Nancy Drew Convention in New Orleans

Imagine a Nancy Drew Convention in one of America's most beautiful cities.  It will take place April 20-24 in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities in the world!  They will be discussing The Haunted Showboat,  The Mardi Gras Mystery, and a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mystery entitled, Nightmare in New Orleans.  I've never heard of these books, but I'm sure they're a lot of fun to read.

Here's a book I wrote about a teenage sleuth, who's very similar to Nancy Drew.  She goes to New Orleans with her father and "chums" and becomes part of the investigation when a docent at Oak Alley Plantation is found dead.

The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

Only $2.99

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and Scribd.

The Paperback version is available at Amazon

Hurricane Katrina

It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since Hurricane Katrina.  I love New Orleans and feel so sorry for those who lost their lives and homes as a result of the flooding.  I know there's still a lot more work to be done.  I think these lyrics by Steve Earle sum up how I feel:

This city won't ever die

Just as long as our heart be strong

Like a second line stepping high

Raising hell as we roll along

Gentilly to Vieux Carre

Lower 9, Central City, Uptown

Singing Jockamo fee nane

This city won't ever drown.

I'm an indie writer and I've written two books about this great city.  The first is "The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery."

  Do you like Nancy Drew? Do you like New Orleans? If so, you will enjoy this humorous and PG-rated story about a teenage sleuth that especially targets women baby boomers who grew up reading and loving the Nancy Drew series. Nancy Keene, the teenage sleuth in this story, goes on vacation with her father and friends to the French Quarter. What starts out as a sight-seeing trip changes into a murder/mystery when a docent at Oak Alley Plantation is murdered while they are there. Part travelogue, part ghost story, this book mixes voodoo, ghosts, and bayous into a spicy gumbo of a whodunit. 

Available for $2.99 at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords

and Oyster and Scribd
Also available in Paperback at Amazon

"Honeymoon in New Orleans" is a travelogue about New Orleans

Come along with my fictional characters Don and Isabella as they discover the wonders of New Orleans on their honeymoon. Learn about their favorite romantic spots, places to visit, spend the night, and dine at. It includes helpful websites to consider before planning your next vacation.

Available for only $1.99 at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and Oyster.

Books About Great Fathers

Happy Father's Day to all of the great Dads out there.  I was very lucky: I had a wonderful father and like to include him in my stories; especially the "Nancy Keene" stories that I wrote as an homage to the wonderful Nancy Drew Mysteries I grew up reading.  Mr. Drew was every girl's ideal Dad: definitely not a "helicopter parent", he gave Nancy all sorts of freedom.  All she had to do all day was drive her "roadster" around and solve mysteries with no pestering Mom telling her to clean up her room.  How lucky could a girl be?!

In the first Nancy Keene Mystery I wrote, "The Buried Treasure on Route 66", her Dad is having trouble accepting the fact that his precious Nancy has just turned 18, has a boyfriend, and is going away to college.  How will he handle the empty nest?  And what lessons will he learn when he joins Nancy and her boyfriend on a road trip?  This book is rated PG.

My Nancy and her Dad are big fans of "A Prairie Home Companion" and she talks him into going on a pilgrimage with her in search of the towns that inspired Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon.  Her Dad wants to go on a Bob Dylan pilgrimage while they are in Minnesota, but Nancy has other plans when a bachelor farmer goes missing.  This book is called, "The Missing Bachelor Farmer."  This book is rated G.

I love New Orleans, so I have Nancy going there on vacation with her Dad and her friends. When a docent at Oak Alley Plantation is found dead, Nancy will not rest until she figures out whodunit. They have to leave New Orleans before the murder is solved, but Nancy twists her over-indulgent Dad around her little finger and he allows her to return to the Crescent City to stay with her fun and funky Aunt Audrey in "The Ghost in the Plantation".  This book is rated PG.

My most recent Nancy Keene Mystery is about Nancy, her Dad, and her girlfriend going to London. Nancy has her first serious crush at 16 when she sees that Daniel Craig is staying at the same hotel as they are.  She's a big fan of James Bond and even goes to Harrods to try a find an outfit like one of the Bond Girls to impress him.  When someone steals his BAFTA award out of his hotel room, Nancy is hot on the trail trying to figure out who stole it and why.  This book is called "The Stolen Mask".  This book is rated PG.

