The King is dead! Long live The King!

So I've been doing copy edits on the seventh DIY mystery, HOME FOR THE HOMICIDE - due out December 3rd and available for preorder HERE - and I ran into a conundrum about Elvis Presley.

You know, Elvis the Pelvis. The King of Rock'n Roll.

In the text, I referred to him as "The King."

The copy editor thinks it should be "the King."

I think "the King" could refer to any king of any country, including my own. I'm a Norwegian citizen, and Norway is a constitutional monarchy. We have a king. King Harald. Long live the King!

A statement which, to me, is quite different from "long live The King."

Of course, The King is dead. But still.

I took a Facebook poll, and most people agreed with me. Elvis is The King, not simply the King.

He's also The Pelvis, not simply the Pelvis. Unless he's Elvis the Pelvis, and then it's OK.

The Chicago Manual of Style disagrees, it seems. It says that "the," when run into a sentence (particularly with places, but also names), is lowercased.

I'm thinking rude thoughts about the Chicago Manual of Style right now.

In copy editing, there's something called STET, though.

Per Wikipedia, STET is a Latin word that means "let it stand," which is used by proofreaders and editors to instruct the typesetter or writer to disregard a change the editor or proofreader had previously marked.

In connection with this usage, STET is also sometimes used as a verb, e.g., "Stet that colon."

I'm so stetting The King!

Home for the Homicide Cover Reveal

Looks like it's official, since this showed up on Amazon yesterday. It's the cover for Home for the Homicide, DIY-7, scheduled for release December 3rd.

No, Mischa the kitten (on the floor with the Christmas lights) still doesn't look like a Russian Blue. And Inky (on the table) is more gray than black, while Jemmy (the tiger striped Maine Coon) isn't on the cover at all this time. Nor do I have a creepy shadow, it seems.

However, all that aside, it's a beautiful cover as usual. The book is available for preorder at the moment, for $7.19 (a little off the cover price of $7.99) - on Amazon.

Authors in Bloom

UPDATE as of 7 pm Central Time on Sunday, April 21st. The Truly Random Number Generator/Picker chewed over the comments and decided on #3.

Congrats, Savannah; you are the winner of the book and magazine. Hope you'll enjoy, and thanks to everyone for playing!

 

* * *

Hello, and welcome to the Authors in Bloom blog hop... or at least my own little corner of it.

Starting today - April 10th at 6 am - and running through April 19th at 11:59 pm, an estimated 65 of us are participating in this event, organized by the fabulous Dianne Venetta.

If you hop from blog to blog and leave a comment on each, you'll be entered for the grand prize, which will be awarded by random drawing by Rafflecopter, and which consists of a Kindle Fire or a Nook (winner's choice) along with a gift certificate for books - since you'll want something to put on that eReader.

In addition, those of us participating are also giving away individual prizes. In my case, it's a print copy of the first book in my cozy mystery series, Fatal Fixer-Upper, about New York City textile designer Avery Baker who inherits her Aunt Inga's house in tiny Waterfield on the coast of Maine, and who goes up there to renovate the place, only to fall in love with the handyman she hired to help her.

Along with the book, there's also a subscription to This Old House renovation magazine.

I'm supposed to share a recipe or a gardening tip with you. Since I'm not much of a gardener, I figure I'll go with a recipe, one for Avery's favorite dessert, and the state snack of Maine: Whoopie Pies.

Whoopie pies are a Pennsylvania Amish tradition originally, although these days, they’re considered more of a New England phenomenon. According to food historians, whoopie pies were originally made from leftover batter, and when the children would find them in their lunch boxes, they’d yell “Whoopie!” Hence the name.

Traditional whoopie pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter (although the recipe will work with butter, too, if you insist). The original and most common whoopie pie is chocolate with vanilla filling, although pumpkin whoopie pies are a favorite seasonal variation.

Here’s what you need to make them:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In another bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the milk. Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, alternating with the milk mixture; beating until smooth.

Drop batter by the 1/4 cup (to make 18 cakes) onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake. Bake 15 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium bow, beat together shortening, sugar, and Marshmallow fluff; stir in vanilla extract until well blended. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the flat side (bottom) of one chocolate cake with a generous amount of filling. Top with another cake, pressing down gently to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with all cookies to make 9 pies. Wrap whoopie pies individually in plastic wrap, or place them in a single layer on a platter (do not stack them, as they tend to stick). You can freeze them the same way, by wrapping each pie in plastic wrap and putting them in a freezer proof container. Thaw them again in the fridge.

