Jennifer Oberth, Mystery Author

Blog Design Thoughts anyone? Anyone? I'm afraid to ask - what do you think of the new Blog face? Do you like it? Dislike it? Have suggestions on how to make it better? Easier? Can you navigate? Is it too busy? Not busy enough? Please - tell me what you think! And I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone that visits and comments and e-mails and hangs out and lets me hang out at your Blog. You guys are so cool. YOU make this fun!! Thank you.

Au and Target had asked me what six dinner guests I would invite and I did a Post of real people (alive or dead) on Monday which you can read here . Today, I'm doing a Sherlock Holmes edition: 1.) Number One spot goes to Sherlock Holmes - Jeremy Brett's version. He would be, by far, the most off-the-wall dinner guest I can think of. Will he come to dinner dressed as a vampire? Will he dart his eyes at each of my other guests and give that half smile? Will he insult anyone or solve any crimes that need solving? Will he eat? 2.) Doctor John Watson - Edward Hardwicke's rendition. His tone and choice of words would be a comfort throughout this strange dinner. (It would undoubtedly be strange.) 3.) Sherlock Holmes - Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal. He would be a bit rude (at least come across as so) I'm sure, he'd probably eat nothing and he'd be texting the whole time. (Solving those cases Jeremy Brett's Holmes' wouldn't know about since

Peter Falk has passed away. I LOVE him! Remember Columbo ? He was so much fun as Columbo. Always talking about his wife, taking care of his dog and catching killers like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick McGoohan and Robert Vaughn, just to name a few. I got a book - years ago - about the making of Columbo and found out the famous, "One more thing" line came about when the writers forgot to add a key line of questioning and were too tired (i.e. - lazy) to rewrite the scene so they had the Lt. pop back in with a line that would become synonymous with rumpled raincoats and supposedly absent-minded police lieutenants. Speaking of rumpled raincoats, the book also said Peter Falk had picked out the raincoat and wore it and it drove the sound guys nuts! One year for Halloween I dressed up as Columbo. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, got a rumbled rain coat and a plastic cigar and made gestures and said, "One more thing..." all day as I collected candy.

Hello all, I'm redesigning the Blog, have no idea how to do so and - therefore - please bear with me as I play around and get it the way I want it. Either I truly have no idea what I'm doing or Blogger has no option to play around without it saving it publicly. You'd think they'd allow you to redesign your Blog without changing anything live until you tell it to. Oh well...bear with me!!

Au and Target has asked me what six people I would invite to dinner. Finally, here is my answer: Real People (dead or alive) 1.) My other grandfather - the one I never got to meet I'd ask him so many questions and clarify a few points that my family (they are becoming crazier as I get older) disagree on. 2.) Hermann Oberth - the Father of Space Travel The nerd in me (not to mention the genealogist) has so many questions for him! 3.) George Washington "Seriously," I'd ask, "is this what you envisioned?" (Sorry, George, I've ruined your appetite. But look at this dollar bill. Pretty cool, huh? Huh?) 4.) Princess Diana - a true royal I'd love to show her what she's done. How her children are turning out. The influence she's had over the future of Britian - her future king married a commoner which hasn't happened in 350 years. You could never convince me that's anything other than her direct and frank way of progress

I'm confused by the report of Sherlock making Doctor Who's season run shorter. First I hear Sherlock is making Doctor Who's season run shorter and then I hear Sherlock isn't making Doctor Who run shorter but Doctor Who's season run is shorter. Huh? Steven Moffat is the creative driving force behind Doctor Who and Sherlock . Some are saying he can't do both - but isn't that why we hire people? Why we delegate? You don't have to do both! But actually, you CAN do both. Our ancestors did - and by ancestors, I mean people from ten years ago. There are, what, fourteen episodes a year of Doctor Who and three episodes a year of Sherlock . That's seventeen episodes a year total. 17. Do we remember the days when seasons used to be twenty-two episodes? Do we remember the TV show by the name of 24 ? If Sherlock was Jack Bauer he'd either talk even faster (they'd have to slow the film like they did for Bruce Lee which would defea

1.) I had intened to write up my take of the Sisters In Crime Chicagoland Chapter Meeting that took place on Saturday but it will have to wait. I'm feeling rather tired and cough-y today and only have the Post half-written. 2.) As an author, I feel that my Blog Posts must be as perfect as possible (writing-wise) and any deviation from proper grammar or heaven forbid, typos, is simply unacceptable. I swear if it wasn't so time-consuming I'd hire my editor to go over my entries before I post them! She'd think me nuttier than I really am. Although I attribute this particular nuttiness to my perfectionism which is bad for me but good for you. I hope I provide a high-quality Blog and even higher caliber of short story - short stories and novels to come. Yes. Maybe not so good for you if you liked Married To Murder and are awaiting further adventures. Perfectionism is keeping them from the public. 3.) By the way, how has no one told me that David Hewlett and Benedi

I'm coming up with a list of 100 Fictional Places I Want To Visit. (Why, you ask? Because I can, I answer.) 1.) The Diogenes Club in London. First of all, it’s in London so that’s reason #1. Second, I think it’d be cool to be with people you can’t interact with. The Diogenes Club was co-founded by Mycroft Holmes and we learn about it in Sherlock Holmes and The Greek Interpreter . What exactly is the Diogenes Club? Sherlock Holmes explains : “ There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the n

See, I already have a problem and I'm in the title of the Blog Post. I've avoided Blogging about Doctor Who for two reasons: 1.) I loathe spoilers and don't want some wisenheimer commenting them. 2.) I am a fan of Doctor Who , not so much this new Who . Hence my problem with the title – this is not Season 6. It's like Season 32. Okay, so that said, let's delve into my problems with this episode. First of all, I'm not saying the title because it's supposedly a spoiler which I heard so avoided reading it. Then it was everywhere. It was even texted to my phone so I knew the title backwards and forwards before it aired. Then of course, I thought, oh, good. This particularly dragged out storyline will be wrapped up. No such luck. I think it was a fake spoiler to make you think one thing when it had to do with another. The cool thing is the title was pretty good for the content of the episode. Clever. Since this new Who started, I wanted to see

I never really knew how superstitious I was until I came across the Agra Treasure for sale. If you will recall, the Agra Treasure is from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and The Sign Of Four .   The Sherlock Holmes Society of London is selling the Agra Treasure in the form of a brooch made to order and individually finished with jewels mentioned in  The Sign Of Four . That is a collectible totally up my alley and yet, I will never buy it. It's cool. It's from London. It's unique. And it's cursed. In fact, it is s o cursed that one when character loses it, Watson's life takes a turn for the better! That's pretty darn cursed in my book. (And Doyle's, evidently.) So I must pass on this really cool piece of physical fictional history. Maybe I'll put my bid in for those pesky Bruce-Partington Plans ...