Category: Spotted Pony Casino Mystery

Flying By

Summer that is! Wow! It’s almost the end of July. I can’t believe this month is almost over.

I spent most of this month with my butt in the chair writing the next Spotted Pony Casino Mystery. I wanted it to be published right before I go on a vacation in September. It is written, polished and off to my critique partners and beta-readers. I am proud of myself for writing over 70,000 words in 25 days.

My cover designer has the cover made.

Now to get the back cover blurb written and some memes made to promote the pre-order and the release of the book. That’s what the rest of this month and all of next month will be about. Setting up all my blog posts and promotions through my vacation. I don’t want to worry about having to get things out on a schedule when I’m enjoying traveling with my oldest daughter and granddaughter. I’ll have more about the trip in future posts.

I made time this month for two fun things. The first one was learning how to make Tule baskets from a Paiute woman. My daughter and I took a class from Beverly Beers. It was fun and taught me a bit about the culture and that I need to really practice if I want to make tight baskets. Here are some photos of the process.

We started with ten pieces of tule that had been soaked. You squeeze out the water and kind of flatten them in the process.

The next step was crossing five pieces over the other five and weaving them together to make the bottom of the basket.

When the bottom was woven, then a longer piece of tule was bend in two and then used as the weaver to go around the basket. I struggled with twisting the pieces correctly in between the uptight pieces. Beverly took mine out at one point and made me start over.

My finished product. We were told we could soak them and then put them around a can or jar to let them dry to the that shape if we wanted a perfectly round basket.

This is what it looked like after it dried and I added the tule rose I made (with help from my daughter) and the dried seeds that were on the end of one of the tules.

The other fun thing was attending the Tamkaliks Powwow in Wallowa Oregon. I enjoy the ceremonies, the dancing, and visiting with the vendors. I found a young woman who was selling healing teas and balms from the Umatilla tribe who gave me her email so I can ask her questions to hopefully give my Spotted Pony Casino books more color and influence of the culture.

Here is a youtube video I took of the horse procession at the powwow. It is my favorite part of the event.

Have you ever attended a powwow? I enjoy the singing and drumming as much as the colorful regalia and dancing.

Fun Things in July

This month is not as crazy as last month or as crazy as next month will be, but it is packed full of book stuff!

To start off, I am writing a book this month. Yes, all 70k+ words. It is book 6 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries, Down & Dirty. That means I have to write 3k words every day. So far, I’m doing that and a bit more. I would love to have this book finished and ready for my critique partners and beta readers before July 28th.

The goal is to get it published before I head off on my month-long vacation in September. That means I need the full month of August for my support staff ( CPs, beta readers, editor, proofreader) to get through it while I am doing the edits and revisions so it will be ready to release September 6th.

Along with writing the book, I have several promotions rolling out this month.

Right now you can get the first three Shandra Higheagle mysteries in audiobook format for $0.99! Yes! You read that right. For less than a dollar you can get three audiobooks. It’s in conjunction with the Indie Audiobook Deals Not only do you get a great deal on my book other indie authors also have great deals on audiobooks. You can check them out here: https://linktr.ee/indieaudiobookdeals But check them out today because it is the last day for the event. (You can still find my book for $0.99 through this weekend)

And all this month, you can get the first book of my Isabella Mumphrey Action Adventure/ Romantic Suspense trilogy for $0.99 in ebook at Kobo or other ebook vendors.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon

What happens when a brilliant anthropologist is lured to the jungle to be used as a human sacrifice?

Child prodigy and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job at the university. In the world of publish or perish, her mentor’s request for her assistance on a dig is just the opportunity she’s been seeking. If she can decipher an ancient stone table—and she can—she’ll keep her department. She heads to Guatemala, but drug trafficking bad guys, artifact thieves, and her infatuation for her handsome guide wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions.

