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Hi - nice to have you stop by! K.B. Owen, Historical Mystery Author …Chasing the Cozy Thrill If you're here, I'm assuming you want to know a little more about me. I have a Ph.D. in 19th century British literature and used to teach college lit and writing courses. These days, I'm a historical mystery writer, and just finished the first two books in a series that I'm really excited about. The series is set in a nineteenth-century women’s college in Hartford, Connecticut - world filled with quirky and beguiling characters and mischief mixed with murder. Why Hartford? I fell in love with Hartford and its history while I was at Uconn (one of the top 7 party schools at the time – I got some work done, really!) Why a women's college in the 19th century? Well, you know what they say: go with what you know (and like!). My years teaching college literature and writing provided some interesting classroom experiences. Who can resist such good material? Thankfully, unlike my main character, Professor Concordia Wells, I didn’t have to lecture in a bustle and full skirts. Besides writing and blogging, I read as much as I have the time for (especially mysteries, my first love), and share a house with a husband, three sons, and an assortment of small, furry pets. Chat with me on Twitter! @kbowenwriter

   
To give you a sense of what Fast Draft is all about, along with the craziness that gets mixed in along the way, I’m going to adopt a tactic by humor writer and blogger Leanne Shirtliffe.  Here is… Fast Draft, by the numbers: 14 – days of Fast Draft 20 – page goal per day 13 –…

   
Ah, the Scooby-Doo Phenomenon:  what started out as a popular 1970s Saturday-morning cartoon soon grew into a pop-culture icon of teen-mystery-solving grooviness.  And it doesn’t matter that you’re all grown-up and don’t watch cartoons anymore (although if you’re lucky enough to have kids, you have an excuse to watch the episodes again).  Scooby-Doo is different.…

   
Like any aficionado, mystery fans enjoy delving into and expressing enthusiasm for their subject in creative ways.  Check out the weird collectibles I featured in two earlier posts: items like gun-shaped salt and pepper shakers and Crime Scene Police-Tape Bedsheets are sure to please the mystery lover in your life. We mystery fans also seek out the…

   
I am on a mission: to photograph hummingbirds. Every summer, I try my hand at it, with mixed (mostly blurry) results.  Those critters are FAST!  But I make the attempt, just the same.  Here are some of my best pics so far (only from the last two summers; the earlier ones weren’t worth putting up,…

   
Today’s post is the first installment of an occasional recipe series that I will feature here, called Tea and Cookies! Tea is such a versatile beverage: hot or iced; herbal, green, white, or black; caff or decaf; loose or bagged.  There are even medicinal teas for colds, sick tummies, sleepless nights, or that “time of…

   
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…