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German Christmas Market Tour – 2018
First of all, this year was much less cold than last, with only a flurry or two of snow instead of feet of it piled up. To say nothing of ice, for which I was very glad. I’m from Texas – we put ice in our drinks, we don’t walk…
Alphabet Summer – SCV and NRA and CWS – Summer, 2018
Alphabet Summer Wow! What a wild summer this was! I’m exhausted. On a lovely Sunday early in the summer The Husband and I went to Greenwood Cemetery, one of the oldest and loveliest cemeteries in the area, to attend the United Daughters of the Confederacy Confederate Memorial Day ceremony, which…
Happy Christmas
Instead of doing a party or a program this month, our local Mystery Writers of America group did a Murder Mystery Lunch. As I had once unwisely admitted that I had done some acting years ago I was drafted to play one of the characters – a nosy, somewhat abrasive…
Killing Harvey
Killing Harvey
It was a killer Christmas…
By all accounts it should have been a perfect holiday. A beautiful, elegant house. Rebecca’s future relatives all together, talking happily about her upcoming Christmas afternoon wedding to Peter. A gorgeous tree surrounded by presents. A Christmas-card perfect snowfall.
But the snowfall turned into a freak blizzard, trapping Rebecca and Peter in with his family. Then, once the house was completely isolated and no one could enter or leave, the most obnoxious member of the family is found stabbed. And garroted. And perhaps poisoned. Who really killed Harvey… and how?
Can Rebecca solve this murder? More importantly, does she really want to?
B&N – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/killing-harvey-janis-patterson/1129908662?ean=2940156277360
KOBO – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/killing-harvey-1
Amazon – http://a.co/d/duJYjpX
ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1443241069
German Christmas Markets 2017
I had never been to a German Christmas Market, so when in early fall of 2017 The Husband mentioned a tour being led by a friend of his I was enthusiastic. We signed up immediately, finally flying into Stuttgart for a seven day, seven city tour of southern Germany and…
Spring 2018
Hello! I know – I know – It’s been much too long a time since I’ve posted here, but life has been busy! Last year I wrote five full-length novels, had three surgeries (after never having had a single one in my entire life!), did a Skype appearance to a…
September Newsletter
The Eclipse Does anyone have to say anything but ‘the eclipse’? These spectacular heavenly events are rare, especially in totality, and that only makes them more precious. The Husband, a sometimes stargazer, and I drove up to a little town not too far from Columbia, Missouri, to see the eclipse…
Wow! This has been a busy summer! And it’s not over yet…
Most importantly, I sent four manuscripts to my editor – OH, DEADLY NIGHT, a novella for a Christmas-themed mystery anthology; WELCOME HOME, a sort of women’s fiction/gothic/thriller; an as-yet unnamed romance set in my beloved Palo Duro canyon; and THE MASTER OF MORECOMBE HALL, a traditional gothic set in contemporary…
An Intercontinental Appearance and a BOOK SALE
An Intercontinental Appearance… and a SALE! Okay, okay, I know I’m late with this, but just wait until I tell you why. I wanted to wait until it was over so I could tell you all about it. At my age – and with the life I have lived –…
Happy New Year 2017
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a wonderful (and safe!) New Year. Our Christmas celebrations were quiet ones, just with family and food and trinkets. We are all so blessed that there is nothing we really need, and usually can’t afford what we would like (though if someone…
December Update
Notice something different? Yep – I’ve finally started a newsletter, and you can sign up just above this! It’s going to be an occasional thing, just when I have a new release or something truly newsworthy has happened. In researching doing a newsletter I subscribed to several, and a few…
Happy Christmas
How on earth did it get to be December so quickly? Of course, I’m still wondering how it got to be 2016! Time seems to be just zipping by! Anyway, I’ve got a lot of news to share.
First of all, I have finally begun a newsletter, please sign up. It’s going to be a casual thing, sent out only when I have a new release or something really exciting to announce. In the spirit of research I subscribed to a number of author newsletters and was astounded to see how often some send them out – believe it or not, some writers send mailings three and four times a week! How do they find that much to say? Or find the time to do it? Or find any time to write after doing it? No way – I’ll never do anything that over the top. If you’re interested – and I hope you are – there’s post above that will get you on the list.
