Author: Sally

In my life, I have won an inheritance and lost it. I have travelled through time and to the other side of the world. I have solved murders, experienced storybook romances, and discovered alternate universes. Which is to say: In my life, I have read. Academic tomes and romance novels, murder mysteries and classic literary fiction. Newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, and lots of product labels (but rarely user manuals).
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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Morgan Talbot

Mystery Thriller Week, a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers, is underway through February 22. If you’ve done the math, yes, it’s 10 rather than the usual seven days. It’s a super-sized week for a super-sized genre. For more information, stories, and author interviews, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors throughout the week (and a half).

Today, I’m happy to welcome Morgan Talbot, author of Smugglers & Scone Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Morgan Talbot”

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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Edwin Herbert

Mystery Thriller Week, a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers, is officially underway and runs through February 22. If you’ve done the math, yes, it’s 10 rather than the usual seven days. It’s a super-sized week for a super-sized genre. For more information about the event, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors throughout the week (and a half).

Today, I welcome Edwin Herbert, author of Mythos Christos. Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Edwin Herbert”

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5 bookish expressions of ardent affection, or love

Colin Firth as Darcy

On love day a few years ago, I got a hearty chuckle reading an article in which Hugh Grant pronounces the prepackaged romance of Valentine’s Day “repugnant.” I mean, that’s a bit hyperbolic, isn’t it? I would have gone with “revolting,” personally. Oh, I kid. I kid … sort of.

We have a day to celebrate our love of hamburgers, yoyos, books, and every last thing under the sun, moon, and stars. So I can’t really hate on the idea of setting aside a day to honor our capacity to love—our romantic partners, sure, but also our friends, children, neighbors, the authors we’ll probably never meet but whose books opened our worlds, our mail carrier that day she gamely trudged up our icy driveway and still delivered our package with a smile, the baker whose almond croissants make Monday mornings less Monday morning-ish, the barista who gets exactly what we mean when we ask for a dry cappuccino. Continue reading “5 bookish expressions of ardent affection, or love”

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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Joynell Schultz

Mystery Thriller Week, a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers, is officially underway and runs through February 22. If you’ve done the math, yes, it’s 10 rather than the usual seven days. It’s a super-sized week for a super-sized genre. For more information about the event, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors throughout the week (and a half).

Today, I’m happy to welcome Joynell Schultz, author of Love, Lies & Clones. Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Joynell Schultz”

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Rereading Jane Eyre: Why it’s good to read books we don’t *like*

Rereading Jane Eyre

I first read Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in graduate school.

It was during an ill-advised semester I’d registered for two courses on novels and a third on literary theory. Some weeks, my required reading hovered around 2,500 pages. I constructed elaborate reading schedules derived by dividing the week’s required pages by my average page-per-hour count. I read eight hours a day, seven days a week, curled up in a shabby but comfy forest green corduroy recliner. Continue reading “Rereading Jane Eyre: Why it’s good to read books we don’t *like*”

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Thoughts on reading book 11 in 44 Scotland Street

On reading the 44 Scotland Street Series

Back in October, I was excited to learn that a book 11 in Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series existed. Finishing book 10 in September had left me feeling melancholy. I’d thought it was the last one. To find out just a few weeks later that an eleventh book existed felt a little like finding out a friend who moved away is coming back to town. Continue reading “Thoughts on reading book 11 in 44 Scotland Street”

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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with author Paul Russell Parker III

Mystery Thriller Week is a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers that runs from February 12 – 22. If you’re keeping score, yes, that’s a bit longer than one calendar week. With so many genres-within-the-genre, authors, and readers, seven days just didn’t seem enough time. For more information about the event, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors every Monday and Wednesday through February 22.

Today, I’m happy to welcome Paul Russell Parker III, author of All In: The Globe Trot Shuffle. Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with author Paul Russell Parker III”

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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with author D. M. Barr

Mystery Thriller Week is a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers that runs from February 12 – 22. If you’re keeping score, yes, that’s a bit longer than one calendar week. With so many genres-within-the-genre, authors, and readers, seven days just didn’t seem enough time. For more information about the event, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors every Monday and Wednesday through February 22.

This week, I’m happy to welcome D. M. Barr, author of Expired Listings: Revenge Begins at Home. Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with author D. M. Barr”

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Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Marie Jones

Mystery Thriller Week is a celebration of the genre and its authors and readers that runs from February 12 – 22. If you’re keeping score, yes, that’s a bit longer than one calendar week. With so many genres-within-the-genre, authors, and readers, seven days just didn’t seem enough time. For more information about the event, pop over to mysterythrillerweek.com.

In conjunction with the event, I’ll be sharing Q&As with mystery and thriller authors every Monday and Wednesday through February 22.

Today I’m happy to welcome Marie Jones, author of Into the Shadows. Continue reading “Mystery Thriller Week: Q&A with Marie Jones”