Keep breathing. That’s what I told myself despite the immense pain radiating through my chest and shoulders. I hadn’t expected to come out of surgery and feel like I was being crushed alive. The nurse thought I was exaggerating. After consulting with my doctor over the phone, and ignoring my plea-“I have a high pain […]

I promised when I created my second series, Niki Undercover Thrillers, that I would make my writing life easier. I particularly wanted to improve ease of marketing the series. Turns out my stories have minds of their own-just like my characters. I wanted to simplify setting. I had allowed the stories in the Seamus McCree […]

There’s a saying that truth is stranger than fiction. But in my experience, truth also hides better. It disguises itself behind corporate statements, medical jargon, and policy papers. And when you’ve worked in medicine-as I have-you quickly learn that the most dangerous facts are often the ones marketed as “progress.” That’s why I write thrillers. […]

In recent months, I have been doing a number of talks and signings in support of the release of the newest installment of the Will Rogers Medallion award-winning Sheriff Ty Dawson crime thriller series, KNIFE RIVER. And the question I encounter most frequently regards the origins of Ty Dawson, and the fictional locale Meriwether County, […]

When I began my author adventure in 2020 at the ripe, old age of 58, I decided I may have been ripe, but I wasn’t expired. But I was clueless. And when I say that, I mean I was winging it in every aspect of my newfound, late-in-life passion. Starting out totally self-taught has a […]

Here’s a surprising twist on crime and mystery writers that you might not know: these writers who deal with some of the darkest crimes that the human mind can conjure are also some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I think it’s because we get our darkness onto the page and let it bleed […]

When people hear I’m both a veterinarian and a cozy mystery author, their eyes widen. A veterinary career is surprisingly great training for writing about amateur sleuths, quirky characters, and hidden clues. I love puzzles, but I also love a happy ending. Life can be unpredictable, but the satisfaction I get from treating patients and […]

You’re supposed to write about what you know. So what do you do if you’re a banker and you write about crime? You have to make up a few things if you want to keep your job. In my first book, Murderabilia, the protagonist’s father was a serial killer. No, that wasn’t part of my […]

Reading the past contributions, I thought I’d talk about one thing no one ever mentioned to me when I started out – keeping track of the chaos that is publishing.  First up, my story. I have always dreamed of being a writer but thought that was something someone else did. I was a rural Idaho […]

Thanks so much, Debra for having me back to your blog. My next Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, Murder at Cape Costumers, releases August 26th. It’s the seventh in the series of stories that take place in fictional Westham on upper Cape Cod. Bike shop owner Mac Almeida and her Cozy Capers book group sometimes […]