Yesterday two reviewers gave me an early Christmas gift, appreciation of the people who inhabit Show Me the Gold, the newly released third volume of my mystery series.

In Living on the Page: Personal Journal of Author Sandra Parshall, the Agatha winner wrote, “The plot has enough twists, turns, and blind alleys to keep readers turning pages, but the greatest strength of Carolyn Mulford’s writing is her gift for creating likable characters with the kinds of flaws that make us all human. … Highly recommended for readers who love character-driven stories with realistic small town settings.”

If you need a model for writing book reviews, read this one and others at http://livingonthepage.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-show-me-gold.html.

Few newspapers give space to writers these days, but Columbia Tribune arts reporter Amy Wilder surveyed the local scene literary scene in “Missouri scribes fill shelves with varied volumes.” She even read Show Me the Gold before she interviewed me.

She focused on the fast pace, the sense of place, and my characters. She wrote, “Mulford is interested in, and draws a lot of inspiration from, social dynamics she has observed in people throughout her life — both while she lived and worked abroad and at home.

“While many things have changed” since the author left Missouri decades ago, “I don’t think people have changed very much,” she said. “I didn’t have an awareness of as many of the strains of Missouri life as a child, as I do as an adult — particularly as an adult who’s come back; you see a place more clearly when you return to it after being away.”

You can read the full article at http://www.columbiatribune.com/arts_life/ovation/missouri-scribes-fill-shelves-with-varied-volumes/article_4a7f2a0d-7e14-5858-86b1-ecff2f4e7041.html.

Those two perceptive reviewers made December 21 a great day for me.

—Carolyn Mulford