JanDunlap.com » Murder on Warbler Weekend

Life imitates art…again

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:38:15 +0000

I can’t believe it. It looks like a Scott’s Oriole has been sighted in Duluth, MN, just three hours from my home. What’s unusual about that is that a Scott’s Oriole is a bird native to the southwest. What’s even odder (is that an oxymoron?) is that my Bob White characters see a Scott’s Oriole in my most recent release, Falcon Finale, when they go to Arizona. And now they could have stayed home and seen one right here in Minnesota!

This has happened to me before with these books: bird events that echo my book events. For the first book, it was an influx of Boreal Owls (normally very hard to find) in northern Minnesota the winter after the book The Boreal Owl Murder debuted in September 2008. Then, the spring after Murder on Warbler Weekend came out, we had larger-than-normal waves of warblers that practically blanketed the area. As far as I know, nothing weird happened after the third book came out, so I figured it was just coincidence with the first two. But now this…am I an unwitting bird psychic?

Or am I just unwitting…..maybe we should take a vote….

Spring has flown…

admin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:24:19 +0000

Spring has been crazy here in my Minnesota nest. We’ve had unseasonable cold (snow on May 1!), record breaking heat (103 degrees last week!) and everything in between. On top of that, we added a two-year-old dog to our household, and I feel like I’ve got a toddler underfoot again! Here I thought my life had settled into a neat routine of teaching and writing, but life has this way of always surprising me.

Thank goodness.

The upside to craziness is that I work harder at keeping all my ducks in a row, so I’m happy to report that the fifth book in the Birder Murder mystery series is now underway on my laptop. I’ve been researching wind energy and some of the debates about wind turbines and wildlife, and as usual, I’m learning a lot and enjoying the research. I’m also aggressively pursuing new outlets for the series by targeting bird stores across the US with emails inviting them to carry the books. So far, I’ve had some good responses, and hopefully that will mean Bob White and his cast of cronies will soon show up in new venues. If you can spread the word to your favorite book shop, too, that means a lot to me and my publisher.

Meanwhile, the fourth book – Falcon Finale – is slated for release in September, and my publisher tells me that the second book – Murder on Warbler Weekend – will probably soon head back to press for a second printing. Good birding and reading to all!

Nomination for 2nd Birder Murder

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:20:05 +0000

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, and I’m really excited about seeing it and watching those gorgeous Bald Eagles from the center’s perfect vantage point. Check my events calendar for times and dates!