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!

 

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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 According to food historians, whoopie pies were originally made from leftover batter, and when the children would find them in their lunch boxes, they’d yell “Whoopie!”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!

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!

It's all about MEEEEE!

OK, so I've been bad about taking pictures of all the fun stuff that's been happening to me lately. The launch party at Sherlock's Books in Lebanon went by without pictures. The signing at Davis-Kidd, ditto, along with - of course - the TV interview. There were people taking pictures at Killer Nashville last weekend, but I wasn't among them, so if there are pictures of me floating around out there, I haven't seen'em. I also forgot the camera when I did Evening with an Author at Tinney Contemporary last Thursday night.

But today, I remembered the camera. I even remembered to put batteries in it before I left. Therefore, I am able to give you the following three photos from Mysteries and More, the only bona fide "mysteries only" bookstore in Nashville!

Here I am with Mary and Gregg Bruss, the lovely owners of Mysteries and More; thank you so much for having me!

Here I am with my independent publicist, Tom Robinson from Author and Book Media, without whom Spackled and Spooked as well as Fatal Fixer-Upper would be in a lot fewer places.

And here I am with one of the many lovely folks who came out to support me and Mysteries and More by buying one or both of my books! Thanks so much to all of you!

If you're interested in an autographed copy of Fatal Fixer-Upper or Spackled and Spooked, talk to Greg and Mary; they've got'em! You can order from Mysteries and More right HERE.

That's it for now; I'm done with signings and appearances until the Southern Festival of Books in October. It's time to get busy writing DIY#4, tentatively titled Mortar and Murder.

Catch you later!

Enter to win

Want a signed copy of "Fatal Fixer-Upper"? Or a signed copy of "Spackled and Spooked" (once I get my hands on one)?

Here's your chance. Sign up for my newsletter anytime between right now and August 4th, 2009 - when "Spackled and Spooked" hits shelves - and you could be the lucky winner! I'll pick one name at random and send copies of "Spackled and Spooked" and "Fatal Fixer-Upper," as well as a subscription to DIY-Ideas Magazine, where Avery (and I) get lots of our renovating ideas!

Here's the place to go: Newsletter

Be sure to respond to the email that comes your way, confirming that yes, you do want to receive Jennie Bentley's (very infrequent) newsletter.

Thanks, y'all! And good luck!

Check me out, I'm on BookPage!

Many of you may not know this, since I didn't myself until last year, but venerable BookPage - you know, the newspaper-looking magazine you pick up at your local library - is headquartered here in Nashville.

Last fall, just before the release of "Fatal Fixer-Upper," I had occasion to visit their offices and meet with the fine folks over there. At the time, they promised me they'd put me on their then-in-progress brand new website.

So I waited, and waited, and waited some more.

I'd almost given up hope, but now, just in time for the release of "Spackled and Spooked," they're ready! You can check out my article HERE, and while you're on the BookPage website anyway, be sure to have a look at everything else, as well. Lots of good stuff there!

It's Official

I'm a Good Girl. As of today, my picture is up on the Good Girls Kill For Money blog, and everything.

(And I'll thank everyone to please refrain from making comments about why my head is so much bigger than anyone else's. I'm sure that's very significant of something or other - big ego, probably - but I'd just as soon not have to hear about it. 'kay?)

Anyway, if you'd like a free copy of Fatal Fixer-Upper, get over there and leave a comment. You might get lucky.

Congratulations!

Here is one final photo from the author's day at the Coffee County Library in Manchester, Tennessee, a couple of weeks back.

Pictured here is Kay Lowry, who looks pretty happy to be the winner of the free copy of 'Fatal Fixer-Upper' that I tossed into the giveaway down there.

Congratulations, Kay! I hope you'll like the book!

"Fatal Fixer-Upper" an IMBA bestseller!

Just yesterday, "Fatal Fixer-Upper" was named a national bestselling paperback for November for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Check it out here:


http://inreferencetomurder.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/imba-bestsellers-for-november.html

The shortest review ever!

Or maybe not ever - I'm sure there have been shorter ones - but this is pretty darned short. Three sentences total, and one of them is a quote from moi. From that article I wrote for the Mystery Reader's Journal back in May, for their History Mystery issue.

Here's the link - but since the review is so short, I figure I'll just post the whole thing:

Jennie Bentley writes, "If Derek — 6 feet tall, with melting blue eyes, sun-streaked hair, snug jeans and a toolbelt riding low on his hips — can't make it interesting, then I don't know what to tell you."

If you surmise, however, that this novel is chick lit or a sappy romance novel, you would be wrong. It's an ingeniously plotted murder mystery with several prime suspects and a nail-biting conclusion.

