A new book ...

Our friend Lisa in Wisconsin sent us a copy of her new book, The Gold Standard, one the Heartsong Presents mystery series. Heartsong is an imprint of Barbour Publishing.

Here's the set-up: "Just how high a price does buried treasure command?"

DH got to it first. Since he reads a few pages at a time, I waited and waited for him to finish it. I thought he'd like it since it was set on a farm in rural Wisconsin.

After he finished, I asked for his impressions.

"It was good and interesting until the very last. Then they arrested --"

"Don't tell me -- I haven't read it yet!"

"Well, then, the last part was all mushy stuff. It was pretty good until then."

So there you have it -- a man's perspective.

Lisa said in an e-mail that the book need to be have a certain percent of romance, just like cattle feed has to have a certain percent of protein. With that perspective, maybe DH will overlook ruining a good story.

Here's a little something about the book: "School teacher Judy Winters sets out to solve the mystery surrounding her Aunt Louise's murder back on the family farm. Amid her sleuthing, Judy encounters Hart Wingate, a young man who rented the adjoining farm and helped Aunt Louise with farm chores. When Judy learns that her boyfriend, Graham, has secretly been visiting Louise, she decides to move away from him for the summer and think over the situation.

"As Judy explores her aunt's house, she finds and follows clues in Louise's mother's diary to unearth buried treasure. But was the treasure behind Louise's murder?"

I'm reading it right now.

Lisa is one of my buds from ACFW, American Christian Fiction Writers. So ... I guess I'm out now as a writer. We became acquainted via the group's e-mail loop. I can't say enough about ACFW's emphasis on encouraging and building up writers at all stages of their career.

As soon as I figure out how, I'll have to add a link to ACFW to the blog.