JanDunlap.com

Last month was a great kickoff for the release of my second Birder Murder, titled “Murder on Warbler Weekend.” The Launch party at Once Upon a Crime was a blast, and the next day I was at the reception for the Hawk Ridge celebration in Duluth, MN, where I met birders from across the upper Midwest. I spent the following morning at Hawk Ridge, watching migrants and people! When one of the naturalists walked by me with a bird tail sticking out of the bottom of an orange juice can, I had to stop him and ask about it. Guess what was in the can? A merlin! The naturalists catch birds for banding at the Ridge, and to keep the birds calm, they slide them into empty cans, which not ...more...

It’s fifty degrees today, the snow is all gone from my backyard, and the sun on my face feels like heaven! It’s a wonderful ending for my busy March, which started out with a weekend in Houston, MN, at the International Owl Festival. What an amazing time everyone had there – the whole town was in on the fun. You could get a Great Grey Mocha at the coffee shop, admire paper-plate and egg-carton owls made by gradeschoolers, ooh and ahh at the gorgeous owls visiting from the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis, and go out calling wild owls in the evening. I met tons of readers and fellow birders; a huge congratulations to Karla and the town of Houston for a fabulous event! On top of that weekend ...more...

I hope your new year has begun well. I’ve been taking a break from marketing tasks to do some heavy-duty plotting and writing, trying to strike while my mental iron is hot and smoking. Unfortunately, it’s the only hot thing around here – early yesterday morning, my electronic weather station that sits on my kitchen window sill went offline, because it was so cold. I’ve never seen it do that before. By mid-morning, it came back on when the temperature rose to -20 degrees. Yes, you read it correctly – the temperature ROSE to -20 degrees! No wonder I write murder mysteries in Minnesota during the winter months ...more...