Walk In Beauty

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Dine Woman, 1905

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again

Hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo
T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’

Here in the US, Columbus Day has ben replaced by Indigenous Peoples' Day, celebrating the first peoples of lands throughout the globe.

I am so grateful to my Huron and Chippewa grandmothers and all the native people who have welcomed me into their lives and shared their culture. I could not have written these novels without their guidance and encouragement. 

Deep gratitude and a hail and farewell  to our precious John Wisdomkeeper who has been such a friend to all of us here at BWL publishing.  He walks in beauty.

Sneak Peek

New novel!
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As the song goes...I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! Come June the second of my YA mystery series, The Linda Tassel Mysteries will launch with this glorious cover, brought to us by BWL publishing. I think it captures the sprit of this missing person mystery. Who is missing? Linda's friend and Fancy Shawl dancing partner, Rising Fawn. Linda and Tad will have their hands full with this one.

This series was born in my own young adult years when I was a BIG fan of Nancy Drew, but I sure could have used a heroine who looked more like me. Then I formed a wonderful friendship in Georgia with another Linda, who welcomed me among her Cherokee relatives and culture. I hope this series honors them and their hospitality.

Great news about Book 1 of this series, Death at Little Mound... it has achieved finalist status in two international awards: The Mystery and Mayhem Award and the Dante Rossetti Award for Young Adult fiction. I'll be finding out in June the results of both competitions. Stay tuned!

 

 

New Series, New Book!

 

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I'm delighted to be presenting a new YA series this month...the Linda Tassel Mysteries. Linda is a daughter of the Eastern Cherokee nation in Georgia. In Death at Little Mound she is discovering about the ancient people of her homeland through her work on an archeology dig. Into her life comes Tad Gist, a recent transplant from Buffalo New York. Just in time to help her solve a murder.

my first Nancy Drew mystery...The Secret in the Old Clock!

I enjoyed writing about Linda from Tad's point of view. I set the stories in the 1990s, when my children were teens.  What fun to revisit that time of their lives. When I was a teen, I loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries, but was frustrated that Nancy stayed a perpetual sixteen through all her adventures. I plan to follow Linda and Tad through their teen age years and deepening romance.

I hope you or a young reader you know will join them!