Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Referrals Saturday, Oct 18 2008

Uncategorized shows and sites Auntie M Writes Crime 1:34 am

Auntie M has spent the last days at the oncologist with her best friend who, unfortunately, has dire need of those services and who is experiencing terrible neurological side effects of a medicine designed to stave off her nausea. I’m close to asking the onc if Caro can have a joint.

Tonight I’m all for getting lost in cheesy television, even my book won’t do until later when I clear my head and can concentrate. So after I sign off I’m gearing up to watch “Numb3rs” with Doc, one of his faves. That numerical stuff always amuses me, the mathphobe, whether it would work in reality or not. Hated math in school. Never failed, but hated it. Give me words or reading or writing anytime.

I’ve come to enjoy this one because it has these convoluted math approaches that always help to get the bad guys, plus it’s got Dr. Joel from “Northern Exposure” one of my all-time faves. And I don’t have to do any kind of computations, equations, or algorithems.

Running at the same time, which means I’ve DVR’ed it to watch after, is a newer one called “Life.”

Damian Lewis isn’t my idea of a handsome leading man, yet his quirkiness and the humor in the show take me out of what I’ve been doing and will give me some much-needed respite. I totally do NOT buy Adam Arkin as old enough to be his father, but maybe that’s because I remember HIM from “Northern Exposure” and it seems they are too close in age to be father and son. Plus, they don’t resemble each other at all.

But still–it will take me away and for 44 minutes give me something else to ponder, a good thing.

Now if you’re looking for something CUTE to ponder, head over to the Etsy site and check out Etsy Love by our own Jen on the Edge. I just got my first order in the mail and sent some adorable ponytailers out to my two grand daughters. AND the pin I ordered for moi was larger than the snap showed and oh-so-much cuter! I’m definitely shopping there for more of those for neat Christmas presents. Will look so cute on my winter coat.

AND don’t forget Gert at The World According to Gert is gearing up for her big cancer walkathon with friends; details on her site.

What delightful, talented women I’ve met~

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Stuff Tuesday, Oct 14 2008

Uncategorized Falling with style Auntie M Writes Crime 3:49 am

Auntie M has been noticeably absent, sorry about that.

The birthday trip was fun, no movie but some nice retail therapy, including nice lined pants and silk shirt for the Screw Iowa presentation in the Big Apple November 6th; sampling several couches, and a great Indian dinner out.

Picking up Radar and Murray on the way home the next day is another story. Seems there was this cement parking bump/curb that blended right in with the cement driveway, dumb idea for sure, who would see that? I sure didn’t . . . .

Flash! Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Auntie M executing her newest Peggy Fleming manuveur!

NOT quite like this~

Watch as she smoothly sends her Birkies flying in opposite directions as she takes off in flight.

Marvel at the neat sound her mostly-artificial knees make when they hit cement.

Cheer for the major “OOF” that issues forth when her tummy follows and she ends up sprawled flat out on the driveway.

Giggle as she picks herself up, assuring the startled kennel owner that she is fine, absolutely fine, despite her red face, bleeding palms, and probable skinned knees.

Gasp at the sight of her, (getting back in her car with dogs in tow, and finally summoning up the courage to raise her pants legs), when she sees the large raised EGG on her left knee, the horrid bruising starting on her right, the black and blue palm.

Smile at her ingenuity, as she presses her iced coffee against said eggy bump for the hour ride home.

Wince along with her as she manuveurs her now-stiff legs out of the truck, hobbles after the dogs, and drags the packages up 21 steps into her house on stilts.

Nod with approval as she gulps down one two Darvocets and one two Ultrams before feeding said dogs and crawling onto the couch with ice bags on both knees.

Somehow the dogs were taken care of, the closet got cleaned out, the Mother got her day alone with Auntie M including sitting through Beverly Hills Dog movie, (predicatble but the dogs were cute) the food for Weds Paramedic son’s Anniversary dinner got sorted/defrosted/prepped/baked, all while the knees blossomed in technicolor, the wrenched back and arm muscles made themselves known, and the medicine cabinet was visited frequently.

And you thought I was just goofing off~

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Birght Light, Big City Tuesday, Oct 7 2008

Uncategorized Auntie M Writes Crime 9:27 pm

Auntie M and Doc are leaving early tomorrow morning to head towards the Triangle area in NC, near the airport where Doc will fly out early Thurs AM (to MN for a long weekend). The guys at the Days Inn there know us and give us the same King room most times.

