PARANORMAL MYSTERY AUTHOR DR. RANDY OVERBECK DISCUSSES CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES--INCLUDING HIS NEWEST

Dr. Randy Overbeck is a bestselling author of the award-winning Haunted Shores Mysteries, each a cold case murder mystery wrapped in ghost story served with a side romance and set in a beautiful resort location. He is also the author and voice of a new podcast, “Great Stories about Great Storytellers,” which reveals the unusual backstories of famous authors, directors and poets. In addition, he shares his multi-media presentations with audiences around the country. Learn more about all at his website.

Christmas Ghost Stories

When readers pick up a Christmas story today, even a Christmas mystery, they will likely encounter brilliant Christmas lights, a decorated Christmas tree, or even a Santa Claus—in addition to a murder victim and a detective, of course. In fact, listening to the incessant stream of cheerful, holiday songs, readers might think it was always so. Not true. Not so long ago, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, children and adults were told stories of a different kind of “spirit.” In England—the same country that gave us such holiday traditions as Christmas cards and mistletoe—children and adults gathered around a fireplace on a wintry Christmas Eve and were frightened into the Christmas “spirit” via a few creepy ghost stories.

 

The most famous of these eerie Christmas tales is, of course, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with its four specters to scare straight Ebenezer Scrooge. But Dickens is hardly alone. Henry James’s most famous work, The Turn of the Screw, which also takes place on Christmas Eve, is the tale of a governess who encounters the ghostly figures of a man and a woman. 

 

In the same British holiday convention, A.M. Burrage’s eerie short story “Smee” is about a group of young people messing around on Christmas Eve who decide to play a game of hide and seek in a spooky house in which a young girl died years before. What could go wrong?

 

The list goes on and on.

 

This tradition of sharing ghost stories on Christmas eve is thought to emanate from the pre-Christian celebration of the Winter Solstice, a time when light dies and the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest…and many of these threads continue even into our time. For years, the BBC hosted “Ghost Stories for Christmas,” spooking late night audiences into the ‘70s. Even the recent hit series, Downton Abbey—which portrayed life in England in the first half of the twentieth century--featured a Christmas episode where family members are gathered around a Ouija board, trying to access a spirit.

 

My new title, Scarlet at Crystal River, (watch the video here) continues this fine tradition of spooky Christmas ghost stories. This year, why not continue a centuries-old tradition and grab an alluring Christmas ghost mystery to read by the burning yule log this holiday?

 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good fright! 

 

Scarlet at Crystal River

A Haunted Shores Mystery, Book 3

 

During the Christmas holidays, Darrell and Erin travel to Florida for their honeymoon, but, once there, the ghosts of two murdered children interrupt their romantic excursions. The newlyweds are driven to find out what really happened to the two kids, even when they are shot at, driven off the road and nearly killed. 

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR JENNIFER HAWKINS BAKES UP SHORTBREAD AND A TALKING CORGI

Jennifer Hawkins is the author of the Chatty Corgi mystery series.  She lives, writes, and bakes in the great state of Michigan. She can be found at @allmycozies on both Twitter and Instagram.

Jennifer Bakes and Writes

When people ask me “where do you get your ideas from?” usually I tell them everywhere. Inspiration can come from anyplace.  As a writer, you learn to keep your eyes and your mind open.

 

Occasionally, inspiration comes from an editor calling on the phone, saying “We’d like to do a story about…” and “Would you be interested?”

 

That’s how I ended up writing a cozy mystery about Emma who left her life in London’s financial industry to open a cake shop in Cornwall. Oh, and did I mention her best friend is her talking corgi, Oliver? 

 

It might not have been my own idea, but I have an absolute ball writing the Chatty Corgi books. First, who doesn’t love a corgi?  Secondly, I have always loved to cook and bake. I’ve baked my own cakes and breads since I was little. For me, making a new recipe — whether it’s simple or complex — is a process of discovery. I always learn something new, even if I’ve made it a hundred times.

 

It’s kind of like writing, in that way. No matter what it is, I’m always exploring something new — whether it’s a dead body in a prize-winning rose garden, or how to get the character of the talking dog just right.

 

That’s probably why I like this shortbread recipe so much. It’s a really basic cookie and delicious as it is. But there’s also a dozen things you can add — citrus zest, ginger, candy chips, nuts — the list goes on. You really can make it different every time.  Just make sure whatever you add doesn’t add moisture to the mix.  

 

Shortbread Cookie

 

Ingredients:

2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)

2 sticks/1 cup/226 grams cold unsalted butter

 

Optional: 1 tsp. lemon or orange zest, chopped toasted almonds or pecans, candied ginger, dried cranberries, etc.

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Cut up the butter into small cubes and put it back in the fridge while you get the rest of your ingredients together. As with biscuits and pie crust, shortbread works best when the butter’s really cold.

 

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor, pulse a few times to mix.

 

Add cubed butter to food processor, pulse in 10 second bursts until the mixture is sandy and holds together when you squeeze a lump in your hand. It’s going to look dryer than the usual cookie dough, but that’s okay.It’s supposed to.

 

Turn mixture into baking pan and press down with your fingers into a smooth, solid layer of dough.

 

Use a fork to prick the surface of the dough all over. This is called “docking” and it will release the steam from the inside and keep the dough from puffing up.

 

Bake at 325 F for 45 - 50 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the shortbread out of the pan. While the shortbread is still warm, cut into preferred shape.  

 

To Fetch a Felon

A Chatty Corgi Mystery, Book 1

 

Emma Reed and her beloved Corgi move from London to Cornwall with the dream of opening a tea shop—but first they’ll have to collar a criminal in the first book in a charming new series.

 

Emma leaves London and her life in high finance behind her and moves to an idyllic village in Cornwall, with its cobblestone streets and twisting byways. She plans to open a village tea shop and bake the recipes handed down to her from her beloved grandmother, and of course there’ll be plenty of space for her talking corgi, Oliver, to explore. Yes...talking. Emma has always been able to understand Oliver, even though no one else can.

 

As soon as Emma arrives in the village she discovers that the curmudgeonly owner of the building she wants to rent for her shop hates dogs and gets off on the wrong foot with Oliver. Although some might turn tail and run, Emma is determined to win her over. But when she delivers some of her homemade scones as a peace offering, she finds the woman dead. Together, Emma and Oliver will need to unleash their detective skills to catch a killer.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR N.M. CEDENO

N. M. Cedeño writes mystery, science fiction, paranormal mystery, and children’s poetry. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I took a while to work my way up to novels. First, I wrote kids’ poetry and stories. Then, I branched out to short stories for adults a few years later. Finally, around age 30, I realized one of my stories needed to be a novel, but it took me a few years to figure out how to write it.  

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

I submitted children’s fiction to publishers for years without success. Then, around 2008, I started submitting 250 word stories to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’s monthly photo contest. A couple of my stories were selected as runners-up in 2009 and 2010, so I decided to try writing full-length short stories. My first short story to be published was in Analog: Science Fiction and Fact magazine in 2012. By that time, I’d been writing for at least nine years.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

My novels are all indie published, but I still submit short stories to magazines. Hybrid.

Where do you write?

I write at home, mostly in the office or at the kitchen table.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

For years, I wrote to the sound of squabbling children. Now I write to the sound of squabbling children and a dog barking out frequent proximity alerts: Truck! Squirrel! Person! Dog! Cat! Silence might be nice.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Details in my stories are drawn from real life. For instance, I like to put favorite restaurants in stories. I included a rollover car wreck in a book, and I’ve been in one. I once gave a character a variation on a job I had held. My science fiction stories frequently involve current social issues that I tweak to fit my needs. However, most of my stories involve murder, and none of the murder plots are taken from my life.

Describe your process for naming your characters?

Naming characters is a complicated process!  I use a baby name book to choose names that fit the personality of the character. I also Google names to make sure they are either really common or completely unique.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Real cities and towns, but with fictional buildings added. I’ve set stories in Houston, Dallas, and around Austin. Most of my fiction is set in Texas.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

In my Bad Vibes Removal Services stories, the character of Lea is a graduate student who studies the daily lives of ancient people. Her quirk is that she replicates the clothes, hairstyles, makeup styles, or even perfumes common to the ancient civilization she is studying, and sometimes wears them to work. Lea is also extremely sensitive to emotional atmosphere in buildings, and she sees ghosts!

