I’d like to welcome my pals, Jayne Ormerod, Maria Hudgins, and Teresa Inge to the blog today for a fall edition of #ThisorThatThursday. We’re the Mutt Mysteries authors.

A few of your favorite fall traditions

Heather: Apple-picking, Visiting the pumpkin path; Halloween

Jayne: Carving Pumpkins using templates from Pumpkin Masters. I have displayed some really tricked-out jack-o-lanterns!

Teresa: Finding the perfect pumpkins and fall decorations to decorate my front porch and house, and making homemade Chili. I make the best Chili with Texas Pete!

Something fall-related that you’ll never do again:

Heather: I hate to rake leaves. I avoid it (and pulling weeds) at all costs

Jayne: Jump in a pile of leaves (raked leaves included dog droppings. Yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds!

Maria: Have a Halloween party and serve Fish House Punch in a Tub.

Teresa: Place a bale of hay on my front porch. The wind blows the hay everywhere and it's messy when transporting in my car. I found hay in my car for months afterward.

Favorite fall treat:

Heather: Chocolate Halloween candy; caramel apples

Jayne: Dip (pumpkin, cream cheese, sugar and spices) with crisp fall apples or ginger snaps as dippers. Now that I think about it, that is tied with pumpkin seeds, baked in olive oil and garlic salt! Yum!

Teresa: Pull-apart Cinnamon Roll Brioche. Warm and yummy!

A fall treat that makes you gag:

Heather: Biting into Halloween candy and finding that it has coconut in it

Jayne: Oyster stuffing. Yech.

Maria: Anything pumpkin flavored or scented (other than pumpkins or pumpkin pie)

Teresa: Not sure if this qualifies but anything that has chocolate and peanut together, especially in cake I cannot stand. But I love Reese's cups. Go figure.

Favorite fall beverage:

Heather: Apple cider

Jayne: Wine. (Actually, that is my favorite year-round beverage.)

Teresa: Hot Chocolate! I made it homemade and my family loves it.

A drink that gives you a sour face:

Heather: Diet soft drinks

Jayne: Beer. (I'm not much of one for Oktoberfest!)

Maria: Lemonade

Teresa: I'm not sure but anything sour I don't like!

Favorite place to visit in the fall:

Heather: Apple-picking in Charlottesville, Virginia

Jayne: Anyplace where the leaves are changing. New England put on some pretty good shows, but the mountains of Virginia can be breathtaking as well. Nature has the best crayons, doesn't she?

Teresa: Haunted House and Pumpkin Patch at Greenbrier Farms! Scary and beautiful at the same time.

The worst place to spend the holidays:

Heather: Stuck in an airport

Jayne: In the hospital. Especially now during the COVID restrictions.

Maria: In a dorm room, typing an overdue paper.

Teresa: Not sure, but I love to be home during the holidays to enjoy the fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. I have traditional holidays and start cooking two days prior since I make everything homemade.

Funniest autumn story:

Heather: My Grandmother was notorious for telling ghost stories late at night when my sister and I would spend the night. Her rooms had a lot of large dark wooden furniture and antiques that cast freaky shadows.

One evening as she was telling one of these tales, my sister and I looked up at the open window, and there were two sets of yellow eyes staring back at us. For several minutes, my sister and I were convinced that demons or zombies were lying in wait. When all of the screaming died down, we discovered that it was the neighbor’s cats sitting on the window ledge peeping in.

Jayne: On a glorious October morning, I sent my dad out to walk the dogs while I took care of the toddler. Husband not in picture (deployed to some remote location known only to those with top-secret clearance.) Dad was not quite "elderly" but no longer at his most agile. I saddled up the dogs and sent them on their way for a walk under the canopy of colorful autumn colors. Only they didn't come home. Like for over an hour on what was supposed to be a ten-minute trip around the block. Did I worry? Heck, yeah. After over an hour, the dogs found their way home, dragging (literally...he was on his belly) my dad behind them! No lasting injuries, except to my stomach...from laughing so hard. The look on his face...surprised...perplexed...humiliated...was priceless! He laughed, too!

Teresa: Not sure if this is funny, but each year my granddaughter and I go to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins together. It's always fun and silly in finding the best pumpkins.

