A bad hair day gets better

Earlier this week I went to get my hair colored.  I used to do it myself, but last fall I botched it and thought to myself, you know, you've reached a point in life when you can afford to treat yourself to SOMETHING now and then.  My pals Patrica Ryan and Leann Sweeney had encouraged me to get highlights, and so I tried that, too.  Hey, Mikey!  I like it!  A LOT.  Of course I don't get highlights every month, but if there's a conference on the horizon, or I have to be somewhere and look presentable (that is, not in jeans and a T), I spring for highlights.

On Monday I arrived bright and early at the salon and to my dismay, my regular stylist had changed her hours.  Yikes!  I was in a hurry, so I settled on someone else doing my hair.  Big mistake.  I wasn't happy with what she had done the last time my regular stylist wasn't available.  The instructions for my color were on my customer card, so how bad could she mess things up?

BIG TIME -- that's how.  I came out looking like I'd stuck my head in a pot of very, very, very dark brown paint.

I had to go out of town and came back yesterday with a plan to hit the salon again this morning.  Sure enough, my stylist was there to make things right. Super highlights! And she did it for free.  Weeeee!  I look like (the new) me again!  I gave her a big fat tip, and offered her a part in my current book.  (As it happens, I'm writing a hairdresser.)  She was thrilled.

So, when you get to Victoria Square #4 and meet Brittney, you'll know where she came from.

Praise oh praise this anthem generator!

The other day at a garage sale, I bought a second copy of the Yes CD Big Generator.  Love that CD.  (I'm a big Yes fan -- but only the albums with Trevor Rabin.  Sorry, I came in on his watch and that's all there is to it.)  I stuck it in the CD player and immediately thought of our foolish purchase last year.  Yes, we bit the bullet and bought a Big Generator.

"Ha!  What do you want to waste your money on that for?" more than one person asked me.  After all, how often do we have power failures?  Well, not three months after the generator went in, the power went out for a couple of hours.  What's a couple of hours?  Well, when it's COLD and DARK in December, it's a while.  We sat there at happy hour, listening to music and reading the newspaper by 150 watts of light, while the furnace happily chugged away.  Meanwhile, our neighbors were in the dark.

Last night we had a nasty thunderstorm.  Guess what?  It took out the power for three hours.  Admittedly, you don't need all that much power during the night.  But my clock has a battery in it.  It's not flashing this morning because 10 seconds after the power went out, Mr. Big Generac came on.

Already this summer too many of my friends have been inconvenienced for days, nearly a week, when a storm (and the power lines) took out their electricity.  We suffered a number of times with that ourselves, and we said, "never again."  The crazy way weather is changing makes me glad we sacrificed so we could buy that generator.

Thank you for being my friend, Mr. Big Generac.
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Free, Free, Free -- Murder on the Mind is Free!

I'm celebrating!  Murder on the Mind is FINALLY gone free for the Nook!

So let's recap.  Murder on the Mind, my first Jeff Resnick Mystery is now FREE for:

Kindle ~ Nook ~ Kobo ~ iTunes ~ Smashwords ~ Sony E Reader (And it's free for Kindle in the UK, too!)

So far, more than 117,000 copies of the book have been downloaded on Kindle alone.

What does that mean?

It means that FINALLY people will be reading my first mystery series.  The one I shed blood, sweat, and tears trying to find an audience.  Yeah, but they're reading it for FREE.  Where's the logic in that?

A good number of those people have gone on to buy the rest of the books in the series.

(To refresh your memory they are:  Dead In Red, Cheated by Death and Bound by Suggestion, along with two short stories (Bah! Humbug and Cold Case) and a novelette (When The Spirit Moves You).

Suddenly my website numbers are five times greater than they were a month ago.  (Rats--and it's due for a refit NEXT month.  I would rather have had people see the new and improved site.) Not only do I hope the readers go on to find the rest of the series, but that when they visit the site they discover that I also write two other mystery series.

Won't you help me spread the word about the Jeff Resnick series?  Even if you don't have an e reader, download the book.  You can read it on your computer, your tablet, or smartphone.

What have you got to lose?  It's free.
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A Cookbook With A New Look

Sometimes we make mistakes.  It's a good thing that some mistakes can be corrected.
For example, the cover for Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook.  The picture I chose for the original cover.  It was ... okay.  The cover designer did a great job with my poor choice.  She added a little noose to my name, she made a nice "sign" for the cookbook, but for some reason the whole thing just didn't "sing" for me.  But, up it went.  Sales have been lackluster.

I've been thinking about changing the cover for a long time.  What held me back so long?  The box of bookmarks I had made up.  You see, I've only used about half of them.  But finally I decided--the heck with that.  I want my cookbook to find its way into the hearts and homes of my readers, so I started hunting for a new cover picture.

