Home Recipe

 

As the school year rolls to a painstakingly slow close, my heart aches for home.

My 8th graders are done (and pretty much have been for about three weeks). My colleagues are done (our witty banter has slumped to bland comments about the weather between blank stares). My inner cheerleader is spent (I've never been good at feigning enthusiasm). And to those who have ever found themselves saying something like, "But you're a teacher. You have your summers off!" I usually reply with a laugh, "I know! I don't know why everyone doesn't do it."  But the truth is, my body is crying for that ever-blessed two-and-a-half-month stretch affectionately known as "Summer Vacation" but should really be called "Recovery Period". 

I need to be home. Not on vacation. Not on a beach or at some cabin in the woods. Home. I just want to go home.

I want to get up with the birds, water and weed my gardens, love and train my horses.  Care for my chickens, dogs, and cat. Scoop poop. Cook and bake. Clean the house. Hang laundry outside in the sunshine. Mow. Make my weird and wonderful crafts. Read books and write reviews for those books. 

Most of all, I want to write. I want to curl inward at my laptop and let Forever Fields engulf me. I can't wait to see what Paisley Noon gets up to in the days to come. Even typing these words makes me smile.

Here is a poem I wrote long ago. I typically share it with newlyweds and then give the couple a fun collection of handwritten starter recipes. But for some reason, it hits home with me today. 

Enjoy!

Home Recipe

By Julie Christen

 

What does it take to create a home?

A place where you’ll never again feel alone?

 

If it was all written on a recipe card,

I bet it’d be complex, but prob’ly not hard.

 

You’d start with a crate full of laughter for flavor,

Then mix in a dozen warm memories to savor.

 

A bowl full of ideas, hopes, and big plans,

A heart full of love, you’d fold in with your hands.

 

Then you’d sprinkle a palm-full of hard lessons learned,

And season it all with each triumph you earn.

 

Next, you’d mix it all up with some family and friends,

And mash it and mold it, smooth out bumps and bends.

 

The secret ingredients: heritage and advice

Will be just what it needs to add mystery and spice.

You’d bake it inside four walls strong and sturdy

For as long as it takes … be it one year or thirty.

 

You’ll know when it’s ready; it’ll be no surprise

And serve generous portions to all who stop by.

 

Yes, that’s how that recipe card would look

If it were a part of a homemade cookbook.

The ties that bind us – to research by donalee Moulton

 

As you know, my third mystery, Bind, is out in the world. Here’s the pitch:

 

Everything that happens in a yoga studio is not Zen. Sometimes it’s grand larceny. Three yogis, two cops, and one damn cute dog join forces to discover who’s stolen a Patek Philippe watch from what was supposed to be a secure locker.  Time is ticking.

 

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As I was writing Bind, indeed, as I was envisioning what the book would be, I patted myself on the back for picking a theme, a location, and characters I was more familiar with than in my previous two books. Less research, less investigation, less fact checking. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My first mystery, Hung Out to Die, follows Riel Brava, born and bred in Santa Barbara, California, and transplanted to Nova Scotia where he is CEO of the Canadian Cannabis Corporation. It’s business as usual until Riel finds the company’s comptroller hanging by a thread. Actually, several threads. It doesn’t take the police long to determine all is not as it appears. Riel is drawn into helping solve a murder. He’d rather not. His reluctance, in part, has to do with the fact that he is a psychopath. The nicer kind, not the serial killer kind.

To make Riel and the murder realistically come to life, I spent a lot of time researching cannabis production, psychopathy, death by hanging, and upscale coffees. I even spent some time exploring the inner workings of a donair. Riel eats his first in the book; I’ve never had one.

          In a twist, my second book, Conflagration!, is a historical mystery that centers around Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman accused of setting the lower town of Montreal on fire in 1734.  Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk assigned specifically to document her case, believes Angelique might be innocent. Or not. A reticent servant, a boisterous jailer, and three fire-scorched shingles prove indispensable in his quest to uncover what really happened.

          Of course, the reality of history and the mystery I created immersed me in life nearly three hundred years ago. It also required learning about the French justice system of 1734 and specifically the trial of Angélique.

          You can see why I patted myself on the back when the idea for Bind took hold in my imagination. A watch goes missing from a changeroom at a gym – an expensive watch with a loud, arrogant owner. The theft connects three yogis in a way full lotus never could. As the search for a thief unfolds, so do seemingly unrelated questions. Why does Lexie have such an intense interest in a much-younger trainer at the gym? Who is the unnamed, unknown man who keeps leaving Charlene messages? Why does no one know Woo Woo lives in a mansion?

