Excerpt from Karma’s a Killer by Tracy Weber

Author's note: I’ve been entranced by the friendship my dog has with several local crows for years, so it seemed natural to include them in my newest mystery.  The excerpt below features Blackie, a rehabilitated crow who will play an interesting role in the mystery. ~ 

Tracy    

Excerpt from Karma's a Killer

Judith yelled, “Hey, stop! What are you doing?” Even Tiffany ran over to check out the commotion.

Blackie’s cage lay open on the ground. He stood next to it, looking confused. A teenage girl waved her arms and stomped her feet, trying to scare him away. “Go on, fly! Be free! Animals should never be prisoners!”

I’d never met the young woman who was yelling, but I recognized her outfit: black jeans, black boots, long-sleeved black T-shirt decorated with an orange flame emblem. The jagged ends of her purple-black hair brushed against multiple silver ear-piercings.

Black lipstick and eyeliner highlighted the matching jewelry in her left eyebrow and lower lip. The Goth Girl kept yelling, sounding frustrated. “Go on, you stupid bird, fly! You’re free!”

Blackie cocked his head right, then left, then right again, as if paradoxically confused, entranced, and annoyed by the oddly adorned female. He tried to approach her; he tried to make friends; I’m pretty sure he asked for a peanut. Each time he hopped closer, she shooed him away, calling him names and ordering him to take flight.He finally took her advice. He flapped his wings and soared—away from his supposed freedom and straight to Judith’s shoulder.The whole episode was laughable, at least at first. Blackie clicked, preened, and nuzzled Judith’s ear, looking happy and completely at home. Goth Girl yelled, waved her arms, and tried to scare him away from afar. “Get out of here before that evil animal terrorist traps you again!”Judith turned toward Goth Girl and shouted, “Shut your trap, you little punk! You’ll scare him.”Blackie ignored them both. He let out a loud caw and flew from Judith’s shoulder to my table, where he landed next to Maggie’s clipboard. He cocked his head forward and stared, transfixed by her shiny keys.“Blackie, no!” Judith yelled.
Her words had no effect. Three quick hops later, Blackie leaned down and picked up the key ring. Judith snatched Bella’s bag of dog cookies, grabbed a large handful, and threw. Miniature goats rained to the ground in a five-foot radius.“Look, Blackie! Treats!”It almost worked.Blackie paused, distracted by the yummy-looking morsels littering the grass. For a split second, he dropped the keys.
Judith lunged, faster than I would have thought possible for a seventy-five-year-old woman with obvious arthritis. But before she could reach him, Blackie picked up the key ring again, looped it securely around the bottom half of his beak, and took flight, carrying his treasure off into the distance.Crows cawed from every direction, as if celebrating his victory. A half-dozen dropped down to clean up the plunder. By the time I looked back at Blackie’s cage, Goth Girl had disappeared.

About Karma’s a Killer:

Yoga instructor Kate Davidson is about to discover that when it comes to murder, there’s no place like om. When she agrees to teach doga—yoga for dogs—at a fundraiser for Dogma, a local animal rescue, Kate believes the only real damage will be to her reputation. But when an animal rights protest at the event leads to a suspicious fire and a drowning, a few downward-facing dogs will be the least of Kate’s problems…

The police arrest Dharma, a woman claiming to be Kate’s estranged mother, and charge her with murder. To prove Dharma’s innocence, Kate, her boyfriend Michael, and her German shepherd sidekick Bella dive deeply into the worlds of animal activism, organizational politics, and the dangerous obsessions that drive them.

And if solving a murder weren't complicated enough, Kate will also have to decide whether or not to reconcile with the estranged mother who abandoned her over thirty years ago. Not to mention having to contend with an almost-bankrupt animal rescue, a cantankerous crow, an unwanted pigeon houseguest, and a rabbit in a doga class. What could possibly go wrong?

A taut tale with more twists and turns than a vinyasa yoga class, Karma’s a Killer brims with suspense, wit and whimsy. With a to-die-for plot, sensational storyline, and charming characters—of both the two- and four-legged varieties—Karma’s a Killer is a clever, colorful, and utterly captivating cozy mystery.

Karma’s a Killer is Available at Booksellers everywhere!

