The Giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight; two days left to add your name for the Giveaway.
Will and Lydia travel to New York just outside of Albany after a frantic plea for help from Shaker friend Mouse. There they find Mouse had been accused of kidnapping – and she admits it. Shortly after, the mother of the children is found dead and Mouse is the the primary suspect.
I am so happy to announce that I have broken the 400 mark. I still have a week to go. Will I break 500 requests? Only time will tell.
Beginning November 1, I am beginning a giveaway of twenty copies of Cradle to Grave.
This is my third book and of the four I have published, and the one coming out next spring, is the one with the most emotional resonance for me. My daughter had had a baby the year before. There were some problems and she had to have a C-section. Then there were some problems with the baby, most of which he has grown out of of. That poor kid was in the hospital more times than I can count.
I had already come across the practice of warning out in my research for A Simple Murder and Death of a Dyer but it wasn’t an appropriate topic for those books. (And I must say, the research for the first two and then Death in Salem were a lot more fun. I love Salem, the Shakers are fascinating and, for Death of a Dyer, I messed around with dyes for months. The research was pretty grim for Cradle.) But I started thinking, what happens to single mothers? How would I feel if I had children and was trying to feed and raise them? What happens to orphans? How could a single mother even try to fight the power structure?
At the same time, I read an article in the New York Times about the practice in Las Vegas of rounding up the homeless and shipping them to California. The more things change, the more they remain the same, right?
I was also babysitting some older children so their mother could work. So, I based Jerusha, Simon and Nancy on these kids, and the mixed race foundling that no one wanted is my first grandson.
I had to have a happy ending. Spoiler alert.
It may not be the best mystery of the lot but, for me, it has the most heart and the one that means the most to me.
Last call for the giveaway of my second book, “Death of a Dyer
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The giveaway ends Sunday night. In “Death of a Dyer”, Rees goes home to Dugard. He is trying to mend fences with David, his son. Lydia has accompanied him as well, as a housekeeper. Both have baggage from previous relationships and are hesitant to begin again.
Rees is home for only a short while when he is asked to look into the death of Nate Bowditch, Rees’s boyhood friend. A weaver like Rees, Nate has become a dyer. This is a time before the coal tar dyes. Besides indigo and cochineal, most of the dyes used in Dugard would have been natural dyes: some madder, black walnut, butternut and so on. And both indigo and cochineal were very expensive.
I had a lot of fun with this book since I got to include tons of stuff about dyeing and weaving.
I am happy and so excited to announce that I have received the cover for the new Will Rees mystery – A Devil’s Cold Dish. The graphics arts department at Minotaur is so good. In my opinion, they have scored with every single cover.
Will and Lydia Rees return to Dugard after their adventures in Salem and find themselves in new trouble. Not only is Will accused of murder but Lydia finds her own life in danger.
Coming June, 2016
I am thrilled to announce that I have received my first copies of Death in Salem and they look stunning. Here is the cover:
The books look even better in real life. I will probably be having another Goodreads giveaway later in the summer.
To summarize the plot: Will Rees is on a weaving trip and stops in Salem to buy some imported cloth for Lydia. He gets stopped by a funeral and sees an old friend at the head. Anstiss Boothe, the deceased, has been ill a long time but the very next day her husband Jacob. a wealthy Salem merchant, is dead and this time it is clearly murder. Rees has already left Salem but his friend rides after him and draws him back to investigate.
Smuggling, piracy, prostitution, and of course all the dynamics of interpersonal relationships keep Rees investigating.
I had a lot of fun roaming Salem when I researched this book.
Very excited to announce I have broken the 300 mark. Can I reach 400 requestors?
Well, there was no housework done in the Kuhns household this weekend. I left the house on Saturday at 7 am to attend the steering committee meeting for my sisters-in crime chapter. The regular meeting began at 10:30 and I left at 12:30, after a very fascinating talk by a Colonie policeman, for a talk at Cohoes Public library.
What a great talk it was too. And I met an old friend from my days working with the New York Library Association.
On Sunday I spoke at a meeting of the Arlington Women’s group to an assemblage of 78 people. Another great talk. And they fed me lunch.
Now I have to return to real life. Sigh.
Usually I am very happy to get to St. Patty’s Day; I put in my peas. Not this year. Even with the warm up there is still too much snow on the ground. And more coming.
OK, I know that we sometimes get snow this late, sometimes into April. But after this year? Seriously?
What is wrong with this weather? I thought climate change meant we’d be more like Florida, not Alaska.
In fact, we have Alaska’s weather. The Iditirod had to be pushed way north. Hey, they could have had it in my yard.
I am very excited and happy to announce I have selected a new audio book narrator for “Cradle to Grave” and “Death in Salem”. As any librarian will tell you, audiobooks are very very popular. A good narrator can really make a story shine. I am very glad to see both these titles become audiobooks for all my patrons.