Happy Birthday Tai Randolph!

Please join me in congratulating my girl Tai as she completes yet another journey around the sun!

Tai is a classic Aries. In fact, I ran her natal chart and discovered that not only is Aries her sun sign, she has a moon in that fiery sign too.

Now, I’m no expert in astrology. I’m quite good at tarot reading, which shares many characteristics of writing a mystery novel—strong characters, narrative arcs, drama and angst—but astrology feels like math. Angles and lines and degrees, squares and conjunctions and trines. I get flashbacks to high school geometry. But one part of it clicks with me—the archetypes associated with the signs. We’re all a mix of fire and earth, air and water, and an astrological birth chart shows the recipe.

So I worked backwards. I took what I knew of Tai’s personality — headstrong, enthusiastic, full of energy — and decided that she was an Aries, the sign of the ram, the sign that begins the zodiac year, and I decided she was born on the spring equinox, when day and night are equal. I knew that she was turning thirty at a certain point in the series (which has a timeline that doesn’t exactly track with the “real word” timeline, but is reasonably close) so I could figure out her birth year. And then I put that information into a natal chart generator and took notes on what came up.

Here is the summary of an Aries Sun sign courtesy of Astrolabe.com:

“By nature, you are very energetic and high-spirited. You are fiercely independent -- you must be first in everything you do, and you enjoy taking risks. You are the one who will rush in where angels fear to tread. Quite brilliant at initiating new projects, you are terrible at following them through to completion. You are an enthusiastic leader but you tend to be a reluctant follower. Often you are quick to anger, but you usually recover just as fast, regretting later things you said when you were upset. One of your best traits is that you are simple and direct, blunt and honest -- just be careful you do not hurt others' feelings. Your need to be competitive at all costs may provoke resistance from others, but, as long as you maintain your usual sunny good humor, this should not prove to be a major problem for you.”

Sun signs get the most press—if you ever look at an astrology column in a magazine or newspaper, it’s a list of predictions based on your natal sun sign, which is whatever constellation the Sun occupied on the day of your birth. But a natal chart—also called a birth chart—is much more complicated. It also looks at where all the other planets were when you came into this world, including Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon (which technically isn’t a planet in astronomy, but which counts as one in astrology).

Tai has an Aries moon, which basically doubles her Aries-ness so that she’s an Aries day and night, night and day. Her Mercury is in Aries too, which means she’s quick-witted and is always down for an argument/debate/battle of wits, sometimes just for the fun of it, even if she’s wrong. And her Venus is in Leo, another fire sign, which means she loves like a conflagration, like fireworks, like the proverbial lion—fierce, unabashed, with a roar.

Another aspect of a natal chart—and some astrologers would argue it’s even more foundational to your personality than the sun sign—is your rising sign, the constellation that was overhead at the exact moment of your birth. And because the Earth makes a complete revolution around the Sun every 24 hours, the rising sign changes every two or so hours. So if you know the time of your birth, you can figure out your rising sign.

Tai’s Sagittarian tattoo, courtesy of her friend Train

Tai’s rising sign is — surprise, surprise — another fire sign: Sagittarius, the archer: This is how she ended up with a tattoo that depicts a flaming arrow nocked in a flaming bow. Sagittarians are ruled by the planet Jupiter and share in the legendary good fortune and expansive nature associated with it: they are known for being honest, curious, gregarious, and joyful, but they need lots of lots of space, both physical and emotional. Try to put a Sagittarian in a box, and they will kick their way out of it and run full speed toward the horizon.

I had a lot of fun casting a chart for my girl Tai (I did one for Trey too — he’s a very Virgo Virgo (not as Virgo as I am, but perhaps even more stubborn, but we’ll talk about his unique astrological profile in September). These fiery qualities make Tai a very good private investigator (and explain why she became one — most people who end up stumbling into a murder investigation don’t try to solve the crime themselves, but an Aries/Aries/Sagittarius absolutely would).

When I’m stuck writing a scene, I often come back to this profile and ask, what part of Tai is asserting itself in this situation? How would an Aries process this conflict? Or is this where her Sagittarian streak emerges? I can usually find a clue, a hint, a trail to follow. After all, we meticulous Virgos are also pretty good at sleuthing.

PS: You can run a free copy of your natal chart at Astrolabe, which you can find here: https://alabe.com

Because We’re All a Little Dunning-Kruger About Something

When illumination Is So Close and Yet So Far

The Germans have a word for it (of course they do — those Germans). Fremdschämen

Fremdschämen describes a peculiar kind of mortification. According to Psychology Today blogger Daniel R. Hawes, it's more than being embarrassed for yourself or another. It describes the almost-horror you feel when you notice that somebody is oblivious to how embarrassing they truly are. Hawes goes on to describe a related psychological phenomenon — The Dunning-Kruger complex.

Hawes explains: "The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias in which people perform poorly on a task, but lack the meta-cognitive capacity to properly evaluate their performance. As a result, such people remain unaware of their incompetence and accordingly fail to take any self-improvement measures that might rid them of their incompetence."

They don’t acknowledge the existence of what former US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld called “the unknown unknowns,” things so far outside your range of knowledge that not only do you not know them, you don’t even know that you don’t know them.

