Free Murder Mystery

Good news! I'm now offering for FREE the first book in the popular, four-volume Detective Santy Mysteries. These murder mysteries are about the life and career of Clarissa Santy, a female homicide detective from Orange County, California. The series begins with the murder of her father. When she turns 18, she looks into the court records of the murder trial, and realizes that the wrong man had been arrested. When she contacts him, she finds out more about her family and learns the hard way that there are some questions best left unanswered. This series has earned many 4 and 5 Star ratings. All of the books in the series can be enjoyed as standalone stories.

To get your free copy, go to this link:

Smashwords Link to The Tustin Chronicles  

On the right hand side where it says "Buy" click on it and you will be taken to a page where you can enter coupon code "QL97E" This deal expires on Jan. 2nd, 2017.

(If you don't have an account, you will be prompted to create one. It's perfectly free.)

These books are also available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble,

 Google Play, and Kobo  at the regular price of $1.99.

Is There A Ghost at Oak Alley Plantation?

Some say that no antebellum plantation house is without at least one ghost.  All sorts of strange sightings have been reported by the docents who work at Oak Alley Plantation. They have reported hearing the clip-clopping of a horse-drawn carriage driving on the plantation’s gravel roads leading up to the house and when they looked out the upstairs window, they saw neither hide nor hair of any carriage.  They've seen chairs rock in unison and candlesticks fly across the room.

One tour guide said, "There’s a lot of voodoo in these here parts. Go to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and visit the grave of Marie Laveau.  She had special powers and still does today. There are many things in this world that can’t be explained by logic.”

"The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery" is a fictional cozy mystery about a teenage sleuth, modeled after Nancy Drew, who goes to New Orleans on vacation and becomes part of the investigation when a docent at Oak Alley Plantation is found dead inside the antebellum mansion.  Be an armchair traveler and take a trip to Louisiana to explore favorite tourist spots in New Orleans with Nancy and her "chums".

The eBook is available for $2.99 at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play and Smashwords.  The paperback is available at Amazon and Createspace.

October is Indie Writers' Month on Amazon

Our Book Is in the Library!

Throughout October, Amazon is celebrating indie writers published via Kindle Direct Publishing and CreateSpace; and that includes our  books.  They've asked authors to share their paths as independent writers and here's the story behind how we got our books published on Amazon.

For years, I'd been trying to get published on my own. I have a M.A. in English and spent my twenties at the post office mailing my short stories to various publishers with no success.  It was always my dream to make money off my writing.   About five years ago, I read an article about how indie writers could get published on Amazon for free!  I couldn't believe it.   I began writing a murder/mystery about a group of librarians and what would happen if someone accidentally got crushed when the electronic compact shelving mechanism malfunctioned. How would my imaginary librarians react if they found the body? Would they accuse each other? I wrote about six pages and showed it to my husband. He liked it and I asked, "How would you like to write the rest of this book with me?" He kindly agreed and that's how we started writing books together.  Since then, I've gone on to write thirty-four books and have sold around 1600 copies. It really has been a dream come true for this English Major. Thank you Amazon: we couldn't have done it without you.

Check out Amazon's #PoweredbyIndie Page at the Following Link:

Amazon's Powered by Indie Page

Autumn is Here

This is my favorite season of the year.  It's a time when I long for fall leaves in Lake Placid, white, steepled churches in Vermont, and covered bridges in New England. So many images come to mind: pumpkin people on the porches of old-fashioned general stores, maple syrup, caramel apples on a stick, cinnamon scented candles from Bath and Body Works, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and cozying up to the fire with a good book.

When it comes to autumn, this California girl lives on the wrong coast.  The temperatures here are still in the 80s and some days, even the 90s.  It's our season of fires and Santa Ana winds.  I'll never forget the time my husband and I planned a Halloween party that was supposed to take place in our back yard, but had to be moved indoors because ashes from a nearby fire were raining down on us and our decorations.  Forget about small paper lanterns lining the patio; we didn't want to burn our house down.

Autumn also reminds me of the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" which my husband and I have religiously listened to for over thirty years. The Fall is the time when the sun is getting low enough for us to light our candles and turn on our space heater that looks like an old-fashioned coal fireplace.  We lose ourselves in the stories that Garrison Keillor's low, mesmerizing voice weaves.  I love his world of bachelor farmers, Pastor Liz, Dorothy's caramel rolls, The Sidetrack Tap, and the Chatterbox Cafe.  Maybe there really are some places like the Chatterbox Café? Wouldn’t it be fun to go find out?

So after all the years of talking about this town where "the women and strong, the men are good looking, and the children are always above-average," my husband and I finally went to Minnesota on a pilgrimage to find the real Lake Wobegon.  This book is the result. I hope you will enjoy this story about a precocious teenager who talks her father into taking her to Minnesota on just such a quest. Her father  wants to go on a Bob Dylan pilgrimage while there, but she has other plans when a "bachelor farmer" (who was last seen at the "Chatterbox Cafe") goes missing and they join the search party. Part travelogue, this book also contains pictures.  It's only $1.99 and available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords, and Scribd.  Also available in paperback at Amazon.

The Missing Bachelor Farmer:

A Nancy Keene Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

Lady Chablis

I was so sad when a friend of mine told me this morning that the Lady Chablis had passed away. For those who don't know her, she was the scene-stealing star of the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. My husband and I saw her perform in Savannah at Club One and she was hilarious. RIP Empress of Savannah.

Who loves Jane Austen?

I found out that not everybody does when I was in graduate school and announced to my Romantic Literature class that I had chosen Pride and Prejudice as my essay assignment. My fellow classmates dismissed Austen's book, saying that "it was just about some silly girls wanting to get married"; one of the ladies said, "Oh, I read that in grammar school." I couldn’t help but be reminded of a letter that Jane Austen wrote to her sister, saying, “I must confess that I think [Elizabeth Bennet, the main character in the novel] as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her …I do not know.”

Here's some good news for Jane Austen fans: "The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice" is now available at the lowered price of $1.99. It's about Mary Bennet, the plain middle daughter in Pride and Prejudice, as she compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, complains about her mother’s melodramatics, falls in love, considers a move to America, becomes a writer, and a ultimately becomes a champion of those less fortunate. What makes this book different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Britain during the nineteenth century. Mary Bennet learns about the worlds of their servants in Pemberley, poor chimney sweeps, and factory workers. Transport yourself back to the Regency era and get better acquainted with one of period's famous fictional families.

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

is available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble,

Kobo, Smashwords, and Google Play

for $1.99 

The Body in the Law Library

Hooray! Our book, Death Among the Stacks: the Body in the Law Library, just received a five star rating on Goodreads!

It is the first book that my husband and I wrote together. It is loosely based upon something I witnessed while working at a library. My nieces helped us with the cover: Allison posed as the shushing librarian and her sister took this great picture. I love the way it looks as if the shelving is closing in on her, which was perfect because that is how the victim in our whodunit died.

Here is a description of our murder mystery: Why did an Inspector from the Government Printing Office get crushed between two rows of electronic compact shelving? Find out in this murder/mystery, an Agatha Christie-type whodunit with multiple suspects whom the book's detective assembles together in the final chapter for "the big reveal." Death-by-compact-shelving may seem like a stretch, but it actually almost happened at a library where I worked. You will never look at librarians and library shelving the same after reading this whodunit. 

Only $2.99. Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Smashwords, Kobo and Scribd.  Also available in paperback at Amazon.