I was just told by a friend I hadn’t written a single blog about my latest addition to the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, The Drop- Dead Temple of Doom. I didn’t realize that. You could have knocked me over with a puma. I threw in puma, because Drop-Dead takes place in the jungles of Guatemala where all the big cats live. This would include the mountain lion, panther, leopard, cheetah, and jaguar. My cat, Ellie, maintains she is never going there. Not her cup of catnip.

I guess I have been so busy getting the book ready for its debut on September 15th, which demands a lot of steps, I totally forgot to include a blog. So here’s the first one. I loved writing this book. But I didn’t know that in the beginning. I just knew I couldn’t finish one sentence without looking something up. That’s called Disruptus Writerous (Not really. I just made that up).

But whatever you call it, a writer doesn’t want it. A writer wants to develop a flow, which I couldn’t do as I never had a handle on what I was saying from the beginning of a sentence to the end of it. So there I was, in need of some serious research. It took me eight months of research. Eight months. Truth be told, that amount of research time for some other books would be nothing. But for my cozies, this was a lot. However, what I had done in choosing this story was saddle myself with subjects of which I knew NOTHING. Absolutely blooming nothing.

I didn’t know anything about the Guatemalan jungle, or any jungle for that matter. I didn’t know anything about the ancient Mayan culture, which I discovered is extraordinary. I didn’t know anything about archaeology or even how to spell the word at the start of it. Now I can spell it without thinking. That’s progress for ya. But the fourth subject I had to learn, I will keep mum about, because it is a surprise at the end of the story.

The reality? I love knowing what I know, even though eight months has barely scratched the surface on any of the subjects above. But I’ve become a B&BP (bigger and better person) for learning what I have learned. And because of that, The Drop-Dead Temple of Doom has become my favorite Alvarez story so far. On preorder now for only $2.99 until September 15th.