I don't have the resources of a big publishing company.  They have a marketing department.  There's just me.  I don't have a marketing degree.  I don't have years of experience when it comes to marketing a book.  But I do know when it's time to change a cover.  I spent a couple of days going through stock photo sites, trying different keywords, until I came upon one that seemed to work.  Next up, getting Mr. L to play with the concept.

My second choice of cover was a purple-blue close up of a silverware pattern.  Mr. L said right off the bat, "I don't think that's it."  But he was game to try.  He was right.  He liked my first choice, and I think it worked out well.

It's already up on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, and should eventually filter through to the other e booksellers.  The new cover should be up for the print version in a couple of days.  (It takes longer to do than an E cover.)

So, what do you think?  Do you like it better than the original cover?  Would you be enticed to buy the book with its new cover?

Easy to find me ... just click the link.

So, where's today's post?

Over at The Cozy Chicks Blog.

The topic?  Earth-shattering.  World changing.  It's ... Jell-O!

(I kid you not.)

Go on, click this link, you know you want to read it.

Will you win the coveted Haven't Got a Clue mug?

Today Angelica Miles is 'guest blogging' at Dru's Book Musings.  What's she talking about?  Why, herself, of course.  (And maybe a little bit about my latest Booktown Mystery: Murder On The Half Shelf.)

Additionally, Dru is offering a HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE MUG.  All you have to do is leave a comment and you will be entered in a drawing.  But hurry!  The contest ends on Sunday.

Click here to find Angelica's post.

A leopard doesn't change its spots -- does it?

Lately Mr. L and I have been enjoying the antics of Doc Martin.  What an odd duck.  I said, "this guy has to have Aspergers Syndrome."  Sure enough, by the second season he'd been accused of having Aspergers by someone sent to investigate him from (one assumes) The National Health.

Of course flawed characters are endlessly fascinating to me.  In fact, I'm getting known for writing believably flawed characters.  My Jeff Resnick character seems to carry the most baggage, with Tricia Miles coming in a close second, and Katie Bonner the sanest of the lot.  (Good old Katie.)

(By the way, the first Jeff Resnick book, Murder On The Mind is STILL FREE for Kindle, iTunes and Smashwords (and if you've got a Sony E Reader, Kobo, or Nook, get it from Smashwords--and of course if you don't have an e reader, you can still download it to your computer or tablet via Smashwords.  Hey, free is free, after all--and this offer won't last forever).

While watching an episode of Doc Martin, it suddenly occurred to me that I needed to wrap up a subplot that's been building in the Booktown Books.  I gave it a lot of thought over the next couple of days and yesterday I wrote the scene where Tricia learns a devastating truth about her past.  (Boy, that was fun!)

More than one person as told me that Tricia is a doormat and they are annoyed by the way she puts up with Angelica.  I posed these questions to the latest person who said that:  Have you got an older sibling?  Have they changed that much since childhood?  If they annoyed you then, do they annoy you now?  Have you ever had the upper hand?  Do you just abandon your sibling and walk away?

Do you hear the sound of crickets in the background?

Is the situation between Doc Martin and Tricia the same?  Not in the least, but his situation got me thinking about her situation (and the fact that it needs resolution). Will this big revelation change the relationship between Tricia and Angelica?  Probably not.  As their grandmother was famous for saying, "a leopard doesn't change its spots."  You are what you are.  Angelica is always going to be the bossy older sister, and Tricia will put up with her for one reason and one reason only:  she loves her.  And when you love someone, you love them--warts and all.

We're only halfway through the episodes.  I can't wait to see what other adventures await crabby old Doc Martin and the people in Port Ween.  And, as I write the 8th Booktown Mystery, I can't wait to see what else befalls Tricia and Angelica.  It's gonna be a bumpy, but fun ride.

P.S.  Don't forget -- the latest Booktown Mystery is now out.  Murder On The Half Shelf.

My new-to-me- desk

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new-to-me desk off of Craigslist.  For the past few years, I'd been working off a farm table and it was ovbious to me that it wasn't working well.  I had nowhere to store my stuff.  So everything was piling up on the table, giving me nowhere to put my work.  So, the desk hunt began.

I was very impressed with my pal Ellery Adams' workspace, which I saw back in March.  She works in a huge living room that's tastefully decorated with antiques and a lovely old desk with lots of drawers.  Aha!  The secret to a tidy desk had to be drawers where you could stuff everything.  (And, no I did NOT peek in her drawers -- that would be rude!)