And that, my friends, is how you make whoopie... pies!

Check HERE for the other participants in the Authors in Bloom blog hop, and get busy commenting and signing up for good stuff.

For my own personal giveaway, I'd appreciate it if you'd do one or more of the following:

Follow me on twitter, in one or both of my personas: @JennieBentley or @Bennett_Jenna

Like my Facebook Author Page

Sign up for my newsletter

And please leave me a comment below to tell me you did, so I don't inadvertently leave anyone out.
Thanks for stopping by, and happy hopping!

Start Spreading the News...

Got some exciting things going on, and a bunch of new books coming in the next few months.

First off: in August, the first book in a light romantic suspense/mystery type series will be released from Entangled Publishing's Dead Sexy imprint. They're shortish books - 60,000-70,000 words (compare to 90,000 for my DIY and Cutthroat Business mysteries) - and available in digital format only; at least until I sell a certain number of copies.

It doesn't have a title yet, but the series will be following the agents of the FBI's Art Crime Team - ACT - as they go about their business of solving crimes and finding love. It's a pretty light and funny series, a bit like my mysteries, but with a couple of different points of view - his and hers - and s.e.x. There'll be hot FBI agents, exotic locations, missing and stolen art, and fun romps.

Secondly, on September 4th, the 6th DIY mystery will be available in digital format as well as mass market paperback. The title is Wall to Wall Dead, and in this installment of the series, Derek and Avery are renovating a condo in Josh Rasmussen's building, while at the same time getting ready for a very momentuous occasion in their own lives. But when the neighbors start dropping like flies, Avery must leap into action to save the day, as usual. I wanted the title of this book to be Secrets in Small Spaces, which should tell you a little bit about the story as well as the renovation tips. Secrets and small spaces. Everyone has a secret, some of them more shocking than others, and it's up to Avery to figure out which secrets are worth killing for.

I did a major overhaul of this book a couple of months ago, and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. The last book, Flipped Out, made it onto the New York Times extended list, so let's see if we can do it again!

In October - or maybe July, depending on how quickly we can have it ready - the first book in a paranormal romance series for Entangled's Covet imprint will be released, also in digital format.

(If you don't have an eReader and you like my writing, now might be a good time to invest in one.)

This book doesn't have a title yet either, but the series is about a matchmaking agency in Astoria, Queens, called Made in Heaven, and the boss of same is Eros, Greek god of love. It's light and funny and sexy, and I really hope you'll like it!

November 13th, the first book in my futuristic romance/suspense series will be released in digital format and trade paperback: Fortune's Hero, first in the Soldiers of Fortune series. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with the blurb and the gorgeous cover - thanks, Heather Howland! - but if not, here you go:

Last year, space smuggler Quinn Conlan was on top of the world. He had everything a man could want: a fast ship, a great crew, a gorgeous girlfriend, lots of money, and adventure and excitement around every corner.

That all changed when he agreed to ferry a shipload of weapons to the beleaguered planet Marica, currently under siege by Rhenian forces. Now he’s stuck in a prison camp on the moon Marica-3, subjected to weekly sessions with the camp’s “medical team,” and praying for a quick death before he breaks under the torture and spills everything he knows about the Marican resistance.

When the opportunity presents itself, Quinn takes a Rhenian med tech hostage and heads into the inhospitable interior of the small moon. There, he has to keep himself and Doctor Elsa Brandeis safe from the deadly flora and fauna, as well as hidden from the prison guards searching for them, all while formulating a plan for getting his crew out of prison, his ship out of impound, and everyone out of orbit.

But when Elsa professes her love, can Quinn take the beautiful doctor at her word, or will trusting her—and his heart—condemn him and his crew to an eternity on Marica-3?

I'm really proud of this book. My editor says it reads like a cross between Indiana Jones and Star Trek, so if that's your thing, make sure you don't miss it. It's not as light and funny as the rest of my stuff, though. That is, it has its own brand of humor, but it's more gallows variety, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I think it's a pretty good book, and I can't wait to see it on new release tables everywhere!

And finally: I'm also working on a contemporary romance for Entangled's Indulgence imprint, digital only - at least until I sell a certain number of copies - called Friends With Benefits.

