New Releases by Nancy Pickard

Welcome to Black Cat Weekly. I can’t believe it’s been 100 issues! Time flies when you’re having fun. To help make this issue special, I asked Barb Goffman and Michael Bracken to contribute some special stories of their own. I think you’ll agree, they are among the highlights of this issue. On the mystery side , we also have stories by Nancy Pickard, Bradley Harper, and a novel from the legendary Fredric Brown—his classic Knock Three-One-Two. And what issue is complete without a solve-it-yourself mystery by Hal Charles? On the more fantastic side of things, we have another of Darrell Schweitzer’s historical interviews with a legend of science fiction, this time Robert Sheckley. Conducted in 1981, it talks about his becoming fiction editor of Omni magazine, the science fiction community in New York City, and more. As for fiction, we have that, too, of course. Fantasy from Joseph Payne Brennan and Aeryn Rudel. Science fiction from Larry Tritten, Frank Belknap Long, and a rare novel, The Green Girl, from Grandmaster Jack Williamson. A big thanks to everyone who made the first 100 issues possible, including Acquiring Editors Michael Bracken, Barb Goffman, Paul Di Filippo, Darrell Schweitzer, and Cynthia Ward, staffers Sam Hogan, and Karl Wurf, and of course all our readers! -- John Betancourt, Editor Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “Wolfhound” 2023 by Bradley Harper [short story] “Things That Go Bump” 2022 by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “If Only You Would Leave Me” by Nancy Pickard [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “The Lord Is My Shamus” 2012 by Barb Goffman [short story] “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” 2021 by Michael Bracken [short story] Knock Three-One-Two, by Fredric Brown [novel] Nonfiction: “Speaking with Robert Sheckley” by Darrell Schweitzer [interview] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “The Smile Price” by Aeryn Rudel [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “Exit Laughing” by Larry Tritten [short story] “The Miniature Menace,” by Frank Belknap Long [short story] “The Seventh Incantation,” by Joseph Payne Brennan [short story] The Green Girl, by Jack Williamson [novel]

In Bigger, Better, Braver, master integrative life coach Nancy Pickard challenges us with these life-altering questions: •Is there something you''d love to do but haven''t found the courage? •Do you want to give yourself over to the fullest possible experience of living? •Do you want to take a leap toward a bigger, better, braver life? Bigger Better Braver is a proven, step-by-step guide for uncovering and putting into action the vision we each have in our hearts to live the life we are meant to lead. Provided with clarity and enhanced with inspirational client and personal stories, it shows readers how to get unstuck from old ways of behaving and take bold steps toward something new and larger in their lives. The book is a journey in itself, as Nancy lays out time-tested tools to identify, face, and overcome shadow beliefs from childhood that hold us back, get free of the limits of our comfort zone, come to terms with and cultivate fear as a driving force for change, and discover the courage we already have to take bold steps into the future. She teaches how to be more present, use our intuition, and get out from under the daily restrictions of autopilot. She reveals strategies to stay the course, maintain low attachment to outcome, receive feedback, stay disciplined and responsible to ourselves, and learn what it means to practice acceptance and surrender. Ms. Pickard is testimony to her proven methods. She reinvented herself as a master life coach in her second half and at the age of 61, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, experiences and achievements that recalibrated her way of being and became her vision for a bigger life. Not everyone must climb a mountain to live larger. As the book well shows, each of our versions of a bigger life can be anything that brings elation, accomplishment, fulfillment, and connection with the spirit of who we are. Bigger Better Braver provides the pathway to uncover our personal vision of what living bigger means and opens the door for a major life change.

