In this week’s GOBrecs Book Club – The Maid & Lucky episode, we are recommending two fantastic books that would please everyone in your book reading group! Have a listen …

We both chose novels by authors we hadn’t read before. How did we decide what to read, you ask? Cathi tells her story about how she chose Lucky and it involves this quote by the great John Irving:

“Whenever possible, tell the entire story of a novel in the first sentence.”

Cathi chose to pair food and wine with Lucky by Marissa Stapley. 

Lucky Armstrong is a con artist with a conscience and a woman in need of a solution, one that only her cunning, wit, and training has prepared her for. She was raised by her father to be his sidekick, the two driving across the country in search of the next grift. All Lucky wanted was to be a normal kid, one who could go to school, make friends, and sleep  in the same bed at night.  Instead, her life is surrounded by cons she and her father and then she and her BF pull, but always with the guilt and awareness on the side. After she and Cary, the BF, steal a large amount of money, intending it to be their last con, but the things go awry, Lucky’s been duped and left alone, only to discover she’s legitimately bought a lottery ticket worth millions, though she can’t claim her winnings because then she’d be caught for her crimes. She goes on the run, trying to undo all the damage she’s done. You won’t be able to stop reading to see how it ends.

Order the book here for you and a friend (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com). Then have a great discussion paired with 19 Crimes The Banished and homemade mac and cheese. Here’s a good recipe on Half Baked Harvest. 

Christie’s choice was The Maid by Nita Prose. 

Nita Prose’s debut novel, The Maid, makes the list for the kind of book Christie craves right now. It’s charming, clever, and uplifting. The main/maid character, Molly, loves her job. Clean and orderly is how she likes everything in life. The nuances of social interactions allude her, which makes her vulnerable to those with nefarious intentions. But the reader will find her lovable and become her champion. This GOB Rec is one that you can share with all types of readers looking for a mystery with heart.

Order your copy here and order a few extra for gifts (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com). Pair it with Unsullied Chardonnay and Olive Garden takeout. If you want to make your own, try this delicious recipe, Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta from The Magical Slow Cooker. Christie likes to add a little spinach for a yummy addition! 

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel.

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

This week’s Corks & Conversation with Connor Ross McVay episode rounds off our “Manuary” with a fun and informative talk with our own sound editor/producer. Have a listen …

We get questions all the time about the nuts and bolts behind making a podcast. Connor Ross McVay, a NYU Tisch graduate is a film maker, screenwriter, podcast producer, graphic artist, web designer … you get the idea. As with most artists, he explores many different avenues to create and make a living. On this episode, he answers our questions about “all the things!” 

Connor explains his editing process and how we’ve evolved from phone interviews to Zoom. He even gives examples of how he makes us sound good during our “um, you know, um, bark, bark, what was I saying?” recordings.

We shared one of Connor’s favorite wines, Barefoot Peach Fruitscato. This is a sweet wine, perfect for sitting by the pool or on the beach. Christie enjoys it over ice in south Florida. However, since it is winter, Cathi stuck to a warming red wine and left the ice outside in South Dakota.

We rounded out our chat with talk of screenwriting, favorite movies, and even gave a glimpse into Connor and Christie’s book/screenplay collaboration.

All in all, this was a laugh filled conversation among friends with lots of behind the scenes information on making a podcast. If after listening, you still have questions or want to hire Connor for your podcasting, website, or graphic needs, just reach out to him via his website! 

Here are some highlights from the episode:
1:25 Our secret weapon
4:48 Doesn’t everyone have a podcast?
8:23 Technology isn’t easy for all of us
11:39 our #1 fan
15:25 and a composer!
20:10 his personal mascot – an otter!

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel. 

