Custer's Mill Mysteries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Custer's Mill Series
  • What Our Readers Say
  • Book Group Discussion Questions
  • The "Real" Custer's Mill
  • Reviews
  • About the Authors
  • Murder on Rosemary Street
  • The Mountain's Secret
  • Revenge Comes Twice

How to Write A Book Review for Amazon or Goodreads

3/30/2018

0 Comments

 
How to review a book
 
Both readers and writers love reviews! Even if the opinions expressed are not always positive, reviews are important. Since it’s not wise to judge a book by its cover, readers sometimes need to hear opinions of others before they decide to invest time and money into a book. Writers are always looking for the parts of their books readers enjoy. Even negative reviews are helpful to writers. It helps them know what worked and what didn’t work in their writing.
 
Here are some tips on how to review books on Amazon or Goodreads (or any other review site).
 
  1.  Give the book a star rating! Five stars are the best, of course, but it’s also okay to give a book three stars, or even one star. Be honest.

  2. The hook:  You want the reader to be interested in what you have to say. The best way to do this is with a hook. Just like a fisherman baits and hooks a fish, you need to latch on to your reader from the start. Your hook can be a question (Do you like to curl up with a cozy mystery?), a statistic (85% of people who read novels read to escape), a quote (“The more you read, the more you’ll know”), or a dramatic statement (I just read the best book of my entire life!).

  3. A brief outline of the plot (no spoilers!). Does the story conflict keep you guessing? Look at the summary at the back of the book for pointers. You want the reader to know excitement abounds, but don’t give away the story.

  4. Mention your favorite character(s) and why you like him/her/them. Again, no spoilers, please!

  5. Take a minute to research the author(s) and include an interesting fact about the writer. (“Liza Doolittle has written fourteen cozy mysteries.”)

  6. Finally, end with your recommendation. Is this book for mystery lovers? Would crafters enjoy it? What about tea and coffee connoisseurs? Or maybe it’s just a good story that most people would enjoy.

Reviews are important to readers and writers. Please take a few minutes to review your favorite books today!


 

0 Comments

Spare Change Diner Potato Soup

2/7/2018

0 Comments

 

 
This creamy, flavorful soup is perfect for cold winter evenings!  The folks at the Spare Change Diner always have a pot bubbling on the back burner.
 
 
Ham and Potato Soup
 
4 cups diced potatoes
2 cups chopped ham
½ cup chopped onion
41/2 cups chicken broth
5 T butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups half and half (or 2% milk)
Salt and pepper to taste
 
Directions:
 
Chop potatoes, ham, and onion and boil in chicken broth 10 – 15 minutes (until vegetables are soft)
In a medium sized sauce pan, melt butter and whisk in flour. Slowly add half and half (or milk), stirring continuously. Allow to thicken (about 5 minutes).
 
Stir flour, butter, and milk mixture into the vegetables. Heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
 
 
0 Comments

The Deer Story -- Part 1

1/13/2018

0 Comments

 
​PART I – The Deer Story
Until my family moved to the Shenandoah Valley, we were major-city suburban types. Paved roads, sidewalks everywhere, gutters, and trash and snow removal were just some of the amenities we expected without really paying attention to them. But my grandparents lived "in the country," so I felt pretty knowledgeable about rural life.
 
Not long after our move, I was in conversation with a coworker, talking about the upcoming hunting season. She told me her husband loved to hunt, but they had a freezer full of venison and she didn't want any more. "If he gets a deer this season, do you want it?" she asked.
"That would be great," I answered enthusiastically. My tone was smooth and casual, but I thought to myself, "Yes! Free meat!" Feeling shrewd and thrifty, I pictured stacks of labeled and neatly wrapped meat in our freezer—and significant savings to our always-stretched grocery budget.
 
The weeks passed, and the conversation was forgotten, when I received a call at home one crisp fall day. The hunter had bagged a young buck, and it was hanging in a local barn. We could pick it up in a couple of days. Hanging in a barn! Pick it up? The whole thing?
 
And not only that, but at the end of the call, my friend added, "He'd like to keep the head, so you can just bring that back for him."
 
Indeed. I thanked her calmly on the phone before the panic set in.
 
"Okay, we can do this,” I told myself. Surely our ancestors had done this many times.  Not to worry. So, knowing how important it is to delegate to avoid becoming overwhelmed, I asked my husband to retrieve the deer from the barn. He brought it home in the hatchback of our small car.
 
Our children gathered ‘round the back of the car and peered at the carcass through the glass. "I think it's alive, I saw it move," said one son. “Why are its eyes open—can it see us?" said another. Putting on my cloak of parental calm and assurance, I told them no, it was not alive, and it couldn't see us. And, for good measure, I told them we were getting our meat just like hunters did in the olden days. They weren't convinced. 
To be continued…
 
 
 
 
Copyright 2016 by Barbara Finnegan – Used with permission.
0 Comments

The Deer Story-- Part 2

1/13/2018

1 Comment

 
​PART TWO:  The Deer Story
 
The next morning, with the deer still in our hatchback and still dead, it was my turn to ante up. I drove to a butcher shop out in the countryside and parked outside the main building. Resolute and strong, I approached the counter. I really did know these country ways, after all!
 
