Jenn McKinlay: One of my very favorite mystery writers, who also specializes in holiday shenanigans, is the ever hilarious and delightful Donna Andrews and here she is to tell us all about her latest escapade Dashing Through the Snowbirds!
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Donna Andrews: It’s that time of year again. The holiday season! Stores are playing Christmas carols--actually, some of them have been doing that since before Halloween, but by now most of us are ready to unstop our ears and listen. People are decorating! Putting up trees! Buying presents! Writing letters to Santa! Creating menus for holiday dinners!
I’m planning a murder.
A fictional murder, of course, and it can’t be a particularly violent or gory one. All of my books featuring ornamental blacksmith Meg Langslow fall toward the cozier end of the mystery spectrum. So the murders tend to happen off-stage, without too much bloodshed, and if the reader needs to know any details from the autopsy, Meg’s dad, the medical examiner, will blurt them out at the dinner table before being sternly repressed. It’s always a balancing act--and for a Christmas mystery, mixing murder and holiday mirth is a particularly challenging feat.
But evidently readers love Christmas mysteries. So does my editor, partly because he knows they’re good for sales and partly because he just loves Christmas. I’ve told him that when I’m working on one of my Christmas books, I always imagine him standing over my shoulder, cheering me on. “More tinsel! More snow! More holly! More evergreens! More snow! More presents! And more snow. A lot more snow!”
About that snow.
Did you know that the National Weather Service has an official definition of a white Christmas? If you have an inch or more of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. on December 25, you have officially experienced a white Christmas. My editor lives somewhere within commuting distance of New York City, which means his odds of having a white Christmas are at least 50% and maybe as high as 75%. Down here in Virginia--where I live, and where I’ve set my fictional town of Caerphilly-- our odds are less than 10%. So if I were aiming for verisimilitude, I should only have snow in one, maybe two of the nine holiday mysteries I’ve written so far.
But it’s fiction, right? And I want to keep my editor--and my readers--happy. So if I’m writing a Christmas book, there will be snow. Sometimes my characters are already snowbound by the time the book starts, turning the book into something like a locked room mystery. Sometimes the snow is coming, and everyone is rushing around to do things--including solving the murder--before it arrives and brings everything to a halt. Sometimes my characters spend the whole book pining for a white Christmas . . . so I relent and start sifting down snowflakes on them sometime before I type “the end.” I have embraced the snow. I’ve hidden weapons in the snow. Baffled Meg with snowy footprints, and had them melt too soon. Had at least one killer try to use the snow--and the cold that comes with it--as a weapon.
In Dashing Through the Snowbirds, my latest Christmas mystery, I also use ice. As a surprise for the family, Meg’s father installs a portable skating rink in the field behind their house. (In this case, portable means that when winter’s over, a large work crew can eventually disassemble it and turn the field back into a pasture.) Meg hopes skating will help ease the homesickness of her guests--a dozen Canadian software developers whose horrible boss has dragged them to Caerphilly for a work project when they’d rather be spending December with their friends and families. But when the horrible boss--
Wait! That would be telling! No spoilers. There’s ice and skating, and at least one murder. Let’s leave it there.
And snow. Whenever I feel guilty about inflicting a completely unrealistic amount of snow on my fictional Virginia town of Caerphilly, I remind myself that they also experience a completely unrealistic number of homicides. At least one per book, and I’m on book 32. So maybe I should stop worrying about the snow.
How about it Reds and Readers, how do you feel about snow--in real life or fictionally?
I love your Christmas murders! Every year I get the new one as soon as it's released, and save it to read on a snowy December evening while the holiday lights glow.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds just perfect, Eleanor.
DeleteDelighted to be a part of your holiday season!
DeleteCongratulations, Donna, on your newest book . . . an ice rink in the pasture sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteAs for the snow . . . it’s perfect . . . fictionally.
But in real life, well, less snow [a LOT less] would make my winter both merry and bright. Sad to say, I’m expecting we’ll get our share of the white stuff before it’s time for those crocuses to pop up. It’s definitely pretty to look at when those flakes are drifting down; but it’s just too slippery . . . and I dislike having to shovel it or drive in it . . . .