Tracy Weber is the author of the award-winning Downward Dog Mysteries series.  The first book in the series, Murder Strikes a Pose, won the Maxwell Award for Fiction and was nominated for the Agatha award for Best First Novel.

A certified yoga therapist, Tracy is the owner of Whole Life Yoga, a Seattle yoga studio, as well as the creator and director of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. She loves sharing her passion for yoga and animals in any way possible.

Tracy and her husband Marc live in Seattle with their challenging yet amazing German Shepherd, Tasha. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house. 

Karma’s a Killer is her third novel. For more information on Tracy and the Downward Dog Mysteries, visit her author website: http://TracyWeberAuthor.com/

Cooking Up Stories with Author Susan Kroupa

Like most dogs, Doodle, the canine narrator of the Doodlebugged Mysteries, not only loves food but has some strong opinions on the subject. He recently got a chance to share some of those in Cooking Up Stories: Favorite Recipes from the Oregon Writers Network. 

The brainchild of Louisa Swann and Dayle Dermatis, Cooking Up Stories is a compilation of recipes and brief story excerpts from an extended group of writers who have taken one of the highly regarded Oregon coast workshops taught by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Writers who attend the workshops stay in the Historic Anchor Inn, http://www.historicanchorinn.com/, a time-capsule sort of place, full of intriguing corridors packed with memorabilia from the last half century. And the owners, Kit Ward and Kandi Hansen treat the visiting writers like family, providing gourmet breakfasts and evening snacks for the often exhausted participants. 

Wondering what they could do to repay Kip and Kandi for going the extra mile for workshop guests, Louisa and Dayle came up with an idea: Writers need to eat. Dogs often need to be rescued. And there would be no better way to thank Kip and Kandi than to donate to one of the many animal rescue causes that the two support.

The result was Cooking Up Stories, a cookbook filled with (mostly) easy recipes—the kinds of foods writers might make while working head down on a book. Thanks to the donated efforts of Louisa and Dayle and Lucky Bat Books, all of the proceeds from book sales go to Bark Beach, an annual beach run that raises funds for emergency vet care.

For his part, Doodle was happy to contribute some of his musings on food and eating. Here they are:

From Bed-Bugged 

*I’ve never eaten much chocolate because the bosses insist it’s harmful to dogs. But the tiny bites I’ve had makes me wonder, once again, if they just say that so they can keep it all for themselves. Because it’s really, really tasty.

*Never have understood one word of Chinese which I gather is hard to learn, but it turns out I like the food. My second boss (the bad one) used to bring it home all the time, one of the few good things about living with him.

From Out-Sniffed 

*Piece of cake, as the boss often says. A curious expression, since, although cake is great — love it! —for a dog, at least, getting a piece is not always easy.

*Never understood the human fascination with ice. Cold drinks aren’t my thing, unless it’s water, of course, and then not as cold as ice makes it. And hot drinks — don’t get me started. Room temperature’s the way to go as far as I’m concerned, especially when the cold drinks are things like beer and diet ginger ale.

*I don’t understand why humans like to take forever to eat. Well, actually I do. It’s because they eat a bite, talk, talk some more, eat another bite, talk and talk some more. Really, if they’d just keep quiet and focus they could get through a meal in a reasonable amount of time. Look at us dogs. We don’t take a bite, bark, bark some more, then take another bite. We get the job done. Humans could learn from our example.

From Dog-Nabbed 

*Salsa is always a little tricky. It can be good, but sometimes it can really burn your mouth, so you need to smell it carefully before eating it. Chips are always good, of course.

*As Miguel used to say when he’d give us treats, “hunger makes the best sauce,” which I think means food tastes better if you’ve had to miss breakfast.

Cooking Up Stories can be found in paper and ebook formats on Amazon.com  as well as from most online book retailers.

Susan J. Kroupa is a dog lover currently owned by a 70 pound labradoodle whose superpower is bringing home dead possums and raccoons and who happens to be the inspiration for her Doodlebugged books. She’s also an award-winning author whose fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, and in a variety of professional anthologies, including Bruce Coville's Shapeshifters. Her non-fiction publications include features about environmental issues and Hopi Indian culture for The Arizona Republic, High Country News, and American Forests. 

