California Schemin’ is author Kate George‘s second book. Premiering this March, it is the second in a series featuring Bree MacGowan and a host of characters you’ll come to love!

How I came to write California Schemin’

The story of how I came to write California Schemin’ starts way back before I wrote my first published book. Some friends and I were discussing reading. Janet Evanovich’s books to be precise. We were talking about the Stephanie Plum and how fun she was. Then I did something that was going to change my life forever. I said, “I could write a book like that.” And my friend Sara said, “Okay, then do it.” Sara and Buffy (no, not the vampire slayer) dared me to write a book, so what could I do? It was write or eat my words, and I’m not that fond of humble pie. That book is Moonlighting in Vermont, the first Bree MacGowan mystery.

But I didn’t feel that Moonlighting finished Bree’s story. There was still a lot of untold stuff in there. So Bree went to California and another dead body dropped in her lap. Literally. Dropped.

I chose Northern California because it’s one of the places I know. I was born in Sacramento, lived on a ranch in the Sierra Foothills until I was eight, then moved to Canada but came back at fifteen to go to high school. Now don’t be shocked, but I was once in a car driven by a teenager that flew across the Foresthill Bridge at 120 mph. My mother would have died if she knew.

Then there was the episode at a movie theater in Sacramento with vodka and a watermelon in the back of a pickup before the premier of Star Wars. But I digress…

So a great deal of California Schemin’ takes place in the environs around Sacramento. Bree also gets to spend a little time in Washington, DC, and at home in Vermont. She’s a little more proactive in this story. She developed a certain attitude after her previous experience with the criminal element. She’s more confidant. And she knows that she needs to be proactive, so her actions drive the story forward. Stuff happens, but Bree doesn’t lie down and let it run her over. She takes a stance.

California Schemin is done, but the story still isn’t over, there’s at least one more Bree MacGowan in me – maybe more. Bree, Meg, Tom, Beau, Hambecker and Moose are fun characters to write about. And I’m starting to see an off-shoot here. I’m thinking Moose is going to fall in love (not sure who with), and probably solve a murder – with Bree’s help.

Award winning writer, Kate George, is the author of Moonlighting in Vermont and California Schemin’ (due out March 1, 2011). She lives in Vermont with Dogs, kids, and currently, snow. You can reach her at www.kategeorge.com. Her books are available at www.mainlymurderpress.com, amazon.com or can be ordered from any bookstore.