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My 40th newsletter. Methinks that calls for a celebration, and it involves news!

(drumroll please...)

I finished the new Sam book! WHAT LIES BEHIND is in my editor’s hands, and I, dear readers, am on a vacation. A working vacation, since I had a book due, and two new releases, and a HUGE amount of cool exciting promo to set up for the 2nd Nicholas Drummond novel, THE LOST KEY, which is out September 30, but a vacation nonetheless. I’m talking fruity drinks, toes in the sand, long walks and lots and lots of books. Rather perfect, actually.

I honestly didn’t think I’d ever get this book finished, and I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you for keeping me inspired, amused, and entertained with funny notes and care packages and the like whilst I struggled. You are the BEST, and knowing you were pulling for me kept my head in the game. I hope the book will be a fun time for you, too. It will be out next June.

In the meantime, August 26th, the mass-market paperback of WHEN SHADOWS FALL made its debut into the land. And September 2nd its mate, THE FINAL CUT, came out to play as well. I have no idea how either of them have done yet, but I hope you bought tons of copies for friends and family to spread the word, and if so I thank you tremendously.

The moment vacay is done, I’m hopping on a plane to California to start work on Nicholas Drummond #3. Catherine and I have a week of fun brainstorming ahead, so I’m storing up all my brain cells.

And now we turn our focus to THE LOST KEY.

This month, we are giving away all kinds of cool things, so you need to be watching my social media accounts, and if you’re on Facebook, like Catherine’s page, because that’s where the big money gifts will be. Here’s a hint:

Think little blue boxes with white ribbons...

No? OK. Here’s another, and that’s all you get...

There’s a movie about having breakfast there....

Also, you’ll want to watch my Instagram and Pinterest for some fun treats as well.

Tours

Catherine and I will be chatting live on Writerspace at 8PM EST Wednesday September 10. Just come to Writerspace.com/chats, and you’ll be able to join us.

I have two more big events this year — in October, it’s time for Nashville’s annual Southern Festival of Books, and in November, I am honored to be attending the Military Book Fair in San Diego. See my tours page for all the details.

Get Thee to a Bookstore

It’s vacation reading time, which means I’m gulping down books as quickly as I can. Here’s what I’ve read this month:

Diana Gabaldon — WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD (Yes, FINALLY! And it’s living up to the wait)
L.R. Nicolello — DEAD DON’T LIE (a fabulous debut from a great new voice)
Leigh Bardugo — The Grisha Trilogy (SHADOW AND BONE, SEIGE AND STORM and RUIN AND RISING — some of the most inventive, exciting novels I’ve read in years)
Catherine MacKenzie — HIDDEN (a superb suburban thriller)

I’ve made a commitment to track all my reading this year, so if you’re on Goodreads, friend me, and follow along. I’m always interested in what you’re reading, too!

September Contest

The September contest is live now, enter to win a paperback edition of Kim Law’s SWEET NOTHINGS and a $10 online book store gift card to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million OR iBooks (winner’s choice)
Enter here to win.

September Recipe — Homemade, Homegrown Roasted Marinara Sauce

Two years ago, I put in my first garden. There are certain elements of daily life that I figured would be easy to manufacture for myself in my backyard. Carrots, celery, onions, for mire poix. Garlic, basil, tomatoes for sauces. A few peppers and jalapeños and cilantro, for Mexican.

Well, suffice it to say, I’m not much of a gardener. Part of the problem lies in not being home consistently in the summer, and the other is an inherent lack of gardening skills. (In Colorado, we cultivated rock gardens. Much less maintenance.)

But I have managed to create bumper crops of Roma tomatoes, and kick ass sweet basil. So I set about making my own marinara sauce with these lovelies. And turns out, it’s brilliant. Quick, easy, yummy and adaptable to most any desire. Remember now, I’m not a measurer, so every batch is slightly different, but here’s the gist. This is a great experimental food, you really can’t mess it up.

Ingredients:

• Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak — whatever you’ve got growing or looks yummy at the store
• Ten cloves of garlic
• ½ large onion, sliced
• five big basil leaves
• 1 bay leaf, if so desired
• Generous helpings of ground salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Wash and cut tomatoes in half — layer, cut side up, in a lasagna pan. Crowd the pool, they won’t mind.
• Drop in peeled cloves, spacing appropriately
• Add onion, distribute evenly
• Salt and pepper the whole crew, then lightly sprinkle on some Italian Seasoning
• Lay on the basil leaves
• Into the oven it goes, for 45 minutes

Sit back and relax, enjoying the scent

• Take it out of the oven
• Strain it into a saucepan
• Take the solids and put them in a food processor
• Run until smooth
• Add this back to the drippings in the saucepan
• Heat it up, add some parmesan cheese
• Put it on your favorite pasta or pizza crust, and you’re done.

Fra Diavlo — Add cooked pancetta, pancetta oil and pepper flake
Bolognese — fold in ground beef, turkey, pork and or crumbled Italian sausage
Puttanesca — add a tsp (to taste, really) of anchovy paste
Á la Vodka — add a some heavy cream and splash of vodka

You get the idea. This base works for most everything on the red sauce side of the family.

I like it on pappardella — the tender noodles really allow the flavor of the sauce to shine through. It’s great with gnocci (as in gnocci a la sorrentina) and mozzarella, too! It also freezes well. Double or triple the batch and you’ll have sauce for several meals.

I can’t wait to hear what you think — let me know how it works for you!

Don’t forget to grab up THE FINAL CUT and WHEN SHADOWS FALL, which make great presents, and get those pre-orders in for THE LOST KEY! I hope your September is going smoothly, the air is cooling a bit, and your favorite teams are winning! See you in October!

xoxo,