Goodreads Giveaway: SCOT FREE

Head over to Goodreads and enter to win 1 of 3 Advanced Reader's copies of SCOT FREE, the first book in the new Last Ditch Mystery series, by award-winning author Catriona McPherson!

Hurry! Contest is open December 18 - December 25, so enter now!

Goodreads Giveaway: HOUSE. TREE. PERSON.

Head over to Goodreads and enter to win 1 of 3 copies of HOUSE. TREE. PERSON., by Catriona McPherson!

Hurry! Contest is open September 8 - September 15, so enter now!

Fifteen Fun Facts: Catriona McPherson

This week, Midnight Ink presents Fifteen Fun Facts about Catriona McPherson, author of various psychological thrillers. Her latest, The Child Garden, was just released yesterday.

1. I've never been inside a gym.
2. The only food I refuse to eat is eyeballs. (Because they're not food.)
3. I love gardening, but once I killed mint.
4. Doris Day is my style icon.

5. (But) I got married in shorts.
6. Cats are better than dogs.
7. I found my stove in a dumpster.

8. My perfect Friday night sounds like a mobster: Couch Pizzatelli.
9. I've visited twenty-five US states so far.
10. There are seventy-nine dresses in my wardrobe. And one pair of jeans.
11. I've been called 'Sir' while wearing one of the dresses.
12. My decorating style is maximalist. #19patterinsin1livingroom
13. I collect Stavangerflint.

14. Pleasure is not a source of guilt for me. So—loud and proud—Project Runway!
15. I have never owned an i-Anything.

The Child Garden is available online and in bookstores now!

Midnight Ink | Indiebound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Your local bookstore

Visit Catriona McPherson online. 

First Line Friday #12: Come to Harm

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

COME TO HARM by Catriona McPherson in The New York Times!

Did you catch Come to Harm by Catriona McPherson reviewed in yesterday's edition of The New York Times Book Review? 

"Expertly done."—The New York Times

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Q&A with Catriona McPherson

This week, we sat down with Anthony Award-winning author Catriona McPherson. Her latest, Come to Harm, is out now!

Midnight Ink: How long have you been writing?

Catriona McPherson: I started in 2001 and have been full-time since 2005.

MI: What influence have other authors had on your writing?

CM: I love that we can read the stories we want to read and call it research work. Charlaine Harris, who I’m reading now, has a lot to teach about writing an ensemble. Jess Lourey, fellow Inker, does a dry witty voice better than anyone. Stephen King is my writing hero. I adore his big-hearted love of a really good story. And of course his book On Writing.

MI: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

CM: Bookseller? Librarian? When I did work I was a university professor. No way I’d do that again. My pipedream job is running an independent cinema.

MI: If you have a job outside of writing, what is it?

CM: More writing!

MI: What is/are your favorite thing/s to do when you’re not writing or working?

CM: Hold on to your hats now . . . reading. Gardening, cooking, baking. I’m a wild one.

MI: Who is your favorite mystery sleuth and why?

CM: Blimey. That’s tough. I’m going to hit the Keurig machine while I chew it over. (I’m currently at fellow mystery author Darrel James’s B&B in Ashland, OR, to do some readings.) Back again and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend a book with than Miss Jane Marple.

MI: Do you have a favorite murder case from a book (either yours or another author’s)?

CM: Margery Allingham’s case of The Beckoning Lady. It’s one of her tricksiest and most exuberant books. I had to read it twice before I had a clue what was going on and it was just as entertaining the second time (and the third and the fourth).

MI: What was your inspiration for this book?

CM: Well, I love cooking and baking (and eating) and I think food is the bit of our culture that touches our lives most often. So, I was fascinated by the thought of a character being so overwhelmed by an alien food culture that she begins to see monsters under her bed and ghosts round every corner. A Japanese scholar living above a butchers shop in Scotland was about the most dramatic fish-out-of-water scenario I could imagine. Japanese food traditions value presentation and precision and make a meal out of small things well combined. Scottish food tradition is more about frying a whole pig in lard.

MI: How does this book compare to your past works?

CM: It’s more gothic than my previous standalones have been.  Just as a gun on the mantelpiece at the start of Act One must go off by the end of Act Three, I think if you’ve got butchers in a psychological thriller there’s one place you’re duty bound to go. You know. 

