Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

So last week we were passing through Ashland, OR, and stopped over for the night with friends (because it's a long way from Seattle to home). We were just going to stay the night and move on, but they suggested we stay an extra night and see if we could get last-minute rush tickets for one of the plays. If you aren't familiar with it, Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which puts on about 8 or 10 different plays every summer. Several of the plays are by Shakespeare, but the rest are a mix, some well-known, others written or adapted for the festival. On Tuesday, the one with tickets available was Hairspray. I can't say I knew much about the show, but our friends assured us it was fantastic--and it was. Which is what led to the question in my title: why haven't we been going to the theater? Well, okay, there are some good reasons. Theater in San Francisco was ruinously expensive, plus you have to deal with the hassle of getting downtown to see it (a...

Note: This was meant to be a review, but I failed to get the book read (too busy with the own writing this month). But I love the series—I’ve read and reviewed at least two others in the series, and thought both were top-notch. So even though I only read the first few chapters so far, I’m willing to give this a recommendation. Killalot (An Ivy Meadows Mystery)   Cozy Mystery 6th in Series   Henery Press (November 15, 2018) Hardcover: 282 pages   ISBN-10: 1635114330   ISBN-13: 978-1635114331   Paperback: 282 pages ISBN-10: 1635114306   ISBN-13: 978-1635114300   Digital ASIN: B07H3CH4RH     Publisher's Blurb: A jouster, a playwright, and a detective walk into a faire…but it’s no joke when one ends up dead. Actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows is thrilled when she learns that the famous playwright behind Hello Dolly Madison is in Arizona. Not so much when she realizes he’s a suspect in the murder of a Renaissance faire jouster. As is her frien...

Title: The Phantom of Oz (5th in series) Author: Cindy Brown Publisher: Henery Press, 2018. 268 pages (paperback) Source: Electronic ARC from Great Escapes Book Tours Publisher's Blurb: Creepy munchkins. A mysterious phantom. And a real Wicked Witch. Are you ready for it? Actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows has been hired to uncover the cause of the creepy accidents that plague the roadshow The Wizard: A Space OZpera and find out who dropped a chandelier on the Wicked Witch of the East. Was it the ghost who haunts the Grand Phoenician Theatre? A “wicked witch” in the cast? Or is it someone—or something—more sinister? It’s Ivy’s most personal case so far. Her best friend Candy, who’s touring with the show, is caught in a downward spiral of self-destruction, and is in more danger than she knows. To save her friend and the show, Ivy must answer even tougher questions: Do spirits really exist? What is real beauty? What does friendship mean? Ivy needs to learn the answers, an...

  We're posting today as part of another Great Escapes Free Book Tour! Title: Time Out (Dodie O'Dell Mysteries #2) Author: Suzanne Trauth Publisher: Lyrical Underground, 2017. 240 pages. Source: Free electronic ARC as part of the blog tour. Publisher's Blurb:   The amateur actors at the Etonville Little Theatre may be known for chewing the scenery, but restaurant manager Dodie O’Dell has something more appetizing for them to sink their teeth into. She’s been taking bows in her small New Jersey town for her theme menus, designed to complement the local productions. This fall, the community theatre is staging Arsenic and Old Lace, set in 1940s Brooklyn, so Dodie is serving up hot dogs, Italian ices, egg creams, and knishes at the weekend food festival. All is going well until Antonio Digenza, the ex-Off-Off-Broadway director of the show, dies dramatically while noshing on a knish. As rumors of food poisoning quickly spread, Dodie scrambles to rescue the Windjammer ...

Today I have the pleasure of hosting a stop on another Great Escapes tour and giveaway, for a fun sea-going mystery! Title: Oliver Twisted (An Ivy Meadows Mystery) Author: Cindy Brown Publisher: Henry Press, 2016. 280 pages ISBN-13: 978-1635110418 E-Book ASIN: B01DAPK14Q Publisher's Synopsis: Orphans. Thieves. Murder. And an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet! When Ivy Meadows lands a gig with the book-themed cruise line Get Lit!, she thinks she’s died and gone to Broadway. Not only has she snagged a starring role in a musical production of Oliver Twist, she’s making bank helping her PI uncle investigate a string of onboard thefts, all while sailing to Hawaii on the S.S. David Copperfield. But Ivy is cruising for disaster. Her acting contract somehow skipped the part about aerial dancing forty feet above the stage, her uncle Bob is seriously sidetracked by a suspicious blonde, and—oh yeah—there’s a corpse in her closet. Forget catching crooks. Ivy’s going to have a Dickens of a time j...