Looking forward to the spin-offs?

HALLIE EPHRON: There’s never been a better time for finding TV shows/movies that ably channel Agatha Christie’s or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective novels. I’m slowly working my way (again) through SHERLOCK (with Benedict Cumberbatch and the sublime pair, Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington.) And looking forward to watching Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence novels (there were 5).

But, thinking outside the box… what other oldies would you like to see revisited? Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason? Dick Francis’s jockey Sid Halley? Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey? Margery Allingham's Albert Campion? Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski??

My #1 pick, and we should be seeing it soon at the movie theatres (supposedly February of 2028!): a revival of Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote with Jamie Lee Curtis (count me a JLC fangirl) picking up where Angela Lansbury left off.

When I was writing the Dr. Peter Zak mysteries, I was definitely channeling Dr. Kildare -- even though he was not really a “sleuth” he was a doctor.

Is there a classic sleuth or literary or pop culture personality that influenced a sleuth you created?? Or have you always truly started from scratch?

LUCY BURDETTE: I’d be okay never seeing another Murder She Wrote, except…I adore Jamie Lee Curtis! I was more in the camp of Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames as a kid, rather than classics. I wonder if The Pitt would be considered a modern day Cherry Ames:)?

RHYS BOWEN: when I look back at the oldies like Perry Mason, I feel what they were lacking was the complex character and humanity of the sleuth. Everyone seemed a bit cardboard. I like Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation of Sherlock as it’s a real person. 

I really feel we’ve overdone incarnations of Miss Marple when Joan Hickson was so perfect, although I confess St Mary Mead was the inspiration for my Welsh Llanfsir ( which means St Mary’s)

There are so many good sleuth around now. I don’t think we should keep rehashing the past— how about a Duncan and Gemma or Claire and Russ?

JENN McKINLAY: I’m in the camp of I like the Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot in my mind better than any screen adaptation, although Hickson is stellar. As for Jamie Lee Curtis, I love her, I just hope they keep the iconic tv theme music. I see her being more slapstick than Angela Lansbury, who did have excellent comedic timing. 

I second what Rhys observed–why not use some amateur sleuth novels from this century? We are 26 years in, after all. I did hear that Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jessie Q Sutanto is being adapted and I am excited for that one.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Count me as third for more contemporary cozies on TV/streaming. One of my gripes with Acorn and Britbox is that their original stuff tends to be much more hard edged. Which is why I’m also excited about the Tommy and Tuppence remake. Did anyone else watch the first 12 minutes on YouTube? I was hooked.

In the same vein, I can’t be the only one who’d love to see a Nick and Nora reboot. Whether done again set in the 1930s, or a modern-day version, those books are well overdue for a remake.

I’d also be fascinated to see a remake of Earl Derr Biggers Charlie Chan mysteries. Biggers intent was to great an admirable and heroic Chinese character in a time when American culture was full on “Yellow Peril.” 

For his time, he did pretty well, but the stereotypes really didn’t age well, not to mention all the white actors in yellow face. Wouldn’t those stories be great with an all-Asian cast and all the racist stuff washed out?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, I would always do with another Morse, although the original was perfectly perfect. And I think Magpie Murders (and etc. ) blends old and new wonderfully well. 

I’m terrified that there might be a Kinsey Millhone series, because we all know Sue Grafton did not want that. And thinking about it, I don’t either. It just–can’t work. And Julia, you have me musing over NIck and Nora. I first thought, ooh, genius. Then I thought–nope, leave them alone in our hearts and minds. 

Rachel Eckstrom Courage took The Golden Girls and made them amateur sleuths in a cozy mystery series–it is so wonderful! But would it have worked the other way? Well…maybe….

My final thing–many of those old series, which we loved at the time, were all about men telling women what to do. Hmm.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I was actually never a big Murder She Wrote fan (ouch) but I’d be willing to give Jamie Lee Curtis a go.

I’m a little over the Christie adaptations, although I do want to see what they’ve done with Tommy and Tuppence. They were always my faves of the Christie sleuths and it’s nice that they were not, as Hank says above, about men telling women what to do. I think Tuppence was always the brains of that duo! 

And maybe because I loved the detecting couple, those stories planted somewhere in my subconscious the germ of what became Duncan and Gemma. 

Thanks for the shout out, Rhys! You know I’d love to see them adapted, and also Julia’s Russ and Clare!

Speaking of Christie-related TV, it occurred to me that Amanda Chapman’s MRS. CHRISTIE IN THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY and its upcoming sequel, MRS. CHRISTIE AND THE MYSTERY IN THE MEWS would make fabulous TV with the glamorous present day New York setting and Agatha Christie’s ghost (possibly!)

HALLIE: What great ideas!? Hollywood, are you listening??

What spin-offs and inspired-bys are you looking forward to or have been enjoying lately?? And what makes a character so intriguing that writers can hang mystery plots on their backs? Is there a niche sleuth/personality that hasn't yet been "taken"?

Huddle up, Reds and Readers!

JENN McKINLAY: And just like that another football season has arrived. This year my three men are in a fantasy football league together so the personal investment in each game is extra high. 

It's gonna be a looooong season, my friends.

When I think about football, I feel as if it has always existed on the periphery of my life. I was in marching band in high school, so I lived Friday night lights but in a band uniform. The game was happening but I was in the percussion section so we were dialed into whatever our squad leader told us to play to hype the crowd. Watching the game was of secondary or even tertiary (if my high school crush was around) interest to me. Plus, our marching band was the east coast champion and our football team...meh, not so good. And yet..."Go, Vikings!"