It's a heavily trope-based romance, 50,000-55,000 words or thereabouts - it isn finished yet - about a marriage of convenience between two people from opposite sides of the tracks who end up falling in love and staying together. It's a romance, so I'm sure I'm not giving away too much by saying that. As of right now, I have no release date, but it could conceivably be October, if the paranormal romance makes it out in July, or December or early 2013, if the paranormal goes into the October slot. Stay tuned for updates.

So there you have it. Looks like we're all in for a busy, happy autumn this year!

Another cover reveal!

Here it is, the cover for DIY-6, WALL TO WALL DEAD, scheduled for release September 4th, 2012, and currently available for preorder from Amazon; click HERE to go there:

#SampleSunday - Flipped Out, DIY-5

Avery and her hunky handyman boyfriend Derek Ellis are renovating another house in Waterfield, Maine. But it’s not just any house. It belongs to local news anchor Tony “the Tiger” Micelli—and it’s a quaint cottage with limitless possibilities. Even more exciting is that the makeover is going to be filmed as part of a home renovation TV show.

Unfortunately the road to cable TV fame is a bumpy one: this DIY spins into a DOA when Tony’s corpse is found at the cottage, flat on his back and not from natural causes. Turns out there were a few people who wanted Tony dead, and that the murderer might have his sights set on a few more Waterfield residents. That means it’s up to Avery to nail the killer. Before someone yells "Cut!" and it's all over.

From somewhere in chapter 3... I think.

“And . . . action,” Nina said.

I made sure to stay out of sight while Wilson panned the living room—it wouldn’t do for us to be peeking around the archway and ruining the shot—but once Adam started speaking, we knew Wilson had finished his pan and was focused on Adam, so we leaned into the living room to watch.

“Hi,” Adam said, grinning dementedly, “and welcome to Flipped Out! I’m Adam Ramsey, your host. Today we’re here in Waterford, Maine—”

“Cut,” Nina said. “It’s Waterfield, Adam. Do it again.”

Adam grimaced. Wilson went back to the doorway. Derek and I ducked out of sight, and it all started over again. And again. Adam couldn’t seem to get the hang of it. He was very handsome, he probably photographed extremely well, he had a nicely modulated voice, but he couldn’t remember details to save his life. If it wasn’t the name of the town that slipped his mind, it was another word he mispronounced or stumbled over. After five or six takes, he had finally got the introduction and the name of the town and everything else just right, but when he moved into the kitchen to introduce Derek and me, the problems started all over again.

“Here we are with this week’s team of renovators, Erik Ellis and—”

“Cut,” Nina said, her voice beginning to show signs of wear around the edges. “It’s Derek, Adam. Not Erik. Do it again.”

Wilson looked put out. Adam looked pained. “Sorry, Neen.”

Nina was making an almost visible effort to be nice. “I’m sure you are, Adam. Just do it again, please.”

Wilson moved back to the doorway, Derek and I exchanged a glance, and Adam took a deep breath and blew it out again, flashing another broad smile. “Here we are with this week’s team of renovators, Derek Ellis and Ivory Baker—”

“Cut,” Nina said. “It’s Avery, Adam. Derek and Avery. Not Erik and Ivory. Do you need a break?”

The not so subtle subtext was, “Take a break, Adam. And come back ready to get it right.”

"Yeah,” Adam said, “I think maybe I do. I’ll be right back.”

He left through the laundry room and headed into the backyard, where he’d probably either punch a tree to make himself feel better, or wander around for a couple of minutes, kicking at tufts of grass and muttering. Hopefully he’d come back inside in a better frame of mind.

# # #

Flipped Out just hit the New York Times bestseller list at #33 - yay!!! - and can be bought through Amazon and B&N, as well as other e-retailers and in bookstores and select big box stores - Target, Walmart, etc - across the country. 

The Big Time!

HUGE THANKS

to everyone who bought Flipped Out in its first week of availability!

Thanks to you, we hit the New York Times extended bestseller list at #33!

xoxoxo

Lights... Camera... and Action!

Flipped Out, Do It Yourself mystery #5, is now in stores everywhere, and downloadable for any number of e-reader devices from any number of websites. Go forth, buy, read, and enjoy. It’s a pretty good book, if I do say so myself. Here’s the blurb Berkley put on the back cover:

Avery and her hunky handyman boyfriend Derek Ellis are renovating another house in Waterfield, Maine. But it’s not just any house. It belongs to local news anchor Tony “the Tiger” Micelli—and it’s a quaint cottage with limitless possibilities. E ven more exciting is that the makeover is going to be filmed as part of a home renovation TV show.

