On Top of Everything

By Sarah-Kate Lynch.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sarah-Kate's Dunedin launch of this book the other night, and the opportunity for pink fizz and cupcakes.

Naturally I brought a copy of her book, and being a sycophantic groupie type had to get it autographed - it would have been rude not to.

I got to devour the book over the weekend, and it made a very pleasant change from my steady diet of crime fiction.

This is the story of Florence, and Florence re-defines having a bad day. It starts with her getting fired from her own business by her best friend, and then her husband leaves her for another man. And that's just the beginning. Sometimes bad days spill over to bad weeks, months, especially if you believe trouble comes in threes, or multiples of threes.

If all this sounds maudlin, it's not because Sarah-Kate infuses this novel with wit and charm and characters to make you smile.

Naturally, it wouldn't be a Sarah-Kate Lynch book if there wasn't food involved, and in this instance it's cakes, cupcakes, little cucumber sandwiches, fruit cakes and tea, plenty of tea, leaf of course, served in fine bone china. Sarah-Kate is the queen of foodie chick-lit.

I did want to slap Florence, frequently. She annoyed me a lot, to the point of teeth gritting at times. But I guess that means I cared about her. And I do wish the story had been told entirely from Florence's point of view, but that's by the by - I really enjoyed this book.

On Top of Everything was a perfect to while away a few hours over a weekend, and gave me urges to haul out the fine bone china and have a frilly high tea for my friends. Actually, I have a feeling that will happen. I feel a bake-a-thon coming on.

Put it on your summer reading list.

The Science of Sherlock Holmes

I have just started reading, and am already captivated by this book by E.J.Wagner, which was lent to me by Prof Jules Keiser - my forensic anthropology man. For some strange reason he thought I'd be interested.

It is subtitled "From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases."

Excellent!

It looks at Sherlock Holmes methods of detection and his forensics in the light of Victorian medicine, law, pathology, toxicology and the emerging forensic science of the time. It also delves into some of the folklore that existed and gives real-life examples of mysteries from the era.

I can see this will be a valuable resource as well as an entertaining read. It won a 2007 Edgar award, so it must have struck a chord with many people.

I'm hooked.

It's a girl...

...and she's big and she's beautiful.

She's got a 20 inch widescreen back-lit LCD display, a cd/dvd drive that actually works. She'll talk directly to my camera without spitting the dummy, and talk to my scanner. She's got a decent girth to her so I can do side by side documents. She's got an amazing memory (as all kids do - just ask one to play the memory card game with you and you'll soon feel shamed) and will do exactly as I ask.

Although Mme iBook has seen me through three novels, if you count the one I'm completing, and Hubby through an MBA, I shall not mourn her retirement. Lets face it, she was getting a bit tired and crotchety, and from an entirely practical standpoint, it's not easy drumming out a novel on a laptop with a squinky-winky tiny screen coz these eyes ain't getting any younger. We'll trot the old girl out when we travel and for those times when portability is desirable (although, we'd need the power cord, because Mme Mac's only good for about 20 minutes now). And I'm sure the kids will try to lay claim to her, so she won't feel entirely left out.

But for now, I only have eyes for my new baby, Miss iMac...sigh...

I think I'll name her Molly.

Sticks and stones

Last night's fizz and cupcakes was delightful, but there was a wee spoiler on the way home.

Driving through Queens Drive and the Green belt I got a hell of a fright with an enormous bang and clatter on the car windscreen. Fortunately I had my Hanes self-cleaning underwear on, but unfortunately there was a ruddy great chip in my windscreen - my new windscreen that was replaced only three weeks ago. Grrrrr.

The cause of all this? Stone throwing little SHoneTs. They must have been hidden in the trees. As I had a kiddie in the car I didn't stop to investigate, but when I got home Hubby hopped on his bike and nipped down to check it out while I rang the police.

He found two teenagers up on the bank, still throwing stones at cars, and who proceeded to throw stones and swear at him too. Charming.

Anyway, the police didn't have any cars available to send out last night, but a lovely policewoman came to the house today to fill out an incident report.

So what's this all got to do with anything other than Vanda being in a rage at the idiotic antics of clueless teenagers and being down some dollars on the insurance excess?

