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deadly-liaisons
AUTHOR  NameDee Ann Palmer From:Southern California, United States "I Love a Mystery" was my favorite childhood radio show. It came on after I was in bed at night, adding to the delicious intrigue and scariness of it. After the Sisters in Crime/LA meetings, my husband and I browse Canterbury Records in Pasadena. He finds all kinds of tapes of his favorite old radio shows: I have found none of mine. Although I'm basically a romance writer whose stories often include elements of suspense, mystery and thriller, those early experiences with "I Love a Mystery" led me to test the waters in pure murder and mystery. DANGEROUS MINDS AVAILABLE NOW I'm an experienced ... NEW! DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE NOW GUEST BLOGGER LIZ JASPER CRY DANCE by Kirk Mitchell VISIT TO SAN QUENTIN PRISON WAS THAT RESEARCH REALLY NECESSARY? WHAT'S UP? SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM, LONDON SUDDEN DEATH Do You Listen to Music When You Write?
COLD CASE
FINGER PRINTS
CLUES
"NO CRIME UNPUBLISHED 2007" Mystery Writers Conference A CLEAN, WELL LIGHTED PLACE
SISTERS IN CRIME
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006 AND IT'S OFF TO SOLVANG! This charming Danish village is situated in the Santa Ynez Valley, not far from Michael Jackson's famous Never Never Land spread. Founded in 1911 by Danes looking to escape harsh Minnesota winters, they built a school and recreated the architecture of their native land. On the 25th anniversary of its founding, the king and queen of Denmark visited, commenting that it was more Danish than Denmark itself. For the past six years, we've rented a cottage, loaded up golf clubs and bicycles for a mini vacation the first weekend in November. We do the 27 mile Solvang Prelude bike ride. There are two longer courses, but at certain points the three rides converge. It's great fun. And at the half way point you get bananas, water and COOKIES. These are not races, they're tours through beautiful wine vineyards, walnut orchards and horse country. You ride past miniature horses too. The year we were there on Halloween, the costumed kids from a nearby elementary school paraded from their school to downtown. Problem was, it was pouring rain. Not soft rain, but a deluge. As a former school RN, I could just imagine how irate some parents were going to be because their kid's costume was ruined and their child returned home shivering. One morning we play golf on the perfectly groomed public course there. For several years, if you teed off by 7:30 a.m. and played nine holes, you got a free breakfast. We always ate breakfast in the cottage and used their breakfast as our lunch. They've done away with that promo now. Last year it was bitterly cold and wet when we played. The sky was solid pewter except for where the sun broke through to blind us so we couldn't see where our balls landed. It was too nasty for enjoyment. However, tour day for the bicycles turned out to be glorious. After my bicycle accident, we discussed cancelling. The cottages are too expensive to just go and sit and stare at each other. We could do that here at home. But my fractured elbow and sprain were improving, and I'd be able to share the driving up and back. As for golf, I could just ride in the cart with my husband while he played. There's a lovely canyon where we always do an eight mile ride prior to the day of the tour, and we'd take his bike so he could get some riding in there. The upshot of the discussion was: We'll go! One last thing about my accident. I was amazed that no one in the ER said, "What's a woman your age doing on a bicycle?" Have a good day, Dee Ann Baseball is the better sport. You hit a ball out of the stadium and it's not only a home run, it's gone. You hit a golf ball off the course and you not only have to hunt for it, it costs you a stroke. 