Susan now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwestern Virginia, where she’s busy writing the next Doodlebugged mystery. You can find her books and read her blog at http://www.susankroupa.com and visit her Amazon Author page at http://amazon.com/author/susankroupa. 

Interview with Author Marilyn Meredith

Tell us a little bit about your journey as a writer.

My journey began when I was a child—I drew picture books before I could read or write (I was 4) based on a soap opera my mother listened to called “My Gal Sunday.” When I could read and started on the Little House on the Prairie series, I wrote my own version. I continued writing stories and added plays for my neighborhood friends to perform. When I married and was raising a family, my writing was confined to the PTA newsletter and plays for my Camp Fire Girls. I attempted three full length books, sent them off, and they were rejected. Didn’t write anymore for a long while. Wrote a historical family saga based on my own family genealogy, it was rejected and rewritten many times, but finally accepted and published, and I haven’t stopped since. Though I’ve written in several different genres, I’ve settled in writing mysteries. The first one was published as an e-book before anyone had a clue what that was. I championed e-books for a long time before people accepted them. I have two series: the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series and the Rocky Bluff P.D. series.

Tell us a bit about your latest book.

In my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Not as it Seems, Tempe and her preacher husband Hutch, travel to Morro Bay to attend their son Blair’s wedding. The maid-of-honor has disappeared, and Tempe is enlisted to look for her. The search is complicated by too many suspects, ghosts, and native spirits.

How do you develop your characters?

Because I’m writing a series, my main characters are already developed. When beginning a new book, along with a fresh plot, I have to create a victim and several folks who might be the murderer. Once I begin to get an idea of who each one is, I choose a name that I think fits, and the rest seems to come naturally.

What inspires you and keeps you motivated?

My main series characters are the ones who inspire me and keep me writing about them. I’ve come to think of them as family and I want to know what’s going to happen to them next and the only way to find out is to write the next book.

What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’m writing the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery while reading the chapters of my other series to my writing group. And like most authors, I’m working on promotion of some sort nearly every day. I suspect that will all continue.

Butch

Tell us about your pets, or other animals that inspire you.

Right now we have two inside cats, Butch and Sundance. Though both like to hang out in my office with me, neither get on my desk or computer. That’s a good thing, because they are both really big cats. I’ve never included either one in a book and I’m not sure why. We live in the country, and outside we always have feral cats (people drop their unwanted cats off) that we keep water available for and feed.

To buy Not as It Seems

Amazon

Webpage

Marilyn's Blog

Marilyn Meredith lives in the foothills of the Southern Sierra, about 1000 feet lower than Tempe’s Bear Creek, but much resembles the fictional town of Bear Creek and surroundings. She has nearly 40 books published, mostly mysteries. Besides writing, she loves to give presentations to writers’ groups. She’s on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and a member of Mystery Writers of America and three chapters of Sisters in Crime. 

Interview with Author Suzanne Adair

I'm delighted to welcome author Suzanne Adair to WOA to talk about how the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War sets the scenes for her books. ~ Sheila

Tell us a little about your journey as a writer (one reasonably short paragraph)

I started writing fiction when I was in second grade in Florida and completed my first novel-length manuscript when I was twenty-two, around the time I received a BS in Microbiology. Fifteen years later—after earning an MBA in Marketing in Georgia, getting married, having two children, and starting my own business—I signed on with my first of several literary agents. However I wasn’t published for another eleven years, and by then, I’d completed ten novel-length manuscripts, gotten a divorce, and moved with my children to North Carolina. After publishing my first three books, the press I’d signed with went out of business. I struggled to find another publisher and finally decided to self-publish the remaining books in the series. I use a professional editor and professional designers for the cover and interior layout to make sure that the quality of my books equals that from traditional publishers.

Tell us a bit about your latest book (or the book you are presenting here - or other project if you are an artist/photographer)

Here’s the book description for Deadly Occupation: A Michael Stoddard American Revolution Mystery:

***

A wayward wife, a weapons trafficker, and a woman with “second sight”—it’s a puzzle that would have daunted any investigator. But Michael Stoddard wasn’t just any investigator. Late January 1781, in coastal North Carolina, patriots flee before the approach of the Eighty-Second Regiment, leaving behind defenseless civilians to surrender the town of Wilmington to the Crown. The regiment’s commander assigns Lieutenant Michael Stoddard the tasks of tracking down a missing woman and probing into the suspicious activities of an unusual church. But as soon as Michael starts sniffing around, he discovers that some of those not-so-defenseless civilians are desperately hiding a history of evil. 

