kindle | R.E. Donald

May 1, 2014
by R.E. Donald Leave a comment

Murder on the Mountain

A spectacular setting for murder, described today at Lois Winston’s Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. It starts with:

Photo by Justa Jeskova

A Mountain of Mystery

My hero is always on the move. That’s because the sleuth in the Highway Mysteries series drives an eighteen-wheeler up and down the west coast of North America. Even truck drivers need a little R&R now and then, and that’s what brings former RCMP homicide investigator Hunter Rayne to the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia in the third Highway Mystery, Sea to Sky. While Hunter enjoys a few days of downhill skiing, he plans to become better acquainted with an attractive female lawyer he met in L.A. He doesn’t, however, plan to become the prime suspect in a murder on the mountain.

The town of Whistler became familiar to many winter sports fans around the world when it was the site of Alpine events at the 2010 Winter Olympics. It’s a magnificent setting, with the snow covered peaks of Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains towering some 5000 feet above the attractive and upscale Village of Whistler, where you can walk to dozens of shops, restaurants and bars. Yet Whistler is only a two-hour drive from the port city of Vancouver, or four and a half hours from Seattle, the last hour of the drive on the spectacular Sea to Sky highway as it winds its way upward through the coastal rainforest and along the rugged shores of Howe Sound.

And check out the Anastasia Pollack mysteries while you’re there!

February 20, 2014
by R.E. Donald Leave a comment

The Highway Mysteries

The Highway Mysteries have introduced a unique new character for mystery lovers, especially fans of the ‘whodunit’. The hero, Hunter Rayne, is a retired homicide detective who left a successful career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to become a long-haul truck driver. Why a man would do that is a mystery in itself, but it’s no mystery that his sense of justice compels him to help solve crimes that affect people he cares about.

In a genre that already has plenty of tough-talking North American homicide cops, brilliant Scotland Yard detectives and smart aleck private eyes, this polite and low-key Canadian truck driver has a niche all to himself. He has adopted a solitary profession by choice, is struggling to pay the bills just like the rest of us, and isn’t very good at personal relationships, but when it comes to solving murders, he’s a smart and seasoned detective.

Write what you know, they say. By 1994 I’d spent around twenty years working in the transportation industry. My husband had once done undercover work for the police and had used a truck driver as his cover. Truck drivers can show up just about anywhere without raising suspicion, and they aren’t limited to one geographical area. All of these factors combined to make a long-haul trucker the hero of choice for my mystery series.

As much as Hunter Rayne tries to keep his new life simple and uncomplicated, circumstances, with the help of his boss, Elspeth Watson, conspire to get him involved in murder investigations even in his civilian life. As a boy, his heroes were cowboy crusaders like Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger, and he just can’t seem to let go of what motivated him to become a law officer in the first place, that need to see the guilty party captured and justice done.

The Highway Mysteries aren’t thrillers or full of heart pounding suspense, but they will keep you guessing. The second novel in the series, Ice on the Grapevine was a finalist for the 2012 Global Ebook Award in Mystery Fiction. The novels are available in both print and digital editions. They’re available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other sites, or from Proud Horse Publishing, or you can ask your local bookstore to order them. Just quote the ISBN numbers.

This is what readers have been saying:

“Those were the best mysteries I’ve read in a long time!! As soon as I finished the first one I bought the second and felt empty when I finished it! The characters were awesome and so there that I somehow think they are in my life and I should be bumping into them at IGA or Gibson’s Building Supplies!” Judi H., Roberts Creek, B.C.

“… this book caught my attention from the very first pages and it only got better. …I recommend this book to anyone who has a love for a good mystery. I usually figure out who the guilty party is when I read a book but this time it was a surprise. I think that Hunter Rayne would make a great TV detective, driving around the country in his rig visiting different states and helping to solve crimes. He is that interesting of a character.” See full PRG review of Ice on the Grapevine by Linda Tonis.

“The Hero to me is the heart of the story and having only just discovered a second book in this series I’m anxious to read more.” See reviews for Slow Curve on the Coquihalla on Amazon.

“The dialogue is well written and smooth and without giving away any spoilers there are well thought out and believable twists. The pacing is good and the lead characters are likable, flaws and all, and though I haven’t read the first book in the series I now want to and look forward to reading more in the future.

I highly recommend Ice On The Grapevine as a good read and a solid example of good writing. Plus, and this is probably most important, it is a fun ride.” See Goodreads review.

