Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Murder Comes by Mail”
“Write what you know.” That is advice many writers, especially new writers, hear. Some say it’s good advice. Some say it’s terrible advice. True, if I only wrote what I had experienced personally, I’d have very limited story ideas. Writing what I know would have all my stories about a small town country girl who loves dogs and kids and …
Some of you have enjoyed my Hidden springs Mysteries. Others of you may not know I wrote a few cozy mysteries under the author name, A.H. Gabhart. Of course, if you read through my writing journey a few weeks ago, you’ll know that I have always loved reading mysteries and once, when I was in rejection valley, daring to set …
And happily, in addition to that little bit of sinister, there are cats in Hidden Springs! Specifically Two Bits, Grimalkin, and Miss Marble to help save the day at just the right moments in the stories. If you’ve got a cozy mystery, and a dog is introduced, readers’ first question is, ‘Does the dog die?’ They never ask about a …
“An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” ~Stephen King One of the most important lines in a story is that very first one that you write. But as important as that is to grab the attention of a reader, a first line can …
A few years ago, I strayed away from my historical novels and wrote a few cozy mysteries set in the fictional town of Hidden Springs, Kentucky where, as the picture above says, things are sweet and sentimental as well as a little sinister. After the first one, Murder at the Courthouse, was published, I did a magazine interview about …
“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.” — Carol Burnett April 28, 2024 If you have been following some of my posts here or on Facebook, you know I’m counting down to the release of my book, The Song of Sourwood Mountain, coming in less than two weeks on May 7th. I’ve been …
The last time always seems sad, but it isn’t really. The end of one thing is only the beginning of another. ~Laura Ingals Wilder, These Happy Golden Years Thanks to those of you who have dropped in here during the month of December when so much is sometimes going on with Christmas gatherings, special church services, and maybe new books …
Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’m sure you’ve heard that little bit of advice over and over. Often we are talking about something besides books when we say it. Don’t decide this or that person isn’t somebody you’d like to know on first meeting him or her. Don’t decide some food dish isn’t going to be tasty …
I’ve written a lot of books and seen many of them published and sent out into the world of readers. Each new story has a way of sort of pushing the last story a little to the side and the story ten books ago toward the second shelf of memory. I did a Zoom meeting with a fun book club …
A novel needs a good first line. It needs every line to be good but that first line in your story needs to grab a reader’s interest. Those few words need to be a flashing pointer toward the rest of the story. A good first line can also help a writer dive into the story. Most writers, including me, work …