Aunt Agatha's Robin Agnew — and a Day in the Life of the Kerrytown BookFest

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Today I'm delighted to introduce Robin Agnew and Jamie Agnew of Aunt Agatha's New and Used Mysteries, Detection, & True Crime, an absolutely wonderful bookshop (not to mention the 2014 Raven Award winner) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was privileged to meet Robin and Jamie at the KerryTown Book Festival this past fall, an annual gathering of book aficionados, which Robin plans and runs in her role as president.

As an author speaking on a panel and signing with fellow authors and meeting readers, everything at the KerryTown Book Fest was absolutely perfect. Only Robin and Jamie know what really goes on behind the scenes to make such a large and complex (not to mention fun!) event run so smoothly, and I thought it would be interesting to peek behind the scenes with Robin — take it away!

ROBIN AGNEW: Along with running Aunt Agatha’s, I have been involved in running and planning Ann Arbor’s annual Kerrytown BookFest, since 2004.  Through the years of the bookfest I have served as “author wrangler” (my original job), secretary, operations chair, vice president, and I have now served as president for the past couple of years.  

As we are a small, hands on board, and we share duties including obtaining permits from the city, renting equipment, finding a hotel with available rooms during busy football weekends, PR, fundraising, grant writing, finding volunteers, signing up 100 or so vendors each year, poster commission and distribution, programming, set up, tear down, and making sure all parties involved are pleased.  Authors, exhibitors, bookfest visitors - we want everyone to have a great day.

Luckily, a capable board means that while I am part of the discussion of all these things I am not part of the nuts and bolts for all of them.  My central focus is on author programming.  Each year I start with a “seed” – an author I’ve spoken with or met, often at a book signing at the store or at a conference – and from there, the planning begins to grow organically.

Last year my “seed” author was Simone St. James.  I had moderated a panel with her at Bouchercon and was delighted by her.   We actually had two seeds last year, as the year before we had hoped to book Chris Raschka, a two time Caldecott medalist with ties to Ann Arbor, and he was unavailable.  In 2014 he was available so our marquis panel became a panel with 3 Caldecott medalists - Chris, Brian Floca, who won in 2014; and Erin Stead and her husband, Philip.  Erin won in 2011.  

Moderating is tricky, as tricky, I’ve discovered, as the rest of the panel.  For this one I turned to Debbie Diesen, author of the “Pout Pout Fish” books, and asked her.  She’s presented at many of our bookfests in our Children’s area, she’s adorable, and she said yes right away.

And what of Simone’s panel?  I asked her at Bouchercon and she agreed, and then it took a couple more months to hear back as she figured out her schedule.  Meanwhile, I went to the board and said I *really* wanted Susan Elia MacNeal.

Who else?  I asked Tasha Alexander, who lives in Chicago, is beloved by readers, and who has been to he bookfest and the store many times.   She said yes.  And then I read The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig and loved it so much I asked her.  She said yes in an eyeblink and was possibly the lowest maintenance author of the entire day.  

Who to moderate?  I wanted Anna Lee Huber, who lives close-ish, but knew she had a baby on the way.  To my surprise she also agreed and one of the joys of bookfest last year was that many of these women, while fans of each other’s, hadn’t met.  

OK, easy panel out of the way.  What next?  I often do a  

“guy” and a “girl” panel as far as mysteries go (sexist but true) and  the basis for the guy panel was Michael Harvey.  He’d been to the store  and I was so entranced by him I asked him on the spot.  He agreed and I built the panel around him, which eventually included Edgar winner Theresa Schwegel; newbie and local author Elizabeth Heiter, and frequent bookfest speaker and buddy, Loren D. Estleman.  I asked an old friend and mystery fan to moderate and he was on board immediately.  He couldn’t believe all those writers were going to be in the same place, and I have to say, that’s my programming goal in general. So mystery panels set.  

What else?  We often use the Michigan Notable Book Winners list as a template and one of the first people off the list all of us wanted was Matt Phelan, whose book, Bluffton. was a Notable winner.  We built a graphic novel panel around him, eventually including Jim Ottaviani, Dave Coverly of Speedbump fame (Dave and Jim are both local and had been with us before). At the last minute I substituted in Matt Faulkner when another author had to cancel.  As it happened, I had heard Matt on NPR talking about his book Gaijin: American Prisoner of War, and had dreamed of booking him.

