Nancy Keene Mysteries

Hello dear readers,

Our publisher, Smashwords, has been encouraging its writers to take advantage of a tool called "Series Manager".  We've been a little hesitant to use this feature; mainly because of our fear that, by organizing our books in this fashion, it may turn off potential readers who don't want to "make the commitment" to buy 3 or 4 books in a series and read them in chronological order.  We've written each of our books in the "Nancy Keene Mysteries" and "Detective Santy Mysteries" as being contained unto themselves; but they do follow a chronological order.  So we're going to do a little experiment with our "Nancy Keene Mysteries" and label them Book 1, 2, and 3 and see if it results in "more discoverability" and therefore increased sales, as Smashwords predicts.  We'll let you know how it goes.  All of these titles are available at your favorite online bookstores.

Here is the Chronological Order of our Nancy Keene Mysteries:

Book 1: The Missing Bachelor Farmer (Nancy is 15)

Book 2: The Ghost in the Plantation (Nancy is 16)

Book 3: The Buried Treasure on Route 66 (Nancy is 18) 

Mardi Gras

Hey Ya'll:

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras in the beautiful American city, New Orleans.  Who, besides me, is wishing they could be in Louisiana right now?

If you can't make the trip, you can settle for the next best thing: you could be an arm chair traveler and read our book: "The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery."

Written for women baby boomers who grew up loving Nancy Drew, this somewhat racy story has our teenage sleuth traveling to the Crescent City with her "chums" and her father, and investigating the murder of a docent at Oak Alley Plantation that happens while she's there on a tour.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

The Ghost in the Plantation

Nancy goes to New Orleans, Lake Wobegon, and Takes A Road Trip On Route 66

If you're anything like me, now is the time of year when I start thinking about where I'd like to go on vacation in the upcoming year.  My husband and I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling over the years.  Many of our favorite places show up in our books.
Our teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene, loves to travel, too.  Our three Nancy Keene' books have her trying to solve mysteries in New Orleans, Lake Wobegon, and on a road trip on Route 66.
  Our favorite U.S. city is New Orleans and we've been there many, many times.  Our mystery, "The Ghost in the Plantation" takes place there and we've tried incorporating as many of the locales of the Crescent City and Louisiana as possible.
We love the lore of Route 66, and after we went to Disney's California Adventure and saw the movie "Cars", we decided to write a story about the famous highway in "The Buried Treasure on Route 66".
  We've just come back from a pilgrimage to Minnesota where we searched for the fictional Lake Wobegon, and wrote a book called "The Missing Bachelor Farmer".   Check out our books at your favorite bookstores and we'll take you on a wonderful journey with our teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene.

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

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

Our latest Nancy Keene Mystery is here! The Missing Bachelor Farmer is available at all your favorite ebook providers today. You're sure to love Nancy's latest escapades as she travels to Minnesota in search of Lake Wobegon and looking for some Fall color and finds that she can't stay far from sleuthing!

Check out our previously published works for more great reads!

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

The husband and wife writing team of Louise Hathaway are at it again in their latest homage to the Nancy Drew series. The opening scene of this book has Nancy Keene, a teenage sleuth, longing for the change in seasons since she and her father moved to Santa Ana, California from their home in upstate New York. She tries to prepare for an outside Halloween party in the 90 degree weather of Southern California, with ashes from a nearby brush fire raining down on her while she tries to paint headstones. She and father listen to “A Prairie Home Companion” that night, just as they do together every Saturday at 6:00 PM. Nancy talks her father into taking her on a pilgrimage to Minnesota in search of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon and they end up as members of a search party when a bachelor farmer goes missing. You don’t have to be a Nancy Drew fan to enjoy this book: it is also a travelogue that takes you on a tour of the Twin Cities’ landmarks and also the real towns that Garrison Keillor partly bases his “Lake Wobegon” upon.

Nancy Drew's Relationship With Her Father

I've always been fascinated by the relationship between Nancy Drew and her father.  It's obvious that they absolutely adore each other; and it's an especially close bond because Nancy's mother had died.
Her father is a "cool Dad" who gives Nancy lots of space.  He's the furthest thing from a "helicopter parent".  In fact, there are times when he's conveniently off on business trips while she's trying to solve one of her cases; being left solely under the supervision of either their maid or one of her friend's parents.  When I was girl and read how many times that she was in danger with the bad guys chasing after her, I kept asking myself, "When is her father going to come rescue her?"
It really is quite remarkable to me that a father of a teenager would give his daughter so much trust and freedom, especially considering the time when the early Nancy Drew books were written in the 1930's.  Was her father one of the first "feminist" male characters in American fiction?  The fact that a man was actually the writer in the early Nancy Drew books is especially fascinating.

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