On Writing Historicals: Celeste Connolly and her Lady Petra series
I decided this year to challenge myself as a writer, and am attempting a stand alone historical between my Nora[…]
Read more
Category: Historical Mysteries
Changing Genres with Laura Jensen Walker
A few years ago, Laura Jensen Walker and I discovered that we both have roots in Racine, Wisconsin’s Danish community. In fact, we were born in the same hospital, St. Luke’s–but not at the same time! Our friendship was sealed when we discovered a common passion for Danish Kringle and the British Isles. What more could one ask for?
Laura and I finally met in person last year at Left Coast Crime, and I had the privilege of reading an ARC of her latest novel, Death of a Flying Nightingale. The novel is a departure for her. Welcome to Miss Demeanors, Laura!
Read more
Pea-Soup Fog & Monkey Glands: Ten Reasons Why Victorian England is the Perfect Setting for Murder
“Sexual repression, dark alleys, great detectives, ornate prose,” says author James McCreet (“Why we all love a Victorian Murder,” The Guardian, 15 May 2011). “No wonder the 19th century is our template for crime fiction. A murder is somehow more quintessentially English when committed on the cobbles of a foggy East End alley. If there’s a silhouetted top hat, a rustle of crinoline and a scream cut short with straight razor, all the better.”
I couldn’t agree more. Here are my Top Ten Reasons why Victorian England is the perfect setting for murder:
Martin Edwards on the “impossible crime” in The White Priory Murders
For a Happy New Years gift, the wonderful and prolific Martin Edwards, crime novelist, savior of vintage crime, and one[…]
Read more
Historical Sleuths
I’ve been gathering research for a stand alone mystery set in 1926, for writing next year, while at the same[…]
Read more
An Author’s Responsibility
I’ve invited Nev March, an award winning author of crime fiction, to share her thoughts on an author’s responsibility to[…]
Read more
Casting The Sorrowful Girl
When I’m working on a book, I tape photographs of actors who I picture for my characters on a school-sized poster board and prop it up in my writing area. I do that to help with my description of the character’s appearance. Also, by studying how they act…
Read more
Los Angeles Mystery Author Delves Into A Sherlock Holmes Pastiche
An Interview with Jeri Westerson I confess! I’ve been a Sherlock Holmes fan since before I could read (well). Also,[…]
Read more
Nancy Bilyeau’s The Orchid Hour
I’m thrilled to welcome Nancy Bilyeau to Miss Demeanors. Her latest novel, out now, delves into the glamour of Jazz Age New York and illuminates a time almost as liminal as our own. Society balanced between two world wars, between the Victorian Age and the modern one, between poverty and riches, with a malleable morality–look no further if you’d like to be swept away.
Read more
Holiday Traditions (and a FREE GIFT!)
Tradition is the means by which the vitality of the past enriches the life of the present. T. S. Eliot
Traditions are important, especially during the holidays. However we may celebrate, family traditions give us a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves.