Autumn is just around the corner and it is my favorite time of the year. The air smells crisp and clean, blue jays squawk incessantly (sounding very exotic to my untrained ear), and the woods turn vibrant shades of orange, red, and yellow. I love fall colors (both in nature and in clothes!). There’s inspiration all around – especially for murder.

Except for growing the ingredients for potential pies and for Halloween decorations, what good is a pumpkin patch without a body lying between those bright orangey rows? What a great place to ditch a corpse!

Fall brings bonfires and a great way to destroy evidence. Think about it, ropes used in strangulation, wood-handled knives, even duct tape or blood-soiled fabric with a murderer’s DNA can all go up in flames and be rendered useless to investigators. You can hide a body beneath those small mountains of baled hay that people use to decorate their yards for the trick-or-treaters, or inside those tall, dried corn stalks that look so innocent and countrified for Halloween revelers. Of course, there is always the obvious – the fake headstone on the front lawn with a real corpse resting not-so-peacefully beneath the new patch of sod used to cover it. I think that might be a little too tame for most of us. What do you think?

I’m fond of the old body in the woods with leaves covering it trick that I personally prefer when I wish to hide a carcass. I mean, I only use this one when I don’t want the body discovered until the following spring! If it’s of no importance when the stiff is found, I’m kind of partial to dressing him/her/it up as a ghoul and sitting him amongst the rest of the Halloween décor on the front porch. Except for the smell after a few days, this is a perfectly acceptable way to use both the holiday and the crisp autumn air to temporarily dispose of a body – on your neighbor’s veranda, of course!

Okay, now down to business. I’m deep into Food for Thought and, hopefully, will have the first draft completed very soon! Not so with Recurring. This one is complicated and some days I’m scratching my head and rechecking my facts, which is an awful thing to do in the middle of a writing frenzy. I lose momentum and it’s so unnecessary considering it’s more important to write it all out and recheck those facts, then make adjustments and corrections later. Still, it’s coming along, but at a much slower pace than I had originally anticipated.

So until next week, enjoy our still-warm weather while we have it. Remember, Christmas is only 98 days away!

. . . and a happy welcome those who have recently signed up for this blog! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I love writing it.