Murder Circle

Was it really TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY that a cocktail waitress obsessed with mythology was murdered? Rookie obit writer Kris Langley intends to find out in this cold case by author Stacy Juba. The book will be out on Oct. 27 by Mainly Murder Press.

When there’s a murder in Bradley, NC, 80-something Myrtle Clover is on the case. Her son, the chief of police, would rather she stayed in a rocking chair, but Mama has something to prove. Armed with “a heavy cane, venomous tongue, and a widower sidekick,” Elizabeth Spann Craig’s senior sleuth goes after a killer in PRETTY IS AS PRETTY DIES.

Lisa Donahue got her promotion as Interim Director of the Boston University Museum after someone dropped a Roman statue on her boss.  As if struggling with his murder isn’t tough enough, the new Director is a vicious woman from Lisa’s past. Sarah Wisseman delivers the goods in THE FALL OF AUGUSTUS.

Dr. Carole Shmurak is the author of the YA Matty Trescott series, as well as the Susan Lombardi mysteries for adults. Lombardi is of the academic sleuth variety. All is not well in Hilliard, Connecticut, when raciest pranks point to a gifted/twisted student or jealous colleague–and where did a teacher disappear to when is wife’s body is found in the basement? It all adds up in DEATH AT HILLIARD HIGH.

Mary Montegue Sikes has set a mystery on one of my favorite Caribbean Islands, Antigua. SECRETS BY THE SEA was nominated for a Library of Virginia Literary Award.

If Antigua is one of my favorite islands, WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS is one of my favorite songs. It’s also the title of Deborah Grabien’s latest rock ‘n roll mystery. JP Kinkaid is an aging musician on a mission when a singer’s head is bashed in with a flaming-red guitar. He must fight his multiple sclerosis to solve the murder.

After being wounded in a school shooting, Professor Reed Stubblefield goes to rural Illinois to heal. But he finds he’s not the only one–people are flocking to a priest who exhibits the stigmata. Is it a miracle or murder when the priest bleeds to death? John Desjarlais raises some intriguing questions in BLEEDER.

Martha Cheves has whet our appetites again with a recipe for Carne Asada to accompany Brian L. Porter’s book, LEGACY OF THE RIPPER. To have a recipe paired with your book, go to http://marthaskitchenkorner.blogspot.com and tell her Sunny sent you. Here’s my books and the recipes Martha came up with for them: FOOLS RUSH IN–Raisin Oatmeal Cookies; and WHERE ANGELS FEAR–Lennie’s Devil’s Food Cake.

What are 5 Berkley Prime Crime authors cooking up? Find out by going over to http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com The site is manned by Julie Hyzy, who writes the White House Chef mysteries; Krista Davis, who pens the Domestic Diva series; Cleo Coyle, author of the Coffee House Mysteries; and three authors with a new series coming in 2010: Avery Aames, the Cheese Shop Mysteries; Riley Adams, the Memphis Barbecue Mysteries; and Jenn McKinlay, the Cupcake Mysteries. Sounds like they’ve got their plates full!

And HUGE congrats to Julie Hyzy for winning both the Barry and Anthony Awards for STATE OF THE ONION. Way to saute!

Anthony Boucher would be pleased with Jeffrey Marks Anthony win at this year’s Bouchercon for ANTHONY BOUCHER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY. Kudos!

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. . . .Carolyn Hart dips her mistletoe into the paranormal with MERRY, MERRY GHOST. When a wealthy woman discovers an orphan is her grandson, she sets out to change her will. One heir has murder in mind, but redheaded ghost Bailey Ruth Raeburn won’t let the “spirit” of Christmas being ruined. Set to hit the shelves on Oct. 27, Carolyn is offering a special gift price right now.

For more mystery news, head over to my cohort-in-crime Karyne Corum and see what she’s croaking about: http://theravencroaks.blogspot.com/

Want to see your title in miniature print? Chris Verstraete offers “printies,” book covers for the well-read dollhouse. See her work and get your own book on tiny shelves at http://cverstraete.com/mb/miniature_book_printies.html  What a collectible idea!

