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A mystery sprinkler head . . .

Writer's picture: Alec PecheAlec Peche

As a mystery writer, I find mysteries everywhere. This year the mystery has

been my landscape water system. We had so much rain this past year that tree roots grew and plump up and moved my PVC pipes. I had to replace the main turn-off valve for the water system followed by five of the station valves thanks to leaks. That was of course after cutting away tree roots. Once I get the system going, I must check all of the drip cords to make sure they are in the right place and still working. My dog moves those around for me. I thought I had everything working and made a final walk-by when I discovered water bubbling up under some pavers at the base of my coastal redwood tree. I began pulling up bricks and pavers to discover a previous owner cemented over a sprinkler head. Now that everything has moved with the saturated soil, the concrete was no longer holding down the head. After living in my home for 12 years, I learned of a new sprinkler head. I bought a cap to put on the pipe once I dig down far enough to find it, but why the previous owner didn’t do that instead of cementing over it, is a mystery. That’s probably too much irrigation talk, dear reader, lol.



I am writing between shoveling dirt and making sprinkler repairs. Here’s what I have on my calendar for 2023. I will release a short story (about 10K words) in late May or early June relating to my new urban fantasy series. In June I’ll release a Jill Quint short story – she’ll be heading back to Australia to testify at the court case she solved in Forensic Murder. I’ll release a Damian Green short story in July, and a second short story for the new series in August. Come September, I plan to release book 1 of Witch’s Medicine, with book 2 in October and book 3 in November. There’s lots of writing in my future. The short stories will be posted on my website so you can read them for free and in the future, I may put them for sale on Amazon.




As I’m slow at making landscape repairs, I’ve been able to listen to a bunch of audiobooks. I just finished “Fourth Wing”, which is a dragon fantasy and romance book. It was heavier on the romance than I would have liked, and people were dying at a great rate, but the story ended with a heck of a cliffhanger. I also read Michael Connelly’s “Desert Star.” I’ve started “Dungeon Crawler Carl,” which I must say is a very strange and original story. I’ve started Gigi Pandian’s “Under Lock and Skeleton Key,” I finished “The Patient” by Tim Sullivan, which I enjoyed. On my Kindle, I’m reading Lindsay Buroker’s steampunk fantasy “Deathmaker.” I usually don’t mention the books I have DNF’d (did not finish) for two reasons. Everyone’s reading taste is different and what appeals to me doesn’t necessarily appeal to anyone else. Secondly, I don’t like to be critical of another author’s work (unless they’re a bestseller) as that seems rude and likely relates more to my taste than to bad writing.


See you next month,

Alec

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