I’M RUNNING A GIVEAWAY OF ANITA’S NEW BOOK! SEE BELOW.

I’m happy to feature author Anita Klumpers on my blog again. Her Christmas mystery novella, The Lady with the Alligator Case, is hot off the press. (Well, sort of. It’s actually an ebook–but I have a LIMITED EDITION PAPERBACK to use for this giveaway!)

Besides featuring Anita’s new release, I want to share her previous writing endeavors. I’m grateful to her for endorsement my novel, A Hundred Magical Reasons, which will be published by Scrivenings Press in January 2025.

Teaser for A Hundred Magical Reasons . . .

Most fairy tales have happy endings, but is it too late for this one? After all, Mrs. Gordon is 88.

This split-time fiction set in 1980 and the early 1900s encompasses . . . 

• A child’s unlikely friendship with The Wizard of Oz author, L Frank Baum, & his influence across 4 generations
• A young woman following a risky dream
• An old woman haunted by regret as she reveals her past

Anita’s full endorsement: 

“L. Frank Baum comes to life in the pages of A Hundred Magical Reasons. So does Janie, his young protege during his years at Macatawa Resort. Even Carrie, coming of age in the turbulent 1970s, falls under his spell. So who am I to resist the lure of the Wizard of Words? The characters, the drama, and beautiful Lake Macatawa are all worth another visit.”

~ Anita Klumpers, author of The Lady with the Alligator Case, A Murder of Crows, and Winter Watch

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The book cover image above is temporary. I’ll share the actual cover soon. Learn more about A Hundred Magical Reasons and watch the trailer on my website.

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Now I want to put the spotlight back on Anita.

Today I’m running a GIVEAWAY!

Comment below on any of Anita’s books for a chance to win a paperback of her new release!

Blurb

Jemima’ s plans for Christmas involve a road trip to Wisconsin and resuscitation of a defunct romance. The ancient alligator suitcase she’ s delivering for her grandmother requires only a minor detour.

But then Jemima hits a patch of black ice on an unfamiliar Wisconsin road and collides with a telephone pole.

She wakes up in the hospital, to discover her overnight stay includes handcuffs and suspicion of smuggling illegal contraband . . . all because of the pesky antique alligator case. But that isn’t the end of Jemima’s Christmas detour.

When the arresting officer’ s police station almost burns down, and then her elderly friend is attacked, and then thieves break in, the wretched suitcase is at the root of all chaos.

Her reputation, her winter coat and her romantic hopes are in tatters. Now even her life is threatened.

It’s all the alligator case’ s fault . . . Or is it?

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My Thoughts

My Thoughts on The Lady with the Alligator Case

I always know what I’m getting when I dive into one of Anita’s books. They are full of wit and sass. If you need a pick-me-up during this holiday season, try The Lady with the Alligator Purse, or any of Anita’s romantic suspense novels. This particular one is a Christmas novella. 

If the season has you tied in knots, get this book and jump right in for a dose of humor. As they say, laughter is good medicine.

Here’s just  one example:

“I can’t put it off any longer. My name’s Elihu Farragut Orwell.
And you are, in actuality, Jemima Prudence Carroll.” He glanced at me.
Empathy winked from those dark brown eyes. “Did our parents hate us?”

The entire tale takes place in under 48 hours, or thereabouts, in a small Wisconsin town called Cadwallader. The first chapter grabbed me from the get-go. Poor Jemma had been minding her own business, doing a favor for her beloved grandmother, when she finds herself not only in the hospital but restrained and accused of a crime.

Police Chief Elihu Orwell is on the case, trying to piece together all the confusing parts that include Judith (Jemma’s grandmother), Judith’s friend Otto, and a threatening caller (or two) who is demanding the immediate return of the alligator case. 

Each character is a unique combination of idiosyncrasies. The dialog simmers, sparks, and flares as everyone muddles through the confusion of a zigzagging plot.

Join me for some Q & A with author Anita Klumpers.

Questions about The Lady with the Alligator Case:

What was your inspiration for writing The Lady with the Alligator Case? 

My publisher! I’ve had some health challenges the past few years and the brain fog obscured my creative vision. She presented a scenario: a woman wakes to find herself handcuffed to a hospital bed and she doesn’t know why. So I ran with it!

How did you create your heroine, Jemma? How would you compare her to some of your other heroines? 

Jemma developed as she reacted to the circumstances. She became an imaginative, ‘worst-case-scenario’ dramatic type. Who, when faced with real-life worst-case scenarios, found a bit of grit.

Most of my heroines are very average women, attractive but not gorgeous, not particularly gifted. That’s Jemma. Most of my women, Jemma included, have a decent sense of humor, and a decent sense of . . . decency.

I know you usually stick with the female perspective, but did you ever consider including Elihu’s point of view? Why or why not?

Hmmm. Good question! Maybe I’m not quite ready to express a man’s perspective yet. It took me several books to be comfortable writing in first person. I do have an old unfinished work that fiddles around with a teen boy’s perspective. Maybe I should dust that off.

Just for fun—what would Jemma have to say about you? What would Judith, her grandmother, have to say about you?

