Antiques Collecting Fact:
Did You Know?

Murano glass is considered by collectors to be among the finest in the world. Many of the most valuable objects were produced in the post War boom from the late 1940s to the 1960s. One of the top studios is Venini & C, known for their dramatic color palettes and designs, such as this patchwork design. Signed examples in excellent condition sell for $4,000 or more.

Jane’s Interview
"Behind the Black Mask"
Posts July 15th

In an in-depth, hour-long interview with the website’s creators, Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards, Jane discussed her work from a philosophical perspective. You’re welcome to give it a listen at www.noircast.net.

Cooking Tip from Josie's Mom

"Chicken and avocado makes a delicious combination in a sandwich," Josie’s mom says. "Cut the crust off of toast, spread a little mayonnaise, add thin slices of cold roasted chicken and avocado."

Josie adds, "I like this sandwich best as a wrap."

Several recipes from Josie's mom are on Jane's website.

To make sure you receive the next issue (so your spam blocker doesn't block it), add the following to your address book or white list:
"Jane_K._Cleland@mail.vresp.com"

Jane’s the Guest of Honor:
Deadly Ink Conference 2008

"I was so pleased to be recognized in this way," Jane said. "It’s really an honor." The Deadly Ink Conference program hasn’t been announced yet—but the dates are set—June 21-23, 2008 in Parsippany, NJ. Stay tuned!

Visit Jane's MySpace site to find out more about Jane and Josie, and to become one of their "friends"!

Unpublished Fact About Josie

Josie says, “One of my favorite summer drinks is my regular Bombay Sapphire martini, with the glass filled with blueberries. Yum.”

Click here for more information about Josie's world.

Join Jane as She Moderates a
Stellar Line-up at the
New York Public Library:
"Women of Mystery:
Peek Under the Writer's Veil"

Midtown Branch
41st & Fifth Avenue
August 7 ▪ 6:30 p.m.

"I'm so thrilled that these accomplished and articulate women are on the panel," Jane says. The panelists include Mary Jane Clark, Mary Anne Kelly, Robin Hathaway, and Elizabeth Zevlin.

"I haven't settled on all of my questions," Jane says. "But I know I want to ask if the authors—and any of their characters—are feminists, and what that term means to them. I'll also ask them for details on their writing process. If anyone has questions they'd like to know the answers to, please e-mail me! I'll include them."

For details, please see Jane's website or the NYPL flyer.

Page 69—Does It Reflect the Book?

When Marshal asked Jane to participate in this unusual exercise, she happily agreed.  You can read Jane's essay on the topic at www.AmericaRead.com.

Jane got curious and asked Marshal, "Why did you start the Page 69 project?" Here's his reply:

"My books blog was plodding happily along when I ran across mention of Marshall McLuhan's "page 69 test" in John Sutherland's How to Read a Novel. I'm skeptical about the test -- read page 69 and, if you like it, go ahead and read the book -- but it's not much stranger than picking one's reading material via back-cover blurbs or advertisements. Initially I tried the test on a few books at hand -- the first post was about Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale and it went online August 31, 2006 -- then began asking writers to apply it to their own books.

"I really had no plans to make the Page 69 Test anything more than an occasional item on the blog, but now there are well over 200 books in the series and I've had to spin off the Test to its own blog .

‘Then in March, 2007 Friend of the Blog Cary Federman alerted me to an observation once made by Ford Madox Ford: 'Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.' It's essentially the same test as McLuhan's, and I couldn't resist starting another blog: the Page 99 Test, which has about 70 entries so far. [Deadly Appraisal is featured in the June posting for the Page 69 Test.]

"It's very gratifying when I hear from readers that they've bought books which they read about on the blogs.

"I'm a fan of that cartoon of a dog at the keyboard with the caption, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog," but since I've asked so many writers to share their views it seemed only fair to let them know who was writing.  So I've posted some reader-relevant info at an About the blogger post (written in the tense known as third-person ridiculous)."

What do you think? Does Page 69 of Deadly Appraisal reflect the book? Jane would love to hear your thoughts.