WHY I WROTE "MARATHON MADNESS" The Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime doesn't produce an anthology every year, and when the call for submissions went out for the last anthology, I was a new member and not interested. This time I really wanted to enter the contest. Disappointment threaded through me when I learned the stories had to involve, in some way, a Los Angeles landmark. I live sixty miles inland. What did I know about L. A. landmarks? Zilch. But there's a thing about marathoners and writers...we don't give up. As the deadline loomed, I couldn't let go of my determination to enter this competition. It came to me one morning when I was jogging that I was an idiot. Hadn't I run the Los Angeles Marathon several times? Stayed in the historic Biltmore Hotel, run past the Coliseum, ridden Angel's Flight, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Of course I knew something about fabulous L. A.'s landmarks! And although there was no connection to the race, hadn't someone even been murdered one year near the Coliseum on marathon day? Hmmm. They continually change the course, and I think I've run three different routes, so I dug through my records to find one that had taken us past the most landmarks, and tacked it up on the wall. Checking the Biltmore site online, I discovered it'd been sold and refurbished. I called the concierge to find out what colors were being used in the lobby these days. I've been in the Bonaventure, so I double checked that online as well. In the course of my story, I had to know how long it had taken me to reach areas crucial to my tale. This took me to the map to measure distances. I'm not a fast runner, so I filched the time of someone who'd come in first in the age group in which I'd placed my heroine. More research, and, finally, I had my story. It was submitted blind to the committee. They liked it! "Marathon Madness" appears with nine other short stories in "LAndmarked for Murder," and I'm thrilled. The reviewer at Top Publishers writes: "Dee Ann Palmer cleverly combines a genuine city landmark, the elegant Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A., with a landmark yearly event, the L.A. Marathon, in the story of a shocking murder that occurrs in the most open of places." Experience plus a little imagination is a good thing. Time for bed. The clock says it's an hour earlier today than my body believes it to be. Sleep well, Dee Ann
YUMMY, NUTRITIOUS SOUP FOR FALL We sampled this in my Loma Linda Lopers Running and Fitness Club. It's great after a workout or on a chilly day by the fire. I share it with you as it was shared with us. LENTIL SOUP 1 - 16 oz. package of dry lentils 4 cups of water 2 teaspoons of salt 1 chopped onion (use dried onion if you prefer) 3 grated carrots 2 tablespoons of olive oil (optional) 1 large can of chopped, stewed tomatoes 1 teaspoon oregano 1 tablespoon McKay's Beef-Flavored seasoning (I've used Wyler's and Better Than Bouillon brands if you can't locate this one.) Cook lentils (and onion if using dried) with salt in water until soft. Saute grated carrots and fresh onion (omit onion if dried - see above) in oil until tender. (May omit oil, and steam the carrots and onions.) Add tomatoes, sauteed carrots, onions and seasonings to lentils. Add more liquid if you desire a thinner soup. A thicker consistency may be served over rice or baked potato.
AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF LANDMARKED FOR MURDER You can order autographed copies from me at heists 2683@mypacks.net. Cost of the book is $14 plus shipping (add tax if you're in California). That's lower than the amazon.com rate, and shipping will most likely be less as well. AND it will be autographed. Put "Book" in the subject line along with a snail mail address, please. I accept checks made out to Dee Ann Palmer, or PayPal payment.
LEAVING COMMENTS OR CONTACTING DEE ANN Hi! If you're new to blogging, you may not know to go to the very bottom of the blog and click on Post Comment. That'll take you to the comments page. I think you select a user name and maybe a password. Make your comment in the box and send it. I reply to each comment in the same place. If you email me at heists2683@mypacks.net, I'll answer you via email. For an animated Halloween card, email me at that address and put "Card" in the subject line. I'll send it. I have a subscription to this card company, so I love sending out cards. It will arrive from "Jacquie Lawson website," and the Subject line will read "Jacquie Lawson card notification." Put it on your whitelist. Don't forget to check out http://www.deeannpalmer.com for the interview with, not a vampire but, Joe DeMarco, owner/publisher/editor-in-chief of the online magazine "Mysterical-E." Look at my October Thoughts. I think you'll like them, and you'll learn something more about me. Take care. Watch for slime lurking under water whether you're on foot, on a bicycle or a motorcycle. Dee Ann
