NEW BOOK COMING SOON!
Murder, Mess, and The Tangerine Dress (An Order Out of Chaos cozy mystery, Book 1)
A professional organizer’s life shouldn’t be this messy but Izzy Bishop is no ordinary organizer. For one, her own house is a mess, she’s headed for divorce, and almost out of money. Then there are the odd extra sensory abilities she has hidden her whole life, recently sent into overdrive by a Near Death Experience. Izzy is sure she can keep it all secret, why show her dirty laundry to the mesmerizing ER doctor who has appeared in her life? One of these days she’ll have to let him know about the estranged husband, though. A problem for later.
When the dead husband of their client Joanna barges into Izzy’s head to tell her that someone is trying to kill his wife, Izzy’s boss (and sister!) Lauren forbids her from acting on these ‘woowoo’ senses. With no real other job skills Izzy complies – until Joanna’s visitor is killed. Izzy realizes she will have to betray Lauren if she is to find the murderer before Joanna is the next victim. In the process, Izzy discovers that you can only cover up so much for so long. And when it all starts coming out, it is messy.
Mrs. Mango has been married to her second choice for forty-two years, mindlessly trudging through her mundane life—except when she's dreaming of the fancy wedding she'll throw for still-single daughter Christine, or when she allows herself a half-hour locked in the bathroom to write tragic letters to her first love, Raul.
When Christine announces at Thanksgiving dinner that she is gay and her friend Sarah is actually her girlfriend, disapproving Mrs. Mango is shaken to her core. Off kilter from her daughter’s perceived betrayal, Mrs. Mango’s quiet life tilts into a bewildering series of crazy happenings involving her husband, four grown children, dogs, cats, nosy neighbors, octogenarians, babies, random strangers and even a shaman.
As family strife builds, Mrs. Mango is forced to confront her rigid world view, the secret she herself has hidden for almost fifty years, and the cause of a painful rift with her own mother. In the process, she discovers that what she thought she knew about love (and sex, definitely sex) was all wrong.
What do you do when . . . .
Mean Girl Queen Bee Barbie chooses you as her favorite target at school, your best friend defects to MGQBB’s dance squad, and your parents’ marriage is falling apart (possibly due to a family secret that is destroying your mother)?
Pretend to be someone else.
While trying to find some kind of escape from her stressful life, 14 year old Jacqueline Carson discovers that the characters in her beloved books might just hold the key to saving her parents, triumphing over mean girls, and maybe even getting the boy.
For readers 14 or older (some sexual content, profanity).
Finalist in the 2014 San Francisco Writers Conference Contest.
Kindle Book Review, 2014 Kindle Book Awards Semifinalist