Uneasy Prey was another book that came from a very personal place in my heart. The story of con artists talking their way into elderly victims' homes in order to steal from them is one that hit a little too close for me. What happened to Mrs. Kroll really did happen to my mother.  But another part of the book is the introduction of Lauren Sanders, who has become a regular character in the series. I knew all along that Lauren would be back but had no idea how close she and Zoe would become. Zoe had no idea either, which you can probably guess from the hint of jealousy she exhibits in this Uneasy Prey scene.  Voices drifted in from the atrium drawing Zoe’s attention. The reporter who’d been snooping around Sylvia’s place last night appeared in the doorway. While the woman still carried the large leather bag, tonight she wore makeup. Zoe was right. She was a knock-out. Plus she wore a dark skirt, showing a flash of leg below the hem of her coat. Lauren Sanders spotted Pete and ...

Another one of my favorites of the Zoe Chambers series is No Way Home . Partly because I had a blast researching it, exploring New Mexico, learning about the Navajo people, but because the character Billy "Pony Boy" Yellowhorse really took on a life of his own. Created not by me, but by one of my dearest friends, Leta Burns of Aztec, NM, Pony Boy leaped from the page. Enigmatic, stoic, and with a super dry sense of humor, Billy left Zoe puzzling over his motives for much of the book.  “I hate to keep asking the same question,” she said, “but where are we going?” “You want to see that your friend’s son is safe. I’m taking you to him.” Allison half turned to Zoe with an eager smile. “I told you Pony Boy would take care of him.” Zoe didn’t reply and didn’t return the smile. Allison might trust the Navajo, but Zoe still did not. Here they were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles and miles of nothing in a truck driven by a man who knew the area and no doubt knew where to...

Continuing this stroll down memory lane, I'm thinking back to the second book in the series. Lost Legacy remains one of my favorites of all I've written. And this scene is one of my favorites from it.  Pete tucked the phone into his pocket as Zoe and his father appeared in the doorway. She gave him a guilty grin. Pete held up a hand. “I don’t want to know.” “But—” “You didn’t lose Pop. That’s the main thing.” In fact, his old man looked almost—perky. Harry nudged Zoe. “Do I still get something to eat? I’m starved.” “Sure. What’ll you have?” “A milkshake. Chocolate.” Pete snorted. “That’s not exactly a healthy lunch.” Zoe planted her fists on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s still too early for lunch. This is...brunch.” Harry nodded in fervent agreement. “Yeah.” “Chocolate milkshakes for brunch?” Zoe dropped her stance and leaned down to Pete’s ear. “At his age, if he wants a milkshake, I’m buying him a frigging milkshake.” Why is it one of my favorites? Simple. Th...

Two months from today, a new Zoe Chambers mystery, Fatal Reunion, will launch into the world! I'm currently working on the red line edits and have proclaimed I hate commas and hyphens. Thankfully, I have an editor who keeps me on track. I'm eager to show off my cover art. However, I haven't seen it yet, so I'm waiting and trying to be patient...not my strong suit.  So until I have cover art and pre-order links to share, I thought we could look back on the stories and characters that have brought Zoe and Pete to this point.   Remember when...   We first met Monongahela County Police Detective Wayne Baronick in  Circle of Influence ?    Detective Wayne Baronick of the Monongahela County Police Department grinned from the doorway. Young, good-looking, and cocky, Baronick was a constant source of irritation to Pete. Most annoying was the fact that he reminded Pete of someone. Himself. “Relax, Chief. I come bearing gifts.” He held out a venti Starbucks. “I know ...

For all of my audiobook fans, it's finally here! Death by Equine is now available in audio! Once again the incredible Romy Nordlinger has given voice to my characters (yes, there's a reason Dr. Jessie Cameron sounds a lot like Zoe!).   To purchase, you can click on the image to buy from Audible, or go to your favorite audiobook seller. 

Having grown up in a farming family, it’s inbred in me to keep an eye on the weather forecast. When the meteorologists started posting maps showing my location solidly in the pink range (meaning freezing rain) of the upcoming storm, I took action. I always keep bottled drinking water (our well water isn’t fit for consumption), but I also started filling the empty jugs with tap water. I moved stuff from our refrigerator’s freezer section to the chest freezer in the basement. My husband made sure our generator was in good working order. I worked frantically on several writing projects that were almost due and sent them off. I also worked frantically on my tax prep and printed out my spreadsheets. I made sure all of my electronics were fully charged.   My husband even took a vacation day on Friday in case the roads were impassible.   I rescheduled a workshop I was supposed to teach Saturday on Zoom. Just in case.   The rain started Wednesday. By lunchtime on Thursday, ...

