One Lovely Blog

Thanks, Anna Celeste Burke, for nominating Roz and Patty Write for the One Lovely Blog Award. We’re grateful to be in such good company, among bloggers already given this award. We hope everyone who reads this post will check out Anna Celeste Burke’s blog, Desert Cities Mystery, and read her posts and learn about her books!

Here’s what’s involved now that we’re up for the award. The rules say:

·       Thank the person nominating us and link back to that blog. Click here to meet Anna Celeste Burke and check out the Desert Cities Mystery blog.

·       Share seven things about ourselves—look out below!

·       Nominate 15 or so bloggers we admire—what fun!

·       Contact our bloggers to let them know we’ve tagged them for the ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD—done!

SEVEN THINGS ABOUT US

·       We love working within our self-imposed deadline for returning chapters to each other. Sometimes we don't make it, but it's good to have. 

·       After Roz scoops ice cream into a bowl, she puts it in the microwave for a few seconds. She likes it slightly melted and the consistency of very thick soup.

·       Patty LOVES delicious apples because they are so, well, delicious. She finds them the perfect complement to many of her other favorite foods: cheese (she is from Wisconsin, after all), peanut butter, nachos, walnuts, Cheetos, cottage cheese, you-name-it.

·       Because Roz lives in a climate where the sun shines most of the time and when it rains it is often torrential, she has grown to appreciate grey skies and light drizzle.  

·       Because Patty lives in a climate that has l-o-n-g winters, she has grown to love spending a couple of those cold months in Palm Desert, California (the setting for our next Val & Kit mystery). She also loves to visit Roz in Houston.

·       Roz likes men who open doors for women and give up their seats on the subway. It's not fashionable, perhaps, but it's just nice.

·       Speaking of men, Patty has five brothers, no sisters.

OUR BLOG NOMINEES

L.Z. Marie

Elmira Pond Spotter

Lori Schafer’s Short Subjects I feel Like Writing About

Norah Colvin

Diane Mannion Writing Services

Pairings :: Art + What Goes With It

Nail Your Novel

In and Out

Women and Work … Then and Now

GrrlScientist

The Grumbling Gargoyle

Ailish Sinclair

Nicola Vincent-Abnett

Written Words

Tamara McCleary              

No Reservations Required

If you’ve never had lunch served at a restaurant run by Texans Cash Brooks (who’s four) and Bodie, his three-year-old brother, you are missing out. Roz had this great pleasure recently, when circumstances called for a few hours of babysitting.

The “restaurant” was the living room. There was seating available on the couch, but not the recliner since Grandpa Ken had already claimed it. They dined à la carte, as Cash read from the “menu,” a Sports Illustrated magazine that offered such delights as hockey-stick stew and baseball-glove stew. In fact, it seemed that any stew could be whipped up as long as there was an accompanying picture in the magazine.

Bodie, doing double duty as cook and waiter, took their orders and then stirred all the ingredients in a toy saucepan. Once fully cooked, which took several seconds, the stew looked remarkably like a mishmash of Lego pieces. Roz did go off the menu and requested a potato, which the stew seemed to be lacking. This sent Cash scurrying around the house, and returning with a red clown nose that he plunked into her stew. The imaginary beverage menu was limitless. She chose chocolate milk with marshmallows.

They ate casually off their laps, with their cook continuously dishing out his endless culinary delight. This was a real all-you-can-eat place. And, as an extra treat, Cash produced a miniature bottle of steak sauce from his pocket (part of his personal collection of condiments, which he generously shared).

When the cook was asked if a particular piece of green Lego could possibly  be broccoli, he replied very matter-of-factly, “No; it’s a piece of green Lego.” Well, duh! We wonder how many older cooks are that honest.

When they’d eaten as much as they could, Roz asked for the check. Bodie presented her with a tiny piece of paper, a quarter of the size of a postage stamp. Luckily, she had her Amex card handy.

Later in the day, they went to a real restaurant for lunch. It was good, but not as good as Cash and Bodie’s place.

Bodie, Grammy and Cash

As writers, we know that showing is usually better than just telling. Sometimes this doesn’t come naturally, but the Brooks boys delivered this message with a bang.

When Roz returned home, she thought a lot about Cash and Bodie and their fabulous restaurant, and how much there is to learn from little kids. Their creativity was impressive. How lucky was she to dine at such a fine establishment and get to see their imagination soar? Free and uninhibited, and a fine stew thrown in.

