Month: January 2011
The Poisoned Martini – Part I
It’s here! Part I of the serialized original eStory written by yours truly exclusively for this website. Rick Gray (introduced here) and others will encounter the poisoned martini in this murder mystery set in Syracuse, New York, in 1987. The police have recently solved the murders at the Syracuse Botanical Gardens. Rick was a suspect in that… Read More ›
Friday Cocktail
If you ever feel like bashing your head against a wall, try a Harvey Wallbanger instead. You’ll feel better after. Ain’t it a great name for a cocktail? This one is not easy to come by though. A lot of bars I’ve been to don’t stock Galliano. Without it, the drink is just a Screwdriver…. Read More ›
Meet Rick Gray
Jonah Richard Gray II is the eldest of Thaddeus Alcott’s grandsons. Better known as Rick, this handsome twenty-two year old is passionate about photography, classic cinema, and martinis. He has thick brown hair and blue-green eyes and has a lean, athletic build. Rick first appears in Murder at the Gardens, the third novel in my Mysteries… Read More ›
Cats
Memory is a powerful thing. So it has been said. Tonight, for the fourth time, I have been priviledged to see the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS. This was the very first true musical I ever saw. Famous Artists Broadway Theater Series presented CATS here in Syracuse at the Landmark Theatre in February of 1988. … Read More ›
Death at the Alma Mater
G. M. Malliet’s Death at the Alma Mater was the book my mystery book group chose to read in October, a month before I started up The Poisoned Martini. My parents had picked up a signed copy of this book for me at one of last year’s American Library Association conferences. The author spoke at… Read More ›
Friday Cocktail
The very first mixed drink I ever had was the Grasshopper. I remember it was the mid-nineties at a co-worker’s daughter’s wedding. Another co-worker happened to order the drink, and its unusual green color captivated me. I asked what it was and then ordered one. Ever since, I’ve tried dozens–all right maybe a hundred or so–mixed… Read More ›
Meet Thaddeus Alcott
He is a lion of a man with a shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes. Thaddeus Alcott, 64, is a lawyer and businessman originally from Rutland, Vermont. A partner in the law firm of Alcott, Simms & Wilcox, Thaddeus is thinking of retirement, but he frets about his legacy. A year ago, his… Read More ›
The Water’s Edge
Scandinavian crime novels are in vogue right now. Perhaps this is in large part due to the popularity of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which has drawn attention to Scandinavian authors…at least to American audiences. “Stark” and “bleak” have been used, in general, to describe the landscape of these authors’ works. Of course,… Read More ›
Now, Voyager
This is the movie that sparked my interest in classic cinema. I’d never much cared for black and white movies as a child. I did watch several of the Abbott and Costello movies, King Kong (1933) and a few others. But the idea of watching black and white in an age of color was not an… Read More ›
Dragon Age
Not since Dungeon Siege have I enjoyed an RPG video game as much as I’ve enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. Unlike Dungeon Siege‘s linear gameplay and threadbare plot, Dragon Age is like entering a fully realized world that has been carefully crafted. It’s one of those fantasy worlds you wished you’d thought up first! The game… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 