Lots of people think it would be great fun to own your own small business, especially if it involved plants, gardens, and healthy food. Well, lots of people could be right—on the good days, anyway.
I ran away from the law (that is, I left my career as a Houston criminal defense attorney) some years ago and settled in the small Texas town of Pecan Springs, halfway between Austin and San Antonio, where I opened my shop, Thyme & Seasons Herbs. Now, Ruby Wilcox—owner of the Crystal Cave, Pecan Springs’ only New Age shop—and I own and manage Thyme for Tea, a tea room, and Party Thyme, a catering service. Partnered with Cass Wilde, we also own The Thymely Gourmet. If you’re thinking that this sounds like life in a three-ring circus, you’re right. But believe me, it beats life in the courtroom.
On an ordinary day, I’m downstairs at six to get the kids breakfasted and off to the school bus: Brian, in his last year of high school, and Kaitlin, my 12-year-old niece and adopted daughter. Before they leave, Brian feeds our dog (Howard Cosell, an ancient basset hound) and cat (Pumpkin), while Kaitlin tends her chickens (known collectively as The Girls). Next down the stairs is McQuaid, my husband, a former Houston homicide detective and currently a part-time associate professor in the Criminal Justice department at Central Texas State University and a private investigator with his own firm. There’s time for a breakfast taco and coffee with McQuaid before he goes off to teach and/or meet a client and I’m off to the shop.
Ah, the shop. I’ve never stopped loving that wonderful moment when I unlock the door, flick on the lights, and step into my herb shop, which is located in a 125-year-old stone building on a quiet street just a couple of blocks off the town square. The limestone walls, wood-plank floor, and beamed ceiling are a picture-perfect setting for antique hutches and wooden shelves stocked with herbal vinegars, oils, teas, soaps, fragrances, and (naturally) books. A wooden rack displays glass jars of dried culinary and medicinal herbs, along with bottles of extracts and tinctures and aromatherapy products. Look around, and you’ll see that the walls are hung with seasonal wreaths and swags and there are buckets of fragrant potpourri in the corners, as well as stalks of dried sunflowers, bound with cheerful yellow ribbon, and baskets full of artemisia, larkspur, yarrow, and tansy. On most ordinary days, I’ll be in the shop, in the tea room, or working in the herb gardens. Or maybe leading a workshop or (if it’s Saturday) selling herbs in the Farmers Market across the street.
But not all days are ordinary days. That day last week, for example, when Ruby Wilcox’s goofy sister Ramona discovered a dead body in a neighbor’s kitchen. Sadly, the body turned out to be that of my webmaster and computer guru, Larry Kirk. The death was called in as a suicide, but my friend Sheila Dawson, Pecan Springs’ chief of police, thought otherwise—and thought, as well, that Larry’s death might be related to a break-in at his computer shop, for which local VIP George Timms was about to be arrested. I didn’t expect to have a role in the police investigation, but one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was playing Watson to Sheila’s Sherlock. Well, a little more than Watson, maybe, since things got very complicated, very fast, and I had a few unsettling discoveries of my own to make. But I don’t want to serve up any spoilers. You can read the whole thing (with the usual recipes and herb lore) in CAT’S CLAW, Susan Wittig Albert’s latest Pecan Springs mystery.
And yes, it’s true. Not all days are ordinary, not by a long shot.
** Thanks to the Susan, I have one (1) copy of CAT’S CLAW to give away. Contest open to residents of the US only. Contest ends March 23. Leave a valid-email address with your comment. Book will be shipped directly from the author. **
Meet the author
Susan Wittig Albert is the award-winning, best-selling author of over forty adult mysteries, including books in the China Bayles/Pecan Springs series; The Darling Dahlias (featuring a garden club in 1930s Alabama); the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; and the Robin Paige Victorian/Edwardian series, co-authored with her husband, Bill Albert. Other books include Work of Her Own (1992) and Writing From Life: Telling the Soul’s Story (1997), as well as two memoirs—Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place (2008) and An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days (2010)—and a backlist of sixty-plus young adult books, including books in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series (1984-1992). Visit Susan’s websites: www.susanalbert.com and www.mysterypartners.com. The three current series have their own websites: www.abouthyme.com; www.darlingdahlias.com; and www.cottagetales.com. Susan blogs at www.susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes.
Books are available at retail and online booksellers.
I really enjoy reading Susan’s Beatrix Potter themed mysteries and am now starting the China Bayles. I would love to win a copy of this book.
Thank you for the chance
griperang at embarqmail dot com
I have loved China since I first read her. Have read almost all of her adventures.
nlb1050(at)yahoo(dot)com
This is one of the consistantly good series I’ve read. I can pick up any of the China Bayles books and know that I will enjoy myself. That’s a very good quality in a series.
mary-fairchild@sbcglobal.net
I enjoy China! (And the character, too.)