Moderator? Knowing he was a comic book geek,  I asked local NPR talent Michael Jewett. Luckily I know his wife, a former bookseller and a mystery fan - she made him agree, and he was fabulous.

The rest of the festival - ten panels, a children’s area, and a book arts specific area - are programmed in a similar way, using the expertise and connections of my fellow programmers; Lynn Riehl, an events coordinator at a large independent bookstore in town (Nicola’s) and my buddy. PR maven Bill Castanier, who has connections all over the state.

Each of us get wild hairs, are approached by authors we know with ARCs, run into people at parties or conferences, and before we know it we’ve programmed the day.  I was happy to include newbie mystery author Sam Thomas as a moderator on an historical biography panel, for example.  Another example: having drinks with Tim O’Mara after the Edgars in May, he suggested being a “writer in residence” at the store for the day.  We transferred his idea to the bookfest and Tim was booked all day talking to would be writers.

The day of the festival (this coming year September 13, 2015) we welcome about 4,000 visitors with our panels being vigorously attended.  For me the day passes in a flash as I run around trying to make sure everything goes smoothly, along with selling books.  Thankfully we divide bookselling duties - several stores share out the panels.

Then I go home exhausted at the end of the day and somehow, start to think about the next year.  This coming year my “seed” is Denise Swanson.  Tune in and see who joins her!

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Robin, thank you so much for giving us a look backstage! What else can you tell us about the 2015 KerryTown Book Fest? 

Readers, have you ever been to a book festival? Are you surprised by how much work goes on behind the scenes to pull such a complicated event off? Please let us know in the comments!

Aunt Agatha’s

213 South Fourth Avenue

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

734.769.1114

Hours of Business:

Monday - Thursday 11-7

Friday & Saturday 11-8

Sunday 12-5

store@auntagathas.com

The Lure of the Masquerade, a guest post by Tasha Alexander

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I have long suspected that writers of historical fiction must not-so-secretly long to live in other ages. Not really-real historical times -- who wants to be without modern dentistry, antibiotics and washing machines? But the past that lives in our imagination and in our senses. Folks go to Renaissance Faires, join the Society for Creative Anachronism, reenact Civil and Revolutionary wars, attend steampunk conventions. Most of all? Young or old, they celebrate Hallowe'en.What's the common thread?

That's right. They get to dress up. Wear costumes. Pretend to be someone else.

Nobody knows this better than Tasha Alexander, whose much-loved Lady Emily series gives us all the chance to live a far-flung, romantic, exciting and mystery-filled 19th century life (while still listening to music on our ipods while we read.) Here's the description of her latest, THE COUNTERFEIT HEIRESS:

After an odd encounter at a grand masquerade ball, Emily becomes embroiled in the murder investigation of one of the guests, a sometime actress trying to pass herself off as the mysterious heiress and world traveler Estella Lamar. Each small discovery, however, leads to more questions.  Was the intended victim Miss Lamar or the imposter?  And who would want either of them dead?  

As Emily and Colin try to make sense of all this, a larger puzzle begins to emerge:  No one has actually seen Estella Lamar in years, as her only contact has been through letters and the occasional blurry news photograph. Is she even alive?  Emily and Colin’s investigation of this double mystery takes them from London to Paris, where, along with their friends Cécile and Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge they must scour the darkest corners of the city in search of the truth.

How does Tasha feel about being an historical author? Well, for her, every day gets to be Hallowe'en!

Few holidays offer the guilt-free indulgences of Halloween. There’s nothing to cook, no presents to buy, no family drama to anticipate. Instead, we can choose to dress up in whatever costume strikes our fancy—silly, serious, sexy, scary—and give and get candy in all but unlimited amounts. What’s not to like, particularly when you consider the fact that no one is going to pressure you to involve yourself in Halloween if you’re not interested? It would not be so easy to forgo Thanksgiving.

For me, costumes have always been the most appealing part of Halloween, partly because I can take or leave candy. If Trick or Treating involved getting something spicy instead of something sweet, I might revise my position just a bit, but the real reason the costumes matter the most to me is because they remind me of reading. Sounds crazy, right?

