I"m excited to say, Yuletide Slaying, book 7 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series is now in audio!

I am enjoying working with Ann Thompson as my narrator for the Shandra Higheagle series. Fatal Fall has been narrated and is going through all the processing. I should have that one available after the first of the year along with book 12, Homicide Hideaway. And the first book of the new Gabriel Hawke series, Murder of Ravens.

I'm excited about my new series and looking forward to taking Ryan and Shandra on more sleuthing journeys as a married couple.

Yuletide Slaying



Places to download an audio copy of Yuletide Slaying:

Pumpkin from hubby's pumpkin patch

After a long, hot, dry summer, we had rain! And the temperatures have dropped drastically. Not an easy way to slide into the next season but we'll take it.

The haying went easy for me this year. ;) I was either off at a writing adventure or the neighbor offered to help drive tractor to get the bales out of the field. I only had to drive tractor one day.

Me driving the tractor pulling the trailer

We had half of our grandchildren move down the road from us this summer.It has been fun getting to hang out with them and do things together. They will be here permanently as their parents bought a ranch 7 miles from us. Now we have someone to watch the horses and dogs if we want to go somewhere during the winter.

While I was starting to panic about May when it seemed I'd never be able to accomplish my writing goals for 2018, I'm happy to say, I am now back on track!

You will see the first 3 books in the Gabriel Hawke series releasing in January, February, and March and the 12th Shandra Higheagle book will publish early January, introducing readers to the new Gabriel Hawke character.

Right now, I have book 11 in the Shandra Higheagle Series, Dangerous Dance up for pre-order and it releases on Oct. 10th. If you would like the book, go ahead and pre-order and it will drop into your ereader on the 10th. Or you can also go to your local bookstore and ask them to order the print book.

Here is the blurb and cover along with a buy link:

Because my mysteries and one of my trilogies have Native American elements in them, I bought the supplies to make my own dream catchers.  The plan, once I get them made, is to give them out when I do contests and send gift baskets to conferences. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my website URL on them but I think I have that figured out. 


The rings aren't willow. I thought for learning purposes, I'd start with something more sturdy. After I get these done, I'll try making them with willow.

When I get one built I'll put up a photo.

I'm also sewing pillowcases for my grandchildren for Christmas. Trying to get fabric that depicts things they like. Some of them are harder than others. Do you make handmade presents as gifts? I think making gifts is the most fun. I enjoy putting my time and love into the gift and hope that the recipient knows that it is not only a reflection of their personality but of my love.

I also have a more book bags to sew. I gave away every single one I had at Sumpter because I sold so many books! Which is a good thing!

Do you like to do craft projects? If so, what do you do?

Mary in our booth

This Labor Day Weekend I'll be hanging out in Sumpter with Mary Vine. We've set up a booth the last 4 or 5 years during Memorial and Labor Day weekends and sold our books. It is where I sell the most print books all year.

Not only is it fun to sit and visit with Mary and the people who wander into our booth, it's fun to hear the Sumpter Steam Engine blow it's whistle, listen to the wind sing through the pine trees, and the occasional thump of a pine cone hitting the ground, hopefully not the head of a passerby.

cracker creek

The booths are so eclectic that we always take turns walking around and looking at everything. But the time I like the most is staying at Mary's cabin in Bourne. There is no electricity, now running water other than Cracker Creek right off the deck of the cabin, just peace and quiet until the 4-wheelers go up or down the road.

I spend my evenings at the cabin writing. Thankfully, I have a computer with a long life battery. And with no internet and other things to drain the battery, I can get a lot of writing done in the three nights I spend there.

What are you doing this Labor Day weekend?

If you are planning to read, Lottie Mae, book 2 in the Silver Dollar Saloon series is now available in ebook and print!

Lottie Mae
book 2
Silver Dollar Saloon 

Will their love be enough to battle both their demons? 

Oh my!

Because I do so much driving several writer friends who use Dragon transcription software thought it would help me get my projects done faster if I used it.

I am going to be on the road a lot the next couple of months and if I could equate those hours into words on a manuscript, I would be a happy camper!

I purchased Dragon. I purchased the lapel mic and recorder recommended.


My first attempt was horrifying! at first I stammered, couldn't think coherently and even that wasn't as bad as the mispronunciation that came out in print when I downloaded it.

Here is a sample of the first attempt:
It will take me a while to figure out what I was even saying. I was frustrated to say the least. I had asked on the Dragon FB group how about classic books I'd read at one time to use to get the diction correct. They told me to use my own chapters. I did and this is the mess I had.

After emailing with a friend who uses Dragon, I decided to find those classic excerpts. I did and read one into my recorder and uploaded it. then I went for a walk and dictated more of my book.

