Author Archives: Peggy Jaeger

…For the Jane Austen Murders.

This was such a fun book to write for so many reasons, lol.

So…you may be asking, “why write a book using the entire cast of Jane Austen characters in this day and age?”

The idea came to me one day when I was re-reading Pride and Prejudice for what had to have been the fifteenth time. To say I love the story is too tame a descriptor.

I wondered, as an author will, what the characters would look like in modern times. Would the passion between Lizzy and Darcy hold up across the centuries? What scenario would force them together, because I didn’t think a woman on the hunt for a man to marry and take care of her would fly in these times.

Plus, Lizzy always reminded me of a woman born before her time – a badass; a feminist; a gal out to make her own way in the world, unapologetically.

Giving her the occupation of homicide detective seemed appropriate. Once I had that, the story unfolded itself.

This version was originally published under the Kindle Vella platform and it got such great traction there I decided to publish it as a standalone novel once the criteria and rules of Vella were completed.

Back in my 20s and 30s before I ever thought to write romance books, I was fascinated with crime, true crime, and serial murderers. I grew up in the era of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Son of Sam. All my books up on Kindle Vella show that fascination, this one included.

I hope you liked reading about Lizzy and Darcy in this format. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make them a crime-fighting duo in a series. Heehee

For a little character insight, here is how I envisioned Lizzy and Darcy in my mind as I’ve written them.

If you read the book, I’d like to know how you see them in your own imagination.

~ Peg

Be a Dolly Parton.

I’ve been sitting on this post for the week since Ms. Parton passed, because, truthfully, her death hit me hard.

No, I didn’t know her personally.

No, we’d never met.

No, I’d never seen her perform in person.

And still, her death at 80 hit me like a ton of bricks.

I know it’s a little weird to mourn when a celebrity dies as if we didn’t know them personally. But I, like billions of others around the world, feel as if I did, and her passing has extinguished one of the brightest lights that has ever shone in time.

Aside from being a huge talent with over 3000 songs ot her credit, Ms. Parton was a philanthropist. A real one, not the kind we often see from rich and powerful people who make a big show of donating to a cause and then you never hear from them again about it.

Dolly came from commercially impoverished beginnings and never forgot it. Because of that, she did everything she could to ensure the lives of others were the best she could make them.

Here are just a few of the ways Dolly gave back:

1. The Dollywood Foundation, launched in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, with the goal of decreasing high school dropout rates. She then started the Buddy Program, in which she awarded $500 to every seventh- and eighth-grader who finished high school. The dropout rate declined from 35 percent to just 6 percent.

2. Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. The 30,000-square-foot aviary managed by the American Eagle Foundation shelters the largest collection of “non-releasable” bald eagles. 

3. The Imagination Library. Because her father was illiterate, something he was always ashamed of, The Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library began sending one book per month to each enrolled child in the program from birth until their first year of school. To date, over 300 million books have been distributed. This is the one that always chokes me up when I read about it.

4. Following the release of her I Believe in You children’s album, Parton donated $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in honor of her niece, who was treated for leukemia at that hospital.

5. Parton donated $1 million to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which helped fund Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

6. The Dollywood Co. announced in February 2022 that it will cover 100% of tuition, fees and books for any employee who is furthering their education.

7. Parton gave another million dollars to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville in June 2022, this time aimed at helping pediatric infectious disease research.

This woman never touted her philanthropy. She never called a press conference to say how wonderful she was at what she was doing for others. She did it quietly and successfully. When other celebrities would have jumped through hoops to be honored, she refused the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Biden and the current resident in the White House.

A defined Christian woman, she believed in LGBTQ+ rights, Gay marriage, and understood the struggles of trans people. One of her most famous quotes is that she wasn’t put on earth to judge others, but that was God’s job. She was put here to love everyone.

Losing someone so beloved, so treasured, so damn GOOD has left a huge void that will never be filled in our hearts or on the world’s stage.

I’m choosing to honor her by honoring how she walked through the world, a humble, genuine woman who never forgot where she came from or whose “child” she was.

Be like Dolly, people. The world will be better.

~Peg

From THE SHERIFF and THE PSYCHIC

“Well, well. Look what the wind blew back into town.”

Police Psychic Silvestra Coeltrain comes to Renewal, OK to visit with old friends and to heal. After a year in which she was tested physically, mentally, and psychically, all she wants to do is sleep, fish, and bask in the tranquility of the sleepy town.

Sheriff Caleb Blackbear doesn’t understand the feelings he’s quickly developing for Renewal’s newest visitor. She responds to his kisses with a passion that equals his own. But she’s an enigma, filled with secrets and evasions, and he’s a suspicious man.

