Inspirations from the Past
- February 16, 2021
- Keenan Powell

I recently finished writing a historical inspired, in part, by my family’s immigration story.
After joining ancestry.com, I met cousins from that line and in 2015, and I had the chance to visit. One of my questions was why when so many Irish ended up in Canada, or Boston, or New York City, did this family end up in the Berkshires?
Read MoreThe Worst-case Scenario
- February 15, 2021
- Emilya Naymark

Reading about horrible things help us deal with them IRL.
From ancient myths to fairy tales to epic poems and literature of every era and genre, it’s the worst-case scenario that glues us to the page/stage/screen. We shudder and close our eyes trying to imagine what it’s like to go into battle or to lose someone we love. The story takes us by the hand and lets us live through the tension and fear, then lets us out at the end, still whole, our lives still intact.
Read MoreWelcome Keenan Powell
- February 12, 2021
- Tracee de Hahn

Welcome Keenan. Not only are you a crime writer, you’ve had a multi faceted professional life ranging from an illustration in the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons to your law career. Is there a thread that binds these together?
I believe the short answer is there is a subterranean current tying all of these together: The desire to create an image or story that resembles what I see in my head. The mediums have morphed with the materials and education available to me but the urge is the same.
Belly Up to the Bookshelf
- February 11, 2021
- Alexia Gordon

I was chatting with my blog-mates earlier about literary feasts—who would we invite and what would we serve, that kind of thing.
The conversation reminded me of real-life literary feasts, like those hosted by Chantal Tseng (@ShinobiPaws). Chantal is a bartender and sherry specialist who earns her living these days by crafting custom cocktails.
Read MoreGuess Who’s Coming to Dinner
- February 10, 2021
- C. Michele Dorsey

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three authors, dead or alive, do you invite, in addition to your fellow Miss Demeanors, of course?
Read MoreHide in Place
- February 9, 2021

Today is the launch date for our newest Miss Demeanor’s debut book, Hide in Place.
It sounds like an incredible story: She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life.
It Was A Dark & Stormy Night: Weather in Fiction
- February 8, 2021
- Connie Berry

“Weather tonight: dark. Turning partly light by morning.”
Who remembers George Carlin, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman? A whole generation of viewers in the 1970s laughed at his weather forecasts, but the silliness struck a chord. People are obsessed with the weather. Even in books.
Welcome Emilya Naymark
- February 5, 2021
- Tracee de Hahn

Today I am thrilled to introduce one of our new Miss Demeanors, Emilya Naymark.
Emilya: Years of hearing my husband’s tales of buying drugs in the city got my gears churning and instead of helping him write his memoirs, as we always joked I would, I up and made him a lady and stuck him into a crime novel.
Read MoreBooks and Cookies–A Perfect Match
- February 4, 2021
- Alexia Gordon

It’s cookie season! Girl Scout cookies, that is. I bought a box or four from a friend’s daughter. Cookie sales have gone high tech. I ordered online and had the sweet treats shipped to me. That’s a big change from my Scouting days, when we had to go door-to-door with a paper order form and had to hand-deliver the cookies.
Since book and booze pairings are also a thing, I decided, why not book and Girl Scout cookies?
Read MoreBooks to Get Me Through
- February 3, 2021
- C. Michele Dorsey

Yesterday, my fellow Miss Demeanor, Susan Breen, talked about buying each of the books recently nominated for the Edgar in the best novel category. She rationalized, quite reasonably in my view, that money not spent in restaurants during the pandemic could be redirected to purchasing books.
But with so many books, how do I choose which books? The reasons seem to fall into the categories of Smart, Savvy, Sentimental, and Seemingly Silly.
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