2015 Pam's Picks of writing books:

Here are the "How to Picks" for 205.

HOW TO WRITE A COZY MYSTERY: BY NANCY COHEN
WRITING FROM THE INNER SELF BY ELAINE FARRIS HUGHES.

There will be more as soon as I completely finish the books. (LOL)
Hugs,
Pamela

One of our members: By Pamela James

Good Morning Everyone,
I just wanted to let everyone know that I stopped by my local library on Monday night. I found A FATAL CHAPTER by LORNA BARRETT, came home and like I always do started reading the first few pages of the book.

I found a nice surprise that needs to be passed on to everyone. One of our blog followers and she is also a member of our cozyarmchairgroup on yahoogroups.

Mare Fairchild (Mary) is one of the characters in this book. I LOVED being surprised.
Now I have been very busy over the holiday season. This means I might very well be the last to know but if not then please send Mare your congrats.

Congrats to you Mare, you are a wonderful supporter of readers, authors and bloggers.

Lorraine
,
I am very much in love with this book in the series. I hope to finish it soon.

Now while I was at the library I also picked up the paperback of CROWNED And  MOLDERING by KATE CARLISLE this is a fixer upper mystery series.

Okay back to work around the house and interview requests.

Hugs,
Pam

My top humorous books: By Pamela James

1. You Can't Get Blood Out Of A Shag Carpet; By Juliette Harper. I never laughed so hard this is a great book to read when you're in need of an uplifting mystery to read.

2. Death Of A Neighborhood Witch: Laura Levine. If you lived in my neighborhood you would understand. LOL Anyway this is a great book to read any time but most important at Halloween. I love the cat Prozac and her parents.
Life is never boring with this series.

These are my top series cozies that are filled with fun and humor.

Pamela

An Interview with Amanda Flower aka Isabella Alan

INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY SERIES

AUTHOR:AMANDA FLOWER/ISABELLA ALAN

By Pamela James

MM: Amanda, let's begin with your back story on how you began writing mystery series?

Mysteries the novels that I loved to read when I was middle school. I was a huge fan of Sue Grafton when I was thirteen. Around the same time, I decided I wanted to be an author. It was a perfect fit. I still love mysteries best of all.

MM: Today if there were two of you what would the other you be working on?

I would love to write a third novel in the India Hayes Mystery Series. Readers ask for one all the time too. I just haven't been able to find the time to do it, so I would give my clone that assignment.

MM: Where is your favorite place to write?

I write best at home. I have a laptop, so I move all over the house and seem to go through phases as to my exact favorite spot. Right now, it is on the bed in my office. Yes, I have a bed in my office. Napping is an important part of the writing process.

MM: Share with us your writing schedule?

In 2015 my writing schedule has been tight. I'm under contract to write five novels this year. Thankfully, I have turned in all but one.... I have started the last one yet, but that's a minor detail. Because of this, I write wherever and whenever I can. Even if I only have fifteen minutes, I write. Because I also work full time as a college librarian, I have been known to write for eighteen hours on my days off from the library sometimes throwing down as many as 9,000 words. It's a blessing to have so many contracts, but I'm looking forward to a quieter 2016.

 

MM: Plain and simple what has writing a series taught you?

How to fall in love with characters. The best part of writing a series is the fact that I get to know everyone in my books as well as I know my real life friends. The characters and I grow together. When any of my series end, I always miss the characters I left behind even the not so nice ones.

MM: Dead or alive what five authors would you like to sit down and have  conversation with? What would you want to know and would food be involved?

I think I would like to have a tea party with scones, little sandwiches, and tea. My guests would be Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Sue Grafton, Agatha Christie, and Meg Cabot. Kind of an interesting crowd I know, but I love them all for their work. The tea party would be epic!

 

MM: Tell us bout your latest works of mystery?

In October I have three books releasing:

Murder, Plainly Read (which I write as Isabella Alan)

Andi Unstoppable ( the third novel in my middle grade mystery series)
Amish Christmas at North Star (a four book novella collection, I wrote one of the novellas)

MM: What are you looking forward to in 2016?

2016 will be an amazing year! I so excited about the debut of my Magical Bookshop Mystery Series. My protagonist solves murders using clues from classic works of American literature. The first novel in the series, Crime and Poetry, releases April 5th. The clues from that novel come from Emily Dickinson's work. I'm writing the second novel now and the clues for that story are from Edgar Alan Poe's works. So you can see why I would want to have tea with the two of them in the previous question.

Here's the blurb for Crime and Poetry:
From Amanda Flower —who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan —comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...

MM: Are some nominations and awards you would like to tell us about?

I've been nominated for the Agatha Award three times, once for Best First Novel and twice for Best Children's/YA. Each time has been an incredible honor.

MM: What would you like to say to your readers?

Thank you a million times over! I could never write as many books as I do without someone to read them. I've been incredibly blessed by a dedicated readership and I could never thank them enough.
 

MM: Now for some fun questions. What is your favorite meal, dessert, song, television series to binge watch, and favorite place to vacation?

Meal: vegetarian lasagna

Dessert: cupcake and ice cream (can I have two?)

Song: It changes it a lot, but right now.... "I'll Wait" by Sara Groves

TV series: Downton Abbey

Vacation: an island off the Atlantic coast of Florida

MM: Be our tour guide and tell us about where you live and write?