***

Deadly Occupation was originally the first book in the Michael Stoddard series. While I was searching for a publisher for this series, the editor at a traditional, mid-sized press read the manuscript and refused to believe that the civilians in Wilmington would have simply surrendered to the redcoats. The editor was certain that they’d have fought a la “Red Dawn.” Even when I offered to show my primary documentation to back up my depiction of the event, the editor still didn’t believe it.
 I had no intention of writing incorrect history, just to please an editor. However, I’d previously encountered difficulty with New York City editors believing the Southern setting for my series, and I wondered whether readers would disbelieve the occupation. So after unsuccessful additional attempts to sell Deadly Occupation, with a few keystrokes (just a few, as my books are stand-alone reads), I converted Regulated for Murder into the first Michael Stoddard book. This means I didn’t listen to my own advice below for “What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?” Several people who’d read Deadly Occupation kept bugging me to publish it and declared that it was too good to stay in a drawer. I finally listened to them. I’m so pleased with the way that Deadly Occupation slides right into place as the first book of the series. If I hadn’t told you all this, you’d be none the wiser about the effort I went through with the book. :-)  

How do you develop your characters? Are any of them based on real animals or people?

The eponymous, redcoat investigator protagonist of the Michael Stoddard American Revolution Mystery series initially showed up as a minor character in my early mysteries about the Revolution: Paper Woman, The Blacksmith’s Daughter, and Camp Follower. As Michael was a junior officer and investigator in those books, I decided to give him his own series when I made the decision to explore in mystery fiction the year 1781 in North Carolina. The Eighty-Second Regiment (British) occupied the port town of Wilmington, NC in January of that year and, through mid-November, successfully rallied loyalist allies and blocked the Continental Army from moving troops and supplies through the state. It was quite a success for the British—which is probably why American high school students aren’t taught about it in history class.

I transferred Michael to the Eighty-Second before the regiment arrived in Wilmington. Through his eyes, readers see that piece of history. They feel jubilation at the Eighty-Second’s achievements as well as dismay when word arrives of Cornwallis’s surrender in Yorktown (game over). Michael’s personal and professional goals are challenged throughout the series. I paint a very human face on this Yorkshire-born soldier.

Because most detectives (fictional and real) don’t work alone, I gave Michael an assistant investigator. At age eighteen, Private Nick Spry is about eight years younger than his boss, and he’s a raw recruit from Nova Scotia. Spry’s a smart fellow, and because he’s also fun loving, he’s a perfect complement to Michael, who has a stodgy streak. What gives Spry depth is his dark and knotty past—a past that, if known, could get him hanged.

While garrisoned in Wilmington for the better part of 1781, Michael is finally in one place long enough to acquire a love interest from among the locals. Kate Duncan, owner of a tavern, has earned the unflattering moniker “the Ice Widow” from her response to having her heart broken by her scoundrel husband before he died. But the interesting thing about broken hearts is that Michael has one, too.

A host of other “regular” characters weave in and out of the series. Some of them, like the double-spy and ranger Adam Neville, and the housekeeper Enid Jones, come from my first trilogy. Some are unique to Michael’s series. However no fictional journey would be complete or satisfying for the reader without a villain worthy of the protagonist. In each book, Michael brings a different adversary to justice. However he ultimately has to defeat his own demons so he can triumph over his nemesis, another British officer: the smooth and sociopathic Dunstan Fairfax, who has menaced Michael since Paper Woman.

Are any of these people based on real people? No. But the tribulations of Trouble the Bulldog in Deadly Occupation were inspired by what happened to Vick’s Pit Bulls. 

