I spent so many years in the children’s publishing world, I was certain I had found my niche. I wasn’t wrong. For decades, children’s publishing was the right place for me. I loved the books, the people, the conferences, the editing, teaching workshops… all of it. And then, that world shifted away from me and I found myself looking for something new.

I found my next niche in the cozy mystery genre. And now, just a couple of years after making that shift, I have been contracted to write a second series. Excited? You bet. Challenged? Oh yes. Somewhat terrified? On a daily basis.

While Saffi Graywood idles for a while in Last Chance Cove, I’ll be journeying to Northeastern Pennsylvania with a new main character. I wrote about Saffi’s journeys along the Pacific Coast Highway because I’ve made those journeys. I know those roads in all their twists and turns. I have walked the beaches she walks and lived in the RV park where she lives. (If you can figure out its real name from clues in the books, let me know!)

I’ve also lived, worked, and walked the streets of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the setting for my next series. In fact, it’s the home of Highlights magazine, where I worked as coordinating editor for many years. I’m already deep into writing book one of the series. Digging up memories for everything from street names to sensory details blasts me right back to sidewalks humped sideways by tree roots and ice-slick pavement that landed me on my bottom more times than I care to remember.

So many details! The fire-red maple trees along Main Street. The rough-and-tumble river I crossed over as I walked to work. Fourth-of-July fireworks shooting from the cliff above town. Roots and Rhythm music festivals. The Stourbridge Lion (a historical train engine you’ll learn about in book one). A courthouse square so quintessentially all-American I thought I’d been transported to the 1950s. All of these things and more have found their way into the cozy mystery world of my second series.

When I first started writing fiction, I thought I had to make everything up. Everything had to spring straight from my imagination to the page. I was very young—eighteen—when I had a go at writing my first novel. Oh these many years later, I know that you have to ground fiction in the real world to make it believable. And the best way to do that is to write from a place (or places) you know.

As I clean up the draft I will submit to my editor at the end of this month (July 2026), I am thinking about my readers and what they’ve told me they loved most about my Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series: the vivid setting, the RV-driving sleuth, her quirky friends, the coffee, the books, and the love interest. I’m working hard to bring similar elements into the new series and can’t wait to hear what you think when book one comes out in February 2027.

Here’s the descriptor I wrote for Storm Publishing’s announcement:

“What happens when a Georgia girl—long past her prime and left behind by a philandering husband—drives north to a cozy Pennsylvania town to open the bookshop of her dreams, thumb her nose at her ex, and live happily ever after? For one thing, she’s gonna crash headfirst into murder, mayhem, and mystery. For another, she’s gonna need help from a team of sleuthing friends: a hotelier, an artist, and a former parson named Brown. Most critically, she will need a really good editor to keep me, the writer, from falling off the cliff that towers over her new home in the town made famous by the classic song ‘Winter Wonderland.’ 

I hope you’ll follow me to my next series and continue to share my first series with your cozy mystery-loving friends. I hope to get Saffi back on the road for her next adventure soon.