Peg Herring, Mystery Author

It was great! Good weather, great fans, knowledgeable authors, and wonderful downtown businesses, especially our sponsors: Blue Phoenix Books, Olivet Book & Give, and the George M. Fletcher Library! But I won't tell you: I'll show you!  Volunteers make an event, and we had some great ones, including S-in-Law Julie and her niece Skyla, who took these pics.  Other helpers P.J. & Kaylee had a bit of trouble with tangled balloons.  Loved what Allen & Goel Marketing Company did with the tote bags.  Author Elizabeth Buzzelli shares a laugh with a fan.  Bob of Bob's Bullpen demonstrates some facets of graphic arts.  "My Favorite Book" tree  Love to see a kid enjoying a book! Panel at Blue Phoenix Books: What Makes a Genre, and Which Ones Do You Read? l to r: Christine Johnson, Connie Doherty, P.J. Coldren, Laura Kolar, Chris Chagnon  Signing for Clarence, a voracious reader and nice man.  Author Susan Froetschel with a new f

Every once in a while, I update readers here, because so often I get questions about "What's next?" Here's a rundown: The Loser series is finished, at least for now. The first two are out as audio books. The third is in the pipeline, but the narrator is at university and just had a baby, so she's asking for patience. The Simon & Elizabeth series will have one more installment (#5), but it's going to be a while. I'm slow and so is the publisher of this series. (To their credit, they like to get it right.) The Dead Detective series will have its final story sometime in early 2016. The manuscript is not complete, but the story's down. The Sleuth Sisters series book #4 will probably be next. It's in my head but not written down anywhere yet. My new/old standalone mystery about the death of a friendship in northern Michigan is out. (It used to be just an e-book but I rescued it, got a new cover made, and arranged for print cop

Readers are smart people. We know that. Reading almost anything makes you learn things, even if they're not massively important things. Non-fiction is the most reliable source for learning, although you have to be careful whose nonfiction it is. Recent studies showed that reading fiction can make a person more empathetic, presumably because you put yourself in the place of others and see life from viewpoints other than your own. Over time we develop reading habits, and that's both good and bad. If you always read one genre and even one sub-genre, you're going to end up in a rut. Publishers encourage this, hoping and expecting that readers will buy the next book in a series by their favorite author, even if it's pretty much the same as the book before it and the one before that. Sadly, they can get sloppy if they think buyers are locked-in to the series. The last book I read by one of my favorite authors was poorly edited and so much like the rest that there was

The weekend was great. Lots of people come "home" to our tiny town for the Fourth festivities, so we ran into old friends everywhere. The question often came up, "What are you working on now?" Short answer: the 4th Dead Detective Mystery, but it's been interrupted a lot by the other three in the series. The first book The Dead Detective Agency, was published in 2011, the second, Dead for the Money , in 2012. Then the publisher got overwhelmed and didn't move forward with Book 3, even though it was edited and ready to release. At the beginning of this year, I asked for the rights back (the contracted time was up) and went about re-releasing the books with new covers, which you learned about last week if you're a regular reader. (I don't want people to re-buy the books, thinking they're new.) Now it's time to finish Seamus' story, so my first priority is Dead to Get Ready--and Go , in which he will investigate his own murder. Its rele

I asked the original publisher of the Dead Detective Mysteries to give me back the rights to the books. They were very nice about it, and I began the process of re-publishing them. Since audiences are often interested in how book covers come about, I thought I'd share my experiences with this series. When publishers accept a manuscript, they often ask the writer for her ideas on what the cover should look like. There is NO guarantee they'll listen, and other writers I've spoken with had covers they hated or felt didn't represent their books at all, but they were stuck with them. When asked about a cover for Book #1, I said I pictured a girl on a ship with a mysterious man in the background. My publisher's cover artist chose this as the cover for The Dead Detective Agency. Some people liked it; some didn't. A couple said the girl looked like my daughter; others said she looked like a robot. My first reaction was disappointment, but I recognize that I am NO ju

