Friday, June 26, 2020

Wicked Inspiration



LUCY BURDETTE: Three of our pals from the Wicked Authors blog are celebrating book releases on June 30--and that means we should celebrate too!

Cate Conte (my Connecticut neighbor Liz Mugavero) is releasing Witch Hunt, the first in her new Full Moon Mystery series about a young shop-owner in a Connecticut harbor town (hmm…) who’s about to discover a mysterious power that runs in her family.

Maddie Day (frequent Reds commenter Edith Maxwell) brings us Nacho Average Murder, the seventh book in her Country Store Mystery series. In this book Maddie takes the girl out of South Lick, Indiana bound for the west coast. I wonder if murder will follow?

Barbara Ross (my Key West neighbor) contributes Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. Released as a Barnes & Noble exclusive last year, this first in series is now available from all retailers in mass market paperback, ebook and audiobook, worldwide.

Take it away, Wickeds

Lately we’ve been talking about inspiration. Not the giant concepts we choose to explore in story, but the little flashes, the anecdotes that stay with us and provide ideas, sometimes foundational ideas, for our books.

Barb: I wish I could remember which friend told me the story about her parents, the bottomline of which was, “Retirement communities are exactly like high school. You have all the cliques-- the popular kids, the jocks, the artists and the troublemakers. You have the established couples, the flirters and the singles, the secret sex. And the poor little people eating all alone.” This story stuck with me for a long time and forms the basis for Walden Spring, the lifecare community for people 55 and over that is the main setting for my mystery, Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. 

Edith/Maddie: That’s such a great description, Barb. My Country Store Mysteries protagonist, Robbie Jordan, is from Santa Barbara, and she’s in her late twenties. For book seven, I wanted to get her out of South Lick, Indiana. My own fiftieth high school reunion was on the near horizon (scheduled for this September but they’re postponing it until next spring). I’d been thinking about the one girl who was mean to me for no reason and wondering if she’d be there. Then I thought about high school rivalries that might still be active only ten years later. I packed Robbie off for her tenth reunion in Santa Barbara, and included a mean girl, of course. The research trip was pretty nice, too.

Liz/Cate: I love that, Barb - and it’s so true! I remember the one high school reunion I went to and it was exactly the same as being in the cafeteria all those years prior. I developed my new series, The Full Moon Mysteries, out of my desire to be able to literally flick my wrist and change things I didn’t like in my life. (And some of those high school girls would’ve totally become toads.) My protag, Violet Mooney, is a witch who doesn’t know she’s a witch until her world falls apart and she gets an unexpected visit from her long-lost mother, who is one of the most powerful witches in her sphere. I’ve always loved witches and magic and the paranormal, and the inspiration for this series has always been about finding magic every day and using it to make the world better. 

Barb: That’s so funny how you two have completely different takes on reunions. I’ve never made it to any of mine. They’re always the same weekend as Malice, so I probably won’t for the foreseeable. I would so love to be able to flick my wrist and change things I don’t like in my life.

Edith: And I was really looking forward to going! We can certainly all use some magic everyday.

You know what we’re talking about right? Those little anecdotes or visuals that stick in your mind forever? Readers, tell us one of yours. Writers, have you ever used an anecdote or visual that stuck with you as an important element in a book?

All three of today's authors are giving away a copy of their new release--leave a comment to enter! (US only this time)

110 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your newest books, ladies . . . .

    Oh, high school reunions . . . never.

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  2. I always thought I'd want to go to my high school reunions. But then I moved 8 hours away. Yes, I still have family up there, but it has never fallen at a time that works. And I've lost touch with most of my high school friends. So I'm not sure I'll ever attend one at this point.

    I hope that retirement communities are a little better than high school. Although I don't think much of life truly gets better than high school, so it probably isn't.

    And I'd love to flick my wrist and do things, too. Like the house cleaning.

    Congrats on all three books.

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    1. Thanks, Mark! Yes, wouldn't it be fun to get the house cleaned by magic?