So I went on the hunt. I scoured antique stores, yard sales, and finally hit gold on Craigslist.  Is my desk as nice as Ellery's?  No. Is it what I really wanted?  No. It was less money than I anticipated spending (always good) and it had been recently refinished, so it still has an odor of polyurethane, but for the time being, it's working out quite well.  I've kept the top of it cleared off,and I still have two drawers that aren't yet filled.

 SUCCESS!


So, what do you think?

And in case you forgot, Ellery and I have new books out.  Get them while they're hot!

Murder on the Half Shelf & Pies and Prejudice.

No audio for you (or me, too)!

It's no secret that some of my readers are very unhappy that Murder on The Half Shelf was not published as a mass market paperback.  I say it's no secret because I posted it up on Facebook.  (You can't get much more public than that.)  And Julie Hyzy wrote a blog called "What Readers May Not Know About Book Publishing," which is quite thoughtful.  (Bet you didn't now how little control authors actually have over their work when they sign that coveted publisher contract.)

I'm not badmouthing my publisher.  Far from it.  They delivered a beautiful hardcover, they hired a fantastic cover artist (who has done all my Booktown mysteries--and right now is in the process of creating another wonderful painting for Booktown #7 "The Chamber Plot"), and they have treated me very well indeed.  I have a marvelous editor, and the staff at Berkley Prime Crime has worked very hard on my behalf.

So what's the point of this blog post?  As if the whole hardcover vs. paperback debate wasn't enough, and as three of my readers have already asked and discovered ... there will be no audio edition of Murder On The Half Shelf.  Why?  Not enough people downloaded the audio versions of the previous five books.

Am I heartbroken by this turn of events?  No, but I am quite disappointed.  Can I blame my publisher?  No way.  I'm  extremely grateful that they took a chance and made the first five books available as audiobooks.  I do wish they'd made the books available on CD, too, because I know a LOT of people don't have an MP3 player.  Hey, until Christmas, neither did I.  I still prefer to listen to audiobooks via CD ... but then, that might be because I haven't tried it on my MP3 player.  (I think I'd have to get a second one.  Mine's all clogged up with music.)

I was soooo looking forward to hearing what the narrator (Cassandra Campbell) would have done with one of my newest characters, Pixie.  In fact, when I was writing her part of the story, I had Ms. Campbell's voice in my head as Pixie delivered her lines.

Do I think audiobooks were expensive?  Yes.  If publishers priced them cheaper, the audio market would explode and authors and the publishers alike would make scads of money and our audio listeners would be ecstatic (the same with e books).  J.A. Konrath agrees, and recently wrote a blog post on the same subject.

Will my publisher ever put the rest of the books on audio?  My guess is no.  Not ever.  Don't even think about it.  That is ... unless there's a huge spike in sales of the first five books.

Well, a girl can dream, can't she?
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The Very Best Summer Beach Reads

The first Tuesday of the month means: NEW BOOK RELEASES, and this month I'm starting out with (drum roll) MY OWN!  Murder On The Half Shelf.

Stoneham, NH, is a haven to bookstores, including Haven’t Got a Clue, but is sadly lacking in bed and breakfasts. Pippa and Jon Comfort’s Sheer Comfort Inn opens its doors in a week and the couple has offered some locals a free night as a trial run. What should have been a pleasant overnight stay for Tricia Miles becomes a nightmare when she makes two startling discoveries: Pippa’s murdered body in the backyard, and that Pippa’s husband Jon is actually Harry Tyler, a man Tricia loved—and believed dead—for nearly twenty years. Now Harry is the prime suspect, but Tricia doesn’t believe him capable of murder. Even though Harry’s led a life of lies, Tricia’s learning that Pippa had her share of secrets that some people may have not wanted revealed…

Available from:
 Barnes & Noble ~ Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Nook
Books A Million ~ Indie Bookstores ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ The Book Depository



PIES AND PREJUDICE by Ellery Adams:  When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead--killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin--it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

Available from:
Barnes & Noble ~ Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Nook
Books A Million ~ Indie Bookstores ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ The Book Depository


PLOTTING AT THE PTA by Laura Alden:  Bookstore owner, PTA secretary, and single mom Beth Kennedy has to fit a murder investigation or two into her schedule in Alden’s enjoyable if padded third PTA mystery (after 2011’s Foul Play at the PTA). When Beth discovers that a favored customer at her Rynwood, Wis., bookstore, Amy Jacobson, has died from shock after multiple bee stings, she believes Amy’s death was not the freak accident the police claim. Meanwhile, Beth promises an elderly friend to look into the death of her great-niece, Kelly, more than 20 years earlier, an apparent suicide by drowning. When Beth realizes that Kelly and Amy were close friends, she risks her own life to prove that neither the drowning nor the anaphylactic shock was anything short of cold-blooded murder. Digressions involving supporting characters mean the school year is almost over before amateur sleuth Beth is able to connect all the dots.

