The Magic of Malice Domestic: Toastmaster and Guess Who Won an Agatha?

Malice Domestic and the Agatha Awards celebrate traditional mysteries (think Agatha Christie, thus the name of the awards), so based on what I love to read and write, Malice has always been my "home" mystery event, even though it's across the country from me. So it's such an honor to be recognized with an Agatha Award for my 2024 locked-room mystery A Midnight Puzzle, which pays homage to Golden Age of detective fiction authors including John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie. 

Books are what bring us together, but people are what make this book convention so special. Getting to hang out with my fellow book people is amazing, and even though I'm an introvert who needs to recharge after doing so much people-ing, I always come home feeling SO inspired—and with so many new books and authors to read!

Here are some vignettes from this year's Malice Domestic:

Holding my Agatha teapot and toastmaster teacup after the banquet, I was so nervous with the breakable ceramics in my hands! Not because of my opera gloves, which I love and don’t impact my dexterity, but because the evening was a whirlwind and I truly wasn’t expecting to win the Agatha because of the other finalists: Ann Cleeves, Ellen Byron, Korina Moss, and Connie Berry. Wow.

The teapot and teacup were shipped home to me in California, and have just arrived safely. Though if they had arrived broken, I was fully prepared to use Kintsugi, the Japanese tradition of embracing imperfection by fixing broken ceramics with a lacquer mixed with gold. Ever since surviving cancer more than a decade ago, I’ve been pretty damn good at letting go of things I can’t control, like broken pottery, and instead focusing on things I can, like reading and writing the books I want to write—and spending time with my fellow book people!

It was wonderful celebrating with fellow Crime Writers of Color authors K.T. Nguyen, who won an Agatha for Best First Novel, and D.S. Mori, who won the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished writers, the same grant that gave me my start as a writer. Both of them write under the traditional mystery umbrella, but neither writes “cozy,” so I’m glad that traditional mysteries of all kinds are recognized at Malice Domestic.

And no, I don’t know whether my own books are cozies or not, because it depends on who you ask! I never know what each book will become, so I write the books that feel right, and I’m happy for readers to connect with the books in whatever way is meaningful to them.

If you’re an unpublished writer working on a traditional mystery, broadly defined, I highly recommend you check out the grant.

The photo above is of two group gatherings: The St. Martin's Minotaur Books authors and publishing team arranged for a cocktail party for their authors, and Crime Writers of Color held a meetup. When I first began writing, there wasn’t nearly as much diversity in mystery fiction as there is now, and I love that there are so many great authors and books being published, making my To Be Read list even higher.

My Minotaur Books editor Madeline Houpt gives me the best editorial guidance. In fact, I dedicated A Midnight Puzzle to her! The dedication at the start of the book was, “For Madeline Houpt. Thank you for being my partner in crime in turning the shadow of an idea into a worthy puzzle.”

She was in attendance, so we got to catch up over a meal together and celebrate the Agatha together!

Several readers at Malice told me how much they enjoyed A Midnight Puzzle as an audiobook, which is great in audio thanks to narrator Soneela Nankani.

Celebrating with my editor.

With my writers group.

It’s only once a year that my writers group is all in the same place, so I made the most out of my time with Ellen Byron, Diane Vallere, and Lisa Q. Mathews. Ellen was also an Agatha nominee this year, showing just how fabulous my writers group is!

Two of us live on the West Coast and two on the East Coast, so we see each other via an hour-and-a-half video call once a week, so getting together in person was really special.

Coffee in the hospitality lounge with old friends Alexia Gordon, Shelly Dickson Carr, and Jeff Marks.

The convention’s hospitality lounge in the hotel is always stocked with coffee, tea, and snacks, so it’s a great spot to meet up with old friends and new. Most of the time I didn’t remember to pull out my phone to snap a photo, but in this case, Shelly made sure we took a photo as we wrapped up our conversation.

Alexia Gordon is the author of the Gethsemane Brown Mysteries, which are now being made into Hallmark movies. Shelly Dickson Carr is the granddaughter of John Dickson Carr, and a terrific writer in her own right. Her highly anticipated next novel is coming out soon, so I’ve got my fingers crossed I’ll be able to score an advance copy! And Jeff Marks is a mystery writer, mystery historian, and publisher at Crippen & Landru, a publisher that specializes in short mystery fiction collections, especially ones that keep classic mystery authors in print.

