Nancy Drew Parody

I was so pleased to see that my cozy mystery The Buried Treasure on Route 66 received Another Great Review.

Readers like her make all the difference in the world for writers.

Here's the review:

Do you remember the famous teenaged girl detective from the 1950s named Nancy Drew? If you do, then this book is definitely for you. Written in the same, smart , sassy style as the original Nancy Drew books, author Louise Hathaway pays homage to the super-sleuth Nancy Drew and her friends.

Our Nancy, whose last name is Keene, is a knockoff of the original. But with the same skills and inquisitiveness of her predecessor. Miss Keene is a high-school graduate who is on her way to college but finds herself caught up in the troubles of the elderly Mrs. Woods. Seems as though Mrs. Woods stands to lose everything she owns because of her ex-husbands stepsons who feel they are entitled to everything she owns. And when Nancy learns that there may have been a second will written just before the ex-husband’s death, she sets out to help the little old lady.

In true Nancy Drew (Nancy Keene) style the mystery of the buried treasure comes to a satisfactory conclusion while giving the reader a glimpse at the iconic Route 66. And as a nod to the Nancy Drew series, Nancy Keene’s father’s first name is Drew.

A fast paced story that will keep the reader interested. Not meant as a who-dun-it but rather a light-hearted look back in history at the forerunners of the mystery genre. Easily read in one or two sittings. Suitable for the entire family to enjoy.

Available for 99 cents at the following online bookstores.

Also available in paperback at Amazon.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZtvnZr

Barnes and Noble: https://bit.ly/35sa9Pt

Apple: https://apple.co/3hjxOUB

Google Play: https://bit.ly/35va4KW

Smashwords: https://bit.ly/2ZtvOD3

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3hkvigz

Scribd: https://bit.ly/2DSBMpx

Nancy Drew Parodies

I found this fake cover for a Nancy Drew book funny.

I write Nancy Drew parodies and The Buried Treasure on Route 66 is the first Nancy Keene Mystery (out of five) that I've written. I hope you'll take a look:

Written as an homage to the Nancy Drew books, this humorous and PG-rated mystery about teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene, especially targets women baby boomers who grew up reading and loving the series. Gently poking fun at Nancy’s obscure knowledge, perfectionism, and need for control, this book concentrates and the relationship between Nancy and her father. Nancy has just turned 18, is in a serious relationship with her boyfriend, and is planning to move out of state to college. How will her father handle letting her go? Find out as Nancy, her father, and her boyfriend take a trip on Route 66, visiting several of its landmarks along the way, in search of a missing will. Not only is “The Buried Treasure on Route 66” a tip of the hat to the Nancy Drew books, it’s also a romance novel about both young love and rekindled old love.

Here's what reviewers are saying about this book:

"Besides being a sort of travelogue, the mystery is good, the solving of it fun, and the ending hilarious!"

"I could not get enough of this amazing story. I grew up reading every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on. The author does not disappoint in paying homage as Nancy made me fall in love with teenage mysteries all over again. I loved the characters overprotective dad, friends Beth and Hannah, the cuteness of Nancy and Ned, Mrs Wood and mobster stepsons. I found myself wrapped up in the detailed storyline as Mrs Wood shares her story of lost love and who the stepsons are. I have always dreamed of driving down Route 66 and Hathaway made me feel I was there. Truly a nice escape for women baby boomers everywhere."

"I'd recommend this Nancy Keene series to anyone who read, reads, and loves Nancy Drew!"

Here are the links for The Buried Treasure on Route 66:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2NlEuoi

Barnes and Noble: https://bit.ly/2BJV5wn

Apple: https://apple.co/2MMlXSN

Smashwords: https://bit.ly/2PlxsCl

Kobo Books: https://bit.ly/2BHwOHv

Google Play: https://bit.ly/2BONAnO

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day everyone! I was very close to my father and different versions of him appear in many of my Nancy Keene Mysteries. Here's a chapter from The Buried Treasure on Route 66 in which Nancy tries to persuade her father into letting her go on a trip on Route 66 in order to help an elderly woman find a missing will.

Chapter Nine: Buttering Up Dad

Nancy is waiting for her father’s flight to land at the airport in Phoenix.  She has bought a lei at her favorite flower shop and is planning to say “Aloha” when she greets him.  Finally, the 5:00 flight comes in from La Guardia.  She waves at her father as he comes to her. 

“Did the plane make a wrong turn and land in Honolulu?” he asks.

“Welcome home, Dad!” she says as she places the lei over his head. “It’s so good to see you, Dad!  I missed you!!”

“Me, too, honey.  Thanks for picking me up. It’s good to be home.”

“Why didn’t you let me drive you to the airport instead of having to call a taxi?  You should’ve woken me up.”