I have loved the China Bayles series since a friend introduced me to them a few years ago. Thanks for a chance to win one of Susan’s books!
relax(at)nepenthesbathtime(dot)com
I love the China Bayles series… I would love to own a copy of this book even more. I’m currently on a very looooong wait list for a copy of the book from my local library. LOL
NoraAdrienne(at)gmail(dot)com
Fun series! I have just read the 1st and 2nd books of the series and am charmed to hear an update. Think I’ll still read them in order, but if I win (and I hope I do), I may have to get ahead of myself.
China is my heroine, and Susan is too! marybethbutler AT gmail DOT com.
One of my favorite series… Can’t wait to check in on China and Ruby!
afarage(at)earthlink(dot)net
Thanks for the tour of Thyme and Seasons. It’s always a pleasure to visit. Susan Wittig Albert has gifted me with many hours of wonderful reading.
I have been reading Susan’s books for ages now – I have each one of China’s adventures – most in hard cover, but a few in paperback. I would love to win this book, because I am currently unemployed and will have to wait for it to come out in paperback otherwise before I can buy it to read. Thanks for the opportunity to win the book…. and thank you Susan for writing these stories. China is one of my favorite sleuths.
The China Bayles series is on my bookshelf, it is a keeper! kyriajoyner@netscape.net
I read my first China mystery about 7 years ago. I had to read every one of them, and wait breathlessly for the next one.
Really enjoy reading about China’s adventures in Peacan Springs!
Look forward to each new installment with all the herb lore. Will share my book with friends that like a good mystery surrounded by nature.
I’ve recently started reading the China mysteries from beginning to end. I finish one, and I find myself looking forward to the next. You can’t say that about many series, especially ones that have run this long. Susan is an AMAZING writer. I wouldn’t mind spending a day with China…minus the dead body, I think…
I am so glad a new China book is coming out soon. I have read this series since I saw the very first review in Library Journal and suggested to the librarian that we should order a copy for our small local library. I also started the Darling Dahlias and enjoy them too but China is my favorite.
I started reading this series last year. I’m up to book 10.
I’ve been reading & enjoying China’s adventures for years! Susan is one of my go-to authors whenever someone is looking for a mystery read.
Seriously love this series from way back.
edithmax /at/ gmail /dotcom/
Looking forward to this entry in the series. All of these characters feel kind of like extended family – I learn a little more about them with each succeeding book.
I’m an avid reader of Susan’s books. Looking forward to this one, too! I follow her and China on Facebook and love her newsletter and posts.
China is a favorite and were she real her shop would be a favorite stop and perhaps we could share tea too. Her wisdom and wit never fail to
appeal to me and make my reading a joy. The characters who abide in Pecan Springs are so real I wish to travel there. Susan has created a place that rings true and people I would love to meet.
I just love all of Susan’s books but especially her China Bayles series! For someone who is aspiring to one day own her own herb store, this series is right up my alley. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win a copy of her new book!
I think I’ve read everything Susan (and her husband) have written. I’m sure this book will be as enjoyable as all the others. Even with the prospect of death in every tome, it’s still a welcome reprieve from the “normal” world.
I love the China Bayles series. I have them all. charlenemmurray@gmail.com
I am going to look for this series – the book sounds great. I love the sound of Pecan Springs.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Kayswederski at yahoo dot com
I love the “China” books. Have nearly all of them. When I get a new one, (or know I am going to) I re read the entire series first, then the newest. Love all the bits of lore and Love this Author. She has taught me so much about herbs, sense of place and dealing with the changes we are seeing. Thanks!
China’s success with her herb shop and extended enterprises has been inspiring to me as I am trying to get started with my own sewing and alteration business. I love the books, because I always seem to learn something new about how to use the herbs.
Love this series! I’ve been reading and collecting since the beginning.
sjmoran1@verizon.net
I have never met a Susan Wittig Albert book I did not LOVE!!! I am always amazed at the diversity of the characters and the settings. How Susan writes in so many voices so eloquently is nothing short of amazing to me!!!! I want to visit China’s home and shop, I want to meet everyone in all the books!!!
Have read and own all of your works and am anxiously awaiting more books with stories and adventures for me to enjoy.
Have read and own all of Susan’s works. Am anxiously awaiting new books with more stories and adventures for me to enjoy.
Since I live in the Texas Hill Country, the China Bayles books are a particular favorite of mine. But regardless of that, the books are rich with character, plot and setting. I’ve never been disappointed with one of Susan’s books and always look forward to the next one. Thanks for the great post!
jrobinson12 (at) austin (dot) rr (dot) com
This is a lovely series and I enjoy reading each and every book!