Like a bit of mysticism with your mystery? Luisa Buehler offers THE INN KEEPER: AN UNREGISTERED DEATH. Finding the bodies of a runaway slave and a socialite buried in the basement of an old boarding house is strange enough, but when forensics proves the burials were 80 years apart, amateur sleuth Grace Marsden has her 6th case to investigate. Spirits are raised when she spies the specter of the slave haunting the boarding house looking for justice.

What happened in Vegas shouldn’t stay in Vegas! This year’s Public Safety Writers Conference nearly doubled in size from 2008. Videos are up at You Tube, just put in PSWA Conference. Kathleen Ryan posted a terrific description on Women of Mystery  http://www.womenofmystery.net/2009/06/mtm-las-vegas-nevada.html

I was in the room when Holli Castillo and W.S. Gager (Wendy) got the first glimpse of their debut novels. Remember that feeling? Castillo is a former New Orleans prosecutor and the author of GUMBO JUSTICE featuring Ryan Murphy, an assistant DA “who likes her Tequila cold and her cops hot.” A CASE OF INFATUATION lets Gager dust off her credits as a newspaper reporter with the creation of crime beat reporter Mitch Malone. Malone has 3 rules: blood & gore on the job doesn’t bother him, he always works alone, and he hates kids. Rules are broken when he is accused of murder and must go into hiding with a preschooler.   

Forensic handwriting expert Sheila Lowe gave a fascinating presentation of cases she’s worked on and samples of killer handwriting. Lowe uses her expertise in DEAD WRITE, the 3rd book in the Claudia Rose series. When a Russian matchmaker hires Claudia to find out why her clients are dying, the court qualified handwriting expert finds dating is more dangerous than ever before.

Keynote speaker Betty Webb told of death threats after the publication of DESERT WIVES. The book, featuring PI Lena Jones, is about polygamy practices in Arizona. Webb has launched a new zoo series with ANTEATER OF DEATH featuring zookeeper Theodora “Teddy” Bentley. Let’s hope there are no death threats from the animal kingdom.

THE POT THIEF WHO STUDIED PYTHAGORAS is another discovery I dug up at the Vegas conference. Author J. Michael Orenduff introduces Hubert Schuze, a man who digs for ancient pottery in the New Mexico soil. The government calls him a pot thief, but he believes in finders/keepers. When a customer comes to his shop asking him to steal a thousand-year-old pot from a museum, things really get dirty.

Civilized society meets the frontier when former president Ulysses S. Grant visits Leadville in Ann Parker’s 3rd novel, LEADEN SKIES. Set in a Colorado mining town, saloon owner Inez Stannert is the secret partner of the local madam. When a prostitute gets murdered, Inez must protect her investment. Even in the old West, girls gotta stick together!  

Juliet Blackwell (AKA half of the sister writing duo, Haily Lind) informs us that a group blog is known as a “grog.” She belongs to one with seven other California writers known as Pens Fatales.  Julie is also going woo-woo on us with SECONDHAND SPIRITS. Her protag is Lily Ivory, owner of a vintage clothing boutique in the Haight-Asberry area of San Francisco (and Julie’s stomping ground).

News on the street is that La-La Land has optioned Sue Ann Jaffarian’s first Odelia Grey mystery, TOO BIG TO MISS. The book’s a winner–how could it miss on the big screen?  

I want to give a shout-out to Murder Circle Favorites who made the short list for B-con nominees. Best novel: THE CRUELEST MONTH by Louise Penny; Best First Novel: PUSHING UP DAISIES by Rosemary Harris and DEATH OF A COZY WRITER by G.M. Malliet; Best Paperback Original: STATE OF THE ONION by Julie Hyzy; Best Short Story: KILLING TIME by Jane K. Cleland; Best Critical Nonfiction Work: ANTHONY BOUCHER: A BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY by Jeffrey Marks; and Best Children’s/YA: CROSSROADS by Chirs Grabenstein. Good luck to all in Indianapolis on Oct. 17.

There’s no GUMBO JUSTICE for DA Ryan Murphy. With four brothers on the police force and an overprotective police captain for a daddy, the New Orleans lawyer has enough on her hands. She certainly doesn’t need a psychotic killer helping her climb the ladder. This is Holli Castillo’s debut novel.

