Ed Lynskey's Books Newsletter Announcement

I put out my first newsletter this April on my 14 books with more fiction titles in the pipeline. It's getting a little whacky for me trying to keep up with them all. I'm writing a cozy mystery series along with an on-going hardboiled private eye series. I'm also writing stand alone crime novels, not to forget my short story collections. I've also been putting out my backlist as I can get my rights back for the titles.

I plan to offer my valued newsletter subscribers links to my latest short stories published online to read for free. Sometimes I'll ask for your opinion on which protagonist name of several I should pick to use in my work-in-progress.

My next books newsletter will be sent out in late September. If you'd like to receive my books newsletter, just send me your email address, and I'll happily add you to the subscriber list. I've posted this blog announcement previously and will again a couple of times throughout the rest of the year.

You can contact me offline at: e_lynskey@yahoo.com.

Thank you and happy reading.

Ed Lynskey
Author of Pelham Fell Here, The Cashmere Shroud, and Blood Diamonds

RIP: Seamus Heaney

Digging
by Seamus Heaney

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

The opening two lines to Seamus Heaney's best known poem "Digging" delivers its punch. Mr. Heaney passed away on August 30th in Dublin, Ireland. It saddens me when a major poet leaves us, but I'm heartened by the body of work he or she left behind for us to read and enjoy. I hope he is in a better place, as they say.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House

We recently toured the Pope-Leighey House designed by the famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and now preserved by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is located on the property of the Woodlawn Plantation across Mount Vernon in Alexandria, Virginia. The Wikipedia entry can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope-Lei.... I've never seen a Wright creation before this tour. The style is known as his Usonian period. The house built in 1940 is constructed of cypress, brick, and glass. There are no gutters and no painting (you got to love the no maintenance part!). The living room area was pretty cool, but the master bedroom was too cramped for me. Also, the house has very little storage space and one bathroom. I've been thinking about using the house for a setting in one of my private detective novels. Stay tuned for that development.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Decoy (late posting)

This low-budget, nasty film noir from 1946 is a treat. The young British actress Jean Gillie who died three years later from pneumonia is the cold-blooded femme fatale and narrator of the story. The neat twist is she knows of an antidote called methylene blue for cyanide gas poisoning. She works an inside deal that gets her convict boyfriend Frankie revived after his prison execution so he can tell her where he buried a strongbox holding the stolen $400,000. She also has to bring in the death chamber doc who then has second thoughts about what he's getting into. The only actor I recognized was Sheldon Leonard (later TV producer of I Spy, Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke Show) who plays a hardboiled cop with lots of campy fun. The pace moves fast and there's a mean twist at the end. I watched the film contained in the Warner's Noir Vol. 3 box set. IMDb.com gives Decoy 6.8/10.0 but I see that as too low. More like a 7.5, I think.

The Readers I Saw In The Doctor's Waiting Room

Recently I had to spend about an hour in a doctor's waiting room, and while I sat there, I noticed what my fellow waiters did to pass the time. I wasn't very heartened to observe only three readers among us (four if I include myself). Or at least the folks who had brought books along to read. The others may have been reading from their smart phones, although I tend to doubt if they were. Their age group was probably 50+ years old. One guy was reading a James Michener novel. The second fellow was reading a Nelson DeMille thriller. The third guy was reading a book I couldn't get a clear sightline to see its title. I didn't notice any Kindle e-readers, probably because men don't have a convenient way to carry them. At any rate, my informal poll probably isn't representative of the number of readers out there. Or I hope that is the case. I went back to reading my book, and it was a good read.

Current Film Review: Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine is the latest film offering from Woody Allen who wrote and directed it. The film's release is what Wikipedia calls a "slow rollout" as was done with Allen's previous successful film Midnight in Paris which I saw and enjoyed. The distribution stragedy is supposed to generate more profits. Blue Jasmine didn't quite make the same grade for me as Midnight. None of the characters are very likeable. Beyond that, I won't go into why. One thing I liked was how deftly Allen segued between the back story and the present day narrative. Cate Blanchett turns in a strong performance as a sort Mrs. Bernie Madoff figure. Andrew Dice Clay as Cate's young sister's ex is also good in his role. Plus the jazz soundtrack sounds pretty snappy, too. The funny lines of dialogue are embedded throughout the movie, but Blue Jasmine isn't a romantic comedy. I'd give it a 7.0/10.