As toastmaster, in addition to presenting the opening ceremonies and banquet, and introducing the charity auction and tea, I was indeed tasked with making a toast. I ended my banquet remarks with a toast that included something like this (not exactly scripted, as I prefer to speak from the heart!): To old friends and new, to those who’ve come before us, to discovering our new favorite books and authors, and to finding our kindred spirits. Books and Malice Domestic are magic!

There were so many first-time attendees at Malice Domestic this year, and I was so pleased to hear from so many new folks that they found the convention just as friendly and inspiring as I do. When I first attended many years ago, I didn’t know a soul in the mystery fiction world, but as soon as I set foot in the Malice Domestic space, I knew I’d found my people!

I had the honor of introducing the one and only Donna Andrews (above), who was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, Guest of Honor Marcia Talley, and Fan Guests of Honor Les & Leslie Blatt.

I also shared a few words in tribute to “Malice Remembers” Guest of Honor Dorothy Gilman, the acclaimed author who wrote the delightful Mrs. Pollifax books—a cozy spy series I highly recommend if you haven’t discovered it yet. I’m guilty myself. It was only after Dorothy Gilman was named an honoree that I moved her books up in my TBR pile. I was immediately hooked, and devoured the first three books. I’m so glad I have many more to look forward to.

Poirot Award recipient Lucy Worsley was filming a new history show, so she wasn’t able to make it, but I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Fun times with my fellow Agatha nominees Korina Moss, Ellen Byron, Connie Berry, and our moderator Hank Philippi Ryan. Ann Cleeves was also nominated but couldn't make it to Malice.

At the banquet with Josh Pachter, Paula Benson, and Trisha Maniaci.

And huge thanks to the Malice Domestic board. This wonderful group of volunteers works tirelessly to put together the convention. Thank you to the board and to all the other volunteers who bring book people together!

I also need to thank long-time author pal Diane Vallere, who took photos for me at the Agatha banquet while I was on stage presenting, and romance and mystery author Amita Murray, who took me thrift store shopping in London a few months ago, and it’s thanks to her that I found the gorgeous vintage skirt I wore to the banquet. (I could go on and on with people to thank, but I need to stop somewhere, so I’m stopping there!)

Cheers! If you’re a mystery fan who likes traveling to events, I highly recommend Malice Domestic, and I hope to see you there next year!

The story of how locked-room mystery THE LIBRARY GAME came to be

The Library Game, my new Secret Staircase Mystery, is my love letter to libraries and classic mysteries.

In this locked-room mystery, Tempest Raj and the Secret Staircase Construction crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

Want to hear the story of how my new locked-room mystery The Library Game came to be?

I've adored locked-room mysteries since I was a kid. Books by authors like John Dickson Carr, Clayton Rawson, and Agatha Christie. Those truly baffling "impossible crime" puzzles are such fun—BUT when I became a writer, I also learned how challenging those puzzles were to write!

I began writing locked-room mystery short stories, to learn the craft. My stories went on to win Agatha and Derringer Awards, and I was having so much fun, but I also had a locked-room puzzle idea that needed a full novel to properly tell the story. The problem? I wasn’t yet ready to pull it off.

Back in 2015, I wrote a short story featuring stage illusionist Tempest Raj for a Sisters in Crime Los Angeles Chapter anthology, LAdies Night. Tempest had been mentioned in passing in my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries, as a friend of Sanjay’s, so the short story was just a bit of fun. But instead of getting her out of my system, Tempest had such a strong personality that she insisted I do more with her! By the spring of 2020, when I unexpectedly had free time on my hands after a book research trip was canceled, I’d written more than a dozen impossible crime short stories. This was it. I was ready to tell Tempest’s story.

I started writing Under Lock & Skeleton Key, the first book in my Secret Staircase mystery series, thinking it would be a stand-alone locked-room mystery novel. But my character Tempest Raj and her friends and family had so many more stories they wanted to tell! I knew, then, that it had to be a series.

Each of the novels stands alone with its own mystery, though there’s one big background mystery that’s solved at the end of Book 3, A Midnight Puzzle, so I had total freedom for what I wanted to do with The Library Game. The answer presented itself easily. I’ve gotten so much value from my local library in recent years, and classic mysteries inspired the whole series, so this book would be my love letter to both of them.

At the start of The Library Game, it’s a fresh start for Tempest Raj as she figures out what comes next for her in her life now that she’s solved the mystery of the Raj family curse. She jumps into solving her most baffling mystery yet—one that's not only an impossible crime, but one that's a closed circle of suspects of people she knows.

