I LOVE the cover of Death in the Haunted Wood and couldn’t wait to share it with you. Well, okay, I did have to wait, at least… until my publisher got to show it off first. The wait is over, and I hope you love this cover as much as I do. What do I…
Author: kimgriswell
I'm an author, an editor, a writing coach, and a workshop leader. I spend my days asking questions and looking (or listening) for answers, and thinking up ideas for new stories to write for my favorite audience: kids! I guess I'm just about as curious as Rufus Leroy Williams III, the intrepid pink hero of my picture book series from Sterling Publishing, is persistent. Did you know that in 5000 B.C. people blamed 'tooth worms' for their cavities? Neither did I until I developed THE HAUNTED OUTHOUSE for the Bathroom Reader's Institute. Turns out, ancient dentists filled the wormholes with metals like gold or silver. Except the Aztecs. They used a mix of iron, water, and belly-button lint. As you'll discover by reading RUFUS GOES TO SCHOOL, RUFUS GOES TO SEA, and RUFUS BLASTS OFF! I believe that reading opens up worlds for young people. Books did that for me, and I hope my books will do the same for today's kids.
A Matter of Taste
I’m thinking about book reviews right now as the first books in my cozy mystery series publish. Reviews are coming in for Murder in Last Chance Cove and most have enough stars to make me grin. I love finding consensus on what readers who’ve taken time to write reviews think I’ve done well. I learn…
Spooktacular Preview!
Just a few carefully chosen musical notes… that’s all it takes to conjure a haunted vibe. A few words can do the same. The next book in my Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series counts down to a Halloween Spooktacular at a “haunted” RV park carved out of blackberry brambles and gooseberry bushes by an aging…
Weird Wasps
A few weeks ago, a friend told me about an incident at a picnic on the Northwest Pacific coast. Just after he and his friends sat down to enjoy the hotdogs they’d grilled, unwanted guests showed up. Yellow jackets. No amount of shooing would deter the black-and-yellow buzzers and before long there were more wasps…
Fixing & Fiction
Many of the things that happen to my amateur sleuth Saffi Graywood in Murder at Last Chance Cove were inspired by things that have happened in my life. If you have read the first book in my Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series, you may recognize the setting and which part of the plot it relates…
Fire-Safe RV-ing
If you’ve read or are currently reading Murder at Last Chance Cove, the first mystery in my Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series, this photo may trigger a memory of one of the book’s more dramatic scenes. Smoke roiling upward. Flames shooting from the roof. Windows popping. A firefighter with an ax gaining entry to an…
The Power of Reader Reviews
Things I love about writing: It’s been such a rush to see friends, family, and many others opening up Murder at Last Chance Cove, the first book in my Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series, and giving it a read. I’ve heard such wonderful comments, including from a friend who swears my amateur sleuth Saffi Graywood…
Books and Steps
I was out and about today in Ashland, Oregon, connecting with our local booksellers and library, handing out the fancy postcard I designed and had printed for Murder at Last Chance Cove. Libraries and bookstores have been the great loves of my life, and they still are. Here in Ashland we have three bookstores! One…
Anticipation
If the word “anticipation” reminds me of a Carly Simon song, will I be dating myself? Or will the reference go right over your head? What I’m anticipating right now has nothing to do with the good old days of Simon’s music. It has everything to do with what happens once you turn a completed…
Story of My Life
Yesterday, my day-in-the-life story began as a tragedy with no brekkie and—far worse for a working writer—NO CAFFEINE! It’s no mystery that medical tests require sacrifices beyond those we’re willing to require of our characters. So far, I have never asked Saffi to go a day without coffee. I don’t think my readers would ever…
Cozies & Kim Griswell 