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I refuse to buy desserts I can easily bake myself: no grocery cakes or bakery cookies, cupcakes, or brownies unless they’re something truly extraordinary.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers. I’d love to be able to write witty dialogue and intelligent characters while displaying a knack for comedy and creating humorous situations the way Sayers did in that book. Sayers broke a main rule of mystery writing by ending not with the capture of the murderer, but with the execution of the murderer after the trial. She showed the psychological ramifications of the execution on her detective. She could only do that because she was a brilliant writer who could create characters that readers were invested in knowing, characters whose lives and emotions mattered to the reader.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

To have taken a marketing class in college.  I didn’t foresee how much I would need to know that kind of stuff.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Places that advertise kolaches, and don’t sell any actual kolaches, but instead sell sausage rolls are my pet peeve. Kolaches don’t have meat in them, people! Some kolache shops sell sausage rolls (klobasniky), but that doesn’t make the sausage roll a kolache any more than selling a cinnamon roll in a donut shop makes it a donut. How would you like it if you wanted a donut, and the sign said the place sold donuts, but it really only sold cinnamon rolls? This is a Texas Czech thing.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

If I already have basic necessities (food, water, and shelter) as a given, then books, pencil and paper (or tablet or laptop) for writing, and chocolate.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

When I was in college, I had a summer job as a customer service representative (CSR) answering phones to schedule air conditioner repairs. Think of summer in Texas and cranky people with no A/C. The dispatchers used to bet on which of the CSRs would cry after being screamed at and cursed at by customers.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

I don’t have a “best book” of all books. I’d have to give you a list with “best” books by category, such as Best Classic Novel--Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I have other “bests” for traditional mystery, romance, suspense, fantasy, and other categories.

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean! The beach is my happy place.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Neither. Suburban Texas girl. Access to museums, live music, and plays when wanted, but space for hiking and walking your dog through fields and trees, preferably with lazy cows and deer watching you as you go.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Until recently, I’ve only written stand-alone novels and short stories in different genres and subgenres. However, I now have a series in the works based on my Bad Vibes Removal Services short stories. I wrote three short stories, and then the novel, The Walls Can Talk. I have three more short stories in the series completed, which will be published in a few months, and am starting the next novel.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I write more short stories than novels, which allows me to write in different genres from day to day or week to week. I can’t stick to one genre! However, nothing I write contains graphic violence or graphic sex.

The Walls Can Talk, A Bad Vibes Removal Services Novel

The Hanovers inherited an ancient Irish castle that’s been moved to central Texas. But once they move in, they find not all is well in a home that seems straight out of a fairy tale. When things are moved in the middle of the night, is the explanation treasure-hunting teenagers or someone more malicious?

With a terrifying ghostly presence haunting their days and break-ins threatening their nights, the Hanovers reach out to a private detective, the famed Montgomery of Montgomery Investigations, and his employees at Bad Vibes Removal Services to resolve matters using the equipment he invented that detects and deciphers emotional residue and sound patterns long embedded in walls.

The Bad Vibes crew — Lea, Kamika, and Montgomery — are used to solving cases involving death. But usually Lea is the only one who sees the spirits. Not this time! This ancient Irish ghost seems bent on breaking all the rules, forcing the team to find new ways for removing old souls. Now the team finds themselves dragged into a convoluted drama of betrayal, murder, and hidden treasure. With their clients’ lives on the line, Lea, Kamika, and Montgomery work to identify the criminal behind the break-ins and free the castle from its haunted past.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR PAMELA KOPFLER

Debut author Pamela Kopfler writes mysteries and cozy mysteries. Better Dead is the first book in her new B&B Spirits Mystery series. Learn more about Pamela and her books at her website and blog. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I took the scenic route, as I often do. I was hosting a home and garden show on a local TV station and telling Southern anecdotal stories on a local NPR affiliate when I met Mr. Deluxe, my current husband. After a year of our long distance relationship, he popped the big question, but someone had to move. That someone was little old me. The only marketable skill that survived the move was my ability to write, so write I did.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Ha! My first novel is cohabitating with the dust bunnies under my bed. There are a few false starts burrowed down in my hard drive, too. Then I wrote Better Dead. It won lots of writing contests, but didn’t sell right away. In the mean time, I entered Better Dead and other unpublished manuscripts in the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® contest and became a finalist four times. My wonderful agent sold Better Dead first and here I am!