We had our first real snow of the season Friday morning. While regions to our south got hammered, our accumulation was minimal--an inch locally--just enough to be pretty. It is January, after all. This is Pennsylvania. We're supposed to get snow! I busied myself with writing and self-care this first week of 2022, so I didn't have time to fuss over a little white stuff outside anyway.  After a talk with my agent, we decided to set The Hit List aside. This was the second of two new series proposals we'd had out on submission last year. I'd already gone back to the first of the proposals anyway. That was the project I completed for NaNoWriMo. ("Completed" meaning very rough first draft.) I spent much of last week giving the first three chapters another polish and the entire manuscript a new title. I also updated the synopsis and sent the entire package back to my agent. She'll be sending Rule of Thirds out on its second round of submissions next week. Whil...

Happy New Year.   I'm whispering the greeting for two reasons. One, I'm feeling a little trepidation, remembering how happy we were to see 2020 go and how quickly we realized nothing had changed. Two, I have laryngitis on the heels of a nasty cold (negative Covid test).  Moving on to my goals (not resolutions) for the coming twelve months. Once again, there are things I can control and things I can only hope for.  Under my control:  1. Complete revisions on Fatal Reunion and celebrate its release this coming May! I am thrilled to bring Zoe and Pete back to my readers.  2. Complete rewrite of my NaNoWriMo manuscript (as yet in search of a title) and get it back out on submission. 3. Outline, research, and write the 12th Zoe Chambers Mystery.  4. Set up a mini book tour for this summer. Hoping for: 1. Attend Malice Domestic. I'm more optimistic about this actually happening this year. As long as the fabulous people running the convention proceed with their p...

At the beginning of the year, I posted what I was looking forward to in 2021 . I included a mix of concrete goals (the stuff I had control over) and hopeful goals. In looking back at that post, I did pretty well on the concrete stuff. Less so with the rest.  I managed to self-publish a novel and a short story collection. In the process, I've learned a lot. I also have a lot to learn on that front. Going forward, I don't have immediate plans to do any more self-publishing, but it's good to have that option available.  I turned in the next Zoe Chambers mystery to my new publisher. And I completed a first draft of a manuscript I've been starting and stopping for a while. We don't have a contract for it yet, but at least that crappy first draft is DONE. My fabulous agent managed to land an audio contract for Death By Equine as well as placing it on a couple of new reading platforms, KISS and Scream.  As for the rest of my goals? The conferences I'd hoped to attend ...

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  Ours was more low-key than usual. Hubby and I both have head colds. JUST head colds. I had been nowhere and seen no one else for weeks. He's been out in the world and came down with it first, so I know where I got it. He tested negative for Covid, so our doctor is comfortable that I'm also negative. How I miss the days when a cold was JUST a cold. And I am immensely grateful that such is the case right now, even as I sniffle and blow my nose forty times a day. Anyhow, we stayed holed up yesterday to keep our Just Cold germs to ourselves.  I'm happy to announce I met my writing goals and deadlines for the year. Having this week between Christmas and New Year "free" was a goal in itself. I have a dozen or so videos on police procedure to watch in order to finish a couple of online courses I'd signed up for. This week is for that.  It's also for winding down and reflecting on 2021. For making plans and new goals for 202...

After a whirlwind November, I'm finally at a place where I can catch my breath just in time for the holidays.  After doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last year for the first time, I'd sworn I would never do it again. True, it had allowed me to complete my first draft of the next Zoe Chambers mystery, but I hadn't needed the "goal" number of 50,000 words to do that. 50K in 30 days is sheer madness. At least it is for my personal process.  However, as I wrote back in June, I had abandoned a manuscript that wasn't selling to start something else. The Something Else hasn't sold either, and the characters from the first of those manuscripts were clambering to have their stories told. So I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2021 with abandoned manuscript #1 as my project. I'm thrilled to report that a.) I topped my 50K goal within the month of November and b.) I completed the rest of the first draft within the first week of December. Typing THE END is suc...

Last weekend...and the start of this week...have been sheer madness. Some good, some bad, heavier on the good. The week ended with the sudden and unexplained death of our ancient TV. On the other hand, I guess the mere fact that it was ancient makes its demise explainable. The bad part was the timing. It seems smaller televisions are a rare commodity these days thanks to distribution chain issues. Normally, I'd research online, make a decision, and click BUY.  I will say, having no TV resulted in a couple of productive days. It also made for a grumpy and bored husband. By Saturday night, I'd tracked down what had to be the only set matching my criteria within several hundred miles. I clicked BUY along with the option to pick it up the next day. (Seeing the words "last one in stock" tends to nudge me to stop researching and show them the money.) Sunday morning, my no longer grumpy and bored husband and I drove to Oakmont PA and Mystery Lovers Bookshop to attend a perso...

Somehow, I've once again managed to let several months fly by without checking in here. I could offer up a multitude of excuses, all valid, but instead, let me just do a quick catch-up.  The garden did extremely well but is done now.  I've been kept busy doing both in-person and virtual book events. It's been wonderful seeing people in 3-dimension instead of just in a little box on a computer screen. I got to interview my good friend Liz Milliron during her launch party for Harm Not the Earth at Mystery Lovers Bookshop Hanging out with Jennifer Diamond after I presented the keynote at the Festival of Books in the Alleghenies Doing a reading at the Festival of Books in the Alleghenies One day in September, we had waterfront property, courtesy of Hurricane Ida. Thankfully, the floodwaters didn't quite make it to the house. Earlier this month, I released my second indie-published book. Not a full-length novel, but instead, a collection of short stories featuring the chara...

