Shelly Dickson Carr into the wild……..
Agatha Christie’s : “Witness for the Prosecution”…see you in court! (The play is actually in a courtroom!)
SDC dinner with the wonderful Tom Perry. Thomas Perry’s book, “The Old Man”, adapted to TV with Jeff Bridges starts season 2 this month! Tom is such a great writer.
Don’t forget to watch Slow Horses on Sept 4th, 4th season with the wonderful Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb. This is the terrific creator/writer of Slow Horses, novelist Mick Harron and his amazing partner Jo and the indefatigable Marin Edwards whose books I also adore. Having so much fun with this crew. Jo and I are braving the heat, crowds, music, commotion and fun in Nashville @ Bouchercon
SDC and Harlan Coben @ 2024 Edgar awards
The award I got in NYC a few weeks ago for Best First Book. I keep moving it around the house. Not sure where it should live. Doesn't have to stay in my office does it?
SDC's dear friend, Katherine Hall Page won the 2024 Grand Master Award for MWA! (my grandfather, JDC, won it years ago)
Book Signing at Tower of London
Steven and SDC at the book signing for RIPPED, her Jack the Ripper Thriller (book) at Four Seasons Hotel Boston.
Had a wonderful time at Malice Domestic, celebrating mystery fiction and nonfiction in Bethesda! The Wonderful Douglas Greene on my right wrote definitive biography of my grandfather and started publishing company Crippen & Landru And! received Amelia Award! The British gent on my left, Martin Edwards, just won an Edgar for The Golden Age of Murder!! I'm bookended by such brilliant, kind, handsome and wonderful guys!!!
Author Event at Farmington Barnes and Noble.
Shelly Dickson Carr. Yes, the room is locked, and yes, she is John Dickson Carr’s granddaughter. #bouchercon2024 #Bouchercon
SDC with Adam James! He plays Don Harper to perfection in RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN.
Art Director/Designer Jon Albertson wit author Shelly Dickson Carr at the book signing for Ripped. Four Seasons Hotel, Boston
Book signing with the Karol girls.
John D. Spooner with his best seller NO ONE EVER TOLD US THAT and Shelly with her just-released RIPPED--a Jack the Ripper Time-Travel Thriller.
SDC having fun hanging out with some very cool people at Malice Domestic 30. Such a great conference 📚✍️🕵️!
SDC signing books at Blackstone's of Beacon Hill.
Andy Snider showed up at our house last night as Jack the Ripper. What fun! Loved seeing everyone.
SDC having a great time talking about writing and publishing!
This is Blame. The Breeders' Cup Classic Winner ~ so beautiful!
RIPPED fan! This is Rebecca reading RIPPED on Breakwater Beach in Brewster. Rebecca - Thank you so much for sending along this photo. I'm so thrilled to hear that you think it is great! I'd love to chat with you once you're done to hear what was your favorite part!!! ~Shelly
SDC with my favorite guy! Steve Steinbock!!! He writes the Jury Box mystery reviews for EQMM!
SDC with William Burton McCormick. He writes for Alfred Hitchcock magazine and lives in the Ukraine. This is at cocktail party given by Ellery Queen's Mystery magazine and Alfred Hitchcock magazine.
Derringer winner (this year) and Derringer finalist moi (last year) . Bouchercon in Toronto. I'm with my peeps ❤️at crime writers convention. Murder and mayhem.
John brought me a copy of "The Hollow Man," written by my grandfather, John Dickson Carr. He had me sign that as well as his copy of RIPPED.
Thank you Jennifer and Mark at Blackstone's of Beacon Hill. What a crowd you amassed for John's and my book signing last night. So much fun and a sell-out to boot! You are the best.
SDC with Orb. The 2013 Kentucky Derby winner.
What a blast speaking on the Red Dawn author's panel. And what a fun group of writers. I especially want to thank you Leslie Wheeler for her excellent job moderating the panel. A moderator's job is not an easy one and she made it look effortless. I so enjoyed meeting the other authors. We who toil away in our writing lives have so little opportunity to meet other fellow mystery/crime writers in such an intimate setting. It was an absolute joy for me to meet such kind and generous people.
SDC with the Otto Penzler, publisher of Mysterious Press and owner of Mysterious Bookshop (which is where we are here). Otto is a legend in the mystery writing field!
