Lumpy Milk for the Cornflakes
by Mary Dining by candlelight sounds romantic but not when there's been no power for almost a week. Such was the case when the 1978 Good Friday Ice Storm descended upon central Illinois, bringing with...
View ArticleInterview with a Shadow Man
by Eric It's mid-afternoon and the cafe in downtown Manhattan is brightly lit but the actor who goes by the name A. Mann is only a fleeting motion at the corner of my vision as he arrives for our...
View ArticleBe Careful Where You Step
by Mary As with all readers, bookcases have been a constant presence in my living spaces. The first graced a Victorian terraced house, the attic of which became the bedroom I shared with my sister. Its...
View ArticleSoldiering On
by Eric Recently a friend emailed some jpgs of old toy advertisements he'd dug up on the Internet. I remembered seeing similar ads on the back covers of my Batman and Superman comics. "100 toy soldiers...
View ArticlePlumbing the Depths
by Mary We now return to our continuing series titled When Household Machinery Goes Rogue. In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Lord Byron refers to the hell of waters when they howl and hiss. I am here to...
View ArticleNo Ringie-Dingies For Us
by Mary We spent the first week of August pacing up and down the battlements of Maywrite Towers, staring hopefully down the road and, it must be admitted, occasionally muttering what certain Golden Age...
View ArticleMeteor Right, Murder Wrong
by Eric So, let me talk about a new cozy mystery series. Meteor Right, Murder Wrong is the first of the Ye Olde Meteor Shoppe Mysteries Newly divorced Lavinia Smith-Dusenberg moves to Dog Elbow Corners...
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View ArticleA Manor-House View
by Mary The coke-bottle windows of Maywrite Towers currently disclose a view of frozen snow and bare branches lying under that unnatural hush a blanket of snow brings, and with overnight temperatures...
View ArticleDon't Play That Song!
by Eric According to a recent survey the most annoying Christmas song in America is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You. I'm not sure I've heard the song, but if I did I would probably be...
View ArticleThree Bean or Not Three Bean
by Eric This time it was the three bean salad. It's always something. The awful realization hits me when I'm halfway home, or hauling the bags out of the car, or in the evening, hours after the...
View ArticleMonkey Business at the Flicks
by Mary Valentine's Day hoves into view as I write and the thought brings back memory of a matter I shall boldly declare we all have in common: our first romantic kiss and/or date. Let me set the scene...
View ArticleThe Burying Berry
by Mary Word on the country street warns us not to eat, pick, or have anything to do with blackberries after Michaelmas, the feast day of St Michael (29th September, 10th October old style). Ignore...
View ArticleBerry Good Eating
by Eric Even before the spring melt was finished we could see the traditional green spikes of day lilies sticking up through the remains of the snow by our door. We don't try to garden here in the...
View ArticleMusical Malefactors
by Mary We both love musicals, those lively productions when anything, even the most unlikely occurrence, may happen and frequently does. However, it recently occurred to me these bright entertainments...
View ArticleMemories of Memories
by Eric Have I written about my earliest memories already? I can't remember so why not give it a try? Not that my first memories are very exciting. I'm not one of those people who claim to recollect...
View ArticleBlack Sand and Bleezers
by Mary We were among those affected by smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Considering it carried particulates of whatever materials they burnt and thus presented serious health affects, we at Maywrite...
View ArticleThe Puzzling Case of My Favorite Mysteries
by Eric Who are your favorite mystery authors? What are your favorite genres? For me, the first answer is easy. There are authors whose work I've enjoyed for decades. The second question is much harder...
View ArticleA Famous Burning Colander
by Eric Here in the northeast leaves are starting to fall. I simply grind them into lawn fertilizer with the mower. But when I was growing up in the suburbs homeowners raked the leaves up, hauled them...
View ArticleThe Pickle Jar Hearse
by Mary The first thing the horrified technician said was "You were lucky not to have had an explosion." Since last we darkened subscribers' in-boxes, some days at Maywrite Towers have been less dances...
View ArticleAn Inspector Calls -- Finally
by Mary Why yes, since you ask, I am indeed a fan of Alistair Sim and the film in which he plays Inspector Poole is a particular favourite. But what has my header to do with happenings at Maywrite...
View ArticleTuppence for My Thoughts
by Eric I just finished reading The Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Mr Quin so I figured I might write something about their author, Agatha Christie. Unfortunately, whereas Mary has read pretty...
View ArticleEschew the U
by Eric Astute readers of this newsletter -- and what mystery reader is not astute? -- will deduce from subtle clues herein that whereas I am American, Mary is British. The clues I am speaking of are...
View ArticleThe Mayers of Muggleswick
by Mary In my early teens the grammar school I attended arranged for groups of girls chaperoned by a teacher to spend a weekend at its camp, housed in the former school building in Muggleswick, a...
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