International Widows Day

I was surprised to see that today is a celebration of Widows. What would be appropriate for that day, as far as celebrating goes? I doubt Anna Larson, the business partner of Chase Oliver in the Fat Cat books, would want to celebrate being a widow. She loved her husband very much.

He has been gone for a good many years, though, and by the time the third book takes place, romantic things are happening for her.

But back to my question. What do you think of when you hear the word “widow?” I think of the biblical command to care for the orphans and widows. That would paint them as unfortunate beings. I’m sure that’s sometimes true, and many times not true. But, hey, all kinds of people are fortunate and unfortunate.

The only way I can think to celebrate this is for women everywhere to continue to advocate for the rights of women everywhere, including widows in that scope. We women in the US might also take a moment to be grateful we live in a country where things are at least a little more equal for us.

And, if you’re curious about how Anna is faring, check out FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE. You can find it in bookstores, libraries, and online.

Picture from morguefile

PS. I find this everywhere without any apostrophe. Oh well.

National Rivers Month

June is National Rivers Month, a month set aside to celebrate our nation’s waterways. I’d like to talk about the most important one for me, the Mississippi.

I grew up in Moline, Illinois, and could see the river from our back porch. We occasionally swam in the sloughs, the backwaters that occurred along the river. It probably wasn’t a particularly safe thing to do. But much safer than swimming in the river, proper. It was well known that tunnels and caves were at the bottom of the river and currents could suck you into them. Whether or not that was true, I don’t know, but it was well known.

A neighboring river that fed into the Mississippi, the Rock River, was much calmer and safer and was where people boated and water skied in the summer.

Growing up so close to a major body of water, I’ve always been fond of rivers and have an almost emotional attachment to the Muddy Mississippi. That’s why, when I got the contract for the Fat Cat books and learned they were to be set in Minneapolis, I was delighted that I could include my old friend, the river.

Here’s a scene from the first book after Chase has ridden her bike to the bridge over the river:

 

***

The sight of the Mighty Mississippi always calmed her. She stopped, straddling her bike for a few moments, watching the progress of the water that was near the beginning of its two-thousand-mile journey. When she was a child, she’d floated paper boats on its surface, then imagined their trip, picturing them making it all the way to New Orleans. Now that she was an adult, she knew a piece of paper would never make it that far. Still, she could imagine the voyage. She took a deep breath of the clear, crisp-tasting air over the cool water and pedaled to the shop, renewed and ready for another long day.

***

I never actually floated paper boats on the river, but in books that I read, kids did. I should have, so I had Chase do it.

This is a familiar scene from my childhood, a river barge.

I included another short passage, after Chase and Julie have biked there in the third book:

***

When they reached the middle, they stopped to watch the river. Chase always felt something switch on inside her soul, something that glowed with a serene light, when she stood and gazed at the peaceful Mississippi as it flowed beneath her.

***

Now that’s something I’ve done a lot, at many rivers. Doesn’t it seem like people have connections to water? Mine is to rivers and streams.

A Simple Thank You

To the hundreds of fans who signed up for one of the 20 giveaway books, thank you so much. You are ALL awesome! I will be sending out the books ASAP and I hope you enjoy FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE! Because YOU take the cake!

PS. Stay tuned for another giveaway pretty soon.

Excerpt and giveaway reminder

The Goodreads giveaway is still going on, until the end of the month! If you're not signed up, why not try for one of the 20 paperbacks I'm giving away of FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE. Six days left!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/187547-fat-cat-takes-the-cake

Here's an excerpt, just a small nibble from the beginning, so you can see if you'd like this series.

Chapter One

“That’s a lot of mail,” Anna Larson said. She was taking a short afternoon break, sitting on the squeaky stool at the work island in the kitchen of Bar None, the dessert bar shop co-owned by her and Charity Oliver, who was called Chase by almost everyone.

“Look!” Chase waved an envelope at Anna, her eyes bright and her cheeks red, partly from just coming in out of the early December cold, but partly because of excitement.

“If you held it still I could see it.”

Chase smiled at her business partner and surrogate grandmother. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll open it for you.”

“You know that’s a federal offense,” Julie Larson said.

“Julie.” Anna put on her stern grandparent look, which looked incongruous with her soft gray hair and her periwinkle eyes, much more used to smiling. “You don’t always have to be a lawyer.” Anna wore her usual bright sweater with a plain T-shirt and jeans. This sweater was a rough, burlap-like material in aqua and bright green, worn with a pale blue shirt.

“But it is, Grandma.” Julie, sitting next to Anna, nudged the older woman slightly and fished a marshmallow out of her cocoa with a spoon. Her eyes were identical to Anna’s, but set into a face that was forty years younger than Anna’s seventy two and ringed with dark brown hair. She kept her hair short and practical for her new job with Bud Ellison’s small real estate firm. Chase thought her good friend seemed much happier and more relaxed since she had left the District Attorney’s office.

