Hi, I'm JUDY.
Please add your information below and I will add you to my email list where you will receive special offers, updates, and articles right in your inbox.
welcome to
Judy Nedry
Author, Blogger, Theatre Critic
AVAILABLE NOW!
blackthorn
With blackthorn staff
I draw the bound
All malice and bane
I thus confound.
— Unknown
My Books
Blackthorn
AND THEN, A BODY
Blackthorn is the first gothic thriller by Judy Nedry. In this modern-day gothic novel set on the scenic Columbia River Gorge, Sage Blackthorn revisits demons from her past and confronts a multitude of new ones when she returns to her childhood home to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.
the man who wasn’t there
BLISTERING HEAT ISN’T GOOD FOR GRAPES … OR PEOPLE
James Ryder has it all. A founding pioneer of the Oregon wine industry, he has the stately good looks of a gentleman farmer, the perfect family, an ample bank account, and the prestige of owning one of Oregon’s oldest and most respected wineries. His youngest daughter has taken up the torch to become the second-generation winemaker at Ryder Estate.
The Difficult Sister
MURDER IN THE MIST
The Difficult Sister is the second mystery/suspense novel from Judy Nedry featuring Emma Golden. This latest adventure takes Emma and her friend, Melody, to a remote, southern Oregon coastal town to search for Melody’s missing, ne’er-do-well younger sister, Aurora. However, they quickly both realize that at the very least, Aurora is in some sort of major trouble and may even be dead.
an unholy alliance
WHAT WINE PAIRS BEST WITH MURDER?
An Unholy Alliance introduces Emma Golden, a self-styled has-been who is invited to write a book on her beloved Oregon wine country, and manage a bed and breakfast for a friend. All seems ideal until Emma encounters her verbally abusive ex-husband, Dwight McCourt, shortly after settling in at the B&B. She discovers that she still harbors unresolved feelings for him.
Book Reviews
-
Stuff, as they say, happens. Bullets fly. People die. Evil happens. There will be mud, "one slow sucking step after another". We are a long way from almond croissants and that gives The Difficult Sister an intriguing, palpable edge.
The Difficult Sister
-
The author is clearly talented. The first-person narrative is intriguing all the way through because her character is interesting.
The Difficult Sister
-
Overall – a really interesting book and something a bit different from my usual crime fiction reads. The sideshow with Emma’s involvement in her friend’s troubles helped fleshed the story out and give it more meat on the bones and added to my overall enjoyment. I’m looking forward to Nedry’s second book – The Difficult Sister (I could say that’s something I know all about, but that would be mean, so I won’t……oops, already have)
An Unholy Alliance
-
My favorite part was the main character, Emma Golden. She is a middle-aged divorcee who acts as a real person would act. She is put out by a friend volunteering her to help a sick acquaintance but she is busybody enough to try and figure out who killed the acquaintance's husband. This is the first book in the series that I have read but I will look for the others so I can spend more time with Emma.
Man Who Wasn't There
-
Expecting a pleasant time with old friends and acquaintances, Emma finds herself again dealing with death. From the moment I began this book to the final paragraph, I was unwilling to put it down.
Man Who Wasn't There
-
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and the prior one, A Difficult Sister. Emma feels like someone I've known and I'll miss her until the next book. The pace of action suits me and kept me reading late into the night. Loved the Oregon setting - I lived there many years and the descriptions triggered lovely memories. Highly recommend.
Man Who Wasn't There
-
This third of the EG series didn't disappoint. Again, we are treated to a core group of independent women who are the centerpiece of this latest mystery. It is refreshing to read such a book, especially in these days of vapid "chick lit". The Oregon wine country serves as a compelling setting for this mystery; with an insider's keen sense of history and detail, it comes alive as a fascinating subplot.