When several of the local ranches begin losing cattle to a mysterious illness, it’s Silvestra who claims the animals are being methodically targeted and killed. As Cal’s investigation zeros in on who and what could be slaying the animals, the murder of a prominent rancher’s daughter – and Cal’s former lover – complicates things. With Silvestra’s life now in danger, Cal is determined to keep her safe at any cost.

But can he?

I am taking advantage of Goodreads current price cut for giveaways, and starting today, you can enter to win an e-copy of Vendetta, the second book in my FBI profilers series.

I’m giving away 100 e-copies, and the contest runs from today until September 7, so if you haven’t read it yet ( and you should!), here’s your chance to win a copy and read it for free.

This is the link to enter. Goodreads Giveaway

Put it on your WANT TO READ list, too, because it helps with exposure of the book to your followers.

A high-speed car accident and the bombing of his wife’s car convince FBI SSA Tucker Petrie that he is the target of a killer. Discovering who the person is before another attempt is made becomes the focus of Tucker’s life. With his former partner and best friend, Kella Calloway, by his side, Tucker and his team form a shadow investigation into a series of FBI agent killings no one in power has connected the dots to yet.
With the clock ticking and another agent killed, Tucker, Kella, and the team do everything in their power to put an end to the killer’s plan of revenge.

Goodreads review:

Perfect for fans of SVU, NCIS, BAU, and Mind Hunter!

Plot: 5
Overall: 5
Mystery: 5

“This isn’t maybe the gritty, “film noire” gumshoe detective story so many mystery novels but instead Vendetta is a master class in how actions have consequences, all victims of crimes cannot be overlooked, and a delicious deep dive into the criminal mind.

Like in the first book of the series (which doesn’t have to be read to follow this one, but definitely adds to the story!), initially we don’t know who the perpetrator is, just catch glimpses into their mind.

Even though I had my suspicions of who our final suspect would fall to a little earlier than I would have preferred, I had so much fun mentally catelogging details while reading to see if my hunch paid off!

And, reader be warned: those details matter!! Pay attention as you read because you don’t want to miss anything! Mrs. Jaeger has put together one fantastically organized front for you to solve!

Oh! And those consequences? Sometimes they fall like a house of cards… and sometimes like dominoes. Enjoy!”

Enter today, kids and Good Luck!

Today’s #Firstlinefriday is from my Deerbourne Inn book, HOPE’S DREAM frorm The Wild Rose Press.

“Quaint. A description Tyler Coleman had never used before.”

Hope Kildaire gave up her dream of becoming a nurse practitioner when a car accident killed her father and left her mother an invalid. Working two jobs and caring for her mother leaves the twenty-seven-year-old with no time for fun or relationships. When a law firm representing her paternal grandparents sends her several letters, Hope ignores them. She despises the family who disowned her father and wants nothing to do with them.

Lawyer Tyler Coleman’s job is simply to obtain Hope’s signature on a legal document. Getting it is harder than planned, though, when an unexpected attraction blossoms between them. If Ty is honest with Hope about why he’s in Willow Springs, he’ll fulfill his assignment but may risk hurting her.

The opportunity to have everything she’s ever desired is at Hope’s fingertips. Will her dream come true at the expense of Tyler’s love?

If you read my post from August 13th, you know I attended the Bigelow Free Library Romance Day Book and reader event yesterday.

To say it was a resounding success would not do it justice. It was phenomenal.

10 authors, moi included, spent from 10am until 12:30 pm speaking, chatting, and discussing books with a never-ending crowd of readers who were excited to see us, learn about our stories, and buy our books.

I met sosososo many amazing women who have now become new-to-me-readers, that I was over the moon. Still am.

I love – really love – doing library events.

Libraries are the educational and knowledge backbone of this country. What is being done to them with defunding and book banning right now is a national disgrace, and I wish more people were speaking out against these budget cuts.

If you know anything about me, you know I was practically raised in my public library as a kid. My mother worked full-time and couldn’t afford child care or an after-school babysitter, so every day from second grade on ( I was 7) I was left to walk myself home from school. Instead of going home to an empty apartment and watching television for hours until she came home, I walked to my local library, which was halfway between school and home, every day and sat, did my homework, and read myself through the children’s section of books.

The lovely librarians became my childcare providers. They asked me about my day, helped me with homework when I needed it, and recommended age-appropriate books for me to read. They truly fostered my lifelong love of reading. They became my mentors, my responsible adults, and ultimately, my friends.

My very first piece of identification, other than my birth certificate, was my library card. I still have one, even now in the digital age!