“Your honor,” Anna began.

“That’s for judges, Grandma,” Julie said.

“Your high horse-ness, then. I give Charity permission to open my mail. Wait.” She took the envelope Chase was still waving in front of her. “Who is it from?” Anna looked at the return address. “It’s the Batter Battle!” She ripped the envelope open and pulled several sheets of paper from it, quickly scanning the cover letter. “I’ve been invited to participate in the Minny Batter Battle.”

Fat Cat at Large discounted!

I’m making a brief post to let you know that Fat Cat at Large has been discounted to $1.99. I have no idea how long this will last, so if you’d like to try the e-book, I recommend you jump on it.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425267423/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fat-cat-at-large-janet-cantrell/1118663280

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/fat-cat-at-large

An excerpt for you today!

I thought I'd treat you with the opening of FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE, which will be out soon. (Available for pre-order now, though.)

“That’s a lot of mail,” Anna Larson said. She was taking a short
afternoon break, sitting on the squeaky stool at the work island in
the kitchen of Bar None, the dessert bar shop co-owned by her and
Charity Oliver, who was called Chase by almost everyone.

“Look!” Chase waved an envelope at Anna, her eyes bright and her
cheeks red, partly from coming inside, out of the early December cold,
but partly because of excitement.

“If you held it still I could see it.”

Chase smiled at her business partner and surrogate grandmother. “I’ll
do better than that. I’ll open it for you.”

“You know that’s a federal offense,” Julie Larson said.

“Julie.” Anna put on her stern grandparent face, which looked
incongruous with her soft gray hair and her periwinkle eyes, much more
used to smiling. “You don’t always have to be a lawyer.”

May I Direct You?

May I direct you to the Killer Characters blog, where I’m running a giveaway of FAT CAT SPREADS OUT. I figure this is the season to spread out, with all the good holiday food coming up. After you see what Quincy has to say, if you want to spread out, or even curl up, with the second Fat Cat mystery, post your email address over there for a chance to win a copy!

http://www.killercharacters.com/2015/11/its-spread-out-season.html

photo from morguefile.com

One more task!

I’m getting more and more excited about the next Fat Cat book. My editor at Berkley Prime Crime has told me to expect her editor’s notes either this week or next.

(The timing is perfect because my alter-ego, Kaye George, is doing her last few edits on the second People of the Wind mystery before turning it over to a few readers. I’m very glad that will be done and out of the way.)

my desk, mid-project

As far as items on the checklist, this one is near the end for me, even though the book won’t be published until April. In fact, this is the next to the last, the penultimate job. After I address any story line concerns that the editor might have (let’s hope there aren’t many! aren’t any?), which will take a few days or a few weeks, I’ll turn my changes in to her.

The last task for me, my last chance to get everything in shape, is copy editing, which come to me from the copy editor, appropriately enough. This consists of typo corrections, instances where one word is used too often or too close to the last use, or punctuation errors. I try to do my most meticulous job with these. I know that nothing is perfect, especially a published book, and mistakes almost always slip through, but quite a few people will have made every effort to prevent this!

By the way, if you as a reader DO see mistakes, I’m always open to receiving them. If more printings are done, and the editors agree that there’s an error, it can be corrected.

The Waiting Game

I wonder if everyone realizes how much time writers spend waiting. Right now I’m waiting to get the edits for FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE.  I turned in my manuscript a few weeks ago. We usually don’t know when the edits will come to us, but it’s always a rush to get them back.

No, it’s not that bad. There IS enough time, and I know the editors have a lot on their desks, or desktops, or laptops. There is also the matter of Berkley Prime Crime merging with NAL. My editor is still there, but I have no idea what kind of chaos is happening there right now. Time will tell what happens there.

Here’s one version, rather gloomy.

http://www.mhpbooks.com/the-vanishing-mass-market-penguin-merges-two-mass-market-publishing-houses-merge-to-create-new-mass-market-publishing-house/

The Publishers Weekly report doesn’t sound good for mass market paperback.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/67234-penguin-merges-berkley-nal.html

However, I know that the BPC (or whatever it will be called) cozy books are big sellers.

One more view: http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2015/06/people-nal-is-merged-into-realigned-berkley-publishing-group/

But, back to the waiting thing. What am I doing in the meantime? I’ve sketched out some ideas for books 4-6, in case I get contracted to write more Fat Cat books. I also have some other cozy ideas up my sleeve—OK in my computer. I’m also working on my Kaye George projects: proofing audio files for BROKE, read by Veronica Newton (all 3 Duckworthy mysteries will have audio versions after we publish this; writing the first draft of the second People of the Wind tale entitled DEATH ON THE TREK; and—again—waiting for the galley proofs (the very last stage) and the cover for REQUIEM IN RED, the second Cressa Carraway Musical Mystery.

