Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Spotlight on Kathy Carmichael
Uncategorized / February 23, 2010

I couldn’t figure out how to get a dead body down this embankment, about 50 feet above the water. I decided this would be a great place to dump a dead body! I used this location, outside the city limits, for where Amy found a tarp. While I never found an exact duplicate of Amy’s house, this one helped as a working model. This is a photo of me visiting the Chamber of Commerce. This made me think of Dolores’ historical home. It’s the perfect location for a séance, don’t you think? Alfie and I parked the car on this bridge over the Verdigris River and contemplated various ways to get a dead body over the railing. The Independence Police Department is in the basement of City Hall! Complications in the life of an author When my doctor first learned that I was writing a mystery novel, he suggested we go out for coffee.  Now mind you, he wasn’t suggesting a date.  No.  He wanted to go over some possible ways to off someone. Fortunately for me, the mystery I was writing was a little less complicated than that.  For DIARY OF A CONFESSIONS QUEEN I didn’t need obscure and…

Fresh Pick | FRANKLY MY DEAR, I’M DEAD by Livia J. Washburn
Fresh Pick / February 23, 2010

October 2009On Sale: October 1, 2009Featuring: Delilah Dickinson304 pages ISBN: 0758225679EAN: 9780758225672Paperback$6.99 Mystery Woman Sleuth, Mystery Amateur Sleuth Buy at Amazon.com Frankly My Dear, I’m Deadby Livia J. Washburn No one is surprised when feisty Delilah Dickinson opens her own literary travel agency in Atlanta after her divorce. But during her first group’s tour of an old plantation modeled after Tara from “Gone with the Wind” – complete with a full cast of actors – things go south really fast. The actor playing Clark Gable playing Rhett Butler is found dead, apparently the victim of a fatal dose of Southern in-hospitality. Before anyone can even think ‘Where shall I go? What shall I do?’ Delilah finds herself taking over the investigation when the number one suspect turns out to be her son-in-law. But life starts imitating art when the actors begin taking their roles a little too seriously – believing they actually are Ashley Wilkes, Scarlett O’Hara, and Melanie. Next stop: Sunset Boulevard. Excerpt I didn’t mean to lose it. Really, I didn’t. It must have been the two squabbling teenagers. Or the two annoying adults. Or the pressure of setting up a new business and knowing that if I…

CANDANCE HAVENS | Let’s Talk Academy Awards
Candace Havens / February 23, 2010

It’s almost time for the Academy Awards, which is a big time of year for my day job as a film critic. While I could attend as press to the awards, I prefer to stay at home and watch in my pajamas on the couch just like everyone else. If you’re press, you are usually stuck in a big tent somewhere or next door at the hotel in a ballroom where you have to listen to foreign press ask inane questions that embarrass the room. Since most of my job is done before the awards, I choose to stay home. I thought I’d go through the list and talk about some of the folks I’d like to see win. This is not necessarily who will win, though I’ll try to help you with that too. We’ll go through the Best Picture and Acting categories and I’d also love to hear about some of your choices. Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Nine”; Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”; Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”; Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”; Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” I think the woman to beat here is Mo’Nique, even though I despise that film,…