All of these books are available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and Smashwords.  If you subscribe to Scribd, it's free.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Do you like Nancy Drew?  Do you like New Orleans? This humorous, PG-rated mystery about a teenager sleuth who's very similar to Nancy Drew is written especially for women baby boomers who grew up reading and loving the Nancy Drew series. Nancy Keene, the teenage sleuth in our story, goes on vacation with her father and friends to New Orleans.  What starts out as a sight-seeing trip, changes into a murder mystery when a docent at Oak Alley Plantation in murdered while they are there.  Part travelogue, part ghost story, this book mixes voodoo, ghosts, and bayous into a spicy gumbo of a whodunit. 

eBook available at all of your favorite online bookstores for only $2.99

Available in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords

Kobo   Google

Who is your audience? Pay Attention, You Writers Out There

A book publisher gave me one of the best pieces of advice I ever was asked, "Who is your audience?" My husband and I had just written a book about a teenager sleuth, modeled after Nancy Drew, but geared towards women babyboomers, not teenagers.  We almost got a book deal based upon a misunderstanding of how we were marketing it.  Our book, "The Ghost in the Plantation," is about a precocious 16 year old who gets involved in trying to track down the murder of a docent at Oak Alley Plantation.  The PG-rated scenes and jokes would never go over well with teenagers.  The opening scene of our book has Nancy and her girlfriends talking about, not Justin Beiber or One Direction, but about Don Draper from Mad Men and Vampire Bill from True Blood--men who women might find attractive, not my teenage nieces.

Our teenage sleuth has a very permissive aunt and father who both give her a lot of freedom as she goes about her search for the killer.  They are the opposite of "helicopter parents" and she gets in all sorts of dangerous situations. My husband and I have our Nancy running through Bourbon Street while being chased by a guy in a hoodie, and dodging into a gay bar, only to be rescued and brought home by The Lady Chablis from "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Our humor is PG-rated--this is not your Grandmother's Nancy Drew.  We have Nancy trying to bond with her aunt by mixing up Hurricanes and serving them to her and her girlfriend.  Construction workers admire how well Nancy looks in her shorts and ask her aunt, "Who's the little cupcake?" "The Ghost in the Plantation" is a gumbo of a whodunit, not for the fathers of teenage daughters nor for teenage girls.  It's for the ladies--gentlemen, step aside.  We wrote this book with a deep love of the city of New Orleans and all of the wonderful experiences we've had there. I'm grateful to that publisher for teaching me a very valuable marketing lesson:  who is your audience?  Never forget to make that foremost in your mind when marketing your books--you writers out there.  The last thing we want is for our readers to be disappointed after they've bought our book, hoping for something entirely different.

Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords

Christmas Gifts for Book Lovers

Hello, everyone.  The Christmas season is officially here.  Are you wondering what to buy for that special person in your life who likes to read?  For baby boomers who grew up loving the Nancy Drew books, we wrote two PG rated mysteries about our teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene.  The books are:  "The Ghost in the Plantation" and "The Buried Treasure on Route 66".  Both are available in print on Amazon.com

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading,
Lewis Hathaway

Good News: Our Books Are Now In Paper and E-book Formats

Hooray!! Both of our Nancy Keene Mysteries are now available in paper and e-book formats!

Now, you no longer need an e-reader, and can read our books, "The Buried Treasure on Route 66" and "The Ghost In The Plantation",  the good old-fashioned way.

Here's a link to the paperbacks

The Ghost in the Plantation

This humorous, PG-rated mystery about a teenager sleuth, who's very similar to Nancy Drew, is written especially for women baby boomers who grew up reading and loving the Nancy Drew series. This book takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Nancy, her father and friends go there on vacation, and the concierge at their hotel dies mysteriously in Oak Alley Plantation.  This is the first murder case Nancy has taken on, and she's only 16. Nancy's fun and funky Aunt Audrey joins the investigation, and they get some help from surprising real life characters.  When Nancy's not having café au lait and beignets at the Café du Monde, she's being chased down Bourbon Street by a man in a hoodie who suspects she knows about Agent Q. Come ride the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden District, eat at Brennan's, listen to live jazz in Jackson Square, and learn about voodoo and ghosts with Nancy in her latest adventure.

Link to book details

The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

Do you like Nancy Drew?  Or mysteries set in New Orleans?  Have you always wanted to see a Southern plantation, like the one Scarlet O'Hara lived in?  Well, stay tuned.  We are busy writing our latest book in our Nancy Keene series.  Our new book  takes place in New Orleans where Nancy searches for the killer of a concierge who was working as a docent at Oak Alley Plantation.

Look for our book, "The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery" to come out around the end of August.

Meanwhile, here's a link for the one we've already published.

The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery