Collecting can be murder — Bailey Cates — #bookgiveaway

Bailey MagicMacaroons_HighResWe’re celebrating the upcoming release of my third Food Lovers’ Village mystery, BUTTER OFF DEAD (July 7—save the suspense and pre-order it now!), with a glimpse of some of your favorite authors’ prized collections.

Today, Bailey Cates, aka Cricket McRae, shares a very book-ish collection that started long before she became a published author.

“When Leslie asked if I collected anything, I immediately thought of my bookmarks. Of course, I have craft “stashes” — of yarn and fabric, of herbs and essential oils and soap molds — but the only thing I really collect is bookmarks. I started when I was quite young. I loved reading, they were small and easy to pack (and we moved a lot), and they were cheap (often free). Now, forty years later, I have hundreds of bookmarks, perhaps even thousands.

Bailey 1This is a framed set of bookmarks from well-loved bookstores. Unfortunately, many of them are out of business now, but at least these live on to decorate my office wall.

And this a sampling of just a few of the others. There are the gifts of cross-stitch, watercolor, and a pom-pom bookworm on cardboard. The leather ones on the right are part of a mini-collection from my travels in Britain, where they seemed to be ubiquitous souvenirs. Shown is one from Ireland, one from the Dublin Writers Museum, and another from the Sherlock Holmes museum. The books of bookmarks crack me up — but admittedly are a good way to share recipes or have people return borrowed books. Beside the Bookmarks for Cooks is a laser-cut unicorn from my very early days of collecting. Yes, I was a girl who loved unicorns. And there in the middle is a tiny ship etched on a recycled ivory piano key — one of my very favorites.

Bailey 2And now I hand out my own bookmarks like a madwoman at conventions and signings. Big thanks to Leslie for inviting me to participate in her fun collection blog event this month!”

 

 

Some_Enchanted_Éclair_featureThe fifth in Magical Bakery Mystery, Magic and Macaroons, will release on July 7. Connect with Bailey and find out more about her books at www.cricketmcrae.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter: @WriterBailey

 

 

Leave a comment on my Facebook page or blog for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of SOME ENCHANTED ECLAIR, fourth in the Magical Bakery mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Random House. Ruff the Cat will choose a winner at random—check back in the morning to find out!

cat on desk

Butter Off Dead (final)

 

 

 

 

 

(Hint: if you subscribe to the blog, you’ll receive the posts by email and you won’t have to hunt for them on FB.)

(This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by Facebook.)

#butteroffdead