This month from 12/10 to 12/14 you can order an E copy of my pottery mystery, MUD TO ASHES, absolutely free from Kindle. Get your copy today and gift some to your friends.

MUD TO ASHES is a stand alone CLEAN story about Karo Meisner, who thought she had the perfect life until her daughter went clear across the country to attend university. That’s when Karo found she wasn’t needed on a daily basis any more; she had been graduated into the consultant kind of mother. Even worse, she found she hardly recognized the man she married in the man who was now sharing her bed, and to cap it all off, she couldn’t even remember all those dreams she had now that she has time to pursue them. Still Karo wasn’t the kind of person who allowed herself to sink into a depression, and wallow in self pity. So when her husband asked for a divorce and her daughter took a job in Boston after graduating, she took charge of her life and decided to pursue new dreams. She moved to a beach town on the California coast, adopted two rescued dogs, and started developing her skills by working in a communal pottery studio while she begins to build a new life for herself.
The plan sounded good, and maybe it would have turned out the way she planned if it hadn’t been for that body Rudy, one of her newly adopted dogs, found in the surf at the beach. That was very disturbing. And the house at the end of the block with the anti-social inhabitants was distressing. And while she loved her work at the pottery studio, she can’t help but notice some of the other potters are a little strange. Still Karo tries to remain positive as she concentrates on achieving her goals, not even conscious that something evil is in play around her. Until that day she finds herself in the middle of a life threatening situation which explodes into a horror reaching nationwide notoriety.

I’ve been living with the ghost of this book for about four years now and finally it has become a reality.  I couldn’t just start writing it when I thought about it because I was deep into the Claire Gulliver mysteries and I just couldn’t stop what I was writing and move on to a new person and new story, abandoning Claire.  And eventually I started the Glenda books, I then had to identify and develop the characters, the action and the plot.  So I’ve been immersed in Glenda, the central coast of Oregon and Zylda for a long time now.  In fact my mind is already working out the events in the next book.

However, I’m very interested as to whether or not the readers who have enjoyed my Claire Gulliver mysteries will also like my Glenda stories.  These new books have an element of the spiritual in them.  I hadn’t planned it to be there at the beginning but Zylda had always been an intended victim.  Unfortunately, by the time the crime was to happen I had come to be so fond of Zylda I didn’t want her to die.  So I did what an old friend suggested, I had her come back from the other side.  It makes an entirely different story but I like it and I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

I invite you to send your comments which I will consider as I’m writing the next adventure and hopefully the end results will end up with something we both like.  Meanwhile, happy reading.

For the month of July only, in order to support an ad campaign on the Kindle Boards, Mud to Ashes, Kindle e-book will be on sale for $2.99. Now is the time to buy your copy.

Take a little vacation and enjoy your trip to the Northern California beach with Karo and her precious dogs, but be careful, there is danger a foot.

I met Radine Trees Nehring several years ago after I first started writing my mysteries. I was attending Writers’ Conferences that year to promote my books. We hit it off immediately, perhaps because she, too, writes a mystery series based on travel. Her protagonist visits Arkansas’ many tourist destinations where she subsequently becomes involved in a mystery she helps solve. These fun and charming stories always challenge and relax me. When I finish one I feel I’ve taken a trip to the beautiful sites Arkansas offers. At any rate, Radine apparently likes my stories too and the other day she posted this on a reader’s site on-line and sent me this copy which I’m going to share with you.

Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 17:09:29 -0500
From: Radine Trees Nehring
Subject: CARNAGE GOES COASTAL CARNAGE GOES COASTAL, the latest addition to Gayle Wigglesworth’s Claire Gulliver mystery series, is, to me, more suspense/thriller than cozy mystery, though the background is traditional cozy. (Keep in mind I’m waffling here, since I find it very difficult to define just what each division in the genre means.) I hope I’m not stating a spoiler when I say this time it’s Jack Rallins’s adult daughter Karen who’s in trouble. This is deep enough trouble that someone is trying to kill her, and isn’t at all concerned if “side damage” to the inept murder attempts take out twenty more innocent people. Those familiar with this terrific series know that Claire Gulliver and Jack Rawlins have been in love for some time, but his profession–in the CIA–keeps him traveling so much that wedding plans have been on hold. (Think Mrs. Pollifax in a masculine form.) However, now Jack is changing jobs so he can stay closer to home, and their wedding is planned for the near future. But Jack is off on a last assignment when Karen, terrified by the attempts on her life, calls to ask him what to do, and gets Claire instead. As series’ readers know, Claire has been involved in more than one dangerous event in the past, and, in Jack’s absence, she immediately steps in to save Karen. The story of how she accomplishes this is one reason I see suspense/thriller in this novel. It’s full of heart-pounding fast action. Claire’s rapidly concocted plan to save Karen Rallins is as exciting as that in any James Bond novel, though, of course, she doesn’t have access to the clever gimmicks and inventions he uses. For a time Karen is relatively safe at Claire’s home, but along the way the killer(s?) pursuing her have murdered several more people in attempts to get to her. And now, they’re after both Claire and Karen. The big unknown is: Why is someone so anxious to see Karen dead? True, she has given birth to a son, the result of a disastrous love affair with a married man who has political ambitions, but Karen has disappeared out of his life and– well, surely he knows she’s no threat to him? In the meantime, by the time Jack returns, Claire and Karen have bonded, and “baby Jack” is drawing everyone’s love and attention as babies most often do. The story advances to the heart-pounding level again when hired killers locate Karen, Claire, and baby Jack and, for a time, the reader wonders how they can possibly escape the advancing threat. In the Acknowledgements section that precedes this story, Gayle Wigglesworth says the book was very difficult to write because she “had written Claire into a moral dilemma” and that stopped her cold in the middle of the story. Eventually, however, she was able to plunge ahead, and wrote through the problem–very successfully. Of what I assume to be her “moral dilemma” I will only comment that, more than once, I have heard women who were asked if they could ever kill another human say: “Only if that person were threatening my child.” (End of comment.) Read the novel and see what happens next.

CARNAGE GOES COASTAL.
Highly recommended.
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You may want to look for Radine’s books and see what you think.

Fun short story – but don’t be fooled by its length. Still time to get to know the characters and puzzle over the mystery. I look forward to Glenda’s next and full length suspenseful adventure!  By, Janet H., San Francisco, CA

Murder Most Mysterious is in final editing process.  I will keep you posted on the progress.  Until then,  try reading my short story “I Love a Parade”.  This is a prequel to the Glenda at Large series.

Late in April, while on a trip to Seattle WA and Medford OR, I dropped in on my niece, Leslie Haze, who is a disc jockey on Radio Medford and Soft Rock Lite 102. Leslie is a fan of Claire Gulliver and had just finished reading Claire’s newest mystery, Carnage Goes Coastal. So of course we discussed the book on the air. And more important, Leslie loves Gayle’s Legacy and uses many of the recipes as well as recommends it to all her friends. Click on the link below to hear the interview. And if you can get Radio Medford, tune in some day, as I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening to her.

Radio interview with Lesile Haze

For a short time only I am offering my Kindle Edition of Gayle’s Legacy for $4.99. This edition includes all the pictures, the stories and the hints everyone has so enjoyed in the paper editions. Plus you will find it handy to take into the kitchen with you so you can follow the recipe in larger type as you cook. More and more lately I’m using my Kindle edition instead of my paper copy to help me cook. Try it yourself or gift it to a friend who needs a little help in the kitchen.

Gift for You

The latest adventure of Claire Gulliver is now available in both soft cover and e-book format. This is her sixth adventure which is called CARNAGE GOES COASTAL. If you have already read all six of her books, TEA IS FOR TERROR, WASHINGTON WEIRDOS, INTRIGUE IN ITALICS, CRUISIN’ FOR A BRUISIN’, MALICE IN MEXICO AND CARNAGE GOES COASTAL, I would like to reward you for your loyalty to Claire. Or if you haven’t already purchased it, when you do let me know. Send me an e-mail and tell me which book of the series you liked the most and I will gift you an ebook edition of my short stories, GAYLE’S TALE, Light Romantic Tales to Make You Smile. The only condition is you have to have a Kindle App to receive your copy. However, as Kindle will give you one free, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.

And I will let you know when the first book of my new series, MURDER MOST MYSTERIOUS, a Glenda At Large Mystery is available later in the Summer.

SUCH A DEAL!   Go to the contact section of my website and send a message. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

The Mystery Readers Journal covering Crafts, Hobbies and Special Interests is out for this quarter. If you’re a subscriber, look for my article, WHY MURDER HAPPENS IN THE POTTERY STUDIO, for insight into the trauma and drama of learning to be a potter. It is a glimpse of why my mystery, MUD TO ASHES, had to be written. If you don’t subscribe follow the link by clicking on the image to purchase a single copy or to become a member.