Running Behind

I would have to agree with my granddaughter, who I recently went to the Oregon coast with. She said, she needed a vacation to recover from her vacation. I was laughing at her when she said it, but after trying to play catch up for the last day and a half and discovering I forgot to write this blog yesterday, I might have to agree with her.

Last week my granddaughter and I house sat for my brother at Rockaway Beach. It was fun. We went thrift store shopping, met her brother and his wife for dinner one night, and walked the beach every day with our dogs. I didn’t get nearly enough writing done, but it was a fun week to hang out with her before she heads off to beauty school and starts her adult life.

The good news, Captured Hummingbird is available for pre-order in ebook at the usual places. My goal today is to get the print book formatted and off to the printer and get the ebook up on my website for you to purchase hopefully tomorrow at a reduced price.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Hawke has tracked killers through the wild—but this time the clock is his deadliest enemy.

When Hawke’s partner, Dani, calls with a desperate plea to find her newly married cousin and young daughter who have vanished without a trace, he can’t say no.

The trail quickly leads to the violent first husband—a drunk who knows the Idaho wilderness better than most men know their own homes.

Hawke finds the man’s remote hunting shack and makes a chilling discovery: the ex-husband is already dead.

Dani and Hawke uncover disturbing evidence. Corruption in the casino, exploitation in the sheriff’s office, and something more sinister that caused the mother and child’s sudden disappearance.

If he has to confront every ruthless person in a human trafficking ring, Hawke will find the mother and daughter before it’s too late.  

UBL- https://books2read.com/u/4Xy8P9

The ebook page on my website: https://www.patyjager.net/product-category/gabrial-hawke-ebook/page/2/

I’m working my way back into the schedule I had before I went to the coast. So it’s off to yoga, and then back here to work on the business side of writing so I can get back to the next Cuddle Farm Mystery book, Very Very Deadly.

Don’t forget to come over to my Author Paty Jager Facebook page to leave a comment and win prizes through the month of May. I’m celebrating 20 years of being a published author. Click here to follow and join the fun! https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPatyJager

Enjoy your day!

A new book, a sale, an audiobook, and “friends” I’ll miss.

I know after the last post I promised more pics of my trip to Southern Utah. Those will come on my normal end of the month, travel post.

Today I want to let you know that my latest book, Full House, book 8 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series, is now available in ebook and print.

When the past knocks on their door, the future they planned begins to unravel.

On the brink of their wedding, Dela Alvaro and Heath Seaver’s plans shatter when a ten-year-old boy appears, claiming to be Heath’s son. The truth is even darker: the boy’s mother—the woman Heath thought died years ago at Pine Ridge—was an FBI informant hidden under a new identity, left to raise his child alone before dying of addiction.

As Heath wrestles with awe for the son he never knew and fury at the FBI’s deception, the past turns deadly. When the agent who lied to him is found murdered in Pendleton, the FBI shows up on Dela’s doorstep, bringing danger straight to their home.

With their future on the line, Dela and Heath must confront a web of secrets before it destroys the family they’re just beginning to build.

Unversal link: https://books2read.com/u/3LzAxJ or Direct from my website: https://www.patyjager.net/product/full-house-ebook/

By purchasing directly from the author, they receive more per book than when you purchase from an ebook vendor. Cutting out the middleman entices authors to keep writing because they can pay their expenses.

I have 2 audiobook sales going on right now.

You can purchase the audio box set of the first three Gabriel Hawke Novels for $4.99 at specific audiobook vendors by using this link: https://indieaudiobookdeals.com/ You will see other Indie author audiobooks for sale there. Or you can download it directly from my website: https://www.patyjager.net/product/gabriel-hawke-novels-box-set-1-3/ This sale only lasts until the 18th.

Join Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke as he performs his duties with the Fish and Wildlife Division while finding a body with a wolf collar, tracking a lost child, and hunting down a poacher in the wilderness of Wallowa County. He not only upholds the law but also protects the land of his ancestors.

Starting today, you can download the audiobook, Poker Face, book 1 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries for $0.99! This is only at Chirp and my website.

A contemporary Native American amateur sleuth murder mystery series

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.

Chirp: https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/poker-face-by-paty-jager

Direct: https://www.patyjager.net/product/poker-face-audiobook/

And the new audiobook!

Merry Merry Merry Murder is now in audiobook! You can find it for a reduced price on my website.

Where comfort and cheer meet scandalous secrets—A holiday mystery set in a small town.

In the close-knit town of Auburn, Oregon, Andi Clark’s therapy animals bring comfort to the community, especially during the holiday season. When a young girl seeks solace from Athena, Andi’s therapy dog, after witnessing an unsettling scene behind the sleigh, it marks the beginning of a much darker holiday.

As the town gathers for the Tree Lighting Ceremony, a scream shatters the festive atmosphere. Cocoa, Andi’s loyal Border Collie, pulls her toward a chilling sight: a woman standing over the lifeless body of the girl’s mother, strangled with Christmas lights.

Determined to help the grieving girl and her town recover from the shock, Andi, her therapy animals, and her niece, a county deputy, take it upon themselves to investigate. As they uncover secrets and untangle clues, they stay one step ahead of the new sheriff and worry that the killer lurking in their midst could be someone they know.

