Maggie Pill Mysteries

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.

Peril, Plots, and Puppies, the 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, is currently in production as an audio book at Cerny American in Chicago. It's always interesting to be part of the process, and though I'm far away, I have some responsibilities. Of course I can choose the people who read my books. Since I've been happy with all the earlier audiobooks, I'm happy to stick with the Cernys. I did learn that the actress who reads Faye is no longer available, so I had to okay a new narrator for that segment. Her audition was good, and I think the books will continue to move well from pages to audio files. I also try to give the narrators a list of words that Michiganders know well but others might not, place names like Mackinac, items common here but not in Chicago like pasties, and in the case of this book, German dog commands. Now I know they can look that up, but why should they have to when I have a friend who taught German for decades? She kindly provided me with phonetics...

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...

I'm pretty good at worrying, though my dad was a believer in the adage that worry solves nothing in the future and spoils everything in the present. Here are some things I worried about in March: Old cat would die. No one would like the newest Sleuth Sisters book, Peril, Plots, and Puppies. We would have trouble getting home from Florida because of traffic. Here's what actually happened: Old cat rallied and is now back to running the house the way she likes it. in front of the heat vent People have been nice to the new book, and it's selling well. The trip home was uneventful (except for the day I dropped 174 loose pages of manuscript all over a motel lawn, but we think we got them all back). The furnace quit. The garage door wouldn't open. The car dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree as we pulled in the driveway. Our internet installation was delayed by a week. (Did you get that? NO internet for a week!) Michigan got hit with a HUGE winter s...

Amazon is the best friend a writer can have, and the worst enemy. Sometimes both at once. Amazon allows us to present our books to the world, but it presents them it its own terms. Amazon's Algorithms, things I have little grasp of, choose which additional books to show to visitors to a site in the form of "YOU MIGHT LIKE..." It's a great thing to be chosen this way, because people who never heard of you before are offered your book without even hunting for it. On the other hand, if the algorithms don't latch onto you, you're probably going to forever remain in obscurity. The Sleuth Sisters are (Choose one: A) Lucky, B) Amazing, C) Specific) enough to have gained the attention of the AAs. I often get recommendations to buy Maggie Pill's books when I go on as Peg Herring. That's great, and as long as the newest installment rises high enough in some rankings (Amazon has a ton of them), people see older titles on the page as they consider what to buy ne...

I have three weeks to make sure everything is AOK for the 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, Peril, Plots, and Puppies. I think I'm ready. Preorders are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Peril-Plots-Puppies-Sisters-Mystery-ebook/dp/B078V8X9J6 It will be available from all ebook providers, B&N, Kobo, etc. Print version is coming along. Reviewers are pre-reading (they like that). I'm sure there are things I should be doing, but I can't think of what they'd be. In this book, the sisters take on two cases: shutting down a puppy mill and finding a murderer. Neither their client nor the puppy mill owner is fun to deal with, and the added complication is that Barb was seen near the murder scene, doing a Correction Event as the Grammar Nazi. Each sister has her own concerns, but of course they come together when it's time for Sister Power.

One of the criticisms I hear of Audible is how expensive audio books are, and I sympathize. Many of my fans save credits or scrimp to buy my newest book, and it's discouraging for authors, who know a new listener probably isn't going to risk $20 plus to try her book. Lately they seem to be getting it, and I have had two hopeful signs. One is that they put my old MACBETH'S NIECE release (written as Peg Herring) into a special romance category that gives readers a price break. The other is that they're having a sale this week (Feb. 18 to 25) on "First of a Series" books, and they included THE SLEUTH SISTERS for less than $6.95 (whatever that means!) That means if you haven't heard Judy, Laura, and Anne perform as Retta, Barb, and Faye, you get a bargain chance. https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Sleuth-Sisters-Audiobook/B00MW75YF0  And since Book #6 is in the works, you'll have some enjoyable listening ahead!