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    2. That would be an interesting blog post Mark, whether people think life gets better after high school. For me, I would say definitely yes!

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    3. Oh, me, too, Roberta! What a great idea for a post!

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  3. Congratulations, Liz, Edith (Maddie) and Barb on the release of your books next week!

    Instead of high school, I wish my university graduating class had a reunion. It would have been the 30th anniversary in 2020. We were a small, tight-knit group of 25 people in the environmental studies co-op program but that has never happened.

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    1. That does sound like a better reunion, Grace! I had a mini-reunion with four of my graduate school friends a few years ago when we were all back in Bloomington, Indiana for our professor's graduation. That was really special - and so much fun.

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    2. Your mini-reunion sounds great, Edith.

      Because of the nature of my work with Environment Canada, I kept in touch with several of my professors and visited the Waterloo campus a few times. Walking around campus and down those hallways as a professional felt a bit weird. But I have wondered what my fellow ES classmates are up to. I tried finding some on Facebook but no luck.

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    3. I was in a summer stock theatre company for three years when I was in college. The house was a big circus tent outdoors--a relic from the days before AC. Every now and then Tent Theatre has a reunion embracing all of us who sweated under the big top during the 50+ years of the company. It's huge fun to go to those reunions. High school? Not so much.

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    4. Those Tent Theatre reunions sound great, Gigi.

      My high school in Toronto was a big one with over 1800 students and we did not really have a single class. So I figure any high school reunion for my year would have 400+ attendees, of which I would know only a handful of people, so I am not really interested.

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    5. Gigi, the Tent reunions sound great.

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    6. They can be particularly fun when John Goodman, Class of 1976, shows up.

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  4. Thanks so much for having us, Lucy/Roberta! Barb is sequestered somewhere on vacation (yes, in person!) with her family, so she won't be able to respond to comments today. So I send along her thanks, too.

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    1. Also, FYI, we wanted to do a three-way giveaway but it didn't get into the post. I've asked Roberta to add it (US only, sorry, Grace!).

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    2. No problem, Edith. I already have a copy of Barb's book (got it at the Dallas Bouchercon). And I have a Netgalley ARC of Nacho Average Murder that I am reading this weekend.

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    3. I'm sure I will, Edith. I love the Country Store mysteries.

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  5. Congrats on the new releases, my Wicked friends!

    I finally went to a high school reunion after avoiding them for years. One of my former classmates looked at me in surprise and said, "You look so nice...I didn't recognize you!" Yeah... That is soooo going in a book.

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    1. Annette, ouch! Luckily writers have the last word

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    2. Ouch, Annette! Yeah, looking forward to seeing that scene in a future book.

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    3. Yikes. I suppose the question is, did you recognize the classmate? Here's hoping she was the former prom queen, fallen into ruin.

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    4. Ha, she mean-girled the wrong writer, Annette!

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    5. Gigi, NO! I did not! Haha! And so very true, Lucy. Mwahaha.

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  6. My copy of NACHO AVERAGE MURDER has been on pre-order for about two weeks now so I'm definitely looking forward to reading that one.

    I'll add both Barbara and Liz/Cate's book to my To Buy list!

    I don't really have any anecdotes about high school or reunions. While I am friends with some people from school, generally speaking I have no use for those I went to school with and the idea of going to a reunion is repulsive to me.

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    1. We're not finding much middle ground on reunions here! Thanks for your support of our books, Jay.

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  7. Welcome you all! Anecdotes—yes —maybe 7 or so years ago I was on the Acela and the woman in front of me—who I could not see—was having the list annoying conversation on the phone. I was trying to write and it was so frustrating! But then —it became so interesting.... that I began to listen intently. And now it’s a short story in a Jeffrey Deaver edited anthology coming out in November called All Aboard.

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    1. Ha! Way to grab inspiration out of annoyance, Hank!

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    2. David Baldacci has the funniest story about being on the train, talking to a medical examiner on his phone about how to kill someone and the cause not being detected. Next thing he knew he was "a person of interest". The 2 business men seated across from him were aghast!

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    3. An experience all us crime writers have when we're out to dinner in restaurants. Waitstaff start backing away and nearby diners are horrified!

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  8. I went to one high school reunion - my tenth. It was enough to show me that all the "it" kids in high school had lost whatever "it" was, the ones I was sure would be in jail weren't (one had become a cop!), and the annoying know-it-all academics hadn't made the splash they expected to in college. Basically, all the high-school expectations had been completely up-ended and it drove home how little high school actually affects the rest of your life (unless you let it).

    Quite honestly, I wasn't invested enough to remember anything. LOL

    Congratulations, ladies!

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    1. That's a great story, Liz. In my book, one of Robbie's geeky friends has become a cop - but he's the cybercrime guy, not walking a beat.

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    2. Having been to most of my fifty years of reunions, I'd say the 10th is the one where I came to the same conclusions, Liz.

      That was also the year that the men all started looking so different. The women were still similar to their younger selves, but the men's changes were sometimes shocking.

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    3. Karen, yes. The guys who had been the jocks with their thinning hair and the beginnings of a pot belly. And you could definitely tell which girls had spent a little too much time in the sun or in the tanning booth.

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    4. Haha - it’s so true. It was a real eye opener to see how all the people you’d envied were suddenly not as enviable...

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    5. TRUE!!! I remember going into a local lumberyard and the guy at the counter called me by name, so happy to see me blah blah. I must've had that look in my eyes that told him I had no clue because he said, "It's me!" and told me his name. He'd been first string on the high school football team, major heartthrob jock. AND he'd never given me the time of day back then. I never would've guessed who he was. Thinning hair. Beer gut. Had not aged well AT ALL.

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    6. Hi Reds, finally made it here.
      Annette, that jock was too shy to ask you out, but had a crush on you all through high school. That is why he remembered you. Now there's a new take for your story!

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  9. I have never been drawn to my high school reunions because it wasn't a particularly happy period of my life. Not awful, but not great either. Even then I thought my adulthood would be better, and thankfully that has been true.
    browninggloria(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  10. Congratulations Edith on your book release! And the same to Barb and Liz, too. New stories to look forward to reading; thank you.

    A definite NO to high school reunions (I've never been) but an enthusiastic YES to one with my master's cohort; next year will mark 15 years since we graduated and we were a lively bunch of interesting folk. We gathered for our 5-year anniversary, so maybe we can pull off a 15th -- presuming the world permits such things by then.

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  11. I never did attend a high school reunion. I had no interest in the people and had moved away. Congratulations on your wonderful releases which is a great a achievement.

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  12. Congratulations Edith and Barb and Liz on your book releases. Have a great celebration. I love looking forward to new books. High school reunions did not take place or I missed them but high school was not memorable.

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    1. Thank you. I wish we could celebrate in person!

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  13. Congratulations to all three of you on your upcoming releases! Each book sounds like a great read to take our minds off the problems pounding us.

    My last high school reunion was three years ago yesterday, and it was a blast. It was our 45th, and we all had so much fun being together. I’m still good friends with a group of girls who get together every time I visit my hometown. The bittersweet part of it all is that two of my dearest friends, both make, have passed last year. I was fortunate to be in a wonderful class of people in a small town where everyone really did know your name.

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    1. That's partly why I want to go to mine, Kathy - to see the people I really liked. I'm sorry about the loss of your friends.

      Cozies are the best to take your mind off the messy, scary world out there.

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  14. Congrats to the Wickeds for another round of reading pleasure! Didn't someone once decide there were a limited number of basic story plots? I say, look at the never-ending stream of books from creative minds! I've been to exactly two reunions--picnic style in our hometowns, but don't feel a need to go to another. The people I might want to see don't show up, not particularly interested in most who do show up.

