Tag Archive for: Author Bethany Maines

New Things

/in , /by

 by Bethany Maines

I once had a cousin/uncle/grandparent-ish person (he was my second cousin once-removed if you want to get technical here, but the point is that he was in his eighties and I was around ten, you get the idea) who once posed the question that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear – what’s the difference between naked and nekkid?  Naked is simply having no clothes on.  Nekkid is naked, but with intent.  In other words, the difference is subtle and mostly to do with what you intend to do about it.  Which is how I feel about old and vintage.  

My general preference, when given a choice, is for old things.  Which is to say I like old books, old furniture, old clothes and my grumpy old dog.  Although, usually I say vintage, which is the same as old, but with character.  I don’t want new things (unless they’re electronics and sometimes not even then).  I want the things I’ve become accustomed to and work for me.  Which is why sometimes, even when something gets actually too old to use, I still hang on to it.  Recently, my favorite skull-n-crossbones mug developed an unfortunate hairline crack that resulted in it weeping tea over everything.  It was unusable but I hung on to it for two weeks.  What was I planning on doing with this mug?  It wasn’t fixable.  It wasn’t art.  Did I think it would magically heal itself?  It wasn’t until I had resigned myself to it’s passing that I was able to let it depart into the recycling bin.

I don’t think my preference for the old and familiar is particularly unusual.  I think most of us are little grumpy about being forced into new things.  We’re uncomfortable with being uncomfortable.  On the other hand, studies seem to indicate that actively being in a place of uncertainty and learning keeps Alzheimer’s at bay.  Being used to a little discomfort makes us appreciate what we have and have grace for those who also in discomfort. And I think that if a few more people were used to being told no and being a little more uncomfortable then they wouldn’t lose their cool and have public temper-tantrums in the middle of Target (why is it always Target?).  Perhaps we need new things periodically just to remind us that sometimes we don’t always get to keep our favorite mug.  And sometimes we need a new mug to tell us that everything will be OK.  As long as it looks vintage.

And Now…. Book News!

The Cinderella Secret is coming 10.19.20 and there are gifts, prizes, and sneak peeks for you to delve into! The Cinderella Secret is a romantic thriller that continues the Deveraux family saga, this time with Aiden Deveraux, the handsome lawyer going up against Ella Zhao who blames the Deveraux family for her father’s death. With family secrets and thrills at every turn, The Cinderella Secret delivers a one-two punch of passion and action that will keep readers turning the pages.

Pre-Order The Cinderella Secret on all ebook platforms: https://books2read.com/Cinderella-Secret

Bonus Gift  (but just for my friends)

The Lost Heir, a Deveraux Legacy prequel novella, will be released in December, but members of the Blue Zephyr Press / Bethany Maines newsletter will receive it on October 19 with the release of The Cinderella Secret! 
Join here: https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/

Giveaway

Want a chance to win a free copy of The Cinderella Secret? One lucky winner will also get a copy of Book 1 – The Second Shot.  Giveaway ends 10.17, so snag your entry now!
Enter at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54817893-the-cinderella-secret

Try Before You Buy

Read Chapter 1 of The Cinderella Secret! 
Read here: bethanymaines.com/cinderella-secret-chapter-1/

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

👈 The new mug

The Waffle House

/in , /by

by Bethany Maines

So, I forgot that I was supposed to blog today and instead used
my few minutes of writing time to write a scene where two of my characters go to
a Waffle House.  But as a west coast resident,
I’ve never actually been to a Waffle House. 
As a result, I spent way too much time looking at the Waffle House menu
on line and now I want hashbrowns and waffles. 
Sometimes we hear authors say that their characters speak to them.  My characters wouldn’t deign to do that.  They’re too busy talking to each other. And
honestly, if I left them to their own devices they would talk until my fingers
cramped up from trying to transcribe.  I
frequently have to cut off the conversations so that the story goes somewhere.  That’s part of the editing process, but these
conversations are excellent at helping me understand the characters.  When I discover what they find funny, what
they hate, what annoys them, and what their hard line stance is on Christmas
decorations after New Years, I can plunk them down in any situation and know
how they’ll react.  Which is how I know
that Jackson Deveraux would be quite happy at the Waffle House, but that he would
be shocked that his hoity toity grandmother Eleanor Deveraux knows to order Waffle
House hashbrowns scattered, smothered, and covered, but not chunked.  The Deveraux family is full of secrets and
surprises, but when I started writing about them I never would have thought
that hashbrowns would be one of the surprises.  The
Deveraux family, from my Deveraux Legacy, has become one of my favorite group of
characters.  They’re a very fractured
family that is struggling toward reconciliation while attempting to overcome the
periodic interruption of mercenaries, bank robbers, and greedy CEOs.