My book, RIPPED, is in Japanese!
Had a wonderful time at Malice Domestic, celebrating mystery fiction and nonfiction in Bethesda! The Wonderful Douglas Greene on my right wrote definitive biography of my grandfather and started publishing company Crippen & Landru And! received Amelia Award! The British gent on my left, Martin Edwards, just won an Edgar for The Golden Age of Murder!! I'm bookended by such brilliant, kind, handsome and wonderful guys!!!
Here I am with Kevin Egan. He writes legal thrillers. His latest book just out is called "A Shattered Circle".
Author Event.
SDC having tea with Colin Dexter at the Inspector Morse Bar in the Randolph Hotel in Oxford England. What an Over-the-Moon experience!
SDC with a fan at the Boston Public Library!
SDC with Steve Steinbock and Linda Landrigan. Steve was the judge for the Mary Higgins Clark award at the Edgar's. Linda Landrigan is an editor of Alfred Hitchcock magazine.
Barnes & Noble Event
Balliol college with fantastic Oxford tour guide Elizabeth Hudson-Evans!
Author Event at Barnes and Noble
SDC did a reading from RIPPED! and signed books today at New England Mobile Book Fair :)
Signing Books at the Tower of London
A page from a book discussing the author Georges Simenon, the influence of the book The Nebuly Coat, and mentions Shelly Dickson Carr's use of the term blood on a white bandage, with the relevant phrase highlighted in yellow.
Love the Adirondacks!! Foliage is stunning
Voted and took off to get away from the craziness of the election which was making me cuckoo! Paris soothes the soul! Doing research on my next novel. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it! Taking a seminar on “The Business of Luxury” going behind the scenes of fashion houses and seeing inner workings.
When not in Paris I dream about Alain Ducasse hot chocolate. How do they make it? A guarded secret. A mystery that I plan to solve.
Oh, to be back in Paris!
One of my favorite guys on the planet, Martin Edwards, just won an Edgar for The Life of Crime. Yipppeeee!Fabulous book. Great new info about my grandfather John Dickson Carr in his amazing Edgar-winning book! Congrats Martin!!!!!
A smiling man and woman taking a selfie indoors, with a large, wooden, lattice-like decorative structure behind them.
A dinner party at the Palace of Versailles. Thank you Judy and Peter for inviting us. Let them eat cake! I understand they never open the palace at night for private dinners except for dignitaries! I feel very royal! Merci! So special. I feel a wee bit spoiled. So glad to have such wonderful friends.
Too cool for School…! Wait! I’m in school this week in Paris! Learning about the Business of Luxury with CEO’s and Presidents of fashion houses. Going behind the scenes at couture atelier workshops where they cut the leather and sew the handbags. Learning so much.
This is Dr Cynthia Smith. We’re In Mexico to learn about her marine mammal program to save endangered Vaquita porpoises. Only ten left in the world. There’s an international effort aimed at rescuing this species. Dr Cynthia Smith is leading the JANE project. Justice Action Network for the Earth.
No hay dias malos en Cabo!
Me with my buddies in Mexico 🇲🇽 Flying home for Thanksgiving today
This was the committee for the Robbie Burns night on Spring Island. I gave the traditional toast to the laddies which is meant to be saucy and a wee bit off-color. Needless to say I love a spicy toast. My cuppa Scottish tea 😍 with a wee dram…or two…or three…
At Malice Domestic in DC! Dear friend Gigi Pandian won Agatha Award for her wonderful mystery novel: A Midnight Puzzle whoooohaaaaa! Such a fun night
My buddy in crime, the inimitable Josh Patcher, was finalist for his YA mystery!
Kentucky Derby! Rooting for our friend’s horses…and winning!
My good buddy Ted Nixon! His Starlight syndicate won the Kentucky Derby twice! He and his wonderful wife Mary own Story Teller Stables. He has Justify foals (cool beans!) Ted and I are old travel buddies (back in the day). So much fun seeing dear friends.
Coming off an amazing weekend at Gladstone’s Library in UK. I did a talk on John Dickson Carr. So much fun. So many amazing people, including his UK publisher at British Library for crime classics. What a wonderful group of mystery readers and writers. Thank you Martin Edwards for inviting me to Alibis in the Archives. Met so many fabulous people
Gladstone’s Library in UK. I’d kill for a quiet room here to write a murder mystery. Wait! I have a room here to die for…
Steak & Ale pie at the Fox & Grape pub on the boarder of Wales. . This is my cuppa tea (or pint of ale!)
