Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, where you can learn more about what makes them tick.
Let’s see what Sasha has to say.
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What is your name?
– – Alexandra Victoria Silverman – my dad’s name is Alex, and Mom loves English queens and princesses. Family and friends call me Sasha.
How old are you?
– – Robert Frost once said, “Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty.” After turning 31, it sure seems like time’s speeding up instead.
What is your profession?
– – I manage my parent’s business, the Silver Bear Shop & Factory, in a renovated and expanded Victorian home. The front half serves as the shop, with living quarters in back for my sister and me. My parents have returned from retirement in Florida, however, so. . . um. Four’s a crowd, for sure.
Do you have a significant other?
– – Not yet. I’m divorced, and still on the fence about dating again. Maybe. Depends on who it is, what he’s like. Hopefully not a royal pain like my ex-husband.
What is your ex’s name?
– – Flynn Hanson, who thinks he’s God’s gift to women.
What is his profession?
– – Lawyer (but way different than my dad, formerly a lawyer, the honest, upstanding type). I was too naïve before discovering Flynn’s cheating ways, on New Year’s Eve no less, in our bed. And that wasn’t his first episode! Huge mistake on my part, trusting him.
Any children?
– – After nine months of marriage, I ended up with a divorce. But my dream is to have a family one day. I love kids! Seeing them in our shop, hugging a new teddy bear, just melts my heart.
Do you have any sibling(s)?
– – My sister Madeline Ann, Maddy or Mads, is an artist. She’ll be painting a fiberglass bear for the village’s Oktobear Fest – it’s adorable! She also does our shop’s marketing, fliers, graphics, social media, etc.
Cats, dogs or other pets?
– – I have a sweet Lhasa Apso-Bichon Frise dog, Rosie, groomed to look like a teddy bear. My sister has a black cat named Onyx, so we have a few cat-dog wars for the kitchen’s window seat.
What town do you live in?
– – Silver Hollow, in Southeastern Michigan. Oddly enough, the streets are named for Teddy Roosevelt’s family. It’s why Dad chose to open our shop here, and started all the teddy bear-themed events.
Do you rent or own?
– – My parents own the business, and if they move back in permanently, I might be looking for new living quarters! The factory is housed in the renovated/expanded carriage house behind the shop. My uncle, Ross Silverman, supervises our staff and his ex-wife Eve is our new office manager. Uh oh. Maybe trouble is on the horizon. . .
What is your favorite spot in your house?
– – The den/library off the kitchen, with its cozy fireplace and bookshelves, part of our private living quarters. I have a bedroom suite upstairs when I need some alone time, too, because our family loves to gather together – eat meals, play board games, etc.
Who is your best friend?
– – I have a pair of besties. Mary Kate bakes the best muffins at the local coffee shop, Fresh Grounds, and is sweet. Elle, who’s more of a cut-up and total fun, owns the Cat’s Cradle bookstore with her husband – my first cousin. Mary Kate, Elle, and I get together for “Guilty Pleasures Gossip Club” chats once in a while.
Amateur sleuth or professional?
– – Amateur – I’ve been accused of being a “magnet” for finding corpses. Ugh.
Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
– – Detective Jamie Mason of the County Sheriff’s department, who keeps telling me to stick to selling teddy bears. Sigh. Since he’s pretty busy with other cases, he seems to appreciate whatever information I discover. But he thinks it’s too dangerous for me to get involved.
Favorite meal?
– – Hard to say. I’m a dessert first type, but I do love breakfast. Bagels with peanut butter, muffins, scrambled eggs or omelets with spinach, feta, artichokes or asparagus, even pizza for breakfast. Yum!
Favorite dessert?
– – Cookies are my downfall, any type, especially crunchy. But I also love cake! Chocolate, with buttercream, maybe a raspberry filling. . .
Favorite hobby?
– – Hmm. Haven’t had time for much hobbies, but I do love crafts. And painting – although I’m nowhere as good as my sister. How about bicycling? Is that a hobby? Dog-walking? I love planning our special teddy bear events, too.
Favorite vacation spot?