I'm with you, Joan. It's nice for a visit but I don't want to live in it.
DeleteMy mother always said that she didn't want to live any farther south, because Virginia was as hot as she wanted to be in the summer, or any farther north, because she couldn't take any more snow. I'd be fine with more snow as long as all I have to do is look at it.
DeleteI love snow when I'm inside my warm place looking out the window as it falls and accumulate. I love snow when I see it on the ground untouched. I dislike snow when I have to go out in it, especially if it is at least 6 inches of solidiness.
ReplyDeleteAnd slush is the worst!
DeleteThe WORST! especially when it looks like solid pavement.
DeleteI love to go out and take photos in it--for a short time. It's driving in it the scares the dickens out of me. I am totally a southern driver!
DeleteAnd that comment above was me, forgetting to state my name, rank, and serial number
Deleteoops, congratulations Donna, on your Christmas release.
ReplyDeleteDonna Andrews
DeleteThank you, Dru!
Delete32 - congratulations! I love how your editor pushes Virginia to have snow, Donna. Even up here in New England (I can see New Hampshire from my house, almost), we have less snow than we used to. I happen to love the stuff, playing in it, cross-country skiing on it through quiet woods and across sunny fields. Worrying about walking on it (and falling) when it's gotten icy, not so much.
ReplyDeleteQuestion about the title - I thought maybe you'd have Meg travel to Florida and solve the crime among the snowbirds. Your Canadians have certainly come south - but not for fun, it sounds like. Are there other snowbirds in the story?
Ha! Edith, I read your comment and Snow Hampshire and now I'll never think of it as anything else.
DeleteI love it!
DeleteEdith, there are also dark-eyed juncos, which in my part of the country are considered to be infallible harbingers of snow. Whenever my mom saw them at the feeder, she'd dash out to the grocery store for the proverbial milk, bread, and toilet paper. I thought of taking my characters to Florida . . . but I have a hard time imagining Christmas with palm trees instead of evergreens. What would I do if I moved to Australia?
DeleteAs a kid I loved snow. Until I had to start helping to shovel it. As an adult, while snow always looks pretty on the ground to start, it becomes much more of a problem when you have to continue to navigate badly plowed roads in order to get to work because there isn't "enough" on the ground to call off work for the day. On top of which, I still have to shovel and that gets harder each year.
ReplyDeleteThis year, I'm going to have to figure something out because at the moment there is no way I'm going to be able to shovel my driveway/walkway if we get a lot of snow as I'm still recovering from a back injury.
Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear that, Jay. I hope you recover swiftly. If I lived closer, I'd send the Hooligans to tackle your driveway.
DeleteOne year a doctor friend told me that no one their forties should shovel snow. "Thank goodness I'm past that dangerous age!" I told her.
DeleteCongratulations, Donna, #32! And why not have fictional snow? It's fiction, period. Poor Canadians, having to be so far from home.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest daughter is crazy for snow, the more the better. Which is why she moved first to Cleveland, then Toledo, Detroit, and now Traverse City--where they had feet of the stuff last week. They ski and snowshoe, and my grandson snowboards, and their two Bernese Mountain dogs go insane when there is deep snow.
Meanwhile, I'm bundled up in front of the fire with a good book and a hot beverage. Snowstorms are a great excuse for reading the day away!
I don't even own a winter coat. I'd never survive that weather. LOL.
DeleteIf you come to Crime Bake 2023, I'll bring an extra coat!
DeleteAnother reason I like living in Virginia. I do have reason to own a winter coat . . . and I wear it outside, but I may never wear it out.
DeleteDonna, congratulations on your latest Christmas book. It sounds like such fun story. I am going to look for your books.
ReplyDeleteWe were always big on winter sports, ice skating, skiing, even building snow men. I fondly remember all of us digging out of an enormous snowfall, laughing and joking around, the dog climbing up on the mountains of white stuff.
Things are quite different now. No more skiing because "old joints." I can snowshoe and I can still skate but may give it up completely for safety. Sigh. Winter is not for sissies.
