by Karen Shughart | Nov 17, 2020 | Blog
For many years the poetry books I collected, starting in my teens, sat on our bookshelves untouched. I have no idea why I stopped reading poetry, but I did. Then, one cold and rainy afternoon last month, I made myself a cup of tea and after pulling several books off...
by Karen Shughart | Oct 20, 2020 | Blog
The leaves have turned, some fallen, and walking through the village our feet trample upon a carpet of brilliant colors. Stacks of pumpkins: pale green, yellow, orange, and white, are artfully arranged on steps leading up to front porches or peek out among decaying...
by Karen Shughart | Sep 23, 2020 | Blog
For many of us this has been a year of uncertainty, a difficult year, and a year we could never have imagined, one that took us completely by surprise and rocked our universe. For my husband and me it has meant almost no in-person contact with our children. Our son...
by Karen Shughart | Aug 17, 2020 | Blog
Here up at the lake we’re surrounded by orchards, vineyards and farmland; gently rolling hills and meandering streams with an abundance of fish. It’s a beautiful place any time of the year, but the end of summer, the month of August, is special in so many ways....
by Karen Shughart | Jul 21, 2020 | Blog
Murder in the Museum, my first Edmund DeCleryk Cozy mystery, is set in winter. For some reason wind howling through the cracks in the walls at a museum dating back to the 1800s, and the discovery of a body on a narrow beach at the base of a bluff amidst decayed...
by Karen Shughart | Jun 15, 2020 | Blog
I grew up in the 1950s, a time shortly after the end of World War II when all most people wanted was a simple life that included a modest home, food on the table and a little bit of money for extras. We had one TV, a black and white at first, and sometimes we ate TV...