Friday, October 31, 2014

Crime and Cocktails - The Zombie

The Zombie has a very interesting history. You can read about it here.


3/4 cup crushed ice
1 1/2 ounces aged Jamaican rum
1 1/2 ounces gold Puerto Rican rum
1 ounce 151-proof Lemon Hart Demerara rum
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons white grapefruit juice 
1 teaspoon Cinnamon Syrup
1 teaspoon Grenadine
1/2 ounce falernum
1/8 teaspoon Pernod
1 dash aromatic bitters, such as angostura
Ice cubes
1 mint sprig



Place all ingredients except ice cubes and mint sprig in a blender. Blend on high until frothy but not slushy, no more than 5 seconds.

Pour into a tall, narrow glass and add ice cubes to fill the glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Looking Ahead (From Very Far Behind)


I want to thank everyone who over the years has taken the time and trouble to send helpful notes and updates to the Girl-Detective website. Unfortunately, because of the logistics of trying to run two different writing careers in two different publishing hemispheres, Girl-Detective as a resource site sort of got short-changed. As in completely neglected for the past five years or so.

I’ve been speaking to Mr. Thrilling (Thrilling Dectective Website Guy) and we’ve decided it makes more sense to break Girl-Detective away from Diana Killian. It’s less confusing for everyone if the site exists independently of my author site. Plus, once GD is no longer attached to DianaKillian, it stops being work and goes back to being a hobby -- which means I’ll have fun with it again. As in might perhaps actually do something with it.

What that might be, I’m not sure. Mostly review vintage books and movies. Or perhaps “review” is not the correct term for my, er, exploration of some of these old titles. But continue to…offer them up for your consideration perhaps?  

And perhaps even occasionally review contemporary (historical mystery fiction) books or interview authors of such? I don’t know. I’m not going to commit to anything because next year is going to be ferociously busy -- even more so than usual -- plus I’ll be traveling quite a bit (quite a bit for me, anyway).

So this blog will be attached to the Girl-Detective website. And the Diana Killian blog will be attached to the new Diana Killian website. Which doesn’t exist yet, but it will be up and running in some form before Bouchercon this year.

As for those helpful notes and updates…I hang onto everything, so chances are I’ve still got them and we’ll hopefully be able to make the updates at long last.


Thursday, October 09, 2014

This is how you properly unmask the killer

licensed thru Shutterstock
From 1943, Evidence of Things Seen (A Henry Gamadge Mystery) by Elizabeth  Daly:

Gamadge provided Hunter with ice, whiskey, a tumbler and a siphon; but after pouring himself coffee, he rose, shut the dining room door and the stairway door, and returned to his seat at the end of the narrow table.

"I want to tell you the whole story," he said, "and then we can edit it. It's not for women's ears--it's a tale of Indians, shooting, villainy unmasked and buckets of gore."

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Bouchercon Update

As mentioned on my Diana Killian blog, I did -- to my surprise and pleasure -- end up with a panel for Bouchercon.

YOUR PANEL ASSIGNMENT:


Make 'Em Laugh: Balancing the Lows of Loss with the Highs of Humor

Moderator Terry Shames

Melodie Campbell
Sharon Fiffer
Sue Ann Jaffarian
Diana Killan
Helen Smith 
  

 Friday Nov. 14, 2014 11:30- 12:30 Shoreline

I haven't had a chance to even peek at the list of who's going, but I hope to see some of my old friends. Heck, after all this time, I'll be thrilled to recognize anybody!