TWO NEW COVERS TO SHARE
1/15/12:
Below are two new covers. The first is for the large print edition of Scotched, available now. The second is for the next entry in the series, which will be in stores in August of 2012. Look for more details about Bagpipes, Brides and Homicides coming to this website soon.
UPDATES TO WEBSITE ~ EXCERPT, CAT PICS AND MORE
9/24/11:
I've revamped several pages at this website and added a one on Lumpkin the cat. Take a look around, using the links at the bottom of the index page to help you find everything. There's a new picture of Moosetookalook, lots of photos of cats, and an excerpt from Scotched, which will be in stores on October 25, just over a month from now. You'll also find a list of characters who appear on Scotched on the "Who is Liss MacCrimmon" page. Just scroll down and enjoy!
EBOOK, PUB DATE and OTHER NEWS
9/17/11:
First up: I've added Face Down O'er the Border, Book Ten in the Lady Appleton series (w/a Kathy Lynn Emerson), to the lineup at Belgrave House (and ultimately to other outlets). Click on the cover for the link to Belgrave House.
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In pub dates, the paperback of The Corpse Wore Tartan will be in stores October 4, 2011, with the new hardcover, Scotched following on October 25, 2011.
In blogging news, I'm guest blogging at FreshFiction.com on September 19 and continue to blog every ten or eleven days at Maine Crime Writers. My September 19th topic is "The Evolution of an Office."
BLOG NEWS
7/9/11:
As Kaitlyn Dunnett, I am one of ten mystery writers involved in a new blog launched on July 6th. All born in Maine and/or living in Maine now, they can be found at Maine Crime Writers. The other nine are Gerry Boyle, Vicki Dodera, Paul Doiron, Kate Flora, Sarah Graves, James Hayman, Barbara Ross, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Lea Wait. There will be individual blogs, group discussion blogs, interviews, and guest posts from Maine librarians and others conncected to our favorite subject . . . murder in Vacationland. Kathy Lynn Emerson will make occasional appearances. Kate Emerson . . . not so much. My first post went up on July 8. I'm participating in the group blog on July 10, and my next individual blog will be on July 21. Toward the end of the month, I'll be interviewing one of the other writers, followed by an interview with me. Since I haven't blogged on a regular basis before (only guest blogs) I find myself looking forward to this new experience. Future topics will include something on Maine Coon Cats and a look at life in rural Western Maine.
SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT COVER
5/10/11:
Here it is: the first look at the cover proof for the next Liss MacCrimmon Scottish-American Heritage Mystery, SCOTCHED, which will be in stores on October 25th. The two cats aren't exactly like my own Nefret (Lumpkin) and Bala (Glenora), but they're pretty darn close, and I'm delighted with the artwork. This is the one that takes place at the First Annual Maine-ly Cozy Con, held at The Spruces in Moosetookalook, Maine. It's a gathering of fans of mystery fiction but naturally real-life murder and mayhem intrude. Look for more updates here over the next five months.
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY CONTEST
4/14/11:
In my other writing life as Kate Emerson and Kathy Lynn Emerson, I had the great pleasure of meeting the five young ladies pictured above, all students at Buckfield High School, when they visited me to ask questions about England in Henry VIII's day. They went on to take first place in the Maine competition for National History Day at the end of March, portraying (from left to right) Katherine Parr, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Katherine of Aragon, and Jane Seymour/Catherine Howard. They used these historical figures to express various sixteenth-century views, particularly on the controversial topics of religion and divorce. On June 12-16, they will represent Maine in College Park Maryland in the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest. Between now and they, they will be spending their April school vacation in London. I applaud their dedication to history and wish them the best of luck in June. For those interested in the competition, you can find more details by clicking here: 
In other news, I've updated my tour page with the two conferences I'll be going to in the next couple of months. You can check that out by clicking here:
NEW CONTRACT!!
2/13/11: Good news for Liss MacCrimmon fans. Kensington Publishing has just offered me a contract to do two more books in the series, which will take me up to number seven and through 2013. I've already turned in #5, Scotched, which takes place at the First Annual Mainely Cozy Con, held (where else?) at The Spruces. That one will be out toward the end of 2011. I'm now working on #6, still untitled, in which readers will finally meet Liss's parents and also return to the Western Maine Highland Games, which first appeared in Kilt Dead.
