Death Come Quicklyis coming this week--and I'm going on the road for a few Texas events, to Round Rock, Austin, and Houston. You'll find a complete list here. I'll also be doing several online events to celebrate the launch of the paperback edition of Widow's Tears--check them out at the bottom of the Events page. My publisher (Berkley Prime Crime) is giving away some copies of the book, so be sure to visit! We'd love to send you one.
Other book news: Thorndike Publishing acquired the large-print rights A Wilder Rose (my author-published novel about Rose Wilder Lane and her writing of the Little House books). They published the large-print edition earlier this month, and it's now at the top of the Thorndike bestseller list. I'm delighted. So far, the book has been shelved in 350+ libraries--a super showing for an author-published book. If your library doesn't have it, tell the librarian about it!
My author-imprint, Persevero Press, has published two of my backlist titles: Work of Her Own and Writing From Life, both in ebook and print formats. And Story Circle has republished Starting Points: A Year of Writing Prompts for Women with Stories to Tell. (All the proceeds from Starting Points go to Story Circle.)
I've just finished Bittersweet, China's 24th mystery and sent it off to New York this morning. You'll have it in your hands by this time next year. With it went proposals for three more books in that series--I'll keep you posted on their progress.
I'm working on a memoir with my brother, John Webber, tentatively titled Greetings from Danville Ill. 1950. John and I are planning a trip to Danville in late April, to remind ourselves of the places where we grew up and the people we knew there. Doing the family research, we've dug up several interesting skeletons, as you might guess. It's been a fascinating project and I'm looking forward to doing the writing. I can't get started on it until September, though. The Darling Dahlias are wanting me to write another of their Depression-era mysteries.
And after that, my current stealth project, another biographical/historical novel. I'll tell you all about that when it's a little further along.
Whew. I love it when the writing keeps me busy--and thinking and growing.
Garden news. We've had only a trace of rain this winter, but I put out potatoes, peas, spinach, and onions anyway, and have been faithfully watering. But with drought comes heat, so I'm not hugely confident about the spring garden. The thermometer has already hit 90 this year, with several days in the upper 80s. We've started watering the trees that shade the house and help to keep it cool, which we very much want to save.
Family news. Granddaughter Dorothy & husband Jason brought their new daughter, Evie, home from the hospital last week. Congratulations to Mom & Dad and a warm welcome to Evie!
Reading note: If you can quit, then quit. If you can't quit, you're a writer. R.A. Salvatore