DEA agent Tino Kosta is out to avenge the deaths of his family. He’s deep undercover as a jaguar tracker and sometimes jungle guide, but the appearance of a beautiful, brainy anthropologist heats his Latin blood taking him on a dangerous detour that could leave them both casualties of the jungle

***

If you aren’t already someone who gets my monthly newsletter you might want to check it out: https://ckarchive.com/b/lmuehmh08zm5lsd7kkm78cdoo5v00hg In my newsletter you learn about my books in progress, what I’ve been up to, get links to free books from authors who write similar books to mine, and I have a fun word puzzle for you to do every month. If you’d like to subscribe you can use this link and receive a free book or short story: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Another way to see what all I’m up to is by following not only this blog but Ladies of Mystery. It’s a blog I started 6 years ago for mystery authors to share their thoughts on writing and their books with readers. I’m proud of how it has grown. I blog there monthly on the 2nd Monday.

Now to get back to writing! Only 42,649 words to go!

My Happy Place, The Oregon Coast

I’m spending a week at the Oregon Coast to finish writing a book. Why do you say do I need to go to the coast to write? Because at home I have too many distractions. Like, feeding animals, doing laundry, making meals, cleaning house, and many more things that take my attention away from the fact I have a book to finish.

Here on the coast, I write and I walk on the beach to get fresh air and energize my brain. I always manage to write a lot when I’m here. If I can finish the book before it’s time to leave, I can start figuring out the next book.

Here are some of the fun things I’ve seen while on my walks.

This was the scene we had the first night as we sat outside at a restaurant. The first day at the coast was beautiful. The warmest we’ve had and the prettiest sunset.

This is a starfish I found on one of my walks. I thought “wow this is so unusual” and then another day there were six starfish on the beach. I threw them back into the water. I don’t know if they were still alive or not. There weren’t any rocks around for them to have been clinging to so I wasn’t sure if they had died and were being carried around on the waves or what.

As aways with a walk on the beach there are seagulls flying and fighting over the crabs and other sea creatures that the birds eat.

I like to take photos that encompass more than the main object in the photo. This is a mussel shell. The iridescent colors didn’t show up in the photo as much as they did in person but I liked the scope of the photo.

I liked the lines made in the water by the incoming and outgoing waves that crossed at this point on the beach.

This is my favorite sight at the beach. It was a trail made by a crustacean heading back to the water. At first, I thought someone had pushed a rock through the sand, but I saw the little almost zipper like markings in the middle of the track and picked the critter up to see where his head was buried in the sand and see his body poking out of the shell. So I set him back down and took a photo.

The beach is one of my favorite places to go to reenergize and get a book finished. I can’t wait until next month when hubby and I come back over to celebrate our 45th anniversary!

And don’t forget my latest release, The Pinch is set on the Oregon Coast in a different coastal town.

Book 5
Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries
Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child is kidnapped. The parents are a dubious couple. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army appears and they catch up, only to find her friend strangled the next morning after having divulged to Dela she may have photos of the kidnapping.

As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, her lover, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver, arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, bribes, and murders.

In the end, as Heath carries the child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

ebook $4.99 – Print $14.99 – Audio $14.99

Fun Writing Stuff

I was at an author event held by a library over the weekend. It was fun to hang out with one of my writer friends and meet other writers and readers. I even had an older man come over and start talking to me in Dutch. I understood what he was saying because my husband is Dutch and his parents moved here from The Netherlands. But I couldn’t respond to his question in the language. I can only understand it. He had seen my name on my banner and once we started talking, I believe his sister knows my mother-in-law. small world!

The event went well and I enjoyed my day before the event when I spent time with my friend who lives in that area. We went for a walk in the park and I had to take a photo of these gorgeous daffodils. Something to look at on days like today when we are having rain, snow and wind.

My latest book released. The Pinch book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. Here is the cover, blurb and buy link if you’d like to give it a read.

Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child of a dubious couple is kidnapped. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army is also at the casino and they catch up. The next morning, Dela finds her friend strangled. As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, kidnapping, and murder.

