Saturday, June 20, 2015

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.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

James Bond


Can you find James Bond on the cover of this eBook?  This is a funny story about a teenage sleuth who goes to London with her father and is delighted when she discovers that Daniel Craig (AKA James Bond) is staying at their hotel.  I was inspired to write this book by my love of Nancy Drew books and my love of London.  On vacation in London a few years back, James Bond actually was staying at the same hotel where my husband and I had a room.  At that time, the actor who played Bond was Pierce Brosnan.  Just like Nancy Keene in my story of The Stolen Mask, I was settling into our upper bedroom when I looked out the window and saw Agent 007 drinking champagne in the hotel's garden. I was as star-struck as any teenage school girl would be.

In this story, Nancy opens the door of her hotel room to retrieve the morning paper and is shocked when Daniel Craig opens the door next to hers to do the same thing.  He is only wearing a towel around his waist, and when he sees Nancy in her flannel nightgown, he self-consciously looks down at his towel to make sure nothing's showing.  When he catches her looking in the same place, he winks at her and goes back inside his room.  Nancy feels her first stirrings of passion and is pleased when she has an opportunity to come to his aid after someone steals his BAFTA award out of his room.

I am a total Anglophile and love all things British--its literature, its music, its history, its art. I love writing about places I've traveled to, so in this story I have Nancy sighting-seeing at some of my favorite destinations in and around London.  She goes on a Jane Austen pilgrimage, visits Buckingham Palace, shops at Harrods, and goes to the Sherlock Holmes museum.  Nancy is very precocious and has read a lot, so when she tries to solve the case of the stolen mask, she channels Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Rumpole of the Bailey.

This book is one of my favorite ones I've written and I hope my readers will like it, too.  So, come with Nancy Keene on a trip to London where she meets James Bond and even gets to walk the red carpet with him at the Oscars.  A bit of a stretch?  Of course, but a girl can dream, can't she?

The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery
By Louise Hathaway
Only $1.99


Saturday, February 21, 2015

Nancy Drew meets James Bond

What would happen if Nancy Drew met James Bond? Find out in this humorous, PG-Rated tale written for nostalgic women baby-boomers who grew up loving Nancy Drew mysteries. Nancy Keene, the teenage sleuth in this mystery, goes to London and stays in the same hotel as Daniel Craig (AKA James Bond) when his BAFTA award is stolen from his room. When Nancy is not on a Jane Austen pilgrimage or visiting Buckingham Palace, she channels Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Rumpole of the Bailey to help her solve the mystery of the stolen mask.

The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery
By Louise Hathaway
eBook available at $1.99 


Saturday, November 29, 2014

A Book Inspired by Nancy Drew

The Buried Treasure on Route 66 is a humorous and PG-rated coming-of-age book about young love, rekindled old love, and a father who must learn to let his beloved daughter go. Its main character, Nancy Keene, a teenage sleuth, receives a brand new Prius from her father at her 18th birthday party and goes on a road trip on Route 66 to help a little old lady find a missing will. Along for the ride are her boyfriend and overprotective father.    

This eBook is available for only $1.99 at most online bookstores. 
 Also available in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com

Sunday, October 19, 2014

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


Saturday, May 31, 2014

Father/Daughter Relationships

Now that Mother's Day is over, it's time to think about your Dads.  I wrote this book after I inherited some Nancy Drew books and reread them as an adult. I was really touched by the close relationship between our favorite teenage sleuth and her Dad; a relationship made even stronger by the death of Nancy's mother.  So I created my own teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene, and wrote this PG-Rated humorous story about her relationship with her Dad, who has been worrying about her ever since started dating and talking about moving away to college.  He doesn't want to let her go and she worries about what he'll be like when she's gone.  How will he handle letting her go?  Find out as Nancy, her father, and boyfriend take a trip on Route 66, visiting several of its landmarks along the way, in search of a missing will.  Not only is “The Buried Treasure on Route 66” a tip of the hat to the Nancy Drew books, it’s also a romance novel about both young love and rekindled old love.


Saturday, May 17, 2014

In Search of Lake Wobegon

My husband and I went on a pilgrimage to "Lake Wobegon" and visited many of the real places that inspired Garrison Keillor's make-believe town.  We even got a chance to meet him when he was coming out of a bookstore.  Here's a book, with pictures, of our experience.  It is told from the point of view of our teenage sleuth Nancy Keene.  A bachelor farmer goes missing and Nancy and her Dad are hot on the trail.

It just came out in paperback at Amazon.com and is also available as an eBook



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