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The Ghost and Wednesday’s Child here!

It’s the official release day of The Ghost and Wednesday’s Child, the 36th book in my paranormal cozy mystery series, Haunting Danielle. The last time I checked, it was ranked as the number one new release under Ghost Mysteries over on Amazon. 

You can find it in eBook and paperback format at my online bookstore. You can find links here to purchase the books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google, and Smashwords.

The large print paperback should be available any day now at Amazon. The audiobook will be out June 24, 2025.

The next book in the series—The Ghost and Christmas Magic—comes out the end of November and is available for preorder at my online bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple.

A heads up on something—when you preorder at Amazon, you won’t pay for the book until it is delivered while it’s necessary to pay when you preorder on some other sites, including my online bookstore. However, when you preorder from my online bookstore, you will receive the eBook a few days earlier than the official release date.

Why is that?  The prepay thing is more a technical thing I can’t change—I don’t have the same options as a large site as Amazon to offer that option.  As for the early delivery from my online bookstore, that is because Amazon and the other sites require book files be uploaded days before the official release date. 

When uploading the finished files, they are typically loaded to all the websites on the same day. Unlike sites like Amazon, once the finished file is uploaded, I have the option to release it on the same day.

So, if you want to preorder, you have several options to consider when selecting your vendor of choice.

If you are looking for the audiobook version of The Ghost Who Sought Redemption, it is slated for release May 27, 2025. 

Hope you enjoy the new book!

Cancelled for being “Woke”

I’ve a file where I store emails from readers. It’s labeled “Fans” which is inaccurate, because some emails are from readers who’ve discovered something they dislike about my books and feel compelled to share their opinion with me. Fortunately, most of the correspondence is favorable, which is why I haven’t bothered to re-label the file.

When looking through the file this morning I came across two emails received from the same reader, on the same day, back in February of this year.

In the first email the reader begs me to kill off a character who she dislikes, telling me the character makes her want to stop reading. Since I wanted readers to dislike that character, I suppose that is sort of a win on my part. Yet, I don’t want the unlikable character to chase away readers.

I contemplated how to respond, as I try to respond to all emails. Yet, sometimes life gets in the way, and I don’t get to everyone. Before I had the chance to respond, that reader sent a second email. It read:

Oh wow! That’s it for me. Again, I am on book 24.  You have now added “white guilt”.  Good grief. Does everyone need to feel they need to be woke? I’m now done with your books.  I will not recommend them, or purchase any in the future.  

I decided to look up the definition of woke, as it pertains to urban slang. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, woke means,aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”

It also stated it is a “general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning.”

The only conclusion I can draw after reviewing the definition of woke is that my storyline in Book 24, The Ghost and the Silent Scream, made that reader uncomfortable. 

Did I add white guilt? I don’t think so. To me, a book with white guilt implies adding exaggerated racial content to a story for no reason other than to inspire guilt from white people. That’s not what I did.

Authors find story fodder in all sorts of places, such as personal experiences and history. I’ve always enjoyed using history as story fodder and as inspiration. In my Coulson Family Saga, written under my Anna J. McIntyre pen name, I heavily used American history as story fodder and as a backdrop to the story that unfolds over the five books. 

Did I do it to guilt out men, because a good chunk of the story was about women and how their place in American society changed over a century? No. I simply told a realistic story, and if it made some readers uncomfortable, I think they need to look in the mirror.

Haunting Danielle is a paranormal cozy mystery series, that sometimes involves murder. When reading about murder, readers typically want to learn, by the end of the book, who committed the murder and why. When looking for plot inspiration I often turn to history, especially when many of my characters come from the 1920s. 

In The Ghost and the Silver Scream, the only thing I could find that the disgruntled reader may have seen as white guilt was a storyline that involves parents who have disowned their daughter for falling in love with a Black man, which sets off a chain of events.  

So, how did I respond to that reader? I didn’t. She is entitled to her opinion, and no reader is obligated to recommend my books, or purchase them.

I will confess, I am a little perplexed as to why—at Book 24—this reader decided to be offended. I have to assume she read the prior 23 books. Most of my readers read Haunting Danielle books in order, as they are chronological, and I don’t advise jumping into the middle of the series.  

In previous books I’ve addressed what some might consider woke topics, such as how it used to be illegal for Blacks to reside in Oregon, and storylines have included Oregon’s early history with the KKK. This began in the first book in the series. But maybe it was another woke thing that bothered the reader. 

New Haunting Danielle Releases

Wow. It’s June already. While technically summer, our current Oregon sky wants to stay winter, but our roses are ignoring its efforts and continue to bloom.

My last blog post was about my most recent book, The Ghost and the Poltergeist (Book 34 in the Haunting Danielle Series), which came out the end of April. Happy to report it is doing well, and staying at a 4.8 average rating over at Amazon, with over 600 rating/reviews. 

I’ve heard from Tantor Media that they plan to release the audiobook version of The Ghost and the Poltergeiston October 15, 2024.

As for the release of Book 35, The Ghost Who Sought Redemption, look for its release (in eBook format and paperback and large print) on September 30, 2024.

Since the release of my last book, I took some time off work. One week in May we took a RV trip to camp along the Columbia River in Washington. It was the first time we’ve used our motorhome since moving to Oregon, September 2021. While the weather was a little rainy, we still enjoyed ourselves—the view was beautiful—and Lily and Danny (our miniature Aussies, not the characters from Haunting Danielle) did great on the trip. A little barking at first, but they finally settled in, and we didn’t get kicked out of the park.

This past week I flew down to California to attend my granddaughter’s 8th grade graduation. I stayed for about five days, and hubby stayed home with the pups. It’s a short flight from Portland Airport to Sacramento. I enjoyed spending time with my daughter’s family, and while I took my laptop with me (telling myself I would be doing some work) I only brought it out once to send out my Haunting Danielle Newsletter.

 I arrived back home late yesterday afternoon, and our son and daughter-in-law brought over some take-out Chinese food so hubby and I wouldn’t have to cook dinner on my first night back. It was nice spending time with BOTH my kids, their spouses, and grandkids, all in the same day.

While the sun is playing peek-a-boo up here in Oregon, I still think this is a good start for summer. And in a couple weeks, hubby and I are celebrating our 48th wedding anniversary!

What are your summer plans?