We’ll kennel the dogs overnight and spend the day checking out various things in the Big City. It also happens to be my birthday, so we’re planning a nice dinner out and an even nicer evening after. On our list are:

Checking out leather couches: We are starting to do our research as this will be a purchase not made lightly and one we want to last. We’re narrowing down styles, colors, etc. while we build the Couch Fund.

A Barnes & Noble stop: Must have, whenever we are near one. The closest one to us is 1 1/2 hrs away, so when we are near a B&N or a Borders, we stop. I want to get the new James Taylor CD, too.

Boots: I am in the market for a pair of short, chocolate brown, size 8 wide, very soft leather boots. Not too picky, am I?

A movie: Ditto our time to get to a theatre, although there’s a small one only an hour away . . . which is why we don’t go often. But we plan to try to get to one tomorrow. And we only have this one chance for quite a while, so I’m looking for a GREAT movie to see, worth the time and money and maybe with a few laughs along the way.

Any suggestions out there???

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Buddy Blurb #3: SHOES Monday, Oct 6 2008

Uncategorized Auntie M Writes Crime 6:25 pm

Auntie M is facing one of those chores that come at us in life and we just have to deal with them. Doc is leaving Weds for a few days in MN with the Grands and a big lacrosse tournament (Eldest Son coaches U of Duluth LAX) and my Big Job is cleaning out our bedroom closet.

This usually gives me tremendous satisfaction, looking into corners, finding that skirt that’s slipped off the hanger and lying behind a row of shirts, getting those things I haven’t worn in three years ready to ship to the Women’s Shelter. I’ll put away the truly thin and summery stuff in our blanket chest and haul out the warmer gear. All of this will give me a great sense of order and satisfaction when it’s done. And because Doc will be away, I plan to do this at my leisure, piles spread out on the bed, probably naked as I try on and make decisions. Fun, right?

But part of that involves going through my shoes. Now one thing you don’t know about Auntie M is that she USED to be the Shoe Hoarder Collector of All Time, and I still have a tendency to be that way. I love shoes, all kinds of shoes, the cutest flats, the snappy heels, the softest boots. I bought shoes when we traveled the way other people bought postcards. It took me YEARS to throw out a pair of the (cutest) white leather flats that had been resoled twice and were totally worn out because Doc had bought them for me on a trip to Paris.

Confession: I still have my white nurses Clinic oxfords in a box, although I haven’t worn a uniform, scrubs or even a lab coat since 1999.

Yup, this is them, in all their school-marmy glory. After trying many kinds of nursing shoes, trendy and otherwise, I kept coming back to these because nothing felt as good when you were on your feet for hours and hours. Maybe I’ll use them as part of a Hallowe’en costume, ya think? Can’t ditch those, right? They’re classics.

And then there are the ones that just match a specific special dress, also in boxes on the upper shelves.

Of course, the fact that I probably don’t fit into those dresses doesn’t come into play here, right? I mean I just might need them at some point, and they’re just so darn cute!

You can see my dilemna, when the goal is supposed to be cleaning out and clearing up. And then throw in foot surgery, two knee replacements, and arthritis, and I’ve decidedly changed my shoe buying habits. While I’m still attracted to the sweetest ones, I no longer will wear anything that’s not comfortable. Or wide enough. Or that rub in the wrong places.

My shelves went from NY buys like Dior and Jordan to Keens and Birkenstocks. My pumps, in delectable colors with carved heels here and there, are now . . . . kitten heels, when I wear them, which is almost never.

The ones I ACUTALLY wear every day tend to look more like these:

See those toe cushions that keep my sensitive toes from getting bumped? Or these:

And I confess also that at home when I’m just lounging, I tend to go either barefoot or in a pair of warm, chenille socks that keep my feet toasty:

Oh, how the mighty have fallen~

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The Likeness Sunday, Oct 5 2008

Uncategorized Great reads to check out Auntie M Writes Crime 12:20 am

Rarely does Auntie M recommend a book before she’s finished reading it. However, I am only on page 63 of Tana French’s new novel, The Likeness, and I already know it’s going to be humdinger.

French’s first book, In the Woods, won the Edgar for Best First Novel last year and was a stunner.

The author is a waif of a classically trained actress who’s lived internationally. It must be her acting experience that allows her to write so that we get into the head of her character so well. The book’s protagonist is Irish Detective Cassie Maddox, who went from Undercover to the Murder Squad in the first book. THAT book’s action was enough to stifle her so that when this one opens, Maddox is wearing a nice new suit and doing Domestic Violence, tame after her last outing.