Available from:
Barnes & Noble ~ Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Nook
Books A Million ~ Indie Bookstores ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ The Book Depository


RED VELVET REVENGE by Jenn McKinlay:  It may be summertime, but sales at Fairy Tale Cupcakes are below zero--and owners Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are willing to try anything to heat things up. So when local legend Slim Hazard offers them the chance to sell cupcakes at the annual Juniper Pass rodeo, they're determined to rope in a pretty payday!  But not everyone at the Juniper Pass is as sweet for Fairy Tale Cupcakes as Slim--including star bull-rider Ty Stokes. Mel and Angie try to steer clear of the cowboy's short fuse, but when his dead body is found face down in the hay, it's a whole different rodeo.  With a vengeful murderer on the loose, the ladies are quickly realizing that while they came to save their business, they may have to save themselves--and that's no bull.
Available from:
Barnes & Noble ~ Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Nook
Books A Million ~ Indie Bookstores ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ The Book Depository

Happy reading!
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Incredibly cute cookbook could be yours ....

My friend Ellery Adams and I are running a contest to get the word out about our upcoming releases.

What's in it for you?  Maybe a free copy of The Cozy Chicks Kitchen.

To find out more, check out today's post on The Cozy Chicks Blog.

See you over there!

Pimping for Pie Pops!

By Guest Blogger Ellery Adams

My sous chef and I have had such a ball using this cute kitchen appliance. It works like a charm too! We've made cherry pie pops, apple pie pops, s'more pie pops, grilled cheese pie pops, shrimp and cream cheese pops - the list goes on and on!

So how can you get one? Easy! Just talk up my latest releash PIES AND PREJUDICE somewhere in cyberspace. Iit doesn't matter if it's on Twitter, Facbook, Google+, Goodreads, a Listmania List on Amazon, a blog (other than the two where I blog), or a website. Everything's game!

Send the URL of your post to my email (elleryadams(AT)verizon(DOT)net) and you're entered in the contest! You can enter multiple times as long as your post doesn't occur more than once on the same day.

So no purchase necessary my darlings, but if you are so smitten by PIES AND PREJUDICE that you pre-order, I'll be smiling right up until July 3rd!  I will email 7 winners on July 1st.

Happy Pimping!

And in case I haven't enticed you enough, here's the blurb for PIES AND PREJUDICE:

"When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead--killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin--it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name."

Preorder the book from:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books A Million ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ Indie Bookstores
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Even though I can't reach the thousands . . . you can help.

Lately I've had to face a very sad truth.  Most of my Booktown mystery readers are NEVER going to figure out that Lorna Barrett is also  Lorraine Bartlet and L.L. Bartlett. They love my books, they read them, they never check out my website. How do I know that?  I have counters.  Every week I get a summary that tells me how many people looked at my websites.  They're always in the same ballpark--by maybe 10-20 hits.  (Mostly the lower end.)

I belong to a number of author newsgroups/information loops.  We trade what we're learning about the big, bold world of indie publishing.  The most important key to sales on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com is REVIEWS.  If you like a book, not just mine, any author's book, PLEASE REVIEW IT.  I've even got a section on my Lorna blog for people to read about being a Book Booster, but I doubt that page is ever looked at.

Reviews not only tell other readers what you liked about a story (and please, if you do write a review, don't just say you liked the book--tell the next potential reader WHY you liked it; the story, the characterization, the setting, the way the author used weather to help tell the story--anything that caught your eye while reading), but gives them an idea of how much they will enjoy it, too.  But please, PLEASE don't give away the ending and/or reveal who the bad guy is.  That will spoil the suspense for those who haven't yet read the book.

Of course, not all reviews can be five star.  We realize this, but there's a big difference between not enjoying a story and posting a nasty review that attacks the author, not the work itself.  I've seen far too many of them.  Or one-star reviews that trash the third-party seller and not even mention the story.  If you're tempted to write a bad review just remember one thing:  your review might impinge on someone supporting his or her family. I always remember what my mother taught me:  If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  (The entertainment field is the only one I know where complete strangers can criticize you on the job.  Imagine if someone did that to you.)

Even if you don't want to write a review, you can still click the LIKE button near the title on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Why is that important?  These big online companies pay attention to how many likes a book receives.  They have algorithms they use to decide what books (and authors) to promote and what to never pay attention to--EVER.