As I wrote last month, I was starting a new proposal for a new book and new series. On July 5, I turned those three chapters and a synopsis in to my agent. By the end of that week, she returned them to me with edits. Early this week, I sent the corrections to her along with the other assorted material needed for her to create her query. On Tuesday, she started sending it out to our first tier of editors.   Which places me back in the position of waiting for the new round of rejections to roll in.   Now you may think I’m sounding defeatist. In truth, I’m anything but. What I am is a realist. I’m shooting for the stars with some of the publishers we’re targeting. This isn’t my first rodeo. I know the story and/or my writing won’t appeal to everyone. There’s no avoiding it. There will be rejections.   However, there are a few of those publishers that keep me crossing my fingers.   The other thing that kept me occupied this week was More Than Malice, a vi...

Following up on my previous post, I completed the three chapters and synopsis for another new series proposal and just clicked "send" so it will be waiting in my agent's inbox when she returns to her office tomorrow.  Saturday, I took another mental health day. I can't even disguise it as a research trip. My husband and I took a day trip east to the Laurel Highlands' Amish Country.  We did a little shopping and then turned south into Maryland. We had lunch at Penn Alps and then wandered around a while. It was odd that this is a place I had visited once long ago for a quilt show, but he had never been there. Often, we think there isn't any place within a two-hour drive we haven't seen. More than once.  We thought wrong.  After a full day of seeing new sights, we came home exhausted but relaxed.  Now I'm buckling down to finish another round of revisions on the next Zoe Chambers mystery. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm noodling over the plo...

Any time I've been asked to give a keynote address or inspiration talk or been asked for my advice to beginning writers, I've always said the same thing.  Finish the book.  So many aspiring novelists get a great idea and start writing. A few chapters in, they get bored or bogged down. Maybe they fall out of love with the idea and come up with a better one. They put the project aside and start a new one. A few chapters later, they encounter the same roadblock to completion.  These aspiring novelists can have several partials sitting on their computer, but they never reach THE END. And guess what. If you don't have a completed manuscript, even a crappy one, you have nothing to polish and nothing to submit to an agent or editor.  Hence, FINISH THE BOOK. Now, eleven published novels in, I've encountered the other side of the coin. As a proven author, all I need these days is a proposal. Three chapters, a synopsis, and a marketing plan.  For my first couple of propos...

The last time I traveled was to Dallas in late 2019. While I had plans for lots of trips in 2020, we all know what happened to those. I had a list of things I wanted to do and places and people I wanted to visit as soon as it was possible. Now that we're fully vaccinated, I've been checking those items off.  One of the places I longed to return to was Lake Erie and Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. I had enough points earned for a free night in a hotel. I made my reservations. Plans started looking hinky a week ago when Hubby came down with a cold. I was on the verge of canceling, but by mid-week, he was feeling much better. He wanted to go. So I packed.  Friday, friends we were supposed to meet up with for Saturday dinner got called away on a family emergency.  Still, we went.  The weather was lovely.  There was a Hudson car show in our hotel's parking lot.  I want one.  Another friend had arranged for me to meet an Erie detective and tour the poli...

As I write this, it's chilly and rainy outside. But for a few days AFTER the dove family moved off my porch and BEFORE the weather turned ugly, I jumped in and got some outdoor work done. We lowered the porch swing and power-washed it, the porch, and the other outdoor furniture. It looks good if I do say so myself! I also hit the greenhouse and bought some herbs and veggies...and a few flowers.  The gutters had fallen off our old horse barn. Rather than scrap them, my husband and I came up with the idea of using them for my herb garden. We spray-painted them copper and nailed them up on the framework of the side porch. I planted oregano, thyme, dill, cilantro, parsley, and two kinds of basil. I need to get more dirt to finish filling the gutter/planters, but so far, so good. In my cold frame, the lettuce is about ready to be harvested and the spinach will be ready in a few more weeks. My husband planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and beets in the regular garden...

During a warm spell last month, I decided to get my front porch ready for outdoor living. We always load our outside furniture onto our oak porch swing up for winter storage and hoist it all up to the porch roof. When I stepped outside one spring day, a mourning dove made a dramatic exit from that stored furniture. Closer inspection revealed not only a hastily thrown-together stick nest but two eggs.  Well, crap. I couldn't very well disturb them. Even simply coming and going through our front door sent Mama screeching off the nest.  We started using the side door. Not really a hardship. It's closer to the garage anyway. And the spring weather gave way to a resurgence of winter and rain, so it wasn't like we were missing out on lovely evenings on the porch swing.  I kept an eye on the nesting mama bird, and she kept an eye on me.  The eggs hatched without my knowing, since I was trying to avoid scaring the skittish dove. Next thing I knew, there was a baby bird! But ...