“Great trucking detail, hardboiled characters, no-nonsense dialogue, and a surprise ending.”

“One of the fine traditional mysteries that keep who-done-it on everyone’s favorite reading lists.”

“Whodunit addicts will not be disappointed.”

See full reviews for Ice on the Grapevine on Amazon.

_______________________________________________________________

The first mystery in the series is Slow Curve on the Coquihalla. When a well respected truck driver, the owner of a family trucking business, is found dead in his truck down a steep embankment along the mountainous Coquihalla highway in British Columbia, his distraught daughter wants to know how and why his truck left the road on an easy uphill curve. Her resemblance to his own daughter compels Hunter Rayne, a fellow trucker and former homicide detective, to help her find answers.

As he uncovers signs of illegal cross border activity originating in a Seattle warehouse, Hunter recruits an old friend, an outlaw biker, to infiltrate what appears to be an international smuggling ring. But while Hunter follows up clues and waits for critical information from his old friend, the wily biker starts to play his own angles.

Finally, putting all the pieces together, there in the dark on the same uphill curve on the Coquihalla highway, Hunter risks it all to confront the murderer.

The ISBN for Slow Curve on the Coquihalla is 978-0-9881118-06.

The second mystery in the series, the one shortlisted for the 2012 Global Ebook Award in mysteries, is Ice on the Grapevine. The story opens on a July morning with the discovery of a frozen corpse at a brake check just south of the Grapevine Pass in L.A. County. Hunter, who is in southern California making a delivery, is persuaded by his irascible dispatcher, Elspeth Watson, to help clear two fellow truck drivers who are arrested for the murder. His job is made more difficult by the fact that the suspects, a newlywed couple, won’t speak up in their own defence.

The circumstantial evidence is strong, and a rookie detective from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is eager to score a win. The investigation crosses the Canada-U.S. border when the victim is identified as a second rate musician from Vancouver, and it turns out there were more than a few desperate people happy to see him dead, including the accused couple. Hunter has to use all his investigative skills to uncover the truth.

The ISBN for Ice on the Grapevine is 978-0-9881118-13.

During what was supposed to be a few days of skiing at the Whistler Mountain resort with an attractive female acquaintance, former homicide detective Hunter Rayne finds himself the prime suspect in the RCMP’s hunt for “The Chairlift Killer”. Hunter has no choice but to get involved in the investigation in order to clear his name.

Meanwhile, trucker Hunter was scheduled to haul a load of freight to Northern California, so he calls up his old friend, biker Dan Sorenson, to take his place behind the wheel. What connects the badass biker from Yreka, California to the most prolific female serial killer in US history? And what happens when dispatcher El Watson ignores Hunter’s warning and sends the biker on a search for clues to the motive behind the murder?

The ISBN for Sea to Sky (print edition) is 978-0-9881118-20.

The fourth novel in the series is titled Sundown on Top of the World and is scheduled for release early in 2015. I hope you enjoy reading about my truck driver hero as much as I enjoy writing about him!

Like my page on Facebook or follow @RuthEDonald on Twitter for updates.

February 2, 2014
by R.E. Donald 1 Comment

18 Wheels & Heels: Women in Trucking

I am honored and delighted to be featured in the February 2014 issue of 18 Wheels & Heels, a magazine for women in the trucking industry. They first contacted me on Twitter (@RuthEDonald) to ask whether I would be interested in having them feature me and my Highway Mysteries series, and of course I replied with an enthusiastic Yes! They’ve listed my three mysteries in their “Book It List” of good reads for their subscribers as well.

Here’s a .pdf of the interview. (I’d link directly to the pages in the magazine, but I had trouble viewing it on my own computer, although it did work on an iPad.)

The role that women play in the trucking industry has obviously continued to evolve since the time period that the Highway Mysteries are set in (the 1990s). Most of us have seen a few hot pink or purple trucks on the road, with the drivers joyfully flaunting their femininity. Others downplay their gender in order to avoid harassment by their male counterparts; gender discrimination can still be a problem for women in the male-dominated industry. There are a few books out by women truck drivers chronicling their years in the industry, among them Trucking in English by Carolyn Steele. I liked reading about her adventures, and could relate to much of what she experienced.

