C. Jean Downer's Blog, page 2
January 6, 2025
Jae’s Sapphic Book Bingo 2025
Have you downloaded your bingo cards? It’s time for Jae’s Sapphic Book Bingo 2025.
Link to the contest information and Jae’s fantastic website!
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August 8, 2024
New Release-Paranormal Mystery
If you’re a Dresden Files and Charmed fan, you’ll love the new release~
Feisty and flawed PI Sloane West must solve a heinous attack and abduction on Vancouver Island before her coven becomes the next victim.
Book two of the Sloane West Mystery series is a paranormal mystery with a tricky plot, a supernaturally charged setting, an eccentric supporting cast, and a dash of romance.
Pre-orders are available now!
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Cold-Moon-Jean-Downer/dp/1642475831/
https://www.bellabooks.com/product/9781642475838e
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March 13, 2024
Left Coast Crime 2024
For my next “week reads,” I’m choosing one book from each author on the Left Coast Crime panel I will moderate next month!
If you are attending the “Seattle Shakedown” in Seattle, WA, join our panel, “Unexplainable vs. Unexplained: Paranormal Elements in Mysteries,” featuring these super-star cozy mystery writers: Jennifer J. Chow, Margaret Lucke, Angela M. Sanders, and Liz Mugavero!
Hope to see you there!
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March 9, 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Have you ever read a book in a series and as soon as you finished it wished you had the next one?
Because that is this book for me. Lies are Forever is a gripping story that follows Sloane West as she follows the trail of what she believes to be a botched attempt on her life, and finds an entire world of magic and creatures she never knew existed. A world she herself is a part of. With the help of her cousin Dorathea and her familiar Elvina she begins to unravel lies from not only her own family, but that of the multiple generations. She’s thrust into a plot of murder, and revenge and struggles to not only solve the mystery, but learn the powers denied her since birth by her mother.
Downer did such an amazing job of fleshing out and creating this world. The world building and magic system was so good and well thought out. The characters they populated the story with were extremely entertaining, both the good and the bad. I love Dorathea so much, and really hope she gets to be with her beloved in another book. And Elvina is sassy and extremely protective of her ward, Sloane. Not to mention all of the townsfolk of Denwick who hold their own secrets, both magical and mundane.
Cannot wait to see more from this author and highly recommend this for someone who loves mysteries or magic worlds, or both. ~ Kay M. on NetGalley
Thank you so much, Kay!
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March 8, 2024
March 6, 2024
Progress
My appreciation to guest editor Allyson Whipple for curating the fantastic issue 97 and including my haibun, “Progress.”
The cat chatters in the window, and I read while crows
destroy the front lawn. They start in a corner and dig like
clam hunters. Carefully. Quietly. Not a single caw between
them. The next day, more crows join the feast. The cat and I
do nothing. Our neighbors use tinfoil scarecrows and sprays.
Only a small portion of grass remains now. The rest of the
yard is tilled like a farmer’s field. I’ll try to grow grass again
next year.
crop dusters
another childhood friend
has cancer
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March 2, 2024
February 27, 2024
Tiny Wren
This morning
when the mist disappeared
I heard wrestling in the litter under the hedge of dormant rhododendrons,
and I thought spring is here.
Hear the busy, tiny birds.
And I thought of you without the cover of a grey sky.
How you will find a shadow
to slip inside until your dark period is done.
Image: Youth Mourning, Sir George Clausen, 1916
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Lies Are Forever
**For fans of paranormal mysteries like the Dresden Files **
If Harry Dresden were a lesbian witch, he’d be Sloane West.
Book One of the Sloane West Mysteries, Lies Are Forever, is available in eBook, paperback, and audio. Get your copy and meet Sloane and her new found coven family. Book Two, Under a Cold Moon, releases this year with Bella Books!
Available at your favorite online retailers!
PI Sloane West has three things to do…
find a killer…
save her coven…
and get the girl…
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February 21, 2024
First Date
not every encounter
will be the one
but the one
will come from
some chance meeting
so you show up
more aware of yourself
than the night before
give soothing strokes
to your goosebump skin
the air stuffy inside
with the promise of hope
knowing if the one appears
you will charm the rain
from the sky
© C. Jean Downer
Image: “Automat,” by Edward Hopper, 1927
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