Another first

I love it when something new and exciting happens. Over the 12 years since my first book (Dunnottar) was published, I have garnered a pretty good group of "fans." Yes, that still boggles my mind. Some of the readers are strangers to me, and I love it when they contact me with comments about my books and how they have affected them. I even pay attention to those readers who have suggestions of some way to improve my books. One such comment has come from a couple of people who say they wish there was more interaction in the Patrick and Grace Mysteries between Grace and her (adult) children and grandchildren. I'm not sure how much that will change in the next one that is planned, but it will definitely be the case in book number 6, Ma Fia's Murder Mystery, when one of the grandkids goes with Patrick and Grace to Disneyworld. But that's a long ways off yet, but stay tuned.

Other comments come from people I actually know. I admit that I get a bit nervous when I know they are reading one of my books. Will they like it? Will they find errors? (Yes, there always seem to be a few that sneak by.) Will they recognize the characters as somebody I actually know? Will they wonder if they are a certain character?

This past week my good friend Joan Carter told me she had just finished reading The Green Year. She said she really enjoyed it. Then she started to laugh. I asked her what she was remembering, thinking that she was recalling a certain funny passage. No. It was the entire book. She explained, "I got so caught up in the story line that I forgot you had written it!" Yes, I think that was a first, at least as far as I know. I love it. As an author, it is perhaps the highest form of compliment when somebody says, "I can't tell which characters were real and which ones were fictional." I recently ran across a comment from a reader on Amazon.com about Dunnottar. They said they couldn't even finish reading the book because the characters were NOT REAL. Well, some of them are, and admittedly some of them are not. The reader even said in the review, "Of course it is a work of fiction." I don't particularly like this expression, but sometimes it is the one that works best. DUH!

Meanwhile, the first copies of my new book, St. Peter by the Bay, arrived yesterday. Some of them. The other box got put on the wrong UPS truck and wandered around Marinette WI all day. Hopefully they will make their way here Monday, as well as the 2 cases that are going to the Riverside Manor Bed & Breakfast in Marinette, where Patrick and Grace stayed in their latest adventure and where I will be doing a meet the author/booksigning on Fri., July 13th, from 6-8 p.m. If you're in the area, please stop by. It is appropriately located just behind the library.
Janet