Writers Born Today - Julia Buckley

 This week we celebrate the birthday of crime writer Julia Buckley, born on December 30th. She's the author of over 20 mysteries, including several series. My favorite? Her Undercover Dish books which feature an adorable chocolate lab, delicious recipes, and devious murders. If you're a fan of death by poison, and Murder She Wrote, you'll love this four book series as much as I did. I recommend reading them in order, starting with The Big Chili.

A lifelong reader, her mother (a librarian herself) took here to the library at an early age and encouraged her to read. During this period, Julia was introduced to dozens of writers, including Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, and Dorothy Sayers. 

Julia later became a teacher, and has taught in Chicago schools for many years. Her first book, Madeline Mann, appeared in 2007, a three part cozy series. Her latest series, the Hungarian Tea-House Mysteries, features a woman who solves crime in her family's tea shop. The first book in the series is Death in a Budapest Butterfly. All the books in this series show the influence of Hungarian folklore and the cozy writing style which has made her books adored by fans.

Julia holds a special place in my heart, as she was the first writer to interview me on her blog after the publication of my cozy mystery, way back in 2008. You can learn more about Julia Buckley through her blog, Mystery Musings.

Considering how productive  and popular Julia has been, shouldn't there be a TV pilot by now? Anybody have Hallmark's phone number?

Mystery Weekend Roundup for March 2, 2014

Book Giveaways

Interested in a free book? Who isn't? Check out this link on Goodreads, where you can enter drawings to win a book. They have several categories, including Popular Authors and Ending Soon. Even if you don't win, it's a great way to discover new and emerging authors.

And seeing that St. Patrick's Day in just a couple of weeks away, you might want to check out the Irish Crime Bookshelf. Ireland has seen the emergence of some great talent in crime fiction during the past few years.


Winners of The Lovey Awards

A hearty congratulations to all the winners of the Lovey Awards, handed out in Chicago during the latest Love Is Murder Mystery Writers Conference. I was particularly glad to see that J. Michael Major won for Best First Novel with One Man's Castle (which I've recently started reading). Check out the list of all the winners at Janet Rudolph's excellent blog, Mystery Readers Inc.




Faulkner Interview, The Art of Fiction, From The Paris Review (1956)

It's been a while since I've read this and it well worth reading every so often. Faulkner's witty responses in between his serious commentary are a lot of fun, like this answer on the difficulty of understanding his novels.

Interviewer: Some people say they can't understand your writing, even after they read it two or three times. What approach would you suggest for them?

Faulkner: Read it four times.


And then there's this gem, on what a writer needs to write:

So the only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost. All the wrong environment will do is run his blood pressure up; he will spend more time being frustrated or outraged. My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whiskey.

Keep it simple...and keep writing. Here's the full interview, from the Paris Review.


Humorous Definition of a Cozy Mystery (And one more reason to love The Big Bang Theory)

Actor Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, is a big fan of mystery novels, in particular the "cozy". Who knew? And he gives a great definition in this talk show appearance.

Here's the video:




And if you'd like to visit the website that Jim mentions in the video, here's the link to Cozy-Mystery. Enjoy!