As Heath carries the kidnapped child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

I have my mystery audiobooks at Chirp and am proud to join the authors at Indie Audiobook Deals in sharing this HUGE giveaway with you. Four entrants will win a $55 Chirp gift card! Chirp is the premier site to listen to fantastic audiobooks.🎧

They’re picking FOUR winners so make sure to complete all of the extra entries to enhance your chances of winning. Good luck and happy listening! 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://kingsumo.com/g/jz0pgc/win-1-of-4-55-chirp-gift-cards

I had a good conversation last week with the OSP Fish and Wildlife officer who has been helping me with my latest Hawke book. I now have enough information about patrolling the Snake River that I can start writing the story. I’ve been antsy to get back in Wallowa County with Hawke and tell another story about him, Dog, and the other characters who inhabit his world.

If you like to listen to audiobooks and get good deals on them, I suggest you enter the contest above and sign up for my newsletter https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm so you don’t miss a single deal when I discount my books.

Fun and Not so Fun

Since the beginning of the year. Jan 1, 2024, I pushed to get the next Spotted Pony Casino book finished. And it is off with my line editor and will be released February 22, 2024. So far my critique partner and beta readers have enjoyed it. 😉

The Pinch

Book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery

Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child is kidnapped. The parents are a dubious couple. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army appears and they catch up, only to find her friend strangled the next morning after having divulged to Dela she may have photos of the kidnapping.

As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, her lover, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver, arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, bribes, and murders.

In the end, as Heath carries the child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

pre-order link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

Now that is fun to see the cover and read the blurb! It means that this book is wrapped up all but the edits and uploading it to vendors. Which means… I’ve started gathering research for the next Gabriel Hawke book. As yet, untitled, but I had a good conversation with an Oregon State Police officer with the Fish and Wildlife who is helping me with this particular book.

Hawke and Dog will be patrolling the Snake River with biologists. While helping the biologists with their work, Dog will come across a decades old body or should I say skeleton. It’s what they find with the body that helps Hawke follow the clues to its death and others. So stay tuned for that!

I also have a YouTube channel where I have been putting up samples of my first in series audiobooks so far. You can find them here: Paty Jager – YouTube

If you are an audiobook listener, I am setting up audiobook specials with different vendors for the coming months. As well as I have a Special coming up in February for Double Dupilicity in ebook and audio formats. It has a new cover and I’m having a “New Cover Special.” I’ll be posting about it in my next blog post.

I have been trying to get my newsletter signup form and thank emails set up and synchronized in the new format my newsletter provider has upgraded to. It is a pain! As soon as I get it figured out and set up, I’ll post it here so you can get my newsletter if you would like to have a fun puzzle to solve each month and have access to free short stories and specials.

And here is a photo of my writing partner. She has discovered she can go from the back of my chair to the window and snooze in the sunshine.

Finishing out November with gusto.

I’m back from the large Holiday Event in Portland, OR. I sold quite a few books and the other NIWA authors books we sold also did well. We sold more than in years past. The goal of the authors who work the booth is to try and sell a book from every author who paid to have their books in the event.

I have some fun photos I took at the event.

Carolers at the Portland Holiday Market.
Reindeer and an elf.
The authors working Friday at the event.

Back home we had Thanksgiving at our youngest daughter’s house. I only had to bring some frozen chocolate pies, homemade rolls, and a vegetable tray. I got off easy. 😉 We had a nice visit and delicious dinner before the youngest (4 year-old) granddaughter said, “You need to go. I have a very busy day tomorrow.” We laughed about that and eventually left. She was excited because the next day she was going to play with a girl cousin close to her age. At home she has 4 brothers and a teenage sister.

This week I’ve been playing catch up on all kinds of writerly things. I need to get back to writing on the current work in progress. I plan to hit it hard starting next week. This week we are hosting my mother-in-law who is an almost 90 year-old dynamo who believes we (she and I) should clean something in my house every morning. Then in the afternoon, I try to work on the business side of writing because it is hard to concentrate on writing when she is either watching TV or sitting at the table knitting.