So there! Thanks, Roy E. Perry, for those kind words!

Little Me - in Mystery Scene Magazine!

That - to the right - is the holiday issue of Mystery Scene Magazine, in stores now.

You can read more about it HERE.

However, if you'd like to pick up a copy on your wanderings, at Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore, for instance, you can find an article by and about moi on page 51, right under the big picture of the cat.

The article deals with the background for "Fatal Fixer-Upper" and where I came up with the great story about Marie Antoinette's cats and Samuel Clough and the Sally - which I take no credit for - and you'll probably like it.

There's also a wonderful article about Donna Andrews - that's her on the cover - author of the Meg Langslow mysteries, the first of which - "Murder, with Peacocks" - won every major award there is. I love Donna Andrews and Meg Langslow, and I'm sure you will, too. In addition, there are other wonderful stores and reviews, including one for my friend JT Ellison's latest thriller, "14".

So now you know!

I'm a best-seller in Seattle!

Look here! You'll have to scroll down a little, to the mass market paperbacks, but there I am (even if they got my name wrong)....

Signing

A couple of shots from the signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers Tuesday, November 11th. I started out with good intentions - and the camera - and then I got caught up in what was going on, and forgot to take pictures. The result: all I've got are these two. Me with Tom Robinson of Author and Book Media, my independent publicist, and me with Mary Saums, fellow Sister in Crime, author of Thistle and Twigg.

Sales!!!

Just got this email from my editor:

Every week, Barnes & Noble sends publishers a list of its national sales, divided into lists by genre and format. So this week you were # 11 on their mass market paperback mystery list.

Which is great!

A Few Reviews...

I got reviewed by the Nashville Scene today - here - and all in all, I guess can't complain. A comparison to the great lady of mysteries, Dame Agatha herself, isn't anything to sneeze at, even if that crack about my prose being 'nothing if not accessible' hurt a little...

Also, the lovely Diana Vickery at the Cozy Library has posted her review, and a beautiful one it is, too. When I thanked her for taking the time to read and review my book, especially in such a spectacular way, she told me that it's an easy book to like. Bless her!

D-DAY!!!!

Otherwise known as Debut-Day!

Yay, it's here! "Fatal Fixer-Upper" is in stores everywhere, as evidenced by these picture of moi, at Barnes & Noble (with the marvellous Erika) and Borders.

Another review...

Ron Wynn at the Nashville City Paper has read the book... and likes it.

You can check out the whole thing HERE; this is just the conclusion:

Billed as a "do-it-yourself mystery," Fatal Fixer-upper smartly blends investigative drama, sexual tension and romantic comedy elements, and marks the start of what looks like an outstanding series of Avery Baker cases.

Thanks, Ron!

Woo-hoo!

FATAL FIXER-UPPER receives 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times Book Reviews! Thank you, Page Traynor.

RT Rating: 4 ½ stars
Category: MYSTERY
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Published: November 2008
Type: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth)

While this is another in the themed mysteries that are not only extremely entertaining but lightly educational, the mystery is unusually strong. Home renovation and design tips are skillfully worked into the story, the characters are developed and sympathetic, and the setting is charming. The climax leads to a bang-up ending in which the intelligent heroine has to either save herself or lose all.
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Summary: Avery Baker loses a boyfriend and then quits her job after inheriting her aunt's Victorian cottage on the Maine coast. She decides to work on the cottage so she can sell it and gets local hunky handyman Derek Ellis to help her. Soon she doesn't know whether the cottage or the man is more attractive, but when her house is broken into she wonders if he's one of the bad guys. A missing professor, disappearing antiques and old secrets all combine for a first-rate mystery and a frightening surprise ending. (Berkley Prime Crime, Nov., 336 pp., $6.99)

—Page Traynor

Let the celebration begin!

First Review!

I always knew it was coming, and now it's here: "Fatal Fixer-Upper"s very first review.

http://themysterygazette.blogspot.com/2008/09/fatal-fixer-upper-jennie-bentley.html

The divine Miss Harriet Klausner likes the book, and gave it 5 stars at the B&N.com website (although she did give away rather a lot of the plot points, I thought).

Oh, well... no blood, no foul. Let there be great rejoicing in the land!

Bookmarks are here!

If you look closely at this perfect Southern Belle flirting above her fan, you will see that that's no Southern Belle, that's yours truly. And the fan is actually a handful of bookmarks that I ordered from Earthly Charms for the release of Fatal Fixer-Upper. I've got a couple of conferences and book festivals to go to between now and November 4th, and I thought they'd be nice to have around, to give out. Keep the book on people's minds, so to speak.

If you'd like a bookmark to keep me on your own mind, please don't be shy. Drop me a line, and I'll make sure you get one.