I enjoyed my years working in the transportation industry, and am happy that I can put my experience to good use in the Highway Mysteries series. I’m also glad to have endorsements from readers who work in the industry, as I try very hard to make sure my settings and situations are authentic. Last year, two of my books were also reviewed and described as “recommended reads” by a trucking publication in the United Kingdom, Truck and Driver magazine. (The books were Ice on the Grapevine and Slow Curve on the Coquihalla.) I was delighted to hear from some new fans in England who had purchased my books on their recommendation.

The central plot of each novel is, of course, a murder mystery, but my stories are driven by the characters in them. Those characters are real to me, and you can meet people like them working in service industries (including trucking and law enforcement) almost everywhere in North America. They have flaws, insecurities, hopes and dreams; they have fears and triumphs, loves and losses, foibles and indulgences. They are ordinary people, and like all “ordinary” people, they are unique. They are my friends, and I hope they will become your friends, too.

June 27, 2013
by R.E. Donald Leave a comment

Hooked on Crime

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved books. It’s hard to pinpoint just when murder became the main ingredient of my favorite reads. No doubt I cut my literary teeth on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I can’t remember how discriminating I was in my childhood, but I must have liked books with horses and concussions, because that’s what I remember about my first attempt at writing a novel when I was twelve. The heroine – loosely based on my young self, I suppose, although I had never had a horse or a concussion – was continually being thrown from her horse and losing consciousness in her quest to chase (or was it escape from?) a bad guy.

Once I entered the senior years of high school, I became a book snob. It was classics or nothing, and my preference was for European classics: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Jean Paul Sartre and Thomas Mann are among those that come to mind. (I can recall throwing a Harold Robbins paperback across the room in disgust.) I also let myself read American writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Bellow, plus the occasional Michener historical saga. Except…

Except when I was on summer vacation at my Uncle’s lakeside cabin, when I would raid his bookshelves for the works of John D. MacDonald, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Dick Francis and Ngaio Marsh, among others. Then it was on to university, my first marriage and some dark days – years actually – in my life, from which I emerged still scorning contemporary crime writers in favor of Penguin classics. My second husband, a charming and brilliant rogue, but a rogue nonetheless, got me back into reading modern novels and I quickly found myself hooked on crime.

My preference soon became mystery series, harking back to my earlier enjoyment of the Travis McGee and Nero Wolfe mystery series. That was reinforced by TV series like Perry Mason, Columbo and Murder She Wrote, followed by the original Law and Order. I shared books with my father, and sometimes others in the family, and our collective tastes ran from The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun to the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes and the Thomas Lynley series by Elizabeth George. More recently – which may not be terribly recent by most standards – Michael Connelly and John Lescroart have become my favorite authors, and I now prefer to watch true crime like Dateline and 48 Hours on television.

So what’s my point?

Why would a law-abiding pacifist who even apologizes to flies and mosquitoes when she is forced to kill them (in self defense, of course) be so fascinated by crime? I know I’m only one of millions with the same fascination. Why, when we hate to witness actual violence, or even read about it, do we love books and shows about murder? I’m no psychologist, but I’ve often pondered the question, and it seems to me that it gives us comfort to see the perpetrators of crime found out and put away so they won’t be able to harm innocent people. We want to be able to figure out who did the evil deed and see them brought to justice, and that lets us feel a little more in control of the scary world around us.

Whatever the reason, even though I stray back to classics and will even venture to read a contemporary ‘literary’ novel now and then, I am and will no doubt remain, firmly hooked on crime.

* * * * * *

If anyone is interested in sampling my fiction writing on their e-reader, I’m offering a free short story on Kobo, Smashwords and most major ebook retailers (except Amazon, where I can’t make it less than 99 cents). It’s called Joggers and features Elspeth Watson, one of the main characters in my Highway Mystery series. The three novels in the series are available in both digital and print editions. More information about the series at Proud Horse Publishing.

Enjoy!

December 29, 2012
by R.E. Donald Leave a comment >

A dead man rides a chairlift on Whistler Mountain, and it doesn’t take long for the press to label the murderer “The Chairlift Killer”. Former homicide detective Hunter Rayne drove the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler’s ski resort for what was supposed to be a pleasant weekend of skiing with an attractive female acquaintance. Instead, he finds himself at the top of the suspect list, and has no choice but to get involved in the investigation in order to clear his name.

While he’s busy in Whistler, trucker Hunter is forced to hire his biker friend, Dan Sorenson, to take his place behind the wheel. What connects the badass biker from Yreka, California to the most prolific female serial killer in US history? And what happens when Hunter’s dispatcher El Watson gets the biker involved in the murder investigation?