Good egg that he is, Chris Grabenstein made buttons that read: “Has Your Mind Been Scrambled?” What a way to promote the 5th John Ceepak Mystery, MIND SCRAMBLER. Ceepack can’t get away from murder, not even on vacation in Atlantic City. When a magician’s nanny turns up dead, there’s more to the killing than meets the eye. Grabenstein always lines up a wild ride on the Midway for readers.

Sammi Carter has just come out with Candy Shop Mystery #5, SUCKER PUNCH. Stop by Abby Shaw’s store, Divinity, in Paradise, Colorado. You’re in for a mystery treat!

And, speaking of sweets, Deb Baker is on a quest to find honey-based recipes for her beekeeping series. Got a sweet tip for her? Send to uperbaker@wi.rr.com

For just desserts, try THE DIVA TAKES THE CAKE, the second in the Domestic Diva Mysteries by Krista Davis. Sophie’s sister is ready to get married until the groom’s ex-wife is found hanging from a tree. Could her sister be marrying a killer? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

The second installment of the Scrap-n-Craft Mysterie is icing on the cake when Joanna Campbell Slan kills off a character with frosting. The party’s over at Kiki Lowenstein’s shop, Time in a Bottle, unless she can determine which of the scrapbookers is out to CUT, CROP & DIE.

Simon Wood announces that he WILL MARRY FOR FOOD, SEX & LAUNDRY. Look for the title under his alias, Simon Oaks.

Hungry for the above books? Well, I think that’s enough “food for thought.” Let’s see what else is happening in the mystery community.

How far does author Lou Allin go for a cover shot? She hiked into rattlesnake country of the Red-Rock Desert of Utah, 10 hours from help, to get the beautiful cover for MAN CORN MURDERS. Reporter Terry Hart and her aunt go exploring the Escalante-Grand Staircase Monument. The discover of a dead girl in a remote cave brings up the question: is the body related to the theory of cannibalism of the ancient Pueblos? See the bookcover at Amazon–and buy a copy while you’re there!

Social worker Clare Conover wonders if her instincts failed when she returned a boy to his mother’s custody and he dies. LITTLE LAMB LOST from author and social worker Margaret Fenton takes Clare to the upper echelons of Birmingham, Alabama, in search of a murderer.

Can we talk? Over at Author Meeting Place, Anastasia Cassella-Young is offering audio interviews for the site and the author’s files for only $5. http://www.authormeetingplace.com/

St. Martin’s Press wants Jeri Westerson to get more Medieval! They just offered her a two-book deal. Look for A CONSPIRACY OF PARCHMENT and TROUBLED BONES in the future. Jeri is also up for a Macavity for VEIL OF LIES awarded at Bouchercon. Double kudos! 

It seems Camille Minachino and Beth Groundwater made a “small scene” at Mayhem in the Midlands this year. In exchange for a set of Beth’s Claire Hanover series, Camille created a scene from the elements of the novels. I love a good miniature and a good mystery! You can view the piece at http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com

I want to give a shout-out to the Blood Stained Bookshelf. A list of forthcoming print mysteries are up at http://www.mirlacca.com/bookshelf.html   Be the first on your block to track your favorite authors and see when their latest will be out.

And, on the home front, I was just interviewed at http://damesofdialogue.tripost.com/id18.html as well as Spicy Romances: http://authorspotlights.wordpress.com/  Jenny Gilliam was open to hosting a mystery author. I had a few hot scenes in WHERE ANGELS FEAR, so I put an excerpt where my heroine and her gal-pal go to try on some leather outfits for an “adult” party. These ladies always get their man! Jenny wanted me to put the word out to other interested author that she’s looking for interviewees. Contact her at jennygilliam@rocketmail.com  Tell her Sunny sent you!

As if the Death on Demand and Henry O series weren’t enough, Carolyn Hart is adding a new series starring ghostly busybody Bailey Ruth Raeburn. A member of Heaven’s Dept. of Good Intentions, she is obliged to help any Earth-bound person who needs her. When the pastor’s wife finds a corpse on the porch, Bailey Ruth grabs her sidekick Wiggins and becomes a GHOST AT WORK.