    As for anecdotes--one which has stayed with me is that of a young blind man who learned to use echolocation (clicking sounds) to be able to ride a bike. And I rolled that idea around in my mind and came up with a what if: what if there was a rich, retired old man, blind, living in one of those posh retirement communities with his trophy wife. Add an attractive tennis or swimming instructor. An elderly neighbor who keeps complaining that her hearing aids aren't working right, because she wakes up at night hearing clicking sounds. Another neighbor who thinks she's going crazy because her bike is sometimes not where she leaves it at night. I think you can see where this story might go.

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  15. Ohhhh these look like excellent summer porch reads for me during this solitary confinement (thanks to COVID). Congratulations all of you. These look awesome. Thanks for the opportunity! Stay healthy and safe.

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  16. So interesting! And congratulations on so many wonderful new books! High school dynamics inspired me, too... for Never Tell a Lie the girl everyone thought was "weird" in high school shows up fifteen years later. I based it on a girl who got kind of fixated on me in high school... I now seriously regret not being more generous and kind. I did go to some high school reunions and found my classmates seemed overall a lot less toxic than I remembered. Lucky someone who's going to get those books-- Great summer reading!

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    1. Thanks, Hallie! I remember that woman in Never Tell a Lie. I didn't realize she was based on someone you knew way back when.

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    2. Thanks, Hallie. So funny how time changes everything, right?

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  17. Congratulations, Ladies! I've pre-ordered Maddie's book and expect to see it soon. I love the premise of Barb's book and Cate's book sounds like it would be fun to read.

    My rather small high school class of 64 students used to have reunions every 5 years or so. I never went even though I was usually in the area. Then about 3 years ago there was going to be a picnic get together in the park for our 53rd anniversary. Very nervous, I did show up. (I had been afraid to see my old boyfriend. Not true; I didn't want him to see me!) He wasn't there. The surprising thing was that all the girls, okay, women, looked much the same. But the guys - I had a very hard time matching the faces I saw to the faces I remembered. We had a very good time and the picnic has turned into an annual event although not sure if we will get together in August. Not even half of the class members how up but the ones that do make for a lively afternoon.

    One reunion story of mine did not take place at my reunion but at my husband's. There was a man there who I recognized from many, many years ago when we went to Sunday school. He didn't seem to recognize me but when we were introduced and with my maiden name, the look on his face was priceless! He didn't say it but you know he was thinking 'what happened?' What he did say was "you were hot!" I had no idea.

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    1. Oh, I do hope your husband wrapped an arm around your shoulders and said, "Still is!"

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    2. I'm glad you found some old friends to gather with, Judi - and what a thing to say from that other guy. Agree with Gigi!

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  18. Congratulations, Wickeds! All three books sound like winners to me.

    I've only been to one high school reunion. Only two of my HS friends made it because they'd stayed in the area, but most of my besties were missing in action, so it was kind of a bust for me. If I could get together with the HS folks I still keep up with on Facebook, though, that would be awesome!

    Anecdotes? I love to catch snippets of conversation that are completely out of context, but I still haven't figured out how to use one I caught in passing back in college. Two guys in deep conversation walked past me, and all I heard was, "Not if it was a wooden leg."

    Then there was the kid who sat behind me on a flight to Kansas City. As we taxied for takeoff he started (and had to restart a couple of times) the familiar space launch countdown. "Ten . . . Nine . . . Eight . . ." When we finally lifted off, he announced, "Blastoff! For Jupiter!!!!" I've to to put a kid like that in a story somewhere.

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  19. Congratulations to all of you on the new releases. I am feeling a little stupid this morning, because up until now I had somehow missed that Edith, with whom I interact on this blog often, was Maddie Day in print. I won't forget now!

    I went to one of those earlier high school reunions and didn't enjoy it much -- for all the reasons people have mentioned. But we had a small, unofficial 30th and a somewhat more robust (but still modest) 40th because no one was willing to take on planning an extravaganza, and I really enjoyed those. Enough time had passed that cliques fell apart and there was a general fondness of anyone with shared history.

