Frequently Asked Questions

If I have the paperbooks in stock, I will ship them as soon as humanly possible.

If I don't have them in stock, I will have them shipped from the printer straight to you. This can take longer. I do not have my own shipping trucks or warehouses, so I'm not as speedy as the big bookstores, but I make up for it with charm. 😉

The short answer:

I hope so, but at this time, there are no new Gertrude books in the pipeline. Sorry.

The longer answer:

I love Gertrude as much as anyone (maybe more), and I would love to write about all the adventures she’s been having since we last checked in with her. However, there are so many stories to tell and so little time!

Book sales pay my bills, so the better the Gertrude books sell, the more likely I am to add to the collection. So, if you want more Gertrude stories, tell your friends to buy Gertrude books! Or even better, someone with film connections, get her onto the screen! Then there would be more adventures for sure! (And don’t you just think Lesley Nicol would make the BEST Gertrude?!)

Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s eBook subscription program, is tricky. In most cases (unless a big publisher works out a special deal for you) an eBook must be exclusive to Kindle in order to be included in Kindle Unlimited.

So, if I have an eBook in Kindle Unlimited, it cannot be sold by Kobo, Nook, Apple, or anywhere else. I’m not allowed to give them away or sell them on my website.

Hence, most of my books are not in Kindle Unlimited. Sometimes I do put some of my books into the program for a limited time.

Have you ever looked into a yarn bag after the cat's been in there?

Then you've seen how the thought processes in my brain work. It's a tangled mess. Not only do I have trouble staying in one lane, I have trouble seeing the lane. As Gertrude would say, I bounce around like a fart in a mitten.

Plus, pen names are fun!

But here's the scoop:

Robin Merrill: Original recipe. Christian fiction.

R.E. Merrill: Cozy mysteries that don't take themselves too seriously. Not overtly Christian but still clean reads.

Penelope Spark: (Retired (probably)) Sweet romance

There may or may not be others which I may or may not reveal in the future. 😉

We all have our favorite stores and brands, right?

I am grateful for all the bookstores, but yes, Kobo is my favorite. It's where I usually buy my books.

Here are some reasons why Kobo is awesomesauce:

• When I publish in the Kobo store, my eBook becomes available in more than 190 countries. That is so awesome.
• I can hook my Kobo ereader directly up to my OverDrive/Libby library account and then borrow books from my library right on my ereader. So easy. I love finding a book to read and then having the option to "buy" or "borrow."
• Kobo takes very good care of authors.
• The Kobo store is a clean, simple interface that makes shopping easy and stress free.
• I love the Kobo ereaders.
• I love the Kobo app. It makes listening to audiobooks simple and convenient.
• My Kobo audiobook subscription is less expensive than a lot of other subscription options.
• Probably other reasons I can't think of right now. 😉

No.

Only in the sense of Tim O’Brien’s brilliant “Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.”

I’m not sure where or how this rumor started, but no, Commack is entirely fiction.

Commack was inspired by an image. When I was young, my grandfather told me about something he’d found in the woods: a ring of stones with bones in the middle. That image stuck with me for years and served as the genesis for the novel.

But Commack is fiction, and Commack is a fictional town.

We are working on it! Creating audiobooks is very resource intensive, and we have lots of irons in the fire, but yes, more audio is coming!

I'm getting this question a lot!

For nearly all things writing and publishing, I recommend author Joanna Penn's website: The Creative Penn

It still exists! It's just been given a new name. It is now called Heavenly Helper Cozy Mystery Series.

Book 1 (The Whistle Blower) is now titled Minivan Mayham

Book 2 (The Showstopper) is now titled Minivan Masquerade

Book 3 (The Pinch Runner) is now titled Minivan Mania

Book 4 (The Prima Donna) is now titled Minivan Malice