This is me, happy as a clam at high tide cuz Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine accepted a new story of mine: “Darkness of the Moon” set in the Low Country of South Carolina. The title is a rift on my grandfather, John Dickson Carr’s novel Dark Of the Moon set in Charleston. Thank you Jackie Sherbow! So much fun to work with you and your editorial expertise! And thank you darling hubby of mine for this new writing room on the Cape. I am beyond thrilled and blessed. Having a big birthday soon has its upside
We decided to play detective…and found Anne Perry’s home in Portmahomack…hidden away on the Dornoch Firth. She was a murderer and! a famous and prolific writer of the beloved Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and William Monk detection fiction. Martin Edwards knew her as they were fellow crime writers. Where she lived in Scotland is a well kept secret. We took a retired police officer and went on the hunt. We found her house hidden down a beautiful, if spooky, lane. At 15, she killed her best friend’s mother. Death by bludgeoning with a rock sock. Kinda creepy…
Looking for locked-room murders in every corner of Skibo…
Crime writer Martin Edwards who’s won Edgars, Agatha, Macavity and Poirot award…oh! And the Diamond Dagger among others. We’re mixing whisky and wine and noodling about with murder plots in the Highlands. And I must say, our spouses have come up with the best plots so far. Murder Most Tartan? Death by Wee Dram? She Wouldn’t Kill a Patient, Laddie?
Great beach read. The House At Devil’s Neck by Tom Mead!
At Bouchercon in New Orleans. Blood on the Bayou anyone? Blood and more blood 🩸 fictional blood that is. Wonderful panel on short mystery fiction. Having a blast!
Some of my favorite peeps: Shawn Cosby @ Bouchercon
Some of my favorite peeps: Linda Landrigan & Steve Steinbock @ Bouchercon
Nicholas Meyer is a fabulous director and writer. I’m loving his new novel Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing. Wonderful dinner partner here in New Orleans. This was at Otto’s party celebrating 50 years of Mysterious Press!
With Luisa Cruz Smith and Otto Penzler celebrating 50 years of Mysterious Press. So much fun.
With Patricia’s and Louis Vidal, friends from Madrid. Vidal is top renowned Archetect in the world. Love his international terminal in Boston. He just finished Pittsburgh airport (looks like a gorgeous museum not an airport) and is now doing LaGuardia airport. They introduced me to my favorite living artist Jaime Plensa at their home in Spain a few years ago. The nicest couple on the planet. ❤️
Thank you to all our Vets for their service to our country! I’m with my brother in NH. We went to Veteran’s Day ceremony in North Conway. Woody was a Commander in the Navy. What slayed me was hearing that 17 (17!) Vets a day commit suicide (and they think that number may be higher). We soooo need to do a better job supporting our Vets when they go back to civilian life. Our vets deserve our support getting jobs and health resources. And our heartfelt gratitude. Thank you to all our veterans.
