Cozy Mysteries, They're Not All Tea Parties

Each author has a setting for their mystery stories. The genteel county manor, the secluded beach, a romantic cruise, a tea party with suspect tea...the list goes on. Since my mysteries tend towards (fake) haunted houses, mysterious islands and such I thought I would share one of the things that truly creeps me out. 

Okay truth to tell many things creep me out, I’m a coward that way, but the number one thing is…trees. Seriously, they are creepy.

Don't believe me? I have photographic evidence!

 

Extremely Creepy Looking Trees. Don't They Fill Your Heart With Terror?

See what I mean? They’re just…there. Waiting. For what? Who knows? That's creepy. But that doesn't mean they don't do stuff...

Disgusting Leaves Left By Creepy Tree I Will Now Have to Clean Up

Okay I'm bitter about this, but that's beside the point. So what is the point? It never ends! And let’s not even get into the sap that gets on your car and you can’t get it off without ruining the paint job. It's a conspiracy I tell you.
And worst of all...

Creepy Birds That Live In Creepy Trees That Drop You Know What

Okay so it's fake chicken on a bush. I couldn't get a real bird to pose. Why?  Because they're creepy, they know it, and they don't want it documented. I'm on to you creepy birds!
Now my mother, a very logical person, has told me I need to get over this tree conspiracy thing because they are just trees after all, but don't confuse the creepy factor with logic. Sure they're pretty and all, and they look harmless, but I tell you it's all part of their evil, creepy plot to rule the world.

Okay that's probably an exaggeration, but get tree roots into your plumbing sometime and you begin to wonder.

Please tree lovers don’t judge me. I know trees aren't really evil, at least that's what they want you to think, but this all comes from growing up in an area where scary tree stories were everywhere.

First there was The Orchard, The Evilest place on Earth (yes it really existed I didn’t just make it up for the books). Okay, it was gone by the time  I got old enough to remember things, but I was told by my sisters that it was truly the most frightening place ever. They know because our older brother Jack told them so. True Jack was known to love to torment his little sisters with scary stories but what's that got to do with anything? 

Then there was the Gully, a forest…okay a grove… okay a line of trees where you went in but never came out. I know this because my sisters told me and Jack told them...Oh you've noticed a theme here huh? Come to think of it Jack was a bit a stinker, a loveable one, but still a stinker. 

Also, now that I'm an adult, I know they were only stories. But these things tend to stick with you, and even today I still tend to give trees a second or third look before enjoying their shade in hot California summers. When I'm desperate.

So you see not all cozy mysteries are tea parties, especially if you have a tea party under the trees. If so you may want to watch out, they may be up to something.

 

Mystery writer C.L. Ragsdale is the author of The Reboot Files a Christian Mystery Series. A California native, she loves to "surf" the web to research plot details for her fun, quirky stories with just a bit of whopper in them. She has a degree in Theatre Arts which greatly influenced her writing style. Working in various fields as a secretary has allowed her to both master her writing skills and acquire valuable technical knowledge which she uses liberally in her plots. She loves to embroider and knit and is a big fan of the old Scooby Doo cartoons.

Current E-Books
THE REBOOT FILES:  The Mystery of Hurtleberry House, The Island of Living Trees, The Harbinger of Retribution, and The Wrong Ghost.

www.shortmysteriesandtalltales.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CL-Ragsdale219184744858421

 

Birds of a Feather

Just last night my husband said to me, "Remember that Agatha Christie story where the woman beat her husband to death with a frozen turkey and then cooked it and served it to the detective? The murder weapon was never found?"

I was forced to admit I didn't remember that one. (Hey, she has 66 full length novels, 15 collections of short stories, and several plays to her name!) But it did remind me of the Sherlock Holmes story where the criminal force-fed the goose his stolen jewel, the goose was then sold to the wrong person, and mystery ensued. (The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. I have read all of Doyle's mysteries.)

So I was on that track--the great birds of mystery track. I have never seen Hitchcock's The Birds...mostly because I get nightmares easily and there is at least one murder of crows in my back yard. The next scariest bird in literature or film has to be the Raven who was quoted as saying nevermore. He's all the scarier for being a metaphor for endless grief. I was moved to tears as I drove to the grocery store listening to Garrison Kiellor recite it.

Then there is the owl who poses the great mystery of the 1970s: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? We may never know.

My list comes to an end there, but I know it can't be exhaustive and now I am on the hunt. I want to know the most mysterious birds of film or literature! Can you help?  If you can think of other birds who have scared, hinted, implied, terrorized, bludgeoned, pecked, skirted, wheeled, nested, cawed, sung, or taunted their way through literature, let me know!

And don't forget the Giveaway Extravaganza going on right now!

Traci Tyne Hilton is a mom, Sunday School teacher, novelist, and award winning playwright from Portland, Oregon. She is madly working on her next mystery series which has finaled in the Books of Hope Contest at Write Integrity Press and has an impending deadline.

Traci earned a degree in History from Portland State University and lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest with her husband the mandolin playing funeral director from Kansas, their two daughters, and their dog, Dr. Watson.

Find Traci Tyne Hilton's newest mystery The Queen's Snare at amazon.com!