Clue!

Last month, I had the opportunity to take part in a few of the events surrounding Barnes & Noble's annual Mystery Month.

Turns out, every Barnes & Noble in possession of a CRM - a customer relations manager - was supposed to host a murder mystery party sometime during Mystery Month. Since I'm buddies with the CRM in my local store, I got invited to be a part of the proceedings at the Barnes & Noble Cool Springs in Franklin, Tennessee.

Here is the cast and crew of our little play, all the suspects in the murder of Barry Underwood, late owner of Underwood Vineyards, whose body has recently been found under the hardwood floor in the wine cellar, after a little help from an earth quake. Barry has been missing for five years, and we're all gathered together to figure out whodunnit.

From the left we have moi, AKA Hedy Shablee, owner of a struggling vineyard (and a part-time counterfitter). Barry and I were old friends, and I knew about a secret tunnel into the winecellar where he was killed. He had figured out about my counterfitting, and I may have killed him to shut him up.

Next to me is Keith Donnelly, author of the Donald Youngblood Mysteries, who played Ralph Rottingrape, manager of Underwood Vineyards. After Barry 'disappeared,' Ralph took over the vineyard as well as Barry's fiancé, now Ralph's wife. Except he's not actually Ralph Rottingrape; the real Ralph died in prison, and his cell mate, Dario Santini, took on his identity.

Next to Keith is B&N CRM Robbie Bryan, AKA Otto van Schnapps, a German traveler in wine. He came to see Barry on the night of the murder, with a briefcase full of money that he left behind at Underwood Vineyards. However, he has been seen carrying the same briefcase since. He is also an art thief, whom Barry was blackmailing. (And let me just mention Robbie's totally kick-ass German accent. Go, dude!)

On the other side of Robbie is the wonderful Elizabeth Terrell (who wrote that marvelous blog post for us awhile back, about her dogs). Beth played Marilyn Merlot, Hollywood starlet, who carried on a flirtation with Barry until he ensured she won the title of Miss Grape, and then poof, she disappeared. On the very same night that Barry died. Coincidence? Or something more sinister?

Then we have Chester Campbell, who played Papa Vito Santini, the 81-year-old Italian vintner who started Underwood Vineyards with shoots from his family's grapevines in Italy, at the behest of the Underwoods some 60 years ago. Papa felt unappreciated by the Underwoods, who treated him like an employee instead of with the respect he felt he deserved. He's very handy with a ring knife, the murder weapon.

And lastly, there's Mary Saums, AKA Tiny Bubbles. Barry's fiancé until he disappeared/died; Ralph's wife now. She really ought to be called Tiny Rottingrape, but who can blame her for keeping her maiden name under the circumstances? She claims she had no reason to want to get rid of Barry, but she was carrying on with Ralph AKA Dario under Barry's nose, and now she's got it all: Dario/Ralph AND Underwood Vineyards.

Feel free to try to guess who the murderer is, although I'm not sure I've given you enough clues. Or maybe I've given you too many. I've got an advanced reader copy of 'A Cutthroat Business' I'd be willing to donate to good cause, anyway, if anyone wants to play. Let's just see how it goes.

And if you haven't ever tried to host a murder mystery party, let me just tell you that it can be tons of fun, especially when the participants are willing to go out on a limb and get into character, maybe even with the addition of some costumes. Something to think about for the holiday season, maybe? There are lots of choices out there in addition to A Taste For Wine and Murder; just follow the link above, for Amazon, and see what you can find.

Until next time, I'm Hedy Shablee. Toodles! 

D-DAY!!!!

By Jennie Bentley

OK, so I’m gonna take the easy way out this week. It’s been kind of crazy around here, between the book release on Tuesday, the couple of guest blogs I’ve been doing—there’s one on Fresh Fiction today, if anyone wants to stop by and say hello—getting going on book 3, and all the other stuff that’s been going on. When you’re reading this, I’m either on my way to, in the middle of, on my way home from, or sitting in front of the TV watching, my first TV interview. It’s airing/aired on Nashville’s Channel 4 at 12:30 Central time today, and as I’m writing this, I’m terribly nervous, although I’m trying not to think about it.

So “Fatal Fixer-Upper” hit the stores on Tuesday morning, and DH and I hit the stores on Tuesday morning, too, to make sure it was there. Here are a couple of pictures:

Me with the display at Barnes & Noble—someone really needs to invent a way to remove double chins from pictures, the same way you can remove red-eye—me with the marvellous Erika, and me with the shelf at Borders. The whole idea behind picking a pseudonym in the B’s was to get high up on the shelves, so people wouldn’t have to stoop to find the book, but I guess there are so many of us with the same idea that “Fatal Fixer-Upper” still ended up on the bottom. The books were there, though, which is the important thing.

I have two new reviews this week: this one in the Nashville Scene, calling my book “harmless fun” with “prose that is nothing if not accessible,” which I take to mean so simple a first-grader can read it, and this one in the Cozy Library, that’s so beautiful and complimentary it brought tears to my eyes.

Ahem.

My editor at Berkley sent me the back cover copy for DIY#2, which will be coming out in August. This is it:

Avery Baker was once a New York designer, but inheriting her aunt’s old Maine cottage has led her down a new career path in home renovation. Finding a property’s hidden potential has rewards and challenges—especially when a mystery surfaces behind the walls...

Home renovation is never easy, especially when the home's inhabitants are dead. Avery’s hunky boyfriend and business partner, Derek Ellis, wants to flip a seriously stigmatized ranch house where murder occurred two decades ago. It’s a good thing Avery has more faith in her boyfriend than in ghosts.

Their renovations are quickly interrupted when a presence is felt--and it’s not happy with the new alterations. Could it really be that the property is possessed? If they’re going to flip this house, all the outdated fixtures—including the supernatural squatters—must be disposed of, or else this project will haunt them forever…

I’m pretty happy with it. Now all we have to do is find a good title, since the book can’t go to print being called DIY#2. I came up with “Haunted House Homicide” (shades of Scooby-Doo). My agent likes “Bones in the Basement” (shades of Nancy Drew). Berkley suggested “A Skeleton in the Crawlspace” (gives away too much of the story, I think) or “Spooked and Spackled.” I love the last one, but I’m open to suggestions. If you have any, feel free to share.

Meanwhile, I’m starting DIY#3, which actually does have a title. “Home for the Homicide,” courtesy of my ITW debut buddy, the brilliant Kelli Stanley. It’s December in Waterfield, and Avery and Derek are turning an old carriage house into a romantic retreat for two, before Kate’s and Wayne’s wedding on New Year’s Eve. But then Kate’s ex shows up, and ends up dead. I haven’t figured out who killed him yet, or why, but I’m working on it. I have four months—three and three weeks now—to get it done and turned in to my editor. No problem...

So that’s what’s been going on with me this week. What about you?