Speaking of BEST INTENTIONS, even the elite of New York City have to downsize their privileged lifestyle. Lisa Barkley is willing to give up those jaunts to Europe, but she draws the line at giving up her husband to another woman. The price is too high in Emily Listfield’s novel. 

Things are also on the downhill slope for Claire Hanover in the second Gift Bag Mystery, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET. A ski trip turns chilly when a young woman gets killed. Beth Groundwater keeps it slippery! 

The Murder Circle found out that Jeri Westerson turned more than a few heads at the LA Times Festival of Books with her T-shirt that announced “Chaucer Is My Homeboy.” Westerson is up for a Macavity for VEIL OF LIES. In September, the Murder Circle will tout her latest, SERPENT IN THE THORNS.  

Is motherhood the best training for a Private Eye? The writing team of Evelyn David makes the case on a blog titled “Gumshoe Moms” over at http://meanderingsandmuses.blogspot.com  And MURDER TAKES THE CAKE is their latest Sullivan Investigation Mystery. 

Another confession a la blog comes from Jane Cleland. Over at www.thedebutantball.com  the author says her mom omitted details on her recipe cards so nobody could replicate her cooking. Is that “just desserts?” Cleland’s latest Josie Prescott Antique Mystery KILLER KEEPSAKES is on the shelves.

I had my own fun ride over at http://booklandheights.blogspot.com earlier this month. I have no filters and let my sassy mouth run the show. Good friend Marilyn Meredith is over there right now. Ask her a question about her latest, NO SANCTUARY.

Fellow Oak Tree Press author Dennis Griffin paid a visit to my hometown with mobster Henry Hill in tow. Henry is portrayed by Ray Liotta in the movie ”Goodfellows.” Griffin, who knows all about the Vegas mob scene, has just released his novel VEGAS VIXEN.

The three of us are part of the Public Safety Writers Association. We’re very proud of members Sarah Cortez and Liz Martinez, editors fo the 1st ever anthology of short crime fiction penned by Latino writers. HIT LIST: THE BEST OF LATINO MYSTERY takes readers on a trip through the barrios and imaginations of such writers as Mario Acevedo, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera and Steven Torres. Published by Arte Publico Press, this is a ground-breaking collection.

Congrats to Agatha winners and Murder Circle favorites G.M. Malliet, Louise Penny, Kathy Lynn Emerson andChris Grabenstein. Enjoy those teapots! For more on their award-winning books, scroll down to the previous MC.

The Murder Circle is very excited about this year’s nominees for the Agatha, to be presented at Malice Domestic in May. Two of the authors up for Best First Novel are past Murder Circle favorites!

Rosemary Harris’ PUSHING UP DAISIES is pushing for the award. This Dirty Business Mystery stars Paula Holliday, media exec/gardener. While restoring the garden at a historical landmark, she uncovers a mummified body. A more recent corpse is found impaled on a gardening tool. Paula has to get her hands dirty digging for clues to find the killer. Harris already has the sequel out: THE BIG DIRT NAP.

Last month, I mentioned G.M. Malliet and DEATH OF A COZY WRITER because she was up for the Hawaii Five-O award. Her St. Just mystery just keeps drawing attention! When an English millionaire mystery writer announces his elopement to a woman who might be a murderess, an heir gets maced. No, not with the aerosol, but a real medieval mace. Detective Inspector St. Just is on the case! The next St. Just mystery, DEATH AND THE CHICK LIT, continues this “literary” series.

Scrapbookers get their day in Joanna Campbell Slan’s PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH. Scrappy heroine Kiki Lowenstein is the prime murder suspect after her husband and his college girlfriend both wind up dead. This is the first Scrap-N-Craft mystery and crafty tips are sprinkled like glitter throughout the novel. CUT, CROP & DIE will be on the shelves in June.

