Thyme, Place & Story is my personal mini-magazine, designed for readers who want to share what we know about living in place, growing green, growing older, reading, writing, and publishing in an era of new technologies.
Who I am
I’m an 80-something writer who migrated from a 15-year university career to a 40-year career in fiction—over seven million best-selling, award-winning copies sold in four mystery series, plus biographical and YA novels, memoir and nonfiction. (Go here for the full picture.) I love learning about everything under the sun and am especially excited about exploring the new digital technologies. My husband Bill and I live on a 30-acre scrap of Texas Hill Country, with dogs, cats, and an ever-changing community of farm and wild creatures.
What I’m Doing Here
In 2026, this is my posting schedule:
First Monday. All About Thyme. A monthly almanac, with a feature on herbs, and a curated list of plant-related things to do and think about. This began as a tie-in to the China Bayles mysteries.
Third Monday. LifeScapes, my personal blog about the place we live and the way place shapes and compels all of us; also on eldering in place: growing older and maybe wiser (imagine that!).
Occasional Mondays.
AI Field Notes, where I chronicle the process of working with and exploring artificial intelligence. An ongoing, exciting adventure that’s always full of surprises.
Reposts of earlier reader-favorite posts
On Thursdays, I host a slow read of my published mystery fiction. Here’s the schedule for this year:
Sep 2025-April 2026: A Bitter Taste of Garlic, the digital adaptation of Thyme of Death, Book One in the China Bayles series. Now concluded, fully available here, both the book and the accompanying Reader’s Notebook.
May 7-Jul 9, 2026: The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree, Book One in the Dahlias series.
Aug 6- Nov 5: The Tale of Hill Top Farm, Book One in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter.
Nov 26-Mar 25: Death at Bishop’s Keep, Book One in the Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries that Bill Albert and I wrote together.
Subscriptions. Beginning May 1, 2026, I am transitioning to a fully-free Substack. At 86 and counting, I am truly an “older senior” and recognize that I might not be able to meet my obligations to paid subscribers. I am hugely grateful for the support so many of you have given me over my career as a writer. Thank you, thank you!
Choose What You Read Here. TL-DNR? Crowded for time? You don’t have to subscribe to everything I write. Go here to customize the Substack posts you receive from me. You can change your mind any time it suits you.
Time Out. When I take time out, I’ll arrange to republish past posts.
Where else you’ll find me
If you’re looking for my books, please visit my website. I’m on Facebook here and sometimes here, also occasionally Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub and Bluesky.
My AI Policy (because every writer needs one!)
I use Gemini for quick factchecks and ChatGPT for what has turned into an exciting, ongoing, and often surprising collaboration. I use AI to stretch my thinking and writing, not to replace it. I work with it the way writers work with a well-read and willing research assistant, a sharp copy editor, and an uncanny colleague who never sleeps. As a thinking partner, it helps me test out ideas, probe issues from different points of view, and develop a broader understanding of the topics I choose to work on. AI informs and challenges me, connects me with other thinkers around the world, and encourages me to see my work in a much larger context. I’m documenting this exploration here.
