DonnaRae Menard
AUTHOR
About the Author
My writing career began in the seventh grade where I was a country kid in a city school. I took to writing disparaging descriptions of other students in self-defense. Unfortunately when I got caught writing during class, I had to stand up and read my notes aloud. That was also the start of my training for the one hundred yard dash in track and field. As time went on I had diaries, journals, two tiny columns in small town newspapers, and wrote competition pieces for Toastmaster's International. I also had boxes under my bed filled with novels finished and not.
On April 28, 2008, I was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous carcinoma. My prognosis was bleak. I fought back, and won. In 2010, I decided I was going to write and be published. Not just self-published but by a real publishing house. I kept writing, took classes, went to seminars, book signings, readings, and conventions. Anywhere I might meet someone with experience. At Crimebake 2019, I met Harriette Sackler and Bruce Coffin. One offered me professional advice, the other the promise to meet me at the top. I went back to work, this time treating writing like employment, not a hobby.
I live just outside of town in the type of place where people feel free to drop off cats, kittens, cages of gerbils or white rats, and even the occasional farm animal. I have a swinging door for those that need. We talk, eat, laugh, and all the while, I type.
My Books
New Release
Murder on Eagle Drop Ridge
Coming July 19th, 2022
Things are looking up for Katelyn Took, she has a job, a roof over her head, a new love, and she's down to fourteen cats. If it weren't for the human remains, she fell into on Eagle Drop Ridge, she'd be over the moon. Then things start to slide. Before she recovers from falling into the first set of bones, a second set of remains are discovered fifty feet down at the bottom of the ledge. She knows there has a connection, even though the father of the male victim, says no. His tunnel vision is mirrored by the sheriff, who's main focus is the woman. Katelyn just wants it all cleared up before the climbing company that's considering renting the ledges drops out. It's a balancing act with the media thrown in for added confusion, and somehow the fate of her new love is jeopardized. Then Katelyn finds a small, shiny clue. What is she going to give up for peace of mind, or rather, what is going to be taken from her?
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Murder In The Meadow
After 10 years gone, Katelyn Took returns home in 1974 to find the grandmother who raised her dead under mysterious circumstances. Katelyn is ready to cut and run away from the now dilapidated farm, but Gram left her responsible for seventeen cats and a crazy old woman who still lives in the farmhouse. With no money to go, Katelyn takes a job at the feed store and a part-time gig as animal control officer, hoping to save enough to run again. But time is a funny thing. It raises memories, strengthens the heart, and sometimes brings something new into your life, adding confusion. It also allows the world to find you. Who’s watching from the bushes, ready to attack? Who’s going to walk away, Katelyn or the killer?
In The Shadow Of
The Pharoah
Born into a poverty-stricken family in the slums of ancient Egypt, sold into slavery to work as a servant in Pharaoh’s palace, Ankh fights for survival for herself and the boy-child secretly sired by the Pharaoh’s only male heir–a child that might one day lay claim to Hokakhty’s throne.
Willa the Wisp
Willa is a wisp, a tiny child ghost who sits in the forest watching the children play and wishing for a friend. When another little girl with a generous heart and an open mind becomes her friend, Willa is ecstatic. While they play, Willa's friend gets hurt and Willa needs to make the adults, who don't believe she exists, come to help. Can she do it? Can Willa make grown up people believe?
The Waif And The
Warlord
Early 2022
RHYS is a foreign born orphan child presented to KING JURAN, Warlord Most High as a tribute. Her people were known as savages and Rhys exhibits fearful traits. Juran plans to train Rhys as a child gladiator for his blood sport. FERDINAND, the wizard and his small household believe Rhys has a different destiny. Rhys ignores Ferdinand's advice and wages a private battle against the king and his vicious dragon. Custom dictates every man standalone and call forth a dragon. Only a man with a dragon can be a king. Never has a girl been granted.