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I’m traditionally published.

Where do you write?

Squirrel! I’m easily distracted. I write alone anywhere, but I must face a wall, wear noise-canceling headphones, and use a timer for sprints and breaks.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

My mind is so noisy that I need to quiet it down to write. I listen to ambient sounds—rain or surf—or Bach when I listen to music. If I listen to anything with lyrics, I find myself singing along in my head.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

My plots come in a flash from an experience that’s usually very subtle. It can be as simple as a smell, sound, or sight that triggers the magic. So far, there’s nothing autobiographical about my stories. Mercy! If I saw a ghost, I’d die on the spot. My characters are a steaming gumbo of everyone who has ever passed through my life, even if it was just for an instant. None of my characters are based on any single person I know.

Describe your process for naming your character?

My characters usually come with a name. I don’t know how they do that but they do. I do keep a file with interesting or pleasing names. I haven’t used it yet, but it’s a comfort to know I have names if a nameless character ever shows up.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Better Dead is set in a fictional town that’s a combination of many small Louisiana towns I’ve lived in or visited.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

The cook is superstitious and goes to great lengths to avoid breaking any rules that may trigger bad luck.  

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I never end anything on the number thirteen. Sips of water. Minutes in the microwave. Pages written for the day. I go for an even dozen every chance I get. Donuts, anyone?

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg. Her stories feel so real. I want to believe the characters lived the life between the pages, and I could go visit their graves today. I love the way she mixes humor, drama, and mystery to shake it out in just the right amounts.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

I wish I hadn’t taken the scenic route on my way to becoming an author. Of course, every experience feeds the creative well. If I’d gone straight to writing, my well would not be as deep—but I’d have more years to write. Between my story ideas and my to-be-read pile of books, I need to live a very long time to reach THE END of either.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Stories that don’t have a happy ending make me want to throw the book across the room.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Sunscreen. I sunburn walking to the mailbox. A cane knife. It’s quite a handy tool that’s used to chop sugar cane. It could be used to hack through a jungle, build a hut, wack open a coconut, and gut a fish. A bottle of bourbon would come in handy if I need a disinfectant…or a stiff drink.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Proof operator at a bank. I hated that job with a pink and purple passion. I’m not a numbers person and if everything didn’t balance for the day, no one could go home. As you might guess, I wasn’t very popular at that job.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Mercy! That’s just an impossible choice. I’ll go with a classic, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The tale is quite short, but has endured through generations for good reason. I had the opportunity to see his draft of a Christmas Carol on exhibit at the Morgan Library in NYC. The manuscript was littered with notes, corrections, and scratch outs. It gave me such comfort to know that even Dickens didn’t get it right on the first draft, and yet he gave us the most memorable stories through his body of work.

Ocean or mountains?

Oceans. I love the sound of the surf and a warm breeze.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Both! I love hanging out in New Orleans and in bayou country.

What’s on the horizon for you?

I just turned in Downright Dead (book two in the B&B Spirits Mystery series) and am writing Hog Wild Dead (book three).

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I’ve spilled enough about me. I just want to thank Lois for having me and thank all of you for reading this far. I’d love to keep in touch. Friend or follow me (Pamela Kopfler) at all the usual places on the World-Wide-Web or subscribe to my newsletter for finger-lickin’-good Southern recipes, cocktail recipes, funny stories, and book news.  https://pamelakopfler.com

Y’all stay sassy!

Better Dead

A B&B Spirits Mystery, book 1

Nothing says unfinished business like a visit from your nearly ex husband’s ghost.