Dunning described his fascination with “unknown unknowns” thusly: “If I were given carte blanche to write about any topic I could, it would be about how much our ignorance, in general, shapes our lives in ways we do not know about.  Put simply, people tend to do what they know and fail to do that which they have no conception of.  In that way, ignorance profoundly channels the course we take in life.  And unknown unknowns constitute a grand swath of everybody’s field of ignorance.”

Note that Dunning indicts “everybody” here. Because we’re all a little Dunning-Kruger about something. Including, perhaps, Mr. Dunning himself about the theory named after him (several follow-up studies have failed to come to the same conclusion that he reached).

If you’d like to read more, here are some good sources on the story behind the effect, the effect itself, and contrary opinions on the matter:

How Good Are YOU at Detecting Lies?

Here’s the interesting thing about writing a corporate security agent with a specialty in premises liability—I am forever out of my league research-wise.

Trey Seaver (the agent in question) is a badass at managing information. He’s got a background in SWAT, yes, but his best work is done behind a desk. That man knows his way around an actuarial table. He has yet to meet a spreadsheet that can get the best of him. And he can design a data flow diagram like nobody’s business.

I…cannot do these things. So I spend a lot of time researching topics like real-time non-uniformity corrections so that when Trey speaks, he actually knows what he’s talking about (even if I don’t).

Which brings me to Book #8, the next case that he and Tai will tackle. I have neither title nor timeline, but I do have an opening scene (yay) and the topic I want to explore—how those of nefarious mind can use ever-evolving technologies (especially those technologies connected with social media and the proliferation of AI) to deceive, coerce, and manipulate. It’s a stalk-and-scam paradise for criminals, and their favorite prey is people without basic information literacy.

That’s why I picked up this book at my local independent bookstore: True of False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News. One of the first things I learned is that false information a not a new problem (it’s been happening for centuries) and that even though it may seem harmless at times, it creates a very real security risk to individuals, communities, and governments because it trains people to be easily fooled. But I’m learning that I don’t have to be a licensed security agent like Trey to fight it, that I can help make a safer and more secure world for all of us by sharpening my own discernment.

Check out the book if you’re interested. I also found some excellent websites if you would like to improve your “social media lie detector” ability.

Perhaps you think you’ve already got the chops to spot a bunch of lies masquerading as a news story? Here’s two quizzes that test your misinformation susceptibility.

  • The first is from ABC Education, an online education resource developed to support primary and secondary students in Australia. This quiz asks you to look at headlines, images, articles, and sources to decide if what you’re reading is real news, misinformation, or satire. Apparently I am not as smart as an Australian middle-schooler: https://games.abc.net.au/res/media-literacy/fake-news/index.html

  • The second is the Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST) created through a project at Cambridge University (you can take the quiz just for fun, or you can contribute your results to the ongoing research—your choice): https://yourmist.streamlit.app/

As Trey would say, there’s no such thing as 100% safe. Any time you venture into the online world, you’re mingling amongst the wolves. But with a solid set of media literacy tools in your kit, at least you won’t mistake them for sheep.

Tai Randolph's Lowcountry Boil

Them’s good eatin’.

First, get a drink. I recommend sweet tea, a Coke, or an ice-cold beer. Tai’s favorite beer is whatever you have on tap, even if it’s PBR, but my favorite summer beer is Athens-based Creature Comforts Classic City lager. It’s the perfect complement to the salty, spicy goodness that is to come, plus you’ll need a bottle for the recipe, so win-win. If you’re tee-totaling, a crisp clear non-alcoholic brew works just as well.

Second, gather your ingredients. You’re going to need:

  • 2 quarts water

  • 1 12-oz bottle of beer (non-alcoholic works great)

  • 2 tablespoons seafood seasoning (such as Old Bay®)

  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt

  • 2-3 pounds small new potatoes

  • 2 medium sweet onions (like Vidalias), peeled and cut into halves

  • 1 1/2 pounds cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces (Conecuh is our fav)

  • 8 ears fresh sweet corn, husks and silks removed and cut in halves

  • 2 pounds whole blue crabs

  • 4 pounds fresh shrimp, unpeeled

Third, get your BIG pot and get to cooking.

Instructions:
1. In a large stockpot, combine the water, beer, seafood seasoning, and salt.
2. Add potatoes, onion, and sausage and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender (about ten to fifteen minutes).
3. Add corn and shrimp; cover and simmer ten to fifteen minutes longer or until seafood is fully cooked. Remove from heat.

Fourth, enjoy!

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La Dolce Velocita

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Ferrari%2Bedit.jpg

In the showroom of Ferrari of Atlanta. Have mercy, that was a sweet car.

“Fasten your seatbelt,” my driving coach said as he climbed behind the wheel.

He didn’t have tell me twice. He didn’t have to tell me at all. I knew exactly what a Ferrari 360 Modena was capable of doing — zero to sixty in 4.3 seconds, with a top speed of 190 mph. I also knew that after our first lap around the course, I’d switch places with him, and I’d be the one in the driver’s seat.

He looked over at me, surprised to see a notebook on my lap. “You’re gonna take notes?”

I nodded. “I’m a writer. We do that.”

