Isabella Alan | Petunia the Goat is Baaaack!

Receiving reader mail whether is it snail mail, email, or a tweet is one the most fun things about being an author. I especially love the mail that tells me how much the reader loved my characters. For me, the most important part of the story is the characters. Even as a reader, it is the characters that make me fall in love with novel.

After the release of MURDER, SIMPLY STITCHED, the second book in the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries, I received a flood of reader messages saying how much they loved Petunia the Nubian goat, who knocked my main character Angie Braddock back on her behind every chance that she got. But then after the release of MURDER, SERVED SIMPLY, the third book in the series, I got just as many messages asking me where Petunia was and if she would return. Since I love Petunia myself, I decided to put her into the main cast of characters.

So back by popular demand Petunia the Nubian goat returns in MURDER, PLAINLY READ. The trick of Petunia’s triumphant return was deciding where to put her. In the second novel, she belongs to a murder suspect who doesn’t appear in any other books and wouldn’t fit into another plot. My only choice was to have one the main cast adopt Petunia. Jonah Graber, a friendly Amish man who is Angie’s best childhood friend, was the perfect choice. Always looking for new business ventures, Jonah would want a goat to start his new goat lawn service business, a business where goats are used to clear land for farming. Also Jonah, being the nice guy that he is, would not hesitate to take in a homeless goat.

Angie, who loves Petunia in her own way, is happy that Petunia is back too. She’s just not looking forward to the bruises that she will receive from being knocked over again and again by Petunia. Being toppled over by Petunia’s head butts might give Angie bruises, but it sure keeps the readers and me laughing, which is all I ever want as a writer.

Welcome baaack Petunia!

About Isabella Alan

National Bestselling Author Isabella Alan is the pseudonym for Amanda Flower. Amanda Flower, a two time Agatha- nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland.

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About MURDER, PLAINLY READ

In the latest from the author of MURDER, SERVED SIMPLY, an Amish man checks out permanently, but quilt shop owner Angie Braddock’s got this mystery covered…

With so much to do between running her shop and spending time with her new boyfriend, it’s amazing Angie is able to help organize the Rolling Brook library's annual book sale. Luckily she’s working alongside brash librarian Austina Shaker, a lady who isn’t afraid to make waves to get books to her patrons— even the Amish. Unfortunately, this draws the ire of cranky Bartholomew Belier, an Old Order Amish bishop, who publicly vows to ruin Austina.

And she certainly might be ruined after Belier is found dead in her bookmobile. Now Angie must employ the help of her loyal quilting circle—as well as her beloved French bulldog, Oliver—if she hopes to prove Austina’s innocence before the real killer books it…

INCLUDES QUILTING TIPS