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    1. I'm happy you connected Maddie and me, Susan! It's the fondness of those with a shared history that draws me.

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    2. Susan, if you see this, you've won Francine Mathews' giveaway. email me at deb at deborahcrombie dot com and I'll hook you two up.

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  20. Three Wickeds, and three new series. Impressive! Barb, that is so true about senior communities, too. My mother lived in one for several years. Oh, the gossip.

    I've been to most of my reunions, and have convinced a couple classmates who'd never been to one to attend an event or two. Last year was our 50th, and I realized how tired I am of some of the same dynamics that have been going on for 55 years now. However, I've also made very good and surprising new connections with classmates I didn't know very well back in the day. It's fascinating to see the one who've made enormous changes from high school, and the ones who are still stuck in their teenage roles: slutty cheerleader, screw-up, sloppy drinker, clown, mean girl. And they all still hang around together, clinging to those roles. Susan, unfortunately, this is the group that has jealously guarded their role as reunion planners.

    The inspiration for my first book came from two things: a dinner meeting where I met local sewing professionals, and a conversation with a friend about her husband. At the meeting everyone stood up and gave a brief description of their business. I had not expected to hear 22 different specialties from 27 people. And then my friend said her husband loved what he was doing (institutional bond trading, of all things), because his "vocation and his avocation were the same thing". That idea of doing something you love doing, and making money from it, blew the doors open for me.

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    1. There you, Karen!

      I know that some of the high school classmates I've reconnected with on Facebook after many, many years surprised me with how they have changed, and most for the better (including one I thought was an airhead - she ended up with a masters degree and a productive career, and is now one of my biggest fans).

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    2. Isn't that lovely, to reconnect and reform a relationship?

      One of my classmates from first grade and I have formed a meaningful adult friendship that neither of us could have imagined sixty years ago. We are both so different from who we were then. She has turned out to be the one person I admire most from school.

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  21. Time is short. Crisis looms.. I feel like punning so "leave a comment? You will find it next to the napkin holder. (don't wince) Sorry Wicked Ladies. love you all and read you all. take care.

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    1. No worries, Coralee. All our best with the crisis!

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  22. Congratulations on all three of your new releases! My tenth high school reunion was wonderful - no sign of any of the cliques that were in high school. We all just talked to each other and got caught up. I remember that one of the girls that was always in competition with me (in her head, not in reality) had really mellowed, and we had a lovely visit. You just never know how the years will change someone!

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  23. I attended 3 different high schools due to Dad’s job transfer. I loved my Houston HS despite my class being 900+ students. Three semesters later I was at an all-girl public HS in Metairie, LA. I was there for one semester. I made some friends but school was the pits. Then for my senior year I attended a private co-ed school where my class was 60
    students. That was interesting. Students from money had been there since kindergarten and they ran everything. The rest of us had moved in from elsewhere and were there because the public schools were so poor. I have one friend from that time I’m still in contact with. We were both square pegs. I feel no connection at all to any of my high schools. I went to one reunion when we moved back to Houston. None of the people I used to hang out with were there so no more reunions!

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  24. Congratulations, Wickeds! I've had the pleasure of reading Edith/Maddie's NACHO AVERAGE MURDER (Thanks, Maddie!) and I really enjoyed the shift in the scenery, which doesn't seem to happen too often in cozies. (Although now I'm typing this, I'm reminded Lucy's THE KEY LIME CRIME is taking her gang to Scotland.)

    I'm looking forward to JANE DARROWFIELD, because Barb can't write a bad book if her life depended on it, and also to Liz/Cate's WITCH HUNT, because lord knows, we can all use more magic in our lives right now!

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    1. That is so true, Julia! Thank you!

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    2. Thanks, Julia. Glad you got some pleasure from a virtual trip to Santa Barbara!