          I thought research would be minimal. The women in the book are my age, they live in my neighborhood, they do yoga – like me. What more could there be to research? Plenty as it turned out. One of the main characters, Lexie, is a comedian with a popular podcast, so now I’m learning about podcasts. Another main character, Charlene, is an auditor, and suddenly I’m delving into what auditors do exactly and how they do it. Another character, Woo Woo, is a reflexologist…. Well, you get it.

          It’s authenticity that makes writing come to life, and authentic writing requires writers to hunker down and delve into worlds they don’t know well and don’t know at all. I mean who knew a watch could cost $100,000. I had no idea. I do now.

 

BWL Publishing New Releases June 2025

Lang, Jay - BWL Publishing Inc.

In the shadows of British Columbia’s Comox Valley, a tragic history refuses to rest. Based on chilling true events, Dancing Mary unearths the long-buried story of a young K’ómoks First Nation woman—named Mary by early settlers—who was betrayed and murdered by the very man she once trusted. Her spirit, said to appear as a shimmering blue orb, haunted the area for decades. The last vivid encounter occurred in 1914, when a soldier cycling down Comox Road rode through the ghostly light and described an otherworldly cold that he would never forget. From that moment on, the legend of “Dancing Mary” was born—named for the spectral sway of her ghostly presence.

But Mary's tale is more than just a ghost story.

Interwoven with the haunting is the emotional journey of a grieving father and daughter who return to the Comox Valley to lay to rest the ashes of their beloved wife and mother, lost to suicide in Vancouver. As they confront their own pain, they are pulled into the valley’s dark folklore, discovering a connection between past and present that is as healing as it is harrowing.

Blending historical tragedy, supernatural mystery, and human resilience, Dancing Mary is a gripping narrative of danger, loss, and the power of a spirit who refuses to be forgotten. Both a ghost story and a story of healing, it asks: what happens when the dead speak—and who among the living is ready to listen?

Baldwin, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc.

Jordan Barrister loves her grandfather, her unique candle creations, and the life she’s built in present day Chicago. Her latest hobby obsessions, however, are love locks from a section of grille purchased at auction from Paris’ famed Pont des Arts pedestrian bridge. She’s determined to create a lasting tribute to those who put a lock on the bridge to safeguard their love. While a lock is normally used to keep something in, one particular lock accidentally opens a time portal and Jordan finds herself in 1926 Chicago.

Reporter Henry Douglas wants a more intriguing story than interviewing a magician named Harry Houdini. He is a man with a mission, on the trail of Chicago’s gangsters and bootleggers, crooked police and the man who shot his brother. His life doesn’t include beautiful mystery women falling into his arms out of nowhere. But there’s something about Jordan that intrigues him and discovering her secrets might be an even better story. He shouldn’t be surprised that along the way, he finds the other half of his heart.

In the beginning, all Jordan wants is to return to her own time, and she believes the now missing lock holds the key, but she needs Henry’s help to navigate this unknown period of history. By the time they discover the lock’s whereabouts and are in pursuit, she has fallen in love and wonders if she really wants to return to the present. How can she let go of the man who holds the key to her heart? When disaster strikes, they will need to use what they discovered to find the magic of the love lock that will keep their hearts together.

“Barb's books are like meeting up with a dear friend. It's a guaranteed good time full of magic, mystery, romance and a bit of mayhem.” – Anne Barringer, author

Lewis, Diane Scott - BWL Publishing Inc.

Sage, at fourteen, grows up in turmoil in Nahant, Massachusetts. Her changing body, her parents’ rocky marriage. When her cousin Patrick visits for the summer, his parents’ divorce has given him a reckless anger. He insists they explore the creepy mansion in the woods. Nate, Sage’s younger brother, is reluctant to approach the manor where a beloved teacher was found hanged months earlier. The children’s great-great grandmother worked at Lakeluster House in a previous century and was under suspicion of shooting another servant.

Now an old lady and her butler have moved in and the kids bring a welcome cake. Invited inside, Sage encounters a strange little girl who shows her the manor’s dark secrets—sparking Sage’s curiosity. Will the butler—a man with his own mysteries—throw them out for snooping? Who is real and who is a ghost? Was her relative guilty? And what danger lingers in the attic? Sage must gather her courage, risking her life to find out.

Editorial Review by Renee Duke

Review For Secrets Of Lackluster House by Diane Scott Lewis with Jorja Parkinson

TROUBLED TEENS TAKE ON EVEN BIGGER TROUBLE 5*

A YA novel that will definitely appeal to young teens who like scary stories, Secrets Of Lackluster House successfully conveys the insecurity and emotional turmoil of its adolescent and preteen protagonists as they find courage they didn’t know they had.