It’s surprising I didn’t grow up to be a librarian. But my path was pointed in a different direction.

To this day my love of libraries is still huge. I support my local one financially, with book donations, through their bi-annual book sales, and as a FRIEND OF THE LIBRARY, an organization that helps them defray and offset the budget costs they’ve faced.

I could probably do a dissertation on why book banning is so inherently wrong, but that’s a post for another day.

For now, I want to publicly thank Marie LeTarte, the director of the Bigelow Library, for hosting my fellow authors and me and for making National Romance Day one for us all to look back on with fond remembrance.

I’ve already got 2027 penciled in for National Romance Day at the Bigelow Free Library!

Today’s #Firstlinefriday is from my book SABLE, ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID.

Sable groaned as she spotted her oldest aunt, Teresa, moving like a heat-seeking missile across the ballroom, aimed straight for her.

SABLE:

ALWAYS BEING A BRIDESMAID IS GETTING OLD…

Pediatrician Sable Miller is sick and tired of being the go-to, dependable bridesmaid in all her family and friends’ weddings. But her demanding job, the ridiculous hours, and endless family commitments keep her from finding the perfect man. A matchmaking service? Sounds like too much work. Swipe right dating? Not her thing. The bar scene? When was the last time she even had an evening free to go to a bar?

And forget about dating the myriad of on-the-make doctors and residents in her hospital. Besides, workplace romances never work out.

Sable’s options to meet the man of her dreams and start a family are dwindling and time is running out, because she promised herself the next wedding she would attend would be her own.

Kristopher Lee, the Physician’s Assistant assigned to Sable has a crush on his new mentor. But she’s got a hands-off rule when it comes to dating someone she works with. Kris is nothing if not persistent, though. After all, he didn’t survive three tours in the Army without focusing on a goal. And making Sable Miller fall in love with him is his best goal yet.

…come spend it with several other authors and me!

This coming Saturday, August 15, 2026, head on down to Clinton, MA to the Bigelow Free Library from 10 am until 12:30 as several authors, including myself, participate in a Romance Book Event/Festival to celebrate Romance Day.

Here’s a list of just some of the participating authors who will have their latest books for sale:

Moi ( LOL)

Kari Lemor

Kristen Strassel

Jillian MacGregor

Judith Paolercio

and more!

IYKYK that Libraries are something I treasure ( and you should too!) so having this event on Romance Day is just so perfect.

Come on down and see us. Buy a book. Enrich your mind.

Most of all…have fun!

~ Peg

“I swear if one more aunt corners me and tells me she has the perfect girl for me, I’m gonna pull a Usain and Bolt outta here.”

CHANCE ( LAST MAN STANDING)

Chance Miller, divorce lawyer extraordinaire, knows the whole happily ever after dream is an urban myth. He deals with miserable and wedded warring couples every day and swears staying single keeps him sane and happy. His friends and family consider him the last single man standing and fear he’ll never find someone and settle down. But Chance relishes his carefree status and unencumbered lifestyle and has no plans to change anything.

If only his relatives would stop trying to set him up with their version of the perfect woman.

Fredrika Poole already experienced her one great love, and the widow can’t read any future romance in her tea leaves. She’s content to bake, run her business, and care for her daughter.

When Chance meets Freddie and discovers her marriage thoughts run on the same road his do, he realizes she’s the answer to his prayer for keeping the relatives at bay. But the pixie barista has a way of making Chance question everything he’s always thought about love, marriage, and wedded bliss.

Will his last man standing status go unchallenged? Or will Freddie be the one woman he wants…but can never have?

to release day.

I’m a little late with this post – it should have gone up on Saturday, August 1st, but…life.

On 9.1.26, THE JANE AUSTEN MURDERS releases in ecopy over on Amazon. It will also be in KU at that time.

Homicide Detectives Elizabeth Bennett and Frank Churchill are called to Longbourne College when the body of student Charlotte Lucas is found bludgeoned to death. Charlotte, a scholarship student, had a healthy supply of designer clothes, jewelry, and a safe deposit box loaded with cash. Where did she get them?

During Lizzy’s investigation into Charlotte’s life, she discovers the student had an antagonistic relationship with her English professor, Dr. Darcy. Word on the street is they couldn’t stand one another and the night before she was killed, the duo had a loud, contentious argument in front of the entire class.

When more clues start popping up about Charlotte’s extracurricular activities, Darcy becomes the primary suspect.

But did he do it?

If you’d like to read it in print, I’ll have copies I can send you, signed and personalized. Just use this link to order ( and PS…it’s cheaper than ‘zon. US continental residents only, though, because of ridiculous shipping costs.)