Peg Herring, Mystery Author

If you know the Sleuth Sisters, you've met Buddy, Faye's mongrel, and Styx, Retta's Newfoundland. You know Barb has formed a tenuous relationship with a stray cat. Book #2 had some horses join the family, and Book #3 took us to the family farm, where there are reindeer and peafowl. In the 4th Sleuth Sisters book, chickens are an inciting factor--Bet you never heard that in a mystery before! All this brought to mind a question for today's post: If money, space, and other possible drawbacks were somehow taken care of, what animal would you choose to get for a Christmas gift? (to add to the ones you already share space with, of course)

We're going to try something new today. I read about InstaFreebie online, and I want to see if it's as easy as they say. Soooooo, if you haven't read THE SLEUTH SISTERS or you know someone who should, here's the link to a FREE e-copy http://www.instafreebie.com/free/1XMHQ I would appreciate some feedback on how well InstaFreebie works, because I understand people are abusing the Amazon Gift books that authors provide. When we "gift" an e-book on Amazon, a few nasty folks trade that gift in for cash and spend it on something else. I know, it's sad. I guess people who would do that aren't likely to provide an Amazon review anyway, which is why we give books away (and because we love our readers, of course!) InstaFreebie claims it can work with any e-reader. I put the book up for a week, so you have until next Wednesday, Dec. 9, to get your copy or tell someone else how to find it. If it works well, I'll do more giveaways over the next few mo

Guess how this author picks winners for giveaways and such! These days as many of my friends are authors as are not. I thought for the Dec. 1st post I'd tell you about someone else's books for a change. These people have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm hoping it's a nice surprise for the next few Tuesdays for them and possibly some new reading for those who read this blog. Today's "honoree" is Janet, who has a book releasing today. She has two series published under pen names, and both are worthy of a read if you like cozy mysteries and haven't yet tried them. The PTA Murders series is published under the name Laura Alden and features Beth Kennedy, recently divorced with two kids. When she gets drafted into more involvement in the local PTA, things start happening, and Beth is reluctantly drawn into sleuthing. The five-book series is notable to me because the humor is genuine, not derived from exaggerated characters who do unbelievable thing

Many of us start looking for the perfect gift around this time. (If you're one of those people who's had your shopping done since July 12th, I still love you.) There are lots of ways to go about finding things to make those around us happy, but I've been thinking of something you might not have considered. Why not give people the right to be different from you? Consider if you will how much stress--family, community, national, and international--would disappear if we didn't insist on being right. Football fans call rival teams terrible names, and their fans must be stupid if they cheer for them. Men and women make nasty jokes about the other gender's supposed weaknesses. Kids take note of the differences between them and conclude Not Like Me means bad. I don't think they come to that belief on their own. Internet philosophers speculate on the oddness--and therefore the wrongness--of this person or that group. People of different cultures are lumpe

Barb's Christmas Memories I remember Christmas. We always went to our grandparents’ house for dinner. The times I remember best were when Faye and I were around eight and nine. Our cousins were all boys, and they lived in faraway Muskegon, so we seldom saw them. They were rough-and-tumble types, and I never enjoyed their company much, though Faye was always willing to play Monkey in the Middle or King of the Hill with them. Dad and Uncle Marv, the sons-in-law, sat in the living room, smoking and swapping stories with Grandpa Lemmon. Mom, Aunt Marilyn, and Grandma worked together in the kitchen, each preparing her signature dishes. Grandma cooked the turkey, filling it with spicy stuffing and making delicious gravy from the drippings. Mom liked to do the salads, and I would help her clean and slice vegetables for tossed salad, pasta salad, potato salad, broccoli salad, and fruit salad. Aunt Mar was the side dish expert, and she’d bring a squash to roast, her fam

Here's our first contest of the 30 Days of Christmas. It's a test of how well you know my books (and that other woman's too). Answer the five questions. Send your answers by email to pegfish@yahoo.com. If you get them all right, you'll be entered to win the book of your choice by Peg or Maggie in e-book or print format. 1. What is Loser's hometown? 2. What type of hat does Seamus always wear? 3. What is Rory Neuencamp's job title? 4. How did Simon Maldon meet his future wife? 5. What does Sarah Leigh do for a living?

Today I'm challenging you. Tell me: Is your pet on Santa's Naughty List or his Nice list? This is Burt. He's on the Nice List because he's so patient with his pet girl.