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

In this week’s Corks & Conversation II with T. Jefferson Parker, we talk with one of our favorite authors who joined us from his home in Southern California. Have a listen … 

Award winning author, T. Jefferson Parker returns to our podcast this season to introduce our listeners to his new (and 27th) book, A Thousand Steps. This part thriller, part coming of age novel takes place in the psychedelic time of 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. He drew from his memories to write this beguiling story, as he explains …

“For a 14 year old that world was just astonishing. Here’s this gorgeous beautiful city and these rugged gorgeous beaches, trees everywhere. And in ‘68, the town was just crammed with hippies with their wild clothes and hair everywhere. And the cops were mad at them. And there’s drug deals going down everywhere you look. The whole city smells like marijuana smoke and eucalyptus combined. And I was 14 and I didn’t understand hardly any of it. But I ‘got it’ and I saw it and I recorded it in my little 14 year old brain.”

We sipped a glass of Coppola Diamond Collection Zinfandel while we talked about all the things we loved about this book. We join many readers and writers who are fans of T. Jefferson Parker’s writing. The great Lee Child, heaped his praise and added that A Thousand Steps “might be Parker’s crowning achievement.” Find out for yourself, you can order your copy of the book here: indie bookshop.org or Amazon. 

This book came to Jeff during the first lockdown when he wanted to escape to 1968. He took a detour from his Roland Ford series, as he describes here … 

“That book, A Thousand Steps, just literally ordered me to write it and said you’re not writing Roland Ford, you’re writing me. And I took that seriously, or the creative guy inside me took that seriously. When something demands that much attention so strong, and you feel these memories and these sensations kind of swelling up inside you, you listen to that: that’s where good writing comes from.” 

He knows of what he speaks. His break out best selling debut, Laguna Heat, was a labor of love, the product of five full drafts over five years! And he continues to produce excellent writing, twenty-seven novels later. His take on writing says it all …

 “Writing is like golf in the sense that you never get the whole thing all the way down but you want to feel like you’re doing better.”

Once again, T. Jefferson Parker shared laughs and inspiration with us!

Some highlights from the episode
4:02 The wine T. Jefferson Parker chose was inspired by his favorite movie
6:00 The cover is bitchen!
7:25 Inspired by 1968
8:08 The author as a 14 year old boy in Laguna Beach
13:17 Why we root for Matt Anthony
16:40 The Poet Laureate of crime fiction
18:24 Inspired by Catch 22
26:00 Where good writing comes from

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel. 

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

This week’s Corks & Conversation with Alan Orloff episode kicks off our “Manuary!” Have a listen …

After the first half of Season Four of GOB of some amazing women crime fiction writers, we decided to let some men have fun with us too! 

Alan Orloff  is the award-winning author of 10 novels and even more short fiction. His latest book, I Play One On TV, is a YA thriller that follows teen actor Dalton Black, who not only plays a teen killer on TV, he becomes a real life stalking victim of a teen killer. We loved this unique storyline and when asked about his inspiration for this premise, here’s what he had to say…

“Well, it came from an email I got, believe it or not. For all you writers out there, if you get an email that says ‘this is a great story idea’ in the subject line, open it up. Pay attention to that.”

Christie picked St. Regis Secco, a de-alcoholised sparkling wine, which goes with both the YA genre and those doing a dry January. And we learned a new word, “de-alcoholised.” Get a couple copies of this page-turner, one for you and one for the teen in your life, and enjoy a great read (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com)!      

Alan writes in many different genres, and he attributes this to reading history…

“When I went to the library, it didn’t seem, to me, as genre-divided as it is now. I would just go looking for a good book. So some of the books I read were crime fiction, some would just be science fiction, or horror, or regular old good books. So, in my mind, if I get an idea that I want to pursue, and this was true earlier in my writing career, I would just write it.”

We met at Sleuthfest, so we love the story Alan told of his experience at this mystery conference. Something all writer’s dream of! 

“4AM, I woke up in the middle of the night, and I had the idea of a novel completely formed in my head. It was unbelievable. It was ‘Pray For The Innocent.’… …The only drawback is: now every morning when I wake up, I’m just a little bit disappointed.”

We laughed a lot during this first Corks & Conversation for 2022 and we are sure you will too!

Here are some highlights from the episode:
5:38 Great things do come from emails!
6:47 This story idea hit very close to home
8:03 When see a familiar face
11:20 YA books aren’t only for YA readers
17:09 All good things happen at SleuthFest
21:00 Not your grade school outline

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel. 