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  25. Welcome to JRW, the Wickeds! Congratulations on all of your book birthdays on June 30th! Cat, I love stories about Witches. Barb, We were volunteering at the Senior Center and serving dinner when we noticed a table being surrounded by too many people! It looked like a clique to me and I hate that. Thought it was mean. Edith, I'm intrigued by "Nacho" in the title.

    Stay safe, everyone!

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    1. Thanks! I know you'll love Cate's book. Nacho Average Murder is a pun, of course - but the book takes place where nachos are a native food, nearly.

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    2. Love that Nacho Average Murder is a pun. I look forward to reading Cate's new series. I have a book blog and I have about 1 thousand followers on Instagram. I also have a bookshop account and I listed the new Quaker Midwife book in my Bookshop since I read an ARC.

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  26. Congratulations on the new books 📚💕
    I have never been to a HS reunion, but I am discovering how clickish or neighborhood HOA is.

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    1. Thanks so much. And I hear you - HOAs are the WORST....

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  27. Any visuals that stuck in my mind must have escaped, I honestly can't think of one. I attended my 5 and 10 year high school reunions. Nothing eventful, same cliques, same nasty girls. As the committee was prepping for 15, I received a call from Vicki. I explained that I wouldn't be attending. We were talking and all of a sudden she realized I shouldn't have been on her list of callees. When I asked whose list should I be on and she told me, my gut response was "well she never was nice to me and I'd rather talk with you." I haven't been back. (I'm wondering about Coralee's crisis. Pruning? Napkin holder? Translation?) Wicked Ladies? Nah, you all seem ever nice to me. Enjoy your launches next week.

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    1. Thanks so much, Deana. What a ... well, unfortunate phone call!

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  28. Congrats Edith, Barb, and Liz! Sounds like my summer reading is all set! Your books are just what I need at the moment. And Liz, I love books with magic, so am really looking forward to your new series.

    High school reunions! I just realized as I was reading the comments that this year is my 50th!!!!! I guess that shows how much I think about high school.... And as I actually didn't graduate, I probably shouldn't celebrate:-) I did go to my 14th reunion--1984, how clever. I was amazed even then by how much better the women looked compared to the men, who all seemed to have got fat and bald.

    I do keep up on FB with a couple of friends that I went all the way through school with, and just yesterday I discovered I had a message on my author FB page from my 9th grade English teacher. Now that was a real treat!!

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    1. Our HS class never had a reunion beyond the 10th since the Senior class President of our class committed suicide. He was a Black man engaged to the love of his life. She was pregnant when she died in a car accident and he decided to top himself. He had everything going for him - a full scholarship to an Ivy League, graduated with honors and a good career.

      So my High School Class probably will never have a Reunion. I stay in touch with friends from high school, although I doubt I will ever want to go to a Reunion.

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    2. Debs, I never realized we are the same age - you look so much younger than me! I hope you love our new books.

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    3. Edith, I don't look younger than you!! But, yes, I would have graduated in 1970. Shocking how long ago that seems, isn't it??? So looking forward to the books!

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    4. Thanks! Yes, very shocking. I actually didn't walk through graduation, since I'd hied off to southern Brazil in January to be an exchange student for a year (at a very young 17), but I did officially graduate.

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  29. I've never been to any of my class reunions. I moved out of state and haven't kept in touch with my classmates, so I never felt the need to go.

    Congratulations on your new releases! I'm looking forward to reading all three of the books. They all sound amazing!

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  30. I haven't been to any high school reunions, but have been to several college ones We're waiting to see if next year's 50th (how on earth could that be?!) will happen.
    There is a group of high school people who created a web page for keeping up. Seems like some people never (mentally) left our home town.
    For me college was much more significant and lasting. We went through so much together: Vietnam, music, trying to better the world, etc.