OK, so I’m not really sitting around waiting, there are lots of things in my pipelines. So, instead of waiting, what I’m really trying to say is that there are gaps in projects, but there’s no wasted time!

Two New Things to Report!

 First, the most recent. I’ve found out that FAT CAT SPREADS OUT hit national bestseller status, #14 on the Barnes & Noble list!

Second, the third in the series is getting closer—it has a title: FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE! I’ll post the cover as soon as I see it, promise.

Third, I’d like to repeat a blog recapping the signing on June 6^th for the release of that second bestselling book. This was posted at http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-good-time-was-had-by-all.html. Here is it, with pictures:

I’ve done signings where I’ve sold more books, but none have been quite as special as this one. There are several reasons.

First, I have a three book contract for the Fat Cat mysteries, writing as Janet Cantrell. The first book came out last September, 2014. We had moved from Texas, where I had lots of writing contacts, and I didn’t do a signing for it. It sold well anyway (national bestseller on two lists, Barnes & Noble and Bookscan), but I missed doing a signing. So this was my first signing as Janet Cantrell, for the second in the series, FAT CAT SPREADS OUT.

Second, this was a new first for me. I was asked to do this signing by the store! I went in to sign the stock of FAT CAT AT LARGE, the first book, last fall. As I was signing the books at the information desk, I was asked if I’d like to do a signing when the second one came out. I didn’t fall over, but felt like it. The Barnes & Noble here is not open for a signing at all, so I assumed maybe no one did local author signings in this town. However, Books A Million not only offered this signing, but wants me to come back when the third book comes out.

Third, the people who showed up were special. Neyland’s grandparents were there from Nashville. They used to own Mysteries and more until December, I believe. Neyland is one of my biggest fans, according to his mommy, Mary Ann Fisher. She sent me a picture of him reading my first book and promised to send one of him reading the book Greg and Mary Bruss bought last Saturday.

Another person I was glad to see was Dawn Frazier, who has been an
online fan of the books and lives near.

Then there was the staff. I couldn’t have asked for nicer people!
Rachel and Will each bought a book and looked after me and my husband
while we were there.

I’m so glad I’ll be going back in March!

Fat Cat Spreads Out ARC Giveaway

Guess why I haven't been posting lately? I was busy furiously editing to meet the deadline to turn in my manuscript for Fat Cat #3, as yet unnamed. I’d like to call it FAT CAT UNLEASHED, because Quincy, in the process of being leash trained, gets loose and finds—you guessed it, a dead body. However, there’s no official title yet. Lots of editing left, too!

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, the ARCs (Advance Reader Copy) arrived for Fat Cat #2—FAT CAT SPREADS OUT! It does have a title and will be released June 2nd.

I have earmarked most of the ARCs to be doled out to reviewers. However, there are still a few left. Below is what the actual cover will look like.

I’d like to give away 2 of the ARCs here. If you’d like one, please leave a comment below. (You may see a post very similar to this one at Kaye George's Travels with Kaye blog.) The giveaway will close at midnight EST on Sunday, the 22nd.

Maybe, with this deadline met, I’ll post more regularly.

Watch this space!

Why? Because I'm expecting ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) of FAT CAT SPREADS OUT this month! Depending on how many I receive, I'd like to run one or more giveaways. So, if you like that sort of thing, stay tuned on Wednesdays.

I will note here that the posting has been awfully sketchy lately. I've been laid low since the end of December with something that's still hanging on just a bit, but is almost gone. It wasn't flu and it wasn't pneumonia (per the chest x-ray). It was diagnosed as bronchitis, but I think it was the Real-Live Crud. Things should occur more regularly around here, I hope.

Cover Reveal!

I'm so pleased to be able to show you the cover for FAT CAT SPREADS OUT, which will be published June of 2015 if everything goes well and I don't have to do lots of additional rewriting.

Here's the come-on:

Butterscotch tabby Quincy is back and hungrier than ever in this frisky follow-up to Fat Cat at Large…

A booth at the Bunyan County Harvest Fair seems like the perfect opportunity for Charity “Chase” Oliver and Anna Larson to promote their Bar None bakery business. Unfortunately, plus-sized pussycat Quincy has plans for their delicious dessert bars other than selling them to customers. After tearing through their inventory, Quincy goes roaming the fairgrounds in search of more delights.

But what he finds is murder. One of the top contenders in a butter-sculpting contest has been killed, and Chase is churning on the inside when she sees Quincy’s handsome veterinarian, Dr. Mike Ramos, being led away by the police. With a little help from a kitty with butter on his whiskers, Chase needs to find the real killer and clear the doctor’s good name….

AND the cover:

You can preorder it already, too. Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, or Amazon.