She thinks she’s settled, dating another detective for a few months, vanquishing the ghosts of her past, until a very startling event occurs, and this is one wild premise for a novel: She gets a call to look at the body of a young woman who is more than vaguely familiar to her. In fact, she looks remarkably like . . . . Cassie herself, stunningly so.

To make matters worse, there is another, deeper link between the two women, and well, I’d better not say anymore or I’ll give the plot away and really, this one will keep you turning page after page.

After the strength of her debut novel, I was anticipating French’s followup, hoping she’d keep Maddox’s character going. The prose tilts on its Irish setting, but not obnoxiously so, and is told in first person, so Cassie’s in your head from page one, her original voice and mannerisms making her a standout character.

As soon as I’ve published this, it’s me for the couch, the heating pad, a cup of tea and this book:

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Writers Read October Thursday, Oct 2 2008

Uncategorized when I'm feeling grand, when the laptop sings, When the snake bites Auntie M Writes Crime 8:59 pm

Obviously if I’m back on line it means Agatha is out of the laptop hospital. She somehow acquired a deeply hidden flaw that had her NEW C disc being half used up in TWO weeks! Sheesh! Let’s hope that’s it for a while. I can’t handle these trips to the doc, any doc.

Which is why instead of rushing Radar off to the vet today after he and a pygmy rattler met by accident, I called my friend Kelly, a naturalist who Knows These Things and used to have a show on PBS about the wildlife refuge in our county. She advised that since said dog is 101 lbs, and said rattler is small, he would be swollen and sleepy for a day or so but not much else would happen. She’s right. His already-large nose looks like a softball on the end of his adorable snout, but he’s breathing fine and I’m in watch mode. Another sheesh!

Now on to the good stuff: Last night was Octobers’ WRITERS READ program, my community outreach project to promote writers from my Screw Iowa Writing Group (www.screwiowa.com. Check us out if you haven’t).

About every six weeks or so a bunch of writers and just-listeners gather at the coffeehouse in Little Washington, NC for delicious desserts (her 9-layer chocolate cake is to DIE for), good drinks, and readings by authors. We crammed 23 people into this small space last night, and the local Arts Council is now loaning us their microphone, which almost all of the 12 readers used.

Last night was also the first time I’d added youth writers, at the request of several moms who home school and wanted their kids to have the experience of reading in front of a group since they don’t read in front of a classroom. We brought them in early and I’m happy to say about 8 of my regulars showed early, too, to hear them and ask questions and cheer them on. They were treated with respect and asked serious questions about their work, which by the way, BLEW US ALL AWAY! These kids ranged from age 8 to 16 and read magical realism, nature poems, and even the beginning of a play. They did voices, the wrote in differing points of view, they had a great command of literature, an impressive vocabulary, AND amazing imaginations.

Their moms deserve the credit, and these kids are all coming again in November, plus two more who came to hear them. The moms were thanking me for allowing them to intrude on our program. We were thanking them for reminding us to think outside the usual boxes, and the youth can teach the old new tricks.

A great evening, and I did NOT have the cake!

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Buddy Blurb #2: Black and Whites Thursday, Sep 25 2008

Uncategorized Looking with a new eye Auntie M Writes Crime 9:18 pm

No, not the cookies, photographs. I love B/W photo’s from ages gone by. I tend to like photography of all sorts because it reminds of short stories and poetry–that frozen moment in time that gets passed on.

Some of them are what I call instant relatives:

Check out those faces and those clothes. An earlier era caught in time.

Others just seem to make me focus on the details without the distraction of color. Note the boy in trying to get away without helping to water the plants.

In our ‘water closet’ on the wall opposite where we sit, I have one of those frames that are two sheets of glass and your contents ‘float’ in it. Mine are three B/W snaps I found in a box at an vintage flea market, killing time one day in New York when I up there for a convention that sucked was better for the things I did by myself than the meetings I attended.

These three spoke to me, and so I put them all together, even though they are clearly unrelated. One is of two small children, a boy and girl, c. 1910, playing in a yard. One is an outdoor shot of a crowd of men and women, black and white in skin color as well as photo color, c. 1920, crowded around four women seated around a table playing a card game. The last, from the 1940’s, features a middle-aged couple. The man is dressed in a 3 pc suit and tie, sitting in an easy chair, incongruously wearing his slippers. The woman stands behind a card table, dressed in her Sunday lacy suit, holding a small blackboard upon which is chalked: “Bonjour Pierrot.”

