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Books the the Ceiling Newsletter
Our “Feed Me, Seymour” Palm Tree Covered in Snow!Boy are we glad it’s March in Texas. Let’s just say February wasn’t our best month, and I have an urge to write about energy gurus who don’t have a clue. Have you ever been visited with a sudden calamity that takes days to resolve? Judd Kelsey, part of the Pecan Bayou Police Force tells us about all he encountered in the big Texas Freeze. Don’t forget to get your monthly helpful hint from The Happy Hinter. I have plenty of books on the review/showcase list this month, so mark your calendars and stop in any time.
Murder of a Good Man will be available through the Harlequin website on March 9th with a snazzy new cover!
I will be giving away 5 paperback copies of Murder of a Good Man. Just a few more days to enter!
This is Betsy Livingston Fitzpatrick, the Happy Hinter part-time crime solver. So I’m sure you’ve all heard of it-the Magic Eraser. This little white foamy rectangle you can use for a myriad of uses. Leave a corner of it in your toilet to get rid of your toilet bowl ring. Use it to take your preschooler’s artwork off the wall. Clean your grout, and you can even run it gently over your computer keyboard to get those nasty crumbs. I know Josiah Thatcher would sure love that little sponge to work on his anniversary blunder. His wife, Primrose, also known as Mrs. Thatcher the Dispatcher, requested a blue scarf for their anniversary. She had seen Grace Kelly wearing a beautiful silk scarf framing her classic features while watching an old movie. I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but we had a terrible freeze in February. Their anniversary happened during the freeze so when Josiah was out gathering firewood he ran into Glory McGiver and bemoaned the fact that all the stores were closed and he didn’t have the gift she had requested. She volunteered to make her a blue scarf and on the morning of the anniversary he showed up with a blue … muffler. Prim was polite and accepted the gift and then confessed her desire to look like Grace Kelly. Josiah realized he’d missed the mark, but Prim later told us he told her she didn’t need a blue scarf to look like Grace. She was even prettier. True love is an inspiration at 18 and 81, isn’t it? That’s all for now,
The Happy Hinter
Hello Neighbor!
This is Judd Kelsey, member of the Pecan Bayou Police Force and the father of our Happy Hinter. You may be aware that we had quite a winter storm last month and our people here in Pecan Bayou were trying not to freeze to death. Firewood came at a premium and that was how I discovered J.R. Ledbetter selling firewood on a sliding scale. J.R.’s scale was not based on a person’s salary but how good a joke they could tell. That’s J.R. for you. Libby Loper tried the classic chicken-crossed-the-road joke and got a pile of twigs. Earl from Earl’s Java made a joke asking what ERCOT, the energy gurus who got us into this mess- really means. The answer? Excluding Reliability when Cold Or Temperate. That got him a cord of wood.
Stay safe, wear a mask, and take care.
~Judd Kelsey
PBPD
Coming Up in March
March 5/Review/Giveaway
A heart attack sends detective Rory Naysmith reeling. Too young to retire, he accepts a position in small-town Winterset, Nebraska. Handed an unsolved truck hijacking case, with the assistance of a rookie, Rory sets out to prove he is still able to go toe-to-toe with younger men.
March 6/Review
Marvel at true but forgotten history when patients check into Linda Hazzard’s Washington state spa in 1912 and soon become victim of her twisted greed.
March 12/Review
After a reminder goes off for the Caribbean sailing trip Anna was supposed to take with her fiancé, she impulsively goes to sea in the sailboat he left her, intending to complete the voyage alone. But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help .
March 13/Review
New York Times bestselling author Carol Edgarian delivers an astonishing feat of imagination, a grand adventure set in 1906 San Francisco – a city leveled by quake and fire—featuring an indomitable heroine coming of age in the aftermath of catastrophe and her quest for love and reinvention.
March 19/Spotlight/Giveaway
Marvey, a librarian, has moved from Brooklyn to a quirky small town in Georgia. When she’s not at the library organizing events for readers, she’s handcrafting book-themed jewelry and looking after her cranky cat. At times, her new life in the South still feels strange…and that’s before the discovery of the dead body in the bookstore.
March 20/Spotlight
In the small, sleepy town of Moab, Florida, folks live for ice cream socials, Jackie Robinson, and the local paper’s weekly gossip column. For decades, Sheriff Winston Browne has watched over Moab with a generous eye, and by now he’s used to handling the daily dramas that keep life interesting for Moab’s quirky residents. But just after Winston receives some terrible, life-altering news, a feisty little girl with mysterious origins shows up in his best friend’s henhouse. Suddenly Winston has a child in desperate need of protection—as well as a secret of his own to keep.
March 26/Review
The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense. Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.