If you want to find out what the Deveraux family thinks
about Christmas décor you can check out book 1, The Second Shot, and
pre-order book 2, The
Cinderella Secret (both currently ¢.99). 
Or you can…

Enter to win a paperback copy of The Cinderella Secret on
Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Cinderella Secret by Bethany Maines

The Cinderella Secret

by Bethany Maines

Giveaway ends October 17, 2020.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway


Or you can join the Bethany Maines / Blue Zephyr Press Newsletter mailing list and get a free copy of the prequel novella, The Lost Heir in October! 

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Fall! Bombs Away!

/in /by

 by Bethany Maines

Does anyone else feel like Fall just hit with a sledgehammer?  The weather shifted, everything started getting colder and book release dates started cropping up faster than weeds in my lawn. Our own Debra Sennefelder put out the fashion / Halloween themed mystery What Not to Wear to a Graveyard (see her post here) and we’re celebrating the late summer releases of Debra Goldstein’s latest Three Treats Too Many and our new author Gay Yellen with Body Business.

My next book releases in October, but that just means that all the marketing is happening now, now, now (use your used car salesman voice for the last part). Marketing for most authors, including me, is a somewhat painful process in which we attempt to interest the greatest number of people in our precious book baby. The Cinderella Secret is book 2 (of 4) in my Deveraux Legacy series. With a series, book 1 sets the tone and while marketing can be increased for subsequent books – if an author did a terrible job on book 1 then book 2 doesn’t have much of a chance. This kind of high-stakes “hope you got it right” marketing pressure is what drives many authors to hate marketing.  We’re already responsible for inventing these characters, putting them through hell, hopefully letting some of them make it out with a happy ending, and now we’re responsible for making them a success in the world?  It’s too much! My poor babies deserve more!  But of course, we saddle up and go out there and do our best for our imaginary book friends because we really do love them. Fortunately, it is a bit easier with assistance from friends, marketing professionals, and having some pretty sweet giveaways and incentives in my back pocket. 

Here’s what’s going on with The Cinderella Secret!

The Cinderella Secret: Hot-shot lawyer Aiden Deveraux holds the key to unlocking the dark secrets of Ella Zhao’s past and Ella holds the key to Aiden’s heart. But a murderer wants to stop those secrets from ever seeing the light of day and Aiden and Ella may have to trust each other with their secrets if they want to make it out of this fight alive.

Release Date: 10.19.20

Pre-Order now from iBooks for ¢.99!  (Price goes up after release week!) Buy here →
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-cinderella-secret/id1528407978?mt=11&app=itunes
Have a netgalley account and want to get an advance copy? Blogger/Reader Sign-Up → https://bit.ly/ReleasePromotionTheCinderellaSecret

Want to win an e-copy and a $40 Amazon giftcard? Enter to win → http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2a9f3a7480/

Want to get the Deveraux Legacy prequel novella, The Lost Heir, for FREE? Learn how →
https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/
**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Play Ball!

/in /by
by Bethany Maines

I recently read Dru Ann Love’s post about all her virtual
conference activities.  It was nice
to hear that someone else is platform bouncing as much as I am.  Zoom and GoToWebinar and Facebook Live and,
and, and… whew.  The list goes on.  I’m going to get Zoom burn out before I get
COVID.  Of course, it would probably help
if I wasn’t supporting three different on-line events through my day job as a
graphic designer.  Meanwhile, authoring
hasn’t stopped just because we can’t go talk to people.  Online sales and launches have always been
important, but now they’re even more so.  Between the two, it’s as though my computer
centered life has become a mushroom cloud of eye fatigue and poor posture.  On the plus side, I have now introduced my
dog to everyone I’ve ever had a meeting with as he head butts my office door
open on a routine basis.  Currently, Kato
would like to play ball and I would like to do that also, so I’m going to do a
quick update on my author news and then get on out to the backyard!

This week in author news, my publishing company Blue Zephyr
Press is running a sale across their entire catalog.

