OFF KILTER is the first book in the Highlands Mystery Series. It was great fun to write. I especially loved my research in the Highlands. All that local color – men in kilts, that wonderful lilting Scottish accent, the quick wit and infectious sense of humor displayed by the Scots. Did I mention men in kilts? And the setting was spectacular! Munros, lochs, sheep dotting the hillsides, whitewashed cottages, each tiny village with its own central meeting place – the pub, of course.  I must admit I lifted a few pints, learned to sing the national anthem, and sampled a smorgasbord of Scottish delectable, including the (in)famous haggis. My trip was much like my amateur sleuth’s. Eden Elliott arrives in the small village of Glenkillen on the same mission – to research for a series she’s been contracted to write. Only hers is a romance novel, not a mystery. But instead of practicing the fine art of flirtation with those hunky Scottish lads, Eden discovers the sheep shearer’s body. And he’s been clipped with his own shears. Nothing like a murder to cool a woman’s ardor. Worse, if Eden doesn’t figure this one out, she’ll find herself on the receiving…

People think I’m crazy because I write three cozy mystery series. Yes, one book per year for each series (for as long as my publisher lets me!). And there are other books I’ve published through a small independent publisher. Can you guess that I like to write? The first question most people ask is, “How do you keep them all straight?” The simplest answer is that they all are based in real places that I know well: western Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and most recently West Cork in Ireland. I don’t know how I could manage if I had to make up a town and keep all the details consistent. Of course the main characters are different people, although at least two of the characters reflect a little bit of me. Or maybe more than a little bit. Write what you know, right? Meg Corey in the Orchard Mysteries has been blindsided by losing her boyfriend, her home and her job all at once, but she’s got generations of New England ancestors (I borrow a lot of my family tree) to pass on their backbone to her, so over the course of that series she’s learned how to manage an orchard and…