I live in a small town outside of Cleveland. It picturesque with a big white church on the town central circle. I love it.

MM: At the end of a long writing and promotion day. What do you like to do to unwind?

In the last year, I've start coloring using all those fancy adult coloring books you can buy now. I absolutely love it, so I usually color while watching TV, preferably Downton Abbey.

MM: Is there a teacher, friend, mentor, writing group or village you would like to thank for helping make this dream come true?

Sisters in Crime gave me the confidence to try and the boost I needed as a young author. I love my local chapter, Northeast Ohio Sisters in Crime. I'm so grateful to that group. And I have to thank my agent. She's a rock star!

MM: Lastly leave us with a character quote or two that will pretty much sum up what you want to convey to your readers?

"There it was--the empty white bakery box. Just a light dusting of powdered sugar surrounded it on the blond wood kitchen table in my new home in Holmes County, Ohio. A streak of red jelly ran along its side with my fingerprint perfectly preserved in raspberry red. It was a crime scene."  --Angie Braddock, Murder, Plain and Simple


"Browsing customers in brightly colored T-shirts and shorts stared at me open-mouthed. I knew I must have looked a fright. I had driven from Chicago to Cascade Springs, New York, the small town nestled on the banks of the Niagara River just minutes from the world famous Niagara Falls. I made the drive in seven hours, stopping only twice for gas and potty breaks. My fingernails were bitten to the quick, dark circles hovered beneath my bloodshot blue eyes, and my wavy strawberry-blond hair was in a knot on top of my head. Last time I caught sight of it in the rearview mirror it had resembled a pom-pom that had been caught in a dryer’s lint trap. I stopped looking in the rearview after that." --Violet Waverly, Crime and Poetry, release April 2016

Thanks so much for the great interview!

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Top five picks: By Pamela James

My top five picks in the cozy genre:

1. Black Cat Crossing by Kay Finch
2. A Seamless Murder by Melissa Bourbon
3. Murder in the Paperback Parlor by Ellery Adams
4. The Longest Yard Sale by Sherry Harris
5. The Skeleton Takes a Bow by Leigh Perry

I will as promised be posting my favorite historical mysteries, nonfiction books and a few other genes.

Hugs,
Pamela

Downton Abby

Who watched "Downton Abby" last night? I thought the premire was great last night. I especially loved the interviews and behind the scenes.
Since I loved this series I really am sad that after season six it will end.
one of my favorite parts is that Edith is actually embarking on her new life. I am one of those who wants her to be happy.

Did you watch last night? Do you have any thoughts on season six? What do you think will happen. They mentioned that as in life not everyone will have a happy end to their part.

Sunday night have become more exciting.
On a completely different note Kansas City Chiefs won their tenth game yesterday afternoon. Which is my team so I had a great Sunday!

Love,
Pamela 

Guest Blogger - Alice Duncan

Boy, Am I Glad This Year is Over!

2015 wasn’t the best year I’ve ever lived through. For one thing, I was sick during most of it. For another, I lost a beloved dachshund, Bella, who was murdered by Jazzy and Cookie, two of my other hounds—or part-hounds, anyway. And lots of expensive house problems erupted during the year. Gah.

The wieners of UNSETTLED SPIRITS (paper copy) are Holly Huff, Flo Kojima, and Peggy Baker! I’ll send your copies as soon as the snow melts. Right now I’m snowed in. Besides, if I could drive anywhere, I might possibly be able to get to the post office, but none of the grocery stores have food in them. Roswell is 200 miles away from another, larger city. We haven’t had newspaper or mail deliveries since Saturday, December 26. It’s now the 31^st, and the FedEx guy (who did manage to get through this morning) says even he’s going to pack it in because the streets are so treacherous. Roswell doesn’t have snowplows. Sigh.

Anyway, all is not horribly bad. In fact, I’m really happy that my daughter and son-in-law, Anni and Razmik Avanesian, are here, and they’re fixing up my house! Well, they will continue to do so if the snow melts enough for them to get to Home Depot. And if Home Depot has anything in it. They went to a grocery store yesterday, and there were no potatoes of any kind, no meat, and no green onions, which I wanted for a chicken dish I’m making today.

Piddle on the snow. My dogs have been piddling on the snow, for sure. At the moment, it’s kind of a block of ice out there. It’ll probably melt a bit and then freeze again. According to the weather gurus, the air is too cold for the snow to melt, and the air is cold because there’s so much snow on the ground. And there you have it!

Interesting story about Razmik (I don’t think he’ll mind my telling it). He’s an Armenian from Iran. Armenians are culturally Christian, and when Iran because a Muslim theocracy, it ceased being a good place for Christians to live. Therefore, Raz and his family had to learn how to do everything, from building buildings and repairing stuff to cooking over open flames. Eventually they all got out except for one of his sisters, who still lives there.

Personally, I don’t want to live in a Christian theocracy any more than I want to live in a Muslim theocracy. Our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they chose to separate the church from the state.

For the month of January, 2016, I’ll be giving away audio copies of THANKSGIVING ANGELS! Whee! If you’d like to win an audio copy of THANKSGIVING ANGELS, please send me an email at alice@aliceduncan.net.

And here, for your visual pleasure, are pictures of our snow! This is more snow than Roswell’s ever had in its life. Go figure.

Please visit my web page at www.aliceduncan.net, and if you’d like to be Facebook friends, here’s my Facebook page info: https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!