Hi all,
Nora’s deep into the second In Death book for 2026, so I thought I’d share some updates. She’ll be back here soon enough with The Garden updates, a Kentucky Derby recap and, of course, a full Girls Spa Week post. Promise.
A late winter break
The first week in March saw the 3rd annual Do-Puzzles-Do-NOT-Play-Games Week at Nemacolin come to pass. In a fairly new tradition, Nora treated her business manager (and lifelong friend) JoAnne and me to a week of relaxation, treatments and business discussions at one of her favorite destinations – Nemacolin.
We all met at Nora’s house for the ride out. BW mentioned it was the first time Nora was leaving the house since their last visit to Nemacolin in January. I’ve been walking every day this winter so I had a good laugh at that one.
When we arrived after a very smooth drive west, the team at Nemacolin greeted Nora with the news that our first night would actually mark the 1001st night she’s stayed at the resort since 2003. (See? Told you it was a favorite!)
This was what greeted us when we walked into the Presidential Suite. Later in the week, Maggie Hardy, the owner of Nemacolin, and her son, PJ Magerko, sent a lovely gift and note to thank Nora for her loyalty to the resort.
It was the first time JoAnne and I visited the reimagined Chateau (last year we stayed at the Grand Lodge). We were both looking forward to seeing what was new and different. Lighter colors, wood floors, a bit more space added up to a stunning set of rooms.
There’s now a tv above the fireplace (the better to view games, I suppose). Nora and JoAnne used it for their daily workouts. And we all settled in to watch the Oscars on a cold Sunday night. The butlers supplied us with popcorn and a reconfiguration of the furniture so we could all see the screen. A fun night.
At one point during the week, Nora said all she really needs during her stays at Nemacolin are some treatments and a chance to paint. The delightful, talented Claire Hardy and her current co-Artist in Residence, Julia Lamothe, came up to the suite to lead us through an oil painting class.
While we waited for our mani-pedi session, I saw this piece of art in the salon. JoAnne liked it too and we sent a text to Claire that we wanted to try it. Nora went in a more colorful direction and I sent off another text to Claire with a photo of a vivid floral she’d brought along.
We dived in to explore colors and technique. Julia was a fun addition to Claire, bringing along some textured palette knives and suggestions on how to use them. Nora was pretty fine using a variety of paintbrushes.
Her final product was absolutely stunning!
JoAnne and I were pleased with our results as well.
The overall theme to the week was the puzzle. Remember, the first year we did that insane cupcake one? This year was a gorgeous, glowing mermaid surrounded by elements of the deep. And when I say deep, I mean black/purple/crimson colors. It was hard. Nora focused a great deal of her energy on the mermaid while JoAnne and I worked the perimeter.
OK, full disclosure, I popped in and out. Most of my evening time was spent reading The Seven Rings with a notebook in hand so I could create the final Clover’s Clever Playlist. (You’ll find Part 1 and Part 2 on Spotify.) The book was wonderful and Clover communicates through 100 plus songs!
But I digress.
Despite seven days of work, we didn’t finish the puzzle. Here she is in all her final-day confusion.
Nora packed her up in the puzzle bag and planned to let Kat have a go at it. Haven’t heard if that’s happened yet. But I’ll find out.
On our last day, Nora and I sat down for a Facebook live which entertained JoAnne (off camera, working on the puzzle) to no end:
https://www.facebook.com/noraroberts/videos/1161723138867571
Departure day we woke to snow — that fortunately didn’t impeded our travel home. We’ve set the dates for the 2026 stay and that countdown has begun.
Video time
For me, there was work amid the fun. Early in the week, I posted the cover reveal for The Seven Rings. You can find all the ordering options at this link: Pre-order The Seven Rings. As always, you can order a signed copy from Turn the Page Bookstore.
And late in the week, I unveiled a new series of videos: In Death in Depth. When we were at Greenbrier last summer, Nora and I sat down for a video interview about the In Death series to celebrate Bonded in Death (the 60th full-length title).
We covered a lot of subjects from how the series evolved to specific characters. We’ll release a new video every Friday for the foreseeable future. Bookmark that page to check for new episodes.
And that’s the update for now.
Laura
