Authors @ the Teague

Thursday, September 23rd, 2:00 PM
Velma Teague Branch Library

Local mystery author Betty Webb will discuss and sign her second Gunn Zoo mystery, The Koala of Death, during this Authors @ the Teague event.

In this sequel to the prizewinning The Anteater of Death, houseboat-dwelling zookeeper Theodora “Teddy” Bentley is forced to take over a chaotic zoo TV show after she finds its current host, “Koala Kate,” floating in the harbor.  It looks like Teddy better find the killer before she’s next on the hit list!   "Teddy's second case showcases an engaging array of quirky characters, human and animal." (Kirkus Reviews)

As her website reveals, former journalist and literary critic Betty Webb has “interviewed U. S. presidents, Nobel prize-winners, astronauts who’ve walked on the moon, polygamy runaways, the homeless, and the hopeless,” not to mention working as “a folk singer . . . picked cotton, raised chickens, . . .  worked in a zoo, been a go-go dancer and horse breeder, taught Sunday School, founded a literary magazine, helped rebuild a long-abandoned 120-year-old farm house, and back-packed the Highlands of Scotland alone.”  Also known for her darker Lena Jones mysteries, she keeps up her research for the Gunn Zoo mysteries by volunteering at the Phoenix Zoo.

The program is free.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.  For more information, please call 623-930-3439.

Saturday, September 25th, 2:00 PM
Velma Teague Branch Library

Join ten local mystery authors from the Arizona-based Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime when they discuss and sign their themed anthology, How NOT to Survive a Vacation, at the Velma Teague Branch Library.  

The usual hazards of traveling are bad enough, but what happens when lost luggage and sunburn escalate to murder?  Packed full of original short stories by 18 authors, this locally written, designed, and published collection will give Arizona mystery buffs a chance to take their own mini-vacation anytime they like—no trip insurance required—to locales ranging from Arizona to Alaska.

Authors scheduled to attend the panel discussion include Howard “Doc” Carron (“The Old Miner”); Barbara Goodson (“Hell to Pay”); Lori Hines (“Tragedy in the Pines”); Deborah J Ledford (“Loose End”); Diana Manley (“Checkmate”); R. K. Olson (“A Real Hula-Dunit”); Chantelle Aimee Osman (“Wish You Weren’t Here”); Nancy Redd (“The Haunted Hogan”); Judy Starbuck (“Cowgirls Don’t Cry”); and JoAnne Zeterberg (“”Death on the Intergalactic Seas”).

Arizona’s Desert Sleuths is one of almost 50 chapters of Sisters in Crime, a national organization dedicated to the advancement of women authors in the mystery field.  Desert Sleuths holds monthly meetings and an annual conference.  For more information about both the Desert Sleuths and this new anthology, please refer to the Desert Sleuths website.

Books will be available for purchase. The program is free. For more information, please call 623-930-3439.