I am multi-tasking on Friday and Saturday Dec. 1st and 2nd. I was at the conference in Vegas earlier in the month when I saw a call out for people to purchase tables at a craft bazaar for Dec. 1st and 2nd. I asked my daughter to get me a table. She did and now I have that bazaar to sell books at and I am participating in a Facebook Secret Santa party those same days. I’ll have to use my phones Hotspot and take my laptop to participate throughout the days at the Secret Santa Party. Here is the info about that event if you would like to join over 350 authors and have several chances to win prizes from the authors.

The Don’t-Miss-It Event of the Season.

Secret Santa Days!

Over 350 Secret Santa Authors will be gifting you books, gift cards, and swag! 

Join the fun here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DangerouslyDarkDarlings

Join the Facebook group to be able to participate in the event. I have a lot of fun stuff I’m giving away. I will give 5 people your choice of a FREE ebook, 2 people their choice of an autographed print book, and swag, and 1 person will receive 2 mugs, hot chocolate, a Christmas Tree ornament, playing cards, and homemade sugar cookies.

I’m also happy to say I have another short story in the Windtree Press 2023 Anthology, Whispers. My story, Whispers of the Past, tells about my character Dela Alvaro and her partner Heath Seaver investigating a cabin in the forest that she hopes will give her more clues to her heritage.

A whisper is a soft barely audible sound or resemblance of a sound. Perhaps a thought in one’s head, a flutter of leaves, a feather floating to the ground, or a wish. In this collection of ten stories and a poem the theme of “Whispers” is used in different ways.

From the poem Soul Whispers, from Dari LaRoche, you can conjure up the variety of whispers in the coming stories. This is followed by the Children’s story, Whispers in a Dream, by Susie Slanina, where Metro the dog visits outer space through a dream.

The tale of Friends and Neighbors by Pamela Cowan murmurs of unlikely alliances. In Whispers of the Halycon, author Dari LaRoche’s submission is a twist on a fairytale. Author Mary Vine’s characters, in Whisper Upon a Star, hide their feelings as they try to find a killer.

Her Zayka is a tale of a close bond between a young woman and the nanny she grew up with. Author R. Hockamin has a unique twist at the end. Of Wings and Whispers is a fantasy where author Diana McCollum takes the reader on an emotional ride as a fairy with a broken wing finds love.

Suspense and romance will keep you turning the pages of author Kimila Kay’s Whispering Willows. Author Melissa Yuan-Innes story, Bread and Ashtrays, is an intriguing tale of an empath who sees whispers of a man’s life.

The characters in Whispers of the Past, by Paty Jager, are seeking a person whom they may or may not wish they’d never heard of. Ending this collection of titillating and thought-provoking stories is author Maggie Lynch’s Pax Reborn. This science fiction novella asks the question would the world be better with everyone content and equal?

Enjoy and savor each story. Every one of the stories will leave whispers of questions and coax a smile.

Whispers | Universal Book Links Help You Find Books at Your Favorite Store! (books2read.com)

Whispers – Windtree Press

My next post will be in December. I’m excited to finish, The Pinch, the next book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series and to get ready for the coming year. One which I will have lots to tell you about next December. 😉

Deluge of Life

Ever feel like you will never get something accomplished? Even if it is something that you can accomplish?

That’s where I’m at. November is such a busy month. I have two long writing/book events which will take up two weeks. I have a book I would like to have finished by the end of the year, I have audiobooks I need to upload to make into audiobook bundles, I am learning new things to hopefully get those said audiobooks selling, which leads me to even more things I need to do for the audiobooks.

And then there is life outside of the writing. Hubby is finishing a barn that has had poles in the ground for 15 years. While he is doing most of it by himself, he does need my help for certain things. Like lifting the metal roofing up to him.

Hubby on the roof, the piece of metal against the hay that I lift up.

