tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47048095735604809482024-03-08T17:48:02.123-08:00Cozy CommentsKate Kingsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11116420462691885935noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4704809573560480948.post-28439767583564840082020-02-02T08:58:00.005-08:002020-02-02T08:58:55.410-08:00<br />
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IMAGINE THAT!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Imagine if you were invited to spend the Christmas holidays at
a hotel overlooking the ocean on the southeast coast of England, complete with
excellent French cuisine served in a stately dining room, dancing in a
magnificent ballroom and relaxing in a well-stocked library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds like a memorable way to spend a
vacation, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you were to pay a visit to the Pennyfoot Hotel, however,
you might find a few drawbacks. Your first impression upon entering the
majestic foyer will likely be pleasurable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There will be wreaths everywhere - on the walls, hanging from the
bannisters of the grand curving staircase, and pinned to every door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fragrance of pine and cedar will fill the
air. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There will be a Christmas tree decorated with figurines and glass
balls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The candles on the tree will be
lit at night for a short time, and heavily monitored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is always a danger of the tree catching
fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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A uniformed footman will greet you at your carriage and escort
you to the reception desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might
have to wake up Philip, the reception clerk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He tends to doze, but I assure you, he will take good care of you once
he’s awake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You may climb three flights of stairs to your room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since there is only one bathroom to each
floor, a chamber pot is provided for emergencies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A maid will bring you a wash bowl and a jug
of hot water each morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may wake
you up a tad early, as she has many wash bowls to deliver, and carrying each
one up four floors from the kitchen takes time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The maid will also light the fire for you in the
fireplace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest that you stay
under the covers until the room warms up, or you could suffer mild
frostbite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, if you do that,
the hot water in the jug will be quite cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You will be expected to dress formally for breakfast in the
dining room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will be served whatever
the chef decides to prepare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
steamed finnan haddie with a poached egg, followed by a plate loaded with
scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms and
toast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They eat well at the seaside.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The morning is yours to explore the hotel, visit the nearby
town or simply rest in the library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
be sure to return to the dining room by one p.m., since your midday meal will
be served, consisting, perhaps, of fresh grapefruit, mulligatawny soup,
followed by roast pork and apple sauce, with trifle for dessert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You will have just an hour or so to rest before afternoon
tea is served.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will enjoy tiny
crustless sandwiches of fish paste and watercress, scones with strawberry jam
and Devonshire cream, and an assortment of pastries. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Your evening meal will be served at seven p.m., after which
some form of entertainment will be available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many of the gentlemen enjoy a game of chance in the card rooms below
stairs next to the wine cellar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Care has
to be taken, however, not to mention the fact, since gambling in hotels is
illegal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You will spend your Christmas with British aristocracy,
influential businessmen and the downstairs members of the staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may meet Cecily Baxter, the owner of the Pennyfoot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is a shrewd, tenacious lady, with an
eagle eye and a penchant for solving the most intricate murders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is fortunate, since dead bodies appear
with alarming frequency in the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Her husband, Baxter, has a gruff manner and a soft heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might be served by Gertie, the head housemaid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s tough, forthright and peppers her
conversation with curse words. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Michel is an excellent chef, though his French accent is
completely fake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Chubb, the
housekeeper, also bakes, while keeping a strict eye on her unruly maids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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If you would like to meet all of the diverse and occasional
eccentric inhabitants, I suggest you go back in time this Christmas season to
the Edwardian era and visit the Pennyfoot Hotel in A MERRY MURDER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I promise you a memorable trip. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happy Reading! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Kate Kingsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11116420462691885935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4704809573560480948.post-63288970679622280182020-02-02T08:55:00.002-08:002020-02-02T08:55:53.326-08:00<br />
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<span style="color: black;">KEEPING IT REAL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It was the summer of 1944 in war-torn England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For almost five years weary Londoners had
survived bombs raining down on their homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that summer Germany introduced a new abomination - the first
unmanned flying bomb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">We called the V1 missile the buzz bomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made an ominous buzzing sound, until the
engine suddenly cut off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took ten
seconds after that for the bomb to land and spread death and destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">As I huddled with my classmates in the damp, concrete shelters
of our school yard, I would listen to the sound of those monsters droning
overhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the buzzing stopped, I
would silently start to count, praying I would make it past ten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I learned a lot about suspense in those days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Fearful of this new and devastating threat, my mother shipped
off my sister and me, along with our three cousins, to spend the summer on
England’s east coast with our grandmother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Granny lived in a tiny cottage, perched high on the cliffs
facing the North Sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cottage had no
electricity, no gas, and no plumbing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first, we
were all taken aback by the lack of amenities, but after a while we got used to
the routines. Every morning we tramped down the garden path to the
alleyway, then up to the well to draw water in large, heavy buckets and carry
them back to the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granny cooked
everything over a coal fire. We used rain water from a barrel in the
front yard to wash our hair. There was no bathroom, so we used the
outhouse, which was down the garden path, across the alley and into the field.
