Making Changes

I just added stuff about Chesney Hardcastle, the site of my cozy mystery project, to my webpages. You can meet Darcy Fitzwilliam and find out what in Bennet Longbourne's fridge . There will be more as the book takes shape.

I'll also have more on At the Ready, the next book in the Global Unlimited Series, my NaNoWriMo project that should be out sometime in 2023. I've written about 60 pages so far and JL and Micki are coping with a stalker, job issues, and meddling parents. You wouldn't think that last would be a problem when you're forty-six years old, but ...

The distinctive voice of Edith Piaf singing “La Vie en Rose” trickles out of the pocket of my black gabardine slacks. Maman. This is her favorite song from her favorite singer. Their similar backgrounds attracted my mother to Piaf’s music. After Maman’s parents died, she lived in precarious circumstances in Quebec City, until she met my Papa. I slip a capsule into the coffeemaker and press the start button. Then I grab the phone from the counter.

“Bonjour, Maman. Ça va?”

“Ça va.” But instead of saying, “Et toi?” I hear a grumble, then a scolding squawk. “Tu es très méchant, mon bout de chou.”

I wince at a name I haven’t heard since I was about seven. “Pourquoi?”

“A week. You haven’t called in a week.”

“Desolé, Maman. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”

(Excerpt from At the Ready, ©2022, Sharon Michalove)

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