JanDunlap.com

Maybe I should rename March and make it Predator Month. The first weekend I was in Houston, MN, for the International Festival of Owls. Karla Kinstler and her team of fabulous volunteers put on a great festival as usual, although all the little kids with faces painted like owls probably tickled me the most. I met owlers from all over the region and got to connect with both old and new fans of my Birder Murder series, talking about birding experiences and mystery writing. This last weekend of the month I was in Wabasha, on my first visit to the National Eagle Center. Scott Mehus, one of the program directors there, told me they’d had about 14,000 visitors in March during their month-long celebration of the spring migration. It’s a ...more...

My publisher, North Star Press of St. Cloud, tells me that the third Bob White Birder Murder Mystery is scheduled for release on September 1, 2010. It’s titled “A Bobwhite Killing,” and I will be reviewing the proofs in a few weeks and finishing the back cover copy.  The opportunity to be so involved with the production of the book is one of the many reasons I love working with North Star. A few weeks ago, I participated in a small panel of mystery authors at Normandale Community College’s bookstore, and we compared notes about our input to our finished products. My two colleagues (both with large East Coast publishing houses) told me they have no authority when it comes to naming their books or making creative decisions about cover ...more...

I just received confirmation that my second Bob White Birder Murder, “Murder on Warbler Weekend,” has been nominated for the 2009 Minnesota Book Award. That makes it two for two, since the first book in the series “The Boreal Owl Murder” received a nomination last year. Finalists will be announced in February.

This coming March is shaping up to be an interesting marketing month for me. The first weekend of the month I’ll be at the International Owl Festival in Houston, MN. Last year’s event was delightful, so I’m looking forward to meeting birders and signing books there again. For the last weekend in the month, I’ve been invited to come speak and sign books at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN. I haven’t visited the new center there yet ...more...