INTERVIEW WITH JOE DEMARCO, OWNER/PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MYSTERICAL-E Hi! Last night's launch party for "LAndmarked for Murder" was a very special time. The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood Village, near UCLA, is fabulous. Books and books and books. The owner is congenial and cooperative. If you weren't there, we missed you. All the authors and two of the editors who worked on the book attended, we had a champagne toast after introductions, ate cake decorated like the book's cover and sold all but four of the books the chapter had bought. After the standard bookseller's cut, I'm not sure we made a profit, but that's the way of the writing business. We milled around signing books and meeting authors we hadn't met as yet. After the crowd had cleared, we sat around and talked writing. Wonderful. When the dentist who's repairing my cracked and broken teeth after my bike spill discovered I was an author, he purchased ten of the twenty books I ordered to sell on my own. He supports the authors in our town, giving their books out as gifts. My sister/fellow "LAndmarked..." contributors graciously autographed every book for me. This is the dark season, the time for the night rides of the headless horseman and things that "go bump" in the dark. It's the perfect time to check out my website for October Thoughts and my interview with Joe DeMarco, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of the award winning, online magazine, MYSTERICAL-E. Meet this interesting man as he discusses the background of acquiring and running this unique e-zine with its emphasis on mystery and the mysterious. If you have a yen to write something for it, read the interview and check the submission guidelines. Next time I'll tell you how I came to write "Marathon Madness," my story appearing in "LAndmarked for Murder." Have a great Monday, Dee Ann http://www.deeannpalmer.com
CHANGE IN BOOK LAUNCH PARTY CITY! OOPS. CORRECT ADDRESS FOR THIS FESTIVE OCCASION IS 1036-C BROXTON AVENUE, LOS ANGELES (WESTWOOD), CA. (Not West Hollywood.) DATE IS STILL SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 5:30 to 8:30 P.M. Wine, cheese and goodies available. Editors and authors will be there to sign your books. Come celebrate with us and talk M..u..r..d..e..r and books! I've recovered enough to be there. My husband will drive me in. This will be my first big venture out of the house since my bicycle accident. WATCH MY WEBSITE FOR MY OCTOBER 22 INTERVIEW WITH JOE DEMARCO, OWNER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF MYSTERICAL-E, THE FABULOUS ONLINE MAGAZINE. They published my first venture into the mystery genre. http://www.deeannpalmer.com Looking forward to meeting you! Dee Ann
INTERVIEW COMING UP Foiled. By a foot-long patch of water covering slime. Bicycle threw me like an enraged bull. Ouch. Pretty much ruined our vacation. Home getting teeth repaired, hydrogen peroxiding stitches, remembering to take antibiotics, and letting left arm recover. Hunting and pecking this is about all i can manage for now. Want to tell you to keep checking my www.deeannpalmer website for interview of editor of Mysterical-E. Don't forget the launch party in Los Angeles (Westwood Village) on the 21st October. Here's to better days, Dee Ann
VACATION FROM HELL? We live in reasonably hot country, and it's been a horrid summer. But the heat wave had broken and temps were down into the bearable low nineties. Forecast for Palm Springs was high nineties the week of our vacation, but it's drier in the lower Mohave than where we live. That makes the heat more bearable. Who would have guessed that Indio, where our timeshare is, would be 109 when we arrived? And that we'd find a sign in our room advising us to keep all our doors and windows locked at night as a safety precaution, and don't turn the A/C below 75 or it will freeze up? Oh, great. Just great. It dropped to 107 the next day. A cooling trend, they called it. It only reached 104 the following day. Oh, joy. My husband forgot an important attachment for our computer mouse, and, in the searing heat, when the asphalt was sticky underfoot and you could smell it melting, we made three trips to a Radio Shack buying and returning things that turned out not to work. We drove to Palm Desert to an Office Depot (no one seemed to know where it was located). OD referred us to Radio Shack. We stumbled on a Staples (not listed in our phone book), and they had something that at least made the new mouse work...on XP but not 98, where hubbie stores much of what he works on. Then it was too warm to ride our bikes, and he said his hamstring was bothering him too much to play golf. I wanted to go home. But the thought of packing up what we'd just unpacked was mind squelching. Hard to believe, but we've adjusted. After two VERY cranky days, the temp dropped a bit more, and we've salvaged happiness here. I did my arthritis exercises in one of the deliciously cool pools, we bought cheap ice cream cones at Rite Aid (mint'n chip's my favorite), found a Starbucks, rode ten miles on our bikes early Sunday morning, and played eighteen holes of less than perfect golf today. Mostly my husband's been watching Cold Case Files, and I've been reading a Mr. and Mrs. Sherlock Holmes book while writing a romance involving ski patrollers and an avalanche. Hopefully, the temp will continue to fall and we'll be out on bikes and the golf course again before we pack up and head for home. During the heat here, we reminded ourselves about the year we did a 31 mile bike tour from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone. When friends took us to breakfast the first morning of that vacation, it was 4 degrees. It'd been in the nineties when we'd left home. Our first 8 mile practice ride into Yellowstone was exhausting due to the altitude. But, in a couple of days we'd adjusted to the altitude and weren't even wearing gloves if the temp was 35 or higher. The day of the bike ride we cheerfully arrived at the Chamber of Commerce building, where we were to be vanned to Old Faithful, amidst threats of snow. Which all goes to show that although you can't always salvage happiness from a bad situation, most of the time you can. Well, this isn't Death Valley. It only seems like it. Dee Ann
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CRY OF THE BELLS
LANDMARKED FOR MURDER LOS ANGELES MARATHON
TOE TAGS
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