I started my career believing I'd never write more than three books in a series, but I soon found out that publishers and fans always want more than that. When I began writing the Sleuth Sisters, the demand for "the next one" was great, and the ideas kept coming, so I did seven books. When I finally ended the series, a reader I know personally said, "Good. I was getting tired of that series." (Huh. Did anyone twist your arm to make you read them?)

Anyway, my original point was that I believe a series has an arc. If a writer sees it as going on and on, great, but for me, it's pretty short: Introduce the main character(s), see them grow through their adventures, toss in some secondary characters who are fun, and solve a new crime in each book. While readers look forward to the next adventure, for me a series begins to feel repetitive at some point. How many times can the irritating character be irritating in new ways? How many daring rescues must the main characters participate in? And how many murders does even a murder-obsessed person encounter in a lifetime? 

Cozies go way outside reality, of course. It's the Jessica Fletcher effect, where a new murder comes along every day and no one seems to think it's unusual. Amateurs investigate, which seldom happens in real life. The untrained sleuths prevail where the police can't or won't--again, not very likely.

We enjoy the world of cozies, but as a writer, I can only take it so far. The upcoming Cats & Crimes book, You Can't Keep a Good Cat Down, is the last of Lorilee Riley's adventures. It's the fifth in the series, and it's been fun, but I'm satisfied with wrapping things up.

The story revolves around Detective James Law, who is suspected of murder due to his naughty brother Brilli's shenanigans. Of course Lorilee intervenes to help, since he can't investigate his own case. The threads of prior stories wrap up in this book too, so if you haven't read the first four, you might want to do that before hopping into this one.

Release date is May 22, 2026. You can pre-order the e-book from Amazon HERE for $4.99 The print version will be up soon for pre-order, as well as a universal book link if you prefer a different bookseller. I'll keep you informed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Books Don't Just Sell Themselves--Who Knew?

Image
  You wrote a book. Hooray! Now comes selling the book. Let's talk about that. If you go traditional, your publisher will do some of the work needed to sell your book. My (now former) publisher arranged reviews, announced the book’s release to libraries, and featured it on their website. I learned I was expected to help get the word out, which surprised me. I thought books sold themselves. It takes effort to get a book noticed, and whether you publish independently, traditionally, or somewhere in the middle, you're the one who cares most about your work. You can pay people to promote for you, but that’s expensive and often doesn’t result in the sales authors hope for. You can promote for yourself, choosing how much time and effort you want to put into it. Here are a few ways that can happen. Book tours : Authors do tours so they can talk about their books to audiences. These can be virtual or physical. The author sets up dates and places where readers go to hear about t...
Read more

The Fun Books: A New Addition

Image
  Book #3 Have Cats -- Will Crime-Solve releases October 1, 2024. Here's the universal link to buy it from your favorite book site in paperback or e-book. The audio book is in progress. I'll keep you posted.      https://books2read.com/u/md2D5R Or you can ask for it at a book store.  Or you can ask your local librarian to get it for you. The Cats & Crimes books are fun to write for several reasons. First, Lorilee is my age, so we share some views on life. She spent her working years in public service with family services; I was a public school teacher. Like me, she's of the opinion that people can be irritating when they refuse to educate themselves, think things through, and consider the feelings of others. Second, I get to write about cats, which is always a plus for me. I love pulling stories of cats I've known into the books, and I also talk to cat lovers everywhere to get more anecdotes. Lorilee takes in strays and adopts cats with issues that make the...
Read more

Ready, Set... Almost Go!

Image
  The third Cats & Crimes book is all GO on my end.  I've uploaded final e-book and print files. (Two separate entities, each with its own challenges.)  Checked the cover.  Edited the blurb on Amazon and Draft2Digital. Sent for postcards to mail to over 200 libraries within the next week.  It all happens October 1st. If you haven't ordered one yet, you can do so HERE The wildest thing is that Book #4 formed in my head as I was doing all this. It's a logical extension of the first three books, which I think readers will love, and I see one more book after that to complete the series. (I'm not a fan of writing a series after four or five books, though I will confess there are authors I love who keep it going and do a great job.) Anyway, I'll start work on that in a few weeks, when the promo for HAVE CATS - WILL CRIME-SOLVE is well under way.
Read more