The last edits on Frannie's next adventure are just about done and the cover is in process--although the cover artist flitted off to St. John with some friends so who knows if she is really working? But, it is still on track for April publishing. So what happens? Well. . .

Frannie and Larry Shoemaker love taking their grandchildren, Sabet and Joe, camping with them. But at Bluffs State Park, Frannie finds herself worrying more than usual about their safety, and when another young girl disappears from the campground in broad daylight, her fears increase. The fun of a bike ride, a flea market, marshmallow guns, and a storyteller are quickly overshadowed. Accusations against Larry and her add to the cloud over their heads. Frannie begins to puzzle out the mystery: Are the itinerant road workers as much of a threat as Frannie thinks? What about the lone woman camper who also disappears? Or is the girl's deadbeat dad behind it all?

Well, the first two names drawn from the peanut jar by my trusty assistant and husband, Butch, were both relatives, although only by marriage. So I decided that to avoid fraud charges, we would draw one more from the people I know who aren't related to me and one from the nice people who have become friends through my Facebook page. The results:

Mary Larson, notorious sister-in-law
Debbie McCabe Musser, wife of cousin David
Joanie Rump, college friend
Mary Sorensen, new Facebook friend

These lucky people will join the adventures of Frannie and Larry in the third book, working title Peete and Repeat. They may each appear as another camper, a campground owner, a bar dancer, or any one of numerous other possibilities. Stay tuned!

Only about 13 hours left to enter the character naming contest!  Tomorrow, I will announce the lucky winners. Just hit 'like' on my author Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KarenMusserNortman and one of the characters in the third Frannie Shoemaker book might be named after you. How lucky could you get?

Bats and Bones just made the first cut of the ABNA contest, one of 400 mysteries and thrillers to advance to the second round. There are four other genre categories, also with 400 advances each. So of the original 10,000 total entries, 2000 advance. Judges will read excerpts consisting of the first 3000-5000 words and choose 100 books in each category to go on to the third round. Regardless of whether my book goes any farther or not, I will receive two judges' reviews of the excerpt, which will be very helpful! Nice Valentine for me from Amazon!

Friends have asked if Frannie Shoemaker, the main character in my campground mysteries, is me. Not really. She is a retired social studies teacher who enjoys camping, loves music but is not musical, and is fascinated with history. There the similarity ends. Frannie is more outgoing. She is creative and full of ideas but not a detail person. She is diplomatic and very intuitive, useful in the mysteries she gets involved in. She is also spontaneous and easily bored.

Frannie is an only child and her father was killed in the Korean War, so she grew up as a close companion to her widowed mother, who never remarried. She and Larry have two children: Sam, a science teacher who is married to Beth, and Sally, who is a social worker in St. Louis. Sam and Beth have two children, Sarabeth (known as Sabet) 9, and Joe, 7. Sabet and Joe get to join the camping trip and the adventures in The Blue Coyote. 

Frannie is short, round-faced and dark haired. She loves bright colors except pink. Her health is generally good, but she is plagued by some of the aches and pains typical of the sixties. She especially loves camping with friends, exploring all of the area attractions, and the established routines of their trips. Her motivation in helping to solve the crimes she encounters is mainly to return things to normal. Fortunately, for those around her!