In other news, for those interested in my other writing self and in reading blogs, I've just done a guest blog at "Book Drunkard," writing about Bess Brooke, heroine of By Royal Decree, my latest historical written as Kate Emerson. You'll find the text at
TWO NEW EBOOKS UP AT AWRITERSWORK.COM
1/14/11: Two more of the historical mysteries I wrote as Kathy Lynn Emerson, Face Down Beside St. Anne's Well and No Mortal Reason are now available as ebooks at A Writer's Work. Click here to find them, see a more detailed description and reviews, and read sample chapters: And don't forget that you can get the ebook of Fatal as a Fallen Woman for free, one day only, January 22, 2011. See the entry below for details on this offer.
BY ROYAL DECREE IN STORES; NEW "ASSORTED BLOGS" PAGE; FREE EBOOK OFFERS
12/14/10: Today is the day By Royal Decree, the new Kate Emerson historical novel, hits bookstores. Yea! For more details about this one, click here:
On the Kathy/Kate/Kaitlyn front, I've set up a new page containing a collection of blogs I've done as a guest blogger and articles I've written on various occasions under all three names. It's a random assortment of thoughts, but I hope some readers may find it interesting.Click here to go to the "Assorted Blogs" page:
And finally, the group of professional writers who make up A Writer's Work.com are making a couple of special holiday offers to our fans. First is a free book day on December 26, 2010 and the second is a "Free Book a Day" promotion for the entire month of January. Here's how they will work. On the day after Christmas readers will be able to one free book per author. If a reader orders more than one book from the same author on that day, they will get the MOST expensive book for free. Because of the way the site is set up, this has to be done on a "pay and then get a refund" basis. Buyers will have their purchase price refunding via PayPal by December
29th. The "Free Book a Day in January" offers one specific book free each day of that month. There will be a list on the website to tell you which book is offered on each day. Readers who order a free book in the first half of the month will have their payment refunded via PayPal by the 17th of January. Readers who order a free book in the second half of the month will have
their payment refunded via PayPal by February 2nd. I have two books in the offer, Face Down Beneath the Banqueting House will be available for free on January 5, 2011 and Fatal as a Fallen Woman will be free on January 22, 2011. Both were written as Kathy Lynn Emerson. Click here to reach A Writer's Work:
NEWS FROM MY OTHER NAMES
11/16/10: In just a few more weeks, BY ROYAL DECREE, which I wrote as Kate Emerson, will be in stores. As of today, I've added a sneak peek at Chapter One to my KateEmersonHistoricals.com webpages. You can reach it by clicking here: . In other news, I'll be blogging about that book at Writerspace.com on the day after Thanksgiving. And, for those of you with Kindles, we are busily making the first seven Face Down novels (written as Kathy Lynn Emerson) available in that format, along with other books (mystery, romance, and nonfiction) from my backlist. Happy Reading!
THE CORPSE WORE TARTAN IN STORES NOW
10/29/10: THE CORPSE WORE TARTAN is now in stores. Yea! And I have a new blog up at Writerspace. It was posted on October 25, so you'll have to scroll down to find it. I talk about the advantages (and disadvantages) of having an in-house expert to consult with on matters of police procedure.
A WEE CHRISTMAS HOMICIDE: THE PAPERBACK
10/6/10: The mass market paperback of A WEE CHRISTMAS HOMICIDE is now in stores, to be followed on October 26 by the new Liss MacCrimmon Scottish-American Heritage Mystery, THE CORPSE WORE TARTAN. In my other life, as Kate Emerson, my non-mystery historical novel, BY ROYAL DECREE, third in the "Secrets of the Tudor Court" series, will be released in trade paperback format on December 11th. I've been doing more interviews, the latest at the Pittsburgh Historical Examiner, and I'll have a blog up at Writerspace.com on October 25th, talking about Liss's latest mystery and the role my husband played in writing it.
NEW EBOOKS ADDED
7/12/10: More of my ebooks (written as Kathy Lynn Emerson) have just been added at A Writer's Work web store.There are five books for young people (ages 10 and up), four of them previously published (JULIA'S MENDING, THE MYSTERY OF HILLIARD'S CASTLE, THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING BAGPIPES, and, in nonfiction, MAKING HEADLINES: A BIOGRAPHY OF NELLIE BLY) and one (SOMEDAY) that is an ebook original. For grown-ups, there are two titles, the eighth book in the Face Down Mystery series, featuring 16th century gentlewoman, herbalist, and sleuth, Susanna, Lady Appleton, FACE DOWN BELOW THE BANQUETING HOUSE, and the Agatha-award winning nonfiction, HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES: THE ART AND ADVENTURE OF SLEUTHING THROUGH THE PAST. I hope to add more mystery titles before the end of the year.