And that place—where fear meets giggles on the corner of schlock and suspense - is somewhere I’ve only been in my historical series before now. I’ve had Dandy Gilver neck-deep in spirit-mediums, for instance; so turned around that she almost starts to believe in ghosts.

MI: Tell us about Keiko Nishisato.

CM: She’s a psychology PhD student from Tokyo, setting off thousands of miles from home to study “food as modern folklore” in Scotland. She’s caught between ambition and tradition, determined to be the serious academic woman of her resumé but still with her mother’s voice in her head much of the time. “No one is perfect: even monkeys fall out of trees, Keko-chan.”  She’s clever, kind, nosy, vulnerable—I’m very fond of her.

Catriona's haggis

MI: Would you want to live in Painchton?

CM: Absolutely! I’d move there in a heartbeat. I pretty much designed my dream small town in Painchton. I’d love to be able to buy Malcolm Poole’s home-made haggis instead of having to get the ingredients from various Mexican butchers in Sacramento to make my own.

MI: Do you have a pet? Tell us about him/her.

Rachel

CM: I have a black cat, Rachel. She’s a very catly cat. It’s all on her terms. If she wants company you drop everything. If you dare to pet her when she’d rather you didn’t she moves away, sits down with her back to you, and washes the place you touched. Don’t you love cats?

During the drought last year when the pond was dry, we had a water trough for the cows. (They are lodgers; we bought twenty acres for the view and our neighbours use the grazing.) So we had to have fish to eat the mosquito larvae in the trough. When the grass was eaten and the cows went home, the fish came inside to live in a tank. So now I have two goldfish, Lucy and Desi.

MI: If you don’t have a pet, do you have a favorite animal?

CM: I like the cow lodgers. And the hummingbirds, lizards, king snakes and jack rabbits. I love the frog chorus in the pond at night. There’s a skunk who wanders past on his (her?) nightly patrol too. I’m less keen on the gophers and ground squirrels, because they eat the melons I’m hoping will be mine. And I could live without rattlesnakes and black widows quite happily.

MI: What food could you live off of for the rest of your life?

CM: Leftover Christmas dinner: turkey; pork, sage, and onion stuffing; sausages with bacon wrapped round them; gravy (left to go cold and jellified, then spread on buttered toast); potatoes roasted in goosefat; potatoes mashed with butter and cream; Brussels sprouts; parsnips; cranberry sauce. I’m hungry.

MI: Do you have a favorite recipe?

CM: So many. Here’s an easy one suitable for everyone. Well, it’s not dairy-free actually.

Make vegetable stock by simmering onion, carrot, celery, potato, parsley stalks, whole garlic cloves, and peppercorns in a big pot of water. Meanwhile soak 8oz of butter beans overnight in cold water. Lima beans? Fava beans? The big white ones. Slice two large onions and soften them in a big blob of butter until they are translucent and slippery. Add the butter beans and the stock, salt and more pepper and cook until the beans are soft. Then chop up six to eight ripe tomatoes and add them too. Cook another ten minutes and serve sprinkled with parsley.

It’s unbelievably tasty—velvety, unctuous, savoury, and comforting.

NB: if you make it with a stock cube, canned beans, canned tomatoes, and vegetable oil my guarantee of tastiness is null and void.

MI: What’s your favorite part about being an Inker?

CM: It should be the beautiful jackets that Kevin Brown has put on my books, or the tight edits from Nicole Nugent. But actually it’s knowing that when I arrive at a convention I’ll be seeing Terri Bischoff’s sweet face. The MI acquiring editor is one of the world’s best people. I don’t mean the mystery world. I mean the world.

Come to Harm is available online and in bookstores now!

MAY RELEASES!

Take a look at these FANTASTIC spring reads!



