THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY

Whew.

I've just wrapped up my eighth novel, which is impossibly hard to believe. 8 books?! That I wrote all by myself? How'd I do that?! My ability to write remains as mysterious to me as it's always been. Magical, too. Writing is hard and grueling and can make me pull my hair out of my head, but it's also wonder-filled and one of the true loves of my life. The other loves are my children and grandchildren, reading, and horses, they will always make me swoon.

Not sure when The Mutual Admiration Society will be published, but here's the back cover copy that I hope you'll find intriguing enough that you'll check it out when it's available. (If you're a fan of The Undertaking of Tess and Whistling in the Dark, this story should be right up your alley.)

Gumshoe, blackmailer, poison-pen writer extraordinaire, liar, and thief, eleven-year-old Theresa "Tessie" Finley has lots on her plate. Besides dealing with the sudden loss of her beloved father, keeping an eye on her sweet, but "weird" sister, Birdie, and staying out of Dutch with the powers that be---the Almighty, her mother, Louise, and next door nemesis, Gert Klement---after hearing a commotion and seeing a mysterious man beneath the flickering streetlights in the cemetery behind her house late one night, the president of The Mutual Admiration Society, adds solving a bloody murder case to her already quite full TO-DO list. 

Navigating their raucous, blue collar Milwaukee neighborhood is no picnic under the best of circumstances, but the snooping sisters and their partner in crime, Charlie "Cueball Garfield," appear to be in way over their heads as their investigation proceeds. Will their sleuthing alert their nosy neighbor who is determined to rid the neighborhood of the "Finley ghouls," or worse, draw the attention of a murderer?

Wishing you the brightest New Year, xo Lesley)