CHECK OUT WHAT'S NEW AT THE WHO'S WHO
6/26/10: I've just added a section titled "How the Who's Who Came to Be" at my A Who's Who of Tudor Women. You can go directly to it by clicking here.
In other news, I'm still adding to the Who's Who (it has over 900 entries now) and working on the next Kaitlyn Dunnett mystery and doing research for the fourth novel in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series, which will be titled At the King's Pleasure.
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
5/11/10: For those of you interested in A Who's Who of Tudor Women, the online version, I've restructured the text into smaller sections. Some of them were getting really unwieldy to add to! Most are now separated into letters of the alphabet, except for a few letters that just plain have a lot of people in them. Who knew so many women had maiden names that began with B? Anyway, if you bookmarked one of the sections, just go to the index for new links.
In other news, I'm getting ready to go to Mayhem in the Midlands in just two more weeks. I'm presenting a solo program on Historical Mysteries and also participating on two panels. This may be my only foray into the world of fan conventions and writers' conferences this year as I have two new books to write, one as Kaitlyn Dunnett and one as Kate Emerson, and a 45th high school reunion to go to in the fall. And, of course, I keep adding to the Who's Who, which is fun but time consuming.
MORE NEAT STUFF AT AWRITERSWORK.COM
3/11/10: I've just added three e-book originals to my listing at the A Writer's Work web store under my real name, Kathy Lynn Emerson. I'm really excited about all three of them. A Who's Who of Tudor Women is a text-only version of online Who's Who as of the end of February 2010. That's 622 mini-biographies plus a section on titles used in Tudor times.
Also new is Crimes and Confusions: Five Historical Short Stories, a never-before-published collection of novella length. Included are "The Reiving of Bonville Keep," "The Kenduskeag Killer," "The Tell-Tale Twinkle," "Any Means Short of Murder," and "The Curse of the Figure-Flinger."
And last but not least is the historical novel for young readers, Shalla. Set in Colonial Rhode Island it is based on real events in the year 1643. Click on the link above to go to the A Writer's Work homepage or below to go directly to my page there.
And just in case you're wondering what happened to my Kaitlyn Dunnett persona, she's alive and well, too. I expect to see the edited pages of The Corpse Wore Tartan later this month and probably cover flats, too. It will be out this fall. That also means I'll be starting work on the fifth Liss MacCrimmon mystery, Scotched, very soon. In this one, there's a small mystery fan convention going on at The Spruces. Look for some interesting authors to make guest appearances.
TWO TITLES NOW AVAILABLE AT AWRITERSWORK.COM
2/23/10: "A Writer's Work" is now in business! At this new web store you'll find not only my books (written as Kathy Lynn Emerson) but others by a variety of multi-published authors. Historical? Contemporary? Romance? Mystery? Nonfiction? They're all there for your reading pleasure.The books at this site go directly from writer to reader. We're changing the process. No middleman. We've done the scanning, proofreading and covers ourselves to make our books available, many for the very first time as ebooks, and set up a system whereby we can also offer original ebooks direct to readers. The two Kathy Lynn Emerson titles available for the launch of the site are Murders and Other Confusions, a collection of Lady Appleton short stories originally published by Crippen & Landru, and Fatal as a Fallen Woman, second book the the Diana Spaulding Mystery Quartet, set in 1888, originally published by Pemberley Press. The ebooks come in a variety of formats and can also be easily converted to read on a Kindle. Check it out!
For those of you who aren't into ebooks, I now have a special offer available on the complete Diana Spaulding Quartet in trade paperback editions.
WHAT IS A WHOOPIE PIE?
1/23/10: In response to a reader's question, I've now put up a whoopie pie page, including my sister in law's recipe for this New England treat. Click here for whoopie pie recipe:
ANOTHER BLOG
1/11/10: A new blog from me is now up at Mayhem and Magic where I am writing about the magic of being an author and talking about A Wee Christmas Homicide.
