2017 Amelia Island Book Festival

Jane Marie

    The last page has been turned and the cover closed over this year's wonderful Amelia Island Book Festival.  With one hundred-plus authors attending, I am happy to report that we have many new #Goodbye LieRs joining our fictional Dunnigan family world on #Amelia Island in the late 1800s. I received the ultimate compliment by way of several readers kindly seeking me out to get a second or third novel in the series. It is so gratifying to know readers can relate to #Breelan and Waite from #The Goodbye Lie.  Another woman told me how much she enjoyed reading about the social customs of the time. Another had gone so far as to make Miss Ella's Brunswick Stew and Sugar and Spice Nuts served at the Fort Clinch Christmas dance from the first novel! Still others found me because of this blog.
     Thank you to all the people who organized and volunteered. They even had high school kids help carry writers' books into the venue for set up.  It was an all day affair and so much appreciated by everyone in attendance behind as well as in front of the tables.

  See you next year!

Uncovered Titles

I was cleaning my office.  No, can't say that.  Cleaning is much too strong a word, as are sorting and rearranging.  It was more like shuffling.  Yes, I was doing the paper shuffle dance.  To my delight, I found a manila envelope with handwritten pages from my original Goodbye Lie manuscript. (Now available in E-book and paperback. haha)  This is pretty exiting stuff for me because it has been many a moon since I last wrote out page after page of  that first book.  As a bonus, I found a list of working titles, some of which could have been on the cover instead of The Goodbye Lie.  I am pleased I settled for The Goodbye Lie.  It tells a story all by itself. 

Here is that list of working titles.  If you've read The Goodbye Lie, decide if I made the right choice.  If you haven't,  they may lead you in the direction of wanting to understand the meaning behind them.

Forever Once

Mended Lace

Amelia Light

Return Tomorrow

Destiny's Choice

Yesterday's Past

Yesterdays Passed

Spicy Roast Beef and Goodbye Lie Trilogy Excerpt

Spicy Roast Beef

Do you know which female
character from The Goodbye Lie series is the subject of the excerpt below? If only she had tried the recipe which follows for Spicy Roast Beef at her dinner party...


 The Goodbye Lie Series Excerpt:


     Grammy's gift was a quart of her meat flavoring. "It's our family secret, _____. Here's the recipe. Memorize it, then burn it. Promise?"
     "Yes, ma'am. I promise."

     Peeper was not to be out done, "I saved the best fer last. It's a bottle a my very own special furniture polish."

     "The way Peep experiments out back in the little house," Michael explained to Trip, "it's no small miracle she hasn't blown us all up. Isn't that the stuff you make from turpentine, alcohol, and ether, Peep?"

     "Yup, but you forget the balsam fir and linseed oil, Michael. That's how come I'm the chemist and you're the architect." 

     The laughter had been strained and everyone had been uncomfortable. The cozy glow from the candles helped hide the chipped dishes and patched linens that came furnished with the house, and no adult noticed or, at least, mentioned the shortcomings of her table. Leave it to her brother to have asked, "How come you use all these cracked plates, ____, when you have a whole hope chest full of brand new dishes and stuff?" Everyone else had been too polite to inquire.

     She'd quickly answered, "I'll bring my chest over as soon as my cooking warrants the beauty of the china." The ladies had made a sincere attempt to reassure her that the meal was delicious. She would have believed them, too, had she not tasted her own food. The salad was gritty with sand, the deviled eggs were runny from the honey and too salty, the butter beans in the stew were hard, and the chocolate frosting was so thin, the cake showed through. ____ saw her mother throw several sharp looks at Jack Patrick each time he'd tried a new course and then opened his mouth to comment. She imagined the lecture the poor boy must have received about how to behave at his sister's house right before they'd left Dunnigan Manor...

******

Jane Marie writes:
My church friend, Kris Mandrick, brought this wonderful "stringy" beef roast to a pot luck.  I loved it.  I mean loved it!  She was sweet enough to let me share it with you.  It's made in the slow cooker with ingredients you probably have on hand.  It makes some rich gravy, is moist, is good for Sunday dinner or sandwiches and freezes well, if there are any leftovers.  Thank you, Kris. -JMM

Spicy Roast Beef

You'll need:

2-3 pound beef roast 
Lightly salt (optional) and pepper all sides.
Sprinkle with minced/powdered garlic or garlic pepper.  Put in crock.