Unfortunately the road to cable TV fame is a bumpy one: this DIY spins into a DOA when Tony’s corpse is found at the cottage, flat on his back and not from natural causes. Turns out there were a few people who wanted Tony dead, and that the murderer might have his sights set on other Waterfield residents. That means it’s up to Avery to nail the killer. Before someone yells “Cut!” and it’s all over.

Pretty cool, huh?

I’ve also sent the manuscript for the sixth DIY mystery to my editor. It doesn’t have a release date or a title yet, but they’re both coming. So yes, Avery carries on into 2012.

A new frontier

Some of you may remember having heard me yap on about what I call my "science fiction futuristic romance space opera thingy" ... for lack of a more focused term.

I developed the idea more than a year ago: first in a piece of flash fiction my Working Stiffs blog buddy Wilfred Bereswill challenged me to write, after I told him I can't write anything short; and secondly in a class I took with the fabulous Heather Graham last fall. I was told by a lot of people it would be a hard sell, and that I probably shouldn't put too much effort into it... but to be honest, I had a hard time letting it go. Characters sometimes dig into your brain and refuse to give up, even when you know you should push them outta there and let them shrivel and die in the harsh light of real life.

In this case I didn't even try. Quinn's just one of those special people. I did my best to ignore him when I had other things to do, but I never made a concerted effort to get rid of him. Once in a while I'd even let him come out and play for a while.

Fast forward about a year: a month or so ago, I was yapping to another friend about it - the wonderful Misa Ramirez, author of the Lola Cruz mysteries from St. Martin's Minotaur and the Enchanted Dressmaking mysteries from NAL, as well as the marketing director for a new boutique publisher called Entangled Publishing ... and long story short, Misa asked to see the outline for the book. Then she asked if she could show it to one of the editors. And then she said the editor wanted a formal proposal for the series.

(Yes, in playing with the idea, it had morphed into a series. I told you I can't write anything short.)

And now I am extremely excited to be able to report that I have signed a four book contract for a series of sci fi romances about the crew of a space freighter called the Good Fortune. There'll be adventure, there'll be sex, there might be a little mystery and definitely some suspense, and hopefully some of you who read my mysteries will give these books a try as well. They're not very science fiction-y, I promise. They just happen to be set in a galaxy far, far away, but for all intents and purposes, they could take place right here on our own planet, as well. They're character books, just like the rest of what I write. Only, instead of - say - five mysteries making up one long romance, like the Cutthroat Business books, this is four romances making up one long adventure.

Check out the short outline for book 1, Fortune's Hero, scheduled for release sometime in 2012:

 To ensure their survival on a hostile planet, an escaped prisoner and his hostage must forge a partnership that changes them from enemies to reluctant allies and – eventually – to lovers.

Last year, space smuggler Quinn Conlan was on top of the world. He had everything a man could want: a fast ship, a great crew, a gorgeous girlfriend, lots of money, and adventure and excitement around every corner.

That all changed when he agreed to ferry a shipload of weapons to the beleaguered planet Marica, currently under siege by Rhenian forces. Now he’s stuck in a prison camp on the moon Marica-3, subjected to weekly sessions with the camp’s “medical team,” and praying for a quick death before he breaks under the torture and spills everything he knows about the Marican resistance.

When the opportunity presents itself, Quinn takes a Rhenian med tech hostage and heads into the inhospitable interior of the small moon. There, he has to keep himself and Doctor Elsa Brandeis safe from the deadly flora and fauna, as well as hidden from the prison guards searching for them, all while formulating a plan for getting his crew out of prison, his ship out of impound, and everyone out of orbit.

But when Elsa professes her love, can Quinn take the beautiful doctor at her word, or will trusting her—and his heart—condemn him and his crew to an eternity on Marica-3?

All that's left now is to write the book... after I finish the revisions on DIY-6 and the last half of A Done Deal. :-)

And The Winner Is...

As promised, it's the 21st of September, and I've looked at all the title suggestions, put everyone's name into a hat, and drawn a random commentor who gets his/her name into the 6th DIY book.

That person is - drumroll, please! - Judy Norton!

