The Mysterious Garden Muse

Click the title of this blog post to join us at BN.com's Mystery Book Club -- more of a chat room for lovers of mystery than a traditional book club. Authors visit regularly to talk about their books, and we invite you to tell us about your favorite reads, too. PBS MYSTERY! kicks off a new season in June, and we will be talking about the new episodes at BN.com. Upcoming Broadcasts – Mark Your Calendars! “Six by Agatha” – Sundays, June 21 to July 26, 2009 on PBS (check local listings) With grey cells firing and knitting needles clicking, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple make their triumphant return to PBS in “Six by Agatha,” a half dozen whodunits by the greatest mystery author of all time. David Suchet (Henry VIII, The Way We Live Now) reprises his signature role of the Belgian private eye who cracks cases with the help of his “little grey cells,” and award-winning actress Julia McKenzie (Cranford) debuts as the newest grandmotherly sleuth. Hercule Poirot: “Cat Among the Pigeons”—Sun

Wendy Corsi Staub and Marshall Karp will be visiting the Mystery Book Club in June to discuss their books. Author Keith Gilman will be visiting on June 9, authors Kelli Stanley and Rebecca Cantrell will visit us on June 16 and we may have more surprise visits this month.

Our featured books for June are already generating some discussion. Join us!

A lifelong mystery fan, I can still remember the book that started me on this journey: The Secret of the Old Post Box.   Shortly after that I discovered Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, the Hardy Boys, Judy Bolton, Beverly Gray and then, ta da!, Agatha Christie.  Mary Stewart, Dorothy Eden and Evelyn Anthony led me to the more romantic mysteries and my current love of romantic suspense. I recently tracked down copies of these two early favorites.  They aren't quite as good as I remembered, but what memories of childhood are?

The raccoon comes to my deck every night.  He taps on the patio door and my cat goes out to play with him. The other picture is really old, from when I lived in England.  Benjie, our neutered male cat, thought he was the mother of our Dutch rabbits, Lennon and Thumper. 

Two of these pictures are weeds, but I still like them.  I keep part of my backyard wild, for this reason.

Pictures from my yard: spring has sprung!

Some pictures from my yard.

These were taken awhile ago; since then, I've read a lot of these, and added a lot more.  Now I'm getting "organized:" I've split the pile into four big bins and a small bookcase, by genre!

Rhys Bowen will be visiting the Mystery Book Club at BN.com starting Monday, May 18th.  Join us!

Samantha Graves is visiting the BN.com Mystery Book Club for the first two weeks of May.  Stop by today and say hello!