"Stay Calm and Read a Book"

I have run across this nifty slogan in various social media reader venues. I'm not sure how it originated, but I like the sentiment behind it. Last night I continued my reading a Richard Stark Parker series title, and got pulled into the story. Parker is a thief, and the one word I'd use to describe him is relentless. The man just won't quit. The series is more hard-boiled than noir because Parker always perseveres to live and fight another day. Anyway, I found myself distracted enough from that thing we call LIFE, and spent an enjoyable hour existing in Parker's world. I guess it is the distraction part the slogan addresses. For me, reading a book is more diverting than watching TV or going to the movies. Maybe reading engages the brain and imagination more. It is about the most relaxing activity I can do before hitting the sack. A variation of the slogan might say, "Chill Out and Read a Book." At any rate, there are plenty of books to use for staying calm.

How I Created a Small Town Called Quiet Anchorage For My Cozy Mystery Series

The small town—its name isn’t so important—where I grew up in rural Virginia today (in 2011) hardly resembles the vital one I can remember. Indeed, the town is a scant shadow of its former self. The first big blow to its begin slow demise came when the highway department ran the four-laner as a by-pass to circumvent the town’s corporate limits.

The happier motorists no longer had to poke through its 25-m.p.h. zone. The not-so-happy merchants—service stations, antiques stall, diner, car wash, grocer, drugstore, hardware store, farmers’ co-op, and I don’t what all—saw the handwriting on the wall. Without any through-traffic, their volume of business plummeted.

I believe the antiques stall was the first place to sell off its inventory and close its doors forever. Perhaps one of the service stations closed down next. The locals still needed to fill their tanks, but the number of vehicles pulling up to the pumps dropped off. I was still riding my bicycle for transportation when the by-pass first opened. Over the next few years, the town seemed to lose its luster in my eyes.

Main Street grew less interesting and grittier. The streetlights seemed dimmer. My pals moved away. The florist boarded up her doors. Fewer trains whistled through the R/R crossing. The old timers turned ancient and died off, one by one.

This rather dismal withering on the vine isn’t the way I prefer to remember my town, at all. Who wants to say they came from a dying town? Of course, suburbanization brought the influx of more people with their houses that all but swallowed up my town. Nonetheless, I was just concerned with my town itself and its inhabitants when I wrote the setting for my debut cozy mystery.

The town I wanted to create would be patterned after the vibrant, colorful town I knew before the by-pass choked off its life force. My fictional hamlet needed a distinctive name, and I took Quiet Anchorage as its designation. There’s some back-story telling how the name Quiet Anchorage came into being.

As it would so happen, I had a pair of elderly but spry ladies to also draw on to establish my amateur sleuths. My two aunts, Alma and Isabel, both long since deceased, fit the role just fine, and writers write about what they know best, so what the heck? I had to tinker and change a few things about them.

For instance, the real Alma and Isabel devoured romances by the bushel, but the fictional ones read mysteries. The impressive library they maintained in their house follows what my real aunts actually did. I don’t think either of them could bear to give away a book after it’d been read. Both pairs of Almas and Isabels also kept a pet dog around the place.

In my first eponymous title, Alma and Isabel are forced to investigate a murder after their niece Megan is arrested and charged for the homicide of her fiancé Jake. The local sheriff is pleased over his quick, tidy resolution of Quiet Anchorage’s first murder in ages. Imagine his chagrin when he catches wind of whom Megan has on her side.

The sisters are determined to poke holes in his version of the events until he relents and agrees to release their niece. Their test of wills helps to drive the conflict. Alma and Isabel soon enlist the aid of Sammi Jo, a young lady with rough edges and a sharp mind to match her sharp tongue. Even active seventy-somethings can’t be expected to perform all the physical rigors the private eye trade demands, so Sammi Jo does it.

I now reside in a 1970s-built suburb. My neighbors are jammed in their homes on top of each other, but we never speak to each other. The lady next door asks us to fetch her mail when she goes out of town. She then returns the favor for us. But that’s it. Just the opposite is true in Quiet Anchorage. Alma and Isabel as lifelong residents know every face they pass by on the streets and in the stores. Their extensive knowledge comes into play as they sift through the likely suspects to nail the guilty culprit.

