Last week, all of a sudden, folks start texting, emailing, messaging me on social media, to tell me that I'm mentioned, along with my book DIE, MY LOVE, on the latest Aurora Teagarden episode on Hallmark: A Lesson in Murder. I'd heard this was, perhaps, in the works, but didn't know that it had actually happened. So, I subscribed, and about an hour into the episode, Aurora's professor gave her class an assignment: to read and diagnose the investigation in a book written by "one of the two queens of true crime."
Well, I, of course, knew that the first "queen" would be Ann Rule. (We all know that, right?) But number two? It was me! Yup, me! I was kind of stunned.
Wow. A queen of true crime, right up there with Ann Rule. This is cool, don't you think? I had a blast watching. The image above is a shot of the program I took on my cell phone of the actress who plays Aurora reading DIE, MY LOVE. In the show's plot, she uses my book to solve a murder.
For those who haven't watched it, the series is really fun. It's based on the Aurora Teagarden series written by the wonderful Charlaine Harris.
In truth, my books have been used fairly often on college campuses. I've had students contact me after EVIL BESIDE HER or DELIVER US is assigned in a segment on serial predators. A WARRANT TO KILL is often assigned to demonstrate abuse of power in criminology classes. And I've been on TV a bunch, participating in crime programs, doing interviews about sensational cases. In 2023, I was featured in a Netflix limited series on the Texas Killing Fields. But this was the first time any of my books had been used in the plot of a fictional TV series, and that made it seem rather special. Then, of course, being compared to Ann Rule? That was so great. I could hardly believe it!
So I thought I'd drop a note just to say hello and let you know that if you're searching for something fun to watch tonight, maybe click onto the Hallmark Channel. You might hear a familiar name.