See Jane Ride! cover reveal time has arrived. I love the way the design captures the atmosphere of the book and hints at the reason “ride” is in the title.

Jane’s fans may be shaking their heads at the idea of her sporting a doo-rag and black leather. That attire was not worn by the average country school teacher in the late 1970s. Then again, readers of the first four West River Mystery books can tell you that Jane is not your average country school teacher. In case you doubt that, here’s a view of the full cover.

Though See Jane Ride! won’t be released until October 7, 2025, rest assured that your favorite Little Missourians will grace its pages: the sheriff and his hungry deputy, Jane’s boyfriend, the cranky school janitor, the couple who own and run the phone company, Jane’s students and their families, and her sewing partner. New characters run the gambit from family members who come for a South Dakota vacation to seedy-looking ne er do wells passing through town. Put them all together and you’ve got one wild ride!

The second draft of the manuscript is finished, which means the hardest part of the writing process is behind me. With that out of the way, you may be wondering why the book won’t be available until October. Here’s a quick rundown of what remains to be done:

• The manuscript is in the hands of the concept editor at Midwestern Books. Her job is to make sure the plot hangs together and that the writing is clear. She’ll suggest changes (revisions, additions, deletions) to improve the story.
• The concept editor will send her edits to me to look through. I either incorporate her suggestions into the manuscript or, in rare cases, don’t.
• The revised manuscript goes back to the concept editor who sends it to the line editor.
• The line editor proofreads for mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, spacing, omitted words, etc.). She also researches for historical accuracy, character consistency (physical descriptions, work place, kind of vehicle, etc.), and references to previous books in the series.
• She sends the revised document to me to either approve and make changes or not.
• Then I send my revisions to the publisher for typesetting.
• The editor sends me a digital copy of typeset book, which I send to possible endorsers.
• The publisher sends the book to several other proofreaders to catch the mechanical errors missed by the line editor, myself, and the typesetter.
• They send their error catches to the publisher who corrects the typeset copy.
• I collect and send the back cover endorsements to publisher.

All that gets done by June so the publisher has time to get the book on Amazon and work on marketing. In between all that, I do research for the next book and start its rough draft.

Telling you all this is making me very tired, so I’ll sign off before becoming completely overwhelmed. You, on the other hand, are invited to let See Jane Ride! cover reveal fire up your imagination, speculate on what Jane will be riding and what could possibly go wrong, and then share your ideas in the comment section below. Ready…set…go!