Man Who Wasn't There
-
An unlikely murder occurs at the most prestigious annual gathering of the Oregon wine industry. Emma Golden, a woman of a certain age with an uncanny ability to solve such crimes, goes to work in this third book of the eponymous series by Judy Nedry. Nedry, a longtime wine writer, and resident of the Willamette Valley, brings the Oregon wine world to life in vivid detail as the backdrop for Emma's sleuthing. She also tells a suspenseful story.
The Man Who Wasn't There
-
This mystery was great fun to read. I enjoyed visualizing the Oregon wine country. Emma is a very real character and I feel I know her. The dialog is well done and the book moves along at a good clip.
Man Who Wasn't There
-
The first of what is now a trilogy that follows a recovering alcoholic writer, Emma Golden, who is working on a book about the wine industry in Oregon (where the author was also an early vintner). Nedry's main character is an accidental detective chasing down the murderer of a showy new winery owner, who isn't a nice person. Emma is funny, pushy and not afraid to step on toes. Light and entertaining.
An Unholy Alliance
-
The Difficult Sister is not the cozy you might expect given that it involves two fifty-something women on a trip to the Oregon Coast. This second mystery by Judy Nedry is darker and edgier than its description suggests.
The Difficult Sister
Theater Reviews
-
Love in a time of virus
A virus plagues the country, in Alan Browne’s play Beirut, produced by Beirut in PDX, LLC. It spreads through the exchange of bodily fluids, and there is no cure. So the government has stepped in and placed those who test positive in quarantine. Beirut is the fictional neighborhood in lower Manhattan where the infected are sent […]
-
When wishes come true
Summer season is here! And for Broadway Rose Theatre Company, that means BIG musicals. But this year, with Broadway Rose’s summer venue under construction, the big musicals are being staged at their New Stage–a considerably smaller space. When artists are faced with a challenge, we adapt. As a result, Into the Woods, with music and […]
-
That wall business
Just when you’re one headline away from throwing in the towel, a beautiful new comedy hits the Main Stage at Portland Center Stage at the Armory. Karen Zacarias‘s Native Gardens is that play. Directed by Melissa Crespo, this is a light-hearted comedy about a couple who want to build a wall. Pablo (Erick Gonzalez) and […]
-
Curators of lives
There is a reason journalists use “man on the street” interviews. It is because they work so well. They grab the audience as nothing else can. When the microphone is placed in front of the mouth of an ordinary soul, something new and surprising often is shared. And so it is that, using this technique, […]
-
Breaths of lives revealed
What does the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s have two do with two women on the Isle of Wight forty years later? Quite a bit, actually. When Frances Beale (Julia Brothers) comes knocking on Madeleine Palmer’s (Gretchen Corbett) door in the early 2000s, we quickly learn that a certain night in Birmingham, Alabama […]
-
Mothers, daughters, and universal issues
“My mother is a fantastically energetic person trapped in an utterly exhausted body,” says Lisa (Allison Mickelson) near the beginning of Lisa Kron‘s play Well (which in rotating repertory with Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy, marks the end of Profile Theatre‘s wonderful double season). Lisa is overlooking a semi-comatose woman in a recliner–her mother Ann […]
-
A hero’s journey, wonderfully retold
In playwright Eve Johnstone‘s retelling of the old English poem Beowulf, Fire and Meat, the monster Grendel is the main character, and the hero’s journey is hers to tell. The new play, presented by Rutabaga Story Co., is now onstage at the Headwaters Theatre. Directed by Eve Johnstone, the play opens as two men–Georg (Danny Gray) […]
-
A hilarious Reign of Terror
It’s an odd collection of characters assembled on the Artists Repertory Theatre stage in Lauren Gunderson‘s The Revolutionists. They include the French feminist, activist, and artist Olympe de Gouge (Jamie M. Rea); Charlotte Corday (Joellen Sweeney), notorious murderer of Jean-Paul Marat; the doomed French queen Marie Antoinette (Amy Newman); and Marianne Angelle (Ayanna Berkshire), a free woman […]
-
A high note, laughs, and lots of rain!
