Blood on the Page! It's a Blooming Book Club Murder!
- Melissa Westemeier
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Readers, I'm pleased as punch to introduce you to one of the women featured on the panel I'm moderating next week at Malice Domestic--Sally Handley!
Spring is in the Air!
Spring is my favorite time of year. I relocated to South Carolina from New Jersey when I retired in 2014, and one of my favorite things about moving South is getting to start gardening a full month earlier than I did up North. I’m fortunate to live in a condo complex with beautiful garden beds off my patio where I’m allowed to plant whatever I like. And last weekend that’s exactly what I did. I was delighted to play in the dirt and get my “crops” in the ground – tomatoes, eggplant, okra, peppers – as well as an assortment of colorful flowers.
My amateur sleuths, Holly & Ivy Donnelly, would be proud. Yes, my look-alike sisters are gardeners and their knowledge of plants helps them solve crimes. Sound familiar? If you ever watched the PBS mystery series, Rosemary & Thyme, that could be the reason why. That program remains my all time favorite cozy mystery series, and most definitely was the inspiration for mine.
I’m especially happy to announce the publication of my most recent book, The Blooming Book Club Murder. In book seven of the series, Holly travels to South Carolina to help Ivy move into her new condo. The look-alike sisters are once again drawn into a murder investigation after they take time off from unpacking to attend a meeting of the local garden club’s Blooming Book Club. Retired nurse, Ivy, is asked to help when Garden Club President Georgia Amity is found unconscious in the rest room. Well, you can guess where we’re going from there.
And for all of us cozy mystery lovers, another happily anticipated sign of Spring is the upcoming Malice Domestic conference held every April in Bethesda, MD. I am so pleased to have been selected as a panelist on the "Blood on the Page: Libraries + Murder" Panel at the conference. The panel will be moderated by author Melissa Westemeier, whose Nun the Wiser series debut, Old Habits Die Hard, I am enjoying right now. I'm especially honored to join three noted mystery writers on the panel: Victoria Gilbert, Joanne McLaughlin and Daphne Silver.
You may be wondering how a writer whose sleuths are gardeners got on this library panel. Well, I have an intriguing idea for a new series that will feature a mysterious library, a Shakespeare-loving Latin professor and an architectural historian. Sound intriguing? I hope so.
If you’re attending Malice Domestic, please consider attending our panel. I’d love to meet you. And, whether you’re gardening or simply reading cozy mysteries outside in the lovely weather, I wish you a glorious Spring and happy reading.
Sally Handley
An avid reader, Sally Handley has been a mystery lover since she read her first Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames books as a young girl. Sally is author of the Holly & Ivy classic cozy mystery series and the stand-alone suspense novel, Stop the Threat. A member of Sisters in Crime and Past President of the Upstate SC Chapter, Sally hosts a monthly on-line Mystery Book Club and a Meet the Authors Series on her YouTube Channel. For more info visit: www.sallyhandley.com.
Follow/Contact Sally:
E-mail: sally@sallyhandley.com
Website: www.sallyhandley.com
Amazon Author Page : https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sally+Handley&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sally.handley1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handley.sally/
Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyhandleyinc/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16850782.Sally_Handley
Sally, I will definitely be at your panel and come to say hello. Good luck with the new idea! And your gardening series sounds delightful--I was a huge Rosemary and Thyme fan!