This blog syndicated to a lot of places, including Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, and my Facebook page, and I got a lot of lovely title suggestions by comment and message in a lot of different places. I'll be gathering them up and forwarding them to the editor along with the manuscript itself next week, and as soon as I know what the title will be, I'll share. One of you might have the winning title, so check back and see whether it's you!

Thanks, everyone, for playing! I appreciate the help! xoxo 

What's in a Name?

Back in March, I sold Do It Yourself mystery #6 to Berkley Prime Crime on the following couple of paragraphs:

When Derek and Avery first get the inside track on a distressed condo in Josh Rasmussen’s complex, it doesn’t seem like a very exciting project. But the price is right, and they can turn the property around quickly, which will help their cash flow. And besides, Avery thinks they can amuse themselves by giving the small, bland space some much needed oomph.

However, it isn’t but a few days after renovations start that they have all the excitement they can handle. It begins with the suspicious death of Hilda Shaw, one of the neighbors. Hilda was the resident busy-body, always sitting at her window watching the other tenants coming and going. She delighted in knowing things about people, personal things, and in letting people know that she knew.

As it turns out, every one of the residents in the small condo complex is hiding a secret of their own, including Josh Rasmussen, and Avery soon finds herself knee-deep in other people’s dirty laundry. The trick becomes figuring out which of the many secrets is the deadly one, and which of the neighbors killed Hilda, before someone else learns too much about what is going on and has to die as a result. And this time, that someone might just be Avery.

Since April, I’ve been busy – at least on and off – writing the book. I have to send it to my editor by October 1st . . . AND IT DOESN’T HAVE A NAME!!!

So far, the working title has been Secrets and Small Spaces, but that doesn’t have quite the punch I’m hoping for. And that’s where you come in.

For the next three weeks – let’s say until September 21st – give me your best suggestions for a title for my book. After the 21st, I’ll look at the offerings, pick one or more to send to my editor along with the manuscript, and draw a name out of a hat of one of you, who gets to become a character in the book.

Yes, since I haven’t submitted the manuscript yet, I can totally do that!

One of you may also end up with the winning title, but that won't be up to me; that's something the sales and marketing departments at Berkley figure out. They may pick one of the titles we suggest, or they may come up with one of their own. In either case, as soon as I know what it is, I'll announce it.

Keep in mind, the title has to be short enough to fit on the cover: 3-4 words, max. It has to sound somewhat mysterious or criminal, but it also has to have that Do It Yourself home renovation connotation. The other books have been called Fatal Fixer-Upper, Spackled and Spooked, Plaster and Poison, Mortar and Murder, and Flipped Out.

Let the games begin!

Hunk of the Week: Cullen (no, not the vampire one)

The other day I had a question on my Facebook page from Patti St Marie Wilson, one of the fans of my alter ego, Jennie Bentley's Do It Yourself home renovation series:

Who do you think of when you write about Derek? I figured the name came from Derek Morgan - but, your Derek is blond. I'm trying to think of a blond hunk and none seem to come to mind. lol

The truth is, I don't think about anyone. But since Patti wanted to know what Derek Ellis looked like, I had to do a little bit of figuring, and here's what I came up with:

This guy's name is Brett Cullen. Not one of the vampire Cullens, although he's certainly beautiful enough, don't you agree?

Yes, this is close to what my Derek - Avery's Derek - looks like. When I started writing the series, I didn't have this guy in mind, though. In the original outline my editor sent me, the character's name was Mike Ellis, and he was supposed to look like Bill Pullman.

However, I happen to be married to a Mike, so making him the hero of my new mystery series seemed a little self indulgent, and much as I enjoy Bill Pullman as an actor, he doesn't make my heart beat faster. So I had to do a bit of tweaking.

I don't know where I came up with the name Derek; I think I just picked it out of the air. It wasn't because of Derek Morgan, because I didn't watch Criminal Minds then. It's possible I picked it because of Derek Jeter, but I'm not sure. It's a nice name. I kept the character blond because I was already writing the Cutthroat Business mysteries about Rafe, who definitely isn't blond, and I wanted to do something different.

(On a side note, I originally thought Rafe would look something like Derek Jeter. It turned out he didn't. But that's a blog for another time.)

Brett Cullen and I go way back, though. Just because I didn't consciously picture him when I created Derek Ellis, I have to think he was in the backbrain somewhere. See, Brett Cullen used to be on what was - and possibly still is - my very favorite TV show EVER.