Mix in separate bowl: 

1/4 cup soy sauce (I used lite.)

2 Tbl balsamic vinegar

2 Tbl A1 Sauce or Worcestershire sauce (I used Worcestershire.)

2 tsp yellow mustard, liquid or dry (I used liquid.)

Make several shallow slits in top of roast and pour mixture over roast. Let cook in crock 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

 

P.S.  This recipe will also be listed in the Recipes link at the top of this page. 

Tips from Mom

flowers from Laura Brown-thank you!

Happy Mother's Day!

I learned so much from my mother, Marie. A home economics (home science) teacher, she had the social graces of Emily Post, the advice of Ann Landers, the culinary talents of Betty Crocker and the overall family devotion of Donna Reed, Carol Brady and Stella Dallas, combined. 

I got to thinking about those everyday lessons from Mom and these random tips popped into my mind:

Always close kitchen drawers when you are cooking or baking to avoid having to clean out any falling crumbs.

Turn the top sheet hem back over the blanket when making the bed to keep the blanket clean longer, since you change the sheets more often than you do the blanket. 

When you finish using the oven on those cool or colder days of the year, leave the oven door open a few inches to release the expiring heat into the room.

To prevent stretching out the tops of your socks, tie each pair of socks into a simple knot rather than stuffing one inside the other. 

Ever have a cake come out of the oven and be high in the middle? To help keep a baked cake flat, push the raw batter toward the sides, leaving a shallow hollow in the center, then bake.

If your sheets have a printed side and a plainer side, in the summer, when it's hot, lay the printed side up so the pattern shows when you've no need for a blanket.  In the winter, face the printed side of the top sheet down and cover it with your blanket.  Then, when you turn back the covers, the pretty pattern will be seen. 

Sure you can buy pre-made cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on toast, but you have no control of the amount of sugar.  Save an empty shaker bottle and make your own, lessening the sugar or adding more, for that matter!

Store household extension cords in toilet or paper towel tubes.

Save shelf space by hanging your toilet paper. Find an old paint can lid, punch two holes in that lid with a nail, thread an eight foot cord/heavy string through and tie it securely against the lid.  Take an old fashioned clothespin and tie it to the other end of the cord.  String your rolls of toilet paper over the closespin and hang your contraption  on a nail inside the linen closet!  (We still use one of these at the family home and it brings a smile every time I see or even think of it.)

There you have some of Mom's common sense teachings.  I know you have more from your mother and some of your own.  Send them along to graciousjanemarie@yahoo.com and we'll add them to our list of helpful hints.

P.S. Readers often ask me if the characters in my novels are copied from real people I know.  The answer is no.  However, I will say that my dear mother was the inspiration for Miss Ella, the matriarch of the Dunnigan family of Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida in the late 1800s...

Tagline Origin

Folks often ask me how I came up with my Goodbye Lie tagline “where Little House on the Prairie meets Gone With The Wind …” Actually, I didn’t.  A man walking past my table during a book signing, on Centre Street in our historic district on Amelia Island, Florida, said this to me. My head was down as I was writing an inscription so I never saw his face, but I did catch him offering me a thumbs up as he walked away.  He disappeared into the crowd, never to be seen by me.  So, sir, if ever we connect again, and I recognize your voice, for I’ll never forget it, I want to thank you and shake your hand.  Having my novels compared to such American classics by such wonderful authors is the highest compliment I can receive.

Judge By Its Cover

The Goodbye Lie Series Available HERE

Go ahead.  Judge my books by their covers because each of those covers in The Goodbye Lie series offers major clues as to what is inside. That, of course, is as it should be. While I like to tease an audience, it probably would not be very nice or smart to have a sweet unicorn on a cover and the contents be about an ax murderer.   