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

In this week’s GOBrecs Book Club – Baldacci & Connelly episode, we are recommending new books from a couple of our long time favorite authors! Have a listen …

Christie chose to pair food and wine with The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly. 

From the first Harry Bosch novel, Christie hasn’t stopped reading each new novel. In this book, Harry is back along with Connelly’s new series lead, Renee Ballard. The novel is set in early 2021, just as the covid vaccine is coming out. As always, Connelly portrays Los Angeles and the police department with grit and realism. He addresses the conflicts of the times deftly through his characters with all their valour and flaws. In other words, he earns his rank among the best crime writers, particularly of police procedurals. For an intricate plot that shows the flaws of our legal system and how dedicated detectives fight for right, grab a copy of The Dark Hours. You won’t be disappointed and don’t be surprised if you find yourself going back and reading all the books in both the Bosch and Ballard series.

Order the book here for you and a friend (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com). Then have a great discussion paired with Luna Nuda Pinot Grigio and BBQ Chicken Rollups. Here’s a good recipe on Old House to New Home.   

Cathi’s choice was Mercy by David Baldacci.

FBI Agent Atlee Pine is Baldacci’s first female solo lead in a series and she’s quite deserving of the honor. She’s an FBI Agent with a painfully difficult childhood, one where her twin sister was kidnapped at 6 years old, with Atlee left behind to grieve. As the sole FBI Agent for miles in the GRand Canyon, she’s more than able to handle herself, but in this 4th installment, she and her administrative assistant Carol Blum are on sabbatical to finally face the truth about what really happened to her twin. Baldacci continues his page-turning, break-neck speed thrillers with this one. You don’t need to read the first three in the series first, but you might want to, just to make the experience last longer.

Order your copy here (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com) and pair it with a French Beaujolais and Croque Monsieur which is the French Bistro style Ham and Cheese Sandwich. C’est magnifique!

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel.

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

We’ve come up with a few monthly challenge ideas for the new year!  Have a listen …

We enjoyed a glass of Mind & Body Pinot Grigio, while we discussed our ideas for monthly challenges in 2022. Join us and see if you are up for a challenge! 

Cathi’s going to try a “30 days to stop complaining” challenge in January. Each time she complains she will have to give a dollar to whoever she is with. She did make an exception for while she is running for her half-marathon training! 

Christie is going to try to get back in shape as well with a 28 day workout calendar from blogilates.com. There’s even an app for that to help with the challenge!  

A few other challenges we might try for other months in 2022:

• Run a Half marathon
• Clean/organize a shelf or drawer a day
• Enneagram test
• 30 days alcohol free
• High-five habit from Mel Robbins (get her book on Amazon or indie bookshop.org)
• Plank challenge
• Each day write in a positivity journal 

If you decide to try one, we’d love you to share your progress with us. We will be sharing ours on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel. 

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

We all had a merry time on this week’s Corks & Conversation with Shawn Reilly Simmons episode! She shared so much fun and insightful information! Have a listen …

We are ending 2021 on a high note with this episode! Shawn Reilly Simmons is the award-winning author of Murder on a Silver Platter, book one of seven (so far) in her Red Carpet Catering Mystery series. We loved these mysteries that take place on movie sets! This gives a variety of locations and characters for each book. Shawn explains how from her experience, this is such a great idea for a series.

“A film set is like a community… I would just observe people walking around and there are actors and famous people but there are also accountants and carpenters and guys that are moving the stuff around and hairdressers, like any number of people that would be in a community.”

We sipped on a glass of Bogle Cabernet while we talked about how much we enjoyed Murder on a Silver Platter and are looking forward to reading the rest of the series! Get her book here for a yummy diversion! (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com).  

Cozy mysteries seem to be going strong during the pandemic and Shawn gave us an interesting theory as to why.

