First Day of Fall

Well! It’s here again–fall, that is. Summer 2024 is a thing of the past and now we’re into a brand-new season–new, but as old as time. The earth turns, keeps spinning, and here we go, right along with it. The giant marigolds in front of the porch shine golden this morning and a few zinnias […]

Gravely Speaking

My friend Joy recently said she might want me to write her obituary. She said this jokingly as a compliment. “Well, after all,” she said, “you are in the cemetery business.” Gravely speaking, I guess I am, but it’s only in a fictional way. For example, The Cemetery Club, Grave Shift, Best Left Buried and […]

A Gold Mine of Information

Ned McNeil wanted to know about Marvie and she found the person who was a gold mine of information! Excerpt from Murder By Moonlight. It was one thing to say I wasn’t interested, but it was another to actually mean it. All that trouble at the deserted farm had happened a long time ago. Mrs. […]

Tea and Cake

A frog and a toad have inspired generations of children and adults.  Although they existed only on the pages of books by Arnold Lobel, these small amphibians taught real life lessons. Frog and Toad were friends and never a day went by that one didn’t go visit the other and, over a piece of cake […]

It’s No Joke

It’s no joke–we are actually into another brand-new month. I’m not sure where March went–perhaps it was blown away on one of those blustery winds. April is a wonderful month. April people, you have a great gemstone–the diamond. Next to a cozy mystery, a diamond may be a girl’s best friend! April’s special flowers are […]

Not Just the Facts

Remember the old black and white TV series, Dragnet, and the phrase, “Just the facts, Ma’am.”  This unflappable team of Jack Webb and Harry Morgan spent a whole thirty minutes ferreting out the bad guys and getting to the facts of the case. But, fiction writers can have fun fiddlin’ with the facts. In writing […]