Nancy Drew and James Bond

When I was growing up, more than anything else, I wanted a Nancy Drew book for Christmas.  The books from my childhood that I remember most are my Nancy Drew's and my cool older brother's James Bond novels.  So, when I grew up and started writing my own books, I thought, "What would happen if Nancy met James Bond?  What would happen if she went to London on vacation, and Daniel Craig was staying in the same hotel as she was?  What if his acting award was stolen out of his room and she helped him find out who took it?"

I answer these questions in a The Stolen Mask, a humorous, PG-Rated tale written for nostalgic baby-boomers who grew up loving Nancy Drew Mysteries. The teenage sleuth in my story is Nancy Keene and when she isn't 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

Only $1.99

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play,

Kobo Books, and Smashwords

Lake Wobegon

What would Nancy Drew be like if she made a pilgrimage to Lake Wobegon?  I can imagine her, map in hand, trying to figure out which towns inspired Garrison Keillor when he created his fictional town of Lake Wobegon where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."  My teenage sleuth, Nancy Keene, listens to A Prairie Home Companion with her father every Saturday night.  She talks him into taking a vacation to Minnesota.  He'd like to make a pilgrimage to the home town of Bob Dylan while there, but she has other plans when a "bachelor farmer" (last seen at the Chatterbox Cafe) goes missing and they becomes part of the search team.

My husband and I went on just such a pilgrimage to discover the towns that inspired Garrison's Lake Wobegon and pictures from our trip are included in this eBook.  Only $1.99.  Available at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo Books, Smashwords, and Scribd.

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

Only $1.99

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at Barnes and Noble
Purchase at iBooks
Purchase at Google Play
Purchase at Smashwords
Purchase at Kobo Books

Nancy Drew Under My Christmas Tree

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Christmas Season "officially" starts today (at least it does by my reckoning). I've told myself that I'm not going to even think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is over.   I did cheat a little, I confess, when I bought some presents online for my husband on Black Friday. I was not immune to all the hoopla and frenzy about "finding that big sale." Every year, my husband and I see on TV campers lining up outside of Best Buy, hoping to save big time on a TV or computer.  Some people started camping out last Monday for Black Friday.  We live in Southern California where the weather is the mildest in the nation, but this past week it's been cold. I'm talking under 60 degrees in the daytime.  Yes, we are wimps when it comes to winter weather, but it's all we know.

The idea of getting a TV or computer as a Christmas present was an unthinkable luxury when I was growing up.  My parents always strugged financially in order to put presents under the Christmas tree, since my father, who was a carpenter, was usually out of work in the off-season. Even though my parents had trouble making ends meet when it came to buying Christmas presents, we always had packages under the tree.  Each year, my sisters and I would get our yearly supply of bathrobes, slippers, and pajamas.  My parents gave each of us girls one "real" present in addition to bedtime wear.  I might get a stuffed animal--my favorite was a cat whom I named "Grinny".  When I turned 11, more than anything, I wanted a Nancy Drew book under the Christmas tree. I hoped and prayed I might get one and used to feel the packages to see if they might be books about my favorite teenage sleuth.

Here we are wearing our new pajamas while my angelic Grandmother looks on

My love of mysteries continues to this day.  My husband and I religiously watch Masterpiece Mystery.  Some of our favorite series star the incomparable Sherlock Holmes--both the Jeremy Brett and the modern Benedict Cumberbatch versions.  We love Scott and Bailey, a modern day British series about women detectives that no one else besides us seems to know exists.  Why hasn't anyone discovered this amazing series?  It's right up there with Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, for goodness sake.

But, my first love has always been Nancy Drew.  It is because she led such a charmed life: she was popular, knew all sorts of obscure facts, had a very kind and permissive father, a snazzy blue roadster, and plenty of unsupervised time to go off searching for clues in each of her "cases". Many famous women such as Hillary Clinton, Former First Lady Laura Bush, and Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sonia Sotomayor cite her as formative influences. 

The Nancy Drew books inspired me to try my hand at writing mysteries.  I've created a character who was inspired by the Nancy Drew super-hero of my childhood.  Her name is Nancy Keene and the mysteries about her adventures are humorous and PG-rated.  They're targeted not to teenagers--they'd never get my jokes--but to women babyboomers like myself who grew up reading and loving Nancy Drew.  My books take place in some of my favorite travel destinations, so they are travelogues in addition to being cozy mysteries.

Check them out sometime.  They are available at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords.  Here is a list of their titles and the Amazon link for each one:

The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery

The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery
The Stolen Masterpiece: A Nancy Keene Mystery

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.

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

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at iTunes

Purchase at Barnes & Noble

Purchase at Google Play

Purchase at Kobo

Purchase at Smashwords

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 

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at iTunes

Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Purchase at Kobo

Purchase at Google Play

Purchase at Smashwords