A Case of Accidental Intersection will be on Kindle in time for Black Friday!

Iritating Outlets

I'm backing into a series of blogs I'm planning on doing just because this one annoys me so much. To bring you up to speed I've been busy moving, then moving and caring for two houses and one apartment. As of yesterday, I no longer have to take care of one house. It was sold! I live part time in a small town so my son can finish his senior year and on the weekends in a larger city 2.5 hours away. This can make me crazy. What is even worse is the electrical outlets in my apartment aren't consistent. For some you put the plugs in with the ground on the bottom and others it is the top. Then on weekends I have to adjust again. Not a big deal. Just a pain. This morning when I tried to plug my hair dryer in the wrong way...again, I thought about my characters and how they would react to an upside down outlet. Would they go ballistic? Would they shrug and walk away? I, in my postage-stamp apartment go from one extreme to the other depending on my mood and how much cabin fever I have.
What little annoyances make you go ballistic?

New Author Connections

I can't believe it has been August since I last posted to my blog. Shame on me!!! I have some great reasons which I will be sharing soon. (A humorous look at my new life.) I have a lot of them ready just haven't gotten here to post them, but the dust is settling and I'm ready to come out of the closet or in my case, living in one. Stay tuned for that one.

I just wanted to publicly thank one of the newest authors to Oak Tree Press, Marja McGraw. I can't wait to get to know her more. We will be meeting in person at Love is Murder in Chicago in February. She just posted a great review on Amazon for my first book, A Case of Infatuation. She has a great blog at http://www.marjamcgraw.com
Check it out.

Here's the review...
When I picked up this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. And then I met Mitch Malone, a hard-nosed, lone wolf reporter who soon finds out that there's more to life than his reporting.

Saddled with a gorgeous intern, he heads to the scene of a double murder, where he discovers there's a very young survivor hidden away. With the help of the intern, the child and only potential witness is spirited out of the house and taken to Mitch's apartment in order to protect her.

Mitch works alone, so involving the hot intern is something new to him. Mitch also doesn't like kids, so he's breaking all of his own rules. And then he's accused of the murders and has to take his small entourage and go into hiding, and try to solve the murders and find the child's missing mother.

This book had just the right combination of humor, suspense and heart to make it an excellent story. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and Mitch, and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thank you Marja!

What a beautiful morning

Today was a perfect morning and I still have a couple of hours to go! It was a morning where I didn’t have anything I needed to get up for so I slept in a little and it felt great to wake up naturally.

I had one of my favorite breakfasts and ate it in peace and quiet while reading a good book, The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras. Then I biked for a couple of miles with a great breeze. The humidity was gone from the thick air of the last few days and the sun shined instead of seeping through the overcast haze.

Everything looks bright. Everything is possible. The best part is I am at my computer writing. Something that has been sadly lacking in my busy schedule. Not writing is something that can make me cranky when I don’t get to put the ideas down that keep buzzing through my head down on paper. Are there things on my to do list? Certainly. But they will wait. This beautiful morning will not and I am taking advantage of every minute.

What is your favorite morning like?

Tragic headline mirrors book plot

In Phoenix, two families are stunned to find their daughters' identities were mixed up. First reports identified Abby Guerra dying at the scene of a traffic accident and Marlena Cantu was in critical condition at a Phoenix hospital. Six days later the roles have been reversed. Now the Cantu family is mourning the death of their daughter and the Guerra family goes from planning a funeral to a bedside vigil.

When I first read this story thanks to my critic partner sending me the link, I couldn't believe it. It is so similar to the beginning plot line for A Case of Accidental Intersection. The book just came out and starts off with a horrendous accident involving a sports car and a cement truck. Both girls look similar. That is the same for the this case where the women look like sisters in the photos. In the hospital emergency room the sheriff's deputy comes in, the family comes in and the hospital personnel is trying to get information on the victim. From my book, it is easy to see how a mix up could happen.

In my book, the woman has a severe head injury, has surgery to relieve some pressure and then is put into a coma to allow the brain time to heal. In the case of Abby Guerra, she had a head injury and is also in critical condition. My book talks about the face and head being bandaged, black and blue, swollen which allows the identification error to continue. Crime beat reporter Mitch Malone takes several days to discover the identification and only does after the victim comes out of the coma. Then the problems really begin...

My heart goes out to these two families struggling to come to terms with the tragedy. Dealing with the accident itself is difficult but then the added stress of the snafu is even worse.

News Story is Eerily Similar to A Case of Accidental Intersection

I’ve been trying to get a blog done about my great launch for A Case of Accidental Intersection but haven’t had much luck. It was great and I enjoyed seeing everyone. Hope you are reading and enjoying.

What promoted this post was an article on CBS news about a traffic accident and the terrible aftermath that follows. I don’t want to say too much about it and give away how A Case of Accidental Intersection mirrors the accident but parts of it are errie and similar. Check it out at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/26/earlyshow/main6713545.shtml.

What do you think?

A Case of Accidental Intersection Now Out

My apologies for sadly lacking in the blog department. I have a million excuses but the worst is the computer taking a dive. Luckily it was fixable so I’m back in business. Enough of that though. The big news is (drum roll here)…

A CASE OF ACCIDENTAL INTERSECTION is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com and from my publisher: Oaktreebooks.com. It also is available at your local bookstore but you might have to order it. It will be worth the wait of a few days.

In the second Mitch Malone Mystery, the crime beat reporter is in another fix when he has to spend times in a hospital, which he hates. A car accident has him stumped and when he looks closer, he finds more bodies. If he can’t figure it out and get his exclusive, he could be found floating in the river.

I had so much fun writing this one (okay the editing was horrible and took forever) at least the characters, I couldn’t let them be when the story was done. I had to write a Mitch Malone short story. Send me an email at wsgager@yahoo.com and I will send you a pdf of the Eyes Have It.
Also, the launch for the book will be Tuesday, July 13 at the Koffee Kuppe in downtown Fremont (Michigan) from 7-9 p.m. Come join us for a great time and some great coffee – Mitch Malone style!