These 3 give me plenty to think about when I’m closeted away, although I admit I frequently take a book in there with me. But the questions roll and differ with each “sitting.” How could children play with such a long dress? What are they pouring out of that battered pail? In the card game, where would such a mixed crowd gather easily in this time frame? A palm tree in one corner gives me a hint that this may be a place like Moracco or Tangiers, surely that wrought iron light on the building is Art Deco? The women’s chairs are metal bentwood, but what game are they playing that interests the gathering? Did the man think his feel wouldn’t be in that photo, so he put his slippers on after church? Who is Pierrot? I’ve decided the cloth thrown over the card table has bunches of purple grapes, green stems and a red border. Why? Because I can.

Can’t you just feel yourself walking toward this mother, outside a Paris cemetary?

Can’t you smelland taste the crispy crusts of the bread in the window at this bakery in NY’s Little Italy?

Can’t you inhale the mix of fog and fumes in this oldie?

I can.

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Over or Under? Tuesday, Sep 23 2008

Uncategorized rolling paper in a new direction Auntie M Writes Crime 1:26 am

Auntie M is interested in getting your opinion on a conundrum that pesters her. Doc and I have this running argument about which way the towel paper roll should be put in:

Ours looks kinda like this and lies sideways. Doc put it on like this, too, but when you yank it, it just rolls and rolls away with itself.

I put it in so the new paper hangs down the back, allowing me to tear off what I need.

And this applies to toilet paper, too, the same disagreement.

Again, I feel it just rolls away with itself when it hangs down the front.

Maybe it’s a left kind of thing, cause I am. When we took pottery classes I had a tough time with the wheel because it only spun in one direction, and it wasn’t the way I wanted it to go… Doc says I’m nuts, but besides that, in all the hotels it’s always hanging HIS way.

Which side of this do YOU come down on?

PS Doc’s birthday dinner went off without a hitch and everyone loved the molasses cake. Next year I’m going to give him a Hogwarts sleepover, like Jenn on the Edge did for her daughter!

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Doc’s Big Day Saturday, Sep 20 2008

Uncategorized Auntie M Writes Crime 4:39 pm

Tomorrow is Doc’s birthday, and Auntie M is busy today cooking and baking for a dinner party in the afternoon. Per his request, we are grilling a whole 20 lb. turkey on the porch.

Sides will be a tomato casserole, as Doc would eat them three times a day if he could,

a mixed squash casserole with onion, thyme and fenugreek, and mashed yams with brown sugar (Splenda) and orange. Yeast rolls glazed with honey butter on the side.

He asked for a molasses cake with plums and apple baked on top, served with fresh whipped cream~ is that enough are you still hungry?

Befores will be steamed shrimp from our own waters, fresh mozzarella with TOMATO and basil, and of course, can’t have a nice meal down south without deviled eggs.

And yes, I pipe them just like in the snap. Much less messier that way.

Thanks to all the other bloggers whose food photo’s I used. Now I’ve got to get crackin’!

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Didja see him? Friday, Sep 19 2008

Uncategorized Hugh keeps me sane Auntie M Writes Crime 1:07 am

HOUSE in all his cranky glory Tuesday night in the season opener. House with his limp and cane, his needs-to-be-shaved face, his haunted look that says he just needs the right woman to take care of him. House who probably had too much to do with the death of his best friend’s girlfriend and now has lost the best pal he had, maybe, probably, as this is just pure fiction.

And I know that, for sure. But it’s the best way to get a weekly fix of James Hugh Calum Laurie.

BIG SIGH~

Trust me, this is MUCH better than reading about my computer woes, a hard disc full when it’s not, a new one that is installed today and still getting error messages, my threats to throw this crappy much-needed piece of sh$* modern technology in the sink disposal and grind it into tiny little pieces closet until I can deal with it again, calmly, tomorrow~

Say Goodnight, Auntie M. . .

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Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Referrals Saturday, Oct 18 2008

Stuff Tuesday, Oct 14 2008

Birght Light, Big City Tuesday, Oct 7 2008

Buddy Blurb #3: SHOES Monday, Oct 6 2008

The Likeness Sunday, Oct 5 2008

Writers Read October Thursday, Oct 2 2008

Buddy Blurb #2: Black and Whites Thursday, Sep 25 2008

Over or Under? Tuesday, Sep 23 2008

Doc’s Big Day Saturday, Sep 20 2008

Didja see him? Friday, Sep 19 2008

Death Unscripted: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery

THE GOLDEN HOUR shortlisted!

THE GOLDEN HOUR: The 4th Nora Tierney English Mystery

The Blue Virgin

Winner Best British Cozy

Death at the Dakota: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery 2

The Scarlet Wench

The Green Remains

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Contact Auntie M: bluevirgin.graff@gmail.com

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