Louise Hathaway: December 2015

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Do you like trains? Do you like history?

We were so happy today to see that one of our readers at Goodreads.com gave this book a 5 Star Rating. It just made our day. We hope that you will enjoy it, too.

Two years ago, my husband and I booked tickets for a sleeper car on the famous California Zephyr, in order to pretend that we had won Amtrak's Writer's in Residence contest. Although we did not win the contest, we considered this trip a "working vacation" and brought along both of our computers in order to be "Writers". Without the distractions of Wi-Fi--that means no internet and no cell phone connections--we went back to basics and wrote, with only the beautiful scenery of the Sierras, the painted desert of Utah, and the canyons of the Rockies as company. This book is the result.

Travelers in Time Aboard the California Zephyr

by Louise Hathaway

$2.99

Come along with us in this time travel tale about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and the amazing real-life excursion train that several lucky 21st century passengers were able to travel aboard and meet Rutherford B. Hayes, George Pullman, and Robert Todd Lincoln who are all promoting Western expansion and train travel. How will our time travelers cope with their new surroundings? Will they ever come back to the 21st Century? Will they want to come back? Find out aboard this trip into history.

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play,

Kobo, Smashwords and Scribd

Also available in paperback from Amazon

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Writing Fiction About True Events

I live in Orange County, California and there is always a ready supply of current events to draw upon when writing my mysteries. As a couple of examples: I knew a young woman who lived across the street from me who was later murdered by "The Bedroom Basher". I also knew a teenage hood who liked to hang around with me who later turned into the notorious "Hammer-Murderer." Both of these characters show up in my writing (with their names changed, of course).

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery takes place in Orange County and draws upon current events. St. Michael's Abbey--where the priest in the book is murdered--is embroiled in a running battle with environmentalists and anti-development groups because the abbey has just purchased land to expand their facilities and environmentalists believe that if the abbey's plans go through, it will threaten the habitat of a endangered toad. The Catholic Church got into further hot water when it purchased the famous "Crystal Cathedral" and removed some commemorative stones that donors had earlier purchased for their loved ones, with the reassurance from the former pastor that they'd always be there. With so many people mad at the abbey and the church, it's easy to imagine that some unhinged person might resort to murder--perfect fodder for a mystery writer.

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

by Louise Hathaway