The Detective at the End of the Road

A collection of 3 short stories by Bill Beatty is now available. 

An Award Winner!

The Independent Press Association awarded my book, by two of my pen names, as Best Romantic Suspense of the year!  

Here Be Aliens

One of my short stories, "Chasing Chipmunks," appears in the anthology Here Be Aliens, edited by A.L. Butcher and available currently through BundleRabbit.  

https://bundlerabbit.com/b/here-be-aliens

Chasing Chipmunks

Short Story by Rebecca S. W. Bates

Can a dog save the world from aliens? Will anybody notice?

Magic Happens

As posted on Mysteristas, following up after the cancellation of Left Coast Crime, due to the coronavirus… 

I was planning to report on the fabulous time I would have had at Left Coast Crime.  And in a way, this still is about that.  I want to tell you a little tale about magic.  Because for me, the fun of writing is all about magic.  

Hubby and I went a day early to San Diego, having originally planned a mini vacation.  We walked around Old Town that day before LCC, almost carefree of the weight of the world.  Since I’ve been on a mission for several years to find the right flower pot to replace a favorite of mine that had broken some time ago, we headed into one of the shops.  You know that moment when you see something that you can’t possibly walk away from?  Here’s what came home with me:  

I was looking for a flower pot, not a horse.  I certainly wasn’t planning on buying him, and I have no idea why I did--except now I think that maybe it was magic.  

Because as I’ve looked at him, I’ve been reminded of the horse who made an unexpected appearance in my Work-In-Progress.  It’s a fantasy with a mystery in it.  I’m entering the editing phase of that WIP, and I knew I had to do something about the unexpected horse, either cut that scene or make something of it that would fit with the rest of the book.  I know that to make the scene work, the protagonist has to make a connection to the horse, maybe through a treat.  

So I consulted a friend who is a horse expert, and she said that horses love peppermint.  

Seriously???  

My protagonist’s nickname just happens to be “Peppermint.”  And now I know what I have to do with that scene with the horse.  

Writing is magic.    

Left Coast Crime

Left Coast Crime takes place in San Diego this year!  I am scheduled on a panel on Saturday March 14 at 1:30, discussing “Heroes with a Twist:  Unusual Crime Fighters” along with the awesome John Edward Mullen, Stephen W. Buehler, Tammy Kaehler, and Mike Orenduff.  

A Bestseller!

I’m so very pleased to have a story in this anthology: 

Sunday’s Denver Post reports that Terror at 5280’ is number 2 on the local best seller’s list for paperback fiction.  Woo hoo!

Freshly Starting

Champagne makes a great toast, but what I love the most about the New Year is the chance for a fresh start.  It’s more than just resolutions (I’ve already broken mine--have you?)  For me, the excitement is in the new beginning.  It’s a second chance, a time to ask myself “what am I going to focus on this year?”  

That’s pretty good, but THIS New Year is extra exciting because:  

1. There’s a new decimal in our year, and
2. It’s a leap year, so we get a Bonus Day to do all the things we love to do!!!

There’s something very exciting about a list of fresh starts.  Even though the list contains the same concepts year after year, each New Year I have a chance to start afresh all over again:  

• road map--my writing goals for the year help me compose a new road map toward those goals.  Last year I got pretty close, but this year I get to start all over again, planning a new course.  Maybe this one will be the charm!  
• calendar--even though I always rely on my very familiar and comfortable format for tracking writing, I love visiting the stores and choosing which calendar will match my fresh start of the year.  This year I want to study lights and darks (in both writing and art), so I picked a Thomas Kincade calendar.  
• new shiny--the next, new writing project presents a new skill set to learn, and the excitement of the challenge lures me to my desk in spite of January’s cold, dark morning.  It’s the same in art, as I’m branching out to a brand new type of subject that is totally opposite from anything I’ve ever painted before.  
• new reading plan--cleaning out the storage locker, I’m finding boxes of books I forgot I owned.  I’m going to focus on reading some oldie but goodies in the year ahead.  It’s so easy to get distracted, caught up in new stories!