Dear Readers:

The horses are home, and there's a new cousin in the pasture here on the Triple L, my little spread outside Spokane, WA. She's a gentle soul, a registered Arabian who has endured her initiation into "the pack." For a couple of weeks those rascals, Buck, Skye, Banjo and Coco, circled her and stared her down for hours on end. April mostly ignored them, a more patient woman than I. Now she's out there with the rest of them, their heads and tails high, their coats gleaming in sunshine. It does my heart good every time I look out there and see them.

For all of you who have become fans of the McKettricks, in modern and contemporary times, there’s another story for you in December’s The McKettrick Way, which finds Meg McKettrick longing for a baby. But in this tables turned story, her choice for the baby’s father is the one who wants to get married. Meg? As strong, proud and stubborn as her ancestors on Indian Rock’s Triple M ranch, she wants to do things her way...the McKettrick way. (I think you’ll enjoy the turn-the-page excerpt posted here on my website, thanks to my wonderful publisher.)

My thanks to all of you who snapped up The Man from Stone Creek in June, it recently won the 2007 Reviewers’ Choice Award on SingleTitles.com, and A Wanted Man in July (and both books are still in stores, so head on over if you're looking for a good Western escape). Ranger Sam O'Ballivan stole my heart even as I wrote his story in The Man from Stone Creek. The sequel, A Wanted Man, features Marshal Rowdy Rhodes and schoolmarm Lark Morgan. Rowdy's a fascinating enigma, an outlaw with honor, a fugitive with courage, a teller of truth, whose whole life is basically a lie. Lark Morgan, the woman he didn't plan on meeting, let alone loving, is guarding dangerous secrets of her own, with her too-fancy clothes and big-city ways. And just wait till you meet Rowdy's old yellow hound, Pardner. Talk about stealin' your heart!

In my mind's eye, this summer I'm in Stone Creek, Arizona in the thick of the action in The Rustler, my third Stone Creek novel, what in the publishing world they call my "work in progress." The Rustler will be published in October 2008 in mass market paperback. This time Rowdy's outlaw older brother, Wyatt, lassoes his share of trouble with a gal named Sarah, who tells so many lies she has to write them down to keep her stories straight. Suffice it to say hell's a-poppin' in good ole Stone Creek-and I think you'll like the poor battered dog named Lonesome that Wyatt takes a liking to.

Thanks to the more than 1600 wonderful, brave, resourceful women who entered my 2007 scholarship competition. Such stories you had to tell! We have completed the judging and information on the winners can be found here.

I continue to work with the wonderful people at The Humane Society of the United States. And I hear some sad stories, along with the happy ones. It seems the older pets get passed over for adoption-everybody wants the puppies and the kittens. According to shelter workers, these veterans wait hopefully, wanting only to love someone unconditionally. After a while, they give up. And that breaks my heart. If you're considering adopting a pet, PLEASE consider some of the older ones. Open your heart to them. No matter how much you love them, they'll love you more.

While you're here, if you haven't signed up to join my reader list (this is how you get in the running for my monthly contest prizes, such as the nifty collection shown on this page), visit my guestbook to do so, and welcome to the shindig!

With love,
Linda