Tempest and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery. When the library’s new owner hosts a murder mystery dinner, the rehearsal ends with a locked room murder and a vanishing body. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

The hardcover, ebook, and audiobook are now available everywhere books are sold.

The Library Game is published by Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, with the amazing Soneela Nankani narrating the audiobooks. I’m so grateful for my terrific publishing team at St. Martin’s / Minotaur Books and agent Jill Marsal for making Tempest’s story a reality.

The Secret Staircase Mysteries are all locked-room mysteries brimming with food, family, and friendship.

At Secret Staircase Construction, stage illusionist Tempest Raj weaves magic into homes through ingenious architectural misdirection from sliding bookcases to hidden libraries.

I hope you have fun with the new book!

There’s a body in the library—and everyone is a suspect.

Interview with Soneela Nankani, narrator of the Secret Staircase Mysteries audiobooks

I’m so pleased that not only are all of my books available as audiobooks, but I have fantastic narrators!

My Secret Staircase Mysteries are produced by Macmillan Audio and narrated by Soneela Nankani. Soneela captures not only Tempest’s voice wonderfully, but also the nuances of the whole cast. Not only that, but she captures the whimsical and mysterious spirit of the books.

I hope you’ll enjoy the interview with Soneela below!

Audiobook narrator Soneela Nankani (photo by Jody Christopherson)

What's your favorite thing about being an audiobook narrator?

I’m a huge book nerd. I love to lose myself in stories, learn new things, walk in characters’ shoes. As a kid, I was always toting at least 5 books around. And when I was in 8th grade, I discovered the theater (fun fact: I was cast as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors) and it ignited my love of performance. I’m still a book nerd and I went on to get my MFA in Acting. So I guess I would say, my favorite part of being a narrator is the fact that everyday I get to do two of my absolute favorite things - read and perform. 

I also really enjoy discovering new writers through my work. And soaking up new information through each and every book - I am the self-professed queen of random facts. 

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about narrating? 

It’s demanding and requires a lot of discipline! After the very first recording session I ever had, I went home and slept for 3 hours. Now I know a lot more about how to prepare.  I have to do quite a bit of research to prepare for each book. I have to get a good amount of sleep the night before a session. I have to warm up my voice and body before stepping into the studio. I have to take lots of breaks to move and drink water during each session. There’s a lot more that goes into it than you might think!

Who's your favorite character from Gigi's books that you've narrated? 
It’s so hard to choose!  I love quirky characters and Gigi’s got loads. Obviously Tempest. I love her audacity and totally relate to her journey to find herself after the death of her mother and the sabotaging of her career. Also Ash, Ivy and Nicodemus. I adore all of them in their own right, but also because of their complicatedly caring relationships with Tempest. And Moriarty, in the last book especially, has become so fascinatingly complex. I can’t wait to see what happens with him. 

Anything else you'd like to add?

In my experience as a narrator, there’s something particularly special about getting to work on a series. Getting to spend time with the same characters book after book. Getting to go along for the ride as the characters grow and change. After a while, the main characters start to feel like good friends that I get excited about visiting each time. I definitely feel that for Tempest and her family and the Secret Staircase Construction crew. I can’t wait to see what Ash is cooking up the next time I see them.

Listen to a sample of the A Midnight Puzzle audiobook:

MacmillanAudio · A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian, audiobook excerpt

The Treehouse at Tempest Raj's family home

One of my favorite whimsical elements in the Secret Staircase Mysteries is the treehouse in the backyard of Tempest Raj’s family home.

Tempest’s grandparents, Ashok and Morag, live in the treehouse. It’s not technically a treehouse any longer, because it was once a true treehouse deck when Tempest was a kid, then as Secret Staircase Construction grew, they experimented with their own home. A child’s treehouse became a fully functional in-law unit built between two giant oak trees, with the old trees used as central points for two decks.

I was delighted to find a company that makes tiny treehouses for houseplants—and one of their treehouses looks so much like the one I imagined for Grandpa Ash and Grannie Mor!

The treehouse in my Secret Staircase Mysteries is has two decks, one of which is the heart of the home with a big family dining table. That deck and dining table are an extension of the kitchen, where Ash cooks family meals (many of his recipes are in the backs of the books).

This tiny treehouse has the dining table deck I imagined long before I found this! So of course I had to buy it for the houseplant that sits at my writing desk.

