It’s great to welcome my friend Candace Cox Wheeler to the Dogwood Press team! We’ll launch her wonderful debut novel, Cradle in the Oak, next April. Set in the early twentieth century on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Cradle opens with protagonist and young mom Carrie Burns waking up to discover that her husband left in the middle of the night with the kids and the babysitter. Making it her life’s work to find her beloved sons, Carrie lands a job and reinvents herself as a resourceful businesswoman in order to save enough money to travel and sleuth. There’s action, suspense, and romance in a novel that’s deeply submerged in Coast life circa 1910–Candy puts you right there as Carrie Burns learns the shrimp industry from top to bottom as well as what it takes to sail competitively.
Plans are still on for Randy Pierce to launch Missy at Lemuria Books of Jackson, Mississippi, on October 6. Randy will also do an event the day before in his hometown of Leakesville. I promise that if you’ve enjoyed Randy’s three previous novels, you’ll really adore Missy. Among the many things Randy does well as a writer is bring back characters from his previous works, and it’s interesting to see a couple of folks who had significant roles in Pain Unforgiven and The Peter Bay make brief cameos in Missy. Ultimately, there’s a strong theme of forgiveness in the book (and the need for us to be able to do so), which will resonate.
We’re getting the Dogwood Press authors involved in as many virtual events as possible. A big one, recently, was Mystery in the Midlands, a mystery/suspense short story event which was headlined by perennial bestseller Jeffrey Deaver and included, among others, John Floyd as a panelist. We had orders for signed copies of John’s books come in through the Dogwood Press website in the first minutes and hours after his participation, which was greatly appreciated.
I hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy. These are certainly some challenging times. Treat yourself to a good read as soon as you can and visit dogwoodpress.com to order a book or two. You’ll absolutely love the recent collection of humorous poetry from John Floyd, Lighten Up A Little, and if you want to escape with a good beach read (even if you’re staying away from the beach), you’ll enjoy the pulse-pounding suspense of Janet Brown’s Deadly Visits. Remember that when you order through the Dogwood Press site, you’ll receive U.S.P.S. Priority rate shipping at no extra charge, regardless of the size of your order. Thanks for your time, and have a great day!