Ah, the holiday season! There’s something magical about Christmas that brings to life the twinkle and glitter of days gone by, especially when reminiscing about the wonderful adventures with my grandfather, John Dickson Carr—affectionately known as Daddy John. As the festive air fills homes and hearts everywhere, I find myself revisiting cherished memories of Christmases with my grandfather that were as mesmerizing, fun, and memorable as any of his novels. “Daddy John,” as my siblings and I lovingly called him, wasn’t just any grandparent. He was the maestro of mystery—both on the page and in life. Imagine my joy when the new Knives Out mystery came out in theaters (and just dropped on Netflix). Wake Up Dead Man written/directed by Rion Johnson pays tribute to my grandfather and his novel The Hollow Man (The Three Coffins in UK). This isn’t just any nod, it’s a full-blown celebration of his genius! How fabulous to watch Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig) unravel a murder mystery using techniques my grandfather penned in Chapter 17 of his iconic book. My heart jangled like sleigh bells watching this terrific film and listening to such a wonderful homage to John Dickson Carr, the grandfather I adored. I was 21 when my grandfather passed. Growing up, he lived with us at 211 Beach Ave in Mamaroneck NY for months at a time, finishing manuscripts and visiting his publisher—it was an atmospheric, fabulous Victorian home ( that had a ghost named Lucy!) In fact, this house, his house, became our house—replete with towering bookshelves in a library filled with his leatherbound collection, dark oak-paneled walls hung with his rapiers, swords, oil paintings, Hogarth etchings. His office was on the third floor, with a utilitarian metal desk facing a blank wall so he wouldn’t be distracted while writing. All the furniture too, was my grandparents—the house was a treasure trove that overflowed with the love and laughter of childhood. And oh, Christmas! Daddy John loved Christmas! He loved to play Santa, though he preferred we say: Father Christmas. With the twinkle of Father Christmas in his eyes, he made every Christmas magical. Christmas mornings with my grandfather was nothing short of spectacular. Imagine walking into a wonderland overflowing with toys, magic tricks, and jewelry that sparkled like tinsel on the tree. Millers Toy Store in Mamaroneck was his workshop, he left no stone unturned or toy unbought. Later, in my thirties, the store owner still reminisced about those epic shopping sprees when John Dickson Carr would sweep through the store like a winter snow storm buying everything in sight for his grandchildren. Trips to FAO Schwarz were always an adventure. “Tuppence, run along and choose anything your heart desires!” He’d smile and chuckle, his eyes twinkling brighter than the Rockefeller Center tree all lit up on 5th Ave. Back then it wasn’t frowned upon to let a child run wild in the biggest toy store in the world. But my grandfather’s favorite part of FAO Schwarz? The novelty department. He loved gags, gadgets, magic tricks. Soap that turned your hands black, fake chocolates, fake bullet holes he’d paste on the windows, peanut brittle jars filled with spring-loaded snakes. He loved to booby-trap our entire house at Christmas (all the year round actually!) His love for gags and magic tricks turned ordinary days into frolicking fun events! We adored him. That was his super power. Though he was the master of looked-room murders and impossible crimes, to us he was the master of unbridled love and fun. He made life feel like an adventure. He made his grandkids feel as if they were the most important characters in one of his stories. Of course I WAS HIS FAVORITE (though each of my 3 sibs will each tell you they were his favorite.) He used to call me his red-headed Tuppence. One heart-warming Christmas, I remember asking him—he was neither a churchgoer nor traditionally religious—if he’d come hear me sing in the choir on Christmas Eve. He sat me down and explained in great length why he was not religious and did not attend church services. He talked about the history and ills of organized religion. But when he saw my crestfallen face, he said: “For you, Tuppence, anything.” And as I sang my heart out in church, knowing he was there—fidgeting next to my grandmother in one of the pews—he’d wink at me every time he caught my eye. Walking home that night under a gentle fluttering of new snow, he tucked my hand into the pocket of his tweed overcoat, warming me (I was shivering) more than the festivities ever could. Grandparents like Daddy John remind us of the greatest mystery of all—an enduring love that will light our way even on the darkest of nights. Being a grandparent myself, let me say: Deck the halls! Sing out loud! Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Everything!
Christmas Eve at the castle. In Scotland we leave carrots for the reindeer instead of cookies. After black tie dinner, and service at Dornoch Cathedral, and caroling, we stayed up till 2 Am singing around the piano and eating midnight pasties
It was a holiday in the Highlands! Lots of haggis, tatties, wee drams, whisky Dundee, mince pies, and Scottish dancing called a Ceilidh (like square dancing with bagpipes and fiddles). So many friends and my wonderful family here..all of good cheer. May the blessings of the season be with youIt was a Red Truck PJ holiday in the Highlands! Lots of haggis, tatties, wee drams, whisky Dundee, mince pies and Scottish dancing called a Ceilidh (like square dancing with bagpipes and fiddles). So many friends and my wonderful family here..all of good cheer. May the blessings of the season be with you!
Dave Zeltserman! My dear friend won Edgar!!! Whooahhhh!!! You rock, Dave! So proud of you!!!
Kentucky Derby party… Litmus Test didn’t win. But this derby was one for the ages!
Thank you David Rubenstein.
Declaration of Independence… Seeing this on the 250th anniversary of our nation is Awe-inspiring. It invokes in me a deep appreciation and respect for the past…and a profound sense of wonder and awe for our Founding Fathers and feels surreal to look at the exact paper they signed.