'Tis the Season

'Tis indeed the season for reunions.  I graduated from UNH (Durham) and received graduate degrees from BU and Rollins, but I've never been to a reunion at any of them.  Instead, every five years, I head my car north on the Merritt Parkway and attend my prep school reunion weekend.  

Why?

I think those were the most important, and definitely most formative, years in my life.  I know I've stayed closer to more of those classmates.  We shared not only Latin I, calculus, and hideously unflattering uniforms, but also teenaged angst, first loves, first broken hearts, acne, SAT scores, and everything else that went with being in high school.

I graduated from an all-girl school,  with 72 other girls,  in an intimate ceremony on a tradition-rich campus.

Four years after we graduated the school went coed and the our school was amalgamated into our "brother" school, moving to its campus.  We lost our campus, our chapel and many of our traditions - it's hard to move the 150-year-old tree seniors criss-crossed with daisies on graduation day.

Now 45 years (no comments, please) after graduating we return to a much larger, alien campus, our friendship still strong despite time, distance and circumstances.  

Going to a reunion is like slipping on your oldest flannel pjs: they're a little worn and faded, but they're familiar, comfortable and warm.  Maybe they don't fit the same as the day you bought them, but you adjust and feel good. 

Some returning alumnae are now retired, some have grandchildren, some are reinventing themselves into second and third careers, yet we still share bonds that go deeper than yearbook scribblings.  We fly in from London, California and elsewhere to spend three days reminiscing, swapping pictures and enjoying our time together - and discovering that we've all turned into our mothers!  We leave with new shared memories of the weekend and a determination to do it all again in five years.

 So, for all of you who don't go to reunions....why not? Try it, you might just like it.

And for those of you who do go back, what's the best part? Or your best memory?

Doggie Deliberations: Mystery Reader's Quiz

Do you write pets into your mysteries?  Do they play a significant part?  Are they modeled on your own pet?  See how much you know about other writer's literary characters.
 
1. These dogs are NOT huskies, although many people think they are.  What breed are Rowdy and Kimi, featured in Susan Conant's Holly Winter Mysteries?

   a)    German shepherds
   b)    Alaska malamutes
   c)     Irish Wolfhounds
   d)    Hungarian sheepdogs

2. These dogs, featured in Laurien Berenson's mysteries, were originally bred in Germany as hunting dogs.

   a)    Schnauzers
   b)    Dachshunds
   c)     Poodles
   d)    Weimaraners

3. Toby the Spaniel assisted which human detective?

   a)    Philip Marlowe
   b)    Lord Peter Wimsey
   c)     Sherlock Holmes
   d)    Hercule Poirot

4. What breed of dog does Columbo own?

   a)    Beagle
   b)    Blood hound
   c)     Dachshund
   d)    Basset hound

5. Bonus Points:  What is Columbo's dog's name?

   a)    Him
   b)    Dog
   c)     Max
   d)    Rex

6. What mystery featuring the dog Claudius is set in Roswell?

   a)    Please Don't Cry, Wolf
   b)    Howl with the Wolves
   c)     Lone Wolf
   d)    Wolf at the Door

7. Rachel Alexander and her dog Dash are both a Private Eye team and a Therapy dog team.  What unlikely breed is Dash?

   a)      Pitbull
   b)      Chihuahua
   c)       St. Bernard
   d)      Corgi

Mystery Musings: DUI is hazardous - and expensive!

Most of us get in our cars, turn on the ignition and drive off with little or no thought beyond our destination. At least I did until last Tuesday night.

Did you know that if you're on the road, one in ten drivers around you is drunk? Kind of makes you stop and think, doesn't it? 

And what about that $45 bottle of wine you ordered with dinner?  According to our instructor, Any amount of alcohol will affect driving ability. Alcohol's effect is magnified by emotions, physical condition, use of prescription drugs or other types of drugs, some over-the-counter medications (muscle relaxants, pain killers, migraine pills) and some herbal supplements. 

Drunkenness in Connecticut is based on blood alcohol content (BAC), as follows:

• Drivers under 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher. 
• Any vehicle requiring a commercial driver license with a BAC of .04 percent or higher. 
• All drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher. 

 Penalties differ from state to state, but here they are pretty harse: 

• First Conviction: Either (a) up to six months in prison with a mandatory minimum of two days or (b) up to six months suspended with probation requiring 100 hours of community service PLUS a $500- $1,000 fine, PLUS license suspension of 45 days, followed by one year driving only a vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock 
• Second Conviction: Up to two years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 120 consecutive days and probation with 100 hours community service, a fine of $1,000- $4,000, license suspension for 45 days, followed by three years of driving only a vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock 
• Third and Subsequent Convictions: Up to three years in prison, with mandatory minimum of one year and probation with 100 hours community service, a $2,000- $8,000 fine and permanent evocation of your driver's license. (Eligible for reinstatement after six years. If reinstated, must drive only interlock-equipped vehicles for 10 years from date of reinstatement.) 

In addition to these penalties, the court can order a driver to participate in an alcohol education and treatment program. In all cases, the car will be towed and held for 48 hours -- even if it's a teenager driving and the only family car.  Good luck getting to work the next morning, Dad.

Total cost to driver: an estimated $18,000 just for the first conviction, mainly for the purchase, installation and monitoring of the interlock. 

That was one expensive bottle of wine! 

Fact:  Most times when a couple are stopped for DUI, the husband is driving drunk and the wife is sober.  Asked why she is not driving, she answers "well, he always does the driving and I thought he was okay."

On a lighter note, my  favourite tidbit of the night:the  bank robber who fled the scene and hid in an unmarked police car. True story.

Variations on a theme: Ham & Cheese

What's more American than a ham and cheese sandwich?  Unless it's French? Or contains turkey?

When we were little,  Mom would slap boiled ham, American cheese and French's mustard on Wonder bread and send us off to school.

A few years later, we moved to Europe where we discovered the Croque Monsieur  and its more feminine rendition, the Croque Madame.  The Monsieur was a sandwich made up of a grilled Gruyere cheese loaded with thin slices of ham and fried in clarified butter, and covered with Bechamel or Mornay (Bechamel with cheese) sauce. The Madame substituted turkey for the ham.  Strangely (at least to me) recent menus list the sandwiches as identical except for a fried egg topping the Madame.  When did that happen? It should be a Croque Monsieur à cheval (on horse back).

It you want to go Made-in-the-USA, you can stick with "The Hot Brown," an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown. Many Hot Browns also include ham with the turkey, and either pimentos or tomatoes over the sauce. 

None of these are exactly diet food, but if calories are really not a concern, go for broke with a Monte Cristo: turkey, ham and Swiss cheese on battered egg bread, and deep fried.  It's served dusted with powdered sugar and a side of strawberry jam.
Me, I'll stick with the Croque Monsieur. 

Croque Monsieur

3 Tbsp unsalted butter   
3 Tbsp all purpose flour   
1 1/2 cups whole milk, gently warmed   
1/2 tsp salt   
pinch of nutmeg   
4 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese   
8 oz grated Gruyère cheese ( 1 1/2 cups)   
12  very thin slices  Black Forest Ham   
Dijon mustard   
8 slices thick-cut French sandwich loaf   
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature  

Make the sauce: In a small saucepan on low heat, melt butter until foamy. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly with a flat whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly add milk, stirring continuously, and cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and season with nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in Parmigiano and 4 tbsp grated Gruyère. Set aside to cool. It should be very thick.

 Preheat oven to 375° Set aside 4 Tbsp of the grated gruyere. Place the bread slices on a rimmed sheet and bake for 5 minutes, turn and toast an additional 5 minutes. Remove pan from oven.

Butter one side of 4 slices and place, butter side DOWN back on the rimmed pan. Spread the top of those slices with mustard. Lay down three slices of ham on top of the mustard, then top each with a quarter of the remaining cheese. Cover with the remaining bread slices. Bake in oven 3-5 minutes until cheese starts to melt.

Turn on broiler.

Spread the sauce generously all of the top of each sandwich. Make sure to spread it out over the edges so they don't burn. Sprinkle to reserved Gruyere over the top of the Mornay sauce. Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes.

Serve with a tossed green salad and chilled white wine! 

Mystery Musings: How to lift that fingerprint?

There's more than one way to lift a print. And did you know that there are three types of prints?  Latent, patent or visible, and plastic or impression. 

Visible fingerprints can be photographed directly, and impression fingerprints can usually be photographed under special lighting conditions. It is only the invisible latent fingerprints that are difficult to photograph. They must first be made visible, and the fact that they are easily wiped away with a cloth or Clorox only makes it harder.

The old stand by standard fingerprint powder is still used, but it's no longer the method of choice.  One reason being that the volcanic ash it is made is extremely fine and almost impossible to remove if dumped on a rug or upholstered furniture. Regular powder can be applied smooth, shiny surfaces such as windows, televisions, kitchen counter tops, painted surfaces, and vehicles—either the painted surfaces on the exterior or on glass. Prints are then lifted using adhesive film.

The Magna Brush uses standard powder with pieces of iron metal added and also works best on shiny surfaces. When dusting for fingerprints with magnetic powder, crime scene investigators must use a magnetic applicator which has a magnet. Besides being available in the colors of black, white, silver/gray and biochromatic, magnetic powder is also available in fluorescent magnetic powder colors like red and green which are useful for objects like soda cans. The fluorescent powder will reveal the print under black light or with a specially coated camera lens. Since it is applied with a magnetic brush, there is less diffusion and less mess, making it the preferred method in most cases.