I used to love to ski and skate when I lived in New England. Now I go up in Flagstaffaand it takes days to recover :)
DeleteDonna Andrews
DeleteIt's dangerous, me writing about winter sports, since I knew little or nothing about them. The one time I tried downhill skiing, I never left the beginner's slope. In fact, I slid into a small ditch between the upward and downward tow ropes on the beginner's slope, and they had to halt the tow rope while three people dragged me out of the ditch. That was when I decided to retreat to the ski lodge for some hot chocolate laced with Bailey's.
DeleteDONNA: Book #32 is a great milestone. I love your Christmas mysteries and it wouldn't seem very wintry without some (fictional) snow and ice in Caerphilly. And Canadians playing a starring role in your newest Meg book is really intriguing to me.
ReplyDeleteI am used to 4-5 months of the cold and wintry weather living in Ottawa (Ontario). I wish we just got the white stuff but living in a river valley, we also get a lot of FREEZING RAIN. We had one snowfall earlier this month (about 7 cm/3 inches) but it's all melted away. Our changing climate often means that winter has been starting later here too but our chance for a White Christmas is about 70%.
Freezing rain? No thank you :(
DeleteGrace, I hope you like my Canadians. The one who becomes a victim turned out to be so obnoxious that I had to make him a transplanted American, both for verisimilitude and to avoid offending all my Canadian friends. The rest of them would be welcome to spend Christmas in Caerphilly anytime.
DeleteBig Congrats Donna, #32, that’s an impressive amount of snow. Nothing is prettier than exiting church on Christmas Eve and finding it snowing. All our dreams and wishes granted in one fall. But living in Maine, well yes I did choose Maine, snow can get a little much. Snow and age don’t go well together but we’re ready to repel borders and this year virtually no snow so far which is bad for the water table and climate but so good for my back. - Celia
ReplyDeleteI can't picture Maine without snow in the winter, Celia. But for your back I hope it goes easy on you.
DeleteCongratulations on your new Christmas release! Dad's ice skating rink is pure genius, though Meg won't know if anything is under the ice till the spring thaw. I live in Cincinnati, which has milder winters than Cleveland, where people flooded their backyards to make rinks for their kids.
ReplyDeleteWe lived on a rive in CT that flooded the fields and froze every year. Good times!
DeleteHere in Virginia, ice skating is mostly an indoor sport. But now you have me worried about all those backyard rinks.
DeleteCongratulations on the new Christmas book, Donna! I'm very used to snow and lots of it but I really don't want to have to drive in it. I remember when I lived in NC and the schools were closed for snow, which had all melted by noontime. I'm sure, though, the people who worked there and had to drive in it felt very heroic.
ReplyDeleteLOL - that's hilarious!
DeleteCongratulations on #32, Donna. Wow!
ReplyDeleteI'm all for fictional snow, as I live in Winnipeg on the Canadian prairie where we have lots of snow in the winter. Last winter so much fell that we almost ran out of room to shovel it away. Oof! What I loathe is the melting/freezing cycle that makes walking not only difficult but dangerous: No falling!
Last year, I happily read a book over the Christmas holidays that someone here recommended: Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher; I loved it. This year, I'm off to find your Christmas books, Donna.
Yowza, Amanda, that's a lot of snow. Brrr.
DeleteBack in my day job days, I used to work on a lot of projects with a coworker in my company's Chicago office--and he would always razz me about how badly the DC area dealt with snow. I kept saying "Carl, it's a different kind of snow here. We don't get that light, powdery stuff you get--we get much more sleet and frozen slush and black ice. He never believed me until one day he was in DC for a meeting . . . and fell down half a dozen times covering the two blocks between his hotel and the office. He made a point of dropping by to tell me that now he understood--it WAS a different kind of snow!
DeleteCongrats on #32, Donna--Christmas with Meg and crew is always a good read! I prefer my snow either just enough to cover everything, sparkle, and melt away by noon, or feet deep--school canceled, roads closed, and everyone stay home and build snowmen, get out the skis, make some hot chocolate, and, of course, snuggle up with a good book and a cat or two.
