In early 2019, I got a call from Jenny Gillaspey Satter from Rogers, MN, asking if I would come to her book club, “Read Between the Wines,” to talk about my newly released book Murder at Pelican Lake. I had spoken to a couple of book clubs in the few months since it had been published, and I was excited to be invited to another. Most of the women were from the Twin Cities metro area, though three were originally from Pelican Rapids. We had a ball. They asked me good questions about my process, about my characters, about the lake. I asked them what they liked/didn’t like in the book, what they would like to see happen with Carley in the future. They told me Carley needed women friends. She needed a book club. It was extraordinary.
When I published my second book Cormorant in the Net in 2021, they invited me back. It was a special group of women – spunky, laughing, bright-eyed. I couldn’t wait. Again, we had a ball. They were thrilled that a book club had become such a lively part of Carley’s life. When I asked this time what they’d like to see happen in the next book, they were clear. They wanted the relationship between Mark and Carley to deepen.
So when my third book was published, they decided they wanted to do something different. They rented a large Airbnb on Pelican Lake for the weekend. Jenny had t-shirts made up for the group that read, “Lake Cruizin’ with Margie, #northlakesmurdermystery, #Smedleymedley. They even had a t-shirt for me. My husband Rich and I took them for a cocktail cruise and served them Smedley Medleys as we puttered around the lake. It was beyond memorable. I didn’t know writing could be this much fun. Or that writing would lead to so many wonderful relationships and encounters.
Thank you to this wonderful group of women: Jenny Satter, Sandy David, Jody Reynolds, Nancy Rooks, Monica Mammen, Shawnee Strand, Amy Jordan, Amy Demoret, Kristi Helling, Katie Holland, Cassie Hierlinger, Katie David, Tracy Hierlinger.