Run right out and buy THE DIVA RUNS OUT OF THYME. This is the first of Krista Davis’ Domestic Diva mysteries starring Sophie Winston. Although she lost her husband to another cook, Sophie’s determined not to lose a contest for the best stuffing. Instead of finding a turkey to stuff, she finds a man snuffed out. What’s her name and photo doing in her car? Look for the 2nd in the series, THE DIVA TAKES THE CAKE in June.

Sarah Atwell’s intentions are clear in her first Glassblowing Mystery, THROUGH A GLASS, DEADLY.  Somebody got baked in Emmeline Dowell’s 2,000 degree furnace (ouch!) and now she has to work with her ex-lover, the Tucson police chief. And why is the FBI so interested in the case? The follow-up, PANE OF DEATH, should get readers fired up.    

I SHALL NOT WANT to miss the opportunity to mention this 6th mystery for Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Altstyne. Julia Spencer-Fleming serves up a tale involving Mexican immigrant workers in New York, drug smuggling and gang turf wars.

Award time is not THE CRUELEST MONTH for Louise Penny and the Quebec town of Three Pines. When the villagers gather for a seance in a haunted house, one person dies of fright. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache must scare up a suspect, even as he fears there is a mole in the investigation team. The 4th in the series, A RULE AGAINST MURDER, came out in January of this year.

Donna Andrews award-winning mysteries are strictly for the birds. #10 of the series, SIX GEESE A-SLAYING, has Meg Langslow in the middle of organizing a Xmas parade when somebody offs a not-so-jolly Santa. Look for COCKATIELS AT SEVEN in June. P.S. I met Donna at LCC Hawaii, there’s a photo of the two of us with Sue Ann Jaffarian on my News page.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is 34th in line for the throne in Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness Myseries. But, it’s 1930’s England and Georgiana is finding life A ROYAL PAIN as she earns a living as a maid. When called on by the royal relatives to chaperone the Prince of Wales and keep him from marrying the Ugly American divorcee, things become untidy with murder. ROYAL FLUSH, the 3rd in the series, is due out in July. And yes, that’s Rhys and me in Hawaii on my News page.

The Prince of Wales from Victorian times is also in trouble when a prostitute is found dead at BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENs after a stag party. Inspector Thomas Pitt takes on his 25th case in this series penned by Anne Perry. 

Want to know HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES like Rhys Bowen and Anne Perry? Check out Kathy Lynn Emerson’s Agatha nominee guide for writers of this genre.

Up for the non-fiction catagory is Frankie Y. Bailey’s AFRICAN AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS: A HISTORICAL & THEMATIC STUDY. From slave narratives to today’s fiction market, Bailey explores black genre fiction, the sleuths, victims and offenders as well as the cultural vernacular in mystery novels.

He was an American author, editor and critic by the name of William Parker White, AKA Anthony Boucher. In Jeffrey Marks’ ANTHONY BOUCHER: A BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY, we get the best of the man’s writing. No wonder the mystery community holds Bouchercon in his honor.

Final bit of gossip: My latest, WHERE ANGELS FEAR, just came out by Oak Tree Press. It follows FOOLS RUSH IN in the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries.

Left Coast Crime is just around the corner and here are some of the attendees I hope to hook up with!

A Canadian who writes about Los Angeles, Pat Brown creates a little LA MISCHIEF. LAPD homicide detective David Laine has trouble coming out of the closet. What’s worse is that a potential significant other is either the prime suspect in the investigation of a sadistic killer or the next victim. If you want to see Detective Laine’s hot ride, go on Brown’s website and take a gander at the ‘56 Chevy sport coupe.   

A Hawaii Five-O nominee at LCC Hawaii is DEATH OF A COZY WRITER. In her debut novel, G.M. Malliet takes us to England where a millionaire mystery writer rewrites his life by announcing his elopement to a possible murderess. An heir falls when smashed with a medieval mace, and Detective Inspector St. Just is called in to break through the English reserve of the wealthy to solve the crime.

ANGEL FALLS, the third Mike Travis mystery by Baron R. Bircher, is also in the running for the Hawaii Five-O award. What can draw Travis away from his scuba charter business and back to being a detective? The disappearance of a teenage girl. Designer drugs, violent sex and his own demons turn paradise into a tropical hell. Bircher, who lives in Hawaii, is tempting LCC attendees to try two Kona lethal brews: Killer Coffee and Tropical Noir.

