A Marathon of Kindess is available!

My final book in the Guideposts series Secrets from Grandma’s Attic has been released! In fact, the entire series is now drawing quickly to a close. What a fun experience it has been! But let me share with you a little about this final book of mind, A Marathon of Kindness. 

When looking for my last story, I was combing the history of St. Louis (the biggest city near the setting of Canton, MO) and came across the World’s Far in 1904. Honestly, a lot of that felt like it had been done before. But just as I was ready to look for another historical “anchor” for my story, I discovered that the Olympic Games were held in conjunction with the World’s Fair that year, so I started digging into that. 

If you follow me on social media, you might have seen this recently: 

But I needed something more specific to hang a story on than just the Olympic Games happening. And then I discovered the 1904 Olympic marathon. It’s truly the stuff of fiction! In short, the course was changed at the last minute and included quite a few inclines. And it turned out to be extremely hot that day. But beyond those uncontrollable aspects were things like . . . 

• A participant getting a ride in a car part of the way
• Several participants having to be taken for medical attention due to heat
• A man from Cuba who arrived at the last minute and ran in cutoff pants

And on and on it goes. My favorite research book for getting things straight is a children’s book called The Wildest Race Ever. Not only did it contain good, detailed information, but the illustrations were fun, too! I look forward to sharing it with my granddaughters in a few years.

Then I had to figure out how to connect this race to Amy and Tracy’s family and what they might find (and where!) to send them down this research road. And this time, just to make myself crazy, I added a mystery in the contemporary story as well! 

I miss these characters already, but thankfully I’m behind in reading the other authors’ stories in this series, so I’ll get to return to them at least in my reading. 

You can purchase this book on the Guideposts website. (Not sure why the ebook link isn’t up yet, but the physical book is there.)

If you want a chance to win a copy, enter below!  

Have you read any of the Secrets from Grandma’s Attic books? Which one is your favorite?

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D'Ann Mateer

Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

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