Happy 2019

Happy New Year! The first week of 2019 is in the books and I hope yours was a great one, and the rest of 2019 is filled with what makes you happy. Fun, family, friends, adventures, creative pursuits, hikes in the Irish hills…I’m in!

Right now I’m in “monk mode,” as Greg McKeown puts it in his brilliant book Essentialism. This means I’m on a tight deadline. I’m running a bit behind given our multi-day power outage and then a nasty post-Christmas stomach virus, but all is well on our hilltop in Vermont.

This photo’s a favorite from 2018, from a … Read More

The latest from my hilltop in Vermont

Only a week ago I was on my way to Rutland, Vermont, for a wonderful signing and talk for Impostor’s Lure at Phoenix Books, a fabulous independent bookstore. I love this store! Rutland is a small city about an hour west of me, with a great downtown. I don’t get there often enough.

The night before, I was in North Reading, Massachusetts, at a historic library for a fun chat another “full house” of readers. As in Billerica on the 21st, everyone in North Reading and Rutland was so welcoming, gracious and generous. And they all asked great questions! 

The heat and humi… Read More

On the road!

Made it to Boston yesterday despite a flat tire. Well, not on the highway. In the driveway as I was getting myself together to leave. Fortunately Joe tackled it. It wasn’t straightforward because the wheel was bent (hence the flat tire), but it got done. Nice drive south on a beautiful day. I took myself to lunch to celebrate Impostor’s Lure hitting stores. Maybe not glamorous but quite pleasant! I found a nice throw at West Elm, too. Then a pleasant walk along the Charles River to take a moment to be grateful for this day. (Photo above is from my walk.)

The highlight of the day, though, w… Read More

Countdown to IMPOSTOR’S LURE! And again with wild blueberries…

I’ve been writing, running, contemplating making pesto with our bumper crop of basil…and getting ready for Impostor’s Lure to hit stores on Tuesday, August 21. That’s just one week from today! I’m excited for readers to get a chance to read this latest suspense novel featuring FBI agent Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan. This was a tough book to write but also a rewarding one.

Can’t wait to head out on the road to chat with readers at three events next week. Join us if you’re in the area! Click on the links for details:

Talk and Book Signing
7 PM
Billerica P… Read More

Creating Finian Bracken

Irish priest and whiskey man Finian Bracken appears in every book in my Sharpe & Donovan series, starting with Saint’s Gate. He has a tragic past: he lost his wife and two young daughters in a sailing accident just as the distillery he started with his twin brother, Declan, was taking off. Finian ends up in a struggling fishing village on the southern Maine coast, befriending FBI agents, lobstermen, grandmothers, innkeepers and one particular English art thief.

Finian came together for me as a character one rainy afternoon when I was tucked in an Irish hideaway for a writing retre… Read More

Images of Scotland

Among the recurring characters in my Sharpe & Donovan suspense series is Oliver York, an English mythologist, martial arts expert, “gentleman” farmer and serial art thief. By the start of Thief’s Mark, now out in paperback, he’s working with MI5. As a boy, he witnessed his parents’ murder and then was whisked off to Scotland by their killers. He escaped, but so did they. Now he’s about to find out the truth about that awful night. 

Scotland is one of the most beautiful places Joe and I have visited, and we are looking forward to a return trip. It… Read More

Deal alert for THE WHISPER

The Whisper is on sale in eBook for just $.99! It’s the fourth and final book in my Ireland series, but can you guess which character plays a role in my Sharpe & Donovan series? Answer below!

Here’s a bit about the story:

Ancient rituals, modern-day murder—the killing has only just begun.

Archaeologist Sophie Malone is still haunted a year after she was left for dead inside a remote Irish cave. Now she’s convinced that her night of terror is linked to recent violence in Boston. Did the killer under arrest steal the ancient Celtic treasure from the cave that night? Or is anothe… Read More

An Irish Walk

I’m at home in Vermont, working on Stone Bridges, my next Swift River Valley novel, and doing a lot of walking. I’m getting back to running after my half-marathon in early June, but walking is so good for my creative soul. Joe and I love to walk on our trips to Ireland, often revisiting beloved routes as well as trying new ones. A favorite are the trails at Derreen Garden on the southwest coast. We took this shot on a quiet walk a couple of years ago, when we caught the rhododendrons in bloom. So peaceful and beautiful…

… Read More

Walking the cliffs of Ardmore, Ireland

The historic village of Ardmore on the south Irish coast plays an important role in my Sharpe & Donovan series. Fictional Declan’s Cross, where a mysterious art thief got his start, is a stone’s throw. Ardmore–Ard Mohr in Irish, or “great hill”–is an intriguing, picturesque mix of old and new.

Joe and I had the opportunity to visit the area again a few weeks ago. We did the cliff walk along the headland, winding our way to the ruins of Saint Declan’s medieval monastic settlement, and his empty crypt. An impressive twelfth-century round tow… Read More

Just a few weeks until race day!

My next half-marathon is June 3rd and I am not ready! I get this feeling with writing sometimes, too. Weeks out from a deadline, I look at my work-in-progress and don’t see how I will be ready to turn it in. For most of us, running a half-marathon and writing a novel don’t happen in a matter of a week or two. We need time.

This is when I remind myself of the line from the Tao: “Let life ripen and fall, force is not the way at all.” Just show up every day and keep making progress. It’ll all work out.

But…there’s always my other motto: “Anxiety focuses the m… Read More