Summer Is Perfect for Shorts!

 by Sparkle Abbey

Here in the Midwest we're finally seeing some regular summer weather but most of this summer has been hot, hot hot!

So no matter what your style vibe is, it's truly been the perfect weather for shorts. 

We're probably apt to flash a little less leg in our choices. 

Mostly because after a year of going nowhere and working inside, we not only don't have any tan lines - we don't have any tans at all. 

Caro and Mel, the heroines in our Pampered Pets mystery series would undoubtedly be much more daring And, after all, they do live in Laguna Beach. 

So, we're thinking they'd have great stylish choices in shorts. 

How about you? Do you wear shorts? 

And, if so, what's your favorite style? 

And by the way, since we're talking short, summer is also the perfect time for short reads. We've been reading some of the award nominated shorts stories. Something quick for the deck or the beach or even for a road trip. So, we're loving great novellas and short stories! And we've also just released our very first short - PROJECT DOGWAY. 

Here's a little bit about it. 

Canines are on the “catwalk” at this Laguna Beach dog fashion show—a heartworm awareness fundraiser—where former Texas beauty queen and currently-not-speaking-to-each-other cousins, Caro and Mel, are in attendance. When award-winning show beagle, Shadow’s, owner drops dead from eating a deadly scallop ceviche, the cousins find themselves embroiled in much more than a fashion “faux paw.”

Project Dogway is available on all ebook platforms: 

Amazon Link

All other platforms

Watch for our next short, coming soon! Any guesses on what Caro and Met will be up to next? 

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the other neighbors.) 

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook,and Twitter their favorite social media sites. 

Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Summer time and the livin' was easy...

 by Mary Lee Ashford

Summer time and the livin' was easy... so goes the song.

Here it is - already the first of July and here in the Midwest we are definitely feeling the heat of summer. And the humidity...

I can't even imagine what it's like for some of you who are seeing triple-digit temps. I'm thankful every day that my air-conditioning is working and that I'm not relying on a fan like we did when I was a kid. 

Because I grew up in a very small town, my summers were mostly spent hanging out with friends and reading. 

When I think of summers growing up, I think of the sweet tea that my mom would steep in a pot on the stove and then cool and pour over ice.  In my mind I can smell the green grass that cushioned the blanket in the backyard where I'd park myself for hours with the latest book I'd checked out from the library. A comfy spot and usually a  radio along for a little background music. Now, I'm dating myself, aren't I? 

Different summers, different tastes in reading but always the backyard and a book. One summer I devoured Trixie Belden books. Another time it was Nancy Drew. My mom was an Agatha Christie fan and one summer I started on her collection of mysteries. 

There were chores to do, of course. But in retrospect, life really was pretty slow and easy. Not much rushing about. Time for really diving into a good book. 

What memories come to mind for you when you think about your summers growing up? Were you busy with activities or were your summer days slow and easy like mine? Any favorite reads come to mind? 

Leave a comment below and on Friday, I'll draw a name to receive a fun summer bag and a copy of my most recent book, Quiche of Death. (Or if you already have that one, thank-you for that, and we'll figure out a different one.) 

Mary Lee Ashford is a lifelong bibliophile, an avid reader, and supporter of public libraries. In addition to writing the Sugar & Spice mysteries series for Kensington Books, she also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey. Prior to publishing she won first place in the Daphne du Maurier contest sponsored by the Kiss of Death chapter of RWA. 

She's the founding president of Sisters in Crime - Iowa and loves encouraging other writers. Mary Lee has a passionate interest in creativity and teaches a university level course on the topic. In her day job, she is a Deputy Chief Information Officer, and is happy to answer technology questions but probably can't fix your computer. She resides in Iowa with her husband, Tim, and Zoey the cat. Her delights are reading and enjoying her family, especially her six grandchildren. Her family has come to terms with the idea that plotting murders is a frequent topic at family gatherings. 

Quiche of Death - Book 3 in the Sugar & Spice series

When editor Sugar Calloway and baker Dixie Spicer went into business creating cookbooks, they found a sideline as amateur sleuths. Now a bitter family grudge could leave a fatal aftertaste…

At Sugar & Spice Community Cookbooks, the friends and business partners have secured a tasty new commission: producing a cookbook for the Arbor family. The Arbors have made their fortune in quiches, and Sugar and Spice have been invited to a weekend gathering where all the siblings, along with crusty matriarch Marta, will be in attendance. But it’s soon clear that this trip will come with a hefty slice of drama.

Theo, the only grandson, arrives with his flaky fiancée, Collette, who quickly stirs up trouble . . . and is found dead the next day. As the investigation unfolds, secrets—and recipes—are shared, and Sugar and Spice realize just how messy and murderous the situation may be. As another family member falls ill, can they solve the case without getting egg on their faces . . .and a target on their backs?