It was called The Young Riders and followed a group of people at a Pony Express waystation in Nebraska Territory in 1860. The series ran from 1989 to 1992, and it spawned my #1 celebrity crush, one I still haven't quite been able to shake, 20+ years later.

No, it wasn't on Brett Cullen. Sure, he was hot, but I was young back then, and I was crushing on the boys instead of the men. Brett Cullen played Marshal Sam Cain, who happened to have a thing for Emma Shannon, who ran the waystation.

For your enjoyment, here's a little snippet from the first episode of the show, in which Brett AKA Sam, probably had the best line of the entire episode. Enjoy!

Architecture 101 - Queen Anne

Of all the Victorian house styles, Queen Anne is the most elaborate as well as the most eccentric. The style is often called romantic and feminine, yet it is the product of a most unromantic era - the machine age.

Queen Anne became an architectural fashion in the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial revolution was building up steam. North America was caught up in the excitement of new technologies. Factory-made, precut architectural parts were shuttled across the country on a rapidly expanding train network. Exuberant builders combined these pieces to create innovative, and sometimes excessive, homes. Country folk yearned for fancy city trappings. Wealthy industrialists pulled out all stops as they built lavish "castles" using Queen Anne ideas.

Although easy to spot, America's Queen Anne style is difficult to define. Some Queen Anne houses are lavished with gingerbread, but some are made of brick or stone. Many have turrets, but this crowning touch is not necessary. So, what is Queen Anne?

Anne was the Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the early 1700s. Art and science flourished during her reign. One hundred and fifty years later, British architect Richard Norman Shaw and his followers used the term Queen Anne to describe their work. Their buildings didn't resemble the formal architecture of the Queen Anne period, but the name stuck.

In the US, builders began constructing homes with half-timbering and patterned masonry. These houses may have been inspired by the work of Richard Norman Shaw. Like Shaw's buildings, they were called Queen Anne. As builders added spindlework and other flourishes, America's Queen Anne houses grew increasingly elaborate. The Queen Anne style in the United States became entirely different from the Queen Anne style in England, and both styles were nothing like the formal, symmetrical architecture found during the time of Queen Anne's reign.

Some Queen Anne houses are lavishly decorated. Others are restrained in their embellishments. Yet the flashy "painted ladies" of San Francisco and the refined brownstones of Brooklyn share many of the same features. There is an element of surprise to the typical Queen Anne home. The roof is steeply pitched and irregular. The overall shape of the house is asymmetrical.

A list of Queen Anne features can be deceptive. Queen Anne architecture is not an orderly or easily classified. Bay windows, balconies, stained glass, turrets, porches, brackets, and an abundance of decorative details combine in unexpected ways.

In Avery's world of Waterfield, Maine, there are a lot of Queen Anne Victorians, since a large part of Waterfield Village, the historic district, was built during the late 1800s. Of all of them, Kate McGillicutty's Bed and Breakfast, the Waterfield Inn, is probably the most impressive:

The Waterfield Inn turned out to be every bit as lovely – and expensive – as Melissa James had said. It was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. It was gorgeous, spotlessly clean, and meticulously maintained. A true Queen Anne Victorian, the Inn was a mix of architectural styles and angles. Two-and-a-half stories tall with a square tower, like Aunt Inga’s house, it also had a round tower with an onion dome, like the Kremlin in Moscow. The square tower had a mansard roof topped by a widow’s walk. There was a bay window on the first floor, a wrap-around porch, gingerbread trim, narrow, arched windows, and gables in every direction. The house had every Victorian excess imaginable – the very hallmark of the Queen Anne style – and everything was painted a sunny butter yellow with gleaming white accents.

Incidentally, Mrs. Jenkins's house in A Cutthroat Business and Hot Property is a Queen Anne, as well, although Savannah doesn't take the time to describe it in as much detail: Circa 1889, it was a three-story Victorian with a ballroom on the third floor and a circular tower on the southeast corner.

I see a lot of Queen Anne's. They're all over East Nashville. I've always thought Mrs. Jenkins's house at 101 Potsdam Street looks something like the Ambrose House, shown here, except in much worse shape. When I first moved to Nashville, rather a long time ago now, the Ambrose House was nothing but a shell. Now it's a gorgeously restored event venue, but in my mind, I still remember it the way it used to be, and used it for A Cutthroat Business.

So there you have it, the Queen Anne Victorian. Hope you enjoyed!

