…the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
You’ll recognize this as […]

I’ve been on a diet lately. Or as we’re supposed to call it, an eating plan, since saying it’s a diet might make us feel deprived as we’re starving ourselves. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, as far as I’m concerned; they both taste the same.
The impetus was a birthday party […]

Greetings from Nashville, y’all!
Yep, it’s me, Jennie Bentley, in for our own Diana Killian today. Diana, poor thing, is icing her wrists in California, while I’m sweating in Tennessee.
The sweating isn’t just due to the weather, although it’s 95F in the shade down here. No, I’m sweating because I’m nervous, and I’m nervous […]

First, thanks so much to Laura Bradford for inviting me to be a Good Girl for the day. I’m honored!
Of course, the first thing I worried about was what to write. After all, I write romances for Harlequin American and Inspirationals for Avon Inspire, not mysteries! As I thought about that, my heart sank. […]

A classic mystery revolves around the solving of a murder—literally a “whodunit,” in which the reader doesn’t learn the identity of the murderer until the final scene or at least near the end of the story. Certain conventions or elements are necessary to every mystery. You generally have a body (victim), a sleuth, foreshadowing, a […]

After a weekend of croup, colds and Mother’s Day I got to thinking about balance – or rather the lack of it in my life. Sometimes I wish I could leap into one of my books and inhabit a fictitious world where (hopefully) the author has painted an ideal scene far removed from reality – […]

By Cara Black
Bonjour All you good girls who kill for money! Tasha, my watching the Academy Awards buddy, asked me to wax poetic about springtime in Paris. But zut alors! according to my Parisian friend’s email this morning, there’s a cold, grey mist winding in the cobbled streets and the sun’s hiding behind a gun […]

By Carrie Medders
It’s more than a little intimidating to guest author a blog by, for and about writers when I am in no way, shape or form a writer. However, as most of you already know, Tasha is very hard to resist, and in a moment of weakness (coupled with antibiotics and codeine cough syrup), […]

By Kristy Kiernan
Over the past year or so, many fine storytellers have passed away, including, but obviously not limited to: Janet Kagan, Julian Rathbone, Stephen Marlowe, Robin Moore, Edward D. Hoch, Norman Mailer, Carol Bly, Dan Fogelberg, Kurt Vonnegut, Sidney Sheldon, Dawn Thompson, Phyllis Whitney, Bob Smith.
You might not have heard of that last one.
Bob […]

So, I’m at the very beginning of starting a new novel. Like 152 words in. Whoo-ee. Only, say 74, 848 more words to go. No problem. I mean, I even have a title (Spinning) all picked out, so I’m on cruise control, right?
I mean, how many of you authors out […]