“It’s sort of reminiscent of the golden age of mystery writing, back in the 30’s between the two wars, where there was this huge resurgence of Agatha Christie and people like that, because  people wanted comfort and justice. And that’s why I think the phenomenon is still in play” 

In addition to writing novels, Shawn helps run a mystery writer conference, Malice Domestic, and has her own podcast, 5 Compelling Questions with Shawn! She also writes short stories, a lot of them! She describes her love of short story writing as follows…

“The short stories for me were a place to get a little weird, get a little darker, stretch, try to write a thriller, you know different little scenarios. So that was where, for me, it was really fun. So I used to refer to them as a palette cleanser.”

All in all, we could have talked for hours! We were so glad that Shawn Reilly Simmons was able to find time in her busy schedule to give us such insight and laughs! 

We hope you enjoy this episode as a little Christmas gift to yourself and an end of year treat!

Here are some highlights from the episode:
4:20 Shawn knows her wine!
8:28 She worked at her sister’s movie catering company in real life!
11:20 Golden age of traditional mystery
13:10 A first for the Question in a Bottle series; we called foul on the question!
15:31 “I love Rock ‘n Roll” is her intro music
17:06 Malice Domestic
21:00 Her new podcast!
24:24 What she’s working on now

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel. 

And please subscribe right here  to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

We’ve come up with a few easy habits to make a happier holiday season!  Have a listen …

We enjoyed a glass of Dark Horse Cabernet, while we discussed our ideas for happy making habits. Join us and see if one of these might work for you!

Christie suggested sending a personal note to a friend or loved one each day, just telling them how much they mean to you. And putting it through regular mail so they will get a nice surprise in their mailbox. 

Cathi loved that idea and might try to incorporate it into her habit idea. She suggests taking something off your “to do” schedule each day and just do nothing! Hard but necessary during this busy time of the year!

A few other ideas we talked about:

• Bake small batches of premade cookies each day, a feast for the senses. 
• Put together small gifts for all those hard-working service people who make our lives better.
• Have a preset list of unique holiday movies that the family can pick from each movie night.

And if you are still looking for gifts to give, check out our gift lists and books we are giving this year.  We even have a list of our stocking stuffer ideas in our December Newsletter.

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel.

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!

In this week’s GOBrecs Book Club – King and Grisham episode, we went old school where we plan food and wine around crime fiction books! Have a listen …

Cathi chose to pair food and wine with The Judge’s List by John Grisham. 

Grisham has long been one of Cathi’s favorites. Judicial Conduct Investigator Lucy Stoltz is back (she first appeared in The Whistler); she’s at a crossroads and uncertain of her next professional and personal steps when an informant appears with information on a judge she’s been personally investigating for years – a serial killer sitting on the Bench – with no other complaints against him except for a string of unsolved murders. It’s a fantastic escape.  

As Cathi explains about Grisham’s books …

“He’s sneaky, he starts in kind of slow, he eases you into the story, and you don’t think too much is going on right away. Then, all of a sudden, you can’t stop reading the thing. ”

Order your copy here (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com) and pair it with Seaglass Pinot Grigio and Fish tacos. Cathi’s favorite recipe comes from Natasha’s Kitchen! 

Christie’s choice was Billy Summers by Stephen King. 

One of her first favorite authors, Christie has been reading King’s books for decades. Billy Summers delves into the idea of good vs. bad that often crops up in King’s novels, even as far back as The Stand. (Thank goodness our current pandemic hasn’t been as bad as the one King chronicled in that epic story.) As the title character in this new novel, Billy Summers is an assassin who only targets “bad” guys. We follow him through what is supposed to be his final job and get to know him through his cover as a writer. In true masterful form, King weaves a dark tale that explores the shades of gray between the black and white view of Billy Summer’s world. A great read you will be thinking about for years to come.

Order the book here for you and a friend (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com). Then plan a lively discussion paired with Josh Prosecco and Huevos Rancheros. Christie followed the easy peasy recipe found on COOKIE + kate and it was as delicious as it looks.

You can play the episodes from our website, wherever you listen to podcasts or watch them on our YouTube Channel.

And please subscribe right here to get an email with each new episode released. You’ll get a monthly newsletter jam-packed with cool information, contests, and our new GOB Recs where we give our current recommendations on what we are listening to, reading, and watching!

You can find all our episodes and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, or right here on our website!