Weaving my favorite mysterious elements into A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE

Even though I’m a mystery writer, first and foremost I’m a mystery reader. I’ve loved the traditional mystery genre since I was a kid, and my favorites were the books with mysteries that were true fair-play puzzles (where the reader is given all the clues and could theoretically solve the crime before the detective) and had a big dollop of fun alongside the mystery.

That fun might be had by a humorous cast of characters I wanted to spend time with, a gothic atmosphere that drew me in like I was listening to an eerie ghost story, an ingenious puzzle with twists and turns that kept me turning pages, or whimsical elements that added unexpected moments of joy.

When I set out to write A Midnight Puzzle, my latest Secret Staircase Mystery with sleuth Tempest Raj, I had such fun crafting a locked-room mystery that uses so many mysterious elements I love:

🔍 A gothic backdrop.

🔍 A supposed haunting at a creepy old theater built to resemble a cathedral.

🔍 A mysteriously regenerating booby trap.

🔍 A devious impossible crime.

🔍 Lots of cozy fun with Tempest and her friends and family working together to solve multiple mysteries, both past and present.

🔍 The Secret Staircase Construction team renovating a house known as the Whispering House. 

🔍 Delicious recipes from Grandpa Ash. 

🔍 A treehouse.

🔍 Architectural misdirection.

My sleuth Tempest Raj faces her most baffling mystery yet: After she’s lured to the old theater where her mom vanished years ago, a deadly booby trap strikes and kills a man threatening the family business, Secret Staircase Construction. As one baffling crime leads to an impossible one, family secrets are at the heart of both a present-day murder and the truth of what really happened to Tempest’s mom when she vanished.

A Midnight Puzzle is now available from Minotaur Books.

Fun Facts about Carnivorous Plants

When I first stumbled across a book on carnivorous plants, I realized how mistaken I was about them from pop culture. In real life, they’re still as freaky and fun as they are in Little Shop of Horrors, but for entirely different reasons.

The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants by Peter D’Amato and Killer Plants: Growing and CAring for Flytraps, Pitcher Plants, and Other Deadly Fauna by Molly Williams.

3 fun facts about carnivorous plants:

1. Carnivorous plants will die if you care for them too well
   They thrive in inhospitable conditions, so if you prepare nourishing soil for them, they’ll die. Instead, they’ll flourish if you

2. Charles Darwin was so fascinated by carnivorous plants that he wrote a book about them!
   Darwin studied carnivorous plants for years, especially the Drosera, which he was especially interested in them because of how various species had evolved to be carnivorous in order to survive in inhospitable conditions.

3. Carnivorous plants should more accurately be called “insectivorous” plants
   It was Charles Darwin who coined the term in his 1875 book, Insectivorous Plants. Carnivorous plants don’t ingest all types of animals, only insects, thus his preference for the term.

A page featuring Venus Flytraps from Molly Williams’s informative and entertaining book Killer Plants.

As I was developing the plot of The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem, facts I’d learned about carnivorous plants came into play as I developed a whole conservatory of strange plants. I haven’t attempted to grow any myself, but I enjoyed spending time with them in fiction.

Portland, Oregon's Pittock Mansion and The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem

Have you heard of Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon? You won’t find it downtown. It’s off the beaten path in the West Hills of Portland, not far from the Witch’s Castle in Forest Park, accessible via a narrow, winding road through a forest of trees.

The first time I visited, it was the drive through the lush greenery that made the biggest impression on me. But the house itself is filled with plenty of history and mystery. It inspired the mansion I invented for The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem, a fictional house high in the Portland hills that’s surrounded by topiary shaped like monsters and boasting a conservatory of carnivorous plants.

The topiary at Pittock Mansion is well-tended and not in the shape of monsters like my fictional version, and the wide windows don’t contain a conservatory of unusual plants, but looking at this mansion, doesn’t it make you want to take hedge trimmers to the topiary a la Edward Scissorhands create monsters in front of the foreboding façade?

Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon. This is the original front of the house, now the back, but it’s the part of the architecture that’s most mysterious. Which, of course, is most important in a mystery novel filled with carnivorous plants and topiary monsters.

Placard in front of Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon

Henry Pittock headed to Oregon on the Oregon Trail in the mid-1800s to find his fortune. He started out as a typesetter at newspaper The Oregonian, and went on to own the newspaper and make it thrive. Construction of this mansion (built in the style of a French Renaissance chateau) began in the early 1900s, when Henry was feuding with a rival at another newspaper that turned into a long feud between the two newspapers.

