House of Desire - Whisky and Wine

Margaret Lucke flings words around as a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of four mystery novels: House of Desire, House of Whispers, Snow Angel, and A Relative Stranger (an Anthony Award finalist). She is also the editor of Fault Lines, an anthology of mystery short stories published last year by the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has taught writing classes for more than 20 years, and she has published two how-to books on the craft of writing. Let's see what drink she's chosen to match her novel, House of Desire. 

In my new novel, House of Desire, reluctant psychic Claire Scanlan attends a gala fundraiser to save a grand San Francisco Victorian. There she encounters a mysterious young woman, Roxane, who is invisible to everyone but her. Roxane is a “soiled dove” plying her trade in the mansion in 1896. She has discovered a secret portal that lets her slip into what she calls the Future House when she needs to escape the most brutal of the men who buy her favors. 

When the party’s organizer is murdered in the mansion, Roxane is the sole witness. Terrified, she flees back to her own time. Claire’s philandering brother-in-law is accused of being the killer. To clear his name she must find the elusive Roxane—which means risking a perilous journey into the past from which she may never return.

The Burnham Mansion in the story is based very loosely on the Haas-Lilienthal House, where the preservation group San Francisco Heritage is headquartered. I had the pleasure of working on their staff a number of years ago. One of the many liberties I took was to give my house a piece of history that the real house doesn’t share. In the 1890s the fictional Burnham Mansion was a parlor house, or upscale bordello, known as Chez Celeste. 

The action in House of Desire moves back and forth between Claire’s contemporary world and Roxane’s Victorian-era environment. Among the many things that differentiate the past and present in the book are the beverages people drink. In the 21st century scenes, Claire and her cohorts are likely to choose wine—a full-bodied zinfandel or a crisp chardonnay. The gentlemen who patronize Chez Celeste will often purchase a tot of whiskey, poured from a decanter so they won’t notice that it has been watered down even though they are being charged full price.

While Chez Celeste didn’t offer cocktails, they were popular in the Victorian era. When looking for Victorian whisky recipes, I came upon this one, which Charles Dickens apparently enjoyed when he visited America. It may be the original cocktail, or at least 

the first to be called by that name.

The Cock-Tail

1 teaspoon super fine sugar or simple syrup

2 ounces of rye whiskey

3 ounces of water

4 dashes of bitters

Nutmeg

Combine first four ingredients and stir. Top with grated nutmeg

Note: This recipe need not be limited to whiskey. The 19th-century instructions say that rum, gin, or brandy will work as well. Whatever your pleasure, I hope you enjoy your drink.

Bio:

Margaret Lucke flings words around as a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of four mystery novels: House of Desire, House of Whispers, Snow Angel, and A Relative Stranger (an Anthony Award finalist). She is also the editor of Fault Lines, an anthology of mystery short stories published last year by the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has taught writing classes for more than 20 years, and she has published two how-to books on the craft of writing.

You can find Margaret on Twitter: @margaretlucke 

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads The Late Show by Michael Connelly

Kerry Hammond is here with the latest report from the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. They read the first in a new series by one of their favorite authors, Michael Connelly.

This month we returned to a known author and read The Late Show by Michael Connelly.

Connelly has been entertaining us for years with Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, but he now has a third series, featuring a female police officer who works the night shift in Hollywood—dubbed the "Late Show.” She was once a day shift detective with a great career ahead of her, until she filed a sexual harassment claim against her powerful supervisor and received no back up from her partner, who saw the whole thing.

She has been sent to the Late Show where cops are meant to start investigations for crimes that happen on their shift, and then turn the work over to the day shift to complete. Ballard gets caught up in two cases that she just can’t let go, and continues to investigate against advice from her own partner. One case in particular will take her to her breaking point and allow the reader a glimpse of just what she’s made of.

Renee Ballard is extremely driven. She grew up in Hawaii and hasn’t given up her love of the water, frequently paddle boarding to relieve her stress. She’s a bit of a nomad and sleeps in a tent on the beach more often than not. Some of the club members likened her to Jack Reacher with a day job and a few extra changes of clothes.

Almost everyone gave this book high scores. One of the criticisms was that Ballard is still a mystery to us, even after book one. We suspect that Connelly will dole out her backstory in pieces as he writes the series, revealing more and more about what makes her tick. We will definitely be reading book 2.

Mystery Playground Book Club - Death Comes to Pemberly

It's time for our first ever Mystery Playground Book Club Meeting. Our first pick was Death Comes to Pemberly by PD James. Here's what the MP team thought. Make comments below or come to the Mystery Playground Facebook Group. 

Here are a few questions for book clubs who read the book:

1) Do you think the characters remained true to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? 

2) Did you like the book?

