A Halloween Invitation--and A Gift for One Lucky Commenter!

Skyler and Lexie at the Pumpkin Patch...sort of.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but here in Florida, a "pumpkin patch" is a concrete slab decorated with pumpkins. I grew up wandering muddy fields with dying vines and rotting orange globes. This is MUCH more sanitary--and a bit scary. Here's a photo of my drop-dead gorgeous niece Lexie and her 3-year-old son Skyler picking out the gourd to go ghoulish. As you might guess, Skyler is our own "pumpkin." We're having all sorts of fun watching him grow. He's going to be Spiderman for the big Spook Fest.

On Wednesday night, I'm lucky enough to escort Skyler to the Jupiter (FL) Community Center where they're having a Halloween event especially for kids his age. I'm so excited I can barely wait! I love Halloween! I'm dreaming of Snickers bars. Sigh.

In the spirits of the spirits, I'm giving a Halloween party ONLINE on my new Facebook fan page. From 9 p.m. to midnight (Eastern Time) on Halloween (Monday, October 31) join me at http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbellSlan  Simply watch for my status updates and participate by reading the comments.

We have a great line up of guests. So far, we have commitments from Mollie Cox Bryan (Scrapbook of Secrets: A Cumberland Creek Mystery, coming February, 2012); Penny Warner (How to Party Like a Killer Vampire); Camille Minichino (Malice in Miniature); Sparkle Abbey (Pampered Pet Mysteries);  Julie Compton (Tell No Lies and Rescuing Olivia); Deb Sharp (Mama Sees Stars); and Linda O. Johnston (The More the Terrier). And since I've been slow about sending out the invites to my author pals, you can bet that list will grow. Most of the authors will offer copies of their latest books or ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) to give away.
I hate the fact that I need to move folks from my "old" personal FB page to a fan page, but...the times are a changing. Here's a great explanation of the advantages of a fan page.

Okay, so what would encourage you to come to my fan page? Hmmm? How can I bribe you to make the switch?

Speaking of bribes, we have a copy of A MISCELLANY OF MURDER: FROM HISTORY AND LITERATURE TO TRUE CRIME AND TELEVISION, A KILLER SELECTION OF TRIVIA to give away to one lucky commenter, thanks to one of the five co-authors, Stephen D. Rogers.

So come on, readers--tell me what you're thinking! One of you will randomly be selected to receive Stephen's new book.

The Glamorous Side of Doing Research?

By Penny Warner


Smart writers set their books on fabulous cities, exotic jungles, or romantic beaches, knowing they’ll have to go there to “research” the place for their books. But I somehow end up in a cemetery. That’s because my latest murder mystery, HOW TO PARTY WITH A KILLER VAMPIRE, features a film wrap party for big-time movie producer Lucas Cruz. Cruz is celebrating his latest release—a vampire parody film—by throwing a lavish party in a graveyard. It’s a pretty gloomy venue for Presley, but she’s hoping to make it so much fun that partygoers won’t even notice there are more dead than living guests…

Meanwhile, I get to hang out in Colma, AKA the “City of Souls,” to do my research. Nestled in the hills just south of San Francisco, Colma claims the deceased population outnumbers the living, 1.5 million “souls” to 1,600 residents. The city was founded as a “necropolis” in 1924, and offers 17 cemeteries for humans, plus one for pets. Apparently, the city of San Francisco ran out of room for its dead, evicted all existing cemeteries in the city limits, and relocated them to the south. The motto there: “It’s great to be alive.”

What better setting for a book featuring vampires.

Truthfully, I found cemetery city to be fascinating. After checking out the shops that offer fancy granite headstones and flower marts with “easy to install” bouquets of floral arrangements, I headed for the pet cemetery called Pet’s Rest, (not to be confused with Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, where the pets actually came back to life after they were buried.) This pet cemetery is filled with tiny headstones that mark the names of well-loved pets—“Shadow” the rabbit, “Gyzmo” the dog, “Mr. Furry-Face” the cat. They’re buried here, along with the occasional bird (“Tweety”), fish (“Ahab”), lizard (“Godzilla”) and monkey (“Darwin”), plus thousands of other well-loved companions.

Next I headed for Hills of Eternity and located the grave of Wyatt Earp, the famous lawman. There are lots of well-known names resting in Colma, like William Randolph Heart (he’s at Cypress Lawn), Joe DiMaggio (at Holy Cross), and Emperor Norton (Woodlawn). There was even an award-winning musical filmed in Colma called, appropriately, “Colma: The Musical.” Not many towns can claim the same.

