Welcome to My New Blog

​​Welcome to my blog, where I'll write about writing, books, maybe occasionally take a detour and discuss some aspect of private investigations (besides being a writer, I'm also a PI).  

If you click on the Index link, a gallery of pictures displays --these are a mix of book covers, upcoming books, other blogs, and an exhibition of photos of our beloved Rottweilers, Jack Nicholson and Aretha Franklin.​  Dog owners/lovers, I know you understand.

​​Before signing off, I'm going to plug a nonfiction book on writing that I'm currently reading: Story Engineering by Larry Brooks, a writing instructor and best-selling author of six psychological thrillers.  I've written 22 novels myself, but there's always more to learn about the craft of writing, and this book has been a wonderful resource.  I'm using its guidelines as I brainstorm the roadmap of my current story-in-progress.  Highly recommended!​

For those interested in how I created this blog

After creating several WordPress blogs, I read about squarespace and decided if it was as easy to use as people claimed, I'd go with it.  In my two-week free trial period, I discovered squarespace was intuitive to use and has many helpful features (such as making it ridiculously easy to insert Amazon widgets, a great tool for writers).  Another cool feature: You get almost immediate responses from their  24/7 support, even during the trial period.

If you're like me (a minimalist techno type), and you'd like to create a blog/site without paying a hefty sum to a webmaster (who you continue to pay for updates), or if you're not up to spending days and days wrestling with WordPress to create a site, I highly recommend squarespace.  

Just finished March 2013 book: The Next Right Thing

Done!

​This past week I finished my first Harlequin Super Romance (The Next Right Thing, release date March 2013).  It was one of those stories that was truly fun to write, probably because my real life is close to the main characters' occupations (the heroine is a PI, the hero is a lawyer). Although the book is primarily a romance, there's a legal case brewing in the background, which comes to trial at the end of the story.

A brief intro to the characters

Cammie Copello: Thirty-two years old.  Private investigator.  After being put on probation by Marc, her  boss, for "crossing the line" in an investigation at his Denver law firm, she restarted her life in Las Vegas as a solo private investigator.  So the last thing she expects is for him to show up in Sin City, imploring her to resume work on that very same case.  Except it's not the same -- darker reasons now compel him to seek her help.

Marc Hamilton:​ Thirty-five years old.  Trial lawyer. After being set up by false accusations to lose his law license, Marc needs the expertise of his former lead investigator Cammie to clear his name.  But after not only ignoring her warnings a year ago when she first learned the source of these accusations, he created a no-win situation that resulted in her leaving his firm and his life.  He's willing to close that gap, but is she?  Especially after he shares the other secrets that now shadow the case.

The Next Right Thing: Available March 2013

I'll be running contests and giveaways as the release date approaches, so check back!