I haven’t read of her books but I am excited about this series. I took the LSAT and got admitted to law school but after thinking about it, I decided not to get my degree. I am glad about that decision. I think that China Bayles’s shop sounds like much more fun and she gets to solve murder cases too!
I think the shop sounds like a lot of work–maybe a career in law would have been easier, but not nearly as good a setting for a good cozy mystery.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
I’ve been a fan of the China Bayles series since Day One. They make me smile, I learn new things, and I feel like I’m along for a ride with good friends when I read them. Thank you for sharing with me and everyone else who appreciates the way you have with words and characters!
pauley dot beth at gmail dot com
My husband of 42 years and I have been reading all of the China books together. We can talk about and share each story. Thanks for the great writing that makes us feel like the characters are real and our friends!
Another adventure with China and Ruby and their family and friends! with a bit of herbal lore thrown in here and there!! I cannot wait!!!
I must admit, i have never read this author’s books. However, after reading this post, i must have been hiding in a cave. This book sounds like an adventure read i would love to start reading.
elisanabby at gmail dot com
I love this series and this post reminds me that I need to catch up on the books I’ve missed. The latest sounds like a wonderful adventure,
kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com
Never read her books before. Love it when I find a new author. Thanks
xzjh04(at)gmail(dot)com
Can’t wait to catch up on the newest book in the series. It’s been a favorite since it was first published.
I have read all previous book in this series and am looking forward to reading this one. spurgin@cableone.net
my WishList is growing too fast!!!
thank you for this giveaway!!!
cyn209 at juno dot com
I retired from my herb shop several years ago and now i teach classes and donate plants and recomend your books ! My shop was never so exciting as China’s and the series has been my escape many times over. THANK YOU!!!!
I would enjoy reading this.
I can’t wait for the latest installment in the China Bayles series; I’ve read them all and always feel like China and Ruby are my friends, rather than fictional characters. Reaching the end of their escapades makes me slow down the reading pace in order to savor my reading treat! Thank you, SWA, for creating the world of Pecan Springs, with all its intrigues and mysteries, well-rounded characters, and, last but certainly not least, herbs and herbal tidbits woven throughout!
gramnattles111109 here. my post is above, and my email address is: nbendgen@gmail.com
I have loved Susan’s book since the beginning of the China Bayles series, and I’ve read all her other books too, even those under different names. Now I’ve hooked my mom too! And I got hooked on herbs and began my herb garden many moons ago, because of those books! What a lovely pasttime Susan introduced me to!
I’ve read all the China Bayles books. Looking forward to this new one.
Love China Bayles! Have all the books so far!
rayptc@gmail.com
Sounds like another great story from Susan!
I plan, naturally, to purchase Cat’s Claw. However a signed copy would be an excellent addition to my collection. Keep on writing, Susan!!!!!
I have read all the China books, as well as the Beatrix Potter series and the Robin Paige series- sorry they ended. Enjoyed hearing you speak at the Williamsburg Herb Society where I purchased the Book of Days. I’ d love to add an autographed copy of the newest China book to my collection. PS- I also like the Dahlias as I grew up in the south.
I eagerly await each new China Bayles book. I learn something about herb lore from every one, and Yes, I reread the books! As many do, I live vicariously through her! I could wish to have my own herb shop, large garden, and big Victorian house. In reality, I have a tiny herb garden outside a small townhouse. Yet I take pride in my tiny plot of ground, look forward to gardening.
…if China needs a sub at the shop, have her call me; lots of retail experience, & I can make change (in U.S. dollars)…
I truly love this series. My 11 yr old has started the first book and tells me he is enjoying it greatly.
I’m a born-again-reader thanks to Susan and the China Bayles books. I had the pleasure of being in Texas a few weeks ago and made sure we traveled through the Texas Hill Country. Absolutely gorgeous! As a student of herbology and maker of herbal tinctures, teas, jellies and skin care treats, I find myself dreaming of a life like China’s – only without all the dead bodies. Thank you for great stories, characters, information and recipes!
A new series for me, sounds really good
jplungas at gmail dot com
I just started reading the China Bayle’s series in the fall. Really enjoying the story lines. This will be a new adventure addition to add to the list. Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
scouts579(at)aol(dot)com
A mystery book about cats? Me and Orange Julious are all over this one, I can hardly wait!
Hi,
I retired recently and my mother gave me a China Bayles mystery to read when I asked her if she had any good mysteries to read. Since then I have read 7 of them as well as some of the other ones China mentions in her book like Kinsey Millhone and V.I War. Am really enjoying them! My whole family including my mother lives in Texas. I am thinking of moving back (I lived there for 10 years from age 6-16. My son just moved to Austin a couple years ago. Maybe somewhere between Austin and San Antonio would be a good place!
Looking forward to the next read!
Judy McPherson from Michigan
Sounds like a great book. Would be honor to read her book.
xzjh04@gmail.com