“I figured that you needed your beauty rest after your previous night of 2:00 a.m. cooking.”

“Speaking of cooking, I’ve made your favorite meal for dinner.”

“Coq au Vin?”

“Bien sur, Monsieur.”

“I can’t wait to get home.”

When Mr. Keene arrives home, he is escorted into the dining room by his daughter, who pours him a glass of Moet & Chandon.  “Care for some lobster bisque to start, Dad?”

“Oh, boy!” he says, as Nancy ladles out the soup from their best Villeroy and Boch tureen.

“What a welcome home!  You’ve really outdone yourself this time!”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Okay.  So, what’s up?  Why are you buttering me up like this?  What’s on your mind?”

“Well, Dad.  Since you’re asking, there is something, but let’s finish our meal together first.  Tell me all about your trip.”

“Oh no, you don’t.  Tell me right now what your latest scheme is.”

“Well, Dad.  You know how I’ve been trying to help Mrs. Wood find that will I was telling you about?”

“Nancy!  I told you to let it go.  Stop being involved in that mess.  Those stepsons mean business.”

“Well, it’s funny you should bring that up because I was thinking of getting her away from them for a while.”

“She’s not staying here.”

“Dad.  That thought didn’t even cross my mind.”

“What thought did?”

“Well, I’ve been looking at all of the clues and everything points to the newer will being buried at the Blue Swallow Motel in New Mexico.”

“So you want me to hire some people to go there and start digging?”

“Dad!  I can’t believe these thoughts coming out of your head.  Being in New York has made you very cynical, all of a sudden.”

“Okay, Nancy, what’s your plan.”

“Let me pour you another glass of champagne and I’ll tell you all about it.”

****

After two hours of telling her Dad everything that’s been happening with Mrs. Wood, his heart starts to melt.

“Nancy, you’ve always had a way of wrapping me around your little finger.  Okay. You may do it, but here are my rules,” her Dad says, putting his foot down.  “You may go on your road trip with Mrs. Wood and Ned, but I’m going to be coming with the three of you. I’ve been worried about this whole situation with those two stepsons, and I want to stay as close to you as possible right now.”

“Oh, Dad.  You can’t protect me forever.  I’m an adult now,” she says, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, honey.”

“That won’t happen.  We will have a long and happy life together, Dad.  The best is yet to come.”

“Well, my dear.  Once again, you certainly have lifted my spirits.  I’m even starting to get excited about the thought of taking a road trip, too.”

“That’s the spirit, Dad!”

###

Would you like to read more?  Here are some links where you can purchase this cozy mystery as an eBook or a paperback.

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at Apple

Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Purchase at Google Play Books

Purchase at Smashwords

Purchase at Kobo Books

Books about Great Dads

I was blessed with a wonderful Dad and several of my books are about the special relationship between fathers and daughters, especially those in my Nancy Keene Mysteries. Teenage sleuth Nancy has a father who is every girl's dream of an ideal Dad.  He gives her a tremendous amount of freedom: he is often away on business trips, which leaves her with plenty of unsupervised time to investigate her cases.  It seems like all she has to do all day is to drive around in her vintage blue roadster and solve mysteries.  She has no pestering Mom telling her to clean up her room.    Because her father is a successful attorney, he has plenty of money to treat Nancy and her friends to wonderful vacations, including ones to New Orleans and London.  She can wrap him around her little finger, and almost always gets her way.  How lucky can a girl be?!

In the first Nancy Keene Mystery I wrote, "The Buried Treasure on Route 66", her Dad is having trouble accepting the fact that his precious Nancy has just turned 18, has a boyfriend, and is going away to college.  How will he handle the empty nest?  And what lessons will he learn when he joins Nancy and her boyfriend on a road trip?  This book is rated PG and only costs $1.99.

I love New Orleans and have been there many times, so I have Nancy going there on vacation with her Dad and her friends. When a docent at Oak Alley Plantation is found dead, Nancy will not rest until she figures out whodunit. She has to leave New Orleans before the murder is solved, but Nancy twists her over-indulgent Dad around her little finger and he allows her to return to the Crescent City to stay with her fun and funky Aunt Audrey in "The Ghost in the Plantation".  This book is rated PG and costs $2.99.

My most recent Nancy Keene Mystery finds Nancy, her Dad, and her girlfriend going to London. Nancy has her first serious crush at 16 when she sees that Daniel Craig is staying at the same hotel as they are.  She's a big fan of James Bond and even goes to Harrods to try a find an outfit like one of the Bond Girls to impress him.  When someone steals his BAFTA award out of his hotel room, Nancy is hot on the trail trying to figure out who stole it and why.  This book is called "The Stolen Mask" and is rated PG and costs only $1.99.

