Dear friends and readers,

I’m in that group (elderly with compromised immune system), so I’m being good and staying at home as much as I can. This meant pulling out of Left Coast Crime, a convention what was held in my home town this week, even though I was on a panel and this made me feel guilty. Of course, then when everyone else on the panel also pulled out and the actual convention was halted during the second day by an order of the county, I felt smart and responsible.

I’ve two more outings I can’t cancel, but I’m cancelling everything else and using the phone or internet instead of face-to-face contact. And I am letting my much healthier husband do the limited trips outside the house. And we are not hoarding TP. (smile)

But that doesn’t seem enough. For example, I regret that my current work in progress, Lethal Remedies, has just started the editing process, which means it won’t be ready to publish until May 23. I have put it up for pre-order, but that actually feels like I’m being unkind to those of you who are waiting for it. You can see it below––a lovely cover, and a story about women in the medical profession in San Francisco in 1882––yet it won’t be available for 2 months!

So, I have decided to do two things that I hope will cheer me and other people up.

The first thing I am going to is write a couple of short stories in the Victorian San Francisco mystery series that I can get out quickly. Nice, short, 99 cent stories. I always enjoy spending time in that world with minor characters. The stories are tentatively entitled  Dandy’s Discovery and Tilly Traps a Thief.  So keep an eye out, I will post here on my website and send out newsletters when they are done.

The second thing I have done is put most of my ebooks on sale for a limited time. As many of us are forced to stay at home, this is the time for binge reading stories that will take you away to another time and place. So if there is a novel, a short story, a novella of mine you haven’t gotten yet, or want to tell a friend about, now’s the time to do it.

Nearly everything is $1-2 off the original price and the Victorian San Francisco Novellas collection now at $3.99, and the Victorian San Francisco Mystery Boxed Set now at $6.99 are particularly good values.

I would especially encourage those of you who haven’t tried my science fiction trilogy to do so now. Yes, the basic premise is dealing with what happens when humans have messed up Earth so much that they need to travel to another galaxy. But the stories are not at all  dystopian or downers. Instead, they have a young plucky protagonist, a little action adventure, a little romance in books 2-3, and really fun sentient animals. Try them, I think those of you who like my mysteries will like them. And right now the whole trilogy plus a short story is only $4.99.

So have fun, look forward to the short stories, and I would love if you would pre-order the new book (see below).

Lethal Remedies

Annie has a problem. She has a beautiful child, a loving husband, a well-run boardinghouse with a supportive circle of friends and family, but she’s feeling restless and unhappy.

Dr. Charlotte Brown, the doctor who delivered Annie’s baby, has a different problem. The Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children, the clinic and hospital she co-founded, is being threatened by financial and legal difficulties caused by the mysterious illness of a former patient.

When Annie takes up the challenge to help Dr. Brown and the dispensary, she will discover that getting back into the business of investigating crimes is exactly the remedy she requires.

Lethal Remedies is the seventh novel in the cozy, historical, Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and comes after Scholarly Pursuits.

On pre-order on Kindle  Kobo  AppleBooks  Nook  GooglePlay   International retailers

So all, stay healthy and safe, and let me know what you are doing to get through these trying times.

M. Louisa

March 15, 2020