Research is such fun! If I didn’t have book deadlines, I’m not sure when I would stop researching and begin writing. One of my favorite ways to conduct research is visiting places in person. Since the Accidental Alchemist Mysteries are set in Portland, Oregon, each time I travel to Portland to visit my parents, I do a bit of exploring.

It was a gorgeous day the last time I visited Pittock Mansion earlier this year. It has a panoramic view of of Portland, and the weather was so clear you could see Mount Hood in the distance.

View of Mount Hood from Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon

View of Mount Hood and downtown Portland from Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon

Read more about a fictional version of the mansion in The Alchemist of Monsters and Mayhem.

The Accidental Alchemist published in GERMANY!

Today, my Accidental Alchemist Mysteries are launching in Germany!

Today also happens to be my 11 year anniversary of finishing cancer treatments, and this shared celebration is pretty fitting, since I wrote a first draft of The Accidental Alchemist while going through chemotherapy—yup, my subconscious thought of it as my own Elixir of Life.

Piper Verlag is publishing the book in Germany. The Accidental Alchemist’s German title is Alchemistin wider Willen, (Reluctant Alchemist) and the series is renamed The Incredible Cases of Zoe Faust.

The second book in the series, The Masquerading Magician (Geister der Vergangenheit), will be out this fall. This is my first book that’s been translated into German. It’s such fun to see Zoe, Dorian, and the whole gang reaching this new audience!

Here's the German description from Piper Verlag:

Alchemistin wider Willen (Die unglaublichen Fälle der Zoe Faust 1)

Alchemistin Zoe Faust hat aus Versehen den Stein der Weisen entdeckt und lebt nun schon seit dem 18. Jahrhundert. Gerade hat sie sich in Portland ein altes Farmhaus gekauft, als sie von einem verzweifelten Gargoyle aufgesucht wird, der dringend ihre Hilfe braucht und droht, Zoes Leben auf den Kopf zu stellen. Als kurz darauf ein Schreiner, der Zoes Haus renovieren soll, unter mysteriösen Umständen tot auf ihrer Veranda gefunden wird, muss Zoe alles dafür tun, ihr übernatürliches Geheimnis vor der Polizei zu verbergen — und zudem mit dem sympathischen Detective Max eine alte Mordserie lösen.

Which roughly translates to:

Alchemist Zoe Faust accidentally discovered the Philosopher's Stone and has been alive since the 18th century. She has just bought an old farmhouse in Portland when she is visited by a desperate gargoyle who urgently needs her help and threatens to turn Zoe's life upside down. When a carpenter assigned to renovate Zoe's house is mysteriously found dead on her porch, Zoe must do whatever it takes to keep her supernatural secret from the police — and solve an old murder spree with the likeable Detective Max.

What fun!

Why I love Elizabeth Peters

I discovered Borrower of the Night when I was around fifteen years old. It’s a mystery novel about art historian Vicky Bliss, a young professor who’s tired of not getting taken seriously and sets off from her American university to a haunted German castle to solve a historical mystery. It’s a treasure hunt, an adventure, a Gothic ghost story, and a mystery, all steeped in history and written with a strong voice with plenty of humor.

Borrower of the Night is the first Vicky Bliss mystery by Elizabeth Peters. It doesn’t take itself seriously, but is a fun romp filled with all the elements I wanted. Well, maybe not quite all. It wasn’t until the second book in the series that Vicky met charming art thief John Smyth, her love interest, adding romance to the long list of elements Peters wrote brilliantly.

Elizabeth Peters quickly become my favorite author. I had an opportunity to meet her once, shortly before she passed away ten years ago. That was right before my own debut novel came out, so she signed my beaten-up copy of Borrower of the Night and congratulated me on my novel, which I told her had been inspired by her books. That encounter was a dream come true, and so was last weekend, when her legacy was honored by Malice Domestic, the traditional mystery convention. I helped plan some of the events to honor her memory, which I wrote about here.

Because I want to help readers discover her marvelous books, I’d also like to take a step back and explain more about who Elizabeth Peters was and what she wrote.

Elizabeth Peters was the pen name of Egyptologist Barbara Mertz. She began her fiction career writing Gothic novels under the name Barbara Michaels, before she devoted herself to traditional mysteries as Elizabeth Peters. She wrote many stand-alone novels, but her three long-running series featured Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, art historian Vicky Bliss, and librarian-turned-romance-writer Jacqueline Kirby. Her fiction career spanned five decades. She was also involved in founding Malice Domestic, the convention that gave me my start as a writer.

