When Downton Abbey finally ended after six glorious seasons, I don’t think I was alone in feeling an acute sense of loss. Even my husband was maudlin for about three days after the finale. On the whole, it was a satisfying ending, where all the storylines—both upstairs and down—were tied up neatly. Even poor Lady…
When I moved to New York City, there were three mystery-centric bookshops still in operation—now that (tragically) only one remains, you have to assume Otto Penzler of The Mysterious Bookshop must be doing something right. All four of my novels were launched at his store, but I first got to know Otto by making the…
If you’re a fan of the Classic or Golden Age of Detection (Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie) and filmed dramas set in the early days of the twentieth century (Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs), then you understand the lure of the manor house and the magic of the escape into a world that never quite existed.…
P.G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse (1881-1975) was one of the great writers of comic literature of the twentieth century. I never travel far from home without one of his volumes tucked in a pocket somewhere. Wodehouse wrote over 70 novels and 200 short stories, lyrics and libretti for dozens of musical comedies (early in his career),…
