Maggie Pill Mysteries

Well, technically, there are a few that taste okay, and they make really pretty additions to summery salads and such. But mostly, flowers are to look at, and for some reason, they make me very, very happy. Hubby does most of the vegetable gardening these days, but I still love my flowers and refuse to let my aching back keep me from them. My lawn is full of flowers, and I try to arrange it so they're there from early spring to late fall: daffodils, tulips, narcissus, crocus, violets, and hyacinth come first, blooming in various places at various times, depending on where the sun hits. Then come the flowering bushes: lilac, snowball, spirea, and a little one I always forget the name of, though I look it up every year. Peonies, iris, lilies of  the valley, day lilies, tiger lilies, and other colors of lily come in their turn, along with the potentilla bushes and clematis, who take a while to warm up enough to bloom. Add whatever annuals I choose in a given year: lots of petunias...

This is the final cover for the 4th Sleuth Sisters mystery. It's still a way off, probably May, but it's nice to have something to show to readers. When an author is traditionally published, she gets some say in a cover but not much. A lot depends on the publishing house. I was always asked what my initial concept was, and after that they'd say, "Here's what we did." I've had author friends who hated their covers but couldn't do anything about it. I had one I didn't much care for, but I trusted the publisher to do what worked for the masses, not just for me. As an independent, an author is responsible for everything, including the cover. Knowing I have the artistic talent of a Brahma bull, I hire people to do my covers. I've been lucky to find cover artists who can take my germ of an idea and make it beautiful. When the first Sleuth Sisters came along, I had no idea it would be a series (or so popular: Thank you all!) I wanted three pairs ...