From my conversations with fellow authors, as well as reading widely, I’m convinced that she inspired a generation of mystery writers. Mystery novelists including Deanna Raybourn, Tasha Alexander, Juliet Blackwell, Dorothy St. James, Colleen Cambridge, Amanda Flower, Kelly Oliver, and L.A. Chandlar, credit Elizabeth Peters with being an inspiration for their own books. I doubt I would have been inspired to write Artifact, my first Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery, if it hadn’t been for Vicky Bliss. I wanted to put my own spin on those books filled with mystery, adventure, romance, history, and humor, so I created Indian-American historian Jaya Jones. In each book, Jaya uses her expertise on India’s colonial history to find long-lost treasures, setting off to different foreign destinations on lighthearted romps and solving fair-play mysteries.

The first edition of my debut novel, ARTIFACT, published shortly after Elizabeth Peters signed my beaten-up copy of BORROWER OF THE NIGHT and congratulated me on the book at Malice Domestic in 2012.

Snippets from my Elizabeth Peters bookshelf.

Not sure where to start with her books? Below you’ll find a selected list of her books—the novels she wrote in the Vicky Bliss, Amelia Peabody, and Jacqueline Kirby series.

If you like historical mysteries, I recommend starting with the first Amelia Peabody mystery, Crocodile on the Sandbank. If you like art history with romance and adventure, begin with the first Vicky Bliss mystery, Borrower of the Night, or the second, Street of Five Moons. And if you’re in the mood for an acerbic librarian, pick up any of the Jacqueline Kirby novels (The Murders of Richard III is my favorite).

LIST OF ELIZABETH PETERS’ SERIES MYStERIES

Vicky Bliss

Art history mysteries set different foreign destinations across Europe, plus one set in Egypt.

1. Borrower of the Night (1973)

2. Street of the Five Moons (1978)

3. Silhouette in Scarlet (1983)

4. Trojan Gold (1987)

5. Night Train to Memphis (1994)

6. The Laughter of Dead Kings (2008)

Amelia Peabody

Historical mysteries set in Egypt and England, 1884 - 1913.

1. Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975)

2. The Curse of the Pharaohs (1981)

3. The Mummy Case (1985)

4. Lion in the Valley (1986)

5. The Deeds of the Disturber (1988)

6. The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991)

7. The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog (1992)

8. The Hippopotamus Pool (1996)

9. Seeing a Large Cat (1997)

10. The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1998)

11. The Falcon at the Portal (1999)

12. He Shall Thunder in the Sky (2000)

13. Lord of the Silent (2001)

14. The Golden One (2002)

15. Children of the Storm (2003)

16. Guardian of the Horizon (2004)

17. The Serpent on the Crown (2005)

18. Tomb of the Golden Bird (2006)

19. A River in the Sky (2010)

20. The Painted Queen (2017, completed by Joan Hess, as Barbara Mertz passed away in 2013)
    

Jacqueline Kirby

Librarian-turned-romance-novelist having a delightfully good time solving crimes.

1. The Seventh Sinner (1972)

2. The Murders of Richard III (1974)

3. Die for Love (1984)

4. Naked Once More (1989)

If you enjoy my books, I definitely think you’ll love hers. I hope you’ll have fun with her books!

Meeting Elizabeth Peters in 2012. I’d just completed cancer treatments, so I’m in my chemo wig that my writers group picked out for me!

The book where my love for Elizabeth Peters began. The cover has been updated many times over the years since its first publication in 1973, and this one is a mass market paperback from 1990.

Read more about Malice Domestic honoring the memory of Elizabeth Peters.

Crime Writers of Color will receive the Raven Award from Mystery Writers of America

I love the mystery community so much, so it was a wonderful surprise to hear that Crime Writers of Color, a group I was involved in founding with Kellye Garrett and Walter Mosley five years ago, is being given the Raven Award from Mystery Writers of America!

The Raven Award is such an honor. It recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. CWoC has grown into so much more than we ever imagined, and I'm so happy that I’ve been able to give back to the mystery community that’s given so much to me.

The idea of Crime Writers of Color to bring folks together started with three people (me, Kellye, and Walter) chatting and inviting about 30 people we knew, and now CWoC has over 350 members who generously share their experiences and support each other in this genre where we haven't always been well represented.