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  31. So excited to read these books, congratulations to the wonderful authors!
    I love fun anecdotes, I keep a list of interesting facts or ideas, plus I have a few funny stories of my own. Maybe some of them will make their way into a book someday.
    kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  32. This isn't an anecdote of my time in high school but when I was a freshman, I went with my dad when he was called to take photos of a big accident on the highway that runs through my town. He was a patrol officer but he also did a lot of extra jobs and one of them was doing the crime scene photos.

    I was out of the way of course, but I noted that when they were taking the body of one of the victims out of the wrecks, the firefighters were using pieces of plywood to hide the very charred body from the public eye. At 13 and not familiar with how things were done, when my dad came back to the car, I asked him why they were doing that. He told me the reason. But my reaction was not what he expected. I kind of semi-burst out laughing.

    I know, I'm horrible BUT I promise there was a good reason for the twisted reaction. I pointed over to the big pile of debris on the side of the road and said, "Dad, if they are making such a big deal out of hiding the body from prying eyes, don't you think they should've taken the guy's arm from the top of that debris pile?"

    My dad made a beeline for the people in charge shaking his head all the way that I was the one that noticed it.

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    1. I love it, Jay. You should definitely write that crime novel you have in mind...

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    2. Jay, I so look forward to reading your stories here on JRW. I am laughing.

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  33. Because I was The Shiest Girl (in the yearbook), and my mother didn't have good experiences with her reunions, I wasn't interested in my high school reunions. But a classmate who goes to our church got me to attend the 40th, 45th, and 50th. I enjoyed them. Everyone talked to me. Maybe it would have been different at the earlier ones. I think we were just all glad we made it. Also the shared memories that someone mentioned. Love your books. Stay safe and well.

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    1. "Glad we made it" - at this age, an important sentiment!

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  34. I’d love to read all 3 of these. Legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com

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  35. I just love cozy mystery book covers! These 3 look great! lindaherold999(at)gmail.com

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  36. Congratulations Barb, Edith/Maddie, and Liz/Cate! I'm excited to have three new mysteries to read. Thanks, too, for that little trip back to high school (lol). I love the description of a reunion feeling like being back in the cafeteria. I'm pretty sure I don't need to relive that experience!

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  37. My high school had a 100 year reunion for all classes. I had moved out of the country shortly after graduating and hadn't seen anyone from high school for over 10 years. When I went to the reunion, more people thought they recognized my husband, who had never even been in the town, than did me. The one teacher who recognized me, mistook me for my sister. Hmm, if I had committed murder would my sister have taken the fall?

    Congratulations Barb, Maddie and Cate. I'm always looking for new series to enjoy.

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  38. Congratulations Barb, Edith and Liz on your new books.

    I loved high school. Not because I was popular but because I was treated like a "normal," which I had not been in my grammar school in a different town. There was hardly anyone who bothered being mean to me, and that definitely had been a sport in my old hometown.

    Now, I am on the planning committee for reunions and our 55th will be put off until after the pandemic. There were 3 junior high schools that fed into our big high school. The people the planning committee are from all the JHS's. We were not close friends in HS and some of us didn't know one another.

    I am always shocked to see who comes and who doesn't come to the reunions. What I was surprised to find was how the emotions that I felt back then could come back to the surface so quickly, old friendships rekindled so easily.

    It is too bad that so many of you feel the way you do about high school but each of us experiences what we experience and no one else can tell you it was different. When guys come up to me to say they had a crush on me, or girls say, I always thought you were so...whatever, it is a surprise because each of them had his or her own reasons for being friends or making moves or not. We were kids.

    One of my best friends in the world became my friend in high school. Her daughter is my son Jonathan's best friend. That is my happy story.

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  39. I did enjoy the reunion I attended, catching up on life events, and taking note of the ones who didn't come back from Vietnam . . . the listing of names made war less an abstract evil. Organizers must have gotten tired, since there was no word of any past the 30th. More recently, a cousin arranged a large family reunion a year ago, which was great fun. It'd be nice to have large in-person gatherings again. Meanwhile, books! Thanks for new books to read while Safe At Home. <3

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