Something embarrassing that happened during autumn:

Heather: This shows my age. When I was fifteen, the Tylenol scare happened, and it all but put an end to trick-or-treating that year. My friends and I decided not to waste good candy that people had already bought, so we dressed up and went out. We raked in the candy that year. It probably wasn’t the best decision in light of the product tampering.

Jayne: Navy Birthday Ball (Oct 13) Husband-to-be in full dress whites. Me in a beautiful light blue gown with the back of my dress tucked in my underwear! Finally, someone on the dance floor pulled me aside and told me. Mortifying doesn't begin to describe it. But he did marry me anyway!

Teresa: When I first started making homemade cranberry sauce it was hard to get just the right balance to make the relish un-soured. No one at the table ate it the first year I made it.

Let’s Be Social:

Mutt Mysteries

Website/Blog: http://muttmysteries.blogspot.com/

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Teresa Inge grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries. Today, she doesn’t carry a rod like her idol, but she hotrods. Love of reading mysteries and writing professional articles led to writing short fiction and novellas. She is president of Sisters in Crime Mystery by the Sea Chapter and author of short mysteries in Virginia is for Mysteries, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Coastal Crimes: Mysteries by the Sea, and Murder by the Glass.

Website: www.TeresaInge.com

Website and Blog: http://www.teresainge.com

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Jayne Ormerod grew up in a small Ohio town then went on to a small-town Ohio college. Upon earning her degree in accountancy, she became a CIA (that’s not a sexy spy thing, but a Certified Internal Auditor.) She married a naval officer and off they sailed to see the world. After nineteen moves, they, along with their two rescue dogs Tiller and Scout, have settled into a cozy cottage by the sea. Jayne’s publishing credits include two novels, five novellas, and eight short mysteries. A complete list can be found on her website. Website: www.JayneOrmerod.com

Maria Hudgins is a mystery writer and a former high school science teacher. She is the author of the Dotsy Lamb Travel Mysteries, the Lacy Glass Archaeology Mysteries and several published short stories. Her favorite things are traveling, reading, dogs, and cats. She lives in Hampton, Virginia with her cat, Lulu.

Website: www.mariahudgins.com

Heather Weidner writes the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series set in Virginia (Secret Lives and Private Eyes, The Tulip Shirt Murders, and Glitter, Glam, and Contraband), and her Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries launch October 2021.Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, and Deadly Southern Charm. Her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.

Through the years, she has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager.

Website and Blog: http://www.heatherweidner.com

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About the Mutt Mysteries:

Old dogs and new tricks abound in To Fetch a Villain, the third installment in the Mutt Mysteries series. This collection of four novellas illustrates why dogs are our best friends and the perfect companions for digging up clues, solving crimes, and bringing villains to justice. Let sleeping dogs lie? Not when the MUTTS are on the case!

RUFF DAY by Jayne Ormerod

Store owner Darby Moore suffers through a “ruff” day when a dead body is discovered in her custom dog house. With her best friend topping the suspect’s list, Darby knows the police are barking up the wrong tree. It’s up to Darby’s Great Dane Mr. Belvedere to channel his inner Scooby-Doo and save the day.

AT YOUR SERVICE by Maria Hudgins
Mystery writer Jessica Chastain is deaf and relies on her service dog Trey who acts as Jessica’s ears. Kim, a Bichon like Trey, is the latest addition to their family. But life is not a walk in the park when someone threatens all they hold dear. Together they take on an unethical breeder and dog-napper, whose bite is worse than his bark.

A SHOT IN THE BARK by Teresa Inge
Dog-loving Catt Ramsey hires an ex-con as her handyman to help with her dog-walking business at the same time a crime wave hits the neighborhood. But it’s Catt who is accused of murder. She enlists the help of family, friends, and her dogs Cagney and Lacey to prove man’s best friend can be crime’s worst enemy.

STRUT YOUR MUTT by Heather Weidner

Sassy PI Delanie Fitzgerald attends the Strut Your Mutt festival, where her business partner’s English bulldog is a finalist in a pampered doggie pageant. The dog’s new-found fame leads to a client with a missing poodle. Delanie and her team put paws to the pavement, sniff out clues, and show the villain that when you lie with the dogs, you wake up with fleas.