¢.99 – My book, The Second Shot – Book 1 of the Deveraux
Legacy,an intriguing and at times hilarious Romantic Suspense novel with a
captivating cast of characters and action that will keep you on the edge of
your seat. If you like
page-turning action, and award-winning writing, then you’ll love The Second
Shot. BUY NOW: https://books2read.com/The-Second-Shot

¢.99 – And book 2 – The Cinderella
Secret – is now available for pre-order exclusively on Apple Books. It will only be ¢.99 thru release week, so
grab it now!  ORDER NOW: apple.co/2FILmMd 

And there are many more fantastic ¢.99 sci-fi, mystery,
romance, and adventure novels available. Learn more about the other items for
sale: https://www.facebook.com/KarenHarrisTully/posts/2630716057180650

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Thorny Problems

/in /by

 

by Bethany Maines

This week has been a bit of roller coaster ride for my
writing.  I received some very excellent
news which them prompted me to move up several items on my to-do list, which
further caused me to do the thing that I had been dreading… Call Apple Support
to fix a problem with my Apple ID.  I
have had three different people on my “case” and have now been bumped up to a “Senior
Advisor.”  In short, my problem has been
deemed an actual problem (hmm… like I said at the beginning?) and I have been
moved away from the people that tell me to do things like “spell out North,
instead of putting N.” and “try clicking ‘add’ 4 times really fast.”  Which is probably good because I was starting
to make notes for killing off a customer support specialist in my next novel.

But all of this has left me feeling more than a little bit
blocked.  I want to do one simple thing,
but suddenly the simple thing spawned multiple problems and multiple
frustrations.  Usually when I’m feeling
frustrated I can dive into one of my writing projects to escape, but
unfortunately I’m feeling blocked on many of those as well!  Book #4 of the San Juan Island series is
holding until I can figure out who finds the body.  I’ve got it narrowed down, but I’m not sure
who would be the best person.  My sci-fi
version of Beauty & the Beast for the Galactic Dreams Anthology series is
with my co-writers and I don’t want to write the next section without their
input. So what’s the solution to this thorny issue?  Here’s what I came up with…

Step 1: Go blackberry picking

Step 2: Make pie.

Step 3: Eat pie.

It may be the long way around for pie, but it is a solution to a very thorny problem.

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

The Good Old Days Weren’t Always That Good

/in /by

by Bethany Maines

The pandemic has brought many things
surface, but as I work with my roster of usual clients (I’m a graphic designer)
I’m caught by surprise at the growing gulf between those who wish to return to
“normal” (don’t we all) and those who have pushed forward to embrace
technology in an effort to create “normal-ish”. Some of the
solutions that have come up during the pandemic are poor substitutes (distance
learning, I’m looking at you), but at least function.  Some of the solutions
work better than the original (Zoom with out of state friends!).  But what
I see is that the clients who are embracing technology to remain connected are
going to have an on-going and continued advantage over organizations that take
the “we’ll just wait for normal to come back” approach even after the
pandemic subsides.  

Honestly, I don’t believe that
normal is going to come back. That is not a negative prediction.  It’s an estimate based on what I know about
history and technology. Humans are always looking for “faster” and once we’ve found
a new faster way to do things, we don’t go back to slower.  So all the shortcuts we’ve developed are
going to stick with us. The organizations who think that everything will go
back to the way it was are going to be severely disappointed. And I think this
rule can be brought down to an individual level as well.

Which has made me ponder what “normal”
am I clinging to for the sake of familiarity?  Am I afraid of being a
different person tomorrow because it would require change today?  What
challenges have I been avoiding because they would require me to dig in, learn,
and potentially fail? Learning something new is hard, but results are clear — trying
new things keeps us connected, flexible and more likely to survive.  And as I stated slash possibly sang and danced to in my last Zoom dance party, I Will Survive. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Peregrine’s Flight – the next book in my Shark Santoyo series is almost here (print edition is already available!) and will be available 6/16.

Blurb: Peregrine Hays has always been able to see the angles and
fix any situation—but even she can’t fix the death of Shark Santoyo. All Peri
wants to do is finally move on, but when mysterious new player Hernan Arroyo
comes to town looking for Shark and digging up the past, he unwittingly puts
Peri in the path of the Reyes brothers, their hunt for a smuggler of stolen
Mayan artifacts, and a shadowy figure known only as the Mannequin. Peri is
struggling, but maybe with the help of her friends, she can learn to fly.

Learn more about the series: https://amzn.to/3aUhDuA 
Pre-Order Peregrine’s Flight: https://amzn.to/3eGyan6

Love & Treasure – Surprise it’s a novella! If you like sword fights, treasure-filled caves, and laughs, then you need Love & Treasure.