Bite the Biscuit
By: Linda O. Johnston 
A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery #1

"Kicking off a cozy new series, prolific Johnston blends mystery and romantic intrigue."—KIRKUS REVIEWS

Come to Harm
A Novel
By: Catriona McPherson 
 "[McPherson is a] master of psychological thrillers."
—KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW)






 







Murder with a Twist
By: Tracy Kiely 
A Nic & Nigel Mystery #1
"Witty, droll, and hilariously spot on."—Hank Phillipi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony, 
Macavity, and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author

The Final Reveille
By: Amanda Flower 
A Living History Museum Mystery #1
“History and Civil War buffs will enjoy the historical details woven through the mystery, and Kelsey and the secondary characters are well drawn and sympathetic. This one will appeal to readers who enjoy contemporary cozies with a history frame.”—BOOKLIST

May 2015 Books Available Now!

Don't miss Midnight Ink's latest releases!

"[McPherson is a] master of psychological thrillers."

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Come to Harm

"Even teetotalers will enjoy these Martinis."

—Kirkus Reviews on Murder with a Twist

"Recipes for both dogs and humans add enjoyment in this clever cozy that will taste just right to fans of both foodie and pet mysteries."

—Booklist on Bite the Biscuit

"This one will appeal to readers who enjoy contemporary cozies with a history frame."

—Booklist on The Final Reveille

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Celebrating Women's History Month #5: Serie-ous and Stand-Alone Women

Here at Midnight Ink Headquarters, we find that the best way to celebrate Women's History Month is to talk to our authors whose books feature strong female protagonists. Every day this week, return to this blog to find out more about the ladies portrayed in our various series and stand-alone releases this year!

Don't miss our previous posts in this series!
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

Maegan Beaumont

Maegan Beaumont's longtime love of action movies inspired her to begin writing stories of her own. Carved in Darkness, the first Sabrina Vaughn Novel, was a Suspense Magazine Best Debut of 2013 and a Library Journal Debut of the Month. Beaumont is a member of Sisters in Crime. Visit her online at www.maeganbeaumont.com.

To her very core, Sabrina is a fighter. Her strength and resiliency never ceases to amaze me. No matter what I throw at her, she keeps coming back. For her family, for the people she loves, there isn’t much she won’t do. Even when she’s battling her own demons, she’s there for the people who need her. She’s constantly surprising me and I think that’s what keeps me interested in her as a character.

In Promises to Keep (August 8, 2015), Sabrina must help Michael find and rescue the grandson of a U.S. senator from a ruthless drug lord who is hell bent on revenge and targeting them both.

Mark Stevens 

Mark Stevens worked as a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, The Rocky Mountain News, The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour and The Denver Post. He now owns his own public relations firm. Stevens is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the Colorado Authors League. Visit him online at www.writermarkstevens.com.

Allison Coil was inspired by a real-life female hunting guide with a ferocious tenacity for outdoor life and sincere enthusiasm for every rugged aspect of it. Allison’s strength comes from her protective of the Flat Tops Wilderness—it’s where she recovered following a commercial airplane crash. In Lake of Fire (September 8, 2015), a massive wildfire is wiping out precious hunting grounds and threatens the ranch owned by her boyfriend’s family. The murder of an offbeat environmentalist—the body is found near where the fire started—sends Allison burrowing into a world of anti-government haters who harbor grim messages and evil plans. 

Laura DiSilverio

Laura DiSilverio's novel Swift Run (Minotaur) was nominated as a finalist in the 2013 Colorado Book Awards. She has received starred reviews from Booklist, and Suspense Magazine named Die Buying (Berkley Prime Crime) as one of the top mysteries of 2011. Laura is a former president of Sisters in Crime. She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and can be found online at www.lauradisilverio.com. 

In The Reckoning Stones (September 8, 2015) Iris Dashwood suffered sexual abuse during her childhood and had the wound immeasurably enlarged by her parents' refusal to believe her. She ran away at fifteen and lived by her wits for three years before meeting Jane who took her in and shared her passion for art. Twenty years later, Iris uses her jewelry-making to work through her emotions, but when her creativity fails her, she returns to her previous home and confronts the Community that shunned her. She had put her faith in her physical strength and fighting ability, but discovers that true strength lies in forgiveness.

Catriona McPherson

Catriona McPherson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and is the author of critically-acclaimed stand-alones for Midnight Ink, including: Anthony Award-winning and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013, As She Left It; Edgar-nominated The Day She Died; and Come to Harm. She also writes the Dandy Gilver historical mystery series (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books). McPherson is the president of Sisters in Crime and a member of Mystery Writers of America. Visit her online at www.catrionancpherson.com.

