Inspiration doesn’t come easily on a gray, January day. Curled up under an afghan, with a cat on one’s lap, sleep comes much more quickly than ideas for a blog. And then even when awake, it is easier to reach for a book, without disturbing the cat, of course, than it is to get up [...]

For the last couple of years I have done a presentation on Christmas mysteries, but no one asked me to do it this year, so I figured this was a good space for it. I happen to love Christmas mysteries myself. I figure part of the appeal is that when families get together for long [...]

I don’t really have to be creative to do this blog; that is, I don’t have to plot or invent characters and write dialog. This is more stream of consciousness writing, where the most difficult thing is spelling words such as “consciousness” and thank goodness for Spell Check or that would be insurmountable. So really [...]

I think I find it hard to blog each week because I’d so much rather be reading than writing. Thank heavens there are those who would rather write, or I’d be out of luck. It is a true symbiotic relationship; nice to know we need each other.
Why do I love reading, and in particular [...]

Well, here it is Sunday again, so time to do the blog for Foul Play. (I seem to remember someone–that would be Toni– saying she would do this every other weekend, which hasn’t happened, but maybe it is my memory.) Anyway, though I talked about Bouchercon last time, I neglected to mention one of the [...]

I’m just not good at this blogging business; I forget to do them! Sorry, I’ve missed two Mondays in a row. I’m giving myself a pass on the one two weeks ago; that was the day after Bouchercon and I was exhausted. When you go as a vendor to a convention you need recovery time. [...]

Time to take a few quiet moments and think about books and authors. We have been getting ready for Bouchercon, which means we have been ordering books and trying to keep up with the list of attendees so we don’t miss any authors who register late; plus trying to figure out how we will fit [...]

Toni and John had to say goodbye to one of the cats: Gracie is no longer with us. The store, for those who don’t know, is in an old Victorian house and John and Toni share the store and the rooms above the store with their cats; now just Fanny, Harriet and Desiree. Gracie and [...]

Hugs apologies, Lil’Blog readers. Judy sent this post to me (Casey) last week, not knowing that I was living off the grid in New Mexico and had no way of getting it. Then when I had a chance to pick it up, the attachment arrived blank. Long story short, here’s what you [...]

Once again we coerced my sister Judy in writing the blog. Toni’s excused was she is too busy with the the start of the new school year.
Ever since Edgar Allen Poe wrote, some mystery authors have included the supernatural, in one form or another, in their works. Today [...]