Where there’s A TRACE OF SMOKE, there’s fire. We’ll all have to wait until May to get copies of Rebecca Cantrell’s novel of 1931 Berlin, a crime reporter with a cross-dressing brother and an orphan who thinks they are both his parents. Hannah Vogel, devastated by her brother’s murder, conducts an investigation that goes to the top ranks of the Nazi party.

Fast forward 7 years to Jerusalem in 1938. WWII is on the horizon, but American graduate student Lily Sampson is busy with an important archeology dig. When murder, theft of artifacts and no help coming from British authorities, Sampson must conduct her own investigation. A FLY HAS A HUNDRED EYES and Aileen Baron has a terrific mystery.

Attorney Ken Isaacson makes his fiction debut with SILENT COUNSEL. When a wealthy man commits a hit-and-run, he contacts attorney Scott Heller. Keeping the man’s identity secret while negotiating a plea agreement brings in the question of attorney-client privilege.

Out just in time for Left Coast Crime is Sue Ann Jafferian’s latest, BOOBY TRAP. In the fourth outing, plus-size Odelia Grey is after the Blond Bomber, a serial killer who targets busty blonds. She would never suspect the plastic surgeon except that the info came straight from the doctor’s mother. Can she “bust” the killer? A titillating read (I did NOT just say that!).

Final note: Congrats to Murder Circle favorite Julie Hyzy for the Lovey win for STATE OF THE ONION, as well an award in the Thriller category with Michael Black for DEAD RINGER. Good show!

O Canada! I’m devoting the Murder Circle to Canadian authors I hope to meet in Hawaii next month.

Author Lou Allin relocated to Vancouver Island, Canada, and set a new series in the region. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Holly Martin works the Fossil Bay beat with Sikh sidekick Knox Singh. Methamphetamine is the scourge of the island in AND ON THE SURFACE DIE.

Heroin is the source of murder in the sleepy village of Trafalgar, BC. Constable Molly Smith and Sgt. John Winters are on the case in this second book of the series by Vicki Delany. VALLEY OF THE LOST is coming out this month and hopefully will find its way to Left Coast Crime, Hawaii. 

Drugs are also involved with a teen’s murder in DREAM CHASERS. In the 6th book of her award-winning series, Barbara Fradkin’s Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green deals with the nightmare of people protecting a suspect. The Inspector’s own daughter is at risk!  

THE RIVER RUNS ORANGE in R.J. Harlick’s latest Meg Harris mystery. During a whitewater trip, Meg finds skeletal remains that stuns the archaeological world. However, her friends, the Migiskan Algonquin, claim rights to the find as part of their ancient beliefs. New blood is shed and Meg faces raging waters and a forest fire in her search of a killer. 

By the time Denise Dietz returns from LCC, the large print version of STRANGLE A LOAF OF ITALIAN BREAD should be ready to hit the shelves. Pass the flavored dipping oil!

With three series from Mary Jane Maffini to choose from, it’s hard to decide which to feature on the Murder Circle. I’m going with the latest Charlotte Adams mystery (my sister’s name is Charlotte). Love the title: THE CLUTTERED CORPSE. Charlotte is a professional organizer who is forced to come out of the closets when murder messes up her life. This is the second in the series that brings a new meaning to “Law and Order.”

Alex Brett manages to straddle the line at the LCC Hawaii convention. COLD DARK MATTER has sleuth Morgan O’Brien traveling from Ottowa to Big Island when an astronomer is found hanging from a telescope. Colleagues don’t care if it’s suicide or murder–just where the hell are the research diaries?

Ditto with ALOHA, CANDY HEARTS. The official book launch isn’t until May, but I’m hoping Anthony Bidulka has copies at LCC. Russell Quant is a PI I think I’d like to get to know. He’s on a treasure hunt in this latest adventure, but I think the real treasure is the colorful character from Saskatoon.

Look for photos of these authors and more when I return from the convention. Life’s a beach, isn’t it? ALOHA!