A DINNER TO DIE FOR Summoned from her Arizona ranch to take charge of her teenage great-nephew and his twin sister, Genia Potter takes a rental on the Rhode Island coast. Old acquaintance Stanley Parker is only too happy to welcome her. And soon Genia is busily preparing for the tasting party that she and Stanley are hosting that evening at her cottage. An avid cook and recipe collector, Stanley has already roped Genia into collaborating on The Secret Ingredient Cookbook, chock-full of Rhode Island culinary mysteries. Now is their chance to test some recipes and solicit others from each of the invited. Stanley has carefully selected six guests. And each has been asked to contribute a recipe with one secret ingredient. Genia asks no questions–until the lobster bisque is cold and all but one are present. Where is Stanley? Dead. And unlamented. Has one of the guests concocted a secret recipe for murder? Everyone has a motive. And everyone has a secret–including Genia’s troubled great-nephew, the prime suspect. . .

Jenny Cain and police detective Geof Bushfield already had pre-nuptial jitters. Then a sudden wave of domestic violence rocked placid Port Frederick - in just two weeks, the husbands of three battered wives were shot dead. Homicide was all too familiar to Geof, but this was enough to make him want to quit the force. Except that none of the wives confessed - and none of the guns were found. As Geof searched for clues, Jenny uncovered a dangerous secret - a murderous obsession that threatened to tear Port Frederick apart!

Award-winning author Nancy Pickard has been receiving high acclaim for her mystery series starring sleuth Jenny Cain. This time Cain finds herself following the trail of a possible paranoid schizophrenic slasher—only to uncover clues that put her squarely in the sights of a cold-blooded murderer! “An outstanding mystery series that just keeps getting better” (ALA Booklist).

Bright and beautiful Jenny Cain, director of the Port Frederick Civic Foundation, was dying of curiosity. A hapless visitor had slipped in the mud at the town’s historic cemetery—and fallen right into an empty grave! When Jenny discovered that all the graves were vacant, it was the beginning of murder. Someone had killed an employee of the Harbor Lights Funeral Home, and played a macabre practical joke with the body. Suddenly, everyone in town is a suspect, from the victim’s grieving widower to the spike-haired gravedigger to the unctuous director of the Harbor Lights. Now Jenny has to dig up some answers, and fast—before the killer leaves her silent as a tomb!

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and emotionally involving, Twilight is Nancy Pickard at her popular and groundbreaking best; once again she weaves her renowned fictional spell around the mysteries of the human heart. In this mysterious tale the fortunes of Port Frederick, Massachusetts, are riding on the upcoming Autumn Festival, sponsored by the Judy Foundation, founder and director, Jenny Cain. As if running the fair wasn''t enough, Jenny''s life and her own fortunes become much more complicated when she is swept into a long-running, deadly controversy which, to her horror, threatens disaster for those she holds dear.

One beautiful summer afternoon, Jody Linder receives shocking news: The man convicted of murdering her father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas. It has been twenty-three years since that stormy night when her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead. Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s three uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents’ ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night. Now Billy Crosby is free, thanks to the efforts of his son, Collin, a lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father’s innocence. Despite their long history of carefully avoiding each other in such an insular community, Jody and Collin find that they share an exclusive sense of loss. As Jody revisits old wounds, startling truths emerge about her family’s tragic past. But even through struggle and hardship, she still dares to hope for a better future—and maybe even love. BONUS: This edition contains a The Scent of Rain and Lightning discussion guide.

“An all-star lineup of 13 women mystery authors has produced one madcap, murderous tale” in this serial novel by Nevada Barr, JD Robb, and others (Publishers Weekly). The promise of discretion and pampering—and a long-overdue reconciliation with her mother—draws Caroline Blessing, the young wife of a newly-elected Congressman, to the fancy Phoenix Spa. But after her first night in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, Caroline wakes to find the rich and famous guests in turmoil and under suspicion: the spa’s flamboyant and ambitious owner has been murdered. As the secrets come out, and the body count rises, can Caroline keep herself from becoming the next victim? This serial novel features chapters by Nevada Barr, J.D. Robb, Nancy Pickard, Lisa Scottoline, Perri O’Shaughnessy, J.A. Jance, Faye Kellerman, Mary Jane Clark, Marcia Talley, Anne Perry, Diana Gabaldon, Val McDermid, and Laure R. King.

