A Cover By Any Other Season
By Laurie Cass

For an author, there are many high points on the road to a book’s publication. Getting the first solid idea for the book’s plot is a great moment. So is starting the first draft. And then there’s the giddiness of snapping out a paragraph that just sings, and there’s the satisfaction of finishing the first draft, the relief when you finalize the last round of edits, and the thrill of seeing a copy of the book in a bookstore … but before that happens, there’s an agonizing moment to endure, a moment that’s fraught with angst and tension.

Yep, I’m talking about the day you get the first glimpse of your book’s cover.

This process is different for different authors and publishers, but in my case, I don’t have much hand in the cover design. What happens for me is that my editor asks if I have any ideas for the cover and I almost always say no, because I’m busy writing the book and haven’t given Thought One to what the cover might look like. My editor says okey-dokey and a couple of months later she emails me an image and writes, “Hope you like it!”

I’ve had great good luck with all of my book covers, but the cover for BORROWED CRIME blew me away. It’s flat out gorgeous. The bookmobile is parked in a forest glade, birds are flittering about, books are displayed outside amidst wildflowers, and everything is green and growing and almost magical-looking with the way the sunlight is shimmering through all the green.

There’s only one problem; the book takes place in early winter. And while winter for some people means putting on a sweater and mowing every other week instead of every five days, it’s a little different in northern Michigan, where the bookmobile cat mystery series is set.

Up here, early winter means no green leaves, no grass, and the only flowers to be seen are in flower shops, not outside growing out of the ground. Instead, we have bare trees, cloudy skies, and snow. Wet, sloppy, drippy, snow that chills you to the bone.

As I looked at the beautiful but oh-so-very seasonally incorrect image, I suddenly understood my editor’s comment of, “Just so you know, the cover is a little warm.”

Ah. Now I get it.

My suggestion that the artist paint some snow over the top of everything wasn’t taken seriously. Neither was my other suggestion, which was to save this cover for the next book, which takes place in late spring.

So what’s an author to do?

Well, since there wasn’t much this particular author could do about the situation, I figured I might as well see the humor in the whole thing. After all, it makes for a good story, right?

And besides, it’s hard to be too upset because it really is a beautiful cover!

About the Author:

Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from college in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) degree in geology. She turned to writing in the late nineties. After a number of years in management, she felt the need to move on and took a job with fewer responsibilities. A month later, she was dead bored and began to consider writing as a way to wake up her brain. She started reading a lot of books on writing and happened across a particular sentence: “What’s it going to be, reasons or results?”

The phrase practically stuck her in the eye. She printed it out, framed it, and put it next to her computer. “Reasons or results?” At the end of her life, was she going to have a pile of reasons for not having done anything? Or was she going to sit down and write a book? Once she started looking at it that way, the decision was easy. A short 13 years later, her first book was published.

Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, attempting to keep the flowerbeds free of weeds, or doing some variety of skiing. She also write the PTA Mysteries under the name Laura Alden.

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Librarian Minnie Hamilton spreads the joy of reading throughout Chilson, Michigan, with her bookmobile, but she doesn’t ride alone. Her rescue cat, Eddie, and a group of volunteers are always on board to deliver cheer—until one of her helpers gets checked out for good…

When Minnie loses a grant that was supposed to keep the bookmobile running, she’s worried her pet project could come to its final page. But she’s determined to keep her patrons—and Eddie’s fans—happy and well read. She just needs her boss, Stephen to see things her way, and make sure he doesn’t see Eddie. The library director doesn’t exactly know about the bookmobile’s furry co-pilot.

But when a volunteer dies on the bookmobile’s route, Minnie finds her traveling library in an even more precarious position. Although the death was originally ruled a hunting accident, a growing stack of clues is pointing towards murder. It’s up to Minnie and Eddie to find the killer, and fast—before the best chapter of her life comes to a messy close…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Borrowed Crime

Review (4 Stars): Borrowed Crime was a delightful mystery with engaging characters, clever plot twists and a purrfect sidekick.  Minnie Hamilton is having a hard time finding funds to keep her beloved bookmobile program running and she is at her wit’s end trying to find a solution. On top of that, she is desperately trying to find volunteers to assist her when the bookmobile makes their scheduled stops. When one of her new volunteers is found dead and all the evidence points to murder, Minnie must solve the clues fast before her beloved bookmobile is shut down for good.

