I have some exciting news! I’ve been hired to create costumes for a theater production of an Agatha Christie play. Isn’t that a tickle? I never thought I’d ever do anything like that. I mean, I’m retired now of course but I was a seamstress for many years and for a long time I had my very own dress shop in North Beach in San Francisco.
As the years went by, I really thought I needed to work less. I loved what I did but I wanted to relax and enjoy life more and even travel. And of course, spend as much time as possible with my granddaughter Julia. She works very hard too, managing her own business as an astrologer, and she’s number one on my list. I drop everything when she calls and can spend a little time with me.
But this job came out of the blue and I’m still not quite sure how it came about. I’ve been having lots of fun creating all the costumes for this production of Appointment with Death. And I just love that period – the 1930’s, so I’ve been spending a lot of time shopping for jewelry and cloche hats and whatnot for the actresses. My budget is very generous so I don’t even have to worry about how much I spend.
Are you familiar with that play? If so, that’s very good. But this version of Appointment with Death is a little different. It actually follows the book that Dame Agatha wrote. You see, Hercule Poirot solves the crime in the book, but he was written out of the original stage version. I have no idea why but our director is doing a marvellous job of playing the iconic Belgian sleuth. Of course, the title tells you a lot – Appointment with Death. That’s the story where the murder happens right in front of the characters, and no one realizes the victim is actually dead. It’s very exciting. I only hope there are no murders at our little theater!
You can read all about this in the novella to be released this fall – Enter a Wizard, Stage Left. You’ll learn lots about how the Zodiac Mysteries came to be. And this month, my author, Connie di Marco, is giving away the first book in the series – The Madness of Mercury. All you have to do is leave a comment. She'll use random.org to choose a winner. You see, the Zodiac Mysteries has a new publisher who will be designing fresh covers for all the books. I expect they’ll be fantastic! I can’t wait.
Posts
The Madness of Mercury soundss so ominous! I look forward to reading it!
ReplyDeletebrowninggloria(at)hotmail(dot) com
Hi Gloria ~ hope you enjoy it! Thanks for visiting today!
DeleteCongratulations, Gloria! I'm sure the costumes will be beautiful. The clothes from that era are so elegant. And who would want to leave Poirot out? Not sure I realized that. Say hi to Connie ;-) - can't wait for Enter a Wizard, Stage Left. New covers? Hmmm. I really thought the originals were cute with so much detail but guess we'll see. sally
ReplyDeletegrandmacootie(at(gmail(dot)com
Can't believe I don't know my own email - [email protected] duh
DeleteHi Sally ~ thanks for popping by today! It was fun and a change to write a novella, just as kind of a lark, instead of tackling a whole book. Several people wrote or sent FB messages asking about Julia's grandmother, how she found Wizard, when she first met her friend Gale and her introduction to astrology. So the novella, set before the series begins, will explain all that. Plus it's a nod to Golden Age classics a la Agatha Christie, and it was really fun to do. I hope you enjoy it, should be out in the fall. The current covers are really cute, but I always felt they should be more indicative of traditional, rather than cozy, mysteries. Haven't seen them yet, but really looking forward to that. Great to hear from you, Sally!
Delete