My Least Favorite Month

on August 25, 2020 Carolyn

Dear Reader,

August is bearing down on South Alabama with the brute force of a bully. Most days have a heat index of 101-108 and the humidity is like a suffocating blanket. In fact, I’ve come up with the perfect diet! I need to be put into a medically induced coma for the whole month of August and allowed to live off my own body fat. When I wake up, it will be September and everything will be much, much better! I’ll be thinner, well-rested, and August will be behind me.

As I’m writing my newsletter it’s raining buckets, which is good because it knocks the heat down and truthfully, my grass needed a really good soaking. The dogs are all asleep around me. The cats are stomping over my desk and everywhere else–except for the two sitting on the back porch watching the rain. My cats are strange. They don’t seem to mind getting wet. I sometimes think they think they’re dogs because they’ve been raised around the pack.

The “safer at home” rule is still in effect at Casa Carolyn. This marks 5 months of staying home and staying safe. I don’t see this COVID mess ending any time soon. I can only say I’m very glad I don’t have school-age children because that would be really hard. When I was growing up, I sometime stayed home from school to play with my mother. We had adventures together. In those days it wasn’t such an ordeal to miss a day of school. Parents today are faced with some very tough decisions.

[The Devil's Bones]

I’ve had some terrific reviews of THE DEVIL’S BONES. I was going to do a signing at the Lucedale library but COVID killed that plan, but I will be doing a Zoom class on fiction writing next month on the library’s Facebook page. They are doing their best to offer some interesting programs to the patrons since the library must remain closed. Here’s the library’s FB page: Lucedale-George Library. The date is September 15 at 6 p.m. CDT. Everyone is welcome.

In the book world I finished Sarah Booth’s 23rd adventure, INDEPENDENT BONES! Now I’m working on TROUBLE RESTORED! I had a hankering to write a Trouble book. We have some terrific books lined up for the future, and Susan Tanner’s fabulous A WHISPER OF TROUBLE goes on sale September 7. In the meantime, we have a special price on a three-book bundle of Susan’s first Trouble books, THE TROUBLE WITH HORSES. The special price on the boxed set ends August 31. And don’t forget about YEAR-ROUND TROUBLE. We have some terrific stories coming up to mark the approach of “the holiday season.”

[Box Set $2.99]

[A Whisper of Trouble]

I want to introduce you to a new writer friend I’ve made, Vivien Chien. I met her on Twitter (do I sound like a stalker?) and I’m now reading her book, EGG DROP DEAD. I’m having a blast. Vivian has a new book out today!—KILLER KUNG PAO. Here’s a little description:

Lana Lee’s plate is already plenty full. Running her family’s Chinese restaurant in Cleveland’s Asia Village is challenging on the best of days. But just when Lana thinks she might be able to catch her breath before the weekend—which she’s eager to spend with her equally overworked boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau—Lana witnesses a car accident in the parking lot. And now she has no choice but to get involved.

June Yi, of Yi’s Tea and Bakery, is a serious businesswoman well-known for her heartlessness. But June meets her match when she rear-ends the Cadillac belonging to Mah Jong lover Mildred “Millie” Mao. As each woman curses—and threatens—the other, it becomes clear to Lana that trouble lies ahead. Still, who could have imagined that Millie would end up dead at the beauty salon? The evidence suggests that she was electrocuted while having a foot bath, and all eyes are on June. Can Lana find a way to solve this case before another fatality occurs in Asia Village?

[Killer Kung Pwo]

Here’s a buy link for this fun mystery: KILLER KUNG PAO

And here’s where you can find out a little more about Vivien and the Noodle Shop Mysteries.

www.vivienchien.com

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

[photo]
Let it be Fall!

The animals are good, though the heat has been hard on the horses. I worry for all the dogs left chained outside and the feral kitties who have no one to care for them. That’s my curse—to worry about the helpless animals. It’s a good thing I don’t have any supernatural powers or I would be smiting people left and right.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from Casa Carolyn. Just stay home, stay safe, stay cool, and stay sane!

Here’s a little song and movie nostalgia for you from all the critters on the farm. They find Andy Williams soothing! The Shadow of Your Smile

Until next month—keep reading!

CH