In the midst of the investigation, Hunter’s life becomes complicated when the progress of a new relationship is arrested by the appearance of a woman from his troubled past.

Sea to Sky is the third novel in the Hunter Rayne highway mystery series, just released in a digital edition at the end of 2012 and in a print edition in March of 2013. It’s now available in digital format from most ebook retailers, and the print edition can be ordered online or through your local bookstore. Quote the ISBN of 978-09881118-20 for the print edition.

Visit Proud Horse Publishing for additional information.

July 29, 2012
by R.E. Donald Leave a comment

On the road with a mystery trucker – one woman’s story

Why would a woman who loves mystery novels want to write about a truck driver? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It began back in 1994. I wanted to write a mystery series with a male protaganist, similar to the mysteries I loved to read, but I wanted a unique character. I enjoy reading about moody L.A. homicide detectives, brilliant Scotland Yard detectives and smart aleck private eyes, but I felt that I couldn’t do a character in those professions justice, and other writers had already created series that I couldn’t compete with around similar characters.

Write what you know, they say. Well, by 1994 I’d spent around twenty years working in the transportation industry, so I figured I had a good handle on that. My husband had once done undercover work for the police and had used a truck driver as his cover. Interesting how truck drivers can show up just about anywhere without raising suspicion, I thought. And another plus about a truck driver, he wouldn’t be limited to one geographical area, which would certainly provide a variety of locales for murder. (At the time, I was concerned that the entire population of Cabot Cove would be killed off to keep Jessica Fletcher busy in Murder, She Wrote.)

That’s how I first decided on the main character in my Hunter Rayne highway mystery series. He’s a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police homicide detective who resigned from the force after over twenty years of exemplary service after the sudden death of his colleague and best friend, and a painful divorce that caught him by surprise. He’s hoping that the solitude of life on the road will help him to heal from what he considers his personal failures.

As much as Hunter tries to keep his new life simple and uncomplicated, circumstances, with the help of his boss, Elspeth Watson, conspire to get him involved in murder investigations even in his civilian life. As a boy, his heroes were cowboy crusaders like Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger, and he just can’t seem to let go of what motivated him to become a law officer in the first place, that need to see the guilty party captured and justice done.

My books aren’t thrillers or full of heart pounding suspense, but they will keep you guessing. Does the idea of a trucker turn off some women mystery readers? Maybe so. But I must be doing something right. My second novel Ice on the Grapevine is a finalist for the 2012 Global Ebook Award in the mystery category. Both novels are now available in print editions as well as ebooks. They’re available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other sites, or from Proud Horse Publishing, or you can ask your local bookstore to order them. Just quote the ISBN numbers.

This is what some of my readers have been saying:

“The Hero to me is the heart of the story and having only just discovered a second book in this series I’m anxious to read more.” See reviews for Slow Curve on the Coquihalla on Amazon.

“Great trucking detail, hardboiled characters, no-nonsense dialogue, and a surprise ending.”

“One of the fine traditional mysteries that keep who-done-it on everyone’s favorite reading lists.”

“Whodunit addicts will not be disappointed.”

See full reviews for Ice on the Grapevine on Amazon.

Check out my interview on Laurie Hanan’s Mondays are Murder blog.

_______________________________________________________________

Finally, putting all the pieces together, there in the dark on the same uphill curve on the Coquihalla highway, Hunter risks it all to confront the murderer.

The ISBN for Slow Curve on the Coquihalla is 978-0988111806.

The ISBN for Ice on the Grapevine is 978-0988111813.

I’m working on the third novel in the series, which will be set primarily in the resort community of Whistler, B.C., which was the location of the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

I hope you enjoy reading about my truck driver hero as much as I enjoy writing about him!

July 15, 2012
by R.E. Donald 1 Comment

Thanks to a Kindle, Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay, my novel’s a finalist for a Global Ebook Award

One year ago almost to the day, my life began to change in a wonderful way. It wasn’t a bad life, especially from the outside looking in, but I had lost my enthusiasm somehow. It felt like all I had to look forward to was getting older, which wasn’t something I felt good about, but it was inevitable so I didn’t think there was anything I could do to change it. Then, on a whim (at least I had a few of those left!), I ordered a Kindle.