The blank page, the impossible deadline, the rush of inspiration: There is no profession more maddening or more rewarding than being a writer. Yet surprisingly, all writers pass through the same sequence of stages in the course of their careers. It was this remarkable insight that inspired veteran authors Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott to write one of the wisest and liveliest guides to the literary life ever penned— a volume of astonishing revelation, warm reassurance, brilliant encouragement, and welcome humor. No matter what you write or how much recognition you’ve received, you are bound to pass through the seven steps on the writer’s path: Unhappiness, Wanting, Commitment, Wavering, Letting Go, Immersion, and Fulfillment. Whether you’re a wannabe writer or a published literary veteran, you’re bound to find this book a source of true delight, vital wisdom, and lasting inspiration.

“Engrossing . . . beautifully written and carefully crafted . . . [a] work that explores the healing power of truth.”—The Boston Globe For seventeen years, a rural community in Kansas has faithfully tended the grave of an anonymous teenage girl christened the Virgin of Small Plains. And some claim that, perhaps owing to the girl’s intervention, strange miracles and unexplainable healings have occurred. Slowly, word of the legend spreads. But what really happened in that snow-covered field almost two decades ago, when the girl’s naked, frozen body was found? Why did young Mitch Newquist disappear the day after the shocking discovery, leaving behind his distraught girlfriend, Abby Reynolds, and their best friend, Rex Shellenberger? Now Mitch has returned to Small Plains, reigniting simmering tensions and awakening secrets. Never having resolved her feelings for Mitch, Abby is determined to uncover the startling truth about his departure. The three former friends must confront the ever-unfolding consequences of the night that forever changed their lives—and the life of their small town. Praise for The Virgin of Small Plains “Nancy Pickard . . . has evolved into a writer of substantial literary power. . . . [She] has fashioned a novel that accurately reflects the secrets and silences locked deep within the hearts of all small-town Midwesterners.”—The Denver Post “Tantalizing . . . Pickard writes with insight and compassion about an unresolved crime that continues to haunt a farming community.”—The New York Times Book Review “A class act . . . Pickard has a talent for adding depth to a story that conveys a sense of place and history.”—Orlando Sentinel “Crisply written, this new novel about loss of faith, trust, and innocence is utterly absorbing.”—Tucson Citizen

36 page collectors catalogue of works by Kenneth Spooner to coincide with the exhibition Journeys.

With The Whole Truth and Ring of Truth, award-winning author Nancy Pickard introduced the intrepid Marie Lightfoot, a gutsy and charismatic true-crime writer, and kicked oV a sensational new series that sealed her reputation as one of today''s top practitioners of "chilling, fast-paced, and original" thrillers (Detroit Free Press). Now Marie Lightfoot faces an unusually challenging case because this time it''s personal -- painfully so, as it concerns the central mystery of her life: her parents'' disappearance. My dear Marie, Do you give any thought to life after death? They say that when dead people hover around the living, it is because they are stuck at the place where they died. They can''t move on. I hope for your sake that doesn''t happen to you, Marie, because I don''t think you''ll want to linger in the place where I will kill you.... When the first E-mail arrives it seems like a joke: A man writes that he loves Marie''s work and wants her to collaborate with him by becoming his victim and writing a book about her own murder right up to the moment of her death. If she doesn''t cooperate, he promises, he will hurt someone close to her. Marie is merely unsettled until more threatening E-mails arrive and the young children of her lover, State Attorney Franklin DeWeese, become targets of vicious pranks. Until the police can apprehend her tormentor, Marie has no choice but to play along, following her "co-author''s" instructions to write her life story and return to her birthplace, a small town in Alabama. There Marie seeks out a group of the town''s most prominent citizens. Forty years ago, they worked clandestinely in the civil rights movement alongside her parents, who disappeared during the explosive summer of 1963. Trying to untangle the divided loyalties, secrets, lies, and misunderstandings that have obscured the truth about her parents, Marie races to unravel the secrets of the past and outwit a killer before she is forced to write her final page. Filled with rich characterizations, steadily escalating suspense, and a rare depth of emotion, The Truth Hurts draws readers into a mystery that spans the present day and the tense, heartbreaking early days of America''s civil rights movement. In a novel as complex and captivating as her inimitable heroine, Nancy Pickard keeps readers guessing until the Wnal page is turned.

