Maggie Pill Mysteries

  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.

 If you're a newsletter subscriber, you already know that Once Upon a Trailer Park is the giveaway on Bookfunnel right now, but only until August 11. If you're not on my newsletter list, you can still get your free e-copy HERE It's Book #1 of the Trailer Park Tales series, followed by Twice the Crime This Time and Third Crime's the Charm. If you've ever lived in any type of closed community, you'll enjoy the characters who show up in these books. I'm at work on Book #3 of the Cats & Crimes series, Have Cats - Will Crime-Solve. Lorilee and Jess have new adventures when a stranger moves into the neighborhood with the help and interference of Ditzy Mitzi and her son Nasty Greg.   The book goes on sale October 1, 2024, and you can pre-order it HERE .

Writers often gripe about people asking where we get our ideas from. That's because we often can't articulate how a story goes from a germ to a book. Sometimes an idea shows up almost full-blown. Other times it has to be teased along. Sometimes it changes over time. For example, the plot for the last book, Captured, Escape, Repeat , came from a discussion I had with my sister, who lived for a long time in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There she read about a piece shown at a local maritime museum that turned out to have been taken illegally from Lake Michigan. "Maybe one of the sisters could recognize a stolen object and get into trouble," she suggested. How did that change? Why? I can't tell you, but the item that was stolen is in an antique shop, not a museum, and the setting isn't Manitowoc but Green Bay. The person who recognizes the contraband is Lars, not one of the sisters. The result is still trouble, so that's all good for a mystery. Buy now My nex...

Buy now One of my earliest memories of farm life is my mother washing out milkers with the hose, her back bent, her brow knitted as she focused on the task. People who knew her as the kind-but-strict schoolteacher or the music-loving choir director might have been surprised to see how hard she worked at home, but that was life on the farm in the '50s. It was a family farm, which meant my father stayed on the land his parents owned, becoming a partner by sharing the work with his father. My grandmother was the gardener, growing vegetables to can, and the raiser of chickens for eggs and meat as well. We kids were often given tasks like gathering eggs, picking potato bugs, and pulling weeds to make Grandma's work easier. Though raised as a "city girl," Mom could drive a tractor or kill a chicken for Sunday dinner, thought she later confessed to me that when she had to chop the head off one of the flock, she couldn't make herself eat the meat. Mom, Grandma...

There's a lot of study of birth order and how it affects a person's behavior. I suppose it has to have some effect, but so do a lot of other things. Here are a few. What were things like for your parents when you were born? Were they happy? Financially secure? Ready for a baby...or another baby? What's the setting for your childhood? Did you have wide open spaces to roam? Was it safe? What was the family dynamic? Were there siblings? Grandparents? Extended family nearby? Answers will vary, but here's a short version of my early life. My parents were rural and poor but happy and hard-working in 1950. They lived on a family farm, so while there wasn't a lot of money, we always had lots to eat. I was their first child as a couple, and while the family eagerly awaited a male child (Dad was the only son of an only surviving son), I never felt unwelcome for being a girl. The farm was safe, and I went pretty much anywhere I chose from daylight till dark, eithe...

Lots of places I go, I hear, "When's the next Sleuth Sisters book coming out?" (I also hear, "Who's Maggie Pill?" but that's a topic for another day.) As to the where, it's in my head, and I'm hoping it's like cheese, getting sharper with age. As to the when, sometime in 2019 if my cheese-head comes together as it should. I say "cheese-head" because the book is set in Green Bay, WI, the home of the Packers and many, many cheese-heads. I've always liked the Packers, a team that's different from all the others in that the fans own it. I was with them in their down years, and there was a time I could probably have named all the starters. The only time my loyalties are tested is when they play Detroit, my home-state team. So the sisters will travel to Green Bay. I know why. I know the crime and the bad guys who must be caught. I know the season and the subplots and where the dogs are going to be. All I don't know is...

There was some concern after PERIL, PLOTS, and PUPPIES came out that the Sleuth Sisters series was finished, and to be honest, I wasn't sure myself. I've said many times that I don't want to write the next book just because. I need a story that I want to tell, because it's very hard work to write a book (at least one people will want to read). Sister anecdotes can go on forever, of course. There's always fodder for more humor in the way we interact with each other. Cute animal items are also easy to come up with. The fact that the real-life Styx almost broke my leg last week while trying to tell me he was glad to see me demonstrates that. Setting can become a problem in a series; call it the Cabot Cove Syndrome. How many murders can a small town expect? I felt that if there was a Book 7, it should take place somewhere else. Series writers will admit that after a few books it's also difficult to get all the secondary characters in if the characters remain ...

The fourth Sleuth Sisters is out on audio, and I have to tell you, I laughed out loud at times as I listened to the actresses read. They're so perfectly Barb, Faye, and Retta! I'm always thrilled with how well Actors' Audio in Chicago handles my books, and the creation of audio books through Audible.com is pretty stress-less for the author. You submit the book for audition, choose the narrator(s) you like, and send them the MS. It takes a while, since there's a lot of studio time, editing, and such involved, but at some point you get the files, listen to them to make sure you're happy with the product, and then okay it. A week or so later, bob's your uncle! Here are the particulars, and if you'd like a code for a free version of the book, let me know. We love to get reviews on both the story and the audio presentation. SS#4 on Amazon

Over the course of their adventures, the Sleuth Sisters have collected two dogs and a cat. When I include a pet in a book, it's always a pet I've known, and they're included as a sort of tribute to their individuality. Styx, Retta's dog, is a combination of two Newfoundlands I've known. Big (of course), friendly, and overzealous, he gets in the way a lot and does exactly what he's told not to do, but he's so lovable it's okay with his mom. Retta needs Styx. She's a widow who lives out in the country, and he provides company, security, and lots of entertainment. Faye found her dog hurt alongside the road (in the second book, 3 SLEUTHS, 2 DOGS, 1 MURDER) and took him in. He's a bit grumpy, but he's probably got good cause to be. A one-person animal, Buddy would die for Faye. For most other people, he'd just as soon pass. Faye's heart is big enough for all the animals in the world, but she and Buddy have a special bond. Barb gaine...