How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

I do a combination of outlining and “pantsing.” At the beginning of a first draft, I know how the book will start, how it will end, and a few points in between. I also know a good bit about my characters (but not everything because they can and do surprise me). I’ve learned to not outline at the very beginning, because the plot won’t follow the outline. So I start writing by the seat of my pants, aiming for one of those intermediate points. About 15 – 20% of the way in, my characters grab the helm away from me and show me how the story is supposed to progress. By halfway through the first draft, I’m making notes and crafting an outline for plot points that must happen and details I must include to make the ending wrap up correctly.

The external framework of Michael Stoddard’s series uses the actual history of 1781. A number of remarkable events occurred during the Eighty-Second’s occupation, and I wanted to write about them. Thus each book in Michael’s series showcases real history.

Meanwhile, Michael must grow internally as the series progresses. I use those external events to set up internal challenges and growth opportunities for him. 

Which do you consider more important, plot or character?

Character, absolutely. Characters and their needs drive the plot.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and how did you overcome it?

After the traditional press that published my first three books folded, I found that bookstores would no longer carry my books—not even the three traditionally published books. Some bookstores will now sell my books on consignment when I’m there for an event, but others refuse to return my phone calls or emails.

As many authors have discovered, books can be sold in places other than bookstores, such as libraries, festivals, conferences, workshops, and coffeehouses. I’ve gotten creative about where I sell. I go where my readers hang out. The beauty about writing historical mysteries is that I can sell my books at historic sites.

In the almost five years since my publisher folded, I’ve also established a good online presence with a blog and social media. I’ve learned what my readers want, and I give it to them.

Suzanne during a reenactment

What inspires you and keeps you motivated?

I love it when I’m teaching a workshop, and a point I’ve made connects with an attendee, and suddenly that person figures out how to fix a manuscript. I see the light go on in their eyes. Yes.

Readers write to tell me that they couldn’t put my book down, or it helped them get through a rough spot in their day, or they found the history so fascinating that they decided to do their own research. Yes.

And hey, the pressure is always on from those annoying characters in my head yammering at me to hurry up and tell their stories. 

What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’m working on more Michael Stoddard books. At this point, it looks like there will be three more in the series, for a total of six. The fourth book, started during NaNoWriMo 2014, deals with one of those remarkable incidents from the occupation: the visit of William Hooper to Wilmington in July 1781, while under a white flag of truce. Hooper was one of North Carolina’s signers of the Declaration of Independence—quite a prize to be captured at a time when the British were imprisoning other patriot leaders—yet the British didn’t arrest him. In fact, they wined and dined him while he was there. This incident, like several others during the occupation, demonstrates that the motivations of people throughout history have been so much more complex than what they get reduced to in a history textbook.

I also have a science fiction series set in the 24th century. I’m three-quarters through the third draft of the first book, and next two books are complete at the first draft level.

And there’s a contemporary paranormal romantic suspense series that I want to revisit. The first three books are complete at the first draft level.

Oh, the whiplash I get when I jump from the 18th century to the 21st century to the 24th century.

What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

I can edit any time of the day, but I write the best before noon. If I’m in the thick of writing a novel, I may spend 40 – 60 hours per week writing. Often, though, I cannot spend that much time writing because I have to promote for part of the day. 

If you could take only three books with your for a year-long writing retreat in a gorgeous setting with no library, which three would you take?

I kinda doubt I’d take more than a dictionary and thesaurus to a place like that. I’d definitely take plenty to write with. If there were no Internet, wow, the first few weeks would be painful.   

Tell us about your pets, or other animals that inspire you.

Annabelle

Since 1990, my dogs have spent a great deal of their snooze time curled up below my desk at my feet while I write. Calypso and Annabelle were Beagles. The dog I have now, Cleo, is a rescue and a “Beagliere,” an Australian “designer” cross between a Beagle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. All three of these dogs have inspired me with their quiet companionship.

Who are your literary heroes? (Writers whose work you love)

In no particular order: Daphne du Maurier, Robert Louis Stephenson (we have the same birthday), Mary Stewart, Ellis Peters, Rudyard Kipling, Alexandre Dumas, Arthur Conan Doyle, Andre Norton, Ursula K. LeGuin, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

General advice: It took me more than twenty-five years to get published. To succeed, you have to have faith in yourself, persevere, and listen to your instincts. There are a lot of killjoys out there, and you may receive misdirection. Ultimately, you’re the one who knows what’s right for your writing career. If you can envision it, you can become it.

