Carole Marsh Blog

The Mystery in the Smoky Mountains

The real mystery, to me, is remembering, I think, that it's Smokey Bear and Smoky Mountains—I still have editorial heart failure every time I see SMOKY instead of SMOKEY.  Nonetheless, the Blue Ridge Parkway celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and the Smoky Mountains, America's oldest mountain range as I recall (that's why it's so worn down in humps and not standing tall in witch pointy hat style) and every holler is filled with Appalachian history, mystery, legend, lore, clog dancing, corn lickin' good cornpone and more. In my new The Mystery in the Smoky Mountains, I try to cram it all in, but truly, you could write mysteries forever and galore set in this complex, beautiful, spooky landscape.  I can smell the rhododendrons steeping in the sun now; have picked blackberries big as Bob's thumb on the ridges, and spotted "foxfire" in the

The Mystery at Cape Cod

What kid doesn't like a mystery set at a beach?!  Bob and I spent some time on Cape Cod when he was in the Army Reserves and left me at Buzzard's Bay while he was on duty.  I fell in love with Sandwich glass, the Woods Hole Oceanic Institute, all the quaint little sandy towns, and more that make up the famous Cape Cod.  If you can't go to the beach, the next best thing is to read about the beach, the coast, especially if a mystery is involved.  The Mystery at Cape Cod should make kids wonder, "What's a cape" What's a cod?  And so is this a fish in an overcoat?"  Well, that sounds like something silly Grant would say, anyway.  I think I'll keep this mystery a mystery for those brave enough to read it.  Any takers, kids?!

The Mystery of the Lost Colony

That's the name of one of my new Carole Marsh Mysteries, just released. Now, this was a story I could chow down on since I lived in coastal North Carolina for a long time and really got hooked on the history, mystery, legend and lore there, which is long, wide, and deep! We all know Plymouth Rock and those other stories, but Eleanor Dare (brave pregnant woman!) and others came to the shores of the New World more than 400 years ago.  They wanted to establish a real colony, the kind with families, including newborn baby, Virginia Dare.  What they found was heat, cold, forest so thick you could not see thru them, mosquitoes the size of dinner plates, oysters the size of a man's forearm (that's big!), and Native Americans. When Virginia's grandpa and others

Good News at Gallopade!

Like other businesses, ours is suffering the ups and downs of the economy. It makes us sad to get letters from teachers who say they spend their own money for light bulbs and toilet paper...it makes us happy to get letters from kids who say they hated to read and now LOVE to read.  Good things at Gallopade are a sales rep planning for a summer wedding... eating lots of Girl Scout cookies...anytime we get to hire a

March is National Woman's Month!

So "woman up" and buy some great bios on great women and give them to some girls!  Hint:  Gallopade has some! Every woman has a story and the best story for girls to read is how women, who seem so successful now, actually always overcame obstacles, often seemingly impossible ones, to achieve their current status.  What an important message for ALL girls to get.  Don't stop with the oldie goldie women, add some younger and current event women who are changing the world.  As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Being a woman, what more can one want to be." Hear, hear!