Like Etsuko, Mariko and Yuko, my office-mates at Edinburgh University in the nineties, and like me in America now, Keiko Nishisato in Come to Harm (May 8, 2015) is thousands of miles from home in an alien culture.  It’s hard  to know how much of what seems suspicious is just unknown. Maybe she’ll settle down in this little Scottish town and get used to the people she has met there, or maybe those people really are harbouring dark secrets and she really is in deep trouble. Crucially, Keiko knows—her mother has taught her—how to be a “good girl”. It’s the perfect disguise.

In The Child Garden (September 8, 2015), Gloria Harkness is the single parent of a profoundly disabled teenaged son. She lives alone in an isolated farmhouse near his care home. Many people would look at Gloria and see tragedy, but she feels lucky. She is lonely though and her life is a quiet one. So, when a childhood friend reappears, she doesn’t question why. And then, when adventures offer themselves, she plunges in. What I love about Gloria is her sense of life’s possibilities and her dawning belief in herself. She’s bookish, imaginative and very kind. If I knew her in real life I’d want her as my friend.  




Thanks for celebrating Women's History Month with us!

INK SPOT NEWS ~ Midnight Ink May Releases

Here are Midnight Ink's May releases... check out these great books!






Chip Off the Ice Block Murder
By: Jessie Chandler 
A Shay O'Hanlon Caper #4

Death Runs Adrift

By: Karen MacInerney 

The Gray Whale Inn

Mystery #6

“MacInerney’s charming sixth offers beautiful scenery, an 

assortment of appended recipes, and one of her strongest mysteries to date.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Jailhouse Glock
By: Lizbeth Lipperman 
A Dead Sister Talking Mystery #2
"Lipperman’s blend of a girls-club feel and small town 
sleuthing makes for an attractive, lighthearted package."
—Publishers Weekly

Fleur de Lies
By: Maddy Hunter 
A Passport to Peril Mystery #9

"A river cruise down the Seine with a group of octogenarians could be magical for Emily's tour group.  Or it could mean murder for one of the passengers.  Don't miss the ninth trip (after Bonnie of Evidence) in this always entertaining series." - Library Journal 

The Day She Died
A Novel
By: Catriona McPherson 
"McPherson’s second stand-alone is a tour de force, a creepy 
psychological thriller that will leave you breathless."
—Kikus Reviews (starred review)

INKSPOT NEWS - June 1, 2013

Here are the new releases from Midnight Ink for June, 2013. They're all phenomenal reads!

As She Left It by Catriona McPherson

"The creator of Dandy Gilver . . . has produced a stand-alone that is worlds apart, a fascinating, mysterious ramble you can't put down."—KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW)

"...dark, absorbing, contemporary stand-alone..."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Eternally 21 by Linda Joffe Hull

"A character whom readers will be pleased to follow." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Maddie’s coupon-clipping tips are seamlessly incorporated into the well-constructed mystery, which provides a series of stunning twists that will leave readers eager to see what will happen to Maddie in the next installment.”—BOOKLIST

Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater

“The tension runs high in Groundwater’s absorbing third RM Outdoor Adventures mystery … Scenic descriptions and folklore add atmosphere to a suspenseful tale.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Groundwater’s third entry (after the Left Coast Crime Rocky Award finalist Wicked Eddies) is marked by an outdoorsy intensity and authentic sports chatter sure to resonate with Nevada Barr readers. Her methodical, gentle buildup mirrors the river’s course so that when the characters hit the rapids, life jackets are a must.” —LIBRARY JOURNAL

The Company You Keep by Shannon Baker

yep, I stole this from Inkspot...  it is Shannon Baker's post from last Wednesday.  But I couldn't not share it because I am so proud of the Inkers. 

 

The Company You Keep

What a great week to be a Midnight Ink writer. Actually, it’s way more than just a week but there has been an avalanche of good news crashing down recently.

Left Coast Crime conference, a gathering to celebrate mysteries that takes place in a different western city each year, announced finalists in their contest. What fun to see Midnight Ink writers on that illustrious list. Darrell James and Beth Groundwater are nominees in The Rocky category, which is a book set in the geographic area covered by Left Coast Crime. Jess Lourey is nominated for an award in the humorous category, The Lefty. And Catriona McPherson has a book in the Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery, for historical novels.