Burl Davis checked out of this world a little earlier than expected—before Holly could serve him with divorce papers over his extramarital flings. Unfortunately, it was not before he nearly bankrupted her beloved B&B, Holly Grove, a converted plantation that has been in her family for generations. Holly would never wish anyone dead, but three months later she’s feeling a lot more relief than grief.

Until Burl’s ghost appears as an unwelcome guest. Before his spirit can move on, her not-so-dearly-departed needs Holly’s help to bust up the drug smuggling ring he was involved with. She has reservations, to say the least, but agrees to assist him if he’ll make a show of haunting the B&B to draw in visitors. But when Holly’s former love, Jack McCann, mysteriously resurfaces in town and checks in, she wonders if her B&B is big enough for the ghost of her husband and the very real physical presence of her old flame…

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GUEST AUTHOR AMBER FOXX ON PSYCHIC PHENOMENON

Amber Foxx, author of the award-winning Mae Martin Psychic Mystery Series, has worked professionally in theater, dance, fitness, yoga and academia. She has lived in both the Southeast and the Southwest, and calls New Mexico home. Learn more about Amber and her books at her website. 

Psychics: Using Fact in Fiction

Since I write a mystery series featuring a psychic, I’m often asked if I’m psychic. Yes—and you probably are, too.

I like to keep up with research on this subject, reading scholarly books and articles, and of course, talking with psychics. Most, I’ll admit, sounded like newspaper horoscopes, offering vague all-purpose insights, but some seem to have genuine gifts.

According to Dean Radin’s book Supernormal, an approachable summary of his scientific studies, being psychic is a natural human trait. Like athletic ability or musical talent, the way it manifests varies, and it can improve with training the mind to focus. In experiments testing clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition, subjects who meditated regularly performed significantly better than others who didn’t meditate.

Another factor affecting psychic ability is love. Compared to unconnected pairs of experimental subjects, long-term couples are more psychic in relation to each other. Dr. Larry Dossey’s book One Mind describes how people who aren’t normally psychic have visions or dreams connecting them with loved ones at times of intense need. This also occurs with pets and owners, and with doctors and patients. As with any other sense, we’re constantly filtering out irrelevant information and focusing on what is salient. It’s only when we dream about an emergency, or we hear a voice warning us of danger to a loved one, that we pay attention. Otherwise, our psychic sense’s input can be ignored as background noise, the way unimportant input from our hearing often is.

Some gifted individuals can bring their psychic ability into action on purpose. Dossey documents psychics finding shipwrecks that were previously undetected by other means or locating stolen property. This is the type of the psychic who could inspire a character in mystery fiction.

I have precognitive dreams, but I wouldn’t make a good psychic in a novel. Some of my dreams predicted important events, but most foresaw peculiar, trivial events—for example, a man in a top hat appearing at breakfast in a hotel. Only once was I able to dream the future intentionally for a friend, and the dream took months to come true. In Ghost Sickness, book five of my series, I introduced a character with a more focused version of this ability, Ezra Yahnaki, the twelve-year-old grandson of a Mescalero Apache medicine woman. His psychic gift is limited to seeing the future, and he’s still learning how to interpret the images, but what he dreams is important, and he’s learning to seek such dreams on purpose.

Mae Martin, the series protagonist, can’t see the future, only the past and the present. The idea for her talents and her limits came to me a number of years ago when a neighbor invited me for dinner. Her other guest, Laura, could hold something you owned and pick up information from it. I didn’t know what to expect, but I asked her to find out what I most needed to know. Laura turned away from the dinner table, holding my eyeglasses, and was quiet for about five minutes. When she faced me again, she gave a vivid description of an elderly woman and also her setting and her emotional state. I recognized my mother. Though Laura’s vision didn’t reveal something new, she had somehow perceived an important concern in my life. I based Mae’s gift on this woman’s clairvoyant connections through touch. The need for a personal object adds challenges for her in solving a mystery.

In Death Omen, the sixth book in the series, Mae Martin feels compelled to use “the Sight” to help the people closest to her—her boyfriend, and her stepdaughters from her second marriage—and also to investigate another seer.

