Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy "cozy mysteries". If you're not sure what a "cozy" is, take a look at these guest posts at Dorte's blog by cozy authors Jackie Fullerton and Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Over the weekend I finished the first in a new cozy series by Elizabeth Spann Craig written under the pen name Riley Adams. Delicious and Suspicious totally fits the bill as far as cozies go. I loved it! Set in Memphis, TN, it's filled with assorted references to Elvis, ducks at the Peabody, plenty of quirky characters, lots of humor, and enough suspects to keep you guessing. If you can make it through the book without a strong hankering for BBQ, you're a stronger person than I am. Fortunately the back of the book includes a section of recipes. You can be sure I'm going to try the one for Pulled Pork Barbeque and Sauce! I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, if you'd like another opinion of the book you can read Dorte's review here.

Odds and Ends

Check out this really fun link Tracy shared on her blog today: I Write Like. You provide a sample then it analyzes your writing and tells you which author you write like. Here are my results:

I write like
Arthur C. Clarke

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Jen shared some fun info in her blog this weekend, too. Did you know that Blogger offers stats now for your blog? Just look under Tools and Resources at the bottom of your Dashboard and click on "Blogger in Draft". Interesting to see, not that I was particularly surprised by my stats.

Life has been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I'm behind on my magazines which, in turn, has kept me from reading books. The Book of Eli arrived from Netflix the other day and I have to say I was rather disappointed in it. The premise and previews had raised my expectations a little too high, I guess, since I thought it was slow and boring. Finally made it to a matinee showing of Eclipse, the third in the Twilight series. I thought it was much better than New Moon. More action and less angst. One of the best parts of the week was seeing our local arts center's summer musical. They did The Producers by Mel Brooks and it was a real hoot! I'm always pleased with what quality productions our community theater puts out.

Now, if I can just make myself turn this blasted computer off I might get some reading done....

C.J. Sansom

While browsing through back posts over at Petty Witter’s blog (Pen and Paper), I discovered an author that I’d never heard of. Okay, that’s not so unusual. There are plenty of authors I’m not familiar with. This author, however, writes Historical Fiction mysteries set in Tudor England. I love Historical Fiction, I love mysteries, and I love British history!

C.J. Sansom is currently a full-time writer, but began his career as an attorney. The central character in his mystery series is Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked lawyer practicing at Lincoln's Inn in London. Shardlake starts out as an avid supporter of reform, enjoying the patronage of Thomas Cromwell. Throughout the series his passion for reform wanes as he embarks on missions for Cromwell, then later Archbishop Cranmer.

The novels are very well written and, although fiction, contain a tremendous amount of accurate historical information woven into them. I thoroughly enjoyed the three I’ve read, Dissolution, Dark Fire and Sovereign and look forward to the US release of the fourth, Revelation.