Direct buy link: https://www.patyjager.net/product/merry-merry-merry-murder-audiobook/

My Friends

As I’ve mentioned, we are moving from our farm in SE Oregon to a house in a small town in NE Oregon. While I’m excited for this new change in my life, I will miss this property more than any place I’ve lived. My hubby always laughs and tells people that when we were looking for property here, this was the only place I got out of the car, and then I took off hiking up the hill.

I have loved this land for the vastness of heights, geology, animals, and birds. But I named rock formations and talk to some of them every day on my walks.

The first is Seal Rock. It looks like a seal to me. And while I don’t talk to it, I have watched over the years as the gap between the “seal” and the cliff has become wider.

Then there is Spirit Rock. I talk to this rock every time I go by. We discuss the weather, the creatures that may be sitting on him, and life. I even put my hands on him and give him a pat now and then. I believe it was ripped out of the cliff when there was a lake in this area. Because, beside it, there is an indentation in the cliff that resembles Spirit Rock’s form.

Then there is the “Woman in the Cave.” It is a pile of rocks under a rock and when looking at it, there seems to be a woman leaning over a rock or table working. I talk to her every time I go by as well. There are days when it’s gloomy and overcast when you can barely see the “woman” and others when the sun shines so bright it looks like she is smiling.

And the other rock I speak to each time I go by is “Head Rock.” It is a rock that sits alone on top of the cliff and looks like a head looking north. I had a signing with a Paiute man several years after we’d moved here. He had written a book all about the “head rocks.” They were put in places to show directions for Indigenous people.

These “friends” and the animals we’ve watched are what make moving a little harder than usual.

A Chance Meeting Leads to a Character

Have you ever met a person who made such an impression on you that you couldn’t shake it even days, weeks later? I had that experience this past summer while manning a NIWA (Northwest Independent Writers Association) booth. Myself and another member of NIWA were in charge of a booth at the LaPine Rhubarb Festival for a weekend.

On the second day, a woman walked up to the booth while the other member was on her phone. I stood up, ready to answer any questions. The woman smiled a broad smile and her eyes lit up with the smile. I thought what a lovely woman. She was dressed in a midcalf colorful, flowing skirt, matching shirt, and a sweater. It wasn’t very warm that weekend.

I welcomed her to the booth and gave the spiel about this being a booth with books from the members of NIWA. She nodded asked about a book that was in front of her then smiled again and said, “Elon Musk and I are spreading love all over the world and we would love to have you join us.”

Her words intrigued me. Did she really know Elon Musk? She was dressed in nice clothes. She held herself like someone who could move in those types of circles. “How are you doing that?” I asked.

She went on to say they believed in spreading love because the world needed it badly right now. As she talked I took in everything about her. Then all of a sudden her eyelids fluttered, her eyes kind of rolled back and I thought, she’s going to have a seizure. I was getting ready to get out of the booth and grab her when she looked at me with the fiercest gaze I’ve ever seen and said in a deeper voice, “I know where the bodies are buried.”

This took me by surprise and frightened me. I don’t watch scary or horror movies. I don’t deal well with the evil side of things. She said this statement two more times and then her eyelids flickered and she smiled and said, “Elon and I would love to have you join us.” Then she walked away.

I looked over to see if my friend had seen or heard any of it. She was still on her phone. I sat down, grabbed a notebook and started writing down everything I saw and experienced during the encounter.

As was in the beginning stages of writing the next Spotted Pony Casino Mystery book. I thought maybe I’d put the woman in the next Hawke book, but he kept coming to my mind and I put her in Down and Dirty, book 6 of the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series.

If you would like to see what I did with this character that was a real person in my life for a few minutes, you can grab a copy of Down and Dirty.

Down and Dirty

Book 6

Spotted Pony Casino Mystery

The Spotted Pony Casino’s head of security, Dela Alvaro, receives a late-night call that takes her to a deserted walkway along the river. After confronting a woman babbling about love and bodies being buried, Dela stumbles over a corpse and discovers her knife covered in the victim’s blood.

Dela and Tribal Detective Heath Seaver find themselves working with FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce when the murder seems to be connected to a drug cartel. Dela nearly becomes the victim of a hit-and-run while someone is trying to frame her for the murder.

Proving her innocence has Dela interviewing past acquaintances and members of a drug cartel, all while trying to decide if the woman she met the night of the murder is truly crazy … or the killer.

Universal Buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bagQ66

Book 13 is Available!

I’m happy to say that book 13, Toxic Trigger-point, in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series is now available in ebook at all ebook vendors. It should be available in print in about a week. Print takes longer to be available.

This story came about after a massage, or I should say while lying on the table waiting for my massage. The thought in my head was, “What if I were dead, face down on this table and the person giving the massage came in and found me this way?” Then I started thinking, “what if, someone looked in the door, saw the room was occupied, and left, leaving the person, if they were dying, without any help?” And so goes the mind of a writer!

TOXIC TRIGGER-POINT

Adultery… Jealousy… Murder

Shandra Higheagle Greer is minding her own business when she walks into a room for a massage and it is already occupied—by a dead body.

Always the champion for someone she knows, when her favorite masseuse looks like the murderer, Shandra listens to her gut and dreams choreographed by her deceased grandmother.

Detective Ryan Greer can’t believe his wife has walked into another homicide. He’s learned no matter how he tries to keep her out of the investigation he can’t. But this time the consequences could be deadly for Shandra—she heard the murder happen.

Universal buy link to most ebook vendors: https://books2read.com/u/4Ex9De