I have a lot of friends with me today, authors who are taking part in a “Blog Hop.” These books are of various genres, and you can check them out by clicking on links.

Author Diann Adamson has graciously invited me to the “Meet My Character” blog hop. Diann is an award-winning author with a mystery-Midwest Noir novel Admit to Mayhem, the first in the Lillian Dove series, coming out in September 2014, and another novella, Jake’s Story, coming out as a four-part serial December 2014. Diann teaches writing at two Los Angeles colleges. Along with her husband and two Welsh Terriers, she makes her home in Southern California.

The main character in my Endurance mystery is Grace Kimball, a widow, single-mother, and recently retired high school English teacher. She lives in the small Midwest town of Endurance, Illinois (pop. 15,000). Because she taught for twenty-five years, she constantly sees former students—now grown up—and recalls some of the funny, weird things about them from when they were in high school. She is often joined by a small group of friends, including TJ Sweeney, police detective, who is also a former student.

Grace has survived some harrowing experiences, from a near-death one in college which haunts her still in the form of nightmares, to the very early death of her much-loved husband. Shortly after her retirement, she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when one of her former teaching colleagues is murdered. Before long, a second murder occurs to a friend Grace cared about and admired. Grace is not one to stand back and let others fix things, so she charges right into the middle of these murders and becomes the killer’s next target.

As Grace investigates both the past and the present of the small town of Endurance, she doesn’t realize that people in the town have secrets, and they plan to keep those secrets even if they have to kill to do so.

Jeff Maitlin, a former journalist for a huge New York newspaper, comes to Endurance to take on a part-time editor’s job for the town’s dying newspaper, the Endurance Register. Before long, Grace finds herself attracted to him, but what does she know about him, and why did he show up about the time the murders began?

Three May Keep a Secret is the first Endurance mystery, out in November, 2014 from Five Star Publishing. Right now, I am working on the second in the series, which I have tentively titled  Marry in Haste. Both titles come from proverbs by Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, one of Grace’s favorite reads.

I hope you’ll read about Grace’s first murderous adventure when it can be shipped from online book sellers on December 10, 2014.

In the meantime, check out the following fabulous authors joining in the “Meet My Character” Blog Hop:

Sheila Lowe is a real life forensic handwriting expert who testified in handwriting-related cases. Strangely enough, her fictional character, Claudia Rose, is also a forensic handwriting expert in the award-winning Forensic Handwriting Mysteries series. Sheila’s latest release is Inkslingers Ball. She also authored the internationally acclaimed The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis and Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous. You can learn even more about her at www.claudiaroseseries.com and at www.superceu.com

Sparkle Abbey is the nom de plume of Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter who together write the Pampered Pets Mystery series: Desperate Housedogs, Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Yip/Tuck, and Project Dogway in the Here We Go Again collection and Fifty Shades of Greyhound (Out now!).  Their pen name combines the names of their rescued pets (Sparkle is Mary Lee’s cat and Abbey is Anita’s dog.)

Maria Alexander’s stories have appeared in publications such as Chiaroscuro Magazine, Gothic.net, and Paradox, as well as numerous acclaimed anthologies. Her debut novel, Mr. Wicker, comes out September 16, 2014, from Raw Dog Screaming Press.

Sally Carpenter is the author of the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol series about a former pop star who finds that making a comeback can be murder. The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper was a Eureka! Award finalist for best first mystery novel. Cozy Cat Press released The Sinister Sitcom Caper, and will soon publish The Cunning Cruise Ship Caper. Sally is a former Hoosier now living in Southern California. She blogs at Sandy Fairfax and can be found on Facebook.

Connie Archer lives in California but writes cozy village mysteries about the small town of Snowflake, Vermont. Her series, A Soup Lover’s Mystery, takes place at the By the Spoonful Shop in Snowflake. Her newly launched book A Roux of Revenge is available now, as are her previous books, A Broth of Betrayal, and A Spoonful of Murder. You can read about her at her website, Connie Archer.

 Laurie Stevens is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. The Dark Before Dawn is the first in a psycho-suspense series based in Los Angeles. The novel was named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011/Indie. Her second book is Deep into Dusk. Both books celebrate her character, Gabriel McRay.  Hop over to Laurie Stevens.

 Jill Amadio is an author, journalist, biographer, and ghostwriter. She was a reporter in England, Spain, Columbia, and the United States. Her first crime novel, Digging Too Deep: A Tosca Trevant Mystery, debuted this year. She writes a monthly column for the UK-based MysteryPeople.magazine, and freelances for My Cornwall magazine. Jill is from St. Ives, Cornwall, and lives in Dana Point, California. Hop over to Jill Amadio.

Marilyn Larew has travelled extensively. Her library card in each and every place was her best friend. In her novel, Spider Catchers, CIA analyst Lee Carruthers is ordered to Fez, Morocco, to find a missing colleague and winds up in a terrorist camp in the Algerian desert. You can hop over to her website at Marilyn Larew.

 Lori Rader-Day is the author of The Black Hour, (Seventh Street Books, 2014). Born and raised in central Indiana, she now lives in Chicago with her husband and dog. Her fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Time Out Chicago, and others. Her next book, the mystery Pretty Little Things, will be published by Seventh Street Books in 2015. You can hop over to her website at Lori Rader-Day