– – Mackinac Island! Love our annual sisters’ weekend. We try to squeeze it in before the Christmas rush, and love biking around the island, taking in a spa, dinner at the Grand Hotel, horseback riding on our own through the back pathways. The planked whitefish is divine, too.
Favorite color?
– – Oh boy, green for sure. Or blue. Wait, purple!
Favorite author?
– – I’m a sucker for mysteries, especially historical. Love the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins mysteries by D.E. Ireland, also Victoria Thompson, Alyssa Maxwell, Susanna Calkins, Anna Loan-Wilsey, Ashley Weaver. Will Thomas, Charles Todd, the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, Sharon Kay Penman, Judith Merkle Riley. Long-time favorites.
Favorite sports team?
– – Toss up between the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. Oh, and UM’s Wolverines football in Ann Arbor. Go Blue!
Movies or Broadway?
– – Both! Love musicals, love a great chick flick or history-based film, and classic movies too. Cary Grant! Audrey or Kate Hepburn. Lots more favorites that my dad and I watched on Sunday afternoons in my childhood.
Are you a morning or a night person?
– – How about a middle-of-the-day person? I need coffee (badly!) in the morning, but I’m also flagging by midnight.
In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
– – I stumble out of bed, shower, get dressed, then drag my lazy dog outside. Rosie is not a morning dog! Coffee and breakfast, then I’m ready to face customers in the shop; I prefer tours with kids, but seniors love trooping through our factory and can be fun. Lunch is a quick break, and I either walk Rosie in that hour or after work. Then dinner with my sister, and relaxing with a book, watching a favorite TV show like NCIS or a sitcom, or catching a movie with my sister. Last time we did that, though, a dead body showed up. . .
Just Added: Giveaway: Tell us, how many teddy bears did/do you have? Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Bear Witness To Murder. U.S. entries only, please. The giveaway ends June 5, 2018. Good luck everyone!
You can read about Sasha in Bear Witness to Murder, the second book in the “Teddy Bear” mystery series. The first book in the series is Bearly Departed.
As autumn air settles into the quaint small town of Silver Hollow, there’s nothing more popular than Sasha’s teddy bears—and murder in cold blood . . .
Silver Bear Shop and Factory manager Sasha Silverman is cozying up to the fall season by hosting Silver Hollow’s Cranbeary Tea Party, the opening event of the village’s Oktobear Fest—a too-cute celebration themed around teddy bears. She barely has a moment to agonize over the return of her former high school rival, Holly Parker, whose new toy and bookstore in town could spell big trouble for the Silver Bear Shop and her cousin’s small bookstore . . .
But when Sasha discovers Holly’s shop assistant dead with a knife plunged in her body, the unpleasant woman suddenly looks like a real backstabber. So does Sasha’s ex-husband, rumored to have rekindled the fiery extramarital affair he once had with the victim. Now, before a gruesome homicide case takes the fun out of both the Fest and her personal life, Sasha must identify the true culprit from a daunting suspect list—or risk becoming as lifeless as one of her stuffed bears . . .
Purchase Link
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About the author
Meg Macy is an award-winning author and artist. Her first published book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel from Western Writers of America. Meg is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland, authors of the Eliza and Henry Higgins Mystery series—of which two titles have been Agatha Award finalists. Meg lives in Southeastern Michigan, the setting for her Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear mysteries.
Visit the author online at megmacy.com, Facebook.com, Twitter, and Pinterest.com.
All comments are welcomed.
Sounds like another enjoyable book. Have liked reading this authors books a lot.
Thank you, Cynthia!
Sounds like a great fun series. I also like the Eliza and Henry series.
Thank you! We sure enjoy writing Eliza and Higgins – they are well suited to solving mysteries!
Thanks, Dru Ann, for hosting Sasha on your wonderful blog!
Sounds like a lot of fun!
Thanks, Saralyn!
I look forward to reading this. It has all the ingredients of a fun mystery
Thanks and best wishes on winning a copy!
I enjoyed the interview with Sasha and look forward to reading Bear Witness to Murder – gotta love those teddy bears!
Yes, indeed! they do love being cuddled.
Love this interview. I love teddy bears, but I’m afraid I don’t have any right now. I think I used to have about five.