Sex, violence, evil, and betrayal -- the shocking murder case splashed across the Florida headlines has all the right elements for true-crime writer Marie Lightfoot''s next bestseller. And tell the tale she does, in a book that reveals the secrets of a love affair gone fatally wrong. But there are disturbing twists, which leave Marie sensing in her gut that something does not jibe. Twist number one: the accused is a man of the cloth, who has allegedly killed his wife in collusion with his lover. Twist number two: a pair of young girls find the body in an abandoned mansion, adding the death of innocence to the magnitude of the crime. Twist number three: a shattering conviction turns the case on its ear. And the ultimate blow: for the first time in her career, Marie fails to win the the killer''s confidence during a jailhouse interview. Suddenly, she knows with certainty there ia more to the story than even she realized -- and her conscience won''t let her rest. Then an unexpected visitor -- a shock in itself for the reclusive writer -- confesses something that not even the police know. The revelation may he the missing piece in a terrifying puzzle -- evidence that teaches Marie a bone-chilling lesson as threatening danger slowly encircles her: to err is human, but underestimating the criminal mind can be deadly. Nancy Pickard premiered gutsy Marie Lightfoot in the national bestseller The Whole Truth, and kicked off a thrilling new series with "an intriguing story, fascinatingly told" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Now, Pickard once again "pushes the presumed limits of [crime fiction]" (Los Angeles Times) as she sends this complex heroine into a jagged maze with one destination: the darkest realm of human nature.

Fans of mystery, crime, fantasy, and horror will love this collection of stories by internationally acclaimed mystery writer Nancy Pickard. From a never-before-published story sure to thrill readers to eight other award-winning cautionary tales, these nine stories are linked by signs of foreboding, paths that lead to unexpected places, and the craftiness of human nature -- showing that men and women, when faced with the subtle portents of disaster, may ignore warnings at their own peril.

"Nancy Pickard pushes at the presumed limits of [crime fiction]" said the Los Angeles Times Book Review, praising the award-winning creator of the Jenny Cain mysteries. Now, Pickard blurs the line between fiction and reality in a novel of gripping intensity, and premieres a superb new heroine: true-crime author Marie Lightfoot. For her next surefire bestseller, Marie is covering the trial of a Florida killer -- a case that penetrates her own life, layer by disturbing layer. Whether real like Ted Bundy, or imagined like Hannibal Lecter, few killers of our time are in the same league as Raymond Raintree. And as he stands flanked by lawyers in a Florida courtroom, waiting to be convicted for the murder of Natalie Mae McCullen, Marie Lightfoot is taking it all in. A small, gutsy blonde renowned for her true-crime bestsellers, Marie knows the graphic and disturbing case will make her best book yet -- because Raintree''s shocking crime, vile beyond imagining, is also impossible to turn away from. But there is something about the case -- and Raintree''s involvement -- that bothers her. No one knows where Raintree, a man as slight and immature as a preteen boy, took Natalie after he abducted her. No one knows how Natalie -- bright, independent, and with no fear of the dark -- could be lured into a stranger''s boat on a lonely waterway. And only one witness saw a man who may have been Raintree motoring along in a water taxi on the night Natalie disappeared. Even if the police can''t provide answers, Marie intends to leave no loose ends. Starting with a prison meeting with Raintree, the steely-nerved writer follows a twisted path that leads to Natalie''s parents, to a coincidence that doesn''t quite gel, and to a place she has resisted all her life: the dark recesses of her own soul, where she hides the secrets of her own lost past. When Raymond escapes, Marie -- a curious contradiction of celebrity author and introspective loner -- becomes a sitting duck for a killer who just might be smart enough to outwit her. And evil enough to take her to hell before she dies. A masterpiece of psychological suspense, The Whole Truth is a compelling look at our fascination with the horrific crimes of our time. Nancy Pickard''s characters are as close to flesh and blood as fiction can get -- and her writing is as close to perfection.

