I LOVE when mystery novels set in a past era try to stick as closely as possible to true history. It gives me goosebumps to discover that what I’m reading is inspired by actual events and is not too far from the way things really were, especially when it’s difficult to believe people really did/thought/believed that back then. What I’ve found is there’s really nothing new under the sun, only the same, but different.
This short story actually began life as the prologue to my book Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker. I thought it’d be fun to share with you this fun little adventure that started things off. What makes this story even more fun, in my opinion, is that it was inspired by a real article from The Spokane …
I love to re-read Agatha Christie mysteries. There are so many wonderful ones, and if I wait long enough, I sometimes forget exactly how the mystery works itself out. 😉 The reason I made a point of re-reading this particular one, however, was because it is in this book that Agatha Christie gives a decided …
This week I wanted to give a special homage to the woman who’s become a huge part of my life lately: the remarkable Anna Katharine Green. On this day, November 11, in 1846, Anna Katharine Green was born to New England lawyer James Wilson Green and Katharine Ann Whitney Green. She was the fourth child, …
Welcome to Part 2 of my Look Up, Spokane! series. Last month I showed you some pictures I took of the Spokesman Review Building. Today, we’re going across the street. I had never noticed something rather fascinating about this more modern building: outside, along Monroe, are a series of twelve busts. Each bust is of …
My newest book follows Anna Katharine Green as she is inspired to write her first novel, The Leavenworth Case. Based on real events, and wherever possible using her actual words, I hope to revive interest in this most wonderful woman who laid the foundations of mystery fiction as we know it today, inspiring the likes …
How often do we look up anymore? More often than not, we’re looking down at our phone, or down at our feet to make sure we’re not stepping in dog poop or something. But the last time I was downtown in Spokane, I felt the urge to look up, to see what I was missing. …
Most people are familiar with a certain knitting spinster amateur detective who uses her remembrances of the past to solve mysteries. What most people don’t realize is she was not the first! Meet Miss Amelia Butterworth, and no, from what I can find, she’s no relation to the syrup. 😉 This Miss Butterworth is perhaps …
Although my presentation this month on Anna Katharine Green will be covering more than just her first book, The Leavenworth Case has enough to say about itself it could be an entire presentation unto itself. Instead, I’ll share some more about it here, as a taster for what’s to come in the presentation. We open …
The Great Fire that devastated Spokane on August 6, 1889, ended up breathing new life into the town, but they didn’t know that back then… Read below for the first-person account of the event. (Do note, there is some overlap at the tops and bottoms of some of the screenshots to ensure the entire article …
I found the following little editorial article published in The Spokesman-Review, May 6, 1901, and thought it exceedingly interesting. I hope you do, too! (Transcription for easier reading) What is the language of postage stamps when pasted on letters? M.K. The following, called the postage stamp flirtation, may be what you want: Upside down, left …
