Setting is vital to my novels because I make it so, but something in each environment I choose, pushes my creativity to levels that surprise me. The point is, I have to ‘live’ in the setting described in my novel to make the story work.

 

Here’s a list of the places I’ll visit/live in 2026, prompting several new stories.

1. Although I probably won’t return to Pinnacles National Park in 2026, that lovely park will be on my mind because it’s the setting for my newly released novel, TO KILL A CONDOR.This is the second in the Sable Chisholm mysteries following FIRE IS NICE (Sequoia National Park). In that story, I introduced you to my fearless ranger, whose amygdala (fear center of the brain) was destroyed by a poisoning she suffered on duty. She’s been assigned to Pinnacles National Park because condors, bees, and people are dying and no one knows why. If you can’t visit the park in 2026, sit down with my novel to get a feel for this splendid national treasure.

2. Of course we visit Hawaii in 2026. We love Maui and Kuai, and have visited those islands dozens of times, but this year we’re off to the Big Island. We’ll spend two weeks at a villa in Waikoloa, but we’ll explore the whole island as well. I have yet to write a novel set in Hawaii; I might gather enough details and a delicious mystery to do so! My wish: when I play golf in Waikoloa, I shoot straight instead of ricocheting my golf ball off the lava mounds

3. I’m a quarter of the way writing my fourteenth novel, IDYLL LOST, set in St. John, Virgin Island. A ten-day visit to that gorgeous place is on my docket for spring of 2026. Did you know that St. John is 75% National Park? Oh, yes! Perfect location for my intrepid Law Enforcement Ranger, Sable Chisholm. I can’t wait to spend time with the St. John rangers and see for myself how the free-ranging donkeys are tolerated by the locals. (Wheezer, Sable’s miniature burro, will have something to say about that issue, mark my words!) A hot topic in this novel: illegal drugs transferred by boat from Columbia through the Caribbean Islands to the United States. (Just so you know…I was writing this novel long before the present administration began its drug-boat bombing campaign!) I’m happy to have my brother and his son join my husband and me on St. John. We’ll hire a van and a boat to orient ourselves to the island…so my novel brims with authenticity.

4. March 10 at SLO Nightwriters, Mark Parsons (a wonderful YA author) and I will spend an hour talking with authors on a topic we have yet to choose. More detail to come. (Here’s a picture of the two of us presenting in 2025)

5. May 3, I present TO KILL A CONDOR with readings from the novel, at Coalesce Books in Morro Bay. Other authors, including Mara Purl, Lida Sideris, Anne Allen, will be on deck as well. We always have a good time reading parts for each other!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

​

 

1. 13-day cruise from Miami, stopping in the Caribbean, Columbia, Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. We’re on a small ship and traveling with friends. We’ll bring back stories to tell…and some that I can’t wait to write about!

 

No moss growing under these feet. By the end of the year, I will have settings galore to draw upon.  Bon voyage!