The Mysterious Garden Muse

I was never in Girl Scouts, but for a short period of time I belonged to a Brownie troop. I think it was while I was a Brownie that I learned this ditty: "Make new friends, but kee-eeep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." At least, that's how I remember the words - not sure how reliable my memory is on song lyrics learned fifty-odd years ago. I bring this up because I recently realized I have a silver-and-gold relationship with books and authors. I'm not sure how it's intended in the song, but I've always taken the lyrics to mean that old friends are precious gold, and new friends are silver. By that token, my golden oldies include Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Ngaio Marsh, Doris Miles Disney, Patricia Wentworth, Paul Gallico, Dorothy Eden, Josephine Tey, Martha Grimes, Peter Robinson, P.D. James, Dick Francis, Ian Rankin, Evelyn Anthony, Ray Bradbury and James Thurber. My addiction to the books by many of these authors goes back near...

Winter came in like a lamb this year, and it looks like it's going to go out like one, too - at least in my area. Even so, I'm more than ready for spring! We have lots going on at B&N's Mystery Forum in March - be sure to check in periodically, since we almost always add more guest blogs during the course of the month.  Please note: With the "featured" visits, the authors check in throughout the week to respond to your questions and comments. When authors write a guest blog for us, the often - but not always - respond to comments. **Having problems posting a comment? This problem is often browser related. Internet Explorer and Safari don't always play well at BN.com, while Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are less problematic. Let me know if you continue to have problems. Here's the schedule for March! Thursday, March 1 - Guest Blog by DENISE SWANSON Little Shop of Homicide (Devereaux Dime Store Mystery Series #1)    Week of March 5...