Blurb: Chase Regard is captain of the nearly-historically-accurate pirate ship Cupid’s Revenge, a pirate-themed restaurant and dinner show, and the mountain of debt that came with both. But Chase has an ace up his sleeve: his ancestor left a heap of treasure somewhere on the coast near Ashville, Oregon. All Chase needs to find it is the help of the red-headed, fiery, and occasionally forgetful, academic Dr. Jenna Mackenzie, the director of the Ashville Museum. But when Chase and Jenna team up they must face the town’s history-buff bully, accusations of theft, and an oncoming storm before they find out that X marks the spot for love and treasure.
Releasing: July 

Thriller Giveaway: Fellow Stiletto author A.B. Plum and I are part of a massive Thriller Giveaway!  60 series starting books AND an e-reader are up for grabs. Last day to enter is 6/10 so click that link quick! Enter for a chance to win here: : https://www.booksweeps.com/giveaway/june-2020/fast-paced-thrillers-series-starters/
***

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Updates from the Inside

/in /by

by Bethany Maines
COVID Update:
Social distancing and sheltering-in-place continues, my time spent
googling “how to look good on webcam” has increased and Facebook ads have
become increasingly applicable.  Why,
yes, I do want that ridiculous photography gadget.  However did you know? I have learned that
even with headphones on my daughter yells at her online schoolwork games like
they’re sporting events.  “Giraffes don’t
belong there!”  As part of my attempts to
maintain my introvert lifestyle and avoid my family who are now EVERYWHERE I
have started reading romance novels on Radish, an app for episodic romance
novels that lets you browse by your preferred trope.  Werewolf biker romance?  Sure, why not.  Anything to forestall another round “do we
have any more paper towels?” Because no, we don’t. 

Regular Update: I have a new book coming out!  In
fact, I have two.  Shark’s Fin is a
mystery thriller and book four of the Shark Santoyo Crime Series.  It arrives in May and because there’s a wee
bit of a cliff hanger, I’ve decided to put out book five, Peregrine’s Flight a
month later.  The Shark series is
ridiculously fun to write, with wickedly good good guys and wonderfully bad bad
guys, each book takes readers on a fresh adventure as Shark and Peri inch closer to
taking down the big mob boss.  It’s
gritty, funny, and full of twists and turns, you can blast through all three
Shark Santoyo novels on Kindle Unlimited and then pick up Shark’s Fin in May
and Peregrine’s Flight in June!

SHARK’S
FIN

Book 4 of the Shark Santoyo Series
Release Date: May 12, 2020
When Shark Santoyo made a
deal with the FBI to flip on Geier—the boss of The Organization— he thought
he’d be done in a few weeks. But six months later Shark is faced with an FBI
handler who is working against him, an assassination investigation and an
increasingly erratic Geier. But as the threats mount, Shark realizes that if he
wants to make it out of this mess alive, he’s going to need the help of the
only girl who has ever held his trust and his heart—Peregrine Hays.  Peri and Shark believe together they can make
it through anything. But they’ve never taken on both the FBI and Geier before.

Praise for the Shark Santoyo Series: “Anti-heroes, bad guys, uncles and the dynamic
crime-fighting duo of Shark and Peri equal reading bliss, especially if you
like some heart, brains and wit with your down-and-dirty grit. All I can add is
READ IT.” –Tome Tender Book Blog

READ OR BUY THE SERIES NOW: https://amzn.to/3aUhDuA
PRE-ORDER SHARK’S FIN: https://amzn.to/34km8fd

**
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Is My Life That Bad? (Asking for a friend)

/in /by

by Bethany Maines

Originally I had planned on a post about how technology has
impacted my writing, but COVID-19 has a way of derailing things. My long journey
from Apple iMac in 1998 to laptops to ipads to composing huge swaths of a novel
on my phone has been a constant evolution in an attempt to remove roadblocks in
the process of creating stories. One
such roadblock was born six years ago and we named her Zoe. She’s charming, but she does slow down the
process and specializes in making it inconvenient to sit at a desk for extended
periods of time. In fact, her birth
escalated my search for technological shortcuts in the writing process.  I no longer have the luxury of futzing with
finding the perfect moment to write. I
get the moments I get and I’d better make them count because they won’t be
coming back.
Which brings us to COVID-19, social distancing and
sheltering in place, pausing or whatever else they’re using to mean “don’t
leave the house.” All the social media
is going on about how tragic it is to not leave the house and how they will at least be able to catch up on all
their TV watching, write a novel and learn French because everyone will have so much MORE time. To which I say…

I work from home. 
Grocery shopping is ALREADY my big going out event. Now I just have a child at home with me as I
try to work. Staying at home didn’t magically give me more
time. I have monumentally LESS time.  So basically, my sheltering in place is the
same as always except that the crazies have bought up the toilet paper I
actually do need and now my child wants to steal all the phones to facetime her friends. Also, now I have to
put on make-up in the morning because all the extroverts need to compensate and
want to do video chats.  
I realize that
my complaints are minimal in the greater scheme of things and I will happily wear mascara
to ensure the continued health of my fellow human beings, but sigh…  could everyone either stop complaining about having
to live my life or stop assuming that I’m going to roll out a novel next
week? That would be great.
Although, I am working on a novel. On my phone. 
Because I can “watch” Ducktales with one arm around Zoe and compose one
handed. You know… during all my “free” time.