In other news, I've gotten the go-ahead from my editor for Scotched, the fifth Liss MacCrimmon novel (see two entries down for more details). I'm still working on the next historical, but as soon as that goes in (it's due March 15) I'll be back to Liss full time. In case anyone's wondering, I enjoy working on two totally different projects in the same year. If one gets bogged down, I switch to the other. I think both benefit from the process. Certainly going from sixteenth-century England to twenty-first-century Maine gives me a real break from whichever one is currently on hiatus. By the time I get back to it, I'm raring to go and full of fresh ideas.
For those of you who might like to sample some of my historical writing, I've just put a free short story up at my Kathy Lynn Emerson website. It originally appeared a year ago in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and features characters from my Face Down Mystery Series. You can read it by clicking on the button below:
NEW STUFF ADDED TO EVIL TWIN'S PAGES
11/12/09: If you click the button below, you'll get a sneak peek at the first two scenes in my latest book written as Kate Emerson, SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT: BETWEEN TWO QUEENS. It's an historical set late in the reign of King Henry VIII and the review in Publisher's Weekly says: "As in her first Tudor novel, Emerson skillfully crafts a strong heroine. . . . An in-depth view into the later years of Henry’s court with the charismatic king gone to seed, makes him a character, in Emerson’s capable hands, to be feared and in some ways pitied." The material I've posted is taken from my manuscript, before copy editing, so no fair pointing out typos or grammatical errors that have been corrected in the finished product! Enjoy.
AND ANOTHER ONE
11/3/09: A new blog from me is now up at the Cozy Murder Mysteries blogspot where I am this week's author answering the question "Why I Write Mysteries."
In other news, I've turned in the manuscript of the fourth Liss MacCrimmon novel, The Corpse Wore Tartan, which is centered around a Burns Night Supper, this one held at The Spruces, Moosetookalook, Maine's newly reopened grand hotel. Add a blizzard, stranding folks who don't get along all that well, and is it any surprise that someone ends up dead? I had a lot of fun writing this one. The only downside is that it won't be in stores for almost a year.
Meanwhile, since these things have to be planned waaaay in advance, I've been working on the official proposal for the fifth book, tentatively titled Scotched. It will go in to my editor for approval before I actually begin to write the book, which is due on the editor's desk around the time the fourth book is published. I can't tell you too much about it now, since I don't want to give away what happens in A Wee Christmas Homicide and The Corpse Wore Tartan, but there will be a mystery fan convention going on at The Spruces at the same time other things are happening in Moosetookalook. The right to name one of the fictional guest authors at this fictional convention was up for bid at the charity auction at a real fan convention, Bouchercon, recently held in Indianapolis. In other words, the winner gets to name the character after himself or herself or names the character after a friend or relative as a gift to that person. I'll be making the same offer again at the auction held at Mayhem in the Midlands next May.
BLOGS AND INTERVIEWS
10/8/09: I seem to be popular all of a sudden. People keep asking me to blog and do intereviews. This is kind of neat. It also means I can write short essays (okay, okay . . . I can BLOG!!!) about whatever strikes me as interesting at the moment. I don't think I'd want to commit to doing that on a regular basis. I'd never get any novels written if I was trying to put out a daily or even a weekly blog. But once in a while, especially for a previously untapped audience, one that really seems interested in what I have to say, the process can be fun. And, let's face it, being asked is always flattering. Most writers, myself included, need all the ego-boosts we can get.
If you haven't explored the rest of this website, I hope you'll do that now, but if you're ready to move on, here are some of the places where you can find me blogging or being interviewed. Keep in mind that I may be listed under one of my other names, so be sure to look for all three of me: Kaitlyn Dunnett, Kate Emerson, and Kathy Lynn Emerson.
I'm already posted, talking about my "Who's Who of Tudor Women," at The Burton Review. And I've done an interview about my historicals for Historically Obsessed, another historical blog. You can find that at Historically Obsessed.
Later this month there will be a blog from me ("Who Am I Today?") at http://www.writerspace.com/wsblogs. It is scheduled to be posted on October 14th. I've also just done an interview for http://workingwritersandbloggers.com. Looking a bit farther ahead, I'm working on an article for the March issue of The Medieval Chronicle, which was a print newsletter back in the day and is now starting up again as an e-newsletter. You can check it out at www.TheMedievalChronicle.com. I think I'll be writing about letter writing in the early sixteenth century, but don't hold me to that.
I'm going to try to update this news page on a regular basis, but don't hold me to that, either. There isn't always anything new or newsworthy to share. Mostly I sit and type. This is very boring if you're not the one doing it. Sometimes it's boring when you are!!
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