A New Year Endeavor: The Sleuth Sisters First

 On my Peg Herring website (http://pegherring.com) , I've started posting a bit on the history and background of each of my books. I thought it might be fun to do the same for Maggie's books here.

I was a fairly successful traditionally published author as Peg Herring back in 2013, when my publisher abruptly stopped taking mystery submissions. I was left to either find another publisher (which is a pain) or join the growing trend of writers publishing their own work. 

I'd been to lots of conferences where I met writers who were having fun with what they called "cozy" mysteries. The setting is usually small town. The sleuths are usually not professionals. The violence is very limited. Cozies sounded like a fun stories to write, but I didn't know if I could write funny. They say to write what you know, so I thought a sisterhood theme would be easy for me. The cozy part was a question, since I believe a good book requires a logical plot. I can't write about normal people trundling into the woods at midnight to hold a seance or breaking into someone's home because they think he or she might be a criminal. Yes, cozies should be fun, but I didn't want mine to strain credulity.

Because I wasn't sure I could achieve what cozy readers want, I rearranged my grandmother's name and wrote The Sleuth Sisters as Maggie Pill. The story concerns three sisters who live in northern Michigan. (Huh. Just like me.) To make the humor, I made the sisters very different, so they wouldn't always agree on what to do. (Huh. Just like sisters everywhere.) The oldest, Barb, is set in her ways and bossy. The middle one, Faye, is capable but unsure of herself and too kind for her own good. The youngest, Retta, is used to getting whatever she wants, because she's so darned cute.

I wrote the book, had it edited, and published it only as an e-book, the easy way to go. But soon I got a request from a reader that I release the book as a paperback. She knew her mom would love the sisters, but she didn't like reading on a Kindle. I learned how to do that. (I might have said some bad words, but I did it.) Then another reader asked when the book would be out in audio, because her mother could no longer see to read. (Sigh. Who can say no to a woman who's losing her eyesight?) As I learned what was involved in audio book recording, I hit a lucky strike. A producer in Chicago had read the book, which was recommended to him by his wife. He loved it, and he wanted to do the audio and do it "right," meaning a different actress would read each sister's part. That gave the book a huge kickoff, and he stuck with me through several books, until he got sick and left the business.

So that's how Maggie Pill came to be. The Sleuth Sisters is still popular, thirteen years after it was first published, because if you have sisters...you know. 

The book is free here.