SPECIAL ON LOSING DAVID

My vintage mystery, LOSING DAVID, is on a Kindle special deal. Today it's $1.99 and tomorrow it'll be a dollar more, and so on till it gets back to its regular price.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Losing-David-Cheryl-B-Dale-ebook/dp/B00KKQYIMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404072631&sr=8-1&keywords=losing+david

It's about an attorney hiring an actor to impersonate a missing boy so that his murderer can be caught. This is the blurb:

When his father died in 1946, sixteen-year-old David Harmony should have inherited a fortune. Instead, he vanished at sea.

In 1962, an elderly attorney hires an actor to pretend to be David. He says the man in line to receive the Harmony estate killed David.

The actor suspects the attorney is scheming to claim the estate himself, but agrees to act as bait.

Then he falls for a woman who realizes he’s an imposter, and who may reveal his identity to the one person she shouldn’t.

David's murderer.

In an era of clacking typewriters and rotary phones, gentlemen tip hats and ladies wear gloves. But evil still hides beneath the most refined exteriors.

SCENES AT THE PIER

We walked down to the Village the other day and spotted this guy standing on the pier, looking at the horizon with his kayak laid on the concrete. Here, he's just dropped the kayak over the pier edge and is holding the rope so it won't float away.

We wondered if he was going to jump over after it, but he waited. Soon a couple more guys came up and began discussing who was getting in.

Finally, one climbed over the chain. "I'll do it."

The others looked relieved but acted like they were disappointed. "You sure, man?" "If you'd rather stay here..."

The brave one managed to get in without capsizing and pushed off the pier footings. You can just see the nose of the kayak here over the pier railing.

Soon he paddled away without mishap. Don't know where he was headed. Don't know why they didn't launch off the beach. In fact, I don't know a lot about what was going on!

Hope it ended well for all concerned. There are sharks in these waters.

We walked back home.

CHEAP BOOKS

I was looking at some books Amazon suggested I buy since I'd bought another one similar. I'm sure we all get these reminders from time to time, and I'm always willing to check them out. I did buy one for $1.99. I looked at a couple more, but they were $8.59 and $9.99 so I passed. After all, I could buy nine $1.99 books, with the money saved by not buying the higher priced ones. And I will.

Author David Gaughran had an interesting blog on this subject the other day in his post: Who's Afraid of Very Cheap Books? 

He gives the reasons that he isn't at all afraid of them, and I agree. Totally.

Before ereaders, we had used book stores where I bet most of us spent a lot of our book budgets. At least, I did. Those and libraries, along with occasional purchases at the grocery store or an actual bookstore, helped me get most of the books I wanted. If I'd had to rely on bookstores, I would have read maybe twelve books a year versus that many a month. I simply couldn't afford the high costs.

Today, I subscribe to several bargain/free ebooks sites where I get listings each day that I can scan. If a book catches my eye, I read a sample. If it's interesting (and appears to be edited!), I buy it. Prices range from free to at most $5.99. And the higher priced books tend to be by authors I know.

Strangely enough, I've found the self-pubbed/small press pubbed books have about the same ratio of good/bad reads as the "big" publishers put out. And the lower prices mean I can buy more of those authors' books.

So...I'm in favor of cheap books. Probably most readers are, too. I wonder about other authors.

SQUIRREL AND BIRD FEEDER

Our bird feeder has been great for enticing blue jays, cardinals, and other birds. It has also attracted a tree rat.

Mr. Piggy, as we've nicknamed him, has been eating way more than his due. And what he doesn't eat, he throws around on the ground. On occasion, he's even brought a friend to party with him.

Here he's getting to the food.

Here he's had his fill.

Mr. Piggy may be a cute little thing, but we have invested in a new bird feeder. This one has a covering. When a weighty object like Mr. Piggy jumps onto the feeding tray, the plastic cover slides down and blocks the openings to the seed.

I'll let you know how it works.

CATS

The cats anxiously awaited the running of the Belmont Stakes yesterday.  Here they are on the sofa in front of the TV, eagerly watching for the race to start.

Well, maybe anxious and eager aren't quite the right words. The boy cat is asleep, and the girl cat seems to be heading that way, too.

As it happens, the girl cat left just as the race was about to begin. I guess she knew what the outcome was going to be: no Triple Crown winner this year. She must not have wanted to hear the moaning afterward.

The boy cat slept through the whole thing. Maybe it was for the best. I think he had bets on other horses.

LOSING DAVID

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book LOSING DAVID.

It's available in print and ebook but will be on Amazon only for the next few months before going to Barnes and Noble and the other places.

Yes, I know. There's a big to-do about the argument between Hachette Publishing and Amazon, with big names like Scott Turow and James Patterson calling Amazon the evil empire. Which is surprising, considering how many books Amazon sells for them.

But Amazon and Hatchette are like any other businesses: trying to make a profit. It just so happens the profit this time comes from books. Whatever the outcome, authors won't see an increase in pay. And since Amazon nurtured and supported self-published authors while Hachette and the other big publishers were trying to keep the status quo, I kind of think I'll stick with Amazon.

Anyway, LOSING DAVID is a vintage mystery with strong romantic elements, set on a barrier island.

When his father died in 1946, sixteen-year-old David Harmony should have inherited a fortune. Instead, he vanished at sea.

In 1962, an elderly attorney hires an actor to pretend to be David. He says the man in line to receive the Harmony estate killed David.

The actor suspects the attorney is scheming to claim the estate himself, but agrees to act as bait till he falls for a woman who realizes he’s an imposter. Now she may reveal his identity to the one person she shouldn’t.

David's murderer.

In an era of clacking typewriters and rotary phones, gentlemen tip hats and ladies wear gloves. But evil still hides beneath the most refined exteriors.

WHY I DON'T COOK

The other night I decided to cook veggies for supper. My guy usually grills something and we fix corn on the cob or a baked potato or something to go with it. Something easy because I've never been a great cook.

But veggies sounded good and I hadn't actually cooked an entire supper myself in... Hmmm. I can't remember. Several years, maybe?

First I put the squash and onions into my hot olive oil and splattered my left hand. Annoying, but not bad. I stuck it in some water and it was fine.

Then I noticed the garlic potatoes in the microwave (Irish potatoes sliced thin, layered with garlic and dotted with butter, then covered in milk) were running over the top. Since the microwave was dirty by now, I cooked them till they were tender, then took the casserole dish out. At the sink, I wiped up the top of the casserole dish, then picked it up to wipe underneath.

That's when the rest of the hot milk poured out over my left hand, mostly the big, fourth, and little fingers. This time I felt it. And kept feeling it even when I put my hand in water.

My guy heard me yell and came rushing in. We soon had a pot of water with soda in it and I soaked my hand. It still hurt. He rumbled around and found some Solarcaine gel for sunburn and other minor burns that someone had left at the house. I slathered it on and in a few minutes, got some relief. I was still holding those fingers gingerly when I went to bed though.

Guess who's doing the cooking for the next few years?