3) Were there any plot holes, or things that bothered you?

4) Do you want to see the TV mini-series based on the book?

Deborah

The book started out a little slow for me. James' summarizes Pride and Prejudice a little and I thought if you're familiar with Austen you don't need it, and if you're not familiar with it, the summary goes too fast to be of any use. After the summary, I found the book highly entertaining and easy to follow the plot. 

For me, the characters were true to Austin, for the most part, with one major exception. I did have some questions about the ending, which I won't discuss here in case you haven't read it. I have already seen the TV mini-series, but I didn't remember the ending when I read the book. 

Pat

I thought the book was great fun. I hadn't read Austen in years, but reading the phrasing in this book brought it back. The backhanded insults made me laugh. Mrs. Bennett and Lydia are still laughable. Without giving anything away, I'm still not sure about how Wickham was portrayed. This was a fast, enjoyable and easy read. Great for a break. 

I enjoyed the book, but I have no interest in seeing it on TV now that I know the ending. I'm glad I read the book. I wouldn't have picked it up myself. 

Kerry

I’m a big fan of PD James mysteries as well as all of the Jane Austen novels, so I was very excited to read Death Comes to Pemberley. 

I think James really captured the characters as they appeared in the original Austen novel. The mystery she created surrounding the ball at Pemberley was very intriguing and kept me guessing throughout.

I enjoyed reading The author’s take on the lives of the Darcy’s post Pride and Prejudice. She managed to write the book as if it were written in the Jane Austen period. Once I had myself in that mindset, it was all smooth sailing and very enjoyable. I’m now off to see the movie, so I can see how the book was adapted for television.

Writing Multiple Series with Gerry Schmidt AKA Laura Childs

Gerry Schmidt, author of Shadow Girl, is here to talk about what it's like to write multiple series and there is a Rafflecopter giveaway at the end. Gerry writes four - FOUR! - series, three cozy mystery series under the name Laura Childs, and one thriller series, under her own name. Wow. Let's learn a little about how Gerry does it. 

I’ve got a lot on my plate these days. I write the Afton Tangler Thriller series under my real name of Gerry Schmitt. And under the pen name of Laura Childs I write the New York Times bestselling Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries.

Why on earth am I doing this to myself, you might ask? Well, pretty much everyone’s in favor of me writing as many books as I can handle. My editor, agent, husband, dogs, cleaning lady, beneficiaries in my will, etc. And coming from an advertising/marketing background as I did, I’m used to pounding out ideas to meet tight deadlines. Writing novels is a very similar endeavor – you develop a concept, write it, and then market it.

But these days my daily schedule is very, very tight. So I try very hard to be more productive in less time – that is, my main goal is always to write ten or twelve pages per day for four days, then work on marketing and promotion for a couple of days. It’s kind of like that famous quote by Curt Carlson, the founder of Radisson Hotels. He said, “I try to stay even with my competitors Monday through Friday, then get the jump on them Saturday and Sunday.”

 I’m also phenomenally lucky because I never get lethargy and I never get blocked. Fact is, I don’t really believe in these things. When you’re in the media business (novels, journalism, TV, whatever) you have to be like the shark – just keep moving forward!

But, seriously, if you’re a budding author you can apply this strategy, too. You just have to focus and, most importantly, do your homework.

Do you really think publishers are chomping at the bit for another culinary mystery? How about a vampire story? No, I can tell you they’re not. So find something nobody else has done and put a big fat spin on it. Also, try to write a few pages every day and work straight through. Never go back and revise your manuscript until it is completely finished. Chances are, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you end up with. Okay, it’s finally done? You’re closing in on 300 pages? NOW go back and punch up your work like crazy – ratchet up the action and human drama, make your characters loveable or despicable. And do have fun!

Author Bio:

Gerry Schmitt is the author of the just-released novel Shadow Girl, the second book in her Afton Tangler Thriller series. Under the pen name Laura Childs, she is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbooking Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In Gerry’s previous life she was CEO of her own marketing firm, authored several screenplays, and produced a reality TV show.

Gerry is here on a Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. Here are the other stops on the Tour:

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

July 31 - Valerie's Musings - REVIEW, INTERVIEW

July 31 - Books,Dreams,Life – SPOTLIGHT

August 1 - Varietats2010 - REVIEW

August 2 – Mystery Playground – GUEST POST

August 2 – A Holland Reads – REVIEW

August 3 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT

August 3 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW

August 4 – Bookworm Cafe -  REVIEW

August 5 – Queen of All She Reads – REVIEW

August 5 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW

August 6 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW

August 7 – The Editing Pen – GUEST POST

August 7 – I Wish I Lived in a Library – REVIEW

August 8 – My Reading Journey - REVIEW

August 9 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 10 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

August 11 – The Book's the Thing – REVIEW

August 12 – A Blue Million Books – INTERVIEW

August 12 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW

August 13 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 13 – I Read What You Write - REVIEW

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Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Lisa Unger's Ink and Bone

Kerry Hammond is here to tell us how the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club wrapped up their year of books with Lisa Unger.