Aww, no teddies? they are easy to find! LOL I see them wherever I go… 😉
I had a well loved panda bear. Teddy bears are great.
Looks like a fun series.
Love Panda bears! I have a mama and baby in my collection…
I liked getting to know Sasha and looking forward to reading the book. I still have the first teddy bear that I got as a baby. I don’t think my Mom let me play with it because it’s in really great shape.
Or perhaps you played carefully with it? 😉
I don’t know for sure how many I’ve had but right now i have about six. I love this cover and would love to read it!
Half a dozen teddies – enough for a tea party! 😉
This looks like such a wonderful series! Thank you for the chance to win! I don’t know for sure how many teddy bears I had. My first one was a hand me down, don’t remember whose. What I remember well is how, when I worked many overnight shifts as a caregiver. Sometimes I was away 3 or 4 days straight; we had TY bears and would swap them when I was away. Sounds silly, but we enjoyed having them on the nightstands.
How sweet! Teddies on nightstands would certainly guarantee a restful sleep.
I can’t remember how many teddy bears I’ve had but I can remember my favorite…I must have been around 8 and it was Christmas morning. I snuck into the living room to see what Santa left and found this adorable light blue bear with a dark blue plaid vest sitting at a toy piano. He went everywhere with me and I remember rescuing him from the garbage when my mother decided I was too old for toys and he was getting tattered. (This was in the late 1950/60s).
So glad you rescued your bear! How sweet to find him on Christmas morning, too!
Sounds great. I cannot wait to read it
Hi, Risa! Missed seeing you at Malice.
I used to have tons of teddy bears. I still have a few from my childhood. I have never been able to get over my love of teddy bears and stuffed animals. I loved the first book in this series, I can’t wait to read this one!
Thank you, Candace! So glad you enjoyed book 1. I’m a latecomer to teddies, but will never get over the love for bears, bunnies, and dogs – real dogs. And cats!
I have one teddy bear and several Snoopys, which is why I relate to Maddie. Love this series!
Oh yes – my sister and I are BIG Snoopy lovers! She beats me with her collection, while I stick to bears. 😉
I have a teddy bear that’s over 50 years old, it’s in great condition. Sounds like a good book.
WOW! Teddy bears seem to be ageless, though, LOL!
I don’t remember having teddy bears but I did have a monkey that I took everywhere when I was little. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of your latest book.
I had Pixie (or Dixie) from the cartoon when I was a child – I’m a latecomer to teddies!
I used to collect teddy bears and at that time i had dozens. I still have some of them…I would say about 25. Thanks so much for the giveaway…and also for writing a series about teddy bears!
I haven’t counted mine – I don’t dare! 😉
I have some bears, but my Aunt Ruth was a real collector.
I guess I have to admit I’m a collector, too. 😉
I never had a teddy bear until later in my years but I was a dolly girl. Polka dot dresses, frilly socks, hair in Shirley Temple curls with my fancy pocket book and a doll to boot. Shortly before I met husband, I was 28 years old, I fell in love with a mohair teddy bear. My parent’s gave me it to me for Christmas. My husband also has gifted me with several very precious bears. One bear he gave me was a Precious Moments bear and he gave it to me when I was hospitalized after miscarrying our first child 32 years ago. Although the memory is bittersweet I still hold it dear in my heart.
Awww! My sister was into Shirley Temple dolls. How sweet of your husband to give you a Precious Moments bear, too.
I like to collect special teddy bears, I have one from my college, one from my favorite sports team,and one from Denmark.
Denmark! Love their pastry – nothing like here in the States, from what hub says!
Hello! Oh I would LOVE to read your Teddy Bear series! A friend of mine just sent me your newsletter, and told me you were giving away a book! I collect Teddy Bears and just love them! I am 61 years old and get all excited when I see cute teddy bears in stores or online. Books about teddy bears have to be wonderful, I have never read any. I have been going through Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer for over 16 years and I do a lot of reading! Thanks for the chance to win one of your books!
Best wishes on beating your cancer! I also love teddies.
Sounds like a good one.
Thanks, Karen!
**** WINNER ****
Bear Witness To Murder is Patty Kovach
Congratulations!