When I first created Jaya Jones, she was a character based on my own multicultural family in a type of story I loved reading but had rarely seen characters who looked like me. When I first met Kellye, I was so excited to learn about her debut novel (and I could tell how awesome she was). And in the years since, it's been so wonderful to see so many more diverse mystery novels published. I love the mystery community and am thrilled to see Mystery Writers of America and the community as a whole embracing all the stories diverse readers and writers want to read and write.

Here’s the statement we gave when we heard the news:

“When we first started talking about the idea that became Crime Writers of Color, we never imagined the small informal group would become such a big and thriving community in just a few years. Our goal was always to create a safe and supportive space for fellow writers of color to network and thrive. So, to know that the group is making a positive impact in the mystery community as a whole is so gratifying, and to be recognized by MWA in our fifth year is such an honor! We thank you on behalf of all our 350-plus members who are in all stages of their career." 
— Kellye Garrett, Walter Mosley, and Gigi Pandian

I'll be heading to the Edgar Awards in New York City in April, to celebrate receiving the Raven. With my second Secret Staircase Mystery, THE RAVEN THIEF, coming out in March, 2023 is shaping up to be a very raven-themed year for me!

National Novel Writing Month: Working on the next Accidental Alchemist novel

I’ve been a devotee of National Novel Writing Month for more than 15 years. The NaNoWriMo challenge to write a draft of a full novel in 30 days in November was what helped me finish writing my first novel, Artifact. Before that, since I wasn’t a good writer yet, I kept trying to edit all of my writing to make it good. I hadn’t yet realized the importance of reaching THE END of a story. NaNoWriMo is what got me there.

I love to accept the challenge each November, because it gives my me the push to go ALL IN to writing a draft of a book I’m playing with. Book deadlines are great, because otherwise I would endlessly fiddle with a book, trying to reach a state of perfection that’s impossible. But a deadline? It tricks the mind into doing its best with a set amount of time.

This month, I’m starting late, but I know I can still do it. I’m focusing on the 7th Accidental Alchemist novel. I’ve got coffee, favorite mugs, a paper notebook, my laptop, and inspirational helpers like Animal from the Muppets to keep me going!

Portland, Oregon: The Witch's Castle and the Board Game from The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin

It was sweltering while I was in Oregon this past week, so in order to visit The Witch's Castle, we set off shortly after sunrise. In addition to avoiding the heat, we were rewarded with a nearly empty hiking trail through Forest Park as we made our way to the destination that I first wrote about in The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune, and that appears once more in The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin.

Gigi at the Witch’s Castle

Hiking up to the Witch’s Castle

On the warm day, the ruins weren't quite as spooky as when I first wrote them into my fiction. And it's not "officially" the Witch's Castle. It's the Stone House, but local teenagers called it the Witch's Castle and the name stuck. The structure has a long and fascinating history, so I keep toying with the idea of doing even more with it in fiction.

I was in Oregon to visit my mom for her birthday. She's a talented artist, and after reading The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin, she was inspired to try to illustrate the characters in the board game Crimson Fish (a play on "Red Herring") that features prominently in the book!

Sue Parman with Crimson Fish characters

Mr. Octopus and Sir Seaweed from Crimson Fish, by Sue Parman

Crimson Fish isn't a real board game, but one I invented for the book. But who knows, maybe I need a project to create a mystery board game. My mom's artwork is definitely inspiring me.

Read more about Crimson Fish in The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin.

Planning a Permaculture Garden of Herbs, Fruits, and Vegetables

Collard Tree before and after gopher.

Last year, around the time I was beginning to write The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin, our thriving backyard vegetable garden lost a battle with our gopher nemesis.

I'm the chef in my household, and my husband is the gardener. Most of what he grows are edible plants that I can cook with, so we were both devastated that our backyard garden was left in shambles after gophers moved into our neighborhood.

With an opportunity to start with a clean slate in the garden, I undertook a lot of research into different types of gardens that might be well-suited to our area (after we installed gopher wire), including the books Creating Your Permaculture Heaven by Nydia Needham and Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers by Mark Shepard. I'd heard about permaculture and polyculture before, but didn't really know much until this past year.

As a bonus, since my Accidental Alchemist characters are deeply involved in working with plants, my deep dive into my own garden plans made its way into the novel. I'm not writing nonfiction, so my goal isn't to fit in a ton of details in my fiction. Instead, I hope the selected details sprinkled through my books help bring the characters to life.

And yes, I write books about subjects that interest me, so my book research is always such fun!

For example, I love herbalist Rosalee de la Forêt's book Alchemy of Herbs, and have used it so much over the years that the spine is falling off. While working on The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin, I discovered her latest book, Wild Remedies, co-written with Emily Han.