Mama drives a turquoise convertible and her daughters crazy when she finds a corpse in the trunk. Deborah Sharp presents a four-time married Southern belle with a penchant for sherbet-toned pant suits and trouble. Make time for MAMA DOES TIME, the first in the Mace Baur Mysteries.

The 6^th in Win Blevins‘ Rendezvous series, DREAMS BENEATH YOUR FEET, finds mountain man Sam Morgan heading to California. It’s 1840, and no, he’s not going to the Golden State for the good weather and great beaches. But, what’s a road trip without a bushwack, kidnapping and horse thieves? Ah, the good ol’ days!

Jinx Schwartz was surprised to discover JUST ADD WATER can be downloaded on a GPS system. “What other wonders of technology are out there that we mere mortals know nothing of?” she asks. Jinx already has one Eppie under her belt, and JUST ADD TROUBLE, the third Hetta Coffey mystery, is a currently an Eppie finalist.

Has anybody checked out the rhinestone-studded red high heel on the cover of L.L. Bartlett’s DEAD IN RED? That’s what psychic Jeff Resnick hones in on when asked to look into a murder. In the second novel of the supernatural series, we follow Resnick into a world of fetishes and drag queens. Didn’t see that coming!

They’re bookstore owners and their last name is Reade. When they find a 40-year-old diary that describes a rape and murder, all Glenn and Lindsay want to do is return it to the owner. But, someone wants them dead. Author Cindy Davis offers A PAGE IN THE PAST to keep us turning pages fast.

So good to see Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily’s latest in print after Susan’s illness. THE LAWYER WHO DIED PROBING is the third novel in the Ariel Quigley Mysteries. Bombings, burning buildings and pirates are nothing compared to ghosts, a conjure woman and Wiccan exotic dancers that people Ariel’s life. Oh, and did I mention the novel has an accompanying cookbook? Eye of newt not included.

NEWS FLASH! I just received an update on DEATH OF A COZY WRITER. G.M. Malliet’s police procedural has just been picked by Kirkus as one of the best books of 2008. Plus, it’s up for LCC’s “Hawaii Five-0” award. I’ll drink a mai tai to that!

Things are not beachy keen in Sue McGinty’s MURDER IN LOS LOBOS. Ex-nun, obituary editor Bella Kowalski smells something rotten in coastal California, and not just from the new sewage plant. Foul plans are afoot.

addiction in America today. She’s also written a fiction book for tweens called THE ADDICTION MONSTER AND THE SQUARE CAT.

The next Murder Circle will be devoted to Canadian mystery authors. Our Northern neighbors have plenty of time to plan cold-blooded murders during long winter nights.

The Murder Circle is operational again and there’s lots of news worth telling!

Two Murder Circle favorites were on Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2008: Carolyn Hart for GHOST AT WORK, and Margaret Maron for DEATH’S HALF ACRE. Both books are on my growing Christmas list.

Betty Webb announces: “Surprise! My new mystery is not a Lena Jones book, but the start of a humorous new series, beginning with THE ANTEATER OF DEATH, where a zoo’s innocent Giant Anteater gets framed for murder. California zookeeper Theodora  ‘Teddy’ Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace.” Sounds “wild” to me!

She wasn’t a witch, so the DEATH OF A BAWDY BELLE in 1692 Salem gets Hetty Henry and her sidekick, minister “Creasy” Cotton investigating. This is a long-anticipated release from author M.E. Kemp. Keep ‘em coming!   

One lump or two? G.M. Malliet is promoting DEATH OF A COZY WRITER with a spot of tea to keep warm while reading her British mystery. The novel was one of this year’s pick for bestseller by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Sean Chercover provides a soundtrack to accompany TRIGGER CITY and BIG CITY BAD BLOOD. The music PI Ray Dudgeon listens to can be downloaded from iTunes.

It’s a CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE confronting journalist Clare Prentice in the latest from Martha Powers. Her assignment is to interview a reclusive novelist, but she’s also on the beat to uncover the murder of her birth mother. 

Run, don’t walk, to your nearest library and ask that they order EDEN PALMS MURDER. This is the request of author Dorothy Francis in support of her publisher, Five Star. Her latest Key West whodunit will make winter feel like a summer vacation.