Another thing that was brought to my attention just yesterday. Now Amazon has a like button for author pages.  Here are mine for Lorna, Lorraine, and L.L. Bartlett.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.  But if you have the time, I hope you'll click on a couple of the above links to check things out, and click the LIKE buttons (especially for any of my indie projects--you can find a list of them on the Backlist Ebooks website). You may not think that your one LIKE will count, but it helps.  The more likes, the more chances a story (or the author) has of being noticed by these large companies.  Your one vote/like really CAN make a difference.

Thank you!

It's a REAL hardcover!

The other day I got a couple of sample copies of Murder On The Half Shelf.  Woo-hoo!  They're beautiful!

It wasn't the first time I'd held one of my own books, in hardcover, in my hands. I had that honor (?) back in 2005 when Murder On The Mind was published. I can't say it was one of my happiest experiences.  For one thing, it arrived with the world's ugliest cover (and still holds that honor).  It was yanked from it's comfortable March publication date and thrust into a very unfriendly November timeline. The review copies went out late, and since that publisher targeted libraries who buy books based on reviews, the book was doomed.  It would have been kinder to just bury the thing in the backyard with an RIP wreath.

Luckily, the book had a second life as a mass market paperback.  (Although for some unknown reason, the cover was of a brown leather chair, a cold fireplace, and a open book.  Still scratching my head over that one.)  Finally, the book has an even happier life with a wonderful cover (done by my good friend Pat Ryan) as a trade paperback and an e book.  (Now, don't you have to agree that this is a marvelous cover--and speaks directly to a scene in the book--um, my favorite as it turns out.)

To make up for the nasty first cover, my publisher redeemed themselves by giving me a spectacular cover for Murder On The Mind's sequel, Dead In Red (also in hardcover).  Sales were still lackluster, and so once I had the rights back, I self published it as a trade paperback and an e book.

Which brings me up to Murder on the Half Shelf (or, MOTHS--great acronym, huh?).  Look at that cover.  Isn't it lovely?  As pretty as it looked in a j-peg photo, it looks spectacular with REAL printing on the dust cover.  And look!  The title is embossed in gold (which also isn't in the j-peg).

I'm really happy with that dust cover.  My publisher was gracious enough to add a box on the back flyleaf that notes my website address, facebook author page, and twitter handle.  I hope a LOT of my readers will feel motivated to check out all three -- and then maybe they'll find out about the Victoria Square and Jeff Resnick mysteries.  One can but dream!

Now, to see if readers (and libraries!) will embrace this story.  I've got my fingers crossed.

Murder On The Half Shelf will debut on July 3rd.
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A Frog Went A Courtin' ...

Hey, it's mid-June -- that means it's time to open the money pit, er, our in-ground pool.  We've never felt competent to do it ourselves (uh, we experimented closing down the cottage once ourselves.  Can you say burst pipes and an emergency call to the plumber?), so we know when we're licked.  Still, there are a number of jobs one has to do before Pool Man comes in June.  The snow and rain accumulates on the top of the pool cover and it's our job to get that water (and all the leaves and other crap) off, as well as raise the water level.

We've been dilligent about keeping water off, and this year, have kept nearly all the crud off, too.  However, there are little bits and pieces (and lots of pine needles) that are difficult to retrieve.  And then there are the frogs.

The top of our pool is like a motel that rents rooms by the hour.  Frogs, frogs, frogs there for one reason:  sex.  And polliwogs!  OMG--back in May, we had a gazillion of them.  But nature took care of that.  No rain, the pool cover dried completely, and no more polliwogs.  (Birds find them tasty snacks, you know.)

It rained a lot during the past week, so it was time to get out the submersible pump and get the water off.  Only...there was a BIG Frog in there, and I didn't want it to get sucked into the pump.  (BTW, I am AFRAID OF FROGS, but I regularly save them from drowning.)  So, out came the skimmer, only ... this wasn't one big frog, just one good sized frog with a another on its back--certainly nothing I've ever seen before.



Okay.  Were they just friends?  Man and wife?  Man and husband?  (Hey, NY state doesn't discriminate.)  We considered throwing a bridal shower, but hey--maybe this was just yet another hook up.

Or maybe not.


During the 2-3 hours we pumped off the water, the frogs were removed FOUR TIMES and the kept coming back.  We even removed them to the far corner of the yard and ... boom, twenty minutes later, back they came.  After a while, we said, "The hell with you!"  The pump was removed and the last we looked they were still underwater just ... sitting there.

So, anybody have any ideas about this odd frog behavior?
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My little part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

I wasn't able to make it to England for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.  It would have been nice to see the flotilla on the Thames, but I did get to see a bit of it on TV.  What was priceless was seeing the Queen smile as she waved to her subjects, and all those people waving the Union Jack.  Everybody looked happy.

Cool!