And then I explained that I wrote mysteries, and that despite the grin on my face, I was in that bright yellow Ferrari doing serious research for my Tai Randolph & Trey Seaver series. After all, Trey—my Special Op trained, former SWAT co-protagonist—drives a 2008 Ferrari F430 coupe. And while my girl Tai has yet to get her eager fingers wrapped around its steering wheel, she eventually will. And I, her writer, need to be able to describe that experience.

I explained all this to my driving coach as he fastened his own seatbelt. “Cool,” he said. And then he slipped the car into gear, opened up the throttle, and my notebook hit the floor.

For the next sixty seconds, my life condensed to whiplash turns and lightning acceleration. I remember my stomach somersaulting with each twist and angle, the irresistible forces of velocity and trajectory combining in a giddy-making head rush. When we eventually slammed to a stop, my driver told me he’d been taking the car to only 80% of its capacity. And then he helped me out of my seat.

“Your turn,” he said, and grinned.

I slipped into the driver’s seat, feeling the vibrations of the engine, which is mounted right behind you, a V-8, pistons pumping, motor growling. Driving a Ferrari is a sensual delight—the leather seat molding to your body, the heat waves shimmering up from the engine, the throaty roar that peaks in a banshee shriek, like a chainsaw mated with a sonic boom. It’s primal, animal, atavistic, all blood rush and adrenaline surge. But a Ferrari isn’t some wanton, reckless beast—it wants to be controlled. And even on a simple agility course like I was running, you can feel how much performance the car is giving you, how much more it’s got to give. You push the accelerator a half an inch, and the car rewards you with a screaming, high-octane mile in return.

I drove my yellow and black fireball as cautiously as any stereotypical granny, considering it was worth over a hundred thousand dollars. But even at relatively tame speeds, I could feel its exquisite responsiveness, as if it were a live thing, as if it could read my mind. My coach warned me to keep my eyes on the lane and not on the obstacles, because the car would go where I looked. He also guided me through the turns—when to slow, when to punch it—and I had to trust him, because every instinct I had was screaming turn-turn-turn-now-now-now and he was saying wait-wait-wait. But when I trusted his instructions, I could feel the car moving into the curve, aligning itself with the centripetal and centrifugal forces. Becoming, indeed, one with the road.

I climbed out of that Italian leather seat with a true understanding of “la dolce velocita”: the sweet speed. And I know my girl Tai is going to be utterly blown away when she finally gets to drive this work of automotive art for herself. She’ll forgive every inconvenient corpse I’ve ever dropped in her path, I am certain of it.

Predicting the Future: The Fiction Writer's Edition

Once upon a time I was accused of causing The Atlanta Snowpocalypse.

I don’t have to define what this is for anyone who was living in North Georgia in January 2014 when a mere 2.6 inches of snow brought the metro area to a grinding halt. The Snowpocalypse — also known as Snowmageddon and Snow Jam — began when what would have otherwise been a mild dusting of fluffy white stuff stuck to the freezing roads and compacted into a sheet of black ice just as millions of workers began an early commute home, trying to beat the weather.

Those millions of cars became trapped on the streets and interstates as the temperatures dropped to 12 degrees, tires freezing in place, forcing stranded motorists to seek shelter on the side of the road (where thousands of families opened their homes to complete strangers—there was even a baby delivered in the chaos). It was an unprecedented event, since snowstorms occurring simultaneously with sustained temps in the teens is very rare in Georgia — there have only been six such weather events in almost a hundred years — and this one sharpened its teeth for Atlanta in the middle of the night, leaving many people unaware as they headed out for work or school the next morning that the few flakes they saw coming down were in fact a portent.

I knew the intricacies of this “perfect storm” because I’d been researching a virtually identical scenario for my 4th book, Deeper Than the Grave. In previous novels, I’d subjected Tai and Trey to the typical natural disasters we see in the South — a heat wave in Darker Than Any Shadow and a tropical storm in Blood, Ash, and Bone — so I decided to inflict a blizzard on them, one that would shut down the city.

Which I did.

I submitted the manuscript to my editor two weeks before the actual storm hit. And real life played out exactly as my research had told me it would—impassible roads, no emergency services, panic and desperation city-wide. My fictional storm matched reality so well that a reader berated me at a public Q&A session, accusing my story of somehow contributing to the awfulness.

At the time, the rogue winter storm was the only plot line from that book to have a real-life counterpart. Imagine my surprise to see a YouTube video by Caitlyn Doughty — author and creator of the Ask a Mortician YouTube channel — entitled “Who Hid a Body in a Civil War Grave?”

You see, Deeper Than the Grave begins with Tai being tasked with finding a missing Civil War-era skeleton after a tornado rips through a family burial site. She recovers the skeleton, but it’s definitely...fleshier...than a hundred-and-fifty-year-old skeleton should be, leading her to conclude that a killer tried to hide a modern-day crime in a historical tomb.

I opened the video expecting to learn that once again I’d cribbed from real life. But then I got surprised. I won’t spoil the surprise for any interested viewers, but I will say the body found in the Civil War grave led to the creation of the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, better known as the Body Farm, which continues to advance forensic science and aid criminal investigations.

