Monday, January 1, 2018

A New Year

The setting for the first three Malone mysteries

 According to the old Farmers Almanac, "January was named for the Roman god Janus, protector of gates and doorways. Janus is depicted with two faces, one looking into the past, the other into the future."

Looking back:

In June of 2017, Post Mortem Press published Marnie Malone, my fifth Malone mystery, completing the series.Writing those books has been a labor of love but. . . .

Looking forward:

A new year is like the blank pages of a yet-to-be-completed mystery novel. It will be full of surprises. As the days (pages) go by, there will be many twists and turns. Some difficult situations to overcome. Lots of challenges but also so many possibilities.

I'm currently writing a new book, another mystery novel, which I started last year. It’s very different from the books in my Malone mystery series. It's a cozy, I’m writing it in the first person -  something I’ve wanted to do for a long time - and I’m having a lot of fun with it. 

Here's an overview of Secrets in Storyville:

Kate Morgan, a single mother, lives in the small town of Storyville, Ohio where she grew up. A want-to-be writer, she works as a sales clerk in the town’s only department store doing what she describes as “a job a monkey could do.” Although she’s bored with her job, she won’t allow herself to consider moving to the city where there are more job opportunities because she relies on her parents’ help in raising ten-year-old Mandy.

When her daughter announces to the family that she plans to do a family tree for a school science project, the reaction of Kate’s parents and grandmother shocks Kate and arouses her curiosity. Why are they so against Mandy’s project? Surely her family is too “normal” to have any skeletons in their closet.

Kate decides to support Mandy even if that means defying her parents. But what she’s about to learn will reveal a long buried secret and change her life forever.

I hope to finish the book in the next few months and to move on to the next phase: publication. That, like most things in life, will require me to make a decision. Will I send the manuscript to publishers or will I decide to self-publish? I'm not sure yet and I don't want to "put the cart before the horse." I want to enjoy every minute of writing the book!

Happy New Year!

Friday, December 22, 2017

My favorite reads in 2017

I've always meant to keep a list of each and every book I've read. Unfortunately, I've never done that but, thanks to Goodreads, here's the 2017 list of books I read, reviewed and recommend. Some of the books are by authors who were new (to me) this past year but many others are books by authors I've read and enjoyed for years.

Since space wouldn't allow me to post 32 book covers, I closed my eyes and chose three at random.



1. Rhodes The Movie-Maker by M.M. Gornell

2. No Strings Attached by Julie Moffett

3. Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo

4. Hutchin's Creek Cache by Deborah Garner

5. The Tarkington Treasure by Evelyn Cullet

6. Dead, Bath and Beyond by Lorraine Bartlett

7. Phantom Baby by Sharon Love Cook

8. The Swap by Nancy Boyarsky

9. Unexpected by Cindy Blackburn

10. Dying for a Diamond by Cindy Sample

11. Murder Run by Shelly Frome

12. The House on Candlewick Lane by Amy M. Reade

13. The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor by Amy M. Reade

14. No Strings Attached by Julie Moffett

15. Down a Dark Path by Dorothy Bodoin

16. Black Butterfly by Marja McGraw

17. All by Myself, Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

18. Booked for Murder by CeeCee James

19. The Deep End by Julie Mulhern

20. Guaranteed to Bleed by Julie Mulhern

21. Deadly Reservation by CeeCee James

22. The Body in the Wardrobe by Katherine Hall Page

23. Marriage is Pure Murder by Staci McLaughlin

24. War and Peach by Susan Furlong

25. Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo

26. Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum

27. Geronimo Must Die by J.R. Lindermuth

28. Entrance to Nowhere by Marja McGraw

29. Final Check Out by CeeCee James

30. The Burning by J.P. Seewald

31. Death Overdue by Allison Brook

32. Unresolved by F.M. Meredith

Happy Reading!