For those of you who write about law enforcement or any other public safety characters in your novels, check out http://www.policewriter.com/  PSWA (Public Safety Writers Association) is the organization connecting writers with law enforcement sources. The three-day June conference is in Las Vegas, with a group signing at Cheesecake and Crime afterward. I’ll be seeing Betty Webb and Marilyn Meredith there, as well as my publisher, Billie Johnson of Oak Tree Press. Read the newsletter and learn about us!

And yes, the second of my Christy Bristol Astrology Novels, WHERE ANGELS FEAR, will be out in time for the Left Coast Crime convention on the Big Island, Hawaii.  I’m going to wear a lei, drink Mai Tais and hang out with Victoria Heckman, Simon Wood, Tim Wohlforth and Deni Dietz. Hope to see some of you there! 

Not about this conference! The Public Safety Writers Association (formerly known as Police Writers) just held their annual Vegas conference. PSWA has been around since 1997, bringing together those of us who write about cops and firemen, EMT’s and security guards, and everything in-between. We also have journalists who write for law enforcement magazines. Last year’s keynote was the Vegas coroner; this year it was Holocaust survivor Stephen Nassar. I networked with author Michael Mehas, who wrote the screenplay “Alpha Dogs.” He penned STOLEN BOY, a fictional account of the murder. I asked him and Dennis Griffin, who ghosted the autobiography of hitman Frank Cullotta (featured in ”Casino”) to speak in the Fresno area. Dennis asked if he could bring the hitman along. Oh sure, why not? My contribution to the conference was a presentation on sexy vintage book covers and the artists who put detective fiction on the map. We wound up the weekend signing at Cheesecake and Crime, a Henderson book store. For more info on the organization, check out www.policewriter.com

Although Dennis writes non-fiction books about Vegas, he told me Books In Motion has given him a contract for his sin-city trilogy: KILLER IN PAIR-A-DICE, ONE-ARMED BANDIT and VEGAS VIXEN. Gotta love the titles! Audio rights for his non-fiction books, THE BATTLE FOR LAS VEGAS and CULLOTTA, have been picked up by Huntington Press.   

While I was gone, my mailbox filled with lots of interesting tibits to share. Looks like Michael Connelly is bringing Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller together with Harry Bosch for THE BRASS VERDICT. He’ll be taking the novel on the road in October. 

Jacqueline Seewald got the green-light from Five Star for her sequel to THE INFERNO COLLECTION. We’re going to see more of academic reference librarian Kim Reynolds and police detective Mike Gardner. Congrats, Jacqueline!   

One blog group is doing it right! Murderati has been nominated for an Anthony. Four of the members are in the Murder Circle: Naomi Hirahara (THE SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN), Pari Noskin Taichert (THE SOCORRO BLAST), Denise Dietz (CHAIN A LAMBCHOP TO A BED), and Simon Wood (PAYING THE PIPER) .  

I see Simon has a book coming out next month: WE ALL FALL DOWN. Looks like he’s putting his engineering experience into a good mystery. And Denise, writing as Mary Ellen Dennis, gives us THE LANDLORD’S BLACK-EYED DAUGHTER. Highway men, Newgate prison and past lives are all wrapped up in this 18th century tale.

Troy Cook (THE ONE MINUTE ASSASSIN) has an outrageously busy schedule, and now he’s going to be Toastmaster at Deadly Ink (June 20-22, NJ). Jane K. Cleland (ANTIQUES TO DIE FOR) is Guest of Honor. More Murder Circle folks are going to be there as well: Peggy Ehrhart (SWEET MAN IS GONE); M. E. Kemp (DEATH OF A DUTCH UNCLE); and Austin Camacho (THE ORION ASSIGNMENT).  

Any friend of Austin’s is, by default, a friend of mine. Diane Marquette writes the Chesapeake Conference Center mysteries (TOO CLOSE FOR WORDS). Having been on conference committees (including one for the 1998 Mideast Peace Talks), she knows behind the scenes stuff.  

And that’s how The Murder Circle works.