I collect royal family memorabilia, and have since I was a teenager.  It's not that easy to come by around here.  I'm going to Canada later this year, and hoped I could get a couple of pieces while there.  Of course, by then the Jubilee would be old news, and maybe they wouldn't have any mugs or cups in stock.

Worry worry.

But then ... NOT to worry!  My aunt Michele sent me a beautiful Diamond Jubilee mug.  Don't you just love it?  And, even better, it arrived during the Jubilee.


As it turns out, Amazon has a slew of Diamond Jubilee souvenirs, but nothing as nice as my mug.  And even better, mine was a gift from the heart.

Thank you, Michele!
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Ucoming story teasers . . .

I have two books to write in the coming months.  This is the week I've set aside to write the synopses.

I hate writing synopses.

For one thing, I'm a pantster.  That means I write the book by the seat of my pants.  I figure if I know everything about the book before I write it, I'll get bored.  I like being surprised by the characters and events.  It's a PITA when it comes to rewrites and continuity, but it's a lot more fun.

But, I have to write them anyway.  Usually the main story idea stays, it's the little details that change.  Like the murderer.  I can't tell you how many times I've thought, "this person did it," only to hand the book in with another killer all together.

Right now I'm stuck on the murder in the Booktown #7, but I have all the juicy subplots figured out. (They're the most fun for me.)  I've spent a lot of the past few days thinking about Victoria Square #4.  I know how it opens, I know who dies and how, but I haven't figured out whodunit.

One thing's for sure, I'm going to have some fun writing both.

Spoilers?  Let me just say that Victoria Square opens up on a beautiful day at the new marina.  Katie has gone sailing with Seth.  On the dock, she meets up with an old acquaintance, who will later be found dead on Victoria Square.  (Don't they always?)  You would be right if you think the marina will be one focal point in the story.

Interested so far?

And just to tease you a little ... what do you think of the cover of One Hot Murder, Victoria Square #3?

Someone stole our columbines! (Not that we wanted them.)

Our yard is a work in progress.  We've been working on it for the past few years.  For a while, it was the scariest house on the street thanks to the overgrown landscaping.  We had that addressed last year, and it must not be scary looking anymore as we went from 1 or 2 trick-or-treaters to about 50 last fall.  Yup, the yard definitely looks better.

On this year's agenda is ripping out the last of the ivy that covered a big chunk of the front and back yard. Nice looking ground cover -- but it takes over and is extremely hard to eradicate.  Ask us -- we ripped out an area about 4 x 12 feet and nearly died of cardiac problems.  There's one left patch and we're paying for strapping young men to dig it out.  But the major reason for ripping it out is that it hides mice.  Lots of them.

I'm sorry, but real mice aren't cute.  They don't wear lederhosen and sing and help Princesses get the Prince.  No, they take up residence behind your dishwasher and poop on your dishtowels and silverware.  If that doesn't freak you out, I don't know what would.

But, as usual, I digress.  The guy came, gave us an estimate on the cost of ripping out the weeds and a lot of rogue columbines on our side yard (in addition to the ivy) and now we're waiting for the work to be done.  Except ... the day after the guy came, somebody came in dug up every last columbine.  Now, these weren't the pretty pink ones, these were plain old purple.  I mean, who'd want them?  It wasn't our neighbors.  We'd have seen them transplanted in their beautifully maintained yard if that was the case.



So what gives?

And by the way, our neighbors have been systematically renovating their home since they moved in (we're talking new fireplace, new bathrooms, new kitchen, all new rugs and floors) and have a beautifully landscaped yard.  But they have one blind spot -- literally.  They have no window that overlooks their side yard that butts up to ours -- where we want the weeds removed and replaced with mulch.  They've had a dirt pile there for three years.



The first winter it was there, they covered it with a big piece of plastic -- that flapped in the wind EVERY SINGLE NIGHT FOR FIVE MONTHS. How do I know?  Because I sleep by the window that overlooks that portion of their yard.  The plastic disintegrated long ago.  Half the dirt pile has blown away.  It's got weeds growing all around it. It's ugly!  I know they see it when they cut the grass -- why do they let it stay there???  (It is visible from the street.)

We're not on the kind of terms where you say, "Hey, NAME-NOT-GIVEN-TO-PROTECT-THE-GUILTY, when are you going to move that dirt?"  We nod and say hello, but that's about the end of it.

Maybe I should print out the above picture and mail it to them?  What do you think?
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Why can't I figure this out?

Some people are born with a brain that can understand techno-ese and some aren't.

Guess what category I'm in?

You'd think that a person who could construct a novel could figure out how to turn an excel spreadsheet into a word document for labels.  Not me.  I've tried.  Thank goodness I have friends who are a lot smarter than me in that respect.  I wanted to target libraries in New Hampshire and New York for my upcoming Booktown Mystery MURDER ON THE HALF SHELF, so I separated them out of my list and ... then what?