Hovey, Dean Doug Fletcher series - BWL Publishing Inc.

Deaths in US National Parks are not an uncommon occurrence. However, when the body of a Bourbon distilling icon is found at Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historic Site, the industry and political implications of the death require special attention. Review Snippets Just finished Strung Out to Die and can’t wait until the next book Dean Hovey puts out. All of his books have been very enjoyable and leave you wondering who is the criminal right up to the end. Nice blend of humor and mystery. - Linda J.  A very unpredictable story, my favorite kind! This book is both thrilling and intriguing, all the way to the end. Western Justice is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews.

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From the Editor's Desk

Friends, I know a little about 'time critical'.  

Sometimes it's for a mission where you're finally actually doing something that may be impactful and the fuel gauge is running down 24lbs/min and the ship is sailing away from your current position at 22kts and if you spool up your sonar dome now from its 700' depth it should take about 4min then if you hustle back to the ship's projected position 25mins from now at 130kias you should have just about enough fuel to not have to ditch into the middle of the Mediterranean in time to turn you and your crew into shark bait. 

Sometimes it's life and death and someone has had a couple too many beers and rocketed their snowmobile into the trees during a nighttime ride and their femur's shattered which won't be a problem if the hypothermia has it's way because it was 25 below in the daytime and you know you'll be 12 minutes loading up firing up and getting airborne then you have a 36 minute transit to the scene where the ambulance is useless because this wreck is in 3' of snow about 3 miles from any plowed roads and if you rush this and clip a powerline on final or don't do a thorough check of the weather and pick up a bunch of ice on your tailrotor on the way there you may now be looking at a quintupling of bodies your own included.  

Sometimes it ain't such a big deal.  'Important', sure-  for scheduling and goal setting and planning and all kinds of other elements that keep ink in the presses and our projects on the tracks, but none of these things are multi-million dollar operations or have lives hanging in the balance.  I have to remind people of this sometimes (myself included), lest we get far too wrapped about the axle in this pursuit of writing and publishing- which, in my opinion, should ultimately be enjoyable and satisfying.  

For one thing, we'd like to see finished products that we know the author has had time to go through a few separate times. A job worth doing is worth doing right, after all. If you find yourself saying at some point "eh, good enough, but I HAVE to get this to my editor or all hell will break loose", then you need to take a step back, read this article again (yes, you may reference it when next in this position) and let me know you're just not there yet.  Oh believe me, we'd prefer all went according to our master schedule, but things happen, the best laid plans, etc. We get that, and sometimes it's pretty easy to talk someone else into releasing their book a couple months early in the spot where yours used to be!  

All I ask is for you to keep your publisher posted, keep at it, do your best, and keep the urgency of things in perspective!  

JD

Locked Up by Eden Monroe

 

 

https://www.bookswelove.com/monroe-eden/

Most early jail cells were a horrifying experience.

For one thing, those incarcerated faced grossly inadequate sanitation in dark, squalid lockups, often relying on a slop bucket that ideally might be emptied once a day. Not surprisingly, disease and the spread of vermin were all too often the result of such conditions. But then poor sanitation was a widespread problem in general in past centuries. Besides, human confinement, and the treatment received while there, was seen as a form of degradation, no matter the nature of the crime. During those times anything terrible suffered by an inmate was deemed an appropriate deterrent to criminal behavior. That included unrelenting, agonizing brutality meted out in any number of cruel ways, with devices designed to inflict unimaginable suffering.

Says Daily.jstor.org about the inhumanity of the justice system of 17^th and early 18^th century colonial America:

“When the time for punishment arrived, it took the form of physical abuse or societal shaming. The stocks, whipping, pillory, and the ducking stool were common State responses used for lessor offenses.

“If someone was found guilty of thievery a letter ‘T’ would be branded on their hand after completing their corporal punishment. Human character at that time was perceived as permanent and immutable; a brand ensured the public would always see this person for what they were, a thief. Public hanging was the preferred punishment for a broad range of more serious offenses.”

Jail rations were typically inadequate and often putrid. With perhaps few exceptions (in some countries prisoners were required to pay if they wanted to eat at all), the accepted rule was that those in prison were not worthy of any form of decency or compassion, and in some jails, because of limited space, prisoners were not even segregated. Men and women were thrown into the same cell.

And whereas the wealthy often received more lenient consideration at the hands of a prejudicial system, such as release upon payment of fines, the poor usually endured much greater hardship. Because some facilities were inadequately constructed and escape possible, prisoners were commonly kept in irons for the entire duration of their stay. In most cases it could be years.

