Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

  Title: Dead in the Dinghy (Mollie McGhee Sailing Mystery #4) Author: Ellen Jacobson Publication Info: Dec. 13, 2019 Source: ARC from the author Publisher's Blurb: What would you do if your husband became obsessed with turning your cat into an internet sensation? Mollie McGhie is excited about the Coconut Cove regatta. She’s looking forward to sailing to Destiny Key, enjoying the Fourth of July festivities, and dressing her cat, Mrs. Moto, up in adorable costumes for her hubby’s crazy new YouTube channel. Instead, they lose the race, get caught in a dangerous storm, and find a dead body in their dinghy. The local chief of police claims that it was an accidental death, but Mollie is convinced that a murder took place. During her investigation, Mollie gets drawn into the local art community, worries that her cat is going to turn into a diva, learns more about the mysterious Destiny Key, and even does a waitressing gig in exchange for bacon. Can Mollie prove that someone

 Since this was the posting week for the WEP challenge, I shifted my update to Friday. Before we get to the writer's update, how about some blog updates? Regular readers may have noticed that I'm not doing very many reviews anymore. (Actually, since I haven't all year, you may not remember I ever did). For some reason--travel, moving, writing novels, and too much social media--I haven't been reading as much this year. When I do, I often don't feel like writing reviews. So I don't, unless I've committed to do so (I have books from a number of you that I need to read and review, per my promises!). For now, I'm happy to do occasional reviews, some photo posts, keep talking about writing, and maybe get back to writing flash fiction now and again. Writer's Update: With NaNo over, the temptation to just kind of stop is great. We have to resist! I have pushed on another two or three thousand words (which also involved deleting a thousand or so) to get a mor

  It's that time, a little early this month because of the holidays. I put off writing my story to the last minute, hoping for inspiration. You get to decide if I got it :) WEP/IWSG challenges are open to all. On the 1st of the challenge month, there will be a get-your-thinking-caps on post. The badge will include the dates of the challenge and the winner’s prize. Going forward, the InLinkz sign up will open on the third Wednesday and close 3 days later. Participants link up with the DLs. Team members collate a SHORTLIST and Nick Wilford judges WINNER, RUNNER UP and ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD. The BEST COMMENTER AWARD will continue, shared by different people, so keep on reading wonderful people! And look who won the Commenter Award this time! Xavier Xanthum may deserve a little explanation. I invented him years ago for an X post in the A to Z blogging challenge, and kind of fell in love with my absurd space explorer. He's a bit of a dweeb, a bit of a nerd, and a loner who is

The exciting 4th installment in the Pismawallops PTA Mystery series is here! An earthquake… a pile of books… and a corpse. JJ McGregor and the Pismawallop PTA are back on the job, desperate to find the killer before the library takes the fall.   The library can save your life… can it kill you, too? JJ has a new job at the library, which ought to make her happy. But with all those books to shelve, the PTA to run, and a 16-year-old son to raise, there’s never enough time to spend with her sweetheart, police chief Ron Karlson. That’s especially true with Thanksgiving on the horizon and her mother coming to visit, not to mention the PTA’s Holiday Bazaar looming ahead. When things turn deadly in the library stacks, JJ needs some answers fast, before she loses her job—or her life. She’s determined to learn everything about the victim, and for once the library doesn’t hold all the answers. JJ and Kitty may have to face the ultimate peril: a visit to Mrs. Halsey, the oldest—and crankiest—perso

  The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer's Support Group posting day, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It's a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Check it out  here  and join if you want support with your writing.  Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.  Remember, the question is optional!  December 4 question - Let's play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were livin

We are delighted to feature a book-themed mystery here today! Bookmarked for Murder (Mystery Bookshop) by V.M. Burns About Bookmarked for Murder   Title: Bookmarked for Murder (Mystery Bookshop) Cozy Mystery 5th in Series   Author: V.M. Burns Publishing info: Kensington (November 26, 2019)  Paperback: 256 pages  ISBN-10: 1496718313  ISBN-13: 978-1496718310  Digital ASIN: B07P9MR138      Publisher's Blurb: Amateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . . After some post-Christmas retail therapy in the Windy City, mystery bookshop owner and historical whodunit novelist Sam Washington is returning home to North Harbor, Michigan, on a chartered bus. With Nana Jo and her gal pals Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae from Shady Acres Retirement Village along for the ride, it's a lively trip. But one passenger is not so lively—a gentleman Irma befriended is found dead in his seat after an unscheduled stop. The ladies

Fiction in 50 has been a regular feature in the last week of every month here for several years now. It was founded by Bruce the Bookshelf Gargoyle , and when he retired from blogging in 2017 I decided to take over the hop. Now, I'm throwing in the towel. I really enjoy writing these ultra-short stories, and reading those Jemima Pett writes. But the hop has no traction, no momentum and (navigating way from hackneyed metaphors to the concrete problem), no members. The December post will be the last official Fi50 post. So... if you want to participate, time is running out! Read the instructions below and hammer out your 50 words!       What is #Fi50? In the words of founder Bruce Gargoyle, "Fiction in 50: think of it as the anti-NaNoWriMo experience!" Pack a beginning, middle and end of story into 50 words or less (bonus points for hitting exactly 50 words). The rules for participation are simple: 1. Create a piece of fictional writing in 50 words or less, ideally usi

... And a Happy Thanksgiving!   With only four days left in the official NaNo month, how's your writing? I've hit the "winner" mark and kept going. I feel like I've been struggling with the book, though I've been able to hit my word goal almost every day. The strange thing is... I've been getting those words in the evening. I have always believed myself to be a morning person, and that I'm usually pretty much incapable of thought by evening. And yet here I've been, day after day frittering away my mornings, and finally sitting down in the evenings and writing like a mad thing. And it works. So am I no longer a morning person? Or has procrastination reached a new peak? As for the outline that was going to make it a breeze, well, I am still more or less on the outline but the writing is coming hard in any case. Stats: Around 57,000 words Attended three write-ins, where the peer pressure really helped Several gallons of coffee.   Don't forget--sig

Yes, I know, Photo Friday is happening on Saturday this week. I've been very busy writing that new novel! This will probably be the last of the reports from New Zealand, freeing me to start in on the travels we've done in the US since returning! As we made our way up the North Island to meet our flight home from Aukland, we were able to explore one of the most striking New Zealand landscapes: Tongariro National Park. Picking just enough photos for a blog post was very, very hard. New Zealand's oldest National Park, Tongariro is also a World Heritage site preserving Maori culture. We would look into some of that later. For our time in the park, we merely tried to be sensitive about hiking around a mountain sacred to the Maori people (Ngauruhoe). The Tongariro Northern Circuit, most of which we hiked, starts out between Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe, and circles the latter. Part of the hike, along the northern side of Ngauruhoe, is also part of the insanely popular Tongariro Crossing