Mystery Melange, Thanksgiving Edition

In celebration of Thanksgiving, Janet Rudolph posted holiday-themed mysteries from A to Z (author-wise) on her Mystery Fanfare blog. How can you go wrong with such titles as The Diva Runs Out of Thyme and One Foot in the Gravy.

As usual, the authors over at Mystery Lovers Kitchen can be counted on for some great food suggestions to go along with their terrific books, from Sheila Connolly's Thanksgiving Cranberry Pound Cake to Krista Davis' Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (you can tell I have a sweet tooth). If you want something more "potent" that might please the more hardboiled tastes, try one of these "Boozy Thanksgiving Recipes."

Want more dessert recipes? I participated in the book Bake, Love Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing, edited by Lois Winson. Lots of yummy Thanksgiving meal-toppers in there.

Mashable offers up a Spotify Thanksgiving playlist, based on your turkey's cook time, and also 28 songs for your holiday travel home. (If you want some extra suggestions, check out the playlist for Scott Drayco from Played to Death.)

Open Road Media has a quiz for you: "Which Thanksgiving Dish Are You?" (Turns out, I'm a sweet potato casserole: A little sweet, a little savory.)

Kings River Life magazine featured a Thanksgiving-themed short story, "Busted!" by Gail Farrelly.

Just in time for your holiday shopping, iindependent bookstores across the U.S. will celebrate Small Business Saturday on November 29, hosting author and illustrator appearances and other fun events. For a participating store near you, check out the IndieBound website.

In more serious news, a number of film and TV stars are getting behind St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's annual “Thanks and Giving” campaign in an effort to encourage holiday shoppers to donate to St. Jude's treatment and research programs in the fight against pediatric cancer and other catastrophic children's diseases. You can help via your contribution to St. Jude's or by purchasing something from their gift shop.

In the Q&A roundup this week, Keith Nixon takes Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" test about his new book Russian Roulette; The Sons of Spade blog welcomes Tom Hilpert to discuss his novel Superior Justice featuring hard-boiled pastor, Jonah Borde; and author Russ Hall stopped by Omnimystery News to talk about his suspense thriller To Hell and Gone in Texas.