For anyone who has wondered what makes a debut mystery author tick, here are two chances to find out:

B.J. Bourg interviewed me for the excellent Mouth Full of Bullets ezine.

And if you're not sick of reading about me after that, mystery author Lonnie Cruse interviewed me on the Poe's Deadly Daughters blog. Just keep paging down until you see my interview. I'm on call to respond to comments, so let me know what you think!

I'm expecting two more reviews in the upcoming issues of Spinetingler and Crime Spree ezines. A reporter for Spinetingler interviewed me, so that interview should appear in the issue, too. Also, Mystery Scene magazine accepted my "New Books" essay, so I'm assuming they'll print a review of A Real Basket Case also.

I've gotten a few requests for signed bookplates as a result of my preorder promotion. I'd like to have a lot more requests, though, so I'm extending the promotion through the end of March. You can preorder A Real Basket Case from many book sale websites. Two that are discounting the book are the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites.

Here are the details again on the preorder promotion:
If you live in the United States, preorder my book from any source, and would like a personalized, signed bookplate from me to stick inside it, then contact me at website07@bethgroundwater.com. Tell me when and how you ordered the book, give me your mailing address, and tell me how you want me to sign the bookplate, e.g. just my name, personalized to you or a gift recipient, or whatever. I will mail you that signed bookplate! I'm sorry I can't extend this promotion to my subscribers from other countries, but I have to save money somewhere.

After the end of March, if you want signed bookplates, you'll have to purchase five or more copies for your Book Club (click here for details). Also, I'm scheduling Book Club appearances, either in person in Colorado or via telephone. Check out the details on my Book Clubs page and contact me if you'd like me to talk to your Book Club.

Alternatively, please come see me at one of my appearances in Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Idaho, and Kansas. Check out the Appearances page at my website for a listing through early June.

For those of you who obtain an early copy of A Real Basket Case and enjoy it, I'm asking for a big favor: Please write a short review of the book and post it to the Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites. There are many people who buy books based solely on reviews by readers posted at these websites, so your words about my book will be very helpful. Alternatively, you can post your review to an email list such as DorothyL (join at www.dorothyl.com), CozyMysteryCorner (yahoogroups), or MurderandMayhem_Bookclub (yahoogroups) and/or to reader/fan websites such as Readersclub.org and Allreaders.com. You can also email the review to your mystery reading friends.

For more hints on "guerilla marketing" or How to Help the Author You Love, read my article with that title on the Articles page of my website.

The February winners of my email newsletter subscription contest were:

• Kevin from Plano, Texas, who chose the mystery lovers gift basket
• Kathryn H. from Redmond, Washington, who chose the relax-a-bath gift basket

• Valerie Holst from Schenectady, New York, who chose the relax-a-bath gift basket

I'm very pleased that people are still signing up for my email newsletter, so I should be awarding another gift basket in April. Encourage your mystery-reading friends to join my newsletter list to increase your odds of winning your own gift basket.

Have you stopped by my blog at bethgroundwater.blogspot.com? Here's a sampling of topics I've reported on lately:

• Promotion: Five-Seven Steps to Purchase
• Congratulations to two Agatha Award Nominees
• Short Story Anthology available!

For those of you who enjoy mystery short stories, Red Coyote Press published an anthology on February 15th titled Map of Murder. It is a collection of mystery short stories occurring in different locales. My story, titled "Murder Cache," is about a man and his son hiking to a geocache with a murder theme in Colorado Springs that contains more than what they expected. You can order the anthology from Red Coyote Press or Amazon.

If you have any questions or topics you want me to address on my blog and/or in my newsletter, please feel free to email me anytime at website07@bethgroundwater.com.