This has been one crazy summer-the crowds, the heat, the rain, the crowds, traffic backups, covid. Did I mention the crowds? But this, this sight-this beautiful, peaceful morning sight erases so much blah, blah, BS. When I see this I am in the mood to be nicer, to try harder and to relax into things I love the most. So it’s off to another book, another story. It’s forming in my head and I’m vacillating between a couple of titles, but the time, the era is set- fixed in my head. It’s the 1960s. Wow! What a decade! Think of all the things that were happening then. What were you doing then? Were you even here? What do the history books tell you or friends tell you? ………………. And we’re off!

Amazon assures me that Tickler Chain will be here in a couple of days. I’m very excited about my new baby and hope my readers will enjoy the latest book too. I’ll be at Carolina Decor Wednesday and the South Topsail Market Thursday.  The regular shops on the island will have it soon and I’m available also on Amazon. Tickler Chain is the 7th book in the Murder by the Sea series. Here is a little excerpt:

The warmth of familiarity and knowledge of a goal, one she could reach, flooded through her body almost to ecstasy. Then in the throes of her passion, the course, consuming envelopment of fear descended upon her, it was as if someone had tossed a blanket across her entire body. The emotion gripped her stronger than she’d ever felt before. She felt lost, alone-so very alone and as if she had never existed.

Amazon says TICKLER CHAIN will be here on July 2, geez I hope they aren’t misleading me. Lately it has been taking so long to get stuff on time-seems to take forever. Anyway, the book is due here in a week or so. I’m thrilled,  my editor is thrilled, and I hope you, my readers, are too. I’ve loved writing the MURDER BY THE SEA series and it’s been hard keeping the series on the shelves of the local stores. Thank you so much! It is always so fulfilling to have return readers who follow the series.

As soon as the shipment comes in,  I will post it on my page. Thanks again for reading. Carol

Tickler Chain is at the editors and I’m busy selecting a proper photo for the cover. This is a maybe.This is another maybe. There is just so many to choose from. The chain you see in the nets is the tickler chain. It bumps along the sandy bottom and encourages the shrimp to jump into the net. Anyone have any preferences? Would love to hear from you.

The book is finished-TICKLER CHAIN is complete (except for a final re-write and editing). What comes next? Polishing the image in my head that will be the cover, is what comes next. But I’ve been chewing on that for several months already. What do y’all think of this picture? I like the foot, but is there enough  color? Should I have a net with a tickler chain attached-maybe a few hermit crabs crawling around? Of course the net has to be just so, and do the toes have the right color of polish on them? Is the foot girly enough? Should the shells and foot be in the water? Should there only be shells and a net? Remember, this is a murder story and so the cover cannot be bright and sunny, it has to be a bit on the ominous side. Decisions, decisions- pulling my hair out! Imagine going through this as I write–every paragraph, every page, every chapter is scrutinized by my never satisfied writer’s eye.

This is what is going on in my head now. Think of how tedious it will be to actually find a net, with a chain, near the water-at the right time of day and have just the right shells in the sand. On top of that, I have to be satisfied with the foot-and the polish, etc., etc., etc.

Now I know why a dog goes round and round before finally settling down in his comfortable spot. It has to be just right. I’ve started doing that too.

We all love the sight of a shrimp boat with its doors spread wide as it pulls the trawl behind it. Nothing beats that sight in the early morning sun or as twilight rests on the horizon, Ain’t nothing like a good shrimp dinner. Ain’t nothing like appreciating the hard work those guys on the shrimp boats do. But there’s another guy out there too, searching for a lighter haul, and he’s out in the sound all by his lonesome hoping to pull in a little bit to sell or feed himself for a short while. Those shrimp taste just as good-he’s working hard too it’s just that he’s  using a smaller net. Both nets have tickle chains and what?! My goodness isn’t that the title for my newest book? Here’s a little excerpt:

It was a gentle night, only light wind, and as it breezed through her hair, Estelle felt the twinge of self confident beauty she had once felt before being marred by the alligator in Florida. She ground her teeth as the angry moment passed and moved forward toward the boats moored along the finger docks.