Kernels of Truth.... When Eugenia Potter stumbles upon some ancient pottery shards on her ranch, she feels a profound connection with the past. And a deep desire to learn more about the relics. Now, she''s heeding the call of her soul--by visiting an archaeological camp amid the magnificent cliff dwellings of Colorado''s Mesa Verde. But strange things are happening at Mesa Verde, from the director''s increasing mental confusion to a visitor''s grisly death. Even a Talking Circle--a traditional ritual facilitated by the passing around of an ear of blue corn--doesn''t reveal the source of the trouble. And when a busload of teenagers on a hiking trip disappears without a trace, Mrs. Potter begins some digging... to unearth a cruel scheme, a long-buried secret, and the deadly fruits of a killer''s dark hungers.

A collection of eleven wonderfully imaginative tales that both chill the spine and warm the heart. Each tale features a thick fog, a thick book, and a thick steak.

Jenny and her husband, Geof, find themselves involved in a series of bizarre events when a young boy asks them to investigate the death of his parents.

Fourteen spine-tingling stories of suspense include P. D. James''s "The Victim," in which a gorgeous celebrity uses her infatuated ex-husband as a murder weapon, and tales by Ruth Rendell, Patricia Highsmith, and other authors. Original.

Some like it hot “Delightful . . . Ms. Pickard has given the protagonist a new least on life!”—The New York Times When Eugenia Potter receives an urgent phone call from the manager of her ranch near Tucson, she''s only too happy to drop everything and fly home. Something inside of her is calling her back to the desert. Why else would be preparing spicy Mexican meatball soup at her cottage in Maine when the menu clearly calls for clam chowder? But once she arrives home, Mrs. Potter discovers that her ranch manager and his granddaughter are missing from her ranch, Las Palomas, and feared dead. When a guest at a dinner gathering thrown by Mrs. Potter is food poisoned—apparently from eating her famous 27-ingredient chili—she knows she must act quickly before the murderer strikes again. And it doesn''t hurt to have the help of a long-lost beau to spice up the danger with romance . . .

Following the success of Malice Domestic 1--recipient of the Agatha Award for Best Short Story and called "outstanding" by Publishers Weekly--acclaimed author Nancy Pickard serves a feast of original traditional mystery stories in classic Agatha Christie style. Featured writers include Wendy Hornsby, Dorothy Cannell, Joan Hess, and Nancy Pickard herself.

After the brutal murder of her friend Carol Margolis, Jenny Cain travels to New York, where she takes charge of Carol''s job and the murder investigation.

When a dinner guest of Eugenia Potter is found poisoned, supposedly from Mrs. Potter''s famous twenty-seven-ingredient chili, the flabbergasted hostess knows she must act quickly before someone else is murdered.

As director of the Port Frederick Civic Foundation, Jenny Cain is privy to the charitable intentions of the town''s wealthiest citizens. And when some of these donors end up murdered, Jenny Cain must find the killer--especially since a rhyme placed at the crime scene states that Jenny will be the next victim.

A Jenny Cain mystery.

From witty, suspenseful, sexy mysteries featuring the charming and complex amateur sleuth, Jenny Cain. In Bum Steer, a mysterious murder and a strange bequest send Jenny to the wild, wild West.