upcoming releases
“Hot Toy” a novella in Santa Baby, a Christmas Romance Anthology
Trudy Maxwell goes looking for a Major MacGuffin, the Hot Toy of 2006 on Christmas Eve and meets two guys with guns. Ho ho ho.
Scheduled for release: October 31st 2006, from St. Martin's Press
Anyone But You (paperback reissue)
Scheduled for release: November 28th 2006, from Harlequin
Manhunting (hardcover reissue)
Scheduled for release: February 2007, from Harlequin
works in progress
Agnes and the Hitman
with Bob Mayer
Agnes Crandall, a food columnist better known as Cranky Agnes, is working on her second bestselling cookbook (More Mob Food) and getting ready for the big society wedding that’s going to be held in her back yard when a guy with a gun breaks in and tries to kidnap her dog. Agnes accidentally kills him. Shortly after that, a big grim guy named Shane (just Shane, like Madonna) shows up to protect her. That’s good because things just keep getting worse until it’s pretty much Agnes and Shane against the world, at least the part of it that’s armed and coming for Agnes.
Scheduled for release: Spring 2007, from St. Martin's Press
The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes
with Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart
The three Fortune sisters of Salem’s Fork have a few problems, like the supernatural powers they haven’t quite mastered yet—Dee’s a shapeshifter, Lizzie transmutes things, and Mare’s psychokinetic—or their Aunt Rellie who’s been looking for them for thirteen years and is clearly up to no good. But one fine Friday morning they each meet a man—Mare gets two—and after that their lives are full of outraged owls, purple bunnies, exploding sugar shakers, libido spells, and beds that go bump in the night (on the ceiling).
Scheduled for release: Summer 2007, from St. Martin's Press
You Again
Jenny’s homage to Agatha Christie. Zelda gets trapped in a big house during Christmas week with the man who was the boy she loved when she was fifteen, as she’s trying to solve the biggest mystery of her life. Food, sex, death, dogs, Mexian folk art, snark, and Christmas carols.
Charlotte (working title)
Charlotte is a thirty-something home ec teacher who has decided it's time she got married and had children. When her grandfather dies and she inherits a boarding house in the city with a tailoring shop in the basement, she moves in, determined to change her life. Then potential husbands and dead bodies start turning up in equal numbers because Grandpa wasn't what he seemed to be. Fortunately, neither is Charlotte.
Slow Men (working title)
Suze and Riley are holding down the fort at the detective agency, solving cases like The Big Nap and ChinaTown (fraud in a housewares store) while trying to solve the mystery of their relationship (what relationship, it’s not working out).
Just Wanted You To Know and Other Stories
This is a collection of short stories I wrote for my Master of Fine Arts in fiction at OSU. The finished collection will be about three women (Quinn, Darla, and Stephanie) and their mothers, their sisters, and their daughters. Some of the titles are "Just Wanted You To Know," "The Day My Sister Shot the Mailman and Got Away With It, Of Course," "The Damn Goat Story," and "I Am At My Sister's Wedding." The characters in these stories became the basis for Crazy for You.
How To Write Fiction for Women and Others
Jenny's Guide to Writing. I have the notes for this. Copious notes. I previously had some PDFs up on the site, but decided that wasn't such a good idea if I wanted to sell those as chapters in a book later on.
The Feminization of Enchantment: Women's Popular Fiction in Late 20th Century America
This is my dissertation for my Ph.D. at Ohio State, an analysis of how women's popular fiction (romance in particular) has addressed the issues of women's identity, community, love, and sexuality while rewriting toxic myths, legends and fairy tales. Don't hold your breath on this one.