If you are a lover of all things CSI — and have the required tolerance for the grisly — you’ll want to watch. Caitlyn is an informed and engaging host, with a snarky and somewhat dark sense of humor (there’s another content warning there) but she’s also an outspoken and eloquent voice in the death-positive movement. I’ve been a fan of hers for a while (her episode on 19th century funeral photography provided the research for the first chapter in Crooked Ways) and I never fail to learn something from one of her videos.

You can watch “Who Hid a Body in a Civil War Grave?” at the Ask a Mortician YouTube channel HERE. And you can read how Tai and Trey investigated a very similar mystery by reading Deeper Than the Grave, which you can learn about HERE.

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Hot Tea: A Story and a Recipe

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Trey’s bedside (imagine it smells of hot tea, crisp linen sheets, and a touch of his aftershave, which contains notes of ocean and evergreen).

One of the very first things Tai learns about Trey—before she even learns his first name—is that he doesn’t drink alcohol, only water and hot tea. (PS: You can revisit that epic moment HERE.)

Since that time, Tai and I have both learned a lot about tea, all kinds of tea: the bright floral notes of a first-flush Darjeeling, the smoky punch of lapsang souchong, the earthy sweetness of pu-erh. We’ve also learned the intricacies of tea preparation, because Trey takes his steaming hot without a speck of cream or sugar.

Which is not how I drank it growing up in the flatlands of Middle Georgia. Back then, there was one kind of tea—Lipton—and one way to drink it—sweet and strong and ice cold.

Unless you wanted to make Russian tea. Which was sweet tea mixed with orange juice, pineapple juice, cinnamon and clove, and then heated just to boiling. My fondest memories of the beverage are from the nights my father and brother would vacate the house, leaving my mother and me to our own devices. This meant popcorn for supper, Love Boat and Fantasy Island for entertainment, and Russian tea as a nightcap. In my imagination, I was partaking of a drink with a rich and storied history, sipped by czars and czarinas against a snow-bound landscape as exotic as Narnia.

In truth, Russian tea is an American invention from sometime in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century (you can read more of its fascinating evolution at Yesterdish). It reached an apex of popularity in the 1960s, however, with the creation of Tang, which led to many “instant” versions of the drink, most of them now named Hot Spiced Tea (the descriptive “Russian” eliminated in a patriotic nod to the US space program, which chose Tang as the breakfast drink of its astronauts).

A fine example of a Russian tea samovar (with appropriate snacks).

But as American as Russian tea is, Russian tea culture is supremely Russian. Its story begins in the early days of the Siberian Route, the historic road that connected Russia to Siberia and China in the seventeenth century. At first, black tea was too expensive for anyone who wasn’t royal or rich, and the ceremonies surrounding it were equally luxurious. Porcelain teacups rimmed with gold, gilded glass tea holders called podstakanniks, and the magnificent samovars which delivered boiling water in supreme elegance.

My mother’s recipe was not elegant, but then, neither were we. And that was the best part. If you’re looking for a little spot of warmth and comfort this holiday season, I highly recommend it. 

Dinah Floyd’s Hot Spiced Tea 

2 quarts sweet tea

1 can (6 oz) pineapple juice

1 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon each: ground cinnamon and cloves 

Add cinnamon and cloves to tea in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add pineapple juice and orange juice and heat just until boiling again. Garnish with lemon or orange slices. Great for afternoon tea or anytime when the weather is a little chilly.

An Interview with Audiobook Narrator Mali Benvenutti

Mali Benvenutti and her "verbal sparring partner for life."

Thank you so much for agreeing to an interview! It’s been a pleasure working with you on “Liquor, Larceny, and the Ordinal Classification of Courtship Rituals,” and I’m looking forward to our next project.

How did you become interested in becoming an audiobook narrator?

A: Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved reading stories aloud. Unlike my more athletic classmates, I prayed for rainy day recess because it gave me the opportunity to share my favorite books with anyone who would listen. While other girls were making cootie catchers and friendship bracelets, I’d be curled up on the big green armchair in the library or sitting cross legged under a table reading Roald Dahl’s “Matilda” to an audience of wide-eyed 1st and 2nd graders.

When I graduated high school at the turn of the millennium (oh god, that makes me sound so old...) and started thinking about potential careers, audio book narration wasn’t even a blip on my radar. I thought the only way I could do the thing I loved—and get paid for it—would be to go into teaching. So I pursued a Bachelors and Masters degree in Elementary Education. But after a few years of dealing with the day-to-day reality of managing a classroom of 30-40 ten-year-olds, I realized that being a teacher was not the right career path for me.

Fast forward a decade or so to spring of 2024, to a casual conversation with my twin sister. I had been reading Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban over Facetime with my nephew. When I finished, she told me that she was impressed with the way I brought each of the characters to life, and the ease in which I went back and forth in acting out their dialogue. She said I should consider going into narrating professionally.

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A few days later, I posted on Facebook that I was interested in taking on audio book projects, and within 24 hours, a spunky, Savannah-based mystery author named Tina Whittle PM’d me. (The response was so immediate that I almost didn’t respond out of concern that she may have been an AI bot or a Russian asset. Luckily for me, she wasn’t either of these things. As far as I can tell, anyway...) The rest, as they say, is history!

What’s your favorite part of the job?

