Did you know...

...that the name Cunigunda Valentine, the nom de plume under which I write my cozy mystery novels, including the Millicent Winthrop series, is actually my Grandmother’s name when she was married to my grandfather, Charles Theodore Valentine?

It’s true. In fact, my mother’s maiden name was Emily Cunigunda Valentine until she married. My grandmother later remarried, changing her last name to West, but I’ve always been fascinated by her name as she bequeathed it to my mother.

The name Cunigunda itself dates back to the early 4th century and is still used to name baby girls in Western Germany and some parts of Poland and Hungary, I adored my grandmother Cuni. She always loved to have a good time— dancing, throwing dinner parties, playing cards, cooking, and just being silly. I was lucky to have had her for as long as I did, for although she’s been gone over thirty years, she still means the world to me.