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Paulette is Rhe’s best friend, her sounding board, and a willing participant in many of Rhe’s sleuthing trips. She’s bubbly, fashion-savy, and the quintessential homemaker. Paulette lives just down the street from Rhe, her son Tyler is Jack’s best friend, and she is, according to Rhe, Pequod’s answer to Paula Deen or Rachael Ray or Giada De Laurentiis. Food is always on the table in her kitchen and Rhe fights the calories while enjoying her creations. Paulette is vertically challenged – her hugs are always around Rhe’s waist – and blonde. She was in theater in college, and her acting ability has her volunteering to play a potential escort in Death in a Red Canvas Chair.  Her children, Tyler and 12-year-old Sarah, become active characters in Death in a Dacron Sail and Death by Pumpkin. Her support of Rhe through several traumas and her inside knowledge of Rhe’s marriage and relationship with Sam, her brother-in-law, allow me to explore the more emotional side of Rhe. You should have a good image of her – what do you think she looks like? and Death By Pumpkin, coming in May 0 0

Tom O’Neil, sail maker of Pequod, is based on a real person I had the honor of interviewing during a visit of Boothbay Harbor, Maine: Nathanial Wilson, possibly the premier sail maker in the United States, who patiently took time out of his day to give me a tour of his loft and talk about his craft. Tom had been blond and tall when he was younger; now he is still tall and lanky but with a shock of white hair. In Death in a Dacron Sail, Rhe visits Tom at his loft, recalling she had a crush on him when she was a teenager and spent a lot of time in his loft while the sails were being made for her boat, the Glass Trinket. Sail makers who work by hand leave their signature on each sail, and Tom recognizes the one in which a young girl’s body had been wrapped as one of his. “I recognize that stitching. Corner patch at the tack. Guess you did, too. Headsail, dacron, old.” “Head sail?” I asked. “It’s the smaller sail on a fractional rig sloop, bet you haven’t seen one. Forestay doesn’t run to the top of the mast and the main sail does most of the work.” Tom O’Neil is a great character, and I hope I can bring him back in a later book. How do you envision Tom? Here is a picture of Nat Wilson: 0 0

In Death in a Dacron Sail, Mary Noonan becomes a private patient of Rhe’s, when Rhe is put on unpaid leave from the hospital following her beating by a patient.  Mary is a grandmotherly type, chipper, bright, and energetic, capable of doing many things for herself, but she’s become forgetful lately and isn’t eating. She is quintessentially Irish, with apple-pink cheeks and a round face, and speaks with a brogue. She also likes to cook and tantalizes Rhe with her soda bread and biscuits. Mary also provides Rhe with a pivotal clue, which leads to her discovery of what happened to her childhood friend Deirdre, who disappeared when Rhe was eleven. I loved creating this character – how do you see her? 0 0

Dr. James Manning is the CEO of Sturdevant Hospital.  He first appears in Death in a Red Canvas Chair, as a patron of East Almorel, the high end brothel with Pequod undergraduates as escorts. He isn’t there the night of the raid, so he escapes prosecution. He is also involved, although he denies it, in the acceptance of unlicensed tissue (from a funeral home) for the new transplant division of the hospital. That unit is closed as a result, and the MD he recruited to lead it has to resign. Thus he has a real ax to grind with Rhe, who was instrument in exposing both of these activities. In Death in a Dacron Sail, he is described more fully.  He is a surgeon, resides in very plush offices in the hospital, and because of his red hair and his habit of bobbing his head while talking, is called Woody (and another worse nickname) by the hospital staff. In this book, he is blackmailing the head of HR, Sylvia Hutty, and also removes security staff from the ER as a way of possibly striking back at Rhe. It works – she is beaten by a patient. In Death by Pumpkin, he plays a very minor role, but he hasn’t yet been removed as CEO of the hospital because the board is loaded with his personal friends. You can expect him to be back in my fourth book, Death in a Mudflat. Red hair? Who can you see as James Manning? The real life James Manning is a friend of mine. One of the students in the first anatomy class I taught at UNC’s School of Medicine, Jim is now a Professor of Emergency Medicine and a fine physician and does not have red hair! 0 0

Lyle Pendergrass is the guard at the rear (employees parking lot) entrance of Sturdevant Hospital. He sits at a station behind a Plexiglas wall separating his desk from the corridor.  Rhe thinks he’d been there since before the hospital was constructed and had a suspicion that they’d just built it around him. He probably couldn’t defend the hospital from a cat invasion, but he knew every employee and delivery person and checked Ids. Lyle is one of those minor characters that occasionally pops to life, such as when he fends off an aggressive reporter following Rhe in Death in a Red Canvas Chair and when he provides critical information about the lack of security in the Emergency Room in Death in a Dacron Sail. He’s a loveable and rickety old duck and I’m sure I’ll have him back in future books. What do you think he looks like? Anyone come to mind? 0 0

