Greetings

Skinny-Dippers Unite Newsletter #4

Dear Good Friends and Gentle Readers:

What a wonderful time I had at the Amelia Island Book Festival
and in Memphis, at the Southern Literary Festival. I enjoyed
meeting new friends at both festivals, and chatting with Atlanta,
Georgia friends Terry and Richard Croker. Richard has a great new
book out, No Greater Courage: A Novel of the Battle of
Fredericksburg. This guy can really write, so check it out, see
www.rcroker.com.

Bill, my sweetheart and husband, and I flew into Memphis on
Friday the 13th, and, you know, not a darn thing bad happened.
Still, personally speaking, I don’t plan on making a habit of flying
on Friday the 13th. We got to play tourist a bit in Memphis, and I
have to say, that grand old Mississippi River at sunset was just
awesome.

And to all of you who’ve been in touch from Amelia and Memphis,
and other places, thank you. You are all so kind, and so very cool.

Coming up on the Claire adventure: My third legal mystery, BONE
VALLEY, goes on sale this Tuesday, October 24. Per a long
tradition for authors in the days before a book goes on sale, I’m
almost clinical with anxiety as I await that date. Also, on that same
date, my newly revised web site will be launched. It’s a beauty–see,
I can say that because I didn’t have anything to do with the design,
rather Chloe Weil, graphic artist, made a masthead out of her own
talent and a painting by my friend Ted Morris. I do hope you will
take a look at it.

Finally, here’s the BONE VALLEY book tour to date:

Oct 28 at 10:00 am: St. Petersburg Festival of Reading

Nov 2 at 7:00 pm: Inkwood Bookshop in Tampa
216 South Armenia Avenue, Tampa , FL 33609

Nov 4 at 9:30 am: Sarasota Reading Festival, Opera Library
(free drawing for a Bone Valley T-shirt, in the Opera Library at 9:30)

Nov 4 at 2:00 pm: Port Charlotte Books-A-Million
1825 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte , FL 33948

Nov 5 at 3:00 pm: Bradenton Books-A-Million
4225 14th Street West , Bradenton , FL 34205

Nov 10 at 7:00 pm: Tallahassee Borders Books & Music
1302 Apalachee Drive , Tallahassee , FL 32301

Nov 11 at 2:00 pm: The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach , FL
299 Atlantic Boulevard, Atlantic Beach , FL 32233

Nov 24 at 2:00 pm: Albany Waldenbooks
2601 Dawson Road , Albany , GA 31707

Dec 8 at 11:00 am: The Book Basket in Wetumpka , AL
108 Company Street , Wetumpka , AL 36092

Dec 9 at 1:00 pm: Capitol Book & News in Montgomery
1140 E. Fairview Avenue , Montgomery , AL 36106

Mystery fans: sign up for a mystery newsletter, SCENE of the
CRIME, from HarperCollins, they will not abuse your email, and
they will provide you with a great monthly newsletter on the new
mystery books. I’ve signed up myself. Go to
http://www.harpercollins.com/imprints/index.aspx?imprintid=5179
32 (or www.harpercollins.com and select mystery, and sign up at
the bottom right hand corner.) I’m told BONE VALLEY will be
featured in the November issue.

Here in Buck Creek, Georgia, autumn hovers but hasn’t
completely come down for a landing, and the sulphur butterflies
dance around in small flocks of yellow and the wild goldenrod
continues to bloom with color and abandon. We’ve got bananas on
the trees just in time, and today, I harvested our first turnip, and
it’s a perfect purple and white beauty. My fall lettuce is about half
an inch high, and the arugula is its usually hardy, fast-growing
delight.

Y’all take care, now,
Sincerely,

Claire Hamner Matturro