Mysteries, huh? On October 6 she'll welcome the fourth in the series featuring Gerry Porter, a retired teacher who does miniatures with her precocious 10- year-old granddaughter, Maddie. In Mourning in Miniature a 30-year high school reunion turns deadly and the pair are on the case!

Camille is excited about a product from the UK that she came upon a few months
ago: FlowerSoft. Using small pieces of wire, a pot of glue and a wonderful product made of colored foam, you can create beautiful flowers in our crafts room at Bouchercon. Stick these wonderblooms in a bead and you have a fantastic miniature vase of flowers.

Camille will bring all the supplies! Visit Camille at www.minichino.com

BETTY HECHTMAN*

Betty always wanted to learn how to crochet and always wanted to write mysteries. You could say her life turned on a granny square because through learning how to make them, Betty got the idea to put the two goals together and her mystery series was born.

Hooked on Murder, Dead Men Don’t Crochet and By Hook or By Crook are all national bestsellers. Hooked on Murder is in a fourth printing and Dead Men Don’t Crochet in a second printing. The fourth book, A Stitch in Crime, comes out in February. The series follow the sleuthing and crocheting activities of Molly Pink and the Tarzana Hookers and all include a recipe and an easy to make pattern.

Betty’s craft project is a Molly Pink Dishcloth. It’s an easy quick project and you get something useful out of it. Visit Betty at www.bettyhechtman.com


MAGGIE SEFTON

Maggie Sefton writes the Berkley Prine Crime Knitting Mysteries. Kelly Flynn is the young 30-something sleuth, CPA, refugee from East Coast corporate firm who's returned to her Colorado childhood home to solve a murder and goes on to find new friends, a new job, and a new boyfriend. Not necessarily in that order. Knit One, Kill Two is first in series. Seventh series release out last June is Dropped Dead Stitch.

Maggie is presently working on a new wool winter scarf from a reader-designed pattern which will appear in the June 2010 release. She’ll be teaching folks at Bouchercon to make a scarf. Visit Maggie at www.maggiesefton.com

PENNY WARNER

Penny Warner is the author of over 50 books, for kids and adults, both fiction and non-fiction. She is the author of The Official Nancy Drew Handbook (Quirk Books, Agatha nominee) and the Connor Westphal mystery series, featuring a deaf reporter in the California Gold Country (Macavity winner, Agatha nominee.) Her new series, How to Host a Killer Party, debuts in February from NAL/Penguin and features an event planner who lives and works on San Francisco's Treasure Island.
Penny is conducting two workshops: 1.) Nancy Drew’s Mysterious Sleuth Kit, filled with hidden compartments, cryptic clues, detecting tools, and Nancy Drew goodies. 2.) Killer Party Pop-Up Invitation/Memory Book/Favor. Visit Penny at www.pennywarner.com


SALLY GOLDENBAUM

Sally Goldenbaum has written (30+ novels), worked as a teacher (philosophy & Latin), NPR public relations, and a bioethics journal editor. Her new Seaside Knitters series is set on Cape Ann, north of Boston and features four women ranging in age from 34 to 80 who meet weekly in the Seaside Knitting Studio to forge friendships, knit wonderful creations, and explore the lives of the lovely residents of Sea Harbor, Maine.

Sally will help knit squares that will then be sent off to a wonderful lady named Sandy McDonald who is head of an amazing project called knit a square (http://www.knit-a-square.com/). The squares will be sent to a woman in South Africa who has organized a group that will knit them into blankets for children and families, primarily those suffering from AIDS. Visit Sally at www.sallygoldenbaum.com


BETH GROUNDWATER

Beth Groundwater is a Colorado-based mystery author whose first book A Real Basket Case was an Agatha nominee for Best First Novel. The book introduces Claire Hanover, who owns a gift basket business. Beth has also recently signed with Midnight Ink to publish two books in the Mandy Tanner river ranger series.

She’ll be helping participants assemble a gift basket. Visit Beth at www.bethgroundwater.com

JOANNA CAMPBELL SLAN*

Joanna is the author of Agatha-nominated Paper, Scissors, Death, the first book in the Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series featuring a spunky widow named Kiki Lowenstein, a scrapbooker who refuses to let a murderer get away with, well, murder! The second in the series Cut, Crop & Die was released this June. Joanna is the author of 7 non-fiction books on scrapbooking, and she’s taught the craft online, in magazines, and around the globe.

Joanna grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and graduated from Ball State University. She’ll be teaching participants to put together a custom-designed scrapbook page you can see here http://tinyurl.com/ycbn7yp You’ll have plenty of fun supplies to take home as well.

CRICKET MCRAE

Cricket McRae writes the Home Crafting Mystery Series featuring soap maker Sophie Mae Reynolds. Cricket lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she writes and practices the traditional home crafts for which the series is named. These include soap making, food preservation, spinning and cheese making.

Her class at Bouchercon will focus on how to make your own fizzing bath salts as well as information about other types of salts and milk bath formulations. Contact Cricket at www.cricketmcrae.com .