There is also my desire to decorate the house and soon start baking. Not to mention working on the quilts for the two grandkids graduating in 2024 and Christmas presents. One of my favorite things about Christmas is finding the perfect present for my family and friends. I think even if it’s a trinket or bauble, if it has something to do with their favorite things, it makes them smile.

Today, I didn’t take my usual morning walk so I could sit down at the computer to write this post and get some more words on the Work in Progress- AKA The Pinch book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. My friend and I spent a weekend at the Chinook Winds Casino and resort on the Oregon Coast last spring so I could research for this book. I’m finally getting around to writing it. And I’ve discovered there were some things I should have researched while I was there. *sigh*

I’ve sent an email to the casino, but I fear they won’t reply because I didn’t ask about staying there, I asked questions about how the place is run. They would rather take my money and have me visit than help me with logistics for my book.

I will continue using common sense and hope I get things right. Or if I really need to get the answers, it might mean a trip to the coast for hubby and me in December. 😉

There are so many things I need and want to get done before the end of the year. I’ll have a tight schedule next year too as I try to get back to publishing 4 books a year and also take a month-long trip to Europe with my oldest daughter and a granddaughter. I can’t wait for the trip, but I have to. It won’t happen until September next year. I’ll have more about it in future posts. As it gets closer and I get more excited, I’m sure I’ll have posts about how we planned and booked everything.

That’s all the dithering I have on life at this time. My next post will be about the 20 Books Vegas conference I’m attending next week.

Fun Writing Things

Last month the 11th book in my Gabriel Hawke Mystery series released. It was a struggle to complete due to the complexity of the story. So far my beta readers and reviewers say I did a good job with a serious and triggering story.

Damning Firefly deals with a person of authority abusing his status and using it to sexually assault young women and teenagers. It went on for decades because no one would listen to the one person trying to stop him and the victims were ashamed or scared.

While Hawke is discovering all the sordid transgressions of the victim, he is still using his tracking and logic to find the real killer and save more lives.

Damning Firefly

A church fire.

An unconscious woman on Starvation Ridge.

Gabriel Hawke, fish and wildlife officer with the Oregon State Police, helps with a fire at the Lighted Path church before heading out to check turkey hunters. He discovers a car wedged between two trees and a woman with a head injury reeking of smoke. Is she the arsonist?

Hawke encounters the county midwife gloating over the burnt church and learns she and the victim in the car know one another.

Two seemingly separate events lead Hawke to a serial rapist and a county full of secrets. 

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bQeBDZ

And releasing November 1st is a novella to hopefully give all my Shandra Higheagle Mystery fans more closure on that series. I released book 16, Vanishing Dream, the last book in that series, two years ago and fans still ask me for more.

Because there has been so many asking for more, I wrote a Christmas novella that is set 10 years after Vanishing Dream.

Christmas Chaos

Check out a super-special Christmas surprise— a continuation of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. Ten years later the twins are at college but there’s trouble brewing.

Shandra Higheagle Greer is anxiously awaiting a visit from her twins as they head home from college for Christmas break. After a ten-year absence, her deceased grandmother is back in her dreams and the message seems clear. The twins are in trouble. After giving a young woman a ride to a nearby town, they have become suspects in her murder.

Even though he’s been removed from the case, Shandra and her husband, Weippe County Sheriff Ryan Greer, continue to investigate, determined to dig up proof that the twins had nothing to do with the homicide. Even if that means putting one of the twins in danger to uncover the truth.

I don’t have a pre-order link. If you want to know when it releases, you can follow me on this blog or sign up for my newsletter – https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Other fun stuff, I’ll be at an author promotion and marketing conference the second week of November and on November 10th I’ll be part of a 300 author book signing at the Horseshoe Casino in Vegas. There will be door prizes and raffles as well as authors selling and signing books. It is a big party all day long! What else would you expect from an event in Vegas! You can learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ravevegasauthorsigning

And then! I’m home for 4 days and I’ll be at the Portland Holiday Market at the Portland Expo Center from Nov. 17th- 19th at the NIWA (Northwest Independent Writers Association) booth. I’ll have book bundles for gifts or for yourself and freebies. Stop in if you’re in the Portland, OR area.