Thank heaven my friend Dru came to the rescue, or I'd be cutting and pasting for a million years.  (Surely you've heard of Dru Ann Love -- she not only has her own blog, but she reviews mysteries with the Cozy Chicks every 15th of the month.)

Last week I discoverd that I hadn't ordered enough postcards, so back to the printer I went.  But this time I had them change it.  I thought the original (which was REALLY BROWN) was a little dark, so I had them redo them with a peach colored background.  

Now ... to print out the new labels and stick them and the stamps on the postcards.  I've got my DVDs out and I'm ready to go.

Check your mailbox in about three weeks for your postcard!  (And if you aren't on the list, you can sign up right here at this blog. Just scroll down a bit for the sign-up form.)
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It's summer. So why are we living like moles?

My office is on the west side of the house.  This time of year (and awfully early this year), it gets hot from the late afternoon sun.  (Used to be I didn't have to worry about this until July ... but this year ... Whoa!)  So, down comes the shade on the window overlooking the back yard.

Since we cut down a tree that was hanging over the pool (autumn leaves in a pool is a gigantic pain in the butt), our family room becomes an oven in the afternoon.  We suffered through it for a couple of years, but it really puts a strain on the central air conditioning.  So last week we put up drapes on the biggest window.  It doesn't completely darken the room, but now we can't see outside during the prettiest time of the day.

All these lowered shades and drapes mean we're living a pretty insulated life.  (Especially in my office, because it's a room darkening shade.)  Okay, so we had a charmed (almost snowless) winter, but still, we wait for gorgeous summer days to enjoy warm breezes and the pretty flowers in our garden.  This year, we're going for cool.

All this shade lowering has kept the house about 5 degrees cooler, which doesn't sound like much, but when Mr. AC is chugging away for more than 20 hours a day, 5 degrees less means it shuts off sooner.

We have faced the fact that our house doesn't have enough insulation.  So we're going to have to do something about it.  What, we're not yet sure . . . It's a crap shoot.  If we don't spend the money on insulation, 'we'll spend more trying to cool it down in the summer.  (And heat it in the winter.)
In the meantime, we'll keep shutting the drapes and lowering those shades.

What's your summertime beat-the-heat solution?
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Kirkus Likes Murder On The Half Shelf!

No doubt about it, a good review can put you in a good mood.  Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.  In fact, a bad review can land you in the dumps for weeks, haunting your thoughts and cause you to lose confidence.  I speak from experience.

But yesterday I got a good review and that put me in a good mood (which I hope will last a couple of weeks ... especially in case any more bad reviews come in).  It was from Kirkus.  As far as I can recall, I've never been reviewed by Kirkus.  I'd heard that they could be ... well, mean is putting it mildly.  So I ws delighted that they liked Murder On The Half Shelf.  They said:

When a mystery bookstore owner and her ambitious cookbook-writer sister accept a free pre-opening night room at the Sheer Comfort Inn, they walk right into murder.

Cooking maven Angelica, who’s won the room for the night, not only invites Tricia to come along, but insists on sneaking in her dog Sarge. As Tricia is walking Sarge, they discover the body of Pippa Comfort. Tricia recognizes Pippa’s husband, Jon, as Harrison Tyler, author of a famous mystery novel and her former boyfriend, who was supposed to have drowned in a boating accident 20 years before. The alibi that Harry Tyler claims now puts Tricia squarely in the sights of her current boyfriend, Police Chief Grant Baker. Because Tricia is divorced from her wealthy former husband and has seen another romance go sour, she feels hurt by Grant’s efforts to be objective and treat her as just another suspect. It doesn’t help that Tricia’s already known as the town jinx, since Pippa’s is not the first body she’s found (Sentenced to Death, 2011, etc.). Now she realizes that she’s going to have to investigate the latest murder, if only to clear her name. Stoneham, N.H., may seem like a quiet, quaint little town, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, and Tricia’s sleuthing may lose her more than some friends, since a desperate killer will do anything to stay free, including killing again.

Barrett’s sixth Booktown mystery features a quirky collection of characters, a mystery that keeps you guessing, and some appealing appended recipes. 

Of course, it's the last sentence that will be used in blurbs and on websites and such.  

I'll take it.

Murder on the Half Shelf will be released on July 3rd.  (Just in time for the holiday and a beach read!)
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Doc Martin and other things to watch

Let's face it, repetitive tasks are a little boring.  So what does one do when they have address stickers and stamps that need to go on over 2500 postcards?  Why, put on a DVD and watch a little telly.

