I'm pleased to welcome Daphne Silver to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Daphne writes the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. CRIME AND PARCHMENT is the first book in the series and was released last week.
Kathy: CRIME AND PARCHMENT is the first book in the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. I love books, but am intrigued and in awe of rare books. I'm lucky to have seen a Gutenberg Bible. Have you seen any rare books? What is one rare book you'd love to see?
DS: Thank you for asking. I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing a Gutenberg Bible at the Library of Congress. The one that stood out the most to me was the Book of Kells at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Seeing that book inspired writing CRIME AND PARCHMENT! There are many I’d love to see. The strangest rare book I’d like to see is called the Voynich Manuscript. It’s centuries old, but no one has ever decoded its curious, almost alien-like language or bizarre imagery. It’s housed at Yale University.
Kathy: Juniper Blume has a rescue dog named Clover. While I only have rescue cats now, I once had rescue dogs. Do you have any rescued animals?
DS: While I unfortunately don’t have any rescued animals currently, I have grown up with dogs. My husband and I adopted Echo not long after we got married. You could walk Echo for hours without wearing him out! I hope our schedules will one day allow us to bring home a new friend again. Unfortunately, we’re both allergic to cats, although we love them. My son would really love to have a cat, so I may need to research allergy medicine options.
Kathy: Is Clover based on a real dog, or is Clover purely fictional?
DS: Clover is based upon our past rescue dog Echo, who was also a 20lb white cutie. While Echo unfortunately had a lot of fear around people and dogs, he was also incredibly smart and had endless energy. Writing about Clover helps keep Echo’s memory alive for me.
Kathy: Azalea makes East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Do you have a favorite Jewish treat?
DS: So many! I love lokshen kugel, babka, hamantaschen, lekach (honey cake), rugelach… Okay, now I’m hungry!
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
DS: It wasn’t until I started working in museums that I became interested in cozy mysteries. Here was a genre where a curator or antique store owner could solve crimes, often because of the unique skill set they brought. How amazing is that? In history museums, we frequently have unsolved mysteries surrounding objects in the collection or people who lived at the site, and in cozy mysteries, there’s a chance to finally solve these stories.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
DS: Yes, I’ve published three local history books under my legal name, Lauren Silberman. These include: Wild Women of Maryland: Grit and Gumption in the Free State (History Press, 2015), Wicked Baltimore: Charm City Sin and Scandal (History Press, 2011), and The Jewish Community of Baltimore (Arcadia Publishing, 2008).
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
DS: Rare books librarian Juniper Blume finds books and bodies where they don’t belong. In the first book CRIME AND PARCHMENT, she learns about an ancient Celtic manuscript supposedly in a Maryland cemetery, but when she gets there, she doesn’t find the book but a body instead.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
DS: I love exploring with Juniper. She’s driven by her curiosity, which is why she became a librarian. She’s a walking treasure trove of knowledge about sometimes seemingly useless things, like facts surrounding the founding of Maryland as a British colony. Juniper sometimes leaps before she looks, but she has a big heart and a deep desire to make things better. She also gets to drive a 1965 Karmann-Ghia, hang out with her rescue dog Clover, sport awesome vintage clothes, and eat her sister’s food, since you wouldn’t want her anywhere near an oven herself.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
DS: I’ve long been interested in rare books, having worked mostly in museums and being married to a librarian. However, it was that trip to Ireland and seeing the Book of Kells that truly stirred my imagination.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
DS: I loved writing this story, and as soon as the first draft was finished, I knew I wanted to share it with others, hoping they’d enjoy the journey as much as I had.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
DS: Because I’m involved with the mystery author community, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to get to do dinner with some awesome mystery writers, so I’ll focus on those authors who have passed away:
● Edgar Allan Poe
● Agatha Christie
● Mary Shelley
● Mark Twain
Can you imagine the conversation that they would have? I don’t even need to be at the dinner party. I’d simply want to watch them talk together.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
DS: I’m finally catching up on Leslie Budewitz’s Spice Shop mystery series. My husband and I went to Seattle during our honeymoon, so reading her series takes me back to a special time in our lives.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
DS: In addition to writing, I also love to paint. I was actually a painting major in college. I used to paint in oil and acrylic, but these days I prefer watercolor. I really want to learn how to make my own watercolor paints.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
DS: Oat milk, eggs, bananas, and leftovers - I don’t cook as much as I should, but I tend to have the materials to make something creative when needed.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
DS: Yes! I have a 5 book contract with Level Best Books, so we’ll both get to spend more time with Juniper and Rose Mallow, Maryland. I hope you enjoy reading about her world as much as I’m enjoying writing it.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
DS: There is a magical state called “flow” where the words sometimes seem to write themselves. Getting into that state is frequently elusive, but when you catch it, you just get going on the ride and see where the story takes you. Sometimes you have to force the words, but even then, it can produce truly incredible results, and you surprise yourself with where the story has gone. The only thing that tops this though is sharing my work with others. I hope my stories produce delight and joy in readers.
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Crime and Parchment: A Rare Books Cozy Mystery by Daphne Silver
About Crime and Parchment
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Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Fictional town of Rose Mallow, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay
Level Best Books (November 21, 2023)
Print length: 226 pages
Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much… an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn’t be in a Maryland cemetery. But that’s exactly what her brother-in-law claims.
Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth.
Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper’s avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover.
Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother’s Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn’t much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother’s legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?
Book ExcerptMy 1965, robin’s egg blue convertible backfired as I parked in front of the Wildflower Inn. The noise set off Clover barking in the backseat. Not exactly the quiet homecoming I’d hoped for. I jumped out of my Karmann-Ghia – or “KG” as I’d nicknamed her – to check under the hood, hoping I wouldn’t need to get the roadster serviced yet again. No idea where that money would come from.
A screaming, ranting madwoman poured out of a neighboring house. Maybe in her late seventies, she brandished a large umbrella. I dropped the hood to find the umbrella pointing at me. Clover – all twenty pounds of him – jumped out and started growling.
“Easy, boy,” I said.
“You shoot something off, Missy? Here to cause trouble? Because I’m on the board of the Friends of the Rose Mallow Police.” the woman said. She wore a perfectly fitted Mamie Eisenhower pink skirt suit with enormous pearls – straight out of the 1950s. Her white bouffant billowed around her head. She reminded me of a researcher I’d helped earlier that day at the Library of Congress. That woman had been a murder mystery author looking for books about early detectives. This woman looked like she wanted to murder someone – namely me.
About Daphne Silver
Daphne Silver is the author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. She’s worked more than twenty years in museums and has the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When she’s not writing, she’s drawing and painting. She lives in Maryland with her family. Although she’s not much of a baker, she won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.
Author Links:
Website www.daphnesilver.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/daphnesilverbooks
Instagram www.instagram.com/daphnesilverbooks
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/45491307.Daphne_Silver
Purchase Link - Amazon
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