So when people ask me to tell them about each story, I start by pointing out objects and details on the cover. The following is what I say to you folks about The Goodbye Lie, the first book in the trilogy. (As you read below, refer to the photo above.):

"Most people don't realize that this is a woman's glove and this is a man's glove." (I cover the man's glove with my hand.) "Is he protecting her, is he holding her back, is she trying to get away?

"The red ribbon represents all the twists and turns in the plot.  All the book covers have these ribbons. I love it when a reader tells me they didn't see that coming.

"This is sand from our Amelia Island beach. These are flowers from my garden.

"And this little pewter box belonged to my mother.  Curiously, Victorians called it a jewel casket.  The little medallion inside is right here, I wear it everyday, and it plays a part in the story, but I can't tell you what..."

That's when I show them the medal and most seem surprised that something on a book cover would be right there in front of them to see.

Miraculous Medal reads : "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

 

Synopsis of The Goodbye Lie: 

Men will die for Breelan Dunnigan, the lead female player in the heart-wrenching romance and unexpected drama called The Goodbye Lie.  Jane Marie's first installment in her historical series is set in 1882 on Florida's Amelia Island. Breelan, an aspiring writer, is literally swept away, first by a tornado and then a handsome stranger, who steps into her home and into her soul. Escape to New York City brings new love, but when Breelan returns to Florida, her life has turned upside down. Strong family bonds and values are soon pitted against passion, jealousy and murder in this satisfying tale. Readers will rejoice in the clever twists of plot. Rich characters, late Victorian conventions and gentle humor flavor up the mix of romance, honor and treachery.

So there you have a taste of The Goodbye Lie. Why not try a bigger helping? (Pretty cute, huh?)  The Goodbye Lie Series Available HERE

Another Peeperism

Grandmother Peeper

"If'n ya season the chicken

 too much, 

your shoes will be tight." - Peeper

Peeper is a featured player in The Goodbye Lie trilogy. Everybody's favorite Amelia Island, Florida grandmother from the 1880s, she never fails to impart her brand of wisdom to her family, friends and enemies, like next-door Aunt Noreen. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, rest assured, the better you get to know Peep, the more she'll teach you. - Jane Marie

Hollywood Bunco

Excerpt from The Goodbye Lie, circa 1882, 

on Amelia Island, Florida

Chapter 11

     The following days aboard ship were full of activity. There were picnics on deck, shuffleboard, fishing tournaments, bingo, bunco, board games and card games from euchre to old sledge to poker. Amusement, proper and improper, was available, with one's degree of pleasure regulated only by one's conscience.  

 *****

Yes, folks, bunco (sometimes spelled bunko) has been around since Victorian times.  A roll of the dice, actually many rolls of the dice, is all the effort it takes.  It has turned into such a popular game today, there is an app on phones for said score keeping.

I've been playing bunco with the same group of 12 ladies for just about that many years.  Each month, one of us hosts the shindig in her home.  It includes a full dinner and gifts for every person, bought from the $5.00 fee paid by each player the previous month.  My month is always September and the last several years, I have asked the gals to dress in some sort of easy costume.  This year I suggested we dress up like any Hollywood star from any movie, male or female.  

After our cottage was clean for the party, lots of work, but so worth it, the smell of crock pot spaghetti was overpowering the scented plug-ins, the three four-top tables were set for the girls and I was dressed in costume, I realized I had no Hollywood-themed centerpiece!  Yikes!!!  Hmm, thought I.  I went around the room and extracted several Gone With The Wind (GWTW) books, an MGM book, added a few GWTW music boxes, GWTW nail polish and a GWTW bracelet, each decorated with pictures from the famous film,  and you can see the result in the photo above.  It took me all of ten minutes and cost me nothing extra.  (You know, if you step back and look around at the treasures you have in your own house, you would be surprised how easily creative you can be.)