All was quiet at the marina, at this late hour everyone was either asleep or passed out. All the workers at the marina would have gone home, so Estelle felt safe and inconspicuous as she made her way toward the docks and boats, scanning each to see if something there would fit her agenda. And then she spied the skiff laying sort of cockeyed against a bulkhead, the spongy marsh and its dense salty grasses nearly hid it completely. Estelle hissed gleefully into the thick night air, she couldn’t believe her luck, this abandoned vessel was exactly what she needed and she made her way quickly through the muck to where it lay. The boat held water, so it didn’t have leaks, she surmised. A few tin cans and empty beer bottles floated in the murky water inside it; Estelle tossed them from the boat and whispered, “Nobody is going to miss this thing.”

A tickle chain is a metal chain, part of a trawl, that drags along the seabed with the aim of disturbing fish or shrimp and causing them to enter the net. This next book, the 7th in the MURDER BY THE SEA series, is titled Tickle Chain Here’s a little excerpt:

It was nearly 2 A.M. when Estelle was dropped at the marina. She wished the driver good luck and offered a thank you for the lift. In the quiet still night she stood listening to the gentle clanking of lines against spars and the timid movement of water against hulls. Again, to her advantage, it was a starless night, even the clouds were on her side as they hid the moon.

The gentle night breezed through her hair and Estelle felt a twinge of the self confidence she had once felt before being marred by the alligator in Florida. She ground her teeth as the moment passed and moved forward toward the boats moored along the finger docks.

They say change is good. Well, I’m not too sure about that, but I’ve got a change for you anyway. A couple of weeks ago I posted that the title of my new book, the one I’m presently working on, was going to be titled LOW TIDE. Things have changed. As I progress, and as the book evolves, I’ve decide that the title needs to change as well. Therefore, the new title will be TICKLE CHAIN. Those of you familiar with fishing and shrimping know what a tickle chain is, it is the beads of metal at the bottom of a net that tickles the sand as the net is drawn across it and encourages the shrimp to “pop” into the net. It also weights the net down.

There it is-change. I’ll be posting excerpt from TICKLE CHAIN periodically. I welcome any comments. Thanks, Carol

Winter is here, brrr. Maybe next week it will feel like spring, at least, that’s my hope. For the last few years I’ve found myself busy this time of year preparing for the Meet the Author Luncheon and was hoping to do so this year as well.  However, damn Covid is going to mess things up and it simply does not seem feasible to try to put on an event where 30-35 people will be in close quarters. So sorry-hope that next year will be covid free and we can go ahead with our yearly event. Thank you. Have a safe and healthy year.

A New year Some new ideas. A new book. Yes, I’m working on a new book, actually two. THE SHORE OF THE WIDE WORLD  is still brewing on the Ross stove, but I realized it was a big task and that getting it done just the way I want is going to take longer than I thought. In the meantime, LOW TIDE is bubbling away on the front burner. It is the seventh in the Murder by the Sea novels.

How do you like that? Murder by the Sea novels. Yep, I’ve gone with a new distributor for my ebooks and they are doing a marvelous job-suggesting new covers (ebooks only), subtitles and all kind of things.  My hard copy books have the order in which they were written on the back of the book. The ebooks have the numbers on the front. I hope to have the ebooks out in this new format this month. Redesigning and marketing are not my forte (I pretty much stink at it) but these new guys, Bublish, seem to know what they are doing. Time will tell.

Marketing your book is the hardest part of writing, it is typically out of the realm of most writer’s knowledge  (all that technical stuff)  and it is the most expensive. Sadly, many good authors go unnoticed because they cannot afford the marketing-me included.

LOW TIDE is moving along and I hope to have it out by June. This book is a real whodunit so formulating the story has proven to be challenging but I do love a good challenge and have found it to be fun. Researching is always a hoot because I always learn something new and get to meet and converse with such interesting people. Here is a little excerpt:

Fear had been teasing her lately. Playing games with her, popping up at times without any reason or warning. Estelle didn’t like that, not this kind of fear. It seemed to be for no apparent reason. And it swam deep within her, raising to the surface when least expected. She had never been afraid of anything or anyone. She’d always come out fighting, determined to win against all odds if threatened in any way. But this, this new fear was not extraneous,  This fear lived deep inside, swimming through her and her scarred and ugly face was its façade.