This is a great series and I just love Minnie and her feline buddy, Eddie.  I felt bad for Minnie in the beginning of the book because she was completely stressed that she would lose her beloved bookmobile program and that her boss knew all about Eddie joining her for every trip.  The last thing she needed was for one of her volunteers to be murdered and she ends up discovering the body once again.  The mystery in Borrowed Crime was thought-provoking and had me trying to figure why the victim was killed, when the clues didn’t point to the killer right away.  I loved getting updates on my favorite supporting characters and I’m glad that Minnie’s love life was still heading in the right direction.  This is the third book in Bookmobile Cat Mystery series and I’m looking forward to reading book number four, Pouncing on Murder, when it comes out later this year.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Borrowed Crime. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by March 15th, please leave me a comment below:

How to Dress a Ghost
Guest Blog by Fran Stewart

Did you ever notice that some writers go into great detail dressing their characters in Armani and Blahnik, Hermes and Chanel? Those meticulously turned-out characters would be quite in place on a Paris runway.

But what do you do when you’re writing a 14th-century Scottish ghost? He’s not even palrt of the nobility, so a floor-length ermine cloak is off limits. I wouldn’t write one on him anyway, since I have this thing against using dead animal skins for high fashion or any other kind of fashion.

Fortunately Macbeath Donlevy Freusach Finlay Macearachar Macpheidiran of Clan Farquharson—can you see why Peggy Winn calls him Dirk?—is something of a hunk. He doesn’t need any extras. Just ignore that picture of Jamie in the Outlander. Dirk’s belted plaid (pronounced played) is what most of us would call a kilt, a real kilt, made with nine yards of tartan fabric. What man with broad shoulders and good knees wouldn’t look good in a kilt?

Of course, Dirk’s shoulders are very broad. And his knees would be the envy of everyone in the town of Hamelin, Vermont—and in your hometown, too—if only “everyone” could see them.

You see, Dirk is invisible to everyone except Peggy Winn, but I must say she appreciates his … his kilt enough for everyone.

And his shoulders? Ahh. Don’t you love to see a man in one of those poet shirts (like this one from a website called the witches spindle)? They make even a fairly skinny fellow look pretty good, and someone like Dirk look absolutely magnificent. He doesn’t get any ruffles on his shirt, but then again, he doesn’t need them. Did I mention that he’s dead, though? He’s been that way for a little under 700 years. Poor Peggy.

Add to that the fact that he’s still in love with Peigi (it means Pearl), the woman who knitted the shawl that allows Peggy Winn to see Dirk when she puts it on. I know, I know, the shawl must be 700 years old, but believe me, it makes sense in the book.

So, I’ve dressed Peggy in a Scottish arisaidh that she wears while she’s working at her store, the ScotShop, and the ancient shawl that lets Dirk “be” – somehow. Meanwhile Dirk wears his poet shirt, his kilt, a knife in his sock, a dagger, and a kilt pin made of antler and wood. With him dressed like that, you can see his … uh … attributes without any high fashion anywhere.

Happy drooling … I mean reading!

About the Author:

Fran Stewart is the author of the Biscuit McKee Mysteries – GRAY AS ASHES is the seventh book in that series – as well as a standalone mystery – A SLAYING SONG TONIGHT.  Her new ScotShop Mystery Series from Berkley Press begins with A WEE MURDER IN MY SHOP.

Fran lives quietly with various rescued cats beside a creek on the other side of Hog Mountain, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta.

She sings alto with a community chorus and volunteers at her grandchildren’s school library. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

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Hamelin, Vermont, isn’t the most likely place for bagpipes and tartan, but at Peggy Winn’s ScotShop, business is booming…

While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can’t resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden fee: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman.

Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont—only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy’s cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy decides to ask her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime—before anyone else gets kilt…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of A Wee Murder in My Shop

Review (4.0 Stars): Peggy Winn has taken a trip to Scotland to search for treasures that she can sell at her Scottish shop back home in Vermont and forget about her lying, cheating ex-boyfriend.  On this lovely trip to the Scottish Highlands, Peggy acquires a beautiful shawl in a store that she has never seen before on her many trips to the area.  What she soon discovers, is that her lovely shawl comes with the ghost of handsome Scot.  When Peggy returns home with her new companion, she finds the body of her ex-boyfriend lying of the floor of her beloved shop and Peggy’s cousin is blamed for the crime.  Peggy must find the real killer soon before she ends up joining her new friend on the other side.

A Wee Murder in My Shop is a fun, delicious mystery that will keep you entertained for hours.  I liked Peggy from the very beginning and envied her trips to Scotland to visit the Highlands and spend time in this beautiful country.  I loved Dirk as he struggled to accept the fact that he was dead and now in the 21st century, which had some very funny moments in the book.  Ms. Stewart is a new mystery writer to me but that won’t be for long because I thoroughly enjoyed A Wee Murder in My Shop and am now a big fan of this new series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of A Wee Murder in My Shop. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by March 13th, please leave me a comment below: