Summer: A Few of my Favorite Things @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Wow, it's been one crazy season since May, rocketing from family to food to friends to family. Here are a few of my favorite things so far--and then I'd love to hear about yours!

1. Old friends are the best friends! Is there anything better than reconnecting with people who knew you a million years ago and still love you in spite of your quirks? Nancy Parent was my absolute best pal in high school--we shared lovesick yearnings and terrible poetry. I met up with Yvonne and Wendy at Motown the Musical to reprise goofiness from grad school days....






2.  Writing pals are the gravy with my biscuits. So happy to share a booksigning with Barbara Ross and Liz Mugavero, and to help celebrate Hallie's new book You'll Never Know, Dear with Hank...

3. The garden has been amazing this summer (thanks to John, who is winning the battle of the woodchucks and weeding like a champion!) Here's our best crop so far....

4. I've been cooking a lot of Cuban food to go along with my Key West food critic mystery #8, coming next summer. Here's the best thing I've made: Mojito cake, flavored with rum, lime, and mint...recipe to follow later...

5. Best silly moment: With our favorite babies in residence, there has been plenty of silliness. I thought the first picture might capture my favorite (with great-nephew Lewis), but then our son Andrew showed me the wonders of Snapchat...

6.  Best Sport of the season: When I mentioned to John that we were attending a pirate-themed wedding and that I'd ordered him a costume, he didn't bat an eyelash. "Argggg!" he said. (As his sister suggested, maybe too much time in Key West has sent him over to the dark side...)

7. Best Innovative Work-around: Can there be anything more fun than watching a baby figure things out that we take for granted? Dorothea is the poster child for diving in if you really want something. We could all use a little of her gumption! 

How's your summer going so far? Tell us a highlight!

The Scoop!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The week between Christmas and New Years! When we think: “Where did the time go?” And “Next year I’ll do my holiday cards on time, with labels.” And “I should join the gym.”

We also look ahead with delight and wonder and anticipation—anything is possible! 

So what are the Reds up to?

I am about to type the two scariest words in the English language: CHAPTER ONE.  (Chapter one of the next Jane and Jake thriller, Forge 2015! which I think will be titled WHAT YOU SEE.) (“Chapter One” is about all I have right now. Hmm.)

TRUTH BE TOLD is on its way to the galley-makers, hurray. It’ll be out in September 2014, hurray. (When it comes to money, it can be hard to recognize the bad guys.) (Or something like that.)  

THE WRONG GIRL is going gangbusters, on several Best of 2013 lists, hurray, a multiple-week Boston Globe bestseller, hurray, and a Reviewer’s nominee for Best Suspense Thriller. Hurray.

And Mary Higgins Clark award winner THE OTHER WOMAN is out in paperback!

And will I see you at SLEUTHFEST? I'm a featured guest, with Ace Atkins and Laura Lippman! (Nice!) How about you, Reds?

RHYS BOWEN: I'm excited about this year as I have two really fun books coming out--CITY OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT, the 13th Molly Murphy book, is published in March with more fanfare than usual... maybe because it takes place in the art world of Paris! I'll be signing around the country and doing events also with Cara Black, whose new Aimee Leduc book comes out at the same time. so we can talk about Paris then and now.

And in August the new Royal Spyness book comes out: it is called QUEEN OF HEARTS and it takes Georgie on a transatlantic liner and finally to 1930s Hollywood. Palm trees, movie stars...and murder.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I have another Molly e-story coming out on January 7th. It's called “Through the Window.”

Have a wonderful holiday!

 HALLIE EPHRON: Rhys, as always I am in awe. I am (really I am!) finishing the book that I'm calling NIGHT NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT. Figuring out the ending. And if all goes well it will (YES!) be out next year. Can I say it's a historical in an exotic setting: 1965 and 1985, Beverly Hills, in the shadow of the movie business.

 In the meanwhile, THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN is just out in paperback. It's on sale at Hudson News, so if anyone sees it in an airport would you email me a picture? 

 And it just made Sarah Weinman's list of the year's 10 best crime fiction! http://offonatangent.tumblr.com/post/70697707034/favorite-crime-fiction-of-2013.

  LUCY BURDETTE: First, hooray for Hallie on making that top ten list--that was a wonderful book and I can't wait to read about Hollywood. Rhys's books sound delightful too!

I have two books slated for 2014 also, though saying that in print makes my eyes twitch and my neck harden to concrete. (You would twitch too if you knew what page I was on, and when the draft was due, LOL.) That said, SEASON'S GRIEVINGS will be out next December.

But I'm so, so, so excited about my February book, MURDER WITH GANACHE. It's got Hemingway cats, and cupcakes, and wedding drama, and family angst...and a murder of course. But to me it's about finding and embracing family in whatever shape they come...

 

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Congrats, Hallie!

Next year, the fourth book in the Maggie Hope series will be released in the summer — called The Prime Minister's Secret Agent. It's set in Edinburgh, Arisaig, London, Washington, and Pearl Harbor. 

And I'm thrilled to be researching and writing the fifth in the series — the working title is The First Lady's Confidante.

 DEBORAH CROMBIE: The trade paperback of THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS comes out in late February.  And in late March, Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid #16, TO DWELL IN DARKNESS!

So I can sort of say I have two books out in 2014:-) (Unlike Rhys, who really does!) I'm very excited about the new book. 

 And I think I will have some other very fun news but I'm not announcing it until it's official, sometime after the first of the year.  So that's my teaser!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: As usual, the rest of you make me look like a slacker. I'm not sure when the trade paper edition of THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS will be released - it probably depends in part on when I finish my work-in-progress, HID FROM OUR EYES. My publisher's goal is for me to finish it by February. My goal is to finish it before 2015. Hopefully, I'll be able to split the difference. 

I've got a couple of very exciting events to look forward to in 2014: in February, I'm going to be the guest of honor, with Robert Dugoni, at MURDER IN THE MAGIC CITY. Then in April, I'll be teaching and speaking at Calvin College's FESTIVAL OF FAITH AND WRITING. 

In the meantime, I'm going to go crazy wondering what Deb's news is. Deb, can't you let us know? Your sister bloggers? Darn it.  

 

HANK: Debs!  DETAILS!  And wow, a terrific year for Jungle Red—and we hope, for you, too. Thank you thank you thank you for everything...What are you up to?