Maggie Pill Mysteries

 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 .

All cats believe they're superior beings. Siamese cats take it a step farther--whatever is beyond superior, that's them. Maew, the Siamese in Cats and Crimes, is based on a guy we shared lodgings with in my youth. I have no idea where Ching-a-Ling came from, but he was a force to be reckoned with. I grew up on a farm, so our cats were mostly the outdoor kind, given shelter in exchange for keeping down the number of mice in the barns and grain sheds. How Ching got to be an indoor pet I don't recall. He probably just willed it that way. As Maew does in the book, Ching could reach the top of a built-in bookshelf in the living room without making a noise or letting anyone see him do it. (Looking back, he probably liked the warmer temperatures up there, because our house was drafty.) He spent his days looking down on all of us, seldom moving, so he often appeared to first-time visitors to be a large cat figurine. Ching had the yowl typical of Siamese, and he used it to let us k...

 Being two people is tough, and lately, Maggie took a back seat while Peg worked on her upcoming release. Yesterday, I went back to being Maggie and took up the 3rd Trailer Park Tales book, Third Crime's the Charm . I had done a rough draft and then set it aside, which I find is very helpful, though sometimes scary: "What? I actually wrote this? What was I thinking?" In addition to Peg's book, Maggie got ahead of herself when her idea for Cutest Little Killer came along. I try to finish one series before starting another one, but sometimes the muse does what the muse wants. CLK was lots of fun to write, and from the readers' response, I expect there will be more of those. NOTE: This is why I will never be a household-name type writer. I can't write endless stories with the same characters, even if I like them a lot. So. Yesterday I went back to the rough draft of Third Crime's the Charm , and I was happy to find that, yes, I still like it, and surprise! I...

   I was having lunch last week when a woman stopped to tell me that CUTEST LITTLE KILLER is my best book yet. I found a review on Amazon with this as its clincher "It's great. I loved it." I'm not sure if those people know how much that helps an author out. We work for months, even years, on a book. We ask for input. We hire editors. We polish and re-read. When it's finally out there, we wonder if it's good enough. Even the best writers of the day admit to asking themselves, "Is this the book that will sink my career?" If you've had success with a former series, as I do with the Sleuth Sisters, it's tempting to stick with the "safe" choice, writing more of the same. But while I enjoy each book and series I've written, I always come to a point where I want to try something new. Cutest Little Killer is quite different from the Sleuth Sisters. That could cause some to look elsewhere for their next read, but readers must at some p...

 I've been plagued by the cover for the first book of my upcoming new series. In concerns a private detective working with two kids who are uber-smart but were raised in the jungle. They're all fun characters to write, and I hope they appeal to my readers. The problem was that I didn't like any cover for very long. I'd look at it and think, "That might work," but then a few days later I realized it didn't. I put two possibilities up for fans to react to, and I got some excellent results. Though they didn't know what it was, I could tell they weren't impressed with what we'd done so far. When this happens, I have to stop thinking about it for a few days and then...think about it. I discovered that trying to picture the main character, the "Cutest Little Killer," was not going to work, and that's what was making me uncomfortable with what we had. So. Here's the direction we're going now, and I'd love some reactions. I th...

I've been working on the second installment of Trailer Park Tales, which will follow Once Upon a Trailer Park sometime in the next few months. The same four couples you met in Book #1 will investigate a cold case, finding a man sought by police for two fifty-year-old murders. The word is he lives at B-Bird, but he's changed his identity, so the cops ask Ron & Julie to do some digging. They involve the other couples, because really, how much danger can there be with a crime from 1967? The book is almost together, which means I'll soon be sending it out to beta readers, editors, book reviewers, etc. What I don't have is a title, and that's where you can help. I'd planned to follow Once in the first title with Twice in the second. But when readers search for mysteries, they use keywords like murder, crime, suspects, death, kill, etc. I can't come up with a way to do both and come up with a catchy title. I've been spitballing ideas all morning, hopi...

I said in my last post that the audio version of Once Upon a Trailer Park was due any day. I guess I should have said in many days. Through some sort of snafu, Audible didn't release the book until YESTERDAY, which is weeks and weeks after it should have happened. If you were waiting, I apologize for the delay. If you'd like a code to listen to it free , just let me know in the comments and I'll help you out. The book is still fun, even if late December turned into early February!

In the past week I've lunched with two friends who lost a sister, one recently, the other a while back. Since my sister died in May, our conversations wind around the theme of sisterhood and what it feels like to be the one left behind. Yes, Mom made our dresses! In two of the three cases the sister was younger. Both left behind families that needed them, making it more of a tragedy than simply the loss of a sibling. We take comfort in supporting them in whatever ways we can. In all three cases death leaves a void for us, a person whose role can't be filled by anyone living. Sisters grow up together, so we can't start over and build a new sister relationship. We might have sister-like people in our lives, but nothing replaces that person who was always there in your childhood, your strongest supporter one moment and the one who tried to stab you with a knitting needle the next. The loss of someone who understands you intuitively, a person who shares the same roots, ...

We didn't really have pets when I was a kid. We had animals that lived with us and did work in return for bed and board. That doesn't mean we didn't love them, but they earned their kibble. Me, my sister, Laddie, & Ching-a-Ling The cats were there to keep the mice away (probably rats too, but that never occurred to me. Ick!) Each of our two farmhouses had a "house cat" that lived inside and was quite pampered compared to the "barn cats" who lived in the barn and multiplied freely. Each new batch of kittens was a treat for us girls, and we hunted them down in whatever spot their mothers chose to hide them by listening for their mews.What fun to move a bale of hay and find four or five little balls of fur to play with. We didn't even mind that their tiny claws were sharp enough to leave bloody trails down our forearms. The family dog was responsible for helping to herd the cows from and back to the barn. Looking back, I realize that our be...