I’ve always loved to read, and I especially love to read mysteries – the whodunit kind. Sometimes I’ll read a non-mystery book recommended by a friend, but if I’m searching out a book to read for escape and enjoyment, it will always be a murder mystery. I think it’s the puzzle that attracts me, but why murder? I don’t know. I like to watch true crime on TV and I like a novel where the characters seem real to me, as if their stories could one day be told on Dateline or 48 Hours Mysteries.

So it was totally out of character for me, that summer day in 2011 when I turned on my Kindle, that the very first book I purchased on it was Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life. It’s a self-help book, so even if I didn’t consciously think anything could help, I must have had a kernel of hope that growing old wasn’t all I had left to do. The book had loads of great reviews but the deciding factor was that it was only $0.99 that day. I not only downloaded it, I read through it twice over the next couple of weeks, doing all the excercises to one extent or another.

That book changed my life. I know it sounds trite, but it did. Louise Hay led me to Wayne Dyer’s Excuses Begone. I started to look at myself differently, and to look at my life differently, and it started me on the road to publishing my first two mystery novels, written over ten years ago, rewritten, revised and polished several times, and waiting patiently for the ‘some day’ that a publisher would accept them and they would be published. That ‘some day’ was no longer beyond my control. Louise and Wayne gave me the push that I needed, and Amazon’s Kindle gave me the ability to make my novels available to readers.

When the comments and reviews started coming in, I knew I was on the right path. I might never make a lot of money, nor be interviewed on TV, nor have a novel on the New York Times bestseller list, but I kept hearing from readers who enjoyed my novels and were asking me when they could expect the next one. That gave me a reason to keep writing, and getting back to writing added an exciting new dimension to my life.

One year down the road, I now have print editions of my first two novels being released in the coming months, and my third novel is well underway and I expect to release the first digital edition of Sea to Sky this fall. Ideas for future novels are percolating in my mind, and I expect to release a new one each year. And … TA DA! My second novel, Ice on the Grapevine, has been selected by the judges as a finalist for a 2012 Global Ebook Award in the mystery category. Win or no win, I’ll be there in Santa Barbara on August 18th to celebrate my own accomplishments of the past year, along with those of other writers who are travelling the same road.

From a sales perspective, my Hunter Rayne highway mystery series is not an overnight success. From a personal perspective, that’s exactly what I experienced: my life changed successfully almost overnight. So, thanks, Louise! Thanks, Wayne! Thanks, Amazon! Thanks, Smashwords! And above all, thank you, readers!

July 5, 2012
by R.E. Donald 1 Comment

Ice on the Grapevine is a finalist in the mystery category of the Global Ebook Awards!

Ice on the Grapevine, the second novel in the Hunter Rayne highway mystery series, has been selected by judges as a finalist in the mystery category of the 2012 Global Ebook Awards. The winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony at the University Club in Santa Barbara, California on August 18th.

The first two novels in the Hunter Rayne highway mystery series were released as ebooks by independent Canadian publisher Proud Horse Publishing in the fall of 2011, and will soon be available in print editions. They have both been receiving very good reviews from readers on various ebook review sites over the past several months.

The series features a former homicide detective who reluctantly resigned from a successful career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and took to the highways as a long haul truck driver in the hopes that the solitude of the road would help him heal from the pain of personal tragedy. A strong supporting cast includes his irascible female dispatcher, Elspeth Watson, who is as tough a boss as they come but is always ready to volunteer Hunter’s help when a fellow trucker is in trouble. The author’s many years of experience in the transportation industry help to keep the situations and characters engaging and realistic.

The novels are traditional ‘whodunits’ with complex plots, multiple suspects and – for most readers – a surprise ending. They feature realistic subplots involving the recurring characters and have more than one fan impatiently waiting for the next novel in the series.

R.E. Donald is working on the third Hunter Rayne highway mystery, set primarily in the resort community of Whistler, BC, known around the world as the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

February 26, 2012
by R.E. Donald 6 Comments

In praise of the independent book reviewer

You know who you are. You’re the reader who takes a few minutes to post a review of something you’ve just read on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever you “hang out” to buy ebooks. You are not doing it for yourself (or maybe you are, because you like to keep track), but you are helping millions of readers make that most important decision of what to purchase to read next, and helping one writer at a time learn what he’s doing right, or what he’s doing wrong. Both readers and writers appreciate your comments, but …

There are over 400,000 fiction books for Kindle on Amazon.com, some 53,000 of them are in the Mystery & Thrillers section, and over 11,000 under the Mystery category. At 12 books per page, that means a mystery junkie like me who wants a mystery fix has over 900 pages of mystery novels to browse through when making a selection. (And you thought zeroing in on the right book on the many shelves at Barnes & Noble was hard!) Thanks to the reviewers, we decide we can narrow that down to the ones with the best reviews.

