MY NEW BOOK IS OUT!

Oops! A day late and a dollar short! That’s me! I’m late with my posting. I was so busy packing up my kitchen in preparation for renovation–new floor, new lights, new paint, new stove–that I totally forgot to post yesterday when I was scheduled. So, I hope you don’t mind that I’m popping in a day late.

I did want to let you know that my newest novel, my third, is now out. PSYCHIC DAMAGE is a stand alone mystery set in a fictitious Southern California city. It’s a book I wrote before I wrote the second Andi Battaglia-Greg Lamont mystery. When I finished it, I wasn’t happy with it.

I had gotten the idea of someone relying for guidance from psychics when I noticed the large number of psychic shops in Southern California towns and cities. I wondered who went to them. How could the psychics afford the rent? Who believed in them? So, I created Eva Stuart, a computer analyst with few friends who went to psychics to guide her life.

Eva had good qualities: she was good at her job, she was kind, she was an almost-Olympic swimmer, but she was lonely,unsure of herself and kind of whiny and annoying. I did some research: went to psychics; learned about the tarot; talked to psychics on the phone. Most of what I was told didn’t seem to relate to me.

When I finished the book, although the story worked, I put it aside, deciding I didn’t like it. I went on to write SO MANY REASONS TO DIE. the second in the Andi Battaglia-Greg Lamont mysteries.

It was my writing teacher, Candy, who kept asking me about PSYCHIC DAMAGE. What do you plan to do with that story, she would ask. Why don’t you go back and read it again–see what you think about it? Eventually I did, and it didn’t seem so bad at all. So I went ahead with its publication.

I hope you like it. I do now.It took a while for me to understand whiny, nail-biting, insecure Eva. She’s worth following as she grows and changes and uncovers the mystery of high-level city corruption .