This week, while getting sticky fingers, I've watched the two Doc Martin movies, and Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown.  Loved Doc Martin ... Mrs. Brown ... didn't NOT love it, but it was sad.  : (

Of course, now that I've seen the Doc Martin movies, I feel the need to watch the TV series.  I already know it's different from the movies.  The character is more morose; instead of being an obstetrician, he's now a former surgeon.  And he's a lot crabbier.  (I got that just from watching the commercials for it on my local PBS station.)  But my Mom and my pal Ellery Adams are nuts about the show, so I figured, what the heck and ordered the first four seasons.

After watching Mrs. Brown, I got on the computer and read all about Queen Victoria.  Hmm...didn't know much about her after all.  Through the movie, everyone thought John Brown was nuts worrying about the Queen's security, but when I read how many times people tried to assassinate her, well, his concern seemed justified.  And he personally saved her from being shot at least once.  Good show, John Brown.

I've still got a lot of stickers and stamps to put on postcards, and up next is The Young Victoria (why not find out more about her life, eh?)  And if I'm not done with the job after that, there's always Star Trek Voyager to lean back on.  (Hey, it'll only be my 5th time through the entire 7 seasons.)

It's going to be a bummer next week when I have to give up watching DVDs and go back to writing.
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Cover Dilemma -- from great to horrible to "eh"

Well, nobody tells the author much of anything.  Turns out Sentenced to Death came out in large print on May 7th.  Did anybody tell me?  Nope.  Did I even know what the cover looked like?  Well, yes--I got an copy of it over a month ago--thinking the book had been out for months.  Maybe it'll (eventually) go up on Amazon.

These large print covers are hit and miss.  I'm either mildly pleased or extremely upset.

Wouldn't you be upset if your beautiful Berkley Prime Crime cover went from this:
to this:

To be fair, after I protested, Wheeler, the large print publisher, did change it to this:



(Otherwise known as Barbie at the Soda Shoppe.)  Still, they never bothered to change it on Amazon or any of the other online bookstores, or WorldCat (library site).  Needless to say the book was not a big seller in large print.  : (

On a happier note:  guess what?  My publisher has decided to put out an omnibus edition of the first three volumes of the Booktown Mystery Series.  It's called Murder In Three Volumes and it'll be 888 pages and sell for $16 list (but Barnes and Noble and Amazon are already offering it for $10.88.)  I don't have a cover yet -- they aren't going to pay big bucks to commission a new one.  They'll use one of the existing covers and put some new type on it. I'm hoping it'll be the Murder is Binding cover.  I'm sure it'll be available for e readers, too.  It'll be out on October 2nd.

But in the meantime, it's only 42 days until Murder on the Half Shelf comes out, and I have to admit I'm pretty nervous.  It's a HUGE step going from paperback to hardcover (especially in these times).  So all I can do is cross my fingers and hope that everyone loves my new (and old) characters.  Here's a hint of something to come.

Care to speculate?

A yard sale treasure

As many of you know, I'm a die-hard yard sale person.  I love them!  And I've found all kinds of nifty stuff at them over the years.

Many years ago, my mother bought me a lap desk.  It had little Styrofoam beads in it's cushioned underbelly and it was kind of small.  I must confess, I never used it much because it was just too tiny.  It looked a bit like the one pictured on the right.

Last summer I saw a "lap desk" that was quite a bit bigger.  Someone had obviously taken a tole painting class and had used it for a project.  Not the best roses I've ever seen, but I bought it as a working tool, not a thing of beauty.  But  what a beauty it has turned out to be.

I have a distinct lack of working/flat surfaces in my office, so this lap desk comes in handy.  I can sit in my computer chair and stick stamps on postcards, or labels on envelopes.  I can take it into the living room and use it when I watch TV. (As you can see by the picture, I'm getting packages of bookmarks ready to go out to booksellers.)

Best of all, it cost me a buck.

Amazon has several that are sort of like this, and I'm tempted to buy one, just so I can have it stashed in another part of the house or at the cottage.

Or maybe I'll get lucky at another yard sale.

What little thing has made life in your home office easier?
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Is Tai Chi For Me?

Boy am I stressed out.  I thought once I handed in my (overdue) manuscript that things would magically smooth out.  But then we had a guest come, which means cleaning the house from top to bottom, and put on a big holiday dinner, and then I got a couple of nasty "fan" letters. So instead of mellowiing out, my nerves are taut and about ready to snap.

Yesterday I ordered a tai chi DVD.  I've been thinking about this for a long time.  I like the idea of slow, measured moves that are supposed to bring tranquility.  I hope that if I jump off the Internet and do the moves before breakfast, I will have a much more peaceful and focused day.

Anybody out there do tai chi?  And if so, what were your results?