Hobby, Career, Passion: Fiber Fanatic ~ Kim Janine Ligon ~ New Release: Those Ties That Bind #SweetClean #RomanticSuspense

Please help me welcome today’s guest, Kim Janine Ligon…

FIBER FANATIC

Thank you, Alicia, for the opportunity to share a bit about mystery, romance, and my passion for all things fiber on your blog today. I have been practicing the needle arts—crochet, knitting, embroidery, cross stitch, tatting, chicken scratch, and needlepoint since I was nine years old. I’ve never been one to sit and simply watch TV. My hands need to be busy and needlework is better than snacking. I usually have two or three projects going on at one time from knitting socks to crocheting baby blankets to cross stitch. My long-suffering husband refers to the area around my recliner in the den as my “nest”. At the end of the evening I have something to show for my time instead more pounds on the scale.

Shortly before I retired a made a list I titled “What Kim Is Going To Do When She Retires”.  It included writing and publishing novels which came true in 2022 when I published my first cozy mystery with sweet, wholesome romance with The Wild Rose Press. In July this year, my third novel came out and in December I have a Christmas novel coming out. All of them are with The Wild Rose Press and my extraordinary editor, Dianne Rich. Mark that item off my list!

Another item was to learn how to spin—fiber into yarn, not the exercise bike kind. Five months after I retired, we made the trek north to buy my spinning wheel. And I made my first purchase of beautiful fiber. Little did I know that buying fiber is addictive. The beautiful colors, soft fibers. Exotic fibers like musk ox, buffalo, chinchilla. Walking through a fiber shop has an almost hypnotic effect on me. Everything is calling my name saying “Take me home.” Many of them are in tubs in my work room waiting to be spun!

I brought the spinning wheel home after a twenty minute lesson in the shop. Learning to spin is like learning to drive a car…in the middle of a three lane highway…going seventy miles an hour…and needing to change lanes. It is multitasking at its highest level.

Successful spinning means pumping the pedals at a consistent speed fast enough to twist the fiber onto the bobbin but not too fast or the fiber will escape your hands. At the same time you are holding the twist in check with your left hand while feeding the perfect amount of fiber to the ongoing twist so your yarn is a consistent thickness. My first efforts definitely created a thick-n-thin yarn—perfect sized yarn interspersed with clumps of too much in the feed. Another item off the list!

Once you get the rhythm down it is a relaxing process that allows me to work out plot problems while I’m spinning. I’ve made sweaters for friends and family from my homespun and after my sister-in-law gave me a loom for my birthday, scarves for everyone. Many of my characters have been bitten by the fiber bug too. I try to write and spin every day.      

Wow, Kim…I wish I had that talent. It does sound relaxing and being able to make beautiful things for yourself and others would be awesome. Thank you for joining me today. Now, please tell us about your book…

BLURB:

Why are teenage mothers dying in the Garland Regional E.R. instead of delivering healthy babies for adoption at The Obstetrical Center? Something is seriously wrong. On her physician’s advice, Garland’s CEO Evelyn Langford reluctantly takes a long scheduled vacation for her fiftieth birthday leaving her team to conduct an investigation into Obstetrical Center.

Evelyn’s efforts to investigate the problem are hampered by her complicated relationships with her secretive brother, Frank, her subordinates, and, surprisingly, FBI Special Agent Rance Thompson, a new acquaintance, who comes to the small town to investigate possible links between the childbirth deaths and a string of teenage girl disappearances.

Will Frank’s increasingly erratic behavior and the growing attraction between Evelyn and the younger agent further complicate discovering the truth about the dying girls?

EXCERPT:

“You needn’t yell. I can hear you. The patient mumbled something to Dr. Merrick right before she died. She said ‘Doc, not me again, don’t. Please, I can’t. Please don’t.’ Does that make any sense to you?”

The physician hesitated a moment. “Why ask me? How would I know why a dying girl, who lied about who she was, said anything? She was probably delirious. Why do you think it has something to do with me?”

“She said not me again. I thought since she was your patient you might have some insight into her situation. Had she given birth at your center before?”

The physician hesitated a moment. “Why ask me? How would I know why a dying girl, who lied about who she was, said anything? She was probably delirious. Why do you think it has something to do with me?”

“She said not me again. I thought since she was your patient you might have some insight into her situation. Had she given birth at your center before?”

“How would I know off the top of my head? Hundreds of mothers have been through here. I haven’t memorized all their names, faces, and personal situations.”

UNIVERSAL BUY LINKS: https://mybook.to/ThoseTiesThatBind

GOODREADS: www.goodreads.com/book/show/213462499-those-ties-that-bind

BOOKBUB: www.bookbub.com/books/those-ties-that-bind-by-kim-janine-ligon

About the Author:

Kim Ligon has been writing stories for most of her life—some on paper and some only in her head. She has lots of source material growing up as the oldest child in a large family in a small town in Wisconsin. Her father was a veterinarian so there were not only lots of children around, but all manner of house pets and farm animals too. Her love of reading comes from her mother who was seldom seen sitting down without a book in her hand. After a demanding career in healthcare information technology, she is now getting to do all the creative things she loves—spinning, knitting, crocheting, creating buildings on her husband’s model railroad and writing her stories to share with you. She lives with her chief encourager and personal romantic hero, her husband of almost forever, in Alabama. Please follow her further adventures at www.spinningromance.com or email her at kimjanine@spinningromance.com Enjoy!