From LISE McCLENDON
I ❤️ February! For lots of reasons: special birthdays, Valentine’s Day, it’s short and sweet and chocolate is usually involved… plus JANUARY IS OVER! Woo hoo.
This winter I’m trying a new book strategy. I’m an independent writer so I can basically do whatever, right? Well, the pressure is on, always, to publish. Publish or perish, as the academics say. So to keep things lively I decided to take a secondary character out of my Bennett Sisters Mystery series and do a trilogy of novellas about him. He is a popular character, the love interest of the main sister, Merle. Pascal d’Onscon investigates wine fraud for the Police Nationale in France. The three novellas, or short parts of one whole, start out dealing with a scam label on a bottle of wine. It’s supposed to be from a champagne-only vintner but it is not bubbly, it is flat. DEAD FLAT, you could say.
So that gets the party started in the department of Champagne, in northeastern France. Much of the series takes place either in Paris or in the Dordogne region, but this trilogy moves around, from Champagne, to the Dordogne, to Brittany, and back to Champagne. We learn about Pascal’s two sisters (so many sisters!) who live far apart. And more about wine and champagne as that’s Pascal’s business.
Part One of DEAD FLAT came out in December. Part Two was released in mid-January, and the final part, three, publishes in late February. All are on Amazon.
Happy February!
LESLIE BUDEWITZ: 
I’m with Lise in celebrating the joys of February. The light is growing stronger every day, which makes our little hearts so happy! If you’re in western Montana and you get happy meeting authors, come visit with me at the North Valley Public Library in Stevensville, at 11 am on Saturday, February 8. We’ll be chatting about mysteries and much more, and yes, of course, I’ll have books with me to refresh your rapidly-dwindling TBR pile!
Come chat — I love meeting readers, and a Saturday morning visit will help make February scurry by!
Please join us!
at FLOWERS BY HANSEN
A BOOK SIGNING & ART EVENT
Friday March 3rd from 5-8 p.m.
128 N. Main, Kalispell, MT
Enjoy a special event the first Friday of each month with
artists, artisans and authors.
Book-signings, drawings, treats and fun in an inviting atmosphere.
Author Deborah Epperson
Author Betty Kuffel, MD
& Feather Art 
Betty Kuffel, Ann Minnett, Kathy Dunehoff amd Marie Martin met with a report yesterday to discuss self-publishing. It was an hour spent with laughter and sharing our trials with our books.
LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Oh, October! Thrilled to announce the release, on October 4, of KILLING THYME, my third Spice Shop Mystery, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. When Pepper investigates the murder of a market artist, she roots out long-buried secrets with unexpected ties to her family, will she be digging her own grave? Read an excerpt and find the buy links on my website. Join me for a Mystery Teac at the Bigfork Library on Tues, Oct 4, from 3-5 pm. We’ll talk mysteries, sip tea and eat cookies (recipes in the 
book!), and play mystery trivia! If you’re in Missoula, please join me for a book talk at Fact & Fiction on Thurs, Oct 6, at 7 pm. And swing by the Bigfork Art & Cultural Center for my launch party and signing on Friday, Oct 7, 5-7 p.m., and visit the annual Watermedia exhibit sponsored by the Montana Watercolor Society at the same time! (I peeked — it’s fabulous!)
I’ll be in Seattle on October 13 — signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop at noon, and reading/talking/signing a 7 p.m. at Third Place Books in Lake City.
Wherever you are, take thyme for a good mystery!
Tentative release date for Don’t Mess With Mrs. Sedgewick is October 11, 2016
Roberta Sedgewick is stuck in a house that is too empty without her beloved Burton—the rat died and left her with his dog and rooms that rattle. She convinces her three golfing buddies, all in their seventies, to sell their homes and buy adjoining condos. The widows intend to spend the rest of their days golfing, gambling at the casino, and having fun. Oh, the heaven of it. But then they all hire the same maid who uncovers long-hidden criminal secrets kept by each woman. Oh, the horror of it. The reputations of their deceased husbands, a banker, a minister, and a respected farmer, will be tarnished forever. Three of the widows could face jail time, and the fourth fears for her life. Whatever will they do with the conniving, blackmailing maid?
If you grew to love the characters in Marie F. Martin’s previous novels Maternal Harbor, Harbored Secrets, and Ratham Creek, you will treasure Roberta and her friends in the mystery Don’t Mess With Mrs. Sedgewick.
Montana Women Writers 