But what about some of the gee whiz stuff we see on TV?  Turns out NCIS's lab guru Abby Sciutto is right: super glue is effective.  Actually it's one of the glue's components—cyanoacrylate—which, when mixed with heat and humidity, adheres to a print. The print can then be dusted using one of the available powders.  Don't try this at home! Cyanoacrylate contains cyanide and must be used in a closed container.

Finger prints consist primarily of ordinary sweat and other organic components exuded through the fingertips. Sweat is mostly water, and will dry after a fairly short period of time, making them difficult or impossible to lift with powders.  In this case, a ninhydrin solution can be sprayed, swabbed or dripped onto the surface. Ninhydrin reacts with the amino acids in the prints, forming a purple or pink compound.

Iodine crystals can also be used for card stock. The crystals are placed in a glass tube known as a fumer. The CSI then blows into the fumer, causing the transformation from solid to gas. The iodine vapours are emitted from the other end, and if the tube is aimed at a latent print, it will become visible for a short time. Do not try this at home! If inhaled, the fumes will convert back to crystals in your lungs and they are highly carcinogenic.

Silver Nitrate is a less toxic way of detecting prints on paper. Silver chloride turns black in light, and one of the components of sweat is sodium chloride. The silver nitrate is placed with distilled water and applied to the paper. The paper is exposed to light, and any prints will turn black.

On wet surfaces, if there is no time to allow it to dry, police use a small particle reagent (SPR) . The SPR can be sprayed on  wet surface, for instance a car, then hosed off.  Fingerprints will stay clear.

Fingerprints on duct tape, sticky tape, or labels can be lifted using crystal violet which is absorbed by the fatty constituents in a fingerprint, thereby coloring it purple. Again, don't try it at home, as it is highly poisonous and easily absorbed through the skin.

And finally, there is Amido Black, a chemical used to develop fingerprints in blood. A fixing agent is first applied to the blood stain, and then amido black is used, resulting in a dark blue to black staining of the protein that can enhance the contrast and visibility of patterns and impressions and allow for easier documentation.

Fingerprints will not adhere to unfinished wood or rock, although there is a solution which can be used to enhance prints on these surfaces.  Unfortunately it costs $500 per ounce!
 

                                       

Culinary Cogitations: Crockpot Carnage

My WIP is simmering on the back burner (sorry for the culinary pun) awaiting final tweaks, so I decided it was time to test and retest the recipes I want to include. 

For those of you not in New England, It's a cold, raw, rainy/snowy day. French onion soup sounded like a good idea at 7 a.m. this morning. Several authors have warned me to my book recipes short, quick, and uncomplicated. Hmmm, sounds like a job  for my new slow cooker.

I've amassed several recipe and culled suggestions from them. First thing: mix onions and melted butter in slow cooker, cover and cook on high for 30 to 35 minutes until onions begin to slightly brown around edges. Forty-five minutes later, the onions were still completely raw and crunchy. After sixty minutes they'd just begun to wilt - slightly. Sixty-one ones after starting, I dug out my trusty Dutch oven and  caramelized them the "old-fashioned" way. Within little more half an hour I had developed a lovely batch of deep brown, caramelized onions. 

Then I faced a dilemma. Go back to the slow cooker or continue with Julia Child's tried and true recipe? Julia won out - she only suggested 40 additional minutes of simmering vs. 4-6 hours in the slow cooker. And this thing is supposedly saving me time? How?

This is not the first recipe I've murdered with technology (if you can call a crock pot technology). So far my batting average is Successful - 2, Never again - 8. Not much to inspire confidence there. But the Japanese short ribs were delicious!

Long story short, it's back to the drawing board for recipes I can simplify and include in my book. At least I have a nice bowl of French Onion soup to eat while I think about them. 

So here's my question: How long would you be willing to spend cooking a recipe in a mystery novel?  Have you ever cooked one? Was it carnage or nirvana? 

Mystery Musings: Lessons from a Master

Last Saturday, agent, author and writing guru Donald Maass provided SinCNE members with tips, tricks, and techniques to ramp up their manuscripts.

My favourite advice: Take out obvious words and emotions and put in micro tension on every page.

 My least favourite: Print out your MS, stack it next to you.  Take handfuls of pages and let them fall all around you on the floor.  Gather them back up in random order and go through the pages, one at a time, and try to add tension to every page - in dialog, exposition, and plot.

From nine to five, Maass threw of advice, encouragement, and tools of the trade. 

The most important thing a writer can do, he told us, is to make the reader care about the protagonist, whether s/he/s an "every man", a hero, or an antihero. Readers won't believe in characters they can't feel.  Even if your character is a total jerk, or a dark commando, if you open him up, the reader will stick with you.  
And how do you open your protagonist and antagonist up? Throw adversity in his/her way, then make it worse, and just when s/he's about to break, make it worse again.  Manipulate reader's feelings and expectations, play head games with them, not just red herrings and misdirection, but morally in terms of what readers are thinking.

I came away with 15 pages of single-spaced notes.  Guess I'll be hitting the revision trail once again!