IF THE HAT FITS...

Please help me welcome the incomparable Jill Marie Landis and her latest fabulous story, THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN. Jill has that special spark that brings characters and background to full, three-dimensional life. You are going to want to meet Hank and Amelia--personally. Glory, Texas is the town we first visited in Jill's HOMECOMING and I gobbled up the chance to return in this book.

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Thank you once again to Stella Cameron and the lovely talented ladies of Running With Quills for inviting me back to the Blog this month!

As you might guess, this is the point in time where I am to put on my publicity hat and find the words to make my latest release sound like a book that you cannot, must not, live without. For me this is the most ill-fitting hat in the writer's closet of costumes and secrets. (Believe me, I have more than my share of costumes...and perhaps a few secrets, too.)

Of course we think our books are fabulous. Well, after they are finished, that is. After we no longer have to look at them on the computer screen. After we are over the neurosis and panic of "Can I do it again?" After we have given up the "Why am I doing this again?" After we have stopped screaming as we bang our heads against the wall and realize it's time for the drama to end and the work to begin if we are going to get the sucker in on time. (Do any of you suffer from this malady or is it only me?)

My publicity hat is precariously balanced on my head right now, so I'd better get with it. THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN is a book set in the fictional town of Glory, Texas, which came to life in my last book, HOMECOMING. It's the kind of town you'd want to live in--if you were living in the old west. The kind of place where everyone knows your name and if you need something, they all show up on your doorstep without you having to ask for help. It's the perfect kind of utopia that only exists in fiction or back in the "good old days." Virtually, the Mayberry of the west.

Hank Larson is the hero of the tale, and he's a writer. He's foolish enough to think he can start a newspaper in a town where there is no news. Nothing ever happens--no headline making events, anyway. Not until he walks into the bank one fine morning to see about a loan and ends up foiling a robbery. Before Hank has time to blink, the good folk of Glory decide he's just the man to be their first sheriff. After all, he single handedly corralled a gunman in the bank, didn't he? Hank wants no part of it, but somehow he winds up taking an oath and now, being a man of honor, he's bound and determined to uphold the law.

The trouble is, one of the outlaws he's after just happens to be the brother of Amelia Larson who is the town healer, apothecary and the only doctor they have (not that she's got any kind of degree to prove it). Amelia is just the kind of woman who can heal Hank's wounded heart, a heart that was so filled with grief for his late wife that he moved to Texas to gamble on a dream. When Hank begins to fall in love with Amelia, complications set in for he is a man of his word, if not a man of faith. He promises Amelia he will do all he can to bring her brother in without harming him.

THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN is a story of falling in love, of commitment and honor, of promises made and broken and above all, the power of forgiveness. Hopefully it's a story that will touch your heart and bring you a few stolen hours of enjoyment. The book is on sale now, a June release from Steeple Hill. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it--once I finally stopped moaning about working, that is.

So, can I take this hat off now? It's beginning to slip off anyway.
It's time to head to the costume closet to slip on my chef's hat so I can rustle up some dinner.
And then? Well, there's that tiara I like to wear with my pajamas...

I'd love to hear any comments you have about writing, reading, or costumes.
Until we meet again,
Aloha,
Jill Marie