Welcome to Masters of Mystery, where we feature a classic detective. Today we’re turning to the Juvenile detective category, and looking at: Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat Some interesting facts about Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and the series: 1. Marjorie Sharmat has written over 130 children’s books since 1969, with the most popular being(…)
The Maltese Falcon: Beyond Bogart
Today, we’re considering that mystery classic: Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (1930) Of course, many of us are familiar with the 1941 film, starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. However, the background and elements of Hammett’s original novel are fascinating, and worth a closer look. Hammett’s novel is considered part of the “hard-boiled” subgenre of(…)
Bacon!
Ooh…bacon. The bad boy of the food world, with its high-fat, high-sodium, preservative-laden attitude. And yet…we can’t stay away, whether it’s a breakfast buffet at Big Boy, an appetizer at Coastal Flats (love their brown sugar-cured bacon/deviled eggs with spiced pecans dish), or the humble BLT. Interesting bits about bacon (haha): Up until Shakespeare’s time(…)
Beyond the macaroni necklace: Mother’s Day
Here in the United States, unless you’ve been living in a hole, you know that Mother’s Day is this Sunday (and if you forget, you’ll soon be hiding out in the doghouse, LOL). Most of us are affected by Mother’s Day in one way or another: if we aren’t moms ourselves, we each had a(…)
Flashback Friday: the Cook’s Tour in Egypt
Ever wonder what the phrase “I’ll give you the Cook’s Tour of ___” meant? You probably surmised that it was an actual tour company, and you would be correct. It’s still in operation today, in fact. The Thomas Cook Tour Company began in 1841 with some modest day trips, but by the death of the(…)
Writers and language: a humor mashup
Welcome to Tuesday Terrific, where we celebrate getting over the Monday hump and picking up speed for the rest of the week. After spending the weekend at the Malice Domestic convention with fellow mystery writers and fans, discussing murder and mayhem in the rarified environment of hotel banquet halls, meeting rooms and lounges, I’ve been(…)