But wait! Over 6,000 of those ebook mysteries have a rating of 4 stars or more! That’s still some 500 pages of books to browse through. A reader’s got to consider herself (or himself) lucky to have such a great selection, of course. But sometimes a selection that size can be overwhelming. I don’t know about you, but even on the bestseller racks, I tend to stick with the authors I am familiar with. I’ve been burned many a time when I’ve tried to judge a book by its cover, including the cover blurbs. Granted, many ebooks, especially those by independent authors and publishers, are much more affordable ($4.99 or less) but impulse buys can add up quickly. (I know that of which I speak.)

So if a reader is in search of a new, affordable independent author and feels overwhelmed by the multitudes on Amazon or other ebooks sites, the next step might be to narrow the field by visiting an independent ebook review or promotion site that specializes in fiction, and perhaps even in the genre you like the best. I’ve come across several, which I can share with you, in no particular order. (If you know of any others, please feel free to post them in the comments section below!)

Goodreads: A site made for readers! If you aren’t familiar with Goodreads, check it out. You can connect with other readers who share your passion. It may, however, expand your list of potential books to purchase instead of narrowing it down.

The Independent Author Network: a sprawling site that incorporates a Book Directory, a weekly Featured Author, The Avid Readers Cafe, and a Blog site as well as a store.

Kindle Mystery Authors: with reviews, descriptions, excerpts and bios of two to three new mystery authors per week. Great for us mystery junkies.

The Paranormal Romance Guild: another large site with reviews, author interviews, giveaways and more. (Not just Paranormal Romance, by the way – ahem – my own mystery novel received a five star review from reviewer Linda Tonis on that site.)

Indies Unlimited: A site that features well-reviewed books, and provides Sneak Peaks complete with reviews and excerpts. There are lots of interesting items on this site if you take time to browse. I especially enjoyed reading Ed’s Casual Friday from Jan. 20th.

World Literary Cafe: Another site with something for everyone – readers, reviewers & writers. Lots of reviews and book recommendations, a forum for you to post & discuss reviews.

Digital Book Today: “Helping Readers Find Authors in a Digital World.” Features a lot of free Kindle books available for reading and review.

Celebrating Authors: Another site dedicated to bringing readers and authors together. It very handily breaks down the reviews and interviews by genre.

5- Star Books: Easy to navigate site that essentially provides a filter for books in a multitude of genres. Updated regularly, the site features only 12 of each genre at a time, so you don’t have to wade through piles of them.

IndieReader.com: Just discovered this comprehensive site with reviews, including Kirkus reviews, and information on ebooks as well as independently published print books in a multitude of genres. “Independent books for people with independent minds.”

Not all of the above sites include reviews, but they can narrow the field and direct you to Amazon.com or another purchase site where you may find a review. So if you do read one of the books that you find on these sites, and you like it, let the author and future readers know by giving a review. It doesn’t have to be a long review (although I heartily admire reviewers who are able to give a tightly written synopsis and comprehensive critique – wow!). Just a few sentences that say how much you liked it and why will do.

If you don’t like a book you’ve read, please review it anyway but don’t be unkind. You may not see their faces, but writers have made themselves very vulnerable by putting their work out for anonymous readers to judge, and a nasty review can cause sleeplessness and even (sob!) tears sometimes. Constructive criticism is good, however, and may help the writer to do better next time. (Note to writers: Don’t cry! Check out the one star reviews for your favorite authors or read Ed’s Casual Friday .)

One more note: the beauty of a book is in the eyes of the reader. If the reader is having a bad day, she (or he) might not like anything! To be honest, some days when I read something I’ve written, I think my own writing totally sucks, but the next day, reading the same passage, I’ll be bursting with admiration for my deathless prose. So sometimes if you’re having trouble “getting into” a new book, switch to something else and go back to it again a few days later. You – and the writer – might be glad you did.

When I’m bummed out about my writing I just think about what some of you, my precious readers, have said in your reviews of my novels, and I know I’m on the right track. Hey! There are readers out there who can’t wait for me to finish my next one!

Thank you!

R.E. Donald

author of the Hunter Rayne Highway Mysteries series

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