Advice for writers of historical fiction: There’s only so much you can comprehend about the past by reading and listening. Historical accuracy and attention to detail help make history come alive for readers, so you cannot afford to be “armchair” about it. To make an adventure in the past real and establish your storyteller credibility with twenty-first-century readers, you have to get out there and live the time period. Become involved with a reenactment group. Live in historically accurate clothing for a weekend event. Explore the technology, food, and weaponry available from that time period. Visit the historical site. Readers can tell if you’ve never worn period clothing, discharged a period weapon, or “been there.”

Where can we learn more about you and your books?

Availability: 

Kindle USKindle UKNookAppleKoboPaperback

Social media links:

Web site andblog.Quarterlyelectronic newsletter.FacebookTwitter

Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, hiking, and spending time with her family.

Slobbers, Strays, and Murder

by Paty Jager

When I started conjuring up my Native American amateur sleuth, I knew I wanted her to be an artist. Shandra Higheagle is a potter. She not only makes useful pots but her vases are sought-after art items. To enhance her art, she lives on a mountain that has pockets of clay that she uses to make her vases. Living on a mountain makes her an earthy person, in my mind.

Earthy people love animals and that is true of Shandra. She has a dog. A Newfoundland, Border collie mix and you have Sheba. A large, black and white, shaggy dog. One would think a dog with this mix of breeds would be a good watch dog. Sheba is the exact opposite. She cowers at loud noises, hides behind Shandra when she’s scared, and then when she decides the newcomer won’t hurt her, she rolls onto her back for a belly rub. Most people fear her due to her size, but it doesn’t take long for them to realize she is meek and fearful. 

Sheba loves to ride in the back seat of Shandra’s Jeep, her tongue lolling out, slobbering on the door and seat. She also takes up half of Shandra’s bed. Which works well on the nights Shandra’s grandmother comes to her in dreams and leaves Shandra needing a big, fluffy hug.

Shandra bought the property on the mountain two years earlier. With the land, she also received two strays. One is a woman in her sixties who grew up on the ranch with her grandparents. The day Shandra moved into the cabin on the property, Crazy Lil, as the locals call her, had already set up housekeeping in the tack room in the barn. Lil is good with animals and helping Shandra in her studio. She wears purple clothes that don’t always match or fit well. Along with her purple clothes she can be seen wearing an orange fur around her neck in the form of Lewis the cat. Lewis was a stray that Lil took in. The feline keeps Lil company, like Sheba keeps Shandra company.

The two women also have horses. Shandra rides to the clay pockets and uses another horse with a pack saddle to haul the clay back down the mountain for her to clean and use.

Here is a sneak peek at book three in the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries, Deadly Aim.

Chapter 1

 After a two-week sojourn of teaching and displaying her pottery at an art show in New Mexico, Shandra Higheagle needed this leisurely horseback ride to get back in tune with nature. She breathed deep, inhaling the pine scent and undertones of decaying plant life. The changing colors and brisk autumn air energized Shandra.

Lil, Shandra’s Jill-of-all-trades, had suggested the ride. Every time Shandra spent more than a few days off the mountain she had to get reacquainted with her roots in order to re-submerge herself in her art.

Her bear-sized dog, Sheba, loped ahead disappearing through the huckleberry bushes. The dog loved lumbering over Huckleberry Mountain while Shandra rode her horse. 

It wasn’t just her time away that had Shandra’s mind wandering. Only one week and she’d be attending Ryan’s brother’s wedding to Ryan’s ex-girlfriend. Shandra and the handsome Weippe detective hadn’t made any kind of commitment to one another, but she did find his company pleasurable. And she had to admit, she was curious about his family and the woman who he’d set his sights on marrying in seventh grade.

“Woof! Woof!”

Sheba’s excited bark caught Shandra’s attention. It didn’t sound like her pursuing or scared bark. It had a mournful lilt to it.

“Where are you girl?” Shandra stood in the stirrups and scanned the area she’d last seen her dog. Her gelding, Apple, started dancing nervously and blew air in short snorts. Something had both animals on alert.

“Woof! Woof!”

