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?

A Small Town Named Quiet Anchorage

I wrote this guest blog for my first cozy mystery title Quiet Anchorage and have reprinted it here in my Cracked Rearview Mirror Weblog.

As far as I know, no small town exists that’s called Quiet Anchorage. Just plain Anchorage in Alaska, sure, but not Quiet Anchorage. How I derived the name is lost to my memory. Perhaps I spotted the nautical term—quiet anchorage—used somewhere in my reading. On the other hand, the small town’s creation sprang out of my own personal experience. I grew up in a rural hamlet located in Virginia. While not a unique upbringing, there is a distinctive vibe to a small town you can only pick up by hanging out there.

My small town was a whistle stop along the railroad. A lazy river with an old mule canal meandered through the town. There was one traffic light. A laundromat, bank, drugstore, grocer, clothier, florist, and hardware store lined Main Street. The local eccentrics perched on a sunny bench situated in front of the clothing store. In other words, my small town was like any other one dotting the American landscape. My make-believe Quiet Anchorage was based on what impressions I soaked up after all these years later.

I had some concerns of adopting a setting—the small town—that’s been used over and over in modern fiction, especially mysteries which is the genre I practice in the most. But then I thought of all the novels that are set in New York City, Boston, or New Orleans (pre-Katrina, of course). There’s nothing wrong with any of those places (I honeymooned in The Big Apple). It’s just that I’ve been to those large cities so many times already. Then I felt a little better about picking my small town as the setting. My two septuagenarian sisters, Alma and Isabel Trumbo, solve a homicide mystery after their niece Megan is accused of killing her fiancé Jake.

One of the main appeals to the writing of Quiet Anchorage was settling into the leisurely pace and slower rhythms of the small town existence. The town isn’t close to being a seedy, desolate locale as you’d encounter when reading a noirish yarn. Quiet Anchorage is both a nice place to visit and even go live. Families live there, and children play there. When Jake’s murder rocks its axis, the townspeople reel from the shock over the lurid deed unheard of until then.

The local sheriff is convinced in his rush to effect an arrest of Megan’s guilt. Of course, he underestimates the resilience, tenacity, and wiles of her two little, old aunts. There’s a Southern expression used that says when an old lady dies, a library burns down. So true, it applies here. As natives, Alma and Isabel know their town inside and out. All the dirty secrets, old scandals and lengthy grudges mark where they begin their prying around. Plus their lifetime as mystery reading fans has schooled them well in the ways to root out a killer in hiding. My hope is the reader will like them and cheer them on in their investigation.

Quiet Anchorage is my first cozy mystery. There’s no sex or violence in it. My previous books have been in the hardboiled or noir vein that tells an edgier, hairier narrative. My reservation, among the several I had, doubted if I could pull off spinning a credible, entertaining story of my two amateur lady sleuths. So far, the reviewer and reader comments on Quiet Anchorage have been favorable ones. That’s a relief to me. I haven’t fallen on my face or embarrassed myself. In fact, I may elect to press ahead and write a sequel to launch a series. I just don’t know quite yet.

RELEASE DAY: My Next Cozy Mystery Title: The Cashmere Shroud

Today my next title The Cashmere Shroud in the Isabel and Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series goes up on Amazon, both as an e-book and the paperback version (it took longer to appear). Here's the book's description from my publisher's website:

Ray Burl kept his nose to the grindstone and didn't talk much, even to his daughter. He didn't seem like the kind of man to make enemies, but now he's been murdered...and his daughter, Sammi Jo, is Sheriff Fox's only suspect. Fortunately, Sammi Jo has two friends willing to help.

Sisters Isabel and Alma Trumbo may have lived in small-town Quiet Anchorage for most of their (long) lives, but they've spent much of that time reading and playing Scrabble. And their favorite books are mysteries. They consider themselves quite the experts on crime detection and clue-ferreting.

Of course, when it comes to physically tackling evil-doers, their aging bodies aren't quite the thing. They may not be the perfect allies, but Sammi Jo can count on their loyalty, and their certainty that Sammi Jo would never have hurt her father, no matter that the sheriff thinks she's the easiest answer.

The Trumbo sisters' investigation takes them to the gossip-mongering clique at the laundromat, the three men permanently seated outside a shop on main street, to the town hardware store where, according to gossip, Ray Burl had bought a shotgun, and even to a dry cleaner who might be able to answer the question...why was Ray Burl wearing his cashmere suit the day he died?

Finding the true killer is the only way to keep Sammi Jo out of jail, but the killer has already murdered once and is unlikely to be deterred from a second murder by two elderly women and their younger assistant.

Ed Lynskey delivers a charming second installment in his Isabel and Alma Trumbo Mystery series. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy these opinionated senior citizens who may be slowing down but who are still plenty sharp in the mental department. Quiet Anchorage, set in rural Virginia, makes a nice setting, with its colorful characters, Nascar dreams and good-ole-boy sheriff who wants the easy answer before he settles down with a beer.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Body and Soul

This 1947 film noir/boxing movie stars John Garfield in one of his best roles for my money. He's funny, witty, brooding, and tough. The servioeable plot is similar to many of the boxing movies of the day where Garfield is a champ. He's paid to throw a big fight, and he undergoes a big moral crisis over whether he will or not to take a dive. Good to see William Conrad gets a meaty role as Garfield's shifty manager. I always thought Conrad didn't get enough credit as an actor. Lilli Palmer as Garfield's somewhat naive fiancee does a wonderful job as she slowly realizes what the dirty fighting racket is all about and pressures Garfield to get out before it's too late. Canada Lee is the black boxer Garfield defeats and then befriends to be his trainer. Watch for Roberts, the mobster chieftain who wants to own Garfield's body and his soul, too, if it is possible. IMDb.com rates Body and Soul as an impressive 7.7/10.0, but I go with a 9.0 at least. Recommended for John Garfield and film noir fans.