Please enjoy my May 2015 newsletter (you can join my mailing list to receive my occasional newsletters).

Pleased and proud to announce that I was inducted into the Western Writers of America, Inc., Hall of Fame on June 26 in Lubbock, Texas. The event was made even more special because all four of my children accompanied me as a cheering section.

Until this year, only deceased authors were inducted into the Hall of Fame. This year they inducted several celebrities—living and deceased—along with all living recipients of the WWA Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement. I received that award in 2005.

Clint Eastwood didn’t show up, but I did get to visit with Barry Corbin when were on a panel together.

Celebrating with beeritas before the ceremony. The one in front of me does not belong to me—I drank water with my tacos.

Holding my trophy with three of my four children around me.

Now available as an ebook on several platforms:

Jessie, a fictional biography of Jessie Benton Frémont

Educated, ambitious, and brilliant in a time not quite ready for her, Jessie elopes with the young explorer Charles Frémont, at the age of seventeen, defying the wishes of her father, the powerful Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

Jessie expected a life of boundless adventure. Instead, the two most important men in her life are about to alter the course of 19th century American history—but only with her help.

You can get it on: Amazon.com

This is number four in the Real Women of the American West Series—previous titles are Libbie, Sundance, Butch and Me, and Cherokee Rose.

What’s on my desk now…

Watch for the third Blue Plate Mystery this fall. I hope to have Murder at Peacock Mansion available in print and ebook in October—great timing to give it as a Christmas gift.

Texas is Chili Country will launch in November from Texas Tech Press. Complete with a brief history of the state dish of Texas and a lot of recipes. Do you scorn beans in chili or add them—read about this divisive issue plus the growing popularity of chili cook-offs.

And I’m waiting on word from publishers about my Chicago historical, The Gilded Cage. One way or another I hope to publish it in the Spring.