The most successful authors I know enjoy the process of learning and got into the business from the pleasure and challenge of writing.

Impatience, mistrustfulness, and competitiveness with other writers can be very damaging to a career. Focus on your own content, find your own best voice, and enjoy the ride. This can be a wonderful business.
--John Talbot

By: Kate Borden

As mayor of the broke New England town of Cobb's Landing, Peggy Jean Turner is thrilled with the idea of creating "Colonial Williamsburg in Cobb's Landing." All goes swimmingly, until the town tart turns up dead--and Peggy must risk everything to solve the crime.

DEATH OF A TART is an upbeat whimsical tale of small town living wrapped around a murder mystery. Just like an official police investigation, P.J. slowly connects the clues until she figures out who the perpetrator is. The townsfolk are a jolly lot as they see prosperity coming their way after years of trying to make ends meet. Though why P.J. and not the police investigated the crime is a myteery, fans will appreciate the talent of Kate Borden, who provides a fine New England amateur sleuth cozy.

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By: Kate Borden

The body of the police chief's teenage son is found during Cobb's Landing's annual Halloween pumpkin float--and full-time mayor Peggy Turner must turn part-time sleuth to catch the culprit.

Halloween is right around the corner and people are getting ready to celebrate. The town has taken an economic upswing ever since they converted the place into a colonial village where residents dress in period costumes. Tourists stay at the restored button factory converted into an inn. Mayor Peggy Turner, who also owns a hardware store, is at loggerheads with the new Chief of Police Henry Cartwright, who she believes is impugning on her territory.

Henry thinks that whoever is stealing the skeleton Buddy from the lab and leaving him dressed up in clothes so he looks like a corpse should fall under his jurisdiction, but Peggy takes care of it because she knows it is silly schoolboy pranks. When ailing elderly Luigi Alsop vanishes, Peggy organizes the search. They find him in a cave next to Henry's dead son the murder weapon near Luigi. Many folks believe Luigi killed the lad because the deceased was harassing and terrifying the older man's granddaughter. Peggy thinks otherwise and sets out to prove her assertion.

This New England cozy contains a very interesting mystery because of the attitudes of the locals who pull together in good and bad times. Neighbors know they can count on one another for help (a friend in need is not a pest as it seems in most places today). Peggy as the activist mayor symbolizes all that is good in this small town. Readers will also gain a feel for life in a New England village, but it is the unusual situations that Peggy and her best friend seem to and in find themselves in that make for a fun regional tale.

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