 Ooh. Good question. I would have to say that it’s the creative outlet. As someone who identifies as a “highly sensitive person” (shout out to all my fellow HSPs and neurospicy peeps in the audience), I am constantly looking for opportunities to express myself emotionally in a way that doesn’t make my husband or random passersby question my sanity. Since I play a mild-mannered administrative assistant forty hours a week, I particularly enjoy narrating fiction because it gives all my alter egos a chance to take center stage and flex their muscles.

Can you describe your process?

 As an ADHD-American, well-thought-out processes and routines are not something that come naturally to me. But if I had to describe how I tackle a narration project, it would be as follows:

  •  1) Read the manuscript in my head a few times first.

  • 2) Record a rough draft.

  • 3) Playback on repeat ad nauseum

  • 4) Obsessively email critical notes to myself about what to fix. Ask for feedback from others.

  • 5) Record a second draft. Rinse. Repeat.

  • 6) When I’m reasonably happy with a draft, that’s when I go to my studio to record an audio file for submission to the production company.

  • 7) Cross my fingers and pray that the file is usable and doesn’t require a ton of “voice overs” (narrator-ese for “audio corrections”).

 Any advice for someone starting out in this profession?

 As someone who is also pretty new to the profession, I am constantly learning something new about audiobook narration. But here are my top 5 (so far):

Mali's Studio!

  •  1) It pays to invest in decent equipment. If you want to make a career out of this, purchase the best audio equipment you can afford. The audio recording kit I use—FocusRite Scarlett—was recommended to me by my production company, and it produces a much more professional sound than other “plug and play” USB mics I’ve used.

  •  2) Find a super quiet place to record, and don’t be afraid to get creative. Case in point: I currently live in a rental property in the heart of downtown of a bustling city. There is nowhere in my house where you can’t hear drivers blaring their bass at decibels loud enough to shatter glass, or sirens wailing at all times of the day. Paying for time in a professional recording studio was not feasible, so I went to the interwebs and searched for “alternative recording spaces for people on a budget.” A forum on Reddit suggested renting and converting a storage facility. So I talked to my husband, and when our landlord advertised storage facilities at one of his other properties in the city for $40/month, we decided to take him up on it. We prepped the 7x20-foot room with two boxes worth of those stick-on sound-proofing tiles from Amazon. We set up a six-foot card table and a folding chair, and covered every inch of surface area with a bazillion moving blankets. Add laptop and FocusRite Scarlett and VOILA:  Mali’s new studio!

  •  3) Rest. Your. Voice. Voice narration can be physically exhausting. When you’re in the zone, it’s super easy to overdo it. Your vocal cords are just like any other muscle—they can wear out and break down if you over-tax them. Don’t spend more than two hours at one time recording, drink a lot of water, and give yourself at least one day between recording sessions for optimum performance. Think of it as verbal leg day. Trust me. I’m married to a doctor (a doctor of Political Science, but still).

  •  4) Listen to other professionals who inspire you to hone your craft. At the top of my current audible playlist are Stephen Fry (the absolute best narrator of the Harry Potter series), Andy Serkis (aka Gollum), and Hugh Fraser (of Poirot fame). Not only are each of these British actors incredibly talented and versatile in their delivery, but you can tell they really throw themselves into each and every performance to the point where it is almost impossible to tell where they start and their characters begin.

  •  5) Outsource the production part if you can. Prior to venturing into the audio book narration biz, I assumed that narrators only did the voice acting part. But what I quickly found out is that most people who hire themselves out as independent narrators are often responsible for the production side as well. For those of you who don’t know, voice acting is the easy part. Production, aka mixing and engineering the raw audio, takes a lot more technical know-how than just using a professional mic and pressing “record.” For every 1 hour of recording time, it takes a minimum of 3 hours in post-production to massage that raw audio into a format that meets the professional standards of audible and other audio book vendors. I don’t know about you all, but this working girl ain’t got time for that. Luckily, I have the great fortune to work with an incredibly talented and professional production group called Scott Ellis Reads. They are a family-owned business based out of Massachusetts, but can work with anyone, anywhere. So if anyone reading this needs a referral, reach out to Scott Ellis and tell him Mali sent you.

 What else do you like to do?

 It depends on who we’re asking. If you’re asking me, I’d say sing karaoke, watch baking competitions, and host elaborately themed parties. If you ask my husband, it would be: argue (as the daughter of two lawyers, this was inevitable), procrastinate, and find thoughtful presents for our collective family members.

 Reviewers have praised your energy and animation in “Liquor & Larceny,” describing your voice as “luscious and clear.” Is it difficult to keep up that kind of energy over an entire performance?

 A: Yes and no! When I enter the studio, I try to leave “Mali” at the door and become whoever I think the author wants me to be. It’s much easier to get into the right mindset for fiction narratives because there’s more dialogue, more dramatic cues, and more opportunities to emote. Nonfiction is a lot harder because you have to read “straight” while still holding the audience’s attention. It is ridiculously easy to get stuck in monotone when reading fact-centered material, but the one thing I strive for is to never be boring. If it sounds like something that would put my nephew to sleep, Auntie M needs to try a different approach!

 What’s next for you creatively and/or professionally?