Lakewood Theatre Company ends its 66th season in on a high note with the popular romantic-comedy musical Singin’ In The Rain. The musical, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Arthur Freed, was first a 1952 MGM movie starring Gene Kelly and the very young (19) Debbie […]
-
Crossing Mnisose–“bloodlines of the past”
Mary Kathryn Nagle‘s play Crossing Mnisose enjoyed its world premiere at Portland Center Stage at the Armory’s Main Stage on Friday, April 19. Commissioned by PCS for its Northwest Stories series, the play offers a sweeping look at our prairies and the people who occupied them in the early 1800s and today. It consists of […]
A Writer’s Life
-
June 2019 Newsletter
The State of the State We live in scary times. It’s probably relative. The problem is, we know so much more than we did before good old cyberspace rolled in and took over our lives. For myself, I want to know what’s going on so I can decide what to do next. That’s the rationale. […]
-
May 2019 Newsletter
The State of the State Friday night I watched the Blazers play the Nuggets in the NBA playoffs. It was a home game, and I was hooked up to a friend’s ESPN, all by myself save for a dog and a bowl of ice cream. What started as just another game ended in an epic […]
-
April Newsletter
The State of the State When I worked at Newberg High School some eons ago, I used to wear a “No Whining” button–one of those circles with the line through it. I loved those kids. We’d have poetry readings at my house once a month and I’d make dessert. Poems were read and critiqued and […]
-
March Newsletter
The State of the State “February is the cruelest month in western Oregon”, or so says amateur sleuth Emma Golden in The Difficult Sister, the second book in my Emma Golden Mystery Series. I put those words in her head for a reason. By February in these parts, most of us have had it. The […]
-
February Newsletter
The State of the State If you are reading this, you are connected to the new judynedry.com website, completely updated and sporting with a fresh new look. A round of applause goes out to my friend and Internet Guru Aaron Yeagle. I met Aaron when I moved back to Portland from wine country in late […]
-
Hooray, a cover!
This is way too exciting to wait until my next newsletter. Here it is. Ta-DA! Designed by Aaron Yeagle, this is the cover for Blackthorn, my soon-to-be-released gothic novel! The book is written, but it’s not done yet. It’s not baked. At this stage, consider that it is in a warm room, rising. It will […]
-
January 2019 Newsletter
The State of the State I write this on New Year’s Day, looking back on a year that has fizzled and looking forward to a fresh new year filled with plans, anticipation, surprises, and Things That Must Be Dealt With. In my life today, it is always good when Christmas is over. My favorite holiday […]
-
November 2018 Newsletter
The state of the state Once again, it is past mid-month and I find myself wondering how on earth this happened. The month began with several days spent in the bowels of the Multnomah County Elections Office doing the very necessary and unglamorous business of preparing ballots to be run through counting machines. Democracy isn’t […]
-
October 2018 Newsletter
The state of the state Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. –George Eliot I just spent a week with one of my favorite girls–Ginger, the strawberry blond Aussie Cattle Dog. “Now that’s a proper cattle […]
-
September 2018 Newsletter
The State of the State Yesterday was spent on the sorting line of RR Winery. Pinot Noir grapes came in from our original vineyard on Ribbon Ridge–beautiful, plump clusters, sweeter than table grapes, fresh and bright tasting, in compact, tight clusters. For all the years I was involved with helping to start a vineyard and […]
-
August 2018 Newsletter
The State of the State Our 4-day trip to Mitchell covered a lot of ground even though temperatures got over 100 degrees. First full day included a trip to the Painted Hills. Then Patrick and Janet showed us pictographs left by local tribes 200-300 years ago, plus a swim in the John Day River at […]
-
July 2018 Newsletter
The State of the State Damn, it’s hot. I’m not complaining. I love summer, particularly those long luscious days when sunset doesn’t come until after 9 p.m. Summer is about heat. My lovely daughter and I plan to enjoy it. We have a pool date set for Tuesday that may involve lunch and some Salt […]