Nancy and her Dad are big fans of "A Prairie Home Companion" and she talks him into going on a pilgrimage with her in search of the towns that inspired Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon.  Her Dad wants to go on a Bob Dylan pilgrimage while they are in Minnesota, but Nancy has other plans when a bachelor farmer goes missing.  This book is called, "The Missing Bachelor Farmer" and it is rated G.  It only costs $1.99.

All of these eBooks are available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Three of them are also available in paperback at Amazon.com.

Travel Tips

Summer is just around the corner and it's time to start thinking about where to go on vacation.  I wrote a free travelogue called "Planning A Vacation?  Why not Chicago?" that is available at iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

 
I also wrote "England in the Footsteps of Its Literary Giants," about my pilgrimage to the birthplaces and environs of some of my favorite British authors.  It is only 99 cents and is available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Many of my novels take place in my favorite travel destinations, so you may also like: Honeymoon in Savannah, Honeymoon in New Orleans, The Ghost in the Plantation, The Buried Treasure on Route 66, The Stolen Mask (takes place in London), and The Missing Bachelor Farmer (takes place in Lake Wobegon).  They are available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords, Scribd, and Oyster.

Happy traveling and I hope my books inspire you to go to many of my favorite places.

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)

Travel to England, New Orleans, Savannah, and on Route 66 with our books

If you are anything like my cowriter and I, now is the time of year when we think about where we want to go on our next trip.  We've been lucky enough to travel and see some amazing places in Europe and America. Many of our books take place in some of our favorite vacation destinations.

Here are our books that are part-travelogues.  They are all available at your favorite online bookstores such as Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Smashwords, and Kobo:

Have you ever wanted to go to England and trace the footsteps of its literary giants?  Then, you might want to take along this ebook (includes pictures) which is available for just 99 cents:

England in the Footsteps of its Literary Giants

Another book we've written that takes place in England is The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery.  It is about a teenage sleuth, (very similar to Nancy Drew) who goes to England with her father and finds out that James Bond (AKA Daniel Craig) is staying at the same hotel they are.  When his acting award is stolen from his room, Nancy is hot on the trail to help find it.

The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery

eBook available for $1.99

My husband and I love New Orleans and we have visited there more times than we can count.  We wrote two books that take place in the Crescent City:

The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

eBook Available for $2.99

Also in Paperback

Honeymoon in New Orleans

eBook available for $1.99

After we read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, we wanted to make a pilgrimage to Savannah, Georgia to visit all the places mentioned in the best seller. Honeymoon in Savannah: A  Detective Santy Mystery takes you on a guided tour through this city where a famous chef has been murdered! This has turned out to be our most popular book.

Honeymoon in Savannah: A Detective Santy Mystery

eBook available for $2.99

Also available in paperback

Every Saturday night, my husband and I listen to A Prarie Home Companion.  Two years ago, we made a pilgrimage to check out some of the places Garrison Keillor bases his News for Lake Wobegon stories upon.  We even got to meet him!  When we were there, I wrote this book, which includes pictures. Anyone who has listened to Keillor's radio show shouldn't miss this tale of missing bachelor farmer!

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

eBook available for $1.99

Also available in paperback at Amazon.com

Are you still with me, dear reader?  If so, you might like to take a trip on Route 66 with our teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene. This time, she finds herself on the Mother Road discovering romance, intrigue and coming to the aide of a little old lady in distress. 

The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery

eBook available for $1.99

Also available in paperback at Amazon.com

Our books are part fiction/part travelogues.

If you're anything like me, now is the time of year when I start thinking about where I'd like to go on vacation in the upcoming year.  My husband and I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling over the years.  Many of our favorite places show up in our books.  Our favorite U.S. city is New Orleans and we've been there many, many times.  Our mystery, "The Ghost in the Plantation" takes place there and we've tried incorporating as many of the locales of the Crescent City and Louisiana as possible.
We love the lore of Route 66, and after we went to Disney's California Adventure and saw the movie "Cars", we decided to write a story about the famous highway in "The Buried Treasure on Route 66".  We've just come back from a pilgrimage to Minnesota where we searched for the fictional Lake Wobegon, and wrote a book called "The Missing Bachelor Farmer".  Last, but not least, our book "England in the Footsteps of Literary Giants" is pure travelogue, showing pictures and descriptions of the hometowns of our favorite British writers.  Check out our books at your favorite bookstores and we'll take you on a wonderful journey.

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

Our Books Are Now Available In Paper

Five of our books are now available in both paper and e-book formats:

They are:  The Ghost in the Plantation; The Buried Treasure on Route 66; and The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery; Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery; and Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library.

They are available in paperback at Amazon.com and at your favorite eBookstores (i.e. Apple; Barnes and Noble; Amazon; Kobo; or Sony; to name but a few.