When I finished my research, I concluded that Colma is certainly a peaceful place, with its immaculately kept lawns, colorful floral bouquets, and quiet pathways. It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. And I really need to start setting my books in places like Paris, Hawaii, or at least the Amazon Jungle.

**

Penny Warner has published over 50 books for both adults and children. Her latest is a mystery series featuring event planner, Presley Parker, and set in the San Francisco Bay Area. HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, features a wedding on Alcatraz, HOW TO CRASH A KILLER BASH, offers a Murder Mystery Party at the de Young Museum, HOW TO SURVIVE A KILLER SÉANCE, features a Séance Party at the Winchester Mystery House, and HOW TO PARTY WITH A KILLER VAMPIRE is set in Colma, the City of Souls. Her middle-grade mystery, CODE BUSTERS CLUB: THE SKELETON KEY, was just published.

Contact Penny Warner at www.pennywarner.com or pennywarnerink@yahoo.com.

LA and then some

My excuse for being among the missing at the end of last week: I was at Left Coast Crime in Los Angeles, and I have photos to prove it!

Side trip: A few of us made a side trip to San Diego to the wonderful Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. Here we are: me, Penny Warner, Rhys Bowen, and Diana Orgain. Ann Parker was the photographer.



Killer Panel! I was so pleased to meet Betty and Linda and attend their great Cozy-up panel. Linda and Betty are the left and right bookends, respectively, in the photo.



Here's a photo of the auction item I contributed, a one-inch scale scene borrowed from the bathroom scene in The Godfather (if you have to ask, never mind!) Can you find the gun?




Panel: I was on a panel with Rita Lakin and Cynthia Riggs, with Mike Befeler as moderator. The title, which we all cringed at, was Geezer Lit. Ouch. We tried to emphasize the LIT part!



Some of us (ok, me) were a little annoyed at the emphasize on the age of our sleuths. Certainly Geraldine Porter, mid fifties, would balk at being called a geezer! More important, I hope the miniature mysteries that feature her as protagonist aren't about age, but about the mystery, the sleuth, and how she solves the crime. Maybe there should be a category for Bald Lit, or Thick Ankles Lit.

thoughts?

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 .

After the ecstasy, the laundry

After the ecstasy, the laundry. That’s the name of a Jack Kornfield book about a Zen koan. To me the meaning is clear. No matter how many wonderful things happen, there’s always the mundane day-to-day housekeeping duties that need our attention.

Like in February, at my huge launch party, I signed books for about 150 people attending, I had a blast, meeting up with old friends, giving a speech about the meaning of my book, collecting kudos all around. The next morning, I was washing clothes. Quite literally, the ecstasy and the laundry.

This week I got wonderful news. Stamped Out, the first in the Stamping Sisters series, was singled out for a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. This is big news, so exciting, so validating, I’m thrilled. According to my editor, Sandy Harding, this is the first time a cozy mystery from Berkley has received a starred review. Getting the review will translate directly into more sales from bookstores and libraries. Awesome. I was flying high.

You can read it here. Scroll down to Mass market. You can't miss it. It has a big red star.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6583334.html

And then the computer died. A quiet death, so unlike it’s usual noisy everyday existence, that I knew it was a lost cause. I tried to hang on to my good feelings engendered by the review, blocking out the lost files, the backup detail, all of the time and energy that would be necessary in getting and setting up a new system. Not to mention the inconvenience of working on my 13-inch laptop.

There’s another not-so Zen koan that’s also in play here. My own little truism. It goes like this: Make a little money and it will be spent. I was so looking forward to the paycheck for doing the Santa Clara Library Mystery Author panel talks that I’ve been taking part in this summer. Just a little mad money. Don’t get me wrong, I would have done the panels for free. I’m having a marvelous time, being on panels with Penny Warner, Kelli Stanley, Cara Black, Claire Langley-Hawthorne. No remuneration required. But nice to have.

And now it’ll go to pay for my shiny new computer.

Catch me at the Milpitas Library on Thursday, August 14th at 7:30 with Penny, Cara, Claire and Mark Coggins or at the Saratoga Library on Monday the 18th with Penny, Cara, Mark and Michelle Gagnon.

I’ll show you my starred review. It’s a beaut.