After ascertaining the legality of the kill, the man behind the counter said, “So how would you like it cut?”
 
Ummm. How would I like it cut?  “Well, I’d like it mostly ground in one-pound packages,” I said tentatively.
 
“You want the hams butterflied?” He said. “’Course, it’s up to you.”
 
Butterflied hams? Was that like bacon with wings or something? Busted! Seconds passed, and I knew I had to ‘fess up.
 
“Okay, I said humbly, “I really don’t know what I’m doing. It that’s what most people get, then that’s what I want─butterflied hams and the rest ground.” He kindly kept his thoughts to himself and wrote up the order.
 
“And, oh,” I added, “the hunter wants you to save the head.” He nodded his acknowledgement without flinching.
 
Mission accomplished! All that remained of my new adventure in rural living was picking up the meat in a couple days. When I returned, I received neatly wrapped and labeled packages of meat, flash-frozen and ready for my freezer. As I wrote the check, I mentally calculated how much I was paying per pound. Not bad, I thought─and for such healthy, low-fat meat, too. I turned to leave and the man said, “The head is out in the shed.”
 
Oh yeah. The head. Gross.
 
“Look, would you mind putting it in a trash bag and taking it out to my car for me?” I asked, hoping my pitiful glance would soften his heat. It worked. I didn’t have to look at the disembodied head, which I delivered forthwith to the hunter.
 
These rural life things take time. Now I’m trained and ready for that kind of thing.
 
The venison was fantastic. For months, my family never knew whether I was serving round venison, ground beef, ground turkey , or any combination thereof. We played “guess what meat this is” around the dinner table. The butterflied ham steaks were delectable─a culinary delight.
 
This event took place many years ago, and this former city girl has made the central Shenandoah Valley her home for over 25 years now. I don’t miss suburban living one tiny bit. In my book, living here beats suburban living by a coon’s age, whatever that is.
 
So if you know any hunters with freezer space for meat, just tell them to give me a holler. I’ll be right over.
 
Copyright 2016 by Barbara Finnegan – Used with permission.
1 Comment

Winter Musings

1/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture











January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,
A frost-mailed warrior
Striding a shadowy steed of snow.
Edgar Fawcett (1847-1904)
 

 
Winter is the season of rest. Nature slows down, and the ground rests from growing crops.
 
Sometimes the weather is so finicky we’re forced to take a time-out even though our schedules say we don’t have a moment to spare. Temperatures have warmed up quite a bit in the past few days, but last week was one of those deep-freeze winter blessings when moving too far from the woodstove was like a venture into the Arctic Circle.
 
Winter gives us moments to ponder on the miracles of the seasons—on the beauty of change and the comforts of routine. It shares the hope of a New Year—a clean slate to draw our hopes, dreams, and goals. Each year we can, in a sense, shed our old skin and begin anew, anticipating rebirth and awaiting the first buds of spring.
 
What are some goals you have this year? Are there routines you’d like to start? Habits you’d like to break? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 


0 Comments

Chilly New Year

1/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
​And so, on the 13th day of Christmas, the holiday season has been packed away in cardboard boxes and plastic totes. The skiff of snow on the ground reminds us however, that, although Christmas is over, there is still a lot of winter to wade through.
 
Tonight, icy winds are whistling-- rattling windows, stirring up bare branches, and turning the neighbor’s decorative flag into a twisted knot. You can’t really take a deep breath outside. The air is like a hundred tiny knives stabbing your nostrils and threatening to make mincemeat of your lungs. Even the outdoor cat takes one look out the sliding glass doors and turns disdainfully back to the wood stove. The mice can wait.
 
We spent several days last week revisiting our friends in Custer’s Mill. The story is unfolding, and we’re hoping to have it ready to read by early summer. Perhaps that is wishful thinking, because we’re also starting to write a non-fiction book on the process of collaborative writing (more later). One of the questions we’re consistently asked during book talks is “how do three of you write one novel?” Excellent question—one we don’t always know how to answer, as much of our process flows organically. But not always. Sometimes our ideas don’t mesh, and our thoughts about how the story should flow diverge. The writing process is enigmatic at best and chaotic at worst. Somehow we manage, though. Somehow the story comes through!
 
We hope you’re as excited about reading our stories as we are about writing them!

0 Comments

New Years and New Beginnings

12/28/2016

0 Comments

 
​The new year is three days away. On Saturday night we’ll tuck away all of the memories of 2016 and open a fresh notebook to begin recording the happenings of 2017.  There is something energizing about starting a new year. The slate is clean, the world is fresh, and undiscovered possibilities lie on the horizon.
 
I have turned my resolutions into goals, and most of my goals are the same each year. (Obviously, the idea of mastery is not a prerequisite for recording an aspiration!) One goal I list each year is to write more.
 
