What’s cooler than having the author join you for your discussion?! I had the extreme honor recently of attending a local Spokane book club and joining their discussion of my historical mystery, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker! We had so much fun! I brought several of the books I used for research and we passed those …
The Spokesman-Review and The Chronicle were the main newspapers of 1901 Spokane. Both were owned by William H. Cowles by 1901, who moved them all into the Review Building, which can still be visited today. As I may have mentioned before, I love traveling down the rabbit holes of researching history, and the best place …
Below I’ve collected a series of clipped newspaper articles referencing the timeline of the building of the Great Northern Railroad Depot and its iconic clock tower, which heavily influenced the events that unfold in the Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries, beginning with the first book, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker. The clock tower is the basis for …
In my historical mystery series, the Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries, we are transported to 1901 Spokane. In addition to including cameos by many real-life people from history, I wanted to make sure I included locations that were still in existence and could be visited by those who enjoyed the story and wanted to know more. …
Over the past two weeks, I’ve shared some of the cooking and cleaning quotes from 19th century cookbooks that inspired my book, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker, and in particular the characters of Mrs. Curry (cook) and Eleanor Sigmund (maid). But cookbooks of the time didn’t contain just cooking and cleaning tips. They also included home …
Last week I shared some cooking quotes from 19th century cookbooks that inspired my book, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker, in particular the menus cooked by Mrs. Curry. This week I’d like to share some of the cleaning tips I gleaned through my research, many of which I incorporated into the daily duties of my maid …
While writing Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker, I had such great fun finding ways to incorporate some of the many, many 19th century cookbooks I came across along the way! From Eleanor’s cleaning skills to Mrs. Curry’s menus and cooking tips, all were inspired by or taken from cookbooks of the time period. Over the next …
One of my favorite parts of writing historical fiction is getting the chance to set a story where my characters can have chance encounters with real people from history. In my book Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker, although I’ve invented all the primary characters, I’ve sprinkled the story with cameos from some of the most well-known, …
What made me choose Spokane, Washington as the setting of my historical mystery Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker? Three things: people, locations, and events. Over the next several months leading up to my Big Book Announcement, I’m excited to tell you more about why Spokane, Washington, of all places, really needed a book set in its …
One of my favorite authors is Alison Weir, and the reason I love her work so much is because she began as a biographical nonfiction writer. When she started writing historical fiction, her research paid off ten-fold by adding an element of realism that you just don’t get with other authors who don’t thoroughly research. …