Cozy mysteries, I learned, follow certain conventions. Alma and Isabel never curse, though the salty Alma veers close a time or two of cutting loose. All the bloodshed occurs offstage. There’s no violence to speak of. Sex? Well, let’s just keep it inside the bedroom and behind closed doors. Banter and humor are okay if left tasteful.

If the real Alma and Isabel were still with us, I believe they’d get a kick out of seeing themselves in print and living in a small town called Quiet Anchorage. Or maybe they’d not even recognize themselves after the changing I did to their personalities since that’s what fiction writers do.

Find Out What the Readers Are Saying About My New Cozy Mystery Title

 

The Cashmere Shroud is my second title in my new Isabel and Alma Trumbo cozy mystery series. So far, there are 3 five-star ratings and 1 four-star rating from Goodreads readers. I pulled the following quotes from the reviews.

"So glad this cozy is continuing to shape up into a more involved mystery. I will be watching for the next entry. Highly recommended for all lovers of cozies."

"Good job there, Ed!"

"Ed Lynskey has a way of pulling you into his stories. It is not until the very end, that some of the loose ends are finally visible."

"The identity of the killer also came as a surprise -- to me all of this adds up to good writing and good plotting and author who didn't take the easy way out. 'The Cashmere Shroud' is a nicely done cozy mystery."

Click to read the entire Goodreads reviews and add The Cashmere Shroud to your shelf. Thank you for your interest.

What Are the Legacies the Great Writers Leave Us?

This week the iconic crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard passed away at age 87. He enjoyed a long distinguished career and made legions of fans. I've read some heartfelt articles on him, and I share in the readers' profound sense of loss and sadness. Such author giants as James Crumley and Robert B. Parker also died in the past few years. The most long term fitting tribute I can think of is to continue reading and discussing their books. Try to get the next generations of readers excited about what they wrote and published. As for me, I recently read Elmore Leonard's Western title Hombre, and if a better Western has been written, I haven't yet gotten around to reading it. I also watched the same-titled movie starring Paul Newman, and immensely enjoyed it. I read in Mr. Leonard's obituary the commercial success of Hombre is what allowed him to keep writing his fiction. Thank goodness he wrote it. At some point in the near future, I'll sit down and reread Hombre. And I bet it will be even sweeter, too. 

Current Movie Review: THE BUTLER

I posted a blog yesterday for a 1954 film noir, but I also enjoy viewing the current movies. We went out and saw The Butler showing at the local cinema house. The film has gotten a lot of good buzz, and I have to concur with it. The 2+ hour historical drama is entertaining fare. The picture depicts (well, sort of because it's a composite) the real-life accounts of Eugene Allen who served as a butler at the White House for 34 years (1952-86), and the momentuous civil rights events taking place during that lengthy span. Forest Whitaker as the fictional Cecil Gaines, an African-American from south Georgia who grew up under the oppressive Jim Crow laws. He leaves and soon excels as a hotel worker in D.C. where he is asked to join the White House staff. Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines, Cecil's strong-willed wife, is especially effective in her role. Also starring in the ensemble cast, Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Carter Wilson, Cecil's co-worker and friend, is funny and compassionate. Be on the look out for Clarence Williams III (as Maynard) from the old TV Mod Squad series (1968-1973). Our show drew a large audience, always heartening to see at an independent art cinema. The Butler deserves a bunch of moviegoesrs which it drew because it topped this weekend's box office receipts.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: HIGHWAY DRAGNET starring Richard Conte

 

