Toby Speed's Blog

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than by blogging about crime poetry? This year, The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly — my favorite source for this literary delight — presents “30 Days of the 5-2,” and I’m pleased to join the party. Edited by Gerald So, The 5-2 (I have yet to learn the […]

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Thank you to my friends and readers for coming out last Wednesday to the Stony Brook University bookstore! It was fun to see you and to read from Death Over Easy.

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I’m fortunate to count among my friends some wonderful editors who are also my mentors and biggest encouragers (is that a word?). Today I bring you a chat with my friend Lourdes Venard. As the owner of Comma Sense Editing, Lourdes has decades of experience as a newspaper editor, and she also edits books in […]

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In the two weeks since I’ve been write-tired, life has come at me thick and fast. I’m not complaining. On the contrary, I’m as happy as a clam at high tide. This week I will leave my lifelong home on Long Island and head up to the North Country with my husband to start a […]

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To all of my friends who are fans of Two Cool Cows (or 2CC, to use a more up-to-date-sounding nomiker!), I have discovered, buried deep in a closet, 17 paperback copies. Paired with the recently released CD of the musical version of the book — which I had professionally converted from cassette — it makes a perfect holiday gift for cow-loving children and grandchildren. The musical 2CC comes complete with mooing to tell you when to turn the page!

$11 for the set, including shipping. Email me if you’d like one: toby at tobyspeed dot com.

I am honored to have a story included in Untreed Reads’ new anthology, MOON SHOT: MURDER AND MAYHEM ON THE EDGE OF SPACE. My story, “At the Corner of Night and Nowhere,” was one of those unusual creations that practically spilled right out of me. It took about two weeks to write and was the most writing fun I’ve had in a long time.

I had the title before I wrote the story. It came to me when my husband and I were visiting family in upstate New York. In the evening, after leaving a restaurant where we’d had dinner, we stopped at a four-way stop in the middle of woods and fields. I think there was a store on the corner. I turned to my husband and remarked, “Here we are, at the corner of night and nowhere.” Somehow, that bloomed into a weird tale of Martian murder.

The book is available from Untreed Reads for $5.99 in all e-formats.

Thank you to all of my friends and family who turned out yesterday for “Murder and Mystery in Port Jefferson.” How great it felt to be looking out at that huge audience of smiling faces. 58 attendees! It gave me such a boost to be there in the perfect place, at the perfect time, to celebrate the launch of DEATH OVER EASY.

Why perfect?

1. The story takes place in Port Jeff Village, in the first week of October.

2. A bunch of scenes are set in the Port Jeff Free Library.

3. I love libraries. Emma Trace carries an “I Love Libraries” tote and is suspected by police of murdering Jennifer Hazzard because her library card is found at the scene.

4. The book was shipped out at the beginning of October.

5. It was my first appearance for DOE — maiden voyage!

It was a pleasure appearing with fellow mystery authors R.J. Torbert (@RJTorbert on Twitter) and Judi Culbertson. R.J.’s latest book, THE FACE OF FEAR, which is a police procedural that incorporates the Ghost Face mask made famous by the movie, “The Scream.” Judi’s latest book is AN ILLUSTRATED DEATH, second in her mystery series featuring bookseller Delhi Laine. We spoke about the writing process, how we developed our plots and what makes quaint Port Jefferson Village the ideal setting for a murder mystery.

Above photo, from left: Judi Culbertson, RJ Torbert, me, and Bob Konoski, Program Director for the Port Jefferson Free Library.

A full house!

Judi listening as I speak

RJ at the podium

Answering questions for the audience