September 2024
In this month’s newsletter, scroll down to find:
- Release Radar: Le Tournoi des Reines
- Podcast: Author Nook with Marcy McCreary
- Embracing Autumn – fun recipes to try
- Captain’s Log: 1000 Islands and at least 1 Castle
- Review Corner
French Translation Release
Mark your calendars for November 6th, 2024: Le Tournoi des Reines hits the shelves! You can preorder your copy here, and if you want to purchase a limited edition box set, you can do that here. Along with the novel, the box set includes: writing paper, envelopes, seals to close envelopes, a box-shaped necklace to hide secrets, a reading ring, and a hand-sewn book cover. It’s such a stunning gift set, and it is so perfect for my letter-writing realm-crossing lovers!
I’m beyond excited to see my baby become bilingual, and as a language nerd I adored the process of finding French words to replace some of my Queendom’s vocabulary.
Maïlys, the editor I had the privilege of working with at Lux et Nox, went above and beyond looking into French etymology and historical word usage to make sure we found all the best terms.
Have a sneaky peek at the first few chapters here:
Author Nook with Marcy McCreary
Welcome to my Author Nook, a monthly podcast I created where I chat with authors about their upcoming releases and we nerd out over their literary brain children. Find it on Spotify here, and Youtube here.
Join me this month with repeat offender, Marcy McCreary, author of the Ford Family Mysteries series: The Disappearance of Trudy Solomon; The Murder of Madison Garcia, and the latest installment we’ll be chatting about today: The Summer of Love and Death. So don your fringe jackets, hold up a couple peace signs, and get ready to chat all things Woodstock ’69, intergenerational trauma, and writing tips on how to keep your time lines straight (even if they’re groovy).
If you want to hear more from Marcy McCreary, have a look or a listen to our podcast episode from earlier this year with Terry Friedman: Murder She Wrote found here on Youtube, or here on Spotify.
The Summer of Love and Death
The summer of ’69: memorable for some, murder for others.
Detective Susan Ford and her new partner, Detective Jack Tomelli, are called to a crime scene at the local summer stock theater where they find the director of Murder on the Orient Express gruesomely murdered—naked, face caked in makeup, pillow at his feet, wrists and ankles bound by rope. When Susan describes the murder to her dad, retired detective Will Ford, he recognizes the MO of a 1969 serial killer . . . a case he worked fifty years ago.
Will remembers a lot of things about that summer—the Woodstock Festival, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Miracle Mets—yet he is fuzzy on the details of the decades-old case. But when Susan and Jack discover the old case files, his memories start trickling back. And with each old and new clue, Susan, Jack, and Will must narrow down the pool of suspects before the killer strikes again.
Embracing Autumn
Who doesn’t love Autumn? Honestly? Cozy sweaters, scarves, ankle boots, tights and skirts, dusk color palates, wrapping your fingers around a steaming mug of tea, watching the trees go through their sunset era, the smell of crisp cold mornings, pumpkin spice everything, baking, knitting, cuddles and heavy duvets. The list is endless and here in Banff, Canada we really only get two solid weeks of it… so we must make the most of it!
Here are some delicious autumnal recipes I’ve discovered that I wanted to share.
Pumpkin Cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
When I tell you I’m obsessed… I made this into cupcakes and a loaf. It is ridiculously (brace yourself) moist, and the cream cheese frosting really takes the cake.
This Autumn Aperol Spritz from Instagram that I cannot embed for reasons but you can follow their page @cocktails and they have an entire highlight reel dedicated to Fall cocktails.
Actually, flicking through it there are another couple I’d like to try – the pumpkin spice espresso martini almost sounds too good to be true!
Pumpkin butter.
I’ve always liked the idea of a PSL more than the thing itself (much too sweet for me), but then I discovered pumpkin butter and I’ve been adding it to my morning lattes and it has changed. the. game. You can put it on bread, mix it into your oatmeal, the whole nine yards, but it is basically an instant Autumn maker.
Enjoy! I’d love to hear if you made any of these, or if you have any recipe recommendations of your own. Let me know here.
Captain’s Log
1000 Islands and at least 1 Castle
This month, my mum and I jumped across to the other side of the country and set out on an island-hopping, castle-exploration quest.
Besides the vineyards in Prince Edward County (and the lavender farm, and the cocktail farms), the highlight of the trip was definitely Boldt Castle:
We stayed in the most beautiful Victorian-style inn: The Trinity House Inn in Gananoque where our host fed us croissants every morning and gave us the low down on the best places to eat, walk, visit and the local characters to look out for. I’m still dreaming about our dinner at Riva (the caprese salad had me in raptures), and the river! The wee islands! It was such a picturesque place to visit.
Mary’s Wedding and the Power of Live Theatre
While staying in Gananoque, we went to the river-side play house (1000 Island Playhouse) to see Mary’s Wedding. I don’t quite have the words to describe just how moving this play was, but what I will say is that I was glad we were sitting behind the mother of the playwright who recommended we had a tissue handy (turns out I needed more than one..).
Set between 1914 and 1920, Mary is balancing on the edge of the tomorrow that will bring her wedding day. However, before she sets her feet on the aisle, she dreams of her first love who went away to war (now do you see where the tissues come in handy?). The writing was absolutely breathtaking. Such beautiful dialogue. There was a scene where Mary was riding a horse, describing the feeling of riding the horse, and I, in the audience, was swept away to the first time I ever rode a horse and it was as though I were right there with her, galloping across the plains. Just stunning.
Review Corner
Reviews are so helpful in getting word of Contest of Queens and Queen’s Catacombs out there. If you have time, and if you’ve read the book, I would be eternally grateful if you could leave a star rating and/or a written review on Goodreads or Amazon.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who have left a star rating or review! This one from Lou Kemp is so lovely (and I’m glad she gave us some Connor love!)
I am absolutely blown away with this review from H. J. Reynolds. Read it below or check it out here.
x live magically
feature image: https://wallpapers.com/images/hd/woodstock-hippie-van-2aqstczq385c6cdn.jpg
Jordan H. Bartlett 
