New Mystery with Lizzie Borden's Doctor! Pre-Order!

Yay! My new supernatural-flavored mystery,

The Haunting of Dr. Bowen, A Mystery in Lizzie Borden's Fall River

is now up for Pre-order! (Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and Print)

(click for full image)

It will release on August 4th - the 125th anniversary of the Borden murders!

It is a tie-in story to the infamous Borden murders featured in my first book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter.  No zombies in the new book, though! 

I started wondering, how would some of the people who came on the scene, like Lizzie's family doctor and neighbor Dr. Bowen, be impacted by the horrific murders? 

Was there something in Fall River that would prompt such actions? 

Was the town, or the doctor himself, being haunted by the past? 

Read to find out!

Praise for The Haunting of Dr. Bowen, A Mystery in Lizzie Borden's Fall River 

“Dr. Bowen's tale is a mystery wrapped in a love story and sprinkled with historical tidbits. A pleasure to read.” —Jean Rabe, USA Today bestselling author

“ C.A. Verstraete has an unstoppable imagination and she does one thing I admire the most. Research. This is not a long book, it's not a difficult read, but it's written in such a way that it absorbs its reader into the turmoil that is Dr Bowen's mind. The imagery in this book is brilliant, and… creepy!” —Rebbie Reviews

“History, mystery, and a whole lot of blood. C.A. Verstraete starts with Lizzie Borden

 and spins a yarn that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.” —Joanna Campbell Slan, author of the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series

A Tangled Yarn

I was surprised by the arrival of my author copies of A TANGLED YARN. It is always exciting to see the actual books. I’m afraid the release has snuck up on me again, though I still have a little time.

I remember my agent describing the process when I had turned in the first manuscript in the Crochet Series. I would be writing one book, while going through edits and copy edits of the one I’d already turned in, and at the same time dealing with an upcoming release. Even after writing seventeen books, I’m still getting used to the process.

I’m leaving for Chicago and taking my work with me. I still have to update my website, get photographs of the projects for A TANGLED YARN, which is further complicated because I can’t find the samples I made, so I’m making new ones. But I’m also working on the samples for the manuscript I just turned in, which will be coming back with edits soon. I sent in a couple of blogs to use for a blog tour and I’m in the process of ordering bookmarks.

And I just started writing the next Yarn Retreat book. The plot came to me when I was flying back from Seattle.

My son is meeting me in Chicago. He’s coming from a business trip in Minneapolis. We had it all figured out how he’d get there first and rent a car and pick me up, but now there’s a monkey wrench in the works. I got an alert from American Airlines that strong thunderstorms are predicted for Chicago and could affect my flight. I imagine they’d affect his as well.

He had it all planned that we’d stop for pizza at his favorite place on the way from the airport, but that could all change is the flights get delayed and everything is closed by the time we both arrive. And raining besides. I tucked a tin of cookies in my suitcase so we won’t starve.

He’s just staying for the weekend. It’s always a different experience when he’s with me. It’s is pretty much a lot of going places and a lot of eating. I’ll be staying on when he goes home. The Crochet Show is in a suburb and I’m hoping to make it out there to see some of my yarn friends. And then there’s all the work I’m bringing with me. I also have some Chicago friends to see.

All good stuff!

Heroine on Vacation

I'm rushing a bit to get this blog post done because I've been working on a short story. Actually a new story as the first one wasn't going anywhere because my heroine Faith (from the Scrap This mystery series) just didn't want to participate. Originally, I wanted to title this when your heroine has you on ignore but that was a little depressing. And not quite accurate.

I had already decided she was the lead in the story. I outlined the main elements of the plot. I started writing and after two pages I was stuck. At first, I thought I started the story in the wrong place so I rewrote it. Still wasn't right. I wrote and rewrote the beginning of the story for weeks. I loved the plot but it wasn't coming together. It refused to move forward. All the characters seemed to hover around, doing something yet basically nothing. It was starting to stress me out. There was an approaching deadline. What was wrong?

I stepped away for a day and realized the issue was that Faith wasn't interested in being in the story. This mystery wasn't hers to tell. Once I released Faith from solving the crime, a character popped into my head. Her backstory. How she and the other characters fit and conflicted with each other. The story is flowing and I'm intrigued by this heroine. I don't know why Faith wasn't fitting in the story. All I could think is that maybe Faith needed a vacation.

End of a Harlequin Era

Yesterday I participated in a conference call with Harlequin editors and writers, discussing the current situation with the Harlequin Nocturne paranormal romance series.  The last Nocturne will be published in December 2018.

My most recent release, PROTECTOR WOLF, was the eighth novel in my Alpha Force miniseries for Nocturne, about a covert military unit of shapeshifters.  I also wrote a couple of Alpha Force novellas.  The first in my miniseries was ALPHA WOLF, published in 2009.

 

In addition, I wrote one non-Alpha Force Nocturne, BACK TO LIFE, about a Valkyrie.

So what now?  Well, I'm under contract to write one more Nocturne, which will also be an Alpha Force story.  It's due in February 2018 and should be published in November 2018--my ninth Alpha Force novel, and my last Nocturne.

Is that the end?  Not necessarily.  I'm considering writing some more stories, maybe novellas, and self-publishing them.  That way, my Alpha Forcers can stick around even longer.

And I'm happy that I'll still be writing for Harlequin.  The first book in my K-9 Ranch Rescue miniseries for Harlequin Romantic Suspense will be a March 2018 release. 

Plus, there are my mysteries.  My fourth Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, published by Midnight Ink, will be a May 2018 release.

So, I'll remain busy, continuing to write and leaning on my versatility as I always do. 

But it's still sad to know that one of the lines I've been writing for over quite a few years won't be there for me a whole lot longer.  That sort of happened to me before with my first published novels, which were time travel romances.  The publisher, Dorchester, went out of business, but fortunately not before I'd gotten my rights back.  I've republished some of them in e-format.  Glad there are lots of options these days.