The night stole softly down the hills and wrapped the town in darkness. Daylight fled, going with the sun as it slipped beneath the western horizon. Now, a sense of tranquility and the far away sounds of the forest blotted out the cares of the day. Down in the hollow, an owl hooted. Another answered. […]
Jan 13, 2018
Flu Figured in History and In Mystery Too
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Flu is hitting hard this winter, according to all reports. Seems it has plagued mankind for a long time and was especially bad in 1918. I remember my mother talking about that time. Interestingly, it played a strategic part in Darcy Campbell’s past and even figured in her genealogy. How? Well, it’s all there in […]
Jan 11, 2018
Just Ahead of the Storm
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I’m so glad the Cozy Critique was yesterday instead of today. This is the day when the temperature is forecast to take a nosedive. But yesterday, well, it was a pleasant day inside and out, and it may well have been the calm before a winter storm. Today is beginning cloudy and still, as if […]
Jan 9, 2018
That Dangerous State of Affairs, Retirement
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Retirement–that longed-for Utopian state for which I worked for decades. Lovely, unhurried mornings, peaceful, sunny days of travel, visiting coffee shops. Plenty of time for cleaning a house and keeping it sparkling, baking cookies, taking long walks. And, oh, my goodness, all that accumulated wisdom. Just a whole headful of good advice gleaned from years of […]
Jan 7, 2018
Ghost Lights and Other Mysteries
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. – Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio And, aren’t you glad? Shakespeare undoubtedly did not mean the Lock Ness Monster nor the ghost lights at Etta nor all the stories we’ve heard while sitting around the fire having a case […]
Jan 5, 2018
A New and Spooky Look at an Old, Old Song
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A re-print from a few years back. I hope you enjoy it, this second time around. This is Twelfth Night, the Epiphany, the impetus for the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. With my family’s help, I added words that might be appropriate for a writer of cozy mysteries. Thanks, Matt, Dawn, Sara, Nathan! A Cozy […]