ReplyDeleteI'm in for the book and cat portion, oh, and the hot chocolate :)
DeleteI don’t like snow at all. Every year, I convince myself that “there won’t be any snow this year,”! Every year, I’m shocked and saddened when it happens. Yeah, unrealistic for a life-long Connecticut resident! I’m never warm enough in the winter, despite dressing the way one is supposed to dress for going out in the cold. And I HATE having to shovel snow!!
ReplyDeleteI love all your Meg mysteries, including the Christmas mysteries. It’s always exciting to hear that you have a new book out!
The first time I read one of your mysteries, I laughed so hard I thought I would fall off my chair! Whenever someone asks for a recommendation for humorous mysteries, I urge them to read yours.
DebRo
I feel the same. I love this series!
DeleteGood recommendation, Deb. I love humorous books.
DeleteThat is SO true! Agreed! And humor is so difficult to manage.
DeleteThanks for being a noisy reader, Deb. (Which is what I call those lovely readers who, when they like a book, tell the rest of the world about it.)
DeleteCongratulations on #32, Donna!
ReplyDeleteAlthought I grew up in Western New York, where White Christmases - and sometimes white Halloweens - were de rigeur (81.2" in the latest storm right before Thanksgiving), I'm not a fan of snow. I mean, it's really pretty if I'm inside in front of the fire, looking out at it. Not so great if I have to go outside.
I remember having to wear a winter coat over my Halloween costume :(
DeleteMaybe I could be more philosophical about snow if I had a fireplace. Sigh.
DeleteDonna, welcome to JRW and congratulations on your new Christmas mystery novel! I remember seeing you at the mystery conferences.
ReplyDeleteRegarding snow, I love snow. It is funny because growing up in California, we rarely saw snow. Twice in my lifetime it snowed in the SF Bay Area. When I was a child, it snowed one day and I remember the snow had melted by the next day when I woke up. When I was an adult, it snowed in the Bay Area and I remember there was still snow on the ground a few days later when my family went out to dinner at a restaurant. I took photos of the children playing in the snow.
When we went up to Lake Tahoe during the winter, there was a lot of snow and we could ski! And when I lived on the East Coast, it snowed in the winter. We had to watch out for Black Ice!
The air always felt fresh to me when there was snow outside.
Diana
Black ice - I remember it well. Not fun to drive in!
DeleteWhen I was in college--at University of Virginia, in Charlottesville--one of my professors, who had grown up in California, was astonished to find that all her students actually showed up for class when we had a couple of inches of snow. "You don't understand," she said. "We do have snow in California--but you have to go to it. It doesn't come to you!"
DeleteI’ve grown up in the Midwest and have lived in SE Minnesota for the past 38 years; so I have seen tons of snow. We have a storm coming today and the weather forecasters are frantically trying to pin down the amount everyone will get and when it will hit. Snow was a lot more fun when I was a kid. The shoveling of it is definitely a buzz kill, especially when you are shoveling the same snow over again because it has drifted back in. We have a neighbor that floods his backyard to make a hockey rink.
ReplyDeleteFresh snow is pretty, but I really don’t like the cold. What I do like are the Meg Langslow books! I was first drawn to them by the punny titles and that Meg is a blacksmith because my grandpa was a blacksmith. I have read them all. (31 and 32 are calling to me from my tbr pile right now.) Very happy to see you featured here, Donna!
Brenda, I didn't know you live in Minnesota. Our daughter lived in the Twin Cities for about 15 years. We always went to visit in January for MLK Day weekend. If they said 50% chance of snow, it snowed 50% of the day. 15% chance meant it snowed for 15% of the day. See a pattern here? You couldn't avoid the white stuff. Remember the movie GRUMPY OLD MEN?
DeleteHer titles are the best!
DeleteIf you're a punster, I have a perpetual contest for titles. If someone suggests a title I like, and manage to sell to my editor and whoever else at Minotaur gets a say in the decision . . . I will do my best to track down the person who suggested the title and send them a signed copy.
