Announcing . . .

Call me superstitious (I’m not really, just careful), but I didn’t want to say anything until it was officially official. Now that I have my contract in my hot little hands, I can finally announce the sale of a new mystery series!

It’s called the League of Literary Ladies and is set on South Bass, the biggest of the Lake Erie islands. Main characters are three neighbors who are "sentenced" to be a book discussion group by a magistrate who’s tired of hearing their complaints against each other and convinced they need to sit down, talk, and get to know each other.

There’s more to the concept, of course, but I’m going to keep the details secret. At least for now. I can tell you that book #1 is tentatively titled "Mayhem at the Orient Express" and that it looks like it should hit shelves summer, 2013.

I can also say that I’m thrilled to have an excuse to visit the islands. Haven’t been there for a couple years, but you can be sure that once the ice breaks up on Lake Erie this coming spring, I’ll be jumping on the ferry and heading over to dig into South Bass Island history, and its secrets. I sure hope that one particular winery is still open, the one with the lovely front porch and the excellent sangria. Served in pitchers.

Ah, the things authors must endure for their art!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Wishing you a joyful, peaceful day. Join me in boycotting those retailers who are forcing their employees to work on the holiday. Bet you won't find any executives behind those cash registers tomorrow!

A Blast From the Past

Actually, it’s more like 11 blasts from the past.

You see, last week, I sent off the first 11 books I ever wrote to Amazon to be digitized and put up on Kindle.

An interesting exercise. First of all, I had to find copies of the books. Yes, I had them all, but gathering them took a little digging. After all, the first book I published will be (gulp!) 20 years old this coming February.

That done, I turned to a project my agent asked me to complete. Send her a list of all the books and include:

Title
Genre
Author’s Name on Cover
Comparable Authors
A Blurb About Each Book

And again, it sounds easy, but it definitely wasn’t. A blurb about each book? After all these years, I didn’t even remember character names, much less what each book was about. I skimmed, I read, I even looked up reviews online. Some of the stories floated back at me through the mist. Others, I barely remember at all.

That project done, I turned to covers. Choose a template, choose a color, choose an image.

Whew!

The books–eight historical romances and three young adult horror--are going to be part of Amazon’s White Glove Program, and I’m eager to finally see them available.

Maybe one of these days, I’ll even get a chance to read them. I wonder what surprises await me!

Attention Buckeye Readers!

Yes, it’s hard to believe, but it’s the first week of November and that means this Saturday is Buckeye Book Fair.

Not familiar with the event? It happens every year in Wooster, Ohio on the first Saturday of this month, a literary/book fair that features nearly 100 authors and many more eager readers.

Buckeye is Ohio’s premier book event and the location is perfect, just about mid-way between Cleveland and Columbus. Festivities start at 9:30. There’s plenty of parking, plenty of books, and authors who are eager to meet and greet readers.

I'll be there in both my personas, as Casey Daniels, author of the Pepper Martin mysteries, and as Kylie Logan who writes the Button Box mysteries.

Stop by if you can! For more information, check out the link at:
http://buckeyebookfair.com/