Fall!

When I was a kid, my favorite time of year was always summer. It was a no brainer: no school, and long days spent playing outside in the sun or reading, reading, reading. As the mother of young children I still loved summer, spent largely at the beach or exploring the Adelaide Hills with my girls. Then I moved to New Orleans. Summers here are brutal and endless, and my heat tolerance seems to have gone away. So my new favorite season is autumn, when the mornings are actually cool and I can work out in the garden without suffering heat stroke. It's wonderful.

I'm still chugging away at my next Sebastian book, #13, which still has no title (yeah, I'm starting to panic about that). It should be finished by now, but I am having a hard time concentrating thanks to the election. (I will be so glad when it is over!) I've also been doing the research for the World War II novella I'll be writing. Research is always fun, and it's the one thing that can distract me from obsessively reading about the you-know-what.

My new standalone historical, GOOD TIME COMING, has received some wonderful reviews, including a starred review from Booklist. I hope to get those up next week. In other news, Steve is gradually improving, but my son-in-law had surgery last week and we're waiting on test results. Scary times. On a lighter note, here's a picture my daughter sent me of Maddie, who's growing up fast. She and Zydeco may be coming to stay with us again. More soon.

Lots of Stuff

Yeah, I know I've been MIA again. So, THINGS:

First of all, I've spent the last few weeks going over the galleys for WHERE THE DEAD LIE, coming in April 2017. This is always exciting because it means the book is that much closer to going into production. I've also been correcting the galleys for the paperback version of WHEN FALCONS FALL. Penguin has decided to shift the paperback releases from mass market size to trade. Some people love trade paperbacks, some people hate them. (And others with my OCD tendencies will no doubt object to their collection of the series now being in different sizes--grrr.) The rationale for the change is that outlets such as Target prefer trades and others such as Barnes and Noble keep trades in the store longer than mm. My mm sales have always been sluggish since my readers tend to buy my books when they first come out in either hardcover or ebook.  So basically they are looking for new readers who typically buy trade paperbacks. Anyway, here's the cover for the new trade reprint. I asked them to put more of the original blue and green coloration back in the painting, and they sorta did.

Bouchercon was fun but a bit hectic, and marred by the fact that the hotel had a bad case of mold in their ventilation system. Katrina left me with mold-agrevated adult-onset asthma, so that's part of why I've been missing the last few weeks. Anyway, my panel was great, and Andrew Grant proved to be a fantastic moderator. But what I want to know is, Why do I look like a little kid in this picture? Am I really this short?! Or was everyone else on that panel tall?

And now for the big reveal: I am taking part in a new historical mystery anthology with Susanna Kearsley, Anna Lee Huber, and Christine Trent. Currently titled THE JACOBITE'S WATCH and pitched as in the tradition of The Red Violin, this collection of four novellas will range from the mid-1700s until World War II and tell the story of an infamous pocket watch that wrecks havoc in the lives of those who seek to contain its mysterious force. My novella will be the final one, set in World War II in Kent. The anthology is scheduled to be published sometime in 2018, and should be a lot of fun. So more on this to come.

And, finally, thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts on our recent troubles. My son-in-law is improving daily (although a diagnosis as to what caused his near-death experiences is frighteningly still elusive . . .) Steve has his cast off and is slowly regaining strength in his leg; I've now hurt MY leg and can barely walk. (I'm beginning to think it's a curse . . . ) Fortunately, I no longer have the dog to exercise, although Steve and I both miss Maddie and Zydeco desperately. We're looking forward to them coming to visit at Christmas. (Oh, yeah, my daughter and s-i-l will be coming, too!)