When I started chaperoning the Hooligans (also percussion members in band) at their Friday night games, I started watching the play on the field between fetching water, stopping nosebleeds, and emergency uniform repairs. Their high school team won the state championship every year and were very exciting to watch, so you could say I came  late to appreciating the game of football. "Go, Sabercats!"

It was during these football years, that I wrote Fondant Fumble, which features two football players who buy a cupcake franchise. I know it sounds like fiction but the idea is actually based on two professional football players who did just that. Read original post: HERE

Now when it comes to team allegiance, I was born in New England so naturally, I was a Patriot's fan. When I moved to Arizona, I slowly shifted my loyalty to the Arizona Cardinals--mostly, because Larry Fitzgerald became my favorite player (retired 2020), notably because of his game on the field but even more for his community work off the field with the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation. FITZ!!!

As you can see, I pick my team allegiance by residence. I believe in rooting for the home team. The Hub grew up in Arizona and while he's a Cards fan, too, his original team was the Dallas Cowboys because AZ didn't have a team when he was a kid. This makes sense to me. We have room in our hearts for more then one "home" team. 

Now the Hooligans, however, have gone rogue. Inexplicably, they are Chicago Bears fans. Huh?! I mean I like the Bears and all, but they're not the home team! Don't get me wrong, the dudes cheer for the Cards, too, but after a trip to Chicago they decided Da Bears were their primary team. How? Why? Make this make sense to me!

So, let's talk about it. 

Reds and Readers, do you pick your favorite team by geographic proximity or some other reason? Who is/are your favorite team(s)--doesn't have to be football--and why?

Morning Shift? Mid-Shift? Late-shift?

JENN McKINLAY: When I first started writing, I worked around the Hooligans’ schedule. I woke up at 5 AM and wrote until the boys got up at 7 AM. I started again when they napped, which was usually from 12 PM to 2 PM. And then I crammed in two more hours from 8 PM to 10 PM. It’s amazing what you can get done when you have very limited time. 

Once the boys started school, I wrote from 8 AM to 2 PM and then again in my car while I chauffeured them to their various activities and waited in the car or the nearest coffee shop.

Those days are long gone and I thought I’d be more disciplined once they left home. I am not. I seem to squander my time in the morning and now work a mid-shift from 2 PM to 10 PM. I would make it earlier if I could but I can’t seem to shift. So long as the work gets done, I don’t suppose it matters, but I still wish I could get my butt in the seat earlier in the day.

How about you, Reds? What are your optimum writing hours? Has it changed over the years?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Jenn, so interesting!  That’s exactly my schedule.

When I was full time on TV, I was all about nights and weekends and vacations. Thats all the time I had. Now, my life is different, hurray,but my schedule still reflects that long time job.

 My theory, for me at least, is that my  schedule definitely comes from all those years of working for  TV news–my writing metabolism gears up to be ready for  the 6 o'clock news, and then the 11 o'clock news.  Mornings, I do admin, and socials, and coffee, and thinking and procrastinating. Then, after lunch, I think: GO SISTER. And work for about five hours. If I am lucky. I just have to get my 1000 words done. 

But then, sometimes I’ll stop in my office on the way up to bed, and tell Jonathan–I’m just going to say good night to the book.. ANd  I open my manuscript, abd whoosh, I’m back into it, and go upstairs sometime  after  midnight.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Wow, this is so interesting, Jenn and Hank. You’ve described me and my schedule, too. I have never been a morning writer, although I’ve castigated myself for years for not being someone who gets up at the crack of dawn to sit down at the computer and actually write sensible things. But sorry, not happening here. I always have morning chores (at least six months of the year including watering) and then I’m hungry. Then there’s email and catching up on stuff. It’s usually about noon by the time I clear the decks and focus on the WIP. I’ll take a mid-afternoon break, then go back to work until 7ish when I have to quit and deal with dinner. It also often means we end up eating really late, but sometimes, like Hank, I just have to “check something” and will go back to the computer for a last few minutes. I also take a notebook and pen upstairs to jot down any bath/before sleep ideas.

RHYS BOWEN: I have always been a morning person-forced on my by four children who had to get to morning swim practice at six am!  When I was juggling with getting four kids off to school I’d write as soon as I’d dropped off the youngest at pre-school and keep going until I had to pick him up again at mid day. When they all left home I adopted the routine I have now: wake early, usually before seven, check my emails etc, make a cup of tea, then start writing. I break off later for breakfast then continue until I’ve done the right number of words for the day.

The afternoon is for all the secretarial stuff: checking with assistant and publicist, answering fan mail, exing out all those stupid scams I get on a daily basis.  I too have a notebook in the bedroom because it’s quite normal to wake at three and think “she’d never have said that” and have to jot down how the scene should have gone. 

LUCY BURDETTE: I am in Rhys‘s camp, better at writing in the morning. This has been disrupted lately because I’ve been doing multiple yoga classes as well as Pickleball and all that takes place in the morning. So I’ve had to shift, which is not great for my poor brain. Right at this moment, for example, it’s almost 1 PM. I’ve been to killer Yoga, and a Pickleball clinic, and had lunch. Now I’m making a cup of iced tea and going up to my computer to see what I can do! Fingers crossed!

HALLIE EPHRON: This is reminding me of when I had two little kids at home and was working writing training for high tech. I had a computer (big hulking thing) at home and I’d bring my drafts in to work on a floppy disk (remember those?) trying to get there early so I could send my attest draft to the printer and grab it before anyone else arrived. The day didn’t have enough hours in it and I was perennially sleep deprived. And still I got more done than I do today in copious spare time.

How about you, Readers? What is your most productive time of day? Morning? Afternoon? Evening?