 I’m currently recording a biography written by my mother, retired judge and award-winning civil rights historian, Lise Pearlman. The book is titled Call Me Phaedra: the Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender and was originally published in 2018. The book tells the life story of Fay Stender, a trailblazing, brilliant Jewish woman lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area who came to national and international fame in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and who tragically took her own life after an attempted assassination left her paralyzed. Although she was best known for representing Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton and “Soledad Brother” George Jackson in their respective murder trials, among her many impressive achievements, Fay was responsible for changing the makeup of the American jury from the “12 Angry White Men” of the 1960s to the more diverse juries we see today. The Huey Newton trial was the subject of another award-winning book of my mother’s called The Sky’s The Limit: People v. Huey Newton—The Real Trial of the Century?  It was the basis of a short documentary that she also produced called “American Justice on Trial,” which made the shortlist for Oscar-nominated documentaries in 2023! We are hoping to get the audio version of Call Me Phaedra ready for release by March 1, 2025, just in time for Women’s History Month.

The Perfect Mojito

You might have noticed a new publisher behind my Tai & Trey stories — Mojito Literary Press. Which is itself a part of the Mojito Literary Society, founded oh so many years ago by a bunch of us writerly types to celebrate joy, in all its forms.

And one of those joys is, of course, the mojito.


image @deemwave

The derivation of the name is unclear; it could refer to mojo, a lime-flavored seasoning mixture popular in Cuban cuisine, or to the word mojadito, Spanish for "a little wet." A favorite drink of Ernest Hemingway (whose graffiti praising the drink can still be seen on the walls of his favorite Cuban bar), the mojito is a deceptively simple mixture of five basic ingredients: rum, lime juice, cane sugar, club soda, and fresh mint leaves (traditionally yerba buena in Cuba, but most commonly spearmint or peppermint in the US).

I've had many mojitos. Some have been exquisite; others have been as limp and tasteless as salad in a glass. I make my own at home regularly, and they are quite tasty if I do say so myself (and I do). Still, when it comes to mixology, there's no greater authority than my friend Chris Milligan. He writes the blog The Sante Fe Barman and is, IMHO, a genius with all things spirited. When I asked him to explain how to make a perfect mojito, he graciously obliged.

So here it is, folks, straight from someone who knows.

The Perfect Mojito

You’ll need:

  • 10-12 mint leaves

  • 3/4 oz simple syrup

  • 1/2 oz lime juice (freshly squeezed)

  • 2 oz white rum

  • Club soda

  • Ice

  • Lime wheel for garnish

In a 12-oz glass, muddle mint leaves with simple syrup and lime juice. Add ice, rum, and fill with club soda. Using a long-handled spoon, pull the mint from the bottom of the glass to combine. You are also mixing in the lime and simple syrup. Garnish with lime wheel or mint sprig.

Important Mixology Skills and Information!

  • Muddling—the idea in this drink is to extract the oils from the mint without tearing the leaves, so be gentle.

  • Measure, Measure, Measure. Get a small OXO measuring cup or jigger. This is KEY.

  • That brings us back to the glassware. If your glasses are bigger than 12 oz, you will need to adjust.

  • A lime wheel is a lime cut in a circle from pole to pole.

  • Simple syrup—1 lb. BY WEIGHT of sugar and 8 oz of water (filtered) by volume. Place in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. This keeps for 3-5 days or add a shot of vodka to keep for 3 weeks. Let cool to room temperature. This keeps for 3-5 days or add a shot of vodka to keep for 3 weeks.

  • If you’d like to make this virgin, simply omit the rum. It’s just as refreshing and delicious.

Spring!

This year, the Vernal Equinox will be on March 20th at 5:25 PM EDT, marking the exact moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. It’s considered the astronomical beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, but here in the Georgia Lowcountry, our spring sprung weeks ago.

The canopy of live oaks in my backyard an hour before sunset

We don’t need a groundhog to tell us this — we just look at the pollen. And by Valentine’s Day, the yellow stuff is usually everywhere, even if Mother Nature may still have a cold snap in her pocket. We call those chilly March and April days “blackberry winter,” and get in one last cup of hot cocoa before the broil of summer begins.

Savannah spring is a jubilation of color and scent and sound. Azaleas and dogwood and jasmine bloom flagrantly under the live oaks. This is our true “fall” as the dead brown leaves are pushed off the branches by fresh new growth, for live oaks are never bare, but they do shed.

Just 97 seconds in my backyard as documented by my Merlin Bird ID app.

And the birds! It’s a cacaphony out there every morning. Savannah is an important stop on the migratory path of many songbirds winging their way north, and my backyard is filled with visitors I’ll likely not see for another six months. The crows will be here 24/7, though, demanding their breakfast. To them I am simply a slightly daft servant who needs loud and frequent reminders that the peanut dish isn’t gonna fill itself.

Check out the different songs my Merlin Bird ID app caught in just a little over a minute: wrens and cardinals and grackles and doves, even a cedar waxwing and a yellow-rumped warbler, two birds I couldn’t see but could certainly hear (I eventually spotted the waxwing in the woodpile, but the warbler remained camouflaged).

If you’d like to get the Merlin app yourself, it’s free. You can learn more about it at the Cornell University Ornithology Lab website: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

I hope your spring is filled with boisterous joy and sweet surprises. May it be bountiful.

Happy Holidays!

Get Your Story!

In case you missed it last time, here’s my holiday Tai & Trey story again, FREE to newsletter subscribers until January 1st.

* * *

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the town, not a creature was stirring…except Tai Randolph.

Not that documenting a decidedly unusual robbery was on her holiday to-do list. But as an apprentice PI, she has to take the assignments that come her way, even if it means disappointing Trey, her partner in both romance and crime-solving, who had other plans.

As she and Trey begin to piece together the clues, an unlikely suspect emerges, as well as an unexpected crime. Someone has been very naughty, it seems, and Tai has to set things right. But can she do it while there’s still Christmas Eve to celebrate?

My December Recommendation for Your TBR Stack

For more book by Susanna Ives, visit her website: https://susannaives.com/wordpress/

Ah, the classic British murder village!

There’s something comforting about these bucolic little towns, all of which have the best scones, the most picturesque pastures, the quaintest little antique shops . . . and a murder rate that would drop the jaw of any criminal investigator.

But I also love a good romance, especially one that makes judicious use of the small-town setting. There’s nothing like falling in love with daffodils and lakes in the background. Bonus points if the characters are complex, their love story based on the kinds of real complications that keep good people apart. I like a smart romance, one with both brains and heart.

Here’s my current read, which delivers both: Amends by Susanna Ives. From the author:

“Amends is my most serious book. It’s a story of estranged lovers reuniting under complex and challenging circumstances, facing old wounds as they struggle to keep their children safe.”

You can read more about Amends — including a link to sample chapters — by clicking the button below.

Learn more about AMENDS

Tis the season for giving, so give yourself or a loved one the gift of this book. You won’t regret it.

And to YOU a Good Read!

Get your copy of “And to All a Good Night” for 99 cents!

Available for Kindle and for Nook, Kobo, Apple and other retailers through the Books2Read storefront

get your story at Amazon Kindle
Get Your story at Books2Read

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the town, not a creature was stirring…except Tai Randolph.

Not that documenting a decidedly unusual robbery was on her holiday to-do list. But as an apprentice PI, she has to take the assignments that come her way, even if it means disappointing Trey, her partner in both romance and crime-solving, who had other plans.

As she and Trey begin to piece together the clues, an unlikely suspect emerges, as well as an unexpected crime. Someone has been very naughty, it seems, and Tai has to set things right. But can she do it while there’s still Christmas Eve to celebrate?

Second Edition of DARKER THAN ANY SHADOW Available Now!

Get it for Kindle and other E-Book Retailers

One thing I learned writing Darker Than Any Shadow — performance poetry is the closest thing to literary blood sport that exists.

That’s why I chose it as the background for the second Tai & Trey outing. It’s a cutthroat endeavor, and it brings out the ruthlessness in every single character, because every single character has something at stake. Love, riches, success, vengeance. They’re all on the table in a performance poetry competition. It’s not called a “slam” for nothing.

The dog days of summer have arrived, and Tai Randolph is feeling the heat. Running her uncle’s gun shop is more demanding than she ever imagined. Her best friend Rico is competing for a national slam poetry title. And Atlanta is overrun with hundreds of fame-hungry performance poets clogging all the good bars.

She’s also got her brand-new relationship with corporate security agent Trey Seaver to deal with. SWAT-trained and rule-obsessed, Trey has a brain geared for statistics and flow charts, not romance. And while Tai finds him irresistibly fascinating, dating a human lie detector who can kill with his bare hands is a somewhat precarious endeavor.

And then just when she thinks she might get a handle on things, one of Rico’s fellow poets is murdered . . . and Rico becomes the prime suspect.

Tai pushes up her sleeves and comes to his defense with every trick in her book—a little lying here, a little snooping there. Trey wants her off the case immediately. So does Rico. Every poet in Atlanta has a secret, it seems, and one of them is willing to kill to keep theirs quiet.

Will Tai’s relationship with Trey survive another foray into amateur sleuthing? And even more importantly, will she?

You can read the first chapter HERE.

I hope you’ll enjoy this newly revised second edition e-book of Darker Than Any Shadow, available now for $1.99 for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, and your favorite e-book retailer.

get it for Amazon Kindle
get it at Books2Read

Congrats to the Winners!

Image courtesy @eilisgarvey

Image courtesy @eilisgarvey

Thanks to everyone who entered the Rafflecopter giveaway for ten copies of the newly revised The Dangerous Edge of Things. The winners have been chosen (you can find them HERE) and I’m sending congratulatory emails to everyone. I’ve also let the Random Fate Generator choose the winner of my TBR giveaway and announced that on the blog.

Please stay tuned for more giveaways!

Once Again, From the Beginning

DEOT fall crop.png

As you may remember, I have recently reacquired the e-book rights to my Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series. Poisoned Pen/Sourcebooks will continue to carry the first editions of the paperbacks, and my own micro-press—Mojito Literary Press—will carry the e-books.

I am enjoying every second of it. Getting to watch Tai and Trey come together has been a treat, especially as their relationship deepens and strengthens with each new challenge.

And the first in the series — The Dangerous Edge of Things — is available now with spanking new covers designed just for the occasion. Plus you can find the first chapter of Darker Than Any Shadow, the second book in the series (you can read more about that book HERE).