Almost everyone liked the cover with the two figures on it best. I can't show it to you yet in final form, because I asked the cover artist to do a little touching up, which she confided this morning is driving her crazy. (Better her than me!) I don't like the messiness around the girl's left hand, and since I have no idea how much work it is to smooth that out, I asked. Apparently it's a lot. Anyway, I should have that cover soon, so the first two Dead Detective books can be re-issued by the end of June. Don't buy them again if you've already read them. I mean, you can if you want to...   :) I talked to a fan who thought she liked Book #3 (DEAD FOR THE SHOW) better than Book #1, so she went back and re-read the first one. Now that's dedication! I almost never re-read books, except of course for editing and re-editing and re-re-editing. By the time mine are published, I'm tired of them. It was interesting, therefore, to read the first 2 DD books se

The Dead Detective Agency will soon be re-released, since I got the rights to the series back from the original publisher. I must choose new covers, and these are some options the cover artist sent me. I'd love some feedback. This is Book #1, where Tori finds out she's dead and on the ship that takes people to the Afterlife.  .

Which Are the Good Ones? I've read a lot of books, but we probably won't agree on which were the best ones. Why? Because each book speaks to us as individuals: where we come from, what we value, and how we want our leisure activities to go. Reading requires commitment: time for sure, concentration (some books more than others), and a degree of background preparation. The ability to read is the most basic level, but requirements build after that. For example, a person isn't likely to enjoy a book about modern immunology if she doesn't understand the vocabulary used or a book about WWII if she doesn't know or care who Winston Churchill was. Reading serves different purposes. Many people read to escape from hum-drum, daily stuff. They want to escape reality, and they don't mind how wild the plots get as long as they're entertaining. Others demand that their fiction be realistic, with characters who could be real and plot-lines that might actually happen.

I'm at the Cheboygan Public Library this week (Wednesday, April 29 at 6:30 pm), and here are some reasons I'm thrilled about it. 1. I only have to drive 60 miles round trip . While I enjoy the talks in Florida or the meet-and-greets in Detroit, it's kind of nice to stay home all day and then take a leisurely ride around Black Lake, knowing I'll be home again in only a few hours. 2. I'm likely to see people I know . Again, meeting new people is nice, but seeing old friends is nice too (even if I don't remember names as well as I used to!) 3. I'm not the only draw to the library. The Youth Art Fair is going on, so those who attend the talk will get twice the entertainment as they browse the displays before and chuckle at my stories later. 4. I'll have help. Because I'm local, Purple Tree Books owner Emily is going to handle book sales. This means I'm free to talk, which you all know is what I like best. 5. I've got a fun new topi

Winner of KILLING SILENCE was Patti T.   Due to the death of my laptop (purchased a scant six months ago) I'm suspending the freebies for this week. I hope the Princess Bride Effect is in play and the infernal machine is only mostly dead, but since I'll be traveling for the next few days, I have to leave it behind. I can't deal with daily updates to this blog on my iPad. Remember, my IT has DIO in the middle. I've decided to pick the giveaways up again in May, when the third Sleuth Sisters book comes out, so stay tuned!   And don't forget to look for DEAD FOR THE SHOW, which will release on Monday whether I'm ready or not!

Winner of Yesterday's books: Victoria K. 3 Sleuths, 2 Dogs, 1 Murder Want 2 free copies of this book? Respond here or on Peg’s News on Facebook to be entered in the daily drawing. Book #1 of the Sleuth Sisters Series by Maggie Pill (AKA Peg) Setting: Allport, MI, a town seems a lot like a blend of Alpena and Rogers City When middle-aged sisters Faye and Barb start a detective agency in their small town, most people think it’s a joke. Only Baby Sister Retta wants to associate with them, and since she tends to be bossy and manipulative, she’s the one person they don’t want around.