As soon as I get all my Shandra Higheagle and Gabriel Hawke audiobooks uploaded in box sets, I’ll start writing The Pinch. The next book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. This is the book a friend and I went to the Oregon Coast to research. She kept telling everyone we were there for murder and mayhem! Which was kind of true. We talked to casino security guards, checked for security cameras, and skulked about hallways and places that I thought Dela, my character, might need to know about. It was a fun weekend.

Summer, are you really here?

In SE Oregon we have had the most interesting weather. We’ll have a couple of warm sunny days, then four days and nights where it rains off and on. It has made getting the first cutting of hay up, very hard. It all was rained on more than once and thankfully it isn’t too bad. It will make good cow hay which it had already been sold for.

The hay this year.

Not only did it make getting the hay cut and up hard, but the rain and cooler conditions made the hay taller and thicker than usual, so we are getting good tonnage off the field for a first cutting, but we are finishing up the first cutting when we usually are getting ready for the second cutting. I’m not sure how this hay season will end. If we’ll have enough time for the hay to grow for a third cutting. I guess we’ll see.

This cooler, wetter weather has made getting out and doing things less inviting. I have kept up on pulling the weeds, but I didn’t start a garden this year. And I haven’t put in as many flowers in my pots. I will be gone in August for 10 days and didn’t want my hubby to have to worry about watering plants.

I enjoy every morning going out and feeding my horses and the shop cats. My two horses, Jan and Patty are older and need senior grain to make sure they are healthy. I need to get out and ride my gelding, Jan. But it seems like there is never enough hours in the day to get the writing, writing projects, housework, quilting, and outside chores done.

One of the shop cats I feed.

Every day I try to go for at least a 2 mile walk. Some days it’s longer and some days I hike the hills and ridges on our property. Exercise not only helps to keep my body from going to mush it also keeps my brain from going mushy. I find I write more fluent and without struggling to find words after I’ve gone on my walk. Which means, I try to write at least 2,000 words before I open up my email and social media.

After lunch I try to write another 1,000 words, and if I’m lucky, 2,000 more. But that doesn’t usually happen because I have admin and marketing to also deal with. That’s the life of being a self-pub or Indie author.

Here is a photo of a rock I call Spirit Rock. I walk by it nearly every day on my outings.

Spirit Rock

I do have two ebook box sets available now.

Spotted Pony Casino Books 1-3

This boxset contains the first three books in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries.

Disabled Veteran Dela Alvaro had her heart set on being a State Trooper until she lost her leg in an attack on the Humvee she was riding in as an Army M.P. She came back to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation to recuperate and landed a job with security at the Spotted Pony Casino.

Poker Face

Book 1

As interim head of security at the Spotted Pony Casino, disabled veteran, Dela Alvaro, needs to find out who killed a casino accountant or lose her job.

House Edge

Book 2

Dela Alvaro head of security at the Spotted Pony Casino has a body and a casino full of potential suspects. Not only is she trying to keep her job, she’s also playing referee between her high school sweetheart turned Tribal Policeman and FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce.

Double Down

Book 3

Dela Alvaro is the main suspect in the stabbing death of a man she stopped from beating his wife to death. The detective she abhors is ready to toss her in jail and not look for any other suspects. When FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce is called in and Tribal Officer Heath Seaver is forbidden to work the case, Dela decides to find the killer.

https://books2read.com/u/3ydM6v

And

Gabriel Hawke books 7-9

This box set contains books 7 through 9 of the Gabriel Hawke novels. Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke with the Fish and Wildlife Division finds himself searching for a woman missing from the Umatilla reservation, discovering the truth about a man who has disappeared, and trying to survive in the snowy mountains with a killer.

