Occupation: Actress
I can’t believe I woke up in Paris this morning! It’s still the same beautiful city it was when I came here on my honeymoon with my first husband, Derek.
Two husbands later, I’m here dancing with my four other fifty-something Hoofers on a Bateau Mouche –Tina, a bridal magazine editor, Gini, a documentary film maker, Mary Louise, a homemaker, and Pat, a family therapist. on Bastille Day, one of France’s biggest holidays. I’m Janice, an actress and director.
We’re eating the best French food — quail Veronique, shrimp bisque, tarte tatin, salade nicoise (recipes are in “Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets,” the third book in the Happy Hoofer series). We’re seeing all of Paris. Oh, and there are also two murders while we’re here. Seems to happen wherever we go. I almost got killed myself!
Yesterday I went sightseeing with Ken one of the guys in the band, an American ex-pat, who will probably never go back to the States. He says he loves it here because there’s nobody to tell him what to do or say or be.
We went to the Louvre and, at my request, ran up to the second floor to see “The Lacemaker” by Vermeer, my favorite painter. There’s something about the women that Vermeer painted that I identify with completely. I could imagine being that woman concentrating intently on the bobbins and pins with which she is making lace. I’m there in that room with her in the seventeenth century.
Ken watched me dive into the painting, so absorbed in it that he must have felt invisible.
“You really like Vermeer, don’t you?” he asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“There’s nobody else like him,” I said. “His paintings are smaller than Rembrandt’s and Hals, for one thing, so I can take them in better, I think. And his subjects are always doing something. They’re not just posing for a painter.”
“Where do you want to go next?” he asked me.
“Let’s go up to Sacre Coeur and have a drink in the Place de Tertre,” I said.
“Perfect!” he said. “Haven’t been there since last Thursday.”
We climbed the path up to the Place de Tertre, a square just below the cathedral, where artists display their work, and cafes 
serve you anything you want. We watched the tourists and artists and drank a glass of wine and then climbed the hill to the Sacre Coeur, at the very top of Paris’s right bank. A few moments of quiet in that incredible church and I was ready for whatever else Paris had to offer.
You can read more about Janice in Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets, the third book in the “Happy Hoofers” mystery series, published by Kensington. The first two books in the series are Chorus Lines, Caviar, and Corpses and Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities.
Here is a video where the author cooks Quail Veronique, one of the dishes featured in the book.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcmLnFMsB40&w=420&h=315]
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on August 31 for the chance to win a print copy of Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected.
About the author
Mary McHugh has published 22 books on subjects ranging from feminism to Crotchety Old Men. At present she is writing a series of Happy Hoofer murder mysteries for Kensington Books. “Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets,” set in Paris, is the third in the series.
She worked for The New York Times for their special sections, and her article, “Telling Jack” in the Sunday Times magazine was nominated for an award for best personal essay by the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Her book, Special Siblings: Growing Up with Someone with a Disability, was awarded a prize for Special Recognition of a National Project by The Arc of New Jersey.
She worked as an articles editor at three national magazines and was a contributing editor for Cosmopolitan magazine.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle and senior women.com.
Visit Mary at www.marymchugh.org
Sounds like a good series, I need to catch up.
This interview was a hoot! How have I not heard of this series?
It sounds very entertaining & with quirky characters which I
Love. I will have to put this series on my To Read list for
Goodreads.
Yes please Dru, I’d like to enter this giveaway. My cousin Mirriam if French and her family owned property in Paris and the surrounding areas until the neighborhoods where they were became dangerous for Jews to live in. She sold them all off.
I’d like to see it though Janice’s eyes.
Love the title, sounds like there is humor it this book, a must read, thanks for the chance 🙂
What a great title and awesome cover. The book sounds like a delightful read. Thank you for the giveaway.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like a fun series, I will have to see about finding the first one. Thanks for the chance to win.
Just put the first in the series on my library list. I’d love this one.
Sounds like a fun read
I adore these ladies. I would have loved to be them when I was 50, but I still had kids in college. Dancing! And then my knees went. Soooo … now I read about it.
This is a fun series I am looking forward to the next in the series
I loved the first book in the series and can’t wait to read the next adventure. Great series so far and look forward to many more. I would love the chance to win this. Thank you Dru!!
Thank you so much for sharing the info on the book and also the author. I am not familiar with either and was drawn into your blog. robeader53@yahoo.com
Thanks Dru for the introduction to yet another new series! Love reading your blog, but the results make my “to read” list grow faster than ever. 😉
Mary McHugh is a new author me … this book sounds like it is a good read. 🙂
I have Mary’s first book on my Nook; looking forward to reading that and would love to win a print copy of the third in the series! So nice to read about characters of a more mature age!!
Happy Hoofers – love that, even if they are younger than me!
Love the title, would love to win ty for the chance
Thanks for the chance to win. I’m reading the first book now.
This sounds like my kind of book! Thanks you for a chance to win a copy, love this site!
Great! Another new-to-me author to try. This book sounds like one I would really enjoy. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Sounds like a great read.
Thank you for featuring this author, Dru Ann. I feel badly that I have not heard about her until today and have not heard of this series. Perhaps I do live under a rock some of the time. 🙂 But thank you for introducing us to Mary and tell you how much I enjoyed her little video. 🙂 Needed some smiles today, so that was great.
Cynthia
What a great series. Thanks.
Mary is quite the character herself and I love her books!
This sounds like a wonderful series with all the ingredients in a cozy mystery that I love.
I absolutely love, love, love the title of this new book as well as the gorgeous cover!!!! It sounds like a really awesome book to read and am anxious to read it myself! Thanks Dru for the opportunity to win!!! God bless!!!
I love this series and all of the information about the author. Can’t wait to read this as well.
I would love to win a copy of your book. I can’t wait to read it. Thank you for this opportunity to win.
Love the blurb on the book. Thanks for the chance to win.
Thank you for this contest…sounds like a great series.
I love to dance and I want all 5 books. Enjoyed the trailer.
What a fun post! I’d love to catch up with the Happy Hoofers. Thanks for the chance to win!
Just found this series and love it. Really looking forward to reading this one – Paris! Thanks for the chance to win. Enjoyed this post.
This is a fun series.
Anything with murder and food count me in.
Sounds fun
Getting into my age group (I’m past them) and it’s fun to read that they are having fun and getting out and about. Would love to try this series.
thanks.
This series is on my WishList……
Thank you for the giveaway…
Contest is closed.