Those books inspired me to include even more herbs into our new garden plans. For now, I'm buying dried herbs, like nettles, for making loose leaf herbal teas at home. Nettle tea is my go-to tea for a late afternoon energy boost when it's too late in the day for coffee, but I'd like a little pick-me-up.

Wish me luck with our new garden. In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through Zoe Faust's garden.

Read more about a permaculture garden, a backyard garden, and herbal teas in The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin.

Should I grow my own tea plants?

I don't have the green thumb of Zoe Faust, and I can't cook as well as Dorian Robert-Houdin. But through my novels, I can explore subjects I love in more depth and live vicariously through my characters.

I love scribbling plot and character ideas in my paper notebook, seeing what develops as I play with different twists and introduce strong-willed characters to each other. But to add the details that really bring a book to life, that's where book research comes in.

For The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin, part of that research involved tea. I already love drinking tea, so Max's journey in the book, as he prepares to open The Alchemy of Tea, was a great excuse to learn more about it.

Two books I especially enjoyed were Grow Your Own Tea: The Complete Guide to Cultivating, Harvest, and Preparing by Christine Parks and Susan M. Walcott and Homegrown Tea: An Illustrated Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Blending Teas and Tisanes by Cassie Liversidge.

Technically, "tea" is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. The leaves of the tea tree are harvested to make white, green, oolong, and black tea. Anything else we think of as tea, such as mint tea or chamomile tea, is actually an herbal infusion—or a decoction made by boiling heartier elements like roots and bark. But "herbal tea" is so commonly used that I use that easily-understood distinction of tea and herbal tea.

I already knew a fair amount about tea, but one thing I didn't previously realize was that it's possible to grow tea plants in California. Any tea I grow in my backyard wouldn't have the same flavors as old-growth trees in parts of the world where tea has been grown and harvested for centuries, but still.... it's tempting to try it!

I also took an herbal tea workshop at the Herbal Academy, which was so much fun, and now I'm experimenting with even more loose-leaf teas.

A few of my favorite herbal teas right now. camomile flowers, a blend of green tea and herbs, CCF tea (an ayurvedic mix of spices: cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds), and nettle tea is in my mug right now.

For now, I'm sticking to growing herbs for herbal teas, like this mint growing in my backyard garden.

Read more in The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin.

"The Locked Room Library" Exciting News

Why am I smiling? Because I've been nominated for both an Anthony Award and a Macavity Award! My impossible crime story "The Locked Room Library" was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award earlier this year, and now it's up for both an Anthony and Macavity, two awards that are given out at Bouchercon, the world mystery convention. Wow!!

I've always been a big fan of locked room mysteries, a style of puzzle plot mystery fell out of fashion in the mid-1900s, but I've been so happy to see it gaining popularity once more, and it's such a thrill to be receiving so much recognition for one of my impossible crime stories. Being shortlisted for four awards is rather mind boggling. I'm so pleased that readers are enjoying the story.

"The Locked Room Library" was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine last year. (For a little while longer, you can read the short story for FREE here on my website.)

Here's a teaser for the story:

The owner of San Francisco’s Locked Room Library—a new private library established to celebrate classic mysteries—has discovered a secret about John Dickson Carr’s controversial novel The Burning Court.

When a newly discovered letter Carr wrote to Frederic Dannay disappears under circumstances identical to one of the eerie impossible crimes in The Burning Court, it’s up to librarian Tamarind Ortega and stage magician Sanjay Rai (The Hindi Houdini) to prove the letter wasn’t stolen by a ghost who vanished through a bricked-up door.

The Locked Room Library setting was too good to abandon, so it's also a large part of my Secret Staircase Mystery Series, starting with Under Lock & Skeleton Key. And yes, Sanjay is in both!

Advance Reader Copies of the 2nd Secret Staircase Mystery, The Raven Thief

Book mail!

Look what arrived in the mail: A box of advance reader copies of The Raven Thief, the 2nd Secret Staircase Mystery that follows Under Lock & Skeleton Key! I adored the cover of the first book, and this one is even more beautiful.

The Raven Thief comes out from Minotaur Books in March 2023. Here's a little teaser:

One murder. Four impossibilities. A fake séance hides a very real crime.

Tempest Raj returns in The Raven Thief, where sliding bookcases, trick tables, and hidden reading nooks hide something much more sinister than the Secret Staircase Construction crew ever imagined...

Much more to follow as the release date approaches!