GUEST POST: Cheesecake, love, and other mysteries by Laura Pauling

Laura Pauling writes about spies, murder and mystery. She’s the author of the young adult Circle of Spies Series, the Prom Impossible Series, the time travel mysteries, Heist and A Royal Heist, and the Holly Hart Cozy Mystery Series: Footprints in the Frosting and Deadly Independence with more coming. She lives the cover of a …

GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY: The Right Kind of Skin (Rhino) by Joanne Guidoccio

In high school, Joanne Guidoccio dabbled in poetry, but it would be over three decades before she entertained the idea of writing as a career. In 2008, she took an early retirement from teaching and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Before long, Joanne …

GUEST POST: The Worst Possible Cocktail Party by Mindy Quigley

Say I’ve written a bit of dialogue that’s outrageously clever, full of nimble-minded wordplay and athletic leaps of language. I’ve peppered each sentence with ten-dollar words and Oscar Wilde-esque wit. But when I examine this brilliant bit of dialogue using the cocktail party nutcase test, I may realize that, it is a clear example of the high-strung woman cornering the unsuspecting partygoer.

Can an author of police procedurals write cozies? COFFEE IS MURDER by Carolyn Arnold

Of course she can. FOR SARA, COFFEE WAS ONE of life’s greatest—and simplest—pleasures. Every time she took a draw of freshly brewed java, her eyelids automatically lowered in appreciation of the robust flavor. Somehow, when drinking it, life seemed less complicated, or maybe it was just how it coated the palate and calmed her nerves …

Today on College Misery: They’re final grades, not opening bids.

I'm blogging over at Higher Education's Premier Online Publication today. I posted final grades at 2pm. Within minutes my inbox was brimming with pleas from prodigal students, some of whom had attendance records so irregular that the names were only vaguely familiar to me; I had to double check to make sure they were actually students of …

New mystery stars Edgar Allen Poe’s cat: THE TELL-TAIL HEART

Edgar Allen Poe + cat. Perfect. The Tell-Tail Heart by Monica Shaughnessy The Tell-Tail Heart: A Cattarina Mystery (Cattarina Mysteries) (Volume 1) Cozy Mystery Publisher: Jumping Jackalope Press (June 17, 2014) Paperback: 176 pages ISBN-13: 978-0988562974   The untold story behind Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Philadelphia, 1842: Poe's cat, Cattarina, becomes embroiled in …

Does this outfit make me look readable? Author photos and genre

What is the purpose of an author photo? It allows the reader to feel a connection with the author, of course, but the photo also communicates something about the genre of the book. Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Diane Mott Davidson and Shelley Costa write funny, PG-rated mysteries, where the violence and sex happen offstage. Janet Evanovich …