This1954 car chase film noir is a sturdy entry in the genre featuring two 1950s Hollywood stars I enjoy watching perform: Richard Conte and Joan Bennett. Neither quite ever made it to the A-list, but they were talented nonetheless. A young, perky Wanda Hendrix once married to the troubled war hero/acxtor Audie Murphy rounds out the leading cast. Conte plays a Marine sergeant discharged after the Korean War and stops off on his trip west at a Las Vegas tavern. He runs into a bar floozy and buys her a drink. Cut to the next morning, and she's been murdered, and Conte is picked up by the local cops and charged for it. Conte manages to escape and finds Bennett and Hendrix stalled by their car on the desert highway. Bennett is a rather cynical high fashion photographer and Hendrix plays her plucky assistant. The rest of the story has the three of them eluding the cops both in Nevada and later California. Conte has a .45 that persuades the ladies to go along with him until he can clear his name. I liked the snappy dialgoue (Roger Corman's first sold film script), brisk pace, and desert setting. Ida Lupino's somewhat similar film noir The Hitch-hiker is a better made abd better known movie, but Conte keeps this flick edgy enough so I found it to be entertaining. Other viewers have rated it low, but I like Corman, Conte, Bennett, so I can easily overlook and even excuse the obvious flaws.

Writing Short Story Tactics: How to Keep Them Fresh

I notice I have a hard copy to the short story (draft #41) lying on my work desk. I've been working on a cycle of short stories since the start of '013. Noir Nation accepted one of my stories earlier this spring, my first one in several years. I had to put my short story writing on hold for a period of time before I could return to it and make it feel fresh to me. Now I write my short stories much slower.

So, let me ask you: are you a short story reader? Do you prefer reading the short stories in author collections, themed anothologies, or the new issues of ezines? Some authors offer single long short stories for 99-cents on Amazon Kindle. Have you ever bought a short story sold that way? Or do you feel as if you can read all the short stories you'd ever want to read posted for free online?

My latest short story collection Smoking on Mount Rushmore: 16 Selected & New Short Stories gathers together my best short fiction efforts.

My New Cozy Mystery Series Is Cooking

I write a new cozy mystery series featuring a pair of senior sisters, Isabel and Alma Trumbo, who are amateur sleuths residing in the small Virginia hamlet of Quiet Anchorage, which only exists in my imagination. I intentionally made it a nice place to both to live and visit.

Creating vivid settings is something I work hard on. I like to leave enough leeway to mix in the quirks and distinctions that make Quiet Anchorage not just another Mayberry. Still, Quiet Anchorage has to include enough recognizable features that readers associate with a small town.

Isabel and Alma's novels are the traditional, fair-play-with-the-reader mysteries, so the expected clues and red herrings are found in their story. So, I hope you'll try out an Isabel and Alma Trumbo mystery and stay along for the ride with them, and me. Thanks for your reader's curiosity and continued happy reading.



Click to add Quiet Anchorage to your book shelf.



Click to add The Cashmere Shroud to your book shelf.

My Favorite Reading Spots

                                                            Photo from patch.com.
I've probably blogged on my favorite spots to do my reading, but I thought I'd return to it if just because I spend so much of my free time reading. One of my haunts was our local Borders Bookstore that included a coffee shop on the side. Well, as we all know, Borders is no more. Pity. I also loved sampling their jazz CDs when I wasn't reading while I hung out there. So far, I haven't found a substitute for our defunct Borders. The Barnes & Noble, our nearest bookstore now, is on the other side of town. I don't get out that way much. Summertime offers more reading places. Our rear patio is nice if the humidity isn't too sticky, or the mercury hasn't climbed too high. The bed is always there to flake out on and dive into a book. For some reason, I don't like reading in noisy places like I could do while I attended college. Now I read at home where it stays quiet.

About My Continuting A New Cozy Mystery Series

I write a new cozy mystery series featuring a pair of senior sisters, Isabel and Alma Trumbo, residing in the small Virginia hamlet of Quiet Anchorage, which only exists in my imagination. I already have one series going, the hardboiled P.I. Frank Johnson titles, the newest titled AFTER THE BIG NOISE due out later this year. I like Isabel and Alma because they are based, in part, on my real life aunts now long since departed. They don't curse or drink or get into bar brawls like Frank sometimes does. They just sleuth away and solve murders in their own idiosyncratic but effective way. Their books are the traditional fair play with the reader mysteries, so the usual clues and red herrings are included. I've been planning the future entries in the series, a sort of road map of where Isabel and Alma are headed next. At this point, I have no idea how many books there will be. My P.I. Frank Johnson series spans seven titles, counting this year's release and the short story collection. One thing I have learned about a series is that as an author, I have to really like the protagonist(s). That and the stories have to be fun to write. Otherwise the product quality suffers. So I hope you'll try an Isabel & Alma Trumbo mystery and stay along for the ride with them, and me. Thanks and continued happy reading, everybody.



