Meet Me at "Tarts 'N Truffles"

I will be doing a book panel and signing this Saturday afternoon along with my cozy mystery colleague Diane Morlan in Woodstock, Illinois, at the Tarts 'n' Truffles cake shop.  The event is part of a "Royal Tea" in honor of the Royal Wedding, sponsored by the local AAUW.  It's open to the public, so if you're in our near Woodstock this weekend, please stop by.

 You can check out the particulars in this newspaper article:

http://triblocal.com/huntley/2011/04/27/royal-wedding-fever-comes-to-woodstock/

My Royal Wedding Attire

I made a hat for the Royal Wedding next week.  Not that I've been invited.  However, I do have fond memories of watching Charles and Di get hitched back in the 1980's, sitting in my mother's family room early one summer morning along with my Mom and Sis, cheering and laughing at all the excitement and splendor.

So, I figured now that I have a hat, I can wear it when I get up at 4:00 a.m. next Friday and drag myself down to the television in our living room so I can watch the big event without disturbing my husband's sleep (something tells me he won't be as excited about getting up that early for this particular moment in history as I will).  So, I'll have to get some photos of me in my big fluffy purple terricloth bathrobe wearing my red straw hat that I created out of an old placemat and some artificial flowers.  I probably should put on a pair of white gloves too, because I want to be appropriately proper for this auspicious occasion.

What about you?  Will you be attending the 4:00 a.m. nuptials?  And will you be dressed to the nines as I will?

Who Knows About "Wicked"?

I read in Parade magazine yesterday that not only are producers considering making a movie based on the Broadway musical Wicked, but that they are also planning a television series based on the musical's original source--Gregory Maguire's book Wicked.  As a die-hard Wicked fan, I am thrilled to hear about both endeavors.

Checking around the Internet, I discover that news of the movie may be premature.  It appears that producers are still searching for a director--and potential stars (the originals from Broadway--Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel--now considered by many to be too old to play the young college-aged witches growing up in Oz).  The television series is, apparently, further along in development.  This TV project is being produced by Salma Hayek and is based on the much darker novel by Maguire. 

I've both seen the musical and read Maguire's book and I far prefer the musical (probably because I'm such an optimist and a basically cheerful person).  Even so, I would love for either or both of these projects (the movie and/or the television series) to come to fruition and I would absolutely watch both. 

One glitch that might jeopardize the movie--in my opinion--is the possibililty that it might be ultimately formatted as an animated cartoon (a la Disney).  Personally, I would not care for that at all.  I believe I can take different actresses in the title roles (after all, I've seen the show four times--all with different casts), but I don't think I could stomach my two favorite fictional women of all time--Glinda and Elphaba--as cartoons!

That's how I feel.  I will be following the developments in the Wicked movie/television series story avidly.  If you know anything concerning this issue, do let me know.  Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything I've mentioned in this post.

(photo from www.wayneschultz.com)

I'm Up to No Good

So what does a budding mystery writer do on her day off?  Does she stay home and polish the prose on the third novel in her Pamela Barnes acoustic mystery series?  Does she work on book covers for said novel?  Does she hop around the Internet promoting her two books that are already published?  Of course not!

She starts writing a totally new mystery with a totally different heroine! 

Yes, it's true.  I was run over by inspiration and I'm now over half-way through a fourth mystery--and the first in what I hope will be an entirely new series.  I'm labeling it (at the moment)--Essie Cobb, Senior Sleuth.  My protagonist Essie is a resident in an assisted living facility--and she solves crimes.  This is no easy feat as she has to deal with manuevering her walker into tight spots, coordinating her sleuthing with her bathroom breaks, and just trying to gather clues without the assistance of modern devices such as the computer, the cellphone, etc.  In her first outing (which I am tentatively titling "Bingoed" for the moment) Essie investigates the collapse of an elderly gentleman who falls into a coma when he wins a Bingo game.  Is it the excitement of winning?  Or has something more sinister occurred that propelled the old fellow into his present state?  If anyone can discover the truth, it's Essie Cobb--Senior Sleuth!

I must say that now that I have developed my own rhythm for writing a book, I am having a fabulous time creating this story.  Essie and her pals are blooming right in front of my eyes as they take over the story from my typing fingers.  I will keep you updated as the plot progresses.

If you have any funny or interesting stories that you think would be good to add to a mystery about a senior sleuth in an assisted living facility--let me know! 

(photo from www.harrycutting.com)