View from the Birdhouse: May 5, 2015

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Daily Vintage - ABC Color Book - 1973 Old Store Stock

Today's Daily Vintage is a 1973 vintage coloring book. The ABC Color Book was published by Whitman. A few years ago I chanced upon some great old store stock (vintage items that had been in storage at a shop - never used). This is one of several coloring books that I found - the others are also in my store. This reminds me so much of coloring books I had as a child. It's really cute! Found at Birdhouse Books: ABC Color Book.

Interview and Giveaway: The Corpse With The Sapphire Eyes by Cathy Ace

The Corpse With The Sapphire Eyes
by Cathy Ace

The Corpse with the Sapphire Eyes
(A Cait Morgan Mystery)
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: TouchWood Editions (May 5, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-1771511209

Synopsis:

It’s Cait and Bud’s wedding weekend and for the first time she feels like a bride—or at least, she’s supposed to. But then the rain won’t quit, the supposedly romantic Welsh castle feels creepy, and there’s a dead body on the stairs.

What first appears to have been the untimely, unfortunate, and accidental death of their wedding choirmaster quickly reveals itself to have been a murder. And when a series of mysterious events occur around the castle, Cait, Bud, and Cait’s sister Sian tackle the case of The Corpse with the Sapphire Eyes, attempting to solve the mystery before another sinister event can ruin their destination wedding.

Interview:

I enjoyed interviewing Cathy Ace for this book spotlight.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I wished I could be a writer before I knew that was what some people were! Unaware of what it meant, I wanted to be one. Odd, but true.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I inhaled books about Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven and began reading Agatha Christie aged about ten, which is still a child. But I coveted The Lord of the Rings; it was much too expensive for me to be given it by my family, so when I won a book prize at school, aged 12, that’s what I got – my very own copy. I LOVED that book and still have it, of course!

What is your writing day like? Do you have any interesting writing quirks?

When I’m writing I still find I have a lot of other things to do (editing an earlier book, promoting work, volunteering my time as VP for Crime Writers of Canada etc) so find I can only get down to “new writing” when everyone’s gone to bed. I start around 9.30pm and keep going until I have to stop – maybe at 1am or even 2am. In the morning I print out what I’ve just written, mark it up, make the amendments, then I move ahead the next night. I’m not sure I have any quirks, though I am utterly obsessed with outlines, to which I constantly refer to try keep myself on track.

What was the most surprising thing you learned while creating this book?

That Edgar Purnell Hooley, who was famous as the inventor of Tarmacadam, was born in Swansea – same place as me, and close to the setting for this book. His invention plays a small role in the book.

Who are your favorite authors?

Many are dead – more’s the pity! Christie, Marsh, Conan Doyle, Sayers, as well as, more recently, Reginald Hill, Robert B Parker and PD James. Luckily for me I very much enjoy the work of many living authors too, though my To Be Read pile topples over at regular intervals.

What is your next writing project?

I will be working on final copy editing for the sixth Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Diamond Hand, which comes out in October this year, and also writing her seventh and eighth adventures ready for spring and fall 2016. I’m also looking forward to the July 1^st launch of a new series, where the US and Canada get to meet the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency – the UK met them on March 31^st, and seem to like them, so I’m hoping that a group of four women who solve quintessentially British cases from a stately home in Wales will also prove popular on this side of the Atlantic!

Thank you for having me along.

About This Author

Originally from Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries. In The Corpse with the Silver Tongue her foodie criminologist sleuthed in the south of France. The Corpse with the Golden Nose found Cait sniffing out a killer in BC’s vineyards. The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb met her when she was meddling in murders in Mexico. This time Cait is caught up in a true closed-room mystery in a classy casino restaurant in Las Vegas. When not helping Cait solve traditional, closed-circle mysteries, Cathy’s a keen gardener, ably assisted by her green-pawed chocolate Labradors.