Do I Have a Twin? Doppelganger?

A Millennial called me Mrs. Frizzle the other day. Okay, I didn’t get the reference, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Professor Valerie Felicity Frizzle, PhD, a former fourth grade teacher, is the central character in the Magic School Bus books and shows. And she loves creativity, learning, and field trips.

Originally created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen from Scholastic, Dr. Frizzle appears in books, video games, The Magic School Bus (1994-1997), and The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017-2021).

I checked out the program on YouTube, and I may have my Halloween costume for this fall. Check out Mrs. Frizzle and let me know what you think.

Happy Kiss a Ginger Day and a Redhead Playlist

Happy Kiss a Ginger Day! Here’s my list of songs about redheads. I was surprised at how many there are:

• Garth Brooks “Ain’t Goin’ Down”

• Dolly Parton “Jolene”

• Willie Nelson “Redheaded Stranger”

• John Palmer “The Band Played On”

• REM “Redhead Walking”

• Amy Winehouse “Valerie”

• Bruce Springsteen “Redheaded Woman”

• Ed Sheeran “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”

• Miranda Lambert “White Liar”

• Bob Dylan “Tangled in Blue”

• Flock of Seagulls “I Ran”

• Counting Crows “Good Time”

• Gaelic Storm “Green Eyes, Red Hair”

• Natalie Merchant “San Andreas Fault”

• Bob Segar “Sightseeing”

• Brooks and Dunn “Boot-scootin’ Boogie”

• Neil Young “Cinnamon Girl”

• Travis Tritt “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde”

• Billy Joel “Keeping the Faith”

• Taylor Swift “Fifteen”

• Jake Owen “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”

• Billy Idol “Dead on Arrival”

• Shania Twain “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under”

• Little River Band “Redheaded Wildflower”

• Lonestar “Front Porch Lookin’ In”

• Sammy Hagar “Red”

What would you add to my list?

Some Behind the Scenes Secrets...

I love finding Easter eggs (surprises hidden by the developers) in software and bloopers in films. Here are a few secrets from my mysteries that you may not have known about…

In the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, I often named police, waiters, EMTs, lawyers, and other minor characters after some of my favorite pop culture folks. You’ll see some 80s rockers and 70s TV characters serving some amazing dishes or keeping law and order.

In the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, Jules themes the vintage trailers and the tiny houses. Her special décor ties in with the camper like the 1947 Robin Hood Trailer that is decked out in honor of its namesake, the 1959 Sunliner Caravan that sported a posh pink Barbie fashion design in honor of the year that the camper and the doll debuted, and the 1953 Redman New Moon, decorated in honor of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s movie from the same year, The Long, Long Trailer. The tiny houses all have a book or author themes and fun amenities like a revolving bookcase or a reading nook for the guests to enjoy. These are named for Beatrix Potter, Bram Stoker, A. A. Milne, and L. Frank Baum. (And I may have been watching The Tiger King at the beginning of the pandemic when I wrote Christmas Lights and Cat Fights.)

I am a huge 80s pop culture fan. Jules is named for Demi Moore’s character in St. Elmo’s Fire. Her last name is a tribute to all the women who wrote the Nancy Drew mysteries under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene. Jake is named for Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles.

In the Pearly Girls Mysteries (May 2024), the bigger-than-life Chihuahua (at least in his own mind) is named for the one and only Elvis. The four “Golden Girls” who help Cassidy with her event planning business (and her love life) are named for my grandmothers, great-grandmother, and my grandmother’s best friend. And the handsome new bartender in town is named after Austin Butler (who recently played Elvis). I know, there’s a pattern here.

Book Links:

Secret Lives and Private Eyes

The Tulip Shirt Murders

Glitter, Glam, and Contraband

Male Revues and Subterfuge

Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers

Film Crews and Rendezvous

Christmas Lights and Cat Fights

Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones

Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir

Thanksgiving Traditions

I love fall and the kickoff to the holiday seasons. There are so many Thanksgiving and fall traditions.

When I was little, my grandmother and I put up her Christmas tree on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was always a magical time and a great capstone for Thanksgiving weekend. I love Christmas, and I usually put up four or five trees. They’re themed by decorations or color. We haven’t done the outdoor decorations in a few years, so maybe this year, we’ll Griswold the front yard.

Back in the heyday of the malls in the 80s, the Friday after Thanksgiving was always our biggest shopping day, and it was usually an all-day event that started before dawn. I like shopping online now, so I do most of mine from my desk. But those days at Lynnhaven Mall and Pembroke Mall were fun and crazy because my sister could never make up her mind, and we visited the same stores multiple times. And Thankfully, I never did get caught up in the Cabbage Patch fights. Though, my nephew did send me on a wild goose chase one year looking for a very specific blue Power Ranger (that didn’t exist.)

I have to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and all the Charlie Brown specials each year. They are such a holiday tradition. And Thanksgiving is also the kickoff to all the holiday movies. (And yes, that includes Die Hard.)

Since I’ve been married and we host Thanksgiving at our house, Turkey Day is for food, family, and football. (My team is playing their arch-rival this year. Pleeeeeeeese let us win!) We usually eat the big meal at lunch and then spend the afternoon and evening snacking on football food during the games.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

My Playlist for VINTAGE TRAILERS AND BLACKMAILERS

Music is a huge part of my life and my writing life. I have lots of playlists for my research, writing, and editing time. Music is always on in some form or fashion at our house.

In VINTAGE TRAILERS AND BLACKMAILERS, Jules Keene runs a glamping (glamorous camping) resort nestled in the beautiful, Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Fern Valley is a few miles west of Charlottesville. Her parents bought the traditional campground back in the 1970s before she was born, and after her divorce from the Idiot, she returned home and helped her dad update the campground and restore vintage trailers. Jules saved a bunch of classics from the scrapheap and preserved their history and created some upscale places for her guests to visit. She used her background in interior design to theme and decorate each one.