We had one lady show up in jeans, a white blouse, denim jacket and cowboy boots.  Her lovely hair is white.  I couldn't begin to guess who she was supposed to be and was blown away when she told me, "Marilyn Monroe from the Misfits with Clark Gable."  It was the last movie for both of them and I know it well.  Great job, Emmie.  Another, in an wild orange fright wig and big hat, asked me to guess who she was and I said jokingly, "Bozo, the clown."  Yes, I knew she was the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.  I'm not sure she found my remark funny, but I did.  Then there was a mountain climber from a movie I don't know and another who tried on a wig, but it was too small, so she took it back to the store.  I know you're dying to hear who I dressed as.  I have to confess that the only reason I chose the costume I did was because of the black Snow White wig I got on sale the day after Halloween a few years back.  I removed the red bow, put on a white blouse, black pants, painted my nails a bright red, added red lipstick and lots of blush and eyeliner, borrowed a cigarette to hold from a friend,  and I was, wait for it...Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction.  I freely admit Pulp Fiction is not my kind of movie at all, but I had the wig, so, it worked. By the way, my husband, Bruce, said he would not have recognized me if he'd passed me on the street in the wig. 

So there you have it.  If you've never buncoed, it's mentally easy to play. Add food and chatter and  prizes and it, too, may become a part of your life as it has so many others. 

PS Just Google bunco for details on how to play the game.

A Goodbye Lie Quote & Video

       Click on the arrow above to view The Goodbye Lie Video 

                          

 SHOP HERE for THE GOODBYE LIE SERIES  

E-books and Paperbacks

Brunswick Manor and Goodbye Lie Diaries

Brunswick Manor, Brunswick, Georgia

Welcoming Front Door 

My husband, Bruce, and I love a bed and breakfast. It was our anniversary and with little time to getaway, I googled bed and breakfasts near Amelia Island, Florida.  I found Brunswick Manor in Brunswick, Georgia, just an hour's drive.  I read somewhere that Angelina Jolie and Jerry Seinfeld have stayed there.  I can see why.  It is simply a magnificent structure.

Major Columbia Downing from Downingston, Ohio, built this mansion in 1886.  This is  my favorite time period in history, as proven by the settings, 1882 to 1898, in my Goodbye Lie series of historical novels.  Owner of a naval store in Brunswick, he was also a bank president. After a long history of the house being a private residence, then a multiple dwelling, according to the brochure, in 1989, it eventually became the renowned bed and breakfast it is today.
 

Front Veranda

Welcome Hall

A Creative Mix

Oh, how I love decorative hinges. - jmm

 

I saw this worn spot in the corner of the carpet in the game room.  I got to wondering why it was worn only in this spot.  Had something been spilled, and the housekeeper scrubbed a bare spot? What traffic pattern would have cause it? Perhaps it had once been in the dining room, the center protected by a huge table.  Maybe this spot was where the servants repeatedly crossed to and fro from the kitchen as they presented daily delicacies to the owners. Maybe ...

Along one wall in the hall, these treasures are found, saved from a Catholic Church that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Could this be one of those paintings done by a traveling painter? The body of a little boy is already on the canvas and all the artist has to do is paint the head of the actual child.

A Delightful Breakfast

*****************************************************
The Goodbye Lie Diaries

1889
Fernandina, Florida

Michael Dunnigan, patriarch, writes:

Michael Dunnigan

   I have read your story about what they are calling Brunswick Manor, in your time, and am enjoying all your pretty colored pictures. I wanted to tell you that Miss Ella and I have been to that house, sat on that porch and ate dinner at that very table. Major Downing and I have dealings with regard to his naval store and my Aqua Verde Passenger line and ship building business.  My brother-in-law, Clabe Duffy, has, likewise, worked with Major Downing, in his banking pursuits. 
   As my blessed mother told me, it is best never to speak ill of anyone, especially in small towns like Fernandina and Brunswick, lest it queer your friendship as well as potential business.  Now if my sister, Noreen, she's Clabe's wife, could just remember that. I witnessed her less than gracious remark about Mrs. Downing's  embroidery having too many  knots on the back, the only time the Downings came to our Amelia Island and we all dined at Duffy Place. I am very happy to say the Major and his Mrs. have not held my sister's shortcomings against me and have invited Miss Ella and me back up to Brunswick.  He is a fair man.