Stolen Butterfly

Book 7

Missing or Murdered

When the local authorities tell State Trooper Gabriel Hawke’s mother to wait 72 hours before reporting a missing Umatilla woman, she calls her son and rallies members of the community to search. Angered over how the local officials respond to his investigating, Hawke teams up with a security guard at the Indian casino and an FBI agent.

Churlish Badger

Book 8

An abandoned vehicle…

A missing man…

Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke discovers an abandoned vehicle at a trailhead while checking hunters. The owner of the vehicle never arrived at his destination. As Hawke follows leads, he learns the man was in the process of selling his farm over the objections of his wife who said he would only sell over her dead body.

Owl’s Silent Strike

Book 9

Unexpected snowstorm…

Unfortunate accident…

And a body…

What started out as a favor and a leisurely trip into the mountains, soon turns State Trooper Gabriel Hawke’s life upside down. The snowstorm they were trying to beat comes early, a horse accident breaks Dani Singer’s leg, and Hawke finds a body in the barn at Charlie’s Lodge.

https://books2read.com/u/3R5y0L

Fun Weekend

The Road on Saturday

This past weekend, I traveled to Wallowa County, the area where my character Gabriel Hawke lives and works. It is also where I grew up. I spent Friday night with my brother and sister-in-law. We caught up on things, watched two of their grandchildren while their son played with his band at an open mic night at Terminal Gravity brewery.

My SIL and I woke up Saturday morning and headed toward Clarkston, WA, where the book signing was to take place. The north highway, which is mentioned a lot in Hawke’s books because he uses it a lot to get to places to check on hunters, was not as much fun to drive. We were barely out of Enterprise, and it started snowing and blowing. We crept along at 35 MPH. A couple times it was a whiteout. I couldn’t see the sides of the road, but thankfully there was little traffic. (I think we were the only crazy people out driving.) I drove in the middle of the unplowed road.

Carmen and I

We had left early and made it to the bookstore in Clarkston with about twenty minutes to spare. Carmen Peone, the other author at the event showed up just after we did. After setting up and putting out our goodies- I brought cookies and Carmen brought veggies and fruit- we started catching up.

Readers came and went during our time at the store. We enjoyed visiting with each of them and giving advice to an aspiring writer. Carmen had a family member show up and a friend. I had a reader the bookstore owner had turned onto my books. She was fun to talk to at the age of 90. She was full of life and had interesting stories.

Carmen also told me about a Choctaw woman, Sarah Sawyer, who writes books and teaches writers, like me who is non-native, how to write respectfully. I started listening to her modules on the subject and am feeling much better about my books and how I convey my characters. I have more to listen to and will be following her blog and books. I also ordered one of her books.

On the drive home it was uneventful other than seeing a herd of elk on the side of the canyon going south on Rattlesnake Grade out of Washington.

Back at my brother’s we settled in to a quite night of wine and conversation. Sunday I headed home. And just before Wallowa there was another herd of elk in a field alongside the highway. It was my trip for seeing elk. I wonder if that was a sign to have the work elk in my next Hawke book??

Speaking of books, today is the release of The Squeeze, book 4 in my Spotted Pony Casino mystery series.

Lies, deceit, blackmail.

Murder ends it all.

Or does it?

When an employee at the Spotted Pony Casino is caught leaving early, Dela Alvaro, head of security confronts the woman. The lies the woman tells only piques Dela’s curiosity. After witnessing the employee threatening a man, she is found murdered in her car parked in the driveway of her home.

Upon learning the woman used her job at the casino to blackmail men, Dela feels compelled to solve the woman’s murder and teams up with Tribal Officer Heath Seaver. Not only does the duo have a death to solve, but there is also a mystery behind Dela’s dead father. Not to mention, her mom just announced she’s marrying a man Dela has never met.

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/4X0WY9

My narrator and I are getting things squared away to begin the production of this in audiobook.

That’s all the excitement here in SE Oregon at the moment. It is cold and windy. We could really use some warm weather.