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Holiday Hoopla with Houston Authors

Conversations from a Page is hosting a Holiday Hoopla featuring new releases from seven Houston authors:

  • Chris Cander: The Weight of a Piano

  • Amy Weinland Daughters: You Cannot Mess This Up

  • Judithe Little: Wickwythe Hall

  • S.C. Perkins: Murder Once Removed

  • Sara Rosett: Murder in Black Tie

  • Katherine Center: Things You Save in a Fire

  • Francine Spiering: Houston Cooks: Recipes from the City’s Favorite Restaurants and Chefs

PLEASE NOTE: The event will follow a different format running from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Our seven authors will be presented in a fun "speed dating" style format with each allocated two minutes. Authors will then spread out to individual areas and are available for book signing and specific book conversation and questions. All books will be available for purchase, personalization and signing at the event. Additionally, we are pleased to host a Holiday Pop Up Shop with two marvelous and talented local designers as well as offering in-house gift wrapping so that you might tend to a few holiday shopping needs while enjoying our guest authors.

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Book Preorders

These books will be available for purchase and signing at the event as well as for pre-purchase and personalization by following this link:

https://www.murderbooks.com/event/holiday-hoopla-houston-authors-offsite

WHEN ORDERING, PLEASE CLEARLY SPECIFY IN THE ORDER COMMENTS SECTION THAT YOU ARE ATTENDING OUR CONVERSATIONS FROM A PAGE EVENT SO YOUR BOOK WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU AT THE EVENT.

Featured
The Weight of a Piano

About The Weight of a Piano

In 1962, in the Soviet Union, eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a Blüthner piano, built at the turn of the century in Germany, on which she discovers everything that she herself can do with music and what music, in turn, does for her. Yet after marrying, she emigrates with her young family from Russia to America, at her husband's frantic insistence, and her piano is lost in the shuffle.

In 2012, in Bakersfield, California, twenty-six-year-old Clara Lundy loses another boyfriend and again has to find a new apartment, which is complicated by the gift her father had given her for her twelfth birthday, shortly before he and her mother died in a fire that burned their house down: a Blüthner upright she has never learned to play. Orphaned, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, who in his car-repair shop trained her to become a first-rate mechanic, much to the surprise of her subsequent customers. But this work, her true mainstay in a scattered life, is put on hold when her hand gets broken while the piano's being moved--and in sudden frustration she chooses to sell it. And what becomes crucial is who the most interested party turns out to be. . .

About Chris Cander

Chris Cander is a novelist, children's book author, screenplay writer, and writer-in-residence for Houston-based Writers in the Schools. Her new novel THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO is forthcoming from Knopf. Her novel WHISPER HOLLOW was selected as an Indie Next pick and nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize in fiction and her award-winning novel 11 STORIES was included in Kirkus's best indie general fiction of 2013. Her children's book THE WORD BURGLAR received the silver 2014 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards for Reading Skills & Literacy.

You Cannot Mess This Up

About You Cannot Mess This Up

It's 2014 and Amy Daughters is a forty-six-year old stay-at-home mom living in Dayton, Ohio. She returns to her hometown of Houston over the Thanksgiving holiday to discuss her parents’ estate—and finds herself hurled back in time. Suddenly, it’s 1978, and she is forced to spend thirty-six hours in her childhood home with her nuclear family, including her ten-year old self. Over the next day and a half she reconsiders every feeling she’s ever had, discusses current events with dead people, gets overserved at a party with her parents’ friends, and is treated to lunch at the Bonanza Sirloin Pit. Besides noticing that everyone is smoking cigarettes, she’s still jealous of her sister, and there is a serious lack of tampons in the house, Amy also begins to appreciate that memories are malleable, wholly dependent on who is doing the remembering. In viewing her parents as peers and her siblings as detached children, she redefines her difficult relationships with her family members and, ultimately, realizes that her life story matters and is profoundly significant—not so much to everyone else, perhaps, but certainly to her. Amy’s guide said her trip back in time wouldn’t change anything in the future, but by the time her thirty-six hours are up, she’s convinced that she’ll never be the same again.

About Amy Weinland Daughters

A native Houstonian and a 1991 graduate of The Texas Tech University, Amy W. Daughters has been a freelance writer, focusing mostly on college football, for the past decade. You Cannot Mess This Up is her first published book, meaning she can no longer claim to be “the author of unpublished books.” Amy lives in Centerville, Ohio—a suburb of Dayton—where she is a regular on the ribbon dancing circuit. She is married to Willie (a computer person) and the proud mother of two sons, Will and Matthew.

Wickwythe Hall

About Wickwythe Hall

May 1940. Hitler invades France, a move that threatens all of Europe, and three lives intersect at Wickwythe Hall, an opulent estate in the English countryside—a beautiful French refugee, a take-charge American heiress, and a charming champagne vendeur with ties to Roosevelt and Churchill, who isn’t what he seems. There, secrets and unexpected liaisons unfold, until a shocking tragedy in a far off Algerian port binds them forever…

Wickwythe Hall is inspired by actual people, places and events, including Operation Catapult, a sea action in which Churchill launched a bloody attack on the French fleet to keep the powerful ships out of Hitler’s reach. Over 1,000 French sailors, who just days before fought side-by-side with the British, perished. Humanizing this forgotten piece of history, Wickwythe Hall takes the reader behind the blackout curtains of upper-class England, through the bustling private quarters of Churchill's Downing Street, and along the tense back alleys of occupied Vichy, illustrating what it took to survive in the dark, early days of World War II.

About Judithe Little

Judithe Little grew up in Virginia and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. After a brief time studying in France and interning at the U.S. Department of State, she earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where she was on the Editorial Board of the Journal of International Law and a Dillard Fellow. She lives with her husband and three children in Houston, Texas.

Murder Once Removed

About Murder Once Removed

Murder Once Removed is the captivating first mystery in the Ancestry Detective series, in which Texas genealogist Lucy Lancaster uses her skills to solve murders in both the past and present.

Except for a good taco, genealogist Lucy Lancaster loves nothing more than tracking down her clients’ long-dead ancestors, and her job has never been so exciting as when she discovers a daguerreotype photograph and a journal proving Austin, Texas, billionaire Gus Halloran’s great-great-grandfather was murdered back in 1849. What’s more, Lucy is able to tell Gus who was responsible for his ancestor’s death.

Partly, at least. Using clues from the journal, Lucy narrows the suspects down to two nineteenth-century Texans, one of whom is the ancestor of present-day U.S. senator Daniel Applewhite. But when Gus publicly outs the senator as the descendant of a murderer—with the accidental help of Lucy herself—and her former co-worker is murdered protecting the daguerreotype, Lucy will find that shaking the branches of some family trees proves them to be more twisted and dangerous than she ever thought possible.

About S.C. Perkins

S.C. Perkins is a fifth-generation Texan who grew up hearing fascinating stories of her ancestry and eating lots of great Tex-Mex, both of which inspired the plot of her debut mystery novel. Murder Once Removed was the winner of the 2017 Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition. She resides in Houston and, when she's not writing or working at her day job, she's likely outside in the sun, on the beach, or riding horses.

Murder in Black Tie

About Murder in Black Tie

Top hats and tails. Mink and murder . . .

November, 1923. An invitation to a house party at the estate of Parkview Hall is a welcome respite for Olive Belgrave, a newly minted working girl who’s become the solver of high society’s trickiest problems.

But when the sumptuous black tie event turns deadly, Olive’s cousin Peter becomes the main suspect. Olive must unmask a sophisticated killer before an innocent man takes the blame . . . because murder doesn’t RSVP.

Murder in Black Tie is the fourth standalone installment in the High Society Lady Detective series. If you like mysteries with elegant settings, charming characters, and a whodunit that will keep you guessing, you’ll love USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett’s series of delightful historical mysteries.

Escape into an elegant country home mystery with Murder in Black Tie.

About Sara Rosett

USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett writes lighthearted mysteries for readers who enjoy atmospheric settings, fun characters, and puzzling whodunits.

Sara loves all things bookish, considers dark chocolate a daily requirement, and is on a quest for the best bruschetta.

Publishers Weekly called Sara's books, "satisfying," "well-executed," and "sparkling." Her books are available in ebook, print, audiobook, and large print.

Things You Save in a Fire

About Things You Save in a Fire

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself.

About Katherine Center

Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away and the upcoming Things You Save in a Fire (August 2019), as well as five other bittersweet comic novels. She writes about how we fall down--and how we get back up. Six Foot Pictures is currently adapting her fourth novel, The Lost Husband, into a feature film starring Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb. Katherine has been compared to both Nora Ephron and Jane Austen, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, "satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way." Katherine recently gave a TEDx talk on how stories teach us empathy, and her work has appeared in USA Today, InStyle, Redbook, People, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Real Simple, Southern Living, and InTouch, among others. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her fun husband, two sweet kids, and fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Houston Cooks: Recipes from the City’s Favorite Restaurants and Chef

About Houston Cooks: Recipes from the City’s Favorite Restaurants and Chef

Houston’s dining scene is a colorful culinary tapestry of local and international food traditions. Whether it’s barbecue, Southern comfort food, or fine dining, H-town is emerging as a foodie destination―there has never been a more exciting time to eat in the Bayou City. Houston Cooks is an exciting collection of eighty signature dishes from forty of the city’s leading restaurants. Designed with the home cook in mind, this exciting anthology celebrates a vibrant culinary scene with dishes including Harold in the Heights’ shrimp and grits, Harlem Road BBQ’s savory lamb chops, The Dunlavy’s chocolate-covered cherry pie with stout… and so much more. Houston is regarded as one of the best food cities in the country and with this book, readers can re-create recipes from their favorite restaurants in the comfort of their own homes.

About Francine Spiering

Francine Spiering is a food and travel writer with a degree from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. As the editor of Edible Houston and president of Slow Food Houston, she is committed to the city’s local community and actively promotes the regional gastronomy through her work. Francine currently lives in Houston with her husband, son, and dog. This is her first book.

Earlier Event: November 5
Literary Salon with Fiona Davis and Julie Satow
Later Event: February 21
Literary Salon with Simone St. James and Kathleen West