Click to add Quiet Anchorage to your Goodreads book shelf!



Click to add The Cashmere Shroud to your Goodread book shelf!

Why the Skies Are Usually Blue in My Cozy Mystery Series

I've written five titles (two published) in my Isabel and Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series, and the weather is an important aspect to be considered. I like the summer, and I like for there to be tons of sun. I picture my small town of Quiet Anchorage, Virginia, bathed in its brightest possible light. That makes my writing more fun to do.

The rain will come but only as a passing shower. Cloudy days simply can't fall on the days when Isabel and Alma are out running their sleuthing activities. They never have to carry an umbrella or wear a raincoat. Only the blue skies will prevail. So, I save the rainy and chilly days for setting the weather in my hardboiled private eye novels or my stand alone crime noirs.

Of course, the radiant sun beaming down on Quiet Anchorage is deceptively placid since there is a cold-blooded murderer moving and living among the townfolks. Isabel and Alma have to look behind the small town's sleepy facade and follow the right clues to expose whodunit. If you are also partial to blue skies, you can follow them.

My new cozy mystery featuring Isabel and Alma can be found by clicking on this Goodreads link.
The Cashmere Shroud 

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Fear in the Night

This 1947 low budget film noir is adapted from a short story by William Irish better known as Cornell Woolrich. It stars Paul Kelly and DeForest Kelley (making his film debut and later to become the much more famous "Bones" on Star Trek). For its limited production values, Fear in the Night is a fairly entertaining movie. All of the Woolrich trademarks are on display: confusing paranoia, hypnosis, nightmares, cramped hotel rooms, and sweaty fear. DeForest is a young bank teller who has a crippling nightmare about he has committed a murder somewhere. He seeks his brother-in-law's (a homicide cop) assistance. As with Woolrich's fiction, coincidence helps to glue together the somewhat outlandish plot. The run time is a short 70 minutes, so I could fit it in between my last writing session of the day and the start of the ballgame. IMDb.com gives Fear in the Night a 6.4/10 rating, and I'd say that's pretty spot on. Still of interest if just to see "Bones" in his younger acting days.

Things You Can't Buy Anymore: Vinyl Long Play (LP) Albums (Sort Of)

I know limited run vinyl releases are still issued for music fans to purchase. Just yesterday, I read an article saying the New York City Public Library was selling off 22,000 LPs (all of them duplicates) for $1 each. Woot! Let's go to the Big Apple! I'm speaking of the golden age when I could stroll into any corner drugstore or shopping mall record shop and find the bins fully stocked with the newest vinyl platters. Plus the album cover art (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!) was often pretty cool, too. Sam Goody and Harmony Hut were my local franchise record stores. There may have been other stores, but I don't recall them by name. You might have had your favorites. Wikipedia says the 33⅓ rpm microgroove 12-inch vinyl record were first introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, and stereo came along ten years later. The biggest problem I had with the LPs was the easy-to-make scratch marks that pretty much ruined one. Also, the flimsy vinyl records often bent and cracked, at least in my hands they did. Mine disappeared in the various moves we made. Nowadays once in a while I'll see used LPs out for sale in the secondhand bookstores that also carry records. Sometimes at yard sales or at flea markets, I'll run across a milk crate of old LPs, and I'll feel a nostalgia pang. Maybe you can also get the LPs online off eBay or Craigslist. Do I miss LPs? Sure do, and I also keep the fonder memories of when I played them to death. Ah, youth.

New #SampleSunday: The Cashmere Shroud by Ed Lynskey

 

Isabel and Alma are talking about their pet dog that Isabel named Petey Samson. Isabel also brings up her late husband Max and son Cecil. Alma tries to console Isabel by using Petey Samsom as a distraction.

Cupping a hand behind her ear, Alma canted her head for a sharper listen. She tapped Isabel on the forearm. “Is that Petey Samson I hear scratching at the door? I believe he’s saying he’s set to take off on his next safari.”

“Already? Good grief.” Isabel threw up her hands. “It seems like we just finished doing that.”

“Quit your grousing since it only takes you a speedy six-and-a-half minutes.”

