The Reds on Vacation

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Summer’s coming very early this year with Memorial Day on May 24, yikes! I think we’re all feeling a little worn down and overworked by the long winter. We wanted to give you a little notice about a change in our summer schedule here at the Reds. Get out your flip flops and back your bags--the Reds are taking a summer vacation!  We won't go far and we'll still chat every week, but our summer schedule will be a little different as we all write our books and teach our classes and generally catch up. Maybe even go on vacation! Starting next week, May 25, we’ll have a group chat on Mondays and a writer’s choice on Thursdays. We won’t schedule guests this summer either—they get a vacation too:). We know some of you will be disappointed and will miss reading the blog every day–but, we haven’t taken a break in 15 years! (In other words, we’ve saved up our vacation days and decided now’s the time to use them.:). So what will we be doing?

Reds, I am determined to finish The Paris Recipe by June, before I have to get started on Key West #17. After that, we’ve planned a week getaway in Maine with a bunch of grandchildren and other relatives. And after that, maybe stay home and enjoy the summer in Connecticut. What are your plans for the summer?

RHYS BOWEN: as you can imagine I’m taking baby steps forward into a new stage of life. Living alone is something I have never done before. From college dorm to sharing with friends to marriage. So it will feel strange. Being able to do what I want without consulting someone else. So I’m flying down to grandson’s graduation this weekend. I plan to join Clare and co in San Diego, join Dominic either in Canada or San Juan islands and go to England in September   Oh, and finish a book I’ve put on hold and do all the publicity for this summer’s release. 

HALLIE EPHRON: Change is good!

I’ve got a flurry of teaching gigs in the next three months, including the Book Passage bookstore’s annual Mystery Writing Conference https://www.bookpassage.com/mystery. Rhys will be there, too! Also Elizabeth George and Lisa Scottoline and Rachel Howzell Hall…

I’ll be giving a talk for the Grand Canyon Sisters in Crime. Teaching my two-week mystery-writing class for SinC Guppies. Giving several workshops for the annual fabulous Surrey International Writing Conference in October. 

All of these are on my web site at http://hallieephron.com with links. 

Beyond that, my fall to-do list is topped by: Decide what I should do next. I have the start of a novel and some other projects noodling around. A lot of unanswered questions. Very much at a crossroads.

JENN McKINLAY: I’m chiming in from Spain! I’m  visiting the set where they’re shooting the adaptation of my novel PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA which will air on Hallmark Plus in July! Thrilling!

This summer will spent traveling a lot - a visit to CT for a book event at the Cragin Library in Colchester on June 12th, a trip to the Nova Scotia cottage at some point, and possibly a week in San Diego. I’m tired just thinking about it. Oh, and I suppose I have to start writing something again. Hmm…what will it be? 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My summer starts with a bang as Youngest brings the Very Tall Dutchman home for two weeks in June to met the family! I’ve cleared off my calendar so we can show him some typical Maine delights - a Sea Dogs baseball game, eating at a lobster shack, hiking in Acadia and visiting a Super Wal-Mart. Yes, that last was among the American experiences he wants to explore.

I’ll be working on a book, about which I can say no more at the moment, and I’m planning to devote much more of my time to my garden/grounds, since I’ve let everything go to wrack and ruin in the past few years. I’m planning a couple of stays at Old Orchard Beach, and rounding out the summer with the wedding of the daughter of dear friends.

When you live in Maine, you don’t travel in the summer, because HERE is where everyone wishes they could be!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: My 2027 book is due September 1. My 2026 book will be published on September 1. You do the math about what I will be doing this summer!  And into the fall.

It’s all very exciting, and quite wonderful, and there is absolutely no way I can take a work-free vacation. Happily, luckily, we have a lovely back yard with flowers everywhere and  a pool, and sitting outside and being in the lovely (we hope) weather is always so satisfying.

(I just got back from a whirlwind–Teaching at the MIT Weekend Writing Seminar, teaching the International Thriller Writers 8-hour Master Class (!), and a CraftFest Class and so much more. I was the featured speaker at Crime Conn and and and…well, my schedule is packed as you can see here hankphillippiryan.com/events ! )

And Rhys, we are thinking of you every day.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: This summer I will be doing all the edits for my book, A LONG COLD SLEEP, which apparently now has an April ‘27 release.  And then I’m hoping to have my long-overdue knee replacement, which I’ve been putting off for at least five years because I was trying to finish books. After that, I can start planning for trips. It will be three years in July since I’ve been to London and I am desperate for a visit!

Red readers, what are your summer plans??