*******************************************************************************

Michael Dunnigan is the father to four grown children, each of whom is featured in The Goodbye Lie historical trilogy set on Amelia Island, Florida in the 1880s. Through the magic of electronics, The Goodbye Lie Diaries, scattered throughout this blog, allow the characters to interact with Jane Marie, the author, and she with them. This way, between epic novels, readers may catch a glimpse of their friends, the colorful players in the books.

To learn more about Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie series, peruse this blog and click on this link to purchase e-books and paperbacks: Purchase The Goodbye Lie series HERE
 
For more info on Brunswick Manor, visit their 
website: Brunswick Manor

Grammy Camp - Braided Rug - Goodbye Lie Excerpt

braided rug from tee-shirt hems

Granddaughter Ava and I made this braided rug at Grammy Camp. Unlike the rugs my grandmother created from folded strips of old clothes, ours is made from the hems of tee-shirts. You see, we were making diapers for Honduras at church one afternoon. We cut off the hems from all the shirts and they were going into the trash until it came to me how we might use them to make a rug.  I tried looping one randomly colored hem into the next, pulled tightly, making a knot and then we braided three strips into one long length. The final step will be to sew that long braid flat and into an oval using the zigzag stitch on the sewing machine. I could hand sew the braid, of course, but that would take too much time from playing with Ava. 

Loop one circular tee-shirt hem into another, pull tight and make a knot

 ******************************************************
The following Goodbye Lie excerpt was inspired by my Grammy: 

Miss Ella

     Miss Ella shook her head at her sometimes moody, but very wonderful husband, thinking how lucky she was to have him. Back inside the aromatic kitchen, she checked the steeping jelly kettle of peaches, stirred the pot of salt pork and bean soup, and cleared a spot for the hot cornbread among the fresh radishes and onions. It had been such a peaceful afternoon. Too peaceful, she realized.

Grammy

     Where was Jack Patrick? Her only son, age eight, was usually so noisy, she knew his whereabouts every minute. She left the kitchen, went down the long hall past the stairs, and entered the front parlor to find her mother, Hettie Eckert, known to all as Grammy. Grammy was swaying in her rocker, intently working on a braided rag rug, and there was Jack Patrick, sneaking up from behind, scissors in hand, about to cut the soft wild-hair wispies from his sainted grandmother's head. 

     "Jack Patrick!" yelped his mother. 

     Calmly placing the shears back in the sewing basket, he stated, "Mama, I hope lightning flies through the window and kills the cat. I'm innocent!" 

     She knew exactly how innocent he was. She allowed the boy to dash out the front door before he caught her laughing.  Fortunately, since Grammy's hearing was not quite as keen as it once was, she was oblivious to her grandson's near attack, figuring only that his mother was yet again reprimanding the boy for his usual mischief.     

Breelan

     Leaning against the wall, Miss Ella thought back to yesterday, remembering her middle daughter, eighteen-year-old Breelan, as she’d mimicked Grammy in the construction of her own rug. Over the last few weeks, Breelan had torn three-inch strips of cloth, folded their frayed edges inward and sewn the long thin tails, one to another. She had arrived at the final step of braiding and stitching the tails into a flat oval rug, when her mother had overheard her say, "This will be my scrap mine of colorful memories. I've made it from the worn dresses and torn trousers we've saved, Gram, just like you taught me. When I have my little girl, I want you to show her how to make your rugs, same as you've shown me."

     Miss Ella hoped her mother would still be around in the time it took Breelan to have a child old enough to learn the art of rug making. And interestingly enough, Breelan seemed certain her child would be a girl.

     "Whenever I look at my rug, I'll think of this pretty dress." Breelan pointed to the tail made from green plaid taffeta. "I couldn't wait for Carolena to outgrow it so it would be mine. Its lace petticoat was edged in red satin ribbon. I'll tell you a secret, if you promise not to tell Mama."

     "I promise, honey," Grammy had conspired...

******************************************************
Miss Ella, Grammy and Breelan are featured characters in The Goodbye Lie, set in 1882 on Amelia Island, Florida.

To order e-books or paperbacks in the trilogy, please click here:
amazon.com/author/janemariemalcolm