It’s been a great year of mystery reads. In 2016 we read some great authors like John Hart, Lee Child and David Baldacci. It’s been a wonderful twelve months full of grisly murders, police chases and family secrets. We decided to end the year reading an author that was a returning favorite and discussed Lisa Unger’s Ink and Bone.

Ink and Bone takes place in the creepy setting of The Hollows, a small town in New York State. It features Finley Montgomery, who has moved back to town to spend time with her grandmother, Eloise Montgomery. Eloise is the only person who can possibly help Finley reign in her “gift.” Finley has the ability to see people who have died, but who aren’t ready to move on. She feels their pain and is haunted by their appearance, never quite sure what message they intend her to receive.

Her special talents are called upon when a young girl goes missing. Finley, following in Eloise’s footsteps, begins working with an investigator to try and locate the girl. The harsh winter has caused the trail to go cold, but Finley works hard to control her psychic powers to try to save the girl and catch the person who abducted her.

Lisa Unger is a wonderful writer and she has a knack for creating great characters.  The story was equal parts creepy and mysterious. The Hollows is an eerie setting that provides the perfect backdrop for the story, and Finley the perfect protagonist to pull it all off. We look forward to seeing what other cases catch Finley’s attention in future books in the series.

2016 Book Picks with Amy S. Foster

Every Wednesday this month, we've been running book recommendations selected by some of our favorite up and coming authors. Today we have Amy S. Foster, who's not only a novelist but also a celebrated songwriter, best known as Michael Bublé’s writing partner. You might recognize her work in his four hit singles, including "Home" and "Haven't Met You Yet.”  

She has also collaborated with Destiny’s Child, Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and a host of other artists. She is also the author of the novel When Autumn Leaves. Amy is the daughter of singer B.J. Cook and the legendary music producer, David Foster. Fun fact about Amy: Her extended family tree includes Bella and Gigi Hadid, Sara and Erin Foster and Brody and Brandon Jenner, and Clay Aiken! The Rift Uprising, her YA debut, was released this October. 

And now for Amy's favorite novels of 2016...   

My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows

There was just something so wonderfully cute and clever about this book. It’s a retelling of the tragic historical figure Lady Jane Grey (remember the movie?! With Helena Bonham Carter?!) I’m a sucker for historical fiction anyhow, but I love the way they turned the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants into a conflict between people who can turn into animals and people who can’t. I mean the fact that Henry VIII alone turned into a lion and ate people…come on! It was incredibly well written with compelling and really well rounded and devised characters. A totally fun read. My thirteen year old loved it and so did I.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben Winters

A few years ago a very smart editor at Quirk Publishing got the brilliant idea to take works in the public domain and rewrite them with the current fads that had taken popular culture by storm. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was released and immediately became a hit. I am a huge Austen fan but not enough of one to be bothered with Zombies. I don’t get Zombies… so I didn’t read it. This year I came across the retelling of Sense and Sensibility and I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed the new take with the ocean as the big bad. In this version, something has happened, a curse maybe? Where no one is safe from the creatures that rise from the seas and attack unsuspecting humans. Poor Elinor and Marianne, trying to navigate their unjust lowering of economic station AND all manner of weird, massive and aggressive sea monsters that plague their shanty/cottage (despite the many wires and alarms they have rigged up to protect them.) This book is a whole bunch of fun plus the writing is pure Austen. I think Jane herself would have been amused.

Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well by Nancy Atherton

The Aunt Dimity series is one of my favorite cozy mystery series. As far as I’m concerned, it’s got it all- a smart no no-nonsense female protagonist (who is also mother and a wife) a ghost (in the form of Aunt Dimity who converses with Lori, the aforementioned protagonist via a journal where they ‘write’ their conversations back and forth) and a cute little English village. I am also a person who likes a mystery that isn’t necessarily a murder because I’m a wimp. I think Nancy Atherton does a fantastic job in each book creating an interesting narrative that isn’t violent or traumatic. The books are very well written and paced perfectly. I love this particular one in the series because Lori finds a Wishing Well and naturally people’s wishes start coming true. Other authors might have taken this to a really dark place but Atherton keeps it light and funny and suspenseful.

Here's a little bit about Amy's YA novel, Rift Uprising...

Normal seventeen-year-old girls go to high school, binge watch TV shows all weekend, and flirt with everyone on the face of the Earth. But Ryn Whitaker is trying to save it.

