New Beginnings – But With Old Friends

New Beginnings – But With Old Friends

To put it mildly, the world is in a crazy state. Hugs, sitting close and laughing, randomly dining out, and big get-togethers for family celebrations, book events, or down home fun have been replaced with social distancing, hand sanitizer, and washing hands for the same amount of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.”

My normal reaction would be to pull back and hide until a new normal replaces the present one, but I can’t. Instead, my husband and I have been busier than ever while wearing masks. We got the brilliant idea, during a pandemic, to build a new house. It’s coming along nicely, I think – I social distance from it when I see people working in or on it (and I mean literally on the roof). We also decided to sell our current home. To avoid being there when strangers were coming and going, we moved into a hotel room that I carefully sanitized. The house sold in seven hours, closed in two weeks, and I found myself one of those people going in and out of places finding us a temporary place to live until the new house is ready and watching movers pack and move our possessions into storage units.

We’ve seen a few friends – at proper social distancing. That has proved to be an enjoyable experience though I held my breath waiting for my husband’s hearing aid batteries to die in the middle of dinner. I had images of us yelling, which is a no-no, to make him hear us.

The biggest loss for me, though, has been the interaction I had planned this spring for promoting my second Sarah Blair mystery, Two Bites Too Many. I relish being in different cities and having the chance to meet new readers and make new friends. I was able to do almost a month of conferences, store visits, and library talks before everything shut down in March. Since then, promotion has been through the written word, zoom, crowdcast, and when old friends tell their friends about the series. Happily, old friends apparently were my best promoters (and it doesn’t hurt that our recently re-opened Barnes & Noble at the Summit has a table displaying my books as their local featured author), but I’m worried.

On August 25, Three Treats Too Many will be released. Although I still will donate the proceeds of the first month of the book to charity, I haven’t aligned with a special one, yet. I haven’t wanted to bother them as they fight to survive and take care of people in need. I also don’t know if first month sales will be as good as they were for One Taste Too Many and Two Bites Too Many because I won’t be introducing the book at conferences or hands on meetings. I’m having to depend on word of mouth (old friends introducing my book to their friends) and pre-orders.

Where in the past I looked forward to signing your book in a bookstore, I hope you will trade the fun of getting an immediate signature for pre-ordering the book. Not only will it help me have stronger sales numbers, but it consequently will enable me to do more good with what the book earns in the first month. Am I begging for a pre-order of Three Treats Too Many or for you to tell others about the book? Yes. Why? Because I’d hate to break the string of making a nice donation to those in need that you’ve previously made possible. Promoting Three Treats Too Many will be “a new beginning,” but I’m hoping my “old friends” will make it as successful as in the past.

Thank you for being my friend…and helping me help others with the gift and joy I’ve been given.

Three Treats Blurb

When a romantic rival opens a competing restaurant in small-town Wheaton, Alabama, Sarah Blair discovers murder is the specialty of the house . . . 

For someone whose greatest culinary skill is ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the building inspector to get around to them, an attention-stealing new establishment—run by none other than Sarah’s late ex-husband’s mistress, Jane—is having its grand opening across the street.

Jane’s new sous chef, Riley Miller, is the talk of Wheaton with her delicious vegan specialties. When Riley is found dead outside the restaurant with Sarah’s friend, Jacob, kneeling over her, the former line cook—whose infatuation with Riley was no secret—becomes the prime suspect. Now Sarah must turn up the heat on the real culprit, who has no reservations about committing cold-blooded murder . . .

 Includes quick and easy recipes!

Pre-Order/Buy Links — any of our local bookstores can order it for you or:
Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Three-Treats-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719492

Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-treats-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1135275342?ean=9781496719492