If You or I Were a Mouse in the House

If You or I Were a Mouse in the House

If I had been a mouse  yesterday, scurrying around my house, I might have heard the chatter of four women who got together over coffee and black-bottom cupcakes around the hundred-year old table in my dining room. If I had been a cat, I would have headed for the cushion in front of the fireplace and slept right through that exhuberant critique.

As It was, there were no mice or cats around. Only Nemo dozed in the back bedroom, content to be out of the cold wind and, doubtless, with his keen hearing, absorbing many interesting tidbits of a cozy critique.

For instance, Nancy, author of The Grace Impact, has recently returned from a book signing at the library in Joplin, Missouri. She enthusiastically told us about her time spent there. The library is new and they are hoping to expand their yearly author get together into having representatives from a four-state area.

Jane looked up at the beautiful sky a few nights back and penned a charming poem, Moon and Stars. Jane is an artist with paints and colored pencil, but she also paints memorable pictures with words.  “Night sounds only God can hear,” “Decorating the heavens with cascades of light” are just a couple of phrases within this poem, but they give you an idea of its exquisite wording.

She is also working on a humorous rhyme about Sadie, her new puppy, which will be filled with fun times she spends with her amazing pet.

Peg offered insights into what makes a book stand out as worthwhile. She has finished Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante, an intriguing “might have been” set during the 1940s. It is written by Susan Elia Macneal.

She is also reading The Secret Book and Scone Society, the start of a new series by a really good author, Ellery Adams.

Once again, the Cozy Critters inspired and instructed concerning my third Ned McNeil book, Ghost of Moonlight Past. I’ve jotted down their ideas and they are good ones. 

Are you sure this is only a flurry?” Pat asked. “Those flakes are coming thick and fast. Mother Goose is shaking her featherbed.”

Jackie stirred cream into her coffee. “That’s what the weatherman said last night. You’re right, though, the snow certainly looks like it means business.”

My caramel mocha was rich and hot. The warmth of Grandy’s Cafe crept over me. I didn’t want to move.

“Maybe we could just stay here and hibernate all winter,” I said, stifling a yawn. “I don’t know when I’ve been so comfortable.”

And, the story goes on, bringing in the snowstorm of the century and a van full of stranded sight-seers. But then, something awful happens. Someone turns up missing, no one can find him, and Ned has a house full of suspects.


How well do you know Darcy and Flora? Did you know that they didn’t always stay in Levi, Oklahoma, but made brief excursions to other states? Can you answer these questions?

  1. In what book did Darcy and Flora take a trip to Amarillo, Texas?
  2. Which book finds Darcy going to Georgia to fill in some background on a preacher?
  3. Darcy goes to New York in one of her adventures. Which one?
  4. In which cozy did Darcy hunt up information found in Siloam Springs, Arkansas?

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