From the time I was a little girl, I felt as if I had been born in the wrong century. I wanted to be a pioneer, setting off in a covered wagon, ready to find the perfect homestead in the west. Or Cleopatra, who never needed a translator when dealing with foreign emissaries because she was fluent in seven languages. 

Or an ancient Athenian, listening to Socrates in the Agora (yes, that one only works so long as you willfully ignore the fact that girls in ancient Athens weren’t hanging out in the Agora; I have no trouble doing that). Or Scarlett O’Hara, deciding who could bring her dessert (but you know now that if I were Scarlett, she’s be looking for more barbeque and less dessert). 

 

As it is all but impossible to do any of the above in real life, I lived out these fantasies through reading. Books let you enter another time and place, and let you to feel what it would have been like to be someone else. Is there anything better than the sensation that the world around you is disappearing and being replaced by another one, first with words and then with the vivid details your mind fills in as you read page after page after page?

Of course, you don’t ever actually get to BE the characters in books, which can be something of a drag. As I teenager, I would have gladly switched places with Elizabeth Bennett, but on the other hand, I never felt the urge to join Ishmael on the Pequod. Still, a holiday like Halloween gives us the opportunity to don the togs of our favorites. So tell me, what would be your ideal literary costume for October 31?

One lucky commentor will win a copy of THE COUNTERFEIT HEIRESS!

You can find out more about Tasha, and read excerpts of her Lady Emily novels, at her website. You can also friend her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter as @talexander.

Keeper cookbooks in the age of the Google cooking school?

HALLIE EPHRON: A few weeks ago, I opened the cabinet where I keep my cookbooks and several of them fell out on my head -- nature's tactful way of telling me I had too many crammed in there. 

And why am I keeping them, anyway, because most recipes I need are out on the Internet along with endlessly entertaining reader reviews (about how this person left out the salt or sugar or cilantro, that person substituted kale for onions, or used organic almond milk instead of cream, and it came out great.)

I decided it was time to cull. These are some of what I kept, and you can see from their battered state they have been well used, their pages spattered and margins scribbled in:

• The Joy of Cooking (so well used that half of the index is missing and I had to re-cover it)
• Three cookbooks by Michael Fields, including The Michael Fields Cooking school which has a grilled, butterflied leg of lamb with egg lemon sauce to die for
• Several of Mollie Katzen's, including Moosewoods and Enchanted Broccolli Forest
• My mother's 2-volume massive set of Gourmet Cookbooks, not because I use them but because they were hers
• Several New York Times cookbooks by Craig Claiborne
• Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
• My booklet of Bisquick recipes that I sent away for in '75

I lugged two big bags of cookbooks to the library, and then posted the question to Facebook: What are your keeper cookbooks? Among the 70+ comments, here titles that rose to the top...

• #1: The Joy of Cooking (some mentioned the 70s edition specifically)
• Runner up: The Betty Crocker Cookbook ("that my mother/grandmother gave me when I was 18"... )
• Assorted cookbooks by Julia Child, especially Mastering the Art and Baking with Julia
• Assorted New York Times cookbooks by Craig Claiborne
• Fanny Farmer, of course
• Better Homes and Gardens ("with the red plaid cover," "for the chili, old-time beef stew, and shortbread cookie recipes")
• The Good Housekeeping Cookbook
• The Silver Palate
• Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet
• Barefoot Contessa/Ina Garten cookbooks
• Nigella Lawson cookbooks

• Cooks Illustrated

Commenters mentioned more than 50 other books. Here are just a few that tickled me:

• The Mystery Chef's Own Cookbook
• Old West Baking Book by Lon Walters, 1996 ("interesting comments on chuck wagon cooking")
• The Star Wars Cook Books I & II ("simple recipes with a new twist, great for getting boys to help with cooking")
• New Karo [syrup] All American Cook Book," "The Special Collection" featuring Post cereal
• Weight Watchers
• The Hungry Girl cookbooks
• The Elvis cookbook "Are You Hungry Tonight?"
• The LooneySpoon Collection by Janet and Greta Podleski

Plus a there were some priceless comments from authors (including Lucy Burdette saying she's not giving up a single cookbook and I can't make her):

Tasha Alexander chimed in with: "I don't think anything could make me cull cookbooks. Favorites: Julia Child Mastering the Art v.1, The Pasta Book (Williams Sonoma), A Mediterranean Feast, David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop and his Ready for Dessert, Joy of Cooking, Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday, Betty Crocker, Classical Turkish Cooking, Memories of a Cuban Kitchen, The Flavor of France, A Taste of Madras... I'm completely out of control."
Tasha adds, on cookbooks with Mom's notes in the margins: "Cookbook marginalia is essential!"

