Ron Lovell & Jeanne Matthews

Experienced author Ron Lovell agreed to share his signing time with newcomer Jeanne Matthews, and it was an enjoyable experience.

Ron's books are set on the Oregon Coast, but his character, Thomas Martindale, gets to travel around a bit in Murder in E-Flat Major, his latest book. It was inspired by a friend who was the attorney for Brandon Mayfield, the unfortunate Oregonian who was thought to be the terrorist who bombed a train in Madrid. Martindale discovers a covert terrorist operation in Oregon and must follow this accidentally uncovered plot to New York. Pretty thrilling stuff and very far from what made Ron famous a while back: a book on photography -- which, by the way, is still in print and still garnering him royalties!

Heads up! Look for a disguised Murder by the Book bookstore in the story. So are we famous if no one knows it's us?

Washington resident Jeanne Matthews has her book, Bones of Contention, set in Australia. She covered many interesting issues, including the aborigines and the government-sponsored eugenics program that threatened them at one time. She also talked passionately about what a loss it is that the once 300 aboriginal dialects now number less than 50. She spoke about the importance of songlines and aboriginal mythology.

Best of all, we were treated to a demonstration of Aussie slang (which sounds like "slawng").