In January, my latest Keystone Lake novel, Blooming Greed, was released by The Wild Rose Press. Once again Erin is out solving crimes and some of my favorite characters are on the case. This time her neighbors are disappearing and the lake she’s known all her life is in trouble. The fishing is disappointing and lake levels are so high that prime lake front properties are flooded. Boating your favorite spots can be dangerous due to debris in the water.
With the flooding of prime real estate, people are leaving after selling their weekend homes at rock bottom prices and property owners are beginning to notice. Could this be due to a family Erin has known all her life?
Erin Shipley grew up on Keystone Lake before moving to Tulsa and becoming an associate attorney. Now, she’s back, representing a client who is concerned about the flooding and property values around the lake. Properties underwater are being bought and sold for pennies on the dollar by someone called T & H Realty. When her friend’s uncle, Jeff, dies mysteriously on the lake, Erin wonders if it has anything to do with the real estate scam and launches an investigation. The dam is old and zebra mussels are clogging it, not allowing enough water to flow out. If the dam breaks, it will flood downtown Tulsa and areas around it. But that’s not the only danger…whoever killed Jeff isn’t finished with their diabolical plan, and Erin and those she loves are at risk from more than just a dam break.
Check out Blooming Greed and see what’s happening on Keystone Lake to Erin and her friends.
What are you reading this week?
Last fall my novel, Flatiron Death Grip was released by Airship 27 Productions. This novel has been on my mind for years culminating from four short stories gathered together into one novel with one goal for all the characters. I can say that was more difficult than I initially thought. But it was worth it, and it was fun!
Stories don’t work without descriptions—the reader needs to experience what the character experiences.
I had a book signing at our local bookstore, Putnam Six, yesterday to launch the second in the Keystone Lake series, Blooming Greed. Chloe Fuksa and her bookstore are a great asset to our community. She opened her store a few years ago and runs it by herself. She kept things going during the height of the Pandemic by creating a website and selling books to her neighbors who were stuck inside. It is a place for community involvement and several book clubs meet there. Like I said, she is an asset.
I had a release party for Blooming Greed last night at a local watering hole. That might not describe this very successful local restaurant and bar. Callahan’s Pub is a place you want to be on St. Patrick’s Day if you want loud music, beer, and crowds. They have more beers on tap than I have ever seen and don’t recognize most of them. But on a regular Saturday night I had reserved a table for 15 (come and go) and bought appetizers. It was a fun time. They have great food and service. I got to see old friends, even though we still had snow on the ground and a pandemic in the air.
I’m so ready for spring. I live in the mid-west, and it doesn’t get as cold here as in some parts of the world, but I’m ready for warmer weather.
It snowed yesterday in Oklahoma. Only the second one of the season. We might have gotten an inch if you stretched it some, and it was bitterly cold. In years gone by, I would have put on my Yaktrax and gone to work, my lunch packed, in dress pants and a heavy coat, prepared to come out and clear a windshield when the day was done. Then I would drive the treacherous roads back home to a warm house. At least I hoped it was warm.