And this list of cookbooks and a tasty memory comes from author William Martin: "Silver Palate. Definitely. Craig Claiborne's NYTimes cookbook. And The Grand Central Oyster Bar Cookbook, published in 1977, the year of my first trip to NYC to talk to an editor, who gave me a copy of the book as I was leaving. I still have the book and use it whenever I buy a piece of fish. An easy and excellent recipe for bouillabaise. Oh... and he published my first novel."

So, gentle Reds, what are your keeper cookbooks? New ones? Old ones? Which have earned their keep on your shelf??

Comfort Reads for Uncomfortable Times: a guest blog by Tasha Alexander

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm logging in from my local library to post this, since I (as well as several other east-coast Reds) am still without power. Fortunately, I don't have to write anything clever; our friend Tasha Alexander volunteered to take on blogging duties today. 

I know Tasha is one of the Reds communities favorite authors. Her Victorian-era Lady Emily novels brings together wicked mysteries and heart-stirring romance in stunning locations like Vienna, Constantinople and Venice. The latest in the series, Death in the Floating City, was a New York Times bestseller. 

Since Tasha and her dashingly handsome husband Andrew Grant live in Chicago and the UK, we're usually the ones consoling her for lousy weather. (If you've ever taken a cross-country flight in the US, you know about Chicago's tumultuous climate.) She knows about the stresses and strains we all come under - and has a wonderful suggestion for easing them.

The pounding given to the East Coast by Hurricane Sandy has put me to thinking about comfort and those things we do when we need it. Most of us are fortunate enough to be assured of basic material comforts--food, shelter, clothing. But that does not mean we don't face challenges, disappointments, and a variety of seemingly unending stresses, and we all need means to cope with them.

Last year when I was here, I talked about books I wished I could read again for the first time. This year, I'm considering those dog-eared volumes that, like the most loyal and steadfast friends, stand by us through every difficulty. I have many, many comfort reads. First come the old favorites. The really old favorites. On the Banks of Plum Creek and These Happy Golden Years from Laura Ingalls Wilder's wonderful Little House series got me through those horrible pre-teen years when I spent most of my time at school dances crying in the bathroom. It probably speaks badly of me, but I took great joy in reading about Nellie Oleson dancing around the creek bank with leeches stuck all over her legs.

As I got older, Gone With the Wind became a favorite. I would get to the end of my enormous hardcover edition (a tenth birthday present) and turn straight back to page one. Until, that is, Scarlett's story was eclipsed for me by Pride and Prejudice.

Sometimes, when I'm stressed, I need a giant heap of books that I can tear through, one after another, to fill loads and loads of time. Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series could not be better for this. Amelia's wit and intelligence can divert my attention from almost anything.

Then there are the times when what I really want is something more ethereal. That's when I go back to Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and escape into a bizarre world that is at once magical and disturbing. Not to mention written in some of the most beautiful sentences ever.

Interestingly enough, what I don't turn to for comfort is the book I consider to be my absolute favorite, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Maybe that's because I don't want it tainted by whatever is causing me stress. Maybe it's because I want to keep it separate. I'm not sure. But I am sure about the one book that, no matter what, never ever lets me down when I'm in need. I think we all have a book like this--the one you can never tire of reading, the best dependable friend. For me, that's Pride and Prejudice. What's yours?

Let us know your comfort read, and one luck commenter will receive a signed hardcover of the newest Lady Emily mystery, Death in the Floating City!

You can find out more about New York Times bestselling author Tasha Alexander and read excerpts of her books at her website. You can follow her on Twitter as @talexander, friend her on Facebook, and see some of the actual locations in her novels on Flickr.