 

Can you say, “Wow!”

And then it gets better.

Kathleen Ernst recently won the LOVEY in the historical category at Love Is Murder in Chicago.

And drum roll, please…

Gin Malliet and (twice now) Catriona McPherson are up for Agatha Awards given by Malice Domestic.

Alan Orloff had an Agatha nomination in 2010.

 

And last year, Darrell James won a Left Coast Crime award, The Eureka, for a first novel.

Now it’s going to get dicey because I’m going to forget a whole ton of other good news. But let me mention that Vicki Doudera got a great review from the world’s snarkiest review site. I know Alice Loweecey and Lois Winston have posted some terrific reviews, as well.

I’m tickled for all the recipients. I imagine their glow and it makes me plum happy for them. I’ve met most of the writers I just mentioned and to a person, they are warm, funny, smart, generous and all around amazing specimens. I can only imagine the others are equally superior humans.

But, as Ayn Rand was ever-so-fond of saying, “There is no altruism.”

While I’m truly happy for these M’Inkers, I’m downright giddy for me.

My father always told me, “You’re known by the company you keep.” Yes, he was a wise man, but I don’t think he made that up.

I would be surprised if I ever win a prestigious award and Kirkus may always hate me. But someone, somewhere, at one time,(Terri) thought I wrote a book good enough to be included on the roster with these stellar writers.

That thought swells my chest more than the Miraculous Uplift bra I got from Victoria’s Secret.

By the time of my next Ink Spot post, my first book in the Nora Abbott Mystery series will have launched. Readers may love it or hate it. But for right now, for this brief moment, I get to revel in the success of my publisher and the fine writers they’ve accumulated and believe I am one of them. 

 

I am just so darned proud of Midnight Ink and all these folks. (And sorta proud of me, too.)

The Company You Keep

What a great week to be a Midnight Ink writer. Actually, it’s way more than just a week but there has been an avalanche of good news crashing down recently.

Left Coast Crime conference, a gathering to celebrate mysteries that takes place in a different western city each year, announced finalists in their contest. What fun to see Midnight Ink writers on that illustrious list. Darrell James and Beth Groundwater are nominees in The Rocky category, which is a book set in the geographic area covered by Left Coast Crime. Jess Lourey is nominated for an award in the humorous category, The Lefty. And Catriona McPherson has a book in the Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery, for historical novels.

                  .

Can you say, “Wow!”

And then it gets better.

Kathleen Earnst recently won the LOVEY in the historical category at Love Is Murder in Chicago.

And drum roll, please…

G.M. Malliet (three times now) and Catriona McPherson are up for Agatha Awards given by Malice Domestic.

Alan Orloff had an Agatha nomination in 2010. And last year, Darrell James won a Left Coast Crime award, The Eureka, for a first novel.

Now it’s going to get dicey because I’m going to forget a whole ton of other good news. But let me mention that Vicki Doudera got a great review from the world’s snarkiest review site. I know Alice Loweecey and Lois Winston have posted some terrific reviews, as well.

I’m tickled for all the recipients. I imagine their glow and it makes me plum happy for them. I’ve met most of the writers I just mentioned and to a person, they are warm, funny, smart, generous and all around amazing specimens. I can only imagine the others are equally superior humans.

But, as Ayn Rand was ever-so-fond of saying, “There is no altruism.”

While I’m truly happy for these M’Inkers, I’m downright giddy for me.

My father always told me, “You’re known by the company you keep.” Yes, he was a wise man, but I don’t think he made that up.

I would be surprised if I ever win a prestigious award and Kirkus may always hate me. But someone, somewhere, at one time,(Terri) thought I wrote a book good enough to be included on the roster with these stellar writers.

That thought swells my chest more than the Miraculous Uplift bra I got from Victoria’s Secret.

By the time of my next Ink Spot post, my first book in the Nora Abbott Mystery series will have launched. Readers may love it or hate it. But for right now, for this brief moment, I get to revel in the success of my publisher and the fine writers they’ve accumulated and believe I am one of them.  

 

I am just so darned proud of Midnight Ink and all these folks. (And sorta proud of me, too.)