She zeroed in on the sound and reined Apple that direction. Sheba’s head was down and the way her body shook, she was digging.

“What is it girl?” Shandra dodged a tree limb as Apple snorted and started to back up.

“Whoa. What has you spooked?” She ran a hand down the horse’s neck to soothe him and stared at the ground where Sheba pawed.

Her stomach lurched and her mouth went dry. Sheba dug at the ground next to a bloody, disemboweled body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about Deadly Aim, Book three of the Shandra Higheagle Native American Mystery Series

Passion… Secrets… Murder...

The dead body of an illicit neighbor and an old necklace send potter Shandra Higheagle on a chase to find a murderer. Visions from her dead grandmother reveal Shandra is on the right path, but the woods are full of obstacles—deadly ones. Detective Ryan Greer believes Shandra’s dreams will help solve the mystery, but he also knows the curious potter could get herself killed. He’s determined that won’t happen. Until he’s blind-sided. Are Shandra’s powers strong enough to save them both, or will the murderer strike again?

  

Buy Links:Windtree PressKindle 
Nook 
Kobo 
Apple 

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story. She recently returned to the genre of her heart- Mystery.

You can learn more about Paty at her blog - Writing into the Sunset;  her website - http://www.patyjager.net; Facebook; her newsletter - Paty’sPrattle; Twitter @patyjag. 

Straight from the Parrot’s Mouth

by Lois Winston

Greetings! My name is Ralph. I’m an African Grey parrot, the most intelligent of the species. Anastasia Pollack’s great-aunt Penelope Periwinkle willed me to Anastasia. Penelope was a professor of Shakespearian literature, and I’d regularly accompany her to class. After decades of sitting in on her lectures, I became somewhat of a Bard scholar myself.

I’m also the only pet that truly belongs in the Pollack home. The other two are deadbeat interlopers. Catherine the Great is a corpulent white Persian cat owned by Anastasia’s mother, Flora Sudberry Periwinkle Ramirez Scoffield Goldberg O’Keefe Tuttnauer. Flora claims to descend from Russian nobility on her mother’s side and is a proud Daughter of the American Revolution.

Unfortunately, Flora has had some rather rotten luck when it comes to husbands. Aside from her first husband, Anastasia’s father, who drowned while scuba diving off the Yucatan on their twenty-fifth anniversary, all of Flora’s subsequent husbands have met with untimely deaths shortly after the weddings. When Flora is between husbands, she and her nasty fur ball move in with Anastasia and her family. Luckily, Flora’s latest husband survived the honeymoon, and she and fur ball now live elsewhere. I’m keeping my beak crossed for a long, happy marriage.  

Then there’s Mephisto the Devil Dog. His real name is Manifesto, but who names a French bulldog after a communist treatise? Only Anastasia’s communist mother-in-law, that’s who! Unfortunately, we’re stuck with him and his Bolshevik owner because, quite frankly, Lucille Pollack is an idiot. Last year an SUV ran her down as she jaywalked across a busy intersection. While recovering in the hospital, her apartment building burnt to the ground. Since she doesn’t trust the government and by extension, the banking system, she kept her life savings in shoeboxes under her bed.

After a stint in rehab, she and her mutt moved in with Anastasia and her family to finish her recovery. Anastasia’s husband had promised to foot the bill for a new apartment for his mother, but then he dropped dead in Las Vegas when Anastasia thought he was at a sales meeting in Harrisburg, PA. And that wasn’t the worst of it. Seems Karl Marx Pollack had a hidden gambling problem that left Anastasia not only with debt equal to the GNP of Uzbekistan but also with Lucille and Mephisto.

Anyway, Mephisto and Catherine the Great get along as well as capitalists and communists—or Flora and Lucille. In other words, they fight like cats and dogs, as does Flora and Lucille. I usually sit atop the bookcase and offer play-by-play. Chaos usually rules in Casa Pollack.

And then there are the dead bodies. Did I mention the dead bodies? They’re popping up all over the neighborhood lately.

A Stitch to Die For

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 5

The adventures of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack continue in A Stitch to Die For, the 5th book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Lois Winston.

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

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USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and non-fiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/anasleuth, and onTwitter @anasleuth. Sign up here for hernewsletter.