Winners!

by Carol6 Comments
Thanks to everyone who entered my Armchair BEA giveaway. I'm happy to announce the winners. Fallen by Lauren Kate - Dawn Dracula in Love by Karen Essex - Krysta B. Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - Danah The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor - Tif I'll be sending each of you an e-mail, so be sure to respond with your mailing adress....
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Teaser from Have Gun, Will Play

by Carol6 Comments
I could see some of the stage men lying dead outside, and the outlaws were pretty much in charge, but they were nervous and sweating, probably because they had lost two of their guys and weren't sure how. I glanced over and saw Casey, just the edge of her, taking aim but not shooting, ready to do her job and maybe waiting for me to do mine. And it was my job to do the talking. Maybe that wasn't what she had in mind, but we were supposed to be the good guys. (Tuesday Teaser from 3% of Have Gun, Will Play by Camille LaGuire)...
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Review: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol12 Comments
Ngaio Marsh is another new discovery for me, thanks again to the Vintage Mystery Challenge. She is one of the four original "Queens of Crime" along with Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Agatha Christie, British authors who dominated the crime fiction genre in the 1920s and 30s. Overture to Death was first published 1939, and is therefore dated, but in a charming way that doesn't detract from the basic mystery, which is as good a cozy as any I've read lately. It's an English Village mystery, where the inspector from Scotland yard is called in to investigate a murder in a small town. There are a limited number of suspects, and everyone in town has their own secrets and motives. In this case, Inspector Alleyn, Marsh's series character, is called to Chipping after a spinster is murdered. The lead-up to the murder is very well-done. A charity play is being planned and all the character, eventually suspects, are involved in it....
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Her Storm (flash fiction)

by Carol8 Comments
Image: Luis Royo Her Storm 353 words Frederick could feel his father's glare on his back, his mother's worry. Neither would approve of the woman he was marrying today. Alas, they were dead. He was king now, and he knew that the woman standing beside him would be useful. It was not a beneficial union, according to his advisors. Elane was not a noble, she was not a political asset. Few would even consider her beautiful, her long chestnut hair untamed, her features angular, her body too thin to be considered lovely, but those icy eyes were piercing and her lilting accent mesmerizing. Frederick was not a fool. He knew Elane did not love him, probably resented him, but after what he had witnessed last week, he had no choice. He had been at the summer manor, walking through the parched fields, when he had seen her on the ridge. She raised her hands to the sky, and clouds began to form, dark grey...
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Armchair BEA- Friday

by Carol3 Comments
Today's Armchair BEA topic is: Blogging about Blogging Blogging for me needs to be a pleasure, not a source of stress. I tend to keep my schedule fairly loose, probably too much so. Actually I saw a post earlier today about how she keeps her calendar that I think I might borrow from, a little more organization could certainly help me. But I do blog for enjoyment. I love reading and like to share my thoughts. I'm just pleased that others take the time to read them and comment. My blog, I will admit, tends to veer off course fairly often into un-book-related territory. I post pictures, talk about things like shoes or my family, write bits of fiction. In a way, I guess, it's a reflection of my life. Books are a part of it, the part I share the most often, but I can't keep out the rest. Since this is the last day of Armchair BEA, I want to thank...
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