I had a policewoman in my house, a young police woman. So although she wasn't short like my Sam Shephard, I did quiz her on a few things. She was most amused to being questioned by the complainant, and saw the irony of a crime writer making a complaint due to willful damage.

So I learned:

Those stab-proof vests they all have to wear are majorly uncomfortable.
After a few weeks they mould a bit to your body shape, but not much.
For the first two weeks it's hard to breathe in them.
They weigh about 6 kg for the little sizes, and the big blokes who need bigger sizes they weigh considerably more.
The police hate them.

All stuff I suspected anyway, but good to hear it from the horses mouth.

So although it was a pain in the bum circumstance, and I am still ropeable about thoughtless little *$%@%**s breaking my windscreen - you can always turn a negative into a positive.

Pink fizz and cupcakes

What a Wednesday it's been!

Today was Write On Radio show day and I enjoyed my chats with Paul Sorrell and Martha Morseth. I was entirely in charge of the radio station, and managed to get through that without any technical whoopsies, which was good considering if I did stuff up, there would have been deathly silence over the frequency until the station manager returned from lunch. Then again, I did like that sense of power...

My postal courier radar was in fine form and I raced out to the letterbox to find a parcel with my copies of the German edition of Overkill, Ein Harmloser Mord. They are very cool - I can't understand a word of them, but they're cool. Look damn fine in the bookshelf.

Then this evening I got to put on the glad rags and trot off to hear Sarah-Kate Lynch promoting her latest book, On top of everything.

At this point, I should make a confession. I had what one could call a blonde moment yesterday. I got the kids dinner early, got dolled up, and piled us all in the car to get down to Sarah-Kate's do at the University Book Shop at 5.45pm, only problem was that when we pulled up, the University Book Shop looked suspiciously closed, and I had to admit to myself and the kids that maybe I'd made a wee stuff up on the date. Hmmm.

So tonight I got the kids dinner early, got dolled up (deja vu, anyone?) and piled us into the car, and, thank heavens, when we got to the University Book Shop the lights were on, the pink bubbly poured and there was a beautiful array of dainty cupcakes sitting on the book stands. Phew. So I got to meet the glorious Sarah-Kate, did the sycophantic groupie thing and got my book autographed, got to enjoy a glass of fizz and a delicious cupcake (or two).

What more could a girl ask for?

Write On Radio

Tomorrow is Write On Radio day, with the show broadcast live on Toroa Radio 1575 kHz AM Radio at noon.

This, of course, means it's November already, which naturally leads into December, which naturally leads into an almighty panic. Could someone please explain what happened to this year?!

Here's the details of the lovely folk I'll be chatting with.



Paul Sorrell is a writer, editor and photographer who has edited several publications, including Murihiku - The Southland Story. His latest project was to write the recently released Fleur's Place, the book about the popular Moeraki restaurant and its vibrant owner Fleur Sullivan. We'll talk about Fleur's Place, and the art of bringing together chefs, photographers and personalities in a project to create a book.




Martha Morseth is a writer, poet and playwright who has had a collection of poetry published - Staying inside the Lines, as well as Yeah, a book of stories for teenagers, and Let's Hear it for the Winner, a book of three plays. Her new collection of short stories for teenagers, A cut of unreal, has just been released and is a mix of ghost and science fiction stories.
We'll talk about the fun of writing about cutting edge technology and ghosts, and also about seeing her play The Trials and Tribulations of Emily performed on stage last year by St Hilda's Collegiate School.

So Phryne

Cocaine Blues

By Kerry Greenwood

I here by announce I have started a new addiction - Phryne Fisher mysteries. I had been warned, people had told me I'd enjoy it so much I'd have to have more. They were oh so right.

For those not in the know, Phryne Fisher redefines elegance, intelligence and quick-wit in 1920's Melbourne. She is a sleuth who can pull together a mystery, and an outfit with impeccable taste. You can't help but love her, and the various waifs and strays she pulls in for the ride.

I don't know of any other crime fighters that can drive a racing car, fly and discuss the ins and outs of aeronautic engineering, tango like the devil and dress to kill, other than Bond, James Bond, but Phryne's far more stylish and fun. And Phryne would eat James for dinner.

Cocaine Blues is the first of the Phryne Fisher Mysteries, and I'll be heading down to the University Book Shop for more!