InkSpot News - May 1, 2010

Beth Groundwater is very, very pleased to announce that she just signed three new book contracts with Midnight Ink which will result in moving her Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series from Five Star Publishing over to Midnight Ink. The first two contracts are for the trade paperback and electronic rights for the first two books in the series, already published in hardcover: A Real Basket Case in Fall, 2011 and To Hell in a Handbasket in Fall, 2012. The third contract is for a new third book in the series, to be published in Fall, 2013. Both Beth and MI hope the whole schedule can be moved up if Beth can finish the third book in a timely manner. The ultimate plan is for Beth to write one Rocky Mountain adventure mystery per year for MI and a gift basket designer book every other year for MI, putting her on a book every eight months schedule.

Jess Lourey's Murder-by-Month mysteries are getting a makeover! The covers of the first three books in the series are being redesigned to fit with the streamlined look of August Moon and September Fair. June Bug is being redesigned first--previous cover on left, new cover on right. Woot woot!

I enjoyed the color and detail of the originals, but the new covers are clean and fun, and I'm thrilled with how they've turned out. Is there some way to promote the old ones as collector's items? ;)