Touring
Summer has begun with tours and signings to promote BOOKMARKED TO DIE. There's no doubt the best part is meeting readers. I just returned from a grand two-week tour in Michigan and Ohio, and plan to post a few photos of people I met as soon as I do all that stuff to get them out of the camera.
One of the highlights was the Wood County Library in Bowling Green, Ohio, where I was greeted by staff members wearing red “I LOVE MYSELF” buttons. (Remember which Miss Zukas that comes from?) Their beautiful library is truly a community center: a grand piano and coffee cart in the atrium, concerts and signings, the building buzzing with people - and a fabulous staff. If you travel through BG, you oughta stop! And as long as you're there, check out the museum in the former County Farm.
Speaking in Ludington, Michigan, at the library I knew as a child was another treat, where I met high school classmates I hadn’t seen in …well, a long time.
A few fine and generous bookstores in MI: Schuler’s, Horizon, Nicola’s, Book Mark, The Kid’s Place, and oh boy: Aunt Agatha’s.
Since I get lost driving around the block, I rented a GPS for my rental car - "Turn left in 500 feet." "Make a legal U-turn as soon as possible." It was perfect for the directionally challenged.
Back on the home front, the deer have discovered the orchard and those dozen young fruit trees are now a couple rows of sticks. The only thing left almost untouched is the Italian prune tree. And as for roses: hah! Nothing works, I’m told. My neighbor has a mule really and truly named Festus who chases deer, but unfortunately Festus licks his lips at the sight of my lettuce and broccoli.

New Books
I’m currently working on the third – actually the 11th book in the Miss Zukas series. The 10th will be available in Spring 2007. Reissues of the early books begin October, 2006.

Nice Mystery Website If you like "cozy" mysteries, take a gander at the Cozy Library . Diana, the head Cozy librarian, reviews books, links to authors’ sites, and writes a newsletter. Fine and humorous writing. Be sure to check out Diana’s photo as a precocious four year-old.

This Season’s “Juicy” Library
It’s a tiny little corner (sort of)in the University of Michigan: The Labadie Library Some might call it the “Radical Library.” And that it is. Collections of anarchist writings, photos and pamphlets. Remember the Unabomber? Yes, they have his ramblings. This collection is a treasure trove, and much of it is digitized and available to you with a few taps of the finger. Dig in.

Good Reads
Helma, who recalls when people used to apply pen to paper to communicate, is reading Flannery O’Conner’s letters collected in Habit of Being, relishing the grace and fluidity of a slower, more thoughtful way of conversing. She worries the next generation of writers will leave nothing behind to account for personal discourse but universal icons. Ruth, keeping to the Flannery O’Conner theme, picked up A Good Man is Hard to Find but discovered it wasn’t at all what she expected.