Peg Herring, Mystery Author

Here's the new historical romance, and the answers to a few questions. 1. Another romance?     I know! I didn't think I'd ever do it, but the story was so much fun I had to. 2. Available where?     Amazon for e-book for sure.     Amazon in print any minute now.     Ingram in print someday soon. Since Ingram connects to bookstores, it's nice to have the book offered there, but they take longer to get things set up. Give it a week before you ask your favorite library or bookstore to get it for you.     Hometown folks-It will be at Tom's, but probably not until March. It's just the way things worked out for me. 3. So what's it about?    Jenna and Jessie, two more of Macbeth's nieces. If you remember Tessa from Macbeth's Niece , my very first book, you'll see her again. Because it's ten years later, I didn't call this a sequel. It's more like a relative. 4. Where do the characters come from? If you happen to know sisters name

Note: I was going to call this post "Old Readers," but I was afraid it might bring to mind the original Kindle. I'm looking at those of us who've read all our lives: Old Readers. My husband started reading in his fifties. My father started even later than that. That isn't me. I can't remember when I didn't have my nose in a book. Reading is wonderful, but a lifetime of reading leads to a problem: What to read next. When I was a kid, my choices were limited to what books our school library had, though I eventually moved on to reading my mom's mystery novels (MacDonald, Carr, Christie, etc.), and gothics (Stewart, duMaurier, and the like). As a young adult I read historical pot-boilers from Frank Yerby (lots of rape threat) to Rosemary Rodgers (lots of actual rape). I also read a lot of biographies back then, mostly movie stars like David Niven and John Wayne. Now I'm pretty old, and I've read a lot of stuff. When people gush about the ne

I miss my daughter sometimes more than others, and hearing of David Bowie's death made today one of those times. This isn't one of those "poor me" essays. Death is part of life, and I don't want any sympathy. What I want is to say there are times when we'd really like to talk to someone, but that someone is dead. It's a weird feeling, like not being able to finish a task you really need to do. My daughter was a HUGE Bowie fan. I can't tell you how many times I watched Labyrinth and listened to "Let's Dance" in the '80s. Like a lot of working moms, I wasn't that tuned in, but it was nice to have things we could talk about without me cringing or her rolling her eyes. I was okay with David, Adam Ant, and George Michael, because I liked (most of) their music and understood that their oddness appealed to girls of her age. When I heard this morning that Bowie died, I wanted to call my daughter and talk about it. I can imagine what sh

 In classic Greek theater, violence happens offstage. If someone's going to kill himself, he tells you so then exits. If the hero and the bad guy engage in a duel to the death, they'll thrust and parry "stage right and exeunt." Only one will return. It's partly good taste, the belief that audiences shouldn't have to see such things. I suspect the other part is more practical: a good death scene is difficult to stage--and what do you do with the corpse afterward? Shakespeare takes the easy way many times, too. People come in carrying dead bodies, like Lear bearing poor Cordelia; or parts of them, as Macduff does with Macbeth's head. Easy to make a fake head, not so easy to make it appear the head of a living actor is being separated from his body. Today we have all kinds of tricks to make on-stage deaths look real. If you've seen the Three Musketeers decapitate the evil Milady just as the theater goes dark, or the trick of light in Les Miserables t

Many years ago, my first book came out. Macbeth's Niece is a romance set in--well, the time of Macbeth, around 1053. Here is what Five Star Publishing did for its cover. And here's what I did when the rights reverted back to me and I re-released it as an e-book. Theirs is prettier, but mine shows more of Tessa's fiery personality. Why did a mystery writer start with a romance? Well, they say to write what you know, and as a long-time English teacher, Macbeth is very familiar to me.  I always loved the story and felt sorry for Macbeth, who didn't comprehend that things seldom turn out the way you imagine they will until it was much too late. The story of a girl living at his castle who has her own adventures and comes to the same conclusion (though with a happier ending) seemed to form itself in my head without much effort (though writing it down was a little more difficult.) I was shopping two books at the time, and two different agents tried to find a pub

On the First Day of Christmas, my agent sent to me: a huge check for royalty! On the Second Day of Christmas, on Audible for me: new audio files On the Third Day of Christmas, the artist sent to me: one awesome cover On the Fourth Day of Christmas, the tech guy sent to me: epub mobi formats On the Fifth Day of Christmas, the readers sent to me:   Five Star Reviews! On the Sixth Day of Christmas, some good luck gave to me: promo on BookBub On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my publisher decreed: major U.S.   book tour On the Eighth Day of Christmas, the news announced to me: New York Times top listing On the Ninth Day of Christmas, an editor told me: “Couldn’t find an error.” On the Tenth Day of Christmas, a beta said to me: “Next book’s even better!” On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my PR girl told me: Outsold Evanovitch! On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, some clerk called to tell me: “Oprah loves your book!” (Yes

1. A dark science room                                                   ____Chow Chow 2. Teutonic minder of ewes                                             ____Black Lab 3. Colorful insect chaser                                                 ____Papillon 4. Pugilist                                                                        ____Mexican Hairless 5. Food-food                                                                   ____West Highland Doxie 6. French butterfly                                                          ____Husky 7. Scots mountain girlfriend                                           ____Bluetick Hound 8. Bald southern neighbor                                                                          ____German Shepherd 9. Not fat, just over-sized                                                                            ____Saint Bernarnd 10. Beatified author Cornwell                                                                   ____Boxer