What is Mutual Admiration from the Asylum Department? Good question. Jaki and Lynne met in a writers critique group and discovered a mutual taste for homicidal humor. We're happy to share our MAADness in the form of newsletters to anyone who sends their snail mail address to murraymade@aol.com.

ISSUE #13 - SUMMER 2001

The MAADwomen have been laying low of late to finish a self-helpless guide for women entitled Women Who Run With The Lemmings, explaining such topics as -- How To Completely Disorganize Your Life, Learning to Say Yes to Everything, and Writing on Neither Side of Your Brain. Well, we're not quite finished yet... maybe it could be the disorganization, or all thing things we said yes to, or which side of the brain was it, we were going to use this week?

MURDER WITH SENSITIVITY FROM GIRDNER

A Sensitive Kind of Murder is next for Jaki Girdner's sleuth, Kate Jasper, and her new husband, Wayne Caruso. Only Kate could find a dead body at Wayne's men's support group. Is murder among the empowering activities?

Coming out in January 2002, A Sensitive Kind of Murder, is the 12th, and last, in the Kate Jasper series. Catch Kate and Wayne's last adventure before they hang out the Do Not Disturb sign for a long-awaited, much-deserved honeymoon (with no dead bodies).

But don't worry, folks, a new series featuring medical intuitive Cally Lazar is coming soon! Body of Intuition will be out in December of 2002!

The Kate Jasper Mysteries:

1. Adjusted to Death
2. The Last Resort
3. Murder Most Mellow
4. Fat Free and Fatal
5. Tea-Totally Dead
6. A Stiff Critique
7. Most Likely to Die
8. A Cry for Self-Help
9. When Death Hits the Fan
10. Murder on the Astral Plane
11. Murder, My Deer

For more information check Jaki's website at jakigirdner.com

THE RIDDLES OF THE FAN CLUB

By Sue Corbett and Geri Havlicek

How can you tell that a mystery writer has been in your refrigerator?
All the red herring is gone!

How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb?
It takes three -- one to screw it in, one to take fingerprints afterwards, and one to interrogate all the witnesses.

Did you hear about the new gated community for mystery writers?
It's called Sherlock Holmes.

Why did the mystery writer cross the road?
To get out of Cabot Cove.

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
Dunnit.
Dunnit, Who?
No, that's -- "Whodunnit?"

What do you get when you cross a mystery writer and Zen Buddhist?
The sound of one hand typing.

JOSEPHINE FULLER UNDER SUSPICION IN MURRAY'S AT LARGE

While looking into a woman's center outside of Seattle, plus-sized sleuth Josephine Fuller encounters the mysterious death of her ex-husband's girlfriend, a woman Jo herself wouldn't have minded seeing vanish. Before she can find the killer, Jo falls herself becomes a suspect -- she also has to deal with a haunted apartment, a love denied, and suspicious doings among mountain climbers, social climbers, and horror film buffs.

This book even contains a recipe (see the reverse side of this newsletter), although the firearms used in the fictional preparation of the recipe in At Large have been prudently removed.

The first two Josephine Fuller books are available in paperback in July -- Larger Than Death and Large Target. Lynne will be signing books and generally misbehaving this summer at:

American Librarians Association Convention, Panel - Sisters In Crime Breakfast Sunday, June 17 & signing books at the Sisters in Crime booth, Tuesday, June 19 at 12:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 14, 11:00 a.m.
M is for Mystery
74 East Third Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94401
Ed & Jeanne Kaufman - 650-401-8077

Sunday, July 15, 1:00 p.m.
San Francisco Mystery Bookstore
4175 - 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
Diane Kudisch - 415-282-7444

Saturday, July 21
Books By the Bay, Yerba Buena Gardens
M Is For Mystery Booth

Saturday, July 28, 2:00 p.m.
Capital Crimes and Coffee
906 Second Street, Sacramento, CA 94814
Joe Morales - 916-441-4798

Sunday, August 5, 5:30 p.m.
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94044
Paula Herman - 415-927-0960

Friday, August 17, 7:30 p.m.
Boadecia's Books
398 Colusa Avenue, Kensington, CA 94707
Suzanne - 510-559-9184

Monday, August 20, 7:00 p.m.
M C Newburn Books
950 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA 94706
Maurice Newburn - 510-524-1370

September 21-23
Southwestern Writers Conference
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saturday, October 6
Northern California Independent Booksellers Convention

Other events will be posted on Lynne's web page at lmurray.com

AMBROSE'S RECIPE FOR SURPRISINGLY TASTY LENTIL SOUP

Ingredients:

• 1 package dry lentils
• The best bouillon you can afford (vegetarian works too)
• Package of frozen spinach (or fresh if you insist -- however, washing fresh spinach according to Ambrose's standards will take some time!)
• Can of tomato paste
• Onions, and garlic (optional)

Directions:

Wash lentils and cook in bouillon until tender. If using onions and garlic, sauté until transparent, and add with spinach and tomato paste several minutes before serving.

This is the original version of the recipe. Although firearms were involved in its preparation in At Large, it does seem to taste much better without them.

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