My creativity appears to peak in January, and invariably dwindles as the long days of summer approach.  I start many projects in winter, and many of them have disappeared by early March. My main goal this year is to hold on to the creative spirit in every season. To write, to share, to be vulnerable. For vulnerability is a big part of writing. Baring ones soul to an indiscriminate public can be risky. What if my ideas are misunderstood? What if I sound eccentric and unbelievable? What if my words aren’t true? I suppose if writers stopped too long to analyze those abrasive questions, we wouldn’t put many of our thoughts on paper.
 
At any rate, Book #2 of the Custer’s Mill Mystery series is well underway, and we hope to publish in the spring and began to share them with the public by early summer. We’re excited to be immersed in the lives of the fine folks of Custer’s Mill once again. We found the library ladies still hard at work – not only on library business, but also in renovating the old Brubaker mansion. In her will, Miss Bertha left the house and grounds to her unconventional friends, and they are busy turning the old estate into a cozy tea room.  Former detective, Jake Preston, is now Custer’s Mill police chief, and Emma, his unwieldy sidekick, is still conducting solo side investigations. But as art imitates life, all is not well in the little town. New residents bring new troubles, and soon, murder will strike again.
 
We hope you will enjoy this next visit to Custer’s Mill.  In the meantime, I hope to hold on to my writing schedule and connect with you more often!
0 Comments

The Pumpkin Patch

10/29/2016

0 Comments

 
The big news in Custer’s Mill this week is that Jacob Craun finally opened his pumpkin patch to the public! For years he’d grown magnificent pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, but not many people saw the vast assortment of colorful vegetables. Not that Jacob was stingy or unwilling to share his bounty, he just didn’t think people would be interested in his hobby. Did I mention that pumpkins are the only thing he grows on his seven acre farm?
Well, after about thirty years, his wife finally convinced him that folks would probably like to see the many varieties of pumpkins that dotted the back field. So this year, he’s offering free wagon rides down to the patch. Young Kate Preston was one of his first passengers. She persuaded her dad, the new town sheriff, to buy her seven pumpkins – one of each kind. What they’ll do with such an impressive collection remains to be seen. Their little house barely holds its two occupants. Maybe they’ll fill the front porch with a variety of jack-o-lanterns. Or maybe one of the sheriff’s admiring female entourage will make him a couple dozen pumpkin pies.

The Custer’s Mill Community Church is having a jumble sale next week. Rumor has it they’re selling the old pump organ that’s been housed in the sanctuary for what seems like a hundred years. There has been a lot of rumbling both for and against the sale. I just wonder who would buy such a piece of antiquity. Maybe we should take it on Antiques Roadshow to see what it’s worth before we so quickly dispose of it. Or maybe we should just let it remain in its corner beneath the stained glass representation of the Baptism of St. John. So many things to think about on this cool October eve!
0 Comments

Fall Festival in Custer's Mill

10/27/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture





​The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low;
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their cobwebs peep.
–Dr. Edward Jenner (1749–1823)
​

It’s autumn in Custer’s Mill. The morning fog drapes low over the mountains, and the smell of wood smoke hangs in the air. The town is resting up from a busy weekend: the annual Fall Festival. It’s the one day out of the year that the county Health Department turns its head and allows the good folks of Custer’s Mill to share the results of their summer bounty.
Reba Dove’s tomato pie definitely earned five stars from the locals, and Jane Miller’s corn pudding was gobbled up so fast that she had to run home and make another batch. The only culinary offering that raised eyebrows was Laurence George’s raw oyster stew. Even though he was giving away free samples, he still barely made a dent in the huge vat of slimy liquid. Serafina Wimsey’s herb table was busy all day. She offered fresh sprigs of rosemary and lavender tied with lace, freshly potted basil and thyme plants, and an enormous range of essential oils.
The festival was successful for the library too. Their book sale was a popular event, and many folks left with brown paper bags stocked full of winter reading materials. Library volunteers Jane Allman and Marguerite White were especially glad to see the book sale items leave the front of the library. In their opinion, the room was too small for the regular library maneuverings, and when you added a couple of tables filled with books to the space, it made shelving materials even more cramped and awkward.
All in all, it was a good day, and the citizens of Custer’s Mill deserve a lazy Monday morning. But soon, Hoyt Miller will finish his last drop of coffee and head to the town office, Nanette Steele will lumber out to the barn to feed her bleating goats, and the big yellow school bus will carry Kate Preston off to the elementary school. Another week is about to unfold in the small town of Custer’s Mill.

0 Comments

Finding October

10/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture











Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson
(From  A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885)

In other gardens
And all up the vale
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The gray smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!
​
Although October is my favorite month of the year, I seem to have trouble holding on to it. Time seems to take on a new rate of travel this time of year, and before I know it, it’s Halloween and October has passed me by once again.
This year, I am intentionally trying to enjoy October. So far the rainy weekends are keeping me from the fall tasks of cleaning off the garden and putting the flower beds to rest for the winter. But I am doing my best to soak in the signs of the changing seasons: darker mornings, lengthening shadows, and subtly turning colors.
I’ve put a pumpkin on my porch, and set a pot of yellow mums beside it. A minimal decoration, but a purposeful contribution to my awareness of the month! October will not pass by unnoticed this year!

0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Archives

    July 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    April 2022
    January 2020
    August 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    April 2016
    August 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    May 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.