The 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, PERIL, PLOTS, and PUPPIES, just went live as an e-book on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and all other major e-book distributors. Still waiting on news from the studio in Chicago about the audio version. I know it's in production, I just don't know what phase.

Perils, Plots, and Puppies By Maggie Pill: Review/Giveaway/Guest Post IN THE April 21 ISSUE FROM THE 2018 Articles , and Cynthia Chow , and Mysteryrat's Maze , and Pets SECTIONS by Cynthia Chow & Maggie Pill This week we have a review of Maggie Pill’s latest book Perils, Plots, and Puppies, along with a fun pet related guest post by Maggie. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Perils, Plots, and Puppies. There is also a link to purchase it from Amazon, and from an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL Perils, Plots, and Puppies : A Sleuth Sisters Mystery by Maggie Pill Review by Cynthia Chow Few know that retired Assistant DA Barbara Ann Evans has been staging “Correction Events” in the town of Allport, Michigan. Unable to bear the sight of grammatical errors public and private building signs, Barbara dresses up like a cat burglar to “tag” storefronts with corrected spellings. When she i...

As my next Sleuth Sisters story takes shape, I need to send cover ideas to the artist. The Sleuth Sisters' format is three bars with something on each representing the sisters: shoes, purses, etc. I'm kind of thinking necklaces, but I'd be interested to hear readers' ideas.

I told them I won't go. FBI or not, I can't stomach a full weekend of women gushing about spa treatments and this fall's must-have base color. Twaddle, as my Cornish co-worker used to say. If Faye is willing to accompany Retta and chat up this Dina Engel woman, good for her. I've looked into the situation and spoken with the FBI agent in charge. It isn't a dangerous assignment, since the woman's drug king/husband shows little interest in her new career and will remain in Detroit. The agent simply needs a couple of over-fifty women who fit in with Love-able Ladies (yes, they really do add the hyphen), and Lars suggested us. Retta certainly fits the profile of a Love-able Ladies groupie, and Faye will be her chaperone. I don't think they can possibly get into any trouble.

Retta told you about the case on the Leelanau Peninsula. We're looking into the possibility of turning a drug lord's wife into an FBI informant. It seemed odd to me at first, since the woman has been married to the guy for decades, but the agent in charge says she seems to have changed over the last year or so. She's starting a fashion design business, and for the first time ever, appearing in public on her own. He thinks it means she's sick of the thug life. I guess that could be true, but my theory is that in this world of opportunism, the publicity would be a huge help in launching her business. Either way, we're going to attend the retreat where she will do a "mini-reveal" (I know, who cares?) of her new line of clothing for "mature" women. My comment on that? If your husband doesn't love you with lumps, he never really loved you in the first place.

I'm here to give you a taste of the fifth Sleuth Sisters mystery, and it's so much fun! We take on a case for the FBI, and it involves a weekend at a winery/inn on the Leelanau Peninsula north of Traverse City, Michigan. I've always wanted to stay over there, and St. Millicent's is the newest, chicest (if that's a word) property in northern Michigan. The retreat celebrates the joys of being a mature woman, so there will be inspirational speakers, products and practices geared to women, PLUS food, fashion and wine! Hosted by Love-able Ladies, the retreat is all about why women should be happy to be women, whatever their age and body type. Of course Barbara Ann is going to hate every minute of it. I wonder if there's some way I could leave her home...

Buy it here Of course you know by now that the 4th Sleuth Sisters Mystery releases today. If you don't, I'm not sure what I could have done differently. I'm on two blogs. I'm featured on a book lover's site. I sent out newsletters. I delivered early copies to Tom's so the locals can have first looks. I tweeted. I Facebooked. I sent out postcards to libraries and bookstores. All you have to do is enjoy the book...unless you're willing to write a review somewhere. That would be great.

I should be receiving ARCs (Advance Review Copies, also known as Proofs) in the mail next week. I'll deliver them to some beta readers with sharp eyes who enjoy being the first to read a book. Covers are done by yeocladesigns--amazing! This stage is our last chance to clear up the pesky little errors that creep into books despite hard-working editors and despite the fact I've probably read the dumb thing a hundred times! I listened to my computer read the book aloud before sending it in for the final setup. As long as I don't let my mind wander, I can hear the tiniest errors, like a pause where I left an extra space or when it reads sat instead of sad . The fact remains that an author can't step back far enough to see places where the reader goes "What?" I'm grateful to have faithful friends who are willing to read and point those spots out to me. For example, a friend who read SLEUTHING AT SWEET SPRINGS noted that in one conversation I'd giv...

If you've ever wondered      *Can chickens take part in crime-solving?      *Does the Oxford comma divide families?      *Can Barb's heart be captured by a stray?      *Will Faye ever see the value of dressing for success?      *Has Retta figured out what she wants in a man? Answers are coming. I just received final edits for SLEUTHING AT SWEET SPRINGS, so the next week should get me over the top. I'll be looking for beta readers, so let me know (maggie.pill@yahoo.com) if you'd like to get an early look! Here's the pre-order link for Kindle : https://www.amazon.com/Sleuthing-Springs-Sleuth-Sisters-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01F7B6L4K

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 ...