new novel - new blog

I've decided to give this blogging-your-novel online a shot. Check out the second in the Senior Center Murder series at Gold Medal Murder. I'd love to hear some feedback on how I'm doing!

Someone on my side

Thanks are due to Walter McElligott, editor and gentleman. See the advance copy of Walt's interview with me which will appear in the July 2007 edition of the Clarion (Chicago Writers Association) in July.

Not so quiet after all

I thought I was going to have a quiet week on my virtual tour - not so! Marlys Marshall Styne just posted her interview with me on her award-winning blog, "Never Too Late!" [Read about Marlys]

More on the virtual book tour

A quiet week coming up, but I suppose that was to be expected with the holiday on Monday. I had thought briefly to ask several of my hosts later on tour if they would mind being moved up. I discarded this idea since they're already doing me a favor.

Friday, June 1st, Terry South of Quality Book Reviews will be posting a lengthy interview with me that she conducted. It will appear both on Quality Book Review's blog site as well as Terry's forum. Authors, please note that she has generously setup a special section where you can hype your book!

On the Senior Center Murders blog I'll be doing a series of posts on small writing groups in the Chicago-area. If you belong to a group that you would like featured, pop over there and leave me a comment. I'll use the email address that you leave to send you a questionnaire to fill out.

Interview by Mystery Buff

Unlike most of the other interviews that I've done, this one is focused on the writing that I've done besides PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder. It was a bit of kick to take a brief look back. The interviewer even convinced me to offer up a humorous poem called "Entertaining Thoughts of God." It begins

Entertaining Thoughts of God
By Cheryl Hagedorn

God started his career at a carnival
Working with two dummies and a talking snake
Only to be replaced by a flaming sword act

He did six-week stint at a water show
Swore he’d never do that again

We had a good time in class when I read this one out loud. The instructor didn't get all the references so the class began shouting out the answers. If you need help, I'll do the first two stanzas above. The talking snake is Satan, the two dummies are Adam and Eve. They were kicked out of the garden of Eden and an angel with a flaming sword was sent to block their return. The six-week stint was the Flood which lasted forty days. God promised that he would never do that again. [Read the whole poem and interview]

Virtual book tour continues

Last week I posted the schedule for this week, but in case you forgot:

Yesterday, May 21, I was interviewed by Lonnie Cruse at Cruse'n with Lonnie. Leave a comment so we know that you stopped by!

Tomorrow, May 23, I'll be interviewed by MysteryBuff. There'll be some surprises there for those of you who think you know me!

Friday, May 25, The Doc, Major Donna Jackson of The Salvation Army, conducts a pretty intense interview about the writing of PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder.

One Week Down - How Long is this Tour?

Yesterday I had an interview (of sorts) on an Irish blog

Today I did another interview with Kestrell!


PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder

"Park Ridge is a very different mystery than the one I was expecting. It is a story full of surprises, but the most notable surprise is that the author chose to create a mystery which goes beyond cardboard cutout characters and instead chose to write a mystery which exposes many of our cultural stereotypes about people over the age of sixty. Park Ridge demonstrates one of the lures of mystery fiction: it's ability to show us how mysterious we can be to one another."

Purchase now from BookLocker - eBook, $8.95; trade paperback, $14.95 or from Amazon

For next week's excitement, check here.