“I fibbed by giving you the low side of the estimate. We’re gone a bit longer, something along the lines of fifteen or twenty minutes. Petey Samson has to halt at each street sign and mailbox to—”

“Right, I get the picture. Unless you were both running like antelopes, I knew it took you longer.”
Isabel laughed. “The last time I ran anywhere like an antelope came when the smoke alarm shrilled out in the middle of the night. Max and I still resided on the boulevard.” She pronounced it as bou-le-VARD. “We sprang up from bed to see what the matter was.”

“I remember your telling me that story,” said Alma. “Master Cecil had tiptoed down to the basement to experiment with his new chemistry set. He played an apprentice wizard concocting a secret formula to drink and turn him invisible.”

“He’d watched 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' and liked his chance at success. Afterward, the house reeked of rotten eggs for a week, and Max, as he always did, laughed it off. Boys will be boys was his philosophy.”

“Did you confiscate Cecil’s new chemistry set?”

“Indeed I did on the spot, though by then a new hobby had grabbed his fancy. Inventing a pair of tinfoil-and-bubblegum wings to leap and fly off the garage roof, if I’m not mistaken. But that’s another story for another time.”

Maybe he began sneaking smokes on the playground around then, thought Alma. She said, “Cecil was a devil like Max.”

“And both devils, big and small, are now gone.” Isabel’s gaze drifted out the window. “You know what’s so untrue? Time doesn’t bind up and heal all wounds. It just never does because I miss them more than I ever did.”

 Alma tried to rescue Isabel from drowning in her pensive moment. “Petey Samson is clawing down the door.”

Isabel had recently added Petey to his name because she thought two names, as in Petey Sampson, had more dignified ring. Alma also knew Petey was the name Max had given his first sedan, a melon bright sports coupé he tooled up in to court the young Isabel. Alma would never give her car a name except a bad one cursed on the mornings its cranky engine didn’t start up for her.

“I can hear the pooch is hurting,” said Isabel. “We’re off again.”

“I’ll have your refilled glass of iced tea waiting for you when you get back,” said Alma.

End of the new #SampleSunday.
You click on here to go to the Goodreads page showing the new reviews for The Cashmere Shroud.

Meet the NEW Snoop Sisters

The Snoop sisters were a short-lived TV mystery program that ran as part of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movies during 1973-74. I have a vague memory of the show and, maybe I watched it a time or two. This video clip shows Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick as the two elderly sisters, Ernesta Snoop and Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson. Check out the books, including Chandler's Phillip Marlowe titles, panned over in the opening credits. Jill Clayburgh and Paulette Goddard (her last performance) appear in the clip. I also see Art Carney guest stars. That's good enough reason right there to watch it. Here is a link to the YouTube streamed version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGhXPRaZ50k

The sisters idea is similat to my cozy mystery series featuring my two senior snoops, Isabel and Alma Trump. They are based on my late aunts who lived in a small town. They were born there, moved away to work at better jobs, and then moved back after their retirement. Keeping the interplay between Isabel and Alma interesting and fresh is important. Readers and reviewers have said they enjoy the characters, and I believe that is one big reason why. Humor and charm are the qualities I'm aiming for while delivering an entertaining story in my cozy mystery series. Give them and their capers a try, if you like.

Book #1: Quiet Anchorage

Books #2: The Cashmere Shroud

Forgotten TV: Larry, Darryl, and Darryl from (Bob) Newhart

Bob Newhart had a sitcom series called Newhart that ran from 1982-1990. He played the Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon with his wife Joanna. It was consistently funny in Newhart's deadpan way. One of the running gags was his local country bumpkin helpers. Here the talkative brother Larry introduces his other two brothers who, if I recall correctly, never spoke a word.

"Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN6UAzYY8qg

Things You Can't Buy Anymore: Topps Batman Trading Cards (1966)

This image taken from the wikimedia page shows the Batman cards I remember from when I was a small kid. I don't recall this specific card, but I had a bunch like it. They were probably bought from a five-and-dime store. I know the baseball cards were sold like that. The Batman cards must have hit the market about the same time the TV show with Adam West as the Caped Crusader was such a big hit. I always thought he made the best Batman actor. I liked his droll wit and less-than-serious beating up the bad guys like the Penguin or Mr. Freeze. In fact, everybody playing in the Batman TV series looked as if they were having a high old time. Who wouldn't have? But getting back to the trading cards and their fate. I have no idea where mine ended up. Probably in the local landfill. I don't remember trading them for anything. But Batman was just a passing phase, and by the next season other bigger and better things were on television for our viewing pleasure.