At night we had oil lamps to light our way up the narrow staircase, and we used
chamber pots that had to be emptied the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The contrast to
our homes in London was absolute, and would horrify today’s teenager, but to
us, the quiet and peace of the English countryside after the devastating months
of Hitler’s lethal bombardments was paradise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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When
I decided to write a mystery series set in Edwardian England, the biggest
challenge at first was the research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
I was going to immerse readers in that golden age and make the story real for
them, I had to make sure I didn’t jolt them out of the book by mentioning
something that didn’t exist at the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That
summer I spent with Granny proved to be invaluable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew what it was like to feed the stove
with coal in order to cook the meals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
to boil sheets one at a time in a cauldron, then hang them on the line outside
to dry. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I
knew how it felt to greet the milkman in his horse and cart, and exchange the empty
urn for a filled one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew how
refreshing it was to wash my face and hands every morning in cold water from
the wash bowl, and how strangely comforting it was to sit by the light of an
oil lamp at night and listen to Granny reading us a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I
relive all of those experiences as I follow the adventures of Cecily Baxter and
her companions and staff at the Pennyfoot Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I said ‘follow.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give all my characters a set of
circumstances to deal with and then I follow them, sometimes writing furiously
to keep up with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cecily is very
good at solving murders but, like the rest of the characters, she has a mind of
her own and often takes the story in unexpected directions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is tenacious, compassionate and treats her
staff the same way she treats her prestigious guests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The
Pennyfoot Hotel is brimming with diverse, and sometimes eccentric characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all struggle with problems, celebrate
the good times and live out their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every single one of them is as real to me as my family, and I hope I
make them real for you, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want
to meet them, I invite you to visit the hotel in A MERRY MURDER.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Happy
Reading!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Kate Kingsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11116420462691885935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4704809573560480948.post-23689581995332724042020-02-02T08:45:00.000-08:002020-02-02T08:45:05.267-08:00<br />
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NOW THAT’S AN IDEA!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have a sweater with these words emblazoned across the
front, “Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m not kidding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every person I
meet is fodder for my stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might
use the cute way you tilt your head when you talk, or the way your nose turns red
when you lose your temper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe your
love of gardening, or your distaste for sushi or how you are completely useless
at changing a tire. <o:p></o:p></div>
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People often ask me where I get my ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer is simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are easy enough to find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
hard part is turning them into books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ideas come to me when I least expect it – in the shower,
watching TV, walking the dog, or sitting in a restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once startled a line of customers at the
supermarket when I blurted out to my husband, “I’m going to poison the gardener!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cashier never looked at me the same way
after that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ideas for settings are mostly places I’ve lived, or visited
and loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A setting sets the mood for
the whole story, so it’s as important as the characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose the Edwardian era for the Pennyfoot Hotel
Mysteries because my parents were born during that time, and their stories
fascinated me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I set the village of
Badgers End on England’s southeast coast, where I lived for a few years.</div>
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The hotel itself is based on the summer guest house we
owned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for the name, that comes from
the stuffed mice I made during my craft days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were dressed in Edwardian clothes and had spindly legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to make them stand up I sewed a
penny into each foot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, the
Pennyfoot Hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For the past few years I’ve set my stories at
Christmastime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dazzling Christmas
tree, the spicy aroma of baking mince pies, and the sound of Christmas carols
wafting from the ballroom – the perfect contrast for murder.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for the characters, they are composites of people I’ve
met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cecily Baxter, the intrepid sleuth
is partly my mother, partly my favorite aunt and yes, I admit, partly me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She treats her downstairs staff as well as
she treats the aristocrats, entertainers and socialites who visit her hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Gertie, the saucy chief housemaid, is based somewhat on an
old schoolfriend, the bumbling police constable is mostly a long-ago neighbor, and
Colonel Fortescue, who fought in the Boer War and doesn’t have all his
batteries charged is…well, I’d rather not say.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The idea for each book starts with the murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have hung, stabbed, poisoned and choked
many people over the past thirty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I once hypnotized a victim and ordered him to jump from a third-story
window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I see dead bodies everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was putting clothes into my washing machine
one morning when I had a vision of the laundry room in the Pennyfoot
Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a man lying on the floor
with a woman’s brightly colored scarf around his neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew right then that I had the victim for
my next book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once I know who the victim is, how he was murdered and why,
then I can start deciding who killed him, and who else had the motive, means
and opportunity to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Writing a mystery is like playing a game with the
reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to keep you guessing
until I reveal the culprit at the end of the book, while you are trying to
figure it out for yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to
play fair and give you clues, while I attempt to fool you with suspects and red
herrings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, you’ll be following
the ups and downs of the characters’ lives, watching them love, laugh and cry,
while dealing with the consequences of a murder.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s a complicated process, but so much fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, and the dead body with the woman’s scarf
around his neck?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you’ll have to
read A MERRY MURDER to find out who killed him, and why. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope I keep you guessing until the end. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happy Reading! <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Kate Kingsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11116420462691885935noreply@blogger.com0