This is what I had that time:

The dictation is getting easier for me to do and it is picking up the way I say words better. I'm now a happy camper because I'll have 10 hours of driving this week that I can dictate and have a book to edit when I get home!

This is the book I'm working to get finished:

I'm a bit slow getting to this blog post.

On a cold snowy day, I had the privilege of riding along with a Oregon Fish and Wildlife State Trooper in Wallowa County, Oregon.

When I first contacted the trooper, he'd suggested we might go down on the Imnaha River and check the fishermen catching steelhead. When I arrived for the ride along a call had come in about trespassers on an elk refuge in the northern part of the county. So we headed north.

Weneha River

Once we left the highway the roads were bumpy, snowy, and muddy. The trooper explained that an area owned by the ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) and used to feed elk to keep them from getting into the ranchers stack yards and ruining stacks of hay was off limits to the public at this time of year to keep the elk from leaving the leaving the area.

Elk feeding on the refuge

It was the best time for "shed" hunters to be out. Shed hunting is when people go out looking for the antlers the deer and elk shed this time of year. Shed hunters go out looking for the shed antlers to either keep for themselves or to sell to people who make things out of them. Because the large herds of elk stay in the refuge, the antler hunters will trespass to find the larger antlers.

Elk feeding on the refuge

We didn't find anyone trespassing. But the trooper wrote down the make, model, and license plate of any vehicle that was parked as if they were out looking for antlers. When we arrived at an area where he had satellite reception, he put that information into his computer to see if any past trespasses or violations came up on the owners of the vehicles.

3 female mountain sheep with tracking collars

From the elk refuge we headed to the Wallowa River and the trooper wore a microphone so I could hear his conversations with the fishermen as he asked them for fishing licenses, steelhead tags, and those with boats for their invasive species permit.  I learned the language of the items asked for and had a fun time listening to his banter with the people.

Along the Wallowa River

The 8 hours I spent with the trooper I learned a lot about the job, the nuances that could keep a trooper safe in certain situations, and I heard stories about situations that became out of hand.

It was an enlightening and informative day. I've already started incorporating the information I gleaned into the first book of the new Gabriel Hawk mystery series coming out in 2019.

The first novella of the Tumbling Creek Ranch series is out of a box set that was kindle only and now available at all ebook vendors!



Love me Anyway, book 2 will be available in four months and the third book, The Wrong Cowboy to Love will be out in January 2019.

I've been finding it difficult to get over here and put up new posts. I blog at 5 group blogs a month and try to be a guest on other blogs every month. Writing all of those makes the well dry when it comes to my blog.

Over the years I've tried having different days be about certain subjects and that didn't seem to bring more bloggers over to my blog.

My goal is to keep the blog up, but I'll only blog here once a week with releases, events that are happening, or something fun that comes along. Like my ride-along this Saturday with an ODFW Officer to learn more about my character in the mystery series that will come out next year. I was looking forward to it, but seeing as how there is a good 8-10 inches in the area where I'm riding along...I'm thinking this may be interesting. We'll have more time for me to pick his brain, I think, than actual checking on fishermen and the outdoors.

If you have something you think people who read my blog would like to see here, let me know in the comments. 

I'm excited to be part of the Wild Deadwood Reads Anthology that will be available in print and ebook May 1st.  I'll be posting all the info here when it is available. It is 17 short stories by authors who are attending the Wild Deadwood Reads Event June 7th-10th at Deadwood, SD.  The stories are either present day, historical, or have a paranormal element in them. All the proceeds from the print and ebooks will go to Western Sports Foundation an organization that helps rodeo athletes with medical bills.

I have a lot of other exciting things coming up. Next week I'll be attending the Left Coast Crime Conference in Reno, NV.  I hope to have some photos and info here after that event or possibly during.

Enjoy your day!

My novella that started from a phrase in a song and has a dyslexic heroine and a veterinarian for the hero is now available at all ebook vendors!

Earlier this week on a reader author group I'm in they asked the question do you find yourself or people you know written into your characters. My answer was yes, I can't help but put my observations and knowledge into the books I write.

This book is a bit of that. I have a dyslexic granddaughter. Learning her problems and how my daughter and son-in-law have worked to help her cope, and her struggles before the disorder was discovered, gave me some insight into the disorder and how it feels to have the problem. 

I also decided to have a veterinarian in the book because, 1) my granddaughter was happiest when with her animals, because she didn't have to read.  So I made my heroine work in a horse stable and have a knack at doctoring animals. My daughter is a vet tech, so she could help me with all the details to the vets job and how my heroine could help him.

Here is the blurb for Catch the Rain, a steamy contemporary western romance novella.