I hoped I’d get this question! Jemma and I share overactive imaginations and those disturbing ‘what if’ thoughts. We could commiserate and maybe pull each other back from the high ledge of anxiety. And we’d discuss the mysterious ways of men. 

If I were Judith’s granddaughter, she would try to transform me into someone a bit more  ladylike. In a loving way. If I were no relation, she would try not to judge me for my inelegant manners and style of dress but I think she’d appreciate me as a person deeply interested in mankind (I think I describe one of her characteristics in the book as “mankind is my business”). And she’d  embrace me as a sister in Christ.

Without giving any spoilers, what did you have to research to make this story authentic?

Research is my favorite! There wasn’t a whole lot I could pack into a shorter novella, but I researched African colonial history, vintage luggage, and gun safety.

Comment below on any of Anita’s books for a chance to win a paperback of her new release!

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Anita’s Other Books

• Winter Watch –set in a small town in Wisconsin

What’s worse than being stranded in a small town in northern Wisconsin? Being stranded during the worst winter in recent memory. Claudia Alexander’s problems are piling up faster than the snow on Lake Superior’s shore. Her noble mission to find the owner of an old pocket watch is complicated by incessant snowstorms, a mysterious vandal and the appearance of an old flame. The local dogcatcher, a blind street preacher and an arthritic bloodhound come to Claudia’s aid. A promising romance warms up even as the temperatures drop. But something evil is at work in Barley. As another blizzard approaches, so does a killer. Claudia must choose between her mission and saving the lives of the people she has come to love. Even if it means losing her own.

• Hounded –a novella in the Love Is anthology

Elise Amberson’s husbands always die before she can get the marriage momentum going. At least this last one left her with lots of money. Now she can hang out with her dogs, avoid men, and try to keep off God’s radar.

But her dogs are behaving oddly, a pesky pastor can’t keep his hands off her soul, and God is backing her into a corner.

It’s all more than a rich, beautiful young woman should have to bear. But when someone begins targeting Elise, she’ll have to figure out why before she becomes the late Widow Amberson.

• Christmas Passed –a Christmas novella

Dinah loves Christmas. She loves history, the old Wagner House, and the elderly women working to preserve its heritage. She loves almost everything except Mick Wagner, her childhood nemesis.

But if they want to save the Wagner House and solve a mystery that’s been hiding in the attic for almost eighty years, they’ll have to join forces. And they have to do it quickly, before one of them dies trying.

• Buttonholed —Featured on my Journey to Imagination blog in 2020. This is a jump into contemporary romance—the first of Anita’s books without a murder! It’s also set in the south as Book 6 of an 8-part multi-author series called Ponder This.

Manderley Jessup is having enough trouble squeezing into last summer’s dresses, and now her mother expects her to save the family honor? A film crew has invaded her Tennessee hometown to research a duel, and the duelists’ descendants, who are still feuding after 200 years. Manderley’s one of those descendants. Heartily sick of the rivalry, she decides to do something about it. She approaches Abram Coventry, descended from the opposing duelist, with a marvelous plan. Abram will design buttons as a gift for Manderley’s mother.

But a button catastrophe threatens to make the original duel look like a kindergarten squabble. What can Manderley do with those dreadful buttons? Worse, what can she do about the hopeless crush she’s developed on Abram?

• A Murder of Crows— This novel takes us back to the realm of romantic suspense—and back to Wisconsin.

On a video call, Paulina Deacon watches her friend follow a frenzied murder of crows through the woods. Moments later, Pauli is horrified when John stumbles upon three men and is murdered. In fear for her own life, she drives until she finds herself in the small town of Briar, Wisconsin. She reinvents herself as Polly Madison and is quickly hired to work doing odd jobs at a rehabilitation clinic.

Hal Karlsen has poured his life in to the Briar clinic helping people with addictions. When Polly arrives with her secrets, he is equal parts irritated and intrigued.

Terror follows Pauli to this small town and grows stronger each day as she finds her place in the tiny, welcoming community. Slowly, she begins to open up to Hal. As they work together to uncover exactly who is after her and why, their friendship deepens.

He pledges to keep her safe. She swears to protect the clinic. But can either live up to those promises while the danger increases daily? And will those murderous crows drive her mad before they figure it all out?

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Comment below on any of Anita’s books for a chance to win a paperback of her new release!

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Anita Klumpers bio

Anita Klumpers lives in South Central Wisconsin with her husband and shrimpy dog Trudy. She dreams of the day she’ll be able to knit a pair of socks, grow fruits and vegetables instead of weeds and clover, run in a 5K and sew like a fiend. Since she has just reached Medicare age, she better get moving on the above ambitions. In the meantime she enjoys way too much coffee, a passel of grandchildren, a never-shrinking stack of books to be read, great friends, and the exhilarating knowledge that every day she is growing in grace and nurture of her Lord Jesus Christ. Learn more on her website here.

NOTE: Anita’s blog is a video blog! Check out her youtube videos here.

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Meanwhile, have you read The Lady with the Alligator Case or any books by Anita Klumpers? Do you like to read Christmas fiction? Answer in the comments below.

Comment below on any of Anita’s books for a chance to win a paperback of her new release!

Ever reading,

Laura

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