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 …
I was interviewed by KREM 2 News! View the interview here and follow me on YouTube! This is my debut historical mystery, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker, the first in the Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries, set in Gilded Age Spokane. It’s 1901 and Archie Prescot has traveled across the country to Spokane, Washington to design the now …
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 …
What does a writer of historical fiction have in common with a writer of epic fantasy? How much history is too much history? It’s the same dilemma for both writers, oddly enough. For the epic fantasy writer (like my husband, Andrew Meredith), there’s always the question of spending too much time describing the world, and …
I recently had a friend ask me how I got my agent with the idea being that she also would like to pursue publication. But when I started explaining, her eyes glazed over and she got that funny twitch in the corner of her mouth that people get when they’re like, “Are you kidding me??” …
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, …
The following comes from one of the 19th century cookbooks I’ll be sharing at my next presentation THIS SATURDAY, Oct 19 at 2:00 at the East Side branch of the Spokane Public Library. Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook Published 1896 A FULL COURSE DINNER. FIRST COURSE. Little Neck Clams or Bluepoints, with brown-bread sandwiches. …
I’m giving my presentation on the marvelous collection of letters titled Dear Mother this Saturday up at the Loon Lake Library. (If you’re in the area—be sure to stop by at 2:00!) So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much I prefer first-hand accounts when it comes to research. When I first discovered …
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 …
