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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

   
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…

   
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…

   
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…

   
Hi, everyone!  I’m off to the Malice Domestic Convention this weekend, reveling in the multitude of panel discussions of murder and mayhem, including the latest poisons that Luci Zahray, otherwise known as “the Poison Lady” has to share with us (over lunch, LOL).  In addition, I’m looking forward to meeting cozy mystery writers galore, and mingling/…

   
Welcome to Tuesday Terrific, where we celebrate getting over the Monday hump and picking up speed for the rest of the week. We humans walk around this planet with a bit of a swagger, don’t you think?  After all, we’re the big-shot, top-of-the-food-chain, opposible-thumbed bi-pedals with more brain capacity than we actually use. But there…

   
It’s ROW80 check-in time!  In the Owen household this week, we’re celebrating not only goals semi-fulfilled, but the successful navigation of  killer allergies, Friday the 13th, and tax preparation. I can’t say I suffered through the tax preparation end of things; I was spectator/sympathetic ear/sandwich preparer for He-Who-Braves-the-1040.  In other words, my spectacular hubby, Paul. So,…