DeleteDonna, I had read a few of your books out of order, but this past year I went back and read them all in order. Fabulous bedtime reading. I think my favorite thing was the pairs of names that Meg gave the twins as they waited to see their genders (Heckel and Jeckel!). I remember fondly chatting with you at a Malice dessert social (or something like that) a few years ago. We didn't get into anything deep, just commiserated about how impossible it was to keep up with all the books and stuff like that. You were clearly exhausted, yet you were kind and engaged, and I greatly appreciated it.
ReplyDeleteDonna is delightful :)
DeleteGlad I was engaged in spite of being exhausted. Exhausted is normal at conferences, isn't it? And yes, it is impossible to keep up with all the books we want to read or feel we ought to read--especially when the writing time eats into the reading time.
DeleteLast year, I arrived at my sister's home in Christmas day. It was cold, and the sun starting to settle behind the horizon. I woke on Boxing Day to white ground, branches and more cold white stuff falling from the skies. Since it was still within the Twelve Days of Christmas, I'll say I had my first White Christmas. It rarely snows in the San Francisco Bay Area so it was nice to watch it fall from the warmth and safety of my sister's living room.
ReplyDeleteI do love going back east for the holidays for the same reason. Then I'm over it.
DeleteI remember one year when we had just a dusting of snow--less than an inch. We still considered ourselves lucky--especially when a friend who lived ten miles away dropped by on his annual round of delivering presents and told us that our neighborhood was the only place anywhere around that had snow.
DeleteThe only way I can get through winter is to pretend that it will never end and we just have to live with it. Then I am pleasantly surprised that spring does eventually arrive. Although it did snow on my birthday in May one year. And I live in Southern Ontario.
ReplyDeleteMs Andrews, you write my favourite series of all time. I loved the pun in Dashing Through, although it took me a little while to realize what you meant by Snowbirds. I was thinking of the Anne Murray song!
LOL.
DeleteLet's face it, unless your Christmas mystery is set in Miami (and why would you do that?) there has to be snow. I love Christmas crime fic and Christmas romance, and I'm continually amused by the completely unmeteorological snowfall in London (8% chance,) Nantucket (5%,) and Washington, DC (15%.) But here's the rub - I don't want snow facts! I want snow flakes!
ReplyDeleteYou want a white Christmas in real life, my friends? Come to Maine, where we range from 60% chance along the southern coastline to virtually guaranteed in the mountains. Jingle, jingle!
Enjoy your snow, Julia. I'll have a margarita poolside for you!
DeleteI love it--snow flakes, not snow facts. If anyone gives me a hard time in future about my unrealistic snows, I will quote you.
DeleteI grew up in Florida, no snow for us. We had flurries twice in my life. Now I live in the mountains of NE Georgia and we get a couple of good snowfalls per winter which is the perfect amount to make it fun. Being in the South means most everything shuts down for snow but it’s usually gone in a few days. So here it’s an event and not a season-long ordeal.
ReplyDeleteA couple of days is pretty perfect.
DeleteI feel sorry for Northerners, who probably don't know the guilty pleasure of getting a snow day and having all the white stuff melt by noon.
DeleteHaving moved a few months ago to Virginia I'm looking forward to snow again. We've bounced back and forth between snow country and no-snow country over the years. The first snow is always so pretty until it turns to gray slush. The two times we househunted here in the winter there was snow on the ground. So I'm expecting it. I enjoy Meg and her enormous wacky family. But in real life I would probably move far away rather than live elbow to elbow with tons of relatives!
ReplyDeleteSame here! Family can be a blessing and a curse :)
DeleteThere are times when Meg is tempted to move far away. The moment passes, of course,--but there's a reason she and Michael didn't tell anyone where they went on their honeymoon. And still haven't told anyone, to this day.
DeleteOoo, Christmas murders are quite exciting!
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteIn fiction, yes. In real life, I always hope the only casualties will be the turkey, the pie, and a lot of Hershey's kisses.
DeleteDonna, I love Christmas mysteries and yours (and Rhys's) top my favorites list! As for real snow, here in North Texas we've only had three or four (or maybe I'm exaggerating) measurable white Christmases in my lifetime. Texas winters are infamously unpredictable--last year we had Christmas brunch on the patio!