Dear Readers, Thank you for your votes! We have plenty of feedback and are ready to choose a winner. If you voted for the winning cover, you may be randomly selected to receive a copy of “Death By Pumpkin” signed by the author*. Stay tuned for more updates and information about the upcoming cover reveal and as always, thank you for visiting! *Subject to change. Only email addresses submitted through the poll site will be considered for the prize. Please do not post your email or mailing address in the blog (site) comments below. 0 0

I am cheating today because I don’t have a K. And I’m rhyming… James plays a major role in Death in a Dacron Sail. He is the brother of Peter Barnes, a lobsterman, and in the summers serves as Peter’s stern man, the crew member responsible for hauling, emptying and re-baiting the lobster traps. Rhe knows Peter because they grew up together. Peter is blond, weathered and looks like a Viking, while James is taller and bulkier. He has dark hair, sports a stubble of beard, and doesn’t smile, his face usually fixed in a chiseled block. Rhe notices his eyes in particular – dark brown, almost black, making him look like he has huge pupils. This is a picture of a guy whose name I don’t know, but whom I thought was a great candidate for James. I saw him in the Barnes and Noble where I meet with one of my critique groups, and he was fine with my taking his picture. Do you have an image of James? 0 0

Send me your ideas of what Jack looks like! Jack is Rhe and Will Brewster’s six-year-old son. By the time of Death by Pumpkin, he is seven and in second grade.  Rhe had problems getting pregnant and Jack was conceived by in vitro fertilization.  Rhe wants another child and is pregnant in Death in a Dacron Sail. Jack looks very much like his father, with whom he has a close relationship through the first book. He’s tall for his age, gangly, with floppy light hair. He has ADHD, which has been a stressor on the Brewster’s marriage because Jack sees a counselor (a hit to their budget) and has the usual difficulties such children have with focusing and doing homework. By the third book, Jack has developed a wicked sense of humor and loves telling puns and knock-knock jokes. He is also close with his Uncle Sam, Will’s brother, and has loves spending time with Paulette, Ted, Sarah and Tyler McGillivray.  Paulette is Rhe’s BFF and Tyler is Jack’s age. Death by Pumpkin – coming in May 0 0

In Death in a Red Canvas Sail, Kelly Ingram is the quarterback of the Pequod football team – a tall, good-looking young man with reddish hair who has more than his share of female admirers. Rhe meets him on campus when she is tracking down friends of the young woman found dead in the canvas chair. He makes another appearance just after a young black student, Tanya David, is dropped at Sturdevant Hospital after being attacked and beaten. Kelly brings her to the hospital but doesn’t stay around to identify her. Luckily Rhe knows her, and Rhe recognizes Kelly at the information desk asking about Tanya’s status, she grabs him to find out what he knows. Kelly stonewalls her, but when she threatens him with calling the police, he tells her his roommate, another football player named Raymond Little, was the one who did it. How do you see this young quarterback? Got a movie star in mind? 0 0

Sylvia is a character with a major role in Death in a Dacron Sail. She is the head of Human Resources at Sturdevant Hospital, and Rhe has known her since grade school.  Sylvia was a year older, but together with Rhe and another friend, Deirdre, they had been the three Musketeers, always looking for adventure. Of the three, Sylvia was the cautious, no-nonsense one. She reined in their more dangerous ideas for fun, such as climbing around in the collapsing and condemned hotel that sat on the property where Rhe lives now. Deirdre disappeared without a trace when Rhe was eleven, and the search for her is part of this book. Sylvia and Rhe had met again when Rhe started working at Sturdevant, refueling the friendship with lunches together every few weeks and occasional dinner swaps. Sylvia is a feast for a fashionista’s eyes. She shops at Target and TJ Maxx, but she always projects the image of a consummate professional, reed thin and dressed in the timeless styles. In one scene she is s wearing an aubergine knit dress with a mosaic scarf in blending colors, artistically tied at her neck, and black, high-heeled boots. The outfit is a stunning contrast to her graying, close-cropped hair. In another scene, she is wearing a deep green pantsuit with a blue-green paisley silk blouse and a string of silver beads. Can you see Sylvia Hutty in your mind’s eye? Can you send me an image? 0 0