How Far Is Main Street From Where You Stand?

Main Street is easy enough to locate in a small town like my fictitious one of Quiet Anchorage, Virginia. Look for the street with all the businesses operating on it, and that probably is Main Street. The city where I live outside of Washington, D.C. makes it a bit trickier to find its Main Street. There is a street named Main Street, probably where it ran when the city was still a mere hamlet somewhere back in the day. There are a few shops, offices, and restaurants that line our Main Street, but it doesn't quite resemble the Main Street I created in Quiet Anchorage. Its Main Street has the same shops, offices, and restaurants, but there are also lots of folks out and about. The Main Street where I live is almost a ghost town, and I'm not sure how the merchants can turn a profit, especially in tough economic times. Many of the spaces have "For Rent" signs in their windows. Quiet Anchorage's Main Street is also its chief social nexus. Not only are there people present, but they stop and talk to each other. Granted it is probably chitchat, but the interaction gives the Main Street a vibrancy I don't observe on the Main Street where I live today. I don't think the folks are any less friendly, it's just that they are not there. Maybe they go to the indoor malls to hang out and socialize. I also enjoy the indoor malls, while I also like being on Quiet Anchorage's Main Street, even if it only exists in the pages of my latest cozy mystery The Cashmere Shroud.

Play Scrabble, Anyone?

I made Isabel and Alma Trumbo, my two amateur sleuth sisters from my new and second cozy mystery title The Cashmere Shroud, big Scrabble fans because, in part, they actually were that in real life. They could play Scrabble with me all night if I was game (no pun intended) enough to hang in there with them. Playing was a fun time for them. The sisters grew up at a time when there was no TV or Twitter, so other diversions had to entertain them on the family farm. Their love of board games carried on into their adult lives. Today there are online Scrabble sites where fans can gather and play although I have never done so. Most of my time online is spent writing my different book projects. They knew all of the short but high-scoring words to spell out with the wooden tiles on the game board, especially the words beginning with the letter "Q" or "Z." I'm not sure how many times I won, but it wasn't very many when I played with them. After Isabel and Alma passed away, I got their old Scrabble game set. On occasion, my wife and I still play a round or two of Scrabble, and it reminds me of a younger time in my life.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Shock Starring Vincent Price

This above average 70-minute film noir from 1946 stars a very young Vincent Price. The plot starts off promising enough. Price kills his wife, and a young lady witnesses the murder take place at the hotel. She falls into a shocked catatonic state when her husband just back from the war finally meets her. Price who plays a deranged shrink offers to care for her at his private mental hospital while he schemes up a way to keep her silent on the murder she's seen Price commit. Lots of scenes are shot inside of Price's nuthouse, a favorite setting in these movies I've noticed. Seeing the docs smoking cigars while discussing their patients is definitely from a different era. Maybe Shock is more of a horror film. The camera work is edgy and shadowy, the script okay. The talented Lynn Bari plays a greedy femme fatale although I wished she had a meatier role. If you like Vincent Price, and I generally do, Shock might be worth checking out. 6.5/10.0 is what I give it. You can view it online at YouTube.

#SampleSunday THE CASHMERE SHROUD by Ed Lynskey

Isabel and Alma Trumbo are sister sleuths who are seventysomething and live in small town Quiet Anchorage, VA. This humorous short excerpt from The Cashmere Shroud finds them discussing Isabel's sometimes confounding but always easy-natured husband Max and son Cecil, both now deceased.

Isabel laughed. “The last time I ran anywhere like an antelope came when the smoke alarm shrilled out in the middle of the night. Max and I still resided on the boulevard.” She pronounced it as bou-le-VARD. “We sprang up from bed to see what the matter was.”

“I remember your telling me that story,” said Alma. “Master Cecil had tiptoed down to the basement to experiment with his new chemistry set. He played an apprentice wizard concocting a secret formula to drink and turn him invisible.”