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Summer Reading

by Sparkle Abbey

Though we know it's not quite summer, here in the midwest it's been feeling a lot like summer lately.

And after a particularly cold and awful winter, we are more than ready to break out the lawn chairs, lemonade, and, sandals.

As the longer days of summer approach, we've also been looking forward to some time to sit in the shade and read.

We're seeing summer reading recommendations pop up in our social media feeds and emails. Harper's Bazaar has a list of the 17 Best Summer Reads 2019 and Publisher's Weekly offers the Best Books of Summer 2019 list. And the lists go on from Barnes and Noble's Summer Reading List to the independent bookstore's Indie Next Summer 2019 Reading Group Recommendations.

And while many of those books sound like great reads, we know with everything else going on that we're not going to get to as many books as we'd like this summer, so we're going to have to prioritize. Maybe you can help us with that. We'd love to hear your recommendations.

What's on the top of your reading list for this summer?

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Woods aka Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the neighbors.) They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. 

Their most recent book is The Dogfather, the tenth book in the Pampered Pets series.

Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Summertime and the reading is . . . WONDERFUL!

by Paula Gail Benson

A significant part of my vacations as I grew up was participating in the library summer reading program. Now, that I work for a state legislature with a session ending in early June, the summer months still mean a time of less activity so I can catch up on all those lovely books on my TBR pile. If you’re looking for some terrific summer reads, here are my recommendations, in two categories. First, short story collections, which are great travel companions, and, second, academic mysteries, in case you crave a vicarious trip back to school.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

K. B. Inglee’s The Case Book of Emily Lawrence (Wildside Books 2016)

K.B. writes historical mysteries and learns about the time periods in her stories by being a reenactor and living interpreter. Her Case Book features intrepid Emily Lothrop Lawrence, whose professor father characterized as “intelligent” while calling her older sisters “beautiful” and “talented.” Emily, with her husband Charles, operate a Pinkerton style detective agency in post-Civil War Washington, DC. Reading about their investigations and techniques is both a journey back in time and an appreciation for how technology has influenced detection.

B.K. Stevens’ Her Infinite Variety (Wildside Books 2016).

 

B.K.’s (or Bonnie’s) stories have frequently found a home in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. In this fascinating volume, they’ve been collected, so you can enjoy four that feature her series detectives, Iphigenia Wodehouse and Leah Abrams, and seven of her “stand-alones,” including one of my favorites “Thea’s First Husband.” For excellent writing, intriguing situations, and clever deductions, this collection is a true reader’s delight.

Art Taylor’s On the Road with Del and Louise: a Novel in Stories (Henery Press 2015).

Winner of two Agatha Awards, the Anthony Award, the Macavity Award, and three consecutive Derringer Awards for his short fiction, Art uses a series of stories to tell the adventures of two intricate and compelling characters. Louise, a Southern girl working in a New Mexico 7-Eleven, is held up by the ski-masked Del, a frugal man seeking enough to meet his “academic” expenses, and gives him her telephone number because she thinks he has nice eyes. She finds it exciting when he calls, then sets out with him on what becomes a cross country journey with stops at such diverse locations as Southern California, Napa Valley, Las Vegas, North Dakota, and Louise’s North Carolina hometown. At first, I wasn’t sure I could like either of these complex characters, but after following them through traditional crime stories and hilarious capers, I had to wait as long as I could to finish the last installment so I didn’t have to say goodbye. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and finalist for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, this novel in stories is an engaging read.

ACADEMIC MYSTERIES:

Cynthia Kuhn’s The Semester of Our Discontent (Henery Press 2016).

The first book in a new series, Cynthia’s novel features English professor Lila Maclean, who in her first year at a prestigious university finds herself as involved in solving murders as she is in steering clear of academic intrigue. Unfortunately, she keeps turning up on the scene where her colleagues are being murdered. When her cousin becomes the chief suspect, Lila has to find a way to clear her name. A fast-paced whodunit with lots of quirky, yet familiar characters from higher education, which received the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant.

Lori Rader-Day’s The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books 2014).

Lori’s suspenseful novel alternates between two narrators: (1) sociology professor Amelia Emmet, who is returning to the campus where a student with whom she had no apparent connection shot her, then killed himself, and (2) Amelia’s new graduate assistant, Nathaniel Barber, who came to the college not just to earn a degree, but to study her attack. As they each investigate separately, then in tandem, the reader is plunged through every emotion watching the fascinating plot unfold. Winner of the Anthony Award, Lovey Award, and Silver Falchion for Best First Novel, this is truly superb reading!

I want to assure you that you can’t go wrong with any of these books. So stay out of the pool, pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade, and settle down for some fabulous summer reading!