**
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

By Genre!

/in /by

By Bethany Maines
One of the best parts of the Stiletto Gang is hearing about
the spectrum of genres that our authors work in.  I work in several and I know that can get
confusing for readers, so here’s a primer of genres and how they apply to me.
Mystery – A detective either professional or amateur
must attempt to solve a mystery, usually a murder.  In my San Juan Island Mystery series amateur
detectives Tish (an ex-actress) and her grandfather Tobias (an ex-CIA agent)
solve murders in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. 
Crime – The main plot revolves around some form of
crime. There can be elements of deduction and mystery, but the main elements
involve some sort of criminal behavior. 
In my Shark Santoyo Series, Shark is attempting to navigate his way out
of the criminal life, but faces enemies on both sides of the law. 

Thriller – While a mystery detective finds a crime and
steps in to solve things, the thriller protagonist has the crime happen to them
and must fight their way out to simply get back to his or her ordinary
life.  In my Deveraux Legacy Series,
the Deveraux family must face a series of antagonists who seek to bring them
down. 

Romance – A book where the relationship between the
two protagonists takes center stage. 
The best part about Romance is that like a good wine, it pairs well with
anything.  Most of my novels contain an
element of romance, but not all of them push the romance to the forefront.  But in the Deveraux Legacy series, each of
the cousins will find love while battling the baddies, making the series genre “Romantic
Thriller”.  
Want a free romantic thriller from me?  Get Blue Christmas today: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/to271maetc

Science-Fiction –
Sci-fi explores the future of science and
humanity as they intertwine.  I
participate in an anthology series called Galactic Dreams that translates fairy
tales to science-fiction.  Each author in
the anthology assists in building the shared universe of Galactic Dreams,
meaning that each of our stories share the same background, timeline and rules.

Fantasy – Fantasy stories contain elements of magic
and wonder.  My mother read us The
Hobbit when we were quite young and so I always assumed that fantasy was
something that everyone enjoyed. Then I grew up and realized that some people
think that it’s not “real” literature (what does that even mean?!) and
sometimes hate it for appearing to have no rules if magic can simply make
things happen.  So fantasy is my little
secret.  I don’t write a lot of it, but I
periodically dabble to make myself happy. 
 
**
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Release Day for An Unfamiliar Sea!

/in , /by

by Bethany Maines

An Unfamiliar Sea officially launches this week! An Unfamiliar Sea is a classic mystery with two sleuths: 28-year-old Tish Yearly and her 79-year-old grandfather Tobias.  Tish and Tobias navigate the rocky waters of living together in Tobias’s house on Orcas Island in the San Juan Island of Washington state, solve murders, and try to keep their dog Coats from getting diabetes.

This series was inspired by the time I spent assisting my grandmother before she moved out of her house, my childhood trips to Orcas Island and by those enduring one hour mystery shows like Murder She Wrote, Matlock, and Psych.  For me those shows were always about enjoying the quirks and foibles of the characters as much as the mystery. I enjoyed the puzzle of working out how someone died, but I loved seeing how the strengths and weaknesses of the detective would play out each week and how they would triumph in the end. And if you ever read any of my books, you’ll quickly realize that I like books with lots of chuckles and quick banter and these books are no exception. From Tish and Tobias arguing about condolence pie to the neighbors and who all have opinions on Tish’s dating life I try to keep readers laughing too hard to figure out the mystery (but good for you if you do!).  So if you want a mystery that makes you smile and feels like an island vacation between two covers, then please take a trip to the San Juan’s with Tish and Tobias Yearly.

**

AN UNFAMILIAR SEA 
In a storm, you never know which way is home.
Tish Yearly is about to open a wedding venue on Orcas Island, in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. All she wants is to sail through her first wedding, figure out why her best friend isn’t talking to her, and tell her grandfather she’s dating someone he doesn’t approve of. But before she can get to any of that, Tish’s favorite employee turns up dead—apparently drowned in four inches of water. Now Tish, and her grandfather, former CIA agent and current curmudgeon and licensed P.I. Tobias Yearly, are wading through the suspects including a meth-cooking uncle, a brother with anger-management issues, and the mysterious island drug kingpin, who may or may not be going straight. Tish is attempting to navigate this unfamiliar sea, but she may not be able to weather the storms to find her way home.

Learn more about Tish Yearly: Dru’s Book Musings Character Interview
Buy the book: Amazon

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.