“He’d watched 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' and liked his chance at success. Afterward, the house reeked of rotten eggs for a week, and Max, as he always did, laughed it off. Boys will be boys was his philosophy.”

“Did you confiscate Cecil’s new chemistry set?”

“Indeed I did on the spot, though by then a new hobby had grabbed his fancy. Inventing a pair of tinfoil-and-bubblegum wings to leap and fly off the garage roof, if I’m not mistaken. But that’s another story for another time.”

Maybe he began sneaking smokes on the playground around then, thought Alma.

She said, “Cecil was a devil like Max.”

“And both devils, big and small, are now gone.” Isabel’s gaze drifted out the window. “You know what’s so untrue? Time doesn’t bind up and heal all wounds. It just never does because I miss them more than I ever did.” 

End of #SampleSunday

Calling All Private Eye Fans: My First 3 PI Frank Johnson Novels Are Now E-books

The first three titles in my P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series are available as Kindle releases. All are e-books for the first time. The late James Crumley blurbed Pelham Fell Here as "rings true" and "well worth the read." Linda Fairstein endorsed The Dirt-Brown Derby while Troglodytes picked up a smashing review in the Lansing State Journal. So, be sure to add some proven hardboiled detective fare to your summer reading mix. The P.I. Frank Johnson series remains an active series and continues with the spanky new title, AFTER THE BIG NOISE, to be published later this year. 

Selling Off the "Stuff" of Our Lives at the Pawn Shop

I sometimes enjoy watching the Reality TV show PAWN STARS on the cable History Channel. There have been spinoffs made of it, but none of those to my knowledge took off like PAWN STARS did. I've never had the need or desire to patronize a pawn shop, so I have no basis of comparison to make the call how close it comes to the real deal. What amazes me is the variety of "stuff" the folks bring in to sell Rick who runs the pawn shop.

Some of it is pretty near worthless, and he turns it down. If he can't sell it for a decent enough profit, he passes on making an offer. Makes sense. It is (or is supposed to be) his livelihood, after all. A lot of the sellers walking out with cash in hand make a beeline for indulging their fun at the lit up Las Vegas Strip.

Of course the folks have Craigslist and eBay available to sell off their stuff, but I guess if you are in Vegas, you want the cash then and there. One of the articles brought in for sale is old photographs. I mean the traditional type on paper, not the digital files you can't view with the naked eye.

I sometimes wonder just who looks at the infinite number of pictures taken with a camera. Just the same, if I ever get out to Vegas, I'm going to take a bunch of pictures just because I can, and I'm going to make it a point to drop by Rick's pawn shop if it is still operating there.

The Best Goodreads Poll: Unsual Places to Read

Goodreads recently conducted a poll asking its members to vote on the given list of unusual places they find themselves reading in. So, I decided to address each item in the poll and just see how I stack up.

Reading while sitting back to back with a friend.
I can't recall ever having done this. Maybe I have with my wife at the beach or pool.

Reading while sitting on the toilet.
H'm. That's a bit personal. Who hasn't maybe is a better question.

Reading while eating.
Oh sure, especially at lunchtime. I eat everyday in front of my laptop. We used to call it a "working lunch."

Reading while walking.
Not in recent memory, I haven't. I've seen other pedestrians squinting down at their smart phones. I assume they are texting or whatever. I like to mull over my work-in-progress while I walk.

Reading while wedged in between other subway/train/metro riders.
I easily get motion sickness and don't like to read while I'm in transit. I do better on subway cars than I do in a vehicle. On subway cars, I think it's more fun to people watch. LOL.

Reading in bed with a spelunking head lamp/book light/flashlight etc.
Sometimes by the nightstand lamp I read. I never did the flashlight routine, and the spelunker head lamp sounds like a promising idea to try out sometime.

Reading over someone's shoulder.
Maybe I've glimpsed a headline from a newspaper being read by a subway rider. The ereader devices are too small for me to read from far away. Eavesdropping is easier, especially when a fellow rider is yapping on their cell phone over the noise. Annoying.

Reading in the bath.
Nope. Always afraid I'll drop the book or Kindle into the water.

I also like to read while I'm waiting for my coffee to finish perking.

There you have it. How did you do on the Goodreads poll?