Q  How can I get Crowberry Pie’s phone number?

A  You can’t.  She doesn’t pay taxes, see, so you won’t find her listed anywhere.  Ever.  She skied into Jane’s head in the first book more or less invited and never left.  Jane can’t shake her and has sought professional help, but no good.  The only thing that seems to quiet Ms. Pie down is to appeal to her hormones or bank account.  She wants her own adventure serial now.  Great.  You have to admit, she’s always well dressed and generally right about what happened and who done it.  But . . . you just want to trip her and scuff her up.

Q  Is Nature Runs Wild the last we’ll hear from Jane Wild and Maggie?

A  Likely.  It’s a good time to tip-toe away and know we won’t have to worry about them.

Q  Did Maggie do her own stunts and are those her real teeth?

A  Yes and you betcha.

Q  What’s the next book?

A  I’m working on two things now.  One is a romance set in the Talkeetna area in February.  A tricky time, February.  A person makes assumptions and commitments.  Or just runs screaming into the forest.  The other story is in Anchorage based out of a muffin and coffee shop on J Street.  It’s about taking care of things that need taking care of.  Discretely and permanently.  And keeping track of your damn glasses.  The main character is in her 60s and deeply in love with her second husband.  She disguises her notes on her cases as shopping lists so he won’t know that she does a lot more than bake muffins.  Now and then to help out, he actually takes her lists and goes shopping.  Grr.

Q  Maybe Crowberry Pie could be an action hero in a comic book?

A  Fine.  Can we talk about something else?

Q  I'm getting way into Wheels and Grease!  It's spooky how much it's like a billion kitchens I've worked in.  Where can I get bios of the cast?

A  Right here.  Helga (breakfast cook) is stand-offish and lookes like a young Angelica Houston.  Her coworkers describe her as a self made widow.  Not to her face.  UJ (prep cook) didn't apply to work at Wheels and Grease, he just came in and started working one day.  He appears to have a high degree of clairvoyancy regarding events in the kitchen and is under the care of a competent therapist.  Scooter (dishwasher) is the owner's nephew, which explains a lot.  Tiffany (waitress) had a thing with the owner a million years ago and has some dirt on him.  She can't remember now what it was, but the important thing is that he does.  She spends more on her nails than her taxes.  Buzz (local PD) does everything well.  His brother, Buzzn't (currently incarcerated), does nothing well.  Bob (W&G manager) has recipes for elegant sauces and desserts tatooed on his arms.  He is trained in and dreams of fine dining but is trapped in what is essentially a burger joint.  Sometimes that gets him down.  Way down.  Big Tiny (fix it guy) and Little Tiny (EMS captain) met on a bulletin board where she was selling a Pinto and he was buying scrap metal.  They had the same first and last name.  They married.  Things he tries to fix try to kill him, she patches him up.  Matt One is the garbage truck driver and therefore royalty, Matt Two died several years ago but his number was retired like Walter Payton's, Matt Three is a stalker currently fixed on Tiffany.  We'll meet Ty soon.  He's going to be enchanted by Helga.