Daffodils, Baseball, Tornadoes

You can tell it’s Spring in Michigan—and in most of the Midwest. Daffodils and other spring bulbs are poking their heads through the cold ground. Today is the first day of baseball—the Detroit Tigers play the Chicago White Sox. Time to get boats in the water. And it’s tornado season.

Every fall, Hubs and I plant tulips and daffodils in the hopes that we’ll have lots of color despite winter’s brown grass. Unfortunately, some critters think bulbs are a delicacy. Not sure, but we think it’s a rabbit and his/her buddies. The profusion of blooms fills me with joy and hope. So we’ll plant more bulbs and hope for the best.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that baseball is my favorite sport. Never mind that Hubs and almost every person in the U.S. will be glued to their televisions tonight watching the NCAA Basketball playoffs. I’d rather watch baseball. Some equate watching baseball on TV the equivalent of watching paint dry. Not me. As a kid, I played baseball. As a parent, I watched my kids in Little League, and even kept score for our son’s team. Baseball is a sport whose rules I understand. Besides, it’s fun. While it's quite a hike across the state to watch the Tigers play in person, I can still get my baseball fix by attending the West Michigan WhiteCaps games. The WhiteCaps, a minor league team affiliated with the Tigers, play just north of Grand Rapids.

While the first two signs of Spring are fun and exciting, the next one is scary. I lived in Missouri for six years. Tornado Alley. A tornado hit Sedalia the year before we moved there. Despite the devastation to houses, a mobile home park, and the factory where Hubs went to work, no lives were lost due to the advance warning system. After seeing pictures of the devastation, I have a healthy respect for tornado sirens. I hope you do, too. While Michigan isn’t exactly in Tornado Alley, we do get tornadoes here. So, I know where in my basement to go when the sirens sound. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by the tornadoes this past week.

The Case of the Meddling Mama takes place in Spring. My cover designer, the talented Florence Price of The Novel Difference, did a great job with the cover. See the containers containing tulips in front of Alex’s building and the people frolicking on the beach? They’re smart enough not to go into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan. But it's a great time to go fishing and sailing.

Blurb:

Once again, Alex O’Hara is up to her ears in mysteries. After surviving an attempted murder, all she wants is R&R time with Nick Palzetti. But his mother leaving his father (“that horse’s patoot”) and moving in with Alex puts a crimp in their plans. Then Nick leaves on assignment and the teen she rescued from an abusive father believes his buddy is doing drugs. Meanwhile, Alex has two easy cases to take her mind off her shaky relationship with Nick—a philandering husband and a background check on a client’s boyfriend. Piece of cake.

Release date: April 17, 2017. Available for pre-order at a reduced price.

Amazon: http://a.co/2hk7fYF

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-meddling-mama-an-alex-o-hara-novel

Have a great week. Happy Spring!