Here’s the playlist I created for the first book in the Jules Keene Glamping Mystery series. The songs reflect Jules’s character and life in the mountains of Virginia.

Adam Ant’s “Goody Two Shoes”

Alabama’s “Mountain Music”

Alabama’s “Pass it on Down”

Alan Jackson’s “Drive”

Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me”

Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain”

Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”

Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown”

Charley Pride’s “Mountain of Love”

Darius Rucker’s “Homegrown Honey”

Darius Rucker’s “Southern State of Mind”

Eric Church’s “Springsteen”

Gloria Gaylor’s “I Will Survive”

Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High”

Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”

Jason Aldean’s “Tattoos on This Town”

Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”

John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

Keith Urban’s “Jeans on”

Mark Wills’ “Nineteen Something”

Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”

Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song”

Rascal Flatt’s “Fast Cars and Freedom”

Robbin Thompson’s “Candy Apple Red”

TLC’s “Waterfalls”

Toby Keith’s “Whisky Girl”

Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway”

Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally”

Behind the Scenes - The Poe Statue in Richmond, VA

Yes, there is an Edgar Allan Poe statue in RVA (Richmond, VA), but I made up the one in GLITTER, GLAM AND CONTRABAND.

In my Delanie Fitzgerald series, Chaz Wellington Smith, III’s infamous strip club, the Treasure Chest, is located on the corner where The Southern Literary Messenger once stood (15th and Main Street). While Poe was an assistant editor at the magazine at that location, the Treasure Chest is made up. Parts of the real building were preserved and are part of the Shrine at the Poe Museum in RVA. This is a must-see spot if you’re in Richmond. The collection of artifacts is vast, and the staff are so knowledgeable on the author’s life and works. My favorites are the “Unhappy Hours” held in the Enchanted Garden in the warmer months. They also offer walking tours of Poe’s Richmond. And if you visit, you must meet Edgar and Pluto, the museum cats.

I am fascinated with the Poe sites around Richmond, including his mother’s grave at the historic St. John’s Church (where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech).

Years ago, I read an article in the newspaper about time capsules in some of the monuments. I thought it would be interesting to have Delanie investigate, so I put a Poe Statue on the corner near Chaz’s business. He asks her to look into why someone is trying to dig around the statue. It turns out that there’s an online rumor of valuables hidden in the time capsule.

The real statue of Poe is located on the grounds of the state Capitol. The Father of the American Mystery is seated in a chair, and it was relocated to the other side of Capitol Square in 2017.

If you’re not able to visit, check out the Poe Museum’s website. There’s a wealth of information online. There are also lots of good blogs and podcasts about Poe’s time in RVA. One with lots of pictures is J.W. Ocker’s OTIS (Odd Things I’ve Seen). Gretchen Kelly’s “RavenTrekking” is also a good overview of the Poe sites.

Check out the adventures of Delanie, Duncan, Margaret, and Chaz in the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries wherever you buy your books.

Behind the Scenes - The Big 80s

I am Generation X. We were first generation “Sesame Street” and “M-TV.” Television, movies, music, and the mall scene were part of formative years, and we grew up with ever-changing technology. So, it was a natural fit for pop culture to play a key role in my mysteries and characters’ lives.

In the first Delanie Fitzgerald mystery, Secret Lives and Private Eyes, the sassy Private Eye is hired by a tell-all author to look into the rumors that 80s rock star, Johnny Velvet of the Vibes, faked his death and was living incognito on a small farm in Amelia, Virginia. Delanie’s whisked back to the era of boom boxes, teen mags, mix tapes, and other pop culture memories from the decade of excess as she searches for what happened to the members of the Vibes. Could the handsome John Bailey really be the Johnny Velvet?

My mix tapes were full of Duran Duran, Culture Club, the Cure, Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper, and A-ha. And my closet doors were covered in pictures of C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Llmahl, and George Michael. I sported blue eye shadow, banana clips, braces, and shoulder pads. Delanie is a bit younger, but she experienced the Big 80s in elementary school.

Check out how it all began for Delanie and Duncan (and Margaret, the English bulldog) in Secret Lives and Private Eyes.

Behind the Scenes - Drag Shows

In Glitter, Glam, and Contraband, sassy Private Eye, Delanie Fitzgerald, is hired to find out who is stealing from the talent at a local drag show.

I had never been to a show before, and my writer friend, Rosemary Shomaker, organized an outing for a group of writers at Godfrey’s in Richmond, Virginia. We had so much fun, and brunch was wonderful. The banana-stuffed French toast tasted like dessert. And the talent was extremely generous with their time before and after the show. They answered a lot of my questions, and everyone wanted to be in a murder mystery.

I made up the club in Glitter, Glam, and Contraband, as well as the entertainers’ names. My characters, Amber Alert, Ana Conda, Ginger Snap, Kiki Jubilee, Cherri Bomb, Nova Cain, Paige Turner, and Tara Byte were a lot of fun to write. I gave each of them a stage persona with props. Ana Conda brought her boa to the show until it scared someone in the audience. Ginger Snap and Cherri Bomb were sexy redheads. Nova Cain was a naughty nurse, Paige Turner was a librarian, and Tara Byte was a computer geek.

While I was writing the book, I did a lot of research on websites like Ru Paul’s Drag Race. There are also a lot of good sites with makeup tips. I always learn interesting stuff while researching books.

The Gang from Godfreys with authors Fiona Quinn, Tina Glasneck, Rosemary Shomaker, and me

Check out all the adventures of Delanie and Duncan (and Margaret the English bulldog).