Sujata Massey I'm sharing a rerun today because I'm preparing to head out for the Malice Domestic convention. With recent travel to Arizona, Washington DC and Pennsylvania behind me, and a trip to Bethesda ahead of me, I am turning to food as emotional ballast. But instead of cooking elaborate dishes that celebrate the season of spring, I read aspirational cookbooks, all the while looking forward to a more relaxed time.  Sometimes just taking a whiff of a strong, fresh spice--sprinkled on a dish, or sprinkled on oatmeal--is enough to perk me up. That's why I'm re-sharing a post ..read more

Annamaria on Monday "These are the times that try men's souls" comes to mind.  The other beginning that comes to me is the laundry list of the distressing events happening all around our sacred planets these days.  But my mission today is to change your mood.  To convince you to shut off the news.  To turn away from the conversations about all the bad stuff.  My weapon is one of the finest inventions of humankind: the piano. It will take something like half an hour to make yourself feel better.  Herewith, except for the electronic gizmo in your hand or on t ..read more

Kim Hays' Swiss detectives  Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli are back with a new mystery set in Bern. In the new book, A Fondness for Truth, a woman, Andi, is killed in a hit-and-run while riding her bicycle home on an icy winter night. Her devastated partner is convinced the death was no accident. Andi had been receiving homophobic hate mail for several years, and the letters grew uglier after the couple’s baby was born. As both detectives dig into Andi’s life, one thing becomes clear: Andi’s friends and family may have loved her for her honesty, but her outspoken integrity ..read more

Good mobility is essential to good motility. I.e. keep walking for a healthy bowel. That's just a clumsy way of explaining why these pictures are on a blog that has nothing to do with them. They are of a walk I took at ten o'clock on the morning of the 18th of April. The weather forecasters say that we are going to have 28 days of rain in April so I took the opperchancity of stealing this dryish thirty minutes to take some snaps. Spring in Scotland. It's rather soggy.  Compared to what is going on elsewhere in the world, we are fortunate. So here is the blog. Any pictures of the subje ..read more

Wendall -- every other Thursday Since I’m the only representative of Murder is Everywhere who can report on the Left Coast Crime Convention first hand, I figured I should.    Left Coast Crime ran April 11-14   The annual convention is always my favorite, because it feels, at least to me, more intimate and friendly than Bouchercon, and I’m able to connect with both readers and author friends more fully than I do elsewhere. This year, the convention took place in the Bellevue suburb of Seattle at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which turned out to be a great, easy venue, where y ..read more

Is Ghana’s Freedom and Justice Crumbling?   How We Got Here: Brief History of the Bill The controversial anti-LGBTQ bill in Ghana, officially known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, was first introduced in 2021. The bill aims to severely restrict the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and includes harsh penalties such as prison terms for both LGBTQ+ individuals and those advocating for their rights. This legislation has been shaped by widespread support within the Ghanaian Parliament and is backed by various religious and traditional gro ..read more

Annamaria on Monday On my recent trip to Kenya, I had my heart set on my first visit to Kenya's first colonial capita: Mombasa, which had been famous since the Middle Ages, at least.  Alas, the advice my fellow travelers and I received was "Now is not the time."  Radicals, evidently, are attacking their fellow Kenyans.   My fellow travelers and I opted for the nearest historic port city, Zanzibar. Boohoo. Mombasa is the setting for the second in my Africa series, which is just now enjoying the release of a new and beautiful edition.  My planned visit would have been my fir ..read more

  Jeff — Saturday   My post last Saturday on the state of domestic violence in Greece triggered a followup topic I intended to explore today. Instead, though, I've decided to  spare the bloodshed and opt for the pastoral.    We’re not talking Robert Frost here, but picture a day by quiet woods far removed from any public road. Deer graze in peace by a pasture while just beyond the borders of the farm hunters wait.  And geese drift upon a pond—still but for the ripples they create—seemingly oblivious to platter size snapping turtles lurking below. Matt Gr ..read more

I have a very good camera with an expensive lens.  I have no idea how to work it, except on intelligent setting. On our recent trip to some of the National Parks in the USA I took my tiny point and shoot. I have not used it for ages and forgot it had some special effect buttons. None of these pictures are AI, they are the result of me messing around. I think, given the subject matter, any picture will have a degree of awe about it El Capitan, Oh  El Capitan. It's not exactly what Whitworth, sorry Whitman, wrote but it's what went through my mind when I first saw the southeast ..read more

 Michael - Alternate Thursdays Elephants on the Chobe River The President of Botswana and his conservation minister are offering large numbers of elephants around. Especially to countries making noises about elephant conservation so that they can find out what it’s like to live with elephants as neighbors. The first offer was from Botswana’s wildlife minister, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu. In London last month to lobby members of Parliament, he offered Britain 10,000 elephants, saying “I hope if my offer of elephants is accepted by the British government, they will be kept in London’s H ..read more