Beatrix Potter loves the warmth of Sawrey, her new hometown. But even the kindest of souls can turn snappish when houseguests overstay their welcome. When Beatrix returns from time away, she finds the attic overrun with rats. Rosabelle, resident rat and generous hostess, has offered her family a place to stay. But when word gets out, she soon has dozens of rat families on her tiny hands. To get rid of them, Beatrix invites some cats over-deeply offending Felicia Frummety, resident cat. Then a mysterious outsider plans to ruin the pristine shoreline of Lake Windermere by building a sprawl of villas. And trouble has beset three village children, favorites of Beatrix, who are counting on the help of the fairies of Cuckoo Brow Wood. Now, with her signature tact, Beatrix must work with her friends-human and animal-to set things right.
My husband Bill and I live on 31 acres in the Hill Country of Central Texas, and have longhorn cows, sheep, geese, as well as the wild things that roam the meadows and woods. Our best buddies are our three dogs (Zach, Lady, and Toro) and our cat, Shadow. I'm a passionate gardener and am concerned about issues of global warming and energy depletion. You can find out more about the way I live in my new memoir, Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place.
I've been writing professionally for nearly 25 years, after a stint in higher education as a faculty member and administrator. When I first started writing full time, I worked in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series--yep, you got it: I am both Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon! (How cool is that?) In the years I was writing young adult novels, with Bill or by myself, I wrote over sixty books. In addition, Bill and I wrote a series of Victorian/Edwardian mysteries together, as Robin Paige.
Now, I write three mystery series: the China Bayles herbal mysteries, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a new series (starting in July, 2010) called The Darling Dahlias, about a Southern garden club in the 1930s. Writing is not only my work, but my passion. Truly a right livelihood, and I'm grateful to have found it. I am also a member (and the founder) of the Story Circle Network, a nonprofit organization that supports women who want to write about their lives.