Folk Victorian

Pale green in color, with gleaming white gingerbread trim, and surrounded by velvety grass and masses and masses of flowers, the house we were visiting was another impressive Victorian confection, such as I envisioned Aunt Inga’s house might one day look like. The doorbell rang with a somber, tolling sound that reverberated in the recesses of the house. A few seconds later the heavy door opened.


Waterfield’s doctor was a good-looking older man, with graying hair cut short, and a friendly, open face with round glasses. He was casually dressed, in wrinkled khakis and a faded blue golf shirt with a crocodile on the pocket. A napkin tucked under his collar was stained with yellow. He had a fork in one hand, and when he saw us, his brows crawled up his high forehead like caterpillars. “Derek. Good morning, son. What’s going on?”

“Morning, sir,” Derek said, not waiting for an invitation, but walking right in. “This is Avery Baker. I’m helping her renovate her Aunt Inga’s house over on Bayberry. I found her looking like this when I came to work this morning.”

“Oh, dear.” The doctor looked around for somewhere to deposit his fork, and ended up putting it on what was either an outstanding reproduction or a genuine mahogany veneered Hepplewhite sideboard standing in the hallway. Philippe would have been drooling. “You’d better put her in the parlor.”

He stepped out of the way. Derek headed into a room on the left with the doctor following. “On the couch, please.”

The ‘couch’ was a pristine example of a 1770s Federal style straight-back sofa upholstered in yellow damask. It might even have been a Sheraton. Again, Philippe’s mouth would have watered, and he would surely not have approved of the way Derek unceremoniously dropped me onto the old seat. The doctor, whose sofa it was, didn’t turn a hair.

# # #

That's Avery's first meeting with Dr. Ben Ellis, Derek's dad, and his Folk Victorian cottage.

The Folk Victorian has a much simpler design than the ornate Second Empire Victorian or the Queen Anne. The classic Victorian styles (Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Stick Style, Romanesque Revival, and Shingle Style) were created by professional architects, and were built mostly by the well-to-do. But the lower reaches of the middle class shared the same Victorian urge to live in a fashionable house, and if they couldn't afford a professional architect, they could design the house themselves, or have a local carpenter do it. The design was likely to be an unprofessional but possibly still charming pastiche, including elements of styles that were still currently fashionable among the upper crust, and elements of styles that definitely were not. Also, the house would naturally tend to be smaller and plainer than what the wealthy could afford.

Many Folk Victorian houses were adorned with flat, jigsaw cut trim in a variety of patterns, or with spindles and gingerbread trim borrowed from the Carpenter Gothic. Some Folk Victorian homes may suggest Queen Anne architecture.

The exact division between Queen Anne and Folk Victorian is fuzzy, considering how many of the smaller Queen Annes were hodge-podged together by local carpenters, rather than designed by architects. But Folk Victorians were being built long before the Queen Anne style appeared on the scene, and in any case, it is still useful to make a rough distinction between the more expensive, very elaborate, architect-designed Victorians (Queen Anne) and their less-expensive, plainer, carpenter-designed cousins (Folk Victorian).

So there you have it, folks. Folk Victorian 101.

Till next time. Cheers!

Houses, Hunks, and Whodunit

In keeping with the new log line on my blog - courtesy of Lyda Phillips, whose review of A Cutthroat Business in the Nashville Scene last year included the sentence "...a frothy girl drink of houses, hunks and whodunit," - I thought I'd say a few words about houses.

More specifically, one house: Aunt Inga's house in Fatal Fixer-Upper. There's a chance that not everyone might have seen a Second Empire Victorian, and I thought I might remedy that.

Here are Avery's words on her first visit to Waterfield:

Graham Rodgers had told me it was in bad shape. I had been prepared for the fact that it would need some work. Aunt Inga had been old, childless, and not well off, so there had been things – probably a lot of things – she hadn’t been able to keep up with. I expected an overgrown yard, a few loose roof shingles, missing gutters, and maybe some rotted boards. The reality was so much worse than anything I could have imagined, that for a second, I just stared, appalled.

Oh, don’t get me wrong: the house must have been beautiful once. Like mother had said, it was a fairytale Victorian cottage with a tower and arched windows. Unless my mandatory architecture classes betrayed me, I was looking at a Second Empire Victorian. Basically an Italianate style, identified by a square tower, mansard roof, and tall, narrow windows, arched or rounded on top. Named for the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870), Second Empire was the first true style of the Victorian era in the US.