Get It on Amazon
Get it On Kobo, Nook, Apple, and Others

A Place for Book Lovers

Image courtesy Tom Hermans @tomhermans

Image courtesy Tom Hermans @tomhermans

One lesson we have learned over the past eighteen challenging months is the value of community, however we find it. Not being able to visit my favorite local bookstore — shoutout to The Book Lady — was one of the hardest parts. Not traveling to conferences. Not gathering for readings. Not meetings readers and other writers.

Yeah. It’s been hard.

But I am lucky to have a daughter who finds amazing things. It’s one of her gifts, this genius at finding, a grace bestowed upon her head by whatever fairy godmother was in attendance that day. And she found The StoryGraph.

StoryGraph combines two things I have a nerdy appreciation for — books and data. StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood and your favorite topics and themes. It maintains a virtual TBR stack for you and connects you with other readers enjoying the books you enjoy. You can share recommendations, write reviews, discover new series and new authors, and expand your literary horizons.

ALSO! There is data to be parsed! You can set reading goals, examine your readings patterns (like what genre you read the most and what characteristics your favorite books possess), and build your virtual library.

Until we can safely meet in person, you can find me there. Look me up! My username is TinaWhittle.

Tell me what YOU’RE reading for a chance to win one of the books I’M reading (when I’m finished with it, of course). I’ll even include a cute bookmark. Drop your comment below to be entered in the drawing.

Happy Whittleween!

clash skeleton.jpg

We do this holiday right here at Whittle Central, combining my love of all things dark and spooky with my husband’s engineering prowess and my daughter’s creative flair. We’ve even started a website just for the occasion, and we’re inviting you to be our very special guest.

Visit us at https://www.whittleween.com. Click the PHOTOS tab to see images of Whittleween Past, or visit The Boo Blog! to see what the Diabolical Engineer might be up to. Visit the LINKS page to see what experts we follow throughout the year.

And if you’re anywhere near Southeast Georgia on Saturday, October 30th (which is when our town will be trick-or-treating) do drop by. If you’re in costume, you get candy. I promise.

Second Edition of "Trouble Like a Freight Train Coming" Out Now!

Yes, I’m using a lot of exclamation point for this release, one of my favorite stories ever, freshly edited and available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and a plethora of other sites.

Copy of Trouble kindle 800 x 2230.jpg

First published in the anthology Lowcountry Crime, “Trouble Like a Freight Train Coming” is now a stand-alone novella. It was nominated for a Derringer (in one of my most delighted author moments) and functions as a prequel to my Tai Randolph & Trey Seaver series.

Here’s its description:

Tai Randolph is accustomed to murder and mayhem...of the fictional variety. As a tour guide in Savannah, Georgia, she’s learned the tips are better when she seasons her stories with a little blood here, a little depravity there. She’s less experienced in real life criminality, however, preferring to spend her days sleeping late and her nights hitting the bars. But when she gets the news that her trouble-making cousin has keeled over while running a marathon, Tai finds herself in a hot mess of treachery and dirty dealings. Worst of all, the clues lead her straight into the moonshine-soaked territory of the most infamous smuggler in Chatham County—her Uncle Boone.

 “Trouble Like A Freight Train Coming” is set in Savannah several years prior to the inheritance of her Atlanta gun shop and her first encounter with security agent Trey Seaver, who ultimately becomes her partner in both romance and crime solving. For readers familiar with the rest of Tai’s adventures, this story is a chance to watch her develop her sleuthing chops. For those meeting Tai for the first time . . . welcome to her slightly reckless, somewhat hungover, not-quite-respectable world.

Look for it on Nook, Kobo, Apple, !ndigo, Scribd, and other platforms (Books2Read provides a handy summary HERE) and on Amazon Kindle. And just between us, keep your fingers crossed for an audio version real soon.

Swamp Things

Okefenokee. Land of the Trembling Earth.

My family and I visited during the winter, when the park has very few visitors (of the human variety anyway). Because of course there were gators. Many many gators. The thing is, there are always more gators than you can see. For every alligator just lolling around like a tourist in a beach chair, there were several lurking beneath the dark tannic surface, visible only to the discerning eye.

OBVIOUS GATORS!

obvious gator.jpg

SNEAKY HIDDEN GATORS!

But the most profound experience in the Okefenokee is a spiritual one, an ancient and instinctive understanding of where humans — soft-skinned and delicate as butterflies — fit into the ecosystem.

sign.jpg

This is the sign that greets you at the end of the board walkway:

“We were once alive like you are now, but we complained and hollered anyhow. So love each day, don’t pass it by. Sooner or later, you too will die.”

One of the highlights of a visit to the Okefenokee Swamp is a trip up the three-story viewing tower. While walking the paths and trails of the park, it’s easy to become so fascinated with the up-close beauty — the lush foliage, the water like a dark mirror — that one forgets the breathtaking expanse of the waterway. Above the canopy, however, the vastness and wildness of this landscape reveals itself.

swamp trail.jpg

I hope that we continue to protect this wildness, the free and beautiful land. It is where water and land meet in a mating dance as ancient as the tide, as compelling as the moon. I am grateful for its inspiration.