Ryn is a Citadel. A soldier. A liar. Ryn and her fellow Citadels were specially chosen and trained to guard a Rift—one of fourteen unpredictable tears in the fabric of the universe that serve as doorways to alternate Earths. Unbeknownst to her family, Ryn leaves for school each day and then reports for duty as an elite, cybernetically-altered soldier who can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL—which comes in handy when she’s not sure if axe-wielding Vikings or any number of other terrified and often dangerous beings come through the Rift. A fine-tuned weapon, Ryn is a picture-perfect Citadel. But that’s all about to change.

When a young man named Ezra is pulled through the Rift, Ryn finds herself immediately drawn to him, despite her training. What starts as a physical attraction quickly grows deeper, and Ezra’s curiosity throws Ryn off balance when he starts questioning the Rifts, the mysterious organization that oversees them, and the Citadels themselves—questions that lead Ryn to wonder if the lies she’s been telling her family are just the surface of a much bigger lie told to her. As Ryn and Ezra desperately try to get to that truth, they discover that each revelation blurs the line between the villains and the heroes even more. 

The Inspiration Behind The Kaluki Kings of Queens

Cathi Stoler is joining us today to tell us about her Derringer award winning short-story, The Kaluki Kings of Queens - Isn't that a great title? The Derringer awards are handed out every year by the Short Mystery Fiction Society and hallmark the best stories of the year. Cathi will also help you find instructions to play the game of Kaluki. 

Sometime memories are just memories. Sometimes they become stories. 

It was just such a memory that inspired me to write my short story, “The Kaluki Kings of Queens.”

I was playing cards with my husband and we were discussing how, when our daughter Lauren, was about nine years old, she used to watch her Grandmother Florence, and her two Great Aunts, Dorothy and Beadie, play Kaluki. She’d sit there for hours and beg them to teach her the game. Eventually, they gave it—it was inevitable—and she learned not just how to play, but to win. All that watching had paid off. 

But teaching Lauren came with memories of its own. My mother-in-law and her sisters often recalled how their father loved to play cards, especially if he was winning. He’d taunt his opponents with cries of “Yuld!” and “Behema!” (loosely translated as “Dummy” and “Ox”) as he slapped down his cards. 

Somehow, this all stuck in my mind and, when I decided to submit a story for the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime’s fourth anthology, “Family Matters,”  starting with this family memory seemed natural.

I did change things up a bit. I made the Kaluki players, Grandpas, and the young protagonist, a boy. Plus, I added a mystery.

Petey, is a young boy who's sure his card-playing grandfathers have a terrible secret they're hiding in the basement he's terrified to enter. He believes it’s something to do with Kaluki and a player the Grandpas thought was cheating. Something he never, ever wants to find out. Ultimately, Petey has no choice and has to take the plunge.

I'm honored to say the story won the 2015 Short Mystery Fiction Society Derringer for Best Short Story. Most recently, I’ve placed it as an Amazon Kindle stand-alone book.

If you'd like to learn Kaluki, you can find the rules at http://rummy.com/kalooki.html. But be careful, it's a game that may stay with you for a long time.

Here’s the url for the book: http://amzn.to/2fVqtwg

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads David Baldacci

The Denver-based Crime & Beyond Book Club has a new David Baldacci book to recommend. Read on for Kerry Hammond’s report.

This month the Crime & Beyond Book Club met to discuss The Guilty by David Baldacci. The Guilty is Baldacci’s 4th book in the Will Robie series, and he has written several books in the Camel Club and King and Maxwell series as well—the latter having been a TV show starring Rebecca Romijn. All in all, the author has written 32 novels for adults and, luckily, seems to have no intent on stopping.

In The Guilty, Will Robie is a government assassin, a very good one. That is until one day when he can’t pull the trigger. Failing at the one thing he’s good at puts Will into a personal tailspin, one that he needs desperately to come out of. As Will steps back to analyze what is happening to him, he ends up going back to his hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi. Not only does he think he has some personal demons he needs to confront there, but he finds out that his father is about to go on trial for murder, and Will may be the only one who can help him.

This was our club’s first Will Robie novel and the book got great reviews from our members. As a group, we like Baldacci’s writing. The book contains clever twists and plenty of action. The characters drew us in and we enjoyed both the father/son relationship between Will and his Dad, as well as the friendship between Will and Jessica Reel, his co-worker of sorts.

In addition to great characters and a twisting plot, the setting of the book added a strong layer of suspense to the novel. Baldacci portrayed Cantrell, Mississippi in such a way as to draw us all into the local politics you might find in such a small southern town.

We were able to find quite a bit to discuss, always a plus in a book club. The Guilty is a great book club read and recommended.

Follow Kerry on Twitter @kerryhammond88