Worries about William and Annie

I don't know if Willie and Annie are going to get out of this fix. Folks are looking for them, and not all those folks are bent on buying them hot fudge sundaes. Some would like to whisk them away, murder them and hide their bodies so nobody else will ever find them. I should know by the end of the day if they're gonna live or die.

To say things are tense around this house is an understatement this morning, but 100 pages from now, I'm hoping for a positive outcome. William and Annie are characters in a murder mystery based in the Sandpoint area, set for a January 8, 2008 release by St. Martin's Press. I started reading my advance copy the night before last, and I should finish sometime this morning.

I'm kinda mad at author C.J. Box cuz I was hoping to get more work done this week. Well, actually, I've been getting the work done. In fact, his book has inspired me to work more efficiently so I can free up more time to read. My eyes are sore because I do know that my Co-Op Country Store glasses are good, but they're probably not the best specs to use for intensive reading required by a C.J. Box thriller.

And, now, as I type, I'm wearing a pair with one handle broken off. I broke the pair I've been wearing for the past couple of months. Had been wearing them around my neck too many hours a day because of that damn book. Sometimes when you're wearing those glasses too much, they get squashed when you're carrying heavy things like groceries or bales of hay.

With the regulars falling off all the time cuz they had to be draped over just one ear, I went to the medicine cabinet to get that third set from the last purchase of 3 for $12. Lo and behold, that pair was already broken, and I'd never worn them. Ya get what ya pay for, and I've known that all along with my Wal Mart, Costco and Co-Op specials. I think I must purchase at least six pair per year.

Speaking of getting what they pay for, readers are gonna get $24.95 worth of nail-biting suspense when the hardbound copy of Blue Heaven starts showing up in bookstores this next January. And, they're going to get a taste of Sandpoint---er---Kootenai Bay as they read about events unfolding around William and Annie. Heck, they're even gonna get a dead bear in the back of a pick-up truck (rig) and bear blood on the pavement outside the Panhandle Cafe.

I'm not gonna tell ya anymore cuz I've written more about Blue Heaven for the Winter Edition of Sandpoint Magazine, and Billie Jean might get kinda mad at me if I tell too much.

I will tell you, however, to check out C.J. Box's other novels at his website: (www.cjbox.net). He's a really nice guy and a Wyoming cowboy who's done all right for himself with six or seven books so far. It's looking like he may do pretty well with Blue Heaven.

As far as William and Annie, though, I've gotta stop this talking, glue my glasses to my right ear and go see what happens to them. After all, I've got a big stake in their future, and it doesn't come from a dead bear in a pickup truck.