Tasha Alexander

JAN BROGAN: We are lucky today to have Tasha Alexander here at Jungle Red to dish on what is let's face it, our favorite topic:

Books and why we love 'em.

Tasha is known for her witty dialogue, period detail , attention to historical detail and her ability to keep readers on the edge of their seats with her romantic suspense. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She and her husband, novelist Andrew Grant, divide their time between Chicago and the UK.

Her latest, A Crimson Warning, has just arrived at book stores. This novel brings her popular protagonist Lady Emily Hargreaves back to high society in Victorian England, where she will join the Women's Liberal Federation in the early campaign to win the vote for women while she must uncover the identity of a vandal who is threatening to reveal scandalous secrets.

TASHA ALEXANDER: If You Had it All to Read Over...

There’s nothing more magical than when you realize you’re reading one of Those Books. One you know you won’t be able to put down, one you know you’ll never forget, one your friends will grow tired of being told they have to read. And one you know that you’ll never be able to read in the same way again.

Books change. At least I think they do. As the always-brilliant David Mitchell says in Number 9 Dream, “A book you finish reading is not the same book it was before you read it.” This is why there are some books that languish on my shelves for long periods of time while I Pleasure Delay. Just knowing the new (ok, not-so-new-anymore) Michael Cunningham is sitting there, waiting for me, makes me happy. Once I read the not-so-new-anymore Michael Cunningham, it may or may not prove to be one of Those Books, but regardless, it will have changed.

And if I read it again, it will change even more.

When I was ten years old, I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I loved it, but was utterly flummoxed when Lizzy turned down Darcy’s first proposal. A BOY LIKED HER! Did she not understand this rare and mysterious event might never happen again? Sure, he was a little difficult, but he had some qualities (Pemberley) that deserved careful consideration of their own. Lizzy’s decision baffled me. I was filled with relief when she did agree to marry him, and as soon as I’d finished the book, I set to work making paper dolls of all the primary characters. My Lizzy never turned down my Darcy.

Since then, I’ve reread Pride and Prejudice more times than I can count. It’s the Comfort Book equivalent of macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes. But as I got older, the way I evaluated the story changed. In college, I rejoiced when Lizzy turned down that arrogant, pretentious twit, Darcy. High time he got what was coming to him. Later, I came to see that neither Lizzy nor Darcy was without significant flaws, and I could understand both of their positions. My emotional reaction to the book altered as my own circumstances and experiences formed the way I think.

is probably why, now, I give such careful thought to when I read certain books. But it’s impossible to always pick the right time to read the right book. That’s part of what makes finding Those Books so utterly and completely delightful. You can’t plan it, and you can’t ever have quite the same experience with even the same book again, which is a bittersweet fact that stings me every single time I realize I’ve found one of Those Books. I can read them again and again, but it will never be quite the same as that first time, when the story and the writing took me by surprise and enchanted me.

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is a masterpiece, one that blew me away when I read it like nothing else had in years. The writing is so gorgeous I get chills just thinking about it:

A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.

…she has to lose her pre-Copernican view of a universe revolving around herself.

Books don’t offer real escape, but they can stop a mind from scratching itself raw.

Lying’s wrong, but when the world spins backwards, a small wrong may be a big right.

I’ve gone back to Cloud Atlas a couple of times, and loved it differently after each read. But, boy, how I wish I could fall in love with it all over again. Which brings me to my question for you: What one book would you like to read again for the first time? I have a sneaking suspicion your answers are going to make my To Be Read Pile grow to untenable proportion...

For more on Tasha, check out her website at www.tashaalexander.com

Tasha Alexander, Not at all Dangerous to Know!

RHYS: It's funny in our profession how every now and then we come across an alter ego. It happened to me when I first met Jacqueline Winspear. We clicked instantly and had so much in common.
And more recently it's Tasha Alexander, writer of the Lady Emily Ashton novels of suspense. I was first attracted to her books by their gorgeous covers. I'm always skeptical of English historical novels written by Americans but she has a great feel for Victorian England and I was hooked.
Then her books started showing up next to mine on Amazon. You know--people who bought your book also bought.... one by Tasha Alexander.
We met last week at the Bouchercon mystery convention and Tasha was still in that newlywed glow, after her recent wedding to fellow novelist Andrew Grant.
And yes, she really is that gorgeous. It would be easy to hate her but she's also SO NICE!

So welcome to Jungle Red, Tasha. You're a girl from the Mid West, so what drew you to Victorian England?

TASHA; I've been a confirmed Anglophile from an early age. When I was ten, I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and was a little worried about Lizzie when she turned down Mr. Collins's proposal. At the time, I couldn't imagine ANY boy ever liking me, EVEN someone as awful as Mr. Collins, and figured it would probably be the same for Lizzie. As far as I was concerned, she was taking quite a risk hoping for a second chance. Needless to say, I was relieved when it all worked out with Darcy, and celebrated by making paper dolls of all the characters. My paper Lizzie was not kind to my paper Mr. Collins. From then on, I read everything I could get my hands on that was set in England. As I got older, I became more interested in the social history of the Victorian period, particularly the latter part of it. I've always been drawn to its strong women who struggled against social mores and repression to live vibrant, fascinating lives.

RHYS; How did you get a feel for the lifestyle of the British aristocracy?

TASHA;I read a lot: histories, diaries, memoirs, letters. Some of the memoirs published by vanity presses are especially wonderful insights into the period and the people. Just the fact that so many "Great Women" (and men) felt the need to see in print the tales of their experiences is extremely telling. There was certainly was no lack of ego amongst the aristocracy. Also, because I spend loads of time in the UK, I visit houses, which helps give me a concrete sense of how these people lived. Chatsworth is one of my favorites, but there's no shortage of great country estates. Unfortunately, many of best London townhouses were torn down, but there are still some (Spencer House springs to mind) to see.

RHYS:Lady Emily Ashton? In what ways is she like you? Does she lead the life you'd like to read?

TASHA: When I started, I set out to write the book I wanted to read. Emily's like me in some superficial ways--it would be no fun to write about someone who likes things I hate, after all. I've always been fascinated by Classical art and antiquities, love to read, love to travel, and wouldn't object to a nice glass of port. There's lots about her life I envy. I certainly would have no issue having an enormous fortune irrevocably settled upon me, and I'd love to have a house in Mayfair. But Emily is much more impulsive than I am. And I was never married to a viscount....

RHYS:Tell us a little about the new title, Dangerous to Know.

TASHA: Emily has come to the lush Norman countryside in search of respite. Instead, she finds a brutally murdered woman, a ghostly child, and a family being destroyed by hereditary madness. Not to mention a disapproving mother-in-law. Most importantly, however, this book continues developing her character. When I started writing, I wanted to tell the story of a young lady in a repressive time period who found her way to independence. And I wanted to do this in an historically appropriate way. In the first book in the series, Emily underwent an intellectual awakening that led her to start to question her role in society. Over the course of the following books, she branches out more, seeing a world beyond the sheltered, aristocratic one in which she grew up, and has to reconcile her own intellectual and emotional growth with her place in the world.

RHYS: Tasha, I can't let you go without asking you about your recent marriage. How did you meet Andrew? How much time do you plan to spend in England? What do you like about UK better than US and the other way around?

TASHA:We met at Bouchercon in Baltimore. I saw this tall, handsome guy leaning against the bar, and couldn't resist introducing myself. We clicked immediately. By the end of the weekend (most of which we spent sitting on a couch and talking in the hotel lobby until the sun came up), we were already (half) joking about him moving to Chicago. We now spend about a third of our time in England and are constantly diverted by new differences we find between the two countries. I've been converted to craving scampi and chips, am addicted to Boots hand cream, and carry more Fortnum and Mason tea in my suitcase than is probably decent (have to keep my US supplies up!). The wonderful thing about having a foot in each culture is gaining new appreciation for them both--the drawback is it's much more difficult to romanticize either place. That said, Andrew playing Heathcliff and stalking across the moors is a sight to behold.

RHYS: We wish you both a lifetime of happiness and good books! So thank you for visiting us today and the best of luck with Dangerous to Know!

(It is spooky that I have always loved Pride and Prejudice (my hero is called Darcy, after all) and also used to make paper dolls to act things out. And I also come back from England with a suitcase full of tea. If this were a soap opera, you'd be my long lost young sister..or the child I never remembered having!)

Tasha's website is www.tashaalexander.com