We think Kit, our gourmet cook from The Val and Kit Mystery Series, would be very proud of these boys.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

So it looks like Val and Kit might soon be taking a trip to California. Palm Desert, to be exact—although at this stage, that could easily change, or they could take a detour along the way, and who knows where they might end up. Having wrapped up Lethal Property, set in their hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois, a trip out West seems like a good idea. So far.

Finishing LethalProperty, putting in the endless final touches, and making it available on Amazon is extremely satisfying for us. It feels like we sent our brand-new baby out into the world, and we’re hoping she’s going to win at least one Most Beautiful Baby contest.

But there is no rest for the wicked, or these two authors, so Val and Kit are on to their next adventure, and location is just one of the many fun things we have to decide upon.

Speaking of location, Patty currently lives in Door County, Wisconsin, and grew up in the Midwest, where Roz and Patty first met. Roz currently resides in Houston, Texas, but was born and raised in London. Luckily, she spent her teenage years in that city at just the right time, when London was on the verge of becoming the center of the universe (according to Londoners, anyway). Let’s start with music (known in the U.S. as the British Invasion): The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Kinks, and on and on. Let’s move to fashion: miniskirts, Vidal Sassoon’s geometric haircuts, and Twiggy, to name just a few icons. Okay, now on to culture: Mods and Rockers and Carnaby Street. That’s about the extent of what Roz remembers. And really, what else mattered to a teenager living so close to the sun. Good times. For anyone really interested in serious history back then, check out Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

But back to Val and Kit. We know Val can travel light. Kit, not so much. But most important, they better have a Starbucks wherever they end up.

In the Beginning ...

Here's how we’ve started No. 5 in The Val & Kit Mystery Series (and now only about 200 pages to go!):

When I heard the loud rat-a-tat on my front door, I bolted up in bed at lightning speed. The bright red numerals on my digital clock read 1:05. I grabbed my reading glasses, as if they would offer some protection, and prepared to wait. For what? To get a closer look at any intruder? After a few seconds of silence I sucked in a big gulp of air, the kind doctors instruct you to do just before they shove one end of a cold stethoscope against your skin.

Okay, whoever was knocking had bypassed the super security system in the entrance of my building. But the dead bolt on my front door would keep me safe. If only I had remembered to lock the darn thing. If only I had remembered to plug in my cell phone for recharging, or, even better, had brought it into the bedroom with me.

Rat-a-tat-tat started up again, and my breathing was becoming dangerously shallow. I’d surely pass out before any would-be housebreaker, no matter how courteous, assumed there was no one home and kicked the door in.

When the knocking started a third time, I had a sudden burst of bravery, no doubt brought on by a lack of oxygen to my brain. I jumped out of bed and grabbed the aluminum baseball bat I kept in my closet, the one I’d found discarded next to the dumpster outside my building.

With the bat gripped tightly in both hands and held high over my left shoulder, I crept out of my bedroom and across the twenty or so feet to the front door. I did at least have a peephole in working condition, and stretching up the inch or so necessary to peer through it, I got a good look at my interloper.

Kit. Kit James. My best friend of over forty years. She was staring straight at the peephole, one hand on her hip, the other waving an envelope in my direction. She looked pissed.

“Will you open this door, for crying out loud? I know you’re standing there, Val.”

The Versatile Blogger Award—and Seven Things About Us

We want to thank Christian Brown for nominating us for the Versatile Blogger Award. In accepting it, we in turn nominate the bloggers listed below, in no particular order, for the VBA, and we'll also share seven things about ourselves. It's nice to know people are reading our blog and are interested in getting to know us better!

Paula Reed Nancarrow

Rob Distaffen

Greg Mischio

Melissa Tracy

Drew Chial

Alicia Renee Kline

Anna Celeste Burke

Ella Quinn

Elizabeth Rose

Sarah Ballance

Steve Piacente

Shah Wharton

Mae Clair

Clair De Boer

M. Allman

And now for SEVEN THINGS ABOUT US you might not know:

1. In our Val & Kit Mystery Series, we begin without a plot. We not only don't know whodunit, we don't know why or how. Talk about character-driven.

2. We met about 40 years ago (yes, we've been friends as long as Val and Kit have, although we started at a slightly older age J) and have been writing partners for about 30 years.

