As many of you know, I love yard sales, consignment shops, anything that is used and secondhand, and so does my protagonist Eve Appel.  She runs a high end consignment shop in rural Florida with her best friend Madeleine Boudreau.  Eve was named after my paternal grandmother at whose side I learned to love bargains, so I spend Saturday mornings going to local yard sales.  In Upstate New York, many small communities have community wide yard sales.  The one I live in will have their annual sale this coming Saturday.  Friday is my book launch for the second book in the Eve Appel mystery series Dead in the Water, but more about that below.  Friday and Saturday will be big days for me.

But here are the stories behind those items pictured in my blog:

Many of you chose the Oldenbery mug.  I think it’s a real beauty, but I bought it used at a yard sale in Florida along with another beer mug and eight Pilsner glasses.  Total price?  Ten dollars for the lot.  I bought them to use as promotional giveaways for book events when I featured my two microbrewing mysteries, A Deadly Draught and Poisoned Pairings.  I liked the mugs so much I kept them for myself.

The candle is beautiful and in perfect condition, but that came from a yard sale in Florida, also.  I paid three dollars for it.  It fits so well in my cottage in Upstate New York.

The blue mug comes from a set of four, only one chip on one of them, purchased at another yard sale along with a decorative wooden box.  I think they cost me two dollars for all.

The white cup with green on it is part of a set of dishes, service for four.  It has become my everyday set  in my cottage because each cup, bowl, saucer, desert plate and dinner plate has an herb decoration, parsley, sage, rosemary, or thyme.  They came from a yard sale here at which I purchased, two large storage boxes decorated with wild flowers and large enough to be used as end tables, and an almost new cusinart coffee pot.  I think I paid sixty dollars for all.

The little teapot set on a cup was purchased at a yard sale.  It was so cute and tiney with its tea leaf design that I paid too much for it, about two dollars, no chips, great for one cup of tea. We do ftea every afternoon.

The glass brandy snifter is one of four, and they were truly a bargain.  Free at the local church giveaway and exchange shop called The Magic Closet.  It is magic indeed.  I bring items there I no longer use and pick up others I like.

That leaves the pottery wine glass on the front, far left of the picture.  I purchased four of these, in different colors from a local potter when I lived in New Mexico.  I loved the colors of them, all different but in muted tones of blue, peach, yellow and green.  They are hand thrown and the wooden stems are also handmade.  I use them for wine or martinis.  Purchased new, I don’t remember what they cost. I guess I only remember the price I pay for used merchandise.  After all, part of the fun is the thrill of getting a bargain.

So, because the new item is a wine glass, I couldn’t tell if that’s what you meant, Jackie, or if you were referring to the brandy snifter.  But I think you deserve a free book along with Karen who labeled it a chalice, and it does look like one, doesn’t it?

Jackie and Karen, please contact me through this website and send me your mailing addresses so I can get your book out to you.  Congratulations.

This was so much fun that I think I’ll run another one in the next few months.  Sure I have a lot more used items!

Come visit this blog on Tues, July 15 when I’ll reveal my new book.

Thanks for visiting and thanks to all of you who played the game.