When you mention the words “cozy mystery” these days, what probably comes to mind most often is “female sleuth.” That’s because 99% of cozy mysteries these days do have female main characters, usually amateurs, who do the crime-solving. Two writers who have bucked that trend recently are Jeffrey Cohen, with his Elliot Freed series, and Miranda James (aka me), with the “Cat in the Stacks” series featuring not one, but two, males as lead characters: Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. Charlie Harris is a widower with two grown children, and in the first book, MURDER PAST DUE, he has moved back to his hometown, Athena, Mississippi, after the death of his wife. About a year after the move he found a kitten in the parking lot at the public library. He named the kitten Diesel for his rumbling purr and discovered that Diesel was a Maine coon. The average male Maine coon often weighs about twenty-five pounds, but Diesel (based on an actual Maine coon I once met) weighs closer to forty pounds in OUT OF CIRCULATION. Charlie is also a librarian, and when that word is mentioned, most people probably again think “female,” since the profession…

As a child, I watched the Wizard of Oz faithfully every spring.  Somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that I have a bit of all four main characters inside me.  I’ve always longed for something different in my life.  That’s the Dorothy part.  However, I’d worry that, in searching for the ‘different’, what if I lost the ‘safe’?  Meet my Cowardly Lion.  There were also times when I questioned my heart – Tin Man – and many moments when my Scarecrow side wondered how smart I really was.  What would it be like, I used to think, to pick up and leave everything behind, to start again in some new and exciting place where I’d have no obligations and no need to explain myself or my actions to anyone.  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, hello freedom. Ah, but how would I live?  Would the people who matter to me be all right?  What if I didn’t like this new place?  Could I go back to who, where and what I’d been before?  And if I couldn’t, what then?  Hmm… Maybe a better idea would be to stick with the safe and only make minor forays into the different.  Or…

Okay, so there’s no Princess of Salamria, but bear with me… As I’m writing this post, I’m sitting at the kitchen table (which is littered with coffee mugs, cereal bowls, newspapers, crayons, and a vase filled with dead tulips) and kids are running around me.  They are yelling “Arrrrrrr Mateeeee” as they play some crazed version of pirates that involves high-pitched screaming, and the use of empty toilet paper rolls as telescopes.  The day started at 5 AM, thanks to kids who aren’t old enough to know that weekends are for sleeping in.  The play room is off-limits today because the cat decided since she wasn’t getting enough attention, she should pee all over the rug in there, and I haven’t had a chance to haul it out to clean. My husband is away at a conference and I’m at home with the kiddos this weekend. But this is all pretty typical stuff, right?  I mean, who wants to hear a mom drone on about her day with the kids?  All you parents out there have changed dirty diapers, cleaned up countless messes, and tried to either ignore or soothe toddler meltdowns.  Why would anyone want to read a book…

Fresh Pick | THE CHIEFTAIN by Margaret Mallory Return of the Highlanders #4 March 2013 On Sale: February 26, 2013 Featuring: Ilysa; Connor 448 pages ISBN: 0446583111 EAN: 9780446583114 Kindle: B009GAITTE Paperback / e-Book $7.99 Romance HistoricalBuy at Amazon.com A favorite of reviewers continues her Scots adventures The Chieftain by Margaret Mallory Connor, chieftain of the MacDonalds of Sleat, holds the fate of his people in his hands. Rival clans are plotting to take over his lands, and duty determines whom he will fight, trust . . . even marry. Seeking guidance, Connor turns to Ilysa, a young lass with the gift of foresight, who reveals an approaching danger-and a passion that burns only for him. But the warrior must make a powerful marriage alliance, and Ilysa\’s bloodline is far too humble. With her powers to heal and see evil where others cannot, beautiful Ilysa dresses plainly, speaks softly, and loves her chieftain from afar. Yet when Connor finally stokes the embers of desire that have so long burned within her, Ilysa feels bliss unlike any she\’s ever known. Now as he is forced to place duty before happiness, Ilysa senses Connor is in grave peril. Can she find a…