 

         In the United Kingdom during the 18^th century, death was the punishment for more than 200 offences. As an alternative to hanging serious offenders, by Act of Parliament in 1718, prisoners were transported by ship to Great Britain’s colonies to serve their sentence on distant shores doing hard labour.

Debtors were also considered to be criminals with legal action brought against them by creditors, and jailed accordingly. Primarily during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, debtors could easily make up the lion’s share of the prison population. These were people, including tradespeople, who had simply fallen on hard times, and release was incumbent upon the payment of any outstanding debt against them. However, eventual overcrowding of prisons was actually in their favour, as (UK) Parliament would have to occasionally intervene and discharge many of these debtors on certain conditions.

A lack of prison space was an ongoing challenge for authorities, and in addition to small village lockups, castle cellars, underground dungeons and rusted cages, decommissioned war ships, moored at London area docks, were also pressed into service.

Says Parliament,uk about the incarceration of prisoners on those ships: “What began as a temporary measure became a permanent arrangement as prisoners were put to hard labour on the docks and dredging the Thames.”

In early Canada and the United States, debtors were also jailed locally awaiting due process, and to address overcrowding in general, Canada’s first large prison began receiving prisoners in June of 1835 at Kingston in Upper Canada (now Ontario). According to Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca: “Kingston penitentiary, opened with great hopes of solving the problem of crime and criminals, was plagued by dissension, corruption and inhumanity from the beginning.

“The first major investigation, the Brown Report (1849), is full of cases like that of Peter Charboneau, an 11-year-old child committed to Kingston prison for 7 years in 1845. While in prison he was lashed 57 times in 8½ months for offences in the jail, including staring, winking and laughing….”

 

        Jail reforms were slow to come, but over time several individuals and organizations dedicated themselves to addressing systemic issues.

It was the harsh prison conditions witnessed by Elizabeth (Gurney) Fry in the UK’s “filthy and disease-ridden” Newgate Prison that spurred her into action. She was outraged that upwards of 300 women, along with their children, were packed into an inhumanely small space. It was her activism that first saw male and female prisoners properly segregated, also providing education for incarcerated women and children as well as many other important reforms.

John Howard was also an 18^th century social reformer, and he dedicated his life to not only improving prison conditions per se, but for better treatment of the prisoners themselves. In Canada, Agnes Campbell Macphail was the first female Member of Parliament in Canadian history, and also a fearless advocate for much-needed penal reform in Canada. In the US, Thomas Mott Osborne, a former prison warden, took up the fight for correctional improvements in his country, as did the like-minded countryman, Austin MacCormick.

There were certainly exceptions, where the gaol (early English spelling) keeper and his family lived in an apartment that was part of the overall structure, and regular meals were provided to prisoners.

Although the incarceration experience today is vastly different from what it once was for most in less enlightened times, and this too varies by country, public laws must still be upheld and justice served. As indicated in statista.com, topping the list of countries with the largest number of prisoners per 100,000 of the national population as of February 2025, is El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America. Last on that list is Belize, also located in Central America. The United States comes in at number five.

And while every country in the world has their own prison system to hold lawbreakers accountable, Vatican City “… the world’s smallest fully independent nation-state” according to Britannica.com, does not have a prison system as we know it.

(ewtnvatican.com) “Firstly, while the Vatican City State operates with its own judicial system and penal code, it lacks a traditional prison. It possesses facilities for temporary detention post-arrest, but these do not constitute a formal jail. Should sentences become enforceable, the convicted individuals would serve their time in Italy, as per the Lateran Pacts agreement. Secondly, the Vatican legislation stipulates that if sentences do not exceed a certain threshold, they may be suspended. Essentially, imprisonment only occurs if additional crimes are committed within Vatican jurisdiction.”

Unfortunately, for any number of reasons, countless innocent people have been wrongfully convicted and put to death, others incarcerated for extended periods of time. This is the fate that has befallen many (especially before fingerprinting and DNA analysis), the longest in the US being, according to theguardian.com, Glynn Simmons. He spent more than forty-eight years in prison before being exonerated for a murder he did not commit.

And being framed for a crime, including murder, is not just the unsettling stuff of entertainment industry imaginations. It’s very real, says mirandarightslawfirm.com: “‘Framing’ is a frightening reality for many criminal defendants. Yes, you could be framed for a crime, and it happens more frequently than we would like to admit….”

In When Shadows Stir, Book Two of The Kavenaghs (1870-1879) a harsh 19^th century jail awaits for just such a situation….

  https://www.bookswelove.com/monroe-eden/