3. Roz relies on Patty to translate her work from English English to American English. Even though Roz has lived in the United States for over forty years, she sometimes lapses (e.g., windscreen instead of windshield).

4. We both consider ourselves directionally dyslexic, but didn't confess this to one another for a couple of decades. No one appreciates—or needs—the GPS more than we do!

5. Even though we take our Skype sessions in the end stages of a book very seriously, there is always a lot of laughing.

6. We lived in the same state only briefly before moving apart and becoming besties via letters (making us more appreciative than most of the written word).

7. Although our first job, always, is to please each other, we have been blessed by many five-star reviews, and nothing feels quite as magical as reading praise from a total stranger.

Are You Val or Kit?

Your favorite designer is

Valentino

Hanes

The last book you read was

Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason

Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style by Jerome Gautier

Your favorite vegetable is

Turban squash

French fries

Your favorite TV show is

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Antiques Road Show

Your favorite meal is

Massaman curry

Cheerios

Your favorite pastime is

Shopping for clothes

Watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

Your favorite sport is

Ice skating

Shopping for clothes

Who would you pick to be stranded with on a desert island?

Kit

George Clooney

We’ll leave you to sort out the reds from the blues.  You know who you are!

Now out, LETHAL PROPERTY, No. 4 in The Val & Kit Mystery Series.

Val Attempts In-Depth Interview with Kit

Kit: Tell me again. Exactly why are we doing this?

Val: Because our readers get to see stuff only through my eyes—

Kit: No kidding.

Val: —and I thought it might be nice to get to know you a little; hence—

Kit: Hence?  Really? You’re going with hence?

Val: It’s a word.

Kit: Okay, Anne Boleyn, what do you want to know?

Val: Why don’t you start by telling us a little about yourself?

Kit: Let’s see; many people compare me in looks to Catherine Zeta-Jones—

Val: I think you’re the only one who does that. Tell us something personal.

Kit: Like?

Val: Who’s your favorite aunt? What city were you born in? What was your first car?

Kit: Wait. Is this an interview, or am I choosing a new password?

Val: Let’s try this: what’s your favorite TV show?

Kit: Like I have time to watch TV.

Val: Okay, we’ll go with that. What do you do that prevents you from watching TV?

Kit: Ya know, in case you haven’t noticed, I spend a lot of time looking after you!

Val: Moving on. If you could have lunch with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would you pick?

Kit: Coco Chanel

Val: Why?

Kit: You have to ask? You do know who Coco Chanel was, right?

Val: Well, of course. Everyone knows her. She invented the little black dress, right?

Kit: Big deal. How hard was that?

Val: I thought you liked her.

Kit: I said I’d have lunch with her, but I don’t have to like her.

Val: Okay, forget Coco. Tell us about your husband and son. What’s your favorite thing about them?

Kit: Larry—that would be my husband, Val—plays a lot of golf and is a partner in a very successful accounting firm.

Val: Yes, Larry is very smart.

Kit: However, not smart enough to balance the checkbook or come in out of the rain when he’s golfing.

Val: Let’s move on to Sam—

Kit: Do you mean Sam, my son?

Val: Yes, that’s who I mean. Tell me three of your favorite things about him.

Kit: He got through college without being arrested. That’s two things. And he lives in Texas.

Val: Nothing else?

Kit: Geez, you asked for three things; now you want more?  What kind of an interviewer are you?

Val: The good kind. Give me something else about Sam.

Kit: Okay; he sent me a ham for Mother’s Day—

Val: A ham?

Kit: Right. He knows I love cooking, so a thirty-pound lump of cold pork seemed appropriate. What did Emily send you?

Val: A gift card to Heavenly Doings Day Spa.

Kit: Just be sure when you go that you keep your purse with you all the time. I think they steal. And make sure they use towels that were laundered that day. Oh, and don’t let Valentina anywhere near you, especially if you’re getting a wax job. She says she’s French, but I think she’s from the South Side. And likes to inflict pain.

Val: I’ll make a note.

Kit: Oh, Valley Girl, you’ll lose your wallet five minutes after you step in the door. I better go with you.

Val: Do you have a plan?

Kit: Don’t I always?

NEW RELEASE!! In paperback and on Kindle. Buy the former, get the latter for 99 cents with the Kindle MatchBook program!

LETHAL PROPERTY