ReplyDeleteChristmas brunch on the patio doesn't sound too bad. What I hate are the years when it's absolutely cold enough to snow . . . cold enough to be miserable . . . but without a flake in sight.
DeleteFirst, may I say, Ms. Andrews that I love, love, love your books - winter snow or not! Your sense of humor aligns with mine so I find myself laughing out loud frequently while reading of Meg’s latest adventures.
ReplyDeleteAs a native Californian, currently living in San Diego, I don’t have a lot of experience with snow. That’s why I suggested in 2018 that my family visit Chicago the week between Christmas and New Year’s. My son and I wanted to “experience” snow. My husband had spent a portion of his childhood in Omaha so thought we were nuts, but came along. We got to see fresh, albeit city, snow. My first experience trying to walk on icy sidewalks without falling cured me of any future desire to willingly seek out “winter”!
Pat S.
Glad you did get to experience snow on your trip. One of the two times I visited Alaska they had almost now snow in Anchorage, and I couldn't decide whether to feel relieved or cheated.
DeleteRemember, not all your books are set in town. Heck, it was book 4 or 5 before we'd even heard of it, and there have been other books that take place out of town.
ReplyDeleteNow if you'll excuse me, I need to prep for unrealistic snow and murder rates in your latest. :) I always save the Christmas books for December, and they are always a fun treat.
Me, too! Love a good Xmas mystery.
DeleteWell, yes--but the first (Murder with Peacocks) and third (Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos) take place in Yorktown, which is even farther south than Caerphilly. The second (Murder with Puffins), was set in Maine, might have had snow if it had taken place in winter. We'll Always Have Parrots was set outside DC--not much snow there--and Terns of Endearment on a cruise ship. The best chances of snow within Meg's world would be on another visit to her grandmother--Riverton, the fictional Virginia town where The Good, the Bad, and the Emus and Gone Gull are set, is in the mountains. But I think if Meg's grandmother found out the entire clan was planning to descend on her for Christmas, I think she'd leave town.
DeleteYes, I agree a little snow goes a long way. Here in New England the first one is magic. The second one... not so much. And so on down to pain in the butt. But I also agree it's a lovely added element to a cozy mystery. Offers up all kinds of complications, opportunities for red herrings. Congratulations, Donna, on the new book! Love the cover. Looking forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the cover--I should give a shout out to Minotaur's art department, which always comes through with something great. You should see what they have planned for Birder, She Wrote in 2023
DeleteSounds delightful! As a former Floridian, I love the title. I also believe in white Christmases in Virginia, even though I lived in that state and know their rarity.
ReplyDeleteAs for snow in general, well, now I live in the Crown of Maine. We've been known to have White Halloweens! Seriously, I love the snow, it gives purpose to the cold and is so beautiful.
Snow gives purpose to the cold--yes! Nothing worse than a long stretch of cold weather without a flake. Especially since one of my favorite winter hobbies is taking pictures of the birds at my feeder. Which I hope I can start doing soon--our whole half of the county has been on a feeder lockdown for weeks, hoping to convince a yearling bear to move on to more rural terrain.
DeleteI love your books. I like how Meg can help solve the mystery working with the police and how her family is quirky but also real. The Turing series was great, too.
ReplyDeleteAs for snow, it's beautiful in my back yard. If I have to shovel it, clean off the car, drive in it, or walk in it, then not so lovely. You don't have to put fictional snow in for me. Warmer weather at Christmas is fine with me.
Luckily, neither of has to shovel fictional snow, or walk in it, or clean it off our cars. If we did, I think I'd argue a little more with my editor.
DeleteLatest post EVER! But right under the wire. Donna, you know I am a massive massive fan. And I am in awe of all of this--how you continually come up with completely clever stories and gorgeously groan-worthy titles! Will you be at Malice? xxxx
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely planning to be at Malice--easier for me, since it's local; and also easier since there is a near-zero chance of needing to travel through snow to get there! See you there!
Delete