Miss Morrison’s Second Chance
Second chances are often the best. Twelve years ago, long-time sweethearts, Verity Morrison and Bradford Pemberton, were torn apart by a vengeful act of Verity’s jealous sister. Refusing any other suitors, Verity has descended into spinsterhood at the family estate, her heart broken. After being disgraced and exiled to foreign lands, a now wealthy Bradford has returned to England in order to get to know his nephew, Charlie, better. He’s quite surprised to run into Verity who is chaperoning her niece. Their feelings are as intense for each other as always, but Bradford believes Verity long married and Verity believes Bradford is under her sister’s thrall. Neither bothers to correct the other. It takes a kidnapping, an unexpected rescuer, and mistaken identities to prove that true love does indeed deserve a second chance.
https://www.amazon.com/Morrisons-Second-Chance-Janis-Susan/dp/0997173246
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-morrisons-second-chance-janis-susan-may/1123892397
The House In the Pines – A World of Gothic
THE HOUSE IN THE PINES, is a gothic novella is set in the woods of East Texas.
Hired to write the biography of elderly tycoon Henry Wolfe, Dianne Grayson happily comes to Wolfe House, a Victorian mansion set deep in the piney woods of East Texas… a house she has always wanted to see. Henry Wolfe is just as autocratic and overbearing as she expected, but no matter how he acts she is determined to stay there until she gets the answers she wants.
What she did not count on was his rugged grand-nephew and a startlingly handsome and attentive young cowboy, both of whom show great interest in her, nor how the mysteries of the past can affect and endanger the present day.
Once she discovers the truth, is it too late for her to save her own life?
Pamela Thomas says “I chose this book because I know Janis and have read several of her novels. There seems to be a little bit of Janis in her books and this one was no exception. This book is written so true to the Texas I’ve come to know and love for the last 30 years, it’s easy to slip inside of the Woods and spend a few hours with willfull women, wild weather and wicked. . . oops almost said too much. I enjoyed the read. ”
Buy the eBook now https://www.amazon.com/House-Pines-World-Gothic-Texas-ebook/dp/B01JSYOHFC
Prefer a paperback https://www.amazon.com/House-Pines-Janis-Susan-May/dp/1941520189
Halloween Newsletter
Hope you had a wonderful Halloween! I love Halloween – it’s really the only truly grown-up holiday in my opinion. For one night you get to be anyone or anything you want – the apogee of grown-up ‘play like’. I’m just sorry that grown-ups can’t go door to door demanding candy… my waistline, however, isn’t.
We haven’t had trick or treaters for years. One reason is that our front door is at the back of the house (yes, it’s a very unusual structure – doesn’t have any hallways, either!) and can be reached only by walking down a long and dark driveway. The fact that in the last window on the driveway I have on permanent display a 4 foot tall mummy doesn’t help. (Of course it’s a fake, darn it, but it’s a good one.) I used to put one of those battery operated tea lights in front of it because otherwise you can’t see it in the dark… it was a lovely spooky effect!
Well, here we are in beautiful Florida. Again.
Well, here we are in beautiful Florida. Again. The Husband and I came down to St Pete Beach about two weeks ago to attend the Novelists Inc. conference – the best conference for working professional writers in the world – and enjoyed it thoroughly. More information about that in a…
Rocks!
This has been the most entertaining weekend ! The Husband is a mineral collector, and our house is full of mineral specimens, neatly mounted on plexiglass cubes in lighted cases. While I like and admire his collection, I prefer my mineral specimens faceted and mounted in precious metals for wearing,…
The House of the Pines is released
It’s hot here – blisteringly, uncomfortably hot. Of course, it usually is this time every year (it is summer, after all!) but as we had a lovely cool spring it just seems hotter. I vote that Willis Carrier, the man who invented air conditioning, be immediately voted a saint! Needless…
Self-Publishing: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Janis is speaking at Dallas MWASW group Self-Publishing: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Self-publishing can be very freeing and lucrative for some, but it isn’t for everyone. Janis Patterson learned how to self-publish the hard way and is happy to share what she knows. Explore the ins and…