To welcome newcomers to the series, book one, The Calling, is free through the end of November. 

Death Omen

A Mae Martin Psychic Mystery, Book 6

Trouble at a psychic healing seminar proves knowing real from fraud can mean the difference between life and death.

At an energy healing workshop in Santa Fe, Mae Martin encounters Sierra, a woman who claims she can see past lives—and warns Mae’s boyfriend he could die if he doesn’t face his karma and join her self-healing circle. Concerned for the man she loves, Mae digs into the mystery behind Sierra’s strange beliefs. Will she uncover proof of a miracle worker, or of a trickster who destroys her followers’ lives?

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COWBOY BOOT #FASHION WITH GUEST AUTHOR PATY JAGER

Corral West Flat Heel Cut-Out Boots

Award-winning author Paty Jager has been a frequent guest here at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers over the years, but we had no idea one of her characters had such impeccable fashion sense—at least when it comes to cowboy boots. Leave a comment (along with a way to contact you) about your own fashion footwear preferences for a chance to win a copy of Paty’s latest book.

Paty writes murder mysteries, western romance, and action adventure and has authored 30+ novels, a dozen novellas, and a passel of short stories. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor. Learn more about Paty and her books at her website and blog. 

Shandra Higheagle talks Cowboy Boots

Hello, I’m Shandra Higheagle, potter by trade and amateur sleuth hobbyist. My heritage and passion for the earth comes out in the vases I throw from clay I gather on Huckleberry Mountain. The purification process for the clay heals my soul and gives my art more depth.

Broad Toe Flat Heel Boot

I didn’t pick my hobby, it picked me. My deceased grandmother began coming to me in dreams when first myself, and then my friend, were accused of murder. My dreams helped Detective Ryan Greer piece together the clues that pointed to the real killer.

But the reason Anastasia has me on her blog today is to talk about my fashion passion.

Cowboy boots. I have twenty pairs of fancy boots in my closet. And I have four pair of everyday riding boots. When I sold my first vase at a gallery, I bought my first pair of embellished fancy boots. When Ryan moved in with me, he was delegated to a small space in my closet. I wasn’t going to get rid of my boots or take them out of the closet. He has to make do with what space there is left. A woman has priorities when it comes to her boots.

As I said, I have every day boots. These have a less dramatic heel, it makes walking on uneven ground easier, and no embellishment on the boot itself. These are plain cowhide leather. Everyday boots are for mud, rain, cleaning stalls, and riding horses. The bottom of the sole is slick to slide in and out of the stirrup easily and the heel just high enough to catch on the stirrup and keep your foot from sliding all the way through.

Dan Post Tall Shaft High Heel

My fancy boots, ones I wear to town, to art shows, and when I dress up can have embroidery, cut-outs, different leathers, colors, stains, and studs. I have two pair that have leather fringe. One is a boot and one is a bootie. A bootie is a short only 7or 8-inch shaft or the height of the boot. A boot can have an 11 to 12-inch shaft on some of the fancier boots. There is also a walking heel, which is shorter and flatter and a fashion heel, which is about 3 inches high and narrower at the bottom than at the top. These boots are stylish but can be as hard on the feet as a high heel sling if walked in for a long period of time. And you can purchase boots with different type of toes. There is rounded, snip, pointed, square, and broad square.

I wear my fancy walking heel boots to town and events where I’ll be on my feet a good part of the day. Nighttime events and times when I know I’ll be doing more sitting than walking, I wear my fashion heel boots.

Lucchese and Old Gringo are the Cadillac of boots. They usually run $300 to $2000 a pair. The other brands Laredo, Corral Boots, Justin, Ariat, Dan Post, Tony Lama, Ferrini, Durango, Boulet, Roper, and Nocona, to name the most common ones, have prices ranging from $100 to $400.

Lactose Cut-out Boot

I have the lower priced boots for every day and some of my fancy boots. I have one pair of Luchesse and one Old Gringo. I like having many different pairs of boots, but I can’t afford the high-end lines very often.

What about you? Do you like shoes or boots? Maybe handbags? What is the one item you tend to have more than any other in your closet?

Leave an answer in the comment section along with your email, and I’ll draw a name to win a copy of my latest Shandra Higheagle Mystery as either a print book or an ebook.  The drawing will be held on Monday, June 19^th.

Fatal Fall

Book eight of the Shandra Higheagle Native American Mystery Series

Avarice…Family…Murder

When the doctor is a no-show for her appointment, Shandra Higheagle becomes wrapped up in another murder. The death of the doctor’s elderly aunt has everyone questioning what happened and who’s to blame. Shandra’s dreams soon tell her she’s on the right path, but also suggests her best friend could be in grave danger.

Detective Ryan Greer knows not even an illness will keep Shandra from sneaking around, and he appreciates that. Her insight is invaluable. When she becomes embroiled deeper in the investigation, he stakes out the crime scene and waits for the murder to make a tell-all mistake. 

But will he be able to act fast enough to keep Shandra or her friend from being the next victim?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR AMY BOYLES AND STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD

Amy Boyles grew up reading Judy Blume and Christopher Pike. Somehow, the combination of coming of age books and teenage murder mysteries made her want to be a writer. She now spends her time chasing two toddlers while trying to stir up trouble in Silver Springs, Alabama, the fictional town where Dylan Apel and her sisters are trying to master witchcraft, tame their crazy relatives, and juggle their love lives. Learn more about Amy and her books here. 

Hey y'all, if you haven't tried Strawberry Pretzel Salad, boy are you in for a treat. It's like eating a slice of heaven topped with a little more heaven. Seriously. It's sweet, it's savory, and it’s salty—all good things in food, and even better if we're talking about qualities to be found in a good man. That's if you ask Dylan Apel, the heroine of my Bless Your Witch series.

Not that she has time for men, as she's too busy learning how to be a witch. Dylan's a good ole' Southern gal who likes her tea sweet, her biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, and her shrimp cooked with a side of grits. Of course, she would still have time for potlucks if she weren’t so busy trying to avoid being murdered in Scared Witchless, the first book in the series.

Which reminds me, Strawberry Pretzel Salad is perfect for any kind of get together—a party, church function, even a holiday—it is without a doubt a solid-hit sort of dish—the kind where everyone goes home happy and two pounds heavier.

Oops. There goes that diet I've been trying to start since New Year's. Oh well. If you're like me and haven't started shedding those pounds, what's one more dessert going to hurt? Nothing! So get started putting together this recipe. I promise, you wont' be disappointed. And if you're like my sweet Southern sister witches, be sure to have a nice tall glass of sweetened iced tea on stand-by. It'll make this dish all the merrier, especially since the blistering dog days of summer are coming up. So get to swinging on your front porch, slap a slice of dessert on a plate, and watch the sun shrink into the horizon as you enjoy yummy goodness.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad:

Total Time: 42 min

Prep: 30 min

Inactive: 2 min

Cook: 10 min

What y'all need to round up (also known as Ingredients):

2 cups crushed pretzels

3/4 cup melted butter

3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping

2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix

2 cups boiling water

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple

Whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled.

In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of whipped topping.

Scared Witchless

Dylan Apel is having one heck of a summer. She just learned she’s a witch—and she’s hardly the only one in town. 

She knows her hand-made clothing is special, but magical? Discovering that she's a witch is bad enough, but when Dylan realizes there are folks who’ll kill to possess her witchy powers—that’s enough to make a girl want to hide out in the back of her boutique. Only problem is, Queen Witch is in town, itchin’ to make sure Dylan learns to cast spells, and this witch won’t take no for an answer.

Dylan must learn fast—someone just killed her best client with a poisoned gown meant for Dylan. Was it the tall, mysterious hottie in black, who's suddenly everywhere she goes? After all, the first thing Roman Bane says is he doesn't like witches. Is he here to save her, or kill her?

Dylan is barely getting a handle on her new powers when she finds herself surrounded by witches bossing her this way and that, local police nosing about, and wary clients—death by clothing is not good for business. And the solstice is coming … a time when witch powers are at their peak. Can Dylan survive the chaos long enough to figure out her new life?

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