Above is another, more manicured example. Note the tall, narrow windows on the first floor, the arched windows on the top level, and the mansard roof... all hallmarks of the Second Empire style. 

In the United States, the style usually combined a rectangular tower with a steep, short, mansard roof; the roof being the most noteworthy link to the style’s French roots. The tower could be of equal height to the top floor - such as in example 2 - or it could exceed the height of the rest of the structure by a story or two, like in picture 1 and 3.

The mansard roof crest was often topped with iron trim, called “cresting”. There's plenty of cresting on this house: both on top of the tower and on the lower roofs. In some cases, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting design, making the feature useful as well as decorative.

So there you have it. A basic description of the Second Empire Victorian, i.e. Aunt Inga's house. Next time I think I'll hunt up some pictures of Dr. Ben's Folk Victorian Cottage. After I post about hunks and whodunit, of course. In the meantime it's Friday, and time for a frothy drink. Until next time. Cheers!

 

 

Wanna become a character in DIY-6?

Wanna help raise money for tornado relief?

Here's your chance: Go to the Help Write Now auction and bid on a set of DIY books and the chance to become - or name - a character in DIY-6, currently in progress.

Behold -

the beauteousness of DIY-4, Mortar and Murder!

Due to arrive in a store near you on January 4th, 2011 - that's just over six months from now - Mortar and Murder has a cover, and as usual, the brilliant Jennifer Taylor has outdone herself. My sinister shadow is back, which makes me very happy - he was missing from DIY-3, Plaster and Poison - and you'll notice a new cat up there in the middle of the stairs. He's a small Russian Gray kitten named Mischa, and he lives under the porch of the 1783 center-chimney Colonial house on Rowanberry Island that Avery and Derek take on in Mortar and Murder. I wanted the book to be called Island Getaway, which should give you an idea of what it's about, but that was deemed not renovate-y enough. So we ended up with the current title instead. And the current cover. Innit beautiful?

It's Official

A Cutthroat Business is in stores - yay! - and DIY-4, Mortar and Murder, has an official release date of January 4th, 2011. It's available for preorder from Amazon, HERE. There's no cover art as of this writing, but I have it on good authority that the cover will feature a colonial staircase, a sailcloth rug, a view of the ocean, and a small, blue-gray kitten. Considering the previous three covers, I'm sure Jennifer Taylor will blow it out once again. I'll post a picture of the cover as soon as I have one. In the meantime, get thee to a store and purchase A Cutthroat Business, by my alter ego, the real me, Bente Gallagher.

Updated back cover copy for DIY#3 - PLASTER & POISON

...because I whined about the original. I like this better:

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...

Avery’s friend, bed and breakfast owner Kate McGillicutty is finally getting hitched to police chief Wayne Rasmussen. They've asked Avery and her boyfriend, Derek, to renovate an old carriage house behind the B&B. It's a daunting task, especially since Avery’s mother is arriving in town for a lengthy stay (and to judge—ehem—meet Derek), but Avery’s not stressed. She’s excited to remake the seen-better-days carriage house into a romantic Parisian-style retreat.

But the course of home repair never did run smooth, even when sanders are involved. One night at the carriage house, Avery stumbles across a lifeless body amidst the paint cans and plaster. It turns out that the murder victim was someone Kate knew all too well. All of a sudden, this small town is abuzz with big suspicions, and Avery realizes she must unravel the mysterious murder before Kate can tie the knot…

So there you have it.

Good News

So apparently it's official: the title for DIY# 3 is PLASTER AND POISON, according to the email I got from my editor at Berkley Prime Crime today.

And another nice little tidbit of good news: apparently the release date is March 2010, not May 2010 - in other words, two months sooner than originally planned!

No cover yet, but here's the back cover blurb as of right now, with qualifications; it might change:

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...

Local bed and breakfast owner Kate McGillicuty and Waterfield Police Chief Wayne Rasmussen are finally tying the knot. They've asked Avery and her boyfriend, Derek, to renovate an old carriage house behind the B&B. It's a daunting task, but Avery plans on remaking the relic into a romantic Parisian-style retreat.

But the course of true love--and home repair--rarely runs smooth. As proven when Avery stumbles across a lifeless body in the carriage house. And now, Avery's to-do list reads: find wallpaper…lay insulation…solve murder!