A Life of Crime and Chocolate

'Ello there! Just wanted to drop in and say hi, I'm fairly new to this corner of the internet. Thought I might poke my head out and be sociable! I am an avid connoisseur of all things crime and chocolatey, though, so I think I'll be all right!

As my first order of business, I'd like to state that around 1600 people become lottery millionaires every year - it could happen!

Hey Faerytale welcome to the chocolate pool! Is there any sort of chocolate that you prefer? White? VERY dark? Any favourite crime writers? Please share!

My only condition for my chocolate is that it's chocolate. M&M's are my Kryptonite in this lifetime.

As for my crime, I adore Kathy Reichs, with Elizabeth Peters in second (less for her mystery and more for the fact that her books are hilarious). Jane Evanovich is good, too. And, when I'm in the mood for something particularly stirring, some good old fashioned Agatha Christie does the trick. Peril at End House, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Crooked House are all masterpieces.

What HJ said!

I had a nice class before lunch - got talking to some of them about how things that were once fiction have become fact. Most of them accepted that things change and improve - but it was sad that some lacked the imagination to be able to grasp that things only remain impossible until someone thinks of a way of making them possible. Ah well, courage and pass the chocolate!

Faerytale said:

As for my crime, I adore Kathy Reichs, with Elizabeth Peters in second (less for her mystery and more for the fact that her books are hilarious).

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Welcome, Faerytale! I love Elizabeth Peters, or I used to. I haven't read her in years, but, again, love. I used to plead with her for another Vicky and John book.

Oh yeah? I haven't picked up her Vicky and John books, but I'm in love with her Amelia Peabody series. They're just so campy and fun that you have to love 'em!

I liked Vicky and John until the mother-in-law appeared. I liked Vicky single, carefree, and john bad, sexy, and usually absent. Bad mothers-in-law and the (no doubt coming) diapers are the real world. I wanted fantasy, vicarious fun. I have to say, the climax to Trojan Gold succeeded at being funny and exciting, which is no small writing feat.

Feet. No, feat. I'm having homophone problems today; had to look up the word "tweak" to make sure it wasn't "tweek." The problem is, I'm sure y'all would say, I haven't had chocolate in over a week!

lorna_w said:

I haven't had chocolate in over a week!

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Chocolate and spellcheck are indespensible indespencible undisposable ... can't do without 'em.

Haven't had chocolate in over a week? Good grief!! Feel faint (feint?) at the thought of a chocolateless week! How do you survive?

lol, you guys. What a cheery experience coming in here in the morning is.

Well, I've been cleaning the attic today. We're turning it into a room so the guys can go up there, and free up a room on the second floor so my daughter and baby can have separate rooms. My daughter's is smmmmalllllll. Can't believe the crap I' saved.

woke up early, to 45 degree weather (having run the A/C just five days ago), and lay under the covers thinking through current scene in novel. Then got up and realized I have a headache, so chocolate is not the answer, and finally took two aspirin. Waiting for it to take effect before writing.

Question: Is the fact that I have only 400 posts but twelve people on "ignore" already a strange thing? Or would you call that normal? Or normal for an increasingly curmudgeonly middle-aged women? Or normal for someone who only has chocolate once every ten days?

Faerytale said:

Oh yeah? I haven't picked up her Vicky and John books

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You must. Go. Shoo. Get them. Start with Street of the Five Moons.

but I'm in love with her Amelia Peabody series. They're just so campy and fun that you have to love 'em!

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I love the early Amelia Peabody, but around the time she started transitioning the narrative to Ramses, I started losing interest. Maybe it was the transition that lost me. I never examined it that closely. I like Ramses too, but... He' not Amelia and Emerson. I do love the little archaeological details Elizabeth Peters puts in the stories for those who know to pick up on.

lorna_w said:

I liked Vicky and John until the mother-in-law appeared.

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I was good with Last Train to Memphis. It was the long awaited successor, which I had pleaded for, that disappointed me.

I haven't had chocolate in over a week!

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lorna_w said:

Then got up and realized I have a headache, so chocolate is not the answer

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Are you sure that's right? In my experience, chocolate makes most things better. It's a curative.

Question: Is the fact that I have only 400 posts but twelve people on "ignore" already a strange thing? Or would you call that normal? Or normal for an increasingly curmudgeonly middle-aged women? Or normal for someone who only has chocolate once every ten days?

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You probably need chocolate more frequently. More seriously, I've never put anyone on ignore, though I've thought about it on occasion. As little as I roam on these boards lately, I'm not really bothered by anyone. Or perhaps that should be: As much chocolate as I consume, I'm not really bothered by anyone enough to put them on ignore. When I have been, I try to wait it out as an exercise in tolerance and self-discipline. I can be a bit of a masochist at times.

Shhhhhhhh!

I'm testing to see if I'm on ignore.

Tomorrow my Bro is going to collect a car for me. So excited! He will do a round journey of nearly 500 miles. He is sooo good to me.

DocBrown said:

Shhhhhhhh!

I'm testing to see if I'm on ignore.

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Such ignor-ance!




Yay, for the new car, Shakes - and for the great brother.

Bro has the car and is on his way here!

Can you tell I am happy?

I don't have anyone in MTS on ignore, rest assured. I like it here, a lot. If I weren't writing an action thrillery thing, I might convert, just to hang here.

Actually, I put several people on ignore at their introduction. "I'm just here to get feedback, so I guess I'll post fifty stupid things and then let you tell me how wonderful I am"--those kinds of intro posts, which probably never were attached to a person who stayed around, eh? Not to post 51, anyway.

And I like you heyjude, but I don't think it's wise to put a moderator on ignore. (maybe not even possible!). You have to be able to poop-ban me, and I have to be able to know that.

I shop tomorrow, and I think I'll get a dollar's worth of Kit Kat bars (btw, I see "kit kat" in English novels, and I keep wondering, is that the same sort of food that we call that here in the states? Wafery things w/ choc in between? Or is this another of your dang "pudding" deals, where you call everything "pudding," from coagulated meat blood to cake to pie to actual custards and mousses? )

Now awaiting a friendly thrashing by the brits for being a nationalist wanker. Or, of course, you could put me on ignore.

Bro arrived at 01.50 this morning and we were up at 06.30! I have a car. It is red (never had a red car before) and is a bit bigger than the previous one and I really really like it. Also like the Bro very very much. He is a brilliant Big Bruvver - always has been. I am so very lucky.

Now back to planning murders. . . Muahahahahahah

Shakesbear said:

Bro arrived at 01.50 this morning and we were up at 06.30! I have a car. It is red (never had a red car before) and is a bit bigger than the previous one and I really really like it. Also like the Bro very very much. He is a brilliant Big Bruvver - always has been. I am so very lucky.

Now back to planning murders. . . Muahahahahahah

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Congrats on the car, Shakesbear. Red is sooo your colour.

I shop tomorrow, and I think I'll get a dollar's worth of Kit Kat bars (btw, I see "kit kat" in English novels, and I keep wondering, is that the same sort of food that we call that here in the states? Wafery things w/ choc in between? Or is this another of your dang "pudding" deals, where you call everything "pudding," from coagulated meat blood to cake to pie to actual custards and mousses? )

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Kit Kat here is the same as the states - wafer and chocolate.