The Summer of Love

I was listening to the radio last night and heard the disc jockey say that it's the 50th anniversary of the summer of love.  For those of you who were alive during that period, what do you remember?  For those of you who weren't even born yet, here's a brief overview of that period when thousands of American teenagers flooded San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in search of free love and an alternate lifestyle. During the spring and summer of 1967, nearly 100,000 artists, outsiders, activists, Viet Nam protesters, and dreamers converged in San Francisco. Some say they changed the world.

I was a gawky 12 year old living in the shadows of a popular older brother and sister when I first heard about the Monterrey Pop Festival. All the bands I liked played there and some of its more memorable moments happened when Jimmi Hendrix set his guitar on fire and newcomer Janice Joplin blew everyone's mind with her talent, especially Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas. The following year, many of the great bands who played at Monterrey came down to my neck of the woods, Costa Mesa, California, and performed on a very hot and dusty summer day at the Orange County Fairgrounds. 

My time-travel novel "The Summer of Love: A Trip Back to 1968" is about that magical time in my life where I attended the concert with my friends, sister, and cousins. 

Here's what readers are saying about this 5 Star Book:

"Excellently written this story is an outstanding tale of the 1960’s with such descriptive detail I felt as though I was really there and living it all through the sisters’ eyes. From the festival, the stores, the cars, the house it’s all there. So amazing step into the photo booth take a flashback and relive 1968 once again."

"Great read, especially if were a "child" of the 60's era."

The Summer of Love:

A Trip Back to 1968

by Louise Hathaway 

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New Orleans with Nancy

This humorous, PG-rated mystery about a teenager sleuth, who's very similar to Nancy Drew, is written especially for women baby boomers who grew up reading and loving the Nancy Drew series. It takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans where Nancy, along with her father and friends, go on vacation.  When the concierge at their hotel dies mysteriously, Nancy is hot on the trail to find out whodunit.  Her fun and funky Aunt Audrey joins the investigation, and they get help from surprising real life characters.  When Nancy's not having café au lait and beignets at the Café du Monde, she's being chased down Bourbon Street by a man in a hoodie. Come ride the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden District, eat at Brennan's, listen to live jazz in Jackson Square, and learn about voodoo and ghosts with Nancy in her latest adventure.

The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

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85th Anniversary of the Nancy Drew Mysteries

It's hard to imagine, but it's the 85th Anniversary of the first Nancy Drew Mystery.

I was inspired to write my own stories about a teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene. These stories are PG-rated and geered towards women baby-boomers like myself, who grew up reading and loving the series. My Nancy is precocious, filled with esoteric knowledge, kind of nerdy, and has a sense of humor.  She has a close relationship with her father, who is often conveniently away on a business trip, leaving her free to search for clues.  She loves to travel (and so do I) so the adventures I've written take place in some of my favorite vacation destinations. 

Here are my Nancy Keene stories; all are available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords:

The Buried Treasure on Route 66

(Takes place in Arizona & New Mexico)

Ghost in the Plantation 

(Takes Place in New Orleans & Louisiana)

The Stolen Mask

(Takes place in London)

The Missing Bachelor Farmer

(Takes Place in Lake Wobegon)

Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock

Back in 1968, many of the musicians who played at the Monterey Pop Festival made their way down to my home town of Costa Mesa, California and performed at "The Newport Pop Festival"--which was later known as "Orange County's version of Woodstock."  I went with my sister and my cousins. I was only 13.  We saw The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, and Eric Burdon and The Animals, and many more bands.

Drawing upon that experience, I wrote this time-travel fantasy about two sisters from the present time who go to the county fair where the concert had taken place, and are magically transported back to 1968 when they are inside a photo booth.  Their younger selves join the other young hippies who attended the concert, listen to the bands, go back to the house they grew up in, and talk to deceased loved ones again.  They even encounter younger versions of their future husbands. But--will they be able to get back to the 21st century?

The Summer of Love: A Trip Back to 1968

By Louise Hathaway

eBook Available for $1.99 at Your Favorite Online Bookstore

Nancy Drew Meets James Bond

I've been busy writing my next Nancy Keene book, "The Case of the Stolen Mask".  This book, a humorous, PG-Rated tale written for nostalgic women baby-boomers like myself who grew up loving Nancy Drew mysteries, has my teenage sleuth going to London and staying in the same hotel as Daniel Craig (AKA James Bond) when his BAFTA award is stolen from his room.  When Nancy is not on a Jane Austen pilgrimage or visiting Buckingham Palace, she channels Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Rumpole of the Bailey to help her solve the mystery.

Check out my other Nancy Keene Mysteries at all your favorite online bookstores:

The Missing Bachelor Farmer

The Ghost in the Plantation

The Buried Treasure on Route 66

The Summer of Love: A Trip Back to 1968

We've just published a new book:

This hilarious time-travel fantasy is about two sisters who are magically transported back to the 1968 Newport Pop Festival in Costa Mesa, California--an outdoor concert later described as “Orange County’s Woodstock.” Both sisters had attended the festival when they were teenagers. In this book, they once again hear bands such as The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, and The Jefferson Airplane. They hitch-hike back to their childhood home, see and talk to relatives who died years ago, and even run into younger versions of their husbands. In spite of all the fun they’re having, they’re plagued with the question, “How are we going to get back to 2014?”  

It is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and most other eBookstores.

It costs only $1.99

It is also available in paper at Amazon.com

Christmas Gifts for Book Lovers

Okay, everybody.  The Christmas Season is officially here.  Are you wondering what to buy for that special person in your life who likes to read?  If so, check out our paperback books at Amazon.com.

For baby boomers who grew up loving the Nancy Drew series, we wrote two PG-rated mysteries about our teenager sleuth, Nancy Keene.  These two books are also travelogues.  "The Ghost in the Plantation" takes place in New Orleans and "The Buried Treasure on Route 66" takes place on Route 66.

For readers who like good, old-fashioned, hard-boiled detective mysteries, check out "The Tustin Chronicles" and "The Murder at the Abbey."

For fans of whodunits with multiple suspects (ala Agatha Christie), check out "Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library."

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading,
Lewis Hathaway